It doesn?t get better than this

Feast on this holiday lineup: Packers-Lions, Dolphins-Cowboys, 49ers-Ravens

ANALYSIS

updated 9:43 a.m. ET Nov. 23, 2011

Mike Tanier

Six teams, all of them coming off a victory. Five of them with winning records, four of them in first place. The only team with a losing record is on a three-game winning streak.

Thanksgiving football doesn?t get any better than this.

Let?s get right to the good stuff: fast facts about each of the teams playing on Thursday, appetite whetting tidbits to get you ready for a good gorging.

Ranking Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers showed signs of mortality against the Lions, though it is telling that a 299-yard, three-touchdown performance in a win can now be considered an ?off day? for him. Rodgers is on pace to shatter the single-season quarterback rating record: he currently has a 128.8 efficiency rating, 7.7 points above Peyton Manning?s 2004 season.

Yes, efficiency rating is a flawed, confusing, messy stat. We?re just having some fun here. And despite the stat?s shortcomings, there is no way to ?fluke? a rating in the 120?s over a full season.

How amazing is Rodgers? rating? Imagine him throwing 50 straight incomplete passes: no catches, no touchdowns, just a string of ugly throws lasting about two games. At the end of that historically terrible slump, Rodgers would still have a rating of 112.1: fifth on the all-time single season list, just above Tom Brady?s rating from last year, when he threw 36 touchdowns and just four interceptions!

A 50-pass incompletion streak is not going to happen, so let?s project a more realistic slump. Let?s say Rodgers turns into a mediocre quarterback and goes 15-of-30 for 150 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in every game for the rest of the year. That would leave him with season statistics of 4,068 yards, 41 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a 64.4 percent completion rate. His efficiency rating would be 105.1. That may not sound as historic, but it would still rank 17th all time, ahead of Rodgers? already impressive ratings in 2009 and 2010.

So while Rodgers? statistics may well settle down as the season winds down and cold weather hits, it will take a lot of settling before his numbers are anything short of ?epic.? Rodgers is making a case for all-time greatness, and that case keeps getting stronger.

Lions roar!
The Lions enter Thanksgiving this season with seven or more wins for just the fourth time since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

That?s an amazing four decades of futility, especially when you realize that during the 1980s and early 1990s, the season started promptly on Labor Day, and there were no bye weeks. The Lions Thanksgiving game was often the team?s 13th game of the season, not the 11th like this year, and you would think that parity and dumb luck would result in a 7-5 record every couple of years or so. Instead, it has been a pretty reliable once-per-decade event: the Lions were 7-5 in 1980, 8-4 in 1991, 7-4 in 2000, and are 7-3 right now. It is due to happen again around 2020.

Jokes about how irrelevant the Lions are on Thanksgiving have become clich?s, but the team has earned the abuse. Since 2001, the average Lions record on Thanksgiving has been three wins and 7.2 losses. The Lions have been over .500 just 12 times since the merger. Five of those winning records occurred between 1970 and 1975, so the Lions have been realistically in the playoff hunt for their traditional holiday appearance just five times since I learned to ride a bicycle.

Here is a rundown of the five Lions teams with the best Thanksgiving winning percentages in modern NFL history. Prepare to be underwhelmed:

1) 2011 Lions (7-3): You know these guys, and you were probably ready to count them out around halftime of Sunday?s Panthers game. Warts and all, they are easily the best Lions team since Barry Sanders retired.

2) 1991 Lions (8-4): A vintage Barry Sanders run ?n? shoot team. These Lions finished 12-4 and beat the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. It was the last Lions' playoff victory. It was one-fifth of a century ago.

3) 1981 Lions (2-1): A strike ate up most of the September and October schedule in 1982. Led by running back Billy Sims and pass rusher Bubba Baker, these Lions not only had a .667 winning percentage by technicality on Turkey Day, but backed into a modified playoff tournament with a 4-5 record, losing 31-7 in the first round.

