• Op-Ed Contributor – This Is the Way the Culture Wars End – NYTimes.com

  PRESIDENT OBAMA wants to end the culture wars. He recently called for “common ground” on abortion reduction and an end to the “stale and fruitless debate” over family planning. His joint address to Congress this week could be an opportunity to change that debate. But to make a real difference, he’ll have to tell two truths that the left and the right don’t want to hear: that morality has to be practical, and that practicality requires morals.

  tags: Obama, morality, gay marriage, abortion, Democrats, Liberals, Conservative, Republicans, reading list

• The risks of a bust-up in Europe | The bill that could break up Europe | The Economist

  Bailing out the same mythical Polish plumbers who just stole everybody’s jobs will be hard for Europe’s leaders to sell on the doorsteps of Berlin, Bradford and Bordeaux, especially with the xenophobic right in full cry. German taxpayers are already worried that others are after their hard-earned cash (see article). The bill will indeed be huge, but in truth western Europe cannot afford not to pay it. The meltdown of any EU country in the region, let alone the break-up of the euro or the single market, would be catastrophic for all of Europe; and on this issue there is little prospect of much help from America, China or elsewhere. It is certainly not too late to rescue the east; but politicians need to start making the case for it now.

  tags: reading list, EU, Europe, Eastern Europe, Economist, euro, economics

• Michael J. Totten: Christopher Hitchens and the Battle of Beirut

  Last week Christopher Hitchens and I were attacked in Beirut. Less than 24 hours after we landed at the international airport, a half dozen members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party jumped us on Hamra Street when he defaced one of their signs.

  tags: reading list, fascists, Beirut, Lebanon, Christopher Hitchens, Michael Totten, Nazis, swastikas

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.