1/ Frank Rich with his weekly commentary on politics....always fascinating.....
We're now in late September, and the summer’s ad barrages have done little to change the polls. Super-PAC money was one of the biggest stories of this election and possibly its determining factor. Was the expected impact of the sugar daddies overhyped? Will their money play a major role in the campaign's final six weeks?It may turn out that many, including me, were more worried about the post–Citizens United wave of money from the Kochs and Adelsons than we had to be because (a) Romney proved an even weaker candidate than anyone imagined (which is saying something), and (b) he’s so weak that those pulling the strings of the super-PACs (e.g., Karl Rove) may in desperation start shifting money away from the national ticket to salvage troubled GOP Senate candidates. The most important political story so far this week was on the front page of Monday’s Wall Street Journal: It cites example after example of pro-Romney super-PAC expenditures failing to get the job done. Obama is up nearly ten points in Michigan and eight points in Pennsylvania even though right-wing super-PACS have spent $18 million on TV spots in those two states (more than twice the amount spent by the Obama campaign and a pro-Obama super-PAC combined). In North Carolina, the race is still close despite nearly $34 million in pro-Romney spending there (nearly 50 percent more than Obama forces have spent). Democratic Senate candidates are ahead in Ohio, Florida, and Virginia despite similarly huge pro-GOP super-PAC outlays in those races. As I wrote in my piece about attack ads, the quality of the ads matters, and Romney’s ever-shifting campaign strategy may have made it impossible for anyone on his side to come up with a devastating “Daisy” ad. And at this late point, the audience may be too desensitized to respond to one in any case. (Just go to a swing state and turn on the television for an hour; the volume is shocking.) Money’s biggest role in the final weeks may be on the ground, not on the air — an advantage for the better-organized Obama.
2/ Very funny, clever and most unusual - Adolf Hitler finds out about Romney's secret video........
I know, I know, sounds stupid but it's really, really good.......3 minutes of incredible acting from a German language Hitler movie......
There is a reference to Jennifer Rubin in this video - she is a columnist for the Washington Post who is criticized for being the de facto public relations writer for the Romney campaign......her articles are slavishly full of praise for the Mittster.....
3/ Commentary from The Guardian about two politicians who were caught revealing what they really think, with disastrous results. The first is below - a British Minister who verbally abused the police guarding him.....the second is, of course, our Mr. Romney......
Good article.......
If only the politicians would tell us what they really think, we say. If only they'd drop the soundbites and the focus-group-tested messaging and give it to us straight. Two politicians did just that this week. They granted us an unimpeded look into their true souls – and it wasn't pretty.
Nick Clegg was not one of them. His apology over his broken tuition fee promise was meant to look candid and genuine, but it was as much a made-for-video stunt as his original pledge – and, as one observer rightly noted, took the curious form of a husband saying "sorry for my affair; next time I won't vow to be faithful".
The act of unbridled honesty was committed instead by the chief whip Andrew Mitchell who, living up to his "Thrasher" nickname, gave a tongue-lashing to the police guarding Downing Street. Whether he called them "f***ing plebs" who ought to "learn your f***ing place", as the Sun had it, we may never know. But that Mitchell insulted men ready to risk their lives to protect him and his colleagues was confirmed when the chief whip telephoned the officer concerned to apologise.
The damage will linger, suggesting this is what the government's most senior enforcer – a millionaire said to live as expensively as he was educated – really thinks: that the police are glorified servants who, if regrettably exempt these days from the obligation to bow and touch the forelock, ought at least to do what they're told by their betters. It is an ugly impression, one fast congealing in the public imagination as the defining feature of this government's top echelon: that they are a rich, over-privileged clique, out of touch with everyday life and with a nasty streak they cannot conceal.
Luckily for David Cameron, Mitchell has next to no public profile and is in a job that requires even less. Unless more police officers demand his head, he can be quietly disappeared. Across the Atlantic, the Republican party's problem is somewhat graver. The man whose true self was exposed this week is their nominee for president, Mitt Romney.
It bears repeating that, as former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan puts it, this was meant to be the year "the Republican presidential candidate almost couldn't lose". Barack Obama has disappointed, his poll rating usually below 50% with unemployment stubbornly above 8%. A halfway decent, generic Republican should win this comfortably. The election is Romney's to lose – and he is doing his best to make that happen.
4/ Homer votes! A wonderful 1 1/2 minute clip from an upcoming 'The Simpsons"....we don't watch this show any more, but based on this they seem to have kept all of their excellent writers.....very good. Some great zingers....
Check out the shopfronts on the opening scene.....
5/ Gail Collins with another amusing column - this one's on the travails of Mitt Romney.......and she doesn't mention the dog.....
