"UNITED NATIONS - Iraq unconditionally accepted the return of U.N. weapons inspectors late Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

"I can confirm to you that I have received a letter from the Iraqi authorities conveying its decision to allow the return of inspectors without conditions to continue their work.""

Great news, but lets see how the Bushies react.  It would seem that this would put off any impending action for a fair amount of time.  Assuming, of course, that all the talk about Saddam having weapons of mass destruction isn't just a front for the Bushies desire to seize Iraqi oil fields.

"ABC has made a last-minute addition to its fall lineup: the hit USA Network drama "Monk," starring Tony Shalhoub as an obsessive-compulsive cop. Following a successful summer experiment, the struggling network will make repeats of "Monk" a regular part of the its schedule for two months, starting Sept. 26. It will air Thursdays at 8 p.m. - opposite NBC's "Friends" and CBS's "Survivor" - as a lead-in to ABC's much-hyped reality/drama hybrid "Push, Nevada.""

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  I've been enjoying Monk, as I've mentioned here before, but I don't see it surviving against "Must See TV."  This would seem to be an attempt to shovel some of the viewers ABC was surprised to pick up with Monk into Push, Nevada.  Oh well, at least its still on USA.

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"Record companies see it as mutiny. Musicians call it an overdue rebellion. Either way, the artists' rights movement has set the stage for combat that could revolutionize the music industry."

Its good to see some big-name artists bringing these issues to light.  Some of their concerns mentioned in the article:

• Placing caps on contract length to allow artists greater flexibility
• Reforming accounting practices which screw the artists.  A good quote from the article describing current practices: "an entrenched system whose prowess and conniving makes Enron look like amateur hour."
• Health and pension benefits so great artists aren't living their last years sick and penniless
• Letting artists own the music, rather than "the bank still own[ing] the house after the mortgage is paid"
• Getting payola out of the music business, thereby making the Clearchannel's of the world a little less powerful

The final paragraph surprised me as well, considering the big-booted, carbon-dated career of Keith Richards and his bandmate:

"We're on the threshold of a whole new system," says Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. "The time where accountants decide what music people hear is coming to an end. Accountants may be good at numbers, but they have terrible taste in music. I don't know how I'm going to get paid, but I'd rather go out into the brave new world than live with dinosaurs that are far too big for their boots."

All-in-all, its good to see the artists trying to reform the system from within.  Because for all the screaming customers do about CD prices, lack of easy digital downloads and such, the artists are the only ones that have a real chance at killing off the middle-man.

[via Slashdot]

"When excerpts of the document first appeared in the New York Times in the spring of 1992, it created quite a stir. Sen. Joe Biden, now chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was particularly outraged, calling it a prescription for "literally a Pax Americana," an American empire.

The details contained in the draft of the Defense Planning Guidance(DPG) were indeed startling.

The document argued that the core assumption guiding U.S. foreign policy in the 21st century should be the need to establish permanent U.S. dominance over virtually all of Eurasia. "

More on Cheney & Friends Grand Strategy for the world.  This draft was written in the course of their official government duties, as opposed to the New American Century document.  The original draft was leaked to the New York Times, and an article published on March 8, 1992.  Unfortunately, the Times web archive only goes back to 1996.  I'm working on finding a copy of it somewhere.