Interesting Reading

Some things I read today that you might be interested in:

• How Google Works -- It can never hurt to have a better understanding of the workings of tools you use every day. (Found via Left is Right)
  
  
• Recordings from a teach-in about secret trials in Canada. The Canadian state has taken for itself the power to detain people without arrest, without trial, with minimal judicial oversight, and five Muslim men are currently being held.
  
  
• A post by Justin Podur about Canadian immigration policies and protest against them. It also includes reference to security certificates and secret trials.
  
  
• Giraffes yesterday? Rhinos today. A really good piece on the culture of fascism in the United States. (The rhino reference is to a Eugene Ionesco play from 1959.)
  
  
• This is an interesting article advising Democrats to embrace economic populism to win elections. Fine, okay, right...actually addressing class issues would be a nice change. But I get feelings of potential creepiness in there, too. I think it has to do with the fact that it advocates serious consideration of issues of justice for purely tactical reasons. And race and gender issues aren't mentioned at all. Still interesting, though.
  
  
• In fact race was central to the 2004 election.