[Weekend] From America, a review of Does American Democracy Still Work? by Alan Wolfe. The Democracy Alliance is taking a page from the GOP playbook by funding ideas instead of candidates. If only they could agree on what those ideas are.  From NYRB, Frank Rich reviews The Good Fight by Peter Beinart, The Plan: Big Ideas for America by Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed, The Courage of Our Convictions: A Manifesto for Democrats by Gary Hart, and America Back on Track by Senator Edward Kennedy; more on The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. A quiet revolt is brewing among retired Army and Marine generals like Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who blame an errant, arrogant civilian leadership at the Pentagon. Why can't the right let go of Vietnam? Spencer Ackerman wants to know. A new issue of Parameters is out, including an article on the widening military capabilities gap between the US and Europe: Does it matter?; a review essay on the Germans and the exercise of military power; a review of Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore (scroll down); and an essay on Bridging the Religious Divide on the Long War.  A review of God Won't Save America: Psychosis of a Nation. From Christianity Today, where we are and how we got here: 50 years ago, evangelicals were a sideshow of American culture. Since then, it's been a long, strange trip. Here's a look at the influences that shaped the movement (and more). And a look at how the movie "Jesus Camp" illuminates the political and religious education of evangelical Christian children

[Sep 29] From The Economist, a link between unemployment and inflation is fashionable again. Keynes was surely correct that only a small fraction of total spending is prompted by the desire to flaunt one’s superiority. He was profoundly mistaken, however, in seeing this desire as the only source of insatiable demands. From LRB, Stephen Holmes reviews After the Neocons: America at the Crossroads by Francis Fukuyama. Nearly 400 of the world’s leading foreign policy intellectuals contribute to a Princeton University-organized initiative that calls for a new grand strategy to address America’s national security concerns. From YaleGlobal, jihad is ultimately political action that can be influenced by dialogue and negotiations, but Muslims could benefit from removing the word from the vocabulary of politics. Fouad Ajami on intelligence, jihadists and the Iraq war debate. Bruce Ackerman on how Congress may give the president the power to lock up almost anyone he thinks is a terror threat. From Harper's, an interview with Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten, authors of One-Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century. An interview with Burt Prelutsky, author of Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco. A look at how Republicans betray their base to be loved by the beautiful people. Marvin Olasky on Henry Ward Beecher, Upton Sinclair and Herbert Matthews as three influential Americans who put heart above brain. Arnold Kling on his move from far left to libertarianism. When pundits talk about "moderates," or "the center," or "centrists," what exactly are they talking about? And why does the answer matter? From Reason, ova for sale: An article on the art of the deal in the gray market for human eggs. As the bitter and terribly unfair joke goes, some conservatives believe that the right to life begins at conception and ends at birth. In the case of President Bush it appears to be literally true. And Western academics who use concepts like "culture" and "society" cannot adopt a simple attitude to religion and are never quite as secular as they think

[Sep 28] Carolyn M. Warner and Manfred W. Wenner (ASU): Religion and the Political Organization of Muslims in Europe pdf. Stories of young men drawn to Spain to fight Franco have been told countless times. But there were also lesser-known fascist volunteers - including many from the British Isles. An article on the Society of Jesus, God's unlikely Latin lovers. David Plotz on why the Bible has so many prostitutes. From The Christian Post, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. reviews The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. A review of Righteous: Dispatches From the Evangelical Youth Movement and Body Piercing Saved My Life. An article on a recent Focus on the Family gathering in which followers of James Dobson received their election-day marching orders. A review of The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party. Second-Term Blues: Why have our presidents almost always stumbled after their first four years? From Slate, forget Nuremberg: A look at how Bush's new torture bill eviscerates the promise of Nuremberg; and the blind leading the willing: A compromise between those who don't care and those who don't want to know. A interview with Trevor Paglen and AC Thompson, author of Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights. A review of Confronting Iran and Tehran Rising: Iran’s challenge to the United States. From NPQ, an interview with Joseph Stiglitz. An interview with Kenneth Arrow on moral values and economics. A longer life or more stuff: Why isn’t spending on, say, surgery considered good for the economy? Before we get carried away with exciting brain-based arguments for paternalism and regulation, let's understand what we're really talking about. And an interview with Steve Wozniak on growing up nerdy, creating vs. managing and what surprised him most about the computer era

