News Nuggets 811

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Merced River in Yosemite.  From National Geographic.

Khmer Rouge Leaders Accused of Brutality ‘Defying Belief’ from the New York Times
"Opening statements in the most significant stage of a United Nations-backed trial of Khmer Rouge leaders began here on Monday with a horrifying and detailed account of the atrocities of a regime that a prosecutor said was responsible for the deaths of one-fourth of the population. Though the wide-ranging accusations were familiar, their presentation in a coherent narrative, studded with specific examples, was powerful and caused some elderly Cambodians to shed tears."

Chasing the Dragon in Tehran from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Behind its façade of Muslim piety, Iran is one of the most drug-addled countries in the world."

Republicans Are Endangering National Security (William Cohen) from the New York Times
"I have long been concerned that my party’s rigid antitax ideology is harming the fiscal health of our nation. Now it is harming our national security as well, as cuts in defense spending on a calamitous scale are about to be triggered. Congressional Republicans need to look back at this sad episode and decide: Do they care more about keeping “a no tax pledge” or giving our troops the tools they need to protect the nation?"

Overcoming Depression in Old Age: Pitt Program Helps Elderly Fight Malady Often Brought on by Grief, Pain and Disability from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Grief. Pain. Disability. They're among the primary causes of depression at late age for adults. Retirement, social isolation and chronic insomnia are other factors that trigger lower feelings among some elderly than they have ever experienced when younger. Fortunately for Ms. King, Ms. Miller and Mr. Janecek, they have received help as participants in studies at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Late Life Depression Prevention and Treatment Research."

Scott Walker Recall Activists Become Targets Of Threats, Thefts from the Huffington Post
"The fight over a potential recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) took a dark twist over the past week, as anti-Walker activists reported receiving death threats and having items stolen from their properties."

President Obama’s Base of Support Remains Solid Heading into 2012 (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"... an examination of the polling data among key subgroups that constitute Obama’s base makes clear that he has as much support from them as any modern president seeking a second term."

Democrats Consolidating Hispanic Vote Early from Talking Points Memo
"President Obama’s relationship with Hispanic advocacy groups and lawmakers hasn’t always been perfect. But with the election a year off, he’s starting to put up some strong polling numbers among Latino voters."

New Public Study: Watching Fox News Makes You Dumber from Daily Kos
"A new Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind Poll finds that the Sunday morning political shows on television "do the most to help people learn about current events, while some outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who they don't watch any news at all.""

The White Party (Thomas Edsall) from the New York Times
"Republicans running for the House and the Senate defiantly calculated that they could win in 2010 with a surge of white voters, affirming the Republican role as the default party of white America. ... Now, moving toward what has all the markings of a historic ideological and demographic collision on Nov. 6, 2012, Republicans are doubling down on this racially fraught strategy."

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? (David Frum) from New York Magazine
"Some of my Republican friends ask if I’ve gone crazy. I say: Look in the mirror."

A related sentiment here:
Have They Gone Nuts in Washington? (David Gergen) from CNN
"Who can tell how a volatile mixture of political failure in Europe and in the U.S. will play out in coming weeks? The truth is nobody knows for sure. That's why this failure of the super committee represents a reckless, irresponsible gamble by our "leaders" in Washington. It's difficult to remember a Congress that has put the nation so much at risk in the service of ideology and to hold onto office."

Both Sides of GOP Still Bouncing (Ronald Brownstein) from the National Journal
"The big change in the poll was Romney's decline in his strongest group: the Republicans who don't identify with the tea party. "

Does Character Matter to Republicans? Or Will the GOP Embrace a Scoundrel? (Jennifer Rubin) from the Washington Post
"Back in September Right Turn chided certain Republican presidential candidates for appealing to ignorance, glorifying contempt not just for liberal elites but for intellectualism in general. The good news is that voters are rejecting ignorance. The bad news is that they may have forgotten about character."

Tuning Out Rick Perry (Reid Wilson) from the National Journal
"Imagine the frustration if you'd spent huge amounts of money on advertisements aimed at improving your image and it hadn't helped one bit. Now you have an idea of how Rick Perry's campaign must be feeling right now."
Someday, some Hunter S. Thompson-type writer will pen an extraordinarily rich and hilarious picture of the 2011-2012 GOP primary season.

Live Free Or Die Seeking A Birth Certificate (Alec MacGillis) from the New Republic
"New Hampshire is going through a bit of a birther moment right now. Taitz -- the Soviet Union-born lawyer/dentist/state senate candidate from California and self-anointed birther standard-bearer -- came to Concord on Friday to argue before the state's Ballot Law Commission that Barack Obama should be barred from the state's primary ballot because he is in fact not a U.S. citizen. And she had some seemingly well-credentialed local supporters at her side..."

OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
NASA Mars Mission to Test Planet for Ability to Sustain Life from the Washington Post
"NASA’s most high-stakes, ambitious planetary mission in decades is scheduled to launch next week with a goal right out of science fiction: to learn whether Mars was, or ever could be, home to extraterrestrial life."

ISLAMIC CULTURE NUGGET!!
Turkish Women's Magazine Searches for Intersection of Islam and Fashion from the Atlantic
"The previously little-known magazine has begun outselling Vogue and Elle here, sparking a national debate over whether fashion and Islam can coexist"

JAMES BOND MOVIE NUGGET!!
For Sale: Bond Villain Lair, £100million-plus (Shark Tanks and Henchmen not included) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Floating 300-foot lair offers helipads and an observation deck
'Legs' enable hideaway to move to different locations."

FAILED HIGHWAYS NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Large Section of Coastal Los Angeles Roadway Slides into the Ocean (Photos) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"A large rainstorm in San Pedro caused an enormous stretch of coastal road to collapse into the Pacific Ocean Sunday, and left a gaping hole where the road once was."
There's more hole than there is road!