many good reads today

"We may be witnessing greatest loss of financial wealth the world has ever seen."

"John McCain has a fundamentals problem. It is political as well as economic, and it remains the biggest obstacle standing between the Arizona senator and the White House."

Yes, Julius Rosenberg was a spy.

THURSDAY NEWS:
* 'Is Pakistan becoming a failed state?'
* Katrina 2? Bush isn't taking questions, or talking about the economy, much at all.
* "It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation."
* The civilian death toll in Afghanistan is driving a wedge.
* Neat. Looking at a history of weather for clues to the future.
* Bob Herbert examines McCain's dangerous plans for health care.
* NASA rocks at naming things. Next up: the Maven.
* Mixed martial arts gains mainstream appeal.
* The man behind the new Hitchhiker's Guide book.

"Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still."