From the Salon blurb: "The South's attempt to kill the North's auto industry is the latest battle in an ongoing conflict. It's time for a Third Reconstruction to put an end to it."

From AP via globeandmail.com:

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush is begging for a pardon for what he described as "an ugly act," the Prime Minister's spokesman said yesterday.

Mark Felt, the former FBI official who covertly kept Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on track in their reporting on the Watergate scandal that eventually brought down U.S. President Richard Nixon, has died at age 95.

As revenues sink, U.S. newspapers have decided to strategically focus on local news, which means many of the Washington bureaus that existed when Dubya was sworn in eight years ago have either been drastically scaled back or eliminated as Obama's inauguration looms.