Leon Barkho (Jonkoping): The Discursive and Social Power of News Discourse: The case of Aljazeera in comparison and parallel with the BBC and CNN. As the stoic voice of fake authority, "PC" John Hodgman discusses trivia and how humans distinguish fact from falsehood (and more). From Culture11, in praise of squares: Why scrupulous people earn more, live longer, and win at life; and is American religiosity responsible for making atheists unhappy? Jezebels with a cause: Whoever was in charge of deciding what to call each generation of feminism knew what she was doing when she settled on the metaphor of waves; well, the next wave has arrived. Just don't call it proselytizing: Nonbelievers think the time is right to better organize their nonreligion and swell the membership. Is the US too big to fail? Why are investors rushing to purchase US government securities when the US is the epicentre of the financial crisis? Bullion with a mission: Bernard von NotHaus’s crusade to establish an alternative to the dollar and challenge the supremacy of the Federal Reserve. Global insights: The world's arms trade is surging, but for how long? It's time to give voters the liberalism they want: Don't believe pundits who say there's a centrist mandate. Justin Raimondo on the resurrection of the socialist idea. Former news radio staffer Dan Shelly spills the beans on how shock jocks inspire hatred and anger. 

From the Claremont Review of Books, a review of White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement by Allan J. Lichtman and Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right by Paul Edward Gottfried. From CQ Weekly, a cover story on the collapse of Big Tent Republicanism. A panel on The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity by Robert Kuttner. Come January, perhaps no think tank will be more piped into the executive branch than the 5-year-old Center for American Progress (and more). Obama's savvy coalition-building broke all the rules about how to run for president; if he can take the same approach in the White House, he will be a towering success. Larry Beinhart on why the economy grows like crazy amid high taxes. From Cracked, a look at the 15 worst album covers of all-time. Arbiters of Kool: 30 years after the infamous mass suicides, does the spirit of Jonestown live on? (and more) Our Canadian Republic: Do we display too much deference to authority or not enough? Literature is for everybody, writing isn't: Contrary to the popular myth, we don't all have a book in us and pretending otherwise devalues great writing. Dishing up dormice delight: Marc Abrahams on a review of the relationship between dormouse and man. 

From Prospect, blame it on the Brits: Most people think British power has declined over the past century, but not the Iranians; and a review of books on David Cameron. Patternicity: An article on finding meaningful patterns in meaningless noise. John McWhorter reviews The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush by Elvin T. Lim. A review of The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Les Standiford. Conrad Black reviews Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood. A look at how websites that dig for news rise as watchdogs. From Edge, Christopher Badcock on the imprinted brain theory. Why shouldn't Sarah Palin get a book deal? Left-leaning Americans should welcome books from Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Why big books still matter: More and more and more and more and more and more on Roberto Bolano's 2666.(and an excerpt, a five-page sentence, and the five most unskippable passages, at New York; and from Bookforum, a review of Last Evenings on Earth and a review of Distant Star). From New Scientist, a look at why the universe may be teeming with aliens and what makes the universe tick. Do libertarians fit in a liberal world? And if they do, are they still libertarians? 

From First Things, Robert George on making business moral; Richard John Neuhaus on the deadly convenience of Christianity without culture; wresting with an angel: A review of Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein by Hilary Putnam; a review of Justice: Rights and Wrongs by Nicholas Wolterstorff; and ain’t nothing but a meanness in this world. The Forward 50 celebrates leadership, creativity, impact; it also reminds us how far we still have to go to truly repair the world. Why license marriage? Richard Epstein has libertarian thoughts on Proposition 8. Uneasy about alcohol: An article on America and the booze question. From Scientific American, an article on the X chromosome and the case against monogamy. From New English Review, an article on literature's most misunderstood novel; a funny thing happened on the way to the twenty-first century; and if we had to write a job description for politicians, with all the qualities that we require of them, what would we put? A stratigraphic analysis of desk debris: If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what is an empty desk a sign of? From IRB, a review of Not Much Left: The Fate of Liberalism in America by Tom Waldman; and Econ 101 Redux: Still dizzy from wondering why the world economy crashed? Into the realm of insanity: When mooning is a sex crime.