Things to Know - 6 August

1.  One day of the DNC, and the Republicans are very worried, and with reason.  Everything that the Ryan/Romney duo has thrown out there is not sticking.  The GOP team blasts something out, and within a day or two it comes back as a flop.  So the brain trust huddles, and comes up with something else.  After the Republicans closed their convention, they huddled and have stayed in huddle mode for several days now, which is unheard of in presidential campaigns.  The expected bounce, instead of the usual 5 to 9 points, came back as a 1.  Eastwood's talk with a chair, overshadowed anything Romney said - nobody remembers what he said, but the empty chair lives on in the same memorable league with the whoopie cushion.  The Democrats will probably have a great week with great speeches from respected people.  The faces of delegates in Charlotte are the faces of a diverse America.  The faces in Tampa reflected a lot of a pure white, older, community - interspersed with pockets of spitting hatred, which even mainstream Republicans were ashamed of.  Now, we going out into the blur of the campaign.  The only hope that the GOP has going for it is the hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow from the coffers of the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and others - channeled and directed through Karl Rove.  The Republicans are really banking on the money to pull them through.  The Democrats need to overcome the GOP Super Pacs and voter suppression.  Coming into consideration will be the effect of the damage done by Republicans by their "war on women" and the increasing influence of minority voters, in particular the Hispanic bloc.  The mindset of Karl Rove may prove to be based on the old and possibly tired game plan of buying the media to air their of attack ads.  People can just turn the "off" switch for relief.  The Dems will most-likely roll out hundreds of hours of Romney Flip-Flops, and gaffes.  I am not looking for anything of substance to be discussed.  I have my Netflix, some good books, and this little job to get by - and my work is to get out the vote.  Is this a set up for this link??? - probably not - but I got it off my chest:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/four-signs-republicans-are-getting-desperate/

2.  Mitt is having his problems explaining stuff.  After his scripted stump messages are regurgitated, the period afterward is awkward because he gets questions on things he does not want to talk about.  The public can see right through this strategy.  Meanwhile Paul Ryan is having problems explaining what he meant by what he has said.  He then gets questions on what he has written as his budget plan, and then he gets questions on the differences that he has with Romney.   It appears that Romney and Ryan are better off just mailing in a video of their stump speech, and then not making any public appearances where reporters ask questions.  But, then again this is not the type of person that makes for a good leader or elected official:

http://www.nationalmemo.com/for-real/

3.  You may recall in Romney's acceptance speech, he mockingly derided Obama and the programs to find alternative sources of energy.  Romney is speaking for his bankrolling Big Energy (Koch Brothers) donors.  While at the same time that these dipped in petrol politicians are  sneering away, the best of our technology is on the surface of Mars is powering up the rovers, cameras, radios, and science labs with solar panels to give us access to the heavens and the future.  Next time, ask Romney and his bundlers why they have not sent up rockets and rovers to the Moon and Mars with drilling and petrol refining equipment to power up the exploration of Mars.  There could be a reason why drill-baby-drill does not work.  It is dirty and clumsy, polluting, and inefficient.  The sun shines no less on Earth than it does on the Moon or Mars.  Drilling for Oil locks us into stagnation and self-destruction of the planet.  Solar takes us into the future:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/45316/

4.  It had to happen.  A claim of an unauthorized access to a data mine that has the tax return of Mitt Romney has surfaced.  In this case the claim that the computer system of Price Waterhouse being hacked is the source.  Who Knows?   In any event, this is either going to be squirm time for the Romney camp.  The author of this claim is holding Mitt Romney for ransom to the tune of $1Million in Bitcoins.  (Read here on what a Bitcoin is -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin )     Is this going to distract the RomRyan campaign?  You bet your bippy it will.  If Romney does not address it, the reporters questions sure will.  Ah yes, never a dull moment for the Flipper and Liar duo:

http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/05/romney-tax-returns-hacked/

5.  George Lakoff is a Berkeley professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, so that gives him the creds to speak to this subject.  He outlines how it is that conservative voters may object to a candidate's particular views or positions, but will continue to vote for him/her if the the candidate is framed as someone with a conservative morality.  This will perpetuate the paradigm of voting against one's interests.  With that in mind, there is a primer enclosed on how a Democrat should talk to a "low-information" conservative to bring them over to see the other side.  You might enjoy this:

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11348-george-lakoff-low-information-or-high-morality 

6.  Paul Krugman has taken the Ryan Budget Proposal (which Romney may endorse, or not, depending on who is asking, and what day of the week it is), and does his own fact checking.  It turns out the the CBO only did a cursory judgement on it, and it used the premises for the budget as set forth by Ryan.  When Krugman dug in just a little, he found that the validity of the reductions in expenditures and the tax cuts were all driven by what Ryan said was fact - the facts were not even backed up - no substantiation at all - PFM -Pure Frickin Magic:

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11333-a-candidates-implausible-dream 

7.  Gail Collins...well she must have written and filed her report online about 30 minutes after Bill Clinton spoke.  The intent was to just about close the coverage of the DNC, except for Obama's speech tomorrow night.  She recaps Clinton's speech.  It was supposed to be about 28 minutes, but he went on for almost 50 (any surprise?).  If you did not see it, you missed something.   It was masterful, and classic Bill Clinton style.  Even the tile on the convention floor got up to cheer for him when he finished:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/opinion/collins-the-roots-are-back.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  Steve Lopez writes about a former child actor, who many of us may recall.   John Whittaker, later in life, turned into a hard-core drug addict, and was in the down-and out mode for a long time.   In his later-in-life recovery, he realized that his drug habit (along with many others) was responsible for the support of the activities of gangs and dealers, and Mexican Cartels.   Many people died in the trade that support the drug habit.  He began to apologize to the mothers of those who were killed in the violence, and that seems to be his motivation to stay clean:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0905-lopez-apology-20120905,0,354108.column

 

--
Juan

"Every man is wise when attacked by a mad dog; fewer when pursued by a mad woman; only the wisest survive when attacked by a mad notion." 
       -- Robertson Davies

"The cloning of humans is on most of the lists of things to worry about from Science, along with behaviour control, genetic engineering, transplanted heads, computer poetry and the unrestrained growth of plastic flowers." 
       -- Lewis Thomas

"The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces." 
       -- Maureen Murphy

"Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking." 
       -- H. L. Mencken