Sunday, September 9, 2012

Things to Know - 10 September

Ben Sargent
1.  The economic health of the state of Ohio is currently the subject.  It actually is better off now than it was four years ago.  How it got there gets muddled up between the current governor (Kasich), and what effect the Obama Recovery Act (Stimulus) may have had when he "saved" the auto industry.  There is nothing partisan about his article, but it does explore the various sides from Kasich doing his best to rally the private sector to keep businesses in the state, and what appears to be a lack of self-promotion by the Obama administration in not advertising their impact on the success.   In any event, there seems to be common ground in the acceptance that Stimulus money did keep the state functioning, and allowed the basic services to keep running as the auto industry spread its rebirth and economic good health back to the community.   What is apparent is that Romney is not happy with those (even those in his own party) who pridefully say that things are really better, and it appears that the success is downplayed by accentuating any negatives that happen to come along:

2.  Hippity-Hoppity, Mittley's on the etch-a-sketch campaign trail.  I saw Meet the Press on Sunday, and saw him back track from his "repeal Obama care" position.   There is a basic device, which is very simple, to measure the direction of the wind, and you've seen them around airports, and pilots use them to judge the wind in making a landing approach to the runway, and it is called a Wind Sock.  With Romney, determining the position and direction of his political positions and views, is nigh impossible.  With him, the best you can do is just put a pole in the ground, and remove the sock.  When he says something, the indication from the sockless pole is about the best you can do:

3.  It is one thing for me to keep producing article and column, one after an other, each day in my admittedly biased preference.  My goal in this endeavor is to present an array of articles that entertain and open minds to things that engender a greater understanding of issues that are important.  On occasion, I will also present a known conservative scribe who actually provides a thought provoking and educational view or idea.  Then there is stuff like this NY Times 538blog, which is like a urine analysis or blood work report - the hard numbers on polling data on the election.  Of course, I present them because they do show a bounce, from encouraging to much better than just encouraging.  I now expect the Romney/Ryan camp to just start throwing bigger lies and more preposterous claims out there, and Karl Rove and the Super Pac Casino Vaults will just be puking money into the system.   Now would be the perfect time to take a 58-day cruise, out of internet range, and the only serious reading material (other than about 4 good books) would be the dining room menu:

4.  This was bound to happen.  It underlines an unbalanced and dysfunctional expenditure of tax dollars.  California now spends more on jails than it does on higher education. What is wrong with this picture?  This is an introduction to the problem, if you did not know about it, and may start the dialogue to reform the function of our department of corrections, a review of the punishment and sentencing for crimes, and/or review of punishable crimes requiring imprisonment:

5.  This guy Ryan has some real brass.  When being called out for an inconsistency on something, he draws a line on linguistics and explains that even though he voted for something that he really did not support it. And, he does it with a straight face.  Lyin' Ryan:

6.  Going into the first week of the post-convention campaign stretch, EJ Dionne begins with the strengths and weaknesses of both sides.  What is apparent, is that the Democrats are running fast and taking advantages that the Republicans left open to them.  It is still strange to me that after the convention, Obama and Biden went to work immediately, while Romney took many days off, including one day to drive his boat around a lake.  Nice to afford several homes, and one with a lake and a boat, but you do have obligations, Mittley:

7.  Paul Krugman summarizes the Teapublicans strategy of winning the election.   The Jobs Act that Obama proposed earlier, had the unbiased opinion that it could increase employment by 1.3 million.   The GOP House shot it down, just because they could, and found no reason to help Obama look good.  By this time the GOP strategy was to just bloc the president, and blame him for everything.  The Teapublicans did not want to invest in any jobs to grow the economy, because it would cost money.  Romney is now crying out that the mandated budget cuts that come at the end of this year, will reduce the Department of the Defense budget, and it will cost jobs.   Krugman calls this strategy "weaponized Keynesian economics"  - that you cannot increase jobs unless it goes to defense contractors.  The Tepublican strategy was to cut and grow - and they did get the budget cuts, but there was not any growth to speak of.  So, now they figure that they can just blame Obama for it all:

8.  At Long Last !!.  LAX gets with the program.  From now on, travelers through the Los Angeles International Airport will be able to get 45-minutes of free WiFi access.  That is great news.   It won't determine the outcome of the election, but it will sure help retired airline employees figure out better ways to get out of town on busy days:

9.  Charter schools are an alternative to the local public school in one sense.  The Charter school can specialize in a specific curriculum (science, music, etc), and receives its funding like a normal public school.  It is free from some regulations and restrictions, but students are obligated to take the same exams.  Entry to a charter school is done by lottery, because the schools are usually over-subscribed.  What this article is about, is that parent are opting to pull their kids out of private schools, where they have to pay tuition, as well as regular taxes:


-- 
Juan

"Trust me.  You are worse off than you were four years ago"
       -- Willard M. Romney
"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.
       -- Rudyard Kipling
"Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth." 
       -- Rex Stout
"My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music." 
       -- Vladimir Nabokov
"A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done." 
       -- Fred Allen
"Everyone rises to their level of incompetence." 
       -- Laurence J. Peter

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