From CUNY's The Great Issues seminar ("an online discussion about power in the contemporary world"), Harvard's Jill Lepore on Hannah Arendt and what grows out of the barrel of a gun. From TNR, Henry Aaron on how a lot of Democrats want universal health care to be the next president's top priority, but it shouldn't be. The Drudge Report, free Speech, and the election: Is the "marketplace of ideas" working efficiently? Jeffrey Sachs on the American anti-intellectual threat. From The Walrus, an article on Stephen Harper and the theo-cons: The rising clout of Canada’s religious right. What is Cameronism? Richard Newberry investigates. A review of The ABCs of Classic Hollywood by Robert B. Ray. From Reason, when free love died: Why the sexual revolution plays only in reruns. From Nerve, everyone pays for sex: Nine people track their sex-related budgets for one month. From The Village Voice, an interview with Savannah Knoop on being JT LeRoy (and more from Radar). Are you a fruit basket and grass skirt case? More than 50 years after she last wore a pile of fruit on her head, Carmen Miranda inspired a psychological test. Lottery tickets and credit cards: An article on the dangers of an irrational brain. Time for UN to keep tabs: Will an asteroid destroy Earth, and what "deep impact" might an asteroid make on Earth?