Our topic for today is: When Bad Things Happen to Mitt Romney.
Really, it’s been the worst run of disasters this side of the Mayan calendar. The Republicans’ woes started last Friday, when Ann and Mitt filmed a TV interview in which they entertained the kind of personal questions that most candidates learned to avoid after Bill Clinton did that boxers-versus-briefs thing. Asked what he wears to bed, Mitt said: “I think the best answer is: as little as possible.”
Euww.
Then, over the weekend, Romney aides began spilling their guts about how other staffers had screwed up the Republicans’ bounce-free convention. In an attempt to change the conversation, the campaign announced that it had just realized the nation wants Romney to say what he’d actually do as president. Voters “are eager to hear more details about policies to turn our economy around,” said an adviser, Ed Gillespie.
In search of just such specificity, the scoop-hungry Christian Broadcasting Network asked Paul Ryan if he would continue refusing to identify exactly what tax loopholes the Romney administration would close in order to turn our economy around.
“Yes,” said Ryan, who then veered into a disquisition about something that once happened to Tip O’Neill.
You may be wondering whatever became of Ryan, who was such a big sensation when Romney first picked him as a running mate. Since Tampa, he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, resurfacing every now and then to put up another ad for re-election to his House seat in Wisconsin.
It’s not all that unusual for a vice-presidential candidate to go low-profile. And it is totally not true that Mitt Romney strapped Paul Ryan to the top of a car and drove him to Canada. Stop spreading rumors!
6/ Undecided voters - who are these people? Two funny takes on the myth of the voters who can't make up their minds.....
Bill Maher with a 6 minute "New Rules" where he flays the undecideds unmercifully.....very funny......
SNL has a softer, gentler take on the undecideds.....but just as funny.....who ARE these people? Two minutes....
7/ In the news this week was riots and demonstrations in Spain and Greece, protesting the austerity measures that have been imposed on them. Paul Krugman lays out a good case for saying the Europeans are giving these countries the wrong medicine.....
The people have it right - the oligarchs are wrong......
So much for complacency. Just a few days ago, the conventional wisdom was that Europe finally had things under control. The European Central Bank, by promising to buy the bonds of troubled governments if necessary, had soothed markets. All that debtor nations had to do, the story went, was agree to more and deeper austerity — the condition for central bank loans — and all would be well.
But the purveyors of conventional wisdom forgot that people were involved. Suddenly, Spain and Greece are being racked by strikes and huge demonstrations. The public in these countries is, in effect, saying that it has reached its limit: With unemployment at Great Depression levels and with erstwhile middle-class workers reduced to picking through garbage in search of food, austerity has already gone too far. And this means that there may not be a deal after all.
Much commentary suggests that the citizens of Spain and Greece are just delaying the inevitable, protesting against sacrifices that must, in fact, be made. But the truth is that the protesters are right. More austerity serves no useful purpose; the truly irrational players here are the allegedly serious politicians and officials demanding ever more pain.
Consider Spain’s woes. What is the real economic problem? Basically, Spain is suffering the hangover from a huge housing bubble, which caused both an economic boom and a period of inflation that left Spanish industry uncompetitive with the rest of Europe. When the bubble burst, Spain was left with the difficult problem of regaining competitiveness, a painful process that will take years. Unless Spain leaves the euro — a step nobody wants to take — it is condemned to years of high unemployment.
But this arguably inevitable suffering is being greatly magnified by harsh spending cuts; and these spending cuts are a case of inflicting pain for the sake of inflicting pain.
First of all, Spain didn’t get into trouble because its government was profligate. On the contrary, on the eve of the crisis, Spain actually had a budget surplus and low debt. Large deficits emerged when the economy tanked, taking revenues with it, but, even so, Spain doesn’t appear to have all that high a debt burden
8/ Very interesting video from Florence and the Machine "Say My Name", featuring Florence as a spangled empress in a sumptuous setting with ballet dancers twirling all around her......directed by the photographer David LaChapelle, famous for his baroque and fantasy images of celebrities.....
9/ In an era of TV where soundbites and instant analysis count as thoughtful news, Bill Moyers has the airtime to look at some of the serious issues we have in this country in depth. This program is a discussion of one of the most powerful forces affecting our lives - The Supreme Court. Bill and his guests review some of the decisions the Court has made and draw some chilling conclusions. It is clear the Supreme Court is philosophically one of the most radical courts in history.
This segment is about 39 minutes, and if you like intelligent conversation about important issues you should be aware of, please watch this. These Justices have affected your life, and it will get worse.....
Moyers also has an 18 minute discussion about Karl Rove, which is also enlightening......
