Word: backgrounders
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worst music | Michael Jackson It was supposed to be the new, relevant M.J., but Invincible arrived with the same shots at the paparazzi, cheesy rap cameos and creepy children's choirs in the background that marked his decline. Jackson did break some ground, shattering the record for artistic egomania by holding two tribute concerts to himself in September...
...opposite extreme from this image is Signac's wonderful and bizarre Portrait of Felix Feneon, Opus 217, 1890-91--the fox-jawed face with its little tuft of beard in profile, the hand holding a cyclamen, against a madly spiraling background of fruit-jelly abstract forms. The dandified, loony energy of Feneon's argot-filled writing seems impacted into that background, even though its source is a Japanese kimono pattern. My, you think, those guys must have had some laughs together. Which they...
...shortly before their arrest. Members of al-Qaeda could still be operating in the United States and could still be planning terrorist attacks, and the FBI wanted to find out what kind of firepower they had. The federal government keeps records of gun purchases for 90 days after the background check, and a limited search found that at least two detainees had recently bought guns. But John Ashcroft’s Justice Department has forbidden the FBI from examining the rest of the records and is now trying to have them all destroyed...
...Ashcroft tried to amend the law, but his amendment was defeated. Now the attorney general is seeking to change the law on his own by refusing to enforce it, preventing the FBI from accessing the information and attempting to have all the records destroyed 24 hours after the background check is completed...
...federal government normally keeps the records from recent background checks for 90 days, for (among other purposes) “investigating, prosecuting, and/or enforcing violations of criminal or civil law.” There could be no more appropriate use of the records than to investigate and prevent acts of terrorism. Even if Ashcroft were right and if current law prevented the FBI from using the records, that law can be changed. The Justice Department has repeatedly asked Congress for more flexibility in wiretapping and other matters, and there’s no reason to leave gun purchases...