BARRA (TAHA) Mark Jenkins does for Rachid Taha what it took the NYTimes two pages to do. Nail on the head being hit and all that.

OLD DAFFY DEFENSE Sometimes I listen to a Defense briefing by Donald Rumsfeld and think he's just a brilliant master of words and obfuscation. But most of the time I suspect he's afraid the media will find out about his lithium, so he just stopped taking it. The BBC has collected some of Rumsfelds best (or worst) moments at the Donald Rumsfeld Soundbite Archive.

SUMMER READING FROM A LOON Poet Andrei Codescu is living proof that any convergence between Eastern Europe and New Orleans will ultimately lead to some post-modern disaster of extreme proportions. And I almost mean that in the nicest of ways. Here he offers up some summer reading suggestions. It's best if you can affect his accent while reading.

FAISAL'S GHOST If you're wondering who's going to run Iraq if the United States trounces Saddam Hussein, look toward Jordan. Prince Hassan's appearance at a meeting of Iraqi dissidents was no accident. The Prince has been looking for something to fill his time since his brother King Hussein of Jordan had the gall to die and leave the throne to his son. And the Royal Family of Jordan, as you history buffs know, has its roots in Iraq. Or did until King Faisal II's body was tossed out into the desert.

MOROCCAN MUDDLE The Guardian's weblog site pointed me to Wafin.com, an online publication for Moroccans living in the U.S. This particular piece looks at how the current crisis with Spain points to a larger dilemna for Morocco: which way to look for its future. Europe seems the likeliest answer. As the piece points out: a Moroccan newspaper editor asked, "Where else can we look? To the south there is famine. To the east there is slaughter. To the west is the ocean. The north is our only horizon."

ORIGINS OF THE ISLAMIST REVOLUTION Gilles Keppel, one of the more insightful and comprehensive writers of the last year, has published another excellent article on the origins of, the rise of and the future of the Islamist movements. Keppel traces the origins in three phases, looking at three population clusters. And in doing so, he explains why, in his view, Islamist militancy is destined to remain on the periphery, if not fail utterly.

IN MAASS Peter Maass has two good pieces up this week (observations, really), one of which I posted above already. The first steers folks to Gilles Kepel's article on al Quaeda's waning influence. The second is on the brief detention of a top Indian actress when she flew into New York earlier this week. Looks like the subtle messages are working: if you don't have pale skin, you just might be a terrorist.

L'ENFANT'S WASHINGTON The Post explores the original Washington, a city of canals and grand homages to democracy, and provides a historical walking tour of the nation's capitol like no other. I mean, who knew that crotchety old John Adams used to bath in a canal that ran where Constitution Avenue now sits?

CROSSING THE ATLANTIC Flak Magazines does something that should have been done six weeks ago, when the July-August issue of The Atlantic Monthly went on sale: it praises the current issue. And with good justification -- it's one of the best issues I've seen of the magazine in many years.

JOHN WALKER LINDH A transcript from a very thoughtful, very direct and very candid online discussion with one of John Walker Lindh's attorneys. He didn't weave, he didn't parse, he didn't excuse. This shouldn't be the basis for anyone changing their minds about Lindh's actions, but it sure clarifies a host of things that have been glossed over in the media.

BUILDING WITH VISION Ben Forgey has had a lot of experience over the years assessing how architecture affects the public space. As architectural critic for The Washington Post, he's had the fortune to observe and review the value and impact of buildings and of memorials. His keen comments on the six proposed "concepts" for the World Trade Centers site demonstrate something of what he's learned over the years.

TORI & NEIL Billboard gives up the scoop on Tori Amos' new album, scheduled for an October release, and weaves in a graph or two about Neil Gaiman, who in addition to being a snappy writer (come on, you remember "Sandman," don't you?!) penned the program notes for her last tour in the form of a short story. Gaiman's new odd-and-offbeat children's book, "Coraline," has nibbled its way onto the NYTimes bestselling children's books list. Think Lemony Snickett meets Edward Gorey.

ARAB PERESTOIKA Ehsan Ahrari looks at the recent U.N. report on the state of the Arab world and sees limited opportunity for subtle democratic change. Nibbling around the edges, he suggests, is far more useful than turning a blind eye to the excesses of authoritarian rule. And the edges include Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and some of the Gulf states.

RADICAL FEMINISM The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a 23-year-old U.N. document signed by our last thoughtful President (Jimmy Carter) and called a "radical feminist" manifesto by our least favorite North Carolina senator (Jesse Helms) is finally inching forward. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee appears ready to move the document forward for Congressional approval and a Presidential signature. Not surprising that the Bush team is hedging -- after all, it has two things working against it: it's a international treaty (such treaties seem to give Bush hives) and it doesn't advance the war on terror. Who hasn't signed the treaty? How about Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria?

NO BRAINER Virginia issued the first in a series of reports that are supposed to catalogue how well state colleges and universities are actually teaching students. Probably not a bad idea, especially if it pushes schools to actually improve. Nothing like a little motivation. The president of the University of Virginia's Faculty Senate really set some alarm bells off with me with this quote: "We trust our own capacity to assess the competence of our students." Sort of like Operation TIPS -- "We don't want Americans to spy on each other. Just to tell the government when they see someone acting unusual."

SADDAM INSOMNIA Amed Tarzi is losing sleep over Iraq. An expert on the Middle East at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Tarzi agrees that Saddam Hussein is one of the worst leaders in the region and a threat to regional stability. But he also hates to think that war is the best option, or even a good option. This interview in the Coast Weekly with Tarzi and his colleague Tim McCarthy lays out their rationale.

