I love Bjork:

“Did she really just say that?”

That was the question on the lips of my fellow concertgoers at the rousing March 2 Björk show in Shanghai, after the Icelandic singer’s finale performance of the track “Declare Independence.” An impassioned, angry anthem from the recent Volta, the lyrics—“Don’t let them do that to you,” “Protect your language,” and “Raise your flag”—were given an extra charge when, while the backing brass band lulled, Björk whispered close to the microphone, “Tibet, Tibet.”

Such a direct call for Tibetan independence is a shocking gesture by a visiting artist to China, which has ruled its westernmost region since 1951. Although activists argue that Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is the rightful ruler, such discussion is taboo. Indeed, state-run media did not report on Björk’s verboten murmurings, though Chinese language message boards lit up. One typical fan, as translated by the media source, Danwei, asked, “Wow, the nerve! Where’d she get the courage to do this?”

China, as you can imagine, is not happy:

A statement by China’s Culture Ministry said Bjork’s outburst “broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings.”

Bjork shouted “Tibet!” after a passionate performance of her song “Declare Independence” on Sunday. The outburst drew rare public attention inside China to Beijing’s often harsh rule over the Himalayan region.

The statement, posted on the Culture Ministry’s Web site, also said “there is no country that admits that Tibet is an ‘independent country.’”

Shanghaiist has a roundup of reactions.

These people are seriously unhinged. They remind me of the Lyndon LaRouche supporters who used to leaflet my neighborhood near Johnson Space Center in the 1980’s.

Some say O’Reilly threw a punch while others say he pushed Nicholson. Either way, it sounds like things got ugly in Nashua New Hampshire:

The incident was triggered when O’Reilly–with a Fox News crew shooting–was screaming at Obama National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson “Move” so he could get Obama’s attention, according to several eyewitnesses. “O’Reilly was yelling at him, yelling at his face,” a photographer shooting the scene said.

O’Reilly grabbed Nicholson’s arm, said “move” and shoved him, another eyewitness said. Nicholson, who is 6′8 said O”Reilly called him “low class.”

Secret Service agents came after O’Reilly pushed Nicholson and the agents flanked O’Reily.

Nicholson claims that O’Reilly shoved him several times:

An aide to Barack Obama said talk-show host Bill O’Reilly shoved him several times at the rope line after a campaign event today.

Marvin Nicholson, Obama’s trip director, said the commentator from Fox News Channel pushed him and called him “low class” after Nicholson refused to get out of the way of his cameraman’s shot.

“I’ve worked two campaigns, and I’ve never had a member of the press lay hands on a staff member before,” Nicholson said.

The Factor should be a hoot.

Update 4:47 PM CST:
Gateway Pundit has a photo of the standoff.

Update 4:30 PM CST:
Added video of an O’Reilly interview. Bill’s version is that he “gently removed” Nicholson because he was blocking the Fox camera.

Others Blogging

Firedoglake
Jonah Goldberg predicted it. Glen Reynolds nodded in sage assent. The campaign of Barack Obama will inevitably lead to violence on the campaign trail. ” I seriously think certain segments of American political life will become completely unhinged,” said Goldberg. We scoffed. And yet — it has come to pass

Crooks and Liars
SO BillO thinks he’s above the rest of the press corp and caused a violent incident. FOX calls Marvin —Obama’s body guy. The guy that is always beside Barack Obama. Is Bill O’Reilly going to be stalking any of the Republican candidates today?

Daily Kos
Funny how a big bully like Bill O’Reilly thinks of a taller guy doing his job as “low class.” To the point: Obama refuses to play O’Reilly’s rigged game, and the animosity dates back over a year.

The New York Observer describes the unusual video:

In the vid, Mr. Beck, unshaven and emotionally on edge, speaks directly to the camera for more than seven long minutes about his recent surgery (for what? it’s unclear), how it went awry, and how he was left on the brink of suicide as a result. Mr. Beck, while tearing up at times, called the weekend hospitalization “one of the darkest moments” of his life, spoke of “drug-induced” visions, and said the experience could have been a scene from the horror movie Saw.

