There are many good pieces out there at the moment, but not world enough and time today to dig into them properly. So here are some brief glimpses. In the immortal words of Rabbi Hillel: Go, and study.

Nightmare Alley
Arthur Silber is back from a long, illness-induced hiatus, and as usual, he is firing with both barrels. The piece deserves more comment, but for now, just go read the whole thing:  "Fools for Empire (Part I)."

Patriotic Gore
Another master sometimes laid low by illness these days has re-emerged with harsh words for the new Potomac regime. We speak, of course, of America's biographer, the legendary Gore Vidal. Here he is in fine, bristling form, sparring with The Times: Gore Vidal: ‘We’ll have a dictatorship soon in the US’.

Same as it Ever Was
As Jon Schwarz says, the Founding Fathers were honest men: they said straight out that they wanted a legislative body that would preserve the power and privilege of the oligarchy – and so by George, they made one. It's called the United States Senate. See "Good Call, James Madison."

Power Tool
John Caruso provides a handy translation of the Obama Administration's scolding of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya for his "foolish" action in returning to his own country; an action which has upset the militarists and oligarchs who overthrew him – and has obviously piqued our homegrown miligarchs as well: "Translating Lewis Anselem on Honduras."

Dumping Ground
As George Monbiot points out, the great and good have decided to tackle the catastrophe of climate change in the time-honored way: blaming the poor and making them suffer, while letting the real perpetators off scot-free. This is another piece that deserves more comment (and may get it when time shall serve), but give it a good read now: "Stop blaming the poor. It's the wally yachters who are burning the planet."