Sunday, April 22, 2007

read it and find out


Inmates vs. Animals: U.S. Fails the Test of Civilization by Ben Zipperer

It´s an article well worth reading for its brief treatment of prisons in the US. Not much on day-to-day brutality in prisons, but finally I found a calculation of what the US unemployment rate would be if we included the unconscionably high number of prisoners in the count - and it makes the miraculous US economy look a littler humbler in relation to European social democracies than one would otherwise think from reading the Economist or other such glossy toilet paper.

"The past millenium and a half has arguably witnessed a general improvement in the cultural level of society, in particular many countries having preserved and extended their intolerance of sports that brutally exploit the disadvantaged. ..."

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

To be outshone?

40 Years Ago Today - Riverside Church Address - Beyond Vietnam By Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Greatest speech ever... though I'm really looking forward to the next masterpiece written for the '08 Democratic primary winner. Oh boy!