News Nuggets 368

Some humor in the face of a pretty dire situation.

The Last Ayatollah (Maziar Bahari) from Newsweek

"The Green Movement's bloody street protests may not have toppled Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—but they will."

Loss of Moneyman a Big Blow for al-Qaeda (Stuart Levey) from the Washington Post

"Last month, al-Qaeda was dealt a major blow. In losing Mustafa Abu al-Yazid -- also known as Sheik Saeed al-Masri -- the terrorist organization was deprived of one of its founding members and also its third-highest official. An early confidante of Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, Yazid has essentially served as al-Qaeda's "chief financial officer," coordinating the group's fundraising and overseeing the distribution of money essential to its survival."

The Beijing Blues: A Rising Power Plagued by Doubts (Fareed Zakaria) from Newsweek

"One complained that even getting meetings with senior officials had become difficult. "By common consent, the country has come out on top after the global economic crisis. ... But in a series of discussions with people in and out of the Chinese government last week, I was struck less by arrogance than by the doubt, uncertainty, and apprehension that seemed to be plaguing the Chinese."

The Ballgame and the Sideshow (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times

"I adore the Israelis and Palestinians, but God save me from some of their European and American friends. Their grandstanding interventions — like those blockade-busters sailing to Gaza or the wealthy American Jews who fund extremist settlers’ housing purchases in Arab East Jerusalem — often fuel the worst trends on either side and divert our energies from the only thing that is important: forging a two-state solution."

Containment Cap Offers Hope Even as Oil Spews On from the Associated Press via Yahoo News

"The containment cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 441,000 gallons of oil Saturday, BP spokesman Mark Proegler said Sunday, up from around 250,000 gallons of oil Friday. It's not clear how much is still escaping; an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily."

Don't Get Mad, Mr. President. Get Even (Frank Rich) from New York Times

"The frantic and fruitless nationwide search for the president’s temper is now our sole dependable comic relief from the tragedy in the gulf. ... Not going to happen. ... That’s not who Obama is. If he tried to go off, he’d look ridiculous."

Dreams from My Stepfather (Blake Hounshell) from Foreign Policy Magazine

"How Indonesia taught Obama to be tough."

Gay? Whatever, Dude (Charles Blow) from the New York Times

"Last week, while many of us were distracted by the oil belching forth from the gulf floor and the president’s ham-handed attempts to demonstrate that he was sufficiently engaged and enraged, Gallup released a stunning, and little noticed, report on Americans’ evolving views of homosexuality. Allow me to enlighten:"

A Guide to the Summer's Senate Races from the Washington Independent

"Below, we’ve mapped out which Senate races to keep an eye on between now and Labor Day and why you should be watching:"

Fate of the 'Tea Party 3' will be Critical to the GOP's Future (Mark Greenbaum) from Salon

"Three Senate candidates will test whether the Tea Party is a fad or a force for the future"

GOP Lags in Early Redistricting from Politico

"Outmaneuvered by the GOP during the last round of redistricting a decade ago, Democrats appear to have an early advantage as the two parties gear up again for the expensive and high-stakes battle over redrawing state legislative and congressional districts. "

This is excellent (and unexpected) news!! Many interesting observations noted in this article.

Elections Aren't for Sissies (Gail Collins) from the New York Times

"Loads of exciting primaries next week! Although it’ll be hard to top the one in South Carolina, where two Tea Party candidates are fighting about a lie detector test and a state senator has argued that racist comments he made over the radio don’t really count since the interview occurred in a bar."

SC-Gov: Is the GOP Out to Get Nikki Haley? from The Week

"As rumors of a second affair plague Haley's campaign, a Republican state senator slings a racial slur at her. What is going on in South Carolina?" ... Why "does every political race in South Carolina look like a screening of Deliverance?"

The main points of this piece sound quite plausible. Sounds like quite the political knife-fight!

SC-Gov: Bauer Challenges Haley to Take Polygraph on Affair Claims from TalkingPointsMemo

"Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has challenged state Rep. Nikki Haley to take a polygraph to prove she did not sleep with former Bauer consultant Larry Marchant."

