Bits and Pieces: Touching Wood.

Dedicated to tovarisch Bradislav Josipovich Delongiev, Head Political Commissar NKVD/Amerika

Maria Farrell (Irish writer and consultant on Internet policy) took off her British Army helmet and wrote "Post-Democracy" (May 20) for Crooked Timber.

Farrell has been re-reading "Colin Crouch's Post-Democracy on and off for about eighteen months" and agrees with his analysis: liberal democracy has managed to keep the trappings of democracy (elections, "free" press, "free" speech), while abandoning the substance of it.

David Ruccio: Unilateral Pluralism in Economics.

David Ruccio (Professor of Economics, University of Notre Dame and a well-known Marxist) denounces that Alberto Paloni, senior lecturer of macroeconomics at the University of Glasgow and "expert in post-Keynesian theory, has been stopped from teaching a core degree module on macroeconomics".

"Capitalism is the Legitimate Racket of the Ruling Class".

"Scarface" Al Capone [A]

Somehow I missed an equally titled post at David Ruccio's "Occasional Links & Commentary".

Prof. Ruccio makes a good case linking the increase in inequality with capitalism.

But what really impressed me is the origin of that line in the title.

It was uttered by Al Capone.