Monday, April 29, 2013

Something to Know - 30 April

Matt Bors
1.  Anyone who has ever had the Internet cough up information about a subject which is no longer true, but was once true in a newspaper article, knows what this is all about.   The Internet continues to carry items that may have been expunged or clarified by normal legal procedures, or are now not valid. Bill Keller writes about the problems that the Internet poses for certain situations:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/opinion/keller-erasing-history.html?pagewanted=2&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

2. Paul Krugman kicks it up again on his favorite subject - Austerity is A Dumb Program for Us Now.   Now that Europe has figured out that their drive to have austerity measures save their skin is not working, but is in fact making things worse, just might help to have us think and do better about our own depressing situation here at home:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/opinion/krugman-the-story-of-our-time.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

3.  The General Mood of our country is shifting to anxiety and unease about life that is no longer secure or financially stable.  The Middle Class is dying, and the disparate distribution of wealth is shattering the American Dreams.  The old adage that if you work hard you will succeed and prosper may no longer apply.  It is not working.  The promised ring at the end of the ride is not there.  The entitlements that we were expecting are not there.   What is wrong?   We need to find out, and do something about it, and soon.   History is replete with evidence that when things go wrong for too long, things change, and not very happily:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-samuelson-the-end-of-entitlement/2013/04/28/90356b1a-ae90-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_print.html

--
Juan

"Tourist are mistakenly showing up at the George W. Bush Library in Dallas looking for "the significant quantities of Yellow Cake from Niger"
       -- The Molly Ivins Memorial Library Commission

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Something to Know - 29 April

Jeff Danziger
1.  Senator Bernie Sanders offers this listing of US corporations who park operational profits in offshore tax schemes in order to avoid paying IRS obligations.  Is this something to revere, or are we just blind and silent?   There should be outrage over this, yet nothing registers on our awareness scale.  Does Corporate America just get tell legislators what they will and will not pay, and still receive bailouts and tax breaks when they neither earn or deserve them?   What is wrong, and why do we do nothing about it?:

2.  As our austerity-driving mad men keep pushing their agenda, and while the Europeans are having second thoughts about what they have done, we continue on the course of an economic plan that is damaging and does us no real good:

3.  Contributing to the continuing discussion that George W. Bush is not fit to be considered fit for the job, we have Maureen Dowd, who more than adequately presents the continuing case:

4.  Steven Spielberg reveals his intention for his next epic movie project.   He harvests from his past successes and gives us a big hint:
--
Juan

"Tourist are mistakenly showing up at the George W. Bush Library in Dallas looking for "the significant quantities of Yellow Cake from Niger"
       -- The Molly Ivins Memorial Library Commission

Friday, April 26, 2013

Something to Know - 27 April

Tom Toles
1.  The media is reporting that Congress is all happy about their progress in avoiding further "inconveniences" regarding the sequester issues that have fouled up the Air Traffic Control system.  Simply stated, members in Congress were so upset about being late to work and delayed on returning home, and faced further delays on getting out of the airport for their upcoming vacation.   Do they give one hoot about the other factions of our nation who are apparently not represented and are facing hardships greater than flight delays?  Look at those who are getting really squeezed or shut out and are living life at the bottom of the barrel:

2.  Going back to the Bush Library in Dallas, and keeping up the fair and balanced approach to the campaign to make believe that George W. Bush was not as bad as we think, here we go again:

3.  As has been posted her before, the incarceration problem here in the USA stands out like a sore thumb when compared to all other nations in the world.  The economic advantages to certain financial interests in this country are mostly responsible for this phenomenon.  Why do we allow it to continue?   It is all hush-hush throughout the paid-for legislators in city, county, and state government houses:

--
Juan

"Tourist are mistakenly showing up at the George W. Bush Library in Dallas looking for "the significant quantities of Yellow Cake from Niger"
       -- The Molly Ivins Memorial Library Commission

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Something to Know - 26 April

 

042613-toon-luckovich-ed


 It can be honestly stated and supported that satire and sarcasm are much better methods for exposing the fallacies of our society and systems of government.  Those forms of communication reach a broader audience than high-minded academic presentations that are usually prepared so that only other high-minded academics can understand.   To that end, here are several selections from various sources that help to support that proposition:

1.  On the failure of gun control legislation reform, a cartoonish history of previous attempts shame those who are contrary to the opinions of their previous political icons:

2.  In keeping with my previous promise, here is today's effort to honor the memory of our 43rd president:

3. Then, there is this Daily Show interview with Bassem Youseef, who is the equivalent of Jon Stewart in Cairo, and whose sarcasm is making Mohamed Morsi very edgy:

4.  Finishing up the satire and sarcasm lineup, we have Stephen Colbert who is following up on Paul Krugman with the Colbert Report's method of explaining the data sheet error that launched some very confusing presentations:

5.  However, at times, it is the grizzly and tragic photographs of reality that hit us at the core of our outrage.  And to think that there are some right-wing zealots out there who would have us believe that the Boston Bombing never happened, or if it did, it was perpetrated by our own government who wants to come after us.  WARNING: these photos are very real and graphic, and represent what ground zero was like in front of the Forum Cage of Boylston Street:

--
Juan

"The average Ph.D. thesis is nothing but a transference of bones from one graveyard to another. "
       -- J.Frank Dobie

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Something to Know - 25 April

deep2
1.  There seems to be a lot of media hype from some corners that are trying to do the same thing with George W. Bush as was done with Richard M. Nixon; to make him very appealing.   Well, it ain't going to work.  As with the former Nobel Cartoonist of the LA Times, Paul Conrad, there will be many who will keep working to stuff him back into the hole from whence he came.  I will be in that league to keep reminding people just how awful he is:

2.  I cannot waste this perfectly apt cartoon:
GeorgeWBushLibrary
3.  The NY Times editorial board points out the carping self-serving gibberish that the GOP leaders spout about the Sequester Cuts.  What needs to be said in a loud enough voice, is that the sniping does not include any concern about the harsh measures of the same Sequester on the folks at the lower end of the economic ladder, and how they are adversely affected:

4.  CNN. and other media sources (New York Post for another) have been taken to task for sloppy and totally irresponsible journalism.   At the same time there are certain political luminaries who are doing the same callous job with their opinions on the hidden or underlying meanings of the Boston Bombing.  Doyle McManus has that all here:
--


Juan

"Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source."
       -- Tom Stoppard

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Something to Know - 24 April

cid:8AEE204EDB664F00A110D3D6B743C3CE@pauloq0lzqu4rz
 
.
North Korean officers... could be easily defeated with a giant magnet...
It should not be that difficult to pick off the leaders of the charging hordes as they cross the 38th Parallel.

1.  Nate Silver had some pretty shrewd and accurate observations on presidential election of 2012.  He puts forth his observations on the polling in on the gun legislation, and how it reveals the likely hood of it tracking to the actual outcomes of the upcoming mid-term elections.  What Mr. Silver puts forth is that for the Democrats to win the House, and at least stay even in the Senate (with all the announced retirements-of-late), the Republicans have to be portrayed as out of touch with the mainstream....or to be unable to shift out of being the Party of Stupid:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/the-gun-vote-and-2014-will-there-be-an-electoral-price/?emc=eta1

2.  I admit that I am of a passing generation that places higher esteem and necessity on the daily newspaper than those younger and more connected to personal digital assistants (commonly known as PDAs).  I'm willing to accept that, and if the Murdochs and Koches want to buy up all the media (print and TV) outlets, let them waste their money when there will be no one looking at them.  However, there are downsides to the the world of PDAs, and we should be very aware:

--
Juan

"Nobody believes the official spokesman... but everybody trusts an unidentified source."
       -- Ron Nessen

Monday, April 22, 2013

Something to Know - 23 April

042313-toon-luckovich-ed


The "W" library opens today.  It would be fitting to have him standing there at the entrance, just before you get to his comic book collection, and a magistrate of the court tenders him a warrant for his arrest for his complicity in conjunction with his closest administrative officers who lied and committed torture in the name of the American People.   He should be held accountable:
http://www.care2.com/causes/indisputable-proof-of-use-of-torture-under-bush-report-finds.html

--
Juan

"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."
       -- Woody Allen

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Something to Know - 22 April

Rob Rogers
1.  Somethings just had to be said about the president's style, and Maureen Dowd just stepped up to the plate and swatted it.  Is it a wake up call that will be heeded, or is it just another angry poke at the concept that idealism just cannot deny that power politics gets things done?:

2.  As a long-time Southern Californian, the Los Angeles Times newspaper is something I grew up with, and read almost all my life (including the 24 years on-line in Georgia).  The news that newspapers are in trouble is nothing new.  Some have shut down, and some are merging and others being bought out.   The Koch Brothers are mentioned as suitors for the Big Chicago Tribune empire (which includes the LA Times).   I personally find it distasteful and nothing for me to stay with if in fact the Koches buy it.  It is a sad state for journalism if the Koches and the Murdochs wind up owning a big hunk of the media outlets in this country and the world.  Buying legislative control of the levers of government is not enough...now the media oligarchs want to control what we hear, see, and read:

3.  Dumbing-Down the quality of newspapers is not the only thing to be concerned about.   With political pressures from such intellectual forces such as Governor Rick Perry and resident brains like George W. Bush, the University of Texas is wallowing in the direction of turning their schools of higher learning into cheap technical schools.  There is grave danger in this visionary fog, and the powers that be are herding us into accepting mediocrity as an acceptable goal:

4.  Mitch McConnell spoke too soon.  Spoke without knowing much.  He spoke with political intent.  He spoke as the custodian, and the legislator-in-chief of the Party of Stupid:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/49148/

--
Juan

"Burt Reynolds once asked me out. I was in his room."
       -- Phyllis Diller

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Something to Know More About - 20 April

APRIL 20, 2013

CNN QUITS BREAKING NEWS, BECOMES "CNN CLASSIC"

POSTED BY 

cnn-desert-storm.jpg


NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—In a sweeping format change that marks the end of an era for the nation's first cable news outlet, CNN announced today that it would no longer air breaking news and would instead re-run news stories of the past "that we know we got right."

The rebranded network, to début nationwide on Monday, will be called "CNN Classic."

"Breaking news is hard," said the newly installed CNN chief, Jeff Zucker. "You have to talk to sources, make sure their stories check out O.K., and then get on the air and not say anything stupid. I, for one, am thrilled to be getting out of that horrible business."

CNN Classic will begin its broadcast day on Monday, Mr. Zucker said, "with round-the-clock coverage of Operation Desert Storm."

Mr. Zucker did not indicate what impact the new format would have on such CNN stars as Wolf Blitzer, saying only, "I can't promise that Wolf will be a part of CNN's future, but he will continue to be a big part of our past."

The CNN chief scoffed at reports that other cable news outlets had eclipsed his network once and for all, throwing down this gauntlet: "We are going to win May sweeps with Hurricane Katrina."


--
Juan

"I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them."
       -- George Bush