Things to Know - 7 February

1.  Sometimes it may be good to experiment with other sources of news, satire, or internet publications.   To that end, I'm going to introduce this, and see if it sticks to the wall:
http://www.cagle.com/2012/02/why-is-mitt-romney-playing-the-rags-to-riches-game/

2.  Apparently Mitt Romney went to the same school of American Patriotism as Sarah Palin's  Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.   If you get all tangled up in the vicissitudes of patriotic protocol, this one is for you:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/mitt-romneys-misfire-on-the-national-anthem/2012/02/05/gIQA5NLKsQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

3.  If you saw the Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl, you saw Clint Eastwood extol the resurgence of the auto industry and the rebounding of Detroit as an example of how America has struggled through the first half and will really get going in the second half.   Well, this was just too much for Karl Rove and the Super Pac ad producer of the right wing.  He just sees things in political tones, and was offended that it conveyed a political message.  Rove, grow up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/karl-rove-offended-by-clint-eastwoods-chrysler-ad/2012/02/06/gIQAYt3HuQ_blog.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics

4.  The candidate who "is unemployed" and know what it is like to be poor, sure has been able to provide that his kids won't starve:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/06/pf/romney_kids_trust/index.htm

5.  As a follow-up to the above link, Romney just does not connect with enough people in his own party (whatever that means), to generate adequate excitement:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-front-runner-who-leaves-the-gop-cold/2012/02/06/gIQAn0L5uQ_print.html

6.  I am giving you this Joe Nocera column, and going to let you know that I totally disagree with him.  The Keystone XL is a disaster for the environment.  Its proposed route through Nebraska and the Ogallala aquifer is a potential pollution hazard to the fresh water for the heartland of America.  A question was raised as to why Trans Canada (the oil company pushing this thing) does not just run this pipeline up and over to Bristish Columbia, refine it there, and avoid all the hassles in the USA.  The reason is that the Canadians are even more staunch and dead set against the destruction of their arboreal lands and water than we are.  The USA was seen as patsies and the easy to way to take their product to market, via oil refineries in Texas.  I personally will do as much as I can to see that this Keystone XL goes no where:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/opinion/nocera-the-poisoned-politics-of-keystone-xl.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  David Brooks comes up with a rationalization on how Obama should be doing a better job to help the poor:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/opinion/brooks-flood-the-zone.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  When the Big Banks screwed around screwing people, the abused actually moved their money to better places:
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-bank-transfer-day-20120206,0,5186717,print.story

--
Juan

"If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button."

       -- Sam Levenson

"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
       -- Robert Heinlein

"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." (Rush Limbaugh?  ed.))
       -- Eric Hoffer

"She was a woman who, between courses, could be graceful with her elbows on the table."
       -- Henry James

"The author of the Iliad is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name."
       -- Aldous Huxley

Things to Know - 6 February

1.  As ridiculous as things go in the Wannabees of the GeeOpee. it is perfectly logical that Rick Santorum believes that abortion causes breast cancer:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/05/santorum-suggests-abortion-causes-breast-cancer/

2.  I was wondering if there would be any hint of display during the Super Bowl about the state of Indiana's recent challenge to unions with its passage of the recent right-to-work legislation.  The NFL Players Association is in sympathy but played anyway.  Here's the skinny:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12219

3.  Bill Moyers converses with a social psychologist about the deep contentious divide in this country about politics:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12205

4.  The super-billionaires of the top of the 1% had a political strategy session in Indian Wells, CA.  Read something about it here:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12225

5.  This Washington Post column is reflective of the horrible action of the Wannabees on each other, as well as the goofy presentation and out-of-touch stuff Romney is prone to do.  From here on out, if Porkie insists on hanging in there and throwing more bombs at his Mittness, it will get worse.  Look for some action on taking out Newt, or running a third candidate if things get really desperate:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-holds-edge-over-romney-in-general-election-matchup-poll-finds/2012/02/05/gIQA5JX0sQ_print.html

6.  Paul Krugman reflects on the recent good news of the lower unemployment figure, but cautions against destructive optimism.   There will be moves and attempts to turn to austerity and act as if the problems are on the mend, and no need to continue to strive for stimulus and raise the interest rates.  Not so fast, says Krugman, it's better, but it ain't over yet:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/opinion/krugman-things-are-not-ok.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  This column personalizes the improving employment with particular attention to the Latino community:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-latino-jobs-20120205,0,415186,print.story

8.  Passing legislation the conforms the the overview of the "Buffett Rule" is a nice concept, and should be done. but it does not really do much to address the deficit and create any sense of overall fairness in the current tax structure:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinsley-column-buffett-rule-20120203,0,3273185,print.story

--
Juan

"I poured spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone."

       -- Steven Wright

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."
       -- Peter Steiner

"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

"I believe that professional wrestling is clean and everything else in the world is fixed."
       -- Frank Deford

"I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up."
       -- Tom Lehrer

Things to Know - 5 February

1.  Here's some recent history on the lead up to the current Komen Foundation problem.  If anything, the polarizing issues that always lingered, are now better exposed to the public, and the issue of womens' health is better understood, and Planned Parenthood may be stronger as a result:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-he-komen-planned-parenthood-tictoc-20120204,0,5488549,print.story

2.  Now, it's coming out that there was much more of a right-wing faction steering a political spin on the Komen Foundation.   This politicization may further the extent of its demise:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12206

3.  Newt Gingrich has sullied the name of Saul Alinsky lately, and invoked nothing but typical porkie fury on who he was.  But no one really knows who he was.  He died in 1972.  Here's Bill Moyers, in his own style to remind us who Mr. Alinsky was, and how he Porkieness is practicing his dark art of politics-by-Newt:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12200

4.  The columnist in this piece place Mitt Romney as the candidate of the Tea Party, which I am not sure that the established GOP would like to be saddled with.   Not a ticket to winning:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-stealth-tea-party-candidate/2012/01/31/gIQAy0BZnQ_print.html

5.  Frank Bruni is suggesting that Mitt is doming himself no favor by scuttling any references to life experiences in his church.  Why?  It might benefit him, but all we can speculate is that he is not willing to do so because of a perception of public backlash at the practices of the church of LDS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/bruni-mitts-muffled-soul.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  Maureen Dowd does a job on describing Callista Clingrich, as only Ms. Dowd can do:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/dowd-the-great-mans-wife.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  The grasp on power that Putin has on Russia is debatable.  He is being denounced in the streets, and he's wisely not taking action to stop it.  However, how are the strings going to be untied.  He acts like he's in charge, but is he really?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/friedman-russia-sort-of-but-not-really.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

--
Juan Matute

"If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner."
       -- Tallulah Bankhead

"I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises."
       -- Buzz Aldrin

"The penalty for success is to be bored by the people who used to snub you."
       -- Nancy Astor

"'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."
       -- Abraham Lincoln

"There's a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker."
       -- Charles M. Schulz

Fwd: Things to Know - 4 February

Mike Luckovich

1.  The "kerfuffle" over the Komen foundation coming back to support PP is not good enough for me.  The dust up brought to light that Karen Handel, a right-wing politico from Georgia, and an avowed opponent of PP is on the Komen board, and is still there.   I have no sympathies for Komen as long as Handel is still there:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12179

2.  Unions.  Unions, or guilds as they used to be known, are a coming together of workers for the common purpose of asking for a fair shake in employment, conditions, and compensation.  In this day in age, with fair practices laws, anti-discrimination laws, etc...why do we still need unions?   Folks this is the 21st Century, and this article tells you why.  Walmart and other companies,  outsource the responsibility of employer-employee relationships to sub-contractors, and go on about their business as if something like this is not their problem.  It is, just boycotting them does not solve the problem:
 http://www.truth-out.org/print/12185

3.  Insider stock trading. Not a good practice for members of congress to be legislating on stuff that they buy and sell.  So how does Eric Cantor get this defeated?.... read here:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12168

4. This article concerns the meritocracy of wealth, class, and Mormonism, as well as a bit more into the life of Willard:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12122

5.  The writer of this column takes Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum to task for demonizing an insulting the European Union.  I would also add that such talk for three dudes seeking to be the president really does not set the proper face forward for a nation to interact well with our global neighbors:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-europe-is-a-land-of-make-believe/2012/02/01/gIQA46m1nQ_print.html

6.  Tales of college screw ups (not the students, but the administration) seem to be in the news these days.  Dick Cavett brings to light a recent one by Vassar, that broke the heart of hundreds, and shamed the institution:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/should-news-come-with-a-warning-label/?pagemode=print

7.  Charles Blow speaks of the Tin Man with the Tin Ear:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/opinion/blow-romney-the-rich-and-the-rest.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  As most of us watch football this Sunday, here is an article that humanizes the downside of the contact sport that injures and maims into a life of agony and pain for the rest of the lives of the uniformed gladiators:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/opinion/nocera-the-cost-of-football-glory.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

9.  One more strike against Claremont McKenna College:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/02/kiplinger-drops-claremont-mckenna-college-after-test-scores-scandal.html

10.  Time for you to meet the Mexican Mitt:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-morrison-lalo-alcaraz-20120204,0,1813376,print.column



Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

--
Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

Fwd: Things to Know - 2 February

1.  Here is an interesting $3 course on Habeas Corpus and other related legalities in our justice system:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/41107/

2.  In the campaigning ahead, one of the issues that will always come up, and which will always be around until it is changed is the concept, declared by Mitt, that "corporations are people, my friends".  Not so, and so it goes:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12093

3.  So the guy wins Florida, and makes Porkie look really bad.  You think Romney would wise up, but no, he sticks his foot in his mouth big time again.  The sound byte will stick with him,  like an albatross, through the rest of the campaign:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12110

4.  Wall Street has the Big Entitlement institutions that are Too Big to Fail.  The Military-Industrial Complex has weapons systems, entitlement programs, that are Too Big to Cut:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/12100

5.  Another one of Romney's gaffes (he does it quite well by now), was his proclamation on immigration reform - "self-deport", which really does nothing but alienate him from the Hispanic or any minority voters.  It also displays another facet of Mitt's out-of-touch persona:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/do-it-yourself-deportation.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  What the take away is about Romney and his Florida campaign.  If he should have learned one thing, it is that when you want to get down and dirty and play like Gingrich, you will emerge with the same perception of values ascribed to Porkie.  Pigs wallowing in the same trough all smell and sound the same:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/the-darkening-tone-of-the-primaries.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  You may have head the word "meme" lately.  It is an invented word that combines the social context of many expressions into one word. It is a verbal emoticon, if you know what that is:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum-meme-20120201,0,4207013.column

8. Lot of hoopla out the about Facebook and its IPO.   Here's a column that advises a cautionary approach to any purchase:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120201,0,146064,print.column

9.  Here is an interest of conflict.  Depending on who you read, CNN goes one way and the AJC goes another.  Does it really matter?:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/source-trump-to-endorse-1327422.html
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/02/trump-set-to-endorse-romney/?hpt=hp_t2
--
Juan Matute

"Start every day off with a smile and get it over with."
       -- W.C. Fields

"Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions."
       -- Evan Esar

"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained."
       -- Edward R. Murrow

"Some for renown, on scraps of learning dote, /And think they grow immortal as they quote."
       -- Edward Young

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it should end there."
       -- Clare Booth Luce

--
Juan Matute

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
       -- Thomas A. Edison

"Humor is always based on a modicum of truth. Have you ever heard a joke about a father-in-law?"
       -- Dick Clark

"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
       -- Mickey Rooney

"Of those who say nothing, few are silent."
       -- Thomas Neill

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."
       -- Alexander Hamilton

Things to Know - 16 December

1.  Robert Scheer starts us off with a piece on how our civil liberties are being trashed and a budget that keeps the MIC in plush shape:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/40199/

2.  This article points out something that many people had already suspected about the Tea Party - It was all about Racism - directed against the 1st black president - that got them started.  Guess who has recently come up with this notion?  You'd be surprised:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/40174/

3.  Here's a Porkie piece, but not like the usual ones:  By the time you read this, we will be getting feedback from recent polls that show that he has maybe peaked and is starting to show signs of slippage.   Leroy N. Gingrich thinks outside the box because he's not happy being in the box with the rest.  He's too good to be in the box with others. He needs to be unrestricted by boundaries because his his ego is too big.  So, he does strange things and he couldn't care less how many boxes he destroys in the process.  The business of Newt is to be different, in a bombastic, and destructive manner.  It sells books:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/40173

4.  Here's the Sioux City GeeOpee debate which is like going to a zoo and watching the hyenas snarl and dodge each other while trying to take each other out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-on-the-defensive-in-gop-debate/2011/12/15/gIQAJPg8wO_story.html

5.  Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning Economist.   Ron Paul is a medical doctor and a Congressman.  Mr. Krugman is going beyond Porkie (having dismissed him as over the hill and gone past his peak).  Ron Paul will probably be up next, and he is taken to task for his views on the economy.  As Krugman is no MD, Paul is no Economist:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/opinion/gop-monetary-madness.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

6.  Timothy Egan shares his views on the subject of too much information being shared hastily on digital devices.   One advantage of being behind the technology curve for the old or senior generations is that the indiscretions of digital diarrhea are not as formidable or as prevalent or as haunting:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/please-stop-sharing/?pagemode=print

7.  Christopher Hitchens.  Brilliant and beyond interesting.  Not always someone you could agree with, but he made you have to think, not just think:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-mew-hitchens-20111216,0,141590,print.story

8.  The plight of the immigrant culture, both past and present, in East Hollywood, California, and probably every where:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111216,0,6323647,print.column

9.  Iraq.   The war is over.  The MIC is furious, and so are the elected officials that they have bought.  What else is new?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hayden-iraq-withdrawal-20111216,0,6177582,print.story


--
Juan Matute

"Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator and change has its enemies."
       -- Robert F. Kennedy

"The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way."
       -- Samuel Butler

"There are only two kinds of scholars; those who love ideas and those who hate them."
       -- Emile Chartier

"I can't bring myself to say, 'Well, I guess I'll be toddling along.' It isn't that I can't toddle. It's just that I can't guess I'll toddle."
       -- Robert Benchley

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast."
       -- Oscar Wilde

Things to Know - 9 December

1.  There is something very morally disgusting about the subject in this article (disposing of US Troop remains in a landfill).  Ultimately it is not that the ashes are mingled with discarded yard debris and general waste products, but the shame by which unclaimed body parts are just part of the business of making war.  Personally, I am a cremation, no afterlife kind of guy, and probably should not care much,  But, I do.  I care about the cavalier attitude that has inured the military bureaucracy in how it respects human life being thrown into an other crumby and dumb war:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/air-force-dumped-ashes-of-more-troops-in-va-landfill-than-acknowledged/2011/12/07/gIQAT8ybdO_print.html

2.  Remember those ads on TV by ANGA, where they gloss over or do not mention the harm done by fracking to our drinking water tables?  Well. let's see them wiggle out of this?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FRACKING_GROUNDWATER_POLLUTION?SITE=VAWAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

3. There is someone else, by the name of Thom Hartmann,  who has some text and video on things you should know:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/10158

