After a Toronto Star investigation, the Canadian government has acknowledged that it used Agent Orange — the same cancer- and birth defect-causing chemical used by the U.S. military to clear the jungles of Vietnam — to clear brush from roadsides in Ontario between the 1950s and 1980s. Yes, until the fucking 80s!
Everyone knows that the only country that loves killing its own citizens more than the U.S. is China. But on Friday, the Chinese decided it loved killing its citizens just a little bit less: The government "ruled out" the death penalty as a punishment for thirteen "economic" and "nonviolent" offenses, including financial fraud, theft, tax fraud and smuggling cultural products out of China. The thing is—according to the AP—people rarely are executed for these crimes right now, so it's unlikely to make a dent in China's massive execution rate. The U.S. has so much to learn, when it comes to capital punishment! [AP]
Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi offered his own theory about the causes of the revolution sweeping his country on Thursday: "They [al Qaeda] give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe." Indeed. CNN foreign correspondent Ben Wedeman (whose Twitter account of the Arab-world democratic movements is fascinating) and crew were the first to enter the liberated city of Benghazi with a camera, and witnessed firsthand the effects of hallucinogenic Nescafe: Jubilation, singing, peace signs, and, at least once, chants of "CNN! CNN!" [video via CNN]
Anonymous has attracted plenty of attention from all sorts of news organizations; but their recent pro-Wikileaks hack attacks have finally landed them on the most important show in all of television: "The Colbert Report." Colbert dug into the twisted saga of Anonymous vs. the security firm HBgary, which ended with HBGary employees' inboxes spilled all over the web. Colbert at his geekiest, and good press for Anonymous—here's a rare mainstream outlet portraying them in almost heroic light, compared with usual darkness.
Last weekend, it looked like hackers from Anonymous and hate-spewing Westboro Baptist Church were about to have at it. Then Anonymous backed off, claiming the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by the church itself. But today Anonymous hacked Westboro's website anyway—while an Anonymous member engaged in a live radio debate with Westboro spokesthing Shilrey Roper no less. (See: 8:20 in the video above) Anonymous posted one of their open letters on the infamous Godhatesfags.com website, which is still down.
Know why Hollywood shouldn't take money from the son of a repressive North African dictator, no matter how nice he seems? His dad might one day go even more batshit crazy and order the mass murder of his own people when they start demanding freedom. Then you're going to look like shitheads.
You know how there's always one dude at a party who brings his guitar? Well, Mike Birbiglia has written a song from the perspective of "guitar guys" everywhere.
Charlie Sheen gave a ranty interview today to conservative radio host Alex Jones while he vacationed in the Bahamas. In less than 20 minutes, Sheen claimed he cured his alcoholism "with my mind," referred to his porn star lovers as his "goddesses," called out his imagined opponents—"fools and trolls"— in macho-baroque soliloquies, and insulted Two and a Half Men creator Chuck Lorre in anti-Semitic fashion: "I violently hate Chaim Levine (Chuck Lorre). He's a stupid, stupid little man and a pussy punk that I'd never want to be like."
