Quick! Somebody call Alex Cox!

There's a great cult film in this somewhere. Or possibly a horrible global tragedy. Take your pick.

An Emerging Democratic Majority, But Will It Matter?

The Washington Post features an op-ed piece on an emerging Democratic majority throughout US politics. While this kind of thing gives hope that the great national nightmare brought on by the era of Republican fascism may be coming to a close, renewal will only be possible if the Democrats finally, and improbably, grow a collective spine and reverse the policy of appeasement that has been so shamefully apparent under the "leadership" of Harry Reid in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives.

Here's to a thorough national political fumigation in 2008 and beyond!

US Government arm-wrestles with itself. Loses.

Making my way through the Shock Doctrine, and s far it seems to be confirming my initial impressions: lots of good, revealing and indeed shocking journalism, but the attempt to tie it all together isn't really working for me.

Anyway, was interested to find this little "disaster capitalism" tid-bit via way of the Against Monopoly site. Apparently the US Army is so fed up of having private security companies lure away its troops that it's making new recruits sign "non-compete" agreements, stating that they won't just sod-off and work for Blackwater after they've completed basic training. That's a pretty damning indictment of privatized war from the people who brought it to you.

The Republicans: A Warning From History

Make no mistake about it: if you are a US citizen who votes for Republican candidates, or a citizen of any country who supports, aids, abets or otherwise casts an alliance with the Bush administration or the US Republican Party, this is what you are buying into.