Tuesday digest

- Nothing like a reality check on good ol' Che Guevara, hero of the malleable undergraduate. More here.

- Newt Gingrich is coming under a lot of fire for candidly discussing the decline of Motown. If there was ever a place that was begging for reform, that would have to be it, but do you expect the unions and race-baiters which make up the establishment of that community (and I use that term loosely) to do anything other than cry "I'm offended"?

Transcript here.

- A very interesting look at the oil supply, here.

- The CRTC (our government agency here in Canada that controls the airwaves) is imposing a requirement on a burgeoning Christian radio station to give over an hour a day of time to other religious faiths to satisfy a "balance" requirement.

I have three questions:

a) What is precluding members of these other faiths from starting up their own radio stations?
b) In the absence of these other efforts, why is the government forcing some other guy who has laid out the cash, time and effort to launch his own radio station, and isn't even a member of those other faiths, to do what people of those faiths won't do on their own?
c) Would the Canadian state impose a similar requirement for Christian points of view on, say, an Islamic radio station?

- Another reason why Metallica is best ignored these days: guitarist Kirk Hammett says that the most important moment of their career is probably not their first #1 album, debuting as a headliner, or even putting together the the comeback from the widely-held-as-absolutely-craptacular St. Anger album and the embarassing pity party, "Some Kind of Monster", which one hopes they are focused on right now.

No, in fact, likely the most important moment in their over 25-year existence according to Hammett is quite possibly their performance at Live Earth. Sayeth he: "You know, if we can make that much of a difference, and make that much change, by all means. Because I love the Earth, I love the environment, I love nature. And it's so important."

Hey, at least he believes, and that's the most important thing, right?

- Things that annoy:

Use of the word "frick".

Those new cellular ringtones that sound like the type of rotary outfit that your doctor's office used to have with the series of clear buttons on the bottom with one red one. Hey, asshole - the set of the Johnny Carson Show called, they want their phone back, and by virtue of having your volume set to 8, you will never be understated or subtle enough to be considered a renaissance man, so just give it up already.

Being accosted by Amnesty International activists on the streets of downtown Ottawa asking me if I have a "few minutes for human rights". Actually, no, I don't, because I'm trying to quickly grab a sub so I can get back to my desk and do some work, thank you very much, you holier-than-thou, left-wing John Bircher.