State and National News

Anne-Marie Slaughter is the Bert G. Kerstetter '66 university professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.

One of the most interesting reads of the day is about a rather upsetting event: a "midnight raid" that removed the books from the Kensal Rise Library in London during a dispute over its closing. Joan Bakewell's essay concludes, "the Kensal Rise story stands witness to our loss of values and our slow drift to being an uncaring and ignorant country." [The Telegraph]

This morning's talker:

"From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America's first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program," The New York Times reports.

Recent court cases have changed the rules about money in federal politics, but there still are rules. Here's a snapshot of donors and fundraising recipients across the political spectrum — ranging from the candidates themselves to the new superPACs to different categories of 501(c) tax-exempt, nonprofit groups. It shows how much money can be donated, how that money can be spent and when donor names can be kept secret.

Lawrence Adams doesn't want to be called a hero, but many in Seattle are saying that's just what he is.

As The Seattle Times reports this morning, police believe Adams saved the lives of at least three people on Wednesday when he picked up a stool at a cafe and threw it at a gunman who killed four people there. Adams' action distracted the gunman, identified as Ian Stawicki, and allowed Adams and some others to escape.

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene with a remembrance of Dick Beals, the man whose voice gave lie to Gumby. A glandular condition gave Beals his small stature and youthful voice, a voice that was used in more than 3,000 commercials. Beals played a wide range of roles - babies, teenagers, chipmunks. Perhaps most notably the Speedy Alka-Seltzer character.

(SOUNDBITE OF ADVERTISEMENT)

DICK BEALS: (Singing) Alka-Seltzer, plop, plop, fizz, fizz - oh, what a relief it is.

One year ago today, Alpha Natural Resources officially absorbed the troubled coal mining company Massey Energy, which had one of the worst safety records in the industry.

Breaking news at 8:34 a.m. ET: "Unemployment Rate 8.2 Percent In May As Just 69,000 Jobs Added

Our original post:

In the world of jazz — be it free, mainstream or other more personal styles — 72-year-old Andrew Cyrille is known for drawing vivid sonic pictures and making incendiary rhythms with his drum set. Still, not many know of Cyrille's Haitian-American origins. And, though the culture of Haiti has spawned a compelling musical relationship with both American jazz and the music on islands closer to it (see Cuba, Guadeloupe and Martinique), this connection is equally obscure to many north of Congo Square.