4) 2000 Lions (7-4): Gritty, forgettable team coached by arch-conservative Bobby Ross, who never met an off-tackle run he didn?t like. Charlie Batch was the quarterback, and the Lions eventually finished 9-7 but out of the playoffs.

5) 1971 Lions (6-3-1): The Lions spent the early 1970s hanging around .500 or just above it. Greg Landry was the quarterback, Lem Barney the star defender, and cigarettes cost four cents per pack and were sold in junior high cafeterias, or something like that.

Only two of those teams made the playoffs, one on a technicality, which reminds us what an uphill battle against history these Lions are battling. What?s worse, the next team on our winning percentage list is one all of us can remember: the 2007 Lions, who were 6-4 before losing to the Packers on Thanksgiving. That team finished 7-9 and went 0-16 the following year. Who are the Lions facing Thursday? Oh yeah. Maybe this year will be different from most of the last 40.

Dolphins resurface
The Dolphins have won their last three games by a combined score of 86-20 after losing their first seven games. The primary reason for their turnaround is simple: the Dolphins have fixed their red zone offense.

Here?s a breakdown of how Miami fares when it has the ball inside the opponent's 20-yard line. When Red zone trips TDs Goal-to-go TDs First six games 21 7 11 4 Last four games 13 10 7 6

The table shows the Dolphins? red zone and goal-to-go touchdown rates in their first six games and their last four. Why their last four games, not their last three? The Dolphins really got their act together during their close loss to the Giants, but some late-game Eli Manning heroics obscured their turnaround. The Dolphins went from a horrible red zone team to a very good one about a month ago.

The Dolphins reached the red zone about 3.5 times per game in their first six games and 3.25 times per game in the last four, so their open field offense has not changed much. They have just traded in many, many field goals (and some critical turnovers) for touchdowns.

The Dolphins have become more effective in the red zone because they have stopped trying to force the ball to Brandon Marshall. They have gotten creative about using end-arounds to Reggie Bush and Brian Hartline when close to paydirt. Big targets like Anthony Fasano and fullback Charles Clay have gotten involved over the middle. The Dolphins are no longer predictable at the goal line, and with their offense just as good inside the 20 as everywhere else (not great, mind you, but good enough), the Dolphins are officially off laughingstock life support.

Dallas difference maker
Those of us who tuned in for the DeMarco Murray Show against the Redskins were disappointed: Murray gained just 73 yards on 25 carries and was frequently stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

Here?s a breakdown of how Dallas has done on the ground this season when fullback Tony Fiametta is/isn't available to play. Fiametta's status Rushes Yards Yards per rush With him 26 162.5 6.25 Without 27.25 85.75 3.14

A major reason the Cowboys running game was sluggish on Sunday was the absence of fullback Tony Fiametta, the unsung hero of the Cowboys season. Fiametta rarely touches the ball, but his lead blocking has made Murray a star and the Cowboys surprise contenders in the NFC.

How important is Fiametta? The table shows the Cowboys rushing stats in the six games Fiametta played and the four games he missed. It?s true that the Cowboys faced some great defenses like the Lions and Jets without Fiametta, and weak defenses like the Rams with him. There is also a 91-yard Murray run in the mix that skews the data. Still, when yards and yards per rush nearly double with one player in the lineup, it says something.

Fiametta missed Sunday?s game with an undisclosed illness, and early in the week he was still suffering from unexplained nausea. If he returns to the lineup Thursday, you will notice the difference, and so will DeMarco Murray.

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Patrick Smith (L) / Getty Images

CSN: Get ready for the big Har-Bowl

CSN: John Harbaugh faces brother Jim on Thursday in the NFL's first game between brothers as head coaches. CSNBayArea.com and CSNBaltimore.com team on a Har-bro guide.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45401088/ns/sports-nfl/

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Syria faces Arab sanctions deadline over monitors (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Syria faces a Friday deadline to sign an Arab deal allowing monitors into the country or incur sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights, curbing trade and stopping deals with the central bank.

Arab foreign ministers warned in Cairo that unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday.

Under a November 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centers, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international media into the country.

