Splinters

One prominent US exile, Greg Palast, has a new admirer in Ian Penman. He implores us to read his latest book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He intends to give us "Much, much, MUCH more on this anon., but let's just hyperbolically say: he makes Michael Moore seem like a 3 a.m. Girl rewriting an S-CLUB sleb-snog Press release. Staggering, just staggering."

What? Anyway, he ends by saying "In the end, it's hard to know what is scarier and more shocking - what Palast turns up, or the fact that 99% of it is known but has been declared 'off limits' by the American media, which is (suddenly) too scared/lazy/bought-off - for which read 'patriotic' - to do the job itself and unmask the STUPENDOUS irregularities and corruption and deal making and cover-up at the heart of democracy, BUSH style."

One day, maybe someone will write a book called Reading Palast in DC. Though I'm not sure if Cynthia Ozick would ever review it for a major publication.