News Nuggets 1018

DAYLEE PICTURE: A baby macaque in India.  From National Geographic. 

UP-FRONT CULTURE NUGGET!!
Storytelling: Summer in the '60s: When Kids Grew Up Simply on Their Own (Kate Flaherty Podkul) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"In the 1960s, you got up early because it was too hot to sleep in. Your breakfast was sugared cereal along with orange juice, with sugar added by both the manufacturer and by you."

Syria Is Iraq (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"Lord knows I am rooting for the opposition forces in Syria to quickly prevail on their own and turn out to be as democratically inclined as we hope.  But the chances of this best-of-all-possible outcomes is low.  That's because Syria is a lot like Iraq."

Iran Nuclear Plants Hit By Virus Playing AC/DC, Website Says (Ladane Nasseri) from Bloomberg News via the San Francisco Chronicle
"Iran’s nuclear facilities have suffered a cyber attack that shut down computers and played music from the rock band AC/DC, the F-Secure Security Labs website said. A new worm targeted Iran’s nuclear program, closing down the “automation network” at the Natanz and Fordo facilities, the Internet security site reported, citing an e-mail it said was sent by a scientist inside Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization."

The End of China's Rise (Amitai Etzioni) from the National Interest 
"If major trends continue to unfold, those who wrote that we are about to enter a Chinese century will soon discover that it ended before it started."

Europe is Sleepwalking Towards Imminent Disaster, Warn Top Economists (Ambrose Evans-Pritchard) from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"The euro has completely broken down as a workable system and faces collapse with “incalculable economic losses and human suffering” unless there is a drastic change of course, according to a group of leading economists."

Experts: Some Frackling Critics Use Bad Science (Kevin Begos) from the Associated Press
"Critics of fracking often raise alarms about groundwater pollution, air pollution, and cancer risks, and there are still many uncertainties. But some of the claims have little — or nothing— to back them."

Insurance Companies are Slow to Cover Risks of Gas Drilling from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"One company has written an exclusion that forces clients working with oil and gas companies to obtain additional coverage. An industry group drafted a memo encouraging brokers to brush up on potential liabilities, even including knowledge of the rare earthquakes said to be a byproduct of some industry practices. The changes represent another form of growing pains for the far-reaching drilling industry and the ancillary businesses it involves."

Scouts' Dishonor: The BSA Continues to Blaze a Trail of Intolerance from the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Although the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000 upheld the Boy Scouts' First Amendment right as a private organization to exclude homosexuals from membership and leadership, it is astonishing that a dozen years later the group that widely professes to build character has decided to cling to such an archaic view."

Romney's Trans-Atlantic Policy Needs a Reboot (Annette Heuser and Tyson Barker) from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"Likely Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will visit the United Kingdom and Poland at a time when the GOP's policy toward Europe seems to be trapped in the days of the Cold War. It will be a chance for him to update his outdated views."

Mitt Romney Would Restore 'Anglo-Saxon' Relations Between Britain and America from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"Mitt Romney would restore "Anglo-Saxon" understanding to the special relationship between the US and Britain, and return Sir Winston Churchill's bust to the White House, according to advisers."

Hiding in Plain Sight (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
God, it seems like ages since Dowd had anything worthwhile to say. 
"So far, Mitt’s casting a shadowy silhouette, hiding his fortune in foreign tax havens, hiding tax returns, destroying and hiding records as head of the Olympics and as governor, hiding a specific sense of where he would take the country. Americans don’t want to play hide-and-seek with their presidential candidates. Romney should listen to himself: The time for stonewalling is over."

Obama's Character Edge Offsets Romney's Economic Advantage: Obama Continues to be Viewed as the More Likable Candidate (Jeffrey M. Jones) from Gallup
"Americans tend to see Mitt Romney as better able to handle key issues than President Obama is, particularly those relating to the economy. However, Americans give Obama the edge on most character dimensions, especially basic likability."

NBC/WSJ Poll: Negative Campaign Takes Toll on Candidates; Obama Up Six Points (Mark Murray) from MSNBC
"Both presidential candidates have seen their “very negative” ratings increase to all-time highs in the poll. And Romney’s overall favorable/unfavorable score remains a net negative – a trait no other modern presumptive GOP presidential nominee (whether Bob Dole, George W. Bush or John McCain) has shared."
Markos Moulitsas has some interesting analysis of these numbers HERE.

Mitt Romney Still Fighting Cold War (Trudy Rubin) from the San Jose Mercury News
"...this week, he's off to Europe and Israel in hopes of burnishing his image as the future leader of the "free world." Unfortunately, the world Romney seeks to lead no longer exists. Romney's foreign affairs statements have a Rip Van Winkle quality, as if he had just emerged from a sleep of two decades. His Cold War language suits the bipolar world of the 20th century, not the current era."