Read These

2010-08-05T13:57:00.001-04:00

Murder City by Charles Bowden The occasional front-page stories in the Times or Post about the hundreds of monthly murders that plague the small border city of Juarez can't quite capture the mind-numbing violence and pervasive despair that grips that city. But Charles Bowden does. A veteran reporter who has worn a lot of shoe leather up and down the border between Mexico and his home state

2010-05-18T12:39:00.000-04:00

Just finished George Carlin's Last Words. Fun, quick read, though I'm not sure I woulda wanted to meet him when he was in the throes of his coke addiction. There's a good moment most of us never saw when he and Bob Dornan were both guests on Dinah Shore. As he described it (the book was literally dictated to Tony Hendra), Dinah liked to get her guests to fight. And though you woulda expected more

2009-07-27T12:23:00.003-04:00

The Buffalo Poetics List Serve is one of the most interesting, according to my friend Steve Russell.

2009-07-27T12:14:00.002-04:00

Video Streaming tools:Go to Miro.com and download the software, which downloads programs for you,but no streaming off the site.LiveStation.com also has software. It's where you can watch al-Jazeera Englishand Iranian television (where I've been drafted as a DC pundit). There are another4 dozen television and radio outlets on Live Station.The content is streamed to your computer, as opposed to

2009-07-27T12:08:00.001-04:00

Just finished Charles McCarry's spy novel, "The Last Supper" -- one of his Paul Christopher novels. Pretty fun, and a good beginning for a vacation break.

2009-05-12T08:29:00.003-04:00

Another blog to check now and then: Anti-Fascist Calling.Also, Good Reads has a list of groups that share recommendations.I gotta do a page on resources for booksellers, but for now, here's one on how to use the USPS Click-N-Ship.

2009-05-08T15:11:00.002-04:00

With the help of my colleague Marcia, I used the Engine 2 diet last month.You can register on their site and get access to 60 vegan no oil-recipes.Check out the introductory video....

2009-04-30T13:10:00.002-04:00

I'm hoping to embark on a minor self-tutorial about China. Check back in six months to see if I got anywhere. Starting with Chinese dissident and economist Minqui Li's The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy (how's that for provocative?), published by Monthly Review.It's been a while since I've used the blog, so anyone who might check it now and then must be thinking

2009-01-02T07:04:00.004-05:00

Time to catch up on what I read in 2008. Before I forget:First, a list of some of the best I read this year:The Tyranny of Oil by Antonia Juhasz (the best book about the industy out there)Wall Street by Steve Fraser (an essay on the zeitgeist of greed, drawing from the history)The Squandering of America by Robert Kuttner (one of the two best overall explanations of why our economy is fucked up --

2008-07-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

Wrote this poem Saturday night for an open mike...in the style of Calvin Trillin, the closest thing we have to a poet laureate on the left...BrandenbergJack spoke there freely, like a saintly sinner --(Jelly donuts for breakfast, and brats for dinner)Announcing to the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner."Now Obama's running, and he's looking like a winnerExcept that, if he wasn't such a heavy

2008-03-03T12:51:00.000-05:00

"There are reasons for using words even when they are unfamiliar. It can be a matter of rhythm, it can be a matter of the exact fit--and it can be something by way of obeisance to the people whose honed verbal appetites created the need for such a word, which therefore came into being. Call it supply-side linguistics; but whatever you call it, pray be thankful that someone invented the word '

2008-02-25T06:06:00.001-05:00

Some useful links for book sellers and/or buyers:Is it really signed by the author? Check out these author signatures and compare.Protection from scams: basestealer.USPS and UPS Rate Calculator.International postage rate calculator.Is it a First?Compare pricesCheri's pageBook buyers guide

2008-02-18T05:42:00.000-05:00

Search links:Corporate History:Charles Abbott: Rise of the Business Corporation (1936)Joseph Stancliffe Davis: Essays in the earlier history of American CorporationsGrandy: New Jersey and the Fiscal Origins of the Modern American Corporation ($ 33.50)Roger Shiner: Freedom of Commercial Expression (corporate speech rights - expensive at 80.00)Gary Slapper, Blood in the bank: social and legal

2008-02-16T08:11:00.000-05:00

Two books that could be read hand-in-hand are The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics by Jonathan Chait, and The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity by Robert Kuttner (one of the founding editors of the American Prospect).For those who want a useful explanation of what caused the current economic

2008-02-16T08:05:00.000-05:00

Recently finished: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. First time I finished one of his novels. Motivated by a friend -- Matt -- whose tastes are admirable.McCarthy has a deft pen. His spare precision with language made me go slow, soak up the richness of his prose, enhancing the apocalyptic atmosophere.

