I love Sundays. I usually wake up early, make a cup of coffee and read the NYT (on beautiful days like today I do so on my back porch). I look at the front page, but quickly move to the section that interests me most --- the Sports section. I check on my beloved NY teams --- yes the Yankees are still ahead of the Red Sox's --- and I read the stories that intrigue me --- or reader responses about stories (today there were several letters about Serena's outburst at a line judge who called a foot-fault at 15-30 and 5-6). But once my sports fix is satisfied, I turn quickly back to the front page, and the entire first section; then Business; then Week in Review; etc., etc. I know I am old-fashioned, but reading the NYT in paper version (not online) is a pleasing activity.
This week's edition doesn't disappoint. Great stories, great writing. But this week's edition, also highlights the state of the culture wars in this country and the state of scientific disputes. Gratutious swipes are taken at Ayn Rand (both in an op-ed and in a letter to the editor), Michael Moore is idealized for holding the position that capitalism is pure evil, in the NYT magazine in the reactions to Krugman's piece on the failure of economics we are told of the power of Karl Marx's analysis of financial crises, and of the importance of the work of John Kenneth Galbraith. Fortunately, in those reactions there are few sensible responses that point out that Keynesian economics was professional presented in elegant mathematical representations and that it had it own notion of "efficient action" that misled analysts -- that of government efficiency.
On the other hand, Greg Mankiw has an important op-ed on health care and the allocation of resources that everyone should read as they think about the current debate.
Addendum: Turns out Sunday Morning (CBS) also couldn't help but weigh in on the cultural wars. It turns out they don't like Glen Beck (neither do I, but for reasons very different) and they somehow think Barney Frank is a voice of reason against the angry rhetoric of the conservative movement that has produced the Tea Parties and the gathering in DC last weekend.
why read the NYT? They are active manipulators of the truth.
Posted by: simone | September 20, 2009 at 04:37 PM
Why is your post all in bold?
Posted by: TGGP | September 20, 2009 at 11:38 PM
I hope there is some sarcasm here.
Posted by: Mario Rizzo | September 21, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Very nice write up. Easy to understand and straight to the point.
Posted by: Term Papers | December 12, 2009 at 05:12 AM
No doubt ! Very good post ! I also love sunday and used to watch movies online on this special day. We generally make a plan for this special day.
Posted by: Free Movies Online | December 18, 2009 at 02:08 AM
Will the culture war turn into a real civil war?
With the latest shootings targeting people with opposing political ideology, will the United States culture war descend into an actual war between the Left and the Right?
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IT IS hard to look at the Capitol in Washington, DC, without a frisson of excitement
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