One of the trademarks of the Glastonbury Festival has always been the mix of music - it's off the charts, it's eclectic and it's a perfect fit. True to the adage there's only two kinds of music in the world; good music and bad music, Glastonbury has, for decades, been that festival where all the good music gets to hang out together and show its stuff.

And in case you thought only UK artists and bands played there, you are so so wrong. One of the most popular artists to play on June 25th was the American Singer/Rapper Cee Lo Green. Delivering an electrifying performance, Green won a lot of fans (myself included) and took it to a whole new level.

Here's Bright Eyed, Big City from his June 25th Glasto performance, as played on the Lauren Laverne show from BBC 6 Music.

On this day in 1998, The Philippines were celebrating their newly sworn-in President former Box Office Attraction Joseph Estrada. Nobody in America seemed to be particularly taken by the nuance, since we'd weathered almost an entire decade with one. Still, Estrada had his work cut out for him. And Secretary General Kofi Annan paid a visit to the Military government of Nigeria in an attempt to get them interested in trying out Democracy for a change. Speaking of Hopeful, President Clinton while visiting China remarked that he was optimistic some form of improved relations could happen between the U.S. and Iran. Just exactly when and how was another story. Italy, however had no problems cozying up to the Iranians as Prime Minister Romano Prodi touched down in Tehran on a first-ever State visit by the Italian government.

Speaking of governments, the French were busy touting the results of their own-generated findings on Nuclear testing in the South Pacific. It seems, after some 190 nuclear tests, both above ground and below ground, the government proclaimed nothing harmful ever came of them and that radiation levels were so low they barely cracked the Geiger counter. Skeptics abounded and the likes of Greenpeace called the French somewhat less than realistic in their disclosures.

On the subject of disclosures, the UN IEAA were going back and forth on Nuclear inspections of various facilities being run in Baghdad getting ready to put the inspections on a low-key footing. It wasn't the nuclear weaponry they were so concerned about as much as all the chemicals they had lying around and those chemical warheads cammed with the nerve agent V-X they were rumored to have had, and that the Iraqi's were falling over themselves denying.

And this day in 1998 marked the one year anniversary since Britain handed over Hong-Kong to the Chinese. The one year celebration was considerably more low-key than the blow-out the previous year.

It also marked the opening in Frankfurt of the first European Central Bank in anticipation of the single currency of the EU. scheduled to come in the next year.

And that was June 30, 1998 as reported on the BBC World Service Newsdesk program.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser didn't do himself any favors with this interview by Fox6 in Madison Wisconsin today. Reporter Mike Lowe attempted to ask Prosser about the allegations that he grabbed fellow Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck.

Here's more from Fox6 -- EXCLUSIVE: FOX6 talks to four of the seven Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices:

Grabbing the microphone - and the spotlight. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser did both when FOX6's Mike Lowe attempted to speak with him about the serious allegations of a physical altercation with Justice Anne Walsh Bradley on Thursday.

Six of Wisconsin's Supreme Court Justices witnessed an alleged physical altercation between Prosser and Bradley in Bradley's chambers on June 13th. [...]

On Thursday, when FOX's Mike Lowe asked Justice Prosser about the alleged incident, he grabbed the FOX6 microphone and then gave it back. Prosser did not answer any of Mike Lowe's questions.

FOX6 News could not find Justice Bradley and she hasn't responded to requests for an interview. But Mike Lowe did speak with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, who witnessed the altercation.

Justice Abrahamson said, "This matter is under investigation by the sheriff's department and the judicial commission and let's wait and see how that turn out."

Justice Annette Ziegler did not answer questions Thursday either. She only told Mike Lowe, "I really don't have a comment so thank you very much. I hope you have a nice day."

The Dane County Sheriff's Department is conducting a criminal investigation and the Wisconsin Judicial Commission has opened an investigation to see if the Code of Judicial Conduct was violated.

Going viral, the First World Rap. Open thread below...

Here's some deep, dirty funk from Miles Davis' second wife and muse. Wicked.

