You may have heard that Moldovan authorities have today arrested five people for trying to smuggle/sell about four pounds of Uranium. What I’m a little unclear on just what we’re talking about. It’s being referred to as ‘yellowcake’ uranium. And the thing is that ‘yellowcake’ is very, very lightly refined uranium. To make nukes you need many tons of the stuff — and the ability to do the refining. And even to make a dirty bomb, I’m not sure that would really do that much for you.
It’s a little unclear at this point just what we’re talking about. The reporters or even the police authorities may be speaking loosely. But on its face, 4 pounds of ‘yellowcake’ just doesn’t amount to much.
Sen. Harkin to hold hearings on new decision putting stem cell research into doubt.
TPM Reader ML picks up the conversation …
You’re right, it can be both, but it’s important to remember just how much you’re asking of Imam Rauf when you talk about mismanaging the media strategy, because (again) you’re right, he *is* just a guy with a non-profit and an idea, and you’ve got to keep in mind the timeline.
This thing only barely entered the national media consciousness towards late May when it first went up for a vote before Manhattan Community Board No. 1 (this was all the way back when Mark Williams talked about the “terrorists’ monkey god”). It was still barely on the radar a few weeks later when the Right started making a stink about Rauf’s ties to the flotilla, and still hardly an issue come early July when goptrust.com had that awful, terrifyingly jingoistic anti-Park51 commercial rejected by CBS.
Recovery Act buoying economy up from catastrophic territory into the territory of the merely awful.
Irrefutable argument for going back to policies of previous administration.
Is Imam Rauf the Muslim Shirley Sherrod?
And do I need a calendar to remember who to hate next week?
Why Sarah Palin is about to lose big time in tonight’s primary election in Alaska.
Just to let you know we’ve got live election results coming soon from what have unquestionably been two of the most entertaining state primaries this season.
At 8 PM we’ll be bringing you live results from Florida where there are hot and fairly crazy races for nominations for Senate and Governor. In the Democratic primary, Kendrick Meek leads gazillionaire yachtsman Jeff Greene in the race to see who can be the Democratic nominee and sit on the sidelines as Charlie Crist runs the race as the de facto Democratic nominee. On the GOP side, longtime GOP officeholder Bill McCollum tries to get his dignity back from upstart moneybags Rick Scott.
And then at 10 PM it’s Arizona where there’s been a lot of suspense over just how big a margin J.D. Hayworth is going to get his butt beaten by John McCain. Finally, there’s the Republican primary in Arizona’s 3rd district. That’s the battle to see who gets the nomination to succeed Rep. John Shadegg (R). In truth, we have no idea who’s going to win that one because there haven’t been any public polls. But Dan Quayle’s son Rufus Ben Quayle is in this race going up against a bunch of other GOPers to get this nomination because it brings with it a virtual certainty of getting elected in November. This race, among other things, has been a stand-out for totally over the top ads, a few of which you can see here.
Then of course there’s Alaska, which closes at midnight eastern.
The AP is projecting Rep. Kendrick Meek will be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Florida, defeating billionaire Jeff Greene.
That sets up the three-way Meek, Charlie Crist, Marco Rubio general election. Here’s the TPM Poll Average on that no-longer-hypothetical matchup: Read More
The latest numbers show it pretty much neck and neck on the GOP side in the Florida Gov primary. And our Eric Kleefeld notes that most of votes from his old district in Orange County are already in. So he could be in for a long night. At the moment it’s a 3 point margin for Rick Scott with about half the vote in. So definitely still very much up in the air.
The biggest chunk of outstanding votes are in the big urban areas in the South of the state — Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, etc. Those are normally the Democratic strongholds in statewide races. But of course this is the Republican primary. So not immediately clear to me who that favors.
Late Update: Now at 9:09 PM we’re 53% of the vote in and Scott has a 4 point margin.