News Nuggets 1297

DAYLEE PICTURE: Dolphins in the Red Sea.  From National Geographic.

Due to family obligations, the nuggets will not be posted every day until Thursday, September 12 -- although periodic posts may show up on occasion.

Syria and the Return of Dissent (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post 
"The debate over Syria is a jumble of metaphors, proof that every discussion of military action involves an argument about the last war. Yet beneath the surface, the fight in Congress over President Obama’s proposed strike against Bashar al-Assad’s regime is a struggle to break free from earlier syndromes to set a new course."

Iraq Hawks’ Flip-Flop (Ben Jacobs) from the Daily Beast
"They couldn’t wait to invade Iraq. Now they don’t want to go near Syria."

John Boehner May Save America After All (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"If Boehner wants to keep his job, he has to avoid displeasing his extremists, and his extremists are so detached from reality that they insist on wildly unrealistic demands on issues like the debt ceiling and Obamacare. But if Boehner feels liberated to flee the House, then suddenly all sorts of governing possibilities open up."

Sorry, Evangelicals, Syria Will Not Spur the Second Coming (Candida Moss) from the Daily Beast
"President Obama’s anticipated strikes against Syria have some on the Christian right proclaiming Biblical prophecy and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Easy there, writes scholar Candida Moss, we’ve been here before."

Years of Tragic Waste (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... we would be a richer nation, with a brighter future — not a nation where millions of discouraged Americans have probably dropped permanently out of the labor force, where millions of young Americans have probably seen their lifetime career prospects permanently damaged, where cuts in public investment have inflicted long-term damage on our infrastructure and our educational system."

No Rate Shock? Obamacare Premiums Lower Than Expected from Talking Points Memo
"The main takeaway from an exhaustive new study of premiums on the Obamacare health insurance marketplaces: They’re generally going to be lower than expected, undercutting the persistent claims of “rate shock” by conservatives."

Obamacare Obstructionists Are Ironically Doing A Great Job Raising Awareness Of Exchange Navigators from the Huffington Post
"They may not like Obamacare, and they're working hard to sabotage it, but they're -- perhaps unwittingly -- helpfully informing the the public about all of the people standing at the ready to hook them up with health insurance."

Bill Clinton Does His Best to Sell Obamacare (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"As President Obama’s signature policy victory faces a 21-state rebellion, the former president took it on himself to convince America it really, really needs the health-care law."

McConnell’s Anti-Obamacare Juggernaut Turns Against Him from Talking Points Memo
"Perhaps nobody was more responsible for making Obamacare a partisan bill than Mitch McConnell. During the grueling debate that began in 2009, the Senate minority leader worked harder than anyone else to ensure no Republican voted for health care reform. ... It’s far from clear conservatives will be able to defeat the well-funded incumbent. But if they succeed, McConnell will, in a way, have given life to the creature that brought about his own demise."

Planned Parenthood’s Rich Red-State Backers from the Daily Beast
"With his $1 million gift to Texas’s largest Planned Parenthood chapter, Ross Perot is just the latest in a long line of Texas conservatives quietly supporting family planning."

The Stranglehold on Our Politics (Elizabeth Drew) from the New York Review of Books
"... when the Republicans began their intense effort in the run-up to 2010 to take over state legislatures and draw districts free of serious Democratic challengers, they failed to anticipate that this would leave their members more vulnerable to challenges from the right. The fear of being defeated in local contests by even more radical Republicans has also taken hold in the state legislatures, which in turn affects the nature of the House."

Bad Bet: Why Republicans Can't Win With Whites Alone (Ron Brownstein) from the National Journal
"Obama lost key groups of white voters by the largest margins since the 1980s, but that doesn't mean Republicans can rely on whites to retake the White House."

GOP Dreads Prospect Of United Auto Workers Getting New Southern Foothold from the Huffington Post
"The prospect of the United Auto Workers gaining a new foothold at Volkswagen's plant in Tennessee worries some Southern Republicans, who say laws banning mandatory union membership have helped lure foreign automakers."

Jackson keeps GOP establishment at arm’s length in Va. lieutenant governor campaign from the Washington Post
"It's a virtually unheard-of forfeiture of resources for a statewide candidate. Jackson's team does not coordinate with the party, which has its own army of volunteers knocking and dialing on behalf of the entire ticket, which can lead to duplication of effort, the strategists said. Instead of using phone banks set up in the party's "victory offices" around the state, Jackson callers ring voters from home phones."
As we've been chronicling here lately, here's another below-the-radar story giving some indication of the depths of the alienation that lives within the GOP, even the most hard core of the conservative base.  Occasionally one sees the Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, or Sarah Palin come along who badmouths their party in public.  Those folks usually will still gladly take party resources -- but not here.  The fact this guy and his team think this is a winning strategy suggests that there is tremendous discontent at the party's grassroots level.

News Nuggets 1296

DAYLEE PICTURE: Ballooning over Bagan in Myanmar.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT POLITICS NUGGET!!
Former Boehner Aides, GOP Sources: House Speaker Will Step Down After 2014 Elections from the Huffington Post
"Former aides to John Boehner and other high-level GOP operatives are increasingly convinced that the House Speaker will step aside after the 2014 midterm elections, according to interviews with a dozen Republican sources."
If you read this article, it is not quite so definitive that Boehner is going to do this - but it's interesting that this conversation is happening so openly.

Enemy Inside the Wire: The Untold Story of the Battle of Bastion from GQ Magazine
"What followed was a bloody confrontation highlighting a startling security lapse, with hundreds of millions in matériel lost in a matter of hours—the worst day for American airpower since the Tet Offensive. Yet the attack faded from view before anyone could figure out what went wrong. For the first time, Matthieu Aikins relives those heart-pounding moments and offers an extraordinary account of the Battle of Bastion."
Prince Harry was one of the targets of this raid.

Hillary Clinton backs Obama on Syria from Politico
"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backs President Barack Obama’s move to urge Congress to back a targeted effort in Syria, in the first comments from her camp since the president unveiled his plan, POLITICO has learned."

The Right Questions on Syria (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times 
This is not one of Kristof's most clear and coherent columns -- but it begins to capture my own sense of where the central issues are on Syrian intervention.
"To me, the central question isn’t, “What are the risks of cruise missile strikes on Syria?” I grant that those risks are considerable, from errant missiles to Hezbollah retaliation. It’s this: “Are the risks greater if we launch missiles, or if we continue to sit on our hands?”

