archive

Potpourri

From Economic Quarterly, an essay on The Contributions of Milton Friedman to Economics pdf. From The Nation, after all these years, will Reagan's budget chief David Stockman go to jail for cooking the books? William Greider investigates.

From Mother Jones, an interview with Ralph Nader.

Can one person slow global warming? Here's 51 ways to save the environment.

Should progressives take Ann Coulter seriously? Sam Berger and Ben Adler debate.

Viewers to a Kill: An interview with Jeremy Kahn, on the growing problem of witness intimidation and the challenges of reporting a story about it (and more on "Stop snitching").

What's an opinion worth? Sean Gonsalves on how to combat the anti-intellectual virus. An interview with Michael Wallis, author of Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride. More on Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History by John Patrick Diggins.

Tasting their own medicine: Republicans complain about the congressional shaft. Here's the secret to "American Idol": Don't think of it as a singing competition. More than anything, "Idol" is a political game, an exercise in building support and rallying fans. Nerds Just Wanna Have Fun: Nerds in New York and Boston are taking barroom banter to the next level.

The evidence for a recent national rise in crime is murky — and implementing get-tough remedies to address the alleged wave would be misguided.

The intellect behind Islamic radicalism: A review of The Power of Sovereignty by Sayed Khatab. The Zuni Way: With 90 percent of its members still living in their ancestral homeland in northwestern New Mexico, the Native American tribe is among the continent's most cohesive. But why?

A review of Chuck Schumer's Positively American: Winning Back The Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time. Alvaro Vargas Llosa on why perfect totalitarianism is impossible.

Even though the Internet tag NSFW (Not Safe for Work) is assumed to have something to do with sex, it is more about class, politics, and how much money you make.

The Power of Babble: MIT researcher Deb Roy is videotaping every waking minute of his infant son's first 3 years of life. His ultimate goal: teach a robot to talk.

From Military Times, Staff Sgt. Walter Campbell has finally received the promotion he’s waited over a year for. His new title: Funniest Person in South Texas.

An excerpt from R. Emmett Tyrrell's The Clinton Crack-Up.

All the president's privileged men: Sanford Levinson on how moves to subpoena Karl Rove and colleagues look likely to cause constitutional deadlock. From Radar, here's ten April Fool's Day pranks that bombed. The art of fooling around: What makes a great April Fool's joke? On April Fool's Day, 1982, Argentine troops invaded the Falkland Islands. Dan Bjarnason looks back at "a meat grinder of a war" — and the Canadian who became a local hero in the process. And in 1982, Anthony Barnett argued that Britain's decision to wage war with Argentina in the south Atlantic was triggered by its deep political culture. Twenty-five years on, he looks afresh at the entrails