News Nuggets 1067

DAYLEE PICTURE: A green sea turtle in the Red Sea near Egypt.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT MUST-SEE PITTSBURGH NUGGET!!
It's Columbus Days with Docking of Nina, Pinta Replicas from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A replica of the Nina, one of Christopher Columbus' ships from 1492, arrives in Pittsburgh Thursday. Both the Nina and Pinta are docked at the North Shore Riverfront Park and open to the public for tours."

TWO UP-FRONT PUNDIT NUGGET!!
An outstanding one-two punch from Gerson and Fineman.  Read both in their entirety.
1. An Ideology Without Promise (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post 
"... a Republican ideology pitting the “makers” against the “takers” offers nothing. No sympathy for our fellow citizens. No insight into our social challenge. No hope of change. This approach involves a relentless reductionism. Human worth is reduced to economic production. Social problems are reduced to personal vices. Politics is reduced to class warfare on behalf of the upper class."

Fineman picks up on Gerson's editorial:
2.  Mitt Romney Is Driving The GOP To Pieces: Countdown Day 46 (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
Fineman articulates eloquently precisely what I have been sensing about the GOP for some time now.
"It was perhaps the most thorough, full-throated denunciation of Romney this year -- and, of course, a conservative Republican wrote it. ... The real story, the deeper story, is the flying apart of the modern GOP into its constituent but rivalrous pieces. The Romney campaign feels like the end of an era in the party, rather than the beginning of one, because there's no center and it cannot hold."

China's Brainwashed Youth (Qi Ge) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"The protests against Japan didn't get us our islands back, but they made one thing clear: The people are puppets of the Chinese Communist Party."

The Mideast Protests, Social Networks & the Global Brain (Deepak Chopra) from the Daily Beast
"The future of the Middle East looks like a race between the mullahs and the iPad—and despite recent setbacks, social networks are rewiring our brains to topple traditional barriers, says Deepak Chopra, author of God: A Story of Revelation."

Mormons Want to Excommunicate Romney Critic (Jamie Reno) from the Daily Beast
"After writing negative articles about the Republican candidate, the managing editor of MormonThink.com says he faces excommunication. Is the Church on a witch hunt? Jamie Reno reports."
A very disturbing story.

What’s The Matter With White People? (Joan Walsh) from National Memo 
"I am repeatedly struck by the extent to which conservatives have given up on the America we all grew up with: apparently it costs too much and we can’t afford it, and besides, we can’t all get along, so we can’t enjoy it."

Battleground Snapshot: Obama Winning by Bigger Margins than Four Years Ago (Markos Moulitsas) from Daily Kos
"...we can see how Pres. Barack Obama is running compared to his first bid. And the answer, for the most part, is "much better"." ... Obama is already running significantly ahead of 2008, when he had a 2.2-point national advantage over McCain. ... A week ago, Romney exceeded 46 percent five of these states, and hit 48 percent in just one. This week, he hits 46 percent in just three of them, and 48 percent in none. He is losing support."

Barack Obama Sets New Fundraising Record, Crushes Mitt Romney In Advertising Spending (Paul Blumenthal) from the Huffington Post
"...  the fundraising machine that is the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama now looks like the $1 billion money machine that was promised back in early 2011."

 Obama’s Convention Bounce May Not Be Receding (Nate Silver) from the New York Times
"In the 10 states that have generally been ranked the highest on our tipping-point list — Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan — there have been 21 such polls since the Democratic convention ended. Mr. Obama has led in all 21 of these surveys — and usually by clear margins."

Romney's Campaign Undercuts His Competence Pitch (Jill Lawrence) from National Journal
"Mitt Romney’s misfiring presidential campaign casts doubt on his credibility as a manager and raises questions about how he would govern."

The Imaginary Campaign (Joe Klein) from Time Magazine
"Like Eastwood, they were campaigning against a Barack Obama who was a figment of their imagination. ... We now know that Romney has been running not only against an imaginary President but against an imaginary electorate as well."

Mitt Romney Claims to have Intentionally Overpaid 2011 Taxes (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"Mitt Romney's attorney says he overpaid his 2011 taxes: ... Mitt Romney in July said if he overpaid his taxes he wouldn't be qualified to be president: ..."

FANTASY BOOK NUGGET!!
Happy Birthday, ‘The Hobbit’: The History of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Book (Corey Olsen) from the Daily Beast
"It’s the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. Corey Olsen, author of the new book Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, tells us the history of how the story of Bilbo Baggins changed even after the book was published. Plus, see Tolkien’s beautiful illustrations for The Hobbit."

BIBLE HISTORY NUGGET!!
The Inside Story of a Controversial New Gospel (Ariel Sabar) from the Smithsonian
"According to a top religion scholar, this 1,600-year-old text fragment suggests that some early Christians believed Jesus was married—possibly to Mary Magdalene."

GOP HISTORY NUGGET!!
The Republican Party’s Race Problem and Strom Thurmond’s Legacy (Jordan Michael Smith) from the Daily Beast
What went wrong for the party of civil rights? Why do they have so few African-American supporters? A new book argues that Strom Thurmond reshaped the Republican Party and the South with his support of segregation—and left the party with a poisonous legacy on race relations that continues to this day."

JAMES BOND NUGGET!!
The Birth of Bond (David Kemp) from Vanity Fair
"The complicated birth of the big-screen 007. After several false starts, author Ian Fleming handed his character to two relatively small-time film producers:..."