News Nuggets 1070

DAYLEE PICTURE: A butterfly at Hod ha'sharon in Israel.  From National Geographic. 

North Korean Farmers May Be Allowed to Sell Their Own Crops (Dashiell Bennett) from the Atlantic
"In what could be the most drastic change to North Korea society since the nation's founding, the government has announced new rules that would give farmers some small bit of ownership over the crops they grow."

Analysis of Satellite Images Shows Halt in North Korea Work on New Launch Pad from the Associated Press via the Washington Post
"North Korea has stopped construction on a launch pad where intercontinental-range rockets could be tested, an interruption possibly due to heavy rains and that could stall completion up to two years, according to an analysis of new satellite imagery."

China Says First Aircraft Carrier Entering Service, Although Not Ready for Combat or Planes from the Washington Post
"China formally entered its first aircraft carrier into service on Tuesday, underscoring its ambitions to be a leading Asian naval power, although the ship is not expected to carry a full complement of planes or be ready for combat for some time."

Russia Needs Its Own Prophet Muhammed (Richard Lourie) from the Moscow Times [in English]
"What is certain is that Russia's recent outburst of Americaphobia, expressed last week in the expulsion of USAID, is different from the epidemic of hateful fury that swept the Islamic world. Local political interests were at play there as well, but something greater was involved: the inevitable clash between a civilization that reveres freedom of speech and a civilization passionate about the sacred. Russia, clearly, is neither."

Obama’s Policy on Iran Bears Some Fruit, but Nuclear Program Still Advances from the Washington Post
"“It created real hope inside Iran,” recalled Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official and witness to the internal rift over Obama’s 2009 inaugural speech. “The question was whether he could deliver.” Both sides misjudged Obama, who has proceeded to chart a course with Iran that is neither fully conciliatory nor bellicose."

More Posturing on Iran (Paul Pillar) from the National Interest
"Two actions at the end of last week, involving two different branches of the U.S. government, continued a pattern of unthinking support for anything that gets perceived as opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Why Obama Has Gone on Political Offensive Against Romney Over Iran (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"The president’s resistance to drawing a red line on Iran and his attacks on Romney for being cavalier about military action are fueled by the GOP nominee’s foreign policy blunders—and the knowledge that most Americans oppose a war with Tehran."

Disappointed Republican Talks About Why He's Dumping Mitt (Nathan Shrader) from the Philadelphia Inquirer
"Einstein once said that "character is doing what's right when nobody's looking." When nobody but a group of wealthy donors was looking, Romney took the opportunity to assail the patriotism, work ethic, decency and moral fiber of the people he seeks to lead. This isn't character. This is despicable. My fellow Republicans, and all voters with a sense of right and wrong, should ditch Romney. He just isn't worth it."

The Conservative Mind (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"Conservatism has lost half of its intellectual firepower. Republicans need to recover traditional conservatism or risk becoming irrelevant."

Mitt’s Mortification (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"What happens to a politician on the path to the presidency isn’t pretty."

OUR PUNDIT-OF-THE-DAY!!
The Republican Brain Drain (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post 
"Where did all the talent go? Until the Republican Party can answer this question, it makes no sense to continue to carp about Mitt Romney and the startlingly incompetent presidential campaign he’s running. His faults as a politician are manifest. He is robotic, unknowable ..., ideologically incoherent and severely out of touch with the average American. He is his party’s nominee because, like the one-eyed man in the valley of the blind, he is just the best of the worst."

Heartland Monitor Poll: Obama Leads 50 Percent to 43 Percent (Ronald Brownstein) from National Journal
"President Obama has opened a solid lead over Mitt Romney by largely reassembling the “coalition of the ascendant” that powered the Democrat to his landmark 2008 victory, the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has found. The survey found Obama leading Romney by 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, with key groups in the president’s coalition such as minorities, young people, and upscale white women providing him support comparable to their levels in 2008."

"Obama's Ground Game Will Make 2008 Look Like Jurassic Park" - Here's Your Ground Game (K Gardner) from Daily Kos
"Around September 4th of this year, Jim Messina was quoted in Huffington Post as stating, “The Democratic ground game will make 2008 look like Jurassic Park.” Referencing the technological innovations that the campaign could bring to voter turnout efforts, Messina added: "This is light-years ahead of where we were in 2008.”* I smiled to myself at the time, knowing what I know has been going on just in my small neighborhood, in my small southern town, in this solidly red state, since May of 2012."

Romney's Chances Are In Jeopardy (Nate Cohn) from the New Republic 
"...a Romney victory just doesn't seem like it's in the cards. Not in the abstract and not after considering the specifics of a static contest defined by the weaknesses of the Republican challenger."

On Mitt Romney’s Sham Economic Plan (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast 
"This is the perfect time for Romney to pivot back to the economy. Unfortunately for him, talking up his economic “plan” won’t do anything to fix his faltering campaign."

Senate Democratic Candidates Look Strong in Recent Polling (Sean Sullivan) from the Washington Post
"The latest Marquette Law School poll of the Wisconsin Senate race shows Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) leading former governor Tommy Thompson (R) , 50 percent to 41 percent, a sharp turnabout from a mid-August survey that showed the Republican ahead by the same margin.  It’s the most recent (and perhaps most dramatic) survey released this week with good news for Senate Democrats, who have shored up their standing in several battlegrounds."

Republicans Risk Being the Party of Mean (Julian Zelizer) from CNN 
"If this rhetoric continues, the GOP is at risk of becoming the party that takes away government services, takes away immigration rights, takes away social rights, but doesn't offer anything back. ... If the GOP ignores the kind of backlash it has encountered, it risks falling right back to 1964 or even 1932, when Democrats were able to paint Republicans as a ruthless party only intent on protecting the prosperous."

WORLD WAR II PHOTO NUGGET!!
The Faces of Freedom: Newly-found Photos Show Joy of Residents - and Despair of Nazis - as Allied Troops Liberate Dutch Town After Four Years of Occupation from the Dail Mail [of the UK]
"Previously unseen photos showing British and American soldiers liberating the Dutch city of Eindhoven 68 years ago have come to light. The black and white snaps depict scenes of jubilation among the local residents who had just endured four years and four months of Nazi occupation."

BRITISH ACTOR NUGGET!!
Homeland’s Damian Lewis: My Favorite Mistake from Newsweek
"The Emmy-winning actor on having a split personality."

BUFFALO NUGGET!!
Great Plains Go Back in Time as 1,000 Bison Make the Ground Shake During Annual Buffalo Roundup from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Two-year-old Jameson Maxwell sat mesmerized on Monday as nearly 1,000 bison rumbled across the prairie in western South Dakota, the massive creatures racing at speeds of up to 50 mph in the annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park."