I’m just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everybody else’s. I’m sick of everybody that wants to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. It’s disgusting.
From Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
The Article: Number of Americans who believe Saddam-9/11 tie rises to 41 percent by Josh Catone in Raw Story.
The Text: A new Newsweek poll out this weekend exposed “gaps” in America’s knowledge of history and current events.
Perhaps most alarmingly, 41% of Americans answered ‘Yes’ to the question “Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?”
That total is actually up 5 points since September 2004.
Further, a majority of people couldn’t identify Saudia Arabia as the country of origin of most of the 9/11 hijackers, even given the question in multiple choice format. 20% answered Iraq, while 14% believed the hijackers came from Iran.
A majority (52%) believe the US is losing the war against al Qaeda, however Newsweek disagrees. In the magazine’s reporting of the poll, they made judgment that the US is in fact not “losing the fight against al-Qaeda or radical Islamic terrorism.”
Closer to home, 89% of Americans are unable to name the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (John Roberts), though a majority of those polled were able to name Nancy Pelosi as the current Speaker of the House.
A large majority of people said they didn’t know or didn’t care who the winner of this year’s American Idol competition was (or at least weren’t willing to admit it).
The full results of the Newsweek poll are available here.
The Analysis: Oh America, you’re so wonderful.
Prague, Czech Republic:
Ljubljana, Slovenia:
Bucharest, Romania:
Florence, Italy:
Rome, Italy:
For more European graffiti on PBH, see What I Saw On The Way To My First Day of Work and Graffiti from Barcelona.
The artist of the day is Justice [ myspace ] [ wikipedia ].
They are known for their remixes, and for continuing the French electronic-dance tradition in the footsteps of Daft Punk, who have the same manager.
D.A.N.C.E. (single off their newest album):
This song is apparently an homage to Michael Jackson, and there are a few Jackson references such as ABC and PYT that are pretty easy to pick up on. This song is really catchy, I’m groovin. The rest of the CD is darker, edging more into an industrial sound, but retaining the Daft Punk French disco sound. You used to be able to stream the CD off their myspace page, but htey seem to have taken it down. (BTW, Michael Jackson is a pretty awesome singer.)
Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends (Song that brought them fame):
This video won the MTV Europe award for Best Video. You might remember this award due to the fact that Kanye West pulled a Zoolander and interrupted the acceptance speech of the director.
Interview (in French):
Kanye West (d-bag):
