Friday, August 31, 2012

Things to Know - 1 September

      
Clint Eastwood, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan meet low expectations


1.  There is undoubtedly a lot of commentary on Romney's speech last night.  There is a lot of buzz about Clint Eastwood's rambling introduction, and its impact, which is odd.  Not sure if Ann Romney was all that thrilled with it.  However, what needs to be remembered is that Willard Mitt Romney has been running for president for over 6 years, and his performance last night was said to be the opportunity for all of America to see who the real Mitt is.   What kind of guy do we have, who has been on a 6-year courtship, and is now going to emerge with all of his bona fides in the last 30 minutes?   I think David Brooks did a better job on Mitt than Mitt did for himself.  When Clint gets more buzz about his performance, Mitt is just like the same guy he was before he got to Tampa:

2.  National Memo is my Cliff Notes for catching up on what happened last night.  Biased?... a bit, probably.  However, it is more tolerable than the alternative.   What Romney, and all candidates have to realize, is that in this age of technology, there is a former empty ICBM missile silo loaded with recorded performances of statements, speeches, and flip-flops now being queued to be run on prime time.   Mitt and Paul will be running against themselves at every turn and every issue, and that does not sound very encouraging.  Hypocrisy will be the inescapable nemesis of the RomRyan duo.   Hopefully no amount of Citizens United Super Pac cash can hide it:
http://www.nationalmemo.com/republican-national-convention-night-three-lolgop-liveblog/

3.  The Department of Justice has struck down the attempt by Texas to suppress voting.  In what is recognized as a blatant effort by GOP-controlled states to deny access to the voting booth to mostly elderly and minority demographics, the issue is gaining in prominence on the American stage.   History is full of events and stories of actions, well intended or just plan evil, where the basic rights are denied to citizens.  Here we are in the 21st Century, and having gone through some very dark periods in our young USA, and we still have a repetition of actions by some to others which are shameful, xenophobic, homophobic, discriminatory, and full of hatred.  The right-wing extremists are either ignorant of history, and don't care, or just don't know any better.   A potato famine decimated Ireland in the middle of the 19th Century, as a result of a fungus known as phytopthora infestation.  It seems as though a right-wing activist rabble in this country is infested with a mind-crippling fungus.  Democracy requires tolerance and intelligence to thrive.   There is no room to tolerate those whose minds operate on the same level of a field of infested potatoes.   The 2nd link is of a late Friday ruling in Ohio that runs along the same result in Texas, which preserves voting rights:

4.  After The Paul, Clint, and Mitt show, the opposition is taking it all in and preparing for the return volley.  Betcha we're going to have a lot of skits with empty chairs, Pinocchio noses, and tax returns in Charlotte.   There will no doubt be references to the GOP re-writing the ticket and having Ryan running with Clint as the preferred team, with the Cowboy in the lead role.  The 2nd link is a good column by the WashPost's Dan Balz:

5.  This is not an exquisitely slick production, nor is it intended to to be on the front lines of opposition parry and thrust of the highest order.  However, if you need something soothingly calm to rock you to sleep, and you need something to fill that void between that idle period of sleeplessness between 1:45 am and 2:25 am, tune this in:

6.  EJ Dionne reviews the etch-a-sketch moment that Romney has worked 6 years to work out, rehearse, and finally present.  The problem that Mitt has, is that he will not have the preparation time for each obligated public appearance on the campaign trail.  When he has to endure the 5 to 6 daily stops each day, in front of a different audience each time, he will revert to the same plastic, robot-scripted, and hollow personage that he was before Tampa.  The journalists who have been following him now have a bag full of questions based on the false information, flip-flops and inconsistencies he and his buddy have dished out.   He's going to be very uncomfortable, and he's going to have stresses put on him that will push him back to his comfort zone; rigid, gaffe-prone, and unlikable.  He will find himself in situations that his handlers cannot control, and he either has to back off and be elusive, and get creamed by the media, or he will have to stand there and be Mitt - which is not the best thing going for him:

