In his January 9 New York Times  column, “Where Are the Liberals?”  conservative commentator David Brooks chides the venality of Democrats, as well as Republicans, for “perpetually soiling the name of government for the sake of short-term gain.” In his presumptively even-handed tone, Brooks declares that is corrupted by “renters,” special interests who have mired America’s leaders in conflicts of interest. And who are the renters? Along with Wall Street—you know, the 1 percent most of us think of as the owners, not the renter--Brooks pillories old people.

While a majority of Mississippi voters approved a bill last November to show a government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot, more than 75 percent of the state’s minority population voted to reject the measure, according to a new study by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR). The study, released this week, shows that voter preferences for the bill, which amends the state constitution, are polarized along racial lines. 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on Sunday night in Caracas in the first stop of a four-nation tour of Latin America. Besides Venezuela, the Iranian leader will also visit Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Cuba during a week-long tour of the region. Ahmadinejad’s visit comes at a critical time for Iran as it faces the possibility of new sanctions by the European Union over its controversial nuclear program. It is no surprise that the four countries that Ahmadinejad will visit are the most vociferous in their anti-Washington rhetoric and initiatives, particularly Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Castro government in Cuba.

The most bizarre thing about the American presidential election is that everyone who wants to move into the White House spends all their time trying to emphasize how they don’t really belong there. It is probably the only job in the world where prior experience is actually viewed as something of a liability.

SAO PAOLO, Brazil--In this, the financial capital of the largest economy in Latin America, the current economic boom is fast transforming Brazil into the new transport point for the drug trade. As Mexico’s War on Drugs takes its toll on the organizational structure of the drug cartels straddling the U.S.-Mexico border, the Narcos are shifting their operations closer to the source of the cocaine that fuels the global drug trade.

After a pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, spent nearly $3 million on attack ads in Iowa targeting Newt Gingrich, his lead in the state swiftly plummeted. But a new pro-Obama super PAC, 1911 United, has a different strategy in mind: to mobilize an "army of Obama supporters."

From New America Media: Each time Uncle Sam ventures abroad, he leaves an unfinished story, and nowhere is it most unfinished than the story of Iraq, where despite flowery speeches regarding freedom and sovereignty by the Obama administration, despite assurances that tyranny has been "cast aside," the tragedy caused by the U.S. invasion, occupation and inevitable abandonment is on an epic proportion.

It was an Iowa caucus night that came down to the wire, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum running neck-and-neck for first place in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. At 1:36 a.m. Wednesday, the Republican Party of Iowa declared Romney the winner by just eight votes over Santorum, the dark-horse candidate who ran his campaign on a shoestring budget. 

From New America Media and China Daily: Purchasing demand for Chinese goods has slowed a tad in the United States as higher manufacturing and shipping costs are prompting US retailers to turn to cheaper destinations in a bid to crank up profit margins.

Facebook’s new Timeline function gives its 800 million users the chance to show, share and step into each other’s lives — or, more realistically, their edited lives. Constantly re-published electronic memoirs, these re-formatted Facebook pages are like Regency Period courtesan Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs — a scroll down memory lane, typed up just the way the writer wants, leaving silences in spaces and intent behind words, tags and lyrics.