News Nuggets 1026

DAYLEE PICTURE: A park devoted to fireflies -- in Japan.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT ENVIRONMENTAL NUGGET!!
Climate of Failure (Roger Pielke) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Environmentalists are just now waking up to the reality that if we're going to stop global warming, we're going to have to be a lot more politically savvy."
I have been waiting for YEARS for someone to say what Pielke says here.  As I've said here many times, on global warming, environmentalists and those concerned about global warming have basically lost the debate.  GW critics began in the early 1990s to deal with the issue NOT as a scientific or even a public policy issue -- but as a political issue which could be framed by the rhetoric of left verses right.  And this strategy has been a winning one.  I see no hope for real GW reforms until the current generation of lawmakers and their baby-boom supporters pass from the political scene.  The younger generation is light years ahead of older voters on this subject.  Sadly, even after the drought and heat we've had this summer, I don't see GW critics and their right-wing dittohead supporters altering their views. Period.

UP-FRONT OBAMA SMACKDOWN NUGGET!!
'Romney Hood' Slam: Obama Derides Mitt's Tax Plan from the Huffington Post 
"President Barack Obama is labeling opponent Mitt Romney's tax plan as "Romney Hood," saying it takes from the poor and gives to the rich. Speaking Monday night at a campaign event in Connecticut, Obama said the GOP plan "is like Robin Hood in reverse.""
See the video -- Obama's deadpan is HILARIOUS!!

In Europe, 'A Front Line Between North and South' from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"In a SPIEGEL interview, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti says Europe is showing traces of a "psychological dissolution" in the debt crisis and that leaders are doing too little to stop it. He also warns that governments cannot allow themselves to become "fully bound" to parliament in determining policies to save the euro."

Lights Out in India (Niall Ferguson) from Newsweek
"India’s massive blackout is just the beginning."

A Difference Beyond Question (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post 
"Still, for all the caveats, Arabs themselves recognize that they have a cultural problem. The Arab Human Development Report of 2002 singled out three “deficits” of Arab society that are “obstacles” to progress."

Defense Industry Leans On Congress — Avoid Cuts, Even If It Means More Taxes from Talking Points Memo
"The very real possibility that defense programs will suffer deep, across the board spending cuts early next year has major defense contractors and their allies making an unusual plea to members of Congress: Put everything on the table to avoid the so-called sequester — including higher taxes."

Radical Tea Partiers Won't Negotiate (Froma Harrop) from the Providence Journal via Real Clear Politics
"When traditional Republicans tell their tea party wing that they have to negotiate with Democrats, the radicals' frequent response is: No, they don't. One side has to win. But before that fistfight at the edge of the falls can take place, one side has to win within the Republican Party. Civil wars are not pretty. The tea party movement has become the dead bad-luck bird hanging around the GOP establishment's neck."

White Men Are Fleeing Congress (Joshua Green) from Businessweek
"...here’s a prediction that’s all but ironclad, and reflects a largely unappreciated change that could have just as much influence on the direction of the country: After the election, white men will constitute a minority of the Democratic House caucus for the first time in history."
Given that this is how the electorate is trending, I see this as a good thing in the long term.

Why 2012 is Not 1980 (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"... the comparison to 1980 struck me as flawed. I checked in with former Reagan adviser Ed Rollins, who worked communications on that campaign, and he agrees — there are very significant differences that make a last minute swing far less likely."

Dream, Baby, Dream! (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"Romney has been piling on the foreign policy foolishness. ... Romney suffers from S.C.I.P.S. — sudden collapse into passive syndrome. As you try to pin him down, the declarative, transitive sentences vanish as fast as vapor trails."
Good to see a Cohen column again!

Sometimes, You Almost Want to Feel Sorry for Mitt Romney (David Horsey) from the Baltimore Sun
"The intent of Mr. Romney's excursion abroad was to increase his street cred as a potential world statesman, but even if there had been no mini-media storms, it is hard to see how anyone would be overly impressed by his play-it-safe itinerary. Traveling to Great Britain, Israel and Poland is about as risky for an American politician as a tour of country clubs would be for an executive from Bain Capital."
I will feel sorry for Romney after he loses this election.

Reid Wins (Mark Halperin) from Time Magazine
"... the Obama campaign and the White House will continue to laugh and laugh and laugh at how easily they have hijacked the debate, moved the spotlight off the economy, and put Romney on the defensive; and polls will show a mixed verdict on if the matter is hurting Romney or not."

How Mitt’s Tax Returns Show His Character Defect (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Why does it matter that Mitt won’t release his tax returns? Because it’s yet another sign that the man suffers from a pathological mixture of insecurity and entitlement."

Romney Risks a Worse VP Pick Than Palin by Going With Boring Choice (Michelle Cottle) from the Daily Beast
"Republican fears over Mitt Romney’s potential running mate have shifted from another Sarah Palin–style flameout to something even more dangerous—a dull white guy like Rob Portman."

Ducking The Donald (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"The big tents of the political conventions can’t fit every clown."

OLYMPICS NUGGET!!
Once-Powerful Russia Far Behind in Gold Medal Race from the Associated Press via the Bennington Banner
"After a miserable first week in the gold medal stakes, traditional powerhouse Russia is showing signs of a revival - though not enough to avoid its lowest Olympic finish in 60 years. While some of Russia's strongest events are still to come, the team is set to wind up outside the top three in golds for the first time since the Soviet Union began competing at the games in 1952."