"Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that. "

A great Salon blog dealing first-hand with the mess in Venezuela right now. It's being fairly well ignored by mainstream media, which, considering Venezuela is one of our largest suppliers of oil, should seem odd in our current situation.

[via Salonika]

"It was time for someone to have a quiet word with Cheney. The president’s emissary was his national-security adviser, a trim 48-year-old woman with a wide, warm smile, a polite manner and an unmistakable steeliness. Meeting with the vice president at the White House, Condoleezza Rice was friendly and low key. Cheney’s speech, she blandly suggested, had been “interpreted” by the press in a way that might “limit the president’s options.” Rice waited for Cheney himself to suggest a solution. The veep said he was giving another speech in a couple of days. He would tone down the derisive language about inspectors and leave the door open for the United States to work through the United Nations. The newspapers duly noted the shift in the vice president’s tone, but Rice’s intercession did not leak."

A good story in Newsweek about Bush's enforcer in the White House, Denver Univeristy's own Condoleezza Rice.  I've been fairly impressed with what appears to be her firm control over the hawks of Cheney/Wolfowitz's camp, and the more dovish Powell supporters.  Is there some hope in this administration?

"Billy Martin has split duty as drummer/percussionist for the wildly popular and successful jazz groove trio Medeski Martin and Wood, and he runs his own label, Amulet, that specializes in "the art of percussion, avant-garde and beyond..."

Billy also records for Amulet under the name "illy B," and has a smoking breakbeats, scratches and remix CD out called Drop the Needle. He's a busy, creative guy.

With help from our friends and readers, we interviewed Billy "illyB" Martin for Blogcritics:"

Billy Martin answers the questions posed in the interview mentioned here.