UP-FRONT SCIENCE NUGGET!!
Photos of Trees on Mars? from NASA via the Huffington Post
What the Hell. Look for yourself.
Views: What Happens if Democrats Lose in Massachusetts? from the Washington Post
"The Post asked political experts to explain the prospects for Democrats if Martha Coakley is defeated in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts. Below are contributions from Norman J. Ornstein, Dan Schnur, Mary Beth Cahill, Ed Rogers, Robert J. Blendon and Martin Frost."
My own view: it would not surprise me to see Coakley lose on Tuesday. Even if she wins by a narrow margin, , there will be a lot of inflated rhetoric coming on Wednesday. There are several points which I hope the Democrats will not lose track of in the ensuing hullabaloo. First, one thing I'm clear about is that the Dem leadership on the state and federal levels have forgotten what got them their majorities in Congress in the first place: picking strong candidates! The record so far has been terrible. See the senate picks that have been made with Burris of Illinois (a joke by any standard in the face of many other stronger interested candidates); Gillibrand of New York (an inexplicable nonentity, again in the face of stronger folks who wanted the nod); Meeks running in Florida (a certain loser in November); their gubernatorial pick in Virginia (Creigh Deeds) who had all the traction of a bald tire; and now Martha "It's My Turn" Coakley. All of these picks have, so far, had quite predictable results. In Massachusetts, I'm convinced that Joe Kennedy, with determined courting, could have been wooed into the race. Kennedy is not a perfect candidate -- but he would have won it handily. Chuck Schumer, Senator of New York and former head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, made his kind of wooing a specialty. Win or lose, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, current head of DSCC, should get the axe!
Second point: Both Obama and the Dems seem to have put their formidable media operations on ice.Their strategy seems to have been to impress the voters with their capacity to endure flogging. It is long-past-due for them to be counter-attacking and to make the GOP pay for their reckless rhetoric. And yet, despite claims that they have a "plan for fighting back" ready to be sprung, they have been saying that for months. If they can't come up with winning counter-punches (and I mean ASAP) they are doomed.
Unified Field Theory: Google, China, Haiti (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"At home, the Chinese are busy building for the future, but out in the world, China looks like an anachronism. Web-filtering software? Picking on Australian film festivals? Please. This is not the behavior of a mature world power but the actions of a teenager that thinks the world should conform to her demands."
I've been loving Fallows' takedowns of China since he returned to the US several months ago.
The Greening of Islam from the Nation
"The Green Movement (and the Ayatollah Khamenei’s clumsy response to it) has exacerbated a split with Shiism. It has accelerated the development of profound and potentially far-reaching doctrinal innovations. The course of the coming months will determine the extent to which these innovations will transform Shiism and Iran."
Ayatollahs Desert Iran's Besieged Regime from The Australian
"Undisputed authority, he thought, with a back-up from Allah, cannot be challenged. But as events in Iran unfold, it becomes clear this is no longer the case. Not only is the leader challenged but also his self-ascribed monopoly on God."
Yeman Says It Has Killed Possible Chief of Qaeda Cell from the New York Times
Boy, that didn't take long! I suspect Yemani authorities are anxious to get the US and other foreign gov'ts off their backs.
"Yemeni security forces killed a man suspected of leading a cell of Al Qaeda and captured four other militants on Wednesday morning, hours after two soldiers were killed by Qaeda members in a neighboring district, Yemeni officials said."
Accord Reached on Insurance Tax for Costly Plans from the New York Times
"The White House, Congressional leaders and labor unions said Thursday that they had reached agreement on a proposal to tax high-cost health insurance policies, resolving one of the major differences between the House and the Senate over far-reaching health legislation."
EXCLUSIVE: Obama Wins More Cuts in Spending Than Bush from (gasp!) the Washington Times
This is indeed a fist for this blog -- a Washington Times nugget!
"President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years."
Where's Our Sputnik? (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"Dick Cheney says President Obama is “trying to pretend that we are not at war” with terrorists. There is only one thing I have to say about that: I sure hope so."
Can Obama Stop the War on Science (Paul Waldman) from American Prospect
"A lot of practical good can be done by the administration in encouraging scientific advancement. But chances are that the next Republican administration will start Bush's war all over again."
Tea Party Convention: Imploding? from The Week
"A key sponsor of the protesters' first national gathering has pulled out, and some of activists are unhappy. Is the Tea Party ending early?"
Michelle Obama Reflects on First Year of Kids, Clothes, and Crashers from The Huffington Post
"Michelle Obama reflected on her first year in the White House on Wednesday and calmly claimed no need for any do-overs: Even the things that didn't go quite right were part of the learning curve, the first lady said, and that includes the November state dinner penetrated by three party-crashers."
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