Salon should be ashamed of itself for using a tawdry Paris Hilton montage to front the conclusion of its 2006 coverage.

Gerald Ford, James Brown, and Saddam Hussein have all just passed, and Salon's frontpiece is Paris wearing Donna Summer's sunglasses?!

Salon can boast some top notch journalists, who by now must be extraordinarily offended. Let me say what they are surely too polite and politically savvy to say themselves: get a fucking clue. Grow up. Stop hoaring for MSNBC flash ads and page views, and get back to your roots, which in my understanding meant standing on principle. If your principles now revolve around the likes of Paris Hilton, then see ya later, no chance in hell I will ever renew my lapsed subscription to a tawdry rag like that.

In Internet Explorer:

Tools > Manage Add-ons > Shockwave Flash Object > Disable

Close and Restart IE.

Peace and quiet.

The Bush administration has had many achievments, but none more meaningful than showing that even revenge killing can be botched by our 'elected' officials. If you're wondering about other achievments, how about bunker busting almost nuclear bombs, boots on the ground, showing that American presidents are willing to sacrifice their own citizens in search of historical importance, or eliminating the last remaining superpower, even the great Ronald Reagan could only eliminate 1 superpower.

...and still no Osama Bin Laden.

I think Bush just gave you the finger.

I've heard two anecdotes pertinent to James Brown in the early 60's.

My first husband met James Brown and partied with him and his folk in Augusta Georgia circa 1960 (couldn't have been later because he was in high school at the time and was serving in Viet Nam in 1961.

Decades later, another friend of mine spoke of a similar experience as a college student in Shreveport Louisiana circa 1963.

Although the sample is small, there's at least two "Southren white boys" in my personal acquaintance who enjoyed the artist and his music. And based on the Southern, collegiate venues he played, perhaps many more.

I agree with the LW who mentioned all the great R&B and Motown music on the radios during the 60's-70's (I was in Michigan much of that time). Unfortunately, the Clear Channel version of "classic rock" has whited most of that history out.

PS. Ebonius - you rock. Personal red stars for your posts on this thread.

Did I miss Salon getting bought out by MSGOP? Does this mean Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough will be along soon, to blame the 3,000 U.S. war dead on Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton? And by the way, I liked James Brown, but does he really deserve a state funeral in the nation's capital? On a more positive note, now that they've hung the terrorist responsible for 9/11, Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) is now mission accomplished; yes?

See you on the other side.

The best editorial comment I've seen on Saddam's execution appeared in 'The Hindu' , a leading, usually very sober, somewhat left-wing Indian newspaper, under the title "Outrageous". For those who see this very sober newspaper regularly, this strong editorial comment is very surprising indeed. Check out:

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/31/stories/2006123103600800.htm

That editorial did not at all adequately 'call' GW Bush and Gang for the war crimes they've been committing.

So now you know where I'm coming from, literally and metaphorically.

I have a few questions, as follows:

When are you US citizens going to wake up to the games that are being played with you (that have been played with you since 9/11 at least)? Unfortunately, given the fact that the US is today the world's solo super-power, those games are being played with the rest of the world too.

When are you guys going to throw GW Bush and Gang and Gang out of the power you have stupidly like sheep handed over to them in your panic-stricken reactions to 9/11 (which they have utterly abused)? (You had a good opportunity in 2004, which was muffed up between you US citizens and the Kerry-Edwards team).

When will you hand over this criminal Gang that's ruling you to a court of international justice that will put them properly on trial for their crimes?

(Till you at least throw them out of power, you must be judged to be complicit with them in their crimes).

Or, are you guys going to say, as Bushie said after Katrina to Brownie of FEMA fame: "You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie!"

If you guys don't get your act together - FAST!!! - well, I'm really afraid things are going to become worse (much, much worse) in Iraq and in the rest of the world.

GSC

Saddan's hanging rope looked to be about 7/8th of an inch, maybe thicker.

I have been thinking about this rope: This is thicker rope than needed for the job (only about a 200-pound load on a ten-foot drop, max).

But, maybe approriate-for-the-job (thinner) rope would have cut right through his neck and garrotted his head off.

Execution Buffs: Let's have a chin-wag about this!

Salon's front page, on this last evening of a terrible, terrible year, features headlines about:

sports

sex

music downloads

horror

celebrity gossip

and MSNBC.

I am grateful for these letter writers, because the editors are hopeless. I am afraid Salon is really gone. Utterly sold out. It's US and People with a little intellectual gloss.

Thinking coupled with conscience really are buried here. Except in the Letters, which are stranded at the tail end of articles and likely viewed by a minority of readers.

I used to believe otherwise, but I feel now that Salon is no part of the solution to any of our grave ills.

(Any more than was breaking Saddam's neck.)

Salon is not The Holy Scriptures, but Salon still is a wonderful thing. Happy New Year! See you soon. See you in the new world.

Clean up your own corner of the world before you start criticizing ours. People living in shitholes, bathing in sewage-soaked rivers, "untouchables" living lives of utter poverty with a wink and a nod from the rest of the culture, a corrupt political system, political assassinations ...

Do you get my drift?