7.  This is A MUST READ.  It is written by a gentleman by the name of Mike Lofgren.  Mike Lofgren retired on June 17 after 28 years as a Congressional staffer. He served 16 years as a professional staff member on the Republican side of both the House and Senate Budget Committees.  This is a very long article.  However, it exposes every nook and cranny of the Republican Party's agenda to destroy this country, and how it is doing it today.   I feel that this document is  so important, that I am going to repeat it, probably the next day, and have it as the only link.   So, if you don't read it now, you will later.   I will repeat it for as long as it takes to get everyone to read it:

8.  Gail Collins closes this out with a recap of the closing of the RNC - (Romney No Charisma).   Gee, it seems like the Tampa thing was a very weird event.  The odd thing is -  Romney and Ryan are taking time off for the entire Labor Day weekend.   Normally, the post convention bump propels the candidate to take the energy to the campaign trail.  Either there is no bump, or there is some serious etch-a-sketch analysis going on:

Juan

"Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd." 
       -- Edith Sitwell
"Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that's how dogs spend their lives." 
       -- Sue Murphy
"Outer space is no place for a person of breeding." 
       -- Lady Violet Bonham Carter
"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside." 
       -- Robert X. Cringely


The Morning, the Day After


ROMNEY ACCEPTS NOMINATION: "I BOUGHT IT"

convention-mitt.jpg

TAMPA (The Borowitz Report)—Coining a phrase that seems destined to become his new campaign slogan, Mitt Romney needed only three words tonight to accept the Republican Presidential nomination: "I bought it."

Those words had a special meaning for Mr. Romney, who had to spend seventy million dollars in the G.O.P. primaries to defeat a serial adulterer, a former pizza executive, and a crackpot in a sweater-vest.

It has been an up-and-down convention for Mr. Romney, who was largely ignored at Tea Party rallies early in the week but later picked up a key endorsement from his wife.

Tonight, however, was a time to reflect, as he put it, "on money well spent."

"Our opponents say that America is in decline, that it is no longer number one," he said. "I say our democracy is the best that money can buy."

Mr. Romney braided his speech with the theme of "I bought it," reminding his audience that in order to take the White House, "I have millions to go before I sleep."

He made an emotional appeal to a group he called "the single-issue billionaires," imploring them, "Let me know what you want. Eliminate the E.P.A.? Bomb Iran? Mitt Romney is open for business." The audience roared its approval.

Mr. Romney made one reference to his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.): "Don't let his crazy rock-and-roll playlist fool you. He's serious about the important things: cutting taxes for the rich and ending Planned Parenthood."

Ultimately, he ended his speech with a rousing call to arms that brought the Republican audience to its feet: "The road to the White House will be hard, and strewn with challenges. But together, there's nothing we can't buy."



Read more 


--
Juan

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Things to Know - 31 August

mike08312

1.  I have to admit, I did not have the patience nor the inclination to sit through the TV coverage of the Republicans in Tampa.  First of all, I am turned off by the complexion (or lack thereof) of the attending delegates.  What I see is not the diversity that we all experience when we go to the malls, DMV, stores, or public downtown streets.  What I glean from news highlights and opinions the day after is how I get most of my information.  What I am observing, is that there is a glaring absence of a few key players who are responsible for most of the misery that we are feeling today.   No one is talking about Osama Bin Laden.  The Republicans used Bin Laden and Al Queda to throw us into the biggest boondoggle of unfunded ventures ever experienced by this nation.  Also absent is the name and face of George W. Bush.  For 8 years, "W" was the Republican President - and did he ever screw things up, and so quickly and so thoroughly that he has rightly earned the title of "The Worst President Ever".   Bush did such a masterful job that his legacy and damage will take at least a decade for recovery.  Obama inherited a mess, and the GOP puts the yoke of blame on him for all that Bush created.  Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan, and Bush are names and subjects that the Republicans refuse to acknowledge, and by doing so they fantasize their campaign on the tracks of missing logic.  As Romney hides much that we need to know, and he and his party go forth etch-a-sketching an erased responsibility to historical events, there is not much to work with.  So, they just make things up:

