Clearing the Bin (Lunch Time Reading)

Busy. C'est la vie. I've been collecting articles that I found interesting and worthy of some kind of commentary, but I just don't see getting to them any time soon. So, instead of letting them go to waste, here you go (some of them may have been touched on by others).

A book review of Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character, by Claude S. Fischer.

R.R. Reno on "the modern tendency to make a god of critical reason, as if avoiding error, rather than finding truth, were the great goal of life."

In August, Philadelphia began temporarily closing fire stations to balance its budget.

Terry Teachout delves into the conservative conversion of playwright David Mamet.

How a bunch of medieval historians flagellated themselves over the Arizona immigration reform.

Jonah Goldberg on how conservatives flagellate themselves over how today ain't as good as the "good ol' days."

How the "Devil's in the Details" when it comes to "value-added" systems for teacher evaluation, etc.

An business owner told the Wall Street Journal why he wasn't hiring.

"Slicing the Bagel Reveals VAT Flaws". It ain't a panacea and will feed the beast.

An article on why "socialism" as a term applied to international soccer teams can be translated as "team-first" for Americans. In other words, this ain't politics.

Apparently, Brazil is an agricultural miracle.

There's evidence of a reverse-gender wage gap.

Finally, it's not old, but Peggy Noonan looks at why the Tea Party is seeing success.