Reading room

From Obama and Geithner, no real fixes for fraudonomics. Matt Taibbi questions whether the executive is serious about dealing with systemic financial abuses.

The Nation looks at how climate change became a key plank in the anarcho-capitalist kulturkampf, and whether we're willing to pay the price to save our planet.

Speaking of capitalism, Matt Stoller, author of Naked Capitalism, points out ideological problems that Ron Paul highlights for the liberal establishment. (I tend to think that Stoller oversells the efficacy of Paul's critique of central authority's expression in military-industrial terms, but it's a good, brief essay about a thousand times more coherent and less cherry-picked than Glenn Greenwald's customary hate-on for Obama that linked to it.)

Similar to Stoller's discussion of historical plates in American liberalism, Haaretz looks at shifts in the Israeli left, in the context of the Occupy protests.

And speaking of Occupy, this (now outdated) article from The Nation, "Hard Times at Occupy Boston, looks at the problems of small self-government and describes some of the challenges that were overlooked in the national unsympathetic coverage.

On centrism, action and Greece

Gene Lyons on how Bogus Centrists ignore reality in order to position themselves as above the fray. He notes that nearly all the positions advocated by the centrists are, in fact, the same as Obama's, giving the lie to the idea that it's both parties failing now. (There are genuine left critiques of Obama, but nearly none of the so-called Third Way proponents actually grasp them.

David Brin on Frank Miller's fascist fantasy of Sparta and how the #OWS kids are better for democracy. Brin outlines how Miller's become the Riefenstahl of comics, ignoring historical truths to cast ultimately caustic heroic myths. (It's good to know that I'm not the only comics fan who loathed that movie; the book was better but still requires a profound ignorance of Greece.)

MetaFilter's excellent post on the UC Davis debacle gives an interesting tidbit of information: Their chancellor, Linda Katehi, attended Athens Polytechnic during the 17N (or November 17) uprisings, which have become a national holiday. It's the date that students at the Polytechnic defied Greek tanks, and the spark that ultimately ended the military rule of Greece. That her shame comes on the same day hopefully has an ironic resonance for her.

"No, you're not!"

Karl Rove gets Mic Checked by #OccupyBaltimore and doesn't seem to understand math.

It's only when we fight back

CLASS WARFARE! from Tom the Dancing Bug.

From Fox's cutting room floor

#OccupyWallSt member gives cogent, articulate criticism of Fox News and media coverage. Fox doesn't air it.