News Nuggets 1313

DAYLEE PICTURE: A rare species of dung beetle in South America.  From National Geographic.

State Obamacare Markets Attract Tens Of Thousands Of Customers from Reuters via the Huffington Post
"Tens of thousands of uninsured people have begun to sign up for health coverage through online Obamacare private insurance marketplaces in California and New York, officials said on Tuesday, while problems still plagued the federal online system. California and New York are two of the biggest markets for signing up millions of uninsured Americans under President Barack Obama's healthcare law. State officials said the data they provided on Tuesday was an early indicator of strong demand for new insurance plans that will take effect in 2014."

What Moderate Republicans? (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"We need to see what is in front of our nose: a cold civil war has broken out between those properly called conservatives, defending the credit of the government, empirical reality, and adjustments to modern life and those properly called radical reactionaries declaring our current elected president and Senate as illegitimate actors, bent on the destruction of America, and therefore necessitating total political warfare, even to the point of threatening to destroy the global economy."

Heritage Action Bails On Debt Ceiling Fight (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"A crack appeared Wednesday morning in the conservatives' united front against President Barack Obama in the budget-and-borrowing crisis of 2013. Michael Needham, CEO of the powerful group Heritage Action, said that he opposed conditioning a crucial vote to increase the government's borrowing authority on the group's main goal: defunding Obamacare. Under questioning at a breakfast with reporters, hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Needham, a product of the Stanford Business School, conceded that failure to raise the debt ceiling would indeed disrupt the global economy."
This is actually big news!  Heritage Action is one of those hard-right organizations that have not only been pushing the Defund Obamacare strategy, they were one of the KEY AUTHORS of it!  At least for the moment, they seem to be retreating.  I will have to say, though, that the Defund movement will be ALL OVER Needham and anyone else who tries to walk back from the steep hill they're trying to charge up.  

Speaking of those who were pushing the Defund campaign:
Koch Industries: We Are Not Behind The Government Shutdown from Talking Points Memo
"In a letter to U.S senators dated Wednesday, Koch Industries denied ever advocating for a government shutdown as a way to force the defunding of Obamacare. The letter was in response to comments on the Senate floor Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in which he blamed Koch for the shutdown ..."

Right-Wing Nutjobs’ Last Stand: The Debt Limit Endgame Arrives (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"As the debt limit deadline approaches, conservatives are trotting out the real nonsense. The fantasy is almost over."

John Boehner Doesn't Have the Confidence of the House from Daily Kos 
"Boehner doesn't have a majority constituency in the House. President Obama leads a Democratic Party that is fully behind him. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the full, united support of the Democratic Senate Caucus. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has the near unanimous support of House Democrats."

U.S. Fringe Festival (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
" the only thing standing between mainstream Republicans and a hellish future of kowtowing to Ted Cruz, never seeing the inside of the White House and possibly losing the House is President Obama’s refusal to give in to the shutdown blackmail that Cruz & Co. have cooked up. ..."

Poll: The GOP Gets the Blame in Shutdown from the Associated Press 
"The Associated Press-GfK survey, out Wednesday, affirms expectations by many in Washington — Republicans among them — that the GOP may end up taking the biggest hit in public opinion from the fiscal paralysis, just as that party did when much of the government closed 17 years ago. But the situation is fluid nine days into the shutdown and there's plenty of disdain to go around. Overall, 62 percent mainly blamed Republicans for the shutdown."

Congress Approval Rating Drops To Dismal 5 Percent In Poll from the Huffington Post
"A poll released Wednesday found Americans' approval of Congress dropping near all-time lows as the government shutdown continues with no solution yet in sight. The Associated Press-GfK survey found that just 5 percent of the public approves of the job being done by senators and representatives, while 83 percent disapprove. 11 percent said they neither approved nor disapproved."

The Self-Sabotage of Small-Government Republicans in Congress (Conor Friedersdorf) from the Atlantic
"The GOP amassed such a poor record while governing that voters ousted it. Finding itself in a much weakened position, the party tried to substitute intransigence for the long, hard work of clawing its way back into power. The strategy has brought them to a moment where its negotiating ploy may well end up hurting the country far more than it would be helped even if Republicans won."

Republicans Are Awfully Close to Violating the Constitution (Kristen Roberts) from National Journal
"Have Republicans forgotten that they too must abide by the Constitution? The document is explicit in its instruction to America's federally elected officials – make good on the country's debts. "The validity of the public debt of the United States," the 14th Amendment states, "shall not be questioned.""

Small-Government Conservative Self-Sabotage (Daniel Larison) from the American Conservative
"Toying around with default threatens to impose greater costs on American taxpayers rather than reduce them. It is the perfect example of striking a symbolic blow against fiscal irresponsibility while adding to the country’s fiscal problems."

Democrats’ Biggest 2014 Weapon: Ted Cruz (Zeke J Miller) from Time Magazine
“Die-hard Republicans will consider him their best surrogate, and we consider him our best surrogate too,” says Democratic National Committee spokesman Mike Czin. “Wherever he goes now, I think he’s a political liability for all Republicans.”"

Suicide of the Right (John Podhoretz) from the New York Post
"I dislike what they dislike. I want what they want. But I fear they are very, very wrong about the existence of this silent majority, and that their misperception is leading them to do significant damage to the already damaged Republican “brand.” ...  It may not have been a very good vehicle in the first place, and you may think it couldn’t drive worse, but oh man, could it ever. And it’s the only one you’ve got."

The GOP is Losing Young Christians (Matt Lewis) from The Week
"Big-hearted youngsters looking to "do unto others" won't find their calling in today's rancorous politics."

HOPE-FOR-PAWS VIDEO NUGGET!!
Rescuing a Terrified Abandoned Dog - The Transformation Will Amaze from Hope-for-Paws

News Nuggets 1312

DAYLEE PICTURE:  An elephant in a zoo in Colorado.  From National Geographic.

