Points of Interest 06/30/2011

Reads:

The Village takes a vacation.

"The best thing the organizers could do to solve America's most pressing problems would probably be to encase the city of Aspen in an impenetrable dome on the last day of the festival, trapping all participants and attendees inside, forever."

Our debate, growing more stupid by the day.

Needed 231,000, got nearly 1.3 million.

Bachmann: Cease and desist, pert deux.

"So once again, just like in the government shutdown debate..."

"...Obama and the Democrats are fighting to get what the Republicans and the right-wing economic think tanks originally proposed they should do, and the GOP just keeps walking the goalposts to the right. If this comes down to the constitutional option, I hope everyone remembers that the Democrats have actually proposed doing exactly what the Republicans and the right-wing economists originally asked for."

"Not since the Gilded Age has a Supreme Court been so determined to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy."

A well-oiled War Machine.

I like Campaign Obama better then Pragmatic Governance Obama.

Highlighed on Lawrence O'Donnell's Last Word feature last night, this editorial from middle America is on point regarding today's GOP.

"It's sad to see what has happened to the Party of Lincoln, and for that matter, the party of lesser mortals like George H.W. Bush of Texas, Bob Dole of Kansas and Jack Danforth of Missouri. No one ever would mistake them for liberals, but they were statesmen who put country before party.

Today we have the spectacle of smart, patriotic men and women putting their brains and integrity on ice to please a party dominated by anti-intellectual social Darwinists and the plutocrats who finance and mislead them."

“These risks,” the IMF said, “would also have significant global repercussions, given the central role of U.S. Treasury bonds in world financial markets.”

Chris Christie's 'successes' in New Jersey might be a lesson on how the pursuit of political power can make a party blind to the bigger picture.

"Halperin’s choice of words pales in comparison..."

"...to the fact that he’s offended by the president’s mild rebuke of political recklessness the likes of which American hasn’t seen in generations."

(Legitimately) slacking off, Senate bipartisanship edition.

"In every instance, conservative rulings received more coverage, longer articles, and better placement."