News Nuggets 122

The final design selected for the Smithsonian's African-American Museum 

on the National Mall in DC.  See the ARCHITECTURE NUGGET below.

Five Reasons Obama Sounds Optimistic from Politico

"President Barack Obama and his economic team are changing their tone on the economy. Gone are Obama’s bleak descriptions of crisis and catastrophe. In their place are “glimmers of hope” of a turnaround.  The question is: why now? "

The Man with the Plan (Terence Samuel) from The Root

"The president wants to make sure people know he has a plan to fix the economy—even if they don’t understand or agree with all the specifics."

Can Obama Clean Up Latin America? from the Guardian [of London]

No -- but loaves and fishes seem to multiply in his presence.  WHAT KIND OF A HEADLINE is THIS!?  

"Tidying up after Bush is a difficult job – and his legacy could still hinder Obama's chances at the Summit of the Americas."

Obama is Not Being Lily-livered, Just Pragmatic from the Times [of London]

"The apparent idealism of Mr Obama’s language — whether it is on heralding a nuclear-free world or promising that America will set an ethical example to the rest of the world — belies a pragmatic purpose. He wants to earn the right for America to lead once more."

In the Age of Pirates (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times

"This is not the great age of diplomacy.  A secretary of state can broker deals only when other states or parties are ready or able to make them. ... Hence the déjà vu all over again quality of U.S. foreign policy right now — the sense that when it comes to our major problems (Afghanistan and Pakistan and North Korea and Iran), we just go around and around, buying the same carpets from the same people, over and over, but nothing changes."

Independent Voters and the President: Myths and Realities from Larry Sabato's VA Center for Politics

"In their view, any significant slippage in support among independents could prove highly damaging to the President. As a result, according to the Post's David Broder, Mr. Obama must remain sensitive to the concerns of independent voters even if this requires him to modify or delay some of his policy goals such as reforming health care or imposing a carbon cap trading system.  On one level, this argument is clearly correct. ...  However, the assumption that independents are non-aligned--that they are free thinkers who have no predisposition to support one party or the other--is inaccurate and misleading."

Rush Builds a Revolution (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post

"According to a Rasmussen poll released last week, 37 percent of Americans under age 30 prefer capitalism, 33 percent prefer socialism and 30 percent are undecided. ...  For one thing, they signal that the link between socialism and anti-Americanism has been weakened and, among the young, all but destroyed."

Floundering GOP Looking for a Turnaround from Time Magazine

"Essentially leaderless, lacking a cohesive message and fighting among themselves, Republicans appear to be in disarray, raising the question: Has the party bottomed out yet?"

Is the GOP Waving Bye-bye to Sarah Palin? (Washington Whispers) from US News and World Report

I had been tracking Palin's trajectory within the GOP for some time -- no surprise here.  Forecast: the Alaska GOP is not finished roughing her up -- look for some payback from the late Senator "Uncle Ted" Stevens and his network of old-timers.

"Worse than Dan Quayle before her, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's bright star has fast faded in the eyes of Washington Republican officials and analysts, calling into question her efforts to become a national party figure ready to run for the White House."

Here Come the Plastic Pitchforks (Thomas Frank) from the Wall Street Journal

"They will put on three-cornered hats, wave "don't tread on me" flags, and imagine that they are channeling the spirit of Tom Paine as they do their part to ease the troubles of the economy's winners.  And Fox News, ..., will no doubt hail this plastic populism as the realest kind of social uprising, a movement that is the rightful expression of this year's discontents."

Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties Steeped in Insanity (Marc Cooper) from the Los Angeles Times

"I can recall only a few outbreaks of such collective insanity as these tea parties in recent years. ... a few years back, there was that chilling, televised midnight seance from the floor of the U.S. Congress aimed at reviving the long-brain-dead Terri Schiavo.  And now this. Whip out your Lipton and don your tinfoil hat and join the protest against ... against ... against what exactly?"

The Ultimate Reaping of What One Sows: Right-Wing Edition (Glenn Greenwald) from Salon

It was inevitable that Glenn was going to weigh in on this subject -- not much left standing after this lengthy demolition of this week's set of hard-right talking points on Obama's DOJ.

"The political faction screeching about the dangers of the DHS is the same one that spent the last eight years vastly expanding the domestic Surveillance State and federal police powers in every area.  DHS -- and the still-creepy phrase "homeland security" -- became George Bush's calling card.  ...  All of the enabling legislation underlying this Surveillance State -- from the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act, from the various FISA "reforms" to massive increases in domestic "counter-Terrorism" programs -- are the spawns of the very right-wing movement that today is petrified that this is all being directed at them."

DHS Warns of 'Right-Wing Extremists' from Politico

"A new Department of Homeland Security report is warning law enforcement officials of a growing threat of “right-wing extremist groups.” "

Party Like It's 1995! (Joan Walsh) from Salon

"Obama will spend Tax Day promoting his middle-class tax cut, while Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich lead their Tea Party movement off a cliff."

Republicans Twittering Away Their Credibility (Gloria Borger) from CNN

These days, it seems that every time the Republicans open their mouths, they underscore the point Borger is making here about credibility.  Obama's remains undamaged (or even grows) and theirs declines further.  I suspectthe Obama folks KNOW this too.

"If Republicans can't allow that the president did his job well in this unambiguous case, why should we believe their complaints about anything else? If they can't pat him on the back for this one, why should we even listen to their arguments about the budget, about health care, about energy?"

VIDEO NUGGET!!

Obama Discusses Economic Plans from CNBC and the New York Times

"VICTORY OVER CYNICISM" VIDEO NUGGET!!

Confession: I DESPISE programs like American Idol.  I really do.  They have always struck me as the most vile exercises in mutual exhibitionism by people who the universe RIGHTLY didn't make them stars in the first place.  This clip of Susan Boyle of the UK (which has gone viral on YouTube) seems to me to be exceptional in all the ways that matter.

PENNSYLVANIA NUGGET!

From E-mails to Elvis: Inside the World's Mine of Information from the Times [of London]

In Boyers, PA -- Who knew?

"Under the rolling hills and pastures of western Pennsylvania lies a treasure trove for the 21st century. Where once miners used dynamite to blow out chunks of limestone for use in the steel industry, data centres hum 220ft underground."

ARCHITECTURE NUGGET!!

Architects Chosen for Smithsonian's Museum of African American History from the New York Times

"A dream almost a century old moved another step closer to reality on Tuesday as the Smithsonian Institution chose a team led by David Adjaye, the celebrated Tanzanian-born architect, to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open on the National Mall in Washington in 2015."