The End of the World News

Good Morning. A few new items.

• Pierre reveals his long-ago short-lived affair with Meredith Vieira, victim since to the degradation of television news into America's sensory aristocracy in the service of popular doping. See "The End of the World News."
  

• Islamic Law in the Netherlands? Oliver Wendell Holmes would have approved. See "Democracy's Full Circle of Hell."
  

• In Case you missed it: Pakistan's Infatuation with rape.

• Tony Judt on the Strange Death of American Liberalism.
  

• And in Candide's latest: The Montreal college killer's death diaries, Colin Powell's letter bashing George Bush, and wordplay over the "Clash of Civilizations."

Have a good weekend everyone, and thanks for reading.pt

Assassinating George Bush: The Flick

Good Morning. A few new items.

• If you haven't heard of it yet, you inevitably will very soon: a British filmmaker has just released "Death of a President," or "D.O.A.P.," a fictional documentary about the assassination of George W. Bush in 2007. The reaction has been, from the reactionary right, predictably apoplectic. Pierre writes "In Defense of "D.O.A.P."
  

• How could we avoid it? The Tuesday column had to deal with 9/11 Five Years On. But with a bonus to make it go down easier: It includes a list of airport regulations five years from now, along with an assessment of what's been lost in the past five years: "From Solemn to Embarrassing."
  

• George W. Soprano? Candide's Latest features The Bush Lie, Part 2,042: Those secret prisons haven't been emptied after all, as Bush claimed last week. Remember how three years ago Bush revealed to the world that he was just another Soprano? Plus, Niall Ferguson on empires crumbling, and an ongoing discussion, with contributing comments from Candide's Notebooks readers and contributors, about Peter Singer, the philosopher and animal rights activist. Join the debate. All in Candide's Latest.
  

Thanks for reading.pt

9/11 Remembered

Good Morning. Several pieces to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11.

• On Sept. 16 and Sept. 30, 2001, I wrote two essays for the News-Journal on the attacks. They're published at Candide's Notebooks for the first time: "When Barbarism Follows Barbarism," and "Manhattan the Days After." The second piece was written following a one-week assignment in Manhattan, days after the attacks.
  

• Candide's Notebooks Contributor OhDave writes an affecting essay, mixing the personal with the political, on what's been lost since 2001 in "Paranoid Nation."
  

• Osama has done it again: He's released a video, right on cue, ahead of the mid-term elections, as per Bush's implicit desires. Read all about the "Al-Qaeda Video Awards."
  

• A 9/11 anniversary would not be complete without an update: "Bush Lies, Part 2,038."

As always, keep up with the more immediate developments with Candide's Latest...

[Note: Feedburner, the service I use for these email alerts, has been erratic and unhelpful when alerted to its slumbers. Your patience is appreciated.pt]