The New Republic

Richard Wolffe, the former Newsweek correspondent and author of the best-selling book Renegade: The Making of a President, who now works at Dan Bartlett’s PR firm Public Strategies, Inc., is shopping a new book about President Obama, TNR has learned. READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

WASHINGTON -- Things are looking up for the Republicans, relatively speaking. President Obama's poll numbers have dipped, GOP recruitment for the 2010 elections is going better than expected, and the heath care battle has been rough on the Democrats. On top of that, the surveys show Republicans now leading in this year's two major governor's races, in Virginia and New Jersey. There's just one problem: The country still doesn't like Republicans. READ MORE >>

Politico is reporting that the government's "cash-for-clunkers" program has already run out of the $1 billion it was given after only a week in operation. It's a bit crazy: All told, in just five days, some 300,000 people traded in their older, inefficient cars in exchange for a $3,500-$4,000 voucher to buy newer, more efficient cars. READ MORE >>

Two weeks ago, Natasha Estemirova, a human rights activist in Chechnya, was kidnapped and murdered. A fierce defender of those victimized by the region's conflicts, Estemirova joins Anna Politkovskaya and others on a growing list of Russian activists slain for revealing dark truths about lawlessness in Chechnya. We asked Usam Baysaev, a journalist and activist, to remember his friend. READ MORE >>

WASHINGTON -- The problem with "teachable moments" is that the term sets up one group of people as teachers while another group is consigned to the role of pupils. In a democracy, that's troublesome. In the conflict between Henry Louis Gates Jr. and police Sgt. James Crowley over Gates' arrest at his own home, all parties in the national conversation believe they should be the teachers. The theme is, "No, you listen to me!" READ MORE >>

I'm not sure if this counts as "environmental," but David Zetland has a fun post on the economics of banning people from bringing water through airport security gates. His prediction? The ban will likely never been lifted. The original safety rationale may have faded, but the ban has produced whole terminals full of vested interests intent on keeping it in place: READ MORE >>

If the United States really and truly wants to curb its oil use and lower emissions from the transportation sector, then, sorry to say, but cranking up fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks isn't going to be nearly enough. That's according to a new report from Cambridge Systematics, a consulting firm: READ MORE >>

As long as Jason is recommending boutique brews for the Gates-Crowley sit-down, I thought I'd suggest a still-further-outside-the-box alternative, something that would remind all concerned that, whatever our differences as Americans, there is far, far more we have in common. What better way to do that than with the product advertised in what is reportedly North Korea's first beer commercial?   READ MORE >>