Hot Spots

Stuff we like from around the Web

Former San Francisco mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez is back in the news so it's time to dust off the archive. The comments that his running mate Ralph Nadar made about NAFTA reminded us of a little bit of dirt dug here in 2003.

Turns out that Gonzalez' parents had an interest in a Reynosa maquiladora, one of those manufacturing plants set up on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. That post triggered a detailed response from Gonzalez's spokesman.

Read 'em both and decide for yourself. It's today's HotSpot.


Previous Hot Spots >

Search


Arts and Letters Daily

Arts & Letters Daily recommends

Does China operate sweatshops? How could you know? One way to find out is to send over some inspectors. Easy... more

The past, historians like to say, is another country. Israeli history is another galaxy, writes Carlin Romano... more

All of the books of John Steinbeck are still in print. Why does the work of this earnest but artless writer continue to enjoy such popularity?... more

Visit A&L Daily >

PopSpots

Spot-on's Pop Picks

When Barack Obama's campaign rolls into town, the DeeJays get ready. Here's a sampling of some of what played at the Obama rally last week in San Francisco.

What's Going On - Marvin Gaye

Family Affair - Sly and the Family Stone

Ain't No Stopping Us Now - Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes

Waiting On The World to Change - Jon Mayer

Takin' Care of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Think - Aretha Franklin

We Are Family - Sister Sledge

Funky President (People It's Bad) - James Brown

Pick up the Pieces - Average White Band

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell

Previous PopSpots >

Newsletter

Sign up for our weekly email newsletter

Name:
Email:

Read a sample copy

Spot-On Spotlight

Hey, congratulate Christopher Allbritton! He's having a pretty good year.

Chris was just named a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. This fall, he'll be at The Farm as we say out here in Northern California working on finding a business model to support the work that journalists like him do: report from overseas.

We can't think of a better guy for that task. If you're not familiar with Chris' work, check out his bio here. He's been a pioneer in what Spot-on founder Chris Nolan calls 'stand alone journalism' and its great to see Stanford recognize his efforts.

***

Today's post by Christopher Allbritton - Iraq's Murky Battle for Basra - is another great example of his ability to get to the heart of Iraq politics in clear and insightful way. That's why we're calling it - and a piece from a few weeks ago predicting the very tensions that erupted last week - to your attention as a solid pieces of analysis and reporting.

A few weeks ago - just as he was settling into Dubai where he'll be writing from now on (fewer explosions) - Christopher filed Worries For Iraq spelling out the challenges the country and the U.S. face as the year moves on. It's a prescient piece that led much of last week's analysis and commentary.

Edit a newspaper, produce a TV or radio show? Want to add any of our fine writers to your editorial mix so you can be ahead of the news curve? Our syndication fees for writers like Christopher Allbritton are reasonable, our writers responsible and our editorial as sticky as fly-paper. And since we know about the pressure edit budgets are under these days, we can make some of our offering free to you - no strings, no fooling. Drop Doug Page, Spot-on's syndication sales guru, a line. He's got all the details about pricing, availability and delivery.

If you're not new to this site, you have our continued thanks for reading. If you'd like to keep in touch more regularly, please consider a subscription to our RSS feed. Updates via RSS are also available via MyYahoo and Bloglines. Our weekly newsletter - it's free, it's fun and we won't sell your name to anyone - is also a nice way to stay in touch. Sign up here.

****

Previously in the Spotlight >

Latest Posts

Nicole Martinelli - Pink Parking Spots for Pregnant Women - May 13

Pink is still in. Even more so in Milan, Italy's fashion capital, where pregnant women can park for free in special pink spaces. The city recently launched a Pink Parking Program that by 2011 will give pregnant women a total... More >

Gopika Kaul - Suicide Capital of The World - May 12

That Bangalore is India's Information Technology capital is no news to anyone, since the city is almost always referred to as India's Silicon Valley. But, of late, it's been making news for the wrong, though somewhat related, reasons. Bangalore, with its high stress life, is now being called the suicide capital of India. The figures are alarming - 35 suicides per 100,000 people.

More >

Kevin Weeks - Sustainability Redefined - May 12

Sustainability: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. - Meriam-Webster Online. The definition above isn't wrong, but, it seems to me, it is... More >

Christopher Brauchli - Private Collection, Public Loss - May 11

Turning delinquent taxpayers over to private collection firms that make contributions to politicians instead of letting the Internal Revenue Service attend to that mundane task seemed like a great idea. So great, in fact, that no one in the Bush Administration foresaw the disastrous outcome. More >

Scott Olin Schmidt - Searching for "Hilary" - May 7

Although I am a registered Republican, I am first and foremost a capitalist. So much of the last ten weeks of my life has been developing and managing an online outreach campaign on behalf of one of the Democratic presidential... More >

Nicole Martinelli - How Big is Your "Salve" Circle? - May 6

A leaky roof reminded me of the importance of knowing your neighbors. Convinced I could expand the number of nodding acquaintances dramatically with a little effort, I started greeting various and sundry Milan locals with "salve," the Italian equivalent of "hello," with sometimes disastrous results. More >

Kevin Weeks - Solace - May 5

I've known Nelson my entire life. He and his wife Bernie were friends of my parents and I have been part of my social landscape from the day I was born. Although my siblings were fond of them, I think... More >

Gopika Kaul - The New Birthday Bash - May 5

In the good old days, birthday parties used to mean treasure hunt games, colorful streamers, cake and mama made goodies at home with some good friends. They were intimate affairs, and used to be a lot of fun. But, that was in the India of the eighties. They don't do it that way anymore, and it's a shame.

More >

Mike Spinney - Wright's Wrong Turn - May 1

We have a long history in America of being called to task by clerics. The desire for religious freedom that drove pilgrims to our once savage shores and that was codified in our Constitution, made such a phenomenon possible. Emboldened by revelation and not beholden to the pleasure of government, preachers have been at liberty to speak their minds to congregations large and small. Today we find ourselves being taken to task by another man of God - Rev. Jeremiah Wright. More >

Matthew Holt - Health Care Jungle - May 1

McCain's proxies were Douglas Holtz-Eakin, sensible former director of the Congressional Budget Office, a usually fair-minded group of bean counters, and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, apparently on the shortlist for the vice presidency. More >