Since then hundreds of people, including civilians, security forces and army deserters, have been killed as the unrest which the United Nations says has claimed at least 3,500 lives since March continued unabated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition group, said at least 47 people were killed in Syria on Thursday, including 16 soldiers and 17 army deserters, mostly around the rebellious city of Homs and near the town of Rastan to the north.

The violence has prompted former ally Turkey to bluntly tell President Bashar al-Assad to step down and led France to propose "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to help transport medicines or other supplies to civilians in need.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he would discuss the idea with the Arab League but a source at the 22-member body said the proposal was not brought up at the Cairo meeting.

"In the case that Syria does not sign the protocol ... or that it later violates the commitments that it entails, and does not stop the killing or does not release the detainees ... (Arab League officials) will meet on Saturday to consider sanctions on Syria," the Arab ministers said in a statement.

They said possible sanctions, which were not intended to affect ordinary Syrians, included suspending flights to Syria, stopping dealings with the central bank, freezing Syrian government bank accounts and halting financial dealings.

They could also decide to stop commercial trade with the Syrian government "with the exception of strategic commodities so as not to impact the Syrian people," the statement said.

Syria's economy is already reeling from the eight months of unrest, aggravated by U.S. and European sanctions on oil exports and several state businesses.

"HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS"

After months in which the international community has seemed determined to avoid direct entanglement in a core Middle East country, the diplomatic consensus seems to be changing.

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership two weeks ago, while this week the prime minister of neighboring Turkey - a NATO member with the military wherewithal to mount a cross-border operation - told Assad to quit and said he should be mindful of the fate of fallen dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.

France became the first major power to seek international intervention in Syria when it called for "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to alleviate civilian suffering.

A Western diplomatic source said the French plan, with or without approval from Damascus, could link Syrian civilian centers to the frontiers of Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport.

Its aim would enable transport of humanitarian supplies or medicines to a population that is suffering.

Juppe insisted the plan fell short of a military intervention, but acknowledged that humanitarian convoys would need armed protection.

"There are two possible ways: That the international community, Arab League and the United Nations can get the regime to allow these humanitarian corridors," he told French radio. "But if that isn't the case we'd have to look at other solutions ... with international observers."

Asked if humanitarian convoys would need military protection, he said: "Of course... by international observers, but there is no question of military intervention in Syria."

"MOST DANGEROUS PHASE"

The Syrian Observatory said 15 army deserters were killed in clashes with the military west of Rastan and in raids by security forces. Eleven military and security personnel were killed by army deserters in the city of Houla, it said.

Alongside the mainly peaceful protests, armed insurgents have increasingly attacked military targets in recent weeks.

State media have reported the funerals of 34 soldiers and police in the last four days. Since the outbreak of the uprising officials have blamed armed groups for the violence and say 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.

"The Syrian crisis may or may not have entered its final phase, but it undoubtedly has entered its most dangerous one to date," the International Crisis Group said.

"Many in Syria and abroad are now banking on the regime's imminent collapse and wagering that all then will be for the better. That is a luxury and optimism they cannot afford."

Washington repeated an appeal on Wednesday for U.S. citizens to leave Syria: "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," the embassy said on its website.

Assad, 46, seems prepared to fight it out, playing on fears of a sectarian war if Syria's complex ethno-sectarian mosaic shatters and relying on support of senior officials and the military to suppress the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

However many experts say Assad, who can depend mainly on the loyalty of two elite units dominated by his Alawite minority community, cannot maintain current military operations without cracks emerging in the mainly Sunni Muslim army.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Dina Zayed, Marwa Awad and Ayman Samir in Cairo, John Irish in Paris; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_syria

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Lisa Firestone: Real Love or a Fantasy Bond? The Appeal of the 'Twilight' Saga

The latest "Twilight" movie, "Breaking Dawn," is already breaking records. Young fans clamored and camped out on dirty sidewalks for hours (even days) to make it to last week's midnight premiere. Walking past one such line, I noticed a father dropping off a shrieking group of dressed up 15-year-old girls from a stretched hummer, rented just for the occasion. For many, the anticipation of attending a "Twilight" premiere is likened to that of preparing for a high school prom. But teens aren't the only ones captivated. Audiences of all ages are hooked, guiltily or not, to the fanatical, addictive, and utterly over-the-top love between the film's lead characters. So what is it about this solemn, interspecies affair that so appeals to the masses?

