Italian song "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro" in Heineken commercial

1965 hit in American TV commercial continues use of popular European songs as soundtracks

Viva la pa-pa-pappa / Col po-po-po-po-po-po-pomodoro The beer brewer Heineken has used an Italian song, "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro," popularised in 1965 by the singer Rita Pavone as the soundtrack to a cute new commercial. "Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro" was also recorded by the European superstar Dalida. Here is the version of the song, recorded by Rita Pavone, which is used in the Heineken commercial. In 2013, a TV commercial campaign by Google for its Chromecast Web video and music interface for HDTV units used an instrumental version of one of French pop singer Dalida's most successful songs, "La Danse de Zorba," which, in turn, was a cover of Mikis Theodorakis's "Zorbas." Another 2013 major TV commercial for an American product used a hit French song for its soundtrack. Verizon Android Island commercial used "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack. Still yet another 2013 TV commercial, this time for Netflix, used a song, "Hey Now," from one of French pop music's most successful disk jockeys, Martin Solveig. Solveig's hit, recorded in English, shows the broadening appeal of European music in English-speaking cultures.

RELATED Heineken | The Match, UEFA Champions League Commercial 2015 (YouTube) Dalida. Viva la pappa ! (YouTube) ♫ Rita Pavone ♪ Viva La Pappa Col Pomodoro ♫ Video & Audio Restaurati (YouTube)

Obama's obsession with NSA spying costing US corporations contracts, profits, and jobs

Are we watching the sunset of the U.S. technology industry ?

RELATED Citing Security Concerns Amid U.S. Spying Disclosures, German Government Ends Verizon Contract (The Wall Street Journal)

FOLLOWING REPORTS THAT the U.S. technology giant and National Security Agency partner Verizon was providing Internet services to the German Parliament, the German public exploded in outrage at the possibly of having their government's national security and privacy rights further violated by the U.S. government and by its technology partners. After NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the corrupt and unconstitutional spying programs of the United States, including by U.S. technology partners such as Verizon, the German government was forced to terminate its technology contract with Verizon. It's not yet known the size of the financial loss to Verizon, or how many jobs will be lost as a result of the canceled German government technology contract. Many U.S. technology firms are having to privately grapple with the economic and political backlash to the on-going cooperation between U.S. technology firms and the U.S. spy agency. "Microsoft Corp. General Counsel Brad Smith said last week the business troubles stemming from the Snowden leaks were "getting worse, not better." Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers has said the disclosures have hurt sales in China. AT&T Inc. executives have said some of their international customers were being urged by overseas competitors to use non-American service providers." -- WSJ Last winter, Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg called President Barack Obama to complain about the NSA spying programs. Mr. Zuckerberg's leaked his displeasure to the public as a growing movement of activists are exposing Facebook for its corrupt ''like'' advertising programs and for the creepy cyberstalking policies it carries out against its members, in addition to Facebook's role in being a core source for NSA surveillance activities. Although the obstacles facing Facebook may be unique to its own troubled business premise, the reality is that many U.S. technology giants, including social media companies, are facing real political and economic blowback as a result of questions being raised by each of foreign governments and foreign businesses about the trustworthiness of U.S.-based sources for NSA spying and hacking, such as Verizon and Facebook. Not only are the NSA spying programs unconstitutional and are going to lead to serious costs to the U.S. legal system, as civil rights and civil liberties activists clog the system with their noble efforts to rightly restore basic Constitutional principles to the wayward American spying framework, but now the NSA spying programs are going to have a financial cost to the economy, too. And all, on President Obama's watch.

Netflix TV commercial uses "Hey Now" by Martin Solveig

One of Netflix's TV commercials uses a song, "Hey Now," from one of French pop music's most successful disk jockeys, Martin Solveig. Solveig's hit, recorded in English, shows the broadening appeal of French culture in English-speaking cultures.

Here is the original song used in the Netflix commercial : "Hey Now" by the famous French DJ and his band : Martin Solveig & The Cataracs, featuring Kyle.

This year has seen a spree of American commercials featuring the music of successful French pop music artists.

Chromecast commercial featured "La Danse de Zorba" by Dalida for one commercial, and Verizon Android Island commercial used "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack.

Verizon Android Island commercial uses "Comment te dire adieu" for its soundtrack

A recent advertising blitz by the cellphone carrier Verizon uses one of French pop music's most successful songs. A handsome young couple are racing in a speed boat in beautiful, azure shallow waters when the motor on the cigarette boat breaks down. The commercial is meant to highlight the long-lasting battery life of Verizon android cellphones.

Here is the original, chic French song used in the Verizon commercial : "Comment te dire adieu" by Francoise Hardy.

Candidate Barack Obama in 2007 on Warrantless Wiretapping

Excerpt from President Obama's speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center on August 1, 2007.

... This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. The FISA court works. The separation of powers works. Our Constitution works.

We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary.

This Administration acts like violating civil liberties is the way to enhance our security. It is not. There are no short-cuts to protecting America ... .

Read more : Illinois Senator Barack Obama, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, gave this August 2007 speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Obama Video Taping Your Colonoscopy

From Salon :

"Now we know for sure: The Obama administration has presided over the most thorough expansion of the domestic surveillance state of any U.S. presidency. Even as the nation was still absorbing the news, broken by Glenn Greenwald at the Guardian on Wednesday night, that the National Security Agency has been routinely collecting phone call records for millions of Americans, the Washington Post and the Guardian published articles revealing even broader government snooping powers: Since 2007, the NSA and the FBI have had the power to watch nearly every aspect of our online life as well."

Verizon Headquarters Flooded Hurricane Sandy

Related : NYC Hurricane Sandy - Hospital Evacuations and Berger Commission #EPICFAIL

Superstorm Sandy may have done damage to all the major phone services, more or less. But for Verizon, there was another price to pay: damage to its New York corporate headquarters.

The picture above, tweeted by the company itself, shows the Verizon lobby at 140 West Street in Manhattan, filled with three feet of water at about 9:30 PM ET last night. It isn’t just an administrative building — it also serves hundreds of thousands of voice and data circuits in New York.

Says Verizon director of media relations Bill Kula: “We’ll continue to work safely and quickly to pump out the storm water, re-route traffic from non working central office to others, get backup generator power operating, and hope that the local power company can restore commercial power as quickly as possible.”

Read more : Hurricane Sandy floods Verizon's corporate headquarters in New York City

Bad Corporate Person of the Week: Verizon

Our pick for the bad corporate "person" of the week : Verizon.

From : arstechnica

Verizon pressed its argument against the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules on Monday; filing a legal brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The company argued the FCC's rules not only exceeded the agency's regulatory authority, but also violated network owners' constitutional rights. Specifically, Verizon believes that the FCC is threatening its First Amendment right to freedom of speech and its property rights under the Fifth Amendment.

Read more : Verizon: net neutrality violates our free speech rights. Company argues FCC regulations run afoul of Fifth Amendment property rights too