News Nuggets 346

From last week, hispanic voters protesting about the new immigration laws. See the story below.

US Key to Achieving Mideast Peace (Opinion) from Politico

"Opinion: Israel and the Palestinians have inexorably developed a paralyzing sense of “zero-sum justice.”"

Special Relationship Reboot (Michael Tomasky) of the Guardian [of the UK]

"It may well be that Obama and Cameron get along better personally than Obama did with Gordon Brown. Obama obviously kept Brown at a distance. We can only speculate why. I suspect he regarded Brown as damaged goods of some sort - not quite his own man. I think Obama is also very generationally driven: as a candidate and as an author, he spoke and wrote a lot about generational politics and changing priorities and perspectives."

Goodbye to Europe as a High Ranking Power (Editorial) from the Financial Times [of London]

"While Europe was the central arena for much of 20th- century history and a principal theatre for both world wars and the cold war, it now is mostly at peace. The Franco-German rift has been replaced by a broader integration of the continent inside the European Union, with France and Germany at its core. Europe is to a large extent whole and free. What happens within it will not determine the arc of the 21st century."

Get Ready for North Korean Collapse from The Diplomat

"Judging by recent developments inside North Korea, however, clinging on to its nukes may not actually help prolong Kim Jong-il’s regime. The country’s unfolding economic catastrophe has clearly taken a toll on the regime’s legitimacy and durability—only the most desperate governments in history have resorted to outright confiscation of its people’s money. ... More importantly, the Kim Jong-il regime, which has become a classic family dictatorship, is about to face its most difficult test of survival: succession."

I'll believe it when I see it -- but an interesting take nonetheless.

How Did the Brits Kick Gordon Brown Out So Fast? from Foreign Policy Magazine

"Gordon Brown departed London's Buckingham Palace Tuesday evening at 7:45 p.m., having formally submitted his resignation as Britain's prime minister only minutes before. At 8:35 pm, Conservative Party leader David Cameron was cruising in his silver Jaguar to 10 Downing St., having already assumed Britain's highest political office. In contrast, U.S. President Barack Obama's transition period lasted about two and a half months, from his election on Nov. 4, 2008, until his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. How do the Brits do it so fast?"

Five Reasons We're Safer from Terrorists (Brian Jenkins) from the RAND Corporation

"Why haven't more jihadist terrorist attacks been attempted in the United States since 9/11? Better security provides only part of the answer."

Economy Looking Brighter; Most Forecasts Still Too Dark (George Perry) from the Brookings Institute

"Ever since positive GDP growth resumed in the summer quarter of last year, the consensus outlook for the economy has underestimated the strength of the expansion. ... History will applaud the policy responses that helped stop the decline by mid-2009."

Galbraith: The Danger Posed by the Deficit 'is Zero' (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post

"James Galbraith is an economist and the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. chair in government and business relations at the University of Texas at Austin. He's also a skeptic of the prevailing concern over America's long-term deficit."

Poll: Obama's BP Response Okay from Politico

"Forty-two percent of Americans give a positive rating to the president's reaction, while 33 percent say they disapprove."

As I predicted.

The Left's John Roberts (E.J. Dionne) from the New Republic

"Elena Kagan is a mirror-image of the chief justice"

Harriet Myers' Ghost Haunts McConnell, Republicans (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post

"Congressional Republican leadership opened up a new line of attack on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan Wednesday. But once again, the ghost of Harriet Miers, President Bush's SCOTUS nominee, haunted their efforts."

The Wink and the Nod (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic

"People who vote Republican are becoming more broadly tolerant, younger self-identified Republicans don't care about gay rights issues, and the party's political class in Washington is almost openly apologetic about anti-gay demagoguery. The base, for all intents and purposes, remains opposed to gay rights. The base, however, is a subset of the party, and a shrinking one."

The Most Corrupt States from the Daily Beast

"As money pours into the Gulf, The Daily Beast crunches the numbers, from public embezzlement to private sector fraud, for all 50 states to rank which play dirty—and which have cleaned up their act."

Some real surprises here.

Arizona Tourism Loses More Business in Wake of Immigration Law Vote from the Washington Post

"Since the state passed the nation's toughest immigration law three weeks ago, its meeting and events business has fallen drastically. ... The city risks losing as much as $90 million in hotel and convention business over the next five years because of the controversy, according to city estimates released Wednesday."

Why Sestak Might Really Pull It Off (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post

"Madonna pointed out that for most of the race, a huge bloc of Dem primary voters, perhaps as high as 40%, have been undecided. They are only focusing on the race just now, with both campaigns airing out their messages on TV.."

Tea Party Could Upset Kentucky's GOP Primary (Howard Finemen) from Newsweek

"Mitch McConnell's handpicked candidate is in primary trouble, illustrating the Tea Party's growing strength in the GOP."

HISTORY NUGGET!!

Madison's Radical Agenda (Joseph Ellis) from American Heritage Magazine

"A diminutive, persuasive Virginian hijacked the Constitutional Convention and forced the moderates to accept a national government with vastly expanded powers."

Prof. Ellis's in-your-face response to the Federalist Society's "original intentionist" agenda. I think Ellis (a very famous colonial historian) has been on a search-and-destroy mission against those folks for the last month or so.

RAILROAD NUGGET!!

Here Comes the Neighborhood from the Atlantic

"Conventional Suburbs are overbuilt and out of favor. In cities and suburbs alike, walkable neighborhoods linked by train are the future. Here's how a new network of privately funded rail lines can make the future come to pass more quickly and cheaply - and reinvigorate housing and the economy."

BOOK NUGGET!!

Penetrating the Process of Obama's Decisions from the New York Times

A book review of Jonathan Alter's The Promise: President Obama, Year One.

'BANALITY-OF-EVIL' NUGGET!!

The Banality of Love (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post

"Taken together, this is a thoroughly frightening couple [Arendt and Heidegger] -- two of the 20th century's great philosophers, their genius contradicted by their inexplicably appalling lives: One embraced Nazism, the other excused him for doing so."

A VERY INTERESTING look at man's capacity to 'look the other way' in the face of genocide.