4.  The other people who stand on the stage with Porkie chime in with their assessment of his character:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-supporters-ex-colleagues-attack-gingrichs-leadership-vanity/2011/12/08/gIQAfS4YgO_story.html

5.  It really is difficult to take Gingrich as a serious candidate.  He's just performing, like a former aging pop star, now relegated to casino lounges and county fairs, and instead of selling CDs at the back of the venue, he's selling books instead.  He's an insult to serious politicking:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrichs-book-selling-efforts-test-law/2011/12/06/gIQAtPqYfO_print.html

6.  Not to be overlooked, David Brooks has something to say about Leroy Newton Gingrich.  A bit of praise, but ends in pointing out his character flaws:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/brooks-the-gingrich-tragedy.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Paul Krugman on Romney, his record at Bain, the wealthy, and the obligation of the 1%:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/opinion/krugman-all-the-gops-gekkos.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

8.  Boyle Heights, in Los Angeles, is a rich cultural and historical part of the city.  Hector Tobar paints a picture in words:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111209,0,1817494.column

9  This is for all those naysayers who claim that climate change ("global warming") is a hoax, or is not a man-made problem:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-climate-20111209,0,3206861,print.story



--
Juan Matute

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."
       -- A.A. Milne

"It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or the fourteenth."
       -- George Burns

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling."
       -- Paula Poundstone

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."
       -- Eric Hoffer

"We are an impossibility in an impossible universe."
       -- Ray Bradbury

Things to Know - 23 November

1.  Thom Hartmann with the text and video of the news.  Easy:
http://www.truth-out.org/news-thom-hartmann-occupy-wall-street-bringing-down-big-banks-and-more/1321984652

2.  Matt Taibbi from Rolling Stone on the shameless conduct by police in dealing with a non-violent group of Occupy protesters.  It is from events like this that the reconstitution of OWS will change the fabric of our future:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/uc-davis-pepper-spray-incident-reveals-weakness-up-top-20111122#ixzz1eSrFLnFe

3.  Here is the profile of a destructive member of the super committee who really had no intention of negotiating:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jon-kyls-search-and-destroy-mission/2011/11/22/gIQA5BZVmN_print.html

4.  For those of you who are interested, here is the collection of video and sound bites of the GeeOpie "debate" last night:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-national-security-debate-highlights/2011/11/22/gIQAcNDmmN_video.html?hpid=z2

5.  Oregon's governor has stopped killing people on death row.  See, it's easy.   It's more humane, and its a whole lot cheaper:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/11/oregon-governor-kitzhaber-executions-death-penalty.html

6.  Steve Lopez, no stranger to the down and out in Los Angeles (remember the "Soloist"?), explains how help is need for those at the zero percent level:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1123-lopez-home-20111123,0,2015386.column

7.  As has been said before, whenever Bozo PorkieGrinch blows out a bombastic blast, he is asking for trouble.  His comment on child labor laws will haunt him forevever:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-history-20111122,0,1667371,print.story

8.  Gregory Rodriguez is now contributing a piece about every 6 weeks.  This one on the illness that is a pallor over our nation is worth waiting for:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez-decline-20111121,0,2504277,print.column

9.  Thomas Friedman comes out BIG for Obama, but only if he follows Tommy's suggestions:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez-decline-20111121,0,2504277,print.column

10.  The writer of this column is a Senior at Pomona College, and I consider him to be extremely bright and articulate (he's in the Politics class that I audit).  He brings forward the anxiety that college students feel about the collapse of Wall Street, the dim light ahead in the future, and what this all means to him and all those in college today:
http://tsl.pomona.edu/articles/2011/11/18/opinions/793-fear-and-fretting-in-an-economic-crisis

--
Juan Matute

"They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some
kind of federal program."
       -- George W.Bush (Nov. 2, 2000)

"As I grow older , I regret to say that a detestable habit of thinking seems to be getting a hold of me."
       -- H. Rider Haggard

"Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor."
       -- Robert Frost

"I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."
       -- Mahatma Gandhi

"Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today."
       -- Herman Wouk

Fwd: Things to Know - 22 November

1.  If the police actions against the Occupy movement was designed to snuff out the ideology, that is not happening.  If anything, the movement will come back even stronger.  Police action can only go so far.  It will eventually fail because the emotion to question the civility of our ways will prevail:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9397

2.  This kind of story makes you wonder.  Corporations run the halls of most of our congressional legislators, so why not try and squeeze more out of the working stiffs by taking away their classification for overtime pay?:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9403

3.  Civil disobedience has always been with us, as it is today, and in the future.  Our history is steeped in it.  This article invites you to understand the world of the protester who does his thing by standing still, holding a sign, and getting carted off in plastic cuffs by the police.   That's about all we ever see.  This article takes you beyond that, to the point of "post and forfeiture" whereby you pay $100 to just get all your stuff back and get released.   What happens if you want to speak to a judge and jury to plead your reasons for civil disobedience?  What would happen if thousands turned down the "post and forfeiture" junction and flooded the jails and courts?   Read on and consider what is involved, and what you need to be prepared for it:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39741/

