Report & Comment. (Wednesday, Aug. 4)

A jilted-Johnston-free zone. (video)

PRESSING MATTERS

Earthquake-relief fundraiser Wyclef Jean to seek Haiitan presidency. (Time)

Haitian-born musician has been tireless in raising funds and awareness for earthquake victims. (Reuters) 

How broken is the U.S. Senate, exactly? (George Packer, New Yorker)

Biden revealed: He's shaping Mr. O's Afghan mission more than you know. (Atlantic)

Time to quit feckless Afghan mission, says Canadian pro-military senator Colin Kenny. (Ottawa Citzen)

ECONOMY

Latest, discouraging dispatch from the dismal science: No sign the Great Stagflation will ebb anytime soon. (Ezra Klein, WaPo)

Sorry, Richard Florida: Why ranking "creative cities" is an exercise in futility. (GlobalUrbanist.com)

POLITICS

David Frum: It's time for my fellow conservatives to stop miscasting Obama as a socialist. (FrumForum)

Why underestimating Obama is risky. (John Parisella, Maclean's)

Note from a conservative to the GOP: "Big government" isn't behind ire with Dems. (Ross Douthat, NYT blog)

BUSINESS

Mixed reviews on launch of make-or-break-it BlackBerry Torch(shown left), (San Jose Mercury News) 27/7 Wall St. dismisses Torch as irrelevant, Daily Finance says RIM hit an okay double.

Apple's own smartphone woes: Latest model easier to hack than ever. (Gizmodo/MSNBC)

10 reasons why Apple's smartphone dominance is over. (eWeek)

 
Here come the Germans: BMW, VW, Daimler report sales and profit surge. (Deutsche Welle)

FURTHUR AFIELD

Obesity rates keep climbing, worrying U.S. health officials. (NYT)

Obsessive Web surfing linked with depression. (Time) Yes, but isn't everything?

Is every generation self-absorbed? (NYT)

Thinking the unthinkable: the Vikings offense without Brett Farve. (USA Today)

Jonathan Margolis regrets invading the privacy of Angelina Jolie and others. (Getty Images)

Confessions of a celebrity biographer. (Guardian)

Haitiian fundraising merits a place for Montreal's Arcade Fire in Hall of Fame. (Michael Hogan, Vanity Fair)

The Northern Lights. (AP)

Northern Lights this year might appear across North America. (USA Today) 

Dennis Hopper, photographe. (Vanity Fair) Check out the late actor's nice shot of Paul Newman, 1964.