News Nuggets 1237

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Palouse Valley in Washington state. From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Massive Oil Discovery in Australia Is Deathblow For Saudis from Disclose TV
"It is 6 times larger than the Bakken, 17 times the size of the Marcellus formation, and 80 times larger than the Eagle Ford shale. All told the recent discovery outside a sleepy Australian town contains more black gold than in all of Iran, Iraq, Canada, or Venezuela."

As Interest Fades in the Humanities, Colleges Worry from the New York Times
"“Both inside the humanities and outside, people feel that the intellectual firepower in the universities is in the sciences, that the important issues that people of all sorts care about, like inequality and climate change, are being addressed not in the English departments,” said Andrew Delbanco, a Columbia University professor who writes about higher education."

Kathleen Sebelius vs. a Party Without a Brain (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"I apologize. I’m accountable to you for fixing these problems. And I’m committed to earning your confidence back by fixing the site.” This was a sneaky and dastardly thing for her to do: sneaky, because it wasn’t in the advance testimony she gave the committee, and dastardly, because in today’s Washington, any acceptance of responsibility is so rare that the Republicans — who were counting on her evading and deflecting — were caught off-guard."

Memo to Dems: Don’t Panic About Obamacare (Yet) (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"The political read on Obamacare among Republicans has for years been premised on the idea that the American mainstream views it as the unequivocal catastrophe and threat to American freedom that GOP lawmakers have long claimed it to be. It’s long been my belief that the middle of the country views the law in more nuanced terms, is willing to give it a chance to work, and sees it as better than the GOP alternative, which isn’t a serious alternative at all..."

Inept Techies and Sneaky Insurers are the Bane of Obamacare from the Los Angeles Times
"In their quest to gut Obamacare, Republicans have been given a big boost by two groups that were supposed to provide the new healthcare exchange a proper rollout: the contractors who built healthcare.gov and the insurance companies who still dominate the American healthcare system."

On DC Court Nominations: 'If We Can't Have It, You Can't Have It Either' from Talking Points Memo
"Republicans have now transcended the usual political debate over who should occupy the seats on this court and moved into the realm of blocking anyone nominated by a Democratic president, regardless of their merit or qualifications, from sitting on the court. It's a scorched earth policy. If we can't have it, you can't have it either."

Democrats March on the South to Hold Senate Majority in 2014 (David Freedlander) from the Daily Beast
"If the party wants to maintain its five-seat majority in the Senate next November, it must hang on to key seats in Dixie, long a GOP bastion. But the region may be in play once again."

The Right to Vote (Norman Ornstein) from National Journal
"It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era—this time affecting not just African-Americans but also
Hispanic-Americans, women, and students, among others."

How 2016 Could Be An Even Bigger Democratic Blowout Than 2008 (Ruy Teixeira) from the Democratic Strategist
"... regardless of the outcome in 2014, it seems likely that the GOP will be increasingly burdened by warfare between its totally intransigent Tea Party faction and "establishment", business-oriented Republicans in and around Washington. That's a recipe for increased unpopularity going into the 2016 Presidential cycle. But a new poll suggests it might be more significant than that: an opportunity for the Democrats to make historic, devastating inroads into the Republican base."

If This Is What 2016 Is Going to Look Like, the GOP Is in Big Trouble (Jason Sattler) from the Huffington Post and National Memo
"The next president of the United States will likely have to win in Virginia, where the Republican Party has recently suffered a complete implosion. And that person is not likely to be the person discussing eugenics a week before the election."

Fed Up with the Far Right (E.J. Dionne Jr.) from the Washington Post 
"Elections in Virginia and New Jersey show the public’s dismay with the tea party."

I Used to Hang a Confederate Flag on My Wall: Here's Why I Took it Down (Chuck Thompson) from the New Republic
"Thanks to angry Republican protesters, the Confederate flag is back in the news. Someone who used to fly the flag now ponders its meaning."

In PA, Tom Corbett’s Rating Sinks Further from Politico
"Just 19 percent of those surveyed said the incumbent Republican is doing an “excellent” or “good job” as governor, according to the poll. And asked if Corbett deserves reelection, only 20 percent said yes."

Ted Cruz: The Mask of Sincerity (Dave Denby) from the New Yorker
"His strategy is universal aggression, aimed at everyone. Well, not quite everyone—lately, his popularity with the Tea Party cohort has increased. And at a recent rally at the convention of the Texas Federation of Republican Women, he was greeted with heated adoration. But normally Cruz resembles one of those war chariots with blades flashing from the wheels; he tries to cut up everything in his path. When things go wrong, he only sharpens the blades. ..."

Reid: Cruz Nomination Would Destroy GOP (Rebecca Shabad) from The Hill 
"Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says if Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) won the Republican nomination for president, it would destroy the GOP. ...  “If I didn't care so much about our country, I would hope he will get the Republican nomination for president, because that would be the end of the Republican Party,” Reid said."
Reid's wrong on this.  The GOP is probably going to destroy itself no matter what Cruz does in 1016.  His nomination would only accelerate the process.

The New Republican Civil War ( Alex Altman) from the New Republic
"Deep in the heart of the South, a Republican runoff for the vacant seat in Alabama’s First Congressional District has emerged as a proxy war between the GOP’s business wing and a Tea Party movement that saw the government shutdown as just the first step in the right direction."

WORLD SERIES NUGGETS!!
Why Can't I Hate This Team? (Allen Barra) from Salon
"Yes, they spend tons of money. And those awful beards. But this team, and organization, is suddenly doing it right."

The Red Sox are 'Really Bad' and 'Really Boring': Revisiting the Terrible Preseason Predictions So Much for that Last Place Finish (Jon Terbush ) from The Week
"Of the 43 sportswriters who made predictions for ESPN.com, none picked Boston to win the American League East. Twenty picked Toronto (who finished last) while another 20 took Tampa (who made the playoffs as a wild card before losing to the Red Sox). "