5 Signs of Apocalypse SOON, If Not NOW

  Thu. August 30, 2012:               PART 2

For the busy & young, just one sign of the impending apocalypse [End of the World]:

1.  "Despite Good Intentions, A Fresco in Spain Is Ruined"

In northeastern Spain, an elderly woman parishoner was NOT vandalizing the invaluable century-old fresco, but simply trying to repair & touch it up on her own:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/world/europe/botched-restoration-of-ecce-homo-fresco-shocks-spain.html

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HAVE MORE READING TIME?

Then, here's more signs of the apocalyse:

2.  Short-run Expensive, but long-run savings?

U.S. Navy's Bush-era effort to launch a green biofuelling program -- eagerly supported by Democrats and environmentalists -- turns out to be initially expensive, and is now under fire from House Republicans [under pressure from big donors from the coal & oil industries].

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/business/military-spending-on-biofuels-draws-fire.html?pagewanted=all

3.  More ill-advised federal spending?

"With Footwear Scanners Failing in Airport Tests, the Shoes Still Have to Come Off"
[AYN RAND WOULD GIVE A KNOWING SMILE]:
"After spending millions of dollars testing four different scanning devices . . . "
None of them work, so keep taking off your shoes at airport security checkpoints.


4.  Auditors of brokerage firms are ROUTINELY screwing up!

"Bad Grades Are Rising for Auditors"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/business/bad-grades-rising-at-audit-firms.html?pagewanted=all



5.  Climate change debate is now so divisive, that zoos & aquariums currently have to avoid offending visitors on the perils of global warming!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/science/earth/zoos-and-aquariums-struggle-with-ways-to-discuss-climate-change.html

Paul Ryan's Big Mistake: "NO" to Simpson-Bowles

Thu. August 30, 2012:            PART ONE


[Dear Readers, before we turn to last night's GOP Convention hero, Paul Ryan,
just a quick daily sample of our Australian commentator during GOP Convention Week]:


A couple of hours earlier, the Republican campaign to make Mitt Romney President had been launched by speeches from Ann Romney and New Jersey governor Craig Christie. On the original schedule, they would have been on separate nights, which would have been a good idea, as Ann Romney's speech was about "love" and why it matters, and how the country would fall in love with Mitt the "way that I did when I was 15" -- gaaack -- while Christie came out swinging and said "we don't need love, we need to talk about respect".

Weird. Christie was aimed squarely at Obama and the perception of touchy-feelyness, but it turned into a side-swipe against Ann. Her speech was soft, personal and OK as far as it went -- it was hugely overrated by the pundits -- while Christie addressed the convention like he was asking it to step outside and settle this like men.

What all pundits noted was the absence of any warm endorsement of Romney from all Tuesday's speakers, Ann, of course, excepted. Christie mentioned himself more than 20 times in his speech; Romney only a handful of times. Even at the heart of the convention, there was a lukewarm quality, a near lackadaisicalness.
_________________________



NOW, Paul Ryan's "Biggest Mistake," in the eyes of one of his most prestigious fans
-- the moderate NYT columnist David Brooks [who FAVORS Ryan's Medicare solutions over Obama's]:

"A few years ago, President Obama established a debt commission that was led by 
Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles and had a group of eminences, including Representative Paul Ryan.

"When that commission came up with its proposal [to make serious inroads on our huge $14+ trillion national debt], some conservative Republicans, like Tom Coburn and Judd Gregg, voted yes,
but Ryan voted no.  This was a devastating blow.  If Ryan and the other House Republicans had voted for the Simpson-Bowles proposal, it would have gone to Congress for up-or-down votes, regardless of how President Obama reacted.  We would have had national action on debt reduction."

[For the rest of Brooks's friendly 2nd-guessing of his semi-hero Paul Ryan, read the remaining
15 paragraphs of Brooks's short column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/opinion/brooks-ryans-biggest-mistake.html?_r=1

If Obama Wins, Texas Secession/Civil War Starts

Wed. Aug. 29, 2012:


As predicted in an earlier post -- right here in Your Bitesfromedwin -- U.S. extremists will
NOT see a 2012 Obama re-election victory as the final answer.

