Recently added to my must-read list: One Article Per Day, which is exactly what it sounds like. Recent one-per topics include the golden age of conspiracy, Cuba and American empire, higher education as the next bubble, pornography as the next tobacco, Chomsky on the torture memos and historical amnesia, the self-inflicted recession of the Reagan Democrats, and global collectivist society online. Like everything else, it's on Twitter.

Drill, bebé, drill: Turns out Cuba may have a lot more oil than anyone thought.

The-End-of-the-World-as-We-Know-It Watch.

* There's only one way out of the financial mess: spend, spend, spend. Democratic lawmakers are said to be already on this, with a special December session planned following the likely Obama victory next month. The bill is likely to focus around infrastructure, and that's good, but it needs to be green infrastructure—as I wrote last week, a "green recovery" is our best bet to fix both the economic and environmental crises in one go.

* The food crisis is reaching cataclysmic proportions in the Caribbean, with Cuba limiting sales and poverty-stricken Haitians forced to literally eat dirt to survive. Michael Pollan argues in the Times that food will be a central issue for the next administration despite its receiving almost no attention in the campaign.

* The situation in Iceland continues to astound. Britain has declared Iceland a terror-sponsoring state (seriously) as a pretext for seizing control of Icelandic assets within the U.K., while there's some talk that Russia may bail them out, presumably in exchange for Arctic access. I hope Matt's right and Canada eats Iceland before things get too crazy.

* But don't lose your heads—Stephen Hawking assures us that if we manage to survive the next 200 years, we'll be just fine.

Thursday links about politics and other junk.

* Utne takes a look inside the 9/11 Truth Movement.

* Via Ezra Klein, Rootless Cosmopolitan looks at the complicated and contradictory legacy of Fidel Castro.

What fascinates me, however, is the guilty pleasure with which so many millions of people around the world revere Fidel Castro — revere him, but wouldn’t dream of emulating his approach to economics or governance. People, in other words, who would not be comfortable actually living in Castro’s Cuba, much as they like the idea of him sticking it the arrogant yanqui, his physical and political survival a sure sign that Washington’s awesome power has limits — and can therefore be challenged.

* Glenn Greenwald looks at a week of incredibly petty mass-media attacks on Barack Obama (all suddenly materializing in the moment that he is the presumptive nominee, as if by some kind of magic!):

The point isn't that this reflects poorly on Obama's electability -- it doesn't, at all (it might do the opposite). The point is that that one should expect what's coming, and realize -- most importantly -- that our establishment press takes its cues in all sorts of ways from exactly the dark crevices from which this filth spews and they will lead the way in helping to spread it. The establishment press is dependent upon the GOP establishment, which for years has provided them with their sources and access, and helping to spread this poison is what they do.

All four of these so-called scandals are completely ridiculous, but it's Bill O'Reilly's "lynching party" comment that really blows me away—how could a remark like that be anything but deliberate?

And for the record, while I can't really speak on the merits of last night's John McCain non-story without knowing what was "lawyered out," in its current form it looks as if it should probably have been spiked altogether, and I'm sorry to see so many liberal bloggers linking to it with such (understandable) glee. The material in the story that's either actually relevant or actually damning—Keating, corporate jets, favors for lobbyists, and so forth—is completely drowned out by the silly whiff of sex scandal.

And of course, we should note that it's not exactly against McCain's interests to be perceived as being smeared by the New York Times... This is a lot better press for him than their endorsement was.

* Other Obama links: Andrew Sullivan's list of Obama's legislative accomplishments in a post entitled "Dear Chris Matthews: Please Do Your Job"—and please don't think I take any pleasure in linking approvingly to something written by Sullivan—and news that Obama has won Democrats Abroad by a 2-to-1 margin, bringing the streak to 11-0.

Fidel Castro, as anyone who has been anywhere near a television today knows, has stepped down. Forty years of embargo: PAID OFF.