Sunday, February 12, 2012

Things to Know - 12 February


1.  Obama has some serious erosion of base support, particularly among the Millennials (those born between 1978 and 2000).   Here is an interview with Heather McGhee by Bill Moyers on this subject:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12444

2.  There is a fair question in this article on the Koch Brothers.  They have gobs of money to toss into the political arena to influence the political balance in favor of their conservative interests and their business interests in OIL.  They dump money where legislators lap it up and do their bidding, and now they create videos in their interest, but they do not want to testify before congress in any of their grubby businesses.  Why?   The wrong answer is that they don't have to:

http://www.truth-out.org/print/12433

3.  Ralph Nader has a bone to pick with American Airlines, and perhaps a large block of commercial carriers.   It's not a good practice to start something that Mr. Nader can pick apart and take public:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12459

4.  Ted Rall talks about income inequality, Zuckerberg's pay of $6,000 a minute, and where Mitt-bot fits into the scheme.  For your entertainment:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/41317/

5.  This is an interesting column on the "five myths of white people":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-white-people/2012/01/20/gIQAmlu53Q_print.html

6.  Frank Bruni of the NY Times finds Romney strengths (what few they are) not willing to be discussed by the candidate.  Mitt-bot, instead, concentrates on issues and positions for which he has no business or strengths doing.  In the process, Mitt Romney reveals himself to be nothing but an empty suit with nothing really to offer:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/bruni-romneys-missing-magic.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Thomas Friedman puts out a column that is saying what I think is the most solid and true statement to come out in a long time.  The Republican Party is dysfunctional, and we need for it to be what it used to be.   You think I am having fun ridiculing the GeeOpee day after day and their weak slate of radical wannabees?   Not, really, unless you view my publication as a bad form of entertainment.  What Friedman is saying is that we need a viable conservative Republican Party, and not a bunch of radical wing-nuts who have been swayed by the Tea Party to morph into a destructive mess.   Give us back a real Republican Party, so that we can actually improve the dialog and improve the political process of government:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/friedman-we-need-a-second-party.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  I may have moved from Georgia to California in the past year, but here is Steve Lopez to remind me that we have crackers and red necks right up the road in Bakersfield:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0212-lopez-centralvalley-20120210,0,5850093,print.column


--
Juan

"I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity."
       -- Tom Stoppard
"The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers."
       -- Scott Adams
"The only thing worse than a man you can't control is a man you can."
       -- Margo Kaufman
"Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own."
       -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

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