U.N. Begins Process of Destroying Syrian Chemical Weapons (Daniel Politi) from Slate
"International weapons experts began what is expected to be a long, complicated process to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal as well as any machinery that can be used to create them, a United Nations official tells the Associated Press."

A New Type of Growing City: "This is Where the Talent Wants to Live" (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"... the regional metropolis -- the place where people come to do their shopping, get their medical care, and in many cases pursue their business ambitions. Something similar is of course true of Burlington, Vermont: tiny by national standards, dominant within its state and much of the environs."

Vouchers Don’t do Much for Students from Politico
"Taxpayers across the U.S. will soon be spending $1 billion a year to help families pay private school tuition — and there’s little evidence that the investment yields academic gains."

How to Solve the Debt-Ceiling Crisis Forever (Joshua Green) from Bloomberg 
"The way out of the crisis for Boehner and Obama is to agree on a deal that allows a modest, face-saving concession to Boehner -- medical-device tax repeal? -- in exchange for reimposing the Gephardt Rule. True, Obama says he won't negotiate over the debt ceiling. But his rationale is that doing so would fatally weaken future presidents, who'd be shaken down every time a debt-ceiling vote approached. If such votes were eliminated, Obama would have nothing to fear--and this damaging showdown could finally come to a close."

Senate Dems to Call GOP’s Bluff on Debt Limit (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Senate Democrats are planning to start the process this week for a Senate vote on a clean debt limit increase, sources tell me – a move that could call the bluff of Republicans in both chambers and force them to take a stand on whether they will allow default and economic destruction if Dems don’t accept their unilateral demands. The move has the backing of the White House, according to a source familiar with discussions."

GOP Unity Frays, Frustration Builds (Jake Sherman) from Politico
A reality is beginning to dawn on — and eat away at — many House Republicans: They aren’t at all sure of their party's strategy to re-open government and lift the debt ceiling. After forcing leadership to pick a fight it didn’t want to pick, sitting through hours of meetings with lots of internal hand-wringing and failing to force Democrats to negotiate, the path to avoid a prolonged government shutdown and the first debt default in American history is completely uncertain."

The 13 Reasons Washington is Failing (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post 
" The sooner we recognize that something is wrong with Washington, the sooner we can begin the hard work of fixing it. Here, then, are 13 of Washington's problems — ordered, subjectively, from small to big — and there are, of course, many more."

Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Political Parties (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"When it comes to major policy battles, since 2009 the GOP is 0-3. Before it fails again, David Frum offers up seven ways the party is shooting itself in the foot."

Shutdown: The Tea Party’s Last Stand (E.J. Dionne Jr.) from the Washington Post
"If the nation is lucky, this October will mark the beginning of the end of the tea party.  The movement is suffering from extreme miscalculation and a foolish misreading of its opponents’ intentions. ... Only now can we fully grasp that politics on the right has been driven less by issues than by a series of gestures. And they give up on even these as soon as their foes try to take what they say seriously."

Extremely Conservative and Incredibly Out of Touch (Kirsten Powers) from the Daily Beast
"Has the shutdown made the Tea Party go bipolar? Some of them want our pity; others are too busy celebrating to care about real people. Kirsten Powers calls for an end to the madness."

Republicans Still Have No Idea What They Want (David Graham) from the Atlantic
"With the Obamacare fight seemingly over, there's no one who can put forward a strategy and rally the party around it."

Democrats Deserve this Victory (Matt Miller) from the Washington Post 
"Trying to equate these mandates as a “fairness” issue is to assume the press and the public are idiots. Crafting a message that works only if people are idiots is a grim way to do politics — and deeply cynical. ... John Boehner may look tanned and rested, but the suave speaker has a Dorian Gray problem. Somewhere in the attic, his likeness in a painting is rotting.  There’s a wonderful poster from World War II in which Churchill exhorts British citizens to “Deserve Victory.” In this clash, Democrats do."

GOP Congressman: We Stumbled into War Over Obamacare (Byron York) from the Washington Examiner
"The crisis that House Republican leaders didn't see coming is now consuming them, with unpredictable consequences. "We're not in a situation that has been planned out and war-gamed and plotted, OK?" said the congressman. "We stumbled into a situation like Gettysburg that nobody planned, and all of a sudden each side is feeding more troops into it, and it's turning into a much bigger deal.""

GOP Shutdown Shenanigans Giving Dems a Big Recruiting Boost? (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Rep. Steve Israel, who is in charge of winning House races for Democrats, told Dem lawmakers at a closed door meeting today that GOP shutdown shenanigans were giving Dems a big recruiting boost, by prompting reluctant Dem candidates to express renewed interest in running in very tough GOP-held districts."

The Boehner Bunglers (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Conservative leaders are indeed ideologically extreme, but they’re also deeply incompetent. So much so, in fact, that the Dunning-Kruger effect — the truly incompetent can’t even recognize their own incompetence — reigns supreme."

Some Tea Party Congressmen Find Signs of Political Backlash at Home from the Washington Post
"Nearly three years after a band of renegade congressmen brought the tea party insurgency to Washington, there are early rumblings of a political backlash in some of their districts."

GOP Faces 20 Years in Desert Without DLC-Like Moderation (Morton Kondracke) from Roll Call
"What ideological purists — the anti-defense, anti-business, social liberal left led by Jesse Jackson and Ralph Nader — did to the Democrats, their purist counterparts are doing to the GOP. These are the
pro-austerity, small-government, anti-immigrant, social conservatives led by Rush Limbaugh, the tea party, the Club for Growth and Heritage Foundation chief Jim DeMint. The purists are willing to default on the national debt, let student loan interest rates skyrocket, deny disaster aid to hurricane-hit communities, permanently alienate Hispanics — and defeat in primary elections Republicans who waver from the right-wing line."

GOP Rebels Scour the Back Pages of the Rule Book (David Hawkings) from Roll Call
"In competition of all kinds, it’s reliably true that folks on the losing side are far likelier to reach for the rule book — hoping some procedural wrinkle can be found to save them in time from a shortage of skill or good fortune. ... Lacking the legislative clout within their own party to win on the merits, at least on their own, these GOP quasi-moderates have been scouring the parliamentary back alleys for help advancing legislation to end the government shutdown with no strings attached."

Why The Shutdown Will Last Another Week (Matthew Yglesias) from Slate 
"...the government has to stay shut down all the way until the chaotic 11th hour of the debt ceiling which is still almost two weeks off. That means at least another week of stalling and posturing on the shutdown while various people lose access to important services."

Far-Right Republicans Could Hit A Tipping Point As Support Falters (Ashley Alman) from the Huffington Post
"Tension is brewing in the Republican Party as the federal government shutdown enters its seventh day and far-right members of the GOP show no sign of letting up."

Reid’s Silver Lining (Jessica Taylor) from MSNBC
"Sen. Ted Cruz’s hardline on the government shutdown is forcing Republicans to decide whether to embrace heated rhetoric ahead of the 2014 Senate primaries — music to Harry Reid’s ears. Republican primaries in states like Georgia, Alaska and North Carolina are turning into the kind of tea party-driven fights that put winnable races for the GOP in Democrats’ column the past two elections. And as the shutdown drags on and Republicans dig in on the debt ceiling, Republicans are only digging the hole deeper, endangering what should be their year to take back the Senate, with early warning shots that they could nominate candidates who will have a tough time winning a statewide election."

Shutdown Aversion: Republicans May Have Just Lost the House (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"Boehner’s scrambling and the electorate says Republicans just aren’t acting rationally. Next year’s midterm elections may be a referendum on House management—and give Obama the Congress he wants."

Bill Ayers: I was Sarah Palin’s Road Kill (Bill Ayers) from Salon
Years of attacks didn't prepare me for the charge that Obama was "palling around with terrorists" -- meaning me."

DOG NUGGET!!
Dog are People Too from the New York Times
"FOR the past two years, my colleagues and I have been training dogs to go in an M.R.I. scanner — completely awake and unrestrained. Our goal has been to determine how dogs’ brains work and, even more important, what they think of us humans. Now, after training and scanning a dozen dogs, my one inescapable conclusion is this: dogs are people, too."

News Nuggets 1311

DAYLEE PICTURE: Lightening over the Bay of Bengal south of India.  From National Geographic.

U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets from the New York Times
"American commandos carried out raids on Saturday in two far-flung African countries in a powerful flex of military muscle aimed at capturing fugitive terrorist suspects. American troops assisted by F.B.I. and C.I.A. agents seized a suspected leader of Al Qaeda on the streets of Tripoli, Libya, while Navy SEALs raided the seaside villa of a militant leader in a predawn firefight on the coast of Somalia."

Obama’s Diplomatic Opportunity (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post 
"What was unthinkable only a few months ago with Iran and Syria now appears to be in motion. On Iran, Obama has talked directly with President Hassan Rouhani about quickly negotiating a deal to limit the Iranian nuclear program. On Syria, the United States and Russia have agreed on a U.N. plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’s stockpile of chemical weapons."

The Folly of Banning Greece’s Neo-Nazi Party (James Kirchick) from the Daily Beast
"The Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party is populated by thuggish, racist halfwits. But banning them won’t destroy their toxic ideology, writes Jamie Kirchick."

Getting Older, Growing Poorer from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"In analyzing the recent Census Bureau report on poverty, researchers at the National Women’s Law Center found that from 2011 to 2012, the rate of extreme poverty rose by a statistically significant amount among those 65 and older, meaning that a growing number of them were living at or below 50 percent of the poverty line. In 2012, this was $11,011 a year for an older person living alone."

Health-Law Implementation to Vary by State from the Wall Street Journal 
""Your prices, your consumer experience will differ dramatically across states or even regions in states," said Joel Ario, managing director at Manatt Health Solutions, a New York-based health-care consulting practice. Rural areas will likely have fewer insurer choices than urban areas, where insurers are competing more vigorously for new customers. The divergences could make it harder to judge the law's success, at least initially."

Obamacare 101: What Owners of Small Businesses Need to Know (Linda Feldmann) from the Christian Science Monitor
"Obamacare includes a separate online health-insurance marketplace for small businesses, those with fewer than 50 employees. Here is a Q-and-A on how it works."

The Factoid That Explains Why You Want to Live in a Blue State from the New Republic
"How much of a difference does living in a Democratic-run state make? Here's the difference between what a family of three—a working parent with two dependants—would have to make in Minnesota and Alabama in order to qualify for subsidized insurance."

GOP In Grave Danger Of Losing House In 2014, PPP Polls Show from the Huffington Post
"A series of polls released Sunday show just how damaging the shutdown has been for the GOP. ...  For Democrats to win a House majority, 17 seats would need to switch to their party's favor. Results show that would be within reach, as Republican incumbents are behind in 17 of the districts analyzed..."

Government Shutdown: The Latest Conservative Litmus Test from Politico 
"In primary campaigns where there’s not much daylight on policy between establishment Republicans and conservative challengers, how willing a candidate or incumbent was to close the government – and opposed to a compromise on Obamacare that would reopen it – looks like the base’s latest test of who’s a true believer or a squish. And for Republican elders who were urging an end to the intra-party warfare that cost the GOP Senate seats the past two election cycles, it’s another reminder the party isn’t remotely close."

Endgame is Here: Republicans are Breaking (Ian Reifowitz) from Daily Kos 
"... if some Republicans act responsibly and then have to face tea party challengers accusing them of being RINOs, the Chamber will have the back of those reasonable Republicans. It's a civil war within the GOP, folks. That's how far off the deep end the tea party and right-wing House Republicans have gone. They've lost the Chamber of Commerce."

