{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."

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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"