2.  Apparently Paul Ryan took great liberties and presented a host of "misspeaks" or "untruths", or more to the point - lies last night in Tampa.  Even FOX NEWS immediately pointed that out (see the links below).  Ryan may have presented an eager and youthful presentation, which will be an asset to the ticket as he stands next to the plastic and boring Mitt Romney.  However, the Republican penchant for making up stuff and running on stuff that is not true is going to present a huge liability.  When the media is doing its journalistic duty to report the truth, the public is more apt to pay attention and act accordingly than if it is left to the opposition to point out the lies.  This is not going to go well for RomRyan and the GOP from here on out:

3.  The Republican whoppers in Tampa are interrupted for Thom Hartman's presentation of the rest of the news:

4.  "Right-Wing Nuttery".....   Now that is a phrase I have not heard of before.  However, as you read this article, you see how it is applied to the self-appointed vigilantes seeking to prevent "voter fraud" by anyone who does not look like "us" - using firearms and "capping off offenders" as the right-wing-nuts.  They are at the core of hatred that exists in the Tea Party - you know - that group which has taken over the Republican Party:

5.  I found this article, a bit strange, and perhaps over the top.  However, it does have some instructional material on understanding the workings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS for short).  This lesson is about the practice of tithing:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/45240

6.  As I was reading this column, I had my TV on with some bobble-headed politician by the name of Mitt (on muted TV), and Bernie Sanders in this article.  I left the TV on mute, and listend to Bernie.  We should all listen to Bernie and Mitt can go back to the Caymans and talk to his money:

7.  Conventions are full of corporate money and the influence is not there to just give you a glitzy show, it is there because the sponsors and the corporate backers demand and expect a return on their investment.  The underbelly of Capitalism runs the show:

8.  I un-muted the TV and tried to watch Romney's acceptance speech...I really tried, but then as I checked in on him briefly, I caught the part where he said ".....this country worked with the president, and did everything to make him be successful ....", and then I bailed out to mute again.   From the date of his Obama's inaugural, the Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, and now speaker of the house John Boehner, have done nothing but obstruct and obstruct all along the way.  The quoted mission of McConnell was to make Obama a "1-term president".   So much for paying Romney and more time.   He's apparently following the foot-steps of Ryan and either making things ups, or just plain lying.   I'll catch up on the news highlights tomorrow morning, and take other people's points of view to see how Romney did:

9. David Brooks is back, and this is his first contribution since his "The Real Mitt Romney" column a few days ago.  It is a very good column, with good points.  It's tenor and subject material confirms that the last one on the Real Mitt was not a fluke or a joke.   This column today says good and bad things about both political parties, but in particular the Republicans.  He fault the GOP for putting on speaker after speaker that harkens and promotes the individual and the success that comes to the individual with hard work and unfailing principles.  Brooks says that this is the mantra and the theme of the old days, and the Republicans as a party are failing to grasp that circumstances have changed and things are now societal and communitarian and the good of the group.  Taking this one step further, this approaches the Conservative definition of "socialism"...and that is a failing the the Republicans are going to have to address.   While the Republicans poo poo anything that has "government" association, Brooks opines that that is main problem with the GOP.   There are very good and great programs that involve the participation of the "government".   The Democrats don't get off easy, however.   They linger too long with programs that don't always work, or fail to change or fix.   There is much more in what Brooks has here, but all in all, it is a very good lesson for both parties:

--
Juan

"If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late."  
       -- Henny Youngman
"They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea." 
       -- Sir Francis Bacon
"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."
       -- Mary Chase
"Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!" 
       -- Henry David Thoreau
"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends." 
       -- Baltasar Gracian