2008-02-16T07:48:00.000-05:00

"Road trips are a very happy monument to the ego."The as-ever prolific William Vollmann has a new book out about riding the rails, hobo-style. The book, Riding Towards Everywhere, is his "attempt to fall in love with America again."He came to Politics and Prose this week. My friend Steve (an obsessed reader and good poet) and I decided to check it out. I, of course, brought most of my Vollmann

2007-12-22T06:12:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned before, Empire is a popular topic these days in Amerikkka.At some point I will review some of the seminal books on this important topic. A few that I would highly recommend now are:Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy.John Hobson's Imperialism is regarded as a classic on the topic, even though it is now over a century old. If you go to that link, you'll find the entire book

2007-07-28T17:33:00.000-04:00

Like Graphic Novels? Check out Anthony Lappe's (GNN) Shooting War (all online!).

2007-07-28T09:29:00.000-04:00

http://recipesource.com/desserts/ice-cream/indexall.html

2007-07-28T09:11:00.000-04:00

These days, fiction rarely gets ahead of reality, but R.J. Hillhouse's Outsourced has stirred up enough controversy that she was also invited to write a related op-ed for the Washington Post.Hillhouse (who also runs the spy who billed me blog) was interviewed by Democracy Now, where she explained:"I found that there were things that could only be written about in fiction. It’s amazing for someone

2007-07-28T08:56:00.000-04:00

Some great speeches and interviews with activists and investigators:First, be sure to check out the various presentations at Ralph Nader's recent conference,Taming the Giant CorporationOther Activist Presentations:Lectures from the Democracy Schools:Thomas Linzey (of CELDF)Richard GrossmanThe Carnegie Institute's (DC) mission is to promote popular education in science. They sponsor a series of

2007-07-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

Some interesting links that I've come across in the past few months:This UK site, the Dossier, has a ton of videos, interviews, documentaries, news, etc.E.g. I just watched this doc on the Iraq oil law.Oil Phreak: Radical PolyticsHistory is a WeaponGuerrilla News Network: links page has tons of interesting stuff The Armchair SubversiveI've been reading (I admit it, for the first time) The Man in

2007-01-27T07:24:00.000-05:00

The Agony of Mammon: The Imperial Global Economy Explains Itself to the Membership in Davos, Switzerland byLewis Lapham (Verso, 75 pages)The annual World Economic Forum was just held again at an exclusive ski resort in Switzerland. If you've ever wanted a short peek at what these meetings are like, I highly recommend this book, by the Harper's editor who Molly Ivins once called the "most incisive

2007-01-27T07:12:00.000-05:00

Here are the chants I created for today's anti-war march:"Stop the War before it wrecks usSend the Loonies back to Texas.""People are dead, injured, tired and sick--It's time to impeach George and Dick.""No more blood for gasoline...Bring them home to build Nawleens"

2007-01-21T08:44:00.000-05:00

Just re-read The Great Gatsby for the first time in -- what, 25 years? Obious conclusion: The great American tragedy is the vain attempt to attain the unreachable, a theme that is so deeply rooted in many of the great American novels (e.g. Moby Dick, On the Road?), as much as the tragic aspirations toward Empire (another story) are in our history.At the risk of launching into a disposition that

2006-11-02T07:38:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I have even considered reading Bob Woodward, but I've begun his new book, State of Denial, because he finally seems to have decided that his job is not to be the cabinet's court scribe.

2006-11-02T07:37:00.000-05:00

One of the rules of reading that Daniel Pennac describes in Better Than Life is the "right to not finish a book." Which I was relieved to be reminded of after chucking a bunch of books mid-read, including Cryptonomicon, which I was about half-way through before something else caught my eye and a friend whose judgement of SciFi I consider much better than mine said didn't get much better. (I

2006-11-02T06:56:00.002-05:00

Alas, a while since I've checked in.Earlier this year, I reread Ulysses for a trip to Dublin, and dabbled in the Wake. But the best surprise was stumbling into some other famous (and infamous) Irish writers who I had not read before, including Flann O'Brien, whose Dalkey Archive was pretty amusing. Another book, The Book of Myles remains unread: a collection of his newspaper columns, which are

2006-09-12T09:54:00.000-04:00

Berkeley has an interesting online program called Conversations with History, where you can watch interviews with top historians, like this one with Oliver Roy.

