The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. See JustBooks for "author talk," "book briefs," "suggested reading," and more at: http://www.brennancenter.org/content/pages/JustBooks Thanks, Dave.

Despite the recent eloquence and urgency of the conversation surrounding the need to provide all Americans with medical coverage, the discussion is by no means a new one. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt included language in the draft legislation of the Social Security Act of 1935 that would have created a compulsory national health insurance plan. So at the end of the day, I think that FDR had it right; the best measure of the success of a country must be the health of its people. After all, what could be more important? Welcome to the Neighborhood! From Doni Miller, CEO, Neighborhood Health Association, serving Toledo for 40 years. http://www.nhainc.org/
The best gardens are places to enjoy the glory of nature. There are some magnificent gardens around, sorely under-visited and real gems to be discovered. There are so many types of garden, too - formal gardens in the French style, natural gardens in the English fashion, harmonious parks in the traditions of India, China and Japan. Gardens are havens of peaceful tranquility. And yet.. they are home to an explosive variety of life, their mini-ecosystems beavering away according to the mysterious and unstoppable ways of nature. http://www.worldreviewer.com/travel-guides/garden/
Coming: Gardens, large and small, public and private, that I have seen and enjoyed.

Who am I? I was born in 1948, and grew up in Sweden where I pretended the logs in the river were crocodiles in Africa. I learned that imagination could be an instrument of survival, not just of creativity. My books have sold more than 30 million copies. When I wrote a one-page summary of Robinson Crusoe, I knew that I would become an author. I divide my time between Mozambique and Sweden. "I stand with one foot in the snow and one foot in the sand." In June 2008, I was given an honorary doctorate at St Andrews University. Answer forthcoming. Hint: I searched three words from the preceding paragraph and found the answer right away.

A study of paintings of the Last Supper from the past 1,000 years has found the size of the portions set in front of the diners has increased dramatically over time. Brian Wansink, the director of the food and brand laboratory at Cornell University, said the findings showed that the current tendency for people to eat bigger portions on bigger plates, leading to increased obesity, has gradually developed over the millennium. Researchers from the New York-based university used computer technology to compare how much food the diners were presented with in each painting. "We took the 52 most famous paintings of the Last Supper [from the book Last Supper] and analysed the size of the entrees, bread and plates, relative to the average size of the average head in the painting," Wansick said. Computer-aided design technology enabled the researchers to scan and rotate items in the paintings, allowing head, plate, meal and bread size to be calculated. The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, advance online publication March 23, 2010, http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo201037a.html found that the size of the meals in the paintings had grown by 69% over the 1,000-year period. Plate size had increased by 66%, while bread size had risen by 22%.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/23/last-supper-supersized-food-paintings

The origins of tea and the culture of tea-drinking lie in China, where the wild tea plant was first domesticated. Even today, the words for tea in almost every global language can be traced back to the Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese ‘cha’, or ‘te’ in the Amoy dialect of south-eastern China. See article and recipes using tea at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_tea.shtml

See garden tips and ask questions about gardening at the Schedel Arboretum & Gardens Web site : http://www.schedel-gardens.org/

Brown sugar crinkles, a cookie recipe by Donna Frame
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
6 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
See directions at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Crinkles/Detail.aspx