What if she says 'no, I won't"? If he takes the polygraph and his statements register as 'true', what then?

SC-Gov: Scandals Turn Politics into Persecution in Pursuit of Perfection (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post

"I reluctantly decided to weigh in on the Haley story because therein lie issues of more general consequence. This isn't only politics at its worst. It's a persecution, a witch hunt, a political rape. "All I know to do is fight," said Haley by phone Friday. "Just stay strong and keep a smile on your face. . . . I refuse to let this distract me.""

IL-Sen: More Mistakes in Kirk's Remarks: Errors in Foreign Policy from the Chicago Sun-Times

"Some of the stories Kirk tells on the stump seem a bit too good to be true. When he last ran for re-election to his congressional seat, he got into trouble for saying China was drilling for oil off the coast of Cuba, which was not true, he acknowledged Thursday in a meeting with the Sun-Times editorial board. Speaking to the City Club of Chicago last year just after President Obama authorized the shooting of Somali pirates who kidnapped American Capt. Richard Phillips, Kirk got a whole lot wrong talking about pirates attacking ships off Africa."

The Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times seem to be tag-teaming on Mark Kirk, seeing which one will lay the fatal blow on Kirk's senate hopes.

NH-Sen: Drill, Baby, Drill (the Coast of New England) from Daily Kos

"Take it as a sign that Kelly Ayotte is worried about losing the Republican primary -- but don't forget to take it as a reminder how horrific a senator she'd be."

MN-Rep: Conservative Darling Short on Legislative Help from Politics Daily

"Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has more staffers devoted to the media than to legislative issues, an AOL examination shows."

I think this is the first time Ms. Bachman has shown up in a news nugget. The reason for this I suspect is that she has mastered the art of 'wingnut-speak.' She is not in a dialogue with the real world -- and thus is unlikely to make any real news. She's in a dialogue with an alternative universe, one populated by conspirators, detention camps, death panels -- and where Sarah Palin is queen. And, the only way you can stay there full-time is to have most of your staff putting out press releases. When the real world is not your primary focus, what is there to legislate?

STAGE NUGGET!!

'Thurgood' Does Justice to the Man (Review) from The Root

"The portrayal is so alive you could claim with some justification that the great man spoke to you."

NPR RADIO NUGGET!!

"Animal Minds" from Radio Lab on NPR

"When we gaze into the eyes of our pets, it often seems as though we can tell what they're thinking. Can we? Or is it silly to assume they're thinking what we are? Radio Lab looks at what goes on in animal minds."

In Pittsburgh, this is on this evening on WDUQ-91.5 after All Things Considered. The previews sounded quite interesting. Check your local NPR listings.

News Nuggets 367

This amazing statue is part of the new Cleopatra exhibition at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. See the Ancient Egypt Nugget below. From the Daily Beast.

The Reset Has Begun (Editorial) from the Moscow Times [of Russia in English]

“Russia’s tone, especially toward the United States, began to change last year, but the Kremlin’s support for a fourth version of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran demonstrates that, today, there is real substance. Moreover, surrendering territorial claims in the Arctic — the stakes in the dispute with Norway — is no small matter.”

How Do You Say Frenemies in Turkish? (Steven Cook) from Foreign Policy Magazine

“It is hard to admit, but after six decades of strategic cooperation, Turkey and the United States are becoming strategic competitors -- especially in the Middle East. This is the logical result of profound shifts in Turkish foreign and domestic politics and changes in the international system.”

Wake Up Lula! Obama is Better Than Ahmadinejad from Folha [of Brazil in English]

"Because of our defense of positions of a despotic regime, which is cruel in its persecution of minorities and its opposition, we have picked a fight with one of our most important global partners, the United States - which remains by far the greatest power on earth."

US-India Relations an Affair of the Heart from The Hindu [of India in English]

“India and the United States concluded their Strategic Dialogue here on Thursday evening, issuing a joint statement that indicated a significant increase in the breadth of collaborative initiatives between the two countries.”

Bush’s Glib Waterboarding Admission Sparks Outrage (Dan Foomkin) from the Huffington Post

“George W. Bush's casual acknowledgment Wednesday that he had Khalid Sheikh Mohammed waterboarded -- and would do it again

Bush is such a dope!

