News Nuggets 232

A sea turtle -- I thought it was a beautiful image.

Due to a rising workload, I will be going on, to use Andrew Sullivan, a "bloggatical". I will post now and then, but not regularly at least in the short term.

UP-FRONT HEALTH CARE NUGGET!!

Progressives and critics on the left of Obama's plan should read this piece.

"Kennedy Saw Health-Care Reform Fail in the '70s" (Steven Perlstein) from the Washington Post

"Asked about his greatest regret as a legislator, Ted Kennedy would usually cite his refusal to cut a deal with Richard Nixon on health care.

It was back in 1971 and President Nixon was concerned that he would once again have to face a Kennedy in the next year's election -- in this case a Kennedy with a proposal to extend health care to all Americans. "

Obama on Brink of Deal for Middle East Peace Talks from the [Manchester] Guardian

"US to adopt much tougher line over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Israel to freeze construction of settlements on West Bank. France and Russia offer to host Middle East peace conference"

US Takes on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Iran's Nuclear Programme in One Massive Gamble from the [Manchester] Guardian

"Washington's plan to link two intractable problems raises international hopes of deal to restart the Middle East peace process"

The Women's Crusade (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times Sunday Magazine

"The liberation of women could help solve many of the world’s problems, from poverty to child mortality to terrorism."

Leadership 101 for Barack Obama (David Ignatius) from RealClearWorld

"The real foreign policy tests will start as soon as Obama begins to make some hard, and politically controversial, decisions on the Palestinian issue and Afghanistan. These would be tough problems even if the president were still coasting on the high poll ratings of several months ago, but now, with his popularity down and Congress in a partisan frenzy, they will require a different level of leadership."

http://www.realclearworld.com/printpage/?

Holder's Decision to Probe CIA Hints at a New Dynamic from the Washington Post

"The back story to Monday's appointment of a career prosecutor to review CIA interrogation methods illustrates Holder's influence in the new administration and sheds light on the emerging and delicate relationship between the White House and the Justice Department. In this and other big battles, including the decision to release memos this year by Bush administration officials giving the green light to harsh interrogation tactics, Holder and his Justice Department have prevailed over strong objections from the CIA and the intelligence community."

The Evidence Still Mounts (Andrew Sullivan) from the Atlantic

"The question of torture - and the United States' embrace of inhumanity as a core American value under the presidency of George W. Bush - remains, in my view, the pre-eminent moral question in American politics. The descent of the United States - and of Americans in general - to lower standards of morality and justice than those demanded by Iranians of their regime is a sign of the polity's moral degeneracy."

Cheney's Jihad: Why "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" Don't Enhance U.S. Interests from Foreign Policy Magazine

"The Bush administration had only prudently taken every measure necessary to keep Americans safe. Hiding behind a wall of classification has been a quintessential Cheney trope. But that wall just crumbled."

Slums of Suburbia: Sorting Through he Rubble of California's Foreclosure Tsunami from Newsweek

"Home prices tumbled by more than half, the largest declines in the country. Foreclosure rates in Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Visalia soared to rank among the highest nationwide, a trend that continues to persist even after their housing markets have started to see signs of recovery. ... The irony in all these empty houses is the valley's rapidly growing population, which presumably needs a place to live."

Teddy the Radical from The Root

"Ted Kennedy was a white liberal who believed in black power, black political power, and he worked to make it happen. He was not one of those white liberals who looked down on African Americans and see a people ever in need of help, not to be trusted to take charge of anything of consequence."

The Other Kennedy Family: Ted's Staff from the Washington Post

"Suite 317, tucked along a marble-floored and white-columned corridor of the Russell Senate Office Building, was not only the liberal lion's den. It also was the finishing school for generations of Kennedy's cubs, hundreds of zealous proteges who came to work for the Massachusetts Democrat."

The Battle for Kennedy's Seat Begins from Newsweek

"Potential successors have been jockeying for months, even years─albeit quietly, out of respect for the ailing Kennedy. But in the coming weeks, competition for the seat is bound to heat up. "

Obama Working on Final Farewell for Kennedy from USA Today

"The passing of a political era from one generation to another will be complete this weekend when Sen. Edward Kennedy is eulogized by the man he helped elect president."

Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Editorial) from the [Manchester] Guardian

"In Maryland, one man went even further, holding up a sign saying: "Death to Obama" and "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids". This militant, rightwing craziness comes on the back of the now-infamous ad published in a Pennsylvania newspaper in May, calling for Obama to be assassinated"

HISTORY NUGGET!!

D.C. Decoder: Where Were the Birthers in 1881? from the Christian Science Monitor

"We are referring to Chester Alan Arthur. The first (and so far only) Canadian president of the United States. Maybe."

News Nuggets 231

The Olympic Mountains in Washington state.

I will be away the next several days - an end-of-the-summer break. Be back Monday.

