News Nuggets 293

An amazing picture of a gorilla at the National Zoo in Washington DC - from Americablog.

British General: Taliban Thought We Were on the Run, But the Tables Have Turned from Telegraph [of the UK]

"Now the Taliban have been driven from their primitive citadel, and the tribal chiefs have crowded into the dusty compound to thank the British troops who had masterminded their liberation. "The British are our friends. They have given us our lives back," explains one farmer. "We now have the chance to make a better life for ourselves.""

Leading Pakistani Taliban Deputy Believed Killed from RealClearWorld

"Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was believed to be among a number of insurgents killed Friday at a sprawling compound in the northwest Mohmand tribal region, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said."

Iran in Its Intricacy (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times

"The war option remains unthinkable, a potential disaster for the United States and Israel. It’s therefore worth outlining, before the drumbeat intensifies in the run-up to the mid-term U.S. elections, 10 truths about Iran."

Talking to Iran Has Helped the US (Editorial) from the Guardian [of the UK]

"Critics say it has been a waste of time but Barack Obama's worldwide diplomatic outreach is beginning to deliver results."

Bybee, Yoo and America's Tortured Soul from The Root

"No, the authors of the notorious torture memos did not get away with it, no matter what they – or the media –say."

Why Obama Will Ultimately Win with Health Care (Ellen Ratner) from FOX News

From FOX News to God's ear!

"The Democrats may lose seats in the mid-term elections but in the end getting access to health care and eliminating the games played by the health insurance industry will make many reticent Americans come over to the Obama side."

For Pursuit of Education Reform, Give Obama Credit (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post

"In its rhetoric, spending and budget, the Obama administration has promoted two ambitious principles: serious consequences for chronically failing schools, including mass teacher firings and takeovers by charters, and the use of student performance to assess individual teachers and principals. There is no purely political explanation for this approach."

Virginia Attorney General Orders Colleges to STOP Protecting Gays from the Washington Post

This is truly outrageous. Here's a conservative official conducting an ANTI-CIVIL RIGHTS movement - using state power to INSURE inequality! Supreme Court - here we come. This (I suspect) will lay the rationale ultimately for federal civil rights legislation banning discrimination against LGBT folks. It'll be years or even decades from now -- but I can't help but think this is going to powerfully up the ante for gay civil rights groups and their supporters.

"Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has urged the state's public colleges and universities to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, arguing in a letter sent to each school that their boards of visitors had no legal authority to adopt such statements."

Young Voters' Approval of Obama Historically High -- Can Dems Keep Them? (Eric Kleefeld) from TalkingPointsMemo

"A new analysis from Gallup finds that as President Obama's ratings have gone up and down, one constant has remained: A sharply disproportionate level of support among younger voters, with an age gap that simply didn't happen with his two predecessors."

Karl Rove Sets the Record Straight - Sort Of (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post

"Rove's book is 600 pages thick, the work of a man with a lot of scores to settle. But it deserves a better title. In the model of Karen Hughes's memoir, "Ten Minutes from Normal," Rove's work should be called "Ten Thousand Miles from Self-Aware.""

Bart Stupak Abortion Claims Debunked: Health Bill Would NOT Force Federal Spending on Abortion from ABC News via Huffington Post

WOW! ABC actually commits journalism!! They didn't just do the "he said, she said" followed by the "go figure."

"Stupak argued that "when you read the legislation, $1 per month for all enrollees must go into a fund for reproductive care which includes abortion coverage." Karl's research of the wording of the bill finds this statement to be false."

Makes you wonder what his game really is.

The Texas Taliban from Little Green Footballs

"There’s been talk lately in Texas about seceding from the US. Even Republican Governor Rick Perry has broadly hinted that Texas should exercise its “tenth amendment” rights. Well, here’s a website that makes me think it might be a good idea to let them do it: Repent Amarillo. This is the Texas Taliban, similar in almost all respects to their Afghanistan soulmates, except that they pray to a different God."

WHALE NUGGET!!

Swimming with Sperm Whales from The Week

"A close encounter with the species that inspired "Moby Dick" filled author Philip Hoare not with dread but wonder."

MIDEAST CULTURE NUGGET!!

Mullahs Help Promote Birth Control in Afghanistan from USAToday

"Use of the pill, condoms and injected forms of birth control rose to 27% over eight months in three rural areas — up to half the woman in one area — once the benefits were explained one-on-one by health workers, according to the report published Monday."

An ONLY-IN-EUROPE NUGGET!!

The Hoof, the Whole Hoof...Swiss to Vote on Legal Rights for Animals from the Independent [of the UK]

"Opinion polls have indicated that 70 per cent of the Swiss population support the scheme. It is already illegal to keep lone goldfish, guinea pigs, canaries and budgerigars in Switzerland because they could become lonely and suffer as a result. Dog owners have to take training courses and from 2013 it will be against the law to keep horses tied up in their stalls."

I am a staunch supporter of strict animal cruelty laws and have no problems with sending offenders away for long stints in the slammer -- but, maybe its just me, this strikes me as more than excessive.