4.  Newt proposes getting rid of unionized janitors and "empowering" children to take the jobs, stating that child labor laws "are stupid".  He is either mentally unstable, or really trying to guarantee himself news coverage:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/gingrich-calls-child-labor-laws-truly-stupid/2011/11/21/gIQAFYKHiN_blog.html?hpid=z2

5.  Eugene Robinson offers his post mortem on the failure of finding any compromise the the super-dupers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robinson-republican-obstinance-responsible-for-supercommittee-failure/2011/11/21/gIQAvTcXiN_print.html

6.  The NY Times also weighs in on the failure, and why the GeeOpie guys are at fault - Grover N. - your bad:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/opinion/the-deficit-supercommittee-collapses.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  This, from the cutting-edge Santa Monica News Bureau - Fox viewers are not so smart:
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/11/21/fairleigh_dickinson_publicmind_poll_shows_fox_news_viewers_less_informed_on_major_news_stories.html

8.  170 economists from colleges and universities have signed on to a petition in support of the Occupy Movement.  I wonder if Newt is going to tell them all to get a job after they take a bath?:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/170-economists-sign-statement-support

9.  A Republican (notice that I can actually use that term), muses about the abysmal condition of his party, and wonders where and when it went nutso:
http://nymag.com/print/?/news/politics/conservatives-david-frum-2011-11/


--
Juan Matute

"One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time."
       -- Robert Kennedy

"Art is science made clear."
       -- Jean Cocteau

"Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that's not true. Some smaller countries are neutral."
       -- Robert Orben

"Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation."
       -- Judith Martin

"I am no more humble than my talents require."
       -- Oscar Levant

Things to Know - 18 November

Porkie - you should have stayed at #6 with 4%.  Now, the media, which you have

characteristically and arrogantly aliented will be unrelenting.

1.  Having a need to take a break from OWS, let's go back to the days of Watergate, Nixon and Hoover (J. Edgar).  I gotta go see the move:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9130

2.  Not exactly a direct reference to OWS, but a collateral problem of a lack of public facilities, and an analysis of the situation and an observation of the universal response:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39681/

3.  The Washington Post is doing its duty to the public with this article.  Newt is wallowing in lobby money from the folks at Big Pharma. The self-professed historian is nothing but a snake oil salesman's charmer.  No scruples.  No values.  Just a belly full of hot air and a briefcase full of bombastic adverbs and adjectives.  A real P.O.S:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-think-tank-collected-millions-from-health-care-industry/2011/11/16/gIQAcd72VN_print.html

4.  David Brooks writes about the problems besetting the Eurozone - European Union, or whatever you want to call it.  The great European experiment is an economic work in progress.   That's what it is intention was in the beginning, but what is giving it fits is the sociology elements and variables that are not cooperating.  The tribes don't mix well in all cases. When things are not going well, the ethnocentric bullets start flying.  The Greeks and the Italians are blamed for their entitlement lifestyles....well that does not bode well for holding up the big tent.  Now we are off to the blame game, and the purpose of holding the Euro is now being called into question.  Crap it's just class warfare on a different cable network:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/opinion/brooks-the-technocratic-nightmare.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

5.  Herman Cain's presence has stirred interest, controversy, and old wounds to be reopened.   He's really not a serious candidate, and his continued presence underscores the lack of talent:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1116-banks-20111116,0,1110627,print.column

6.  Here is a job creator military project?   The MIC is making twenty 30,000 pound bunker-buster bombs for $314 million.  JFL.   I know that our service men and women in Afghanistan will feel so much safer now that we have these weapons on hand.  I wonder how many roadside IEDs each one of them will be able to take out?   Does the $314 million include delivery by UPS, or are there several more millions required to transport and store them?  Is this a great country or what?
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bunker-buster-bomb-20111117,0,3582708.story

7.  Paul Krugman concurs that the given situation in Congress, failure by the so-called super committee is a win.   Our legislative branch is so dysfunctional.  Over half have sworn allegiance and their oath to Grover Nordquist, their proposed legislation is written by lobbyists, and their decision making is outsourced to committees.  Caca:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/opinion/krugman-failure-is-good.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212&pagewanted=print

8.  Hector Tobar's story is a classic example of the beauty of our Immigrant Nation.  You see, people come in from other countries with the the American Dream in mind, and they work hard to achieve it.  They are not tainted or jaded by generations of take-it-for-granted apathy that affects a great swath of our nation.  Immigrants of all stripes and colors are what keeps this nation vibrant and alive.  Stories like this remind us that the greatness of our continued existence comes from within and outside:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar-20111118,0,6585792,print.column


--
Juan Matute

 "Fear is the soul's signal for rallying.
       -- Henry Ward Beecher

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know."
       -- Ernest Hemingway

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."
       -- John Adams

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?"
       -- Edgar Bergen

"Anarchy - it's not the law, it's just a good idea."
       -- Unknown

Fwd: Things to Know - 17 November

Mike Luckovich cartoon: Parade balloon

Newt's Fan Club has many members

1.  As all the "debates", OWS raids, weather and earthquake disasters swirl around us, the income distribution widens in this country.   Most people call it the "economy", and yes in a scientific sense it is an economic issue.  However the collateral damage is that our society is being destroyed.  Our sense of community through unmet expectations, a loss of a sense of fairness and justice is eroding our moral fiber as a nation.   This cannot last very long, and it will not.  We are already seeing the baby-steps of the beginnings of a revolution.  Do I sound like a crazed neo-something or other left over from the 60's???.....maybe.    There is too much doom and gloom and lack of hope to sustain the American Dream:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/middle-class-areas-shrink-as-income-gap-grows-report-finds.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