Shadow of a Doubt (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
"We now actually have a president who understands the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. But our previous gigantic misreadings of the Middle East, and the treacherous job of fathoming which sides to support in the Arab uprisings — are the rebels in these countries the good guys or Al Qaeda sympathizers? — have left us literally gun shy."

‘They Must be Really Bad if Even Hitler Wouldn’t Use Them’ (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"Richard Price is a political scientist at the University of British Columbia and author of “The Chemical Weapons Taboo.” We spoke this afternoon about the history of the prohibition on chemical weapons, past efforts to punish violations and whether the norm will fall apart if the United States doesn’t strike Syria."

The GOP Wants to Have it Both Ways on Syria (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"As Inhofe’s conversion on the road to Damascus indicates, Republicans don’t like what Obama is doing in Syria — whatever it is."

The Robert Taft Republicans Return Isolationism has never served the interests of America, or the GOP (Bret Stephens) from the Wall Street Journal
"... the views of Messrs. Paul, Lee and Amash would have sat well with Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio (1889-1953), son of a president, a man of unimpeachable integrity, high principles, probing intelligence—and unfailing bad judgment."

My Tea Party Mom Loves Al Jazeera America (Elizabeth Wurtzel) from the Daily Beast
Sick of hardballing, roundtabling, and punditry in general, Elizabeth Wurtzel’s Tea Partier mom has turned to the new Al Jazeera America—and is loving it. Welcome back, real cable news."

EXTINCT SPECIES NUGGET!!
The end of extinction? Scientists are close to 'cloning' an Australian frog that no longer exists - and there are plans to resurrect more dead species from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Researchers in Australia have made the first steps towards bringing the southern gastric-brooding frog back to life. Other scientists are working on genome sequencing for extinct pigeons and even the woolly mammoth..."

STORM NUGGETS!!
Breath-taking images of the world’s most brutal storms captured by fearless photographer, 31, who gets so close he gets knocked over by the shockwaves from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"These are the breath-taking images of super storms taken by possibly the luckiest photographer alive. Lightning-lover Marko Korosec, 31, risks his life as he captures photos and video of some of the world's most brutal storms."

UNDER THE SEA NUGGET!!
A psychedelic rainbow reef world : Biology student captures incredibly detailed images of the stunning - and very strange - coral specimens found in collectors' tanks from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Daniel Stoupin photographed the corals in studios owned by aquarists and coral collectors instead of underwater.  He spent four months photographing the specimens due to the complexity of the techniques he used, including high magnification, and spent up to 10 hours producing one or two images"

HOPE-FOR-PAWS DOG RESCUE NUGGET!!
A heart warming story of over coming the odds like a Champ from Hope-for-Paws

News Nuggets 1295

DAYEE PICTURE: The Holi celegration at the Banke Bihari Temple in India.  From National Geographic.

Obama's History-defying Decision to Seek Congressional Approval on Syria (Walter Shapiro) from Yahoo News
"... whatever Obama’s underlying motivations and however the Syrian vote plays out on Capitol Hill, the president’s decision to go to Congress represents an historic turning point. It may well be the most important presidential act on the Constitution and war-making powers since Harry Truman decided to sidestep Congress and not seek their backing to launch the Korean war."

Red Lines Matter (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"It is the credibility of the United States as a European and Asian and Middle Eastern power that underwrites global security. ... My initial response to Obama’s decision to seek congressional support and to the long delay involved was that it betrayed a by-now familiar hesitancy. I have reconsidered: This is a necessary post-9/11 rebalancing from the dangerous “unbound powers” of the presidency of which Obama has spoken, powers that opened the way to the compromising of America’s “basic values” to which he also alluded this year.""

McCain: Obama to Send New Arms to Syrian Rebels (Josh Rogin, Eli Lake) from the Daily Beast
"That’s what John McCain says the president promised to do if it means getting support for an attack on Syria. Josh Rogin and Eli Lake report on Obama's quickening war campaign."

Boehner’s Support For Striking Syria Upends Hill Politics from Talking Points Memo
"President Barack Obama’s push to retaliate militarily against Syria took a major step forward Tuesday after securing a forceful endorsement from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). Boehner’s remarks in favor of intervening to punish the regime’s alleged use of chemical weapons dramatically alter the politics in Congress as it gears up for the debate."

Syria Vote Sets Up Foreign Policy Clash Within the G.O.P. (Jonathan Martin) from the New York Times
"The Congressional vote will offer the best insight yet on which wing of the Republican Party — the traditional hawks, or a growing bloc of noninterventionists — has the advantage."

Does Obama Have the Right to Change His Mind on Syria? (Charlie Cook) from National Journal
"Are presidents allowed to second-guess themselves and change their minds if they conclude that a previous or tentative decision was made in error? Some might suggest that the country would have been better served had President Johnson acted on what we are now learning of his own increasing reservations about the wisdom of the Vietnam War. Should glands trump brains and judgment?"

Kohut: Obama Shines on World Stage (Andrew Kohut) from USA Today
"As President Obama heads to the G20 summit in St. Petersburg this week he remains the most popular world leader. Ordinary citizens in most countries, with some notable exceptions, say they have confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs and many generally approve of his policies."

The Scared Worker (Robert J. Samuelson) from the Washington Post
"The weak job market has a semi-permanence unlike anything seen since World War II, and the effects on public opinion extend beyond the unemployed. “People’s expectations have been really ratcheted down for what they can expect for themselves and their children,” says EPI economist Lawrence Mishel. There’s a sense “that the economy just doesn’t produce good jobs anymore.” Possible job loss becomes more threatening because finding a new job is harder."

How Technology Wrecks the Middle Class (David Autor and David Dorn) from the New York Times
"... computerization is not reducing the quantity of jobs, but rather degrading the quality of jobs for a significant subset of workers. Demand for highly educated workers who excel in abstract tasks is robust, but the middle of the labor market, where the routine task-intensive jobs lie, is sagging. Workers without college education therefore concentrate in manual task-intensive jobs — like food services, cleaning and security — which are numerous but offer low wages, precarious job security and few
prospects for upward mobility. This bifurcation of job opportunities has contributed to the historic rise in income inequality. HOW can we help workers ride the wave of technological change rather than be swamped by it?"

A response to Autor and Dorn:
Why Unions Are Essential To Tackling The Technology Challenge To Good Jobs (Richard Kirsch) from National Memo
"If history is an example here as well, we should remember that
lower-skilled work does not have to come with low pay. The workers who stood on assembly lines in the 1930s did not have a college education or years of specialized training; they fought for the right to organize unions and demanded high enough wages to support their families."

