Here's the real story on Katie Couric's interview with Cindy McCain. She DOES understand Roe v. Wade, and the official statement is that like Laura Bush, Mrs. McCain does not favor overturning Roe v. Wade, which guarantees the legal right to an abortion.

Quoted: Yesterday during an interview with CBS’s Katie Couric, Cindy McCain said that she does not oppose a woman’s right to an abortion in the case of rape or incest — a position that differs from the Arizona senator’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK).

Slate takes a look at the Alaska Parental Consent Act, put into effect by Sarah Palin.

Quoted: Last week, Democrats approved the first black major-party nominee for president. This week, Republicans countered with their first female nominee for VP. From race to sex to religion, the circle of opportunity is expanding.

In theory, I feel like if you can get drafted to serve in your military, you should be able to buy a beer. But in practice, I'm not convinced that lowering the drinking age will do anything for binge drinking, and I agree with the writer that it could raise the number of drunk driving accidents...

Quoted: Last week, a coalition of presidents from more than 100 colleges and universities called on authorities to consider lowering the legal drinking age.

Oh no, sad...

Quoted: Randy Pausch, a former Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose "last lecture" about facing terminal cancer became an international sensation, died Friday. He was 47.

Autism is back in the news as a result of Michael Savage's controversial statements on his radio show last week...

Quoted: Children's advocacy groups are demanding that Michael Savage apologize for denigrating autism as the " illness du jour" on his radio program last Wednesday. Savage also attributed the high prevalence of autism and related disorders to faulty diagnoses: "In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out." How do doctors spot the disorder?

An important article from Slate about the strings that are attached to IMF loans and the corner into which they back a lot of small countries & their economies.

Quoted: Question: The International Monetary Fund often attaches strict conditions to its loans, hoping to help the economies of the recipient countries grow and become stable. For example, in order to tamp down inflation, countries have been required to limit expenditures for education, social services, and health.

The source of the salmonella is still unknown, and officials are saying that consumers should now avoid hot peppers...

Quoted: The U.S. government has declared it’s OK to eat tomatoes again, lifting its salmonella warning amid signs that the outbreak may finally be slowing.

I think this article does a good job of pointing out that the benefits of yoga still far outweigh the risks, and that it's a very individual activity that requires listening to your own body rather than trying to "compete" with other students.

Quoted: Sloppy teaching and growing numbers of overly competitive students are giving yoga lovers serious and scary injuries: slipped disks, torn tendons, even strokes.

Eek, scary that a simple illness could affect one's sense of smell and taste so drastically! Must be hard...

Quoted: There was nothing remarkable about the cold I caught. But a few weeks after I was otherwise back to feeling normal, my sense of smell and taste hadn't returned. I went to my doctor, and he said I had a sinus infection, prescribed antibiotics, and told me not to worry. That was three years ago.