Saturday

Keith Hennessey explains the mechanics of the two bill strategy for health care reform, then h explains the challenges of that strategy.

In defense of Sean Penn's work in Haiti. Good for him.

Wal-Mart pushing its suppliers to meet environmental standards. "We heard that in the future, to become a Wal-Mart supplier, you have to be an environmentally friendly company," Fung said. "So we switched some of our products and the way we produced them."

From Wired, The Future of Money. Banks and credit cards have had a virtual monopoly on the ability to move money around. This is an interesting take on how that may soon come to an end.

Clausen Puts NFL Teams in a Pickle. Since I'm a huge Domer, I've watched Clausen more than most NFL scouts, certainly more than the average football viewer. My take on him: Clausen is almost perfect technically, his throwing motion is textbook, though his release is a little long because I think he has an average arm (by NFL standards). He throws fades as well as any college QB I've seen. Immature and cocky has been the rap. I really don't know anything about that part, but his teammates defend him and I also watched him take a brutal beating for two years behind one of the worst offensive lines I've ever seen and always get up and never complain. I think it will be his physical limitatiomns that will be a problem, not the other stuff.

NPR story on sexual assaults on college campuses. "He found them by, over a 20-year period, asking some 2,000 men in college questions like this: "Have you ever had sexual intercourse with someone, even though they did not want to, because they were too intoxicated [on alcohol or drugs] to resist your sexual advances?" Or: "Have you ever had sexual intercourse with an adult when they didn't want to because you used physical force [twisting their arm, holding them down, etc.] if they didn't cooperate?" About 1 in 16 men answered "yes" to these or similar questions."

Photo essay of Iraq as it prepares to vote.