A Comeback for Labor (E.J. Dionne Jr.) from the Washington Post
"At play here is “Stein’s Law,” named after the late conservative economist Herb Stein, who shrewdly declared: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” The steadily declining share of our economy that goes to wages is one of those things."

Sallie Mae Lags In Student Debt Relief Amid Ongoing Federal Probes from the Huffington Post
"The White House and other federal policymakers have heralded the IBR program as a potential antidote to the risk of student-debt-fueled economic malaise. The program caps monthly payments on federal student loans relative to borrowers’ incomes and gives some debtors the
opportunity to have their remaining loans forgiven after years of steady payments."

SALOON HISTORY NUGGET!!
Exploring the Oldest Bar in America from the Huffington Post
"The oldest bar in America is actually just north of New York City in the small town of Tappan, New York, and it's called the Old '76 House (sometimes just '76 House).  ... It doesn't look like much: a small, stone building sporting a number of chimneys and just down the street from the Reformed Church of Tappan, another old structure important in its own ways. But though modest looking, the place is incredibly rich in history."

ETIQUETTE NUGGET!!
New Rules for Entertaining in the 21st Century from Slate
"... people have all but given up entertaining their loved ones at home in favor of Saturday evenings spent lounging “in their sweat pants while juggling an iPad, a remote wand and the chopsticks that they use to share General Tso’s chicken eaten straight from the carton.” ...  Entertaining can and should remain a vital and vivacious part of the human experience, and we plan to do our part to make it so with this series, a compendium of 20 posts that will appear over the next four weeks."

News Nuggets 1294

DAYLEE PICTURE:  The skyline of Shanghai in China.  From National Geographic.

Fresh from having his ex-girlfriend shot, Kim Jong Un gets rid of the head of his army from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
North Korean leader yesterday reported to have had ex girlfriend executed Believed to be replacing officers appointed by his father, Kim Jong-Il, to strengthen his position

Obama’s Gamble (Fred Kaplan) from Slate
"Seeking congressional approval for his Syria strike was risky and right."

The Odds of War in Syria? A Lot Higher Now (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Obama did the right thing, morally and constitutionally. Now the question is will Congress follow suit and approve a strike on Syria—or will they take the side of a murderous war criminal. Michael Tomasky runs the numbers."
I have been amazed (but not necessarily surprised) by the rhetorical and comparative assumptions and myopic glibness that have been on display from all quarters concerning Obama's efforts to punish Syria for its use of chemical weapons.  One of the most common set one hears about is "Well, bombing Syria will make no difference so why bother?"  Ask Slobodan Milosovic what difference a brief bombing campaign can have?  Ask Assad's generals what a difference a brief bombing campaign might have on their armed forces?  It could easily translate into hundreds, perhaps a thousand+ military casualties in 2-3 days.  The "no difference" crowd seems to think that the purpose of US involvement is depose Assad or to assist the opposition and allow them to win the civil war.  Despite the howlings of McCain/Gragham et al., this would be a terrible reason for the US to get involved.  Our record of choosing winners and losers in civil wars is simply dreadful!!  To me, the central issue here revolves around upholding the chemical weapons ban of which both the US and Syria are signatories.  Compared to other WMD weapons bans, the chemical weapons ban has been remarkable effective since it was first put into place after World War I.  Some critics have slammed the idea of punishing Syria because the US will "own" whatever happens in Syria after that.  The problem with this narrative is that no matter what the US does, posterity will hold us partially responsible.  Case in point: say Obama had never put down a "red line" about chemical weapons or that, after this latest incident, he chose to look the other way and ignore it?  What would happen in Syria (and what will happen in Syria if he does not act)?  Assad would end his civil war with a dramatically escalated campaign of chemical bombing that would leave the world with hours of news footage showing whole communities, men, women and children, dying from saran gas.  This will be the cost of doing nothing.  Even those (like Sarah Palin) who say basically "fine -- let them go kill themselves!" would find this argument almost impossible to sustain in the face of this type of carnage.  Another case in point: Bill Clinton's handling of the genocide in Rwanda.  The US's "look the other way" attitude in the 1990s was shameful -- and no greater authority than Clinton himself says as much.  There is no "winning hand" here either for Obama or the US.  All possible actions as well as inaction itself carry heavy price tags.  So -- he's going to do what I think is the right thing: go to Congress, get authorization, and do something that will make Assad's military leaders think twice about using these weapons but without putting US troops in there or otherwise trying to pick winners or losers.  

How France–France!–Became the World's Sheriff from the National Journal 
"Just 10 years ago, Paris seemed toothless, isolationist, and untroubled by human-rights abuses elsewhere. Now it’s leading the charge across the Middle East."

Obama Decision On U.S. Syria Attack Wins Applause From Skeptical Liberals (Ryan Grimm) from the Huffington Post
"Liberals who are often critical of President Barack Obama's foreign policy are hailing his decision to seek authorization from Congress to strike Syria, even as many continue to oppose the military action itself. It is being seen as a step back from an increasingly imperial presidency in the post 9/11 era, on issues including indefinite detention, surveillance or global drone and cruise missile strikes."

U.S. Spy Agencies Mounted 231 Offensive Cyber-operations in 2011, Documents Show from the Washington Post
"U.S. intelligence services carried out 231 offensive cyber-operations in 2011, the leading edge of a clandestine campaign that embraces the Internet as a theater of spying, sabotage and war, according to top-secret documents obtained by The Washington Post. That disclosure, in a classified intelligence budget provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, provides new evidence that the Obama administration’s growing ranks of cyberwarriors infiltrate and disrupt foreign computer networks."

The NYPD Division of Un-American Activities (Matt Apuzzo & Adam Goldman) from New York Magazine
"After 9/11, the NYPD built in effect its own CIA—and its Demographics Unit delved deeper into the lives of citizens than did the NSA."

Is Class the New Race? (John D. Sutter) from CNN
" ... in some remarkable and troubling ways, class has become an increasingly significant barrier to equality in modern America. The gap between rich and poor has been growing in the United States since the late 1970s, and our level of income inequality, one proxy measure for that gap, is now on par with many sub-Saharan African countries."

Love for Labor Lost (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... what’s unimaginable now is that Congress would unanimously offer even an empty gesture of support for workers’ dignity. For the fact is that many of today’s politicians can’t even bring themselves to fake respect for ordinary working Americans."