[For history buffs, remember similar rhetoric throughout the South, "if Lincoln wins in 1860"?]

Read it and weep.  IS A 2ND U.S. CIVIL WAR NEAR?

                  County Judge Tom Head, of Lubbock, Texas, with Texas Governor Rick Perry

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/us/lubbock-official-tom-head-stirs-city-with-remark.html

ONE Must-Read for the Busy; MORE for Seniors

Wed. August 29, 2012:


Gentle Souls -- starting today, a new format:

For the Young, Uninitiated, Busy Multi-taskers,
 just ONE item for the day, along with explanatory notes.

For us Older, Sadder, and Seen-It-Alls [in Portland, Oregon, they are
"Honored Citizens" -- NOT "Senior Citizens"],
there will be more items, either on the same theme as for the young, or on more themes as well.

________________


Today, the ONE item comes from Australia's travelling lefty wit, Guy Rundle -- heretofore described as Australia's 21st-Century version of the 1830's French nobleman Alexis deTocqueville, who wrote the classic travelogue for a curious aristocratic European readership, entitled Democracy in America.

Notice his take from a 5-star hotel in the middle of Tampa's Republican National Convention.
AND I QUOTE HERE GUY RUNDLE'S PITHIEST PARAGRAPHS, from his report filed a couple days ago:

"[The 2008 (Sarah Palin picked as Veep) GOP Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota] 

was a long long time ago, and the party is older and a little wiser, at least as far as VP choice is concerned. They have as their candidate Mitt Romney, a man who excites no one, not even Mitt Romney. To appease the base, but purportedly avoid the bad craziness of the Palin trip, they have chosen Paul Ryan, a thoroughly competent, highly intelligent, utterly lunatic Ayn Randian manorexic from Wisconsin. 

                           TROPICANA FIELD, TAMPA:  2012 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

But that doesn't make for much of a party, and the gathering at Tropicana was, well, not subdued -- the Republicans are too batshit crazy to be subdued -- but lacking a certain genuine zest of yesteryear. "I cannot believe that the American people will re-elect a man who knows nothing about what America is," said Jim, a huge man, near spherical, in a blue blazer and tan slacks. He was from Iowa, from whose name he removed the sole vowel, rendering it as "Ow", like a cry of pain. He was angry with the media, which had been grudgingly admitted. His wife, Maeve, a delicately boned woman in a lace dress, was more conciliatory.

"You're from Australia? Do you know about Barack Obama and what's he done?" She peeked out from behind her husband, orbiting him like a moon. Did they think Romney would win? "Yessir, but it's a battle," said Jim. Maeve: "What with the liberal media ..."

        

  THE END -- FOR THE YOUNG & BUSY
____________________________________________________________________________________________


For our Senior ["Honored"] Citizens with extra reading time, here is more:

1.  Not just Australians, but also British journals like The Economist have a low opinion of Candidate Romney's "programme."

http://www.economist.com/node/21560864

2.  A nonpartisan new take on Medicare,
which argues that both Dems & GOP miss the point about what Medicare's future should be
-- creating huge savings through the simple step of "Wellness" steps:
http://trimet.org/v3/images/buspass/hcbuspass.jpg

3.  Nobody likes a moocher, but if the GOP wins in 2012, there is much more they could do to cut down on mooching -- including Republican moochers -- and increase real American equality of opportunity besides cutting taxes on the rich:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-26/republicans-should-stop-talking-about-moocher-class.html

4.  Mitt should drop his pandering foreign-policy positions, and instead
apply his corporate expertise to slashing huge excesses & inefficiencies from the Pentagon.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-27/romney-must-show-he-will-get-down-to-business-on-defense.html











1.  British journals like The Economist -- not just the Australians -- have a low opinion of Candidate Romney's "programme."
http://www.economist.com/node/21560864

"Middle of the Roaders Get Run Over & Squashed"

Mon. August 27, 2012:


Worthy Readers, a handful of articles here, deserving of your time.

                                     PERILS OF MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD


1.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/opinion/keller-the-last-bipartisan.html?ref=todayspaper
Senator Ron Wyden [D-Oregon] learns the dangers of trying to be a moderate in this Congress.

