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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

News Nuggets 313

Purple crocuses - from National Geographic.


Obama's 21st-Century World Order (Editorial) from the Independent [of the UK]

"His instinct in making foreign policy reflects an ability to see the other's point of view."


America's Political 'Mad Cow Disease' Spreads to Europe from Nachrichten [of Switzerland in English]

"The mentality of the U.S. Republican electorate appears to have left the ground of reality for a sphere of hate-filled madness. The consequences of this insanity are terrifying … and this media brainwashing has proven disastrously successful in Europe and Switzerland."


Rescue Catholicism from the Vatican (James Carroll) from the Boston Globe

Our on-the-money pundit-of-the-day!!

"POPE BENEDICT XVI has denounced the predator priests with due severity, but he cannot credibly chastise their enabler bishops because he has been one of them. The whole Catholic Church seems to be in crisis, but what is really at stake here is the collapse not of Catholicism, but of Catholic fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is the raising of religious barricades against tides of change."


Has Rome Lost Faith in the Pope? (Editorial) from the Daily Beast

"From the beginning of his papacy, Benedict XVI was never loved by the Italian faithful, but with the growing sex-abuse scandal, his hometown support is in peril."


Vatican Accused of Protecting Fugitive Priest from ABC News

"A Catholic priest who fled Minnesota for India after being accused by two teenage girls of rape continues to serve as a priest in a Catholic school system five years after his case was brought to the attention of the Vatican, according to documents and testimony in a lawsuit against the Church."


The Bias of Veteran Journalists (Lane Wallace) from the Atlantic

"It's not ideology that blinds some reporters, but the confidence that they already know everything about a subject."

MAN, does this ring true!


What Do Voters Want From Obama? (Amy Walter) from the National Journal

"If anything, members of the focus group wanted to see Obama act more like -- gasp -- Nancy Pelosi."

I can actually get with this conversation.


For Old-School GOP, A Hard Lesson on Fiscal Issues (Marc Thiessen) from the Washington Post

"The message for the GOP establishment is clear -- be careful what you wish for. For too long, it turned up its nose at the grassroots activism of social conservatives and said they should focus on fiscal issues that unite the party. Now, the grassroots activism of fiscal conservatives is driving the debate in races across the country. This popular movement for limited government and fiscal responsibility might well sweep the Democrats out of power in November -- but it might also sweep some establishment Republicans out with them."


Are Old People Killing the GOP? from The Week

"People over 65 are flocking to the Republican Party. What does this mean for the party's future?"


RNC Loses Top Fundraiser from the Politico

Shall we call this the tea-bag effect? Wealthy folks are usually at least of average intelligence and have no use for the ranting and raving of the hard right.

"He was also finding it harder and harder to tap fellow wealthy Republicans for the RNC, the source said. The GOP source predicted a coming wave of high-level finance resignations amid dissatisfaction over the arrival, under an ethical cloud, of a new fundraising staffer."


Frum: Fox Fueling GOP's March to the Fringe from Daily Kos

"Frum is certainly right that Fox has an interest in pushing the GOP to the margin. Even though Fox does lead the cable news ratings, it's important to remember that at any given time, more than 99% of the American public isn't watching Fox. So pursuing a strategy of targeting hard-right conservatives is smart -- if you only care about ratings."


GALACTIC NUGGET!!

Mars Photos: Volcanoes, Craters, and Ice Sheets from NASA via Huffington Post

"NASA's HiRISE camera, the most powerful camera ever sent into space, is currently doing a tour of duty on Mars, and has been returning stunning pictures of the Red Planet's "trees," gullies, and even avalanches."


SCULPTURE NUGGET!!

The World's Ugliest Statues from Foreign Policy Magazine

"When bad art and bad politics meet."

The article title DOES NOT LIE!


OLD TESTAMENT NUGGET!!

The New Commandments (Christopher Hitchens) from Vanity Fair

"The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel. With all due humility, the author takes on the job, pruning the ethically dubious, challenging the impossible, and rectifying some serious omissions."


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