Links

US DoC Internet role to end?

GWB asks Condi Rice for permission to pee...

The Breaking of Nations by Robert Cooper

The art of interviwing politicians

The EU constitution has become a surprise bestseller on the French book charts.

Defaced or modified Tory election posters

The Member for Ealing Acton & Shepherds Bush is chipper today

On his heritage, Clive Soley MP says

Despard apparently married a Caribbean woman while in the amy there. I also have some Scottish connections and I have often thought that if I wasn't a British athiest I would quite like to be a Scottish Rastafarian! If you believe things hard enough they come true - especially if I retire to the Caribbean!

Lords debate reform of royal succession

New Scottish Executive Web site

Ukraine, Poland, and a free world

The defence of the Enlightenment

Criminals to be fed vitamins to improve behaviour

SMS the Prime Minister

Kevin Sites on his tape of the shooting in the Mosque

Interview with Paul Wolfowitz

The Crisis of Legitimacy: America and the World

More fear and loathing on the campaign trail

North East England 'no' vote retains dumb constitutional arrangement

Canadians Unite to Marry An American

George Bush is no Hamlet

President Kerry and Europe by Timothy Garton Ash

Interesting article on the effect of internal US politics on internal EU politics.

In any sober analysis, the chances of the world's two largest assemblages of the rich and free being able to work together to confront the coming great global challenges will be better with a President Kerry. And only if America and Europe work together can we unfold, for the rest of the world, the transforming power of liberty.

100 facts about the Bush administration

Ultranormal says, "There are a couple stretches in the list, but 90% of it is right on, and pretty hard to argue with."

Salam Pax in Washington D.C.

Kilroy-Silk: If you want me as leader, then do something about it

Is George Bush a Christian?

Why Scotland never hated Jews

A rundown of the many benefits for Europe of Bush being re-elected

The conventional wisdom has it that President Bush’s first term in office has been truly bad for Europe. Whether it is the rift over Iraq or almost any other major policy issue, we are told that they have been to the detriment of Europe. But as Richard Phillips argues, the Bush Administration has not only helped bring Germany and France closer together — it has also unwittingly elevated Europe’s prestige throughout the world.

21st century conservative movement resembles 20th century fascism

Bush's hometown newspaper endorses John Kerry

Mitch Kapor argues for an internet based open source US popular reform movement

Washington Post Op-Ed on Flu Vaccine

New York Times endorses John Kerry for President

Israel could end up being regarded as a pariah state

WEF Global Competitiveness Reports puts UK 11th

Bono calls for action on Africa at UK Labour Party Conference

Jimmy Carter says Florida electoral system still not fair

Presidential Debate Rules

US Dept. of Homeland Security buys New Mexico town!

A Human Security Doctrine for Europe

Labour Party Chairman contributes to the party conference 'blog-like' diary

War in Iraq is now 'new conflict' against terrorists

Seems to be working for Bush...

Pro-hunt protesters storm Commons

Pro-hunt protesters storm Commons in the latest high-profile UK security balls up. After the Tabloid reporter 'butler' saga, PM's Flour 'bomb' and the Batman episode, this adds up to incompetence.

The Political Brain

Via Demos, The Political Brain

As The Times reported not long ago, a team of U.C.L.A. researchers analyzed the neural activity of Republicans and Democrats as they viewed a series of images from campaign ads. And the early data suggested that the most salient predictor of a ''Democrat brain'' was amygdala activity responding to certain images of violence: either the Bush ads that featured shots of a smoldering ground zero or the famous ''Daisy'' ad from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 campaign that ends with a mushroom cloud. Such brain activity indicates a kind of gut response, operating below the level of conscious control.

Manifestos for Change

(Via JoiIto & MegNut) ChangeThis Manifestos launch:

We don’t believe humans evolved to be so bad at making decisions, so poor at changing our minds, so violent in arguing our point of view. We’re well aware of how split our country and our world have become, but we don’t think the current state of affairs is built into our very nature.

The problem lies in the media.

In the old days, we had the time and inclination to consider the implications of a decision. Everyone wasn’t in quite so much of a hurry. At the same time, most conversations (and most arguments) were local ones, conducted between people who knew each other.

Today, it’s very different. Television demands a sound bite. A one hundred word letter to the editor is a long one. Radio has become a jingoistic wasteland, a series of thoughtless mantras, repeated over and over and designed to fit into a typical commute.

25 Million for bin laden isn't enough

(Via Pejmanesque), a proposal at Tech Central Station to put a 1 Billion dollar bounty on ObL's capture.

Internet only pharmacies get go ahead

England relaxes rules, Scotland & Wales say No.

Why is Najaf so holy?

E-binge that will cost us dear