To put it simply, vampires and werewolves aren't the only element of fantasy we are taken with. It is the instant and eternal attraction between Edward and Bella, two somber teens, one human and one vampire, pulled together inexplicably against all forces of danger and all rules of logic. Edward's desire for Bella is so ravenous in nature that he literally craves her blood above that of any other, while after a fleeting encounter, Bella is so taken with Edward that she can't imagine her existence without him.

Is this the model of love we should teach our kids to strive for? Maybe not, but its appeal is closer to home than we may think. Fantasy and fairy tales tell us stories of the perfect love, the flawless soul mate, and the uncontrollable wave of desire that never seems to ride out. While the thought of happily ever after with someone you'll love forever isn't a bad goal to strive for, the trouble comes when we start putting all our security and identity into that person. Making ourselves vulnerable to love is one thing, but losing ourselves in fantasy is another.

Falling in love can mean opening yourself up to new experiences, feeling free, spontaneous, generous and differentiated from your past. Falling into fantasy can mean forming a connection that isn't based on real substance. The instant and addictive attractions like that depicted so intensely in "Twilight" are not always based on the qualities and reality about a person or the connections that would lead to a real and lasting relationship. Instead, they may be based on a draw toward fantasy, a false sense of being completed or an innate desire to merge one's identity with another. They can also be based on emotional hunger toward a partner, or the illusion of getting safety and immortality through "love" and walking off into the sunset together forever.

So why are we drawn to fantasy over reality when it comes to intimacy? Real relationships show us that human beings are well, human. They carry battle wounds and emotional baggage that heavily weigh on their closest relationships. Even when we do find someone with whom we share a deep and meaningful connection, we tend to struggle through real issues. Serious relationships challenge us. The closer we get to someone, the more we can expect to face our own defenses, an inner resistance we have to getting too close or caring too much. Feeling love from someone else can be the best feeling in the world, but it can also challenge us on a deeper level, going against negative beliefs about ourselves we hold at our core and forcing us to face the pain of feeling deeply for someone else.

What we often do to protect ourselves against the challenges that arise with real love is form what my father psychologist Robert Firestone termed a "Fantasy Bond." The fantasy bond is a connection built out of fears from danger and even from death that we often experience at an unconscious level. This bond substitutes real feelings of love, respect, and spontaneity with an illusion of connection, a focus on form over substance, and a false sense of security and completion by another person.

When we form a fantasy bond, we become less and less like two independent individuals who feel genuine attraction to each other. Instead, we start to fuse our identity with the person we care for, relying on them to give us value and make us feel safe. Take "Twilight"'s Bella, for example. This teenage heroine doesn't believe life holds any meaning without vampire Edward. He is her protector from danger, her companion against isolation and her ticket to literal immortality.

The main characters in the film will go to any end for each other. When separated, Bella even repeatedly cheats death in hopes that Edward will appear to save her. Most of us hold parts of us that want to be saved in a relationship, rescued from past hurts, protected from feeling alone, and even saved from death symbolically, or at least dying alone. The trouble is that projecting these qualities onto our partner distorts them in a way that often leads to destructive outcomes.

Moreover, in order to live in fantasy, we have to suspend reality and give up the positive aspects of our relationship that we value but that cause us real pain. Unlike the immortal Edward Cullen, our partners can neither save nor protect us from inevitabilities like our past, our humanity, or our mortality. Because of this, we tend to turn the relationship itself into a source of security, while simultaneously creating emotional (or even physical) distance between ourselves and our partners. We do this because, being close to someone stirs us up on a deep level that most of us don't expect. It challenges us to face our old patterns of defense, insecurities, and fears involving love and loss. When we experience deep loving feelings, it makes us value our life and that of our loved one. These sweet poignant emotions raise our anxiety about death. We begin to value a life we will surely lose. Often following experiences that engender these feelings, we unconsciously create distance between ourselves and our partner.

