Why the Housing Market Is Plummeting So Rapidly
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:03 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - The sales of existing homes dropped 27.2 percent in July, accelerating the recent decline in the already frail housing market. This brings the number of existing houses sold to an annual rate of only 3.83 million units, the lowest figure since 1999. The number of single-family home sales hit its lowest level since 1995. Some economists even fear that this signals the end of housing as an investment. How bad is this and what does it mean? Full Story | Top |
Why Is Jimmy Carter Going to North Korea?
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:12 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - In a development first reported by Foreign Policy, it appears that Jimmy Carter will be informally dispatched to North Korea in hopes of securing the release of a United States citizen who crossed the border and was caught by authorities. The ex-president, who has remade himself into one of the nation's highest-profile diplomats after a single term in office, has previously engaged with North Korea during the Clinton years and most recently spearheaded house-building projects in Thailand and Vietnam. Full Story | Top |
Should China's Economic and Military Rise Worry the U.S.?
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:10 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - Last week, China overtook Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. Also last week, the Pentagon issued its annual report on Chinese military capabilities, in which it warned of significant naval and missile development. The two stories have led to a frenzy of op-eds reevaluating China, the China-U.S. relationship, and the extent to which the U.S. should fear its long-predicted rival. How worried should Americans be? It depends on whom you ask. Full Story | Top |
Obama's Silent Jewish Majority
Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:33 pm PDT
 The Daily Beast - Pundits claim Jews are abandoning the president. But the truth is, he remains more popular with Jewish voters than any other ethnic group, save blacks. Eric Alterman on the perpetual myth of the Jewish rightward shift. Full Story | Top |
Harvard Professor Found to Have Used False Data About Monkeys
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:43 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - The decision is in: star Harvard professor and renowned evolutionary biologist Marc Hauser "committed research misconduct." Hauser, whose lab investigated primate behavior and cognition, used false data when testing primates' responses to stimuli. In plain language: Hauser alleged a monkey had done something it had not. It's a particularly "sensitive topic for other scientists who work as Hauser does," observes David Berreby at Big Think, because, in this field, "human beings often have to interpret what an animal is doing"--not easy to do well. Full Story | Top |
Rubio's Great Test Ahead
Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:00 pm PDT
RealClearPolitics.com - Marco Rubio's real test begins today. He is the GOP's great Cuban hope. A potential Republican bridge to Hispanic voters. The most likely Republican VP nominee in 2012. Even the presidency is attainable someday. It's all within reach for Rubio. Full Story | Top |
Price of August naps: history's rudest awakenings
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 06:16 pm PDT
The Christian Science Monitor - The world sometimes falls asleep in August. And when it wakes in September it sorely rues the nap. Some of the most consequential events in modern Western history happened in August. Yet many people still think “not much happens†this month. Full Story | Top |
US Dodges Obligation to Help Iraqi Women Trafficked into Sexual Slavery
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:08 am PDT
The Nation - The Nation -- Two months ago, the State Department released its 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report (TiP Report), laying out a picture of human trafficking across the globe. In it, the United States reaffirmed its commitment to ending this scourge—and for the first time, included an evaluation of anti-trafficking measures in our own country. Full Story | Top |
Obama's other surge -- in Yemen
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:55 am PDT
The Christian Science Monitor - The long struggle against Al Qaeda since the 9/11 attacks has taken many twists and turns. Now it has even led to the forced evacuation of an entire city of 80,000 people – in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden. Full Story | Top |
Best Tweets: Lisa Murkowski Upset Edition
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:32 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski is most widely recognized for being Frank Murkowski's heir and Sarah Palin's mortal enemy. If the results of last night's GOP Senate primary hold up, she can add "Tea Party collateral damage" to her resume. As of this afternoon, Murkowski trails former Joe Wilson by nearly 2000 votes. Twitter was caught off guard. Full Story | Top |
Muslim Cab Driver Stabbing: Mosque Madness Blowback?
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:11 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - A New York man has been charged with attempted murder as a hate crime for "slashing" a cab driver with a knife "across the neck, and then on the face from his nose to his upper lip." The man, 21-year-old Michael Enright, was visibly drunk. He asked the driver if he was Muslim and, some time after the driver answered yes, attacked the driver while shouting "Assalamu alaikum -- consider this a checkpoint!" The driver, 43-year-old Ahmed Sharif, escaped and flagged down a police car. Sharif was taken to the hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. Some observers, and the victim himself, have connected this incident to the controversy over the Cordoba Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan. Others call it an isolated incident. Here's what they have to say. Full Story | Top |
Is This the End of Cheap Food?
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:59 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - "The era of cheap, abundant food is over," declares The New York Times' Mark Bittman on his blog. To expand on this point, he links to his recent review of The Coming Famine, written by "veteran science journalist" Julian Cribb. This is hardly the first time people have questioned the sustainability of the current, industrial agricultural model. This month's egg recall due to salmonella infections has provided an additional sense of timeliness. Now, then, seems like a good time to revisit that debate: do population growth, energy costs, and safety concerns really mean the end of "cheap, abundant food"? Here are a couple different perspectives. Full Story | Top |
Op-Ed Spotlight: MLK's Son Carefully Marks Off King's Legacy From Glenn Beck
Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:49 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - "My dad, [Martin Luther King], would back Glenn Beck's right to rally," reads the Newser summary of Martin Luther King III's op-ed in The Washington Post. Well, that's sort of what he said. King III actually suggests that his father's ideals may not be the same ideals promoted by Glenn Beck at his event this weekend. Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally has attracted controversy for taking place on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech," and at the same site. Full Story | Top |
| |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment