Sunday, September 25, 2011

Things to Know - 25 September




Cartoon

1.  For those of you who know what is going on in downtown NY City, this is redundant.   For those of you who are not, you should know.  There is a peaceful protest going on right now near Wall Street.  The protesters are mostly unemployed, highly intelligent, college/university students and graduates.  They seem to be protesting (1) the 1% on Wall Street of their generation who are messing with the other 99% and (2) Our system of government that is not meeting the expectations of the new generation.   For the most part, the national media is not reporting this protest.  You do not see it on the evening news, and I have yet to see it reported in any major news paper, even though it has been going on for some time now.   The question to be asked is if this is just a momentary display of frustration, or the seeds of a coming resolution.   All would be wise to keep an eye on the events in NY.  I am passing this link on from an organization that I belonged to before I went to college, and whose members still stay in contact:
(when you click on the link, you will have to click on the huffingtonpost again)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/21/occupy-wall-street-protest_n_974693.html?ref=wall-street

2.  Here's Maureen Dowd talking about two former front-runners of GOPdebacle.  They used to be out in front until Herman Cain beat them both in a Florida straw poll.  It will be interesting to see how the the racist element with the Tea Baggers take to this turn of events.  The Republican Party is taking on the disciplined structure of a Jackson Pollock painting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/dowd-fed-up-with-the-author-of-fed-up.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

3.  The NY Times has given time to a professor of History from Georgetown University to present his paper on a bit of history where the populist Left did indeed improve the lot of many millions of Americans, and how it has stumbled around since the post WW 2 era. The liberal "left" now finds itself in a malaise as the drift-to-the-extreme right conservatives are powering up, a suggestion on what is needed to either regain or attain political parity:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/whatever-happened-to-the-american-left.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

4.  There is this news story in Sunday's NY Times about the protest that is ongoing in the city's financial district.   Eighty people arrested for the usual stuff that gets protesters arrested.  80 people is no small number.  It seems that the protest is gaining strength each day, in spite of the chicken-shit rules that have been erected (no sleeping bags or camping equipment allowed in the area), and does not show any sign of going away soon:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/80-arrested-as-financial-district-protest-moves-north/?hp

5.  Here's your predictable editorial from the NY Times on Obama's Medicare reform proposal:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/president-obamas-medicare-proposals.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211&pagewanted=print

6.  Ross Douthat is obviously enamored with the justice provided by the death penalty.   His statement that .."it is healthy for a society to have a fear of having executed an innocent person", presupposes that it is healthy to kill a guilty person,,,or that it healthy to kill no matter.   He goes on to say how Troy Davis received all sorts legal assistance along the way (which is very expensive).   If Mr. Douthat cannot put his arms around the inhumanity of killing, maybe he would understand that it costs more to process a death row inmate to execution, than it is to lock 'em up and put away the key:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/douthat-justice-after-troy-davis.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212&pagewanted=print

7.  Steve Lopez on the on-going problems besetting the LA Unified School district as they head to opening day:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez-lausdlibraries-20110925,0,7436852,print.column

--

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
       -- Herm Albright
"Living hell is the best revenge."
       -- Adrienne E. Gusoff
"A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done."
       -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of."
       -- Douglas Adams


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