Upton Sinclair was a big-name,muckraking journo in the very early 20th century (one of his books, Oil!, forms the basis for the current film There Will Be Blood).

But he really set the cat amongst the pigeons when he ran for governor of California in 1934.

Mona Eltahaway writes at globeandmail.com on how young bloggers in countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia are infuriating their governments and paying the price through harassment and, in some cases, imprisonment.

From a Jan. 11 posting at Poynter.org:

There seems to be a growing agreement among economists and bankers that we may already be in a recession and that if we are not, we will be soon. Journalists would do well to ask: What does a "recession" mean? Are recessions normal? Who decides if we are in a recession? And, how do we get out of a recession? What is the difference between a recession and a depression?

Recessions are a normal part of the economy

As the old saying goes, what goes up must come down. Economies expand and contract. It is part of the normal economic cycle. The U.S. economy has gone through several recessions. Most are short-lived and are followed by a new growth spurt. At the moment, economists predict the recession of 2008 will be fairly short. For some, however, it will not be painless. Long and deep recessions are called depressions. (More on that later.)