The best reviews ever… (article)

The San Francisco Chronicle has the best approach to reviewing new albums and CDs:
CD: Guns N’ Roses, ‘Chinese Democracy’
Aidin Vaziri
Sunday, November 23, 2008

Axl Rose is an idiot. 

How McCain could still win (and the math to back it up)

Before anyone pops the champagne, it’s worth taking a close look at this article on Salon.com.
Using recent election results, Republican operative Bill Greener shows how in races between a black and white candidate, almost all the “undecideds” end up voting for the white candidate.
No matter what the party affiliation.
Forget the Bradley Effect.  Call it the [...]

Salman Rushdie and U2

It took years, but I finally renewed my subscription to The Nation.  And now that I’m back to getting my weekly dose of progressive insight, I realized something else.  I could finally track down that fun little letter to the editor that I wrote years ago.
Berkeley, Calif.
■ Kudos for publishing Salman Rushdie’s
reflections on U2. In [...]

Black holes? What black holes? (article)

Fears have emerged that the collider could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them — including the whole Earth. Such fears prompted legal actions in the U.S. and Europe…Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk.
Multibillion-dollar experiment to probe [...]

Kashmir alive (article)

Land and freedom
Arundhati Roy
The Guardian (UK)
Friday August 22 2008
Kashmir is in crisis: the region’s Muslims are mounting huge non-violent protests against the Indian government’s rule. But, asks Arundhati Roy, what would independence for the territory mean for its people?

A Kashmiri Muslim shows a victory sign during a march in Srinagar, India. Photograph: Dar Yasin/AP

California’s Third World (article)

…about 20 miles southwest of Fresno, the owner of a cherry-tomato farm was fined $3,365 for violations that included offering no first aid and nothing to drink except a jug of foul, undrinkable water…
…20 miles away in Kingsburg that same day, Ramiro Carrillo died after hand-picking nectarines in the 112-degree sun…
More California farmworkers dying [...]

Obama in 15 pages

The cover may be snagging all the headlines, but it’s the article that should get your attention.  This is the man behind the brand, the planner behind the shooting star.  This is the story of a young aspiring politician who navigated the Chicago scene and built his rise.
This is a good read about Barack Obama.  [...]

It ain’t just developing nations.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates these roundworms, which can cause intestinal illness and blindness, infect up to 14 percent of the U.S. population.
“But these (other) diseases are occurring among voiceless people,” he said. “It’s an unintended form of racism in a sense. We need to make these disease household words.”
Full article:

Worms [...]

The finger (article)

“But a Clinton insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CQ Politics that the subtext is clear.
‘Translated subtitles aren’t necessary,’ the insider said. ‘There is no other way to interpret this other than ‘[Expletive] you.’”
FULL ARTICLE:
Fired Clinton Campaign Manager Named to Run Obama’s VP Campaign
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20080616/pl_cq_politics/politics2897969
CQPolitics (Congressional Quarterly Politics)
Monday, June 16, 2008

The power of goodbye (article)

“James Rogers, 67 of Durham, North Carolina, wants no such regrets. Diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last October, he had only one question for the doctor who recommended treatment.
‘I said ‘Can you get rid of it?’ She said ‘no,” and he decided to simply enjoy his final days with the help of the hospice staff [...]