The One Percent Court
September 14, 2012
Because of partisan gridlock in Washington, the Supreme Court has become the most powerful and outspoken branch of government – decisions they make shape our democracy’s fate for generations to come. Now, one has only to look at Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, and the Affordable Care Act rulings to understand why some call it a “one-percent Court” — dedicated by majority rule to preserving the power and influence of a minority of wealthy special interests.
In this episode, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel andJamie Raskin, constitutional law professor and Maryland state senator, join Bill to discuss how the uncontested power of the Supreme Court is changing our elections, our country, and our lives. The two joined forces for a special upcoming issue of The Nationentitled “The One Percent Court.”
“We wanted to bring attention to how this court has empowered the 1% at the expense of the 99%,” says vanden Heuvel. “How it is now working for big business, for corporate power against the interests of ordinary citizens in this country.”
Also on the program, Bill talks with Craig Unger, author of Boss Rove: Inside Karl Rove’s Secret Kingdom of Power, about Rove’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering to once again affect the outcome of a presidential election.
“Most people thought he was a creature of the Bush family,” Unger tells Bill. “I think he’s a force more powerful than that.”
10/ Steven Colbert has some excellent moments, and this is one of them. Steven tries to make sure his hero, Mitt Romney, has a lesson on how to talk with elegance.....seven minutes.....
11/ If you've just bought or are thinking of buying the I-Phone 5, here is a list of the best 19 free apps from the resident HuffPo geek.....
If you have purchased a new iPhone, andyou've set it up just the way we told you to, then you're probably ready to load that baby up with apps. And while there are over 500,000 apps available in the store, we don't recommend downloading all of them.
Instead, try out these 19 free apps for size: They are what we consider the essentials, the staples of the iPhone app universe, the ones we don't like to imagine our iPhones without. (Sorry, no games here, but, uh, while your boss isn't looking you should take a peek at Angry Birds, Bag It! and The Creeps).
12/ We hear the phrase "tipping point" when we talk about the environment, but as this article from the Brisbane Times points out there are up to 14 "tipping elements" that are at issue......
The problem is that the fossil fuel industry, oil, gas and coal who are causing the climate to change own most of the governments in the world. We aren't going to get any action to save irreversible change to the planet until it's too late......
There some consolation for being over 55 - we won't have to deal with the worst effects coming.....we hope.....
AS ARCTIC sea ice hits a record low, focus is turning to climate ''tipping points'' - a threshold that, once crossed, cannot be reversed and will create fundamental changes to other areas.
''It's a trigger that leads to more warming at a regional level, but also leads to flow-on effects through other systems,'' said Will Steffen, the chief adviser on global warming science to Australia's Climate Commission.
There are about 14 known ''tipping elements'', according to a paper published by the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the case of the Arctic ice cap, less ice means less white surface to reflect heat and more dark water to soak it up. This, in turn, leads to higher temperatures, which scientists say will unlock more ancient greenhouse gases frozen into ocean depths and permafrost, speeding climate change, interfering with ocean currents, rainfall patterns and weather.
Next to the Arctic ice cap, Greenland experienced melting across 97 per cent of its surface in June and July. It is unclear what the tipping point is for the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and melts similar to this year's seem to occur every century or so. What is known is that if temperatures keep rising as they are, the ice sheet will start to disintegrate on a massive scale some time in the second half of this century. Tentative estimates from Australian and international studies say that another 1.5 degrees of warming would push Greenland across the threshold into irreversible melt, a process that would continue for centuries. There is enough ice in Greenland alone to raise sea levels off NSW and Victoria by four-to-nine metres.
Frozen methane trapped in pockets around the Arctic circle is also seen as a critical tipping element. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and as frozen earth thaws, more is leaking out. There are no exact measurements on the rate of leakage. Rough estimates suggest 30 to 60 billion tonnes of methane may leak by 2070.
Other potential tipping elements include monsoon patterns and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle, which scientists expect will start to shift quite suddenly in response to global warming.
Changes in tree cover, especially in giant forests like the Amazon, are also expected in response to changing rainfall and more heat - and this would have the effect of amplifying global warming because fewer trees would mean less carbon dioxide was being soaked up out of the air.
13/ Our friends to the north have some advice for us in this election cycle - Vote for Canada!
Quite an amusing 1 1/2 minutes......
14/ Mormonism is in the news because it's the religion of the Romneybot, but there is a lot of misinformation about Mormons. This long story in the Times I found most interesting because it explains, clearly and logically, the beliefs this secretive cult espouses. If your knowledge of Mormonism consists of having seen the musical "Book of Mormon" in New York, read this - it's fascinating. You may still think they are weird, but at least you will have the facts to back up your instincts.....
