Read It And Weep

Finally, after nearly three years and some monumental attempts at stonewalling from the White House and its various henchmen, we have a clear picture of how the 9/11 plot played out. I recommend that you read the full staff report which outlines the plot, which you'll find here. It's just 20 pages, and brilliantly explains how it all happened. A tip of the hat to the commissioners, who patiently pushed on through all kinds of opposition to get at the truth. Meanwhile, the witty wiseacres at The Onion, like their video brethren at The Comedy Channel's The Daily Show, do a better job of getting at the underlying truths through tongue-in-cheek coverage than does most of the media through its straight reporting. This piece zeroes in on how the Republicans messed up on protecting their own by failing to kill the commission when they could have.

Back to the New Deal? Progressives are going all high-concept these days in trying to sack Bush. Moveon.org is raising millions for its aggressive attack ads in print and on TV, and the latest round of campaign finance reports showed that Kerry has actually outraised the vaunted Bush money machine in recent months. But now that the Dems are swimming in cash, I hope they won't forget some more basic blocking and tackling that easily gets lost in the shuffle: voter registration. Chicago-based lawyer/activist/author Thomas Geoghegan (get thee to a library or bookstore and pick up any of his books) recently made an interesting observation. "I know that the country's turned to the right. But we'd still have the New Deal if voters were turning out at New Deal-type rates." Good point, and no wonder that he's been called the Romantic Realist. My friend, labor activist Sandy Woodthorpe, would especially enjoy Tom's '92 book Which Side are You On?: Trying to be for Labor When It's Flat on Its Back. It may be the best argument ever made for giving unions the benefit of the doubt in the modern era.

Some Real Job-Hunting Advice. Finally, here's a riff from the sharpie viral-marketing guru Seth Godin, on how the hiring process really works. I think I'll send it to a bunch of recent college grads and some other friends who are searching for jobs. He asks the key question that anyone trying to sell anyone else (be it on hiring them, buying from them, marrying them, etc.) must first answer: How do you make them feel?