07/25/2010 archive

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 27 Top Stories.

1 Hayward expected to resign as BP looks to rebuild

AFP

Sun Jul 25, 1:23 pm ET

“Punting the Pundits“ is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.  Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ).  Roundtable: Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts, Donna Brazile, Stephen Hayes.

CBS’ Face The Nation: Abigail Thernstrom, Vice Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University. Cornel West, Princeton University. John Fund, Wall Street Journal Columnist. Michael Gerson, Washington Post Columnist.

Chris Matthews: Amy Walter The Hotline; Howard Fineman Newsweek; John Heilemann New York Magazine; Cynthia Tucker Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Topics: Will African Americans Stick With Obama This Year?  Will This Year’s Elections Be an Historic Wave Year, and Is it Better for Obama to Lose Control of Congress?

CNN’s State of the Union: Gen. Michael Hayden on national intelligence.  FinReg with Mort Zuckerman. Christopher Edley Jr., Dean of University of California, Berkeley School of Law and past member of the Commission on Civil Rights,  and contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute City Journal and conservative commentator John McWhorter on race.

Fareed Zakaria – GPS: Afghanistan – U.S. Special Representative Richard Holbrooke; plus Richard Haass, Council on Foreign Relations; George Packer, New Yorker and Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal.  Then Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and Lord Robert Skidelsky: to spend or not to spend.  Plus oil drilling in the Niger Delta.

Frank Rich: There’s a Battle Outside and It Is Still Ragin’

This country was rightly elated when it elected its first African-American president more than 20 months ago. That high was destined to abate, but we reached a new low last week. What does it say about America now, and where it is heading, that a racial provocateur, wielding a deceptively edited video, could not only smear an innocent woman but make every national institution that touched the story look bad? The White House, the N.A.A.C.P. and the news media were all soiled by this episode. Meanwhile, the majority of Americans, who believe in fundamental fairness for all, grapple with the poisonous residue left behind by the many powerful people of all stripes who served as accessories to a high-tech lynching.

212 Stories served.  30 per day.

This is actually the hardest diary to execute, and yet perhaps the most valuable because it lets you track story trends over time.  It should be a Sunday morning feature.

• Sunday 7/18/10
• Monday 7/19/10
• Tuesday 7/20/10
• Wednesday 7/21/10
• Thursday 7/22/10
• Friday 7/23/10
• Saturday 7/24/10

Le.  Tour.  De.  France.

The first thing to remember as you watch today’s final stage up and down the Champs Elysees is that it’s not a race anymore.

Unless of course you’re racing for the Green Sprinting Jersey in which case if you’re Alessandro Petacchi all you have to do is finish in the top six, though I expect the Manx Maniac Mark Cavendish to put on a show and push hard for his 5th stage victory.

Another thing to remember is that 39 seconds is not so much over 3 weeks of racing, about 2,263 miles.  Andy got within 6 seconds at one point.

There are people who will point to bad luck–

Ironically, it is the exact figure Schleck lost to Contador on stage 15 when the Spaniard counter-attacked him moments before he suffered an untimely mechanical problem with his gears.

He also lost his brother and climbing partner Frank back at Stage 3.

Menchov won the 3rd podium place by overcoming a 21 second deficit to finish the stage 1:39 ahead of Sanchez so there’s your 2 minute Time Trial margin.

I stand by yesterday’s analysis of Le Tour 2010, but maybe next year we’ll be talking about Alberto and Andy again.

In any event I’m open to suggestions about other sport coverage.  You’ll be hearing from me about Formula One and Baseball for sure, but I’m also open to World Championship Darts (well, it’s part of the same package that Vs. is in).

Which brings up some important points.  You, as is customary, can write about any sport you want including (shudder) Hockey.  If you want me to write about it, it has to be available on Cable TV and it has to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  World Championship Poker and Monster Truck Races from 2007 on endless random repeat do NOT qualify no matter how many times I actually watch them.

Nor do Professional Wrestling and Figure Skating because they’re just too political.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour a cup of your favorite morning beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

It was on this day in 1788 that Wolfgang Mozart completed his Symphony number 40 in g minor (K550). In the late 1780’s with his fortunes falling and in need of income moved from central Vienna to a suburb. While he had more space for his family his expenses still increased an he was borrowing money from friends. It was felt that he was suffering from deep depression but it was at this time that he wrote not only Symphony number 40 but also the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte.

In 1984, photojournalist Steve McCurry was in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan. He followed the sound of voices to a tent where he found a group of girls. “I noticed this one little girl off to the side that had his incredible set of eyes that seemed almost haunted – or very piercing,” he tells NPR’s Audie Cornish.

McCurry snapped a picture that ended up on the cover of National Geographic’s June 1985 issue. “The Afghan Girl” became one of the magazine’s most widely recognized photographs – and one of the century’s most iconic. To get that shot, McCurry used a type of film that has become iconic in its own right: Kodachrome.

The film, known for its rich saturation and archival durability of its slides, was discontinued last year to the dismay of photographers worldwide. But Kodak gave the last roll ever produced to McCurry. He has just processed that coveted roll at Dwayne’s Photo Service in Parsons, Kan. – the last remaining location that processes the once-popular slide film.

The pictures that are on the last roll of Kodachrome will become the subject of a “National Geographic” documentary.

I have fond memories of my 35mm Yashika and Canon cameras.

Crossposted at Daily Kos and Docudharma

12

Feast or famine?  Fortunately I’ll be distracted most of the evening by one of Doose’s follies and with any luck at all won’t lack for amusement until tomorrow’s victory lap around the Champs Elysees.

If you’re not able to escape the Hypnotoad here is the best of a scurvy lot-

• AMC– One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest x 2 followed by The Shining.  Evidently it’s Nicholson night.
• Comedy– Without a Paddle (for Robot Chicken fans)
• ESPN– Kroger 200
• E!– Evan Almighty
• ABC Family– Ratatouille
• Food– Chopped marathon
• FX– The Bourne Identity
• Oxygen– Ocean’s Thirteen x 3
• SciFi– Silent Hill
• TBS– Hitch
• Turner Classic– Black Orpheus, Cabin In The Sky
• Discovery– More Odd Couple Survival
• TLC– Cake Boss marathon
• Travel– Man v. Food marathon
• USA– Hairspray

Later-

• ABC Family– Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
• FX– Man on Fire
• TBS– Jerry Maguire
• Turner Classic– A Raisin in the Sun
• VH1– Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Boondocks tonight, Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf B. and Mr. Medicinal.  GitS SAC: 2nd Gig– Nuclear Power and This Side of Justice

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Gulf oil spill operations resuming after storm weakens

by Alex Ogle, AFP

46 mins ago