Snow, Glass, Apples audio

Aha! Salon provides a 10-minute MP3 excerpt from the audio version of "Snow, Glass, Apples" by Neil Gaiman [Salon] starring Bebe Neuwirth. It came out a while ago; I'd read it was pretty good, and it seems to be. Cool.

Complete version in RealAudio [scifi.com]

Full text version of the story [The Dreaming]

A related Charles Vess illustration  

 Mondale-Coleman transcript

Rather than read spin about it (or, at least, in addition to it), here's the transcript of the Mondale-Coleman debate [Star Tribune].  

 Post, Times on VA tax referendum

Newspaper editorials on the Virginia referendum: The Post's is just about convincing to me:

Why Yes Is Best [Washington Post]

Opponents not only underplay the transit improvements that a yes vote can get going, they discount the desperate need for more road capacity. It is a need that has increased not because more roads have produced more traffic, but because road capacity has not kept up with growth. Arguing against more road capacity because it attracts more traffic is like arguing against more schools because they attract more children. The traffic and children are here...

The alternative, if new roads and transit are ever to be funded, is to pray for a huge outpouring of money from Richmond -- money that for a host of bad reasons isn't there.

The unusual alliance of anti-any-tax groups and stop-roads, stop-growth advocates ... cite[s] the money raised by developers and businesses -- and fully disclosed -- to finance the yes vote, but they refuse to disclose the sources of their own funding. They do not point to the fact that more than 80 percent of the yes supporters are individuals or businesses contributing $100 or less. They play down the importance of the referendum proposal to Metro, which cannot begin to relieve much more road traffic without a significant infusion of money.

Vote no on Va. tax referendum [The Washington Times].

I'm just about to a grudging, hold-my-nose 'yes' again.