Center of Attention

A round up of recent reporting and commentary by a few centrist, moderate, and independent bloggers.

To start off, Andrew Sullivan features a quote from Archbishop Romero on torture.

Michael vdG looks at the good week Candidates Clinton and Paul had on YouTube.

While those candidates had a good week, the UN did not, as Jeb at Foreign Policy Watch reminds us.

Munaeem’s Blog reprints a compelling review of the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist .

Last but certainly not least, at Booker Rising, Shay offers two posts — here and here — on the 30th anniversary of the TV rendition of Alex Haley’s Roots.

Editor’s Note: For those of you who weren’t yet born in 1977, I’m afraid — in this age of 200-plus channels, HBO, Showtime, pay-per-view and video-on-demand — you may never be able to fully appreciate the impact of Roots; how we sat as a nation, riveted to our TV sets, entranced by the story and embarrassed by what it showed us about our history, our ancestors, our prejudices. Shay’s posts are a good place to start.