The Gilded Age: Campaign contributions, a quickly revolving door, trips to Vegas, to Kona, to New Orleans — a look into the financial industry's cozy relationship with Congress. What would it cost to wipe out world poverty, guarantee universal health care, stabilise population growth and roll back the ravages of global warming? About $190 billion a year, or the equivalent of a third of U.S. annual military expenditure. The Hitler Comparison: Hard times, fear and misinformation are a dangerous mix, no matter who wins the election. A review of The Next Justice: Repairing the Supreme Court Appointments Process by Christopher L . Eisgruber. From Forward, an article on Lieberman’s partisan switch: Political resurrection or downward spiral? From Adbusters, as videogames create better, more immersive models of reality: are we free to do anything we want in a virtual world, or are some things inherently wrong? The Heartbeat Job: A tie-breaking funeral attender, or the fourth branch of government? How does Iraq play into the economic crisis? Matthew Yglesias investigates. What future for NASA? America's space agency faces uncertain future on its 50th anniversary. From New York, an article on Nate Silver, the spreadsheet psychic. As commerce dominates, where will the radical and challenging approach to art take place, free from the pressures of the market?