EENSIE WEENSIE HULA HOOPS Yah. I'm sort of stuck on Michael Lewis' parenting columns, which is odd because I used to find his writing dull. Maybe I'm getting dull. Maybe his wife, Tabitha Sorenson, is making him more interesting. Or maybe it's his daughter -- who is cute as a button, and has perfected the universal art of running around the house at 4 a.m. screaming, "Daddy! I'm awake!"»

PRETTY POISON Phthalates are the new buzzword for the healthy obsessed, and fortunately they are everywhere! Basically, phthalates are a family of chemicals used to "soften" plastic, which means just about anything plastic or vinyl (yes, even those pants) have them. But women between age 20 and 40 seem to have more of them in their system, and the chemical can be hazardous to the wee ones in the womb. The reason this age group seems to have more phthalates in their system is because the chemical is added to countless beauty products. Nottoopretty.org has more info, and a list of phthalate-free products (including Ubran Decay nail polish, thank you).

LIKE A BOWL FULL OF JELLY I spent many long summers on the Chesapeake Bay and outside of being carried off by a swarm of giant yellowjackets, my greatest fear as a child on the water was the dreaded stinging nettle, or stinging jellyfish. Sure, they weren't giant creatures like those in Australia who drag you into their maws, but they wreaked havoc on tender city-bred flesh. Researchers at Horn Point Laboratory in Maryland actually study the prehistoric monsters.

CREATING A SKEPTICAL PRESS: A 12-STEP PROGRAM As this piece by Dana Milbank explains, hostile or skeptical media coverage tends to originate in the relationship between (in this case) the White House press corps and the White House itself. Recent head fakes by the White House, especially on the Harken Energy story, are exactly the sort of fuel that feeds an increasingly fed-up press corps. At your best in PR, you remember that the press is composed of people with jobs who have a direct impact on how people perceive you/your boss/your organization. At your worst, you piss them off and get annoyed when they take it personally.

WELL-DESIGNED TEA FOR TWO The author of the book "The Design of Everyday Things" kicks off this great article on emotion and design by discussing three teapots he uses. The teapots represent the tension that lives between aesthetics and usability, and his basic question is whether that tension is necessary anymore.

DISTURBING, YET... Possibly the best sort of weblog is the sort that combines three or four key qualities. One: good writing is a must. Two: no skirting around the edges... say what you mean. Three: if you're lucky, you'll make people uncomfortable. Four: if you're good, you'll make people think. This one, I think, goes three for four. That's two better than mine.

ORWELL'S AMERICA? Usually, I chalk bad government programs up as being well-intended efforts that just went awry, and then I stumble across Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System), which seeks to recruit more than 1 million average Americans into a network of informants. The well-intended aspect, of course, is giving the average bloke the chance to help prevent terrorism. The more nervous side of my mind thinks of East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s when 1 in 20 citizens worked for Stasi, squealing on their neighbors for critical talk or hoarding carrots.

TO BUILD A FIRE (AT CAMP DAVID) Bitterlemons.org presents five views (none of them exceptionally long or painful reads) about the personalities and politics that went into the Camp David discussions between the Israelis and Palestinians two years ago.

DELAYED JUDGEMENTS The settlement in the case against John Lindh was probably good for Lindh (who avoided the real possibility of life in prison) and for the government (which avoided some possible embarassment, and the chance that Lindh might walk on appeal), but it delays some very real constitutional issues that would have quickly moved from the Virginia courthouse to the Supreme Court had the Lindh case proceeded.

A PENNY FOR YOUR VOTES My favorite Congressman, Tim Penny of Minnesota, is running for that state's governor on the Independence Party ticket. The IP is the party of the Gopher State's crazed current gov, Jesse Ventura, and this fall's election has a slim possibility of making the IP a somewhat viable third-party, at least at the state or local level. The Post has a good snapshot from late June of Penny and the Minnesota race.

LOVIN' KATE Like a spoonful of sugar, Kate Sullivan takes a little sliver of rock-and-roll and massages it into something small and meaningful before concluding with simple poetry. Today: writing as an act of desperation, and how you don't have to admit you're happy to be there and feel the warm summer breeze at night and just be glad.

GETTING SPOOKED In March, a major report on the intelligence community was quietly delivered to the White House; it was commissioned last spring (before September 11). The report called for the NSA and two other defense intelligence groups to be centralized and moved out from under the control of the Defense Department. Secretary Rumsfeld, for some obvious reasons, isn't keen on the idea. But this article gives a good view of the defense-related intel work going on today within our national borders, among other interesting tidbits.

IN THE SHADOW OF AMMAN William Arkin takes an insightful look at the U.S.-Jordan relationship and what might actually be taking place in the shadows as the U.S. ramps up for a possible attack on Iraq. In addition to his keen judgements, Arkin asks an important question that applies not only to our Middle East policy, but to our relationship with the world community. To paraphrase Arkin: If our actions can't withstand the light of day and honest scrutiny and candid behavior, how in the world do we think we'll be able to succeed at the tasks before us?

COLLECTIVE AMNESIA AND SUCKERPUNCHES Howard Kurtz does his usual stand-up job this morning by taking a look at the headlines and coming to solid conclusions: corporate corruption was aided and abetted by Congress and the White House for years, and that the media needs to take all of them to task (not just Bush and Cheney). He also takes note of a L.A. Times piece that catalogues the many negative hits taken by Bush in the past month (since, oh, about the time of his "major" speech on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). With the market continuing to shake, look for the fallout to climb.