April 28, 2008      

The Takeaway

Salim Ahmed Hamdan argued for his day in court, and won. Now, as the trial of one of the most famous Guatánamo Bay detainees approaches, lawyers will argue Hamdan is mentally unfit to assist in his defense.
Listen Add to Playlist

Marco Castro

Since Zimbabwe held elections on March 31st, the ruling party Zanu-PF has faced a barrage of criticism for not releasing election results. Rights groups and religious leaders say they are witnessing a campaign of torture, harassment and intimidation aimed at opposition supporters and ordinary people.
Listen Add to Playlist

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

This weekend, 32 NFL teams shelled out millions for what they hope are the most talented college football players. For the draftniks, the drama is over and the newly jerseyed picks become fodder for armchair analyses and fantasy match-ups. For NFL executives, it was another year of paying too much for over-hyped long shots. Gary Belsky of ESPN Magazine recaps the draft.
Listen Add to Playlist

Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Lisa Margonelli says this could be a day we all remember, when oil finally spikes to a price that makes us change our behavior.
Listen Add to Playlist

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that Indiana can require government-issued photo identification when voting. It's a win for Republicans in an election year.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that states such as Indiana have an obligation to prevent fraud in close races, and that heading to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to get the free photo IDs is no burden for voters.

Which leads us to our Takeaway question: Tell us one thing that would improve the election process for you, the voter.

Sign up here to join Harvard's oil crisis simulation, April 28, 2008.

In 1988 I drove more than a thousand miles on a whim-fueled road trip to see an ichthysaur skeleton. The dirt cheap gas that enabled this ridiculous and ultimately unsuccessful project (the ichthysaur was closed when I got there) was partly and indirectly provided by the Forties Pipeline in the UK's North Sea, which was just closed by a strike at a Scottish refinery.

Well, now that we’ve finally moved on from the Pennsylvania primary, and all of the media attention paid to the white working class, the most important bloc of voters, like, ever, to Pennsylvania, we’re moving on to North Carolina. And I can’t wait to have the same lavish, dare I say, slavish attention paid to me, the black voter.

I’ve been one from the day I started talking. My parents tell me the first full sentence out of my mouth went like this: “do we have some bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast?” It wasn’t about the food. It was about wanting to know what was in the kitchen.