From The Blanket, a “Journal of Protest and Dissent”, their view of the IRA disarming.

It is almost two weeks since the IRA announced a conclusion to its failed campaign to achieve a British declaration of intent to withdraw from Ireland. Despite a resistance that was both robust and ruthless Sinn Fein’s cutting edge was confronted by forces way too superior and was ultimately compelled to settle for a British declaration of intent to stay.

Charlie Haughey once described the Northern state as a failed political entity and as such was irreformable. The campaign of the Provisional IRA was firmly rooted in that logic. Perhaps the Provisional IRA’s most notable achievement lies in having proved itself wrong. Provisional republicanism has emerged as the failed entity and the Northern State is now a permanent feature of our political landscape.

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Podshow joined by Kleiner?

The stakes have been raised. Podshow, Adam Curry’s new-new-media startup, has reportedly secured $8.85 million in funding from Silicon Valley venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. (Hat tip: Podcasting News) The proceeds will give Adam more than enough money to pay his bandwidth bill for the year.

If the facts on this are straight, this means that Podshow wants to go public. That’s what KPCB does. If they paid in almost $9 million in an early phase, they’re probably valuing Podshow in the hundreds of millions, either now or in the near term. Time will tell whether another big investor agrees. If you see a name like Softbank, Benchmark Capital, or Hummer Winblad jumping in with Podshow, then a lot of Silicon Valley dollars are betting that podcasting is ready for the stock market, and that will open up a lot more room at the trough.

After his MTV days, Adam Curry started a web hosting and design business that eventually went public. As he mentioned once on a podcast, the company, unlike many dot coms, had actual clients and real revenue. He and Dave Winer, who sold his software company to Symantec in the early 90’s, were semi-retired, invented podcasting, and have become tireless podcast evangelists.

That Curry’s company got almost 9 million in VC money is absolutely a sign that podcasting is going big time.

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From Mike at Crooks and Liars in an email

Okay, front page in the Washington Post today:

In a rare move, the Army relieved a four-star general of his command amid allegations that he had an extramarital affair with a civilian, Army officials said yesterday.

Now, remind me….how has the Military punished the generals who oversaw torture?

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Siberia feels the heat.

It’s a frozen peat bog the size of France and Germany combined, contains billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas and, for the first time since the ice age, it is melting.

The researchers found that what was until recently a barren expanse of frozen peat is turning into a broken landscape of mud and lakes, some more than a kilometre across.

Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.

It’s not just that this area is thawing, it’s the enormous amount of greenhouse gases that will be released as it does, thus speeding global warming even more.

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If you qualify, apply here. Then you can drive your hybrid in the car pool lanes with only one person in the car. Mine goes in the mail today ( I own a Prius.)

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