Best of the Week: November 29-December 5, 2009

10. Seven Answers to Climate Contrarian Nonsense -- John Rennie and The Lancet Medical Journal: Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Has Major Direct Health Benefits -- Joseph Romm and Warming Increases the Risk of Civil War in Africa -- Marshall B. Burke, Edward Miguel, Shanker Satyanath, John A. Dykema, & David B. Lobell

9. Black in the Age of Obama -- Charles M. Blow

8. Healthcare Tests the Senate’s Credibility -- Steven Hill and Are We Going to Let John Die? -- Nicholas D. Kristof

7. The Hostage Business -- Nicholas Schmidle

6. The Trial of Thomas Lubanga -- Adam Hochschild

5. Tycoon, Contractor, Soldier, Spy -- Adam Ciralsky

4. It’s Just a Texas-Governor Thing -- Robert Draper and The Retro Man -- Michelle Cottle and Conservatives Want Republican Purge Trials -- Thomas Frank and Leaving the Right -- Andrew Sullivan

3. Ten Ways to Move the Budget Back Toward a Sustainable Path -- Jeff Frankels

2. The Bank Job -- Bethany McLean and Wall Street Meets Its Match -- Robert Kuttner and How Some Near-Death Banks End Up Looking Alive -- David Reilly

1. Something from Nothing-- Nir Rosen and Pentagon's War Pitch Belied by Taliban-Qaeda Conflict -- Gareth Porter and A Plan in Need of Clarity -- Sen. Jim Webb and Obama's Surge: Has the President Been Misled by the Iraq Analogy? -- Juan Cole

BONUS: On Assignment: Afghanistan in Free Fall -- Moises Saman