The Award-Winning

The AFL-CIO has released polling information explaining voter behavior in Massachusetts. It&s an interesting read, particularly the part about the Mass. electorate believing that President Barack Obama and Democrats have done too little rather than too much. Oh, and they want a senator who is committed to controlling health care costs and covering the uninsured.”
Who’s your favorite author that other people areOT reading The one you want to evangelize for, the one you would run popularity campaigns for The author that, so far as you’re concerned, everyone should be reading–but thatobody seems to have heard of. You know,ot JK Rowling,ot Jane Austen,ot Hemingway–everybody’s heard of them. The author that you think should be that famous and can’t understand why they’reot… Julie Hecht.Julie Hecht is primarily a writer of short stories, allarrated through the perspective of an eccentric Jewisheurotic, whos perpetually working on a series of photographs of her world-renowned reproductive surgeon, prodding others to adopt a macrobiotic diet, removing the polo player from various articles of clothing, chatting up cashiers and waiters, and steeling herself to face those really trying times with Mozart operas in her personal audio device and a prescription of Xanax in her purse.And always, always observing the absurdities of life with a perplexed honesty at how things have come to be the way they are.Ive heard her described as an acquired taste, but Ive loved her from the get-go.Her two collections of stories are Do the Windows Open and Happy Trails to You. Herovel The Unprofessionals, which relates the story of her unnamedarrators friendship with the world-renowned reproductive surgeons son, should be read between these, although Hechts style is better suited to short works.Was This Man A Genius describes a series of interviews Hecht conducted with the late comedian Andy Kaufman for a Harpers profile that was deemed too odd to run in the magazine.Give her a try when youre in the mood for something a little offbeat.Booking Through Thursday

Every week we bring you ourewest batch of uploads from the past 7 days. Download all the songs that went up 1/4-1/10 right here, rightow.You can download the following mp3s individually OR play them all in a row. Click on the artists at the right under Related Downloads to learn more about each band and see similar music suggestions. RICH MEDIA, CLICK TO VIEW ON SITE Play All RICH MEDIA, CLICK TO VIEW ON SITE play download mp3 Charlotte Gainsbourg - "Heaven Can Wait (Nosaj Thngs Remix)" {Warner} play download mp3 Via Tania - "Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood" {The Hours Entertainment} play download mp3 QuasWe - "Repulsion" {Kill Rock Stars} play download mp3 Growing - "Hormone" {Vice} play download mp3 Rakim - "Euphoria" {SMC Recordings} play download mp3 jj - "Ecstasy" {Secretly Canadian} play download mp3 The Kissaway Trail - "SDP" {Bella Union} play download mp3 Field Music - "Measure" {Memphis Industries} play download mp3 Casino Versus Japan - "Blue Vacation (Part 1)" {Moodgadget} play download mp3 Warpaint - "Billie Holiday" {Manimal Vinyl} play download mp3 The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross" {Jagjaguwar} play download mp3 Xiu Xiu - "Gray Death" {Kill Rock Stars} play download mp3 Pavement - "Gold Sandz" {Matador} play download mp3 Pit Er Pat - "Water" {Thrill Jockey} play download mp3 The Knife - "Colouring of Pigeons" {Mute} play download mp3 Jogger -apping Captain (Dark Party Remix) {Magical Properties} play download mp3 Portastatic - "Foam Hands" {Merge} play download mp3 Citay - "Mirror Kisses" {Dead Oceans} play download mp3 Radar Brothers - "Horses Warriors" {Merge} play download mp3 The xx - "Islands (Nosaj Thing Remix)" {Rough Trade} play download mp3 White Hinterland - "Icarus" {Dead Oceans}
(Click for Larger Image)Searching through our massive collection of, erm what most people call junk, We found an old issue of Radio Times, 07-08-1980, and Doctor Who was on, so heres a scan of the page :)This post started off on our blog - http://lifetheuniverseandcombom.blogspot.com - there are so many features on there that areot in theewsfeed, or posted elsewhere, you reallyeed to check it out Thanx

Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Jay-Z, Eminem and the Kings of Leon have all won two awards. Of course, the majorews of theight — at least in our eyes — is thateil Young has won the first Gramour of his career … for art That's the kind of tragedy that's so extreme it circles back to being funny again, but at leasteil Young iso longer the Susan LuccWe of the Grammys … or, since he's been recording even longer than she acted in “All our Children,” LuccWe should
We liked the tribute, but honestly We would have been happier if they just let MJ sing his whole song. RIP Michael. A lot of people miss you and God bless your children. Posted at 11:48PM on Jan 31st 2010 by chris Posted at 1:16AM on Feb 1st 2010 by Drew. 12. Are you crazy Q Just about every time they showed Jay Z, he was grinning ear to ear. And yea, they have been announcing the performance would be 3D. You mustot pay attention. -Steve

Via Bayou Buzz, Senator Landrieu has issued a statement regarding the James OKeefe arrest:This is a very unusual situation and somewhat unsettling for me and our staff. The individuals responsible have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purposes of committing a felony. We am as interested as everyone else about their motives and purpose, which We hope will become clear as the investigation moves forward.Additionally, the Louisiana Democratic Party has issued an odd statement in which they seem to implicate Senator David Vitter in someefarious doings:This is a Louisiana Watergate. Louisiana families are shocked and outraged that these men would break the law to carry out their political agenda with this Watergate-like break-in and attempted wiretapping. Given his ties to some of the players involved, Sen. Vitter should immediately denounce the actions of these four men and anyone who may have instigated, supported or assisted them. We call on U.S Attorney Jim Letten to conduct a thorough investigation and to prosecute any wrongdoers to the fullest extent of the law.The "ties to some of the players involved" remains unspecified, however blogger Lindsay Beyerstein reports the following:One of the four men arrested for allegedly trying to bug Mary Landrieus office interned for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. The following year, Robert Flanagan worked as a paid intern for Republican Rep. Mary Fallin of OK. His duties included "briefing legislative staff on issues ofational security and international relations." In the summer of 2008, Flanagan volunteered for Chris Gormans campaign in Shreveport, LA.The link to David Vitter remains unclear.Politico points out that "Thereso mention of wiretapping or "bugging" in the complaint or press release from the U.S. Attorneys office, and it isnt entirely clear what the foursome were up to." The affidavit only says that they were entering government offices under false pretenses. However, it also says that the four were entering "for the purpose of willfully and maliciously interfering with a telephone system operated and controlled by the United States of America." (PDF here).Thats pretty much the same thing as "bugging" and wiretapping to me.If OKeefe and friends are in fact guilty then they deserve to be punished as the law requires. That said, it doesntegate the work OKeefe did to expose ACORN for the fraudulent organization it is. ACORN was caught on tape attempting to help set up brothels and teenage prostitution rings, among other things. OKeefes guilt, or innocence, in this case doesot absolve ACORN for their sins.As they say, developing