UPDATE : Daphne Eviatar has an excellent long article on this topic. Please read. Daphne Eviatar in the Washington Independent : Thomas Frank has a terrific op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, praising President Obama’s recent presidential memorandum declaring the end of an era of unrestrained...

Interesting and good: In a Daily Beast exclusive, Lucinda Franks says investigators are zeroing in on at least 20 people, including family members, among them Ruth Madoff, who received at least $70 million from her husband. Plus, how Madoff is "jerking around" investigators. Two days befor...

At least I hope so: it seems to happen too often that Obama takes a conservative position. Mike Lillis of the Washington Independent has the latest: Official negotiations among United Nations members begin today in Vienna over a U.N. declaration to guide global drug policy for the next decade. As we...

For example: … It’s hard to imagine just how much corn is required to make a usable amount of ethanol. Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has a great quote that sums it up: “The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year.â€� A year ...

Steve Benen writes: As expected, the Employee Free Choice Act, a measure intended to make it easier for American workers to form unions, was introduced on the Hill today. The measure is often known as "card check," because it would give workers the right to form a union when a majority of ...

And it’s headed for DC. ThinkProgress: According to the Maryland Department of the Environment, approximately 4,000 gallons of toxic coal ash has spilled into the North Branch of the Potomac River in Luke, MD. A “dime sizedâ€� hole developed in the pipeline on March 8, but was not discovered...

Very good point by Steve Benen: Let me get this straight: $650,000 for beaver management is outrageous, even if it helps prevent extensive property damage. $200,000 for a gang-tattoo-removal program is ridiculous, even if it helps prevent crime. $951,500 for the Oregon Solar Highway is absurd, even ...

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From the National Geographic : One day in 1963, when Jim Boucher was seven, he was out working the trap­line with his grandfather a few miles south of the Fort McKay First Nation reserve on the Athabasca River in northern Alberta. The country there is wet, rolling fen, dotted with lakes, dissected ...

Interesting finding, and it does continue a trend, but I wonder whether that trend might reverse itself if the depression deepens: hard times can bring people to religion. At any rate, the story in WaPo : The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the pa...