News Nuggets 1305

DAYLEE PICTURE: A copper plant in the Congo.  From National Geographic.

U.S. and Iran Agree to Speed Talks to Defuse Nuclear Issue from the New York Times
"The long-fractured relationship between the United States and Iran took a significant turn on Friday when President Obama and President Hassan Rouhani became the first leaders of their countries to speak since the Tehran hostage crisis more than three decades ago."

Suddenly, Great Expectations for Iran-U.S. Relations (Christopher Dickey) from the Daily Beast
"American diplomatic breakthroughs with Russia and Iran mark a turning point in the Middle East. By Christopher Dickey."

How to Stop Iran: Obama's War By Other Means (Christopher Dickey) from the Daily Beast
"The historic phone call with Iran’s president and the breakthrough deal on Syria show the threat of military action accomplishes a lot – as long as you don’t go through with it."

Some Tips for Unemployed Older Americans from the New York Times
"Did you lose your job in your 50s or 60s? If so, what did you do to make up for that lost income?"

Most ’Re-employed’ Workers Say They’re Overqualified for Their New Job: Back at Work, But… from the Pew Research Center
"Workers who suffered a spell of unemployment during Great Recession are, on average, less satisfied with their new jobs than workers who didn’t. They are more likely to consider themselves over-qualified for their current position. And six-in-ten say they changed careers or seriously thought about it while they were unemployed, according to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project."

End Days for the GOP (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
After years of sabotaging government and getting away with it, the GOP has finally gone too far. America knows it, and so does the party itself."

A Compromised Reputation Among the GOP (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"the evidence of GOP compromise is not the acceptance of Obamacare. It is insufficient enthusiasm for an absurd procedural maneuver. But never mind. The real target is the idea of compromise itself, along with all who deal, settle or blink."

Unskewing Reality (Robert Schlesinger) from US News and World Report 
"... polls show that voters don't want a shutdown and do want Congress to try to make the law work. But DeMint, Cruz and their tea party pals don't need polls. Their certainty that they have a special knowledge of what America really wants is redolent of former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin's infamous remark about "the real America" and "pro-America areas of this great nation.""

Hispanics Grow Cool to G.O.P., Poll Finds from the New York Times
"A new survey shows that Hispanics have grown negative toward the Republican Party during the immigration fight and lean liberal on social issues like gay marriage."

GOP Descends Into Civil War As Shutdown Looms from Talking Points Memo 
"The Senate voted 54-44 on Wednesday to keep the government funded with Obamacare intact, sending the stopgap measure back to House Republicans, who are in the midst of a civil war as the clock ticks to a shutdown Monday night."

GOP Leaks its List of Demands for Not Killing the Economy (Jay Bookman) from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"It is the most stunning case of mass self-induced lunacy that I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. They are so caught up in their own self-righteousness that they have lost touch with reality."

Congress Cracks Up (Gail Collins) from the New York Times
"Ranting about Obamacare, which one New Hampshire politician recently compared to the Fugitive Slave Act, is an excellent way to give the impression that you’re fighting to reduce entitlements without having to do anything about the actual entitlements."

Obamacare Fight Reenergizes Tea Party Movement from the Washington Post 
"The clash in Congress over efforts to derail President Obama’s health-care law has lit up tea party groups across the country, reenergizing activists who had drifted away from the movement while intensifying the divisions tearing at the Republican Party."
The last part here is the most important.  The GOP is falling apart in slow motion.  By the day, it is becoming more and more likely that the Tea Party crowd (led by brilliant minds like Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and Mike Lee) will, sooner or later, break from the "establishment" Republican Party.  Already, the GOP leadership (to the extent that there is one) is quaking in its boots over the body slams the party will take FROM ITS OWN MEMBERS when (a) the gov't shutdown blackmail fails; and (2) the debt ceiling blackmail fails.  If anything, the Republican craziness has made Obama and the Dems MORE resolute in not giving in!  

More evidence of this: check this out:
John McCain: 'We Are Dividing The Republican Party Rather Than Attacking Democrats' from the Associated Press
"Staring at the specter of a partial government shutdown, Sen. John McCain says he's never seen anything like the harsh partisanship pervading much of Washington politics. The Arizona Republican, serving his fifth term, says "we are dividing the Republican Party rather than attacking
Democrats.""
Prediction: something is coming which we have not seen in anyone's lifetime, not since the mid-nineteenth century: major party schism!

The House GOP Wants to Throw a Temper Tantrum, and Boehner Can't Stop Them (Noam Scheiber) from the New Republic
"The problem, apparently, is that conservatives are deeply skeptical of Boehner personally. ... so, by the perverse logic I described above, it also makes the world a far safer place, since the stalemate arises in a battle whose consequences (shutdown) are manageable, rather than a battle whose consequences (debt default) are disastrous."

Poll: Ted Cruz Is Now The Top Choice For GOP Primary Voters In 2016 from Talking Points Memo
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hasn't even been in Washington for a full year, but Republicans already appear eager to tap him as the party's next presidential nominee. The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling released Friday found Cruz as the top choice for 2016 among Republicans nationwide. With 20 percent support, Cruz narrowly edged Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who claimed the support of 17 percent of GOP primary voters. "
This guy makes Barry Goldwater look like a flaming liberal!!

ABE LINCOLN HISTORY NUGGET!!
Will the Real Abraham Lincoln Please Stand Up? from Smithsonian Magazine 
"A former Disney animator makes a provocative discovery by studying photos taken during the Gettysburg Address."

GEORGE WASHINGTON NUGGET!!
Washington as Reader, Not Soldier from the New York Times 
"A new library and exhibition at Mount Vernon make abundantly clear that George Washington was not simply a man of action."

AUTUMN NUGGET!!
Where To See the Best Foliage in the US from the Daily Beast