Media Things

A history of militant fundamentalism in Islam: We hear more about Muslim extremists than ever before, but Kepel argues that the terrorism seen today throughout the world results from the failure of Islamic fundamentalism and not its success. Beginning...

Full commentary on "Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam"

An unflattering perspective: Here "a senior U.S. civil servant with two decades of experience in the U.S. intelligence community's work on Afghanistan and South Asia" argues that the U.S. was unprepared for September 11 because "our own naivet‚ and insularity...

Full commentary on "Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America"

The news behind the events; the news mainstream media isn't reporting: The most complete book I know of, summarizing the relevant background and foreground intersecting upon the events of September 11... -- Barry Zwicker, Vision TV Insight...

Full commentary on "The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11, 2001"

The third of three books written about the Christmas Day Truce of WWI. For the full story see this entry....

Full commentary on "Silent Night, Holy Night: The Story of the Christmas Truce"

The second of three books about World War I's Christmas Day Truce. For the full story see this entry....

Full commentary on "Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914"

One of three books about the impromptu WWI Christmas Day Truce. Here's the story: GLW: The soldiers' Xmas truce http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/480/480p21.htm BY PHIL SHANNON It was the war that was supposed ``to be over by Christmas''. It very nearly was. A...

Full commentary on "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce"

One of my site visitors bought this book today. Looks interesting. It's a bit of a perk for being an Amazon.com affiliate: monitoring my site's Amazon sales and clicks stats is constantly expanding my reading list....

Full commentary on "The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination"

RTFM is an acronym used often in the computing industry' Read the Fucking Manual. Typically, it's an epithet thrown at colleagues asking simple questions regarding easily available information they should already know. There's a certain amount of exasperation implicit in...

Full commentary on "The U.S. Constitution for Everyone"

The disconnect between vocal support for the Iraq War and actual support (eg: willing to enlist in the army) seems to be a reflection the illogical dichotomy that is of the result of political ideology vs plain self-interest. That's too...

Full commentary on "The War Prayer"

These essays, which either have not been previously published or have been out of print, embrace Kropotkin's philosophy at a time when he first gave it expression. This collection contains selected essays by Peter Kropotkin who was, unquestionably, the most...

Full commentary on "Fugitive Writings"

I must say, the title and subject of this book caught my attention. Then a reviewer on amazon.com reminded me of the pitfalls of expert pundits. The review: This shallow book is the evidence why America lost a chance, June...

Full commentary on "Squandered Victory : The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to Bring Democracy to Iraq (Hardcover)"

Gilead By Marilynne Robinson Published: November 28, 2004 Pulitzer Prize Winner, Fiction, 2005 It seems an odd choice for a Pulitzer, at least on the surface a mundane-seeming clergyman's story. Last year's winner, Edward P. Jones' The Known World...

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I missed this one when it premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival last year. I'm looking forward to catching the DVD. The World According to Bush covers much of the territory of Fahrenheit 9/11, but is a more sober,...

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This is part I in producer Robert Greenwald's Un- Trilogy which also includes Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War and Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004). In the course of 47 provocative minutes, Unprecedented leaves...

Full commentary on "Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition (2002)"

Part III in Producer Robert Greenwald's Un-Trilogy. Part I is Unprecedented - The 2000 Presidential Election - 2004 Campaign Edition (2002) and Part II Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties (2004) Completing a trilogy that should be required...

Full commentary on "Unconstitutional - The War On Our Civil Liberties"