2.  It is awfully difficult not to develop a sense of outrage.  Stuff like this, if it is true, is a real disappointment. Disappointed because you would think that the greedy bastards would have gotten the message by now.  No, they have not.  It's an insult to think that "they" think that they can get away with it without repercussions:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9121

3.  When you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.  A very dirty, deceitful, greedy, and sick pig:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9125

4.  With observations, journalistic pieces, and opinions by so many people involved in reporting the human experience of our times, the violent reaction by the police -"the servants of the 1%" - the Occupation Movement will not fold, and will come back to haunt, and will eventually succeed over time.  How peaceful the transition, and how fair and just it operates will be determined by political leadership that has not as yet come forth.
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9159

5.  Considering the Dysfunction of Congress, this suggestion of failure looks like a great idea:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-we-can-succeed-through-supercommittees-failure/2011/11/16/gIQA7hLXSN_print.html

6.  Most of us agree that political campaign funding winds up corrupting the intent of our representative form of democracy.  If we are to learn anything from the OWS emotions, it is that we cannot sustain the 1% controlling the system.  Here is one great suggestion to begin getting us back to what the US Constitution means:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/in-campaign-financing-more-money-can-beat-big-money.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Newton Leroy "Porky" Gingrich, by mere fact of just standing around while all the others imploded, is now the latest "Not-Mitt" figure in the spotlight.  How long do you give him before he wallows in his baggage?  He'll be around long enough for me to continually dump a daily load on him.  He deserves it:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/professor-of-profits/?pagemode=print

8.  Guns.  
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/opinion/collins-something-to-shoot-for.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print


Juan Matute

"I'm a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house."
       -- Zsa Zsa Gabor

"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."
       -- George Lucas

"No one can have a higher opinion of him than I have, and I think he's a dirty little beast."
       -- W. S. Gilbert

"Brain: an apparatus with which we think we think."
       -- Ambrose Bierce

"This isn't right. This isn't even wrong."
       -- Wolfgang Pauli

Things to Know - 16 November

1.  The process of reconstitution is beginning:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9094

2.  This is the significance on the delay of the decision of the Keystone Pipeline. by Bill McKibben:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9076

3.  How the government shutdowns work to the advantage of the 1% and Jack Abramoff airs his game plan on influencing legislators (in case you missed it):
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39617/

4.  Noot is up at bat now, and here is one high-level fast pitch to him.  There will be more.  You can bet on it.  I'm waiting for the inside brush-backs which he cannot dodge:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-newt-gingrich-wont-last/2011/11/15/gIQAmTNcPN_print.html

5.  Here is an interesting piece by someone who does not give the Tea Party or OWS much chance of any endurance and that they will eventually flame out.  He give his reasons why, and you might find them interesting:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39604/

6.  Mandatory health care insurance is the subject, and here is an opinion from a professor at well-established school of law:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/health-insurance-and-the-broccoli-test.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  Another curve ball from the the mound of the NY Times, and it's high and inside, but hardly a brush back.  Ball two on Noot:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/the-second-coming-of-gingrich/?pagemode=print

8.  Thomas Friedman fits in well here.  He"s in India, writing about their problems.  Kind of takes your mind of the GeeOpie and OWS:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/whos-the-decider.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

9.  Occupy Los Angeles is targeted to be removed as well.  The reconstituting process is probably being contemplated. We'll see where this goes:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1116-occupy-la-20111116,0,7952898,print.story


Juan Matute

"The only way to be truly misogynistic is to be a woman."
       -- Randy K. Milholland

"There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers."
       -- William James

"Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car."
       -- Evan Davis

"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."
       -- Albert Einstein

Things to Know - 15 November

1.  Do we have any volunteers to serve a subpoena on Dick Cheney tomorrow?  Check this out:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39589/

2.  So, far do you think Karl Rove is going to go, and what is he going to get in trying to slime Elizabeth Warren?:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9006

3.  The hot-button Supreme Court issue is on deck:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8987

4.  Thom Hartmann and his video and text of the news.  One thing that is not on here, and which I picked up from Matt Cartmill (he of College Bowl fame), is that the Bank of America has silently moved all of its toxic investments (busted homes and foreclosures, etc) from one side of its ledger to the retail banking side, which effectively moves the liability of that paper over to the FDIC side.   Now, the tax payer is on the hook for all of BofA's bad loans if it fails.  Where is the outrage?:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/9027

5.  You want to watch somebody wing it and screw it up at the same time, watch the Hermanator:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/cain-melts-down/2011/11/14/gIQAeHErLN_blog.html

6.  Bank of America has no shame.  Here is another unconscionable rip-off fee; charging customers to receive their the unemployment benefits:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/11/14-5

