Today we have the largest known domestic cat and dog in the world. The dog weighs in at over 250 lbs.! From Huffington Post.UP-FRONT VETERANS NUGGET!!
An Overdue 'Welcome Home' (Bob Herbert) from the New York Times
"Watching a new documentary about Vietnam War veterans, I was surprised at how old they looked and how worn their faces had become. These were fellows who had once laughed and danced to the music of the Beatles and Motown. I was also struck by how many of these men, now approaching retirement age in civilian life, broke down and began to weep as they told the stories about what it was like to be thrown at a tender age into the flaming sewer of combat."
Afghan Reconciliation Strategy Should Reflect Pashtun Culture (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"Of the 1,400 Afghans who will be invited to the jirga, will there be any senior Taliban leaders who could actually cut a deal? What role will Pakistan play in bringing to the table a Taliban leadership it helped create and sustain? How soon do Karzai and Obama see this process moving toward real negotiations? Karzai's private discussions with Obama provided some new clarity on these issues..."
Bubble, Bubble, China's in Trouble from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Last fall 80 percent of respondents to a China Youth Daily online poll said that home ownership was a prerequisite for happiness. Today's frenzied housing market in China's top-tier cities is rattling that aspiration, threatening to create a generation of agitated young people who work hard, play by the rules, but feel angry at the system and priced out of their chance at the Chinese dream."
Britain Braces for Shock to Come (Gary Younge) from the Nation
"The country is about to experience the most swingeing period of public spending cuts since World War II. The "short, sharp shock" that came to characterize the harshest years of Thatcherite Britain will now be overshadowed by another period of Conservative rule that promises to be longer, sharper and far more shocking."
Benedict’s Defense May Mean Tainting John Paul II (John Allen) from the National Catholic Reporter
"In order to salvage Benedict’s reputation on the sexual abuse crisis, they’re almost compelled to tarnish that of Pope John Paul II. It’s not clear whether mounting criticism of John Paul’s record will be enough to slow down his beatification, but it may well color the late pope’s legacy in the eyes of history."
It certainly sounds like the former pope's reputation is already tarnished -- and appropriately so I suspect.
Mission Impossible: Obama Taps Crack Team of Scientists to Do the Job BP Can't from TalkingPointsMemo
"As BP's high-priced industry experts flail, the president has turned to a rag-tag band of big-think scientific renegades, and sent them on a mission to somehow MacGyver a way to stop up the leak -- before it's too late."
It's Bush's Oil Spill (Matthew Yglesias) from the Daily Best
"The GOP rushed to brand the Gulf Coast disaster "Obama's Katrina." But new reports make clear the Bush administration's lax attitude toward regulation deserves much of the blame."
Y'know, on the one hand, this headline can be seen as the most predictable partisan boilerplate imaginable. No doubt Dick Cheney will emerge tomorrow claiming that the spill is Obama AND Bill Clinton's faults! On the other hand, it's my sense of the media coverage of this spill that most analysis (outside wingnut world) tacitly assumes that this event REALLY IS Bush's fault. I have yet to hear slams at "Obama's Dept of the Interior" (although Salazar is certainly taking some hits) or "Obama's Minerals Management Service (MMS)." Most reporters recall the OUTRAGIOUS BEHAVIOR of the MMS folks under Bush (orgies, special prostitution rings just for regulators, etc.). My suspicion is that GOP lawmakers won't want to dig too much into this recent history.
What Does He See in Her? (Dahlia Lithwick) from Slate
"What Obama's choice of Kagan tells us about his own judicial philosophy."
Why Immigrant-Bashing is Popular (Editorial) from the Economist [of London]
"Much of the disgruntlement we see in the rich world today is due to the recession, of course. But there is a longer-term problem. As technology advances, the returns to brains and education increase, while the returns to having a strong pair of hands do not."
Arizona's Attack on Kids (Dana Goldstein) from the Daily Beast
"The state’s immigration battle is now putting children in the hot seat. Dana Goldstein on the Arizona ethnic studies ban and a new bill that could require schools to tattle on illegal immigrant families"
Tea-Party-Backed Repeal of the 17th Amendment Gets Republicans Into Trouble from TalkingPointsMemo
"There are signs that tea party calls to repeal the 17th Amendment -- taking the selection of U.S. Senators out of the hands of voters and putting it in the hands of state governments -- are proving to be a bridge too far for Republican candidates desperate to steal some of the movement's mojo."
Wow. With each passing day, these tea party folks seem to punch the accelerator one more time on their express train to Stupidsville. Let's see if I can get this straight: taking the choice for senator AWAY from voters promotes ... greater democracy?! Wow.
GOP's Utah and Maine Conventions Show a Party Coming Unglued (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"Equally ominous, is what happened that same day, 2,500 miles east in Maine. There, the state Republican Party chucked its platform -- a sensible New England mix of free-market economics and conservation -- and adopted a manifesto of insanity: abolishing the Federal Reserve, calling global warming a "myth," sealing the border, and, as a final plank, fighting "efforts to create a one world government." One world government? Do our friends Down East fear an invasion from the Canadian maritime provinces? A Viking flotilla coming from Iceland under cover of volcanic ash?"
HERE's more on the Maine convention from The Week.
White House Video Blog Offers an Inside View from the Washington Post
"You didn't see it on the networks because the behind-the-scenes video was only available on "West Wing Week," the Obama administration's new video blog. The six- to seven-minute compilations, which appear each week on the White House's Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) and on such video-sharing sites as YouTube, offer what a narrator on each segment calls "your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.""
HERE's the latest edition of West Wing Week.
ARCHEOLOGY NUGGET!!
Vanished Persian Army Said Found in the Desert from Discovery News
"Bones, jewelry and weapons found in Egyptian desert may be the remains of Cambyses' army that vanished 2,500 years ago."
It's not every day one finds an army just laying about in the desert.
2010 PA ELECTION NUGGET!!
Buchanan's Attempt to Discredit GOP Rival Backfires from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This is my district, and I didn't even know Mary Beth Buchanan was running against Altmire! It sounds like her campaign is going badly. For more, see Daily Kos's comments on the race HERE.
"Ms. Buchanan's claims were the latest boisterous turn in a race that included an on-air argument with KDKA Radio host Marty Griffin in February, a Democratic fundraiser by Buchanan prosecution targets Tommy Chong and Cyril H. Wecht earlier this month, and the surprising campaign financing success of Mr. Rothfus, who raised twice as much money as Ms. Buchanan in April. The Republicans are battling to face U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, in November."
2008 ELECTION NIGHT NUGGET!!
Celebrating Obama's 2008 Campaign (Video) from UTube
I found this photo montage/video that celebrates Obama's victory and how inspiring Obama's candidacy was. It's quite moving.
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