My Week in Oil Boom Country (Amy Harder) from the National Journal 
"I had zero cell-phone service when I landed in Bismarck. I know this state is mostly rural, but how was I supposed to know Sprint doesn't operate here? Two hours, $183, and one new cheap smartphone later (thanks, Radio Shack!), I was on the road for an almost four-hour drive to
Williston, the heart of America's oil boom."

Republicans Either Support Immigration Reform, or They Kiss Texas Goodbye from Daily Kos
"Texas would be purple of Latinos voted. But they don't, so who cares, right? Well, Republicans should, because even with the same existing shitty turnout rate the growth in the Latino and Asian communities will erode the GOP's base by about 5 1/2 points every four years, or about 1.4 points per year."

G.O.P. Senators Fail to Head Off Primary Challenges by Tea Party Rivals (Jennifer Steinhauer) from the New York Times
"For the past two years, Republican senators facing re-election have very deliberately spent millions of dollars, hired multiple consultants and cast scores of conservative votes with one goal in mind: avoiding the embarrassing primary conflagrations that befell their party in 2010 and 2012 and cost Republicans a chance at taking back the Senate. It has not worked."

The Conservative Crackup: How the Republican Party Lost its Mind (Kim Messick) from Salon
"How a major, diverse political party became so dependent on the Tea Party's narrow range of strident voices."

The Tea Party’s Paranoid Aesthetic (Kim Messick) from Salon
" I want to argue that we can discern in these messages a kind of master narrative, a collection of meanings that expresses the Tea Party’s sense of American history and of its own place within that history. It is this “story line,” I think, that explains the powerful appeal of the Tea Party movement ... It conjures a world that inherently resists any attempt to arrange its elements in a non-apocalyptic way: What look like policy disputes are actually episodes in the eternal contest of Good with Evil; what appear to be mistakes are really insidious triumphs, the brutal forward motion of a doomsday machine."

Conservative Editor: Republicans are Losing Because of Family Guy (Eric W. Dolan) from Raw Story
"Republicans are losing to Democrats because pop culture in the United States is dominated by liberal thought, according to conservative writer and TV editor Bill Whittle. ... “You’re programmed by the pop culture. You’re programed by story,” Whittle said. “It’s all about stories, and if we’re the villain in all of the stories that are told we’re never going to win another election again.”"

AMERICAN AUTHOR NUGGET!!
The Forgotten Genius of Ring Lardner (Allen Barra) from the Daily Beast 
"A writer so influential and popular that Hemingway adopted his name finally gets the collection he deserves. Allen Barra on the literary legacy of one of America’s finest sportswriters and short story
craftsman."

WORLD WAR II NUGGET!!
WWII’s Greatest Battle: How Kursk Changed the War from the Daily Beast 
"Perhaps the most important battle of World War II was a giant clash of tanks between Germans and Russians, but today it is largely overlooked in the West. Andrew Roberts on a new book that makes a convincing case for how it changed the war."

CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY NUGGET!!
Picture Their Hearts (Dionisia Morales) from Oregon Humanities
"A woman looks back at her parents’ interracial marriage before the height of the Civil Rights Movement."


LABOR DAY NUGGET!!
God Save Our Scone, Cream and Jams! National flags recreated with food each country is associated with Australian company created 17 flags using international delicacies from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Star fruit, crab and banana leaves among the diverse ingredients representing exotic nations."

News Nuggets 1293

DAYLEE PICTURE: Cliffside caves in the sand in Nepal.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

One Great Big War (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"What’s the biggest threat to world peace right now? ... it’s the possibility of a wave of sectarian strife building across the Middle East. ... we are seeing the emergence of a single big conflict that could be part of a generation-long devolution, which could end up toppling regimes and redrawing the national borders that were established after World War I."

Meet the Military Forces Gathering on Syria's Doorstep (John Reed) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"While the United States is ready to strike a handful of targets on the ground in Syria, any international conflict there will take place on a much larger stage. The entire region is full of a witches' brew of military hardware from more than half a dozen nations with interests in the Syrian conflict."

Syria Isn’t Iraq. Everything Isn’t Iraq (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"The purpose of air strikes is to impose a cost on regimes that deploy chemical weapons against civilians. Attacking the Syrian regime won’t stop all future massacres of civilians, or even all chemical attacks on civilians, but it does strike, on balance, as better than doing nothing at all."

The Unsaved World (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Greece, where output is down more than 20 percent since 2007 and is still falling fast. Nobody knows when recovery will begin, and my guess is that few observers expect to see the Greek economy recover to pre-crisis levels this decade. Why are things so much worse this time?"

Fast-Food Workers Hold Massive Nationwide Strike For Livable Wages from Talking Points Memo
"Thursday’s walkouts and protests reached about 60 cities, including New York, Chicago and Detroit, organizers said. But the turnout varied significantly. Some targeted restaurants were temporarily unable to do business because they had too few employees, and others seemingly operated normally."

A Record-High Number of Young People Are Still Living With Their Parents: Why? from the Atlantic
"A story about jobs, bachelors, bachelor's degrees -- and a very weird government definition of "home""

Refusing To Help Constituents With Obamacare: Ethically Wrong? from Talking Points Memo
"What is perhaps an unprecedented refusal by some House Republicans to assist constituents in navigating Obamacare raises an interesting question about where principled opposition bleeds over into dereliction of duty."

Summers Pick Fits Obama’s Preference for Beaten Path (Era Klein) from Bloomberg
"Four years later, any newcomers Obama appointed are gone. The top slots on the economic team are all held by members of the Clinton clique."

Hogtie Texas: Voter suppression draws a strong federal response from the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"An onerous voter ID law and a redistricting plan dared federal reaction and now deservedly gets it."

Our Congressional Fantasy from the Washington Post (Mann and Ornstein) from the Washington Post
"For a moment, we want to rise above the pessimism about politics that permeates the capital and the nation and imagine a best-case scenario for what might happen when Congress returns from its August recess."

GOP's Sad, Empty Threats (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"House conservatives evoke shipwrecked sailors marooned on a desert island who don't realize the war ended years ago.  ... The administration’s position is unshakable. The GOP’s is so ridden with loopholes, it’s a wonder more Republicans aren’t copping to the fact that the “whale of a fight” John Boehner predicted will be more like a staged professional wrestling match."

Leaderless Republican Party Endures Humiliating Week (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"Republicans' flailing spectacle during the March on Washington anniversary displayed a party with no direction."

The GOP Shouldn’t Run a Fool’s Errand (Charlie Cook) from National Journal 
"GOP lawmakers who want to shut down the government or impeach President Obama are just plain dumb."

