Democrats Prefer Google

Today on the list: Sanity beats fear in Brazil, the GOP plan to stop Sarah Palin and marketers say Google is to Democrats what Fox News is to Republicans. Plus: the sex lives of truffles.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

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Conservatives loyal to very different brands from liberals Thanks to a fascinating new survey from YouGov BrandIndex, we now know that many of America’s top brands actually have a political tilt in terms of their popularity.

Aerotropolis—The rise of a vibrant new kind of city Forty years ago, the road to the still-new Dulles Airport cut through miles of loamy forest, darkening the view of the few cars that made their way along it. Then, in a sudden glade, appeared the swooping roof of the Eero Saarinen-designed terminal, gleaming as if poised for takeoff.

Scholars Say International Property Accord Needs Senate Approval More than 70 academics, mostly legal scholars, are urging President Barack Obama to open a proposed international intellectual-property agreement to public review before signing it.

Cartoon of the day

Hypocritical economic moralizing The moralizing of the elites will, indeed, make the current situation worse. However, it also exposes their hypocrisy in morally condemning the same debt they had created for their own pleasure.

Green Party Needed to Shake Up America’s Political System As progressives walk into the voting booth Tuesday, many will be doing some soul searching as they vote again in a lopsided political system.

Scientists discover the Christian gene

Triumph of sanity over fear Brazil has chosen its new president—Dilma Rousseff of the governing Workers’ Party, against the opposition candidate José Serra—and thus has chosen sanity over fear.

The Complicated Mating Life of Truffles The secret and complex sex lives of black truffles, the rare fungi that are prized by chefs the world over, have been revealed in new research that may now help to make the delicacy more affordable.

Next for GOP leaders: Stopping Sarah Palin Top Republicans in Washington and in the national GOP establishment say the 2010 campaign highlighted an urgent task that they will begin in earnest as soon as the elections are over: Stop Sarah Palin.