[Sep 27] From Open Democracy, democratising globalisation: An interview with Joseph Stiglitz, and more and more on Making Globalisation Work. A review of Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy. A review of The John Deere Story: A Biography of Plowmakers John & Charles Deere. Mickey Z on 10 reasons cars suck. The earth could be rescued from global warming by an unlikely saviour: A cooler Sun. Research finds positive, informative strategies for health and environmental goals are far more effective than negatives strategies which employ messages of fear, guilt or regret. From Popular Mechanics, a cover story on The Next Atomic Age: America's nuclear power plants will soon have to be replaced--but with what? They're Back: An Iran contra-era fabricator and his associate appear to have opened a new channel to Washington. Paul Craig Roberts on why Bush will nuke Iran. Martin Kramer on Islamism and fascism: Dare to compare. From The Washington Monthly, borderline catastrophe: How the fight over immigration blew up Rove's big tent. George Lakoff on 12 traps that keep progressives from winning. Progressives, meet Goldwater: A new documentary gives a history lesson on American ideology--and a rebuttal to the Arizona Republican’s alleged progressive legacy. An article on the intellectual journey of the National Center for Policy Analysis, celebrating its 25th anniversary. Who is Noam Chomsky? Someone who should have stuck to syntax, Roger Scruton says. From Reason, the Patriotism of "No": Nick Gillespie on the long, proud history of American dissent; and Radley Balko on the case of Cory Maye: A cop is dead, an innocent man may be on death row, and drug warriors keep knocking down doors. This is your ass on drugs: The new case against pot? It makes you lazy. When it comes to antidepressants, nobody really knows anything, anyway, so why not go with ketamine, a mild hallucinogen known to club freaks as Special K? A small step for mankind: Researchers in England open a lab dedicated to pedestrians and their many spills. Why would anyone, man or woman, be more likely to buy a product if a man is made to look like a jackass in the advertisement? Christopher Orr on how TV is wiping out the movies--again

[Sep 26] From The Democratic Strategist, an essay on Authoritarianism and the American Political Divide. From the latest issue of Democracy Journal, James Galbraith reviews Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy and A Free Nation Deep in Debt; Theda Skocpol reviews Soldiers to Citizens and Over Here; Joseph Nye reviews Hard Power; Peter Beinart responds to Michael Lind's review of The Good Fight; John Ikenberry on The Global Security Trap; Anatol Lieven responds to Michael Signer's exceptionalism; Karen Kornbluh on creating a twenty first century social insurance system for today's "juggler families"; Joel Kotkin on how the craze over coffeeshops and condos won't revive American cities; and William Galston reviews George Lakoff's Whose Freedom? Thomas B. Edsall responds to George Will's column on his book Building Red America. From Butterflies and Wheels, an essay on multiculturalism and religion: Jesus doesn’t morris dance. In the world today, one ancient religious ideology, monotheism, stands out as especially dangerous, repressive and loony. An article on religion and comic books: Where did Superman’s theology come from? A review of The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege. A review of Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration by Lewis Lapham and How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime by Sidney Blumenthal. Playing it safe: Christopher Hitchens on the fatuous politics of compromise. More on The Greatest Story Ever Sold. A review of Celsius 7/7 and The Looming Tower. Time to get real: There is no military solution to U.S. problems with Iran. Losing Afghanistan: John Kerry on how we're not adequately fighting the war we should be fighting. Fred Kaplan on how Bush wrecked the Army: Another general revolts. Whipping boy Bush: Andre Glucksmann looks at the logic of the new Chicago, asking how we will face today's world of extended gang warfare. From Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn on flying saucers and the decline of the Left: A regression in consciousness. A review of From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. From Reason, an interview with Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail. And a review of Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses by David Landes