The Rise of the New Confederacy (Colbert King) from the Washington Post 
"Today there is a New Confederacy, an insurgent political force that has captured the Republican Party and is taking up where the Old Confederacy left off in its efforts to bring down the federal government."

John Boehner’s Turn to Give In (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post 
"Republicans in Congress are like a dog that chases cars and finally catches one. There is a fleeting sense of accomplishment, followed by sheer panic. ...Having caught the car, Boehner would be wise to let it go. Even at the expense of a little dignity."

The GOP Keeps Getting Whiter (Charlie Cook) from National Journal
"While the country is becoming more racially diverse, Republican congressional districts are becoming less."

5 Reasons The Republican Party Is Now The Tea Party (And 1 Reason This Will Tear It Apart) (Jason Sattler) from the National Memo
"The organizing prowess of self-proclaimed Tea Partiers has given them control of the party, so much so that the Tea Party’s agenda is now the GOP’s agenda. With the help of new research from Democracy Corps, here are five reasons why the Tea Party took over the GOP — and one reason why it will eventually tear the Republican Party apart."


Drunk And Disorderly: How Republican Extremists Are Shredding Every Principle The GOP Claims To Uphold (Joe Conason) from the National Memo
"Republicans used to tell us, often with a self-righteous air, that they were the true upholders of constitutional order, the rule of law, fiscal probity, personal responsibility, majority rights, and market principles. In their unquenchable zeal to oppose President Obama and all his works, they have discarded every one of those ideals."


Women See GOP Drifting Further From Them from the National Journal 
"United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds just 14 percent of women think the GOP is now closer to representing their views."

Frankenstein Goes to Congress (Gail Collins) from the New York Times
"Over the past few years, Republicans have terrified their most fervent followers about Obamacare in order to disguise the fact that they no longer knew what to say about their old bête noir, entitlements. Now they can’t turn the temperature down. ... They’ve created a monster. And now the rest of the country is turning into peasants with torches, storming their castle."

WORLD WAR II NUGGET!!
Hitler’s Killer Women Revealed in New History (Wendy Lower) from the Daily Beast
"A new book pulls back the veil on the widespread involvement of women in the Third Reich’s most murderous and brutal activities. An exclusive excerpt from Wendy Lower’s Hitler’s Furies."

GREAT MASTERS NUGGET!!
Lost Leonardo da Vinci Painting of a Noblewoman with Same Smile as the Mona Lisa Discovered in Swiss Vault after 500 years from the Daily Mail [of the UK]

"The oil portrait of Isabella d'Este had been missing for five centuries.  It was discovered in a family's bank vault in Switzerland.  It is a rendering of a well-known pencil sketch, which hangs in the Louvre.  'There is no doubt the portrait is the work of Leonardo,' says world expert."

EXOTIC PET NUGGET!!
There are No Ants in her Pants! Woman Keeps Pet Anteaters in Washing Machine to Keep Insects at Bay from the Daily Mail [of the UK]


"Angela Goodwin keeps Pua and Aurora in her home in Oakridge, Oregon.  They sleep in her washing machine by day and roam her house at night.  They love nothing more than raiding her fridge for their tipple of chilled ants."

HOPE-FOR-PAWS VIDEO NUGGET!!
A Tribute To The Heroes Among Us - The Work of Hope For Paws - Please Share!!

SHARK VIDEO NUGGET!!
Rare Dragon/Shark Found In Japan

News Nuggets 1310

DAYLEE PICTURE: Northern lights seen from Buncrana in Inishowen in Ireland.  

From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Reform Turns Real (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Republican efforts to stop Obamacare from going into effect. It’s long been clear that the great fear of the Republican Party was not that health reform would fail, but that it would succeed. And developments since Tuesday, when the exchanges on which individuals will buy health insurance opened for business, strongly suggest that their worst fears will indeed be realized: This thing is going to work."

The Republican Hardliners Aren't Conservatives, They're Radicals (Norman Ornstein) from the Atlantic
"The legislators driving the direction of the GOP aren't interested in smart, limited government. They're aiming to eviscerate even the parts that work well."

Wrong Side of History (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"They flunked hostage-taking. About 30 or so Republicans in the House, bunkered in gerrymandered districts while breathing the oxygen of delusion, are now part of a cast of miscreants who have stood firmly on the wrong side of history. The headline, today and 50 years from now, will be the same: Republicans closed the government to keep millions of their fellow Americans from getting affordable health care."

How the White House Sees the Shutdown (and Debt Ceiling!) Fight (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"To the White House, the shutdown/debt ceiling fight is quite simple, and quite radical: Republicans are trying to create a new, deeply undemocratic pathway through which a minority party that lost the last election can enact an agenda that would never pass the normal legislative process. ... And the White House isn't going to let it happen. ... the White House says that their position is simple, and it will not change: They will not negotiate over substantive policy issues until Republicans end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling."

Yes, the White House Is ‘Winning’ (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine 
"Republicans are looking to make a budget deal now because they want to escape the political nightmare they’ve created for themselves. They blustered into a shutdown that corrodes their party brand and cracks the door to flip the House, which ought to be otherwise impregnable in a low-turnout midterm election. They can’t figure out how to back down without winning concessions the Democrats have no incentive to give them."

G.O.P. Elders See Liabilities in Shutdown from the New York Times
"From statehouses to Capitol Hill, frustration is building and spilling out during closed-door meetings as Republicans press leaders of the effort to block funding for the health care law to explain where their strategy is ultimately leading."

Republicans Finally Confronting Reality: They’re Trapped!  (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"Obama's ironclad resolve not to negotiate over the debt limit appears to finally be sinking in among GOP leaders."

Dumbest Extortion Attempt Ever: Republican Scheme’s Perverse Logic (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"GOP's demands are putting the economy and American presidency on the line -- and now they can't back away from them."

