The Band Plays Requests

Somalia Angola Ghana Ghana Ghana Ghana
India Sri Lanka Burma Bamboo Banga
It's a Bamboo Banga,
--M.I.A.

writer "ms" says:

world food shortage.
weapons being delivered to zimbabwe (and the rest of mess going on along with that whole shit storm)
tibet and other china issues.
net neutrality under attack here at home.
cons headquarters being raided.

so many issues so much more important than kicking the hell out of this dead horse...

Right, well, Shamrocks! is user driven, so what the hell? The band is playing requests...

World Food Shortage:
There are a bunch of reasons for it, with certain interest groups saying its biofuels that are killing it (the right) and others saying its oil prices (the left), and I would tend to put it down to both, which is kind of sad anyways, I mean, if biofuels really could save the world, wouldn't the massive supply of biofuels actually decrease oil prices? Instead, they are driving prices higher as the need to actually harvest, grow and bring the biofuels to market actually uses more oil than the biofuel product produces as a replacement fuel.

Outstanding.

It's basically a eco-friendly driven subsidy to farmers, the most over subsidized people in the western world - Who just happen to vote for smaller government. Except if that means cutting subsidies.

Weapons being delivered to Zimbabwe
The fact that Zimbabwe is landlocked but still able to get deliveries of arms (sometimes from the oh-so-ronery Kim Jong-Il) tells you more about Zimbabwe's neighbours than anything. Commentators the world over tell us that Mbeki's silence on the issue is a travesty, but the problem for the ANC dinosaurs in S. Africa is their elephant's memory.

The remember a time during apartheid when Mugabe had their back each and every time, and stood up to the Afrikaaners and others for their treatment of black S. Africans, and supplied the resistance movement to the hilt. This is why S. Africa's ANC leaders balk at bad mouthing Mugabe.

Tibet and other China issues
I already talked about it here.

I think it's clear Tibet is historically a part of China, and even the Dalai Lama admits as much, but the treatment of Tibet has been nothing short of Mao-tastic (ie: horrible).

Net Neutrality

Companies that lobby for bills that allow them to destroy net neutrality while claiming the bills are for net neutrality would make me cynical about lobbyists except I'm already chock full of cynicism. It's like when the credit card companies in the states lobbied and had a bill passed that made defaulting on credit card debt in bankruptcy illegal.

Welcome to the new serfdom of easy credit, no bankruptcy, high interest and a culture that encourages excess.

Here's M.I.A. with a dope Yeah Yeah Yeah's type guitar riff in the back of Paper Planes:

I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait
--M.I.A.