Wednesday Stuff

The Devil & Angel Within Do Battle. A reporter for the celebrated McClatchy Washington bureau (they're the ones who weren't fooled by the Bush Administration's drumbeat for war in Iraq) offers this great example of the difficult gray areas that typically lay behind most serious reporting. Journalistic ethics is a subject much battled over these days, and it tends to be either reduced to simplistic cartoon versions or reduced to abstraction by theorists. But it's exquisitely difficult calls like this that constitute the real internal battles that play out in newsrooms (and individual journalist's brains) each day.

Another Compelling Example of Journalistic Transparency. Wired magazine offers this inside glimpse of the laborious process that goes into preparing an upcoming feature for the magazine. It's a valuable (and perhaps unprecedented) glimpse inside the process. I'm glad they shared it with civilians.

Glutton for Punishment. Most of us have more than enough on our hands with one wife. But 86?

A History To Be Proud Of. Oberlin College, not far down the road from us, is celebrating its 175th year. It's a source of real excellence for the region, and has been for the better part of two centuries. Among its many claims to fame, it was a center of abolitionist activity before the Civil War as well as a pioneer in co-education. In any case, this timeline gives you a detailed look at the illustrious history.

Speaking of Timelines...This timeline from PBS's brilliant Frontline program traces the demise of a key bit of Depression-era regulation that kept Wall Street's greed at least in counter-balance. When it was dumped during the final days of the Clinton Administration, the clock began ticking on the current mess. You can expect Frontline to do its usual brilliant job of probing the deeper story behind the headlines when it airs The Choice, a look at this historic presidential election. It will air October 14th.

Black Anger Over Obama's Progress. This article in the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago subsequently prompted dozens of similar stories that indirectly posed a question that's been simmering under the surface for awhile. While the WSJ piece carefully skirted the most explosive issue--could an Obama loss lead to rioting and/or other kinds of violence?--that's clearly the question it was raising. On the other hand, it also points out that black nervousness over the newly ignited Republican base could well push black turnout to record levels. We'll soon see.

Finally, We liked this post about the argument culture from Art Durkee, a regular commenter here and a self-described nomadic wanderer. While you're at his blog, you might also check out his literate musings after a recent trip out west.