Republicans, Over the Cliff (Rod Dreher) from the American Conservative 
"There are other battles to fight. These guys are taking the government and the economy to the brink of crisis, and for what? For the sake of rebel yells and the Lost Cause?"

House Republicans Divided on Debt Limit (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos 
"The good news is that just as there are enough votes in Congress to reopen the government with a clean funding bill, there are enough votes in the House to raise the debt limit with no strings attached."

How the GOP Painted Itself Into a Corner on the Shutdown (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"Tea Partiers were reportedly beaming as they voted on a continuing resolution that would defund ObamaCare, despite the fact that the vote all but assured a shutdown and a high-stakes confrontation with the president. Yet there was one crucial component missing from the plan: A way out if Democrats called their bluff. ... Indeed, the situation has gotten so awkward for the GOP, that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is reportedly asking Democrats for a "face-saving victory for Republicans looking for a graceful way to back down," ... (That face-saving measure is reportedly a repeal of a tax on medical devices.) That's right: Republicans are now turning to the party it has demonized over ObamaCare to save the GOP from itself."

Fighting for the Sake of Fighting (Daniel Larison) from the American Conservative
"Of all the bad reasons to persist in a failed effort, this has to be one of the worst. Continuing in a fight simply to avoid the embarrassment of admitting that the fight was always pointless is absurd. There are no good ways “out” for House Republicans at this point ..."

Report: Closed-Door GOP Meeting With Cruz Turned Into 'Lynch Mob' from Talking Points Memo
"More details are emerging about Wednesday's closed-door meeting where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) evidently received an earful from his Republican colleagues, with one senator describing what transpired as a "lynch mob.""

The Question Facing Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Stay or Go? from the Washington Post
"If the court’s membership does not change before the 2016 election, the new president would see a Supreme Court with four of its nine members older than 77, including half of the liberal bloc."

Hillary Clinton Tops in 2016 Race, Would Topple Top Republicans (Roger Runningen) from Bloomberg
"Hillary Clinton has the most support of any potential Democratic candidate for the 2016 presidential sweepstakes and would defeat any of three Republican candidates tested in a poll released today. The former secretary of state, 65, has the support of 61 percent of Democrats, according to the Quinnipiac University national poll."

LONG-GONE LONDON NUGGET!!
Crystal Palace Reborn: Boris Unveils Chinese Billionaire's Plans to Rebuild Victorian Glass Structure - 80 Years After it Burned to the Ground from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Original Crystal Palace burned down in 1936 and has never been replaced despite a number of proposals. Billionaire Ni Zhaoxing is bankrolling the £500million project and building could begin in winter 2015."

GRAFFITI NUGGET!!
The Wildest Building in the World: Graffiti Artists Given Free Rein in 10-Storey Parisian Building from the Daily Mail [of the UK] 
"The world's best street artists were invited to create whatever they wished on every surface this enormous building.  The result is a dizzying array of colourful pieces, some puzzling, others beautiful, and even some optical illusions."

UK PHOTO NUGGET!!
Stunning Photos Celebrate the Stark Cliffs, Ghostly Mists and Lonely Beaches of the Outer Hebrides from the Daily Mail [of the UK]

Link

News Nuggets 1309

DAYLEE PICTURE: Mount Errigal in Ireland.  From National Geographic.

Iran Parliament Endorses President Rouhani's Diplomatic Outreach from Reuters
"Iran's parliament strongly endorsed President Hassan Rouhani's diplomatic bid to dispel mistrust at the United Nations last week during a visit which ended with an historic phone call with President Barack Obama, Iranian media said."

Shocker: Chinese Fighter Jet a Piece of Junk from FOX News via National Review
"A new fighter plane built by China is drawing more snickers than raves from aviation experts, and the People’s Army is now saying the jet was really ticketed for export all along."

Inside the GOP:: Report on focus groups with Evangelical, Tea Party, and moderate Republicans from Democracy Corps
"Understand that the base thinks they are losing politically and losing control of the country – and their starting reaction is “worried,” “discouraged,” “scared,” and “concerned” about the direction of the country – and a little powerless to change course. They think Obama has im- posed his agenda, while Republicans in DC let him get away with it."

The Republicans are Terrified of Obamacare. They Should Be (Laurence Lewis) from Daily Kos
"... the years of Republican lies about what Obamacare will do will be proved to have been lies. The hardcore GOP dead-enders won't notice, but people with functioning brains will."

GOP Donors Revolt Against Republican-Led Government Shutdown (David Freedlander) from the Daily Beast
"It’s not just Democrats who are angry at the Tea Party-led shutdown. Republican donors are furious their party has managed to ‘grab defeat from the jaws of victory’ on Obamacare—and some are withholding funds, reports David Freedlander."

Obamacare's First Day Glitches Overshadowed by Success (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"... if you can judge by local news reporting, those glitches are secondary to the fact that millions of people all over the nation rushed to sign up. ThinkProgress compiles local headlines. Here's a few of them: ..."

What History Will Say About Obamacare and the Government Shutdown (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"On October 1, 2013, Democrats opened up a program to bring health care to all, while Republicans peacocked around trying to stop history. It’s obvious which side will be judged more kindly years from now, says Michael Tomasky."

What’s the Fight About? Republicans Struggle to Explain (Suzy Khimm) from MSNBC
"Republicans think Obamacare is so destructive that they watched the government shut down when Democrats refused to change the law. But two days later something strange has happened: Republicans aren’t coming up with new ways to try to dismantle or delay it. Instead, they’re pushing dead-end mini bills that would fund popular parts of the government that President Barack Obama has promised to veto. So as the shutdown drags on and Obamacare falls off the negotiating table, it’s left Republicans struggling to answer a basic question: What’s the fight even about?"
It's about "stopping Obama"!  If Obama suddenly came out and said he was in favor of the gov't shutdown, it would end in a hertbeat so reflexiviely anti-Obama are his Tea Party critics!  This inability to explain why the the GOP is doing what it is doing underscores the larger barely controlled chaos that is so rampant now in the Republican Party.  There is so much blood on the floor right now, many in the GOP think that they have to "come away with something" to show for it -- and yet they can't even get close to saying what they want and what they're willing to pass.  In contrast, the Dems and Obama are unusually clear about what their position is and have not wavered one bit.  The Dems benefit from the lopsided public support there is in the country for their position.

