Countries Agree to Try to Transfer Some of Qaddafi’s Assets to Libyan Rebels from the New York Times
"NATO, Arab and African ministers agreed Wednesday “to work urgently” with the Libyan rebel leadership to set up a mechanism by which some frozen assets belonging to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his family might be transferred to the rebel cause."
Can Africa Really Help Libya Find Peace? Why the Rebels Rejected the AU Ceasefire (Barak Barfi) from the New Republic
"The TNC felt itself pigeonholed by popular sentiment: It is under intense pressure from Libyans in rebel-controlled territory to reject any deal that does not include Qaddafi’s departure.... But the TNC’s dismissal of the deal makes sense for an additional reason: Qaddafi’s relationship with the AU."
Iraqi Youths’ Political Rise Is Stunted by Elites from the New York Times
"In a country where the demographics skew even younger than in places like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, the wave of political change in the region has laid bare a generation gap here split by old resentments nurtured by dictatorship and war and a youthful grasping for a stake in the new Iraq. "
Syria's Crackdown Playbook: Fighting Public Anger with Increasing Brutality from Time Magazine
"The snippets of information leaking out of Syria — through smuggled mobile phone footage, Twitter, Facebook, furtive calls to citizens inside and outside the country, as well as the official media — paint a fragmentary picture of a chaotic state desperately trying to contain swelling anti-regime anger with increasing brutality."
In Egypt, the Revolution Rolls On from the Economist [of the UK]
"As Hosni Mubarak and his sons are taken into custody, Egypt's revolution is still going strong."
Vatican Served with Court Papers in Wisconsin Abuse Case from the Associated Press via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"The Vatican has been served with court papers stemming from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse against a now-deceased priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf, attorneys for the accuser and the Vatican said Tuesday."
Obama's Speech: Reaction Roundup, Pt I from Daily Kos
"When a President decides to inject himself into the conversation, he commands the stage. In addition to Jed Lewison's roundup from earlier today, here's more reaction to the President's speech."
HERE is part II.
Obama's Budget Speech: Daily Beast Contributors Weigh In from the Daily Beast
"In an address that offered a vigorous defense of liberal values and traditional entitlement programs, President Obama laid out his vision for a plan that would cut $4 trillion from the deficit over the next 12 years. Howard Kurtz, Eleanor Clift, John Avlon, Grover Norquist and more Daily Beast contributors weigh in."
My reaction: Obama smoked the GOP (and Paul Ryan particularly) yesterday. By cherry-picking from the Bowles-Simpson report and vigorously defending the principles behind the social safety net, he basically left the Republicans to defend the most extreme anti-tax, anti-safety net elements of the Ryan plan. What the GOP is left with is to defend massive tax cuts for the wealthy along side massive benefit cuts for the poor and the elderly and other similarly draconian proposals that ONLY appeal to the hard right. Obama basically made his play for liberal and centrist support -- and I think he'll get it for the most part.
Barack Obama: Returning to the Fray from the Editorial Board of the Guardian [of the UK]
"A fighting President Obama is better than one who pretends to stay aloof."
Obama's Speech: The Umpire Strikes Back (Jonathan Chait) from the New Republic
"He wanted the be the umpire of the debate, not a participant in it. In his budget speech today, Obama attempted to square the circle in two ways."
Raise America's Taxes (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"President Obama in his speech on Wednesday confronted a topic that is harder to address seriously in public than sex or flatulence: America needs higher taxes. That ugly truth looms over today’s budget battles, but politicians have mostly preferred to run from reality. Mr. Obama’s speech was excellent not only for its content but also because he didn’t insult our intelligence."
There Definitely is a Revenue Problem, People (Michael Tomasky) from the Guardian [of the UK]
An important rejoinder to the GOP's talking point that "increased revenue is not the problem."
"We do indeed also have a revenue problem. Historically, both spending and revenue average somewhere in the ballpark of 19% of GDP. They fluctuate of course, but that's a general estimate. Let me pick out five years totally at random (sorry I can't link, this is from an Excel spreadsheet done up by the Office of Management and Budget I was sent):
1954: receipts 18.5%, outlays 18.8%
1967: receipts 18.4%, outlays 19.4%
1981: receipts 19.6%, outlays 22.2% (under Reagan!)
1996: receipts 18.8%, outlays 20.2%
2006: receipts 18.2%, outlays 20.1%
Get the picture? Democratic presidents, Republican ones...doesn't fluctuate that much.
2011 (estimate): receipts 14.4%, outlays 25.3%"
GOP: Obama's Speech So Partisan We'll Never Reach Budget Agreement from TalkingPointsMemo
"Their responses thus edged beyond substance into the realm of personal grievance. Indeed, they implied that the speech may have poisoned the well so much that working together where common ground exists might now be impossible."
Time has a related story HERE.
Obama's "Base" Problem Doesn't Actually Exist (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
Time and again during Obama's 27 months in office, we've witnessed eruptions like this, with one-time Obama supporters claiming that because of [insert Obama action here], the president has lost their support for good. ... All of these episode -- and others like them -- have one thing in common: For all of the threats and dire forecasts, Obama's base stuck with him."
Obama '12 Strategy: Deal and Get Results from The Hill
"For weeks, Obama and press secretary Jay Carney were given repeated opportunities to join Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in trying to drive a wedge between Boehner and his conservative Tea Party freshman class. It never happened... Joining Reid's attack, officials said, would have only jeopardized the deal, which to this White House is what matters."
On Debt Proposal, Obama’s Birth Secret Revealed (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"His embrace of the compromise debt proposal — and of the effort by the Gang of Six senators to put something like it into legislation — will be considered apostasy by true believers on both sides. But it dramatically increases the likelihood that Washington will solve its debt problem — and it strongly allies Obama with the independent voters who will determine the outcome of the 2012 presidential election."
Republicans Scramble for Votes as Top GOPer Bails on Budget Deal from Daily Kos
An interesting development on last year's budget deal just agreed to last week.
"As amusing as it will be seeing John Boehner rely on Nancy Pelosi to get the deal through the House, the real implication will be that going forward, the extreme right flank of the GOP will have proved itself utterly irrelevant to the process."
The Mental Roots of Racial Prejudice from Miller-McClure Magazine
"Italian researchers find social conservatives tend to attribute more negative qualities to members of a minority group."
Why Candidate Trump Is Leading the Polls (Matt Latimer) from the Daily Beast
"It’s not just that weird birther thing. Matt Latimer examines why The Donald, in his unlikely bid for the GOP presidential nomination, touches a chord with the electorate."
Waiting for Mitt to Fall (Ed Kilgore) from the Democratic Strategist
"When the alleged presidential front-runner of the allegedly ascendant political party takes his first formal step towards candidacy, and pretty much everybody either yawns or jeers, it is clearly not a good sign for the politician in question. And in general, I can't recall a presidential "front-runner" who's been written off as a hopeless loser long before the contest begins by about half the political cognoscenti."
Ed Kilgore gets a two-fer today:
The Fred Thompson Effect: Why a Dark-Horse Candidate Can’t Save the GOP (Ed Kilgore) from the New Republic
"By now, it should be obvious that anyone hoping party insiders will draft a Jeb Bush or Chris Christie or Rick Perry to rescue the lackluster Republican 2012 field from itself is living in a hopeless fantasyland. But in case you need even more evidence, consider this: Dark-horse candidates who aren’t fully committed to running for president, deep within their bones, have a terrible track record of misfires and flameouts."
These last two stories reflect the following harsh reality:
GOP Establishment Feels Heat in S.C. from Politico
"OP activists attending county party conventions last weekend here and in next-door Greenville County – the heart of the conservative Upstate –made scant mention of Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour and Tim Pawlenty. Instead, the talk is of Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump and even Allen West, a rookie Florida congressman who’s shown no interest in running for president. ... conservatives here, as elsewhere, have been radicalized."
HAPPY TIGER NUGGET!!
Bengal Tiger Entertains at Thailand Zoo by Leaping into Pool After Chunks of Meat from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"These spectacular images show a female Bengal tiger as she attempts to entertain visitors at a Thailand zoo. Asih has become a favourite for visitors at Rangunan zoo as she dives into her pool in pursuit of chunks of meat."
Pretty spectacular images! All you can say is that you would not want to be one of the "pieces of meat" this animal is leaping for!
HAPPY MUSEUMS NASA NUGGET!!
Dismantling the Space Shuttle Program from the Atlantic
"NASA's Space Shuttle program continues to wind down, with only two more launches planned -- the final one taking place in June (if funded). NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently announced four facilities where shuttle orbiters will be displayed permanently in New York, California, Florida, and Washington, D.C."
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