Ain't It the Truth!

Journalism and the truth: More complicated than it has ever been — Tech News and Analysis - http://gigaom.com/2012/10/23/journalism-and-the-truth-more-complicated-than-it-has-ever-been/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

Race for President Leaves Income Slump in Shadows - NYTimes.com

Race for President Leaves Income Slump in Shadows - NYTimes.com: "Many of the bedrock assumptions of American culture — about work, progress, fairness and optimism — are being shaken as successive generations worry about the prospect of declining living standards. No question, perhaps, is more central to the country’s global standing than whether the economy will perform better on that score in the future than it has in the recent past."

Some well-reasoned analysis in this piece, most of which I agree with. In the 'silly season' before elections politicians often deal with 'froth' in their campaigns because the underlying forces driving our fiscal mess and poor performing economy cannot be dealt with in a sound bite or 30 second ad.

The fundamental issue in the Presidential campaign is whether the government is the best solver of our economic and fiscal problems of whether the role of the private sector can best do it. I favor the private sector and I think more and more voters are coming around to that viewpoint because they see the trillion dollar deficits of TeamObama have produced poor results and unsustainable debt but little economic improvement.
Missing from the story is the corrosive effect of entitlements on America's fiscal health. Entitlements persuade people who have them not to lose them and to vote accordingly. (Entitlements do little to grow the economy except provide a source of consumer spending.) Politicians know this and too many pander to the recipients for their votes.

The fundamental problems in our economy have no quick fix, yet that's what too many voters unrealistically expect and that politicians over-promise with their 'make sure...' rhetoric.

The only way to improve incomes is to grow the pie (the economy) not redistribute it. Even if all the income of the super-rich was confiscated and applied to the deficits it would be a drop in the bucket.
It boils down to this: Which Presidential candidate and Congresspersons do voters trust to best set a course to solve the problems we face. Romney's proposals ring truer than Obama's.

'via Blog this'

The German Woes of Big Wind

http://www.businessinsider.com/germanys-wind-power-chaos-2012-9

Written by a Brit, this story suggests that Germany's rapid investment in Big Wind and solar is causing costly technical problems in managing the grid for stable, reliable operation. They have also decided to shut down their nukes which exacerbates the grid reliability problem.

Empathy in Plolitics

While empathy is a necessary ingredient to the human condition of civilized community, it is corrupted by the politics of power.

Many Democrats seek to entitle those with less, some of which, but not all, clearly need help. They also use the tool of class warfare to emotionally tie those who are receiving 'entitlements (a nasty loaded word) to them as the party who 'cares.' Most Republicans do not lack empathy, but reject the bureaucratic government model to which many citizens have transferred much of their empathy and personal responsibility and which grows unsustainably larger and deeper in debt providing ever more 'benefits' (another loaded word).

Societies have always had the super-rich (in relative terms) and they almost always have been demonized by those with much less. What's missing in the present economic malaise is enough productive work ( jobs) for willing people to support themselves, not a lack of empathy for the truly needy.

The debate is over the policies that will best provide the opportunity to earn a decent living in a society undergoing technological upheaval, not which political party is more empathetic.

Obama Cannot be Trusted in Foreign Policy

Arguments can be made that America cannot win a war with Islam. Nevertheless, when provoked as we have been in Benghazi and Cairo, we must respond both in words and deed.

President Obama has a foreign policy that is unknown to most Americans. America cannot trust the Muslim government in Egypt and Libya, for all intents and purposes, has no effective government. In this vacuum terrorists thrive. The Arab Spring is nothing more than liberal wishful thinking.

I have much greater confidence that Romney as leader would be a defender of America's interests than TeamObama, which has not demonstrated the savvy to confront the world's realities.

