News Nuggets 770

A scorpion fly.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT LOCAL "OCCUPY WALL STREET" NUGGET!!

Occupy Pittsburgh Discusses Protest Strategies from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"...after a sometimes contentious and often tedious meeting in Schenley Plaza on Sunday, the General Assembly of Occupy Pittsburgh, a group that is planning protests modeled after the ones held recently on Wall Street, had yet to come to a consensus on where to hold the protest or even what kind gathering they would hold. Only one proposal, to hold a permitted event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, was approved by the group, which operates by an elaborate system, termed a consensus model, which requires support of at least three-quarters of those present to approve a measure."

This description is both encouraging and discouraging.  One the one hand, it is GREAT that something is happening here locally.  There needs to be some serious, consequential push-back from the left against the GOP and the Tea Party.  On the other hand, it's hard not to be disturbed by how much time and effort will be spent simply on process.  Some version of this was a common feature of left-wing protest movements and civil rights movements from the 1960s and early 1970s.   Sometimes it worked (the early days of SNCC and the free speech movement at Berkeley) and sometimes it devolved into a prolonged form of divisive self-torture for those involved that culminated in nothing but acrimony (too many examples to mention!).

Here's the latest installment on our Defense Policy Primer for liberals -- a must-read.  It's actually pretty funny in a God-we-spend-way-too-much-money-on-defense kind of way:
Relax: China’s First Aircraft Carrier is a Piece of Junk from Wired Magazine
"...even if she is meant for combat, there’s probably little reason to fear Shi Lang. A close study of the 990-foot-long vessel — plus the warships and airplanes she’ll sail with — reveals a modestly-sized carrier lacking many of the elements that make U.S. flattops so powerful. ... “Our Navy can carry twice as many aircraft at sea as all the rest of the world combined,” outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates pointed out last year."

Recession Officially Over, U.S. Incomes Kept Falling from the New York Times
"In a grim sign of the enduring nature of the economic slump, household income declined more in the two years after the recession ended than it did during the recession itself, new research has found."
Looking back, it seems clear to me that economists have a problem with terminology.  The "recession" they talk about has little bearing on the recession most people are living.  For them, recessions end when their metrics on job losses/gains turn around -- never mind how many millions of people stopped looking for work altogether or other fundamental flaws in the methodology, never mind that incomes keep falling, and, oh, pay no attention to how the middle class is being hollowed out.  After the Great Depression, the very word "depression" became vorbotten -- I suspect after this recession, the term "recession" will, I suspect, become unspeakable.  The opportunity will then emerge for economists & academics to come up with a new term that actually reflects people's lived experience and econometrics that takes a broader view of the human impacts of an economic downturn.

Panic of the Plutocrats (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"...the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent. And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park."

The Backlash Against the Rich (Robert Samuelson) from the Washington Post
"When most people are doing okay, the fact that some people are doing better does not arouse much anger. No more. When many people do worse, or fear they might, the rich inspire resentment and envy. Glaring inequalities that once seemed tolerable become offensive. By and large, Americans regard the rich the way they do the poor. ... What’s happening now is that more rich are being disparaged as “undeserving.”

Meet the Occupants (Tracey Samuelson) from New York Magazine
"The organizers of Occupy Wall Street hoped for a turnout of 90,000 when protests began on September 17. Only a few hundred activists showed up, but those who did have been a hardy bunch. They’re still camped in the open air in Zuccotti Park (near the WTC site)—and just got some big labor groups to promise to join their cause. We polled 100 protesters who are in it for the long haul."

From Elizabeth Warren, the Proper Case for Liberalism (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"It’s not often that a sound bite from a Democratic candidate gets so under the skin of my distinguished colleague George F. Will that he feels moved to quote it in full and then devote an entire column to refuting it. This is instructive. The declaration heard ’round the Internet world came from Elizabeth Warren, the consumer champion running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warren argued that “there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own,” ..."

Back to the Land, Reluctantly (Susan Gregory Thomas) from the New York Times
"Divorced with three children and broke, I learned to be self-sufficient. It’s no big deal, it turns out."

Is Gun Control Racist? (Adam Winkler) from the Daily Beast
Author Adam Winkler uncovers the surprising racist roots of gun control in America—and how the NRA and other groups flipped entirely. Winkler’s new book is “Gun Fight.”"

Obama’s New Populism Isn’t Alienating Moderates (Ruy Teixeira) from the New Republic
"Just as a strategy can fail among both base and swing voters, so too can one succeed among both groups. Obama’s current strategy is a good candidate for doing so."

Is the Tea Party Over? (Bill Keller) from the New York Times
"Jake Silverstein, sums up Perry as “a child of the mythology of the frontier,” in which “every man is more or less for himself, a good neighbor is one who needs no help, and efforts by the government to interfere are not to be trusted.” To this Perry adds a damn-the-pointy-heads denialism — global warming is a hoax, evolution is just “a theory that’s out there” — as well as a wink to the evangelicals, a nod to the executioner, and an ardent defense of personal liberties for those who are heterosexual and don’t need an abortion."

A Key Bloc of GOP Voters Agrees Only on Disliking Mitt Romney (Perry Bacon) from the Washington Post
"The one point on which they have been most consistent, however, is their resistance to the candidate who has been making his case the longest: former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney."

Could A Flare-Up Of The Mormon Issue Help Rick Perry Win? from Talking Points Memo
"Late on Friday Texas Gov. Rick Perry got the endorsement from a conservative Dallas pastor. It probably wouldn’t have been the most eventful development, except that Dr. Robert Jeffress has described Mormonism as a “cult.” And that just happens to be the religion of Perry’s chief rival for the Republican nomination for President, former Mass Gov. Mitt Romney."

TINTIN MOVIE NUGGET!!
'Why I'm Betting £85 Million on One Cartoon Reporter and his Dog': Steven Spielberg Brings Tintin to the Big Screen from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Hergé’s comic books have sold millions... but filmed versions have all been turkeys. Here, the mastermind behind Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Jurassic Park tells Live why that's about to change."

TECHNOLOGY NUGGET!!
The Birth of the Google Translate Era (Thomas Rogers) from Salon
"The rise of new technology is changing the way we think about language and the world. An expert explains how."

VIETNAM BOOK NUGGET!!
Exclusive Quotes from `Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam’ (David Frum) from the Frum Forum
"Now Sorley has produced a new book, telling the sadder story of the unsuccessful command of Gen. William Westmoreland, whom Sorley harshly but aptly condemns as “the general who lost Vietnam.”"

CHILDREN'S BOOK NUGGET [of a sort]!!
The exceptional picture that goes with this story is both disturbing and priceless!
"No More Adventures in Wonderland (Maria Tatar) from the New York Times
"Children today get an unprecedented dose of adult reality in their books, sometimes without the redemptive beauty, cathartic humor and healing magic of an earlier time."