Rare golden snub-nosed monkeys at the Everland Zoo in Korea. From Zooborns.
The Rise of Chinese Cheneys (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"In that blunt spirit, let me offer a quick guide to some of the issues that we have put on the table during President Hu Jintao’s state visit to Washington, at a time when Chinese-American relations are deeply strained and likely to get worse. American opinion tends to be divided between panda-huggers (“China is fabulous!”) and panda-muggers (“China is evil!”), but the truth lies between this yin and yang."
Diplomacy, Sanctions & Sabotage: Put Pressure on Iran (Simon Henderson) from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
A nice summary of where things are leading into the talks with Iran that begin tomorrow.
Iranians, Given No Choice, Adjust to Soaring Prices from the Wall Street Journal
"Iran's plan to save money by significantly cutting subsidies for fuel, electricity and basic food items has had an unexpected response: many Iranians, cushioned from the impact and threatened with arrest if they complain, are quietly adjusting to the rising cost of daily living."
While You Were Reading About Ukrainian Nurses… (Gary Sick) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Real news was buried in WikiLeaks -- like this revealing cable on Iran's nuclear ambitions."
Vatican: 1997 Irish Abuse Letter 'Misunderstood' from the Associated Press
"In a new round of damage control, the Vatican insisted Wednesday that a 1997 letter warning Irish bishops against reporting priests suspected of sex abuse to police had been "deeply misunderstood.""
Sigh. The level of cluelessness demonstrated by the Vatican just continues to amaze me!
Hillary's Next Step: More Diplomacy or Defense? (Joe Klein) from Time Magazine
"She is one of those politicians you can actually watch grow in office. She begins each new assignment quietly, studying the territory, making a few mistakes along the way, but then she gradually gains control of her portfolio and masters it."
45% of Students Don't Learn Much in College from the Associated Press via Huffington Post
"The research of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years."
A close look at the data here is important to really assess this conclusion -- but I hope it wakes Americans up to the general quality of the education their kids are receiving at all levels. Right now, a majority of states are looking at seriously slashing education spending.
Health Care Repeal Vote is Republican Kabuki (Eric Alterman) from the Daily Beast
"The Republicans got their symbolic victory in the House on health care. But with Speaker John Boehner’s repeal effort going nowhere fast, Eric Alterman asks, who’s really running the show?"
President's Approval Rating Climbs from the Wall Street Journal
"In the survey, 53% said they approved of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, up eight percentage points from December. Forty-one percent said they disapprove of the president's performance, down from 48% last month"
Return of the Republicans: Why They’re Unlike Any Political Party America Has Ever Seen (John Judis) from the New Republic
"Rossiter saw U.S. parties as “creatures of compromise, coalitions of interest in which principle is muted and often even silenced.” For Rossiter and several generations of political scientists, this was the genius of America’s party system. … Today, the Democratic Party remains this kind of party. … But the Republican Party has become a very different creature."
A Three-way Pileup Atop 2012 GOP Presidential Race (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"Huckabee took 21 percent of the vote while Palin received 19 percent and Romney 17 percent among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents."
Palin Putting Out Presidential Feelers in Iowa (Scott Conroy) from RealClearPolitics
"Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tasked her aides with quietly gauging her level of support for a potential presidential campaign by making inquiries to a select pool of likely allies and grassroots activists in Iowa, RealClearPolitics has learned."
OH GOOD!! That's right, Sarah! Don't you let them bully you or shut you up!! You'll show them!!
And another wingnut heard from:
Santorum Plays Race Card Against Obama from the National Journal
Santorum ices the cake: "Well, if that human life is not a person, then -- I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, 'No, we're going to decide who are people and who are not people.'"
You too, Ricky!! YOU KEEP GOING!! You can easily beat that sub-species in the White House!
In Wake of Tucson Shootings, Palin Sees Worst Poll Numbers of her Career from RawStory
"Even as most Americans said they did not believe Fox News employee Sarah Palin was in any way responsible for the recent mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, the former Alaska governor's poll numbers have taken such a significant hit in recent months that they've finally reached the lowest point in her career as a national figure."
I'm beginning to wonder if this Tucson shooting won't end up being the Tea Party and Sarah Palin's version of the Army-McCarthy hearings, that moment during the McCarthy era where the center of the American electorate finally took Tail-gunner Joe's full measure and began turning away from the red-hot red-baiting rhetoric of the late Truman era. Several measures suggest an important shift just within the last several weeks: (1) the GOP seems to have had the shortest honeymoon of any newly minted Congressional majority in recent memory; (2) Palin's tanking poll numbers just noted; (3) FOX News' tanking credibility (down 16 points in one year!); and (4) Beck AND Hannity's radio programs have just been dropped from two of the biggest media markets in the US, NYC and Philly, all of these items drawn just from TODAY'S headlines. Just today! The political space seems … different now than it did just a couple of weeks ago. Even though conservatives claim that they won the argument over their direct responsibility for the Tucson shooting, boy, it feels like a pyrrhic victory. Despite Palin's latest blast, conservatives across the board seem on the defensive at the moment.
JFK INAUGURATION NUGGETS (2)!!
(1) From That Day Forth (Todd Purdum) from Vanity Fair
"Washington had never seen anything like it: the tidal wave of glamour, promise, and high spirits that descended on the capital for the 1961 inauguration of the youngest president ever elected, John F. Kennedy -- a movable, star-studded bash that couldn't be stopped even by a massive snowstorm. From Frank Sinatra's gala and Jacqueline Kennedy's eclectic V.I.P. list to J.F.K.'s late-night revels, the author collects the memories of those who, 50 years on, are still reliving that glorious dawn."
(2) Why Do We Admire a President Who Did So Little? (Robert Dallek) from Salon
"The great mystery is why Kennedy, who served for only a thousand days and failed to persuade the Congress to pass any of his major domestic initiatives on taxes, civil rights, health insurance for seniors, and aid to education, enjoys such extraordinary public regard."
ROBOT NUGGET [of a sort]!!
University Researchers Create Networked Flying Robots that Build Complex Structures from RawStory
"Imagine a future where massive, flying robots assemble complex structures like skyscrapers or houses, with all the machines working as one, coordinated through a wireless network and custom algorithm."
This article suggests one of the key problems with the globalized, high-tech future described by Thomas Friedman and others: the time is coming quickly when manufacturing at almost all levels will be done by machines -- and that this revolution when it occurs is going to happen REALLY FAST!! Advocates argue that those jobs will be replaced by higher end innovation jobs. But speaking candidly at the center of one of the most lauded "innovation job factories" of the future (Carnegie Mellon University), our education system is failing at all levels to educate young people for this future. Moreover, despite what you may have heard, China and other quickly developing countries are also not moving quickly enough either.
TECHNOLOGY NUGGET!!
Road Train Technology Can Drive Your Car for You from New Scientist
"Letting drivers read a book, surf the net or possibly even have a snooze while behind the wheel may not sound like the best way to improve road safety. Yet that's precisely the aim of an automatic driving system that has just been road-tested for the first time in Sweden."
DOG VIDEO NUGGET!!
Dogs May Be More Like Humans Than Previously Thought from Discovery News
"A new study shows how dogs are able to mimic human behavior, which may shed light into what makes humans behavior unique."
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