QuickLinx. (Saturday, Sept. 25)

HIGH STAKES

What to do if Canada wins coveted Security Council seat? (Globe and Mail)

Manmohan Singh laid the foundation for India's industrial revolution. But can he bring order from chaos in the Commonwealth Games preparations? (Getty Images)

Can widely respected Indian PM Manmohan Singh pull off Commonweath Games? (Peter Popham, Independent)

The Dems are in far less danger in November than you think. (Kirsten Powers, Daily Beast) "The polls have also started to move Democrats way, and should continue to move their way after the nascent Dem advertising campaigns begin in full swing."

The treachery of David Petraeus. (Andrew Sullivan, Atlantic) "The way in which Petraeus is leveraging his Iraq experience - an experience which, as every day reveals, ended in total failure except as a temporary face-saver for partial withdrawal - and his media clout to force an elected president into an open-ended commitment in Afghanistan is deeply disturbing."

Sneak-peek highlights of Woodward's first Obama book. (Bryan Curtis, Daily Beast) "In addition to being master bureaucratic infighters, the generals are genius P.R. men. Woodward recounts scene after scene of Petraeus talking to the press when he’s specifically been ordered to stand down."

POLITICS

Obama recently with a critical-care patient. (Getty Images) 

Repeal Obamacare? Many Americans tell pollster they wish it went even further. (USA Today) "A new AP poll finds that Americans who think the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government should stay out of health care by 2-to-1."

Downhill with the G.O.P. (Paul Krugman, NYT) "The clear and present danger isn’t that the G.O.P. will be able to achieve its long-run goals. It is, rather, that Republicans will gain just enough power to make the country ungovernable, unable to address its fiscal problems or anything else in a serious way. As I said, banana republic, here we come."

 
G.O.P. House leaders Eric Cantor and John Boehner. (AP) 

G.O.P.'s midterms platform is world's saddest to-do list. (Alex Pareene, Salon) It's unserious nonsense. (Jonathan Cohn, New Republic) Daily Beast: "The Club for Growth's Andrew Roth was equally unimpressed writing:'I want to like the new G.O.P Pledge to America. I want to endorse it, but it's so milquetoast that it proves to me that these guys just aren't ready to lead'."

Where the Founding Fathers part ways with the Tea Partiers. (Ron Chernow, NYT)

ECONOMICS

Reports of the middle class' death have been greatly exaggerated. (Gregg Easterbook, Reuters) "The Tea Party crowd, which claims taxes are rising, doesn’t like to talk about the reality that taxes are falling. (Tax cuts, not spending increases, are the main reason for rising deficits.) The left doesn’t like to talk about after-tax income — only pre-tax numbers are used, because they’re the only numbers that are disturbing."

The faux tax plight of the $250,000-$500,000 crowd. (Justin Fox, Harvard Business Review)

Anne Mulcahy, probable successor to Larry Summers. (AP) 

Anne Mulcahy, ex-Xerox turnaround CEO and likely successor to Larry Summers, will be a PR nightmare. (Alexander C. Hart, New Republic)

BUSINESS

How Tim Hortons will take over the world. (Dawn Calleja, Report on Business Magazine)

Souvenirs of Lehman Bros., whose failure triggered the Great Recession. (Cahal Milmo, Independent)

CULTURE

James Cameron and Zoe Saldana at the Golden Globes. (Reuters) 

James Cameron tops Guardian's 100 most powerful people in UK film. (Guardian). Fellow Canuck Piers Handling, director of the Toronto International Film Festival, also makes the cut (78). "Cameron, whose films Avatar and Titanic have taken a total of $4.61bn (£2.94bn) at the box office, took the top spot ahead of fellow director Steven Spielberg and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has replaced Tom Cruise as the go-to leading man for big-budget movies. Cruise did not make the list."

Stephen Colbert testifies on Capitol Hill. (Getty Images)

Steven Colbert's hilarious Congressional testimony on immigration. (Guy Adams, Independent) "This is America. I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian...Maybe, the easier answer is just to have scientists invent vegetables that pick themselves."

The trouble with Jonathan Franzen. (Ruth Franklin, New Republic) Q&A with Franzen. (Ed Pilkington, Guardian) Franzen: "The categories by which we value fiction are skewed male, and this creates a very destructive disconnect between the critical establishment and the predominantly female readership of novels. That's inarguable."

JOURNALISM

Lefties call out loonies in their ranks, Michael Moore par example. Neo-cons don't. (Noah Kristula-Green, FrumForum)

How Slate's Jack Shafer exposes bogus trend stories. (Mallary Jean Tenore, PoynterOnline)

THE WAY WE LIVE TODAY

Diet, not fitness, is key to weight loss. (Emma John, Observer) "You have to do an awful lot more exercise than most people realize. To burn off an extra 500 calories is typically an extra two hours of cycling. And that's about two doughnuts."

The disturbing truth about cellphones. (Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail). "There are chilling clues that these ubiquitous devices are far from benign."

The real reason you're broke? Look in the mirror. (Kerry Taylor, Squawkfox) "Are you craptastic?...Crap is the stuff that’s cluttering your home and bursting out of your front door. It’s the disposable, upgradeable, and superfluous stuff you buy in a heart-beat because you’re worth it! But crap costs. Crap consumes your space, can initially make you feel good but can lead to feelings of guilt, and can make you broke. Please, learn to identify crap and end the spending spree – you’re worth it."

Comments

[Wascally Wabbit]

Fascinating study in human psychology to read the faces of members of Congress listening to Stephen Colbert. Some (mainly Democrats) trying hard not to LOL - others (mainly Republicans) looking thunderstruck and / or apoplexic!
Maybe one day Colbert's stories will be as world renowned as Gulliver's Travels!