            Sen. Ron Wyden [D-OR] tries to work with House Budget Chair Paul Ryan [R-WI]

2.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/us/politics/republicans-worry-about-keeping-factions-reined-in.html?ref=todayspaper
GOP will close ranks to support their Romney/Ryan ticket,
BUT:  Win or lose, the Republican party has dangerous & serious divisions.

3.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/sunday-review/romneys-first-100-days.html?ref=todayspaper
An optimistic forecast of the Romney/Ryan Administration's first 100 days.

4.  Quotation of the Day

"The philosophy you hear from time to time — which is unfortunate — is one of exclusion, rather than inclusion."

                                                             -- DAN QUAYLE, the former Republican Vice President, on the Republican Party.

5.  

Even Bob Dole, known as the conservative Hatchet Man in his day, is warning that his party could curdle if it doesn’t start appealing to ethnic minorities, young people and the “mainstream,” and stand up to the far-right lunacy. The G.O.P. has veered so far right that Jack Kemp, Dole’s running mate in 1996, now looks like Teddy Kennedy compared with Kemp’s protégé Paul Ryan.

“We have got to be open,” the 89-year-old Dole told The Daily Telegraph of London. “We cannot be a single-issue party or a single-philosophy party.” He added that he was concerned about the “undercurrent of rigid conservatism where you don’t dare not toe the line.”

6.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-26/romney-may-signal-end-of-establishment-republicans-rule.html

This piece predicts that the
Far Right will soon take over the entire GOP,
AND the White House, AND the Congress, AND even more
of the Supreme Court.

It's Sunday, but God Works On -- to Spare Tampa

Sun. August 26, 2012:



On the 7th day, God rested.  

But, ONLY on Bitesfromedwin:  Glimpses of Him at work, on this Day of Rest -- 


1.  God in Congress:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/the-crackpot-caucus/?src=me&ref=general

2.  God as Mormon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2EEhyJ_Hbc

3.  God as Doctor:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-22/diving-into-health-care-is-dangerous-to-my-health.html

4.  God as Diviner of Mitt:
http://www.economist.com/node/21560864

5.  God on Gun Control:

I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife.

In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him.
A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness.
We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet.
And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives.
--  Molly Ivins

{Enough Rest, Dear Readers: BACK TO WORK!}

Sat. August 25, 2012:

"STEAL A WHOLE COUNTRY AND THEY MAKE YOU PRINCE.  
STEAL A FISHING HOOK AND THEY HANG YOU."
                                                                            Chinese Proverb

Blessed readers [perhaps only you archaeologists, centuries from now]:

What follows is NINE [9] not-so-random End Is Near tidbits, as a window into the USA of 2012.
A few are uplifting.  A few are not.

All can be verified in sources like Bloomberg News, The Economist, NYT, WSJ, et alia.
______________________________________________________________________________


First, the Uplifting:

1.  "Principle Over Politics":

In Nebraska, a staunchly conservative state, Bob Kerrey, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate,
keeps bringing up gay marriage.  We may feel uncomfortable about it here in Nebraska, he says, but if we don't do the principled thing,
25 years from now, we'll look back and say, What were we thinking!




2.  There are actually Mormon Democrats!
One of them is Greg Prince, a Mormon businessman & psychology researcher  in Washington.
In 2008, he supported fellow-Latter Day Saint Mitt Romney for president, because Mitt seemed relatively moderate.  Not this time:  Romney has moved too far to the right, to win nomination.
"Mr. Prince said he supported a public safety net for the poor and immigration policies that keep families intact -- Democratic positions that he said should be a natural fit for Mormons."

3.  Here's a GOP woman with a heart.
In 1992, twenty years ago this month, one
Mary Fisher gave a speech to the Republican Convention at the Houston Astrodome.  It has since been called
"one of the top 100 speeches of the 20th Century."

Excerpt from Mary Fisher's 1992 GOP Convention Speech:
"Tonight, I represent an AIDS community whose members have been reluctantly drafted from every segment of American society.  I am one with a black infant struggling with tubes in a Philadelphia
hospital.  I am one with the lonely gay man sheltering a flickering candle from the cold wind of his family's rejection."

