Recent reading of note

---Today's New York Times OP-ED page has side by side columns that are worth reading. One is "Wall Street Smarts" written by Calvin Trillin and he is truly back in form with this one. Although the time frame of the change described is a bit more elongated and the picture painted is maybe a little exaggerated with welcome humorous intent, it's 100% true. The other is Tom Friedman's commentary on Afghanistan, "Not Good Enough", which details the key issue in the hopelessness of any further commitment to that country without some significant change, regime change is the word applied to other countries.

---"The Given Day" by Dennis Lahane was briefly recommended in the Paperback Row column of the Times Book Magazine on Sunday. That was an airport pick-up here, influenced by the inside cover reviews of this as a break-out historical novel by a writer mostly defined by the crime genre. It's worthy of the good reviews.

---Dailyyonder.com today has a lead article, "Rural Economies Must Change or Die" written by Karl Stauber, that looks at this issue from the perspective of towns like Danville, Virginia(often discussed here), as Stauber is head of the Danville Regional Foundation. It's thoughtful and informative writing.