2006-09-12T09:52:00.000-04:00

Matt Simmons is one of the most respected among the "peak oil" theorists. You can see a presentation he made at Harvard in early 2006 here.

2006-09-12T09:45:00.000-04:00

War Corporatism: The New Fascism (video). Worth checking out.

2006-09-11T23:18:00.000-04:00

My favorite latest reads are the Dalkey Archive by Flann O'Brien, an Irish writer who I honestly hadn't heard much about until I got to Dublin, where he was apparently a local here, perhaps more so even than Joyce.Another great read is Kevin Phillips' masterful American Theocracy.Cosmoetica is a compendium of essays. Some good book reviews including this one on Dhalgren.Do you like literary

2006-06-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

Latest read is Kevin Phillips American Theocracy.

2006-06-25T08:20:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a great trip to Dublin for Bloomsday. I went with family, which worked out great, esp. as a close friend of the family has ties (family and friends) in Ireland that opened many doors. E.g. he arranged a dinner at the University Kildare club (where he also arranged for us to stay) with Senator David Norris, who is an expert on Joyce. (Wrote introduction to Joyce). I asked him

2006-01-17T12:34:00.000-05:00

The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraqby George Packer (FSG, 2005)I have to admit, I started reading this book with a great deal of skepticism, given the effusive praise from Christopher Hitchens in a plug on the back. Others also told me that Packer is a "liberal hawk" who originally supported the war. But if so, he's come a long way.Packer's views on the war are not Hitchens'. Moreover, he

2005-11-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

This UK site has some interesting documentaries and other things worth checking out.

2005-11-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

The Long Emergency by William Howard KunstlerYou've heard of peak oil, right? But what does it mean for the U.S., and western civilization? Potentially a lot. And if you think technology will save us, you like many another person have something coming.Problem is, we all do. And if you want a skeptical explanation of why hybrids and hydrogen-fueled vehicles and natural gas and nukes and coal are

2005-08-14T14:44:00.000-04:00

Before the Iraq war, it was easy to attribute the opposition among establishment figures (like Bush Sr.'s national security advisor, Brent Scowcroft) to Colin Powell's own "Pottery Barn rule." Far from it for me to explain Henry Kissinger's opposition to this rule, but a quote by Kissinger on the Vietnam War suggests he knew exactly what the risk of an invasion and prolonged occupation would be:

2005-07-28T16:38:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has ever read Gravity's Rainbow will appreciate this.

2005-07-18T14:03:00.000-04:00

The war between open knowledge systems and the privatization of knowledge extends far beyond the patent system, software copyright battles and the university-industrial complex described by Jennifer Washburn in University, Inc. Now every community faces the push towards privatization -- of the library system.Like the privatization of other public services (esp. education) the far-right's push

2005-07-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

Nicholas Basbanes, author of A Gentle Madness (National Book Award-winner about crazy bibliophiles -- much worse than me), published a short, entertaining book that beginning book collectors will find useful: Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book Hunter in the Twenty-First Century. The book talks about how to go about collecting in a common-sense manner (e.g. collect the

2005-07-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

Been a while since I've posted. Here's another part of my summer reading:A bit of Gramsci for my book group we used the NYU edition.I also read a book about Gramsci by Carl Boggs -- who I've written about before -- because I trust him to provide a direct uncluttered opinion of this political philosopher. And Boggs delivers.Gramsci was a radical Italian union activist -- and ergo of course a

2005-06-25T16:48:00.000-04:00

"When I was visiting the monastic republic of Mount Athos on the Chalkidiki Peninsula of northern Greece in 1998 to learn what I could about the manuscript collections that have been maintained there for a thousand years, I ran across a lovely word, idiorhythmic, which describes a kind of relaxed monasticism no longer in favor in which adherents could more or less follow their own rules, not

2005-06-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Often when I begin to read the work of a writer I find difficult I pause and go to something that will introduce me to his or her life and work, usually a biography or collection of essays about them. This is how I started with Joyce, Auden and other poets.Recently, I decided to go back to Borges, who I haven't read in 25 years. Instead of plunging into the two collected volumes of his ficciones

2005-04-28T12:28:00.000-04:00

Oil, War and U.S. Standards of LivingMichael Klare has a new article about the coming war in Iran and how it's about long-term battle for controlling the world's energy resources. Also, be sure to check out James Howard Kunstler's "The Long Emergency" , a Rolling Stone article apparently based on his new book.