4.  Latest from Australia:
How the Rest of the World Might Actually Be Able to Curb USA's Right-wing Extremism!

Big corporations like Apple and Yahoo have already quit the Chamber over its radical, destructive stances on climate change and internet freedom. And last fall, when the Chamber backed bills that would have let big corporations censor the internet, Google considered leaving as well.

Every time a high-profile corporation leaves, it undermines the U.S. Chamber’s claim to being the “voice of American business.” We think if we move now, we might be able to get Google to quit the chamber before the election, in what would be a hammer blow to the Chamber’s credibility.

As one of the most prominent brands in the world, Google’s exit would undermine the Chamber’s claim to be the true representative American business and set a precedent for more responsible companies to walk away. Google has already staked out a position as a comparatively ethical corporation, supporting clean energy, internet freedom, and LGBT rights, all of which the Chamber opposes.

5.  "Investors In Health Care Seem to Bet On Incumbent":

"At a time when so many in the business community appear to be supporting Mr. Romney, it is telling that some businessmen and investors expect a different result -- and are wagering more than rhetoric; they are staking their wallet on it.

It may be counterintuitive, but . . . investors writ large may be helping the incumbent to win.

Intrade, an online market that allows investors to bet on political outcomes and other world events, shows that President Obama is favored to win, 57.3 percent to 42 percent."

_______________________________________________________________________________

And now, the Not-So-Uplifting -- speaking of Medicare, et alia:

6.  Dueling views of MEDICARE'S FUTURE:  BE AFRAID -- BE VERY AFRAID.

             A.  "Politics and the Future of Medicare"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/opinion/politics-and-the-future-of-medicare.html
             B.  "The Republican Proposal for Medicare"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-republican-proposal-for-medicare.html

To the Editor:

One clear indication that Mitt Romney’s Medicare plan is worse than the current one is that Mr. Romney is assuring current seniors that his new plan isn’t going to apply to them. He’s telling them not to worry because only people who are currently under 55 will be affected by the changes.

So if Mr. Romney is assuring seniors that his changes aren’t going to apply to them, isn’t that the same as admitting that his changes are worse for seniors?

MARC PERKEL
Gilroy, Calif., Aug. 19, 2012

7.  NYT even admits in its Aug. 20 lead story:  

"Cautious Moves On Foreclosures Haunting Obama:  Housing Remains Weak; Drag on Recovery Seen as Obstacle in Bid for Second Term"

Obama, Larry Summers, and Tim Geitner elected NOT to take a technical step that would have helped more homeowners suffering from foreclosures, because they thought a recovering economy would do the job for them.  HASN'T HAPPENED.  The Obama Team guessed wrong.  Big & costly error. 

8.  DRILL BABY DRILL:

In 2010, a pipeline spilled more than one millions gallons of diluted bitumen into 

Michigan's Kalamazoo River.

After the gushing, "The heavy bitumen sank to the river bottom,  leaving a mess that is still being cleaned up.  Meanwhile, the chemical additives evaporated, creating a foul smell that lingered for days. People reported headaches, dizziness and nausea . . . 

The 2010 spill could have been worse if it had reached Lake Michigan [which] supplies drinking water to more than 12 million people.  Fortunately, the damage was restricted to a tributary creek and about 36 miles of the Kalamazoo . . . "

9.  OUR COURT SYSTEM has shifted to the right, and is becoming way more powerful than 

the Founding Fathers have intended.

         A.  "In Congress's Paralysis, a Mightier Supreme Court" [with its 5-4 conservative & pro-business majority] 

         B.  "Judicial Elections and the Bottom Line:  Special-interest spending tilts state courts toward business interests, not independence"

Conservative Press: NYT Out of Control!

