News Nuggets 801

A new development in urban living: VERTICAL gardens!  See the Amazing Gardens Nugget below.  From Stylist.com.

NUGGETS NOTE!

The Nuggetsman will be traveling the next four days and thus postings may not be daylee.  Count-on-able dayleeness will return on Monday!

UP-FRONT LOCAL LIBRARIES NUGGET!!
Extra Funds for Pittsburgh Library Get Resounding Approval from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 
"City voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a 0.25-mill property tax increase to help fund the cash-strapped Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and its 19 branches."
VERY good news!

This Is The Way The Euro Ends (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... with Italian 10-years now well above 7 percent, we’re now in territory where all the vicious circles get into gear — and European leaders seem like deer caught in the headlights. And as Martin Wolf says today, the unthinkable — a euro breakup — has become all too thinkable:"

A different view here:
French and Germans Explore Idea of Smaller Euro Zone from Reuters
"German and French officials have discussed plans for a radical overhaul of the European Union that would involve setting up a more integrated and potentially smaller euro zone, EU sources say."
I was just saying to someone the other day that I thought the crisis might be managed this way: more consolidation with the northern European countries, dumping the south.

Pete Rouse, Bill Daley Shuffled By White House To Improve Relations With Congress from Huffington Post
""There was a lot of truth to Daley being bad about outreach to the Hill and Pete being a creature of it," said a top Democratic official who has worked closely with the White House. "People genuinely love Pete and are very loyal to hm.""

How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich (Tim Dickinson) from Rolling Stone Magazine
"The inside story of how the Republicans abandoned the poor and the middle class to pursue their relentless agenda of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent"

Occupy Wall Street Hits The Road from Talking Points Memo
"A small group of Occupy Wall Street protesters plans to march from Wall Street to Washington, starting Wednesday afternoon, inspired by Civil Rights-era marches. The two-week march — covering about 20 miles per day — will make stops at Occupy Philly, Occupy Baltimore and stops in between, and the marchers hope to pick up supporters along the way."
Right idea.  Wrong timing.  OWS is not ready for this kind of action.  What are they demanding?  Where are they staying on the way?  What exactly are they going to do once they get there?  If they coordinated with other Occupy groups and planned extensively, they could stage an enormous event.  This looks so not-ready-for-prime-time. 

Michael Tomasky: Ohio Vote Shows Obama Winning Back the Rust Belt (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"After last year’s elections, the president moved right. But Tuesday night’s result in Ohio confirms that Democrats can beat the GOP by fighting inequality, says Michael Tomasky."

House Republican Lawmakers Want Out of Norquist Tax Pledge from The Hill
"A growing number of GOP lawmakers have disavowed Norquist’s pledge against supporting tax increases in recent days, telling The Hill they no longer feel bound to uphold a document that they signed, in some cases, more than a decade ago."
A VERY GOOD development! 

CNBC GOP Debate in Rochester, Michigan: Daily Beast Contributors Respond from the Daily Beast
"Did Herman Cain or Mitt Romney come out in front? Is Rick Perry done? Howard Kurtz and more Daily Beast contributors weigh in on CNBC's debate in Michigan."

Michigan Debate Reactions (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"There are only two faintly plausible, credible presidents up there, both Mormons. The rest is beyond an embarrassment, and at this moment in history, the sheer paucity of that talent is alarming. Did anyone up there give you confidence he or she could actually lead the world countering this metastasizing debt and unemployment crisis?"
Along with his own insightful reactions, Sullivan provides a broad range of other opinions as well.

Over There: From Republican Hopefuls, a Dangerous Economic Isolationism (Jim Tankersley) from the National Journal
"Unfortunate, because Perry’s mother-of-all-awkward-moments totally overshadowed the rest of the debate, including the candidates’ answers on how they’d deal with the volcanic economic crisis erupting from Europe. Fitting, because the entire field spaced on the Europe answer, too."

Why the Right Hates Mitt Romney and His 2012 Presidential Bid (Michael Medved) from the Daily Beast
"It’s not the flip-flopping or the centrism—he’s tacked right and his thinking largely ceased to “evolve” in the last few years. Mitt’s lack of anger and indignation disqualifies him for many conservatives, and that’s alarming, says Michael Medved."
I suspect that there is a lot of truth to Medved's observations.

Herman Cain’s Organization Problem (Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"...establishment skepticism for Cain isn’t really his biggest problem as he tries to weather a controversy that is now entering its 11th day. Cain’s real problem is the lack of any real national organization working on his behalf."

He's got more than an organization problem:
Cain Accusers Bialek, Kraushaar Planning Joint News Conference (James V. Grimaldi) from the Washington Post
"Two women who allege they were sexually harassed by presidential hopeful Herman Cain have agreed to hold a joint news conference so they can air their stories together, the attorney for one of the women said."

The Cain Scrutiny (Ross Douthat) from the New York Times
"Herman Cain’s candidacy has confirmed what the experience of the Obama era has already suggested: In national politics, race matters, but ideology matters much, much more. It didn’t used to be this way."

I'm the Victim Here (John Dickerson) from Slate
"Herman Cain tries to turn the tables at his press conference about accusations of sexual harassment."

Cain’s Credibility Shot (Jennifer Rubin) from the Washington Post
"Either Cain and Block are crackers (truly believing that witnesses have been cooked up, even though settlements with two of the women we know about date back more than a decade ), or they think the public will buy utter nonsense. With each accusation, the alternative — that Cain is lying — seems more and more plausible."

AMAZING GARDENS NUGGET!!
Living Walls Sprout Home Garden Inspiration (Photos) from Stylist.com
"One of the major design challenges of landscaping, indoors or out, in an urban environment is space maximization. Solution found: free up some of the floor and horizontal surface space by creating a living wall."