Dispatches From the Culture Wars – Champagne Toast edition

Lords take a stand; Michael’s protest single is back; D’Angelo carries it on; Wall Street’s generosity; GOP Cuba snit; Woody sez

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Since 2010, the Lords has bought in 17,000 bottles of champagne, enough for five for every peer,Oli Scarff/Getty Images


Champagne Wars in the Lords as Peers Say No to a Cheaper Vintage

By Daniel Boffey
December 6, 2014
The Observer

It has emerged that a proposal to save taxpayers some money by making peers and MPs share a catering department has been rejected “because the Lords feared that the quality of champagne would not be as good if they chose a joint service”.
The disclosure, made last week by Sir Malcolm Jack, clerk of the Commons between 2006 and 2011, as he gave evidence to a governance committee examining how the palace of Westminster should be run, was met with gasps and open laughter. The astonished chair of the committee, former home secretary Jack Straw, asked: “Did you make that up? Is that true?” Jack responded: “Yes, it is true.”
 

Sony Hack Re-ignites Questions about Michael Jackson's Banned Song “They Don’t Care About Us”

By D.B. Anderson
December 17, 2014
D.B. Anderson’s blog

As the Black Lives Matter movement grew in reaction to the lack of indictments in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Michael Jackson's 1995 song "They Don't Care About Us" was resurrected at the grass roots level in many cities including Ferguson, New York, and California.
"They Don't Care About Us" was Jackson's statement against abuse of power and the political corruption that enabled it. Two key events inspired the song:
In 1992, five white police officers who stood trial in Los Angeles for the videotaped beating of Rodney King were found not guilty by a jury with no African American members. Then, as now, there were riots and protests about longstanding policies of racial profiling and systemic police brutality.
The following year, Jackson, who had not been charged with any crime, was forced to undergo a humiliating 25 minute strip search by the same LAPD. The Santa Barbara District Attorney and police detectives arrived at Jackson's home in Los Olivos, California with a photographer who documented his private parts on film.

Questlove Asked Artists To Get Political. D’Angelo Just Responded.

By Carimah Townes
December 15, 2014
ThinkProgress

2014 was a particularly difficult year for many people in search of societal justice. Most recently the nation turned its eye toward the epidemic of taking black lives with impunity, and musicians have largely stayed quiet. That silence inspired Questlove to take to Instagram and call on all musicians and artists to be more politically and socially conscious in their work.
D’Angelo took heed of Questlove’s plea in a big way last night, when he dropped a politically-charged album, Black Messiah. In doing so, he simultaneously released an album that fans have been waiting 14 years for and used his art to verbalize collective exhaustion with systematic injustice, disenchantment, and hope for a better future. It was almost as if Questlove, who collaborated with D’Angelo on the album, was foreshadowing the album’s necessity.

The Wall Street Takeover of Charity

By Jesse Eisinger
December 10, 2014
ProPublica

Donor-advised funds run by huge money management firms are exploding.
People aren't literally giving to these companies. They are setting up accounts at these firms and then disbursing the money, advising on which charities get how much.
The idea of the funds was to make it easier for individuals to give to charity. People could drop money into the account during flush times, and donate as they see fit, not in a panicked rush to meet the Dec. 31 deadline for contributions.
So far, this has turned out to be a bad deal for society.

2016 Presidential Campaign Kicks Off With Two Grown Men Fighting Over Cuba

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By Igor Bobic
December 19, 2014
Huffington Post

A dispute between two possible presidential candidates escalated on Friday around the topic of newly opened diplomatic relations with Cuba, and the latest jabs took place on -- where else -- the Internet.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took to Twitter and Facebook to lambaste Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who claimed Thursday on Fox News that his fellow Senate Foreign Relations Committee member "has no idea what he's talking about" on Cuba. Paul came out in support of the Obama administration, which reached a historic accord with the communist island that included the release of U.S. Agency for International Development worker Alan Gross.
The spat highlights a fissure in the Republican party, and is a sign of things to come should both senators decide to run for the White House. But it's not the first time the two have tangled over foreign policy. Last year, Rubio delivered a speech in Paul's home state in which he passionately made the case against isolationism -- a philosophy the libertarian senator from Kentucky has flirted with in the past.

Woody Guthrie's New Year's Resolutions

By Cory Doctorow
December 31, 2013
Boing Boing

Woody Guthrie's New Year's resolutions from 1942/43 are just great. I came for the doodles, stayed for the heartfelt sentiment, humanity and wisdom.