Wed. August 22, 2012:


First, 2 NYT pieces in today's op-ed pages:

1.  Thomas Friedman's praise of what he calls genuine "conservatives":
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/friedman-we-need-a-conservative-party.html

2.  Maureen Dowd's hatchet job on Todd Akin, Paul Ryan, the anti-abortion Doctor John Willkie who

has suggested that a [legitimately?] raped woman can will herself not to get pregnant.
Entertaining for the left, infuriating to the right:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/opinion/dowd-just-think-no.html




Second, the conservative press levels charges at the NYT and the Democratic party:

1.  http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2012/08/16/new-york-times-scorched-earth-attacks-mitt-romney

2.  David Brooks, of the NYT, criticizes the Democratic party for not articulating an alternative to
the Republicans on Medicare.  [Evidently the Affordable Care Act does not count for Mr. Brooks].
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/opinion/brooks-guide-for-the-perplexed.html?emc=eta1

Suskind = Unkind to Obama, who "Has To Go"

Tues. August 21, 2012:

Dear Readers, you are busy, so, just sayin', here are 3 or 4 items worth your time.

1.
The first is Niall Ferguson's scathing additions to the narrative of
RON SUSKIND's hatchet-job book Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President --about Obama's feckless presidency.
Even if just some of it is true, we should be very very worried.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html

2.
As Alexis de Tocqueville observed, way back in 1835, U.S. political campaigns are always
ridiculously polarized affairs.  Question:  If this trend is that entrenched, can anything be done?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-20/i-m-right-you-re-wrong-and-other-political-truths.html

3.
GOP is barking up the wrong tree, to campaign on Ryan's budget.
Time for Romney/Ryan to please the Tea Party and pivot against banks & Wall Street.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-19/the-real-conservative-opportunity-this-november.html

4.
More "Tooth Fairy" tales from the Romney/Ryan proposal for repealing Obamacare:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-20/private-market-tooth-fairy-can-t-cut-medicare-cost.html

"Utterly Slick in His Projection of Genuineness"

Sun. August 19, 2012:            [Part 2]


Sturdy Readers, wait'll you get a load of Frank Bruni's characterization of 
new GOP veeper Paul Ryan, at the bottom.  Does he have it right?


I.

The TWO best questions of the week come from Mark Bittman, left of Obama,
and from Andrew Ross Sorkin,  left of Ryan:

              A.  Hey, Barack Obama, you're failing your progressive base!
                    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/lets-make-him-do-it/

              B.  Hey, Paul Ryan, does Wall Street really know what you are for & against?
                    "Everything Wall St. Should Know About Ryan: A pro-business veneer, coupled with
                    shifting policies"
                    http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/paul-ryan-and-what-wall-street-should-know/





II.

             A.  Earlier tough questions for Obama from Mark Bittman, on "diet, food safety, weapons -- issues that beg for leadership. "
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/bittman-guns-butter-and-then-some/



            B.

Timothy Egan has rough questions for Mitt Romney:
"Romney The Unknowable:  The Republican Candidate Has Too Many Narratives to Hide From"
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/romney-the-unknowable/





                C.

       
Gail Collins has more questions for Romney & Ryan:
"Middle-Age Blues:  Here's the good news about the Paul Ryan Pick"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/opinion/collins-middle-age-blues.html



                D.

So does Frank Bruni:
"The Bold To Mitt's Bland:  What Ryan can give Romney is a tutorial in political myth-making"
"Ryan knows how to handle the curves in the road, because he has fine-tuned the most valuable oxymoron in political life:

HE'S UTTERLY SLICK IN HIS PROJECTION OF GENUINENESS."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/opinion/bruni-the-bold-to-mitts-bland.html

10 Reasons for Reforming USA's Elections

Sun. August 19, 2012:          [Part ONE]


1.  GOP says Obama has no plan to pay for funding any of his programs.  "Does he hope to win the lottery?"  The Obama election campaign DOES need to clarify how it plans to pay for things, while also reducing deficits!
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-bankruptcy_650106.html?page=2

2.  Representative Dennis Cardoza, a 5-term Blue Dog [i.e. conservative] Democrat from California,
had already announced that he would not run for re-election and would retire when his term ended.

But on Tuesday, he issued a statement that surprised many by saying he would step down immediately.
The resignation is unlikely to have much impact in the House, where little legislative action is expected during the rest of this session.  The chamber now has 5 vacant seats. 
Mr. Cardoza told The Sacramento Bee that the time was right, "in light of the fact that nothing is going to happen for the rest of the year" in Congress.