HERE's Michael Tomasky's take on Bush's comments from the Guardian of the UK.

"In other words, he could have said many things that bore directly on the well being of the polity and the people. But no. His greatest regret was failing to push through a highly ideological and highly unpopular measure that was the love child of a couple of conservative and libertarian think tanks."

The Recovery Is Real: Why Fears of a Second Recession are Overblown (Daniel Gross) from Newsweek

"If you want a double dip this summer, you’ll have to go to Carvel. “The scenario in which there is a double dip is fairly remote,” says Joel Prakken, managing director and cofounder of Macroeconomic Advisers, the St. Louis–based consulting firm. “I just can’t really see it happening unless there is an extreme crisis of confidence.”"

Obama Knew the Spill was Hopeless (Richard Wolffe) from the Daily Beast

"As the president visits the Gulf anew, Richard Wolffe reports that he was first briefed in April on how bad the spill would be. Plus: the real reason the White House is so mad at Carville—and why Obama would rather talk about the economy."

My BP Mole Spills the Secrets of BP's Cleanup Ops (Mac McClelland) from Mother Jones

"Workers have spent inordinate amounts of time sitting around waiting to be utilized, a frustration echoed by other workers who talked to friends of mine who were on a day trip to the beach. The workers are also upset because last Friday, many of them weren't paid as scheduled."

‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ May Haunt Effort to Taint Obama (Patrick O’Connor) from Bloomberg News

“Republicans’ embrace of offshore oil drilling and their skepticism of “big” government may hamper the party’s efforts to gain politically from President Barack Obama’s handling of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Four-Day School Weeks Gaining Popularity During Downturn from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post

"During the school year, Mondays in this rural Georgia community are for video games, trips to grandma's house and hanging out at the neighborhood community center. Don't bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off. Peach County is one of more than 120 school districts across the country where students attend school just four days a week."

This is so disturbing on so many levels. What is it with wingnut states!? Yes -- OK, NM, and (no great surprise) ME are also toying with this plan. The problem: instead of raising taxes (or otherwise making up the difference), these folks prefer to believe in magical learning! WHERE are the kids supposed to make up for that fifth day?!

More Premature and Puerile Verdicts on Obama (Robert Shrum) from The Week

“Is he imperiled by scandal? Does he fail to emote? What we talk about while Barack Obama shapes the future of America.”

Republicans Risk Latino Ire with Hard Line on Migrants from Reuters

"Arizona's migrant crackdown has hurled immigration back to the fore in the run-up to the November congressional elections. And embracing it has become a litmus test for Republican primary candidates facing scrutiny from the party's resurgent right wing."

Altered Mural Fuels Racial Debate in Prescott, AZ from the Arizona Republic

"A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school. The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity. ... "It is being lightened because of the controversy," Wall said, adding that "they want it to look like the children are coming into light.""

Umm ... right. There are two features to this story that really interest me. How is it that so many state and local officials now deem it OK to let their racial and other bigotries free reign? Equally interesting is how genuinely surprised they are when they get called on it!! To me, these are simply further manifestations of how disconnected they are from the realities of America in the 21st century. They are still living in some fifty-years-ago fantasy world.

Dems' Plan to Hold Congress (Andrew Romano) from Newsweek

“The Democrats are “going down.” Well, not quite. In politics, winning may the most important thing, but managing expectations is a close second. What’s really happening here is that the Dems are downplaying their chances in November for the same reason Barack Obama’s campaign team compared Sarah Palin to every orator short of Cicero in the run-up to her 2008 debate against Joe Biden: political results are only as useful as they are unexpected.”

Ten Things to Watch for on Super Tuesday from RealClearPolitics

“The real Super Tuesday of the 2010 midterm cycle's primary season is June 8. ... it's a safe bet that many on Capitol Hill will have their eyes glued to the election results in 11 states.”

IL-Sen : Mark Kirk’s Comments on Military Service Questioned AGAIN from the Huffington Post

“Archived video of Rep. Mark Kirk surfaced Wednesday showing the Illinois Senate hopeful claiming that he was shot at while flying aboard an aircraft in Iraq."

