Welcome: An African elephant wanders through the Elephant Hotel in Zambia, as a herd do every October, as it's a traditional route. See the Elephant Nugget below. From the Daily Mail of the UK.
UP-FRONT OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
NASA Discovers New Life: Arsenic Bacteria with DNA Completely Alien to What We Know from the Huffington Post
"NASA is holding a press conference today at 2pm to announce a major finding in their research in astrobiology, and speculation is high the agency said the finding "will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.""
Unemployed, and Likely to Stay That Way from the New York Times
"The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work. That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well. But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning."
America Bails Out a Thankless World from Investors Business Daily
"Turns out the Fed had over a dozen emergency programs operating beginning in 2007-08, one of them lending close to $9 trillion to Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and other troubled institutions, often at the comical interest rate of 1%. Foreign banks got much of the Fed's emergency credit."
Tackling a Problem Does Not Equal Attacking It (Paul Pillar) from the National Interest
"There has been still more commentary and still more blurring of the distinction—and it is an important distinction—between how Arabs worry about Iran, including its nuclear program, and the sentiments the same Arabs have toward a possible U.S. or Israeli military attack against Iran."
Why is Iran Chasing the Road Runner? (Meir Javedanfar) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"The paranoid regime is wasting time on 'western plots' when it should be uncovering why its nuclear scientists were attack… Centre for Doctrinal Analysis, have spent millions of dollars researching cartoons such as Coyote and the Road Runner as part of an effort to uncover western plots to overthrow the regime."
American Diplomacy Revealed -- as Good (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"Let’s hear it for the men and women of the U.S. Foreign Service! They are, to judge from the WikiLeaks dump of a quarter-million of their private or secret cables, thoughtful, well-informed and dedicated servants of the American interest who write clear, declarative English sentences."
What Does WikiLeaks' Treasure Trove of Diplomatic Traffic Show? A State Department on its Game (Timothy Garton Ash) from the Los Angeles Times
"My opinion of the State Department has just gone up several notches. In recent years I have found the American Foreign Service to be somewhat underwhelming, a bit dandruffy, especially when compared with other, more self-confident arms of American government, such as the Pentagon and the Treasury. But what we find here is often first rate."
See You in Court, Mr. Assange: Why the First Amendment Won't Necessarily Protect WikiLeaks from Slate
"Based on precedent—and, almost as relevant, on the current composition of the Supreme Court—it seems likely that the court would allow a case against Assange. The problem would be getting him to court."
Speaking of getting him to court:
Net closes on Assange: Arrest by British Police Expected in Days from the Independent [of the UK]
"procedural error with the European Arrest Warrant had delayed the arrest of the 39-year-old Australian, who is wanted in Sweden over sexual allegations but has been in England since October."
Could Wikileaks Go Homeless? (Brian Ries) from the Daily Beast
"With international pressure mounting on WikiLeaks, Amazon's decision to kick the site off its server triggered debate among other Web-hosting companies over how to handle the political hot potato. Brian Ries talks to the deciders."
WikiLeaks Founder is Losing Legal Options from Salon
"Julian Assange's legal options narrowed Thursday as the WikiLeaks founder lost an appeal against a court order for his arrest and his British lawyer said authorities knew his precise location."
Yup. He messed with the wrong set of hombres!
Lieberman, GOP Team Up for Anti-Wikileaks Bill from Agence France Presse via Raw Story
"Amid calls in the US Congress to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a group of senators on Thursday unveiled a bill to make it easier to target the self-described whistleblowing website."
Quite predictable.
Sudan's Attention-Grabber from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"John Prendergast … has focused attention on the country. But will that be enough to head off another bloodbath?"
The US is Betting on Putin from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"The US is well informed in Moscow -- which is why Washington is skeptical that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has much of a future. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, diplomatic cables make clear, is 'in the driver's seat.'"
Black Hawk Up: The Forgotten American Success Story in Somalia (Dominic Tierney) from the Atlantic
"It was a heroic mission that saved thousands of lives. Skewed perceptions proved disastrous, searing humanitarian intervention with the mark of Cain, and sapping the will to fight genocide the following year in Rwanda."
I actually don't buy most of what Tierney is selling -- but it would be nice to think that SOMETHING positive came from that debacle.
Calling the Senate GOP's Bluff: Multiple Bills Likely to Come Up Before Tax Cuts (Amanda Terkel) from Huffington Post
"The Senate GOP's threat to filibuster every single piece of legislation until the chamber resolves budget and tax cut measures will likely be tested as soon as Friday."
ELEPHANT NUGGET!!
Well Ladies, How are You Enjoying Your Safari Holiday So Far? Moment a Curious Elephant Wandered Up to Say Hello (PHOTOS) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Two women were given the nature close-up of their lives when a wild bull elephant approached their veranda as they sat out in the sun. … It's a similar story at the Mfuwe Lodge in South Luangwa National Park, also in Zambia, where the elephants are more regular visitors."
I know that this situation was quite dangerous for the women involved -- but it is interesting to contemplate a world where a herd of wild elephants will move through an up-scale resort and no-one gets hurt, no one reaches for a gun, and, indeed, the whole thing is largely passed off as "just one of those things" that happens this time of year. It suggests that, through education and other factors, people and wildlife [even of the really big kind] CAN live together.
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