News Nuggets 1090

DAYLEE PICTURE: The skyline of Astana in Kazakhistan.  From National Geographic.

U.S. Officials Say Iran Has Agreed to Nuclear Talks from the New York Times
"The United States and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, according to Obama administration officials, setting the stage for what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran."

Iran Talks Surprise Has Observers Mystified Ahead Of Foreign Policy Debate from the Huffington Post
"At first, the news from The New York Times Saturday evening that the U.S. and Iran had agreed "in principle" to one-on-one nuclear negotiations, had every appearance of an "October surprise" -- a last-second international event designed to tip the scales toward the commander in chief."

The Boy Scouts’ ‘Perversion’ Files Detail Abuses, Convictions—and a Shocking Cover-Up from the Daily Beast
"Over decades, the Boy Scouts kept secret files of more than 1,200 alleged and convicted pedophiles. When were they planning to tell anyone? Winston Ross on what the files show."

Anti-Gay Group Finds "Homosexual Agenda" in School Lunch Room (Stephanie Mencimer) from Mother Jones Magazine
"Mix It Up Day, this year on October 30, consists almost entirely of forcing kids to sit with someone new at lunch. That's it. The idea behind it is that forcing kids to interact with kids they don't normally hang with helps break up cliques that form in schools and which foster bullying. But behind this rather innocuous project, the AFA sees the "homosexual agenda.""

State of the Race: Obama is Slightly Ahead (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Post
"It’s getting close to Election Day, and perhaps it’s a good point to step back and assess where the presidential race is right now. Despite some premature spiking of the football from those who favor Mitt Romney, the race remains very close and could easily go either way. But at even odds right now, it’s pretty clear that your money belongs on Barack Obama."

The Final Push (Ryan Lizza) from the New Yorker
"In recent years, as the electorate has become more polarized, campaign tacticians have become more focussed on getting their own voters to the polls than on persuading others to change their allegiance. This year, the Obama campaign has a two-part strategy. First, they made what the campaign manager Jim Messina calls a 'grand bet,' spending heavily on a summer airwave blitz, with ads designed to soften up Mitt Romney in the eyes of voters; second, they have created a volunteer army on the ground to carry victory home.""

Applying the 'Ground Game' (Doyle McManus) from the Los Angeles Times 
""There's lots of research … that talking to people face to face makes them more likely to vote," an Obama campaign official told me. "It helps to have their own neighbors talk with them. It helps to ask them when they plan to vote, and how they plan to get there; that way, they visualize themselves doing it. It helps to ask them to make a commitment." Does that sound a little Orwellian? Maybe. But it's being done by both sides. And it's encouraging, in an odd way, that it works best face to face, by volunteers from your own neighborhood. There's something refreshingly low-tech about that."

First Weekend Of Early Voting Favors Obama In Battleground Nevada (Reid Wilson) from National Journal
"Obama's campaign, and Democrats across Nevada, depend on the constituency politics at play in this largely African American neighborhood. More specifically, Democratic hopes depend on getting those voters most likely to back the president to the polls, and an early voting station is set up in the Buy Low store. ... After two days of early voting in Nevada, Democrats boast that figures released by county elections officials show they hold a significant lead."

Taxing My Patience (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"Romney’s bunk, like his pension, is bigger. Or at least seems to be. We can’t know for sure, because he won’t give us details. He says that his proposed 20 percent cut in marginal rates won’t sap the Treasury because of all the tax loopholes he’ll close, but then he won’t name which loopholes. His vagueness serves a dual purpose. It prevents voters from panicking about a lost deduction and analysts from checking his math. There’s no math to check."

He Carries a Big Shtick (Brian Katulis) from the New York Daily News 
"Rhetorically, Romney presents himself as the reincarnation of Theodore Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan — as a strong, proud, principled leader in a turbulent world. He contrasts this with a ridiculous caricature of President Obama as a shrinking Jimmy Carter clone with muddled ideas and a shaky belief in America. This cartoon script is little more than a ploy to divert voters’ attention from the reality that Romney's foreign policy is an empty shell lacking a solid inner core. The closer you look beneath the rhetoric, the less you see."

The Tea Party is Helping Democrats (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post 
"There are those who say that the tea party is fading in influence, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the movement is on the cusp of achieving what once seemed nearly impossible: keeping the Senate Democratic."

PET AWARD NUGGET!!
Fiona is "The Dog of the Year 2012" by the ASPCA from Hope for Paws
"Just one day after it was announced that Fiona is "The Dog of the Year 2012" by the ASPCA (see post below), I am posting a NEW VIDEO for you guys."


DOG RESCUE NUGGET!!
The latest rescue video from Eldad Hagar and Hope for Paws!!