See also:

Mark Kirk May Have Misstated Another Instance In Which He Was 'Shot At' (Sam Stein) from the Huffington Post

"Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill) has been savaged in recent days over an ever-expanding list of incidents in which he misled, embellished, or simply lied about his service in various military outposts and units. Another one may soon be added to the list. In a questionnaire he filled out for the Chicago Sun-Times this past January."

More on this from Lynn Sweet at Politics Daily:

FL-Sen: Dem Strategists Turning to Crist in Florida Senate Race from the New York Post

"Top Democratic strategists are abandoning their party's frontrunner in the Florida Senate race in favor of Independent Charlie Crist, who bolted the Republican party over the state party's rightward lurch toward the Tea Party."

NOT a good sign if you are the probable Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek.

Maine Republicans Backing Away from Tea Party-Inspired Platform from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post

"A tea party tempest is losing steam in Maine, a state that prides itself on its independence and moderation. With inspiration from tea partiers, Republicans there adopted a party platform last month that raised eyebrows nationally, with planks calling for the elimination of the Department of Education, a reference to global warming as a "myth" and a declaration that health care "is not a right. It is a service.""

ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGET!!

Cleopatra's Comeback from the Daily Beast

"The legendary Egyptian queen is the subject of a new blockbuster show in Philadelphia. Pulitzer prize-winning historian Stacy Schiff, author of a forthcoming book on Cleopatra, on the underwater expeditions revealing her mysterious history. VIEW OUR GALLERY"

An extraordinary series of artifacts in this exhibit. Please DO check out the gallery!

News Nuggets 366

Two more fun images for Pet Photo Friday!! From Americablog.

US Urged Israel to Use Caution and Restraint with Aid Boats Heading to Gaza from the Washington Post

"The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had warned Isreal's government repeatedly to use "caution and restraint" with half a dozen aid boats bound for the Gaza Strip before Israeli commandos raided the flotilla this week in an operation that killed nine people."

Saving Israel From Itself (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times

"I thought: Israel wouldn’t be so obtuse as to use lethal force on self-described peace activists in international waters with scores of reporters watching. Ah, but it turned out that Israel could be so obtuse after all. It shot itself in the foot, blasting American toes as well, and undermined all of its longer-term strategic objectives."

Israel as Strategic Liability (Anthony Cordesman) from RealClearWorld

"The United States has made it clear that any U.S. support for Arab-Israeli peace efforts must be based on options that preserve Israel's security, and its recent announcements that it will consider "extended regional deterrence" are code words for a U.S. commitment that could guard Israel, as well as its neighbors, against an Iranian nuclear threat. At the same time, the depth of America's moral commitment does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset."

Gaza Flotilla: What Should Obama Do? (Michael Tomasky) from the Guardian [of the UK]

"It is tempting to say the US should express furious moral outrage over Israel's raid of the Gaza flotilla – but that is not its role."

Charges Against Activists Abandoned After Turkey Delivers Ultimatum from the Independent [of the UK]

"Israel bowed to heavy diplomatic pressure to deport hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists yesterday, after what Turkey said was an ultimatum that threatened Jerusalem with severe political consequences if it kept its citizens in custody."

Erdogen and the Decline of the Turks (Robert Pollock) from the Wall Street Journal

"Good leaders work to defuse tensions in situations like this, not to escalate them. No American should be deceived as to the true motives of these men: They are demagogues appealing to the worst elements in their own country and the broader Middle East."

Very disturbing developments in Turkey. More instability from the most stable Islamic country in the middle east.

Iran: Reckless or Rational? (Philip McCrum) from the International Relations and Security Network

"Five years after his hotly contested election, Ahmadinejad’s fragile hold on power is threatened by growing economic instability, an emerging reform movement and the mounting threat of sanctions."

Gulf Coast Oil Spill Could Wreck Region's Tourism and Fishing Industries from the Washington Post

"The gargantuan blob of light Louisiana crude floating in the Gulf of Mexico has already closed oyster beds, shut down shrimpers, cancelled fishing tournaments and panicked beach hoteliers from New Orleans to Key West. But the economic impact of the nation's worst ever oil spill may be just beginning."

