Ocean waves in the southern Pacific. From the National Geographic.
Once again, the nuggetsman will be out of town [Off visiting that excellent Cleopatra exhibition on Philadelphia!]. He will be back next Wednesday, August 11.
GULF OF MEXICO OIL WELL PLUGGED!!
After 106 Days and a Historical Spill Record, the Gulf Gusher Has Been Plugged from Discovery News
"BP said it successfully used a "static kill" method to stop oil from leaking into the Gulf. The upward pressure of the well is being controlled by mud pumped into the hole. BP will continue to drill a relief well to make sure the well is completely plugged."
Oil in Gulf Poses Only Slight Risk, New Report Says from the New York Times
"The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm."
EXCELLENT news!!
Women and Islam (David Rothkopf) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"For policymakers and for people who care about the moral and ethical underpinnings of policy, there is a dark and difficult conundrum presented here. If we embrace tolerance, celebrate diversity and promote religious freedom, what do we do when a religion or a subset of its practitioners or a culture promotes a view that is fundamentally inconsistent with the most basic, most universally acknowledged principles of human rights?"
Biden, on the Afghanistan Debate, in His Own Words from the Atlantic
"Biden says that, going into the debate, "I had an unfair advantage because I talked about this with the president more often and more regularly than anyone else." Biden knew "not just by body language [but] by direction assertion that [Obama] agreed with me on [the] fundamentals of the policy.""
Broadway and the Mosque (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"Feeling the pulsating energy of this performance was such a vivid reminder of America’s most important competitive advantage: the sheer creative energy that comes when you mix all our diverse people and cultures together. We live in an age when the most valuable asset any economy can have is the ability to be creative."
A Monument to Tolerance from theEditorial Board of the New York Times
"It has been disturbing to hear and read the vitriol and outright bigotry surrounding the building of a mosque two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. So it was inspiring when New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 on Tuesday to reaffirm one of the basic tenets of democracy: religious tolerance."
Obama to Young Africans: We Support You, 'but We Can't Do it for You' (Alex Wegner) from Politics Daily
"For President Barack Obama, son of Africa, the gathering on Tuesday of 115 young leaders from 47 sub-Saharan African nations in the East Room of the White House was an opportune time for the commander-in-chief to reaffirm his relationship with the continent."
How Voice of America gets around the Great Firewall of China from Foreign Policy Magazine
"But VOA has its own tricks, too. Among them? A never-ending e-mail campaign that tells eight million Chinese a day to use proxy servers to circumvent the Great Firewall:"
Summer of No Love for Obama (Glenn Thrush) from Politico
"It’s turned into Obama’s Summer of No Love, thanks to the persistently lousy economy, a succession of major crises and middling distractions — from the BP oil spill to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s insubordination, to the Shirley Sherrod fiasco — and the ascent of virulently anti-Obama cable-news critics like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. “I think we’re on a different kind of a news cycle than what I’ve been used to … And a lot of that commentary is very inflammatory,” said Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, a liberal Obama ally in the Senate. "
Public Prefers Candidates Who Serve Pork, Not Tea from the Pew Research Center
"Despite being fed a steady diet of political vitriol about the evils of earmarking, Americans are more likely to vote for a congressional candidate who brings home the bacon, according to the latest Society for Human Resource Management/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, conducted with the Pew Research Center."
Earmarks Help, Palin Doesn't (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"This suggests that voters themselves may actually welcome it when their members have a double-standard: fight spending in the abstract, but make sure we get our share of what goes out. Alternatively, voters may be cynical enough (or realistic enough -- take your pick) to calculate that if money is going to be passed around, they want a piece of it for their communities."
Comparing 2010 and 2006 (Tom Jensen) from Public Policy Polling
"The big 2006 Democratic win was about voters abandoning the GOP. If Republicans have a big win in 2010 it's mostly going to be about Democrats staying home. "
Rep. inglis Tells All: GOP Using Racism, Demagoguery in Response to Obama from ThinkProgress
"Inglis said that one of the reasons for his defeat was because he refused to demagogue like other conservatives in the House. In one instance during the primary, Inglis was chastised simply for not calling President Obama a “socialist.” He also noted that many of the GOPs criticisms regarding Obama’s response to the economic crisis were motivated by racism."
"Another Tuesday, another round of Republican primaries pitting self-proclaimed Tea Party candidates against their (sometimes slightly, sometimes considerably) more moderate opponents—and yet another sign that the Glenn Beck brigade is a long way from "taking back the country," despite all the hype."
ESCAPE NUGGET!!
Afghan Bride, 11, Escapes a Child Marriage from the Daily Beast
"Obaida, a young Afghan girl, was sold into marriage at age 11 to support her father’s drug habit. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon reports from Kabul on Obaida’s triumphant escape—and why she’s still in danger."
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