“By Saturday night, if they would have come into the room with a handgun and said, ‘okay we can give you some more medication or we can give you this handgun, and you can go ahead and blow your brains out’ I would have honestly taken a handgun at that point and ended it,” said Mr. Beck.

I guess we’ll learn more once he gets back to work:

Well it all started out fine. How it all ended with me in the hospital for 5 days and sent home with patches they give people (I found out later) who are at ‘end of life’ for pain is a journey I would like to forget, but know I won’t anytime soon. Today, New Years Day, is the first time since Christmas that I have been able to even attempt to play with the kids so, needless to say, I am not going to make it back for broadcast this week.

We should see Glenn back on air Monday.

Others Blogging:

Hot Air
He’s always been the “eccentric” of the conservative punditocracy. This won’t do anything to change that. Poor guy; sounds like a bad acid trip with stabbing pain on top.

Gawker
We wish him a speedy recovery, obv, and are excited to see what his righteous, Raymond Chandlerian doctor-hatred will bring forth when he returns to the air. Also we are very seriously (or perhaps ghoulishly) curious as to what the hell this is all about.

The incredibly obnoxious Ted Rall leads the pack with this gem:

“Over time, however, the endless war in Iraq began to play a role in natural selection. Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared.”

Visit Right Wing News for another 39 obnoxious quotes from the likes of George Soros, Scott Ritter, Ray Nagin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Joy Behar, and others.

A sad story - if it’s true:

Actor Owen Wilson was hospitalized after attempting suicide, sources tell the NATIONAL ENQUIRER and Star magazine exclusively.

Wilson was transported to St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica , Calif. on Sunday, August 26, by ambulance. Sources tell the ENQUIRER and Star that he sliced his left wrists and took an indeterminate amount of pills.

He was discovered by a family member who summoned help.

Police and an ambulance responded to a 911 call from Owen’s house around noon on Sunday.

Luke Wilson’s suicide attempt scene in The Royal Tenenbaums comes to mind.

If I watched TV I’d be a “24″ fanatic - well at least up until next season:

The political left and the political right are going to meet on Fox’s “24″ this coming season.

Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo, an outspoken liberal, is set to co-star on the conservative-leaning real-time drama, whose co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow jokingly describes himself as a “right-wing nut job.”

On the Imagine TV/20th Century Fox TV series, Garofalo will play a government agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.

I expect Garofalo’s character to be as shrill, preachy, deluded, and downright annoying as the actress herself. I couldn’t see her taking this role unless the producers agreed to let her be the voice of dissent that serves to balance Jack Bauer’s aggressiveness. Well, screw that. “24″ became a hit because it’s a rare escape from politically correct moonbattery. These producers are just adding more suck in a cynical (and largely uninteresting) attempt to create controversy. No thanks.

Others Blogging:

Blogs.4Bauer
Was Carrot Top busy?

Blue Star Chronicles
I don’t think even the looney left watch Janeane Garofalo in anything. Does she even have an audience? I know I can’t stand to watch her in anything. I’d rather get my teeth drilled.

Political Vindication
WTF!!!! First we here that the global warming fraud is going to be introduced into the mix, now it’s Janeane Garofalo… are you frickin kidding me? Garofalo is not even worth the toilet paper I waste in my bathroom. You guys over at Fox are breaking my heart.

Axis of Right
They’re supposed to be trying some new things this season to keep it fresh since Season 6 ended with a thud, but their fixes sound very PC, confusing, and certainly not encouraging to fans like me. Maybe next season will be great, but it’s increasingly looking like the shark will have been sufficiently jumped by season’s end.

Dan Rhiel
I could tolerate 24 going carbon neutral as part of Fox’s corporate nonsense, but Janeane Garofalo?? Janeane Garo-friggin’-falo … because of a lackluster season? Garofalo couldn’t add luster to a car finish with wax and a wet Tee shirt. Stick a fork in 24, it’s done.

All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, a Latin American dictator to hang with, and I’m fine.

“Sean Penn is in Venezuela,” Chavez said over national television. “I spoke with him by telephone and will see him” tomorrow.

“He came by himself on a commercial airliner,” he said. On Tuesday, Penn “walked the neighbourhoods of Caracas,” Chavez said.

