Tuesday 5/19 Reading List

Lots going on in the media world today...

• Yesterday President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In it, he indicated that he may have a specific timetable in mind with regards to his diplomatic dialogue with Iran (an issue of considerable concern to the Israelis). PM Netanyahu, for his part, said that he would be open to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians immediately, but that it would only succeed if the Palestinians recognized Israel as a Jewish state. Netanyahu's failure to say that he would embrace a two-state solution or stop with the construction of settlements has been met with concern and skepticism from Palestinians.
• In an interview with the Washington Post, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar detailed the "mess" that was left behind by the previous administration, and his plans to improve the agency and its reputation.
• The Central Intelligence Agency, although publicly still confident in its abilities, apparently is privately quite concerned about its ability to effectively gather intelligence under the new administration's restrictions.
• President Obama will soon be announcing tougher new emissions and mileage standards, more in line with what California has been doing as a state for the last several years. Reportedly, both environmentalists and the auto industry are pleased with the new rules, which will take effect in 2012.
• In a Washington Post Op-Ed, Richard Cohen discusses the stakes of a war between India and Pakistan and how it relates to the US through the war in Afghanistan, making the case for continued engagement in the region.
• The New York Times has an interesting piece on finding messages about our personalities and desires in our consumerism. To quote: "The grand edifice of brand-name consumerism rests on the narcissistic fantasy that everyone else cares about what we buy."
• A woman from Washington is suing a Florida hospital for keeping her from her dying partner's bedside while the two were on vacation there. Gay rights groups are watching closely, because of how commonly cases like this occur to gay couples.
• NYT Op-Ed round-up: David Brooks discusses how boring people make the best CEOs, and Ross Douthat writes about how Dan Brown's success comes from his mix of good fiction and theology.
• RNC Chairman Michael Steele has an Ideas piece in Politico today about how the Republican Party is still the party of a majority of Americans, and what it needs to do to regain the majority in Congress.