In Showdown With G.O.P., a Scrappy Reid Plays Hardball from the New York Times
Give'em Hell, Harry!!
"With Congress locked in an intractable budget dispute that kept the federal government shut down for a second day on Wednesday, Mr. Reid is not only acting as the public face of the no-compromise posture of Democrats on Capitol Hill, he is the power behind the scenes driving a hard-line strategy that the White House and Congressional Democrats are hoping will force Republicans to crack."

With Traditional GOP Allies Defecting, Big Business Takes Sides With Obama from the Talking Points Memo
"Having failed to persuade their traditional Republican allies in Congress to avert a government shutdown, business leaders fear bigger problems ahead, and they're taking sides with a Democratic president whose health care and regulatory agenda they have vigorously opposed."

Mission Accomplished: The Tea Party Shutdown (E.J. Dionne) from Real Clear Politics
"My conservative colleague Michael Gerson had it exactly right Tuesday: "We are no longer seeing a revolt against the Republican leadership, or even against the Republican 'establishment'; this revolt is against anyone who accepts the constraints of political reality." I would only add: This is also revolt against anyone who accepts majority rule and constitutional constraints."

How the Government Shutdown is Tearing the GOP Apart (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"Entering day two of the shutdown, Republicans have turned this into a fight among themselves."

Why Boehner Doesn’t Just Ditch the Hard Right (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"Robert Costa is the National Review's Washington editor and one of the best-sourced reporters among House Republicans. Like many others, I've relied on his reporting in recent days about how House Republicans are strategizing around the government shutdown. ... We spoke by phone this afternoon, and a lightly edited transcript follows."

Ted Cruz Blasted by Angry GOP Colleagues from Politico
"At a closed-door lunch meeting in the Senate’s Mansfield Room, Republican after Republican pressed Cruz to explain how he would propose to end the bitter budget impasse with Democrats, according to senators who attended the meeting. A defensive Cruz had no clear plan to force an end to the shutdown — or explain how he would defund Obamacare, as he has demanded all along, sources said."

The GOP's Obamacare Suicide (David Corn) from Mother Jones Magazine 
"... at the same time that the party is allowing itself to be branded as an ideologically rigid outfit controlled by political hostage takers, it has been endangering its future by waging a high-profile but Alamo-like stand against Obamacare, just as a main component of the health care program is kicking in—and appears to be popular."

House Now Has The Votes To End Government Shutdown, But It Won't from the Huffington Post
"Less than two days after the government shut down, there are now more than 17 Republicans who say they're ready to pass a bill to fund the government with no strings attached, giving the House the votes it needs to pass a clean funding bill."

Dems: Prolonged Shutdown Will Give Us Leverage on Debt Limit (Alexander Bolton) from The Hill
Senate Democrats believe the longer the government remains shut down, the more leverage they will wield in the debt-limit debate later this month.  There is growing sentiment among Democrats that the short-term funding resolution and debt-limit increase should be combined. They claim the issues should be merged to take advantage of Republicans, who are pided and off balance trying to fend off blame for the shutdown.

ANCIENT ROME NUGGET!!
20 Roman-Era Skulls Uncovered Beneath a London Railway Station from the Daily Mail [of the UK] 
"Around 20 Roman skulls have been found under Liverpool Street station.  They were discovered below the 16th century Bedlam burial ground."

SPECTACULAR SPELUNKING NUGGET!!
The cave so huge it has its own weather system: Explorers discover a lost world from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The cave system was discovered in the Chongquing province of China by a team of cavers and photographers.  Caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, said a few of the caves had previously been used by nitrate miners but had not been properly explored.  The network, which includes 'cloud Ladder Hall' measuring around 51,000 metres squared, has water sources and vegetation of the floor."

News Nuggets 1308

DAYLEE PICTURE:  The Jal-Mahal in India.  From National Geographic.

Obamacare so in Demand that Sites are Overwhelmed from Daily Kos
"The federal site, where people from the 36 states that refused to set up their own exchanges will be signing up, has been deluged by requests. More than one million people hit the federal exchange site, HealthCare.gov, in the past 24 hours, "five times more users than ever have been on the Medicare.gov website at one time." That's put a strain on the site, and for many it hasn't worked. Likewise, the phone lines have been overwhelmed."

Everything You Need to Know about Life under Obamacare (Ezra Klein and Sarah Kliff) from the Washington Post
"The law itself touches on everything from how hospitals are reimbursed for care to whether chain restaurants post calorie counts on their menus. But, generally, by "Obamacare" most people mean the provisions of the law that relate to the efforts to insure about 30 million Americans through subsidized private insurance or government-provided Medicaid."

Our Democracy Is at Stake (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times 
"What we’re seeing here is how three structural changes that have been building in American politics have now, together, reached a tipping point — creating a world in which a small minority in Congress can not only hold up their own party but the whole government. ... When extremists feel that insulated from playing by the traditional rules of our system, if we do not defend those rules ... then our democracy is imperiled."

In D.C., Compromise is a Dirty Word (and Should Be) (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"Republicans devoted much of the day to protesting that Democrats “won’t even sit down and have a discussion” (House Speaker John Boehner) and “literally just voted against working out a compromise” (McConnell). They were absolutely right: Democrats weren’t making the slightest effort to compromise. And if Democrats continue not to budge, everybody — even conservative Republicans — will someday be grateful."

