in the news

Voters in Bexar County, Texas, were disappointed to find out that Super Tuesday wasn't so super for them after all.

People tend to mock New Jersey but I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't time to change that tune. New Jersey has become probably the most progressive state in the union these last few years, and that's something to admire.

Given my recent pet situation, and given how torn I'm feeling about getting another cat, I found this article from Salon very comforting. (For all you non-Salon readers out there, just a heads-up that you have to click on "Enter Salon" in the upper right hand corner in order to access Salon articles. No sign-in necessary though!)

Mark Bittman, aka the Minimalist of the New York Times dining page and author of my beloved and well-thumbed How to Cook Everything (now also available in a vegetarian edition!), has joined the blogging epidemic with the brand spanking new Bitten.

Columbia University has a way with attracting interesting students, it seems. I suppose it's commendable that she used identity theft to get an education, at least.

On a more serious note, the heartbreaking and infuriating story of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was accused of being a Taliban leader but in fact was an Afghan war hero for resistance against the Soviets back in the 1980s and later against the Taliban itself. Unfortunately our military didn't really go out of its way to figure out his actual identity, and he has since died of cancer in Gitmo.

On a lighter note, and bringing me first to the Northwest, is this story of a leatherback turtle that swam from Indonesia to Oregon!

And then there's the craziness of Washington State politics and the thrilling news that Obama swept all three states yesterday, winning handily in Washington, Nebraska, and Louisiana.

That said, I just read an old editorial by Anna Quindlen (fellow Barnard alumn, I might add), on our political leaders and their superior wives. This was written back in 1992, mind you, but it still holds true today. I mean, much as I like Barack, I think that I'd rather be voting for Michelle.