Again I did not get the button pushed.

Issac downgraded.

Victory for me is your presence in my life.

Hayek considers goals. He gets them wrong.
Keynes considers means and finds his General Theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_Theory_of_Employment,_Interest_and_Money

Most of government policy is executed through tax law.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/unconventional/

"August 29, 2012, 9:40 am8 Comments

Unconventional

No, I didn’t watch it. In the immortal words of Barbara Bush, why should I waste my beautiful mind on that?
Still, I get the essence. The GOP campaign is based on five main themes, three negative and two positive.
Negative:

The claim that Obama denigrated businessmen, saying that they didn’t build their own firms — which isn’t true.
The claim that Obama has gutted Medicare to pay for the expansion of health insurance — which isn’t true.
The claim that Obama has eliminated the work requirement for welfare — which isn’t true.

Positive:

The claim that Ryan has a plan to balance the budget — which isn’t true.
The claim that Romney has a plan for economic recovery — which isn’t true. (The Economist: “The Romney Programme for Economic Recovery, Growth and Jobs” is like “Fifty Shades of Grey” without the sex).

It seems to me that there’s a pattern here, but I can’t quit figure it out. The editorial page has some ideas.
Also, Robin Wells on health care and women, and Matt Miller on Christie.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/28/mitt-romney-flipflops-healthcare-woo-back-women1

Mitt Romney flip-flops on healthcare to woo back women

"After disowning it, now Romney is embracing his Massachusetts healthcare law to win over female voters. That's not happening

- Robin Wells
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 August 2012 08.56 EDT
- Jump to comments (…)

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and VP nominee Paul Ryan at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

The Romney camp has finally gotten it.
No, not about whether rape can ever be "legitimate". Or whether contraception is a fundamental right. No, what they have finally gotten is that they are likely to lose this election because of women.
Clear evidence of this is the volte-face the Romney camp has done in the past few days on "Romneycare", a topic that it had treated as thoroughly radioactive until now. And the Obama camp is banking on a case of irreconcilable differences between the Republicans and, come November, a majority of voting women to put them over the top.
In a sane Republican party, Romneycare, the healthcare overhaul Romney implemented as governor of Massachusetts and which Obamacare closely resembles, would be a major selling-point. It's overwhelmingly popular in Massachusetts, delivering to residents the highest percentage of insurance coverage in the country.
But sanity long since quit the Republican party. Republicans just plain hate Obamacare and they've pledged to wipe it out, root and branch. Romney, ever compliant towards the radicals in his party, ran away from his own signature governing accomplishment during the primary season as fast as he could.
Until now. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Romney declared:

"With regards to women's healthcare, look, I'm the guy that was able to get healthcare for all the women and men in my state."

The host, Chris Wallace, parried, "So you're saying, look at Romneycare?" To which Romney replied, "Absolutely. I'm proud of what we did."
In belatedly embracing Romneycare, Romney is trying to make up lost ground on a policy that women are significantly more likely to support than men. By a wide margin, women are more likely to support health insurance requirements than men. Yet Romney, as always, hopes to have it both ways. He hopes that the public won't notice that, in order to satisfy his party, what he is really promising is not only the repeal of Obamacare, but also the destruction of Medicare, to be replaced by the Ryan voucher plan.
So, it's unlikely that a few insincere words delivered via a Fox News interview is going to mend Romney's broken relationship with women. And the fact is, it was never good to begin with.
Romney has consistently suffered from a significant gender gap, with Obama's lead among women clocking in at between 16 to 20 percentage points in April. Although that has since narrowed, a recent ABC/Washington Post poll gives Obama a 6 percentage point advantage nation-wide among women. Obama's advantage with women continues to more than offset Romney's advantage with men – enough, at this point, to deliver victory to Obama in November.
What the Romney camp is trying to come to terms with is that, in this election, caring and compassion are trumping perceptions of competence in managing the economy. In a recent CNN poll, 53% of likely voters stated that Obama is more in touch with the problems facing middle-class Americans, compared to only 39% who stated that Romney is more in touch. In contrast, Romney bested Obama by 48% to 44% on competence in managing the economy. Tellingly, though, Obama leads Romney 60% to 31% on the question of who is more in touch with the problems facing women today.
In reality, Romney's plan (that is, Paul Ryan's plan) for the economy would be an utter catastrophe, with savage cuts to government spending leading to a severely depressed economy, a skyrocketing deficit, and untold misery for the average American for years on end while the rich benefit. Despite Romney's unmerited reputation for competence in stewarding the economy, voters – women voters, to be exact – are signalling that Romney's vision of America is too extreme, too callous, too destructive.
Arguably, it might be the wrong comparison, but the conclusion is correct. I'll take it, flaws and all."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/opinion/how-the-republicans-built-it.html/?_r=1&hp

Editorial

How the Republicans Built It

It was a day late, but the Republicans’ parade of truth-twisting, distortions and plain falsehoods arrived on the podium of their national convention on Tuesday. Following in the footsteps of Mitt Romney’s campaign, rarely have so many convention speeches been based on such shaky foundations. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, in the keynote speech, angrily demanded that the American people learn the hard truths about the two parties, but like most of those at the microphone, he failed to supply any. He said his state needed his austere discipline of slashed budgets, canceled public projects and broken public unions, but did not mention that New Jersey now has a higher unemployment rate than when he took over, and never had the revenue boom he promised from tax cuts.

