I've always thought of the U.S. as more like Italy than say, England--as a federation of territories and regions with their own varied cultures, rather than one homogenous country.

Maybe your first grade teacher used to say that books bring the world to you: open one, and you can traverse the continents without leaving your chair. Apparently, no one ever told Congress.

When it comes to handing out unthinkable sums to failing industries, Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike have chosen to rescue the more practical mode of transport--autos--over publishing houses. But that doesn't mean that the publishers aren't failing. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts. Doubleday has cut its staff by 10% and HarperCollins' first-quarter operating income slid to $3 million from $36 million a year earlier, even despite the publication of Oprah's new Book Club selection.

The worst part about a week-long cold and the inevitable accompanying cough isn't just grossing out friends and co-workers with the green stuff you hack out of your lungs. When I was sick last week, I ran to the drug store on my lunch break to stock up on Day-Quil to keep me awake, Ny-Quil so I could eventually get some sleep, cough drops and hot liquid Theraflu. I thought that would get me through the day. The bill rang up to over $40.00. And I ran out of the cough drops on the way out.

There have been in-depth reports written about why drugs cost so much in America, but for now, I am rethinking my cold season shopping sprees and researching budget-minded alternatives to OTC treatments. I stuck to well-regarded, scientific sites like the Mayo Clinic online, university Web sites, or sites containing peer-reviewed academic articles (and you should too). Here's what I found.

The New Yorker has finally made the entire contents of the magazine available online. Just go to NewYorker.com and register an email account and password, and you can view PDF's of back issues for free.

In college, I had a girlfriend who, upon learning that she was being overcharged for her apartment, packed her books and chose to sleep for two weeks on a D.C.-area park bench while, in a suburb three metro stops away, her parents kept her bedroom lovingly preserved. She smoked American Spirits, dyed her carpets the same custom shade as her walls, and labeled anything she liked tres chic. Eventually, she broke into my house, and, after draining a twelve-pack of wine coolers and throwing up on the toilet, refused to leave. The fashion industry reminds me of that girl.

Why else would fashion writers be pushing the idea of "Recession chic" at us with such enthusiastic force?

The New York Times has put together a fantastic silde show of photographs capturing unseen reactions in the air around us. You can view a simulated explosion inside an airplane cabin, modelled with store mannequins!

On Wednesday, Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the Nobel prize jury, told the Associated Press, "You can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world ... not the United States." He argued that "the US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature ...That ignorance is restraining."

What do you think?

A new type of tourism is emerging along the US/Mexico border - gas tourism. 

Gas tourists cross the border into Mexico to fill up their tanks for irresistably low-priced gasoline - prices in El Paso, Texas are in line with the U.S. norm of $4 per gallon while just across the border in Cuidad Juarez, you can fill up for $2.66 per gallon. 

These gas tourists face long lines at the border and potential danger in some rougher parts of the bordertowns, but they seem willing to take risks for such significant savings.

What about you - what would you do, how far would you travel, for cheaper gas?

Read the full article in the International Herald Tribute at:  http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/25/america/25gas.php?page=1

The Hispanic Institute is proposing a boycott of CNN due to what they call "ongoing distortion of facts surrounding U.S. immigration issues, especially in commentaries and reports on 'Lou Dobbs Tonight.' "

The considerable size, growth rate, and purchasing power of the Hispanic population makes this a potentially huge boycott -  what do you think?

Watch the video here and tell us what you think:

Is CNN biased?  Is Lou Dobbs out of control? 

Will you boycott CNN?