Things to Know - 31 August

mike08312

1.  I have to admit, I did not have the patience nor the inclination to sit through the TV coverage of the Republicans in Tampa.  First of all, I am turned off by the complexion (or lack thereof) of the attending delegates.  What I see is not the diversity that we all experience when we go to the malls, DMV, stores, or public downtown streets.  What I glean from news highlights and opinions the day after is how I get most of my information.  What I am observing, is that there is a glaring absence of a few key players who are responsible for most of the misery that we are feeling today.   No one is talking about Osama Bin Laden.  The Republicans used Bin Laden and Al Queda to throw us into the biggest boondoggle of unfunded ventures ever experienced by this nation.  Also absent is the name and face of George W. Bush.  For 8 years, "W" was the Republican President - and did he ever screw things up, and so quickly and so thoroughly that he has rightly earned the title of "The Worst President Ever".   Bush did such a masterful job that his legacy and damage will take at least a decade for recovery.  Obama inherited a mess, and the GOP puts the yoke of blame on him for all that Bush created.  Osama Bin Laden, Afghanistan, and Bush are names and subjects that the Republicans refuse to acknowledge, and by doing so they fantasize their campaign on the tracks of missing logic.  As Romney hides much that we need to know, and he and his party go forth etch-a-sketching an erased responsibility to historical events, there is not much to work with.  So, they just make things up:

2.  Apparently Paul Ryan took great liberties and presented a host of "misspeaks" or "untruths", or more to the point - lies last night in Tampa.  Even FOX NEWS immediately pointed that out (see the links below).  Ryan may have presented an eager and youthful presentation, which will be an asset to the ticket as he stands next to the plastic and boring Mitt Romney.  However, the Republican penchant for making up stuff and running on stuff that is not true is going to present a huge liability.  When the media is doing its journalistic duty to report the truth, the public is more apt to pay attention and act accordingly than if it is left to the opposition to point out the lies.  This is not going to go well for RomRyan and the GOP from here on out:

3.  The Republican whoppers in Tampa are interrupted for Thom Hartman's presentation of the rest of the news:

4.  "Right-Wing Nuttery".....   Now that is a phrase I have not heard of before.  However, as you read this article, you see how it is applied to the self-appointed vigilantes seeking to prevent "voter fraud" by anyone who does not look like "us" - using firearms and "capping off offenders" as the right-wing-nuts.  They are at the core of hatred that exists in the Tea Party - you know - that group which has taken over the Republican Party:

5.  I found this article, a bit strange, and perhaps over the top.  However, it does have some instructional material on understanding the workings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS for short).  This lesson is about the practice of tithing:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/45240

6.  As I was reading this column, I had my TV on with some bobble-headed politician by the name of Mitt (on muted TV), and Bernie Sanders in this article.  I left the TV on mute, and listend to Bernie.  We should all listen to Bernie and Mitt can go back to the Caymans and talk to his money:

7.  Conventions are full of corporate money and the influence is not there to just give you a glitzy show, it is there because the sponsors and the corporate backers demand and expect a return on their investment.  The underbelly of Capitalism runs the show:

8.  I un-muted the TV and tried to watch Romney's acceptance speech...I really tried, but then as I checked in on him briefly, I caught the part where he said ".....this country worked with the president, and did everything to make him be successful ....", and then I bailed out to mute again.   From the date of his Obama's inaugural, the Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, and now speaker of the house John Boehner, have done nothing but obstruct and obstruct all along the way.  The quoted mission of McConnell was to make Obama a "1-term president".   So much for paying Romney and more time.   He's apparently following the foot-steps of Ryan and either making things ups, or just plain lying.   I'll catch up on the news highlights tomorrow morning, and take other people's points of view to see how Romney did:

9. David Brooks is back, and this is his first contribution since his "The Real Mitt Romney" column a few days ago.  It is a very good column, with good points.  It's tenor and subject material confirms that the last one on the Real Mitt was not a fluke or a joke.   This column today says good and bad things about both political parties, but in particular the Republicans.  He fault the GOP for putting on speaker after speaker that harkens and promotes the individual and the success that comes to the individual with hard work and unfailing principles.  Brooks says that this is the mantra and the theme of the old days, and the Republicans as a party are failing to grasp that circumstances have changed and things are now societal and communitarian and the good of the group.  Taking this one step further, this approaches the Conservative definition of "socialism"...and that is a failing the the Republicans are going to have to address.   While the Republicans poo poo anything that has "government" association, Brooks opines that that is main problem with the GOP.   There are very good and great programs that involve the participation of the "government".   The Democrats don't get off easy, however.   They linger too long with programs that don't always work, or fail to change or fix.   There is much more in what Brooks has here, but all in all, it is a very good lesson for both parties:

--
Juan

"If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late."  
       -- Henny Youngman
"They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea." 
       -- Sir Francis Bacon
"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."
       -- Mary Chase
"Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!" 
       -- Henry David Thoreau
"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends." 
       -- Baltasar Gracian

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Things to Know - 30 August

   


Republican National Convention puts a brown face on a white party

        
Republican National Convention puts up a brown face for a white party

David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (August 28, 2012)


1.  The NY Times summed up Tuesday's GOP showing with not much that would make the Republicans happy.  The production staff of the convention and the scriptors got carried away with an out of context fabrication of a statement that Obama made and based an entire theme on it.  Yes, the Republicans built a weak and disingenuous motif out of whole cloth, and it left those few who were watching from the outside with an empty feeling:

2.  This next article is a contribution from the Crowley-Bello News Service, and it requires discipline and at least a half hour of your time to absorb and understand.  It is from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi, and that should set it up as to what you are about to read.  It is a history of Mitt Romney and his grooming to become the leader of Bain and Company.  What Bain did, and how it did it is detailed - it exposes the underbelly of the shady and malevolent side of Capitalism and  how the greed-driven manipulators take advantage of every tool available, including unethical conduct, to produce great amounts of wealth.  In doing so, the companies that Bain loaded up with LBO debt are divested of every bit of cash and equity, and it is all taken by Romney and his investors. Left behind are employees with nothing.  Left to rot are the shells of buildings that used to be the cornerstone of a viable community.   Romney then takes his stash of money and uses every advantage written into the tax code so that he avoids the burden and sacrifice that US taxpayers assume as their bonding contract as citizens.  Willard Mitt Romney is the LDS clean-faced mystery façade that hides all that is wrong with Capitalism, our tax laws, and ethical conduct of business.  He's made a lot of money in his life, but he has not built anything, not even a shoebox out of wood and his own handsaw hammer and nails.  And this guy wants us to believe he is the type of character that we need and want for president?   Not on my watch:

3.  Not seen on your normal TV convention coverage (cable or otherwise) was this spot from C-Span which really shows the Xenophobic hatred that is assembled in the GOP Convention in Tampa.   A woman from the Puerto Rican delegation (obviously set up to show the party's attempt to be inclusive), is shouted down by a rabble of Tea Party hate spewing delegates.   This is the Republican Party on display.   Shameful, disgusting, and hate-filled.   No...never:

4.  The Romney's in the lean years of the salad days in college.  Times were really tough.  They actually had  to live off of cashed in American Motors stock.   Oh to be in such poverty !!:

5.  You really have to wonder if being a delegate to the Republican National Convention to nominate a candidate for president is actually an opportunity to participate in the democracy of this country.  With a room full of these kind of people, is this really the United States of America?:
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/cnn-republican-convention-black-camerawoman.php

6.  A look from the UK, a Conservative House of Lords member, relays what he and his country feel about the political campaign we have here in the USA.   Apart from rejecting the GOP view that their NHS is a digrace, the Brits also can see that the Republicans have obstructed Obama from trying to push through his agenda, but also recognize that what he has been able to accomplish has been a credit and good.   They also would not welcome a GOP president and administration and consider it a push back to a great depression that would be bad for everyone in the world.   In short, the Republican Party as it exists today, is bad for America, bad for the UK, and bad for the world.   That about says it all:

7.  There apparently was one very crucial event early in the history of Bain and Company where the company was in very deep financial problems and was facing bankruptcy.  In a series of deals that Bain put together, it staved off going out of business for a short period of time, but then there was nothing left, but a bank that was owned by Bain, and what little it had left was able to provide enough leverage to get back out of the red.  That leverage was provided by the FDIC to Bain - yes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (The American Tax Payer).   So, you can safely see that Romney did not build it - THE AMERICAN TAX PAYERS BUILT BAIN:

8.  EJ Dionne goes after NJ Gov. Chris Christie and sees his convention key note speech as claiming that providing adequate health care to those that have none, funding Social Security to give a recipient a $1,230/month benefit which propels him or her to at least half-way up to the 50-state defined poverty line, and granting students with Pell Grants as "living on a hammock on easy street".  Really?  Why does the GOP find it necessary to increases the tax breaks and loopholes for the very wealthy?  Jabba the Hut would do well to refrain from picking class warfare fights:

9.  The latest NY Times 538Blog, which is allowing for the RNC convention bounce, is not all that good for the Republicans.  Of course, things change, and we will continue to watch this particular blog.  The discussion seems to settle on two things (1) Is Obama really that good (2) is Rom/Ryan really all that bad.   Perhaps, there will be other possible responses.  I happen to think that the GOP has gone over the hill to places we have been before (aka te wrong direction), and hopefully this will put those twisted extremists back into their own tent and you can call them Tea Party, John Birchers, KKK, or whatever, but leave the Republicans alone:
-- 
Juan

"If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball." 
       -- Jack Lemmon
"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." 
       -- Oscar Wilde
"It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it." 
       -- Henry Allen
"We're all in this alone." 
       -- Lily Tomlin
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock." 
       -- Will Rogers

--

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Things to Know - 29 August

Phyllis Schlafly faces storm at the Republican National Convention

1.  Yesterday, I wrote my own op-ed on the subject that corporate American and businesses should be freed from an implied or long-standing practice of providing health and pension care programs.  My wife was right - she said that my ideas were good, but that I should spend more time in re-arranging sentence and grammatical structure.   So, I will do so.  For now, just absorb it for your own usage, and we can talk about it later.    

2.  Mitt Romney is complaining about the ugly and nasty tone that his opponent is taking towards him.  Willard is actually whining like a hurt kid.  Whazzup with this guy?   He's been doing that all along to his fellow GOP opponents, and continued on with Obama.   Mitt apparently is very thin-skinned and can't handle criticism.  His disingenuous claims and his racist-tinged base energizing bombs of late do nothing to support his pious and lofty self-perception.   If anything, he can just read David Brooks today, and be totally dumped on by someone who is not a Democrat:

3.  The polls indicate that Obama is running away with the Hispanic vote.  There is no way putting lipstick on him or any other pandering Romney may undertake after the convention that  would improve his standing.  The Republican tent has Jan Brewer, Sheriff Joe, and the entire  conservative dim-witted state legislatures in the South that preach hatred.  The Republican Party is no friend of the Hispanic community.  The African-American voting block is all in for Obama.  Women are tired of the war being waged against them by the GOP.  The GLBT sector has not one whiff of support from the GOP.  The GOP is now basically old, white, and crazy, with no room for moderates.   America is a melting pot.   This pot has got to get out and vote, and if it does, perhaps the Republican Party will wake up to this fact, and quit dabbling in ideology that neglects and fails to nurture an enduring existence for all:

4.  With some attention given to Tampa, and more serious attention given to hurricane Isaac, some key points between the philosophies of both political parties come into play.  The Democrats are aware of and support the federal government where it, and it alone, is the only game in town that provides efficient and necessary services.  For example, GOP governor Rick Scott of Florida, declares his state in need of emergency assistance so that the Federal Government can provide emergency support to recover from the storm damage from Isaac.  The national weather service is the agency that is keeping an eye out and determining the direction and possible threatened areas in the path of the hurricane.  FEMA has been alerted to be on hand to provide emergency support and assistance to the states on the Gulf Coast.   This is all FEDERAL support.   The same FEDERAL classification that the Paul Ryan and his GOP cronies want to cut back on funding, while reducing taxes on the wealthy.   The hypocrisy demonstrated by the Republicans is sad and destructive to this nation.  I get this feeling that those in charge of the stage direction of the GOP convention are hoping that destructive storm forces hitting the landfall cites are not so severe that the TV coverage is pulled away from Tampa to cover a replay of Katrina.  That would really hurt, especially if it occurs during Ann Romney's moment of glory:

5.  With the above in mind, The GOP governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, responds to Obama's alert to FEMA, that the White House response is "not enough".   Hey, let's call George W. and have him fill sand bags for you.  What do you want, Bobby?  The very federal agency that your political party wants to slash with budget cuts is supposed to do what for you?   You are the kind of "don't tread on me" guy who wants to join Medicare when he finds out that he needs by-pass heart surgery.  Hypocrisy gone wild !!:

6.  I figured the Republican convention was not worth watching.  Nothing exciting was going to happen, and nothing did.  Fat Boy and the Blonde lady, and the weeping Speaker did fill my screen when I passed by the MSNBC channel to the Weather Channel.  Later in the evening, in my chores to get this job done, I found this tid-bit from the WashPost that indicates that Isaac was not the only storm in the area of the Gulf.  Romney's control-freak desire to manipulate is not going to go well for him from here on out:

7.  I guess if one had to sum up what the GOP did last night, this column is about as good as any that I have read.   I did not miss anything by passing up the coverage.   It was predictable, and apparently empty and hollow - just like the no longer presumptive nominee:

8.  The NY Times coverage of the events last night, have a bit more substance of the absence of truth presented by various speakers.  It is very difficult to inspire when what is being said is lacking in so many necessary ways:

9.  Bill Keller has taken to the position by many journalists.  The Republican Party is just making up stuff.  Stuff that is egregious, false, and just thinking it is okay to do so.   Calling out a pack of liars is about the only avenue left for responsible journalists, who can no longer tolerate the behavior of a once great party that has become a sordid mess of corrupt and unprincipled cheats:

10.  Cardinal Timothy Dolan has agreed to the Democrat's invitation to "bless" their party gathering in Charlotte next week.   Ain't that a hoot !!   Is there any big shot guy in Salt Lake City with the LDS church who can be extended the same invitation.  Boy, would that ever create a super wedgie in Mitts magic underwear:


Juan

"When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him." 
       -- John Billings(Henry Wheeler Shaw)
"The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum." 
       -- Havelock Ellis
"The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums." 
       -- G. K. Chesterton
"If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style." 
       -- Quentin Crisp
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."
       -- Emma Goldman


Monday, August 27, 2012

Things to Know - 28 August

   GOP Convention © John Deering,The Arkansas Democrat Gazette,gop,convention,fox,news,cnn,reporters,campaign,election
IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE TODAY, DO NOT MISS #8   DAVID BROOKS COLUMN ON THE "REAL ROMNEY"

1.  I missed this column last night, and upon re-reading the NY Times, I realize that it should have gone.   It does seem that there is an injection of race into the campaign by Romney - and it is shameful and false at the same time.  Harking back to Reagan's "welfare queens'', poppy Bush and WIllie Horton, and now how Obama is "taking your Medicare (mostly retired white people), and using it to pay for Obama Care (mostly people who have or have any job-related insurance programs, and mostly poor and minority).   Are we sophisticated and learned enough to see this gradual morphing of moving tax revenues from the deserving to the undeserving?   Is America a land occupied by those who deserve and those who do not?  If so, who makes that determination, or is America one for all and all for one?   This is a bitter and disgusting question, and does nothing but rip us apart.  It should be called out every time it surfaces, and now is one of those times:

2.  Before I go any farther, this has no link, and no supporting documentation.  It is my own thought.    Do we not need to rethink two very key programs that are deeply embedded in our culture and economy?    Many years ago, employment was the hallowed base upon which the American Dream fostered economic survival and existence.  Employers became the provider of health care insurance.  This was done at a moment in our history when wages were frozen and at a time when employers used it to attract and keep qualified and good employees.  Is that really the case these days?   It seems that if given the opportunity, employers would dump it, and they have.  Why is it that health care is defined by employers?  Now and towards the future, people will be looking to careers that may involve eight to ten separate companies along the way.  If there were a universal program that was portable, employees could change jobs as many times as necessary, and never have to be concerned with changes or differences in health care.  Hiring on with one company as a young person, and staying with that organization for 30 or 40 years, and getting your gold watch are over.   We need to recognize that, and free businesses from non-business programs.   The same can be said for pensions.  Companies and organizations (like cities and counties) are having to adjust to costs related to obligations made when they attracted employees to hire.  When companies change, go bankrupt, or re-organize, pension obligations are usually scaled down to the point where there is almost nothing there at the end of the road for retirees.  Where is it said that employers must provide retirement pensions?   In this modern day, with many companies and organizations involved in what is called a career, pensions get lost in the shuffle, and leave retired employees in the dust of corporate capitalism's worst ethical conscience.    My position is that business should be in the business of just providing jobs to do whatever it is that they do, and in exchange the employees receive fair and competitive compensation with good, clean, and fair working conditions.  In reality, young people these days rarely find full-time employment right out of school.  There are part-time, contract, paid internships, and a hodgepodge of other classifications that involve paychecks for work.  We should redefine the role of companies and corporate American and get them out of being health and pension providers.   If we can get to that point in a debate, we then can discuss how and what delivery system is workable that would provide health care and pensions.   The concept of a benevolent and solid company providing good health care benefits and guaranteed and durable pensions is over.  Corporate American is now corrupt with unethical conduct and inconsistent practices.  Employees depend on corporate board decisions for their health and livelihood.   Unfortunately, employees are last in line to reap the scraps of a failed venture.
Why should Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation be the dumping ground for the failures of corporations?   Is the PBGC the equivalent of the Wall Street bailout?   It would be sweet if it were funded to that same level, bit it is not.   I think we need to really put some effort in changing the obligations that have evolved that depend on businesses to provide health and pensions.  What we put in place to deliver those programs is a subject for another day.

3.  As the rest of the world looks upon us and mutterings of Todd Akin, are we comfortable as being viewed as a nation of dim-witted imbeciles?  An elected member to the nation's House of Representative, AND on the Committee of Science and Technology, we are regarded with derisive laughter in some quarters, and mild amusement in others.  What is going to result when the world starts paying close attention and finds out that Akin is just the tip of the ice berg with the newly redefined Republican Party?:

4.  An analysis of what is going on in the Republican Party right now.   This fairly well sums up my feelings.  You have often seen me refer to them as the GeeOpee, but this week the GeeOpee will officially become the Republican Party - no more moderate connotations allowed.   The election will be the Democrats vs. the Tea Party.   It will sad to see the faces of the old line Republicans smiling in acquiescence to TV cameras as their once-GOP has been co-opted by a bunch of weird and crazy ideologues.  This crazy bunch is the delivery system for the Super Pac billionaires who want to own the White House to get the legislation and deals through that legalize the criminal activity they wish for now:

5.  Fipping and Flopping his way through the campaign, and saying anything to pander without regard to his previous sayings, Mittflop is at it again.  In this case, apparently a woman must register her vagina on either the state level or the federal level to avail herself or deny herself access to birth control.  The question is, how do you go about this method of Republican v-registration?:

6.  Looking at the legacy that his Mittness left at Bain, this week, as the coronation caps the extravaganza that remakes the character and personality (how do you remake something that is not there?), a Bain investment is going bankrupt which exposes the failings of what Romney would like to consider his success:

7.  Jonathan Capehart points out an obvious obstruction that Obama had to put up with ever since he took office.  McConnell and the the Republicans in Congress did nothing at all for the American people and blocked every effort of the President to get anything done. How this is recalled by the American people is to be seen, but Romney is a fricken liar when he asserts the Obama is a failed administration.  Any failure can be dropped around the neck of McConnell and Boehner, and that should be made loud and clear:

8.  David Brooks has written the most perfect analysis of Mitt Romney I have ever read.  Either this column was written while Brooks was experimenting with LSD (not LDS), or he lost a bet with a liberal journalist at his paper.  It is entertaining, and far more accurate thatn anything your are going to see in Tampa this week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/opinion/brooks-the-real-romney.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

--
Juan

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think interior decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." 
       -- Anna Quindlen
"The only good ideas are the ones I can take credit for." 
       -- R. Stevens
"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor." 
       -- Victor Hugo
"Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them." 
       -- Dr. Martin Henry Fischer