He said that tomorrow, the 2003 Oscar-winning actor of “Mystic River” visited Barlovento, 100 kilometres east of Caracas.

Penn “is moved by his conscience, in search of new pathways,” Chavez said.

Snuggling up to Chavez is profitable - dictators know how to handle friends and enemies:

Chavez also recently welcomed US actor Danny Glover to Venezuela and gave him 18 million dollars to finance a film on Haitian independence leader Toussaint Louverture.

Wow. This whole thing is just nuts:

Screaming and crying, Paris Hilton was escorted out of a courtroom and back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that she must serve out her entire 45-day sentence behind bars rather than in her Hollywood Hills home.

“It’s not right!” shouted the weeping Hilton, who violated her parole in a reckless driving case. “Mom!” she called out to her mother in the audience.

Hilton, who was brought to court in handcuffs in a sheriff’s car, came into the courtroom disheveled and weeping, hair askew, sans makeup, wearing a gray fuzzy sweat shirt over slacks.

She cried throughout the hearing, her body shook constantly and she dabbed at her eyes. Several times she turned to her parents, seated behind her in the courtroom, and mouthed, “I love you.”

I can’t say I feel sorry for her. She has the maturity of a four year old, her moral compass is totally squirrely, and 45 days in county (with preferential treatment) is completely survivable. Welcome to reality Paris. It can uncomfortable at times but most of us find a way to cope without access to the same privileges and resources that you have at your disposal.

TMZ has a photo of Paris Hilton sobbing in the back of a police cruiser.

Bloggers React:

Misunderestimation
Well, maybe celebrities are not above the law after all…

I’ll admit it. I’m actually offended by this:

Hilton must wear a monitoring bracelet and remain at her home for another 40 days, said sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Medical considerations “played a part” in the decision to offer Hilton home confinement for the remainder of her sentence, Whitmore said. (Watch Whitmore detail Hilton’s deal Video)

He said privacy rules prohibited him from giving details about the medical issues, but celebrity Web site TMZ.com earlier quoted sources saying Hilton was refusing to eat much of the jail food served her.

Although it generally pains me to agree with Al Sharpton (via Drudge) it’s difficult not to in this case:

Though I have nothing but empathy for Ms. Hilton whom I have met and appeared with on Saturday Night Live the night I hosted in 2003, this early release gives all of the appearances of economic and racial favoritism that is constantly cited by poor people and people of color. There are any number of cases of people who handle being incarcerated badly and even have health conditions that are not released.

I have served several sentences for civil rights and civil disobedience actions and I even fasted which caused health concerns to prison authorities who paid for a doctor to come see me daily rather than release me. This act smacks of the double standards that many of us raise.

Is it an issue of race? Not really, but it’s almost certainly a class issue. Wealth is a factor but I’d bet that celebrity is playing a far larger role in her release. Officials should have known that their actions, and flimsy excuses, would undermine the credibility of our justice system. They should be held accountable. The sentencing judge seems to agree:

The judge who sentenced Paris Hilton to jail and the prosecutor who pressed for her incarceration objected Thursday to her early release for an unspecified medical condition.

“The judicial process may have been improperly circumvented in this case,” said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. “This explanation is puzzling. Los Angeles County jail medical facilities are well-equipped to deal with medical situations involving inmates.”

As does defense attorney Steve Cron:

Cron said that whether or not Hilton was treated fairly, the outcome doesn’t reflect well on the criminal justice system.

“I’m proud of the system and this makes the system look cheap,” Cron said. “It makes it look like she’s a celebrity and she got a sweetheart deal. It will further the perception that celebrities are treated differently.”

Update:
People are outraged and L.A. officials are getting a beatdown:

Los Angeles government officials are being bombarded with e-mail from Americans enraged by the early jail release of Paris Hilton. A sampling of correspondence received this morning by members of the city’s ruling Board of Supervisors can be found below. The 25 letters on the following pages appear representative of the thousands of missives flooding government officials in the wake of yesterday morning’s release of Hilton, 26, from a county lockup. The letters blast Sheriff Lee Baca’s decision to spring the heiress after only three days in custody, with one correspondent wondering how much Hilton’s family paid to secure her release. To no surprise, the word “travesty” appears in many of the letters.