News Nugget 223

A seal in Norway raised in captivity.  He will be released this week into the wild -- from the Chicago Tribune.  

Taliban Takedown: Pakistan Has Been an Early Obama Foreign-Policy Success from the Wall Street Journal

"Not all leaders are easily replaced, and the charismatic and daring Mehsud is probably one of them. He was by most accounts a key figure in uniting the dozen or so factions of the Taliban under his umbrella group Tehreek-e-Taliban."

Wow!  This actually looks like PRAISE from the WSJ!

The Death of Mehsud (Robert Dreyfuss) from the Nation

"The death of Baitullah Mehsud, if true, is a good thing for all concerned, not least for the people of Waziristan. ... It is, to me, an example of counterterrorism done right: precise targeting, little collateral damage, and high-value targets."

Averting the Worst (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times

"So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government."

What if We Win the Healthcare Debate? (David Frum) from Newmajority.com

AMAZING! A conservative pundit who can see beyond today's news cycle!

"We’ll have entrenched and perpetuated some of the most irrational features of a hugely costly and under-performing system, at the expense of entrepreneurs and risk-takers, exactly the people the Republican party exists to champion.  Not a good outcome."

The End of Polling? (Max Blumenthal) from the National Journal

"A statistics convention is not exactly the place you would expect to see a dramatic presentation. But if not drama, one presentation at last week's Joint Statistical Meeting in Washington, billed as the world's largest annual gathering of statisticians, did at least offer something of a surprise: A pollster willing to say that the telephone polling he conducts for a living is "doomed" by 2012."

A very interesting set of findings here!

Sotomayor and the 2010 Races from the Washington Post

"Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation to the Supreme Court last Thursday revealed the lingering concerns that many Republican officials and aspiring GOP candidates carry about angering their party's base."

The Tough Thing About Racism (Ta-Nehisi Coates) from the Atlantic

"I've never in my life really experience outright racism in a public place. Signs of Obama hung in effigy, racial slurs on signs, people chanting negative words ( too many to list) and outright screaming at Obama supporters. The hatred was in their eyes and they actually scared me for a

moment. ...  I'm still cold inside."

Some interesting reaction HERE at Daily Kos

Meet the Birthers from Mother Jones Magazine

"Meet the birthers: people who believe, despite truly overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and has illegally usurped the presidency."

Is the South Ruining the GOP? from the Daily Beast

"In a gaffe of truth, Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) said his “party’s being taken over by Southerners.” Lloyd Grove on the growing disconnect between Republicans and political reality."

'Birther' Coverage Hits Fever Pitch from Politico

"Shuster and Hall smacked down Taitz's arguments, along with the bogus Kenyan birth certificate making the rounds online. But by giving the birthers such a platform — even to knock them off of it — is MSNBC giving them more legitimacy than they deserve?"

Obama is Not the Antichrist (David Waters) from the Washington Post

"The arguments are so very bad and it is so over-the-top that I suspect a Colbert-like mockery of conservative Christians. If so, a disturbing number of people are taking it seriously."

TWO NEVER-THOUGHT-I'D-SEE-THEM STORIES

(1)  If We Only Had One Bill Clinton! from Sotal Iraq [of Iraq in English]

"How many nations would be lucky to have one man like this?! Only one, not more! ... Sadly for Iraq and its unfortunate people, we only produce caricature-like, wretched, greedy, voracious and bloodthirsty men, good only for looting, killing and slaughtering. The life of an Iraqi citizen means as much to them as the life of a beetle you step on, or at best, neglect and ignore."

(2) 'Heroic' Missions Put Team Clinton on Top from the Times [of London]

"A LITTLE more than a year ago, the American tabloids were in no doubt: Barack Obama had derailed the Hillary Clinton juggernaut, and Bill’n’Hill were heading for divorce. “Why on earth would she stay with him now?” one bemused online columnist wondered after Obama’s victory in the Democratic presidential primaries.  Last week the doubters had their answer."

CRAZY-BUT-COOL STUNTS NUGGET!!

At first, this stunt doesn't look so dangerous until you see how it ends.

HISTORY NUGGET!!

From Woodstock to Sarah Palin, or Not (Editorial) from the New York Times

"What was Woodstock’s particular significance in that era? And what is its real legacy, aside from being a one-word boo-getter at Republican political rallies? Was Woodstock less threatening than other, more serious chapters of the 60’s — like racial confrontation and antiwar militancy — because it was a commercial, rather than a political, turning point? Or did it inflame the silent majority and help create the Reagan revolution?"

NEW ANIMAL NUGGET!!

Flying Frog Among 353 New Himalayan Species from Agence France Presse via RawStory

"A flying frog, the world’s smallest deer and the first new monkey to be found in over a century are among 350 new species discovered in the eastern Himalayas in the past decade, the WWF said Monday."