Youtube has recently changed it’s default embed format.

The older format had a default video embed width of, in most cases, 425 pixels.

The new format, which you now get when you grab “embed” code from a youtube page, has a default width of in most cases 640 pixels, and in some cases even wider, up to about 960 pixels.

If you just copy and paste video embed code from the youtube site to DD, you WILL break the page here.

Youtubes wider than 500 pixels are too wide for the essay column on the pages at DD, and it breaks the sidebars by ‘pushing’ them out to the right to accommodate a youtube wider than the banner at the top which is the width of the essay column.

When you embed a youtube it will be a lot easier on this site, and on your eyes and everyone elses, if you resize it to a something like 500 pixels wide. (see example below)

The DD banner at the top is 580 pixels wide, so you can easily see what will happen to the pages here if you post a youtube wider than that.

Willie Nelson’s Band Members Charged with Drug & Alcohol Possession in North Carolina

On January 28, 2010, six members of Willie Nelson’s band were charged with possession of illegal drugs and alcohol. In a news conference on Friday, Duplin County district attorney Dewey Hudson said the substances have been sent to Raleigh for testing.

Hudson has been under pressure to drop the charges against the band members, but he has refused to do so. He has said that he has to show that famous people are not above the law.

Band members gave officers permission to search the bus after an officer smelled marijuana when he walked near the bus. The search was done prior to a concert in Kenansville. Nelson canceled the concert after the citations, claiming that his hand was injured and he wouldn’t be able to play his guitar. Willie Nelson was not on the bus at the time of the bust.

The six band members are charged with possession of either marijuana or untaxed liquor. The citations are specifically for possession of moonshine and a misdemeanor amount of marijuana.

District Attorney Hudson’s primary critic is state Senator Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin. Albertson has argued for marijuana to be made legal and uses the argument that alcohol is believed to be just as dangerous as pot and is legal. He also recorded a country music song about the case titled, ‘Leave the Man Alone’. In his song, he criticizes Alcohol Law Enforcement agents and the Nelson band members charges.

Hudson is currently running for the state Senate.

Nelson’s publicist has not commented on the case. The Nelson band members are scheduled to face charges of drug & alcohol possession in North Carolina on April 21, 2010.

From Ron Paul’s Youtube Channel, 07 April 2010: “A coalition of neocons, oil industry executives and religious extremists want to redraw the boundaries of the Middle East. But it’s not going to turn out the way they want: Afghanistan is a no-win situation, and reports of war crimes and torture continue to do irreparable harm to America’s reputation all around the world.”

Fox News Anchor:

The Authorization to Use Military Force which Congress enacted shortly after 9/11 is clearly unconstitutional. It has no target. It has no end. No one can concede defeat. No one can surrender. It permits every future president to attack whoever he or she wants, for what ever reason he or she wants, wherever they want to go.

Joining me now is… Congressman Ron Paul.

If you count all the people unemployed or under employed in the US today, you have a population of almost thirty million.

A country about the size of Canada.

…

In this episode of FaultLines we explore Washington’s failure of imagination in dealing with unemployment, and we visit places where creative experiments in job creation are emerging from the grassroots.

Real News Network – April 9, 2010 – 23 min 30 sec

Out of work in the US

Al Jazeera: Tens of millions of Americans unemployed are a ‘social state of emergency’

More on Seeing: American Exceptionalism

While State Department attempts to sell the world that the inauguration of a new president in Honduras has brought an end to the country’s crisis, the continuing assassinations of anti-coup activists and their children stands as sharp evidence to the contrary. Video includes interviews with Father Ismael “Melo” Moreno, director of Honduras’ Radio Progreso, and Adrienne Pine, anthropologist from American University and Honduras expert.

Produced by Jesse Freeston.

Real News Network – April 07, 2010

U.S. covering up reality in Honduras

State Department campaign denies the systemic repression that continues,

nine months after coup

There are varying reports this morning that the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan may have been or has been attacked.

Stratfor has this:

One attacker was able to blow up in the U.S. Consulate premises, AAJ TV reported April 5. The front side of the U.S. Consulate has been totally destroyed. Reports of seven or eight security personnel in the Consulate are dead. The Consulate’s communication system is down.

Three explosions, two rocket attacks and subsequent gunfire have been reported in the near vicinity of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 5. The attack occurred early afternoon local time when the consulate would have been full of both American and local employees. The death toll is reported at 36 but is expected to rise.

There are no assessments yet of the damage that the consulate building has sustained, but reports indicate that the explosions led to the collapse of other, adjacent buildings. Pakistani soldiers are also reported to be engaging militants in gunfire, indicating that militants are actively engaged in an attack near the area – possibly with the intention of breaching the U.S. consulate.

Many U.S. diplomatic missions (including the one in Peshawar) have a number of built in security features, such as a perimeter wall, ample stand-off distance between the buildings and the wall, reinforced concrete structure and windows and marines stationed inside to ward off attacks. While militant activity in the tribal belt of northwest Pakistan has led to regular attacks against targets of the Pakistani state, today’s assault against the consulate is an extremely rare direct attack on a U.S. target.

STRATFOR is monitoring the situation for more details.