Visual source: Newseum
BBC:
The military action by coalition forces in Libya may have helped to prevent a "bloody massacre" in Benghazi, Prime Minister David Cameron has told MPs.
There are many arguments against; that's the only argument for.
William Cronon:
Mr. Walker’s conduct has provoked a level of divisiveness and bitter partisan hostility the likes of which have not been seen in this state since at least the Vietnam War. Many citizens are furious at their governor and his party, not only because of profound policy differences, but because these particular Republicans have exercised power in abusively nontransparent ways that represent such a radical break from the state’s tradition of open government.
Perhaps that is why — as a centrist and a lifelong independent — I have found myself returning over the past few weeks to the question posed by the lawyer Joseph N. Welch during the hearings that finally helped bring down another Wisconsin Republican, Joe McCarthy, in 1954: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
WSJ, which has had excellent coverage:
Japan appears to have turned the tide in its battle to stave off nuclear disaster, restoring power to parts of the Fukushima Daiichi plant and bringing down radiation levels with a marathon water-spraying operation.
ScienceInsider (AAAS):
Commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced two studies into the Japan nuclear crisis at a meeting today. The first is a 90-day task force looking to obtain a "quick snapshot" of the situation, said Executive Director for Operations Bill Borchardt, with a preliminary report to be released in 60 days. Among the goals of the task force is to see whether backup plans for maintenance of spent nuclear fuel pools, put in place after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, " would work" if other problems threatened the water levels in the pools.
A longer term study, which will seek substantial input from the public, will try to define lessons learned, if any. No start date is set on that study.
and
Quake Questions: Science Responds to Reader Queries on the Crisis in Japan
But let's not lose sight of the humanitarian side:
Japan quake dead, missing nears 21,000: Report
and for those who want to help,
Charity Navigator sorts through who to give to, and where the money goes. See also the latest
mothership for donation suggestions and the latest news.
Healthjournalism.org looks at Meeting the challenges of explaining health reform:
Health reform, to say the least, is confusing. The Kaiser Family Foundation had a great “data note” recently establishing just how little the American people know about reform. (The lack of knowledge apparently did not correlate with the intensity of political feeling).
So, how did people do? Fewer than one in 100 got all 10 questions right. Only a quarter scored seven or more right – a “C” or above if we were grading.
A third got four or fewer right (F minus, minus?) Two percent didn’t get one single question right. Most were in the low-performing middle, correctly answering 4 to 6.
What killed me (no pun intended) is that only 45 percent knew – after all the zillions of words we’ve written about this – that there are no government panels making life-and-death decisions for older Americans. Can’t you see the tabloid headline: “Zombie Death Panels Refuse To Die.”
You can't get it right when a healthy chunk of the population refuses to listen. It's partisan. Don't believe me? Check this out from Dave
Weigel:
CNN's poll on the No Fly Zone puts support for the strategy at 70 percent. That's not surprising. Seventy-seven percent of Americans think it's important that Gaddafi be removed from power. But look at the answer to this question:
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling the situation in Libya?
Only 50 percent of voters do; 41 percent don't. That's largely because of a huge partisan divide on the question. Sixty-three percent of Republicans disapprove of Obama's handling of Libya, to 27 percent who approve. Seventy-six percent of Tea Party "supporters" disapprove of Obama's handling of it. But 73 percent of Tea Partiers and 78 percent of Republicans support the NFZ -- they're by far the biggest supporters of the strategy.
Some advocates of the NFZ, like John McCain, have fretted that it should have been launched earlier, and delay has been problematic. I'm sure some of the low GOP support number can be pinned on that. I'd bet the rest of it is a result of the occasionally-coherent criticism of GOP leaders, who have called Obama out for "dithering" even as he moved toward the response they wanted.
I know you're doing what I like, but you're a Democrat, so I don't like it.