The Most Outrageous Lies About Global Healthcare from Foreign Policy Magazine

“As the U.S. Congress this summer holds its first serious health-care reform debate since the Clinton era, the resulting public furor has featured increasingly overheated claims about everything from so-called "death panels" to the supposed prowess of America's homegrown medicine. Many of the most wildly inaccurate statements have been directed abroad -- sometimes at the United States' closest allies, such as Britain and Canada, and often at the best health-care systems in the world.”

Obama Administration Making Progress on Transferring Guantanamo Detainees from the Washington Post

“The Obama administration has secured commitments from nearly a dozen countries willing to accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay and is increasingly confident about its ability to transfer a large majority of the prisoners who have been cleared for release, according to U.S. and foreign officials.”

Obama Calls Health Plan a ‘Moral Obligation’ from the New York Times

“President Obama sought Wednesday to reframe the health care debate as “a core ethical and moral obligation,” imploring a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans.”

Obama’s Fake Bipartisanship (Eric Alterman) from the Daily Beast

“Is the president delusional to hope for bipartisanship in the face of Republican demagoguery over health care? Far from it, says Eric Alterman. Obama’s using a strategy honed in last fall’s election.”

Don't Worry, Be Healthy: Health Reform is Still a Good Bet to Happen from Slate

“Health care has always been the Middle East of domestic policy, and after the lulling calm of six months of relative ceasefire, all this renewed fighting has left some proponents a little shell-shocked.”

New Dem Prescription for Health Care: Split the Bill from the Wall Street Journal

“The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.”

Don’t Sweat It (Ed Kilgore) from the New Republic

“Yes, dear reader, I am suggesting that this August's sense of progressive despair feels remarkably similar to last August's.”Y

The GOP Has Become a Party of Nihilists (Joe Klein) from Time Magazine

“How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? And another question: How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped the shark?”

When Protest Becomes Intimidation (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post

“How would our friends on the right have reacted to someone at a Reagan or a Bush speech carrying a sign that read: "It is time to water the tree of liberty"? That would be a reference to Thomas Jefferson's declaration that the tree "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Pardon me, but I don't think conservatives would have spoken out in defense of the right of every American Marxist to bear arms or to shed the blood of tyrants.”

A Shrinking GOP Offers No Partner on Health Care (Harold Meyerson) from the Washington Post

“Today's Palinoidal Republicans have lost most of the professionals, much of Wall Street and an increasing chunk of suburbia. What they can claim is the allegiance of the white South and the almost entirely white, non-urban parts of the Mountain West. .... The rest of the nation -- that is, of course, most of the nation -- has become an ever-smaller share of Republican ranks.”

Kennedy Looks to Set Stage for Successor from the Boston Globe

“Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders to change the succession law to guarantee that Massachusetts will not lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant.”

Germany Fumbles with Obama-style Election Tactics from the Washington Post

“German politicians are drawing on the lessons of the U.S. presidential campaign by embracing the Internet and experimenting with townhall meetings, but what worked for Barack Obama seems to be backfiring here.”

INTERVIEW NUGGET!!

Ask the Author Live: David Sedaris from the New Yorker

“This week in the magazine, David Sedaris writes about a kookaburra. Today, Sedaris answered readers’ questions in a live chat; a transcript of their discussion follows.”

News Nuggets 230

From earlier this year, Michelle hosting the installation of a statue of Sojouner Truth in Statuary Hall in the Capitol Rotunda, the first such statue of an African American.

Israeli Settlements Quietly Halted: No New Housing Permits Granted from the Huffington Post

This is a VERY INTERESTING development.

"Israel has quietly moved to halt new housing projects in the West Bank, while outwardly rebuffing U.S. pressure to stop construction in its settlements, Israeli government officials, peace activists and settlers said Tuesday."

Iranian Cleric Predicts Opposition Will Topple Ahmadinejad from the Washington Post

"His newspaper was shut down Monday, and generals and hard-line clerics have called for him to be put on trial. Yet defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi says opposition to the government is growing by the day."

"Russian Obama' Emerges in Volgograd from Vremya Novestei [of Russia in English]

"Born in Guinea-Bissau, Krema has lived in Russia for 20 years and currently sells watermelons. … If one compares Russia and America in their attitudes toward candidates with exotic last names, we are equivalent to the United States in the 1960s or perhaps the 1980s."

Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Bill from the New York Times

"Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks."

Obama May Know What He's Doing on Health Care: An Ode to Ambiguity from Politics Daily

"Amid the liberal clamor for Obama to go on offense, to show some spine, draw those lines in the sand, I say, take a breath and think about how Congress works. Think about the endgame, when House and Senate negotiators will reconcile the differences in their bills to come up with a final bill. Now think about what needs to happen to get to that point."

Fevered Imagination (Editorial) from Dawn [of Pakistan in English]

This editorial is a real hoot!  See also this one from the same Pakistani source.

"One could be excused for suspecting that Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is the new Al Qaeda, given the virulence with which it is being attacked in the United States — in many cases by people who are unlikely to have been aware of its existence until very recently. ... “One can only wish  Obama success just based on the sheer perversity of his  absurd adversaries.”