Insert a Trite Metaphor for a Corral #98

Posted on May 22, 2011 in Roundup

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness.~ James Thurber

This was the week when Paul Ryan attempted to rebrand his tortured Medicare proposal and make his pitch to younger people. Ryan looked tired after a busy week of being heckled by those his Path to Prosperity would shred. Methinks he puts his faith in the gullibility of young people, an emotion which overcame him when he first read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. But young people haven’t been going to Atlas Shrugged and it is a few months before DVD sales begin which are important because Rand’s followers can inflate the sales numbers with a few thousand strategic buys and returns. ((I’ve long suspected that the overwhelming sales of Atlas Shrugged were exaggerated and possibly faked by a deft manipulation of the book market. The big yawn over the film suggests that I may well be right.)) Is Rand through? There are 18 months to go before voters pass judgment. We will see.

• The Timeline of Failure and a Moment of Triumph — We knew 9/11 was coming, but the man at the top dismissed reports
• GOP on Heath Care: Twist and Shout — The Republicans have to speak out against their own idea
• Democracy as a collaboration, not a fight — The gladiatorial school of political dialogue does us a disservice
• The Great Disappointment The Rapture con has been pulled on Christians before and people continue to believe new reports despite past experience and biblical messages Also read this.
• U.S. Astronomers launch search for alien life on 86 planets Also see this bit of news about a possible future home for us.
• Tennessee Tea Party wants slavery removed from history textbooks — Brought to you by the same people who want to deny billions of years of Earth’s history.
• Ancient Egyptian Princess Now Known to Be First Person in Human History With Diagnosed Coronary Artery Disease — Proof that a spoiled, hedonistic lifestyle works havoc with your heart
• When Mahler took Manhattan — Active until his last days. Would we all be this way.
• Master Switch for Obesity and Diabetes Found — It’s all in the regulation of the fat
• Exoskeleton lets UC Berkeley grad take a huge step — Some stories are just beyond cool!

If there is vital new news that didn’t make it, my apologies. I was in Houston waiting to be raptured.