Not all disasters are emergencies.
Aquifers are commons and subject to the same abuses as pastures.
There is not a lot that can be done about no available water.
Trucking irrigation water makes no economic sense.
http://robertreich.org/post/30103417736
"Romney’s Lying Machine
Friday, August 24, 2012
I’ve been struck by the baldness of Romney’s repetitive lies about Obama — that Obama ended the work requirement under welfare, for example, or that Obama’s Affordable Care Act cuts $716 billion from Medicare benefits.
The mainstream media along with a half-dozen independent fact-checking organizations and sites have called Romney on these whoppers, but to no avail. He keeps making these assertions.
Every campaign is guilty of exaggerations, embellishments, distortions, and half-truths. But this is another thing altogether. I’ve been directly involved in seven presidential campaigns, and I don’t recall a presidential candidate lying with such audacity, over and over again. Why does he do it, and how can he get away with it?
The obvious answer is such lies are effective. Polls show voters are starting to believe them, especially in swing states where they’re being repeated constantly in media spots financed by Romney’s super PAC or ancillary PACs and so-called “social welfare” organizations (political fronts disguised as charities, such as Karl Rove and the Koch brothers have set up).
Romney’s lying machine is extraordinarily well financed. By August, according to Jane Mayer in her recent New Yorker article, at least 33 billionaires had each donated a quarter of a million dollars or more to groups aiming to defeat Obama – with most of it flooding into attack ads in swing states.
In early August, “Americans for Prosperity,” one of the nonprofit front groups masquerading as a charity, and founded in part by billionaire right-wingers Charles and David Koch, bought some $27 million in ad time on spots now airing in eleven swing states.
So Romney’s lying machine is working.
But what does all this tell us about the man who is running this lying machine? (Or if Romney’s not running it, what does it tell us about a man who would select the people who are?)
We knew he was a cypher — that he’ll say and do whatever is expedient, change positions like a chameleon, eschew any core principles.
Yet resorting to outright lies — and organizing a presidential campaign around a series of lies — reveals a whole new level of cynicism, a profound disdain for what remains of civility in public life, and a disrespect of the democratic process.
The question is whether someone who is willing to resort to such calculated lies, and build a campaign machine around them, can be worthy of the public’s trust with the most powerful office in the world."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19365265
24 August 2012 Last updated at 12:15 ET
Greek PM: Give us breathing space
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras asks Germany's Angela Merkel to give his country "breathing space" after the two leaders met in Berlin. - Hewitt: Germany's Greek challenge
- Greek pensioners' plight
- Greece urged to stick to reforms
- Q&A: Greek debt crisis
Apple and Samsung get S Korea ban
A South Korean court rules that Apple and Samsung both infringed each other's patents on mobile devices and bans the sale of some products in South Korea.Sweet words but no further action.
"Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to give his country "breathing space" following a meeting of the two leaders in Berlin.
Mrs Merkel said she would not make "premature judgements" about Greece's progress towards meeting its reform targets in advance of an official report due next month.She said Germany wanted Greece to remain in the eurozone.
But it had to meet its reform targets.
At a joint news conference, Mr Samaras said: "Greece will stick to its commitments and fulfil its obligations. In fact, this is already happening.
"We're not asking for more money," he said, adding that Greece needed "time to breathe".
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission - the group of donor bodies known collectively as the "troika" - are examining whether Greece is making sufficient progress towards reforming its public finances." . . .
http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/57865
| "Press Watch, August 24 | |||||
| |||||
 The Athens press focused on today’s meeting between Premier Antonis Samaras and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, as well as yesterday’s talks between French President Francois Hollande and Merkel, also in the German capital. The consensus, based on yesterday’s brief remarks by Merkel and Hollande, was that the Franco-German axis will insist on full implementation of Greece’s bailout obligations. Of course the French president, who knows a thing or two about savoir faire, is much more diplomatic about it. But reports also focused on the deep, lingering fissures in the Franco-German axis. Hollande, like Samaras, has stressed the need for measures to spur development, while Merkel remains obsessed with austerity, austerity, austerity. Yesterday’s incredible clashes in Corinth between police and followers of the far right Golden Dawn party also captured wide attention. Remarkably, the anti-immigrant Golden Dawn – which is often and not without reason described as neo-Nazi – is up in arms due to the transport of undocumented migrants to a military base in the Peloponnesian city. Golden Dawn – which has a military “cells” structure - wants to rein in illegal immigration, but they want to do it themselves and in their own way, the way of violence. The party has an especially strong following in Corinth. The black shirt Golden Dawn members, dressed in military pants and motorcycle helmets, tried to block authorities from bringing the migrants to the camp. That was not because of their sensitivity to human rights, but because they don’t want the migrants too close to home. Judging by the statement of Golden Dawn MP Elias Kasidiaris – who said Greece has become the garbage bin of Europe due to illegal immigration - the party views immigrants as “garbage”. Amazingly, Corinth’s mayor, Alexandros Pnevmatikos [ironically, the name means “spiritual”], declared war on the state, cutting off the water supply to the camp and banning the removal of garbage. “We are at war. They [state authorities] will find society opposed to them. The war has begun and it will escalate,” he declared. “Merkel and Hollande: Meet your commitments” read Kathimerini’s headline. “Banners of violence unfurled in Corinth” read another front page title. The paper featured a large colour photo of police spraying tear gas in the eyes of a Golden Dawn member. The protesters all had Greek flags rolled around a long rod, which was used as a cudgel and not a patriotic symbol. “Samaras and Merkel’s notebook” declared Ta Neas’ headline. The report said that there would be no decision today on the extension in implementing austerity and reform measures. It also said that Merkel knows a lot about the details of Greece’s financial and administrative mess, and that she is likely to ask detailed questions on specific policy measures. “Corinth: When Golden Dawn battles the sweep against migrants” read another title, highlighting the irony in the fact that an anti-migrant party is battling a crackdown on undocumented migrants. “Balancing act in the Franco-German axis” read another title, accompanied by a photo showing Merkel and Hollande looking quite tense and uneasy. “Siege at the ‘Berlin Wall’” proclaimed Ethnos’ headline, referring to the Hollande-Merkel meeting. In the international section, there was an article about a new, bombshell book by Gertrud Hoehler, a political consultant who worked with Helmut Kohl. Entitle Die Paten (the godmother), the book argues that Merkel is an amoral, power-hungry woman leading Germany down the path of authoritarianism, and ultimately dictatorship. Hoehler argues that Merkel disregards parties, parliament, and constitutional guarantees in her country. If that be so, it should be no wonder that the iron maiden has little regard for sovereignty and human suffering in Greece." | |||||
This above looks terminal.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/oy-vey/
Oy Vey
Yiddish curses for Republican Jews.
Samples:
Samples:
May your child give his Bar Mitzvah speech on the genius of Ayn Rand.Busy morning, so probably not much posting."
May you be reunited in the world to come with your ancestors, who were all socialist garment workers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/business/global/german-chancellor-pledges-support-for-greece.html?hpw
More later if I can find more.
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