The village of Manarola on the coast of Italy. From National Geographic.
How Africa Won the World Cup from the Washington Post
"In a year that marks five decades of independence for 17 African countries, from Somalia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the cup doubled as an anniversary party. "Just the fact that African teams can compete, defeat and be defeated on the world's stage is wonderful," Carmen Arendse, a South African psychologist, said while watching Ghana's quarterfinal match against Uruguay."
The New Obama Style: Cozy Up to World Leaders from the Christian Science Monitor
"More confident and experienced after 18 months in office, Obama shows a welcomed personal touch with leaders, such as those of Israel, Russia, and China."
Waiting for Gandhi (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"What if the women allowed themselves to be tear-gassed, beaten and arrested without a single rock being thrown? Those images would be on televisions around the world — particularly if hundreds more women marched in to replace those hauled away. “This is what Israel is most afraid of,” said Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a prominent Palestinian who is calling for a nonviolent mass movement."
Lugar Attacks Romney on Nuclear Treaty (Peter Baker) from the New York Times
"In an unusually harsh statement, Mr. Lugar said Mr. Romney “repeated discredited objections” to the treaty and “appears unaware of arms control history and context.” The senator said rejecting the treaty, as Mr. Romney has urged, would mean giving up any human monitoring of Russia’s nuclear arsenal and guarantee no follow-up agreement to further limit nuclear weapons."
Romeny's still catching it from the sane wing of the GOP.
White House Envisioned Spy Case Swap Before Arrests from the New York Times
"On a Friday afternoon in mid-June, President Obama sat down with advisers in the Oval Office and learned that the FBI planned to round up the largest ring of Russian sleeper agents since the cold war. After discussion about what the agents had done, the conversation turned to the fallout: what to do after the arrests?"
Wall Street Hiring in Anticipation of an Economic Recovery from the New York Times
"While much of the country remains fixated on the bleak employment picture, hiring is beginning to pick up in the place that led the economy into recession — Wall Street."
Gulf Oil Spill: Containment Cap Could Stop Leak Within Three Days from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"The federal official leading the Gulf oil spill cleanup said Friday a new containment cap and an additional ship collecting oil could effectively contain the spill in the next three days."
An UPDATE:
BP Reports Progress on Installation of New Oil Cap in Gulf from the Washington Post
"Wells said the maneuvers, which are being conducted in large part by robotic submarines one mile under the water's surface, are going smoothly in part because of a window of good weather and calm seas."
Demography is Destiny (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"As it happens, 2010, like 2002, might not be such a great year to make this prediction: a brutal recession and the usual midterm blues are likely to produce big Republican gains this November. In the long term, though, the longer the Republican Party continues to rely on its intolerant, ultraconservative base for support, the more likely they are to write their own obituary for 2020 and beyond."
For more on this topic, see this interview of Ruy Teixeira at Daily Kos.
NV-Sen: Tea Party Darling Sharron Angle Struggles to Persuade Some Nevada Republicans (Elyse Siegel) from the Huffington Post
"A growing number of Nevada Republicans are expressing skepticism over Angle's Senate candidacy. Some are even signaling they may not vote for the GOP contender over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November."
That didn't take long. You know your in trouble when even the wingnuts are scared of you!
Sarah Palin's Chances in 2012 (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
An interesting set of speculations on the GOP 2012 race. John Ellis's posting mentioned in the Sullivan piece can be found HERE.
The Saddest Senator: Why John McCain Has Become So Painful to Watch (Jacob Weisberg) from Slate
"I've stopped reading news about John McCain for the same reason I tune out the daily updates on Afghanistan and the BP oil spill: It's just too damned depressing. Well into the 2008 primary season, McCain still showed glimmers of a gutsy, independent spirit, speaking out of turn and bucking his party on issues of conscience, like the use of torture. Since losing to Barack Obama, however, he's turned into the kind of party hack he used to live to mess with."
McCain has simply followed the route of virtually all of his lawmaker colleagues -- to the ideological fringes.
LA-Sen: We May Have a Real Barnburner in Louisiana from TalkingPoints memo
"Just before the end of qualifying for the U.S. Senate race late this afternoon in Louisiana, a well-known former state Supreme Court justice jumped in to the Republican primary against incumbent David Vitter."
Looks like Vitter is going to get a serious Democratic challenger. See more analysis HERE.
MEDIEVAL SPORTS NUGGET!!
Is Jousting the Next Extreme Sport? from the New York Times Sunday Magazine
"Men leapt to their feet with their fists in the air. Teenage girls clutched one another’s arms. Tolle lay on his back on the ground flanked by two squires and didn’t move for a full minute. When the squires pulled him to his feet, he stumbled and nearly fell again before limping off. “I want to see another guy get paralyzed,” a boy in front of me squealed, waving a toy sword."
I'm sure the Humane Society will have something to say about this. Aside from that consideration -- it certainly sounds interesting!
BOOK NUGGET!!
'To Kill a Mockingbird' Turns Fifty (Tom Brokaw) from the Daily Beast
"On the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird legendary anchor and author Tom Brokaw shares what he finds so special about the book."
HERE's Anna Quindlen's related item on the classic book.
ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGET!!
Egypt's Newest Antiquities from Newsweek
"There’s never been a better time to visit the cradle of civilization: Egypt is on a tear to open newly restored antiquities. Beginning now, and for the next three years, the government will inaugurate an impressive 22 new museums and attractions throughout the country—all in anticipation of the vast sums of tourism money likely to flow into the country as a result."
For those of you haven't gotten the message with my almost daily "Ancient Egypt Nugget" postings, we are right now living through the most exciting time in the history of archeology for those interested in the land of the pyramids. It is no exaggeration to say that new, ground-breaking, absolutely amazing finds are being unearthed almost every day! The reason is that there is now a core of native archeology talent (and corresponding gov't interest and $$) that makes most of the major sites look like anthills of activity (even the underwater Cleopatra's palace). Stay tuned!
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