2005-04-27T11:16:00.000-04:00

I'm not very well read in the area of cultural studies, but a book group I'm in just read Stewart Hall's The Hard Road to Renewal: Thatcherism and the Crisis of the Left (out of print, sorry)-- which is an a collection of very insightful essays that I found as relevant and insightful to today's America as they must have been to Thatcher's England.Comparisons with Thomas Frank immediately come to

2005-04-25T11:15:00.000-04:00

Spent the weekend reading Charles McCarry's re-released spy novel, Tears of Autumn. A kind of Jason Bourne-type character investigation of who's behind the Kennedy assassination. The writing was good, the plot has twists, but ultimately unconvincing: drug-dealing Vietnamese did it as vengeance for assassination of Ngo. I made the mistake of following the recommendation of the Post's Jonathan

2005-04-01T16:50:00.000-05:00

From dept. of no surprises: TV may cause ADD, especially in kids, according a study published by Pediatrics magazine. Does that turn you off?

2005-03-30T10:42:00.000-05:00

N+1 is a new literary/cultural magazine published twice yearly. In the Spring 2005 issue, George Scialabba skewers Christopher Hitchens quite well, I thought. (Sorry, no link available to the essay. Go out and buy the mag. to help it get off the ground.)

2005-03-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

Thank You For Not Readingby Dubravka UgresicA collection of short essays on writing, exile, globalization and publishing as a business from a Yugoslavian essayist and fiction writer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1993. A terse paragraph I liked:"The contemporary colonizer is the market. The market vacuums up every resistance, takes into account every criticism and even anticipates it, turning it

2005-03-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

Check out the church of the robot's tape of Dick Cheney as Scarface

2005-03-04T12:28:00.000-05:00

I'm reading the Everyman's Library selection of George Orwell's essays. Some nice stuff in here that speaks to our current situation. E.g., here's one from "Review of the Union Now" (1939): "In a prosperous country, above all in an imperialist country, left-wing politics are always partly humbug."

2005-03-04T12:17:00.000-05:00

Google has an interesting new pay-for-research page worth checking out. I guess if you have questions that you want someone to research, you can post the question and price you're willing to pay for an answer, and if one of the 500 researchers involved is interested, they'll try to get you an asnwer.The Internet is advancing research in new and exciting ways. E.g., be sure to read the intro/

2005-02-06T15:57:00.000-05:00

I just learned of these web sites created by two favorite sci-fi writers: Bruce Sterling, and William Gibson

2005-02-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

Tom Hartmann posted a piece about multinational corporate tax avoidance and how it is a strong indication that we are headed toward a new period of corporate feudalism. I've been thinking about this for a while. E.g. Take this passage from The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Secret Heart of BCCI by Jonathan Beaty & S.C. Gwynne (two Time reporters) -- which is the best introduction to that

2005-01-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

If "information is the currency of democracy," as they say, then new media technologies are where the money is, according to Dan Gillmor, whose new book, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, For the People is a useful overview of how blogging, RSS, and other tools are transforming mainstream media and democracy. We all know examples -- e.g. MoveOn and the Dean 2004 campaign's

2005-01-18T13:18:00.000-05:00

Kari Lydersen (a Chicago friend and intrepid activist/journalist) has a new book out, the product of journeys into Mexico and parts further south: Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-U.S. Immigration in the Global Age (Common Courage). Kari writes regularly for Lip, ITT, the Reader, etc. <>She also strings for the Post. She put this squib in the other day: KKK

2005-01-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Kenneth Rexroth was known mostly as a poet. He was more the literary "Godfather to the Beats" than Burroughs. But he was actually a much better essayist, and probably made a far greater lasting contribution as a translator of Japanese and Chinese poetry. His essays reflected an encyclopedic base of knowledge and experience (he was also a painter, naturalist/mystic and political activist/anarchist

2004-12-29T17:25:00.000-05:00

Some good web sites for the paranoid to check out: Prison Planet Info Wars also, now that the holidays are over, make sure you check out this Science of Shopping piece and Don Rumsfeld's xmas tree

2004-12-29T17:07:00.000-05:00

I've only just started to read Carlo Boggs' latest book, Imperial Delusions: American Militarism and Endless War, but I suspect that despite the fact that he doesn't reference it once, it owes a lot to a forgotten modern radical masterpiece: Permanent War: The Militarization of America by Sidney Lens. (1986). Nearly two decades later, Lens' book seems as fresh as ever, and is as good a challenge

2004-12-10T18:48:00.000-05:00

The editor of Too Much Online, a newsletter about CEO greed, has a new book out: Greed and Good. As those who know me can attest, I've read a lot of corporate reform books. This one could aptly be described as the Moby Dick of CEO pay. Incredibly comprehensive explanation of why skyrocketing CEO pay is not justified and is the main engine of inequality and much injustice in our society.