Living a life in which we are truly loved and loving toward another person is not as easy as it is assumed to be. To maintain a fulfilling relationship means having to put up a fight. This fight won't involve facing evil mythical creatures like bloodthirsty vampires, yet it will involve facing our own internal demons that limit us when it comes to forming a real loving relationship.

The love depicted in "Twilight" is a figment of fantasy -- a co-dependent, hungry union in which two people expect to be mutually rescued and bound for eternity. In real life, the most we can and should hope for is finding someone to be kind to who is kind to us, someone who we feel respect for, attraction to, and admiration of, someone who encourages us to challenge our own defenses and limitations, and who helps us to become our best selves. Then, we can work together to enjoy whatever amount of eternity we are lucky enough to share.

To read more from Dr. Lisa Firestone on relationships click here.

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Follow Lisa Firestone on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PsychAlive

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-firestone/twilight-fantasy-love_b_1108133.html

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Belgian king rejects coalition broker resignation (AP)

BRUSSELS ? King Albert II on Wednesday rejected a resignation offer by the negotiator seeking to end Belgium's world-record government stalemate and urged all six parties seeking a coalition to speed up work to conclude talks.

Early this week, Elio Di Rupo's request to resign had plunged talks between the nation's Dutch and French speakers to new depths.

A statement from the Royal Palace said that before committing to an extension of his job, Francophone socialist Di Rupo had "asked a short time of reflection to consider the possibilities of a new accord."

On Wednesday, King Albert II insisted on renewed efforts to agree on a 2012 budget, an unexpected stumbling bloc which has focused financial markets on Belgium.

Belgium's major parties have been trying to form a government since the June 13, 2010 election ? but fears are growing that the 528-day-long impasse needs to end soon to keep financial markets at bay.

King Albert has become increasingly vocal about the need for haste.

"The King asks with insistence that each of the parties make the additional efforts to conclude budgetary and social economic negotiations and form a government as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The country's yields on long-term bonds have risen like many other eurozone countries, but at around 5.5 percent Belgium is quickly getting into the financial danger zone which pushes borrowing rates to unsustainable levels.

"Our country is facing an extra piece of mistrust," said caretaker Prime Minister Yves Leterme, adding he would prepare work on a budget in case the negotiations continue to stall.

"It is important we get a budget," he told VRT network. The negotiators need to find some euro11 billion ($14.8 billion) more in austerity measures.

Belgium is facing increasing pressure from the markets to come up with more spending cuts, and without a government investors are worried that long-term reforms will not be enacted.

Leterme has committed himself to getting the budget deficit down to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2012, but the EU is far from convinced, forecasting a wider shortfall of 4.6 percent for the country. It is also forecasting that Belgium's debt to GDP ratio will break through the 100 percent barrier in 2013 without big budget reforms.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_belgium_government_impasse

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Palestinian rivals to hold rare working meeting (AP)

RAMALLAH, West Bank ? The upcoming meeting of President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, the rival Palestinian leaders, will signal whether they're truly ready to share power or largely going through the motions for political gains.

Thursday's talks in Cairo will be their first serious sitdown since the Palestinians' corrosive split of 2007, when the Islamic militant Hamas seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas, leaving him with only the West Bank. Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed, and a power-sharing deal the leaders signed in principle in May has stalled, mainly over who would head an interim unity government.

Hamas adamantly opposes Abbas' long-standing choice, West Bank-based Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and the only way forward Thursday would be to resolve this dispute.

Even if Abbas were to sacrifice the internationally backed Fayyad ? as some aides say he is willing to do ? it's far from certain the two sides are ready to go through with the other elements of the unity deal. As part of the agreement, legislative and presidential elections would be held in the West Bank and Gaza within a year of the formation of an interim government, and the rivals' security forces would be merged.

