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Thursday, October 29, 2009

News Nuggets 247


This hilarious image was from the New Yorker's "Pets in Halloween Costumes" contest from earlier in the week. What a howl (literally)!! Fortunately, the dog seems to be taking it all with good humor.


One Year of The One from the Economist

"The best test of Mr Obama’s presidency is not whether he changes things quickly but whether he changes them for the better."


Britain Out in the Cold as US Exits Recession from the Times [of London]

"Gordon Brown is facing growing embarrassment over Britain’s recovery after it became the world’s only major economy still in recession as America returned to growth in the third quarter."


Inside Obama's Iran Policy Shop from World Politics Review

"To fill the void of knowledge resulting from 30 years of diplomatic estrangement, the Obama administration has turned to scholars and experts for insight into the Persian nation. Indeed, President Barack Obama's policy of outreach toward Tehran has been decisively shaped by the wide array of Iran experts, both within the administration and without, from whom he has taken advice."


Victory for Obama Over Military Lobby from the New York Times

"When the Obama administration proposed canceling a host of expensive weapons systems last spring, some of the military industry’s allies in Congress assumed, as they had in the past, that they would have the final say. But as the president signed a $680 billion military policy bill on Wednesday, it was clear that he had succeeded in paring back nearly all of the programs and setting a tone of greater restraint than the Pentagon had seen in many years."


Obama Still Playing it Cool on Health Care (David Corn) from Politics Daily

"I’ve said to them that Obama will ultimately be judged by the outcome of this political and policy battle. If there’s a decent bill when the dust settles, the individual decisions he made along the way will no longer be second-guessed. Results are what matters."


Obama's Dover Salute Is an Iconic Image of His Presidency from the Huffington Post

"President Obama didn't have to go to Dover. George W. Bush never went we're told. Obama could've stayed back at the White House and kept some distance from the war--almost suggesting it is the responsibility of the former president. But instead he chose to put himself firmly in front as the Commander in Chief."

The Anti-Corporate GOP? from Newsweek

"As political alliances go, few are more cemented in the public consciousness than the bond between the Republican Party and business. But, upon closer inspection, the GOP–big business relationship doesn't seem so cozy."


Palin Lights Match at Republican Bonfire (Margaret Carlson) from the Bloomberg News Service

"Hoffman couldn’t answer the simplest questions on local economic and transportation issues posed by the editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times, whining that they were “parochial” and should have been given to him in advance. In my parochial school that was called cheating."


The Woman Behind Michelle Obama from The Root

"Reggie Love isn’t the only person in the White House who knows a thing or two about the Obamas. Enter Kristen Jarvis."


BOOK NUGGET!!

The Audacity to Win: How They Did It from Time Magazine

Excerpts from David Plouffe's upcoming book. Very Interesting!


OBAMA FAMILY NUGGET!!

The First Marriage (Jodi Kantor) from the upcoming issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine

"The Obamas were talking about the impact of the presidency on their relationship, and doing so in that setting — we were in the room that epitomizes official power, discussing the highly unofficial matter of dates — began to seem like a metaphor for the topic itself."


ANTHROPOLOGY NUGGET!!

Survival of the Weakest: Why Neanderthals Went Extinct from Newsweek

"Finlayson writes. "To accept our existence as the product of chance requires a large dose of humility." But in a provocative new book, The Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived, he argues that chance is precisely what got us here. "A slight change of fortunes and the descendants of the Neanderthals would today be debating the demise of those other people that lived long ago," he argues."


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