Will the Cardinal Be Indicted? from the Daily Beast

"No U.S. Catholic leader has been prosecuted for the church’s child-sex scandals. But officials are weighing obstruction and perjury charges against Cardinal Roger Mahony—and studying emails showing Mahony discussing with his lawyers ways to avoid giving law enforcement the names of abusive priests. Philip Shenon reports."

David Souter vs the Antonin Scalias (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post

"It should become the philosophical shot heard 'round the country. In a remarkable speech that received far too little attention, former Supreme Court justice David Souter took direct aim at the conservatives' favorite theory of judging. Souter's verdict: It "has only a tenuous connection to reality.""

Republicans and Obama: Time to Accept that He Won the 2008 Election (Jill Lawrence) from Politics Daily

"The root of the tension, or testiness, as Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback described it, isn't whether Obama is good-natured when under verbal assault. It's that for 18 months Republicans have been acting as if they are entitled to kill or gut Obama's agenda and pass their own.

White House Press Corps' Latest Obsession: Obama's State from the Huffington Post

"Now we're faced with a gigantic problem that has thus far proven resistant to the best efforts of decision-makers. So what's left to do? WE MUST HAVE A CHRONICLE OF THE PRESIDENT'S EMOTIONAL STATE, FOR POSTERITY."

Police Chiefs Want No Part of Arizona's Immigration Law from The Root

"The nation's top cops say that making them check the residency status of suspects will set back years of trust-building in communities of color."

The Palin-Murkowsky Rivalry Explained from Salon

"This story originally appeared on Salon on January 18, when Sarah Palin's one-time confidante signed on with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Palin's intrastate rival. The piece details the long-standing friction between the two women, which may have contributed to Palin's decision on Wednesday to endorse Murkowski's GOP primary challenger, Joe Miller."

NV Sen: Angle Leads in Race to Face Reid from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

"A forthcoming DailyKos/Research 2000 poll will also show Angle taking a significant lead in the primary. It also finds Reid now beating each of his potential Republican challengers."

This is the race where the "moderate" GOP candidate was the "chickens for health care" person while Angle is the Tea Party wingnut -- and Angle is now in the lead with less than a week to go until the GOP primary.

SC-Gov: Nikki Haley Denies Accusations She Had a Second Affair with Lobbyist Larry Merchant from the Associated Press via Huffington Post

"A South Carolina lobbyist resigned from a rival political campaign on Wednesday and then became the second man to claim he had a tryst with a Republican lawmaker trying to become the state's first female governor."

This woman is toast!

Rasmussen's Mid-Course Corrections (Kos) from Daily Kos

"Remember, Rasmussen has two modes -- the narrative setting mode, which he's used to great effect this year to fuel the "Democrats are doomed" narrative, and the "get it right" mode he uses the closer we get to the actual election."

What with the known news distorters like FOX and talk radio, then you have polling outfits like THIS ONE, it just drives me NUTS!!

MEDICAL NUGGET!!

The incredible moment a deaf baby hears his mother's voice for the very first time from the Daily Mail [of the UK]

"Gurgling in a mix of wonder and joy, this is the incredible moment a child hears his mother's voice for the first time. Eight-month-old Jonathan was born deaf and had cochlear implants put into his ears so he could hear."

The video is quite moving.

POLAR BEAR NUGGET!!

Polar Bears and Dogs Playing from First Science TV

News Nuggets 365

A recent wind storm in central China. See the Dust Storm Nugget below. From the Daily Mail.

A Global-Peace-Building Strategy (Editorial) from Politico

"The National Security Strategy, released last week by the Obama administration, is a big step toward rethinking America’s strategic narrative. The impact of the plan should be amplified and integrated with lessons learned in conflict management to advance the whole-of-government approach. ... So what have we learned about how to manage today’s conflicts overseas?"

Obama's New National Security Vision (Michael Boyle) from the Guardian [of the UK]

"Barack Obama's national security strategy sees the world as it is – and recognises the limits of American influence."

