“We have presidential elections as a substitute for serious democratic politics” — that’s what Andrew Bacevich says. He’s been writing and teaching history and international relations at Boston University, after spending 23 years in the army and retiring as a colonel.
What would serious democratic politics look like? First of all, Bacevich says, we need a [...]
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ANDREW BACEVICH says even if Obama gets elected in November, he will disappoint us, and won’t be able to achieve his goals. That’s because the imperial presidency has eviscerated democracy; the endless wars have been a catastrophe for the body politic, and consumerism and debt are [...]
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“Taxi to the Dark Side” is THE film of the year on the Bush Adminstration and torture – it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and tells the story of a taxi driver who committed no crime but was tortured and killed in Afghanistan. “Sooner or [...]
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How traffic works, and why we drive the way do: TOM VANDERBILT has been studying the most democratic place in America, where people of every race, class, religion, and age work together closely and successfully: in traffic. Tom answers questions like “Why does the other lane [...]
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The first military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay has come up with a predictable verdict of “guilty” for Osama bin Laden’s driver in the first US war crimes tribunal since WWII. But Salim Ahmed Hamdan was found “not guilty” of conspiracy. The [...]