News Nuggets 727

A brown bear ... at a photo shoot.  From a story about a photographer who specializes in studio photos of bears.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Libyan Rebels Advance on Gaddafi's Home Town from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Speculation grows that Muammar Gaddafi has fled to Sirte, as sporadic shooting continues in Tripoli."

Libya’s Bloody Road to Freedom (Azza Kamel Maghur) from the New York Times
"The young men of a Tripoli neighborhood went into the streets, intent on achieving freedom or martyrdom."

Why Libya Skeptics were Proved Badly Wrong (Anne-Marie Slaughter) from the Financial Times [of the UK]
"Let us do a thought experiment. Imagine the UN did not vote to authorise the use of force in Libya in March. ... This is the scenario many wise heads were effectively arguing for with their strong stands against intervention to stop Col Gaddafi.
Slaughter (who I have been more and more impressed with as a foreign policy pundit) is channelling precisely my original views on the Libya intervention.  Most critics of the intervention live in a 20th century world where some version of Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule applied: "you break it, you own it."  Said another way: the costs for intervening will be enormous while not intervening leave responsibility for what happens elsewhere.  The Libya case showed how flawed this view can be.  Transformed by new media, inaction threatened some core US interests as much as action.  Read Slaughter's entire piece.

Assault on Tripoli 'Planned Weeks Ago' from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Details emerge of rebel and Nato plans to oust Gaddafi, involving bombing, sleeper cells and special forces squads."

What We’ve Learned in Libya (Jim Hoagland) from the Washington Post
"Rushing past the obvious is an occupational hazard for journalists and policymakers. Much of the official and media verbiage triggered by the rebels’ capture of Moammar Gaddafi’s Tripoli headquarters has missed essential contemporary and historical developments:"

The New Epicenter of China's Discontent (Christina Larson) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"This northeastern port city, with its gleaming skyscrapers, seaside yacht club, and Cartier and Armani boutiques on People's Road, might seem about the least likely site for one of China's largest protests in years. ... A dispatch from a city that wasn't supposed to be on the brink."

Immigration Laws in the South: a New Jim Crow (Paul Harris) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Lawmakers in southern states enacting harsh measures against illegal workers are exempting domestics – a stunning hypocrisy."

Pelosi v. Boehner from Daily Kos
"What the Democratic-controlled House under Speaker Nancy Pelosi is responsible for."

Florida's High-Speed Rail Money Officially Sent To Northeast Corridor (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post
"Half a year after Florida Gov. Rick Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal money to help build high-speed rail structures inside his state, the cash has been sent to other portions of the country."

House GOP Worries Voters' Anger Over Economy Say Sting Them from The Hill
"Fearing angry protests, some GOP lawmakers have decided to skip public town-hall meetings. Others have mustered courage to face constituents in unpredictable settings, sometimes with uncomfortable results."

Gluttons for Punishment: Blame Voters for the Dismal GOP Field (James Warren) from the Atlantic
"If the Republican presidential candidates fail to offer substance, it's because they're giving the public what it wants -- empty calories."

Mitt Romney Is 2012's Hillary Clinton (Elspeth Reeve) from the Atlantic
"As the Obama campaign looked weak in the months before the Iowa caucuses of 2008, there were tons of warnings that though Clinton looked strong, she was awfully cautious."
Perry's campaign does not look at all weak at this point.  Stupid, yes -- but not weak.

CORRECTION - Perry is weak in ways that will have little impact on whether he gets the nomination or not.  Case in Point:
Perry, Parties, and Pragmatism (Steve Benen) from Washington Monthly
Check out this interview where Perry can't respond to a question based on empirical data relating to abstinence programs and teen pregnancy in Texas.
"The problem here isn’t just that Perry has the wrong answer. The more meaningful problem is that Perry doesn’t seem to know how to even formulate an answer. He starts with a proposition in his mind (abstinence-only education is effective), and when confronted with evidence that the proposition appears false (high teen-pregnancy rates), the governor simply hangs onto his belief, untroubled by evidence. As Jon Chait put it, Perry seems to struggle “even to think in empirical terms.”"

LOCAL EDUCATION NUGGET!!
Grants Released for 26 Institutions That Applied, but Most Eligible Ignored the Funds from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"In a written release, Mr. Tomalis took to task 101 schools across the state that were eligible for funding but failed to apply. He said 141 schools met the criteria but only 40 submitted applications. ... According to a chart provided by the state Education Department, local schools that qualified for the funding this year but did not apply were Sto-Rox middle and high schools, Woodland Hills Junior High School and Career Connections Charter High School. In addition, in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Murray, Northview, and Arsenal elementary schools and Arsenal Middle School qualified but did not apply. In the Philadelphia School District, more than 50 schools qualified but did not apply."
What's going on?  Really, that's my question.

ROBOT NUGGET!!
A Small Step for a Robot, a Great Leap for Space Travel? from Big Think
"Robonaut is literally ascending its stairway to the moon in baby steps. Robonaut, aka R2, the first humanoid robot in space, was delivered to the International Space station on space shuttle Discovery's final flight this past February, and finally powered up this week."