Perhaps the strangest aspect of essentially all other recent reporting about Afghanistan is the disconnect between two major story lines: the fact that the Afghans have repelled invaders for centuries on the one hand, and the patronizing attitude that the Afghans do not know how to fight on the other. In this important report, Dexter Filkins has found the missing and essential story, that of the village elders and communities who are standing up to those Taliban who threaten them, ... More »

David Rohde's story of his captivity provides an extraordinary perspective both on the Taliban and on the alert [he noted he had been brought from Afghanistan to Pakistan when the car they got into drove down the left side of the road] and intense experience of reporting far from the comfortable routine.

On an issue discussed with intense opinions, it is a very good, and too rare, to see a forum given to professionals who both feel strongly and are well-informed about an issue. It would be very informative if we heard more from people with relevant experience, such as these thoughtful military leaders (and much less from uniformed opinionated people whose publicists have gotten them onto everyone's Roladex).

This is a very interesting account of how two specific events in her life emerged simultaneously, and negatively, in the coverage of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supremen Court, inspired by the reporter's simple curiosity about how that could have happened. While, as other reviewers point out, the author does discuss the implications for journalism (which would have been more complete if he also had interviewed people who made the call at a couple of the TV networks), the ... More »

Scott Lilly begins by suggesting, like Woodward's Deep Throat, that we "follow the money", and then provides an informative set of figures to advocate for a regulatory mechanism tomove significant funds from administrative costs and profits to pay for delivery of actual health care.

This article breaks out of the press "pack" that misses substance while failing into a routine of often silly coverage of the Clintons, especially Hillary Clinton. Here, the reporter covers an important foreign policy speech, with a follow up interview with the head of Policy Planning at the State Department. In his commentary, the reporter does not spare his fellow journalists, in effect, it says that history will not judge reporters who "miss the forest for the pantsuits" kindly.

After other reporters have saturated the media with he said, she said type coverage of what Sarah Palin termed "death panels," this reporter has done some serious reporting. In the brief space of this short article, he provides an informative history of the central role that Republicans have played in writing legislation involving optional [and in one case, not optional] end-of-life counseling,

Rises above the sea of coverage of attacks on Sotomayor to provide, however briefly, some historical perspective on the issue of what was viewed as diversity with respect to the Supreme Court.

This story is reported as "inside journalism"--- the New York Times' loss of a scoop. But there was a far far more important story--- Senator McGovern was patronized by the press in 1972 when he brought up the Watergate break in. Would the outcome of the 1972 election have been any different had the Times done its job and reported the story? Well, about 6 months after the election, after the Washington Post story came out, a poll indicated that a majority of voters would have ... More »

It is important to point out that Republicans are taking earmarks even while they criticize the Democrats for them, but much better would be a story that presents specific information on the history of earmarks, dating back at least 2 decades. In particular, how have earmarks been introduced over that time period? What percent of the appropriations bill have earmarks represented across that time period? What changes in how earmarks are introduced, voted on, and their source ... More »

This is a silly tirade about a serious subject. Obviously the whole point of cap and trade is not to raise revenues but to provide a financial incentive to those who develop more efficient procedures. The Obama administration has stated its commitment to building such green industry in the US.

In contrast to most reports that focus on the politics, this analysis describes the actual legislation proposed and voted on by the Republicans, and the actual analysis by the economists they cite. It would be far more valuable for most readers if, as is done by Lilly here, reporters covered the details of the legislation that actually is voted upon, rather than simply comment on the talking points given at microphones.