[Sep 25] From ARPA, a review of Girls Like You: Four Young Girls, Six Brothers and a Cultural Timebomb. The prologue to Insult to Injury: Rethinking our Responses to Intimate Abuse. More on Arianna Huffington's On Becoming Fearless. Americans wouldn’t stand for women fighting, or so went the conventional wisdom. For some men, there’s nothing more appealing than a woman who knows her way through field and stream. The incredible shrinking Dad: An old debate finds a new twist: fathers may not be essential after all. A review of Feminist Futures: Reimagining Women, Culture and Development. More and more on The Female Brain. More and more young women are tying their tubes before even tying the knot. Is the "tubal" the new birth control pill? A review of Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born. Doctors have operated on babies born with ambiguous genitalia. But there is a growing debate about the role physicians -- and parents -- should play in physically shaping children. So, how have you been sleeping lately? Getting at least a good seven hours? And when was the last time your doctor asked you those kinds of questions? How do you get doctors to wash their hands? Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt investigate. A review of Skin: A Natural History. A review of The Definitive Book of Body Language (and an excerpt). Steve Mirsky on a tale of two toilets. By choosing one of the phobias listed in this article, you could have a psychological ailment within minutes. From Psychology Today, an article on friends with benefits; parents are more likely to interfere in their daughters' dating choices, especially in steering them toward high-achieving mates; and a look at how flimsy puppy loves are a predictor of future depression.  Research finds you don't need a big lottery win for long term happiness, but a few thousand helps. An excerpt from Inside the Lifestyles of the Rich and Tasteful. There are only two groups that the "It'll make a man out of you" campaign for The Dairy Queen Chili Meltdown GrillBurger could possibly expect to appeal to. And an attractive woman comes up to you and asks if you'd be kind enough to take her photo. Naturally, you agree. As you're lining up a good shot, you can't help but notice the camera's sleek, lightweight design. Sucker. Is this the future of advertising?

[Weekend 2e] From Christianity Today, young, restless, reformed: Calvinism is making a comeback—and shaking up the church (and more). A review of Noah Feldman's Divided by God. From The Globalist, an excerpt from Joseph Ratzinger's Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam; and an excerpt from The Parliament of Man: The Past, Present, and Future of the United Nations by Paul Kennedy. From TNR, a look at why Israel secretly loves the United Nations. A review of Purposive Interpretation in Law by Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court of Israel. From National Review, a review of The Jewish Divide over Israel: Accusers and Defenders. From Forward, a review of David Mamet's The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-hatred and the Jews; a look at why Robert Rosen's Saving the Jews is by its very nature a combative work (and a review); and "A Jew walks into a bar..." Yale establishes the Yale Initiative for Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, the first center of its kind in North America. Can George Allen be a Jew if he doesn't want to be one? Is being Jewish a state of mind or a matter of blood? And covenant schmovenant: The Ten Commandments are concise and plainly worded, because the Israelites were smart enough to lawyer-up before finalizing the contract. Excerpts from an early draft archaeologists dug up last week

[Weekend] From Policy Review, Tony Corn (USFSI): Clausewitz in Wonderland. A review of The Twilight on the Nation State: Globalisation, Chaos and War. From Crimes of War Project, "In Cowboy and Indian Country:" A Special Forces Unit in Afghanistan. Jack Balkin (Yale) and Sanford Levinson (Texas): The Processes of Constitutional Change: From Partisan Entrenchment to the National Surveillance State. A review of War by Other Means: An Insider’s Account of the War on Terror by John Yoo. From Harper's, an interview with historian Kate Brown on the American "Gulag". Both Bush's proposal and the Senate's alternative improve on the post-9/11 regime of detainee interrogation. But while they enhance the legality of the system, both plans omit accountability. As the hunt for homegrown terrorists sympathetic to Hezbollah intensifies, the Muslims of Dearborn, Michigan are losing their trust in American justice. Foreign Policy looks at ads that hope to sway your vote in November, either by inspiring raw fear, stoking your anger, or appealing to your sense of patriotism. In aggressively pushing twin themes -- that their Republican opponents provide no check on the president, and that it's time for a change in Washington -- Democrats are hardly breaking new ground. It's a familiar election refrain from parties out of power. The movie "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" provides a lively, amusing and intimate peek into the inner workings of a campaign fight. More on Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Told. But will it be enough? From American Journalism Review, a look at how top editors decide whether to publish national security stories based on classified information; and four large papers, long dominant in the Pulitzer sweepstakes, have tightened their stranglehold on the competition in the current decade. Why is that the case, and is there a better way?  And journalists fret that newspapers are in decline, but if media outlets keep perpetuating that notion -- inaccurate as though it may be -- it could turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy

[Sep 22] Form TAP, James Baker's Iraq Study Group is supposed to figure out how to fix the Iraq war and convince the Bush administration to accept the plan. To do the first part, the group may likely advocate withdrawal. The second part is anyone's guess. The future of the United States demands a new foreign-policy model: ethical realism. To get there requires a civil war on the American right – and a defeat of the neo-conservatives who have so damaged the country. If we capture Osama bin Laden, the manner in which we bring him to justice will make a critical difference in the way history interprets his legacy, and our own. An article on the difference between the president's lawyers and the military's. He's Our Jerk: John Dickerson on the new standard for foreign-policy bipartisanship. An interview with Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, author of The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, And the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism. From TLS, a review of Francis Fukuyama's America at the Crossroads. From In These Times, an article on the neocon's lexicon. Peter Beinart on the twilight of Bush's new McCarthyism. A review on Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Ever Sold (and more). From The Economist, an article on a better way to help America's jobless, and a look at how boosting unions won't do much for America's workers. A review of Jacob Hacker's The Great Risk Shift. From Writ, an article on President Bush's "Third Awakening" and the mixing of Church and State. From The Huffington Post, an article on Crackpot Christianity and America's current moral degeneration (and part 2 and part 3). A review of Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America and Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement. From Salon, you have no right to vote: The Constitution doesn't guarantee it, the Republicans know it, and real democratic values in our country are under assault. A review of Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July. The first chapter from What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality by Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos & Marshall Ganz. And how the few harms all: Police abuse may arise from just a few "bad apples", but if left unpunished, it rots the entire institution

[Sep 21] From Perspectives on Politics, Ronald Inglehart, Mansoor Moaddel, and Mark Tessler (Michigan): Xenophobia and In-Group Solidarity in Iraq: A Natural Experiment on the Impact of Insecurity pdf. The first chapter from The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. From Harper's, an interview with Emile A. Nakhleh on the CIA and the Iraq War. While the United States doubts the IAEA's efficacy, the UN inspectors fear hawks are trying to make them irrelevant -- just like before the Iraq war. From Time, a flurry of military maneuvers in the Middle East increases speculation that conflict with Iran is no longer quite so unthinkable. Here's how the US would fight such a war. If this truly is a clash of civilizations, the conservatives have chosen to engage it by getting in touch with their inner barbarian. Harold Meyerson on how the US is led by men who have carefully avoided war, and don't understand why we need laws to keep men from becoming the nightmare image of their enemy. An interview with George Soros on The Age of Fallibility. One 9/11 picture, thousands of words: Rorschach of meanings. From American Political Science Review, Dennis C. Rasmussen (Bowdoin): Does "Bettering Our Condition" Really Make Us Better Off? Adam Smith on Progress and Happiness pdf; and Dennis Chong and Dukhong Kim (Northwestern): The Experiences and Effects of Economic Status Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities (and more) pdf. Scott McLemee reviews The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality. A review of Minority Rules: Turn Your Ethnicity Into a Competitive Edge. From American Heritage, how the North lost the Civil War: A review of Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War by Nicholas Lemann. A review of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. From Slate, was Ann Richards more than just her acid wit? An article on what is an ifeminist and why we don't need any more of them. More and more on Oriana Fallaci. An interview with Arianna Huffington. From Nerve, an interview with Joe Eszterhas. A review of The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God! And studios push to clean up their act: Hollywood looks to family-focused Dove Foundation and others for favorable reviews 