“We believe in telling our seniors the truth about our overburdened entitlements,” he said, but his party has consistently refused to come clean about its real plans to undo Medicare and Medicaid. “Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to put us back on a path to growth,” he said, but Mr. Romney has consistently refused to tell the truth about his tax plan, his budget plan, and his health care plan.

It was appropriate that “We built it,” the needling slogan of the evening, was painted on the side of the convention hall. Speaker after speaker alluded to the phrase in an entire day based on the thinnest of reeds — a poorly phrased remark by the president, deliberately taken out of context. President Obama was making the obvious point that all businesses rely to some extent on the work and services of government. But Mr. Romney has twisted it to suggest that Mr. Obama believes all businesses are creatures of the government, and so the convention had to parrot the line.

“We need a president who will say to a small businesswoman: Congratulations, we applaud your success, you did make that happen, you did build that,” said Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia. “Big government didn’t build America; you built America!”

That was far from the only piece of nonsense on the menu, only the most frequently repeated one. Conventions are always full of cheap applause lines and over-the-top attacks, but it was startling to hear how many speakers in Tampa considered it acceptable to make points that had no basis in reality.

Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, for example, boasted of the booming economy in his state, never mentioning that he and Mr. Romney opposed the auto bailout that has played an outsized role in the state’s recovery. (Apparently Mr. Obama’s destructive economic policies do not apply everywhere.)

Andy Barr, a Congressional candidate in Kentucky, made the particularly egregious charge that the president was conducting “a war on coal,” ruthlessly attacking an industry and thousands of struggling miners.

He was apparently referring to the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions and prevent power-plant pollution from drifting through the East Coast states. The country desperately needs to reduce its reliance on coal, which is far more polluting than natural gas, but that goal gets harder to achieve every time someone like Mr. Barr makes it out to be an attack on a way of life.

Considering how Mr. Romney has conducted his campaign so far, most recently his blatantly false advertising accusing Mr. Obama of gutting the work requirement on welfare, it is probably not surprising that the convention he leads would follow a similar path.

Voters looking for a few nuggets of truth would not have found them in Tampa on Tuesday."

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/57910

"by Dioni Vougioukli

29 Aug 2012

Tensions rose on Wednesday during a municipality employees' protest between MAT riot police and protesting garbage collectors

1. COALITION MEETING Political leaders broadly agree on an austerity package demanded by the country's lenders but have yet to decide on how to soften its impact on low-wage earners and pensioners, government officials and party leaders said on Wednesday. The austerity package will be ready next week to be presented to the troika, Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said. Following the coalition leaders' meeting, Democratic Left leader Fotis Kouvelis told reporters that elaboration of the measures has not yet been completed, adding that efforts were being made to avoid across-the-board cuts, to which he said he was opposed, and to "protect the low and small incomes".

2. MUNICIPALITY STRIKE Local administration employees have called a two-day strike starting Wednesday, protesting for the municipalities' economic condition, cutbacks in salaries and lay-offs. The striking Attica municipal employees staged a demonstration and march to the interior ministry on Wednesday morning. Tensions rose during the protest between MAT riot police and protesting garbage collectors. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was to meet on Wednesday afternoon with the mayors at their request. The final decisions on the further stance of the local administration employees will be taken on Thursday.

3. PIRATES ABOARD A Greek-operated oil tanker seized off Togo was tracked down on Wednesday off the coast of Nigeria under the control of pirates, the ship's operator and Togolese authorities said. The ship is operated by Golden Energy Management, which said in a statement that "the vessel is presently sailing off the coast of Nigeria under the control of pirates who have the intention to steal the cargo.” The crew are believed to be in good health and unharmed, the statement added. The Greek coastguard said there were 24 people on board, all of whom Russian nationals.

4. DEI TROUBLE Public Power Corporation (DEI) on Wednesday warned that a high level of unpaid debts to the utility – estimated at around 600-700 million euros - was creating a significant liquidity problem. The issue, along with a proposal to off-set public sector debt to DEI, were discussed during a meeting between Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras and DEI CEO Arthuros Zervos. On the same day the company’s alternate CEO Nikos Hatziargyriou had rendered his resignation from his post. Also on Wednesday, newspaper ToVima reported that DEI customers who cannot afford the property tax that is attached to their electricity bill will have to pay 50 euros in order for the tax to be removed from the bill.

