Pages

Friday, May 14, 2010

News Nuggets 347


For Pet Photo Friday, we have these two fun images from Americablog.


BRIC Nations Won't Conquer the World (Joseph Nye) from the Daily Star [of Lebanon in English]

"Brazil, Russia, India and China recently held their second annual summit in Brasilia. Journalists continue to lavish attention on these so-called “BRIC” countries, but I remain skeptical of the concept."


Obama Sends Arms Reduction Treaty to Senate from The Hill

"A congressional staffer said that it was "much too early" to be counting votes, but that there's no reason the treaty shouldn't win the support of "80 or more" senators. "

Last I heard this treaty was going to the Senate next year. Wonder why it's going up now? It almost seems like they're trying to get it passed 'oh so quietly.' Where's the fanfare? Odd.


Barack Obama's Praise for David Cameron Signals Reset in US Relations from the Guardian [of the UK]

"US president says 'smart, dedicated' new prime minister is 'somebody we are going to be able to work with very effectively'."


Coming to America from the Editorial Board of the Times [of London]

"Mr Hague, an avowed Atlanticist, has declared that Britain’s relationship with the US should be “solid, not slavish”. This is as it should be. As a liberal and a Democrat, Mr Obama may now see a centre-right British government with values and an outlook strikingly similar to those on the American Centre Left."


We're Not Greece (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times

"The truth, however, is that America isn’t Greece — and, in any case, the message from Greece isn’t what these people would have you believe. So, how do America and Greece compare?"

Good question! There has been so much shouting about this.


Boston Catholic Schools Will Enroll Children of Same-sex Parents from the National Catholic Reporter

"The Archdiocese of Boston does not prohibit children of same sex parents from attending Catholic schools, and officials there have offered to help a child refused admittance to an elementary school because his parents are lesbian to enroll in another archdiocesan school, according to a statement released late this afternoon."

Glad to hear it. The cases of barring such children have been appalling examples of 'punish the child to get at the parents' idiocy.


Barack Obama, Campaign Manager: How the 2008 Playbook Passed Health Care (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post

"Months removed from the debate, aides still recall those tense hours on December 13 as one of the clearer illustrations of how the Obama administration attempted to move health care reform through Congress. Over the course of a year, the president had pursued a lawmaking philosophy that was, at once, hands off and reactive, comprehensive and flexible."


A Female Trinity: Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan on the US Supreme Court (Barbara Perry) from "Sabato's Crystal Ball" at the Virginia Center for Politics

"If Elena Kagan joins Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, they will form an unprecedented, and potentially very powerful, trio of women justices on the nation’s highest court."


EPA Prepares Rule to Regulate Industrial Emissions from the Associated Press via RawStory

"The Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to more tightly control air pollution from large power plants, factories and oil refineries, a step to limit emissions widely blamed for global warming."


Rehab: America's Drug Policies Just Got a Whole Lot Better (Harold Pollack) from the New Republic

"On a day-to-day basis, the new strategy's most important policy goal is to integrate addiction services within general medical care. "


Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care from Daily Kos [from March]

"A survey commissioned by Vet Voice Foundation has found that an overwhelming majority of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars would be accepting of gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces."


Phoenix Says Immigration Law Boycott is Causing 'Near Economic Crisis' from TalkingPointsMemo

"The City of Phoenix -- a convention hot-spot -- is facing a "near economic crisis" caused by lost revenue stemming from organizations canceling events in response to Arizona's controversial immigration law, according to its mayor."


Are the Lefty Insurgents About to Score Huge Victories Next Week? (Greg Sargent) from Washington Post

"Don't look now, but the lefty insurgents could be on the verge of scoring not one, but two major victories next week."


Scent of Fear in the Air for Republicans from the Las Vegas Sun

"The moderate-cleansing in the Republican Party in these days of tea and poses could pay off in the short run for the candidates who can deliver the best conservative sermons and fool some of the small electoral universe on June 8. But four weeks before voters who don’t cast ballots early go to the polls, you can almost smell it in the air in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial primaries — the scent of uncertainty, even of fear."


Onetime-Longshots Sestak, Halter May Unseat Incumbent Senate Democrats from the Huffington Post

"Even a month ago, political insiders scoffed at the idea that progressive challengers could unseat Democratic Sens. Arlen Specter (Penn.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.). But fundraising and poll numbers have shifted dramatically in both states."


Angry GOP Voters Flirt with Danger in Kentucky (David Frum) from The Week

"Rand Paul is poised to be the GOP senate nominee in Kentucky. Republicans there are determined to send a message — even if it hurts."


My Country, Tis of Me (Michael Kinsley) from the Atlantic

"The Tea Party movement has been compared ... to the student protest movement of the 1960s. Even though one came from the left and the other from the right, both are/were, or at least styled themselves as, a mass challenge to an oppressive establishment. That’s a similarity, to be sure. But the differences seem more illuminating."


Which Matters Most to the 'Tea Party': Win Seats of Reshape GOP? from the Christian Science Monitor

"The 'tea party' movement has driven out some GOP 'establishment' candidates. The big question is whether activists' picks can win in November, though that may not be what they care about most."


WHALE NUGGET!!

Crossbow the Right Solution to Free Entangled Whale from the Boston Globe

"Over the weekend, a team with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies used a unique new technique to free a right whale from a rope that ensnared its upper jaw."



No comments: