In reviewing several works on Mexico's drug wars for the New York Review of Books, Alma Guillermoprieto herself gives a rundown of the cartel culture in Mexico. 

One of my college profs told us that the concept of childhood is fairly recent. In Western culture, children were considered, and depicted, as small adults until the 17th century, which is roughly coincident with the early beginnings of the industrial revolution. Children always had chores in agrarian societies, but were thrust into more dangerous industrial jobs in tanneries and mills, leading to arguments by Rousseau, and later Dickens, that childhood be given special consideration and protection.

The Daily Dish mentioned a "news snippet" about the Montana governor's race, which led back through The Lost Ogle not to a news snippet, but to FallinFail, a site presumably opposing Republican candidate Mary Fallin.

In 1994 my former wife and I were snowed in for three days at her teacher's convention in Hershey PA. Afterwards, someone had a t-shirt printed, "I Survived The Paradigm Drift." That was an in-joke because some greybeard had given a talk about his book advocating a paradigm shift in American teaching. Jaime Escalante had also spoken about his achievements in teaching higher math to lower class kids.

We are often advised not to resist armed criminals because our lives are less replaceable than money. Statistically, that is sound advice, but nothing is 100% certain.

 
El Diario de Juárez, having lost another journalist to a retaliatory slaying by the drug cartels, released an issue with a direct question to the cartels (Translation):

At the Atlantic, Joshua Green suggests that Obama's policy wins seem to be addressing the working poor, rather than the middle class. And he quotes Senator Charles Schumer to support his position:

The Angry Middle Class

Deadpan actor and pitchman Ben Stein feels put upon.

Ben Stein: Raising My Taxes Is a Punishment

Living in one of the most crime-ridden cities in the nation, I have gotten in the habit of reading the Baltimore Crime Beat, a blog within the Baltimore Sun, written mostly by Peter Hermann and Justin Fenton.

The Corn Refiners Association has sought permission from the FDA to change the name of, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), the sweetener found in everything, to "corn sugar." HFCS already goes by several aliases, like Corn Syrup, Yeast Extract, Isoglucose (Europe), glucose-fructose (Canada), and fructose glucose syrup.

This morning I found an alarming article claiming that Senate Bill S510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010, will make it illegal to grow, share, trade or sell homegrown food.