What we are reading and thinking ...
OPINION | October 16, 2008
Timothy Egan: The Deal, Sealed?
By Timothy Egan
McCain plays the Ayers card again, and it feels like it's time for him to fold.
OPINION | October 16, 2008
Editorial: Snooping on Our Own Frontlines
The operative question is why some American soldiers’ private exchanges with kith and kin should be the focus of eavesdroppers on the hunt for terrorists.
OPINION | October 16, 2008
Editorial: The Final Debate
Wednesday night’s debate was another chance for John McCain to prove that he is ready to lead this country out of its deep economic crisis, but Mr. McCain stuck to his script.
U.S. / POLITICS | October 17, 2008
Rise in Voting by Mail Transforms Race in Colorado
By KIRK JOHNSON
Nearly half of the state’s registered voters have requested ballots by mail, compelling the Obama and McCain campaigns to kick-start their get-out-the-vote efforts.
US | October 16, 2008
Ruling May Impede Thousands of Ohio Voters
By IAN URBINA
A decision on Tuesday ordered the disclosure of lists of voters whose names did not match those in government databases, which may prevent them from casting regular ballots.
U.S. / POLITICS | October 16, 2008
Elizabeth Dole Finds a Once-Safe Race Less So
By SHAILA DEWAN
In North Carolina, polls show that Senator Elizabeth Dole’s relatively unknown Democratic opponent has closed Mrs. Dole’s double-digit lead.
INTERNATIONAL / MIDDLE EAST | October 17, 2008
Top GOP Fund-Raiser Tied to Iraq Fuel Contract
By JAMES GLANZ and MICHAEL LUO
A House committee is investigating whether a contracting firm run by Harry Sargeant III vastly overcharged for deliveries of fuel to American air bases.
OPINION | October 16, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist: Presley, Palin and the Heartland
By ROGER COHEN
The can-do, honest, spend-what-you-earn civility of the heartland — once at the heart of Republican values — has been usurped into Sarah Palin’s trash talk.
Books
Below you will find an annotated bibliography of books our members are reading. Have you read any good books lately that you'd like to recommend? If so, send us the author, title, publisher etc. along with a brief paragraph and we'll post those that are relevant and of general interest.
In order of year of publication ...
Coming Soon
Johnston, David Cay, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill). New York: Portfolio, 2007.
Tobin, Jeffrey, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. New York: Doubleday, 2007.
Woodward, Bob, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.
Philips, Kevin. American theocracy : the peril and politics of radical religion, oil, and borrowed money in the 21st century; New York : Viking, 2006.
This book is alarming because the force of the data moves you to share Kevin Philips' sense of peril. Mr. Philips' early background was that of Republican Strategist. His study of great powers such as Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Spain, the British Empire and the rise of America serve to warn us that history repeats itself. The book is structured on three themes: resource problems like oil, religious militancy, and debilitating debt. Once he has made the case that great powers have been brought low by these three factors, he uses data to build a link to the current trends in the last decade and beyond. America is an oil-dependent, debt-ridden nation under ever-increasing intrusions by the kind of fundamentalism that used to be considered fringe but is now 40 percent of the Republican coalition. Philips argues that we will be brought to our knees if we do not move the nation off its current course. (review: Jeanne Dyer)
Keillor, Garrison. Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America. New York: Viking, 2004. ISBN # 0-670-03365-0
Those of you who feel betrayed by your government, will find Keillor's book strikes a resonant chord. "Something has gone wrong with the Republican Party," he writes. "Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities, and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships." Now, he writes, "it's the No. 1 reason why the rest of the world thinks we're deaf, dumb, and dangerous." If you liked Prairie Home Companion, you will recognize the pull to the heartstrings.
Reich, Robert B.. Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
While Robert Reich would agree with Philip's argument that radical conservatives (whom Reich calls “Radcons”) are setting the national agenda, his is a more optimistic view: he believes the liberal view is historically the winner. “.. liberals have always stood in sharp opposition to fanaticism and violence, and against religious bigotry, totalitarianism, and nationalist zealotry.” This moral stance is contrasted with the right-wing radical conservative's “notion of evil”. We have seen this notion morph into attempts to control stem-cell research, to spend tax dollars on faith-based initiatives, to threaten the livelihoods of those who don't agree when human life begins, and to supress the voices of overwhelming number of scientists who speak out on global warning or support the theory of evolution.
"To Radcons, the major threat to the security of our nation, the stability of our families, our future prosperity, and the capacity of our children to grow into responsible adults is a dark, satanic force. It exists within America in the form of moral deviance – out-of-wedlock births, homosexuality, abortion, crime. It potentially exists within every one of us in the form of sloth and devastating irresponsibility. It exists outside America in the form of “evil empires” or an “axis of evil.” (review: Jeanne Dyer)
Coming Soon ...
Freidman, Thomas L.,The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2004.
Lewis, Bernard, What Went Wrong?: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
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