News Nugget 478

A sunrise over the Painted Hills of Oregon.  What an astonishing spectrum of natural color!  From National Geographic.

Triumph in New Delhi from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Critics have assailed Obama's Asia trip as a failure. They're ignoring the strategic victory that the president won in India."

Pretty Good for Government Work (Warren Buffett) from the New York Times
"Just over two years ago, in September 2008, our country faced an economic meltdown. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the pillars that supported our mortgage system, had been forced into conservatorship. Several of our largest commercial banks were teetering. One of Wall Street’s giant investment banks had gone bankrupt, and the remaining three were poised to follow. A.I.G., the world’s most famous insurer, was at death’s door.  … Only one counterforce was available, and that was you, Uncle Sam."

Where Did Our Debt Come From? (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"...pressure is growing to cut Social Security (perhaps the most efficiently run program in government) while placing Defense (one of the most inefficiently run programs) off limits."

Too Good to Check (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"On Nov. 4, Anderson Cooper did the country a favor. He expertly deconstructed on his CNN show the bogus rumor that President Obama’s trip to Asia would cost $200 million a day. This was an important “story.” It underscored just how far ahead of his time Mark Twain was when he said a century before the Internet, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” But it also showed that there is an antidote to malicious journalism — and that’s good journalism."

Can Obama Rise Again? (Michael Tomasky) from the New York Review of Books
"Counting on Republican overreach isn’t exactly what Obama and his admirers had in mind in 2008. But he must now fundamentally rethink the premises of his presidency."

The Long Goodbye (Editorial) from the Economist [of London]
"Is the white Southern Democrat extinct, endangered or just hibernating?"

Americans Against Themselves (Ronald Dworkin) from the New York Review of Books
"Why do so many Americans insist on voting against their own best interests? … For many Americans losing America’s preeminence means losing the country they know. They want America to stand alone on top again; they want politicians to tell them that it can, that God has chosen us but false leaders have betrayed us. The heroes of the Tea Party made reclaiming American triumphalism the heart of their victory speeches on Tuesday night. "

Why Democrats Don't Dump Nancy Pelosi from Politico
"Many of those same lawmakers will cast their votes for Pelosi in this morning's closed door Democratic caucus meeting – and the embattled San Franciscan will almost certainly win the validation she seeks. It's a vivid illustration of how congressional leadership elections are decided by factors often barely visible to the naked eye.."

The Way They Were (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
"Together again were the president and vice president who invaded, deregulated, overspent, created a climate of fear and intensified the class divide with tax cuts — all so recklessly that our resources are sapped just as we need to step up and compete with our banker, China. “I wasn’t a very good economic prognosticator,” Bush told CNN’s Candy Crowley. No kidding."
Dowd hasn't said anything worth noting for a long time -- but this concise critique of Bush-Cheney BS is DEAD ON!!

The Coming Tea Party Civil War (Stephanie Mencimer) from Mother Jones Magazine
"The tea party's social conservative and libertarian wings are poised for a showdown that could decide the fate of the movement."

Tea Party's Anti-Earmark Crusade Gives More Power to President Obama from the National Journal
"The conservative insurgents' move will likely backfire, two scholars say."
Typical.

No Clear Favorite for 2012 GOP Nomination (Dan Balz) from the Washington Post
"The timetable for announcements and serious engagement has been pushed into next year.  Is this a breath of sanity brought to a process that has moved ever earlier with each election? Perhaps. But there are more practical reasons that the candidates are heading for the starting gate at a more deliberative pace."

New Obama Book's Revelations (Richard Wolffe) from the Daily Beast
"From Obama’s fake temper tantrum to the president’s respect for Republicans, The Daily Beast’s Richard Wolffe’s new inside the White House book, Revival, gets a speed read for the 10 most revealing parts"

LONG-FORM POLITICAL NUGGET!!
The Palin Network (Robert Draper) from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"How the G.O.P.’s leading shadow candidate runs her guerrilla organization."
A VERY in-depth look at a very scary and shaky operation.

BABY OTTER NUGGET!!
Baby Otters Learn to Swim (VIDEO) from Huffington Post
"Sumalee and Kasem, just 14 weeks old. In this video, the cute duo are learning to swim. They first were trained in a sink, then progressed to a bath, and now their skills are truly being tested... in a paddling pool."

BOOK REVIEW NUGGET!!
Book Review: 'Autobiography of Mark Twain: Volume 1' from the Los Angeles Times
"The American literary lion roars back onto the publishing scene 100 years after his death with the first volume of his mammoth autobiography, and he's got quite a story to tell."

ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGETS [yes, there are two]!!
Sphinx-Lined Road Found in Egypt from Press TV
"Hundreds of ancient sphinxes were unearthed after archaeologists found 12 sphinxes along a road linked to an already discovered route known as Sphinx Avenue."
"Hundreds…"  Holy Cow!!  As I have said here and elsewhere, we are living through a 'golden age' of Egyptology where absolutely AMAZING discoveries are being made almost every week or so!

See also Statue Unearthed in Tomb of Tut's Grandfather from Discovery News
"Red granite statues of King Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of King Tutankhamun, are popping up like mushrooms in Luxor, Egypt."