7.  It's unanimous.  If a GeeOpie guy is elected president, we are guaranteed to launch a unilateral military incursion into Iran and we will be saddled with World War 3.  And, how are we going to pay for that?....for starters.  Have we not learned anything from our past military blunders?:
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/before-we-bomb-iran-lets-have-a-serious-conversation/?pagemode=print

8.  Not only do they want to start wars, they love to torture as well.  Nice group of guys (and lady).   Who would Jesus vote for?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/opinion/the-torture-candidates.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

9.  Much is on the table to discuss on the merits of Medicare for All:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-chermerinsky-healthcare-20111115,0,3665371,print.story 

10.  The inevitable happened at 1:00AM last night.  The Police came in, raided, seized the gear, and cleared the OWS crowd out, and made arrests.  There is probably going to a lot of writing about this phenomena (the OWS itself, and the speculation of how mayors, police chiefs, and the entrenched reigns of power reacted).  However, in my opinion OWS has not gone away.  It will come back.  My concern is that may reconstitute itself in some form of violence, on either side.   Those who think that it is all over, and that the streets are back in full control should think twice:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/nyregion/police-begin-clearing-zuccotti-park-of-protesters.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

--
Juan Matute

"If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative."
       -- Arthur C. Clarke

"Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before."
       -- Edith Wharton

"It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office."
       -- H. L. Mencken

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
       -- Will Rogers

Things to Know - 14 November

1.  This article takes place in Washington, Georgia.  A rural city with the same polarizing problems of Washington D.C. and elsewhere.  Looking at ourselves in a micro-political way may shed light on the bigger problems of the nation.  Things are ugly all over, but understanding and working through the local issues may help resolve the national dysfunction:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/two-washingtons-bitterly-divided-georgia-town-reflects-discord-in-nations-capital/2011/11/11/gIQAaA4RGN_print.html

2.  How long can we continue to depend on a sustainable supply of fish in the ocean?: 
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8974

3.  E.J. Dionne informs us that the GeeOpie candidates in the their wisdom of bozodom have hijacked the moral integrity of whatever it is that they are:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/conservatives-mindless-opposition/2011/11/11/gIQAa33BJN_print.html

4.  Pure speculation by Bill Keller on how Romney can win, and what it would mean:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/opinion/keller-how-romney-could-win.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

5.  Paul Krugman takes Romney to task for suggesting that the Veterans Health Administration should morph into a voucher system:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/opinion/krugman-vouchers-for-veterans-and-other-bad-ideas.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

6.  The old world of the KKK is alive and well today in Alabama.  Only, now it exists in a new format and a different ethnic target.  The South - where ignorance and intolerance is an enduring tradition:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/opinion/on-the-rise-in-alabama.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  This one has been making the rounds, and in case you have missed it, here it is.   It is Warren Buffet's quick 5-minute fix to fix Congress:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/buffett.asp

8.  This is not a matter of "political correctness" but it does demonstrate that Atheists in the military should have their space along with the office-recommended faith.   To deny them is to be no better than the intolerance and ignorance found in our most backwater sectors of the community:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military-atheists-20111114,0,6680206,print.story
--
Juan Matute

"I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell."
       -- Harry S Truman

"Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody."
       -- Benjamin Franklin

"How is it possible to find meaning in a finite world, given my waist and shirt size?"
       -- Woody Allen

"Our national flower is the concrete cloverleaf."
       -- Lewis Mumford

Things to Know - 9 November

1.  Take this quiz to see where you stand (or sit and read) with current events:
http://www.people-press.org/2011/11/07/what-the-public-knows-in-words-and-pictures/?src=iq-quiz?src=prc-newsletter

2, This narrative and video of "The Story of Broke" has been making the rounds.  If you have not seen or heard it, do  so now:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8754

3.  The class of warfare that is being waged by the extreme right in reaction to OWS has Paul Krugman a bit upset:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8744

4.  As we read this now, we will all know that Mississippi has turned down legislation defining "person hood" at the moment of conception.  Pretty bold statement from a place like Mississippi.  Do you think that removing that same status from a corporation is possible?  Read on:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8723

5.   Ready for a light-hearted break?:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39447/

6.  Tom Friedman sees similarities with Indian and OWS frustrations:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/opinion/friedman-india-and-america-two-peas-in-a-pod.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

7.  A quick glance on yesterday's election results:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-election-roundup-20111109,0,5636236,print.story

8.  Blue Laws are a hallmark of the South.  Georgia is almost there in joining the 20th Century:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/sunday-alcohol-sales-prove-1220719.html

--
Juan Matute

"Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker's book."

