News Nuggets 501

Mount Ararat in Turkey.  People are STILL looking for Noah's ark on its snowy slopes.  From National Geographic.

Iran's Ahmadinejad Seeks "Win-Win" Outcome from Iran Talks from Reuters News Service
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday he hoped for a "win-win" outcome from talks with world powers concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions, striking an unusually conciliatory tone."
There is a certain kabuki quality to the "talks" with Iran.  What Iranian officials say in public bear no relation to (1) what's being said in the talks, or (2) what I suspect Ahmadinejad will ultimately settle for. 

You only have to see the following two items to appreciate the disconnect. 
Police in Iran Streets as Subsidies Are Cut from the Associated Press via RealClearWorld
"The Iranian government sent squads of riot police to man the major intersections of the capital as sensitive cuts in energy and food subsidies came into effect Sunday."

The Regime's New Dread in Iran (Maziar Bahari) from Newsweek
"No one knows how many Iranians have joined the electronic underground. But the Revolutionary Guards aren’t having much success shutting it down"

START Clears Hurdle in Senate from Politico
"The Obama administration on Saturday overcame a big hurdle toward the prospects for New START ratification — though the path to passage of the U.S.-Russia arms control pact is still unclear."

Politics in Iraq Casts Doubt on a U.S. Presence After 2011 from the New York Times
"The protracted political turmoil that saw the resurgence of a fiercely anti-American political bloc here is casting new doubt on establishing any enduring American military role in Iraq after the last of nearly 50,000 troops are scheduled to withdraw in the next 12 months, military and administration officials say."
As I have long said, the US will know it has succeeded in setting up a stand-along Iraqi gov't when officials and citizens say openly "You can leave now ass holes -- and thanks for nothing!"  It seems we are now moving decisively towards that happy state.  And just think -- it will only have cost us between two and four trillion dollars [not counting what we're accomplishing in Afghanistan]!

The Meaning of Russia 2018: What the World Cup Says About the World from Newsweek
"…there may be other reasons why football, with its notoriously murky finances, feels more comfortable in the emerging economies. It was revealing that among the conditions FIFA demanded from the English bid was exemption from money-laundering penalties for FIFA-designated individuals."

Obama's Long Game: 65 - 31 (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic
"Like 2009's removal of the HIV ban, which was as painstakingly slow but thereby much more entrenched, this process took time. Without the Pentagon study, it wouldn't have passed. Without Obama keeping Lieberman inside the tent, it wouldn't have passed. Without the critical relationship between Bob Gates and Obama, it wouldn't have passed."

Gains Outweigh Setbacks in a Landmark Year for Gay Rights from the Los Angeles Times
"Today the military, tomorrow the marriage altar? In an era when gay Americans have seen stunning progress and many setbacks in the quest for equality under the law, many believe 2010 will go down in history as a watershed that will lead inexorably to more legal rights."

No DADT, No Problem (Jordan Sekulow) from the Washington Post
"As a Christian conservative broadcaster, attorney, and activist who recently discussed DADT and my opinion about it on-air, I can say that for the most part, social conservatives are not enraged about the end of DADT. In fact, the grassroots has not been engaged on this issue for a long time."
It would be nice if he's right.  The gnashing of teeth in the right-wing blogosphere today suggests otherwise.

Swedish Police Report Details Case Against Assange from the New York Times
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was released from a British jail late last week, is facing a new challenge: the leak of a 68-page confidential Swedish police report that sheds new light on the allegations of sexual misconduct that led to Mr. Assange’s legal troubles.

The USS Prius (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"what could save America’s energy future — at a time when a fraudulent, anti-science campaign funded largely by Big Oil and Big Coal has blocked Congress from passing any clean energy/climate bill — is the fact that the Navy and Marine Corps just didn’t get the word.  God bless them: “The Few. The Proud. The Green.” Semper Fi."

A Palin Presidency? Early Polls Show Possible Candidacy Tanking from TalkingPointsMemo
"In the last week or so, three national polls found Obama leading her by double digits, including an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll out this week that had Obama crushing her by 22 points, 55% to 33%.  Among the GOP frontrunners for the Republican presidential nomination, Palin has the worst spread in head-to-heads with Obama."
WHAT DO THEY KNOW!?  Look, Sarah -- don't let the lamestream media knuckleheads tell YOU what to do!  You GO FOR IT!!

BUSH BOOK REVIEW NUGGET!!
Bush on Bush: A Review of Decision Points (Michael Kinsley) from the New York Times
Kinsley is at his BEST in this rather hilarious review of W's magnum opus.
"Barbara Bush the elder (“Mother,” he invariably calls her) rang up to say, “How’s the first Jewish president doing?” Maybe I’m deficient in humor, but I don’t see why this is funny, as her son clearly believes it to be. I might even find it alarming if Bush didn’t crowd this book with ­maybe-you-had-to-be-there witticisms. After his first meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair, “a British reporter asked what we had in common. I quipped, ‘We both use Colgate toothpaste.’” Huh?"

BOOK NUGGET!!
The Daily Beast's Favorite Books of 2010 from … the Daily Beast
"Tina Brown, Peter Beinart, John Avlon, Michelle Goldberg, and other Daily Beast writers and contributors pick their favorite books of 2010."

KINKY BIZZARRO CRIME NUGGET!!
Meet the Superhero Vigilantes (Winston Ross) from the Daily Beast
"A group of costumed amateur crime-fighters is working to make the streets of Seattle safe for the public. Who are these masked men? Winston Ross rides along on their patrol to find out."
Like a cross between Spider Man and A Clockwork Orange.  These folks are very weird trouble looking for a place to happen!

HOLIDAY GIFT NUGGET!!
Christmas Gifts 2010: Non-Material Green Presents from Huffington Post
"So this year, we present to you a (relatively) material-free gift guide. Some of these gifts have sentiment, others will foster memories, a few are simple feel-goods, and most have a pretty darn low carbon footprint. Here's to less plastic carnage on December 26th!"