A sunny day in the Lake District

The view from Brantwood House, John Ruskin's home for 28 years, looking out over Coniston Water in the English Lake District.

Photo: Michael Balter (reuse permitted only with full photographer credit.)

On a less idyllic note: Robert Scheer reprises his Truthdig post from two years ago this month, reminding us that despite all of the debating and bloviating over the past 60+ years about the morality of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, these acts were war crimes deliberately targetting civilians and would be universally recognized as such if they were repeated today.

Suppression of free expression in Venezuela. Many of my fellow leftists are ready to turn a blind eye at the laws being proposed by the Chavez government that would create a new category of "media crimes"--in other words, old-fashioned censorship and suppression of critics. Have we not all seen this kind of thing before? Human Rights Watch gives the details and calls for the repeal of these efforts.

Lies about health care reform. Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein takes on the dishonest campaign against reform by right-wing activists, including, unfortunately, the claim that the government plans to put the private health insurance industry out of business. Would that it be true, because ultimately it is the only solution.