Required: riveting first-hand account of human suffering and government indifference in New Orleans right now.

Recommended: Texaco , Patrick Chamioseau's magical realist novel about Martinique and the shanty towns therein. Between the natural disasters, the racism and the will of people to survive, this book has more resonance with the U.S. right here, right now, than you might think.

Forwarded through nihilistic_kid, a piece of essential first-hand reporting and analysis for those of us struggling to understand what is going on in New Orleans right now.I lived in NOLA off and on for about three years, and it certainly all rang true from what I witnessed while living there.

I have about twenty people on my Friends List who are better at capital critique than I am, and none of them have weighed in on the service economy discussion transpiring below. What gives? Hopefully, they are all too busy commenting in slit's journal.

Under-tipping is one of the most cowardly everyday behaviors in American capitalism. Particularly odious is the "punitive under-tip."

Have there been any attempts by either the U.S. or the British governmnet to articulate what is meant by the adjective "extremist"? I'd be interested in hearing about them.