News Nuggets 794

The eruption of Chile's Puyehue-Cordon volcano in October.  From National geographic.

Europe’s Free Ride on the Back of NATO is Over (Paddy Ashdown) from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"With America losing faith in the Nato alliance, Britain and France must lead its renewal."

Europe Debt Action Back on Course After Greeks Abandon Austerity Vote from the McClatchy News Service
"President Barack Obama and his European Union counterparts held closed doors meetings looking for ways to salvage last week’s marathon EU deal and get the world's economy back on a growth path. They got some welcomed help when Greece's main opposition party agreed to honor a controversial austerity program that had been set last week as part of a deal to provide debt relief to Greece."

Greece Spins Out of Control from the Nation
"Returning to Greece in October after three months away, I found the state close to dissolution and people in despair. The collapse is no longer just economic, or political, or social, but epistemological: it is almost impossible to make sense of what is happening."

Modern China Yearns for New Moral Code (David Pilling) from the Financial Times [of the UK]
"... the fumbling for the spiritual of the visitors to Lingyin is symbolic of a nation that craves something beyond the material development that has been served up as the raison d’être of China’s modern existence. High quality global journalism requires investment. The debate about morality bubbles constantly beneath China’s increasingly sleek, modern surface."

Three in Four Americans Back Obama on Iraq Withdrawal from Gallup
"Americans widely support President Obama's recent decision to withdraw nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, with 75% approving. That includes the vast majority of Democrats and independents. Republicans, however, are slightly more likely to disapprove than approve."

Lessons for Occupy Wall Street (Beverly Gage) from Slate
"Take a cue from the only social movement that has ever made a real dent in the nation’s extremes of wealth and poverty."

The Ohio Tea Party's Big "Obamacare" Fail (Andy Kroll) from Mother Jones Magazine
"How a battle to block the individual mandate and galvanize conservative voters backfired in the Buckeye State."

Super Committee Republicans Get Earful Over Loyalty To Grover Norquist from Talking Points Memo
"The well-funded anti-tax crusader has secured pledges from the vast majority of Republican members of Congress, including all six GOP members of the Super Committee, to never raise taxes on net. And that’s the key reason the panel is deadlocked with just three weeks until its deadline. Yesterday, at a public hearing, those six Republicans got an earful from one of their former colleagues — retired Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY)."

A Dangerous Game from the Economist [of London]
"Despite becoming more extremist and obstructionist, the Republicans triumphed in the mid-term elections. Next time round, they may be in for a shock."

The GOP's Desperate Hunt for Anyone but Mitt Romney (Robert Shrum) from The Week
"Herman Cain unravels. Rick Perry stumbles. And Republicans keep praying that someone will rescue them from the flip-flopping Romney."

Cain’s Problem Could Soon be the Republican Party’s from the National Journal
"Instead of arguing over the relative merits of each others’ tax plans, foreign policy, and views on immigration, leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination have now launched an unseemly game of finger-pointing over who dropped the dime on Herman."

The Herman Cain Crack-Up (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"His campaign’s fisticuffs with Washington journalists probably won’t do Cain any harm among his supporters in Iowa; in fact, it will probably help. But Cain’s loss of control is a reminder of why he’s never going to be president, no matter how high he rises in GOP primary polls."

Leave Herman Cain Alone! (David Weigel) from Slate
"The three arguments Republicans are using to defend him."

The Unsteady Candidacy of Herman Cain (Dan Balz) from the Washington Post
"Herman Cain’s presidential campaign may or may not recover from the controversy that has erupted over allegations of sexual harassment. But the episode is only one of a series of examples of a candidate who has shown himself to be unprepared for the rigors of a national campaign. His fumbled handling of the sexual harassment allegations may become a textbook case of how not to handle a political crisis."

US Election 2012: Rick Perry Speech Sparks Drunk Rumours from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"While giving a speech in New Hampshire Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry abandons his usual conservative style and gives an animated, comical performance that sparks rumours he may have been drunk or on medication."

NEW YORK CITY PHOTO NUGGET!!
The Big Apple in Glorious Black and White: Stunning Images Cast Spotlight on New York City in 1940s from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"An amazing photo collection released for new exhibit on documentary photography at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan 'The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936-1951' captures daily life of adults and children in New York City."

RHINOCEROS NUGGET!!
Dangling Miles Above the Earth, the Amazing Flight Which Saved a Herd of Rhinos from Certain Death from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Dangling from cords tied to their ankles, 19 hulking animals were transported out of the South African hills inaccessible by road in the country's Eastern Cape. And these incredible images show exactly how conservationists used a military helicopter to carry the herd of 1,400-kilo rhinos to their new home, away from poachers."