For those of you who don’t have access to the NYT magazine, a good article by David Leonhardt on the issues facing Obama as he tries to fix not only the current financial crisis but also deals with issues of the long-tern health of the economy, particularly in the areas of green energy, health care and education.

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For a somewhat different take, see James Galbraith’s article in Mother Jones.

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This Nation article picks up on the issue of green energy as part of the recovery program.

According to Dennis Dutton art is a function of evolution.

Genes shape our beliefs, our values, and even our votes says James Q. Wilson in The DNA of Politics.

Benjamin Barber says we are now in the midst of a struggle for the soul of capitalism.

Bailout recipients lead charge against labor.

Stimulus is a $800 billion mistake says Harvard professor Martin Feldstein

Wealthy white urban male proposes to solve the abortion debate by letting the pro-lifers win by allowing the reversal or narrowing of Roe, but this is not going to work for obvious reasons – for more discussion of this, go to here.

According to this article class inequality is the new black.

Moral hazard?: What moral hazard?

Peter Berkowitz asks whether constitutional conservatism is a way forward for a troubled political coalition.

Article asks: what does the popularity of vampire movies, such as Twilight and Let the Right One In, say about the modern day condition?

How we were ruined and what Obama can do about it.

This article asks: did Darwins’ oppostion to slavery drive search for evolution?

As John McEnroe used to say: you can’t be serious!!! GOP taking advice from Joe the Plumber?!

In spite of the pollyannaish reports in the US media, this article suggests that all did not go well in the Iraqi provincial elections.

Quel surprise!! The 1996 welfare reforms don’t work in a recession, according to the NYT.

According to this report the majority of the GOP supporters think the GOP should become more like Sarah Palin in its views.

Glenn Beck says let’s kick California out of the Union.

On the culture wars, and pro-choice issues in particular, Scott Lemieux and others say it is naive to expect the anti-choice forces to go away by offering them concessions, in spite of what others may think.

What does David Duke’s hissy fit over Michael Steele’s elevation to the chairmanship of the RNC say about the GOP, if anything?

Two articles about the war on Gaza: here and here.

The history of socialism is the history of failure—and so is the history of capitalism, but in a different sense says Jerry Muller.

Is the US in danger of becoming like Argentina?

Did the pro-life forces win the war but lose the culture?

In Post-Partisanship, R.I.P., Robert Kuttner suggests that the struggle between Democrats and Republicans over the stimulus bill is an instructive lesson in the battles Obama will face over the next four years.