News Nuggets 1229

DAYLEE PICTURE: The day's end on Oahu in Hawaii.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT POLITICS NUGGET!!
House of Un-Representatives (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times 
"This Republican House is almost like a parallel government, sitting in for some fantasy nation created in talk-radio land. ... The Beltway chorus of the moment blames President Obama for his inability to move his proposals through a dunderheaded Congress. They wonder how Republicans would be treating a silken-tongued charmer like Bill Clinton if he were still in the White House. We already know: not a single Republican voted for Clinton’s tax-raising budget, the one that led to our last federal surplus. Plus, they impeached him; his presidency was saved only in the Senate."

Watching Iraq on the Edge, and Wondering What the United States Will Do (Thomas E. Ricks) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Iraq is spiraling out of control. ... Last week, the Iraqi Army entered Hawija, near Kirkuk, to arrest people accused of attacking Iraqi Security Forces. In the ensuing violence, 200 people were killed. There are reports of desertions from the Iraqi Army. Kurds have moved peshmerga into positions in the disputed territories. Tribes are forming militias to protect themselves from the Iraqi Army."

Mapped: The U.S. Military's Presence in Africa (John Reed) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"The United States may be deploying 10 additional troops to Mali, but that's just a drop in the bucket of the U.S. military's presence in Africa, which has been quietly building for the last decade."

‘Yes’ Gun Control Vote Pays Off for Two Senators: Polls (Michael Keller) from the Daily Beast
"Read it and weep, Kelly Ayotte. As senators who voted ‘no’ on background checks see their approval ratings dive, two legislators are seeing dividends for their support. See the numbers."

The Democratic Comeback To Voter ID (Reid Wilson) from the National Journal 
"In Colorado, Democrats looking to liberalize voting laws to their advantage. ... Now, after taking control of the state legislature earlier this year, Colorado Democrats have become the vanguard of a new movement to tinker with voting rules. The proposal under consideration now would require elections to take place entirely through the mail -- in essence, signing every Colorado voter up for an absentee ballot."

New America Held hostage by Old America (Joy-Ann Reid) from the Miami Herald
"It’s an ironic twist after a presidential election in 2012 in which a Democratic president was resoundingly re-elected, and in a country which is rapidly becoming more progressive on issues like gay rights and marriage. New America may have won the White House and the culture wars, but Old America has a gun to our heads."

This Isn’t Obama’s Malaise, It’s GOP Intransigence (Robert Shrum) from the Daily Beast
"It doesn’t matter what the president says or does or whom he drinks with—Republicans are bent on opposing it all. That may be good news for Democrats in 2014 and beyond."

Why Does Ted Cruz Inspire Such Animosity? (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"... seriously there cannot be any doubt about Ted Cruz's "smarts." He's just smart for different ends - his own ends. It's this that rubs so many conservatives the wrong way, and that may yet prove Cruz's undoing. A little while ago I asked a Texas conservative I know to unpack the antipathy aroused by Cruz."

Ted Cruz Will Never be President (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"Breathless staffers say he’s got 2016 plans, but the Tea Party bully will never win a national election. Bank on it."

The Bachmann Scandal: "This Could Be a Career Ender" (Alex Seitz-Wald) from Salon 
"The ethics questions swirling around the Tea Party lawmaker are a "big problem," experts say."
What a SHAME.

It’s Time for Democrats to Ditch Andrew Jackson (Steve Yoder) from Salon 
"As Biden speaks at event named for Old Hickory tonight, more appalling stories show party should dump him as icon.

APPALLING TV NUGGET!!
Is This the Most Sexist TV Programme in History? Chat Show Where Women Strip Off as Two Men Critique Their Naked Bodies from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Creator Thomas Blachman claims that the female body 'thirsts for the words of a man'.  Critics brand vile show, which uses derogatory comments about the female figure, as sexist and humiliating.  Creator says this will open a debate about men's views of women's bodies without having to be 'politically correct'."

DRONE NUGGET!!
The Flight of the RoboBee: Tiny Winged Craft that Could be Used as Surveillance Drone Takes to the Air for the First Time from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"80 milligram device has a pair of buzzing fly-like wings that flap 120 times a second.  Robot is the first working model of a flying insect.  Future uses include search and rescue, surveillance, and environmental monitoring applications."