The Nullification Party (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"Those who keep talking as if there are two sides to this, when there are not, are as much a part of the vandalism as Ted Cruz. Obama has played punctiliously by the constitutional rules – two elections, one court case – while the GOP has decided that the rules are for dummies and suckers, and throws over the board game as soon as it looks as if it is going to lose by the rules as they have always applied."

The Two Basic Facts That Should Be in Every Shutdown Story (James Fallows) from the Atlantic
"These two points are why the normal D.C.-poohbah moanings about the need for compromise do not apply. The Democratic administration, and a sufficient number of Republicans, already agree and are ready enough to compromise to solve this problem. If the normal machinery of democracy were allowed to work, the manufactured crisis would be over."

Poll Indicates GOP Has Been Deeply Damaged By Shutdown Fight from Talking Points Memo
"Republicans in Washington insist they have simply been upholding the wishes of the American people throughout their efforts to block the Affordable Care Act, but a poll released Tuesday tells a very different story. In fact, the latest survey from Quinnipiac University contains a ton of bad news for the GOP. For starters, 72 percent of Americans said they are opposed to shutting down the government in an effort to block implemntation of the health care law. A poll last week also showed a wide majority opposed to shutting down the government over Obamacare."

Democrats Go Nuclear on John Boehner (David Graham) from the Atlantic 
"Leaked emails show that before the House speaker demanded an end to health-care subsidies for congressional staffers, he worked behind the scenes to procure them."
These leaks clearly target the fissures within the GOP.  All along, the Dems (and Obama especially) have made marginalizing the Tea Party wing of the GOP one of their key goals for 2013.

The Night the GOP Cracked Up (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
"Last-minute machinations in Congress failed to avert a shutdown, but they illustrated the deep divisions that are making Speaker John Boehner's life hell."

GOP Braces for Shutdown Fallout from Politico
"Despite a firm belief that the public is on their side in opposition to Obamacare, there is palpable fear among Republicans on Capitol Hill that they will not be rewarded for taking such a tough stand against the law, which helped lead to the first government shutdown in 17 years early Tuesday. And there is even deeper concern that President Barack Obama won’t give any ground in the battle over his signature legislative achievement and House Speaker John Boehner will eventually capitulate, leaving Republicans with little to show for after a raging political fight."

Why the Shutdown Looks So Bad for the GOP (John Dickerson) from Slate 
"Not only are they taking the blame, but the Republican party’s divisions, fissures, and personal animosities are taking center stage. ... To simply claim that this process is the normal way of doing things is absurd. When you have decided to take extraordinary measures, you just have to hope people cut you some slack because the extraordinary measures were worth it. But after you've pulled the tablecloth out and scattered the cutlery, it's hard to then say, “OK, let's continue with our nice meal.”"

Vulnerable Republicans: End the Shutdown from Politico
"Some House Republicans facing perilous paths to reelection in 2014 are beginning to budge on the government shutdown, calling for the party to compromise and move on from its fight over defunding Obamacare."

Here's A Tally Of Which House Republicans Are Ready To Fund The Government, No Strings Attached from the Huffington Post
"Less than a day after the government shut down, House Republicans are slowly but steadily coming forward to say they're ready to just pass a bill to fund the government with no strings attached.  Here's who they are, and why they say they're done with trying to force through provisions to delay or defund Obamacare in order to keep the government running. We'll update the list if and when more come in."

Peter King: I Did My Best to Fight the Cruz Crazies (Michael Daly) from the Daily Beast
"Peter King attempted to lead a moderate coup against the Republican leadership. He tells Michael Daly why he could no longer stand by and watch the crazies in his party damage the country."

United Democrats Stand, Divided Republicans Fall (Jonathan Cohn) from the New Republic
"There are no signs of similar dissension among Democrats. In fact, listening to the speeches, it’s impossible to notice how united the party is right now. That reflects effective leadership, for sure. But it also reflects something else: a shared sense of disdain and outrage over what the Republicans are doing."

VOLCANO PHOTO NUGGET!!

Fire and Lava Spew from Hawaiian Volcano in Extraordinary Images that Look Like Scenes From Another Planet from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Kilauea, the most active of the five volcanoes on Hawaii, has been erupting continuously since 1983.  Daredevil photographer Sean King scrambles to within inches of molten lava to capture the amazing images."

News Nuggets 1307

DAYLEE PICTURE: Damselflies in the Po Valley of northern Italy.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT HISTORICAL QUOTE!!
From a speech by President John F. Kennedy:
There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternatives, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable.

But today other voices are heard in the land --- voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they see that debt as the greatest single threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies.

We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will "talk sense to the American people." But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.

If you don't recall ever hearing him saying these eloquent words, there is a reason.  He never gave this speech.  It was the one that was in his pocket when he was shot in Dallas on November 22, 1963.  HERE's a link to the entire text.

Now -- back to our regular nuggets!!

UP-FRONT SHUTDOWN NUGGET!!
Your False-Equivalence Guide to the Days Ahead: A kind of Politics We Have Not Seen for More than 150 Years (James Fallows) from the Atlantic 
"This isn't "gridlock." It is a ferocious struggle within one party, between its traditionalists and its radical factions, with results that unfortunately can harm all the rest of us -- and, should there be a debt default, could harm the rest of the world too."

The GOP Flunks Hostage Taking 101 (Marc A. Thiessen) from the Washington Post
"Democrats are in such a panic over the prospect of a government shutdown that President Obama spent four hours on the golf course Saturday and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told his colleagues to take the weekend off, while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi left town to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. Why show up for work? The Democrats are following Napoleon’s old adage: Never interfere when your enemy is in the process of destroying himself."
Thiessen is on-target with the first part of this column -- but then goes completely off the rails with his promotion of a debt-ceiling crash-and-burn that will "force Obama to make concessions."

