Madeleine's favorite text ever is one she sent to her husband about a week after they met, and which he recently rediscovered on his phone: DRUNK. SEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEX. XO, M.

I Want Your Text

The best way to deal with China is to continue to let it prosper. The larger and more buoyant China’s middle class becomes, the less we have to fear. Prosperity is not a “zero-sum” game of winners and losers. We win if they win.

The Fallacy of Chinese Containment, by Robert Reich

There are a lot of kinds of mainstream stories that are not specifically about the climate but in which the issue of climate plays a role. Now, unfortunately, the coverage of climate change is ghettoized as a sub-beat of environmental reporters.

Hot and Bothered: An Interview with Ross Gelbspan

From Booklist
*Starred Review* At first glance, this book appears to be a retort to geographic theories of societal evolution, of the sort advanced by Jared Diamond's popular Guns, Germs, and Steel. Rather than patterns of weather and agriculture, Stark argues, Europe's primacy in economic, political, and social progress was due to its embrace of Christianity, which opened a space for reason and hence science-driven technology. Emphasizing the connection between medieval scholasticism, with its notion of theological progress--the logical science of thinking one's way closer to God--and Renaissance capitalism, Stark maintains that Christianity alone embraced reason and logic, and this gave Christian regions a tactical advantage in developing commerce. An argument made with unavoidably broad strokes, its actual targets are Max Weber's notion of the Protestant work ethic and the conventional story that religion was a barrier to be overcome en route to progress. At times approaching the invective, its defiant tone will invigorate readers who feel religion's place in the trajectory of world history is under attack. But the theological side of Stark's argument--that Christianity is fraternally bound to reason--will challenge the very same readers to reexamine their own relationship with reason.

The Victory of Reason : How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success

Unlike many social scientists, we affirm that the phenomenon of cultural polarization is real—and of real concern for American democracy. But contrary to many popular observers, we believe that the foundation of such conflict is soft. The overwhelming majority of Americans are not zealots but persons of good will who want the same things. Their disagreement is tractable. It can be civilized—perhaps even dispelled—through structured deliberation and culturally sophisticated policy framing. Our account of the cultural cognition of the American public offers a realistic psychological explanation of our current political situation. And it offers hope—the hope that politics can be something more than the struggle of elites to grab the reins of power, and that the people can, after all, govern themselves.

Ending Polarization

As we now enter the fourth year of a seemingly endless Iraqi conflict of which the public has grown weary, it might be good to remember that no war in our history has ever engaged the undivided support of the nation. If anything, last week's sparsely attended anti-war rallies suggest that, while the opposition may be loud, it is not very deep.

I find that hard to believe -- did this guy see Los Angeles? Regardless, it misses the point. This is not about "opposition" -- at this point, it is about mutual acknowledgement of the reality of the situation.

Wars Look Different in Retrospect

Counterinsurgency concepts must form the core of our government's national security strategy.

Strategies for a global counterinsurgency

Pity the poor mandarin in a modern western democracy.

'In defence of mandarins' by Michael Lind

What I admire most about these shows, and most deplore about contemporary movies, is the quality of the scripts. The TV series are devised and written by smart people who seem to be allowed to let their intelligence show.

Are you watching the new season of The Sopranos?

My Favorite Wasteland

Viral marketing campaigns cost next to nothing, and the growth can be exponential, cheaply generating a market reach that makes advertisers swoon. But in a media world where, as Peretti says, "popularity begets popularity," it's hard to predict what will work.

Enter here the General Memetics Corporation.

Between Friends