Friday Night Links: “All They Have Left Is Atavistic Nihilism” Edition

-grist ran a great blog during the RNC and it's worth it to visit and look back through the past week's entries. Here's a highlight: They know they've destroyed the country, that from here it's only "the downward path" as Jeffers called it. All they have left is atavistic nihilism, to revel in the destruction, and to dream of violence… You can bet, when things really begin to bite, when the Republican-set charges detonate in earnest and the economic system comes crashing down, that's when this cadre, bolstered by all this yahoo vermin, will try to impose a de jure police state (whereas so far the admin has only been able to move in increments toward a de facto authoritarian state). It will be the final, most all-encompassing play by disaster capitalism. -Speaking of disaster capitalism, Naomi Klein has a piece over at The Nation about Obama's baffling silence on Katrina over the last year and how it's allowed McCain to spin Hurricane Gustav to his campaign's advantage. Gustav was one of those rare moments when political arguments are made by reality, not rhetoric. It was the time to simply point and say: "This is why we oppose more drilling." It was also the time to recall that during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the official Minerals Management Service report found more than 100 accidents leading to a total of 743,400 gallons of oil spilled throughout the region. To put that figure in perspective, 100,000 gallons is classified as a "major spill." If one is feeling particularly bold, a Category 5 hurricane is also an opportune time to mention that scientists see a link between heavier storms and warming ocean temperatures--warmed in part by the fossil fuels being extracted from those fallible platforms. -Playwright Christopher Shinn's new play, "Now or Later," about the son of a centrist Democratic presidential candidate and a conflict that arises on election night, is set to premiere in London next week. Shinn's play, "Dying City," was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.