"The Next Breadbasket?"

... "How Africa could save the world - and itself," from The Atlantic. The article is really short and interesting, and I like this graph a lot, but I wonder about some of the things not elaborated on - why is Germany so awesome at growing wheat, for example?

Is this true?

A post over at The Atlantic says that the New York Times has not yet used the word torture when referring to any tactics used during the Bush 43 administration. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, what other major publications have avoided that word? Have any of them publicly stated why they do not use that word, or what, for them, would constitute torture?

One more thing: the post further says that the Times did use the word torture, but only in the obituary of an American who was tortured (using the same techniques as the Bush administration approved) while a POW in Manchuria during the Korean War.

The Hidden Bailout

The Atlantic has a few really cool graphics showing all that the Fed has been up to recently. As you can see from the above chart, the bailout and stimulus package represent only a small portion of their actions. I recommend you check out all of charts.

Roundup of Stewart/Cramer reactions

Yes, the whole thing has been overblown. No, it doesn't really matter. Yes, Jon took some cheap shots, easy to do on his home turf. But to be honest, I agree with everything he's ever said about the news media, both the other night with Jim Cramer (the extended version online is worth watching, btw) and a few years ago on Crossfire. The reaction has been great for both pure entertainment purposes and serious analysis of Jon's role in this crazy world.

Highlights:

Andrew Sullivan @ The Atlantic ("what Stewart has done is rip off that little band-aid of faux solidarity for a modicum of ethical and moral accountability")

"Tim F." @ some blog called Balloon Juice ("For a reason that escapes me, people who are paid to understand politics all seem to think that “access” to people with a PR staff will get them some special insight when the only difference between speaking to them anonymously and asking their spokesperson is that the person can lie and most people will never know. Naturally the public would know if you called him on it, but then he wouldn’t take your calls. Catch 22!")

Bruce Watson @ Daily Finance ("[Stewart] is, effectively, America's fool. In the classic context, a fool was the only one in a king's court who could speak the truth because he was also the only one capable of making it palatable")

Megan McArdle, also @ The Atlantic (she has the problem that many do with Stewart - that he can basically say whatever he wants and then retreat to "don't take it seriously; it's a comedy show." I have no problem with this - people should be able to distinguish news from entertainment, even when they begin to resemble each other - but I'd be interested in what you guys think)


Yes yes I want to sleep to Jon Stewart. Whatever, I have no responsibility to be objective here. I will, however, quit plugging Comedy Central for a while.

Ziegler vs. Silver, Part 37

A show called The B Cast has an episode in which John Ziegler and Nate Silver debate Ziegler's recent polls that Ziegler claims prove Obama supporters are not well-informed about some of the negative aspects of Obama's past (e.g. Ayers, Wright, etc.). The episode is quite long, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The bickering is kind of hilarious.

An interesting note on Ziegler: he was profiled in The Atlantic by David Foster Wallace in April of 2005. "Host," the profile, was later included in Ira Glass' The New Kings of Non-Fiction. I really enjoyed the descriptions of why he is a fantastic talk-radio host.

Interesting Article

Also in reference to Colbert...written by a guest he had the other night.

Jeffrey Goldberg's The Things He Carried

It's a great article. In my "line of work" we often use airports as the benchmark for effective security. In reality, this just is not the case. We need a new approach to security, not these ineffective band aids implemented to make the general public feel better. Rather, security has to be a state of mind, embraced by all. And then maybe we can free up some of those funds for better intelligence...