Things to Know - 12 September

1.  Pro Life.  It could mean something different to many people, and be mistakenly defined by others.  The debates on the definition will probably go on for as long as some have a variable scale of measurement that does not include, or ignores, all factors.  To that end, here is a brief presentation of the meaning of "Obama Care" as it pertains to the health and welfare of people whose quality or very existence and essence of life is dependent on public policy:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/five-reasons-that-obamacare-is-pro-life/

2.  The political conventions are over, and what you see is what you get.  There is spin that follows any conversation, speech, or event, but trends are starting to develop that spell the outcome.  RomRyan have been have some, but limited success on what they thought was their big asset going in - and that being the economy and unemployment.  There is evidence that things are getting better, but there is evidence that the fragile situation that Obama inherited was much worse than what was first reported.  What is developing and what may be the main dynamic that picks one over the other is the issue of Character.  Obama has it, and Romney does not.  On that, the election outcome may hinge:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/obama-expands-lead-over-romney-in-latest-polls/

3.  From the Santa Monica news bureau, we get this from the Atlantic.  If you are like I am, you've wondered how Mitt Romney could amass an IRA worth $102 Million when the absolute max is $30,000/year contribution (which he he supposedly did while at Bain for 15 years).  The answer is speculated in this article by someone who knows Romney from his association at Bain, and how rich guys share rich-guy talk about how they invest their money and use the tax code to push the envelope.  Well this guy knows Mitt, and we don't know Mitt about nuthin'.   There is this thing called "carried interest", and for the uber-wealthy like Willard, only they can provoke an edge-pushing scheme that you and I and all other normal people cannot do.  He seems to have done it because apparently he wanted to see if it could be done, when no one else could do it:

http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/whats-really-going-on-with-mitt-romneys-102-million-ira/261500/

4.  The writer of this opinion warns of an approaching Fascist State.  As you read it, you do see the warning signs - they are all there as they have been played out - some starting with the Reagan administration, but more lately with Bush and Cheney, and the hi-hacking of the Republican Party by the TeaPublican Party.  That is why this election is so important.  There are many things on the line, from Health Care, Taxes,  Federal Judge Appointments, the Supreme Court,,,,etc.  As I have been saying, it is not so much the re-election of Obama, it is the destruction of the Tea Party.  The extreme Conservatives took over the Tea Party, and are using it to drive the Republican farther to the right, and leaving the good moderates in the dust.    If the moderate and progressive Republicans can come back after the right wing is defeated, perhaps a viable two party system will work once again:

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0718-07.htm

5.  The Brits catch on fast.  The Guardian, from across the pond, recognizes the shrinking demographics that are the base of the GOP (angry old white guys). Times are changing, and what used to work before does not cut it any more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/10/no-country-for-angry-old-white-men

6.  For those of you who may have missed CBS This Morning on Tuesday, here is Charlie Rose interviewing Kurt Eichenwald, who wrote the bombshell of an editorial for the NY TImes on how the Bush administration ignored the Presidential Daily Briefings long before the attack on 9-11:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57510158/ny-times-reporter-bush-white-house-didnt-listen-to-9-11-warnings/

7.  Congress is back in session, and the Teapublican leaders are ambivalent, miffed, and pissed.  The standard bearer of the Teapublican Party has carried his unlikable persona to the leaders of his party.   Romney is on record of criticizing the speaker of the house for the crappy deal on sequestration that was cut by Boehner that will force automatic cuts at the end of 2012.  It is obvious that the Romney campaign is out there doing its thing and he and his camp are not coordinating  strategy or agenda with the party leadership in Washington.   If this keeps up, I would not be surprised to see some unhappy and silent moderates cut and run on Romney and the rest, because the handwriting is on the wall:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-house-republicans-forget-about-mitt-romney/2012/09/11/567c27e0-fc4f-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_print.html

8.  Steve Lopez, from his perch on providing human interest stories, takes his shot on the street view (or local economic guru) of the presidential election:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez-econ101-20120911,0,2995181,print.column

--
Juan

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
       -- Ansel Adams

""A thought is often original, though you have uttered it a hundred times." 

       -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up." 
       -- W. Somerset Maugham

"You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in." 
       -- Arlo Guthrie

"I think the world is run by 'C' students." 
       -- Al McGuire