The Wednesday Curator – 7/23/14

July 22, 2014

Back I am, with apologies to anyone who came up empty earlier on Tuesday. I had a piece up to make the subscriber deadline, but it was not ready. Sorry!

But for children at the border, war in Gaza/Israel, and an airplane blown out of the sky in Ukraine, we’d be hearing about … well, Benghazi, of course, but also about the highway trust fund debacle and possible solutions. Reinventing the American Highway:  The Promise (and Pitfalls) of Learning to Love Tolls, written by Henry Grabar and published at Salon on July 20, provides an overview of one solution for part of the infrastructure problem.

From The Atlantic on July 21, here’s David Frum’s non-ideological, tell it like it is piece on How the Israel-Palestine Peace Process Collapsed. Mr. Frum, who wrote speeches for President George W. Bush—and birthed “the axis of evil”—relies heavily on Ben Birnbaum and Amir Tibon’s July 20 story for the New Republic, The Explosive, Inside Story of How John Kerry Built an Israel-Palestine Peace Plan—and Watched It Crumble. The Frum story is the Cliff Notes version. If you care about the Middle East and want to understand what happened, read one or both of the stories.

From the Department of “What Ought to Be but Aren’t” Unintended Consequences, here’s Pro-Life Nurse-Midwife Who Won’t Prescribe the Pill Sues Family Planning Center for Not Hiring Her by Amanda Marcotte for Slate, posted on July 21. The headline captures the situation pretty well, but it set me to wondering:  Suppose a very capable attorney comes along, says he wants to practice business/commercial law, but his religious beliefs tell him he can’t draft a document that provides for interest. We pass; he sues. Dumb? Dumber than the nurse who wants to work in the family planning center who won’t participate in prescribing the pill? As I noted a few days ago, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

So I’ve been pretty non-partisan, apolitical so far, right? Here’s Media Matters takedown of Fox News and the actions of Saint Ronald the Magnificent and President Barack Obama. On Heels of Tragic Plane Crash, Fox Rewrites Reagan’s Legacy in Effort to Jab Obama recounts the real facts about President Ronald Reagan’s handling of the bombing of Korean Air’s Flight 103, as measured against the fantasies put forward by Fox News.

And now for something nice, mostly. For those who are traveling this summer and love burgers, here’s The 33 Best Burgers in America 2014. Actually, never mind the burgers or the travel:  just look at the pictures and dream! Healthy and, at least for me, pretty satisfying!!!

P.S. Stay tuned in the next day or so for an Obamacare update.

 

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