This image gives you a pretty gruesome idea of what the surf in Louisiana look like now and what it will look like in Florida soon enough. From the New York Times.Quote of the Day: "[Nevada Tea Party Senate candidate Sharron] Angle is now so unavailable to the media, she might as well be in a witness-protection program." - Eleanor Clift, Newsweek (see below)
After the Security Council Vote from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"There has been a lot of talk, for a long time, about reining in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Far too many countries have found Iran’s oil wealth simply too hard to resist. There are encouraging signs that for at least some major players, patience with Tehran may be running out."
Barack Obama's Very Good Week (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"Getting BP to cough up a $20 billion escrow fund paid off politically in more ways than one. Plus: Apologize to BP!"
It really says something about how rough the last two months have been for Obama when this last week can be viewed as a winner!
Obama v. BP from the Economist [of the UK]
"America’s justifiable fury with BP is degenerating into a broader attack on business."
I would not necessarily call this 'degenerating.' Big business in the US has been due for a comeuppance for decades. Since the 1980s, the language of 'class warfare' has been attacked when Democrats and liberal organizations use it -- but all the while conservatives more and more embraced it (and continue to do so now in historic fashion when you listen to Tea Party rhetoric). A dummy slap is due the entire business and governing class. Jonathan Chait makes a related point below.
The Environmental Legacy of the Oil Spill from Newsweek
"In 1974, the Chilean government decided not to clean up an oil spill along its southern coast. The result: a natural laboratory for testing oil’s environmental impact, and valuable lessons for the fate of the gulf.... What’s in store for the gulf? Lessons from previous disasters."
Apparently Blood Isn't Thicker Than Oil (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"The radioactivity came, rather, from the top row of the dais, where Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, gave a most unusual opening statement. ... "I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. Heads of the other committee members spun, cartoon-like, in the direction of Barton."
The Culture We Live In (Michael Tomasky) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"We live in a political culture in which most people respond chiefly to symbols and images and don't care to look deeper. ... Sometimes it does. Rudy Giuliani was pretty good at it as mayor. And sometimes it doesn't. George Bush was generally pretty lousy at it as president. Obama isn't that person."
A NICE commentary on how our culture of loud and symbolic anger makes it difficult to actually hear what people are REALLY saying ... among other things.
City in Nebraska Torn as Immigration Vote Nears from the New York Times
"In a special election Monday, residents will decide whether to ban businesses from hiring illegal immigrants and bar landlords from renting to them. Residents demanded the vote, fighting off challenges by some of their elected leaders all the way to the State Supreme Court. The election has opened a rare and raw divide."
Hillary Clinton Should be Obama's Vice President (Sally Quinn) from the Washington Post
"The Republicans would lose their "year of the woman" argument. And based on experience alone, Hillary is far more qualified to be president than any of the Republicans being considered today, including Mitt Romney, Bobby Jindal, Tim Pawlenty and Palin."
Lots of interesting speculations in this article. And -- Quinn is not the first to make this case for a switch.
What Would the Tea Party Do? (Eleanor Clift) from Newsweek
"They object to Obama. Fine—but it’s worth asking how they would handle something like the gulf oil spill. ... Cutting back the size of government is great in theory, but if the Tea Party crowd actually succeeded, mused panelist Barone, “will it prove just as unpopular as what these guys [members of the Obama administration] are doing?”"
Liberal Despair and the Cult of the Presidency (Jonathan Chait) from the New Republic
"To read through any number of thorough histories of the New Deal is to be struck not by the differences between Roosevelt (man of action) and Obama (pensive equivocator) but by the many consistencies in how politics actually unfolds in real time–the difficulties inherent in trying to effect change, the readiness to accept half a loaf, and the regular reassurances sent to the moneyed classes that the liberals hadn’t taken over the candy store."
Tea Party Confessional Runs in Playboy (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
"The new Playboy magazine has an anonymous confessional from a K Street consultant who lifts the curtain on many of the politically crafty, somewhat seedy underpinnings of the Tea Party movement. The article has not received much attention. But its contents, if true, are illustrative and fascinating. The consultant, who doesn't identify for whom he actually works, paints a picture of a movement that has strength in its legions of followers outside the Beltway but harnesses its power from the "black arts" of politicking."
The full Playboy article is HERE.
What Ever Happened to Ann Coulter? from American Prospect
Normally I couldn't care less about these bloviating troublemakers -- but, who knows, maybe she's setting a new trend in the right-wing gooniverse. Waldman's argument here seems contradictory -- but it still leaves the question. In this time of conservative punditry plenty is she being so obviously left out?
"Remember Ann Coulter? Seems like just yesterday she was Queen of the Right, the whole political world hanging on her every bile-laced tirade. Yet she's all but disappeared. Not that she isn't trying. ... But she seems to have completely lost her ability to move from the right-wing outlets into the mainstream discussion."
BIZARRE CULTURE NUGGET!!
Rent a White Guy from the Atlantic
"A Chinese company paid the author $1,000 to pose as an executive for a week. The only requirements? A fair complexion and a suit"
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