Monday, June 11, 2012

Things to Know - 12 June

mike061212


1.  It's true.  Mitt-Mouth-Gaffe is alive and well, and shows no sign of stopping:

2.  A lovely story about community service, by an organization seemingly dedicated to the greater communitarian needs of our society:

3.  There is to be a regulation that makes PAC funding (how much and who) information available to the general public.  The Republicans do not want that information available to the general public, but to be in a file that one can view by going down to the television station that would have it on hand, and the person (or persons) would request to see the file, and then do so by sitting in the TV offices.   Democrats would like to see all the information easily accessible on line.  Does this difference tell you anything on who is trying to hide the truth?

4.  Here's a peak into the acceptance of the dumbing down of this nation.  If students are unable to pass the test that measures competency in the main subject matter of the school's mission, that's okay - we'll just lower the score needed to pass the test.  Florida is blazing the trail to mediocrity:

5.  For those of you who were not yet born, and those who want to remember the drama of Watergate as it unfolded on our TVs back in the early 70s, there is this piece from the Washington Post that has testimony from several of the sources of this investigative effort:

6.  Spain's bailout is just an event that allows the Spanish banks to recapitalize, but not have the strict austerity clamps that the previous Euro bailouts had.  The disaster has just been delayed.  The average guy on Main Street USA has no idea what the Euro Zone is, or anything about what is going on over there.  All that it is heard is that Obama's policies are not working, and to kick him out and vote in Romney - and that is the extent of voter education, indeed any attempt on making us aware of what is going on.  Sad, but even sadder, is that the general malaise of ignorance is contributing to our own demise:

7.  You may have heard that a Los Angeles hockey team won a big deal last night.   It was a big deal.  A bunch of young players beat all odds and expectations to win the whole enchilada.   There probably was a huge party in the Southern California coastal town of Hermosa Beach, where most of the team members live and party hard:

8.  This is an interesting piece about the cultural renaissance of Los Angeles.  You see, many years ago LA was fighting to beak out from the image that is was just a wild and woolly rebel step child of San Francisco.  Over the years, San Francisco has remained like a fine cultured pearl, but Los Angeles has grown in depth, gentrification, and quality to match its almost unbridled expansion.  It is now battling to overcome the sneers that LA is not quite up to par with NY City.  Perhaps it is a notch removed, but it is destined to be great, and it will become so on its own terms and dynamics:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-newton-column-disney-hall-playboy-mansion-20120611,0,5246609,print.column

--
Juan

"The multitude of books is making us ignorant." 
       -- Voltaire
"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." 
       -- Oscar Wilde
"Health consists of having the same diseases as one's neighbors." 
       -- Quentin Crisp
"Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway." 
       -- Elbert Hubbard

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