Friday, June 03, 2005



To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
-Bob Dylan

The Edifice Complex: Tyrants, kings and tycoons have erected grand monuments to their own vanity. From Hitler's vision of a new Berlin to Tony Blair's Dome and Michael Eisner's EuroDisney, tyrants, kings and tycoons have erected grand monuments to their own vanity. Deyan Sudjic deconstructs the Edifice Complex Towering egos

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Duty Bound: Eloquence in political commentary
An essay on Aneurin Bevan, who believed that political advocacy fostered morality.

Mark Hayhurst has won the first Ben Pimlott prize with his examination of the turbulent political life of Aneurin Bevan. Here we publish the full text of his essay on a superb orator, who believed that political advocacy fostered morality


Gene Sharp learned how to turn nonviolence into a weapon, and helped quite literally change the world.
At Westminster class consciousness was brilliant and shocking [Saul tilts at the market windmills - the Reinvention of the World The Collapse of Globalism ; Under the axles of evil: This book gives a door-stopping gloss on Churchill's remark that Americans always do the right thing... but only after exhausting all the other possibilities Irresistible Empire ]
• · Dennis Prager on what explains in large measure the great culture war in the United States The (Culture) War of the Word ; Democracy and Populism: Fear and Hatred. David Brooks on Karl's new manifesto. History of class struggle ; On the one hand, what has happened to the art of political compromise? What Happened to Compromise? ; On the other hand, does the US suffer from an excess in civility? An Excess of Civility ; Jonathan Chait on the irresistible 'Nazi' taboo. What's the value in having the greatest bad example of all time if you can never use it? The Irresistible 'Nazi' Taboo
• · · NSW (Australia) Carr calls for nuclear reactor ; Louisiana Water Quality New data may mean more fish warnings ; Eunice Trotter, Tom Spalding and Mark Nichols of the Indianapolis Star built a database of reports on police chases, showing that police are virtually unrestricted when they chase suspects. They pursue fleeing vehicles at high speeds and usually for traffic infractions Are police chases worth dying for? ; Michigan Prison Abuse; Pat Stith of the Raleigh News & Observer reports on how the state relaxed laws to allow overweight trucks to destroy roads, while the enforcement of heavy trucks has also declined in the past five year North Carolina Trucking
• · · · Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Saudi-U.S. Connection. With Friends Like These ; Empire's Democracy, Ours (and Theirs) ; Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times Who or what is a survivalist?
• · · · · Revolution in the making: It was one of those moments when the world seemed simple and beautiful again The orange revolution was not a spontaneous event ; Pop, mimicry, globalization and one extremely ambitious manager How Did House Bands Become a Filipino Export? ; Leora Skolkin-Smith's first novel, EDGES: O Israel, O Palestine which is being released today, is also Grace Paley's first novel under her Glad Day Books imprint Leora Skolkin-Smith's Backstory; Richard Ackland : Before a state of Schapelle exhaustion sets in, I'm eager to get a few things off my chest, including the fervent belief that this prisoner is "convincingly" innocent, to use a word employed by the Chief Judge, Linton Sirai Indonesian legal system doesn't inspire trust
• · · · · · Why Pat Tillman's parents are no longer silent It Was a Lie to Cover Their Image ; Webdiary: Only powerless if we think we are