Zimbabwe, Gnarls Barkley

I don't really know what to say about Zimbabwe. Clearly, Mugabe is destroying the country and its residents. Slow, economic death with no efforts to reverse it isn't any less contemptible than any other form of oppression. Of course, we can't just march into a sovereign state and tell it how to run its elections. (hint.) We ALSO can't keep tiptoeing around Zimbabwe and Sudan and everywhere else, exposing our hypocrisy over our post-WWII "Never again!" posturing. A Problem from Hell, indeed. I guess the UN is supposed to save us from these urges to reconstruct regimes, Geneva-Convention-Violating-Style, right? right? Wrong.

"when the United Nations Security Council considered Zimbabwe, South Africa, the region’s most powerful nation and president of the council at the time, opposed sending an envoy to Zimbabwe, saying the situation there was not a threat to international peace." Bureaucracy at work! Answers, anybody?

Also, an outbreak of enterovirus is sweeping across China.

But, the new Gnarls Barkley album is a lot of fun. I guess its not that new, like a month old, but because they didnt have some infectious single like "Crazy" i barely heard about it. But that's stupid, because "Run" and Going On" are perfectly single-worthy. Meanwhile the album is cohesive and progressive, which is a credit to Cee-Lo's fantastic (and soulful) voice, Dangermouse's production (much more subtle than the last album and less reliant on the "cut-up" sounds that were previously a stamp of his work) as well as their combined weirdo sci-fi-esque sensibilities. My one complaint about most r&b/soul stuff is its monotony, and frankly, lack of fun, and this album proudly suffers from neither of those problems. Buy it for your next house party.