Plus, NATO ends combat ops in Afghanistan, the CIA keeps arguing with Senate Democrats about torture, Berkeley protests get nasty, Cosby’s star gets defaced, and solar tech gets even better, all in today’s news and web roundup.

“Grandfather look at me, I am standing here struggling, I am defending Grandmother Earth and I am chasing peace.”

Think of this article as “getting the notes from a classmate” and brush up before the big day. Here are 8 issues, races and propositions to keep an eye on.

Arizona is a state divided, as evidenced by the legislation.

Nuclear option? If this is “nuclear” then I’m for blowing the whole thing up.

I don’t expect the average American to know these things. I didn’t know them before I went to work for the government.

Terrorism is force and it is death. It’s not a bunch pro-life conservatives who woke up one day and decided they were half-assed Anarcho Capitalists.

In a way, you ONLY even need to know two.

No one is more loyal and optimistic, while simultaneously realistic, than the Chance family. It’s hard not to root for them, despite their flaws and quirks. They know they’re poor and wacky, but they also know they have each other, which is better than having nothing at all.