When I wrote for an alt-weekly, it seemed like one of the main functions of the publication (or the genre, really) was raking the local big city dailies over the coals, or pointing out when they did something silly, and even passing out the credit when they did something right. It is the media meta-critic aspect of the alt-weekly that drew me to them in the first place. Kevin Brass at the Austin Chronicle has cast an eye to the Austin American-Statesman's recent management and editorial choices and gives a snapshot of an industry that is currently in heavy flux - daily newspapers - and the decisions that shape it.

I am not the only one to make the argument that we don't really know what the partisan demographics currently are in Texas.

I wasn't sure it was possible for President Bush's approval rating to get any lower, but this is a year of political surprises, one after another: Bush drops to 31 percent.

What's going on here? Reports are coming in that the unit price of oil dropped below $100 on reduced demand? Could it be that people are responding to wickedly high gas prices by... buying less gas?

If you're into reading all about Everything First Lady, 1992 - 2000, then today was a banner day for you. There are over 11,000 pages to plow through, so get comfy.

Congressional Quarterly does a ton of legwork in determining which districts are safe zones for their incumbents and which are ripe for the picking by the opposition. Congressman Chet Edwards has been the most targeted Democratic member of the House for several cycles but he has maintained his spot by being extraordinarily talented and serving his district incredibly well.

Now with video:

The main hangup in the Michigan plan for a re-vote concerns who can vote in it.

In the midst of a big Pay Attention To McCain Tour through the Middle East, John McCain asserted that Iran is training al-Qaeda and then sending them to Iraq. Suddenly, Joe Lieberman came to the rescue!

This has sort of been buried on a very busy news day, but this is important. As part of a new strategy to deal with the unchecked increase of fuel prices, Delta Airlines has offered to buyout 30,000 employees, or more than half of the company's current workforce. The goal is to cut some 2,000 jobs from the company. Pilots are not included in the offer as they have a union contract.