Barry (Ampersand) at Alas, a Blog points out this nice analysis of what happens to jobs under Democratic and Republican presidents, with a couple of very clear charts. Funny thing: under "pro-business" Republicans, there's more unemployment and there's less job growth. Surely you guessed that the Clinton years looked good economically, but you'll be pleasantly surprised to see some of the numbers for Carter....

Barry also points out the Web site of RAWA -- the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, the people who were trying to tell us about the horrors of women's lives under the Taliban long before Karl Rove taught George W. how to pronounce "burqa." RAWA is absolutely not pleased with what's going on in Afghanistan now; if you scroll down on the title page of RAWA's site you'll see a remarkable list of "recent reports from Afghanistan," garnered from the world press. As Barry says,

if you don't want to read the articles, just read the headlines; they form a sort of lousy prose-poem of neglect and horror. Here's the current top ten headlines from RAWA's list:

HRW: Sharp Rise in Press Attacks in Afghanistan

An overview of the situation in Afghanistan after “liberation”

"Climate of fear" rules Afghanistan

UN reports serious rights violations in NW Afghanistan

US Admits 11 Civilians Dead In Bombing Raid On E Afghanistan

Afghanistan: the Taliban's smiling face

Afghan Police Accused of Rights Abuses

Afghanistan has been well and truly betrayed

Afghan poor sell daughters as brides

Afghan Warlords Killing at Will