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March 25, 2005 - If you haven't already, you should check out the excellent post this week at the Black Commentator: The U.S. is Becoming a "Failed State." "Failed state" is a phrase used by the World Bank to describe nations that have been rendered impotent and ineffective by economic and/or military coercion. Or according to Henry C.K. Liu in the Asia Times,

March 24, 2005 - After yesterday's blast at a BP-Amoco oil refinery in Texas City that killed 15 and injured more than 100, many articles pointed out that the Gulf coast port was also the site of the infamous 1947 ship explosion that killed nearly 600. "Welcome to life in Texas City," one resident told the AP. "I was born here and pretty much, it happens from time to time."

March 24, 2005 - Alabama district attorney and practicing Catholic Doug Valeska "has sent more people to Death Row than other DA in the state except those in more populous Jefferson and Montgomery counties." Alabama bishops have joined a national campaign to end the death penalty, and the DA's own priest has asked him not to seek execution in specific cases, but Valeska makes like Huck Finn:

March 23, 2005 - The Schiavo case fits perfectly Thomas Frank's description of the right-wing bait-and-switch, wherein the social cons are whipped into a frenzy by some "cultural" crusade with little hope of succeeding, while politicians harness their energy, votes, and money to slash regulations, cut taxes, and make the world safer for corporations.

March 23, 2005 - From the Houston Chronicle:

March 23, 2005 - The latest from the revolving door of cronyism known as military contracting in America:

March 22, 2005 - Several Southern Imax theaters are refusing to show a science documentary called "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" for fear it might offend audiences. At first glance, it's hard to figure how the film insults Southern sensibilities. The New York Times calls it "an underwater epic about the bizarre creatures that flourish in the hot, sulfurous emanations from vents in the ocean floor," which pretty much describes half the Southern congressional delegation, so why would a few sea monsters scare us? The Charlotte Observer explains: