Obama Bypasses Congress and Appoints Cordray

White House: Recess appointment based on legal opinion that Congress is in recess - The Hill's Floor Action: "The Obama administration on Wednesday officially recess-appointed Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) based on a legal opinion from White House counsel that Congress — despite contrary arguments from Republicans — is in recess.

House and Senate Republicans quickly criticized the recess appointment by saying both chambers have been meeting in brief pro forma sessions every three days, a move that has kept Congress out of recess and should have prevented a recess appointment."

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The war is on - it always took two and now the President is joining it. Rope-a-dope has two sides to it. And it eventually wins.

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Some Problem With Krugman's Bandwidth Scenario

So Much Fun. So Irrelevant. - NYTimes.com: "Therefore, the critical questions for America today have to be how we deploy more ultra-high-speed networks and applications in university towns to invent more high-value-added services and manufactured goods and how we educate more workers to do these jobs — the only way we can maintain a middle class.

I just don’t remember any candidate being asked in those really entertaining G.O.P. debates: “How do you think smart cities can become the job engines of the future, and what is your plan to ensure that America has a strategic bandwidth advantage?”"

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Nice to see Krugman getting closer to the truth. What he is missing is that the university itself is part of today's problem. Each new cyber-community will become a different sort of university with the revival of something like the Medieval gild system. Everything he says suggests the evolution to cyber-communities distributed over the nation and the world.

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Abba transcends all that we create

Abba's Way: 52 On Values:

"For Abba transcends all that we create;
And Abba’s way is written on our hearts.
This great I Am speaks from a burning tree,
Saying only I Will Be Who I Will Be.
And frees us to create beyond ourselves;
And frees us to do what’s most difficult.
And frees us to fulfill our deepest dreams;
Abba within, not some divisive cult.

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Dear Barack These Are Both Dumb Tactics

Democrats Target Romney After Iowa Win - NYTimes.com: "Do they go the flip-flopper route? Or do they go the out-of-touch, protector-of-Wall-Street route?

The two tactics are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and in fact, the president’s re-election proponents have in recent days been gleefully highlighting both aspects of Mr. Romney’s public persona."

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They might be openers but they have no predicates. The truly effective tactic is to brand Romney as the man who is trying to buy this election because he is in touch  with Wall Street. He -- ing made Wall Street via his savvy Bain tenure. Tie this slash and burn fact, public-be-damned to a populist skewering of the GOP. I cannot believe the Times report above. I hope you can go deep enough to understand. Learn about your opponent!

Whoops.

You may not have to worry. He might not be the nominee. Have some folk working on Newt.


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Romney has won five times and lost 17 times

Apocalypse Iowa - NYTimes.com: "David: The question is, Is Romney’s weakness good weakness or bad weakness? If it’s policy weakness, that’s good weakness. Then he’s just too moderate for the Republican Party and it is his very moderation that will help him in the general election.

If it’s bad weakness, it’s personality weakness. People just don’t warm to him. As Jonathan V. Last pointed out in The Weekly Standard a few weeks ago, the guy has run in 22 campaigns in his life. His record is 5-17. That’s not stellar."

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The Kiss of McCain

Romney, With a Tight Win, Goes to N.H. - NYTimes.com: "MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney opened up his arrival in New Hampshire on Wednesday with the endorsement of Senator John McCain, one of the state’s favorite adopted sons. The endorsement came a day after Mr. Romney won the Iowa caucuses by a mere eight votes and helped Mr. Romney consolidate his support among the Republican establishment."

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That would be Death.


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Cyber community is my term for what I believe is an entirely new concept

Cyber community is my term for what I believe

is an entirely new concept

for the reformulation of how the world lives

A cyber-community has a general limit of around 10,000 people

Enough for a vibrant local economy

A cyber community is car free

compressed enough to have most local

and many wider needs

met within a walk of no more than a mile

It is low rise - a max of around four levels

It begs for architectural and design imagination

eco-vision

and awareness of how today's society

has become dysfunctional

due to a lack of face to face community

and social stratification

You live work and play in a cyber community

Quite obviously you also solve the warming problem at the root

 by eliminating the necessity for cars

Help make cyber-community a reality

Posted at Quora under the term cyber community

Hitherto cybercommunity has been used to refer

to community creation in cyberspace

and its extent and ramifications

I use it to denote a likely development

out of our appropriation of cyberspace in real space

with all that is implicit in the travel revolution it could create

Suzanne Bonamici will help tilt the balance to normality

EMILY's List: Suzanne Bonamici: "Anything can happen in special elections, and we’re not letting up now -- we must keep this seat out of Republican hands. In the general election, Suzanne faces self-described Tea Party Republican Rob Cornilles, who is reaping the financial benefits of his tight ties with national Republicans. Cornilles denies climate change and opposes a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest. This is why it couldn’t be more critical that we put Suzanne Bonamici over the top and send her to Congress!"

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Along with Elizabeth Warren and a few hundred more good candidates to show that we are not ready to step off a cliff.

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Or More Story Less Spin Whatever (Video)

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Close Residential Street So Kids Can Play

(1) Close residential streets on Sundays so children can play out:

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Funny when I was a kid NYC had Play Street signs.

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Flagging GOP Anti-Obama Racism

Republican Attacks Have Racist Undertones - NYTimes.com: "You can detect this undertone in the level of disrespect for this president that would be unthinkable were he not an African-American. Some earlier examples include: Rep. Joe Wilson shouting “you lie” at one of Mr. Obama’s first appearances before Congress, and House Speaker John Boehner rejecting Mr. Obama’s request to speak to a joint session of Congress—the first such denial in the history of our republic."

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This is a little like the Iraq war mea culpa. It may be too little too late. The story from the start has been this story pure and simple.

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When only mass movement will suffice

Some Real Issues for 2012 - NYTimes.com:

"There are two ways to fight this oligarchy: by making personal and local changes that counter its power, and by joining mass movements that protest that power. The first can be as simple as light-bulb changing (which Republicans famously detest) and salad-eating [1], though obviously it can be far more involved. The second begins with voting, but it takes more than a president, however well-intentioned, to bring about real change. Does anyone believe that Lyndon Johnson wanted to combat racism, or that Richard Nixon cared about American troops or Vietnamese citizens? No: they were forced, respectively, to support civil rights legislation and to begin ending the Vietnam War. Forced by masses of Americans marching, yelling, demonstrating, sitting in and more — Americans driven by their conscience, not by profits."

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Economic hard sense that all should heed

Bring Back Boring Banks - NYTimes.com:

"... governments should fully guarantee all bank deposits — and impose much tighter restrictions on risk-taking by banks. Banks should be forced to shed activities like derivatives trading that regulators cannot easily examine.

The Dodd-Frank financial reform act of 2010 did nothing to secure large deposits and very little to curtail risk-taking by banks. It was a missed opportunity to fix a regulatory effort that goes back nearly 150 years."

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Life is the goods and evils that we choose

Abba's Way: 52 On Values:

Life is the goods and evils that we choose;
I bring a choice to topple all past choice.
A way our ways of wickedness to lose,
I say choose Abba only, sole and true.

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Jesus speaks in Abba's Way. Jesus is the First Person. The way he brings is merely the acknowledgement of a universal freedom and a universal commonality, for all with eyes to see.

Half of Romney's votes were running scared

Winning Ugly, but Winning - NYTimes.com:

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Meaning that they were saying "anything but the others".

Nate is wrong to even offer Romney what is indeed faint praise. The looming issue is Citizens United which most still generally ignore. Even Chris Matthews suggests that the gambit makes Romney clean. (Every other day). If Gingrich can get specific on a conservative agenda looking forward, he can capitalize. If he can warn the nation about the dangers of Citizen's United without crying, he can capitalize. I see no way Romney can capitalize save as he has always done. Smiling and paying big bucks. It didn't work in Iowa and if it doesn't in NH, his campaign is in deep trouble.

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Amazon and then the rest of them

Why Amazon Is the Next Top Tech Company - Technology - GOOD: "Amazon Web Services is a big deal; after all, it's one of the best-distributed web services around. The infrastructure behind sites like Netflix and Reddit is built by Amazon, and if you’re starting a new tech company, more likely than not you’ll be doing it on Amazon's platform. It may be a surprise to see cloud computing offered by what was once a mere online bookstore."

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This new casino looks like an old shoe

With State Help, a $2.4 Billion Casino Nears Completion in Atlantic City - NYTimes.com: "The Revel’s supporters hope the 6.3-million-square-foot resort will usher in a new era for Atlantic City, one modeled after Las Vegas-style entertainment. Revel intends to cater to a younger, well-heeled clientele looking for a lavish weekend getaway that focuses less on gambling and more on fine dining, luxury spas and lavish nightclubs, as the Borgata does.

“It’s going to be a game-changer,” said Jeffrey Vasser, the president of the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority. “It’s going to reach a whole new group of folks who haven’t been to Atlantic City in a very, very long time, if at all.”"

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More a game loser than a game changer. Why. Blame it on gadgets and the recrudescence of online gambling now that more and states accept it. Not to mention rising transportation liabilities and changing tastes. It's more fun not to lose money.

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Welcome to the world of unsustainability

Time, or Tolls? The New Math for New Jersey Commuters - NYTimes.com: "Extrapolating the difference in driving times, and throwing a couple of weeks of vacation into the calculation, a driver could save about $3,200 in tolls by avoiding the turnpike all year, but would spend about 160 hours doing it — or $20 an hour, if the driver’s time really is money.

It was not immediately clear whether turnpike traffic was lighter on Tuesday — the Turnpike Authority said it would not have estimates on volume until Wednesday — or commuters had switched to trains or buses because of the higher tolls."

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Gingrich could recoup with a 10 point platform that actually made sense

A Frustrated Gingrich Lashes Back at Romney - NYTimes.com: "BURLINGTON, Iowa — With his candidacy battered by negative campaign ads and a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses, Newt Gingrich is adjusting his strategy to rescue his ailing campaign, aggressively swatting back at Mitt Romney, whose supporters have painted him into the box of a Washington influence-peddler."

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China will only flower culturally to the extent that it risks freedom

China’s Leader Pushes Back at Lady Gaga and Western Culture - NYTimes.com: "Chinese leaders have long lamented the fact that Western expressions of popular culture and art seem to overshadow those from China. The top-grossing films in China have been “Avatar” and “Transformers 3,” and the music of Lady Gaga is as popular here as that of any Chinese pop singer. In October, at the sixth plenum of the party’s Central Committee, where Mr. Hu gave his speech, officials discussed the need for bolstering the “cultural security” of China.

“The overall strength of Chinese culture and its international influence is not commensurate with China’s international status,” Mr. Hu said in his essay, according to another translation."

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Obama needs to convene a global peace conference now

Iran Warns U.S. Aircraft Carrier Not to Return to the Gulf - NYTimes.com: "The warning, by Iran’s military chief, was the latest and most aggressive volley in a nearly daily exchange of barbed statements between Iran and the United States. Iran has just finished ambitious naval exercises near the strait, and it has repeatedly threatened to close the passage — through which roughly one-fifth of all the crude oil traded worldwide passes — if Western powers move forward with new sanctions on Iran’s petroleum exports."

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Oddly common perceptions of the riddle of life

No philosopher can rightly say how thought beginsAnd only Peirce appears to have advanced beyond AristotleWhen we say we are thinkingHaving gotten to that point from the miasmWe cogitate in threes
Whatever rises from the primal welterQualifies as a signA first
Which instantly strikes a blunt truth Or a second
Then comesAn intention an experiment a habit an evolution a theory or an ideaA third
Triadic thinking moves beyond nominalist binaryProtagonist antagonistEternally returningTo something approximating The way things are
We live in a chronological world in a state of vague and univeral musement Reflecting oddly common perceptionsof the riddle of life 
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