WSJ NEWS ALERT: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Is Killed in Attack on Consulate - dusher@gmail.com - Gmail

News Alert from The Wall Street Journal 

"Libyan officials said the U.S. ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans have been killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the Associated Press reported.
Demonstrators on Tuesday attacked the consulate and breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, amid angry protests over a film by a U.S. producer that mocks and insults the Prophet Muhammad."

Breaking News AlertThe New York TimesWednesday, September 12, 2012 -- 7:24 AM EDT-----
U.S. Ambassador to Libya Is Reported Killed by Protesters in Benghazi
The Libyan government said Wednesday that United States ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed along with three of his staff in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi Tuesday night in the first death of an American envoy abroad in more than two decades.
The U.S. State Department declined to confirm or deny the reports and said the previous night that only a single unnamed embassy employee had been killed. But if confirmed, the killing, during at attack by an armed mob angry over a short American-made video mocking Islam’s founding prophet, threatens to upset Washington’s relations with the new Libyan government that took over after the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and sour American public opinion about the prospects of the democratic opening of the Arab spring.
Mr. Stevens, a veteran of U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya, served in Benghazi during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi, and he was widely admired by the Libyan rebels for his support of their struggle to overthrow Colonel Qaddafi.

So much for the Arab Spring widely hailed as a positive development when it first started. Deposing dictators is a good thing.  Islamic mobs that we have seen in Libya and Egypt in the last day or two threaten the rule of law and basic security that democratic experiments must have in order to succeed.

What will be the American response?

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Vermont is #1. Not Desirable

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/30/highest-state-taxes-lifestyle-real-estate-state-taxes.html

Vermont is the state with the highest taxes. But we already knew that. We have many apologists for this situation but the responsibility rests solely on the the liberal government establishment and those who elect them.

The November Election is A Clear Choice of Worldviews

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate sharpens the focus in the November elections between competing views of America's future. Obama, Biden and a Democrat Senate vs. Romney, Ryan and a Republican House.

The Democrat view comprises more spending, unsustainable debt and costly entitlements without a fiscal reform plan in association with a Senate that has failed to pass a budget in more than three years.

TeamRomney promises economic reform, job growth, fiscal responsibility,entitlement restraint repeal of ObamaCare and a return more limited government.

While all campaigns are full of promises, I favor TeamRomney as charting a better course for our country. TeamObama has no record of success in creating a better future for our nation.

Most important in this election is to populate Congress with Senators and Representatives that will create a future that is affordable and sustainable. The present dysfuntional Congress has failed its citizens

News Alertfrom The Wall Street Journal

Mitt Romney picked Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, a decision that could spark enthusiasm for the Republican ticket among conservatives and all but ensures the election will turn to deep philosophical divisions between the two parties over spending, taxes and entitlements.
In Mr. Ryan, 42 years old, the Romney campaign gets a conservative who has spent recent years at the center of national debates about the size and scope of the federal government. With his proposals to revamp entitlement programs for future retirees and the poor, he has become a hero to conservatives and a target for liberals.

The pick was officially announced on Mr. Romney’s phone app just after 7 a.m. Mr. Romney plans to hold an event at 9 a.m. on the USS Wisconsin, which carries the name of Rep. Ryan's home state.

http://online.wsj.com/article/

SB1000087239639044340400457758
2112521141598.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

SwiftKey tests

Just downloaded SwiftKey and am testing it on my new nexus 7. Need to get a lot more words typed to truly evaluate how well it performs. It seems snappy and accurate so far. I must remember to watch the word selection bar rather than the content window. The theme choices are cool And the space insertion feature is very helpful because I constantly forget to insert spaces. :-). It even has smiley face insertion options.
So far it looks like a time saver!

Job Growth in Private Sector

WSJ reports that July's job growth was in the private sector. That's good news. Government should continue to shrink even faster for a healthier economic rebound.

"The Labor Department Friday said private companies accounted for all of the growth in July payrolls, adding 172,000 jobs during the month. Governments, meanwhile, shed 9,000 positions. The federal work force shrank by 2,000."