No Direction Home

This is another searing indictment of what Mark Twain accurately termed "the damned human race": Lost to the Only Life They KnewAn excerpt: Gideon is one of the "Lost Boys," a group of more than 400 teenagers — some as young as 13 — who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years. His stated offenses: wearing short-sleeved shirts, listening to CDs and having a girlfriend. Other boys say they were booted out for going to movies, watching television and staying out past curfew. Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.Authorities say the teens aren't really being expelled for what they watch or wear, but rather to reduce competition for women in places where men can have dozens of wives...

The Backwash of Empire
Shanghai SurpriseEverything old is new again -- the press-gangs are back
.When Marine Recruiters Go Way Beyond the Call(via Altercation)

Dark as a DungeonBush does so have an exit strategery in Iraq -- it's called "civil war"
:Pepe Escobar in The Asia Times.

Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to LoseBush and Putin do a tag-team to thwart investigation of the massacre by Bush's favorite dissident-boiling despot:
U.S. Opposed Calls at NATO to Block Probe of Uzbek Killings

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