News Nuggets 1125

DAYLEE PICTURE: Glen Affric Lake in Scotland earlier this year.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT PUNDIT NUGGET!!
It is rare that I find Maureen Dowd's views to be worthy of nugget status -- but today's hard-hitting piece is an exception!
A Lost Civilization (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
"The Mayans were right, as it turns out, when they predicted the world would end in 2012. It was just a select world: the G.O.P. universe of arrogant, uptight, entitled, bossy, retrogressive white guys. Just another vanishing tribe that fought the cultural and demographic tides of
history."

Obama's Approval Rises after Election to Highest Level Since Death of bin Laden from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"More Americans say the nation is heading in the right direction now than at any time since the start of Obama's first term."

Obama Trusted on Economy from the New York Times
"When it comes to dealing with the country’s economic problems, Americans give President Obama the upper hand, according to a national poll released Friday. Nearly half, 48 percent, said they trust Mr. Obama more to develop solutions to the nation’s economic problems, compared with the 32 percent who trust Congressional Republicans more."

Why the GOP Won't Admit Supply-Side Econ Has Failed (Mark Thoma) from the Fiscal Times
"The payoffs from tax cuts that were promised during the Bush years have not been realized, and the failed promises about growth and revenue have damaged the health, education, and retirement programs the working class depends upon in our increasingly globalized economy."

Good Pol Should Never say Never (Leonard Pitts) from the Miami Herald 
"If you want the truth of why a trickle of GOP lawmakers is suddenly willing to blaspheme the holy scripture of their faith, it’s simple. The pledge used to be politically expedient. Now it is not."

On Entitlements, Republicans are Ready to Take Any Victory They Can Get from Politico
"The script for a fiscal cliff deal was always supposed to be simple: Democrats would win on taxes. Republicans would win on entitlements. But what kind of victory can Republicans really hope to win? They’re going to have to lower their sights — by a lot — from the big ideas they pushed in the presidential campaign."

In Talks, G.O.P. May Have to Just Say Yes (Robert Frank) from the New York Times
"Negotiations between the president and Congressional Republicans hinge on a concept outlined in a book called “Getting to Yes.”"

Dinosaurs and Denial (Charles Blow) from the New York Times
"According to a June Gallup report, most Republicans (58 percent) believed that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. Most Democrats and independents did not agree. This
anti-intellectualism is antediluvian. No wonder a 2009 Pew Research Center report found that only 6 percent of scientists identified as Republican and 9 percent identified as conservative."

The Appeal of St. Dorothy (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post 
"The recent vote by America’s Catholic bishops to move Dorothy Daytoward canonization was controversial, but mainly among those who manufacture controversy for a living. The media have enjoyed pointing out that Day’s main advocate, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, is a traditionalist, while Day was a socialist who once had an abortion. ... The application of political categories to theological matters is usually a mistake. In this case, it exceeds the media’s usual quota of religious ignorance."

Catcher in the Rye Dropped from US School Curriculum from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"Schools in America are to drop classic books such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye from their curriculum in favour of 'informational texts'."

The Crazy Base Won't Let the Republican Party Change (Bob Cesca) from the Huffinton Post
"The base is deeply encased within the twisted, alternate-reality looking glass that the GOP has been constructing throughout the last three decades: a realm of anger, racial resentment, distrust of government, hatred of immigrants and violently anti-choice misogynists and demagogues. The party has deliberately incited these tendencies via the conservative entertainment complex ..."

Robert Shrum: Obama Won Election & Will Win Again on Fiscal Cliff (Robert Shrum) from the Daily Beast
"The fiscal cliff fight can play out in different ways—but in any scenario, the Bush tax rates for the rich are gone. Obama may make some concessions to the GOP, but he’ll end up victorious, just as he did in November, says Robert Shrum."

Obama, Romney Campaign Officials Dissect 2012 Election at Dole Institute from Politico
"The Republican base saw the president as weak and beatable, but Mitt Romney’s high command struggled to find a winning message. “The bottom line is that the Obama campaign [had] a candidate that was very hard to lay a glove on because he was somebody that the American people, by and large, had decided that they just liked,” said Romney’s deputy campaign manager Katie Packer Gage."

Why Hillary Clinton Must Run for President in 2016 (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"The Obama years look like they may end up a huge success for progressives. Which is why they’ll need to ensure that Hillary wins the White House in 2016."

END-OF-YEAR BOOK NUGGET!!
The 10 Best Books of 2012 from the New York Times
"The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review."

AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK NUGGET!!
The Preamble: A Review of 1775: A Good Year for Revolution by Kevin Phillips (Joseph Ellis) from the New York Times
"Most important, a defiant mentality congealed in 1775, called rage militaire, that described American independence as both inevitable and providential. Phillips acknowledges that this mentality was illusory and irrational, as the vastly superior British Army and Navy were soon to expose. But 1775 was the year when American colonists embraced the conviction that their cause..."