In recent years, electoral politics has turned into an even more intense mud-pit of attacks and finger pointing about every conceivable issue. In “The Screwtape Letters,” C.S. Lewis almost perfectly describes the state of US politics.
Republican presidential candidates, from left, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul take part in a Republican presidential debate Monday Jan. 23, 2012, at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla, as moderator Brian Williams of NBC News listens. According to Galles, C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” offers uncanny insight into the world of US electoral politics.
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Worries about climate change are deepening in many countries. Proponents of gas, which burns cleaner than coal, suggest that it could be part of the answer—but preferably indigenous gas, for the sake of energy security. At the same time, even as energy demand surges ahead, the giants of the oil industry are finding it harder than ever to tap new reserves, which is forcing them to look to previously neglected, harder-to-reach hydrocarbons. Among these, hitherto disregarded shale-gas reserves are generating the most enthusiasm.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Los Angeles Dodgers received “more than 10” opening bids for the team by today’s deadline, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing information from a person it did not name it described as familiar with the sale, but not authorized to discuss it.
Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) plans to begin selling beer, wine and more upscale food in a small number of cafes in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of this year as it explores an expansion beyond morning coffee and afternoon pick-me-ups.
Hours later, Yemen’s air force mutinies against their commander, President Saleh’s half brother.
By Abby Ohlheiser
Updated Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, at 10:42 AM ET
Photograph by Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images.
A month before the country is supposed to hold a presidential election and transfer power to a new leader, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh has departed for for the United States in order to receive medical treatment, effectively ending his 33-year rule.
The United States approved Saleh’s visit Sunday, and almost immediately began fending off suggestions that the visit has a political motive, stressing Saleh’s visit will last a “limited time,” and that he’ll return to Yemen after his treatment is finished. The Christian Science Monitor explains that if the United States is seen as harboring the leader—a longtime American ally—the country’s security missions in the region would be jeopardized.
How the site went from a second-tier aggregator to the Web’s unstoppable force.
By Farhad Manjoo
Updated Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at 6:32 PM ET
Of all the sites that went dark on Wednesday to protest Congress’ misguided anti-piracy legislation, Reddit was the one I missed most. Sure, there were a couple times when Wikipedia would have provided the perfect answer for my mindless Web searches (who invented the bidet?), and I never like a day without BoingBoing, but Reddit occupies a unique position in my online diet.
Super Bowl ticket prices on the secondary market Monday morning showed a 13% drop-off from those from a year ago. So says TiqIQ, an event-ticket aggregator that tracks listings from StubHub, EBay, TicketNetwork and TicketsNow.
Awesome! Let’s see what kind of bargains we can get for the showdown between the New England Patriots and New York Giants in Indianapolis on Feb. 5.
Wow! $120 on EBay?!?! I’ll take it — oh, hold on. That’s just to park. Well, that’s OK — here’s one for $818. Still not bad for the biggest game of the year. Darn it, no, that’s for the Maxim Super Bowl tailgate party.
Let’s keep scrolling down then for something that will get us into the game — looks like the best price on EBay is $4,599.99. Hmmm … let’s forget about EBay. The bargains must be on the other sites.
A French downgrade also downgrades Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election chances
Jan 21st 2012 | PARIS | from the print edition
ARCANA such as credit ratings are not the usual butt of cartoonists and chat-show hosts. But thanks to President Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s AAA rating became a national symbol last year. Every voter knew it was bad news when Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a ratings agency, downgraded France from AAA to AA+ on January 13th. S&P blamed the euro-zone crisis and France’s high debt. It also stripped Austria of its AAA rating and downgraded seven other countries. But Germany kept its top rating, despite being on credit watch. Had Germany also been downgraded, Mr Sarkozy’s failings might have come under less intensive scrutiny.
Italy is enthralled by two captains involved with the Costa Concordia. Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco is a hero to many. Capt. Francesco Schettino, not so much.
The Coast Guard officer who ordered the captain of the capsized Italian cruise ship to go back aboard unwittingly became an instant hero on Wednesday, credited with saving the national honor on one of its darkest nights.
Italy has become enthralled with the tale of two captains.
One is Coast Guard Captain Gregorio De Falco, who furiously ordered the skipper of the Costa Concordia to return to his ship and oversee the rescue operations.
The other is Captain Francesco Schettino – whom newspapers have branded a coward for fleeing in the face of adversity and who is now under house arrest, accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.
Photograph by Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images.
