Wiretap: What was the shutdown all about, anyway?

 
Maybe the biggest debate in the post-shutdown Washington world is what the argument was really about. Michael Tomasky looks at the debate over food stamps — a debate that literally takes food from some children’s plates — to find an answer. You can probably guess what it is.

The food stamp fight. It’s not about the money. Via the Daily Beast.

Robert Cristgau on Lou Reed. Just call it Toesucker Blues. Via Spin.

Lou Reed encouraged Occupy Wall Street in 2011. A glimpse of his political legacy via The Nation.

How liberals are winning politics but losing policy. via The Atlantic

New York Times went to California to find some reefer madness. Couldn’t seem to find any.

How one formerly blue state — West Virginia — turned bright red. Via the Washington Post.

As we prepare to vote on Amendment 66, a question: Why do teachers quit? Via the Atlantic.

“The same rains that cleansed the fire-fouled Poudre River rerouted and clogged the Big Thompson with debris.” The Coloradoan.

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