A Party Full of Rodeo Clowns: GOP Flips the Bird to Racial Justice (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"By spurning invitations to celebrate the 1963 March, Republicans show they don't care about seeming racist anymore."

Toxic Populi (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"The digital village square is the marketplace of ideas. But what if that marketplace looks like the “Star Wars” bar — or worse?"

News Nuggets 1292

DAYLEE PICTURE: A view of the city of Baiterek in Kazakhstan.  From National Geographic.

Reinforce a Norm in Syria (Nicholas D. Kristof) from the New York Times 

"Striking Syria now may seem inconsistent, but it’s better than consistently doing nothing in the face of atrocities."
I've long held a similar view of America foreign policy in general.  It is commonplace in the Arab middle east to hear US foreign policy slammed for being "inconsistent" and/or biased.  I've long responded that foreign policy informed by any kind of humanitarian values can only be thus.  Most countries in the world have very consistent foreign policies: they don't give a rat's ass what atrocities other leaders inflict on their people.  Period.  China and Russia exemplify this tendency.  It is far more remarkable that the US and others feel some compulsion to act than they they simply sit back on their laurels and "tsk tsk" from the sidelines.

How the Obama Administration Reversed Course on Syria Strikes (Eleanor Clift, Josh Rogin) from the Daily Beast
"In 48 hours, the Obama team went from controlled anger over a reported chemical-weapons attack to prepping for air strikes against Assad. Eleanor Clift and Josh Rogin go inside the shift—and assess the risks."

Kim Jong-un's Ex-lover 'Executed by Firing Squad' from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"Kim Jong-un's ex-girlfriend was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad nine days ago, according to South Korean reports."

Fast-Food Strikes Set for Cities Nationwide from ABC News
"It's expected be the largest nationwide strike by fast-food workers, according to organizers. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the nation's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities."

No Widespread Premium Increases Coming Under ObamaCare, Study Says from The Hill  
"A major new study on the likely effects of ObamaCare is challenging claims that the law will result in widespread premium increases in the individual and small-group markets."

All Legal Same-Sex Marriages Will Be Recognized for Federal Tax Purposes from the US Department of the Treasury
"The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage."
This is a BIG deal!!

Boehner, Cantor Turned Down Chance to Speak at March Anniversary (Updated) from Roll Call
"“They asked a long list of Republicans to come,” Bond continued, “and to a man and woman they said ‘no.’ And that they would turn their backs on this event was telling of them, and the fact that they seem to want to get black votes, they’re not gonna get ‘em this way.”"
The cold, hard reality is that the GOP has nothing to offer or to say to African Americans.  Indeed, the only use they have for minorities in general is to use them as rhetorical punching bags for racist cheap shots and fear-mongering.

Republican Lawmakers Retaliate Against Heritage Foundation from the National Journal
"Conservatives kick the right-wing think tank's employees out of planning meetings after a blowup over the farm bill. ... For Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who had publicly endorsed the farm bill, the defeat was a black eye."
More evidence of DEEP GOP divisions -- not just among their voters but within the basic power structure that helps get Republicans elected.  The Heritage Foundation is a very influential conservative think tank that gives intellectual and academic cover for much of the party's bad policy agenda.

Move Over, Obamacare: Impeachment Is The Right’s New Lost Cause (Gene Lyons) from the National Memo
"Yeah, you with the “Impeach Obama” bumpersticker on your car. The guy standing on a freeway overpass waving a “Honk for Impeachment” sign. You may as well go around in a little bird’s nest hat, like Donald Duck’s eccentric friend Gyro Gearloose."

First Term Troubles - Corbett's Numbers Continue to Drop from the Philadelphia Inquirer 
"Ridge and Rendell recovered, posting popularity numbers above 50 percent by the time they ran successfully for re-election. A Daily News/Franklin & Marshall College Poll being released today tells a different story for Gov. Corbett, a Republican up for re-election next year. Corbett's poll numbers continue to drop precipitously."

MARCH ON WASHINGTON NUGGET!!
Martin Luther King’s Adorable 5-year-old Granddaughter Steals the Show at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of his 'I Have a Dream Speech' from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Yolanda Renee King, 5, kept her cool as Barack Obama hugged her mother and father and even gave her a tickle as she stood regally at forefront of the event honoring her grandfather’s march on Washington at the Let Freedom Ring Commemoration and Call to Action."

FRUIT TREE NUGGET!!
America's Oldest Settler? Fruit Tree Planted by Pilgrim is Still Going Strong aged 383 Years from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"English Puritan named John Endicott planted the sapling in Plymouth Rock Thought the pear sapling imported from across the Atlantic from England Pilgrim Fathers landed at Cape Cod in 1620 to start a new colony"

BIOLOGY NUGGET!!
Researcher Controls a Colleague’s Hand by Channelling his Brain Signals Through the INTERNET from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Scientist sent a brain signal via the internet to control hand of colleague.   This is the first ever demonstration of human-to-human brain interface. The technology could be used to help those with illnesses communicate wish for food, but some have raised ethical concerns."

OBAMA CRITIC OUT-TO-LUNCH NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Sabattus man says ‘shoot’ posting wasn’t a threat against Obama, defends using racial slur from the Bangor Daily News [of Maine]
"“We’re about to lose our benefits because of this ass****.”  Marsters said his wife, Mary, had been in and out of the hospital recently and if they lose spousal benefits, something he fears Obama will suspend, his wife will die. ...  Marsters commented on Facebook that “(Obama) is not a legal president.” Marsters was adamant that Obama’s birth certificate was a fraud. “They’ve shown us how it’s done,” he said. “It’s all done in layers on computers. How come nobody from his school’s come forward to say, ‘Oh, I know him.’ How come people from his family never say, ‘I know him. I went to his wedding; I was his best man?”"
Usually I don't post partisan rants like this one -- but this one SO EXEMPLIFIES how badly the GOP and Rush Limbaugh et al., have polluted our national politics and made people like this gentleman so deeply (and unnecessarily) anxious and unhappy.  All of this guy's "gotcha" questions about Obama's background -- ALL OF THEM -- are easily answered by a cursory look at the numerous Obama biographies that are out there.  Nobody from Obama's school ... "LOTS of those folks have come forward.  ""People from his family..." Jesus, there have been several books written about many people in his family!  What about his best man? That specific guy has actually been interviewed several times!  Even the up-front item -- Obamacare will suspend his wife's medical benefits -- bet the farm that this is false!  What I am most left with for this guy and his wife are pity, sadness, and a real fear that someday someone as warped as he is will go much further than simply posting death threats to Obama on his Facebook page.  Obama has been lucky so far that the vast majority of these deluded people combine the triple virtues of incompetence, ignorance, and sloth to create a perfect balance between all-talk and no-action.  My prayers that this will always be the case.

