News Nuggets 836

DAYLEE PICTURE: A torrential monsoon rain in Bhaktapur, Nepal.  From National Geographic. 

UP-FRONT HEALTH CARE NUGGET!!
Not-for-Profit Hospitals? (Gregory Warner) from PRI's Marketplace Program
"Last summer, Holly Lang did an experiment. She took uninsured people to 34 not-for-profit hospitals in Philadelphia and asked about financial assistance. And they were just shut down. Only two hospitals gave her info required by law."
There's more.  If this is going on in Philly, it's a bet it's happening in the 'Burgh as well!

Wukan: Protests Across South China as Riot Police Take on Demonstrators in Haimen from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"Riot police fired tear-gas and beat demonstrators who stormed government buildings in Haimen, a major town in southern China on Tuesday – just 75 miles from the rebel village of Wukan."

A Crisis of Confidence in Russia (Vladimir Ryzhkov) from the Moscow Times
"t is already clear that Russia will experience a systemic political crisis in 2012. The country's leaders and institutions will completely lose the people's trust by next summer. The authorities will become vacillating and weak and will flounder from one crisis to another."

Was Iraq “Worth It”? (David Sirota) from Salon
"The same cost-benefit analyses deployed against social programs should be applied to our military misadventures."

The Economic Crisis: The Book of Jobs (Joseph E. Stiglitz) from Vanity Fair
Forget monetary policy. Re-examining the cause of the Great Depression—the revolution in agriculture that threw millions out of work—the author argues that the U.S. is now facing and must manage a similar shift in the “real” economy, from industry to service, or risk a tragic replay of 80 years ago.  ... A banking system is supposed to serve society, not the other way."

The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse (Dave Jamieson) from the Huffington Post
""I don't think people know what the people in those warehouses have to go through to get them their stuff in those stores," Dickerson says. "If you don't work in a warehouse, you don't know." Dickerson quickly discovered that the work wasn't easy, if there was any work at all. Each morning she showed up at her warehouse, she wasn't sure whether she'd be assigned a trailer and earn a day's pay."

Modernizing Conservatism (Steven F. Hayward) from Breakthrough Journal
"... it should quickly become apparent that we badly need to take stock of our position. Conservatism, despite these impressive electoral victories, is failing on its own terms."

The College Order of Things (Malcolm Gladwell) from the New Yorker [from February]
"What college rankings really tell us"

Is Obama’s Political Offensive Paying Off? (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"This suggests current GOP conduct is paying big dividends to Obama. And in a sane universe, these numbers would put to rest the nonstop talk about how Obama’s emphasis on inequality, Wall Street lack of accountability, economic fairness and the need for the rich to pay more in taxes is only about playing to the Dem base, and risks alienating the “class warfare” averse middle of the country."

On Tap: Radical Republican Winterfest (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"So Boehner has his finger on the American pulse because his deceased father owned a saloon? What strange brew have they been pouring in the speaker’s office? ... This new position, essentially reversing the one Boehner voiced a mere three days earlier, proves anew that the old-school speaker is less a leader of his caucus than a servant of his radical backbenchers. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say he’s their barkeep."

How The Payroll Tax Fight Descended Into Chaos (Brian Beutler) from Talking Points Memo
"Lost in the gamesmanship and the arguments about process, hypocrisy, and leadership are the issues at stake. So let’s review."
A GOOD review of how we got to this point.

How Congress Can End the Payroll Tax Impasse (John Batchelor) from the Daily Beast
"Republican House leaders have defeated a two-month extension of the payroll tax, throwing Capitol Hill into chaos. John Batchelor on how the deal went off track—and the scenarios for saving face by Christmas."

The GOP's Payroll Tax Fiasco from the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal
"How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama? GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest."
Some big-time belly-aching happening here from the WSJ.  The contempt evinced for Obama in this editorial reminds me of the middle years of the Clinton administration.  The GOP held Clinton in such low regard (they basically bought into too many of their daily talking points) that they drastically underestimated how formidable an opponent he was.  Not until after the impeachment hearings did it really begin to dawn on them how skilled a pol he was.  Wouldn't be surprised if they do it all over again with Obama.

A Blue Christmas for John Boehner (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"President Obama's poll numbers rise as he fights for jobs while the House speaker winds up hostage to the Tea Party."

Tax Cut Fight Ends Ugly Year for Boehner from the Associated Press
"An uncompromising band of conservatives, led by GOP freshmen to whom Boehner owes his speakership, has repeatedly forced him to back away from deals with President Barack Obama, Democrats and, this week, even one struck by Senate Republicans. Gridlock, again and again, has defined Congress in the Boehner era even as Americans fume and the economy continues to wobble."

Obama vs. Republican Nominee - With or Without Paul Running (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
Thew table here is the key item.

Dubious Right Recalls Gingrich’s Day in Power from the New York Times
"Newt Gingrich’s years as a House Republican leader created distrust among some conservatives who view him as too much of a pragmatist."

In Iowa, Gingrich Lashes Back after Attacks from Rivals from the Los Angeles Times
"Facing slipping poll numbers, an angry Newt Gingrich lashed out at his Republican presidential rivals Monday, calling their criticism of him "reprehensible" and helpful only to President Obama's reelection."

Callista Gingrich: A Laura or a Hillary? (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"So the question is, what prompted Callista Gingrich to abandon the relatively safe role of admiring sidekick and take up arms on Twitter against Mitt Romney? And what might we infer by her actions?"

2012 MOVIES NUGGET!!
17 Films to Look Forward to in 2012 from the Atlantic
"... brighter cinematic days seem to be on the horizon. Judging by what's been announced, 2012 will be refreshingly light on lazy franchise cash-ins (like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was), revivals of cartoons from the ‘80s (like The Smurfs), and the rare movie that manages to be both (hello, Transformers: Dark of the Moon)."
Based on the descriptions, 2012 DOES look more promising -- speaking as someone how saw nothing in 2011 worth going out to a cineplex to see.

IMPERIAL CHINA NUGGET!!
Powerful Portraits Capture China's Empress Dowager (AUDIO) (Susan Stamberg) from NPR's Morning Edition
"Intrigue! Riches! Sex! Some violence! Not the latest movie plot, but a story that lurks in the background of some 100-year-old photographs of The Empress Dowager — once the most powerful woman in Asia. The mostly black-and-white photos languished for decades in the archives of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Now, they are on display and give a glimpse of Old China at a time when today's China is the picture of modern power."