A Surprising Consensus on Nuclear Nonproliferation from Time Magazine

"There are few more crucial linchpins to global security than the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968. ... The last major review conference, in 2005, ended in acrimonious failure, and there were concerns that a similar fate this year would put the future of the treaty in doubt at a time when it is needed most. But then something unexpected happened: the global community came together."

Three Political Casualties of the Flotilla Raid (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic

"Israel would say that it was being held to different standards and that the existential threat is faces is real, no matter what others may think. This may be true. But when the entire world, save (quietly) Turkey, and (openly) the United States, held Israel to a different standard, then Israel was held to a different standard. ... But that top cover from America no longer exists in the Obama Administration."

Mideast Peace Push May Survive Raid on Gaza Activists from Bloomberg News Service

"Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority said hours after the May 31 incident that they want to return to negotiations, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dispatched George Mitchell, her special envoy on Middle East peace, to talk to both sides."

Very premature to make this conclusion -- the process may survive what happened to THIS flotilla. What about the next ... and the one after that? I think Hamas has stumbled into a strategy that will be continue and has a good chance of succeeding in breaking the Israeli blockade.

US Persuades Multinationals to Quite Iran from Newsweek

"In just the past two months, the U.S. government has persuaded multinationals such as Daimler, Caterpillar, and KPMG to pull out and banks from Europe to China to stop all transactions originating in Iran."

Diplomatic Pressure Narrows Iran's Nuclear Options from YaleGlobal Online

"Yet Iran’s isolation increased in that forum, adding to the nation’s diplomatic woes. In particular, Egypt, the head of the Non-Aligned Movement, a group of more than 100 countries including Iran that remain neutral to the major powers, has repeatedly rejected Iranian proposals that would support its confrontation with the West."

BP Oil Spill NOT the Biggest Ever -- Not Even the Biggest in the Gulf from Discovery News

"The 1979 Ixtoc I well blowout spewed oil into Mexico's Bay of Campeche for 290 days, dumping around 3.3 million barrels of oil into the warm Gulf waters, as gas belching from below fed a continuous fire on the ocean's surface."

Y'know, as a historian I find this information to be good news. One can only hope that BP and ocean biologists, etc., are looking back at that episode and taking notes. The experience then (even in this brief article) is quite instructive.

Indeed, it sounds like the coast of Nigeria has been catching it for years!

A Deepwater Horizon Spill, Every Year from Discovery News

"The Gulf spill pales in comparison to epic scale of pollution in Nigeria's Niger Delta."

Oil Spill Politics from the Financial Times [of London]

"President Barack Obama and his team are coming under increasing criticism. In trying to contain the political damage, the White House must avoid submitting to this pressure and making a bad situation worse. Much of the criticism is both incoherent and unfair. Even erstwhile allies are attacking Mr Obama for calmness in a crisis. Many demand more fury – often while admitting that the government is doing all it usefully can."

Race to the Top: A Sprint When We Need a Marathon (Matt Miller) from the Washington Post

"Any honest assessment of the bigger picture is more depressing. That's because the real race we're in is not a "race to the top" within the United States but a race to maintain middle-class living standards in a world where rising, hungry powers such as China and India now threaten them. It's a race against other advanced nations whose school systems routinely outperform ours."

Miller is on the mark here. He's our pundit-of-the-day!

Can Obama Consign the 'War on Drugs' to History? (Sasha Abramsky) from the Guardian [of the UK]

"Obama's drug control policy leaves the noisy rhetoric of the past behind. It could become one of his top domestic achievements."

Waiting For A Wave That May Never Come (Michael Hais) from ndn.org

"What happened last week in Pennsylvania 12 might not be the upset that many in Washington believe it to be. That's because, as we have been saying in this space for the past year, 2010 is not 1994 and the chances of a Republican wave building off shore are far lower now than they were then."

Harry Reid's Getting an Angle on His Survival Chances (Marc Ambinder) from the Atlantic

"If Republicans nominate Sharron Angle as their Senate nominee next week, could majority leader Harry Reid, beleaguered, fatigued, unpopular, pull off an upset win? You betcha. "

HOUSING NUGGET!!