DINOSAUR PRANK NUGGET!!

BEAGLE FREEDOM NUGGET!!

Beagles Rescued From Certain Death from VivaTV

Videos on how the dogs fared once they got to Los Angeles can be found here, here, and here.

News Nuggets 1291

DAYLEE PICTURE: An aerial view of the almost pre-Roman landscape of Ghadames, Libya.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT ECONOMICS NUGGET!!
Six Reasons the U.S. Will Continue to Dominate the Global Economy (A. Gary Shilling) from Bloomberg 
"Beyond the bright prospects for the return to rapid U.S. economic growth and the resulting decline in federal debt as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. will enjoy six major long-term advantages over its competitors. ..."

UP-FRONT STATE GOV'T NUGGET!!
Pennsylvania DEP Attempted To Suppress Controversial Study That Criticized Shale Gas from State Impact PA
"A state report outlining how climate change will impact Pennsylvania is currently a year and a half late – and there’s still no indication of when it will be released publicly. The Department of Environmental Protection missed its legally-mandated deadline to publish the report in the spring of 2012.  ... However StateImpact Pennsylvania has obtained a copy of the original draft climate report and internal DEP emails, which reveal an attempt by its Policy Office to suppress controversial research that questions the benefits of natural gas."
Another stellar accomplishment of the Corbet administration!

By Crossing Obama’s Red Line, Assad has Forced the US to Act (David Blair) from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"For the world’s good, America’s credibility as a superpower must be maintained"

Here’s Why Obama is Giving Up the Element of Surprise in Syria (Max Fisher) from the Washington Post
"If his goal were to fully enter the Syrian civil war and decisively end it, then, yes, secrecy would be the way to go. But the administration has been very clear that it has a much more modest goal: to punish Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for his suspected use of chemical weapons so that he, and future military leaders, won’t do it again."

Syria Debate Deepens Republican Divide from Buzz Feed
"The rapidly approaching conflict in Syria has begun to draw a deep rift between two sides of a Republican party that have long been drifting apart over foreign policy, pitting the hawkish holdovers of Bush-era neoconservatism against an ascendant libertarian wing that opposes humanitarian intervention."

A Brief History of How Living Alone Came to Seem Totally Normal from the Atlantic
"No change in the American household has been more pronounced over the last 40 years than the rise of people living alone. In 1970, only 17 percent of U.S. households contained such singletons, solo men and (more often) women getting by without kids, spouses, parents or unrelated roommates. Today, more than a quarter of all households (27 percent total) meet this definition."

Why Rebublicans Are Starting to Love Health Reform (Daniel Gross) from the Daily Beast
"Turns out a lot of Republicans love Obamacare, reports Daniel Gross. Or at least, they like coverage for their kids, health-care rebates and a ban on denying coverage for preexisting conditions."

In Dramatic Reversal, Michigan Senate Passes Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion from Talking Points Memo
"The GOP-controlled chamber approved the bill by a 20-18 vote at about 8 p.m. Tuesday after being in session for more than eight hours, much of it spent in caucus debating how to get the expansion passed. Eight Republicans finally joined 12 Democrats to pass the bill."

Impeaching Obama May Be Absurd But That Won’t Stop the Right Wing Fringe (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"The far right wants to impeach the president over Obamacare, but what truly matters is that this could become a real litmus test for conservatives. By Michael Tomasky."
A "real litmus test"?  I would say "another litmus test."  The defunding of Obamacare is right there staring at Republican lawmakers.  There are a host of lesser issues (immigration, gay marriage, gun laws ... and impeachment) that are lurking just around the corner, and Republican lawmakers are going to be sorely tested in 2014 and 2016 to give lip service to a wide array of increasingly unpopular positions or (as in the case of impeachment) positions completely disconnected from reality.  Indeed, even now Boehner and McConnell have so boxed themselves in rhetorically that is difficult to see how they will ever get through the budgetary battles that are coming up this Fall.  

Need some evidence?  See this item:
The Impeachniks Roar (Paul Waldman) from the American Prospect
"Before you know it, every Republican member of Congress is going to have to take a stand."

Just to get a fuller grasp of the "logic" concerning impeachment:
The Case for Impeaching Obama (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
"Conservative activists across the country are more obsessed than ever with removing the president from office. What do they think he's done to deserve it?"
Even a cursory look at this list shows actions that don't or won't meet the test of "high crimes and misdemeanors".  EVEN IF some of these actions were unconstitutional, it would actually take court rulings stating as much before any actual charges could *legitimately* be made in the House of Representatives.  Such efforts (see the birther litigation) have never passed muster at any court in the land.  It's no accident that the impeachment caucus has focused their efforts almost exclusively on Congress, the one place where judicial precedent doesn't matter.  All you need is the votes.  Technically, the GOP has the votes in the House -- but Boehner and the Republican leadership are not interested in wasting more time on a year+ long impeachment process.  They know there is no case for impeachment.  Moreover, they know that Obama is way more popular than they are -- and that, even if they could corral their caucus to pass out an impeachment resolution, it would die in the Senate.  An ironic side light to this conversation: the Bush administration has already shown Obama and future presidents how to short-circuit virtually any impeachment proceedings before they even get started: get some justice department lawyers to write opinions that say a president's actions are actually legal.  This is what happened with the torture issue (remember John Yu?) and with the federal attorney firings under Bush.  As a constitutional lawyer, I would be amazed if Obama wasn't hip-deep in legal opinions justifying all of the things on Ball's list.  

Embracing Misinformation on Obama (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post  
"... a large number of that 29 percent who said Obama was responsible for the Katrina response knew that he wasn’t but saw it as a chance to register their displeasure with the president. Obama has driven a large number of Republican voters — Jensen puts it at 15 to 20 percent of the overall electorate — right off their rockers. And to that, there is only one thing to say."
I have long suspected this to be the case.  

The 1963 March on Washington Still Vividly Inspires Those Fighting for Change (Jon Favreau) from the Daily Beast
"Tone-deaf media coverage and indifferent politicians were no match for the thousands who marched on Washington in 1963 to support the Civil Rights movement. Jon Favreau on why the march continues to inspire us."

