Results of Nuclear Talks in Geneva, Cops Mum in Kentucky Backwoods

Paul Krugman
David Brooks
Dana Milbank

Polanski and Hollywood
David Harsanyi
Eugene Robinson

"The complacency now setting in over the state of the economy is both foolish and dangerous."  - Paul Krugman

"Even Republican politicians come to believe it. They mistake media for reality. They pre-emptively surrender to armies that don’t exist."  - David Brooks

author, author...
So, ya want to run for President and/or write a book? Here's advice on the how-to from the Washington Times:"Running for president? Quick, write a book - and be sure to appear noble, humble, heartfelt, down-home, historic, spiritual, tough-minded, flexible, chivalrous and street smart on every page. The formula should include 25 percent personal recollections, 25 percent family stories, 35 percent political prowess, 5 percent humorous asides, 5 percent swagger and 5 percent strategically placed "shocking" allegations - to be picked up in the media feedback loop by dopey journalists who think they have stumbled on something." 'Nuff said...

foreign policy and its nuclear results...
Greg Pierce from the Washington Times make a good point on Obama's foreign policy, that we are engaging with dictatorial countries like Iran, but ignoring their democratic opponents. We should be giving them equal face time: "There is something slightly weird about all this activity. If the Obama team wanted to make a really significant break from past Bush policy, it would say it was not going to just talk with the world's worst strongmen but would give equal, public status to their democratic opposition groups. Instead, the baddest actors in the world get face time with Barack Obama, but their struggling opposition gets invisibility."

I think it shows how insular people in Washington become. They need to get out and travel to these countries more often, accompany Hillary and a special envoy or two before advising the President how to make up his mind. As the New York Times explains: " The cause and effect of conflict between Iran and the West is never experienced in Washington or London but instead plays out here, in the Middle East, " 
Obama is actually making some good, but painfully incremental, progress, but how long can he keep juggling those sharp domestic and foreign knives before one drops pins his foot to the floor?

One recent development that is seen as progress, was the results of the talks in Geneva with the EU, Iran, and the US. Iran agreed to send the enriched uranium from the newly disclosed plant at Qum to Russia, who will turn it into fuel for them.

Next, will be the disclosure of other secret plants, probably located in all their other sacred sites, along with solving the mystery of a missing 50 tons of uranium that is unaccounted from an Iranian mine near the Gulf of Hormuz. They still have a lot of explaining to do... Of course, the only reason the intelligence folks can figure out why Iran placed the enrichment plant near its most holy city, is that if it were bombed then Tehran could say that it was a strike against its religion, having the mosques destroyed. It really is ultimate gesture of cynical posturing...

The other intelligence question is, if we have known about the secret site near Qum for years, why didn't the Bush administration use it earlier?

Israel and Palestine are making nice towards each other, Russia is our new best friend forever, at least until Putin steps back out from behind the curtain. The only setbacks are in places like Afghanistan, where Stanley McChrystal is complaining to everyone who asks him that the Taliban are gaining in strength and influence, and to send him more troops, dammit. Then there are the anachronisms to cold war terrorist groups like the Maoists who are killing villagers in India.

Of course, if you are a Republican, you can dance and rub Obama's nose in his failure to secure Chicago as the next Olympic site. Rio won, but I'd rather it have gone to Madrid.

whodunit?..
Remember the case of the part-time Census worker who was found with a rope around his neck in rural Kentucky? So far the news is there is no news, the cops are not giving out any information about their investigation, and the reporters are left to speculate on what progress is being made. Or if any progress is made, this being rural Kentucky, after all. They could be waiting for harvest season to be over before continuing on and interviewing witnesses.

The darkest theory is that the mild mannered, boy scout leader, Clark Kent type harbored some deeper, kinky sex habits. Because he was found with his feet on the ground, it's speculated that he may have gone out to the woods to pull a Carradine and engage in auto-asphyxiation. If that were the case, his pants would also be on the ground, eewww. I can't believe I'm writing about this crap; its creating  macabre visions of  moss shrouded backwoods, where shadowy, inbred manson-like cult figures scuttle to and fro, avoiding the revenooers, armed with hemp ropes and red felt pens... I should be exploring the meanings of David Letterman's and John Ensign's infidelities in the greater context of our current political miasma...