My latest reading of Arianna Huffington’s Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream was rather discouraging, for it concerned the influence of special interests on the government.

According to Arianna, while the media may portray debates over legislation as dramatic conflicts over the public good, the sad fact is that, if legislation made it far enough to be debated, the lobbyists had their hands in it beforehand, making sure that there were enough loopholes for them to get by with what they do.  Moreover, Arianna discusses how the monetary penalties on unsafe mines and on certain polluters are far from tough, for they are not much money, in light of what the mines and the polluters make.  The problem, for Arianna, is not that there aren’t enough regulatory bureaucrats, but rather that the actual oversight is not adequate.  Arianna…

AL JAZEERA

“…Hundreds of students from various colleges and educational institutions in Islamabad had begun clashing with police as security forces tried to block them from reaching the embassy compoud, which also includes the British and French diplomatic missions.

The students responded by pelting the police with stones, and the police retaliated by firing tear gas shells. 

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the situation was eventually brought under ‘control’ by police and the military.

‘Police tried to control the crowd by firing in the air and using tear gas. But because of the size of the crowd, the police were forced to ask for help from the military,’ he said….

…Several students were injured when policemen hurled the stones back at the crowd. According to local television channels, several policemen were also injured.

‘Our policemen are not any better than the Americans because they are trying to stop us. They are in the same league…