Human Interest
Rumors Before The Internet
Forty years ago, the rumor that Paul McCartney had died, and that the Beatles had covered up his death while for some reason scattering clues of it in their albums, leapt from the counterculture to the mainstream, where it briefly transfixed millions. The key event in the rumor going viral was a Michigan Daily article by student Fred LeBour. Michigan Today recounts the story: READ MORE >>
Census NOT as easy as 1-2-3…
Budapest, The Berlin Wall, and Iran: What Obama Does Not Grasp
It is just about 30 years since the wall around Iran went up. And it is a few days away from fully 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. READ MORE >>
Phony Conservative Anti-Elitism, Revealed!
From a new cover story on Sarah Palin by Weekly Standard hack Matthew Continetti: Last week, when Joe Biden traveled to upstate New York to campaign for Democratic congressional candidate Bill Owens, the vice president took aim at Sarah Palin. "The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was 'drill, baby, drill,' " Biden said. "No, it's a lot more complicated, Sarah, than 'drill, baby, drill.' " READ MORE >>
A Painting, A Portrait
Rembrandt’s J’Accuse Film Forum The Maid Elephant Eye Films READ MORE >>
Cap-And-Trade Politics: Carbon (Like Place) Matters!
EXCLUSIVE: The Insurers' Latest Scare Campaign
A little less than a month ago, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association--the trade group representing state-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans--released a misleading study suggesting that health care reform would mean higher premiums for small businesses and individuals buying coverage on their own. READ MORE >>
The Great Recession and Inequality
'Toyetic'
For anyone who fears he or she may hold Hollywood studio executives in insufficiently low esteem, the Wall Street Journal offers this trend story: Soon to be starring in his own feature-length film with Universal Pictures: Stretch Armstrong, the pliant, muscle-bound doll whose roots go back to the 1970s. Big Wheel, the plastic tricycle, has its own TV show in the works. Even the board game Risk has a deal for a film, to be co-produced by star Will Smith.... READ MORE >>
Numb
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Tuesday's elections were a rebuke to the right wing and a warning to Democrats. They were also a timely reminder that President Obama needs to tune up his celebrated political organization and find a way to make Americans feel hopeful again. READ MORE >>
