Things to Know - 18 November

Porkie - you should have stayed at #6 with 4%.  Now, the media, which you have

characteristically and arrogantly aliented will be unrelenting.

1.  Having a need to take a break from OWS, let's go back to the days of Watergate, Nixon and Hoover (J. Edgar).  I gotta go see the move:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9130

2.  Not exactly a direct reference to OWS, but a collateral problem of a lack of public facilities, and an analysis of the situation and an observation of the universal response:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39681/

3.  The Washington Post is doing its duty to the public with this article.  Newt is wallowing in lobby money from the folks at Big Pharma. The self-professed historian is nothing but a snake oil salesman's charmer.  No scruples.  No values.  Just a belly full of hot air and a briefcase full of bombastic adverbs and adjectives.  A real P.O.S:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-think-tank-collected-millions-from-health-care-industry/2011/11/16/gIQAcd72VN_print.html

4.  David Brooks writes about the problems besetting the Eurozone - European Union, or whatever you want to call it.  The great European experiment is an economic work in progress.   That's what it is intention was in the beginning, but what is giving it fits is the sociology elements and variables that are not cooperating.  The tribes don't mix well in all cases. When things are not going well, the ethnocentric bullets start flying.  The Greeks and the Italians are blamed for their entitlement lifestyles....well that does not bode well for holding up the big tent.  Now we are off to the blame game, and the purpose of holding the Euro is now being called into question.  Crap it's just class warfare on a different cable network:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/opinion/brooks-the-technocratic-nightmare.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

5.  Herman Cain's presence has stirred interest, controversy, and old wounds to be reopened.   He's really not a serious candidate, and his continued presence underscores the lack of talent:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1116-banks-20111116,0,1110627,print.column

6.  Here is a job creator military project?   The MIC is making twenty 30,000 pound bunker-buster bombs for $314 million.  JFL.   I know that our service men and women in Afghanistan will feel so much safer now that we have these weapons on hand.  I wonder how many roadside IEDs each one of them will be able to take out?   Does the $314 million include delivery by UPS, or are there several more millions required to transport and store them?  Is this a great country or what?
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bunker-buster-bomb-20111117,0,3582708.story

7.  Paul Krugman concurs that the given situation in Congress, failure by the so-called super committee is a win.   Our legislative branch is so dysfunctional.  Over half have sworn allegiance and their oath to Grover Nordquist, their proposed legislation is written by lobbyists, and their decision making is outsourced to committees.  Caca:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/opinion/krugman-failure-is-good.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212&pagewanted=print

8.  Hector Tobar's story is a classic example of the beauty of our Immigrant Nation.  You see, people come in from other countries with the the American Dream in mind, and they work hard to achieve it.  They are not tainted or jaded by generations of take-it-for-granted apathy that affects a great swath of our nation.  Immigrants of all stripes and colors are what keeps this nation vibrant and alive.  Stories like this remind us that the greatness of our continued existence comes from within and outside:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111118,0,6585792,print.column


--
Juan Matute

 "Fear is the soul's signal for rallying.
       -- Henry Ward Beecher

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
       -- Ernest Hemingway

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."
       -- John Adams

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?"
       -- Edgar Bergen

"Anarchy - it's not the law, it's just a good idea."
       -- Unknown