picardow

Sarah E. Igo on how treating an entire population as being of one mind can obscure more than it reveals: The very concept of national character went out of fashion in the 1960s when political and cultural events (not to mention challenges from New Left historians) made it harder to think of America in singular […]

Alyssa Katz weighs the Obama administration’s attempts to rein in suburban sprawl: Shelley Poticha is the nation’s most visible advocate for what she and fellow urban planners call “transit-oriented development.” For seven years, Poticha ran the Congress for the New Urbanism, the visionary and sometimes controversial band of architects, developers, and civic leaders determined to […]

Monica Potts argues that the effectiveness of new regulation is limited by our reliance on a food system easily overwhelmed by bad practices: The bill, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, does many commendable things, including making producers and growers more responsible for ensuring food safety before produce is shipped, and giving the Food […]

Tim Fernholz on why regulatory appointees deserve the same scrutiny and public attention as Supreme Court justices: The Supreme Court nomination process has damaged the deliberative nature of judicial appointments and creates an incentive for lawyers who aspire to the highest court in the land to be as boring as possible. But the hoopla around […]

Alyssa Katz chronicles how the movement to reduce home energy consumption becomes the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis: Last week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency dealt the strongest blow yet to property-assessed clean energy (PACE) loans, which cities and towns across the country have begun offering to help property owners caulk, insulate, efficiently heat, […]

Paul Waldman tries to make peace with the relentless pace of technological change: There’s an adage that says that technology invented before you were born is taken for granted, technology invented up until your 20s or 30s is exciting, and technology invented after you hit 40 is threatening. It may need to be updated given […]

Kat Aaron and Mary Kane on how new rules could transform the predatory-lending debate: When Congress began tackling financial reform, the overhaul quickly became labeled as “historic” and “sweeping,” with attention deservedly focused on regulating derivatives, winding down large financial institutions, and creating the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate mortgages and other financial […]

Courtney Martin calls for American outrage that shoddy infrastructure and broken promises will be our legacy in Iraq: The New York Times reported last week that many of the most fundamental needs of the Iraqi people, the most vital infrastructure projects, have been abandoned. Of the long-planned sewage system, for example, the Times reports, “After […]

Harold Meyerson on growing up in Movieland: The moment of my irreversible conversion to whatever it is I subsequently became — pop-culture critical historian, cineaste, Turner Classic Movies addict — took place not in a theater but in some Upper West Side bookstore as I thumbed through a new book by Andrew Sarris: The American […]

TAP talks to an arts group that tries to bring residents of warring nations together over dinner: The hope is to break through some of the general public rhetoric that we hear in the news that’s very antagonistic, polarizing, and simplifying, and to try to open up a more nuanced experience and perception of people […]