News Nuggets 1313

DAYLEE PICTURE: A rare species of dung beetle in South America.  From National Geographic.

State Obamacare Markets Attract Tens Of Thousands Of Customers from Reuters via the Huffington Post
"Tens of thousands of uninsured people have begun to sign up for health coverage through online Obamacare private insurance marketplaces in California and New York, officials said on Tuesday, while problems still plagued the federal online system. California and New York are two of the biggest markets for signing up millions of uninsured Americans under President Barack Obama's healthcare law. State officials said the data they provided on Tuesday was an early indicator of strong demand for new insurance plans that will take effect in 2014."

What Moderate Republicans? (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"We need to see what is in front of our nose: a cold civil war has broken out between those properly called conservatives, defending the credit of the government, empirical reality, and adjustments to modern life and those properly called radical reactionaries declaring our current elected president and Senate as illegitimate actors, bent on the destruction of America, and therefore necessitating total political warfare, even to the point of threatening to destroy the global economy."

Heritage Action Bails On Debt Ceiling Fight (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"A crack appeared Wednesday morning in the conservatives' united front against President Barack Obama in the budget-and-borrowing crisis of 2013. Michael Needham, CEO of the powerful group Heritage Action, said that he opposed conditioning a crucial vote to increase the government's borrowing authority on the group's main goal: defunding Obamacare. Under questioning at a breakfast with reporters, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Needham, a product of the Stanford Business School, conceded that failure to raise the debt ceiling would indeed disrupt the global economy."
This is actually big news!  Heritage Action is one of those hard-right organizations that have not only been pushing the Defund Obamacare strategy, they were one of the KEY AUTHORS of it!  At least for the moment, they seem to be retreating.  I will have to say, though, that the Defund movement will be ALL OVER Needham and anyone else who tries to walk back from the steep hill they're trying to charge up.  

Speaking of those who were pushing the Defund campaign:
Koch Industries: We Are Not Behind The Government Shutdown from Talking Points Memo
"In a letter to U.S senators dated Wednesday, Koch Industries denied ever advocating for a government shutdown as a way to force the defunding of Obamacare. The letter was in response to comments on the Senate floor Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in which he blamed Koch for the shutdown ..."

Right-Wing Nutjobs’ Last Stand: The Debt Limit Endgame Arrives (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"As the debt limit deadline approaches, conservatives are trotting out the real nonsense. The fantasy is almost over."

John Boehner Doesn't Have the Confidence of the House from Daily Kos 
"Boehner doesn't have a majority constituency in the House. President Obama leads a Democratic Party that is fully behind him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the full, united support of the Democratic Senate Caucus. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has the near unanimous support of House Democrats."

U.S. Fringe Festival (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
" the only thing standing between mainstream Republicans and a hellish future of kowtowing to Ted Cruz, never seeing the inside of the White House and possibly losing the House is President Obama’s refusal to give in to the shutdown blackmail that Cruz & Co. have cooked up. ..."

Poll: The GOP Gets the Blame in Shutdown from the Associated Press 
"The Associated Press-GfK survey, out Wednesday, affirms expectations by many in Washington — Republicans among them — that the GOP may end up taking the biggest hit in public opinion from the fiscal paralysis, just as that party did when much of the government closed 17 years ago. But the situation is fluid nine days into the shutdown and there's plenty of disdain to go around. Overall, 62 percent mainly blamed Republicans for the shutdown."

Congress Approval Rating Drops To Dismal 5 Percent In Poll from the Huffington Post
"A poll released Wednesday found Americans' approval of Congress dropping near all-time lows as the government shutdown continues with no solution yet in sight. The Associated Press-GfK survey found that just 5 percent of the public approves of the job being done by senators and representatives, while 83 percent disapprove. 11 percent said they neither approved nor disapproved."

The Self-Sabotage of Small-Government Republicans in Congress (Conor Friedersdorf) from the Atlantic
"The GOP amassed such a poor record while governing that voters ousted it. Finding itself in a much weakened position, the party tried to substitute intransigence for the long, hard work of clawing its way back into power. The strategy has brought them to a moment where its negotiating ploy may well end up hurting the country far more than it would be helped even if Republicans won."

Republicans Are Awfully Close to Violating the Constitution (Kristen Roberts) from National Journal
"Have Republicans forgotten that they too must abide by the Constitution? The document is explicit in its instruction to America's federally elected officials – make good on the country's debts. "The validity of the public debt of the United States," the 14th Amendment states, "shall not be questioned.""

Small-Government Conservative Self-Sabotage (Daniel Larison) from the American Conservative
"Toying around with default threatens to impose greater costs on American taxpayers rather than reduce them. It is the perfect example of striking a symbolic blow against fiscal irresponsibility while adding to the country’s fiscal problems."

Democrats’ Biggest 2014 Weapon: Ted Cruz (Zeke J Miller) from Time Magazine
“Die-hard Republicans will consider him their best surrogate, and we consider him our best surrogate too,” says Democratic National Committee spokesman Mike Czin. “Wherever he goes now, I think he’s a political liability for all Republicans.”"

Suicide of the Right (John Podhoretz) from the New York Post
"I dislike what they dislike. I want what they want. But I fear they are very, very wrong about the existence of this silent majority, and that their misperception is leading them to do significant damage to the already damaged Republican “brand.” ...  It may not have been a very good vehicle in the first place, and you may think it couldn’t drive worse, but oh man, could it ever. And it’s the only one you’ve got."

The GOP is Losing Young Christians (Matt Lewis) from The Week
"Big-hearted youngsters looking to "do unto others" won't find their calling in today's rancorous politics."

HOPE-FOR-PAWS VIDEO NUGGET!!
Rescuing a Terrified Abandoned Dog - The Transformation Will Amaze from Hope-for-Paws