The Crisis of the American Intellectual

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/12/08/the-crisis-of-the-american-intellectual/
Our intellectual life is becoming reactionary: opportunities are viewed as threats, hopes as dangers, progress as the unraveling of all that is beautiful and true

Michael Bloomberg, American God

http://www.slate.com/id/2278234/

Mao Ze Dong

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/12/20/101220crbo_books_mishra?currentPage=all

What Makes a Sad Song?

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/12/what-makes-a-song-sad/67709/

Lawrence of Arabia -- Lessons for and seeds of the current conflict in Middle East

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-11-15/te-lawrence-michael-korda-hero-on-his-middle-east-legacy/full/
What We Need to Learn From T.E. Lawrence by Michael Korda

To Conquer Wind Power, China Writes the Rules

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/business/global/15chinawind.html?hp
China's "house rules" for those who want to play in its market -- the biggest game in town.

Health Care and the Deficit

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12sun1.html
Ah, the health care mess.

US & Europe should rethink unconditional support for Israel, Palestinians

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12friedman.html

Hitchens on Populist Claptrap

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/01/hitchens-201101
Forfeiting a both-houses Republican victory, rational conservatives ignored or excused the most hateful kind of populist claptrap (e.g., the fetid weirdness of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Project). The poison they’ve helped disseminate will still be in the American bloodstream when the country needs it least.

All the President's Captors

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05rich.html
Does Obama suffer from Stockholm Syndrome?