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Find textbooks at Alibris!

NOTE: Overstock bests Amazon's prices and is "blue."

THE BOOKS WITH "BUZZ":
______________

Learn the real story behind the WMD in Iraq:

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
by Ron Suskind

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

DaveW recommends:

I Am a Strange Loop
by Douglas Hofstadter

Need some laughs?

I Am America (and So Can You!)
by Stephen Colbert

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End
by Peter W. Galbraith

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

"Crash" * Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards * Only $11.79 at Overstock * 2006 SAG Winner, Best Ensemble

Check out
Powell's new section:
NEW FAVORITES

Selected new arrivals at 30% off

Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos
by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.


SOTW-120x90
Download Sleeper Cell on iTunes (Better than "24") Download Weeds on iTunes (Hilarious 1/2-hour adult comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker) Download Late Nite with Conan O'Brien on iTunes
John Belushi - SNL
Download South Park on iTunes
Verve Vault

James Hunter - People Gonna Talk:
James Hunter - People Gonna Talk
icon


Great Deals
----- * ^ * -----

Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")



Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)


Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)


"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen


The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review


BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual

$79.95 * Sale: $59.95


Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)


The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!


The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan


Green Press Initiative
----- * ^ * -----


Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review


Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey


1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus



Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"


Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)


The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids

by Madeline Levine


Save 35-70% on
name brand clothing,
footwear, and outdoor gear
at SierraTradingPost.com

:





We listened to PEN American Center's "State of Emergency" and found 1940s books by Curzio Malaparte only at Alibris. (Selection (MP3) excerpted from "The Skin.")

Alibris - Books You Thought You'd Never Find
Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:
www.Patagonia.com


Display:
[I would first like to say, that taken across all votes, the American public does rather well in decision making as group, despite failing generally as individuals. The fact that a few people can manipulate nation elections now is not their fault, so don't use the 2 time Bush argument.]

It is the conceit of the above diary, posing as a defense of our current system, that the American people are idiots rescued by the form of their government.

I sort of agree that Americans, and people in general, are indeed idiots, judging by their individual behavior. I also agree our system is self-correcting. For this it is indeed 'Awesome.'

However, you must agree that the presumption that a gang of idiots is no smarter than the average idiot is a fallacy. In fact it's a pretty dumb idea. We are surround by examples of 'Emergence' in our everyday lives that prove this point wrong: from Ant colonies to our own brains, weak and stupid things get together and apply their stupidity en masse with incredible results.

This 'Fallacy of the American Idiot' has been used by any number of folks to prevent real democratic reform to our system, which has been moving power out of the peoples' hands consistently for generations. The Left use an elitist approach: we are so in tune with the little guy only one our most elite elites can serve them best. The Right use it for their paternalism: Y'all are idiots and we are 'The Man' so do what we say. I feel the elitism dripping 'round here.

A million people making stoopid decisions together may actually be the very BEST way to come to the correct decision. This principal is used on a lot of your computers right now if you participate in a bit torrent system or have the SETI-at-Home screen saver running. Emergence is one of the most exciting fields of scientific research right now. Maybe it will seep into Political Science eventually..

So thanks for that. </snark>

'vini, vidi, excreti' - Joe the Plumber

by anarchronarchist (mincers (-at-) hotmail (-dot-) com) on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 08:56:09 AM EST
So what you are saying is:

Give credit to humans, to all creatures for making mistakes and evolving beyond those mistakes, for learning, gaining wisdom through experience.

The Progressive Movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's is proof positive of the strength of the people to take back their ideals and implement them for themselves. This took many years, and was only partially accomplished, but left an indelible mark on American history, culminating with the New Deal and it's humanitarian bent.

The neocon/neoliberal Milton Friedman Chicago School of Economics ideal is driven by the opposite -- profit and self-interest at the expense of humanitarianism. This we've been sold as our new business model, now for the last 30 years. Many nations around the globe had this viciously shoved up their asses under the guise of economic shock therapy.

It is up to the people, once again, to wrest the ideal away from selfishness and return it to sharing, to humanitarian and planetarian kindness and prosperity for all living beings.

It is only natural, buried in our genes, buried in our destinies, for all creatures to evolve, and that is our divine right. No neocon selfishness is ever going to stop that permanently. They have their secure world penned-in nightmare luxury lifestyle burned inside their forebrains, but it's unsustainable, and will die. Unfortunately, these neocon monsters want the rest of us to die with their folly.

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

by Isis on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 09:45:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
They have their secure world penned-in nightmare luxury lifestyle burned inside their forebrains, but it's unsustainable, and will die.

'vini, vidi, excreti' - Joe the Plumber
by anarchronarchist (mincers (-at-) hotmail (-dot-) com) on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 04:29:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Agree.  This is the point I was trying to make above.
by rae on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 10:21:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And is one of the reasons I have faith in the idea of 'Line Item Tax Allocation' where we all get to allocate our tax payment to various gov't budgets on our 1040s.

While I have no doubt people taken as individuals will make ridiculous allocations, all together we'd work it out.. and democratize the self-correction our system has at it's core.

'vini, vidi, excreti' - Joe the Plumber

by anarchronarchist (mincers (-at-) hotmail (-dot-) com) on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 04:50:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Now that's radical politics!!

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org
by Isis on Thu Jul 24th, 2008 at 10:32:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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