Viewing U.S. in Fear and Dismay - NYTimes.com

Viewing U.S. in Fear and Dismay - NYTimes.com: “It’s a display of American arrogance,” said Raúl Silva, 40, an entrepreneur grabbing coffee at an upscale cafe here. “It’s a problem, and it’s going to affect us.”

Faced with Washington’s march toward a default, the world has reacted mostly with disbelief that the reigning superpower could fall into such dysfunction, worry over global suffering to come and frustration that American lawmakers could let the problem reach this point.

A common question crossing continents remains quite simple: The Americans aren’t really that unreasonable and self-destructive, are they?

With G.O.P. Badly Divided, Boehner Is Left ‘Herding Cats’ - NYTimes.com

With G.O.P. Badly Divided, Boehner Is Left ‘Herding Cats’ - NYTimes.com: It was yet another moment of decision for Mr. Boehner, who finally finds himself at the crossroads he has been marching toward for weeks: an imminent financial default on the one hand, and on the other an unyielding conservative rank and file that persists with the futile effort to take down President Obama’s health care law even if they also take down the speaker in the process.

New Air Force cargo planes fly straight into mothballs | Fox News

New Air Force cargo planes fly straight into mothballs | Fox News: , it's just that the Pentagon doesn't want it given budget constraints.

The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn’t stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.

Daily Kos: Wall Street, Chamber of Commerce Turning on GOP Extremists

Daily Kos: Wall Street, Chamber of Commerce Turning on GOP Extremists: The Koch Brothers do not really represent the one thousanth of one percent who have real economic power. Many of them are at risk from the destruction of the world economy and a debt default will hurt them. Thing are going well for the ultra-rich, and they are tied to the health of the system.

Why I Am Cancelling My Documentary on Hillary Clinton | Charles Ferguson

Why I Am Cancelling My Documentary on Hillary Clinton | Charles Ferguson: In late 2012, CNN Films approached me about directing a documentary. We discussed a number of potential subjects, and eventually settled on Hillary Rodham Clinton. The film would be ambitious, controversial, and highly visible. But I felt that it was important, that I was qualified to do it, and that I could be fair. CNN gave me complete control ("final cut") over the theatrical version, and a generous budget.

And then the fun began. The day after the contract was signed, I received a message from Nick Merrill, Hillary Clinton's press secretary. He already knew about the film, and clearly had a source within CNN. He interrogated me; at first I answered, but eventually I stopped. When I requested an off-the-record, private conversation with Mrs. Clinton, Merrill replied that she was busy writing her book, and not speaking to the media.