News Nuggets 277

This is an amazing-looking type of mollusk called a nudibranch found in the Sulu Sea in the Phillipines - from the National Geographic.

Haiti response shows the difference between the EU and a superpower from the [London] Telegraph

"The earthquake in Haiti provoked prompt and effective action from the US, and waffle from the EU, says Christopher Booker"

The commentary here is really interesting -- and is probably exaggerated for effect in my view !

US Troops Patrol Haiti, Filling a Void from the New York Times

One can only hope that military authorities "contain themselves" and keep their eyes on why they are there.

"“There have been some reports and news stories out there that the U.S. is invading Haiti,” Colonel Kane said. “We’re not invading Haiti. That’s ludicrous. This is humanitarian relief.” Most Haitians seemed to see it that way, despite deep historic concerns about American troops in particular."

Bush is Gone: Let Us Not be Governed by Fear (Editorial) from the Frankfurter Rundschau [of Germany in English]

"Basically, Obama responded in the only a way government can, after a terror attack that failed only by luck: He has the mistakes analyzed, the security gaps investigated, and controls tightened. ... One cannot criticize Obama for blind vengeance. Unlike Bush, this U.S. president doesn't use fear to make policy."

Mysterious Assassination in Iran: Who Killed Masoud Ali Mohammadi? from Der Spiegal [of Germany in English]

This case continues to fascinate me!

"The recent assassination of physicist Masoud Ali Mohammadi in Tehran was baffling even by Iranian standards. The regime claims he was murdered by foreign agents, while some observers think he may have been killed to warn other opposition supporters. There is even speculation that Hezbollah was involved."

On the Massachusetts Election from the Editorial Board of the New York Times

"There are many theories about the import of Scott Brown’s upset victory in the race for Edward Kennedy’s former Senate seat. To our minds, it is not remotely a verdict on Mr. Obama’s presidency, nor does it amount to a national referendum on health care reform — even though it has upended the effort to pass a reform bill, which Mr. Obama made the centerpiece of his first year."

How to Pass the Bill - Whatever Happens Tuesday (Jonathan Cohn) from the New Republic

"After a weekend of interviews with Democratic staff, officials, and operatives, I've come to the conclusion that health care reform is not dead even if Martha Coakley loses on Tuesday--unless, that is, the Democrats let it die."

Relieved (Josh Marshall & Capitol Hill staffer) from Talking Points Memo

Lots of sad truth in this letter from a capitol hill staffer!

"I believe President Clinton provided some crucial insight when he said, "people would rather be with someone who is strong and wrong than weak and right." It's not that people are uninterested in who's right or wrong, it's that people will only follow leaders who seem to actually believe in what they are doing. Democrats have missed this essential fact."

2010 as 1994? Relax, Democrats (Nancy Cohen) from the Los Angeles Times

I agree - although not entirely for the reasons she cites.

"This year's midterm elections won't be a repeat of the GOP's surge to power in 1994. Why? Because almost everything we think we know about that election is wrong."

Paul Volcker Prevails from the Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post

"President Barack Obama on Thursday is expected to propose new limits on the size and risk taken by the country's biggest banks, marking the administration's latest assault on Wall Street in what could mark a return -- at least in spirit -- to some of the curbs on finance put in place

during the Great Depression."

Non-Stop News (Ken Auletta) from the New Yorker

"The news cycle is getting shorter -- to the point that there is no pause, only the constancy of the Web and the endless argument of cable. This creates pressure to entertain or perish, which has fed the press's dominant bias: not pro-liberal or pro-conservative but pro-conflict."

Louche Change: Trash Talk from the 2008 Campaign (Hendrik Hertzberg) from the New Yorker

"[Barack Obama] is the only principal whose aides do not experience moments of suspicion -- or, in the cases of Edwards and Palin, weeks of certainty -- that their candidate is unfit for the office that he or she seeks. Only the future President is exactly what he seemed to be: calm, determined, a little aloof, immune to the snares of anger or vengefulness. ... Game Change leaves one reassured that the voters, given the choices before them, chose well."

Connecticut GOP Primary Turns Into Smackdown in Fight for Dodd Seat from The Hill

"The Republicans running for Dodd’s seat, which Democrats have controlled since 1963, feel newly inspired by the tight Senate race just north in Massachusetts. The contest has turned nasty as Simmons and McMahon have exchanged a series of proverbial body slams, pile-drivers and elbows to the face"

I knew this was going to happen. This foreshadows what will be happening in many GOP primaries this year. In CT, one can only hope that they inflict as much damage on each other before they take on Blumenthal. My question: why do they look to MA and get inspired? Blumenthal is no Coakley. For either of them, he's going to eat them for lunch.

First Lady Asks Her Friends if They Still Recognize Her from the Associated Press via Huffington Post

"She has spent the past year giving the job of first lady a test run, settling her family into a new life in a new town, trying to avoid creating controversy for her already burdened husband and figuring out where to make her mark. ... Looking back, then, here are a few moments that help to sketch the portrait of a first lady who calls herself a "110-percenter," always looking to do more."

'MORE WIERDNESS FROM MARS' NUGGET!!

Stereo Speakers Can Levitate Dust for Mars Colonists from Wired Magazine

"Blasting a high-pitched noise from a tweeter into a pipe that focuses the sound waves can create enough pressure to lift troublesome alien dust from equipment, suits or vehicles, according to a study published January in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America."

See also Acoustic Levitation: Scientists Use Sound Make Objects Levitate from the Huffington Post

"Another group of researchers have developed another unusual application for sound: a method of "acoustic levitation" that could help maintain colonies on Mars or the moon by using high-pitched sound waves to remove alien dust."

BOOK NUGGET!!

Election Confidential: A Review of 'Game Change' (Jacob Heilbrunn) from the New York Times

Since this book seems to be sold out everywhere, might as well hear from someone who has read the darn thing.

"No doubt Obama, as Heilemann and Halperin emphasize, could also be a ruthless practitioner of political hardball and often benefited from a bedazzled press corps. But none of that fully explains his remarkable ascent. An incredulous Hillary Clinton, observing the political advantage Obama reaped from the financial meltdown in September 2008, was left to surmise, “God wants him to win.”"

If so, where's God been since?