Author: Andrew Sullivan

Those are Obama’s words. Amy Davidson begs the President:

Some political leadership now would be much for the better. It’s not enough to rage and pose for pictures—the Administration has to make sure that the hole is plugged. Many things are worse than politics, and the wanton destruction of a swath of our coastline is one of them. Obama has to do much more than just witness it.

Al Giordano rants:

[A]s a longtime vocal opponent of off shore oil drilling, and proponent of renewable energy, I wish to publicly disassociate myself from all the newly concerned voices screaming at the top of their lungs that the government must “do something” if they don’t come with concrete suggestions for what exactly can be done. They do not represent me and please don’t ever confuse me with them, okay?

David Roberts wonders whether there is no solution:

BP is attempting the “top kill” maneuver — pumping mud into the well. If it doesn’t work, well … then what? Junk shot? Top hat? Loony stuff like nukes? Relief wells will take months to drill and no one’s sure if they’ll work to relieve pressure. It’s entirely possible, even likely, that we’re going to be stuck helplessly watching as this well spews oil into the Gulf for years. Even if the flow were stopped tomorrow, the damage to marshes, coral, and marine life is done. The Gulf of Mexico will become an ecological and economic dead zone. There’s no real way to undo it, no matter who’s in charge.

I’m curious to see how the public’s mood shifts once it becomes clear that we are powerless in the face of this thing. What if there’s just nothing we can do? That’s not a feeling to which Americans are accustomed.

(Image: Bags of oil collected from the beach await pickup May 25, 2010 at Elmer’s Island, Louisiana. Cleanup crews had worked for days to scrub the beach and dispose of the material. By John Moore/Getty Images)

Readers won't let go:

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw your post.  My grandparents were from San Marcos, which is about halfway between San Antonio and Austin, and my family went to Aquarena Springs several times when I was a kid. The pig on the postcard is the famous "Ralph the Swimming Pig". Ralph really swam, and he did a water show several times a day accompanied by – no kidding – underwater mermaids. (They breathed from scuba hoses under the surface. It's kind of hard to explain.) Ralph was most famous for his so-called "swine dive," which is what is pictured on the postcard.

Ah, memories.

Another writes:

My brother and I observed that Ralph was actually Ralphette (the protuberant nipples gave it away).

In my experience with pigs, protuberant nipples are not always a dead cert for being female. Boing Boing a few years ago covered the bulldozing of the park:

Aquarena was the home of the infamous Ralph the Swimming Pig, and his keeper Glurpo, a one-time "nightmarish aquatic clown" turned "underwater witch doctor." There were also "aquamaids" who picnicked & performed ballet underwater, diving ducks, and a sadistic swan named Rufus.

The Beijing Zoo goes great with a side of mashed potatoes:

[T]he zoo's restaurant serves things like the webbed toes of hippopotamus, dishes made with crocodiles, scorpions, kangaroo tail, deer penis, ant soup, shark fin soup, peacock, etc. Until recently, signs on the animals' cages even contained information about which parts were tastiest and which parts could be used to make traditional medicine (aka placebos, for the most part).

Or, if you're on a tight budget, head down to the local Chinese Walmart.

Dan Savage credits Dan Choi et al.

It's worth recalling that this proposed change will not greatly alter the number of gay men and women in the military. They have always been there, and always will be. What it changes is the intimidation and persecution they must fear from their own government as they risk their lives for the rest of us. What the law could change are some uniquely cruel aspects of life for service-members and their families. A reader writes:

My partner of ten years is on his third deployment. This one’s been the hardest on both of us. I won’t speak for my partner and generally don’t like to go there, for fear it will open a floodgate of anxieties for me. But life on the home front feels neither like a life nor a home at the moment.

When we PCSed (permanent change of station) to the foreign country we call home for the time being, we knew it would be a challenge for me to remain in country with him, since Status of Forces Agreements with host countries don’t acknowledge my situation. After working minimum wage government jobs for the SOFA status alone, I finally found a desk job that pays a fifth of my last salary stateside. Nonetheless, landing the job was a relief because at least I could stay in country with my partner, and a desk job was better than manual labor.

