California Literary Review

Ten years on: it’s time to count the cost of the Viagra revolution. The little blue pill that could cure male impotence was a startling discovery when it was launched in a storm of publicity in 1998. But while it has transformed the relationships of millions over the past decade it has also contributed to the breakdown of many more. [Guardian]

Then again, in her 10 months as the part-time registered lobbyist for the Institute for Humanist Studies, Ms. Lange had already reckoned the difficulty of her task. Alone in Albany, and among just a few comparable figures elsewhere in the nation, she advocates for the political interests of secularists who variously describe themselves as nonbelievers, freethinkers, humanists, atheists, skeptics and brights. [NYT]

I sent my photos and serial numbers to arms experts in Europe. The Beretta was traced to Iraq; the Glock was traced to a factory in Austria. The rest were traced to factories in China, including a grenade launcher that went into production in 2003, as the killing in Darfur flared. The UN forbids arms shipments to Darfur; however, there is no prohibition on selling weapons to the Sudanese government. [Mother Jones]

Victoria Grove wanted to find out if she was destined to develop the form of emphysema that ran in her family, but she did not want to ask her doctor for the DNA test that would tell her. She worried that she might not be able to get health insurance, or even a job, if a genetic predisposition showed up in her medical records, especially since treatment for the condition, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, could cost over $100,000 a year. Instead, Ms. Grove sought out a service that sent a test kit to her home and returned the results directly to her. [NYT]

Bilma Acuña has two drug-addicted sons and roams the streets of this slum with a purpose: to save others from the same fate. She and the group of mothers she helps organize have become the only bulwark, it seems, against the irrepressible spread of paco, a highly addictive, smokable cocaine residue that has destroyed thousands of lives in Argentina and caused a cycle of drug-induced street violence never seen before in this country. [NYT]

Separatist movements seek inspiration in Kosovo. Kosovo is turning out to be a huge source of conflict, both in the Balkans and across Europe. Six EU member states are against recognizing Kosovo’s independence, because they fear it could lead to problems with their own ethnic minorities. [Spiegel]

Even though Nazareth, Pa., isn’t quite the holy city its namesake is, pilgrims with a musical bent still go there every weekday in search of a potentially spiritual experience. They head to a quaint brick building, lured by the promise of taking a tour at the C. F. Martin & Company guitar factory. [NYT]

An ultra-Orthodox member of Israel’s Parliament on Wednesday blamed homosexuals for last week’s earthquake that shook his country and the region. [Daily Star]