Visual Source: Newseum
Gaddaffi... Qaddafi... Kadafi... Gadhafi... however you spell it, this will not end well for him.
NY Times:
Rebel fighters scoured Tripoli on Wednesday in their continued search for an elusive and defiant Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, a day after they crashed through the gates of his fortresslike compound, running madly across its sprawling lawns, ransacking its barracks for weapons and carting off mementos of his 42-year dictatorship.
Harold Meyerson:
This concern for the debt, touching though it may be, didn’t keep Republicans from enacting two waves of tax cuts under George W. Bush. It hasn’t kept them from opposing our current president’s proposal to restore the Clinton-era tax rates on the wealthy. But when we’re talking about taxes on the majority of Americans, those who work for a living and don’t make six-figure incomes, the Republican brain lobe devoted to debt reduction through tax increases goes abuzz with synaptic frenzy.
Gary Gutting on credit/blame for the economy:
But we Americans, at least, are loath to recognize the profound role of luck in human affairs. We know that luck can always intervene, but our instinct is to praise or blame the people involved. Athletics provides some of the clearest examples: the winners of close contests between evenly matched teams are almost always just luckier than the losers. But we seldom ever admit this — how often do you see a headline like “State Lucks Out Over Tech”? — and instead insist on thinking that the winners tried harder, had better coaching, were better conditioned, etc. Similarly, we are unmoved by statistical studies suggesting that when players are “hot” this is usually just a random deviation, a matter of luck.
Nonsense. Anyone who beats Mariano Riviera in the late innings (especially at Fenway) is just plain lucky. And there's a lot of of other nonsense, too, like tax cuts and austeritiy would work as well in a depression as stimulus. That leaders get too much credit or blame for things is true, but that whatever they do really makes no difference... no sale.
Stanley Fish:
“Inspiring” is not a word I usually use, but this evening was inspiring. The devotion to community, the civic-mindedness, the sheer intelligence displayed by everyone who spoke was a more powerful argument for coming to Andes than the beauties and attractions listed by the Post. But the argument will come to nothing, and everything the Post celebrates will be no more, if the rural birthright of Andes is sold for a mess of fracking.
WaPo: Legendary Tenn. coach Pat Summitt reveals she has Alzheimer’s disease. All time great, this one. And all her women graduate.
The Fix:
Two years ago, Marco Rubio was still a heavy underdog in a Senate primary with a popular incumbent governor. Today, he’s the potential favorite to become the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee.
It’s still way to early to game out odds on potential vice presidential candidates, but nearly everyone you talk to agrees that Rubio is the total package when it comes to a running mate.
WaPo:
For centuries scientists have pondered a central question: How many species exist on Earth? Now, a group of researchers has offered an answer: 8.7 million.
Although the number is still an estimate, it represents the most rigorous mathematical analysis yet of what we know — and don’t know — about life on land and in the sea. The authors of the paper, published Tuesday evening by the scientific journal PLoS Biology, suggest that 86 percent of all terrestrial species and 91 percent of all marine species have yet to be discovered, described and catalogued.
8.7 million arguments for the theory of natural selection.