Recommended reading

1. The spectre of Operation Ajax
   "Britain and the US crushed Iran's first democratic government. They didn't learn from that mistake"
   
   
2. How America Created a Terrorist Haven
   
   
3. 16 Words, But Not the Ones You're Thinking Of
   
   
4. Lessons in How to Lie About Iraq
   "The problem is not propaganda but the relentless control of the kind of things we think about"
   

I also suggest reading Molly Ivins' latest column (August 19), talking about Ken Lay and the White House energy policies.

Politically Incorrect, but accurate

Excerpt from a commentary by Bill Maher in the Los Angeles Times, July 24.

"Here's why the economy turned: The dot-com bubble burst. (Obviously on the orders of Gray Davis.) The airline industry collapsed. (Just as Gray Davis planned.) We fought two wars. (Playing right into Gray Davis' hands.) And Dick Cheney's friends at Enron 'gamed' the energy market and ripped off the state for billions.

"So you can see the problem: Gray Davis.

"And the obvious solution: A Viennese weightlifter. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Finally, a candidate who can explain the Bush administration's positions on civil liberties in the original German."



From his blog on 20 August:

"Terrorist Vacation Days?"

"Even terrorists deserve time off. Two massive attacks on Tuesday, one in Israel the other in Iraq. You Islamic fundamentalists really need to slow down, it's August. You can't burn the dynamite from both ends. Relax, you're going to end up making yourselves sick before you ever get a chance to kill yourselves. Sit underneath an umbrella by the beach with some Osama blasting on your Sony Walkman and get that crazed detached smile of yours back. The great thing about a deep seated grudge is it can always keep until Autumn. Trust me, the Israelis and the Americans aren't going anywhere. Radical fundamentalism is a marathon not a sprint. Take a breather and try to remember what it felt like hating for the very first time. Because if you keep going at the frenetic pace you're going at now, your friends are going to start thinking you might be American."