Attorney Of Brian Lewis, Fired Fox News Executive, Warns Roger Ailes from the Huffington Post
"In a statement to Gawker, attorney Judd Burstein said that Lewis is no longer bound by confidentiality and that "Roger Ailes and Newscorp have a lot more to fear from Brian Lewis telling the truth about them than Brian Lewis has to fear from Roger Ailes and his toadies telling lies about Brian Lewis." Click over for the complete statement."
This could get really interesting. In case you haven't been following this inside-media story, Lewis was Roger Ailes's right hand guy and overall hatchet man since the 1990s.  He knows where ALL the bodies are buried there!

Searching For The Other Frank Girl (Jillian Cantor) from the Daily Beast 
"Jillian Cantor discusses the inspiration for her new novel, which imagines a different fate for Anne Frank's older sister, Margot.

Vice President Julian Castro? (Scott Conroy) from Real Clear Politics  
"Close your eyes for a moment and imagine it's the summer of 2016. Fresh off her victory in the primaries, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is searching for a running mate. ... It’s a hypothetical scenario, but not one that requires a stretch to think Clinton’s gaze might land here, upon the nation’s seventh largest city, where Mayor Julian Castro would be a few months shy of his 42nd birthday and have seven years in office under his belt."
Based on what I've heard about Castro, he and Clinton would make for an INCREDIBLE ticket in 2016!!

News Nuggets 1290

DAYEE PICTURE: A storm over a field in Lake Pointsett in South Dakota.  From Harpers Magazine.

Military Strikes on Syria 'as Early as Thursday,' US Officials Say from NBC News
"In three days of strikes, the Pentagon could assess the effectiveness of the first wave and target what was missed in further rounds, the senior officials said."

Obama’s Guns of August (Fred Kaplan) from Slate
"President Obama will likely bomb Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria. Here is the logic—and limits—for the president’s plan of attack."

Is Bombing Syria Obama’s Best Bad Option? (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Obama has good reasons not to let the Syrian regime’s apparent use of chemical weapons stand, but getting drawn into war with Iran would be even worse. Michael Tomasky on the torturous choice."

Obama’s New Syria Options (Leslie H. Gelb) from the Daily Beast
"With the latest chemical-weapons attack, U.S. officials are talking about Obama using military force, but with a diplomatic and humanitarian twist."

This Week in Poverty: '90 Percent of Workers Aren’t Getting Bupkis' (Greg Kaufmann) from the Nation
"One of the obstacles to addressing poverty in this country is that too many people think of low-income people as different, flawed or less than, which often leads not only to a lack of empathy but to outright blame. However, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows just how much Americans across the economic spectrum have in common when it comes to stagnating wages."

A Texan Tragedy: Ample Oil, No Water from the Guardian [of the UK] 
"Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty."
No surprise.  Between oil spills (from traditional oil wells), massive animal feedlot operations -- and now fracking, the people (and government) of Texas have treated their aquifers as endless and indestructible resources.  Now the piper wants his money.  Will the citizens there EVER wake up?!

GOP Rep: It’s “Arrogant” to Think Humans Caused Climate Change from Salon 
"Congressman Todd Rokita questions how people "can somehow change the climate of the whole earth""
Climate Change Deniers need to learn to keep their mouths shut, especially if they are lawmakers like this one.  Increasingly, these people simply sound stupid right out of the box, even the scientist types who have sold their souls on this issue.  Scratch the surface and thier partisan, ideological agendas shine through.  Don't believe me?  Check out this item from NPR.  This scientist's underlying agenda shines through after just a few questions.

In Kentucky, Just Don't Call It Obamacare (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos 
"... government workers at the Kentucky State Fair are hawking the virtues of Kynect, the state’s health benefit exchange established by Obamacare. The man is impressed. "This beats Obamacare I hope," he mutters to one of the workers. "Do I burst his bubble?" wonders Reina Diaz-Dempsey,
overseeing the operation. She doesn't."

Majority Of Republicans Oppose Shutdown Over Obamacare Defunding from Talking Points Memo
"In the survey of 1,000 registered voters, 53 percent of Republicans said they opposed that plan, which has been popularized by figures such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), while 37 percent favored the plan. Among all voters, 71 percent opposed the strategy, while 23 percent favored it."

Colin Powell Warns GOP Voting Restrictions Will ‘Backfire’ — Again from the National Memo
"“The country is becoming more diverse,” Powell explained. “Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans are going to constitute a majority in a generation. You say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message, you say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it.”"

The Republican Party's 'Defund Obamacare' Disorder (Michael Cohen) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"In denial of political reality thanks to its Tea Party fringe, the GOP is revving up for a debt ceiling showdown it can only lose."

Mitch McConnell Pressed On Obamacare By Conservative Group from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"A conservative group is launching a radio ad challenging Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to oppose any money for President Barack Obama's health care law even if it means triggering a government shutdown. The Senate Conservatives Fund is spending nearly $50,000 on the 60-second commercial that will begin airing on Tuesday in Kentucky, where McConnell is locked in a tough race for a sixth term."
Fifty grand -- to undercut ONE OF THEIR OWN!

And then there's this item:
The Big Difference Between Cruz and Paul from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
"The difference appears to be in the different goals both men may have right now. Rand Paul seems to be intent on trying to take over the GOP and win the internal argument; Ted Cruz seems to be about creating the brand of Ted Cruz and establishing ANTI-party credentials."

And then this one:
Can the Tea Party Find Any Candidates? (Alex Roarty) from the National Journal
"Conservatives fret that they're squandering a trio of golden opportunities to knock off vulnerable GOP senators."

The Armageddon Caucus (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post via Real Clear Politics
"If I were betting, I'd wager we will somehow avoid a total meltdown. House Speaker John Boehner seems desperate to get around his party's Armageddon Caucus."

Marco Rubio, the Real Threat in 2016, Has Been Eclipsed by Ted Cruz (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"Likable, authentic, and working to expand the Republican Party? Of course Rubio has been overtaken in the polls by Cruz, whose convictions match up perfectly with the GOP base."