3.  The 2012 Election Cycle:  "Attack, Feign Outrage, Repeat"
WE CAN'T KEEP DOING ELECTIONS THIS WAY!
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/the-2012-cycle-attack-feign-outrage-repeat/

4.  "Overt Discrimination in Ohio:  Republican election officials curtain early voting in Democratic counties, but not in theirs."

5.  A Republican judge in Pennsylvania rules in favor of new GOP-led state law [which a leader openly boasted would "help Romney win the state"] which will require voter ID to vote.  Supposedly this is to prevent a voter from pretending to be someone else, yet evidence shows that this practice is almost totally nonexistent.  Folks most likely not to have a driver's licence or other acceptable ID?
Black & elderly voters, normally overwhelmingly Democratic.

6.  In a private message to GOP candidates, House Republican leaders instructed them how to respond to inquiries about Medicare:  choose their words carefully, emphasize "strengthen" and "protect" over phrases like "every option is on the table."

7.  If Romney & Ryan win, their big donors "will not be settling for sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom," says Bill Keller.  "Sheldon Adelson (casinos & Israel), Charlie & David Koch (petroleum and libertarian politics), and Bob Perry (home builder and bankroller of the Swift Boat slander) . . .
Don't expect to see a secretary of commerce or energy or a director of the EPA (if any of those positions still exist) or any other key regulator who does not pass muster with Romney's big investors, or does not take their phone calls."

8.  R. Glenn Hubbard, below, wearing glasses, in 2008 on GWB's Council of Economic Advisors:

Back in 2008, Columbia University's Glenn Hubbard, a top Romney economic advisor, endorsed the large Bush tax cuts, but the promised bonanza of jobs failed to materialize.  Hubbard also rationalized deregulation, which is now widely blamed for contributing to the housing and banking mess.  "Now," says Bill Keller, Hubbard "lends an expert gloss to the claim that Romney's sketchy economic plan will create 12 million jobs -- a claim I doubt would pass muster in a first-year Econ class at Columbia."


9.  Last week new GOP veep candidate left Iowa's drought-stricken farmers to meet with casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas.  Ryan, winner of Americans for Prosperity's
"Defender of the American Dream" award for a Wisconsin chapter, has gotten tight with the
Koch brothers.

10.  Private sector hospital business, touted by Romney & Ryan:

HCA hospital chain is now making huge profits, by forcing its
Emergency Room doctors to send away patients if they don't look seriously ill, AND, by forcing its other doctors to order only tests for which HCA will get highest Medicare reimbursements!

Conservatives' Turn for High Dudgeon & Outrage

Fri. August 17, 2012:       



Conservatives deserve to be outraged too.
A few samples:


I.  Vice-president Joe Biden goes "racist" in a recent campaign speech, but "gets away with it":

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/15/joe-biden-s-chains-comment-and-the-racial-double-standard.html

[The media's true bias, though, is NOT in hounding Biden off the ticket, but in
FAILING to report on 2 key questions:

         A.  Was Biden's remark before an all-black audience?  Mostly black?  Half-and-half?

         B.  Was his audience offended by his "put y'all back in chains" remark?

WE DON'T KNOW, because the mainstream media has not told us; therein lies a legitimate bias.]



II.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-romneys-present-ryans-future/2012/08/16/d0411adc-e7b8-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend

Charles Krauthammer:  Romney's choice of Paul Ryan was a "sweet judo move" which may bring back another 2010 mandate against Obamacare.



III.   Left-wing media attacks on veep candidate Paul Ryan are WAY OVERDRAWN:

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/paul-ryan-7-great-reads-on-romney-s-running-mate.html



IV.  Conservatives have spurned Sarah Palin, and embraced Bill Clinton!  WHY?  and WHY?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/31/why-sarah-palin-s-reputation-has-plummeted-as-bill-clinton-s-has-grown.html

Revisionist Looks at Paul Ryan & "His" Ayn Rand

Thu. August 16, 2012:

Gentle Readers -- or, as it is Ayn Rand day on this blog -- should I say
Ferocious Unfettered Individuals:

What follows will not be pleasant reading to right-wingers.
But tomorrow is their day on Bitesfromedwin.

1.   http://front.moveon.org/is-ayn-rand-really-the-person-republicans-want-to-imitate   
An unflattering analysis of Ayn Rand.  Has Mitt made a Veep Mistake?