John Boehner Doesn’t Have to Let the Tea Party Paralyze Whole Government (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"How many House Republicans would privately be okay with John Boehner allowing a clean CR to get a vote, even if they didn’t have to vote Yes on it? In an interview with me today, Rep. Dent says he estimates over half of House Republicans could privately live with such a vote, even if it means the clean CR would end up passing with a lot of Democrats."

Shutdown Stalemate Shows Larger GOP Dilemma: How to be a Governing Party (Dan Balz) from the Washington Post
"Amid all the maneuvering and hand-wringing ahead of a possible government shutdown at midnight Monday, one thing remains clear: House Republicans are continuing to grapple unsuccessfully with what it means to be a governing party. ... In the majority, they have often found themselves stymied by the need to produce compromises while satisfying that part of their base that sees compromise as selling out principles."

Are Republicans So Frantic to Stop Obamacare Because They Fear It Will Work? (Kurt Eichenwald) from Vanity Fair
"I have given up trying to understand the vehement opposition of so many who cannot offer up truthful reasons for their objections, and instead fuel the hatred and fears of the uninformed with the most illogical, mendacious, and fundamentally bizarre arguments that have ever been marshaled. By comparison, Joe McCarthy’s McCarthyistic McCarthyism was an exercise in reason."

Rebels Without a Clue (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... a U.S. government default, which will happen unless Congress raises the debt ceiling soon, might cause financial catastrophe. Unfortunately, many Republicans either don’t understand this or don’t care. Let’s talk first about the economics."

The Right Gets Its ’60s (Bill Keller) from the New York Times
"Half a century after the American left experienced its days of rage, its repudiation of the political establishment, conservatives are having their own political catharsis. ... The Tea Party is their manifesto-brandishing Students for a Democratic Society. Threatening to blow up America’s credit rating is their version of civil disobedience. And Obamacare is their Vietnam."

Republicans’ Shutdown Fight Exposes Simmering Civil War (Heidi Przybyla & Julie Hirschfeld Davis) from Bloomberg
"The Republican war with President Barack Obama over funding the
government and the new health-care law will play out in the coming days and months. The conflict now exposed within the party may shape its future for years."

The Speaker’s Slog: Battling Opponents on Both Sides of the Aisle, Boehner Struggles to Avert a Shutdown (Robert Costa & Jonathan Strong) from National Review 
"While Boehner and other leaders will be defending the GOP's position in front of the cameras, there may be a subtle effort to use the episode -- and what many expect to be its disastrous political results -- as a means of discrediting the hardliners who give the speaker headaches. Conservatives, meanwhile, will try to show that the tactic is helping focus public attention on Obamacare.""

The Frauds on the Hill Target Obama (Roger Simon) from Politico
"Slyness and game-playing rule the day. Having lost the vote on Obamacare, the extremists and those who fear them will vote to cut off the funding of government unless Obamacare is suspended. And then they will try to force the United States to default on its debt. Not because they wish to do the will of the people, but because they wish to thwart the will of the people."

Countdown to Shutdown: Think 1996 was bad for the GOP? This time will be much, much worse (Noam Scheiber) from the New Republic
"“[W]hat I've come to realize is that in divided government you don't always get what you want,” bleated Sean Duffy, one of the freshman Tea Partiers involved in the original rebellion. The reasons for the lopsided outcome help explain why this week’s anticipated shutdown is likely to be punishing for the GOP."

The Disarray, Dysfunction, and Legislative Blundering of the Congressional GOP (Reihan Salam) from National Review
"Peter Suderman ... observes that Republicans have nothing like a workable legislative strategy, because a determined group of GOP lawmakers refuses to acknowledge that a legislative minority can only do so much.  ... To state the obvious, Republicans are facing a collective action problem. Successive rounds of budget brinkmanship are redounding to the benefit of a small number of Republican lawmakers, who are building their profile and fundraising on the strength of their theatrics."

Will John Boehner Risk His Job to Avoid a Government Shutdown? (Rick Klein) from ABC News
"Most of his colleagues realized, at least privately, that he was doing what was right for the greater good of the party. He didn't act too quickly, or before his GOP colleagues were largely ready for him to act." "To that point, it's worth paying attention to efforts that have begun among rank-and-file Republicans to walk the party back from this brink.""

Texas Senator Cornyn Re-election Campaign Warns Of Blue Texas Dystopia from Talking Points Memo
"Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) reelection campaign is airing a new ad warning of the consequences of Democrats taking control of Texas. The one-minute ad envisioned what would happen if Democrats took control of the state legislature and other offices and passed a host of Democratic-favored policies like a new state income tax and new environmental regulations. A voiceover in the ad said Texans would leave the state and the economy would suffer."
One has to ask: What does Cornyn know that others don't?  Why raise this issue now?  Even the most optimistic projections (from the Dems' point of view) say we are at least 10-15 years away from the Dems really contesting Texas.  On the other hand, Cornyn is clearly describing a future that IS COMING to Texas.

My Shocking Train Ride Through the Heart of China’s “Airpocalypse” (James West) from Mother Jones Magazine
"The scene could be a panel from a graphic novel. For hours, not a single bird stirred around the hundreds of empty skyscrapers that hang lifeless over farms; they will house the newly urbanized from China's rural areas. Every bit of the shadowy landscape in China's northeast has been pressed into the service of an all-pervasive industry: power generation. ... It's clear to me now: Where one coal power plant stops, another begins. A thick brown air blows and for a moment the trees look like nature's very own protestors, shaking their fists at the sky..."

ANCIENT ROME NUGGET!!
Nude Paintings, Obscene Sculptures and Gods having Sex with Animals: Pompeii's Treasure Trove of Erotic Artefacts which Prudish Scholars Kept Locked Up from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Erotic paintings and sculptures were part of everyday life in Pompeii.  But when the artefacts were rediscovered they were kept out of sight.  Items were placed in 'Gabinetto Segreto' and hidden until 2000."