News Nuggets 1289

DAYLEE PICTURE: A street scene in Salvador, Brazil.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT SNOWDEN LEAKS NUGGET!!
Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald Challenge Independent Story from the Huffington Post 
"NSA leaker Edward Snowden accused the British government on Friday of leaking sensitive material to a newspaper he'd never worked with, the Independent, and attributing the material to him — a charge the paper heatedly denied. The paper published an exclusive story about a secret British spy base in the Middle East on the front of its Friday edition.  ... Snowden said he thought the British were "seeking to create an appearance that the Guardian and Washington Post's disclosures are harmful, and they are doing so by intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others.""
I think this story showcases very well some of the central difficulties with large-scale leaks like the ones let loose by Assange, Manning and now Snowden.  They (including Greenwald, the Wikileaks people, and so many of their acolytes) really DON'T have a handle on the details of the materials they've disclosed.  As I've noted before, it takes months to properly process with any degree of rigor even a couple hundred pages of this kind of material -- never mind TENS OF THOUSANDS of pages.  And I see no evidence so far that any of these people made even a casual attempt to fully grasp what they had.  It takes a lot of background knowledge to understand what is actually being disclosed.  Foreign and domestic diplomats and national security experts can read this material and easily deduce a hundred times more intelligence from it than Assange, Manning, Greenwald (or even the folks at the Guardian for that matter).  I strongly suspect that Snowden/Greenwald's cache of leaked material DID contain the intel cited by the folks from the Independent -- but that S-G did not have the expertise to see it.  The editor from the Independent says as much.  The second difficulty this episode showcases is that, as voters, we will NEVER know the harm these leaks have caused to national security.  All we get is the asserted benefits of transparency with none of the costs.  To hear Greenwald et al., you would think there have been no costs at all -- and the reality is we don't know.

Free at Last: On Martin Luther King's Dream 50 Years Later (Joshua Dubois) from the Daily Beast
"Instead of being in a state of perpetual struggle, an endless existential march, I believe there is far more evidence to support the idea that we are right on the verge of Zion. And the only thing that will stop us from getting there is the hopeless belief that we can’t."

Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed? from the Atlantic
The long-term unemployed tend to be people who 1) are a little bit older, and 2) got laid off from their last job..."

China's Water Pollution Off the Charts, Must Outsource Food Production (VL Baker) from Daily Kos
"With its successful bid to purchase the U.S. pork giant Smithfield, which is pending U.S. governmental approval, China has revealed its major vulnerability—that of feeding its own people. Its race to get to the top of global manufacturing has extracted the heavy cost of fouling its water, land and air..."

Rachel Maddow Tackles Voter Suppression In Boone, North Carolina from the Huffington Post
"In the video clip above, Maddow reveals the obstacle course thousands of Boone residents will now have to conquer in order to vote."

The Best Republican Efforts Are Not Enough to Defund Obamacare (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"The majority of congressional Republicans, as well as the public, think that defunding Obamacare is a bad idea. Michael Tomasky on what that means for the election cycles ahead."

Speaking of 'Republican best efforts'
Tea party: Obamacare is Now ‘BoehnerCare’ from the Washington Times 
"Tea party activists are planning to rally outside of House Speaker John A. Boehner’s Ohio office on Tuesday, telling the Republican speaker that if he doesn’t use this year’s spending fight to defund the health care law, it will hence be known to them as “BoehnerCare.” “If he funds it, he will own it,” said Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action, one of the groups participating in the rally."
As we were noting last week, this is more evidence of DEEP divisions within the GOP.  In case you've never done so, even trying to put together a rally is a lot of work!  The fact that these Tea Party people are choosing to expend resources here rather than devote their energies to something else more potentially useful or something targeting, say, Obama or the Democrats, says something about how messed up relations are right now for the GOP at the grassroots level.  Granted, I'd be surprised if they got 50 people to show up for this event -- but who knows?  If a really big crowd did show, it would just further demonstrate the splintering of the GOP coalition.

GOP in Fantasyland (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post via Real Clear Politics
Charlatans are peddling the fantasy that somehow they can prevent the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act from becoming what it already is: the law of the land. Congress passed it, President Obama signed it, the Supreme Court upheld it, and many of its provisions are already in force and others will soon take effect."

GOP Poll Finds Strong Opposition to Government Shutdown (Byron York) from the Washington Examiner
"A new poll done for Republican members of Congress has found huge public opposition, and solid opposition among Republicans, to the idea of shutting down the government over the issue of funding Obamacare."

Republicans Only Have As Much Leverage As Obama Gives Them (Molly Redden) from the New Republic
"Acting as though they are trying to craft a win-win situation for themselves and Democrats, Republicans are creating a laundry list of expectations: “The more issues thrown in the same debate, the better—as they create more leverage points, Republicans say. ... And yet, it is not at all clear that Republicans have much leverage."

No, You’re Not Impeaching Anyone (Joan Walsh) from Salon
Tom Coburn, Ted Cruz and other crackpots can't stand up to their base and face reality. Can this party ever change?"

Demographic Shifts May Help Virginia Dems (John Harwood) from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/23/us/politics/in-virginia-demographic-shifts-may-help-democrats.html

Axelrod Mocks Coburn Analysis that Obama is 'Perilously Close' to Impeachment (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"“I think he was way out of bounds, and he speaks to a kind of virus that’s infected our politics that really has to be curbed,” Axelrod said."

Rep. Dave Joyce On Unfilled Jobs: Businesses Can't Find Enough 'Sober,' 'Drug-Free' Workers from Huffington Post
"In a speech to a local Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) argued that part of the problem is that there are millions of jobs that remain vacant each month. ... "And the trouble is, it's because they either can't find people to come to work sober, daily, drug-free and want to learn the necessary skills going forward to be able to do those jobs," he added."
These days, is it possible for a Republican to open his mouth and not offend millions of Americans?

Theater Owner Won't Show 'Lee Daniels' The Butler' (Amber Coulter) from the News-Enterprise [of Kentucky]
"Fonda’s famous anti-Vietnam War statements and demonstrations caused Boutwell to view her as a traitor to America. He said no movie involving her will show in his theater as long as he’s in charge."
Normally I don't bother to discuss stories this trivial -- but this one further makes a case I've been harping on about for years: the inability of many baby boomers to EVER get over what happened in the 1960s!  Conservative boomers especially can go from 0 to 60 on the rage scale so fast if some current political figure (say, Barack Obama) can somehow be linked to some 1960s-era event/figure/trend.  These folks will be using their wheel chairs as brick bats until the end of their days!

TOO TRUE PARENTING NUGGET!!
Preparing to be 'Empty Nesters,' the Obamas Turn to Sunny (Kevin Liptak) from CNN
"His two daughters, Sasha and Malia, are still years away from heading off to college, but Obama said he and his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, are still bracing for it. "What I'm discovering is that each year, I get more excited about spending time with them, they get a little less excited," Obama said of his two daughters in an exclusive interview with CNN "New Day" anchor Chris Cuomo to air Friday."

HOPE-FOR-PAWS DOG RESCUE NUGGET!!
Rescuing two dogs, a brother and a sister from life on the streets from Hope for Paws