Things to Know - 26 October

"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil."
       -- Aristotle

"The follies which a man regrets most, in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity."
       -- Helen Rowland

"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking."
       -- Jerry Seinfeld

"What a pity, when Christopher Colombus discovered America, that he ever mentioned it."
       -- Margot Asquith

"You will find that the State is the kind of organization which, though it does big things badly, does small things badly, too."
       -- John Kenneth Galbraith

1.  Rick Perry keeps on providing evidence as to why he should not be running for president:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-perry-tax-panned-20111025,0,5387941,print.story

2.  In addition to Wall Street, the corrupting influence of money has given the holders of wealth a pass on facing justice when fairness in our judicial system is the issue:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8035

3.  A lesson on Economics.  It is the consumer, with cash in hand buying things that the catalyst that energizes manufacturing.   The investor who wants to make money will direct resources that make the products that consumers buy.   So, who are the job creators?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/opinion/its-consumer-spending-stupid.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

4.  Might as well include insights on the Steve Jobs Mystique while his passing is still in vogue.  Well, at least he is high up enough to remove Michael Jackson from media center stage - except that the dour expression of Dr. Murray is doing its best to keep it going:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/opinion/limits-of-magical-thinking.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

5.  One for the Thomas Friedman fans. This one is over his second cup of coffee and scone:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/opinion/barack-kissinger-obama.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  Here's another opinion on what the OWS movement is about, where it is going, and what it must do to achieve.  I am amused at all the speculation heaped on this subject.  I frankly am totally accepting that the movement stay just as it is  - a constant thorn in the side for a long time to come - for however long it is necessary.  I remember when all the establishment media kept on asking Bob Dylan what the messages in his song were all about, as if it were a big deal, and that we all needed to know.  This is all the same to me.  I think the poetic justice and fairness will come to pass when those who finally fess up to the fact that they are the 1% begin to be aware that they are being held accountable, and that they should act first before they are acted upon.  In the meantime, we should engage in discussions of justice and fairness, and what it means in the United States of America:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/opinion/will-extremists-hijack-occupy-wall-street.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
--
Juan Matute