Google Rolls Out New Anti-Piracy Plan

Television Characters Are Becoming Alcoholics

Is excessive drinking on TV realistic? Does it matter?

• Where Alcoholism Drinks In The Laughs Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times
• Must Drink TV: Primetime's Biggest Drunks Kara Cutruzzula, The Daily Beast
• Who's Mad Men's Biggest Drunk? Kara Cutruzzula, The Daily Beast
• TV Critic: Entertainment Programming Does Not Exactly Resemble Real Life Tom Scocca, Slate

On Books That Try Too Hard

Publishers may be a little to focused on speed

• Insta-Books: What's the Hurry? Ian Crouch, The New Yorker

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'Black Swan' Is Just Like 'The Wrestler'

A masochistic wrestler and a tormented ballerina: see the similarity?

• Oscar Moment Richard Corliss, Time
• Dark Melodrama Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
• Tortured Swan David Edelstein, New York
• Black Swan Peter Debruge, Variety
• On Top, In Pain Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Is Obama a Political Masochist?

Liberals are furious as the president caves on federal pay freeze and tax cuts for nothing in return

• Freezing Out Hope 1Paul Krugman, The New York Times
• GOP Didn't Need to Win that Election 27Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post
• Facts on Dems' Side Libby Spencer, The Impolitic
• We Need a GOP Hater John Cole, Balloon Juice
• Obama Is Conservative Taylor Marsh

Google's New Investment in Robo-Voice Technology

The search giant wants your computer to speak to you (and vice versa)

• Speech Synthesis Technology Richi Jennings, Computer World
• Phonetic Arts Staff, Electronista
• Enter the Robo-Voices Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch

Whither the 21st-Century City?

Cities defy predictions and continue to expand

• Why Big Cities Matter Mario Polèse, City Journal
• Cities Matter More Than Ever James Joyner, Outside the Beltway
• Transit in the Future? Ben Tuxworth, Grist

Afternoon Vid: Alan Grayson Calls Bush 'Big Cheese' in No-Holds-Barred Speech

Rep. Grayson lobs volleys at Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, Bush and more in his tax cut speech

Wikileaks Fights to Stay Online

Perhaps unfortunately for the U.S. government, the whistleblower site endures, despite problems

• Amazon Leaks Staff, Virtual Economics
• Why It's Invincible Doug Aamoth, TechLand
• Ousting Wikileaks Jeffrey Van Camp, Digital Trends
• The DNS Problem Staff, Domain Name Wire

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Korean Tensions Heat Up

South Korea threatens "retaliation"

• Deterrence Theory Raymond Pritchett, Information Dissemination
• China's Help David Alexander and Arshad Mohammed, Reuters
• South Korean Threats Christian Oliver, Financial Times
• Credit Where Due 41Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress
• Normalized North John McReary, NightWatch

Deficit Commission Fails to Reach Consensus

What now?

• Why I'm Voting 'Yes' Dick Durbin, The Chicago Tribune
• A Grand Budget Compromise on Deficit Reduction Is Just What U.S. Needs 37Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post
• No Turning Back? Michael Hirsh, National Journal
• Simpson-Bowles Likely to Win A Majority Vote 49Ezra Klein, The Washington Post
• What A Long Strange Trip David Kurtz, Talking Points Memo

Unemployment Begets Unemployment: How Do We Solve This?

Examining the process by which longterm unemployment decreases a person's ability to find a job

• Likely to Stay That Way Catherine Rampell, The New York Times
• Nineteen-Month Record Nitasha Tiku, New York Magazine
• Becoming Unemployable Mark Thoma, Economist
• Tougher to Find Bill McBride, Calculated Risk

What's the Point of Pelosi's 'Wily' Middle-Class Tax Cuts?

Harry Reid forces a vote on two tax proposals that have zero chance of passing

• Tax Deal Falls Through Brian Beutler, Talking Points Memo
• How Pelosi Did It Michael Tomasky, The Guadian
• How Did Dems Screw This Up? John Cole, Balloon Juice
• One Bright Spot Daniel Foster, The National Review
• Make None of Them Permanent Economist Mom

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Afghanistan Cables Show Deep Corruption, 'Dancing Boys'

Just when you thought it couldn't get any grimmer

• Dancing Boys Jon Boone, The Guardian
• The Karzai Problem Helene Cooper and Carlotta Gall, The New York Times
• Corruption Scott Shane, Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins, The New York Times
• Propping Up Karzai Juan Cole, Informed Comment
• 4 Stages of Graft Katherine Tiedemann, Foreign Policy