There are times when I respond quite harshly to views that Chait writes for TNR which make my blood boil and then some time will pass and he'll write something I really enjoy so I link it up. And then he writes something like this: Give Coburn And Lieberman A Chance

My-head-hurts. Make it stop. Now if you'd rather read some intelligent writing on this, click here.

This afternoon, Glenn Beck broadcast his last Fox News show. We'll have some thoughts on the particulars in the morning. Meanwhile, I thought it might be useful to look back on his "greatest hits," as it were, and reflect on the mess he leaves behind:

Now, there are plenty of things to object to about Glenn's trainwreck of a career at Fox, particularly the noxious and yet little-noticed way he almost effortlessly mainstreamed extremist ideas and rhetoric, most recently with his full-bore descent into promoting John Birch Society conspiracism. Undoubtedly, Beck's relentless fearmongering and the vicious eliminationism of his rhetoric were important components of what made Beck so toxic. Media Matters has compiled an impressive list of the "50 Worst Things Glenn Beck Said On Fox News" that gives a pretty good rundown -- but is really only a start.

Ultimately, the worst damage he caused was to the shape of our national discourse -- from all these factors, but especially in the way he wrapped it up in a "zany" morning-zoo-show format, dragging that discourse down to the level of a prearranged pro-wrestling match.

Of course, he's planning to build on his apocalyptic cult, which is a disturbing prospect, no doubt. And Beck has been promising that his plans for Total World Domination will make us whining, mewling liberals "crap ourselves". We tremble in anticipatory fear.

Meanwhile, I'm drinking a nice cold beer and toasting his departure.

Here's some deep, dirty funk from Miles Davis' second wife and muse. Wicked.

To those of us observing, this comes as no surprise. A year ago I wrote about it here, and expanded on it here, here and here.

And now, Senator Schumer has hammered that home in this speech at EPI.

And we need to start asking ourselves an uncomfortable question – are Republicans slowing down the recovery on purpose for political gain in 2012? It's one thing for them to block programs they have always opposed. But when they start to contradict themselves by opposing programs they have supported—such as pro-business tax cuts—we are left to wonder.

Let's not forget – Senator McConnell made it clear last October that his number one priority, above everything else, is to defeat President Obama.

And now it is becoming clear that insisting on a slash-and-burn approach may be part of this plan – it has a double-benefit for Republicans: it is ideologically tidy and it undermines the economic recovery, which they think only helps them in 2012.

The result is that Republicans aren‘t just opposing the President any more. They are opposing the economic recovery itself – and all that means for America's working and middle class families.

It's about damn time someone called the naked emperor out. I am so tired of hearing the press memes about Obama this, Obama that, and how it's all going to land on the head of Obama. No. These crazy lunatics on the right are colluding with their corporate brothers to bring down this economy with the assistance of the media.

During the Bush administration the debt ceiling had to be raised several times. Note the difference in how it was covered from 2001-2008. The Beltway media was certainly willing to report an increase as a 'painful vote', but not one in question. There was never any question that the debt ceiling would be increased then. The only question then was whether the debt ceiling would be raised while the Bush tax cuts were cemented in at the same time. They were.

If we could possibly get the media to actually report what Republicans are doing -- bankrupting the country, stalling any economic growth for short-term Republican gains, keeping unemployment rates high by decimating the ranks of government employees, and more -- maybe there would be an opportunity to move past the stupid finger-pointing into some thoughtful debate about how wrong it is to keep tax rates low while the entire country suffers as a result.

Just one day after Senator Brown (R-Mass) had announced a baseball collectible card for his own fundraising it was pulled, presumably after Major League Baseball got wind of the idea. What is it with Republicans and trademark infringement? And also their inability to respect copyright laws? (Ed. See Michele Bachmann v. Tom Petty and countless other examples.)

From Fox25:

“Forget about Youk and Big Papi, Scott Brown is the latest craze in baseball cards. The Brown campaign is finding new ways to raise money for the junior senator’s re-election effort.

The cards, which are going for ten dollars on Brown’s campaign website, feature the Republican holding a bat, wearing a Red Sox hat and are described as ‘a unique collectable for your home or office.’ Brown already has more than eight million dollars in his campaign war chest.”

The link at Brown's site is still up and so is the solicitation for cash, but the picture of the baseball card is gone.