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Friday, July 9, 2010

News Nuggets 396


Yes -- our Pet Photo Friday feature returns after last week's absence.  These are from Americablog.

"The method, he hopes, will allow scientists and cleanup crews to tackle hard-to-spot oil, such as crude mixed with mud or light stains on sand, that's washed ashore from the sinking of the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig."
The pictures of the UV light in action are shocking.

Spies Aside, Moscow Has Come In From the Cold (Editorial) from the Financial Times [of London]
"This week’s spy scandal will open up a temporary rift across the Atlantic. But it is unlikely to undermine one of the most important trends in contemporary international relations: the combination of the west scaling back its ambitions in the former Soviet Union with Russia’s growing realisation that it needs a new partnership with its former US and European rivals. This rapprochement is more solid than previous attempts because it is based not on dreams of friendship but on realistic calculations of national interests – interests that neither side is likely to risk for a return to the cold war rivalries of old"

DOJ Reviews Mass. Rulings on Fed Gay Marriage Bans from the Associated Press via MSNBC
"A judge's rulings in Massachusetts that the federal law banning gay marriage is unconstitutional could have implications far beyond the state if they're upheld by a higher court after an appeal by the Obama administration, legal experts say."
This could be big news depending on how it plays out!  More analysis is HERE from the Boston Globe and HERE from the New York Times.

"Was Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick necessary to bypass GOP obstructionism? Or was it just a way to sneak through a super-liberal nominee?"

Some great analysis follows with:
With Donald Berwick's Appointment, the Doctor is (Finally) In (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"President Obama got serious this week about the ticking time bomb in his new health-care legislation -- the lack of any clear plan to reduce costs and improve quality. What he did was install someone who can use our behemoth Medicare and Medicaid programs as laboratories for change -- so that reform doesn't bankrupt the country."

"Liberals and conservatives agree on one thing: They were each wrong before. Now that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court has struck down state and municipal gun laws, and as it faces the prospect of a challenge to healthcare reform, conservatives are embracing the very judicial activism they used to decry."

"Though McMillen has suffered plenty throughout her ordeal, much of her life is proof that the South is changing culturally as well as legally."
I think the broader acceptance of gay prom couples in the South noted in this article is the REAL story, not McMillan's experience of rejection.

For the GOP, a Risky Wave to Ride or Turn Back (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"But the problem with political waves is that they generate misleading momentum and exaggerated ideological confidence. Parties tend to interpret shapeless public discontent as the endorsement of their fondest ambitions. Obama mistook his election as a mandate for the pent-up liberalism of his party. Some Republican activists are intent on a similar but worse mistake."

US Pres.-2012: Wrong-Headed Romney (Fred Kaplan) from Slate
"In 35 years of following debates over nuclear arms control, I have never seen anything quite as shabby, misleading and—let's not mince words—thoroughly ignorant as Mitt Romney's attack on the New START treaty in the July 6 Washington Post."
BOY! Mitt sure is catching it from all sides on his salvo at Obama's treaty with Russia!
More analysis of Romney's START pronouncements is HERE from the Democratic Strategist.

The Republicans are Still Looking for a Leader (Mark Halprin) from Time Magazine
"Angry anti-Obama rhetoric is not enough to make the case that the GOP can fix the nation's vast problems. Even more important, in difficult times voters require a flesh-and-blood alternative to provide leadership and reassurance, or they'll stick with what they've got."

"Until now, there has been somewhat of an unspoken rule, adhered to by most on the right, that conservative Republicans would vigorously oppose Obama's liberal domestic policies while supporting his efforts to win in Afghanistan."

"There are no shocking exposes in Dave Kindred’s heartsick paean to his onetime employer, “Morning Miracle: Inside the Washington Post,” but there are some pretty good battle scenes in Kindred’s chronicle of the paper’s attempt to reverse its decline."

Gary Hart as Ulysses (Stephen Levingston) from the Washington Post
"In his memoir “The Thunder and the Sunshine: Four Seasons In a Burnished Life,” to be published in September, Hart says he can “identify” with the Ulysses of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem. Each part of Hart’s book opens with an exploration of Ulysses’ life, which then leads into a recounting of events from the senator’s life. (Donna Rice is never mentioned.)"
Based on this review, Hart sounds very pompous and self-important.  We'll see what other reviews say.

RUSSIAN SPY SIDELIGHT NUGGET!!
Russia Spies' Kids: Some May Stay, Others May Go from the Associated Press via Huffington Post
"Their cover blown, 10 Russian spies have given up their lives in the U.S. and headed home, but in at least one case their children probably won't follow.  A lawyer for Vicky Pelaez said Thursday that the teenage son she had with fellow Russian agent Mikhail Vasenkov during the decades they spent living in New York will most likely remain in the U.S., as will her 38-year-old son from a prior marriage.  "He's 17 years of age. He'll probably stay with his brother," attorney John Rodriguez said."
This whole Russian spy story has left me unmoved -- until this story came through the transom.  What a HORRENDOUS decision to have to make or to ask your adult kids to make!!  Having grown up as little Americans, the littler ones now are apparently going back to Russia. What were the parents thinking? Just having kids as part of their "cover"?  And what was achieved through all their efforts?  By all accounts the Russians got absolutely nothing.  INCREDIBLE!  Becha' it would make a good made-for-tv movie though.

AUTOMOBILE NUGGET!!
Amazing Concept Cars from the Telegraph [of the UK]
Normally, I am hard to please when it comes to tweaking my interest around futuristic car design -- but this latest show had a number of really fascinating concept cars on display.

ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGET!!
"A tunnel in the tomb of Seti I, a pharaoh who ruled Egypt about 3,300 years ago, has been discovered after a two-decade-long search in the Valley of the Kings, Culture Minister Faruq Hosni said."
"20-year search"?  So they found it it in 1990 ... and then lost it!?  Rather careless of them in this modern age of archeology.

HISTORIAN'S NUGGET!!
"The past looks quite promising. Over the next several decades, governments and universities will shed new light on historic figures and events by opening long-sealed archives."

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