News Nuggets 926

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia.  From National Geographic.  

UP-FRONT RELIGIOUS NUGGET!!
Christianity in Crisis (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"Christianity has been destroyed by politics, priests, and get-rich evangelists. Ignore them, writes Andrew Sullivan, and embrace Him."
Right on with the first part; not so sure about the second part -- but Sullivan is always worth a close read.

A related story:
The Faith Factor: Religion's New Prominence in Campaign 2012 (Mary Beth McCauley) from the Christian Science Monitor
"Whose beliefs matter? From birth control to taxes, religion is playing an unprecedented role in campaign 2012."

Burma Rejoices on a Long-Delayed Day for Democracy from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Aung San Suu Kyi has won a landmark election, now she faces the challenge of persuading the army to withdraw from politics."

Bin Laden Family Charged and Sentenced in Pakistan from the BBC
"Osama Bin Laden's three widows and two eldest daughters have been charged and sentenced for living in Pakistan illegally, their lawyer has confirmed. They have received a jail term of 45 days in prison and fined 10,000 rupees ($114; £71) each. The women have already served a month of their sentence and are expected to be deported in two weeks."
Deported ... to where?  The way these people have been treated so far, I will be amazed if they get deported to anywhere where they will have anything resembling freedom to talk or move about.

It's an increasingly bad economic scene in Europe:
Eurozone Unemployment Rate Rises in February from the BBC
"Unemployment across countries that use the euro edged higher in February to 10.8%."

Ranks of Working Poor Grow in Europe from the New York Times
"When Melissa Dos Santos leaves her job at the end of each day, she goes home to an unlikely place: a tiny trailer in a campground 30 miles north of Paris, where scores of people who can barely make ends meet are living on a sprawling lot originally designed as a bucolic retreat for vacationers."

How Occupy Wall Street Plans to Spring Back to Action from the Christian Science Monitor
"Occupy Wall Street isn't dead, leaders of the movement say. It's ready to emerge from a winter of hibernation with a spring of renewed activism."

Five Weeks Later, the Eye of a Firestorm in Sanford from the New York Times
"The fateful encounter in Sanford, Fla., above, between a black youth who wanted to go to college and a Hispanic man who wanted to be a judge has polarized the nation."

If Trayvon Martin had been White, and George Zimmerman were Black (Laurence Lewis) from Daily Kos
"If you don't understand how deeply and viciously racist has been the official and right-wing reaction to the murder of Trayvon Martin, all you have to do is consider what would have been the official and right-wing reaction had the races of Martin and his killer been reversed."

Why Rush Limbaugh and the Right Turned on Trayvon Martin (Alex Pareene) from Salon
"A national tragedy became another awful political shouting match, thanks to vile pundits and talk-radio hosts."

Our Pundit-of-the-Day!!
The Right’s Stealthy Coup (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"Right before our eyes, American conservatism is becoming something very different from what it once was. Yet this transformation is happening by stealth because moderates are too afraid to acknowledge what all their senses tell them. Last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments on health care were the most dramatic example of how radical tea partyism has displaced mainstream conservative thinking."

A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney (David Javerbaum) from the New York Times 
"... close and repeated study of his campaign in real-world situations has yielded a standard model that has proved eerily accurate in predicting Mitt Romney’s behavior in debate after debate, speech after speech, awkward look-at-me-I’m-a-regular-guy moment after awkward look-at-me-I’m-a-regular-guy moment, and every other event in his face-time continuum."

George W. Bush is the GOP's Missing Man (Alex Roarty) from the National Journal
"He was nowhere to be found when Romney met with H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush on Thursday - just as he's been nowhere to be found on the presidential campaign this year. His absence is no accident. The Republican Party has done everything in its power to separate itself from its former leader, who left office with abysmally low approval ratings that helped boost President Obama to a decisive White House win."

What William F. Buckley Would Think of Today’s GOP (Geoffrey Kabaservice) from the New Republic
"“If they think they are being asked to join a movement whose leadership believes the drivel of Robert Welch,” he warned, “they will pass by crackpot alley, and will not pause until they feel the embrace of those way over on the other side, the Liberals.” Buckley consistently maintained that conservatism was the “politics of reality.” Needless to say, it is not a keen grasp of reality that distinguishes the politics of the Tea Party. "

POLL: Women Voters Abandon GOP In Key Battleground States from Talking Points Memo
"President Obama has emerged with an impressive lead in swing states around the country — thanks to women voters abandoning the GOP in droves, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll showing President Obama leading among women voters in the top dozen battleground states by a whopping 18 points — greater than the 12-point gender gap he won with in 2008."

Democrats Winning Women Across The Board, Polls Show from Talking Points Memo
"It’s one point both Democrats and Republicans agree on: social issues at the top of the ticket are poisoning the well and creating a gender gap across the board — mostly to the benefit of Democrats."

When Gender Gaps Save Presidents (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"New polling confirms they’re in revolt against the GOP, just like they were in 1996."

SUNKEN TREASURE NUGGET!!
Student Finds Bags Of Sunken Treasure In Oakland's Lake Merritt During School Trash Cleanup from the Huffington Post
"...one 11-year-old girl pulling bags of trash from the water seemed to get a cosmic reward when she spotted two bags sticking out of the lake that ended up being filled with over 100 pieces of antique jewelry, foreign coins, rings, bracelets, and even military medals, the Associated Press "

TREEHOUSE NUGGET!!
Stunning Photos Show TEN-STOREY Tree House that Makes Swiss Family Robinson look like Amateurs from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The world's tallest treehouse, located in Crossville, Tennessee, makes the Swiss Family Robinsons look like a bunch of amateurs - but that might be because it was commissioned by God."
I don't know about this.  In most states, zoning boards and buildings departments would be all over this!