Abbas risks a Western backlash for getting too close to the militant Hamas, and faces a possible election defeat for his Fatah movement, trounced by Hamas at the polls five years ago.

Hamas, in turn, would have to dismantle its empire in Gaza in exchange for uncertain election prospects, including the arresting of its West Bank candidates by Israel, as happened in the past.

The most it seems the two leaders can hope for Thursday is to resolve the dispute over the prime minister and to start talking about a shared political program, said those involved in preparing the meeting. They will not discuss election dates or details of the composition of the interim government, which is to be made up of experts without clear political affiliation, said Abbas' envoy to the talks, Azzam al-Ahmed.

The political split has been deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and public pressure is a key reason why Abbas and Mashaal are trying to heal it. Regionwide changes over the past few months have given both men an additional push.

Earlier this year, Abbas abandoned his long-standing strategy of trying to negotiate the terms of Palestinian statehood with Israel, arguing that a deal is not possible with Israel's current hard-line government. As part of his strategic shift, he's been trying to build Palestinian leverage, including by seeking U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine.

A unity deal would be part of that approach. The split has deprived him of stature, since he cannot claim to speak for all Palestinians, and even the U.N. committee reviewing the Palestinian membership application noted as a negative point that Abbas does not control Gaza.

Hamas, meanwhile, has benefited from the anti-government uprisings of the Arab Spring. The toppling of pro-Western dictators in the region, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, have strengthened Hamas' parent movement, the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood. Some argue that the initial reconciliation deal of May would not have been possible without the ouster of Mubarak who was suspected, at least by Hamas, of blocking any progress on the issue.

The United States and much of Europe oppose an Abbas partnership with an unreformed Hamas, which has rejected international demands that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous Palestinian interim agreements with the Jewish state.

On Wednesday, Hamas leaders reiterated that there's no chance for compromise. "Hamas' attitude toward so-called Israel remains unchanged," said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas official. "We will not recognize the enemy."

Abbas hopes to find common ground based on Mashaal suggestions that the movement could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. Hamas refuses to say, though, if it would consider the 1967 borders the final ones, or a stepping stone to the destruction of Israel.

It's not clear if and how the West would punish Abbas for an alliance with Hamas, but options include political isolation and a cut in vital financial support. The Fayyad government receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in budget support and development aid.

___

Barzak reported from Gaza City, Gaza. Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Ramallah contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_reconciliation

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Summary Box: Growth downgrade pushes stocks down (AP)

THE S&P 500: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 5 points to 1,188. It was the fifth straight decline for the S&P 500, the longest losing streak since August.

SLOWER GROWTH: Investors were disappointed that the Commerce Department downgraded its estimate of third-quarter economic growth in the U.S. to 2 percent from its previous estimate of 2.5 percent.

DEBT WORRIES: The S&P has lost 5.5 percent over the past week on worries that Spain could get dragged into Europe's debt crisis and as Congress neared a deadlock over cutting the U.S. budget deficit.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wall_street_summary_box

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Legal Theory Blog: Legal Theory Bookworm

The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends The Tragedy of William Jennings Bryan: Constitutional Law and the Politics of Backlash by Gerard N. Magliocca. Here is a description:

Although Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan lost the presidential elections of 1896, 1900, and 1908, he was the most influential political figure of his era. In this astutely argued book, Gerard N. Magliocca explores how Bryan's effort to reach the White House energized conservatives across the nation and caused a transformation in constitutional law.

Responding negatively to the Populist agenda, the Supreme Court established a host of new constitutional principles during the 1890s. Many of them proved long-lasting and highly consequential, including the "separate but equal" doctrine supporting racial segregation, the authorization of the use of force against striking workers, and the creation of the liberty of contract. The judicial backlash of the 1890s?the most powerful the United States has ever experienced?illustrates vividly the risks of seeking fundamental social change. Magliocca concludes by examining the lessons of the Populist experience for advocates of change in our own divisive times.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2011/11/legal-theory-bookworm-1.html

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