On top of our DOG-O-MATIC from earlier this week, we get this out of Wuhan, China. As if poodles weren't put through enough as it is! I suspect that the canine species (collectively) must be questioning the company they keep these days -- from Time Magazine.
Signs of Dissent Emerge in an Iranian Power Base from the New York Times
"The region’s relative insularity and lack of access to the outside world has led to a public silence that suggests that antagonism to the government is mainly limited to the large urban centers. But a recent four-day trip to the region turned up signs that growing segments of these rural populations, particularly the young and the educated, have lost faith in the current government."
A Coup in Iran? (Reza Aslan) from the Daily Beast
"As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is sworn in for another term as president, his parliament is publicly rebuking and investigating him. The Daily Beast’s Reza Aslan on how long he can survive."
Bill Clinton and Journalists in Emotional Return to US from the New York Times
"Former President Bill Clinton arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday morning after a dramatic 20-hour visit to North Korea, in which he won the freedom of two American journalists, opened a diplomatic channel to North Korea’s reclusive government and dined with the North’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il."
This sounds really interesting and inspiring -- has the possibility to really move things off the dime in Korea.
Analysis: The Return of the Globetrotting Bill Clinton from the Times [of London]
"Far from usurping his wife’s authority, the mission to Korea is a masterstroke that takes advantage of a valuable resource unique in the world of diplomacy."
The Health Care Guns of August (Jonathan Cohn) from the New Republic
"After a tumultuous few weeks, the latest news in health reform is still worth savoring. ... Given that Democrats control the presidency as well as Congress--it seems unlikely that the year will close without some sort of health care legislation on President Obama’s desk. The White House wants a win and will, I tend to think, get it."
Another title play on the Barbara Tuchman classic, The Lies of August (Robert Schrum) from The Week
"August will be a liar's month, breeding conspiracy theories and falsehoods out of the cynical opposition to health-insurance reform. President Obama's invitation to bipartisanship has been answered by Republicans with expedient delay and a rising cacophony of fear-mongering."
Obama And DNC Try Turning Angry Mobs And Drudge Into Benefits (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
This could be interesting -- another political jujitsu move by Obama
"The White House and allied Democrats are ramping up efforts to make belligerent anti-Obama town hall crowds -- and the media outlets that feed their resentment -- the face of opposition to the president's health care agenda, aides tell the Huffington Post."
Lo and Behold -- an example of their ad campaign shows up from the DNC. Look HERE. Not bad!
Obama Taps Another Republican for Post from The Hill
"Obama on Tuesday sent former Rep. Anne Northup's (R-Ky.) nomination to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to the Senate, an appointment that will last for seven years."
To Tell the Truth, These Conspiracists Scare Me (James Bone) from the Times [of London]
"Sometimes reporters may be asked to cover a story that is intellectually scary. Those assignments are less dramatic but can reveal more about human nature. Perhaps the most intellectually scary assignment I have had in recent years was to cover a meeting of the so-called "9/11 Truth Movement" in the East Village, New York."
Filibuster Nation (Harold Meyerson) from the Washington Post
"When future historians look back at this passage in our nation's history, I suspect they'll conclude that this Obama-isn't-American nuttiness refracted the insecurities and, in some cases, the hatred that a portion of conservative white America felt about having a black president and about the transformation of what many thought of as their white nation into a genuinely multiracial republic. But whatever the reasons, a mobilized minority is making a very plausible play to thwart a demobilized majority."
A Tip for the GOP: Look Away (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"Not all Southern Republicans are wing nuts. Nor does the GOP have a monopoly on ignorance or racism. And, the South, for all its sins, is also lush with beauty, grace and mystery. Nevertheless, it is true that the GOP is fast becoming regionalized below the Mason-Dixon line and increasingly associated with some of the South's worst ideas."
For the Modern GOP, It's a Return to the 'White Voter Strategy" (Thomas Edsall) from the Huffington Post
"With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a "white voter" strategy."
`Natural-born' -- The Most Un-American Section of the Constitution (Eric Zorn) of the Chicago Tribune
"Two new polls suggest that the Grand Old Party is having a Grand Old Meltdown over where President Barack Obama was born. ... To me, the size of this crazy caucus is evidence of a party in crippling, delusional disarray, captives to rumor and irrational hatred."
Source for Forged Kenyan Birth Certificate Found? (Alex Kupperman) from Salon
"Over the weekend, Birther-in-Chief Orly Taitz released what could have been a shocking discovery: A document that was purportedly a certified copy of President Obama's Kenyan birth certificate, showing that he'd been born in Mombasa, Kenya, not in Hawaii. It took just 48 hours to definitively expose Taitz's find as a forgery, and for the document that it was apparently based off of to surface."
Birther Leader Orly Taitz Implodes on MSNBC from the Christian Science Monitor
"Maybe today was the tipping point. The point where finally the birther movement starts to lose its steam. ... So what might be that illustrious tipping point today? An inside job. An implosion. A self-cratering. Whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t pretty. But, strangely, you can’t look away."
BOOK NUGGET!!
Inside "The Battle for America, 2008" from Politico. Read also Roger Simon's interview with the authors HERE.
"The Battle for America 2008" appears in bookstores on Tuesday. Here's POLITICO's guide to some of its must-read passages"
A related ELECTION NUGGET!!
How Obama Snared the Lion of the Senate (Balz & Johnson) from the Washington Post
"Kennedy admired Clinton but felt she was wrong for the times. A successful candidacy in 2008 had to be an outside-Washington effort. You couldn't be a Washington insider and run effectively; Clinton appeared to be positioning herself in just the wrong way. Kennedy believed that the time was right for Obama and that Clinton was, as an associate put it, "the past."
MOVIE NUGGET!!
HBO Obama Documentary: Backstage at the Campaign from Politics Daily
"If the Obama team needs a shot in the arm — as it faces a tough patch ahead with health care legislation and a still-struggling economy — HBO’s new documentary, “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama,” will remind the president and his top aides how and why they got to the White House in the first place."
INTERNATIONAL CULTURE NUGGET!!
Beirut, the Provincetown of the Middle East from the New York Times
"Beirut represents a different Middle East for some gay and lesbian Arabs: the only place in the region where they can openly enjoy a social life denied them at home."
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