News Nuggets 272

A Humbolt squid and diver -- from National Geographic

UP-FRONT SCIENCE NUGGET!!

On Issues Like Global Warming and Evolution, Scientists Need to Speak Up (Chris Mooney) from the Washington Post

Our ON-THE-MONEY editorial for the day!!

"The central lesson of Climategate is not that climate science is corrupt. The leaked e-mails do nothing to disprove the scientific consensus on global warming. Instead, the controversy highlights that in a world of blogs, cable news and talk radio, scientists are poorly equipped to communicate their knowledge and, especially, to respond when science comes under attack."

Soft on Terrorism? Not This President from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post

"There are two ways to show how baseless these attacks are: examining Mr. Obama's words and examining his actions. ... Mr. Obama's actions -- often at the cost of enraging his party's liberal base -- have also demonstrated tenacity and pragmatism blended with a necessary reassessment of the flawed policies of his predecessors and a recommitment to the rule of law."

The Degrading Effects of Terrorism Fears (Glenn Greenwald) from Salon

Following on David Brooks' recent column, Glenn gives powerful agreement.

"The citizenry has been trained to expect that our Powerful Daddies and Mommies in government will -- in that most cringe-inducing, child-like formulation -- Keep Us Safe. Whenever the Government fails to do so, the reaction -- just as we saw this week -- is an ugly combination of petulant, adolescent rage and increasingly unhinged cries that More Be Done to ensure that nothing bad in the world ever happens. Demands that genuinely inept government officials be held accountable are necessary and wise, but demands that political leaders ensure that we can live in womb-like Absolute Safety are delusional and destructive."

The Death of Theocracy (Christopher Hitchens) from Newsweek

It is quite rare that Mr. Hitchens ever makes a 'nugget' worth mentioning -- his arrogance drives me nuts. While I sympathize with some of what he says about organized religion, his needlessly provocative posturing, leaves me cold; he simply becomes a cartoon atheist for the religious conservatives. Here, however, I think he says something worth noting.

"A country that attempts to govern itself from a holy book will immediately find itself in decline: the talents of its females repressed and squandered, its children stultified by rote learning in madrassas, and its qualified and educated people in exile or in prison. There are no exceptions to this rule."

How to Help Iran's Green Movement Grow from the Daily Beast

"The notion of “Western influence” has carried stigma in Iran since 1953, when the U.S. helped overthrow the democratically elected prime minister. Today, how can Americans support the pro-democracy protesters in ways that won’t backfire? The Daily Beast examines the options for how to help without aiding the enemy."

Iran: Video Shows Gunman Opening Fire on Demonstrators, -- Who Fight Back from the Los Angeles Times

"Even though he opens fire on the crowd, possibly wounding or killing demonstrators, the protesters don't scatter away. Instead they fight back."

GOP Cash Woes Threaten House Bids from Politico

This is important.

"The National Republican Congressional Committee, the key cog in helping to finance GOP campaigns, has banked less than a third as much money as its Democratic counterpart and is ending the year with barely enough money to fully finance a single House race — no less the dozens that will be in play come 2010. "

How Cheney Made America a Torture Nation (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic

"After years of banging the drum for torture as a routine tool for US government, and accountable only to one supreme leader, the right has now shifted the goalposts again. The ticking time bomb is now an ancient criterion. Torture, for Cheney, is about treating every seized terror suspect as an intelligence target, and the entire system he created - of lawless prisons, disappearances, black sites, freezing cells, stress position shackles, upright coffins, neck-braces to slam prisoners repeatedly against plywood walls, waterboards, sensory deprivation techniques, dietary manipulation, forced-feeding, threats against relatives and children - was designed for torture as its end."

This Year Think Small (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast

"In passing health care, Obama spent his political capital almost down to the last dime. As much as I’d love Congress to pass cap and trade legislation to fight global warming, there’s probably not enough political bandwidth for a third piece of transformative legislation any time soon. ... So politically, Obama is going to have to spend 2010 doing what Reagan suggested: coasting."

While I suspect there is political wisdom here, somehow I don't think Obama is going to go this road. At the least, there will be a lot of focus on the economy and on foreign affairs. But I also think he will try to get at least ONE more major initiative through Congress. In the legislative/political arena, despite his reputation for caution, Obama strikes me as a real risk-taker.

Twenty-five Politicians to Watch in 2010 from Politico

"There is a small galaxy of candidates and officeholders whose actions—or reactions—are especially consequential and worth watching because of the role they will play in shaping the legislative or political environment. Here is POLITICO’s list of 25 of politicians to watch in 2010"

Light, With Intermittent Heat Likely (Andrew Cohen) from the Atlantic

"The lines between television news and entertainment haven't just been blurred; they have been obliterated by a terribly divisive and destructive mix: the cynicism and greed of television executives and the concomitant apathy, ignorance, and lack of curiosity on the part of the American people. "

Glenn Beck's National Domination (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post

"The 45-year-old recovering alcoholic and Mormon convert has become the first true demagogue of the information age. His nightly diet of falsehoods and conspiracies on Fox, and his daily outrages on the radio, have propelled his popularity past even Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. His method is simple: He goes places where others are forbidden by conscience."

INTERVIEW NUGGET!!

The Anguish of Decision: Lessons on War from McNamara and Bundy (Bob Woodward & M. Goldstein) from the Washington Post

I forgot to post this fascinating item from October concerning Vietnam. Goldstein is the author of the "hot inside the White House" book, Lessons in Disaster.

"As Obama grapples with Afghanistan, the final interviews with Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy offer the lessons of Vietnam."

HOLLYWOOD NUGGET!!

Hollywood Royalty: The Two Sides of Grace Kelly from the New Yorker

"Starlight can be quantified—1954 was “this year of Grace,” according to Life—but its effect on maddened mortals below is all but impossible to gauge. The Kelly effect is not unlike the James Dean effect (three great films, three bit parts), whereby a few brief hours of screen time continue unquenchably to burn."