The Daily Pulse, Wednesday, March 30.

"Is it [the Libya mission] a war, intervention or a squirmish?" -Sarah Palin, Fox News commentator. I think I speak without fear of refudiation that it's all three.

 
Bashar al-Assad, Syrian dictator, remains defiant against mounting protests. (AP) 

Arab uprisings

Will the coalition have to arm the Libyan rebels? (Andrew Sullivan, Atlantic) * Who exactly are the Libyan rebels we're backing? (Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker) * Grim reality sets in that Libya will be a long struggle. (Justin Elliott, Salon)

Syria dictator leaves decades-long "state of emergency" in place, confounding world foreign-policy establishment. (CNN) * Also blames uprisings on "international conspiracy." (Al Jazeera) But not yet al-Qaeda and last week's extreme supermoon, Gadhafi's prime suspects.

Gridlock

Among the toughest U.S. commutes: Bayshore Freeway (U.S. 101 southbound)

GPS data identify America's 10 worst commutes. (Michael Zak, AOL News)

Vox

Paul Farrell: Tax the super-rich now, before there's a revolution. (MarketWire)

Andrew Leonard: GOP war is moving from labor to academia. (Salon)

Brian Palmer: Does it matter Belgium has gone without a government for a year? (Slate)

Annals of Commerce

For Air Canada, new 787 Dreamliner will be a game-changer. (Brent Jang, Globe and Mail)

Rags mogul Peter Nygard to sue CBC over unflattering documentary. (Kevin Engstrom, Winnipeg Sun)

Obama to unveil new energy strategy today, including incentives to spur domestic oil and gas production. (Kate Andersen Brower and Roger Runningen, Bloomberg News) * And curb U.S. oil imports by one-third. (Steven Mufson, WaPo)

The Gaggle

Frances Russell: Deception, thy name is Harper. (Winnipeg Free Press)

Jim Stanford: Tories' economic stewardship doesn't exactly merit a gold medal. (Globe and Mail)

Tim Harper: Iggy must battle apathy and a ticking clock. (Toronto Star)

Barbara Yaffe: PM's "mean gene" still a little too prominent. (Vancouver Sun)

Jeffrey Simpson: Campaign will duck looming Quebec separatist resurgence. (Globe and Mail)

Bruce Campion-Smith: Coalition issue still monkey on Harper's back. (Toronto Star)

Heather Mallick: The Harper anthem: "USA! USA!" (Toronto Star)

John Ivison: The merits of Ignatieff's Learning Passport. (National Post)

John Ibbitson: It's jobs vs. quality of life for Canadian voters. (Globe and Mail)

John Doyle: Tories massage the medium, kneading and feeding it. (Globe and Mail)

Social studies

 
Twittersphere dominated by 0.05% of users. (Ericaa Ho, Techland/Time) * Twitter founder Jack Dempsey, understandably, wants to make Twitter more mainstream. (Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, WSJ)

Lost love is leading source of regret among Americans. (James Brady Ryan, Nerve.com) Among Canucks, backing certain NHL trades would qualify.

 

 

Comments

[Wascally Wabbit]

I watched Jon Stewart last night - with a quiet smirk on his face - must have been for a full ten seconds - tiptoe around the "squirmish" comment - and left the viewer thinking - this woman is just too easy to mock!
And that - unfortunately - is the frightening point - that such a large segment of US society really think that this woman could one day - legitimately - have her finger on the Big Red Button!