Aurora season in the northern hemisphere begins. From National Geographic Daily News.
Coping with the Copenhagen Syndrome from E-Sharp
A VERY interesting look at how marginalized Europeans and the EU have become of late with various reactions.
"Thomas Renard assesses the implications of the "interpolar" world that was on display at last December's global climate conference in the Danish capital"
Israelis View Obama Favorably, Mixed on Netanyahu from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"A poll released Friday shows that Israelis overwhelmingly have a favorable impression of President Barack Obama, despite a grave diplomatic feud with the U.S. over east Jerusalem construction."
BOY, you would never guess it from reading the Israeli editorial opinion pages!
US Doesn't Believe Us (Editorial) from Y-Net News [of Israel]
"The problem is that officials at the White House and State Department don’t believe us and don’t really wish to view Israel as the intimate preferred partner it has been for years. At once, the incident took us back to Obama’s first days on the job – everyone is equal before him, Jews and Arabs, Bibi and Abbas."
How Barack Beat Bibi (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"The spat between America and Israel is hurting Netanyahu more than Obama. Peter Beinart on the fallout in the Mideast."
After a Bitter Campaign, Forging an Alliance from the New York Times
A good long-form piece on the Obama-Clinton relationship these days.
"Sixteen months after Mr. Obama surprised nearly everyone by picking her as secretary of state, the two have again surprised nearly everyone by forging a credible partnership. Mrs. Clinton has proved to be an eager team player, a tireless defender of the administration, ever deferential to Mr. Obama and careful to ensure that her husband, the former president, does not upstage her boss."
Obama and the Supertanker (Ron Brownstein) from the National Journal
"The fight has opened a second window into Obama. The key here is his 2008 campaign assertion that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America" more than Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton did. The health care struggle suggests that Obama views changing that trajectory as the ultimate measure of a presidency's success."
Democrats' Momentum Building for Sunday Health Vote (Patricia Murphy) from Politics Daily
"The tide seemed to turn for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats on Thursday morning, when the Congressional Budget Office released a very preliminary, but highly favorable, cost estimate for the newly combined House and Senate bills that the chambers will take up under reconciliation."
CBO Score on Health Care Bill Released; Boosts Democrats' Hopes of Passing Reform from Huffington Post
"Comprehensive health care reform will cost the federal government $940 billion over a ten-year period, but will increase revenue and cut other costs by a greater amount, leading to a reduction of $138 billion in the federal deficit over the same period, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, a Democratic source tells HuffPost. It will cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the second ten year period."
As Passage of Health Care Reform Nears, A Historic Chance to Help Fix Washington, Too (Steven Perlstein) from the Washington Post
"Indeed, although you'd never know it from the overheated rhetoric, the remarkable thing about the final proposal is how little it would change things, at least initially, for most Americans. That's no accident -- in fact, it's by political design. This plan is more like a time-release tablet meant to reform the system slowly from the inside out rather than surgically from the outside in."
Five Myths About the Health Care Reform Battle (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"After more than a year of proposals, protests and political rhetoric, President Obama's health-care plan is headed to a final showdown in the House this weekend. And although most Americans -- and probably a few members of Congress -- have little idea of what exactly is in the bill, the mythology about how we got here is already well on its way to being constructed. Here are a few misconceptions about the health care reform battle that should be busted before the history is written:"
Hoyer: Democrats Have Strategy to Fight Legal Challenges to Health Bill from The Hill
"Hoyer said that while he has "little doubt," Democrats are expecting — and are prepared for — a court challenge. "We believe that the administration, the Justice Department and our own counsel will indicate that we believe, certainly, that this bill is constitutional," he said. "I think in a bill of this magnitude, certainly there will be challenges.""
I'm glad. They're going to NEED IT!
Kucinich's Health-Care Vote Could be Obama's Lucky Charm (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"According to legend, if you catch a leprechaun in the forest, the little creature must grant you three wishes. Our Kenyan Hawaiian commander in chief evidently has the luck of the Irish, because, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, President Obama bagged himself a leprechaun -- in Cleveland, of all places -- and on Wednesday his first wish was granted."
Democrats Discover the Benefits of Taking a Stand on Health Reform (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post
"If health-care reform finally staggers across the finish line, it will be because President Obama and congressional Democrats recognized -- at long last -- the truth that has been staring them in the face for more than a year: They'll be better off politically if they just try their best to do the right thing."
The 'Delusional Left' Wins (Eric Alterman) from the Daily Beast
"Which vulnerable Dems get to vote 'no' on health care? That's the question facing Pelosi, who says, "Every vote around here is a heavy lift." Eric Alterman on why progressives came around."
Insiders Betting on Health Care Passing from the National Journal
"While GOPers in the House and Senate appear to be holding ranks in their unanimous opposition to health care reform and allied interest groups are pouring millions of dollars into 11th-hour television ads to defeat the measure, GOP operatives and lobbyists nevertheless believe the legislation is likely to pass, according to the latest National Journal Political Insiders Poll."
Pope's Former Dioces Faces 'Tsunami' of Abuse, Allegations from the Associated Press, via the Huffington Post
I simply don't get that the higher ups in Rome are remotely prepared for the what's headed their way right now.
"MUNICH — Pope Benedict XVI's former diocese is facing new allegations of physical and sexual abuse on a daily basis, the head of its new sex-abuse task force said Friday. "It is like a tsunami," Elke Huemmeler, who leads the diocese's newly founded abuse prevention task force, told The Associated Press"
The Media Myth of Obama's 'Falling Poll Numbers' (Eric Boehlert) from the Huffington Post
"Feeding off right-wing talking points, political journalists love to push the idea that Obama's polling numbers are in the tank and that he's fading fast. It's all part of the preferred, CW narrative that his entire presidency is slipping away. Slight problem: It's not true."
WOW! We are this far down through our nuggets today before we get to our first Tea Party nugget! There day must be passing.
The Misinformed Tea Party from Forbes Magazine
No real surprise here - but it confirms my sense of them nonetheless.
"For an antitax group, they don't know much about taxes. ... No matter how one slices the data, the Tea Party crowd appears to believe that federal taxes are very considerably higher than they actually are, whether referring to total taxes as a share of GDP or in terms of the taxes paid by a typical family. Tea Partyers also seem to have a very distorted view of the direction of federal taxes."
Steve Benen at Washington Monthly has some reactions to this data HERE.
POIGNANT FAMILY NUGGET!!
Letting Go of My Father (Jonathan Rauch) from the Atlantic
This story is one my family and I have been living with for years-- as have the families of a majority of my friends from my generation as well as the boomer generation.
"His elderly father insisted that he could manage by himself. But he couldn’t. The author found himself utterly unprepared for one of life’s near certainties—the decline of a parent. Millions of middle-aged Americans, he discovered, are silently struggling to cope with a crisis that needs to be plucked from the realm of the personal and brought into full public view."
GALACTIC NUGGET!!
New Planet Found: May be Cosmic Rosetta Stone from National Geographic Daily News
"A newly discovered gas-giant planet with a nearly circular orbit around its parent star is the first Jupiter-like planet outside our solar system—or "exoplanet"—that can be studied in detail, a new study says."
MUSEUM NUGGET!!
Smithsonian's Natural History Museum Opens its Hall of Human Origins from the Washington Post
"Every fossil tells a story. That's a central premise of the National Museum of Natural History's newest permanent exhibition, a gallery devoted to telling the story of human evolution."
Gee -- do you think anyone will find this exhibition controversial? Naaa.
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