SAR #8099

Calm down; 99.9% of your genes are the same as everyone else's.

Weapons of Mass Deception General Petraeus has been told to claim says that Iranian Quds forces were "believed" to be in "tactical" command of the Shi'ite militias that defeated Iraqi government forces last week. Believed?

The Dickens: After 30 years of financial deregulation and anti-labor legislation, coupled with the free market greed that sent manufacturing jobs overseas, why is anyone shocked to learn that 59 percent of Americans think the US will slide into a depression that will last for several years? The rest of us think it will last longer.

victory : Johns Hopkins has decided the word "abortion" is an acceptable search term on a reproductive health Web site, after getting clearance from the government, even though the word remains of the National Prohibited Word List maintained by Mr. Chertoff's office.

Debt Reckoning: US household debt went from $6.4 trillion in 1999 to $13.8 trillion at the end of 2007. It increased by $1 trillion a year for eight successive years. Most of that was in specious mortgages and fantasy home equity loans and will never be paid back, no matter how many times Wall Street gets rescued.

Little Mr. Sunshine: James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies: "We've already reached the dangerous level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere." Hansen says we must phase out all coal-fired power plants by 2030. Surveys show that people rank global warming 25th on a list of concerns, far behind getting tickets to see Hana Montana.

Let me 'splain: Household debts are now 136% of personal incomes. Both jobs and employment numbers are dropping. Debts are paid out of future earnings. If jobs aren't growing, incomes aren't growing. Where is the is the income going to come from to pay the debts? It isn't.

Bowling: Rice prices are up 50% in two weeks. Rice is the staple food for about 3 billion people. The prices and implied shortages have resulted in riots. Only a small amount of rice is traded internationally, and leading exporters including Vietnam, India, China and Egypt have banned foreign sales.

Malled: Vacancies in malls and strip centers are rising . "Indications of stress are becoming visible in regional mall performance," and national chains are "adjusting expansion plans." Which is one way to describe wadding up blueprints.

Inflation/Deflation: In terms of what a dollar will buy in the United States, under Bush a dollar is down around 25%. In terms of what it will buy in Europe, it is down by about 50%. In terms of gold, it has shrunk 75%.

Flushed: Jefferson County, AL. (Birmingham) is "not planning on going bankrupt, just getting ready to." At $4.6 billion it would dwarf the previous champ, Orange County's $1.6 billion. At issue are the payments on $3.2 billion in sewer bonds. The commissioners refuse to raise taxes and the income won't cover the payments. The bonds have simply gone down the drain.

Awishmatic: Loudoun County, VA is one of the nation’s most affluent counties. Median income is $98,000, more than double the national figure. All that means is they can afford a $300,000 house. Today, 20 of the 25 houses for sale for more than $850,000 in Loudoun County are foreclosures. See, they said I could roll the mortgage over in a re-fi and take out enough cash to get the plasma screen...

Half a Loaf... On Sunday, conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan asserted that Bush officials Rumsfeld, Yoo, and Addington, who worked on the memo authorizing torture "should not leave the country" because they "will be, at some point, indicted for war crimes."