       -- Joe Frazier

"There is no greater importance in all the world like knowing you are right and that the wave of the world is wrong, yet the wave crashes upon you."
       -- Norman Mailer

"Free advice is worth the price."
       -- Robert Half

"Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies."
       -- Dalton Camp

"The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool."
       -- Jane Wagner

Things to Know - 8 November

1.  History may be in the offing.  Georgia will have an opportunity to inch its way into the 20th Century (19th century by some accounts):
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/voters-get-their-say-1219206.html?printArticle=y

2.  The Keystone Pipeline has pitted Obama against his loyal young supporters who worked form him in his last election.  The promise to strike big gains for the improvement of the environment, if not carried out be turning down the pipeline, may be very bad news for the Obama campaign:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8668

3.  If you have time, read this one through to the end.   The OWS has an affect of giving a platform to activist and gifted writers to come forth with, in this case, a critical manifesto.   I really like it.  It can be taken as a very thoughtful piece written with passion, or it can be seen as one brick in the wall that forms a new socio-economic system:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8669

4.  A creative way of working around a foreclosure to keep the owners in the property and avoiding neighborhood blight.  How does it reg received by a couple of stiff-necked and non-creative GeeOpiers?:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39433/

5.  Georgia's recent immigration law is hammering its bureaucracy and creating unintended consequences.  One problem, as we know is a lack of workers to pick the crops, and this in another one.  Stay tuned for more:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/cox-red-tape-created-1219404.html?printArticle=y

6.  Here is an example of the welfare state gone amok:
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/farm-state-lawmakers-pushing-1219205.html

7.  The Pizza man should have stayed behind the counter, and away from driving people to and from Italian restaurants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-2012-campaign-gets-seedier/2011/11/07/gIQAwsJGxM_print.html 

8.  There is nothing unusual about UCLA's new cuisine menu for its students.   40% of the student body is of Asian ethnicity, and the city of Los Angeles is about as diverse a city that you can find in the USA.   It's great!.  Meanwhile, all of the MBA and Urban Planing students are out chasing Taco trucks in West LA, or looking in East LA for the "primo tamale".  Life is good:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-dining-20111107,0,1806458,print.story

9.  This article points out the hypocrisy of the GeeOpie stands on two federal programs that require universal participation:
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-lazarus-20111108,0,5499244,print.column

10.  Calling out the GeeOpie dominated state legislatures for purposely trying to suppress the opposition voters:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-vote-20111107,0,677375,print.story

11.  The NY Times editorial that asks that bankers refrain from receiving bonus payments ends it for today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/opinion/end-bonuses-for-bankers.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print


--
Juan Matute

"The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught."
       -- Marquis de Vauvenargues

"The will to be stupid is a very powerful force, but there are always alternatives."
       -- Lois McMaster Bujold

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
       -- Oscar Wilde

"It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations."
       -- Sir Winston Churchill

   

Things to Know - 7 November

1.  Paul Krugman is on the Green Bus.  He's questioning whether the fossil-brained Congress will get off its stalling tactics and get moving.  Moving to sustainable resources is actually cheaper, when you consider the costs of burning fossil fuels (oil, gas) should include the costs to the environment (air, water, and our health).  Just read on to see why fracking and letting energy industries off the hook without regulation is like a criminal subsidy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/krugman-here-comes-solar-energy.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

2.  This is going to be fun. Romney is now going to distance himself from the rest of the GeeOpie pack of candidates and expand his creds on foreign policy.  He's opening himself up to even more flip-flops in an area in which he has absolutely minimal experience other than standing on street corners in a foreign country and hawking the visions of the Angel Moroni:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8632

3.  Here's the nut-and-bolts description of an incident in Washington D.C. with the Occupiers and a Koch-sponsored event:
http://www.truth-out.org/print/8636

4.  The only GeeOpie figure that could gather enough interest to run, is actually a statue of a dead guy whose positions on the issues are not very popular with his party:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/39366/

5.  E.J. Dionne and the matter or religion as it pertains to candidates philosophy on public policy and the separation of church and state for believers and non-believers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/election-2012s-great-religious-divide/2011/11/06/gIQAiRbdtM_print.html

6.  There is an interesting discussion here on merging disciplines of humanities and hard sciences.  Kind of like a turf war for some, but I think the opinions that they are distinctly separate are foolish.  Neuroscience is the common ground of thought between the two that molds them together:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/bodies-in-motion-an-exchange/?pagemode=print  

7.  To those who don't think that the so-far short life of OWS has not accomplished much, read this.  The writer of this column also pretty much slams Milton Friedman's tenet that corporations have no real business in acting out a policy of social responsibility.  Milton, you are dead wrong - on both counts;  Dead, and Wrong:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20111106,0,1522324,print.column

8.  Doyle McManus and his speculation on next year's election.  There really is nothing else to talk about.  Just the normal flame-out of the month for the GeeOpie and the the do nothing Congress:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-forecasts-20111106,0,3737928.column

9.   Fracking is the process by which extremely high-pressure liquids are blasted into below-earth pockets of fossil fuel material to force gas to the surface.  Read this link to see if there is any connection between this controversial process and the recent earthquake in Oklahoma:
http://www.ogs.ou.edu/pubsscanned/openfile/OF1_2011.pdf  

10.  You should know that it is a beautiful clear and cold morning here in Claremont.   There is snow up on Mt. Baldy, about a
25 minute drive up the road.  Beautiful!

--
Juan Matute

"The only people who say worse things about politicians than reporters do are other politicians."
       -- Andy Rooney

"Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person."
       -- Ethel Mumford

"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles."
       -- George Jean Nathan

"I once said cynically of a politician, 'He'll doublecross that bridge when he comes to it.'"
       -- Oscar Levant

"Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning."
       -- George Carlin