Chinese Trade Figures Raise the Alarm for Global Economy from the Guardian [of the UK]
"China's import decline sharper than expected, suggesting that even with holiday factored in, world's second-largest economy is slowing markedly."
Nixon's Great Decision on China (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"Richard Nixon is hardly a role model, overall; he was a devious president who encouraged illegal actions by his subordinates. But he was a clever strategist -- never more so than in the opening to China that culminated in his February 1972 visit to Beijing. Yet even Nixon, the practiced hypocrite, might not dare to buck conformity today. Doing the unexpected is almost forbidden in American politics these days."
'Do Not Follow Me Down the Road to Jihad. Go and Get a Good Education in the West': Osama Bin Laden’s Extraordinary Instructions to his Young Children from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
The real story here is how the Pakistanis have been treating bin Laden's family.
"Sadah, a 24-year-old journalism student, says the children will not eat and have not seen the sun for nine months. ... Amal, a 29-year-old Yememi, and the two other wives, Khairiah and Siham, have gone on hunger strike to protest against their imprisonment, according to Sadah."
Hacking Cases Focus on Memo to a Murdoch from the New York Times
"As dozens of investigators and high-powered lawyers converge on Rupert Murdoch’s News International in the phone hacking scandal, attention has focused on the printout of an e-mail excavated three months ago from a sealed carton left behind in an empty company office. Addressed to Mr. Murdoch’s son James, it contained explosive information about the scale of phone hacking at The News of the World tabloid — information James Murdoch says he failed to take in because he did not read the whole e-mail chain."
Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It from the New York Times
"He says that too many Americans lean on taxpayers rather than living within their means. He supports politicians who promise to cut government spending. In 2010, he printed T-shirts for the Tea Party campaign of a neighbor, Chip Cravaack, who ousted this region’s long-serving Democratic congressman. Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Mr. Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called the earned-income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice."
When I see or read about people like this, I become almost physically ill.
How Obama Set a Contraception Trap for the Right (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
Conservatives gleefully revived the culture wars. But they're not winning. How Obama set a trap for the right."
Has Obama Cornered Republicans On Contraception? from Talking Points Memo
"Republicans are doubling down in their assault on President Obama’s birth control requirement, insisting that his accommodation of religious nonprofits does not address religious concerns. But by attempting to keep the heat on Obama, the GOP might be diving head-first into a culture war over contraception that social conservatives lost long ago in the minds of the public."
War on Birth Control (Rachel Maddow) from the Washington Post
"... the relevant political context here is more than just a 2012 measure of Catholic bishops’ influence on moral issues. It’s also this year’s mainstream Republican embrace of an antiabortion movement that no longer just marches on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to criminalize abortion; it now marches on the anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut, holding signs that say “The Pill Kills.”"
Beyond Pelvic Politics (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"I MAY not be as theologically sophisticated as American bishops, but I had thought that Jesus talked more about helping the poor than about banning contraceptives. ... My well-heeled readers will be furrowing their brows at this point. Birth control is cheap, you’re thinking, and far less expensive than a baby (or an abortion). But for many Americans living on the edge, it’s a borderline luxury."
GOP Will Fight To Let ANY Employer Deny Birth Control Coverage from Talking Points Memo
"Not satisfied with President Obama’s new religious accommodation, Republicans will move forward with legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that permits any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday."
We Need a Second Party (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"You know how in Scrabble sometimes you look at your seven letters and you’ve got only vowels that spell nothing? What do you do? You go back to the pile. You throw your letters back and hope to pick up better ones to work with. That’s what Republican primary voters seem to be doing. They just keep going back to the pile but still coming up with only vowels that spell nothing."
Republicans United on Goal — Beat Obama — Divided on How to Get There (Karen Tumulty) from the Washington Post
"In a contentious primary race, the Republican Party finds itself defined by its differences, unable to unite behind one message or one candidate."
Mitt Romney As Tarantino's Superman (Christopher Orr) from the New Republic
"Superman was born Superman. It's Clark Kent that is the invented alias, the pose, the "costume." And in the way Superman plays Kent--weak, self-doubting, cowardly--we see his critique of the human race. It occurred to me that the same is true of Romney's desperate, if never terribly persuasive, impersonation of a conservative Republican. That persona--angry, simple-minded, xenophobic, jingoistic--is exactly what Romney (who is himself cultured, content, and cosmopolitan) imagines the average GOP voter to be."
Mitt Romney’s Problem With Conservatives: He’s Not Selling What They Want (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"The GOP frontrunner cannot catch fire with conservatives because he wants to run on a platform of fixing the economy and restoring jobs—but they’re more interested in fighting a culture war about limited government and greater freedom."
10 Years After Salt Lake City Olympics, Questions About Romney’s Contributions from the Washington Post
"Today, even Romney’s critics concede he helped drive a remarkable about-face for the Salt Lake Games, which was remembered Wednesday in a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the opening of those Olympics. But in Utah, another view of Romney’s contributions also has taken hold, with some questioning whether he overstated his contributions, and the extent of the crisis, for political gain."
Boy -- you know that anti-Romney swift-boaters are working overtime when you start seeing stories like this. Romney's tenure with the Olympics is his last big accomplishment that has not been undercut or tainted. Now it's up for "the treatment." Republican or Democrat, this is now the new normal -- even within the GOP itself.
The Politics of Resentment: Sarah Palin’s Mockery of Barack Obama Rouses CPAC Crowd (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"The former Alaska governor's broadsides against Obama drew louder cheers than the GOP candidates did. Eleanor Clift on Palin and the politics of resentment."
Rick Santorum’s Plan to Derail Mitt Romney from Politico
"Rick Santorum’s campaign is eyeing a pair of swiftly approaching Midwestern primary states as its best — and perhaps only — opportunity to deal a mortal blow to Mitt Romney and permanently transform the Republican presidential race into a one-on-one duel to the finish."
Ron Paul, Rick Santorum Suggest Foul Play From Romney Campaign (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
"Mitt Romney scored two minor but symbolically important victories on Saturday -- a first-place finish in the CPAC Straw poll and a win in the Maine caucus -- each of which set off accusations of foul play from the second place finisher. In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) suggested that Romney had doctored the results of the CPAC contest."
No matter how you slice it, Paul and Santorum's charges are, on several levels, quite brilliant. Whether they are sincere or not remains to be seen. But by insinuating that both results were, in essence, "tainted" it not only serves to nullify whatever benefit Romney might get out of these contests but even reinforces the Romney-as-the-GOP-Establishment-Guy meme all the anti-Romney people are singing these days.
Michelle Obama Creates More Upbeat Images (VIDEO) from Politico
"First lady Michele Obama's Let's Move tour has been punctuated by memorable images -- pushups with Ellen DeGeneres, tug of war with Jimmy Fallon -- and now there's one more: a video of her performing the "platypus walk.""
I CAN'T imagine any other First Lady doing what Michelle does here!
Wooing the First Dresser from the New York Times
"There is arguably no more powerful influence in American fashion today than the country’s stylish, risk-taking first lady, Michelle Obama."
RUSSIAN CULTURE NUGGET!!
TV in Putin’s Russia: Jesters, Strivers and a Longing for Normalcy from the New York Times
"Russian television has embraced a more playful self-awareness, with hints of harsher realities."
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