[Sep 20] Where the Truthiness Lies: A review of The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina by Frank Rich. An interview with Jim Geraghty, author of Voting to Kill: How 9/11 Launched the Era of Republican Leadership. An interview with Bill Gertz, author of Enemies: How America’s Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets—and How We Let It Happen. The Fortune Cookie Game: Context is everything in the debate over democracy promotion in the Middle East. Whatever the given policy objective, the method can't be unilateral. From Salon, a slew of new books on Karl Rove make us question whether the president's deputy chief of staff is truly the Machiavellian genius so many in Washington claim. Brilliance like Barney.gov doesn’t come free: Uncle Sam reaches out to kids on the web. From TAP, why are businesses registering more than 2 million workers to vote? Mark Schmitt on the challenge within the answer; and two great liberal preoccupations, our celebration of cultural difference and the fight against inequality, go hand in hand, right? Wrong. An interview with Walter Benn Michaels, author of  The Trouble With Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality. From CT, an article on The Bird Man, John James Audubon; a review of books on bees; and a review of Agrarian Dreams: The Paradox of Organic Farming in California. The first chapter from Nature: An Economic History. The Grapes of Wrath: As if shrinking glaciers, rising seas, and catastrophic hurricanes weren't bad enough, global warming looks set to devastate the world's greatest vineyards. George Monbiot on The Denial Industry: An excerpt from Heat. Here's the transcript of a talk at NYU by Al Gore on global warming, and his plans for 2008 may be clearer after the release of his book, The Assault on Reason. Roll over Carl Sagan, and tell Voltaire the news: An article on the sad state of atheism today. Why Christians should welcome, rather than stigmatize, unwed mothers and their children. And from the Annals of Medieval Research: Pastor J. Grant Swank wants to know, "Why do Jews suffer? Because suffering hopefully will squeeze them into the position by which they will recognize their loss" (!?!, and a "fisking")

[Sep 19] From The New York Review of Books, Michael Sandel and Thomas Nagel exchange letters on the case for liberalism; Timothy Garton Ash reviews Murder in Amsterdam by Ian Buruma; and The Caged Virgin by Ayaan Hirsi Ali; a review of "The Road to Guantánamo"; Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantánamo, Bagram, and Kandahar by Moazzam Begg with Victoria Brittain; and Guantánamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power; a review of The White Man's Burden; The End of Poverty; Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health; The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working; and Africa's Stalled Development: International Causes and Cures. Robert Higgs considers the construction of "War is horrible, but..." statements. From National Review, an interview with Jim Geraghty, author of Voting to Kill: How 9/11 Launched the Era of Republican Leadership. From Political Affairs, an essay on Jürgen Habermas, Rupert Murdoch and public opinion. From Commonweal, an article on shifting allegiances: Catholics, Democrats & the GOP. Everyone is a Special Interest: In their hunt for voters, microtargeters study how you live and what you like. Does advertising work? What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How to Guarantee Yours Succeeds finally answers the question. From New Statesman, a cover story on shopping: How it became a national disease; and a review of Heat: how to stop the planet burning by George Monbiot. From The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert on what the White House can learn from California’s new energy standards; and James Surowiecki on America’s love-hate relationship with online gambling. From Reason, a review of To Hell With All That by Caitlin Flanagan and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism by Carrie Lukas. And from US News, youth training to fight for Jesus: A look at the North Dakota Bible camp Kids on Fire, the subject of a new documentary, "Jesus Camp"

[Sep 18] From The Boston Globe's "Ideas", Lessons of Suez: Fifty years ago, two western powers conspired to invade an Arab country--in defiance of international law and world opinion. Guess which side the United States was on. A review of The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West by Niall Ferguson (and an article on how Scottish intellectuals "are talking the country down"). A review of Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. From The New York Times Magazine, an article "The Battle for Guantanamo" (again). Last week, Martin Amis hit out at the virulence of Islamism. Pankaj Mishra lambasts Amis's "moral superiority" and takes issue with the intellectual arrogance of political elites in the West who fail to understand the Muslim world. Softy-softy approach: Amid last week’s 9/11 anniversary soul-searching, one theatre of the war on terror was forgotten: the only one where the terrorists are in retreat. Are people raised in fundamentalist societies more apt to hate others? A look at the root causes of terrorism. Meet the New Evangelicals: Is a new generation of "kinder, gentler" leaders suddenly putting the religious right in political play. A review of Believers: A Journey Into Evangelical America. A review of The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America. A review of Does American Democracy Still Work? by Alan Wolfe and Whose Freedom? The Battle Over America's Most Important Idea by George Lakoff. More on Talking Right. A review of Frank Rich's The Greatest Story Even Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina. No middle ground: Is the middle class thriving or diving? Liberals fight a bitter statistical battle with serious political implications. A review of LBJ: Architect of American Ambition. A