According to the NYT, residents and tourists waded through knee-deep water yesterday as they navigated the city’s narrow streets and alleys, and its historic St. Mark’s Square was inundated.

One of the highest tides in its history brought Venice to a virtual halt, rekindling a debate over a plan to build moveable flood barriers in an effort to save the city from high tides.

For three decades, a single idea on how to safeguard Venice and its lagoon from sinking beneath the sea has held sway: a wall of hinged barriers at each of the three entrances to the lagoon that would rise at the flick of a switch to collectively block extreme high tides from entering the lagoon. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is, after a fashion. Below, watch an animated movie and see how the mobile gates would work.

“The Rachel Maddow Show,” her left-leaning news and commentary program, has averaged a higher rating among 25- to 54-year-olds than “Larry King Live” on CNN for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host.

Ms. Maddow’s regular appearances on “Countdown” and her popularity on the Internet has certainly helped her ratings. Ms. Maddow, a former AIDS activist, was also presumably helped by her four years on the Air America radio network. (More)

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages. Read full story.

Ms. Palin — a 44-year-old conservative Christian and self-described “hockey mom” has been governor of for less than two year. She opposes abortion and same sex marriage, is a member of NRA , and supports drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

The selection will likely help McCain, who has a reputation as a moderate, win over the conservative base.

Katie Couric, the CBS evening news anchor who earns a reported $15 million a year, compared herself to failed presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton in an interview with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.

“I find myself in the last bastion of male dominance, and realizing what Hillary Clinton might have realized not long ago: that sexism in the American society is more common than racism, and certainly more acceptable or forgivable,”

Miss Couric told the paper as she covered Senator Barack Obama’s Middle East tour.

“In any case, I think my post and Hillary’s race are important steps in the right direction.”

Ms Couric, who in 2006 became the first woman to present a primetime network news broadcast solo, has faced intensive scrutiny not only of her job performance but her outfits and personal life since taking over the CBS Evening News.

And last month, Leslie Moonves, the network’s chief executive, suggested the sexist attitudes of people “who don’t want news from a woman” were partly to blame for her poor ratings, which last month hit a 20-year low for the program.

Her opponents claimed she is too nice, too sweet, that her too-short skirts exposed legs that are too pretty, that hard news is not her cup of tea, and that in any case her salary is inflated. The dignified interviews she held with world leaders, with kings and heads of state, and even with John Kennedy, Jr. in the last interview he gave before he died, are ignored. Her detractors insisted on remembering her interview of Elmo, the “Sesame Street” character and the animated puppets. Read full Ha’aretz article

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she does not plan to permit a vote to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, said multiple initiatives intended to lower high energy costs have passed the Democratically controlled House only to “run into a brick wall” in the Senate because they did not receive the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

“The price of oil is… is attributed to two oil men in the White House and their protectors in the United States Senate,” Pelosi said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Complete article

Last year, women in Pamplona, demanded their own version of the run complete with cows instead of bulls. Women have been allowed to take part in the San Fermin bull-running for some years but they still represent a tiny minority. Why would anyone want to do this anyway?

Since 2002, people have come together from all over the world to protest the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. According to a Gallup poll conducted in October 2006, 72 percent of Spaniards show no interest in bullfights – up from 54 percent in the 1980s. It is tourists who are keeping this cruel tradition alive.

images via Reuters

Thousands arrived at the National Building Museum in DC to hear her bid farewell as she ended her historic presidential campaign. Like Clinton, many were profoundly, visibly disappointed but ever-defiant. Many recognized the symbolic distance she had travelled. In her words:

As we gather here today, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.

Perhaps the American patriarchy isn’t ready. But her campaign has undoubtedly blazed a trail upon which other women might build more substantial byways. She has certainly found her voice and we hope to hear its echo in years to come:

Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.

Clinton is asking her supporters to back Obama. Will or should we/they play ball?

Slate’s Fraywatch cites one woman’s insight:

Obama is not the candidate they are looking for. In fact he is their recurring nightmare; Obama represents the guy who was promoted over them because he was smooth, cool, etc. not because he did the hard work, paid his dues, and yes, waited his turn.

A lot of women had to live through that and, rightly or wrongly, they actually empathize with Clinton and feel what she is going through. These women did the work for their daughters, they don’t need Obama to do it for them.

Another responder writes:

The media was so focused on the idea that Hillary Clinton acted as if the nomination was hers by right, that they failed to see the arrogance and obnoxiousness of her opponent’s campaign. That elitism (for lack of a better word) was not lost on the rest of us. In the 40 years I have followed American politics, never have I seen a candidate (and her supporters) treated with such disrespect by the media.

What’s a woman to do? As Clinton said, there’s a lot at stake and we’ve come a long, long way. Is it time to just hold your nose and get the Republicans out? Or is there a higher principle at stake here?

I have been moved by the discourse these two candidates have aroused. They have inspired us to talk, debate, and agree to disagree. THIS IS Democracy.

This is hopefully the “New Face” of America. A country that accepts a potential leader of color, a country that respects a woman’s opinion (despite the pundits), a country that is ready to listen and voice their desires and a leader eager to do the same. A president that does not repeat the same old rhetoric, a president that fulfills his/her promises.

Hopeful, YES I am. Don’t let me down.

To Hillary, I bow down to your courage, determination and commitment. Girl, you better work! 18million Americans voted for you! You have opened the doors for women. You have shattered that glass ceiling. You did not quit. I commend you.

So, what about that dream ticket? I am ready. Let’s go!