FYI from BATR

One of the left's most prominent commentators, Alexander Cockburn possesses a wild iconoclasm that can be as much tonic for the soul as it is toxic to the system. The Irish expat, whose Village Voice columns in the '70s and '80s blazed a trail for contemporary media criticism, continues to expose the hypocrisies of politicians and pundits in his online CounterPunch as well as his biweekly "Beat the Devil" in The Nation magazine. Come next week, on May 20, he'll be offering Sacramentans his thoughts on "How to Change the World in Six Easy Lessons."