News Nugget 480

Wadi Hitan in Egypt.  From National Geographic.

Obama Turns New START Treaty into Showdown with GOP from the New York Times
"Just two weeks after an election that left him struggling to find his way forward, President Obama has decided to confront Senate Republicans in a make-or-break battle over arms control that could be an early test of his mettle heading into the final two years of his term."
Obama needed to do this to send the word out to the GOP that, like Clinton in '94, he is "still relevant."

The Case for the New START Treaty (Robert Gates) from the Wall Street Journal
"The treaty has the unanimous support of America's military leadership." 
Some interesting analysis is HERE and HERE from Democratic Arsenal

Worm was Perfect for Sabotaging Centrifuges from the New York Times
"Experts dissecting the computer worm suspected of being aimed at Iran's nuclear program have determined that it was precisely calibrated in a way that could send nuclear centrifuges wildly out of control. Their conclusion, while not definitive, begins to clear some of the fog around the Stuxnet worm, a malicious program detected earlier this year on computers, primarily in Iran but also India, Indonesia and other countries."
WHO CALLED IT!!  Let's go back and see HERE!  Some further analysis is HERE from AOL News.

Guilty Until Proven Guilty (Karen Greenberg) from Mother Jones Magazine
"The presumption of innocence and the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. Karen Greenberg on how the Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani verdict signals a return to sanity for America."

Misreading the Midterm Tea Leaves (Young & Clark) from Reuters News Service
"Pundits and politicos alike would have us believe that the Obama era is over, with the general elections in 2012 being a mere formality to an imminent Republican resurgence. Obama went too far left, or so the argument goes, and the Republican gains this year are a leading indicator of a re-adjustment. In our view, this perspective is fundamentally wrong: the results of the present mid-term elections have little to do with the probable outcome of the general election in 2012. Obama, contrary to the expert opinion, is still very much in the driver’s seat. Here’s why."

NPR hails 'Good Judgment' in Congress for Voting Down Funding Cuts from The Hill
"NPR hailed a failed vote by Congress to cut off its funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which funds both NPR and PBS."
The dirty little secret about NPR is that a substantial group of GOP lawmakers (and most of leadership) in Congress rely on NPR as a major source of "unbiased" news.  Even Newt Gingrich (God forbid) has confessed that he listens every day.

CT-Sen: McMahon and Kennedy Jr., May Challenge Lieberman in '12 (Dennis House) from WFSB TV News [of Hartford]
"We in the media love a good race, and this three way contest would have  journalists salivating:   Ted Kennedy, Junior for the Democrats;  McMahon for the Republicans; and Lieberman the independent. "
Can't say I know much about Teddy Junior.  It isn't Massachusetts! He'll have to bring more than his name to win in CT.  Based on his Wikipedia site HERE he sounds plausible.  At least he's lived in the state for quite a while and has had some real world experience.

HISTORY BOOK NUGGET!!!
Rebellion in Boston Harbor: A Review of Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party & the Making of America by Benjamin L. Carp from the Boston Globe
"Retracing the story of the Tea Party, the patriots’ act of defiance in 1773."