2004-12-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

Looking for independent news from Iraq ....written by Iraqis? An Iraqi-American friend told me that Azzaman is a good, independent site.

2004-12-05T14:07:00.000-05:00

If you thought Chicago's mobster reputation died with Al Capone, think again, gumbah. Robert Cooley's new book, When Corruption Was King is an inside-view of The Outfit in the 1980s and 1990s. The former first Ward bagman and mob attorney-turned-squealer's account is, like most mob stories, predictably entertaining, horrifying, distasteful. These 1st Ward Guidos are not people you'd want to go

2004-11-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

My new book, The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy is out in stores. Buy it and send comments.

2004-11-10T13:17:00.000-05:00

Need a break after the election? Check this stuff out: 1) Play Bush's Brain 2) Check this video out. oh, and fuck the south

2004-11-05T16:00:00.000-05:00

Let's see. Halliburton and the oiligarchy and war profiteers running our foreign policy, Diebold running our elections, Sinclair telling us who to vote for... Maybe it's time we organized a Campaign Against the Corporate Colonization of America. What possibilities. Think of the campaign slogan: "CACCA: because now we're in a world of shit."

2004-10-23T14:58:00.000-04:00

Why I voted for John Kerry. I voted (absentee) for Kerry even though I vote in a "safe state" (Illinois), because I think it's important to get rid of Bush not just by electoral college, but also by as large a popular vote as possible. I think we need to send a strong message about the war in Iraq and his policies at home, regardless of Kerry's failure to stake out a decisive position against

2004-10-19T15:10:00.000-04:00

Was it a bulletproof vest? More likely proof that Bush is just a fascist puppet?

2004-10-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

This Princeton Site provides detailed analysis of polls and the election. With maps, etc. Another useful paper is Prof. Cliff Zukin's explanation of why different polls are different (published by the American Association of Public Opinion Research). Also, to look at specific Congressional races go to Our Congress and click on the state where you vote.

2004-10-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

You don't have to go as far back as Vietnam to remember how different Bush and Kerry's foreign policy experience and views are. E.g. remember the late 1980s/early 1990s: while Bush was off at Camp David snorting cocaine, Kerry was up on Capital Hill trying to nail the death squads (Contras) that profited from selling that coke. Robert Parry was one of the first reporters to uncover the

2004-10-07T17:15:00.000-04:00

The L.A. times has a good popup interactive electoral map that lets you try to figure out who's gonna win and what are the key states by assigning them to one or the other If you're betting Kerry's gonna win -- in the unlikely event that he does, you could make some cake through offshore betting:

2004-10-07T13:17:00.000-04:00

The Boston Review publishes intelligent articles on a variety of political and literary topics. In the April/May issue they published End of the Wild -- a frightfully sober assessment of trajectory of extinction.

2004-10-07T13:09:00.000-04:00

Before they seize power and establish a world according to their doctrines, totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself. -- Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

2004-10-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

Lee Waters (Harvey Wasserman) has been writing a series of hilarious "transcripts" from the Oval Office. Very funny.

2004-10-04T17:06:00.000-04:00

New bumper sticker: A Vote for Bush is a Vote for The Grandson of Hitler's Banker The Guardian (9/25) has published a story based on a lawsuit by two Holocaust survivors and " newly discovered files in the US National Archives" which confirm that Prescott Bush was the director of a company "involved with the financial architects of Nazism." Maybe Kerry supporters should start printing some new

2004-09-16T18:06:00.000-04:00

If you want to understand how serious a quagmire we are now in -- way beyond Iraq and Afghanistan and regardless of the outcome of the election (though clearly if Bush wins, the acceleration towards a "Clash of Civilizations" war is much more likely) -- read Imperial Hubris by Anonymous (first outed as CIA analyst Michael Scheuer by Jason Vest) As Richard Clarke wrote in the Post (6/04), "For

2004-08-18T18:06:00.000-04:00

Found another site that links to huge number of sites that satirize Bush.

2004-08-03T17:24:00.000-04:00

The Boston Review has a great series of articles on big topics. Rick Perlstein's piece on the what Democrats need to do to win (in the long run) is followed by various responses. Good stuff.