I’ve spent what is rapidly becoming nine years in New York City. It’s been a total blast. But as a transplanted Englishman one thing to which I’ve become rather sensitive in that time is which prejudices New Yorkers are permitted to express in public. Among my horribly overeducated and hugely liberal friends, expressions of racism are completely out of the question, Islamophobia is greeted with a slow shaking of the head and anti-Semitism is a memory associated with distant places that one sometimes visits — like France.
But anti-Mormonism is another matter. It’s really fine to say totally uninformed things about Mormonism in public, at dinner parties or wherever. “It’s a cult,” says one. “With 13 million followers and counting?” I reply. “Polygamy is disgusting,” says another. “It was made illegal in Utah and banned by the church in 1890, wasn’t it?” I counter. And so on. This is a casual prejudice that is not like the visceral hatred that plagued the early decades of Mormonism — lest it be forgotten, Joseph Smith was shot to death on June 27, 1844, by an angry mob who broke into a jail where he was detained — but a symptom of a thoughtless incuriousness.
There is just something weirdabout Mormonism, and the very mention of the Book of Mormon invites smirks and giggles, which is why choosing it as the name for Broadway’s most hard-to-get-into show was a smart move. As a scholar of Mormonism once remarked, one does not need to read the Book of Mormon in order to have an opinion about it.
But every now and then during one of those New York soirées, when anti-Mormon prejudice is persistently pressed and expressed, and I perhaps feel momentarily and un-Mormonly emboldened by wine, I begin to try and share my slim understanding of Joseph Smith and my fascination with the Latter-day Saints. After about 45 seconds, sometimes less, it becomes apparent that the prejudice is based on sheer ignorance of the peculiar splendors of Mormon theology. “They are all Republicans anyway,” they add in conclusion, “I mean, just look at that Mitbot Romney. He’s an alien.” As an alien myself, I find this thoughtless anti-Mormon sentiment a little bewildering.
But every now and then during one of those New York soirées, when anti-Mormon prejudice is persistently pressed and expressed, and I perhaps feel momentarily and un-Mormonly emboldened by wine, I begin to try and share my slim understanding of Joseph Smith and my fascination with the Latter-day Saints. After about 45 seconds, sometimes less, it becomes apparent that the prejudice is based on sheer ignorance of the peculiar splendors of Mormon theology. “They are all Republicans anyway,” they add in conclusion, “I mean, just look at that Mitbot Romney. He’s an alien.” As an alien myself, I find this thoughtless anti-Mormon sentiment a little bewildering.
15/ Republicans have come up with a new way to control women's health - g.o.b. tampons!
A funny ad from SNL......1 minute......one for the ladies......
Women's reproductive rights are a hot-button issue this election season, and with so many people out there voicing their opinions, it's hard to figure out where each party stands on things.
Luckily, Republicans have come up with a handy new way to remind women voters that they have their backs -- it's the g.o.b. tampon!
Because sure, you could use regular o.b., but it wouldn't have the same great features.
16/ Royal Caribbean used the fine print in their ticket to allegedly screw the widow of one of their former Captains, who died from Legionnaires disease while on a cruise after he retired.....
I knew this Captain - he was a decent guy, not a martinet like some of the other Norwegian officers......
Royal Caribbean Delivers Cruel Blow to Widow of Beloved Captain Tore Myhra
Posted on September 26, 2012 by Jim Walker
The maritime lawyers here in Miami have been in a state of outrage following a recent decision from an appellate court in the Estate of Tore Myhra v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., Case No. 10-15840 (11th Cir. Sept. 21, 2011).
This case addressed the issue of whether a cruise line could legally enforce a "forum selection clause" transferring the lawsuit to a court outside of the U.S., if the effect of the transfer were to limit the cruise line's liability for personal injury or death occurring on cruises.
There is a federal statute which clearly prohibits cruise lines from doing this. 46 U.S.C. section 30509(a) states that attempts to limit liability by contractual terms in cases where the cruise ship calls on a U.S. port are illegal and unenforceable.
In the Myhra v. Royal Caribbean case, a passenger contracted what is described as a bacterial infection on the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship which led to his death. His widow filed suit in Miami where all lawsuits against this cruise line are filed. But the cruise line moved to dismiss the case, citing terms buried deep in the the passenger ticket which specified the U.K. as the location for the lawsuit.
Todays video - the Beach Blanket trick by Criss Angel......
Todays husband joke
|
Another Husband joke
'I'd like to be eight again', she replied, still looking in the mirror .
On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Coco Pops, and then took her to Adventure World theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the ScreamingRoller Coaster, everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upsidedown. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy meal, fries and a shake.
Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soft drink, and her favourite lollies, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!
Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted.
He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being eight again?
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.
'I meant my dress size, you f@*#*! retard!!!!'
The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is going to get it wrong.
Todays guy joke
|