A month after that, my partner came home one afternoon and told me his unit was deploying. Fears for his safety aside, the logistics of this one presented a whole new set of problems. Returning to the States while he’s downrange isn’t a possibility. He’ll have at least another year here when he gets back. I can’t lose my SOFA status, nor would my previous employer want me back if I had to quit again within a year. So I’m staying behind here, alone, in the closet – even to close work friends.

The expat community is small and exclusively military (or tied to it); chances are that someone knows someone who knows my partner. Worse than that, calls come at all hours here, and I dread every one of them, for fear it’s the call intended to wake me up. His family stateside would be the first to know, since I can’t be next of kin.

If we were to get married, it would constitute an admission.

It feels selfish and a bit whiney to be writing any of this. There are family members with far more horrific stories to tell and far bigger challenges to face. But what I’ve learned from the incredibly strong families I’ve met while working in this community is that you stand up for yourself and your loved ones. My partner and I can’t do it publicly so I’ll use this forum to say it: Whether the intent or the effect, my family has endured all of it – the separation, the sacrifice – so your loved ones wouldn’t have to. For that, we deserve your respect, if not a place at the table.

Oh, and about that place at the table? How dare any member of Congress who’s never served a day in uniform tell my partner he should only be allowed to stay in if he can conceal the role his family plays in support of him. Doesn’t Congress, with its dearth of veterans, at the very least understand that families are inseparable from their servicemembers' long-term commitment to country? Those of us living and working in the military community certainly do.

This photograph of a group of young men taunting a Palestinian woman evicted from her home to make way for Israeli settlers rightly disturbed many. A commenter on Jerry Haber's blog disagreed with the Getty caption that describes them merely as Israelis:

An anonymous commenter has said that (at least some of) the men here are students at a well-known yeshiva for Americans in Beit Shemesh. I went to the yeshiva's website — some of my students have studied there — and identified (I think) two of the students.

So these young men could well have been Americans. But Haber insists their orthodox identity is the more troubling issue:

The main source of Jewish hatred and bigotry against Arabs today comes from the orthodox, and especially the modern orthodox. This wasn't always the case. The orthodoxy that sprung from European soil absorbed the best of West civilization, culture, and morality. The earlier generations of religious Zionists, Rav Reines, Rav Kook, Rav Soloveitchik, were European to the core. And the early generation of religious Zionists in America, though fed the prejudiced Zionist line about the Arabs, nevertheless was deeply influenced by liberal American values, and the American rejection of bigotry. Such moderates even convinced themselves that this was the message of the Torah. No more. The Israeli religious Zionism that has produced the settler

movement is unaffected by universal moral values.

I don't need to go into details here. You are familiar with their rabbis, you have read the articles and parsha sheets; you have recoiled at the message. Israeli religious Zionism today is insular, parochial, fundamentalist, and deeply, deeply bigoted. I know many American orthodox Jews who have come on aliyah, Jews with moderate principles, proud of American and universal moral values. They are terribly uncomforable when their children return from the religious Zionist yeshivot and ulpanot as racist bigots who view the Arabs as animals and underlings, “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Modern orthodox educators in America should have worried less about the color of their children's hats, and more about the color of their hearts.

A liberal paper, backing a Liberal-Tory coalition, gets real about the cuts in spending that have to occur.

Mudflats notes:

[T]o attempt to show how intrusive he’s going to be, and how much he will invade her privacy, she has actually published a picture of him sitting on the far side of the deck, minding his own business. You know… to show how inappropriate he is for whatever it is he might or might not do at some time in the future.  Maybe.  You know, like taking a creepy spy picture of her that she doesn’t know about and then publishing it online to a hostile audience and asking for comment.

Joining the celebreality show is Glenn Beck, who is threatening to boycott Random House, McGinniss' publisher.

David Gianatasio ventures a tad off topic:

MTV identifies with an oversize hamster whose owner neglects him during the World Cup. MTV figures you might likewise skip its programming. But get real. Folks avoid MTV because its shows suck. That includes Jersey Shore, which people watch only so they can complain later.

Oh, do not under-estimate the refined hathetic qualities of Jersey Shore. Gianatasio also points to similar spots featuring Russian and Korean fans.

This season may have had some rough spots, but could it have ended in a sweeter one?