The London Bus theory of interesting internet articles: spend an hour or so (or more) scouring the netscape for one, and suddenly two come along at once. (it helps when the bus stop you finally arrive at is Real Clear Politics.)

This article is about propaganda, and points out what I thought was obvious and so couldn't find a way to say- that is that in so-called propaganda (actually I think we're a tad confused about that word, hence my 'so-called') a major component can be a benevolent support of positive values eg. what could be more wholesome that 'don't kill yourself and many others; think like a human being' . It's hardly Nazism.

The second article is the Sharon argument (and I notice he's not gone yet, so where there's life...); the one where we try to rationalise a man who, as it were, swung both ways.

What I liked especially was this endearing way of looking at the issue:

'A popular toy among Sharon's generation of Israeli parents was called ``nachum takum'' -- lie down, get up. You know it: the toy you knocked down but which bounced right up again. That's Sharon himself and that, I think, was his grand strategy.'

But that's the thing that's impressed me about Sharon: he has always seemed on the side of life, even when dealing out death.