SAR #8177

When they're talking government bailout, remember:
the government gets its money from you.

Mortgaged: Following revelations of Senator Dodd's special treatment from Countrywide, 23 other senators have refused to disclose the details of their own mortgage deals. They claim that the details are private. Some claimed that in that they got their special deals from firms other than Countrywide, it isn't relevant how big a bribe they took.

Contingency Planning: The US economy needs cheaper and more abundant oil to assure its very survival. A significant portion of current needs could be satisfied by invading and occupying the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. This thought has probably occurred to the Saudi's, too.

Unitary Executive: Robert Mugabe lost the election but refuses to leave office. In a rigged runoff against the victor - who has been campaigning from a jail cell - Mugabe has explained that voting in the re-canvass will consist of ballots marked "Yes" and suicide notes. Unitary executive, unlimited power, no civil liberties. Yes, I'm still talking about Zimbabwe.

Peter & Paul: When Peter wants to buy Paul's house but doesn't have the required down payment, Paul gives BigHeartedCharity an amount equal to the down payment, BHC then gives Peter the money. Peter then who puts it down on the house and gets an FHA backed loan. IRS says it is a scam. Just an 'innovative financial product'.

Volunteers, Please: Research shows that general anesthesia during surgery may increase a patient's pain after they regain consciousness. The report didn't suggest how much pain the subjects felt when they had the same surgery without the anesthesia.

Relativity Theory: If you use 1000 gallons of gas a year, the greedy oil companies profit mongering has increased your gas bill about $1,000. If you own an average house, the greedy bastards on Wall Street have cost you abut $30,000 in the same time. So let's get the Fed, Fannie Mae, FHA and the GOP to bail out the fellas on Wall Street but harass the people who pump oil from a mile under the ocean, ship it half-way around the world, refine it and deliver it down the block from your house for 21 cents a cup.

Numbers: A Harvard study suggests that to return housing to 2000's levels of affordability "would take some combination of large price declines, interest rate reductions, rent deflation and unprecedented real income growth." Even then, houses would be out of reach for "vulnerable households" - those consisting of "low-wage workers, families with children and veterans."

If / Then: The House passed 'The Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008' which criminalizes "acting collectively" to limit the production and/or distribution of oil. Note that the Act does not seem to include "in the United States' when defining the crime. So if petrol stations in Sicily agree to fix the price of gasoline, the Justice Department sends in the Marines, right?

Crash Course: In two previous warmings at the begining of the present warm period, temperatures increased by as much as 7°F in a single year and over 15°F in a single decade. Yesterday would have been a good day to start doing something too lessen the chances of this happening to us.

Porn O'Graph: Peeking at (Saudi) Peak