Walk Away From Your Mortgage! (Roger Lowenstein) from the Sunday New York Times Magazine

"Time was, Americans would do anything to pay their mortgage — forgo a new car or a vacation, even put a younger family member to work. But the housing collapse left 10.7 million families owing more than their homes are worth. So some of them are making a calculated decision to hang onto their money and let their homes go."

SQUIRREL NUGGET!!

Squirrels Show Altruistic Side from Discovery News

"Dogs will nurse orphaned cats and even tigers. Dolphins will go above and beyond to care for an injured pod member, sometimes swimming underneath another dolphin and pushing it to the surface so it can breath. This kind of behavior isn't surprising for social animals that tend to stay in packs, scientists say. What is surprising is the new finding that solitary animals do it too."

The original article is HERE at Nature Communications.

MIDEAST CULTURE NUGGET!!

Islamismism: Hirsi Ali, Berman and Ramadan on Islam from the New Yorker

"Ayaan Hirsi Ali says that [migrating] Muslims must choose between Islam and the secular West; Tariq Ramadan speaks of integration."

Hirsi Ali, the author of Infidel and Nomad, has sparked a lot of controversy about her scathing statements about Islam and the west's lame (in her view) efforts to integrate muslims into western culture.

DUST STORM NUGGET!!

Desert Storm: Huge Cloud of Sand Descends on Chinese Village from the Daily Mail [of the UK]

"Like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, a towering cloud of sand dwarfs the rows of uniform houses as it descends on a small village in central China. Residents hid inside their homes with their windows and doors locked shut as the dust storm swept through the region advancing 70ft a minute."

Looks like something straight out of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s!

News Nuggets 364

One hell of a sinkhole in Guatemala! See the Holy Shit Nugget below. From Huffington Post.

Siege Fatigue and the Flotilla Mistake (Ronen Bergman) from the Wall Street Journal

"What we witnessed in the early hours of Monday morning was symptomatic of a new degree of fatigue in Israeli governing circles. The fact that both the political and the military authorities could sign off on such an irresponsible operation suggests that the leadership of the country has given up what it has concluded is ultimately a Sisyphean attempt to accommodate world opinion. ... In other words, the war over world opinion is over—and Israel has lost."

Tragic. God only knows where this is headed.

The Collateral Damage From Israel's Raid (Harold Meyerson) from the Washington Post

"These opposing perspectives reflect a genuine rift within the American Jewish community -- or, perhaps, between American Jewry's two increasingly distinct communities. On one side are the venerable Jewish organizations unwilling to criticize the Israeli government for its increasing elevation of ethnocentricity over democracy; Orthodox Jews for whom such ethnocentricity is often central to their lives; and the small, hardy band of neoconservatives for whom this fight over Israel's character is just one more front in their ongoing war against fellow Jews whose liberalism drives them batty."

Fears for BP's Future as US Launches Criminal Inquiry from the Guardian [of the Uk]

"US attorney general, Eric Holder, confirmed that a criminal and civil investigation had been opened."

It has been my sense that BP is covering up not only the way they routinely conduct themselves with offshore oil rigs but especially in the magnitude of the current crisis. I'll bet you the scale of the malfeasance is just now dawning on federal authorities. If I were BP executives, I'd be quaking in my boots right now -- and I suspect some of them truly are.

Poll: BP, Not Obama, Taking the Brunt of Public's Oil Spill Ire from the Christian Science Monitor

"Public opinion polls find more than 70 percent of Americans disapprove of BP's handling of the Gulf oil spill, and support for offshore drilling has taken a dive since the disaster."

Oil Nears Fla. Beaches as BP Tries Risky Cap Move from the Associated Press via Yahoo News

"The BP oil slick drifted within striking distance of the Florida Panhandle's white sand beaches for the first time, raising the stakes another notch as submersible robots made another risky attempt to control the underwater Gulf of Mexico gusher."

The BP Nightmare: What Can Obama Do? (Michael Crowley) from Time Magazine

"The demands that he "do more" to stop the spill are increasing, but generally with few specifics. Many complaints seem to be asking for more symbolic demonstrations of outrage by Obama. (He needs to be more angry! He needs to spend more time in Louisiana! What is he doing sleeping and eating while this is happening!) But, really, what's the point?"

