Saturday, September 24, 2011

Things to Know - 24 September




9/25 Mike Luckovich cartoon: Execution

mike09252011

1.  As the Republicant Party drifts further to the right, the position mantra of George Bush's "Compassionate Conservatism" has been abandoned.  This column speaks to that:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/38568/

2.  We go through life, and accept things from science as pretty irrefutable, that is until they are refuted.   We have all lived with the premise that the speed of light is the ultimate event of science that is the fastest thing around.  Well, hang on, that is now under review:
http://news.yahoo.com/strange-particles-may-travel-faster-light-breaking-laws-192010201.html

3.  Time to really upset your day, and pass this on to you.  This piece elaborates on the extremists' goals in hijacking the GOP to the point of doing away with the Democracy of the Constitution and installing an oligarchy or plutocracy,     To them, the one-man-one-vote concept is ....well, they don't even bring that concept up.  Their concept is that voting should only be allowed by people who own property, and are not poor, and....well, go on and throw up now:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/6753

4.  The Republicant "debates" are interesting from the standpoint of several things, mostly about how things are said, or not said, but not much of what is said.  Substance is not their game.  Many GOP operatives cringe every time the crowd reacts with cruelty on live TV.  I keep wondering why Porky Newt hangs around, and I've figured it out that he's aspiring to a VP slot, that's gotta be it.  Anyway Gail Collins opines on the dismal display of talent:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/opinion/perrys-bad-night.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

5.  Charles Blow talks about a program in West Harlem that teaches, protects, houses, and trains children to be productive and good citizens.   The military pays about $800,000 for one Sparrow missile.  Those missiles are popped off at a good clip in and around the 10-year war.  Some hit a target, some don't.  When that $800,000 weapon blows up, it's done for....gone.....nothing left.   What you say we don't make those missiles any more by stopping the 10-year military complex war games, and take that same expenditure and fund stuff like the Broadway Housing Communities and the Dorothy Day Apartments.  The return on investment is much better, so much better:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/opinion/blow-it-takes-a-village.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  All of you present and retired teachers will understand this next piece.  One has to wonder, if given the adequate resources (class size, resources, and realistic budgets) things would improve.  For now, this is just another example of a shitty day in the shadow of neglect of all our schools:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0924-banks-20110924,0,5562486,print.column

7.  Reform is not necessarily replacing something with a better system.  Case in point:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-guestworkers-20110923,0,7389754,print.story

--

"Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul."
       -- Marilyn Monroe
"An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations."
       -- Charles de Montesquieu
"The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky."
       -- Solomon Short
"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2."
       -- Grabel's Law

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