Political Desk

Reading the “news” about the presidential race in The Oregonian this morning made me want to scream: Is Obama actually a “Manchurian candidate” for radical Muslims? Does being shot down and held prisoner in a bamboo cage qualify you to be President of the United States?

Expect these and other Profound Questions to dominate headlines all summer.

For those who would like to chew on something more substantive, here’s a smattering of interesting items I’ve come across online recently:

Mcleans has a piece suggesting that it is Canada — not the U.S. — where one is more likely to realize the “American Dream.” For those fretting about the allegedly imminent demise of the English language, a fascinating article in Wired on how the way we speak continues to evolve in surprising ways.

Across the pond, Prospect Magazine has an interview with Nicholas Stern, the former World Bank economist whose global warming rhetoric was attacked in 2006 for being alarmist.

Finally, from the Department of You’ve Got to be Kidding Me, a study published by the American Political Science Association suggesting that there is a genetic factor in voter turnout.