This item captures my own views on the spill quite concisely.

Five Ways the Oil Spill Isn't Obama's Katrina from The Root

"The Root makes a side-by-side comparison of Bush's response to the hurricane's aftermath and Obama's response to the BP oil leak using several criteria."

Palin: Oil Spill Proves We Were RIGHT About 'Drill, Baby, Drill' from TalkingPointsMemo

"The very politician who inspired country songs about drilling for oil is now boasting that her "drill here, drill now" plan for U.S. energy policy would have mitigated or forestalled the oil disaster in the Gulf...if only you redefine what she meant when she said that."

IN-credible!! This woman is mentally ill.

Poll: Plurality Say GOP Should Not Push to Repeal Any Part of Healthcare Reform from The Hill

"A plurality of Americans said they would prefer Republicans to leave the new healthcare law alone and not repeal any parts of it, a new poll found Tuesday."

For Progressives, It is Time to Press (Kristin vanden Heuvel) from the Washington Post

"What's surprising is that after the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression, the worst mining disaster in 30 years, and what is now the worst environmental disaster in the nation's history, more conservatives aren't revising the gospel about the blessings of deregulation and the horrors of government. Despite what should be obvious failings, deregulation, smaller government and privatization remain central to the dominant Republican message."

Normally, I find vanden Heuvel to be so predictably partisan that I have no urge to place her amongst the nuggets, but what she says here simply needs to be said concerning how progressives should proceed in light of the oil spill.

Vatican Official Tells Paedophile Priests to Expect Damnation from the Guardian [of the UK]

"Monsignor Charles Scicluna warns seminarians who exploit their office that their punishment in hell will be worse than death penalty on earth."

Well, that's comforting. And what about their up-the-chain-of-command enablers? Prediction: They're getting promoted -- as they have been right along.

How Obama's Enemies May Give Him a Boost (Mark Halperin) from Time Magazine

"The late, longtime New Yorker critic Pauline Kael was said to have expressed confusion over Richard Nixon's landslide re-election in 1972 — because no one she knew had voted for him. To borrow that notion, conservatives today imagine that everyone views the current occupant of the White House as they do: Barack Obama is the worst President ever. ... But this myopia has been created within an electronic cocoon of Fox News, talk radio, conservative websites and rhetoric from Republican leaders."

NRCC Stops Measuring the Drapes (Steve Benen) from Washington Monthly

"For the last several months, congressional Republicans acted as if taking the majority of at least one chamber was practically a foregone conclusion. The question wasn't whether the House GOP would be in the majority in 2011, but how big it would be. Have you noticed the dramatic shift in rhetoric of late?"

HI-Rep : Ed Case Throws Support Behind Colleen Hanabusa from KHON-2 [of Hawaii]

"With that, Ed Case has removed his hat from the ring for Hawaii's 1st Congressional Primary race in September after a third place finish in the Special Election."

This completely changes the outlook for this race in November! Until now, it looked like this race would lead to an almost certain pickup for the House GOP. Now, it's still not a done-deal for the Dems -- but at least their very much in the game.

Al and Tipper Gore Separate After 40-Year Marriage from Yahoo News

"After a 40-year marriage that survived the near-death of a child and the heartache of losing the disputed 2000 presidential election, the former high school sweethearts are calling it quits. "After a great deal of thought and discussion, we have decided to separate," the Gores wrote in an e-mail to friends on Tuesday. "This is very much a mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together.""

Sad news.

HOPY SHIT! NUGGET!!

Guatemala Sinkhole is Massive, Swallows Building from the Associated Press via Huffington Post

"A three-story building in northern Guatemala City fell into a sinkhole but there were no reports of victims."

EDUCATION NUGGET!!

Citizen Schools: Volunteer Tutoring Program Calls on Capital Hill (Eleanor Clift) from Politics Daily

"To compensate for the inability of much of the public school system to prepare disadvantaged young people for a competitive world, Citizen Schools launched an initiative to find 10,000 science and math professionals who will volunteer."

This sounds really interesting!