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Reader Comments and Announcements

Visit the Tiny Town Where Big Coal Will Meet Its Fate

Tim McDonnell Mother Jones
A new Greenpeace study ranked the coal export terminals being built in Oregon and Washington as the fifth dirtiest proposed energy project in the world, under Arctic oil drilling but above US fracking and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

Why Red October malware is the Swiss Army knife of espionage

Dan Goodin Ars Technica
The Red October malware that infected hundreds of computer networks in diplomatic, governmental, and scientific research organizations around the world was one of the most advanced espionage platforms ever discovered, researchers with antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab have concluded.

Coke Blinks

Mark Bittman New York Times
Soda is a fructose delivery system as tobacco is a nicotine delivery system. (And if it’s not “truly” addictive but only habit forming, so much the better; it’ll be that much easier to get people to cut back.)

Bookmarks

Signe Wilkinson Cartoonist Group

Fiscal Footnote: Senate Gift to Drug Maker

By ERIC LIPTON and KEVIN SACK The New York Times
Just two weeks after pleading guilty in a major federal fraud case, Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology firm, scored a largely unnoticed coup on Capitol Hill: Lawmakers inserted a paragraph into the "fiscal cliff" bill that did not mention the company by name but strongly favored one of its drugs.

Media Bits and Bytes - Free Access Edition

Published by Portside
Father of Media Reform Turns 100; Aaron Schwartz case; New York Times dismantles environment desk; Google Wires NYC neighborhood - for free; free Internet in Tel Aviv; North Carolina bill bans community-owned cable networks; Is Broadband Internet Access a Public Utility?; Smartphone now has remote control of your life; Smartphone Users Demand More Data than Tablets; CNET Scandal - Can They be Trusted in the Future; The Atlantic's Scientology Problem; and more...

Obama's Organizing for Action: A Boost for Progressives

By Randy Shaw Beyond Chron
President Obama's second inaugural address struck a populist tone, but the real news for progressives came last Friday when it was announced that Obama's campaign organization would continue under a new name, Organizing for Action.