HORTON'S "NO COMMENT." Being a lawyer is the best job in the world because you get paid to read -- at least that�s what a lawyer friend once told me. Of course, most of the reading would put ordinary people to sleep. The good news is that being a lawyer can turn you into a strong reader. Human rights attorney Scott Horton is an excellent example: He teaches at Columbia University and has worked at the swanky Avenue of the Americas firm Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, and, in his spare time, is the author of a daily email, �No Comment,� in which he reads a prodigious amount of material, ranging from the Guardian to Der Spiegel to le Monde, and summarizes the news in an intelligent, engaging, and passionate manner. You can study the articles he encloses, but if you were to read only his summaries and mini-analyses, you would still have a enlightened perspective on U.S. intelligence agencies, Iraqi military units, extraordinary rendition, and so on. You can sign up by writing to shorton99 - at - aol - dot - com.
Horton has just headed off for a visit to Central Asia, where he will continue working on his emails as long as he can log on to the Internet. The Polish aphorist Stanislaw Lec once said, �The window to the world can be covered by a newspaper.� Horton�s �No Comment� does the opposite: It opens up a new vista -- in less than 900 words.
--Tara McKelvey