The town of Gizab in Afghanistan.
What Will Happen to Byrd's Senate Seat? (Jeff Zeleny) from the New York Times
"Even Republican officials say this outcome is far from certain. Mr. Manchin has long held an interest in running for the seat, and other Democrats are also eager to serve, at least in an interim capacity."
Obama's Five Foreign-Policy Victories (Robert Kagan) from the Washington Post
"All administrations have ups and downs in foreign policy. It's like hitting a baseball: When you fail 70 percent of the time, you make the all-star team. So when the Obama administration has a month like this past one, it deserves recognition."
A Rose-Garden Ten Strike (Mark Halprin) from Time Magazine
"During some of the darker moments of his presidential campaign, Barack Obama would say, "I'm skinny, but I'm tough." Facing a two-day crucible over how to respond to intemperate remarks by General Stanley McChrystal and his aides published in Rolling Stone magazine, Obama showed just how tough — and smart — he can be."
Seven Days in June (Robert Shrum) from The Week
"A week ago, the president was on the ropes, and critics of all political stripes were questioning his ability to rise to the occasion. Today, no one should be."
Obama Changes Generals: A Sign of Political Confidence (Michael Crowley) from Time Magazine
"In taking that stand, and quickly installing Petraeus, Obama should quiet critics who have been mocking him for an allegedly timid approach to the BP oil spill in recent weeks."
Even With McChrystal, Obama Maintains No-Drama Stance (Daniel Klaidman) from Newsweek
"The 'Team of Rivals' seems to be working."
Beijing's Coalition of the Willing from Foreign Policy Magazine
"How failed states become China's diplomatic weapon."
'Tectonic Rift' With Israel? from Politico
"Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren is reported to have told Israeli diplomats that the U.S. and Israel are experiencing a “tectonic rift,” not a temporary crisis. "
Watch List: Four Countries in Big Trouble from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Many hope that such a moment could be the game-changer in Iran -- when a majority of the country's people cease to buy into Ahmadinejad's portrayal of his regime. But the alternative scenario seems equally likely: that turmoil within the ruling cadre will simply seep down, squeezing dissidents and democracy advocates harder."
What Obama Learned from George Washington (Garrett Epps) from the Atlantic
"The Constitution alone did not establish civilian control of the military. Presidential moderation is just as important."
The Obama Gun Grab Myth (John Avalon) from the Daily Beast
"The Supreme Court’s Second Amendment ruling is yet another reminder: Obama is not, in fact, coming for your guns. John P. Avlon busts the right’s latest fear-mongering fantasy."
"[Haley Barbour], the Republican governor says his state isn't prepared for the spill and needs more help. Earlier in June, Barbour said, "Once [oil] gets to this stage, it's not poisonous," though he said it probably wasn't a good idea to brush one's teeth with it."
THIS GUY is such a DOPE!! For the sake of the cheapest form of transitory political points, he chatted up how the oil spill wasn't a serious problem. He and his state should be last in line for those receiving assistance!
Supreme Court Vacates Siegelman Decision from Raw Story
"In a surprise decision Tuesday morning, the United States Supreme Court vacated an earlier ruling by a lower court in the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery and honest services fraud in 2006 in a case that has widely been criticized as politically motivated."
One of the long-forgotten ghosts of Karl Rove's tenure in the White House is this case in Alabama where Rove cronies orchestrated then-Governor Siegelman's (D) removal from office and then prosecuted him on trumped-up charges of influence peddling. The whole case against Siegelman just got tossed! Is he going to get re-instated as governor?! NOT. Is this type of no-holds-barred type of power politics what we will be seeing soon at the federal level in the House, Senate and the Executive branch? Almost certainly.
IL-Sen: Kirk Leads Pack in Ducking Press Coverage from the Chicago Sun-Times
"He did not want to stop to take questions because most of them would probably have been about why he embellished his record as a Navy reserve officer. ... But the issue of Kirk avoiding the press goes deeper than the last few weeks.
HISTORY NUGGET!!
The Feuding Fathers (Ron Chernow) from the Wall Street Journal
"Americans lament the partisan venom of today's politics, but for sheer verbal savagery, the country's founders were in a league of their own. Ron Chernow on the Revolutionary origins of divisive discourse."
BIONIC NUGGET!!
Maimed Cat Gets Bionic Legs from Discovery News
"A cat whose back legs were chopped off in a farming accident has been given a new bionic pair, in a ground-breaking feline first in Britain."
POLITICAL BOOK NUGGET!!
Obama's Voters Represent Future Electorate (Steven Levingston) from the Washington Post
"In the view of John Kenneth White, a professor of politics at Catholic University in D.C., the Reagan era is dead and buried. One need look no further than the election of Barack Obama. In his book “Barack Obama’s America: How New Conceptions of Race, Family, and Religion Ended the Reagan Era,” White argues that Reagan represented where we had come from: a 1950s and 1960s America made up of Church-going married couples who were largely white and suburban. Obama, by contrast, represents where we are and where we’re going."
TREATING ADDICTION NUGGET!!
Bill Wilson's Gospel (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"The article is noteworthy not only because of the light it sheds on what we’ve learned about addiction, but for what it says about changing behavior more generally."
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