links for 2010-10-12

• Finding Meaning in the Egyptian Elections – Egypt Elections
  The boycott-participation divide speaks to the fundamental challenges and limited opportunities that the opposition has faced during Mubarak’s presidency. On the one hand, the regime maintains a stranglehold on electoral competition to ensure the NDP’s hegemony over legislative bodies, but on the other hand it gives the opposition the opportunity for limited political participation through elections and parliamentary activity.

  As such, the 2010 parliamentary elections will renew the tension between challenges and opportunities for Egyptian opposition groups, and therefore should be watched closely. With the country anticipating a period of presidential succession, the parliamentary elections are worth following for yet another reason. At this crucial juncture, the elections offer a valuable opportunity to understand the regime’s preferences on striking a balance between stability and the urgent need for reform.

  (tags: egypt politics elections ndp muslim-brotherhood wafd ElGhad ElBaradie)
• Arab Reform Initiative
  (tags: islamism islamist violence politics egypt MiddleEast muslim-brotherhood)
• The Facts of Cap and Trade – Global Warming – Environmental Defense Fund
  (tags: CapandTrade pollution environment climatechange united-states policy carbon video)
• What we can learn from procrastination : The New Yorker
  (tags: psychology philosophy education research economics brain lifehack)
• Conservatives Push Absurd Lie that Wall Street Hustlers Were Innocent Victims … of Poor People | | AlterNet
  (tags: united-states economy policy real-estate finance bullshit conservative)