News Nuggets 210

New and interesting fashion statements at the Ascot Raceway in the UK!

Tehran Braces for Another Day of Street Battles from Time Magazine

"Life in the capital of Iran seems eerily normal on the eve of what will likely be one of the larger demonstrations in recent weeks. Indeed, many fear it may be the bloodiest of all."

Ahmadinejad's Woes: Alienating Allies in Iran from Time Magazine

"Ahmadinejad is now fending off threats of being deposed by the country's hard-liners, his erstwhile allies. ... The group, the Islamic Society of Engineers, alluded to a possible coup by comparing Ahmadinejad to both Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, who was booted in a CIA-orchestrated coup in 1953, and Abol-Hassan Banisadr, the Islamic Republic's first President, who went into exile after he challenged Ayatullah Khomeini's authority."

The Need for Strategic Patience on Iraq (Robert Dreyfuss) from the Nation

"Outrage over the treatment of prisoners spans the Iranian political spectrum, from liberal reformists to hardliners to several outspoken clergy, including grand ayatollahs.  Meanwhile, among the hardliners, there is a growing, increasingly bitter dispute between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Leader, and President Ahmadinejad, that could have explosive consequences."

The Losers Hang On (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times

"After spending a week traveling the frontline of the “war on terrorism” — from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Reagan in the seas off Iran, to northern Iraq, to Afghanistan and into northwest Pakistan — I can comfortably report the following: The bad guys are losing.  Yes, the dominos you see falling in the Muslim world today are the extremist Islamist groups and governments."

Obama Administration Officials in Israel to Demand End to Settlement Building from the [Manchester] Guardian

"Barack Obama has dispatched a clutch of senior American officials to Jerusalem to press his demand for an end to Jewish settlement construction and move along a diplomatic process aimed at imposing a blueprint for peace if negotiations fail."

Holder Probe Would Be Big Break from Bush Torture Policy from the Washington Independent

"A series of letters between Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and the Bush administration’s Department of Justice shed light on a reportedly impending Justice Department investigation that would mark the Obama administration’s first clear break from its predecessor’s policy of refusing to prosecute the torture and abuse of terror suspects."

House Democrats Clinch Healthcare Deal from Reuters

"emocrats broke a logjam in President Barack Obama's drive to revamp the costly U.S. healthcare system on Wednesday when a group of party conservatives accepted a compromise that allowed an overhaul bill to advance in the House of Representatives."

Dems Warn Baucus with Gavel Threat from The Hill

SOMEBODY has to start knocking some sense into the committee leaders in both the House and the Senate.

"In an apparent warning to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), some liberal Democrats have suggested a secret-ballot vote every two years on whether or not to strip committee chairmen of their gavels."

The Ultimate Obama Insider from the New York Times Sunday Magazine

"If Valerie Jarrett told Barack Obama that something was the right thing to do, he would very likely do it."

Steaks, Pragmatism, and the View from the Delta (Jon Meacham) from Newsweek

"It is tempting to paint the scene at Doe's as something you would expect in an unreconstructed red-state redoubt, and then perhaps contrast the gathering in the Delta with the president's prime-time press conference as images of parallel worlds that will never intersect.  But that narrative, however appealing in its familiarity, feels at once glib and antique."

Birthers are Citizens of Idiot America (Editorial) from the [Manchester] Guardian

"The media must stop pandering to the conspiracy theorists who are challenging Barack Obama's US citizenship."

Will the Birthers Help of Hurt Obama? (Howard Fineman) from Newsweek

"White House wise guys seem to think there is political profit to be reaped in encouraging—or at least putting the spotlight on—the anti-everything fundamentalists and public paranoids who are emerging at a time when the legitimate conservative movement and the Republican Party with it are weak."

Will the Birthers Doom the GOP? from the Daily Beast

"The GOP, reduced to hosting loonies who obsess over Obama’s birthplace, is slipping into the ash heap. The Daily Beast’s John Batchelor on why Republican incoherence may doom the party to the fate of the Whigs."

The Right Bails on the Birthers from Salon

"What has the world come to when Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly represent the rational side of the Republican Party?"

Birthers Part Deux: Republicans Divided from FireDogLake

"In this installment, we find the Republicans split into two camps:..."

SPORTS NUGGET!!

I don't follow baseball much anymore -- but THIS CATCH shown on Huffington Post is unbelievable!

HISTORY NUGGET!!

Mystery of Watergate Tape's Missing 18 Minutes May Finally Be Solved from the Times [of London]

"One of the great political mysteries — what was said by President Nixon during a suspicious 18-minute gap on the Watergate tapes — could soon be solved thanks to a keen-eyed amateur sleuth and modern crime-fighting technology."