News Nuggets 982

DAYLEE PICTURE: Placing flags at Arlington Cemetery. From Foreign Policy Magazine.

Iran Confirms Sending Troops to Syria from YNet News [of Israel in English]
"Islamic Republic admits its forces are aiding Assad's regime in crackdown on pro-democracy protesters; UN's tally of fatalities in Syrian uprising is at 13,000."

Drones: How Obama Learned to Kill (Daniel Klaidman) from Newsweek
"The Obama campaign touts a commander in chief who never flinches, but the truth is more complex. ... Sometimes called “crowd killing,” signature strikes are deeply unpopular in Pakistan. Obama struggled to understand the concept. Steve Kappes, the CIA’s deputy director, offered a blunt explanation."
A very interesting story on many levels!

Russia Ships Arms to Syria Just Days After Massacre (Andre Tartar) from New York Magazine
"Just two days after government shelling killed 116 people, including at least 32 children, in the central town of Houla, Russia blocked a harsh UN denunciation of the Assad government and (more alarmingly) OK'ed an arms shipment to Syria that should arrive by next weekend."

West Point Is Divided on a War Doctrine’s Fate from the New York Times 
"Faculty at the United States Military Academy are debating what a counterinsurgency strategy gained in Iraq and Afghanistan and whether the doctrine has a future."

Republicans and the Military: No Longer BFFs? from The Week
"A provocative Democracy Arsenal article suggests that some conservatives who claim to be pro-military are routinely throwing obstacles in the Pentagon's way."

OECD Warns Risk of Severe Recession in 17-Country Eurozone is Rising as it Cuts Forecasts from the Washington Post
"The 17-country eurozone risks falling into a “severe recession,” the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Tuesday, as it called on governments and Europe’s central bank to act quickly to keep the slowdown from dragging down the global economy ... The report forecasts Europe falling further behind other countries, particularly the United States, whose economy is expected to grow 2.4 percent this year and 2.6 percent next.."
Daily Kos has an interesting analysis of this article HERE.

British Abortion Providers Fear for Safety in Face of U.S.-Style Protests from the Guardian via Raw Story
"Tony Falconer, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, described the American-style protests outside abortion clinics as distressing and humiliating for those preparing to have a termination."

Are Most Americans Really 'Pro-Life'? (Jessica Valenti) from the Nation 
"Basically, when researchers take the time to ask more complicated questions, they get more accurate answers. Reducing the nuance of women’s reproductive health and rights to a political label just minimizes the complexity of the issues and of people’s feelings about them."

An Overdue Abortion Access Expansion (Irwin Carmon) from Salon
"Will Congress let the military cover abortions in the cases of female soldiers who suffer rape or incest?"

Patients Find Each Other Online To Jump-Start Medical Research (Gretchen Cuda-Kroen) from NPR's Morning Edition program
"People with extremely rare diseases are often scattered across the world, and any one hospital has a hard time locating enough individuals to conduct meaningful research. But one woman with an extremely rare heart condition managed to do what many hospitals couldn't. Katherine Leon connected with enough people online to interest the Mayo Clinic in a research trial."

Victory, Unprecedented (Linda Hirshman) from Salon
"How the gay movement's successes surpassed feminism and civil rights -- and became a model for a new era."

Why You Vote the Way You Do from The Week
"Genes play a role, says Jonathan Haidt, but your political outlook is also determined by six moral values."

Democratic Leaders Back Obama’s Bain Strategy vs. Romney, Acknowledge Risks Form the Washington Post
"The Democratic leaders, in numerous interviews over the last week, said they are hearing little or no resistance among the party faithful in their states to a strategy that Republicans have characterized as
anti-capitalist. And Obama has no plans to back off..."

Give ’Em Hell Barry (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"Progressives have yearned for President Obama to follow Harry Truman’s strategy from the 1948 campaign by giving his Republican opponents hell. Now that Obama is doing just that, his critics say he’s not looking presidential. As a longtime advocate of the Truman approach (and a fan of Give ’Em Hell Harry and his way of doing politics), I think Obama is doing the right thing."

Mitt Romney Not into ‘Vision Thing’ from Politico
"Mitt Romney has made it clear what he’s against. What he’d be for as president is another question. The presumptive GOP nominee has some Republicans worried he lacks the “vision thing” that has hurt previous presidential candidates and haunted George H.W. Bush in his quest to succeed Ronald Reagan."

PLANET MARS NUGGET!!
Mars Rover Rolls Along from the Washington Post
"The rover used the panoramic camera (Pancam) between about 4:30 and 5 p.m. local Mars time to record images taken through different filters and combined into this mosaic view. Most of the component images were recorded during the 2,888th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars on March 9."