DAYEE PICTURE: Salt formations in the Dallol Crater in Ethiopia.
TEN BEST NUGGETS OF THE WEEK!!
1. We Can Live with a Nuclear Iran (Paul Pillar) from Washington Monthly "Fears of a bomb in Tehran’s hands are overhyped, and a war to prevent it would be a disaster."
2. The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama (Paul Glastris) from the Washington Monthly
"In short, when judging Obama’s record so far, conservatives measure him against their fears, liberals against their hopes, and the rest of us against our pocketbooks. But if you measure Obama against other
presidents—arguably the more relevant yardstick—a couple of things come to light. Speaking again in terms of sheer tonnage, Obama has gotten more done than any president since LBJ. But the effects of some of those achievements have yet to be felt by most Americans, often by design. Here, too, Obama is in good historical company."
3. Obama and the Militarized American State of Mind (Paul R. Pillar) from the National Interest
"In analyzing the considerable continuity between the latter part of the Bush administration and the Obama administration in counterterrorist policy and practices, Marc Lynch has noted how the “media and political class” have “deeply internalized Global War on Terror framing” even though the war-on-terror terminology is no longer in official vogue"
4. On Obama's Foreign Policy, the GOP is Stuck in a Rut (Michael Cohen) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Whatever one might think of President Obama's foreign policy performance -- if you think he has been feckless and weak; if you think he's been a militarist and neocon-lite; even if you can't find Europe on a map -- you'd have a pretty hard time making the case that foreign policy is an area of vulnerability for President Obama."
5. The 51% Tragedy: A Majority of Young Greek Workers Are Now Unemployed (Derek Thompson) from the Atlantic
"For the first time on record, the majority of young Greek workers are unemployed—and it's just going to get worse."
6. Profiles in Courage -- or Lack Thereof (Steve Benen) from MSNBC
"Mitt Romney appears to have a courage problem. When George Will criticized the candidate for lacking "the courage of his absence of convictions," it was an entirely fair point. Did Romney support the "Personhood" amendment in Mississippi? He didn't want to give an opinion. Did Romney support an extension of the payroll tax break? He preferred not to say. Did Romney support collective bargaining rights in Ohio? He didn't want to give an opinion on that, either. Was Romney comfortable with Republican voters booing a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq during a Republican debate? He didn't want to talk about it. Does Romney support mass deportation of undocumented immigrants? He doesn't want to give an opinion. Is Romney comfortable with Limbaugh's smears? He'd rather talk about something else. There's going to come a point later this year when the Obama campaign is likely to say, "Mitt Romney lacks the courage to be a leader." And the criticism will sting because it's based in fact."
7. The Unbearable Weakness of Mitt Romney (Alec MacGillis) from the New Republic
"Romney does well in the places where Barack Obama does well, and he does poorly in the places where Obama does poorly. This was true in Ohio, where Romney won easily in the big metro areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus while losing to Santorum in the rural counties, much as Obama and Hillary Clinton split the state in 2008. But it's even more striking when one considers Oklahoma and Tennessee. ... the downside for Romney in this ironic alignment between his geographic strengths and Obama's is that it underscores how poorly suited he is for this moment in his party's trajectory—and for the campaign he himself is trying to run."
8. It was a Super Tuesday for Democrats (Robert Shrum) from The Week
"... a Romney nomination and subsequent loss would reap the whirlwind among Republicans. The almost certain reaction, the almost irresistible rationalization, would hold that the fault lies in an establishment that foisted another "moderate" on the party; that Romney wasn't reliably far right enough — and the next time, the nominee has to be someone who's truly, fully, and uncompromisingly conservative."
9. Mitt Romney Grounded (Beth Reinhard) from National Journal
"The extended fight over the GOP nomination has left Mitt Romney unable to build a national grassroots network that can compete with President Obama’s."
10. David Frum: HBO's 'Game Change' Charts Sarah Palin's Revenge (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"In the end, the only people who do stand up to Palin are—of all unlikely heroes—the campaign’s political professionals. They begin as pure operatives, concerned only to win and ready to accept Palin on that understanding. ... As they come to know Palin, the campaign professionals begin to feel an awakening of conscience: first qualms, then fears, and finally revulsion—not for the campaign, not for their careers, but for their country."
Now, to our regular nuggets for Sunday, March 11.
UP-FRONT POLITICS & RELIGION NUGGET!!
Limbaugh, Fluke and the GOP’s 'War on Women’ (Sally Quinn) from the Washington Post
A thoughtful and searing indictment of the hard right from a right-of-center columnist.
"Another vile attack went on to say, “what Rush Limbaugh called Fluke is mild compared to what you should be called. I hope you burn to death in a car fire. I have really come to hate bastards like you.” I said on the show that there certainly is a perception that conservatives are conducting a “war on women.” After these messages and calls, I am convinced. What does this kind of hate talk tell us?"
UP-FRONT BAD-NEWS-FOR-TALK-RADIO NUGGET!!
Rush Limbaugh Scandal Proves Contagious for Talk-Radio Advertisers (John Avlon) from the Daily Beast
"Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the loss will rock right-wing talk radio. Because now the fallout from the “slut” slurs against Sandra Fluke is extending to the entire political shock-jock genre."
WOW!! Read the whole thing!! Up to now, I had assumed the exodus of advertisers from Rush's show would be just a momentary nuisance for him and for Clear Channel -- but MAYBE NOT!! Recalling the Army-McCarthy hearings, have we reached the equivalent of a "Have you no shame!" moment? We can only hope so.
A related story:
Here's How Much Money The Rush Limbaugh Ad Boycott Will Rearrange from Business Insider
"Rush Limbaugh's advertisers spent $363 million on all of radio last year, and the advertiser boycott of his show could rearrange millions of that, according to Nielsen."
The Dangers of Warmongering on Syria, Iran (Leslie H. Gelb) from the Daily Beast
"Beware of foreign policy experts bearing truths and certainties and treat them as snake oil salesmen, especially on Iran and Syria."
How Not to Intervene in Syria (Aaron David Miller) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"After everything that's happened over the last decade, shouldn’t we know a quagmire when we see one?"
It is VERY good to see more push back against the bomb Iran/bomb Syria crowd.
Trust America’s President (Smadar Shir) from Y-Net News [of Israel in English]
"Unlike Bibi, Obama is the responsible adult who should be trusted to handle Iran. ... president Obama’s “no worries” sounds different, because it does not stem from a caprice, but rather, from the understanding that starting a war without knowing how it would end is not such a great move. Hence, I trust him, parallel to my faith in God."
Bin Laden’s Wives’ Stories of Post-9/11 Life Casts More Suspicion on Pakistan (Bruce Reidel) from the Daily Beast
"Pakistani officials have released the testimony of the three wives living with Osama bin Laden when he was killed. Apparently, Pakistani intelligence hoped this testimony would direct suspicion away from its door, but it does quite the opposite."
A Review of The World America Made by Robert Kagan (James Mann) from the Washington Post
"... there is much in “The World America Made” that fits Obama’s interests and principles. One of Kagan’s main arguments is that the United States is not in decline. That notion is of help to Obama or any other American president overseas; when you negotiate with other countries and leaders, you’d prefer that they perceive you as strong and powerful, not weak and faltering. Kagan’s argument against decline also helps Obama at home..."
A Review of Democracy Despite Itself: Why a System that Shouldn’t Work at All Works So Well by Danny Oppenheimer and Mike Edwards (John Pitney) from the Washington Post
"Notwithstanding all the troubles of recent years, we seldom hear explicit anti-democratic sentiments anymore. (One exception is Woody Allen, who wished that President Obama “could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.”) In “Democracy Despite Itself,” Danny Oppenheimer and Mike Edwards explain why..."
Banks Foreclosing on Churches in Record Numbers from Reuters
"Banks are foreclosing on America's churches in record numbers as lenders increasingly lose patience with religious facilities that have defaulted on their mortgages, according to new data."
Right-wing bailout alert!! Bet on it! Church mortgage bailouts -- coming to a state legislature near you!
After Quakes, Ohio Plans Tough Gas-Drilling Rules from the Associated Press
"A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, state regulators said Friday as they announced a series of tough new rules for drillers. Among the new regulations: Well operators must submit more comprehensive geological data when requesting a drill site, and the chemical makeup of all drilling wastewater must be tracked electronically. Both could mean extra costs for gas drillers looking for new wells and ways to get rid of wastewater—much of which is trucked into Ohio from Pennsylvania, the region's top gas-producing state."
The Fox News Effect (Marvin Kitman) from the Nation
"A survey of habitual Fox News viewers by Fairleigh Dickinson University revealed that they become poorly informed about current events. But mere statistics fail to reveal the causes of this effect. Does habitual Foxwatching, for example, trigger some kind of brain trauma or cellular loss akin to Alzheimer’s disease? Or is the damage emotional and psychological, like PTSD? To study the Foxification Effect, we commissioned Marvin Kitman, a professional television critic who covered the box for thirty-five years at Newsday, to serve as a guinea pig in an experiment."
Family Feud (Charlie Cook) from the National Journal
"This fight is very different. This year, it seems that Republicans have become self-absorbed and obsessed with their conservative base. They seem unable to acknowledge or unwilling to care that the rest of the electorate is watching and getting turned off by overheated rhetoric almost
guaranteed to alienate all but the most conservative voters."
Tea Party Movement Takes the Long View (Richard Stevenson) from the New York Times
Yeah -- take the long view. Given how well they're polling with people under 50, if they take long enough, they'll all be dead.
"But many Tea Party supporters said that while they would work to help any Republican defeat Mr. Obama, their real passion was for electing small-government conservatives further down the ballot and building a stable of leaders who grow up in the movement rather than trying to adapt themselves to it. If that means it takes four or eight more years for them to feel any passion for a presidential nominee, they said, it will be worth the wait."
What's Wrong with Romney? His Party is Combusting (Fabrice Rousselot) from Liberation [of France in English]
"From here on in there is only one choice for Romney: try somehow to
unite a party in dire shape. But the primaries coming up in the South are more likely to favor Santorum, whose level of extremism is hard for the French to assess, but who is capable of saying that JFK's speech on the separation of Church and State made him want to 'vomit.' For the moment, at least there is one person enjoying himself: Barack Obama."
Strange Things Are Happening to Mitt Romney (John Nichols) from the Nation
"It is always a little uncomfortable on Team Mitt. But this is the easy part. He’s trying to connect with conservatives and Republicans in GOP strongholds. Wait until Romney starts “appealing” to moderates and independents and women who will be wondering why he couldn’t quite bring himself to call out Rush Limbaugh."
Palin: The First Black President Wants to Revert to Pre-Civil War Society (David Graham) from the Atlantic
"In her view, the very act of acknowledging or talking about race's role in U.S. history makes one a racist."
This has been one of the bigger revelations to me this last year concerning the hard right-wing mentality on racism: not talking about race shows the world clearly that you are not racist. Whether you act racist or hold racist beliefs doesn't matter -- it's what you say is all that matters.
Rush Limbaugh's Blind Spot (Meghan Daum) from the Los Angeles Times
"Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law school student Rush Limbaugh called a "slut" and a "prostitute," is intelligent, poised and coherent. ... Sandra Fluke is the kind of woman that people like Limbaugh know nothing about. She's simply not on his radar screen."
Requiem for Rush (Bill Press) from the Chicago Tribune
" It was perhaps the first apology of his career, and undoubtedly, the most insincere apology ever -- driven, clearly, not by any regret for the language he used in attempting to discredit Ms. Fluke, but by fear of losing any more advertisers. But, to their great credit, advertisers were not convinced. They know a phony when they see one. It didn't make any difference how many times Rush reminded them how much money they'd made advertising on his program, they simply no longer wanted to be associated with America's merchant of hate. ... The courage of advertisers, however, appears in stark contrast to the timidity of Republican leaders."
I'm not at all clear that conscience drove advertisers in the way Press states. It would be nice to think so.
SKYSCRAPER DESIGN NUGGET!!
Winners 2012 Skyscraper Competition from eVolo
An AMAZING series of designs! Check them out!
"eVolo Magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations, along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution."
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