News Nuggets 754

A lion charging an automatic camera in Zimbabwe.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

U.S. Pushes Europe to Act With Force on Debt Crisis from the New York Times
"The Obama administration, increasingly alarmed by the spillover effects of Europe’s financial crisis, has begun an intensive lobbying campaign to persuade Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders to act decisively to stem any contagion from the Greece debt crisis."
Obama has a potentially interesting role to play in the European debt crisis.  HIS poll numbers in Europe are outstanding (70% favorable or better) whereas virtually none of the European leaders have even positive numbers they can point to.  While not his style, he could easily put some of  the bigger players (Merkel or Sarkozy) on the spot.

America Has Lost Patience with Europe (Alex Brunner) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The veteran U.S. monetary official did not mince his words in a private conversation over dinner. 'America is very, very angry over what has been going on in the eurozone.' As the markets went into freefall over the last few days, the deterioration in relations between the U.S. and the countries of the single currency has become frightening."

Welcome to Middle-Class Poverty— Does Anybody Know the Way Out? (Sara Horowitz) from the Atlantic
"A college grad with crippling debt. A freelancer with no insurance. It's going to take more than stimulus to help them."

A related item:
Only 55 Percent of Young Americans have Jobs, Lowest Since WWII from Yahoo News 
"Unemployment among young adults is at its highest point since World War II, new data show. And it's having a disconcerting impact on the trajectory of their careers and lives. "We have a monster jobs problem, and young people are the biggest losers," Andrew Sum, an economist with the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University told the Associated Press."

And to complete this trifecta of great economic news:
Older Jobless Twice As Likely To Become 99ers (Arthur Delaney) from the Huffington Post
"Older workers are less likely to lose their jobs than younger workers, but once they do, they're more than twice as likely to be out of work for 99 weeks or longer."

President Obama Shouldn’t be Afraid of a Little Class Warfare (Sally Kohn) from the Washington Post
"On Monday, defending his plan to raise taxes on the rich to pay for job creation, President Obama said: “This is not class warfare, it’s math.” No, Mr. President, this is class warfare — and it’s a war you’d better win. Corporate interests and the rich started it. Right now, they’re winning. Progressives and the middle class must fight back, and the president should be clear whose side he’s on."
HERE! HERE!

DOJ: Rick Perry's Texas Redistricting Plan Purposefully Discriminated Against Minorities from Talking Points Memo
"The Justice Department said late Friday that based on their preliminary investigation, a congressional redistricting map signed into law by Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry appears to have been "adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of diminishing the ability of citizens of the United States, on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, to elect their preferred candidates of choice to Congress.""

Gardasil and the Politics of Experience (Joseph Gabriel) from Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society
"...there is a longstanding assumption in our culture that vaccines are dangerous, that medical authority is not to be trusted, and that the pharmaceutical industry frequently places its own profit over the public’s health. This suspicion cuts across political lines – it animates both the populist left and the populist right – and in this context Bachman’s claims make a lot more sense than most pundits are giving her credit for. Indeed, Bachman’s arguments draw on a very long history of prioritizing personal experience as a source of medical knowledge over the elite opinion of expert authority."

Aftermath from the GOP Debate: The Anger Builds (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"When it came to it, even Santorum couldn't sanction firing all those servicemembers who are now proudly out. But that's because he was forced to focus not on his own Thomist abstractions, but on an actual person. Throughout Republican debates, gays are discussed as if we are never in the audience, never actually part of the society, never fully part of families, never worthy of even a scintilla of respect. When you boo a servicemember solely because he's gay, you are saying he is beneath contempt, that nothing he does or has done can counterweigh the vileness of his sexual orientation."

Texas Toast? Rick Perry Worries GOP from Politico
"The first line of Rick Perry’s campaign obituary may have been drafted Thursday night: He got in too late. It’s not quite time for his camp to panic but in his third debate in a month – nearly as many as he’s done in the entire decade he’s served as Texas governor – Perry demonstrated why so few presidential candidates who parachute into the race mid-campaign win the nomination."

Web Verdict on Perry: Brutal from Politico
"The conservative commentariat spoke with near-unanimity Friday on Rick Perry’s debate performance: The Texas governor didn’t just lose, he bombed. There was no election-ending gaffe or singularly disqualifying remark. But his second consecutive weak outing set off alarm bells on the right, where too many cringeworthy moments raised questions about Perry’s durability, his seriousness and ability to compete on a stage with Barack Obama. Worse, after a near-flawless August rollout fueled his rise in the polls and quieted critics who fretted about the quality of the GOP field, Perry’s nationally televised face-plant revived dormant talk—and hopes—about the possibility of new candidates entering the race."

Rick Perry is Officially Blowing It (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"When he entered the presidential race last month, the Texas governor had an extraordinary opportunity. The GOP base had strong, deep reservations about Mitt Romney, the only other heavy-hitter in the race, so if Perry could satisfy their thirst for purity while demonstrating competence as a candidate and campaigner, he'd be well-positioned to unify the party and run away with the nomination.  But he is failing at both tasks."

Some do not agree:
It’s Time to Buy Rick Perry Stock (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Mitt Romney’s debate “win” won’t erase his evil socialistic Massachusetts history or make him any more likable—and by November 2012, Rick Perry just might not be too extreme or too Texas, says Michael Tomasky."

Dubya and Me: Over 25 Years, a Journalist Witnessed the Transformation of George W. Bush (Walt Harrington) from the American Scholar
"“Come on down and visit,” the man who would eventually be known to the world as President George W. Bush drawled cheerfully to me over the phone. “But I won’t tell you any good stuff until I’m sure you’re not going to do an ax job.” So began a long and fascinating acquaintanceship with the man who would become one of the most admired and, later, reviled presidents in U. S. history."

E-BOOK NUGGET!!
Kindle Connects to Library E-Books from the New York Times
"For years the availability of free e-books from libraries was something of an underground secret. But Amazon significantly increased the potential visibility of library e-books on Wednesday when it opened up its popular Kindle device to these books for the first time."

AIRPORT CONVENIENCE NUGGET!!
Just landed at Terminal One, the Perfect Cure for Stranded Air Travellers... the Sleepbox from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Behold the future of airport delays. All that slithering around on a seat being uncomfortable while waiting for your late-running flight could be about to end. Because Sleepbox has landed - bringing with it the prospect of a decent 40 winks while you wait for take-off."
Wow!  When was the last time airports or airlines actually did something that made flying more tolerable and not less!?  Check'em out!