5. HIDDEN CAMERA A 42-year-old high-school teacher who was arrested two years ago on child pornography charges had placed a hidden camera in a school classroom to secretly videotape pupils, police said on Wednesday. The recordings were discovered in a laboratory analysis of files found on the man's computer in January 2010, the cybercrime squad announced. Police said a total of 80 recordings were found, adding that the teacher had placed the hidden camera at a spot in the classroom so as to tape the genital area of the pupils undetected. In the statement announcing the discovery, the police gave no indication why it took so long to find the classroom recordings nor did they provide any information on the suspect's whereabouts or current employment status."

Greece will not receive more bailout cash.

There will be another election very soon.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT4+shtml/291451.shtml

"000
WTNT44 KNHC 291451
TCDAT4

HURRICANE ISAAC DISCUSSION NUMBER  34
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL       AL092012
1000 AM CDT WED AUG 29 2012

HURRICANE ISAAC IS INLAND OVER SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA NEAR HOUMA.
THE CYCLONE HAS MAINTAINED AN IMPRESSIVE RADAR SIGNATURE...WHICH
INCLUDES A RAGGED 40-NMI DIAMETER EYE. CURVED CONVECTIVE RAINBANDS
HAVE INCREASED IN THE EASTERN SEMICIRCLE...AND DOPPLER RADAR
VELOCITIES OF NEAR 80 KT OVER WATER SUPPORT KEEPING ISAAC AS A
MINIMAL HURRICANE FOR THIS ADVISORY. SIMILAR DOPPLER VELOCITIES
OVER LAND AND OVER LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN SUGGEST WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 80
KT COULD OCCUR INLAND OVER SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA INTO THIS
AFTERNOON. BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING...HOWEVER...ISAAC IS
FORECAST TO WEAKEN TO A TROPICAL STORM...AND BECOME A TROPICAL
DEPRESSION BY THURSDAY NIGHT.

THE INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE IS 310/5. ISAAC IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
SLOWLY NORTHWESTWARD THROUGH A WEAKNESS IN THE SUBTROPICAL RIDGE
FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS...AND THEN TURN NORTH-NORTHWESTWARD AND
NORTHWARD AROUND THE WESTERN PERIPHERY OF THE RIDGE BY 36 AND 48
HOURS...RESPECTIVELY. BY 72 HOURS...ISAAC IS FORECAST TO BECOME A
POST-TROPICAL REMNANT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT SHOULD MOVE
NORTHEASTWARD TO EAST-NORTHEASTWARD WHEN IT WILL BE CAUGHT UP IN
WEAK MID-LATITUDE WESTERLIES. THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO INDICATIONS IN
ANY OF THE MODEL GUIDANCE SUGGESTING THAT ISAAC WILL TAP INTO ANY
BAROCLINIC ENERGY SOURCES THAT COULD RESULT IN EXTRATROPICAL
STRENGTHENING OVER THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. THE OFFICIAL TRACK
FORECAST IS SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS ADVISORY TRACK AND IS JUST EAST
OF THE MODEL CONSENSUS.

SINCE ISAAC IS FORECAST TO MOVE SLOWLY OVER THE NEXT 24-36 HOURS...
THERE WILL BE A PROLONGED THREAT OF FLOODING FROM HEAVY RAINS OVER
THE NORTHERN GULF COAST AREA AND THE SOUTH-CENTRAL UNITED STATES.

NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE TIDE GAGES INDICATE THAT STORM SURGE HEIGHTS
OF 6 TO 8 FEET ARE STILL OCCURRING ALONG PORTIONS OF THE COAST OF
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.  GIVEN THE LONG DURATION
OF ONSHORE FLOW IN THESE AREAS...WATER LEVELS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN
HIGH THROUGH TODAY.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CREWS OF THE AIR FORCE RESERVE AND NOAA
HURRICANE HUNTERS WHO FLEW A TOTAL OF 34 HAZARDOUS MISSIONS INTO
ISAAC...WHICH RESULTED IN AN IMPRESSIVE TOTAL OF 95 CENTER FIXES.

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INIT  29/1500Z 29.6N  90.7W   65 KT  75 MPH...INLAND
 12H  30/0000Z 30.2N  91.4W   55 KT  65 MPH...INLAND
 24H  30/1200Z 31.2N  92.2W   45 KT  50 MPH...INLAND
 36H  31/0000Z 32.8N  93.1W   30 KT  35 MPH...INLAND
 48H  31/1200Z 34.6N  93.5W   25 KT  30 MPH...INLAND
 72H  01/1200Z 38.0N  92.5W   20 KT  25 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW
 96H  02/1200Z 40.0N  89.0W   15 KT  15 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW
120H  03/1200Z 41.0N  85.0W   15 KT  15 MPH...POST-TROP/REMNT LOW

$$
FORECASTER STEWART"

The local emergency services could handle this.  Whether they will is another question.