The tracks of the prehistoric mammal, the diprotodon, in Victoria, Australia. From National Geographic.
No Dangerous Radiation Found in Pa. Water: But EPA Urges More Radiation Checks from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Even as the state announced Monday that water sampling on seven Pennsylvania rivers found no radiation problems related to Marcellus Shale wastewater, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged additional testing and said it will take a significantly more active role in reviewing permits and environmental impacts from the discharges"
Opposition: Gadhafi Working on Deal to Step Down from CNN
"Moammar Gadhafi is trying to strike a deal with opposition leaders, saying he will step down as Libya's leader if they can guarantee him safe passage out of the country and promise that neither he nor his family will face prosecution, an official with the opposition said Tuesday."
If this is true (a big IF as I will note shortly), this suggests to me that Gadhafi is quite desperate. If you're one of his followers or (Allah forbid) one of his generals, high-ranking police officials or the like, where do YOU fit in?! Where's your unofficial amnesty for all the crimes you committed for the great leader!? This is an invitation to ALL THESE FOLKS to cut their own deal with the rebels. This has me wonder if this story might be a plant by the rebels themselves to shake loose just these folks from the regime. As NPR and others have noted, the rebels have shown themselves quite capable of misleading 'spin' the last several days. Gadhafi has to know that, in this day and age, there is NO AMNESTY for folks like him. As a false story, these 'negotiations' are especially elegant. Why? Because for forty years Gadafi has governed in a way where he constantly cut his close allies off at the knees. This story aligns perfectly with the person these supporters know him to be.
My skeptical interpretation of this event is reinforced by the following item from this morning:
Obama Warns Gaddafi Loyalists from the Washington Post
"President Obama addressed comments directly to Moammar Gaddafi's inner circle Monday in an attempt to pressure those helping prop up the embattled Libyan dictator with a tacit threat of future criminal prosecution."
The Gadhafi loyalists are being tag-teamed from different quarters. The message: time for the rats to jump ship!!
Another quarter in the Middle East heard from:
Kuwait Protesters Want PM to Go from Reuters via RealClearWorld
"Kuwaitis demonstrating outside parliament for the prime minister's ouster came up with a new symbol of Arab discontent Tuesday by handing out watermelons. "This is for the parliament's poor performance," one of the small band of protesters shouted as he gave a watermelon to a lawmaker making his way into the parliament. The significance was not spelled out, but in local parlance, a person who has a lack of understanding or holds an unrealistic point of view sometimes is called a watermelon."
Ah, those wits, the Kuwaitis!
The Arab Westphalia: Make Way for New Nations from the National Interest
"Clearly, and despite many claims to the contrary, the dismantlement of the anciens régimes of Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya point to a defrocking of the Arab nationalist order, not its “rebirth”; it signals the emergence of new nation-states, not the mending of an old ideology."
¡Viva la Recesión!: Are Bad Economies Good for Democracy? from Foreign Policy Magazine
"As the wave of democracy protests continues its spread across the Middle East, it is not just regimes that are flailing. A cherished shibboleth of modernization theory -- that democratic development is the result of economic growth -- is looking a little more waterlogged, too. It wasn't economic growth, after all, that pushed Tunisians, Egyptians, and now Libyans and Yemenis out into the streets. Rather, what those countries share, aside from autocratic regimes, is quite the opposite: Their recent economic performance was all too stagnant."
A very good question. As with the Great Depression of the 1930s, the story is probably quite mixed. In the US, organized labor had one of its best decades ever back then -- but globally (with the rise of fascism) the 1930s was a total loser for democracy.
Flailing After Muslims (Bob Herbert) from the New York Times
"“There is a real threat to the country from the Muslim community,” he said, “and the only way to get to the bottom of it is to investigate what is happening.” That kind of sweeping statement from a major government official about a religious minority — soon to be backed up by the intimidating aura of Congressional hearings — can only serve to further demonize a group of Americans already being pummeled by bigotry and vicious stereotyping."
Why the US and China Woo Mongolia (J. Berkshire Miller) from The Diplomat
"An economic minnow but a geographic titan, Mongolia is of growing strategic interest to both the US and China, writes J Berkshire Miller."
WI Recall Drives Could Make History from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Rarely have multiple lawmakers faced such action."
Walker Attacks Dems, Succeeds in Making Them More Resolved to Hold Out (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"…if anything, Walker's presser has only stiffened Dem resolve to hold out longer. That's what Dems agreed upon this afternoon in a private conversation after Walker's appearance today, one senate Dem tells me."
Largely contradicting this storyline is the following:
Why 'Wisconsin 14' are ready to Return: They Think They're Winning from the Christian Science Monitor
Wisconsin's 14 Democratic absentee state senators indicate they're ready to return – because they think they've already won the war, if not this battle."
I think this is complete BS. If they come back and Walker passes his budget as is, the Dems might achieve a fleeting political PR victory in rousing their base -- but they will have lost the larger structural battle which was the point all along. The GOP will take their lumps in the polls in the short term, knowing (I suspect correctly) that their own well-oiled misinformation machine will make this a distant memory within six months. Given that both sides are facing fierce recall campaigns that will be bitter, nasty, and personal with uncertain outcomes, any serious conversation for returning right now would represent a defeat. You have to ask yourself, should organized labor really get behind those Dem lawmakers who return and who, in effect, sold out the union for this kind of political 'victory'? The act of return itself would wash away the assumed 'gains.'
Tea Partied Out (Daniel Drezner) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"The lead article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs is Walter Russell Mead's disquisition regarding the Tea Party's attitudes about American foreign policy. This intellectual exegesis comes on the heels of P.J. O'Rourke's similar effort in World Affairs. This spread of analysis about the Tea Party's hopes and dreams for Amerian foreign policy into the serious policy journals can mean only one thing: the Tea Party's influence on American foreign policy has peaked and will be on the downswing for quite some time."
Florida Republicans at Odds With Their Leader from the New York Times
"Rick Scott, the conservative Republican billionaire who plucked the governor’s job from the party establishment in November with $73 million of his own money and the backing of the Tea Party, vowed during his campaign to run the troubled state like a corporate chief executive (which he was) and not a politician (which he proudly says he is not). And now it has become a problem, some of his fellow Republicans say."
If GOP leaders are saying this, there must be some pretty major "buyers' remorse" going on at the grassroots level. NO high-speed rail for you!! Darn!
Obama vs. Huntsman: Kindness as Strategy (Thomas Burr) from the Salt Lake Tribune
"Huntsman, a former Utah governor and current U.S. ambassador to China, has yet to say whether he will make a presidential bid, but when he leaves April 30, it appears the ambassador will be welcomed home with praise from the Obama administration — something that likely won’t play terribly well in a Republican primary."
Limbaugh’s Parent Company Still Using Actors to Fake Radio Call-ins, Exec Tells Raw from Raw Story
"The company responsible for syndicating big conservative radio names like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity has been using paid actors to call in to their radio shows."
GOD!! They can't even count on REAL ditto-heads! They need to get FAKE ones!!
NEW MEDIA NUGGET!!
Learning to Love the (Shallow, Divisive, Unreliable) New Media (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"Everyone from President Obama to Ted Koppel is bemoaning a decline in journalistic substance, seriousness, and sense of proportion. But the author, a longtime advocate of these values, takes a journey through the digital-media world and concludes there isn’t any point in defending the old ways. Consumer-obsessed, sensationalist, and passionate about their work, digital upstarts are undermining the old media—and they may also be pointing the way to a brighter future."
TRAFFIC NUGGET!!
America's 50 Worst Commutes from the Daily Beast
"These are the highways to hell. For the second straight year, The Daily Beast ranks the roads with the worst rush hour gridlock. How does your commute rank?"
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