Earlier this year, sunbeams in the pines of Mount Baring in Washington’s Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. From National Geographic.
After the Crackdown: Talking to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—and the Opposition—About Iran Today from the New Yorker
"In a rare interview with a Western reporter in Iran, the President denied repressing the opposition. “Everyone is free,” he said."
"That conversation aboard Air Force One marked what Allen, in a recent interview, told me was the "pivotal point" in the effort to contain the biggest spill in U.S. history. Allen said he told Obama that his most urgent problem wasn't with anything that was taking place underwater or along the Gulf of Mexico coastline, but in the sky. ..."
"On vacation last week, my only regret was that I missed an opportunity to comment on a column in the Wall Street Journal by Art Laffer, inventor of the Laffer Curve, which has done more damage than any other geometric shape in history. ... What's interesting about last week's piece is how little the argument has changed--like, not at all."
Kinsley is on-the-money here with his fusillade against Laffer. Laffer has been the head gardner for one of the worst primrose paths the US has ever been lead down.
"The employment situation in the United States is much worse than even the dismal numbers from last week’s jobless report would indicate. The nation is facing a full-blown employment crisis and policy makers are not responding with anything like the sense of urgency that is needed."
"The nuclear family is the universal, time-tested path to forming families and raising children. These have been losing arguments for decades now, as the cause of gay marriage has moved from an eccentric- seeming notion to an idea that roughly half the country supports. ... These arguments have lost because they’re wrong."
"So let’s say you’re a Republican politician who’s been working the far right side of the political highway for years, getting little national attention other than the occasional shout-out in Human Events. Or let’s say you’re a sketchy business buccaneer with a few million smackers burning a hole in your pocket, and you’ve decided that you’d like to live in the governor’s mansion for a while, but you can’t get the local GOP to see you as anything more than a walking checkbook who funds other people's dreams. What do you do? That’s easy: Get yourself in front of the loudest parade in town by becoming a Tea Party Activist!"
A Tale of Two Tea Parties (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic
"This blog loves to debate this question: just what the heck IS the Tea Party? ... The best explanation I've found comes from Jonathan Rauch. He begins by noticing that conservatism is on the rise as Republican Party identification has stagnated. Independent conservatives are rising. The media calls these folks "Republican leaners." We assume that they are LESS conservative than the average Republican and closer to the left, or the middle. But that's not true."
CO-Sen & Gov: Mile-High Meltdown (Ed Kilgore) from the Democratic Strategist
"The Republican Party is campaigning with a stiff wind at its back this year, thanks to a terrible economy, ripe targets created by two straight heavily Democratic cycles, favorable midterm turnout demographics, and the famous "enthusiasm gap." But, in Colorado, it seems as if the Republicans are conducting a meteorological experiment to test the strength of that wind, as they stumble disarrayed into today's primary.
POLITICAL DISH NUGGET!!
Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican from Esquire Magazine
"In the twelve years since he resigned in defeat and disgrace, he has been carefully plotting his return to power. As 2012 approaches, he has raised as much money as all of his potential rivals combined and sits atop the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. But just who is Newton Leroy Gingrich, really? An epic and bizarre story of American power in an unsettled age."
I couldn't resist this piece where Gingrich's ex-wife dishes on him.
EDUCATION NUGGET!!
The Lost Generation: Eight Reasons Why America's Youth Are Falling Behind from the Huffington Post
"The fate of younger America -- mercilessly, but perhaps accurately, dubbed "Generation Debt" -- is uncomfortably uncertain, and the roots of the problem are planted in the mess that is this country's higher education system."
Not a bad overview of the state of things for young people now.
CULTURE NUGGET!!
Summer Gadgets: How TV Became Passe' (Peter Osnos) from the Atlantic
"Television used to masterfully command an audience at home. Now it's been nearly abandoned by children and adults in favor of personal technologies."
PETS NUGGET!!
Pets Vital to Human Evolution from Discovery News
"Dogs, cats, cows and other domesticated animals played a key role in human evolution, according to a theory being published by paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman of Penn State University. The uniquely human habit of taking in and employing animals -- even competitors like wolves -- spurred on human tool-making and language, which have both driven humanity's success, Shipman says."
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