2004-08-03T17:13:00.000-04:00

Want a great up-to-date map showing who should win the presidency based on current polls and electoral college? Go HERE.

2004-07-26T00:33:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted, but here's my summer reading so far: Two books by Geoff Dyer -- Out of Sheer Rage - a book of musings on D.H. Lawrence and Dyer's inability to finish his book about Lawrence. Not bad, though it'd be hard to say it beat's Henry Miller's Book of Lawrence. Dyer is good essayist - see Yoga for Those Who Can't be Bothered to Do It (reviewed earlier). I also

2004-07-19T12:11:00.001-04:00

The summer of documentaries. Fahrenheit 9/11 is the blockbuster, of course, but there are other great docs you shouldn't miss: Orwell Rolls in His Grave The Corporation The Yes Men "Le Monde Selon Bush" (The World According to Bush) Poetry in Wartime Also, be sure to watch JibJab's "This Land is Your Land" short online.

2004-07-19T12:11:00.000-04:00

JibJam.com has a new 2004 campaign piece that beats the hell out of any political commercial you'll see this year.

2004-06-16T10:29:00.000-04:00

ah, yes, the 100th Bloomsday...a time to reJoyce ... many a Doobyliner (not to mention the footnote fetishists) will be looking for incoherant clues deep in the first chapter of the Bibulo: Guinesses. The sanctimoney of our syphilization. "Kinch, you fearful Jesuit!" Joyce: I first met him in psychosis... But why trust a blind-from-reading-too-much Irishman who averred "the ineluctable

2004-06-07T16:01:00.000-04:00

Everyone's talking about Ronnie. But do they remember the Reagan Legacy?

2004-06-07T15:51:00.000-04:00

The 100th anniversary of Bloomsday is in ten days (16th). Those who still read Joyce will wanna check out this Joyce portal.

2004-06-07T15:41:00.000-04:00

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." -- Theodore Roosevelt, speaking on President Wilson's crackdown on dissent after the U.S. entered WWI

2004-05-21T15:13:00.000-04:00

John Dean, Worse Than Watergate, page 155: "And the evidence is overwhelming, certainly sufficient for a prima facie case, that George W. Bush and Richard B. cheney have engaged in deceit and deception over going to war in Iraq. This is an impeachable offense. It is also evidence of the mentality that characterizes the Bush-Cheney presidency, which has led to other abuses of presidential power,

2004-05-21T14:40:00.000-04:00

Check out Eric Idle's ">latest song.

2004-05-20T18:48:00.000-04:00

Economists are notoriously disconnected from day-to-day reality. Maybe the new journal EconJournalWatch will shake things up. But if it's only "scholarly comments on academic economics" it's likely to get lost in that house of mirrors.

2004-05-20T18:06:00.000-04:00

Check out the Freeway Blogger

2004-05-19T19:22:00.000-04:00

Chomsky on Revolution: No less insidious is the cry for 'revolution,' at a time when not even the germs of new institutions exist, let alone the moral and political consciousness that could lead to a basic modification of social life. If there will be a 'revolution' in America today, it will no doubt be a move towards some variety of fascism. We must guard against the kind of revolutionary

2004-05-19T19:15:00.000-04:00

Check out BushFlash.Com

2004-05-19T19:12:00.000-04:00

Another memory hole: the Center for Cooperative Research has archive of 9/11 timeline and Iraq war (exploration of all justifications, etc.), and an extensive History of U.S. Inteventions.

2004-05-19T18:43:00.000-04:00

Check out Halliburton Watch.

2004-05-19T17:51:00.000-04:00

Check out this Bush ratings chart.

2004-05-16T21:35:00.000-04:00

Thom Hartmann just published another book, this one in the tradition of political cartoonists like Art Spiegelman, takes on the serious question of whether we want democracy in the U.S. (or, potentially, fascism). It's called We the People.

2004-04-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

Here's a site that's worth a look: take the Chernobyl ghost town tour.

2004-03-25T18:32:00.000-05:00

It always seemed to me that "The Matrix" is a perfect metaphor for a corporate-controlled society. The dominant institutions of our society -- created by us to serve us -- instead now enslave us. Teddy Roosevelt was one of the last Presidents to recognize the corporation as a Frankenstein monster in 1910: "The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces

2004-03-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

Republican Hypocrisy Revealed by the Armchair Subversive.

2004-03-09T10:02:00.000-05:00

Check out Mad Magazine's Bush Action Figure