How depressing! I've been relying on the English version of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for news of Germany, and in general, a view from "the continent" of world news. They've decided it no longer makes economic sense to publish it, so yesterday was the last day.

Interesting item from my web statistics...

Given that I'm very unhappy about the behavior of Israel towards the Palestinians and the Occupied Territories, it's funny that my site shows up first on a Google search of sexy israelis.

NY Diocese Made $997,500 Sex Abuse Settlement

The confidential $997,500 settlement, the latest revelation in the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church, fell just short of the $1 million ceiling above which the Albany diocese would have been required to get consent of its finance council, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

While talking about the Dixon Place Queer Hot Festival, I mentioned that Armen Ra was one of the performers. (See Musto on her.) She performs on the theremin, which is a pretty fascinating instrument invented in 1919.

While contemplating that such an amazing piece of musical technology was invented so long ago, I started to think about the conundrum that is America. What has made us great is the ability to ignore history and forge ahead, more than any culture in history. However, I think this "ahistorical" attitude is also our biggest weakness. We're like children, thinking that each thing we discover is the first time anyone ever thought of it. If we had any idea what other cultures have accomplished, from the Romans, to post-war Europe, which created great welfare states capable of providing basic healthcare for everyone (in countries devastated by war), we could learn from those achievements and build on them.

My mother learned that her birthday (July 6) is shared with our duly selected president. She has announced:

I refuse to celebrate July 6 anymore.

David Beckham's face appears on Jaffa Cake.

Today's mullet haiku, courtesy of Mark Morford:

Oh you hot mama
In your white jeans and teased hair
Come see Ratt with me

Early 90s flashback time at east coast/west coast.

Get them while they're hot: Jesus Inspirational Sport Statues. I think I'll take the ballet one on page two. I hadn't realized it was a sport.

I'm not writing much on the blog, as I have an icky sinus thing and the drugs are making me incoherent. Here are two recent posts on other blogs that I've enjoyed:

Choire

mr. trinity

Matthew Engel of The Guardian, on Fifty ways to love America.

I think I better plan my trip to Sicily soon. This might change it, and not necessarily for the better.

From the Times of London:

They have endured taunts from male colleagues and abuse from passengers, but the army of women drivers recruited by the London Underground have proved that they are better than men at making Tube trains run on time.

The number of women driving Tube trains has almost doubled in the past year, and managers believe that their influence has helped to end a culture of absenteeism and militancy in the workforce.

For the first time last month, London Underground recorded a week in which none of its 5,000 peak trains were cancelled because a driver had failed to turn up for work.

A letter by James made the NY Daily News' Voice of the People section.