News Nuggets 1117

DAYLEE PICTURE: The village of Hallstatt in Austria.  From National Geographic.

With Morsi, Obama Diplomacy Better than Under Bush, Mubarak from La Vanguardia [of Spain in English]
"The role played by the Egyptian president, whose membership with the Muslim Brotherhood has facilitated relations with Hamas. But Morsi's military alliance with the United States has helped substantiate Obama's bid for newly-rejuvenated relations with the Islamic world, which were announced in his famous 2009 Cairo speech."

American Democracy Should be Model for Thai Politicians (Kuldep Nagi) from The Nation [of Thailand in English]
"Thailand is a constitutional democracy, but the scenario on the streets makes it look more like anarchy. ... Although not perfect, there is a lot to learn from America's elections, especially how to concede defeat and move on. Perhaps losing factions and opposition parties in Thailand should listen to Mitt Romney's concession speech for little inspiration."

Welcome the Negawatt Revolution (Jeremy Stahl) from Slate
"Finally, the United States is beginning to take energy efficiency seriously."

The Fight Against Fracking (Ellen Cantarow) from The Nation [of the US]
"There’s a war going on that you know nothing about between a coalition of great powers and a small insurgent movement. It’s a secret war being waged in the shadows while you go about your everyday life. In the end, this conflict may matter more than those in Iraq and Afghanistan ever did. And yet it’s taking place far from newspaper front pages and with hardly a notice on the nightly news."

Another GOP Leader Recognizes Reality (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"The showdown over the “fiscal cliff” has taken its first major turn, as Representative Tom Cole — a former minority whip and still a leading House Republican — is now urging his party to extend the Bush tax cuts for income under $250,000 a year. Meanwhile, Ari Fleischer is spinning this move as a big Republican win. It’s not. It’s a recognition by at least some Republicans that their strategy of using the threat of an economic crisis to improve their bargaining position is likely to fail."

In Baseless Persecution Of Rice, Republican Reputations Will Sink (Joe Conason) from the National Memo
"The notion that Rice or any other administration official intentionally misled the public already has been thoroughly debunked by David Petraeus, the resigned CIA director."

Chuck Hagel Being Vetted for National Security Post (Josh Rogin) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Former Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel is being vetted for a possible top national security post in the Obama administration, multiple sources told The Cable."

The New Populism of the Right (Michael Moynihan) from the Daily Beast 
"While the conservative old guard is busy re-arranging deck chairs in the aftermath of 2012, a younger generation of thinkers is arguing that it’s time to embrace the 47 percent."

Top Romney Adviser Brags About Losing Poor, Minority Voters To Obama from Talking Points Memo
"Mitt Romney can take some solace in his devastating loss on Nov. 6: at least he won the voters who really count. That’s the thesis anyway of top adviser Stuart Stevens, who penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Wednesday arguing that by winning wealthier and whiter voters, Romney secured the moral victory over Obama."

What Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Should Do Next (Michelle Cottle) from the Daily Beast
"U.N. secretary-general? Women’s advocate? U.S. president? Grandmother? Ed Rendell, David Brooks, Dee Dee Myers, and more offer ideas for Clinton after she steps down as secretary of state."

A Civil War Professor Reviews 'Lincoln' (David Frum) from the Daily Beast 
"Allen Guelzo is the director of the Civil War studies department at Gettysburg College. He is the author of a magnificent new history of the Civil War and Reconstruction (why these periods are always separated into different volumes baffles me) as well as important studies of Abraham Lincoln's religious views and the emancipation proclamation."

Doris Kearns Goodwin on Life, Death and the Presidency from the Washington Post
"Doris Kearns Goodwin has not only seen her biography Team of Rivals become one of the definitive accounts of Abraham Lincoln’s life (and touted by President Obama as the one book he’d want on a desert island), she has now seen her work provide the basis for the recently released film “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg. In this interview, Goodwin — who has also written biographies of presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson — looks at Obama’s presidential leadership in the context of Lincoln."

NAVAL HISTORY NUGGET!!
End of the Line for USS Enterprise from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 
"The Navy expected the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to last about 25 years running on reactors developed in West Mifflin. Instead, the USS Enterprise sailed the globe for nearly 52 years, serving in conflicts from the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan."
I would hope that they can find an appropriate museum venue for this history-making vessel.

SPACE TRAVEL NUGGET!!
One Step Closer to Civilian Space Travel: Engine Test Success 'Removes Key Obstacle' in Development of Skylon Space Craft that Can Fly Anywhere on Earth in Just Four Hours from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Successful tests have been carried out on a new engine that could launch a plane into space and revolutionise the way we travel - making it possible to reach anywhere on Earth in just four hours. The UK company developing the engines for the Skylon spaceplane says it has successfully demonstrated the power unit's enabling technology."

NUDITY NUGGET!!
Why Is Public Nudity Illegal? A Brief History of the Fig Leaf (Brian Palmer) from Slate
"The demonstrators were charged with lewd and indecent acts for their role in a protest against proposed cuts to AIDS funding. Why is public nudity illegal? Because it’s so difficult to ignore."

HOLLYWOOD BOOK NUGGET!!
The Great Actor Who Hated Acting: A Review of The Richard Burton Diaries edited by Chris Williams from the New York Review of Books
"On the face of it, it is not much of a tragedy. A young classical actor promises greatness but is diverted from his path by the lure of easy money and vulgar fame. He ends up in unhappy affluence with his nervy, high-maintenance wife, his great voice now marinated in alcohol. Yet Eugene O’Neill made one of the great twentieth-century tragedies from such a figure: James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night."

ELDER CARE NUGGET!!
'Granny Pods': The Future of Elderly Living? from The Week
"A Virginia pastor thinks he has the perfect solution for the growing legions of independent-minded boomers too old to live on their own."