A hummingbird checking out a Bleeding Heart shrub.
Vietnam Déjà Vu Grows as Afghan Policy Sputters (Al Hunt) from the Bloomberg News Service
"To be sure, just getting out, like 1989, is an option almost no one considers smart. The debate instead should focus on the particulars of a more limited counterterrorism policy that both prevents Afghanistan from being a safe haven again for al-Qaeda and fosters stability in Pakistan, the more important question."
Israel/Palestine and Iran: Linkage Should be Hard Wired by Obama Team (Steve Clemons) from the Washington Note
"Obama needs to hang out with some creative thinkers, those who know something about Nixon's and Kissinger's assessment of China when we had no relations, or are experts in Eisenhower's "Solarium Exercise", or others who are thinking in creative and innovative ways about the global system and America's place in it."
"The coverage of China’s global inroads has been profoundly short on context, particularly when it comes to how China is—and is not—surpassing the U.S. as a global power."
War Over Ground Zero (Lisa Miller) from Newsweek
"At the eye of this storm stand two grieving mothers who don’t ever want to hear the word “closure.” Each remains convinced of the rightness of her position, and it is in their congenial conversation that one sees the issue laid bare. "
America Goes Dark (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"We’re told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable. And it’s true that state and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn’t be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases."
For GOP, Islamophobia is the New Anti-Commubnism (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"The Republican Party of the Bush years had the same magnetic allure to Islamophobes as today’s does, even if it didn’t use quite the same inflammatory rhetoric. It was Bush, after all, who filled his inner circle with committed neoconservatives who believed that Islam itself imperiled Western values and the long-term survival of the United States"
He is Sooo on-the-money with this linkage. Hard-core conservatives just aren't happy unless they're super-scared of SOMETHING!
He is Sooo on-the-money with this linkage. Hard-core conservatives just aren't happy unless they're super-scared of SOMETHING!
America's Stadium-Mob Mentality: One Man's Constitutional Rights are Trampled, and Thousands of Fans Cheer (David Sirota) from Salon
"The instantly famous image of police removing the 29-year-old from Cleveland's Progressive Field was largely presented by the media as hilarious and justified — and the predictable applause, blog comments, talk-radio calls and Facebook posts embraced that portrayal. Bellamy, the logic went, deserved to be tossed because he was wearing LeBron James' new Miami Heat jersey in the city that James deserted."
George W. Bush: Why the Right Today Rejects His Views (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"On issues from immigration to Islam, the 43rd president staked out a view far more progressive than today's conservatives. Peter Beinart on how declining U.S. confidence has changed the right."
Anchor Babies, the Ground Zero Mosque and Other Scapegoats (Matthew Yglesias) from the Washington Post
"Politics always seems to get a bit off-kilter when the temperature goes up. But instead of the familiar silly-season stuff of years past -- made-up scandals and who-cares gossip -- the past two summers have been filled with vitriol. Last year we had town halls gone wild, fueled by the threat of death panels pulling the plug on Grandma. This year, us-vs.-them controversies are proliferating, linked by a surge in xenophobia. This is our summer of fear."
The Right's New Religious Bigotry (Michelle Goldberg) from the Daily Beast
"Conservatives in this country used to avoid the kind of overt Islamophobia practiced by European reactionaries. But now, as debate over the Ground Zero mosque reaches fever pitch, Gingrich, Palin and others are buying the new hate speech, says Michelle Goldberg."
The Tea Party's Growing Money Problem from Politico
"Some leading tea party activists are concerned that their efforts to reshape American politics, starting with the 2010 elections, are being undermined by a shortage of cash that’s partly the result of a deep ambivalence within the movement’s grass roots over the very idea of
fundraising and partly attributable to an inability to win over the wealthy donors who fund the conservative establishment."
Republican Party Starts to Kill Its Own: S.C. Rep. Bob Inglis Ousted for Not Hating Obama Enough (Mike Lupica) from the New York Daily News
"There are landmarks all over our city named after LaGuardia and Javits and Rockefeller, names out of the city's great Republican past, when the party was one of intelligence, not fear-mongering and hate.... The current Republican Party, one hijacked by hustlers and extremists, not only looks to destroy President Obama. It even starts to kill its own."
COMIC BOOK NUGGET!!
Superman Rescues Family Home: Cash-strapped Couple Faced Repossession... Then They Find Rare Comic in the Basement from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"It sounds like the stuff of fiction: a family whose home was due to be repossessed find a rare and valuable comic in the basement. However, it was reality for one American couple who discovered a the very first edition of Action Comics featuring Superman as they were packing up their belongings."
Frank admission: there is the faintest hint of SCAM in this story.
NITEY NITE NUGGET!!
Neanderthal's Cozy Bedroom Unearthed from Discovery News
"An apparent Neanderthal sleeping chamber has just been unearthed within Esquilleu Cave in Cantabria, Spain. The room likely contained grass beds, which served double duty as seats, near a hearth."
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