News Nuggets 714

An amazing image of a tornado forming over Taber, Canada.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT VACATION NUGGET!!
Daylee News Nuggets will be taking a vacation for the next seven days so postings will be very infrequent at best.  But what a good time to take a news break!!  The debt deal has left me a little hung over.  Nuggets will return on a daylee basis the weekend of the 13th.  

Brothers' Keepers (Molly Worthen) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"American evangelicals were always big believers in democracy -- until it reached the Arab world."

How China Hurts its Own Economy (Bill Powell) from CNN
"When lending, Beijing favors state companies over private ones. Trouble is, that's not where innovation happens."

DNC Memo: Political Pundits Got Debt Ceiling Scorecard Wrong (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
"The rush to frame the winners and losers in the debt ceiling deal stands in stark contrast to the protracted negotiations over the debt ceiling themselves. On Thursday afternoon, the Democratic National Committee engaged once again, issuing a memo arguing that political pundits got their analyses wrong when they deemed the final result a win for the Republicans."

Tea Party Remains A Driving Force As GOP Leaders Risk Backlash From Movement from Reuters via the Huffington Post
"Emboldened by concessions wrung from their own leadership and President Barack Obama during the debt limit fight, Tea Party-affiliated lawmakers will likely remain a driving force in the Republican Party -- and possibly induce gridlock until the 2012 elections."

The Most Unpopular Congress. Ever. (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
" It’s the lowest approval rating ever for Congress in a CNN poll and one of only three times that approval has dipped below 20 percent. (The other two times? March 1992 when approval stood at 18 percent and June 1979 when it was at 19 percent). ... If (and that’s a big “if”) that mood holds through November 2012, we could be looking at a political cataclysm of epic proportions."

Obama, Boehner: Two kinds of Cool (Niall Stanage) from The Hill
"The two most powerful men in Washington have one similarity: cool heads. President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are, in this respect, outliers in today’s hyper-partisan political climate. They prefer to get business done with a minimum of fuss, in an era when others seem to prefer, to misquote Elvis Presley, a little more conversation and a little less action."

U.S. Incomes Fell Sharply in 2009 from Reuters
"U.S. incomes plummeted again in 2009, with total income down 15.2 percent in real terms since 2007, new tax data showed on Wednesday."

Two Parties Pray to the Same God, but Different Economists (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"Both parties read the same Bible and pray to the same God — but apparently listen to different economists. This use of religion in politics is a source of cynicism. It should raise alarms when the views of the Almighty conveniently match our most urgent political needs. "

If Conservatives Were Right About the Economy (David Frum) from the Frum Forum
"My conservative friends argue that the policies of Barack Obama are responsible for the horrifying length and depth of the economic crisis. Question: Which policies?"

Judge OKs Suit Against Donald Rumsfeld Over Alleged Torture from Politico
"An American contractor who claims he was imprisoned and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq can sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally for damages, The Associated Press reported."
For the victims of John Wu, David Addington and Rumsfeld's buddies at the DoD -- who knows, maybe, they will get some modicum of justice.

A Tainted Water Well and Concern There May Be More from Fracking (Ian Urbina) from the New York Times
"... there is in fact a documented case, and the E.P.A. report that discussed it suggests there may be more. Researchers, however, were unable to investigate many suspected cases because their details were sealed from the public when energy companies settled lawsuits with landowners. Current and former E.P.A. officials say this practice continues to prevent them from fully assessing the risks of certain types of gas drilling."

The Death of Super Tuesday? (McKay Coppins) from the Daily Beast
"The venerable one-day delegate jackpot has been a mainstay of presidential primaries, but all that will change in 2012. McKay Coppins on what it means for Palin, Romney, and Perry."
This could be very big news.  Super Tuesday was something created by the party establishments to strengthen the prospects of moneyed establishment candidates who already had big name recognition.  If it is done away with, it could empower lesser candidates.

UNIVERSE NUGGET!!
The Big Bang in Pictures from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Scientists produce computer images of particle explosions similar to the greatest ever galactic light show."
The images here are amazing!