2.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/opinion/ayn-rand-wouldnt-approve-of-paul-ryan.html
Ayn Rand herself is okay, but she would NOT approve of Paul Ryan, or today's GOP.

3.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/opinion/dowd-when-cruelty-is-cute.html
Maureen Dowd's acerbic pen:
New GOP veep candidate Paul Ryan, Dowd says, is 
"the cutest package that cruelty ever came in . . ."
"Not since Ronald Reagan tried to cut the budget by categorizing ketchup and relish as vegetables has the GOP managed to find such an attractive vessel to mask harsh policies with a smiling face . . ."
"Ryan should stop being so lovable.  People who intend to hurt other people should wipe the smile off their faces."

Reagan's David Stockman v "Congressman" Ryan

Wed. August 15, 2012:

First, remember, on Jan. 20, 2013, our new Vice-president may be the current GOP
"Congressman" Paul Ryan from a U.S. congressional district in Wisconsin.


 
Having already downed a few power drinks, she turns around, faces him, looks him straight in the eye and says,
"Listen here, good looking, I will screw anybody, anytime, anywhere, their place, my place, in the car, front door, back door, on the ground, standing up, sitting down, naked or with clothes on . . . It doesn't matter to me. I just love it."
His eyes now wide with interest, he responds, 
"No kidding... I'm in Congress too. What state do you represent?


Second:
Between 1981 and 1985, the GOP's most heroic president, Ronald Reagan, had one
David Stockman as his director of the Office of Management & Budget [OMB].

On Tues. Aug. 14, 2012, David Stockman, of all people, takes a dim view of
Congressman Paul Ryan, in Ryan's role as Chair of the House Budget Committee.
[Stockman does not mention Obama's rival budget plans, but surely they would get
a similar Stockman tongue-lashing]:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/opinion/paul-ryans-fairy-tale-budget-plan.html

Australia on Paul Ryan: Gimme a Goddam Scotch

Tues. August 14, 2012:

Australia Fair has its own take on the new Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan GOP ticket.


Saturday morning's stealth-surprise Romney announcement, of Ayn Randian congressman Paul Ryan
-- Wisconsin's rising star -- as the GOP Veep nominee, has been an American pundit's Field Day.

Tally up the number of U.S.A. pundits out there -- from Bloomberg News, National Review, NYT, New Republic, WSJ, and countless others:  Unless they were on vacation, like Paul Krugman, they have already published their opinion.

So far, if there is any consensus, not counting the wild extremes to left & right, it is this:

Paul Ryan is an attractive young rising politician, and his choice by Romney is either risky or shrewd or both.

_______________________________________________________________________________


But perhaps more enlightening for us Yanks is the opinion of
one Guy Rundle [now writing from

London], a kind of leftish latter-day Australian Alexis deTocqueville,
who has recently been criss-crossing the USA, and writing about what he observes.

Enjoy [or not]:


Guy Rundle writes from London:
2012 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, MITT ROMNEY, PAUL RYAN:  
WHY MITT'S MATE, THE ANTI-PALIN PAUL RYAN, MATTERS

 
Mitt Romney has jumped out the blocks early, and announced a vice-presidential running mate -- Wisconsin congressman, and congressional budget leader Paul Ryan, a choice that has been met with bemusement, head scratching and an ocean of interpretation. In typical Mitt style, even the innocuous announcement of veep pick was something that Mitt stuffed up -- turning to Ryan, he announced him as the "next President of the United States," which at least offered the possibility of a spectacular Inauguration Day live suicide.

There was little else that was exciting about Ryan as a pick, on the surface -- he appeared, clad in the same white shirt as Romney, looking more or less like a young Romney, the exact opposite of the longed-for VP 
surprise pick, whether it be Walter Mondale's selection of Geraldine Ferraro in '84, or John McCain's recourse to Sarah Palin in 2008.

The sparsity of those choices makes clear a peculiarity of US politics -- everyone monitors the veep choice for a great surprise, the surprise is usually there ain't no surprise. No African-American or Hispanics have ever been chosen for the veep spot, and only one Jew -- Joe Lieberman, running as Al Gore's partner in 2000, and now a hawkish independent, supporting the Republicans on most issues.

