For Pakistan, the Noose is Tightening from the Editorial Board of the Hindustan Times [of India in English]
"The triad of US intelligence detect.ing a Pakistan-based terrorist, a third country apprehending the figure and India being the end recipient of the suspect or his confessions is now commonplace. Pakistan should reflect on why the countries it counts as its closest friends have become increasingly willing to take India's side on the terrorism issue."
Russia in the Islamic World (Sergey Markedonov) from the National Interest
"For Russia, Syria is a three-dimensional phenomenon. The first two dimensions are better known: Russia, along with China, has a long-running dispute with the West about the relationship between sovereignty and intervention in the domestic political process. That controversy has not been sparked by the current Syrian crisis; instead, it dates back to the ethnic conflicts in the Balkans in the early 1990s. Secondly, Moscow has economic and geopolitical interests in Syria, ranging from business contracts to Russia’s only naval facility on the Mediterranean Sea in Tartus."
To Save the Euro, Leave It (Kenenth Griffin & Anip Kashyap) from the New York Times
"A better, bolder and, until now, almost inconceivable solution is for Germany to reintroduce the mark, which would cause the euro to immediately decline in value. Such a devaluation would give troubled economies, especially those of Greece, Italy and Spain, the financial flexibility they need to stabilize themselves. Although repeated currency devaluations are not the path to prosperity, a weaker euro would give a boost in competitiveness to all members of the monetary union, including France and the Netherlands,..."
This would require substantially more courage and creativity than Angela Merkel (or any of her other European colleagues) have shown thus far.
States Lacking Income Tax Get No Boost In Growth: BGOV Barometer from the Bloomberg News Service
"Governors seeking to expand their economies by eliminating income taxes find little support for the idea in the record of U.S. states that lack such a levy."
Obama: We Don't Need to Re-fight Healthcare Battle from the Los Angeles Times
"Days before the high court is set to rule on his signature first-term accomplishment, the president sidestepped what the justices might decide and instead underlined the consequences if Republicans followed through on a pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He fit his argument into the one-word slogan of his reelection campaign, forward."
Affordable Dental Care Unavailable To One-Third Of Americans: Report from the Huffington Post
"More than 100 million Americans do not go to the dentist for checkups and cleanings because of the cost, according to PBS FRONTLINE and the Center for Public Integrity. As a result, many go broke trying to afford dental care or suffer from extreme pain. Some die. The next generation of Americans already is suffering. Nearly 5 million American children, or one in 16, did not get regular dental checkups in 2008 because their families could not afford it, according to an Institute of Medicine report released last year."
EPA Greenhouse Gas Rules Upheld By Federal Court from the Huffington Post
"A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the first-ever regulations aimed at reducing the gases blamed for global warming. The rules, which were challenged by industry groups and various states, will reduce emissions of six heat-trapping gases from large industrial facilities such as factories and power plants, as well as from automobile tailpipes."
Why Libraries Are a Smart Investment for the Country's Future from Time Magazine
"As both the national economy and print empires shift, it may be tempting to take America's library system for granted. Marx reminded the audience to keep investing in the country's public educational opportunities, especially public libraries. "You cannot have a functioning economy if you do not have innovation," he said. "You cannot have a functioning democracy if you cannot have the citizenry able to inform itself.""
Unfortunately, for way too many Americans, the words "Smart Investment for the Country's Future" = a socialist plot.
Case in point:
Georgia and the United Nations: Why Walking Leads to One-World Government from the Economist [of London]
"ON JULY 31st, Georgia's voters will decide whether to impose upon themselves a one-cent sales tax for the next ten years to fund transportation projects. ... are Atlanta's Democratic mayor, Kasim Reed, and Republican attorney-general, Sam Olens, both agents of the United Nations determined to advance the cause of one-world government and outlaw private property?"
ANCIENT COINS NUGGET!!
Metal Detector Friends Find Three Quarters of a TON of Iron Age Coins worth $15m from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"After hunting for buried treasure for three decades - and not finding a great deal - even the most diligent of us might have given up. But not Reg Mead and Richard Miles. The two amateur metal detectors kept up their search of the same area throughout the decades and have finally struck gold - or rather silver. They are thought to be from the first century BC and were found buried 3ft deep under a hedge in a farmer's field on Jersey, off Britain's south coast."
AWESOME FATHER"S GIFT NUGGET!!
'Oh, The Places You'll Go!' Dad's Tear-Jerking Graduation Gift to Daughter is a Book of Messages from Every One of her Teachers... which took 13 YEARS to Collect from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"For many teenagers, their high school graduation day is the opportunity to ask for a big, extravagant gift from their parents. What Brenna Martin got was very different. It wasn't a car, a holiday or that piece of jewellery she had always wanted. Instead, the senior got something much, much more special."
ANNOYING TV TECH NUGGET!!
Ugly Buttons: How Did the Remote Control Get So Awful and Confusing? (Daniel Engber) from Slate
"My clock radio has 15 buttons. My MP3 player and cellphone have five buttons between them. So why should my television, a simple device that's not so interactive, spread so much clutter and confusion?"
VICTORIAN CRIME PHOTO NUGGET!!
Fagin's Children: Mugshots of Victorian Thieves as Young as 11 Who were Sentenced to Hard Labor for Stealing from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
Staring into the camera, some with defiance and others in child-like wonder, these scruffy boys and girls look like any other group of Victorian urchins. But while some of the children may appear to be a picture of innocence, the gallery is in fact a collection of young criminals from the 1870s. The rogues' gallery of offenders, some as young as 11, includes thieves and pickpockets who stole anything from cash to clothes and even odd pieces of metal."
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