Something to Know - 24 October

   

Presidential debate: Romney says 'me too' to Obama policies ( David Horsey / Los Angeles Times )

1.  I know that you probably have seen some of the many pictures and video of the Shuttle Endeavor and its trip from LAX to its final resting place.  However, there is this neat video of the NASA 747/Shuttle Combo flying into the Los Angeles basin and making several flybys that show landmarks and cities in a different perspective than what you see when you just make one pass to land at LAX:

http://marcbrecy.perso.neuf.fr/shuttlelax/Shuttlelaxvideo.html

2.  Here's an effective video message that appeals to women, and is entertaining while at the same time urging a vote against those who are waging a "war on women":

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/the-best-lady-gotv-video-of-2012-starring-lena-dunham-and-lesley-gore/264021/

3.  George Will, on occasion, reach back an come up with something sober and profound.  It is this column of his which takes us back to the person of George McGovern, who was monumental, even in his loss, in steering the national conscience to "Come Home, America":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-america-finally-home/2012/10/23/d26225f8-1d3d-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_print.html

4.  The subject of military superiority, defense spending, and the size of our Navy was a major issue in the last debate.   There are two links here (1) graphically dramatizes the heft and size of our air craft carrier fleet and compares it to other nations. and (2) an article about John Lehman, who is an adviser to Romney, and who has a vested interest in seeing that tax payer money is spent to build more boats (no surprise, but tacky in the usual GOP way):

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers-2012.gif

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/10/big-business-romneys-navy/all/

5.  Maureen Dowd starts off her column here by presenting us with the mother of all deadlocked situations - both candidates come up tied in the Electoral College.  This would send the election to the House of Representatives, where an apparent GOP majority would declare Romney the winner, and the selection of the VP would go to the Senate, where they would confirm Biden.   How does that grab you?   The rest of her work today looks at the empty and vapid substance of romney's character - and that aspect of Mittley is where I think this contest will be determined:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/opinion/dowd-my-mitt-fantasy.html?ref=opinion&_r=0&pagewanted=print

6.  Here, in the state of California, we have a proposition on the ballot (37), which deals with Genetically Modified Organisms in our food (GMO).   What the proposition is asking is for foods that contain GMOs be labeled as such.  Just like labeling calorie content, and percentages of other elements, that we already have on processed foods.   HOWEVER, Dow and Monsanto (Big Chem), do not want us to know that.  Big Chem is spending a million bucks a day just to fill the airwaves against Prop. 37, and the money that is thrown around is working, in a very deceitful way.   All I am asking is that GMO infested food products be indicated on the labeling.   Is that too much to ask?  Why does BigChem not want us to know?    The proposition does not ban GMO processed food.  The proposition gives the consumer the option through truthful labeling to make their own decision on buying it or not:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/buying-the-vote-on-g-m-o-s/?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

--
Juan

""Stuffed deer heads on walls are bad enough, but it's worse when they are wearing dark glasses and have streamers in their antlers because then you know they were enjoying themselves at a party when they were shot." 

       -- Ellen DeGeneres

"You are not superior just because you see the world in an odious light." 
       -- Vicomte de Chateaubriand

"Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind." 
       -- E. B. White

"There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead." 
       -- Arthur Honegger