For the most part it's been white guys -- the veep choice is usually a more, not less, traditional person than the presidential candidate himself. Ronald Reagan was a former actor some could not take seriously, balanced out by uber-WASP insider George Bush; Michael Dukakis was of Greek heritage, and Lloyd Bentsen all but strolled down the lawn and offered mint juleps y'all. And in 2000, Dick Cheney chose another scion of an old Republican family as his running mate. I can't even remember who Bob Dole -- Jesus, Jack Kemp, Wikipedia just told me. How obscure is that? Finally in 2008, Barack Obama made the wise choice of Joe Biden, who for all his fumbles and gaffes, could go around the north-east labour heartland and say (more diplomatically), the schwartzer's all right.

So the surprise of Paul Ryan is simply because most pundits expected that Romney would choose someone who would add a bit of, literal, colour to the ticket, and a sense of fire and life. Some thought he might go directly for the religious base, and choose someone like Mike Huckabee; others that he might get a twofer out of Hispanic/Tea Party favourite, Florida senator Marco Rubio. Choosing a woman was unlikely, after the Palin experience -- unfair, but there it is -- and the only high-profile one was Michele Bachmann, who makes Sarah Palin look like Hannah Arendt.

That they have gone for a square white guy is indicative; that the square white guy in particular is Paul Ryan has many ramifications. To the general white guys choice first. Various commentators have described this as "tepid" and "disappointing"; Noam Scheiber in the New Republic suggests it is an alibi for a loss -- Ryan's profile is highest as leader of the post-2010 GOP Congress extreme budget push, which read more like a synopsis for the Hunger Games than a document of modern governance, and the theory is that the organisational wing of the party is using this as a decisive demonstration to the party's right that they will be in opposition forever if they don't move to the centre.

That is mad, and only persuasive if one avoids the nasty truth about the choice of Ryan -- as a choice based on race, not Ryan's but Obama's. To choose the whitest guy around, and create the whitest guy team in history, is mainlining on the idea that a coterie of independent voters will consciously or otherwise, groove on the idea that they gave the African-American guy a try, and he screwed it up; more in sorrow than in anger, they will conclude that if you want a job done, you get a pair of white managers in. That is unquestionably the semiotics of the veep choice, ugly as it is, and people who don't want to see that, because they are too enamoured of the ideal of America, rather than the reality, miss its acuteness. True, Romney could have chosen Florida senator Marco Rubio, who, for all his boilerplate right-wing rhetoric, is an impressive man -- from a family of Cuban refugees, worked his way up, etc. He had a bit more help than he is willing to admit, but hell, he's a Senator, an eloquent speaker and a passionate man.


Sadly, to many of the vaguely right-shifted independents the GOP hope to attract, and especially those north of St Louis, that doesn't matter. When they look at Rubio, they see a busboy. When they see him in a suit, they reach for their valet parking ticket. That's rough, it's far from total, but there it is. To have a Latino on the ticket would have muddied the clear distinction between traditional authority, and the prejudices that is calling on. By having a presidential team composed of two men in white shirts, who appear to be modelling white shirts for a catalogue, the Republicans are effectively re-summoning the Einsenhower era, when things worked goddamit, and before the African-American and hippies started burning down the cities. Gimme a goddam Scotch. Make it a double.

                                          

By this move, President Obama and his administration become identified with the whole allegedly failed trajectory of the '60s -- Obama becomes identified as the first affirmative action President, and a whole slice of voters are thus relieved of voting against him purely on account of his race -- 'Well, we gave 'em a chance and y'know ...". Who are those voters? Well they're the voters Joe Biden fielded for Obama in '08. They're northern white voters in the rustbelt states. Unionised and leftish in some ways, they are not merely conservative in social matters, but identified with the American project, of greatness. They are the grandchildren of the voters that the Republicans persuaded to switch from Truman to Eisenhower in 1952, and -- given the appalling state of American social mobility (worst in the advanced OECD) -- they havent moved far. Few of them are vicious racists as one might find in the south, but many have a clannish, collective identity based around white working-class identity -- now based largely around the jobs that used to be there, which makes the sense of cultural identity all the keener.