SAR #10021

Reality exists seriatim, one event at a time.

Lesson:  Would someone in the Democratic Party please figure out that the country wants leadership? It doesn't want a party of hacks who constantly kiss big money's ass, it actually wants the majority to rule.

Accidental Suicide? If a prisoner undergoing waterboarding drowns, is it suicide?  If three do, shortly after being dragged off to an unacknowledged 'black' site?  They'll do anything just to give torture a bad name.

Leadership: " China is so big, their domestic markets are so big, you cannot have bubbles there." P eter Levene, former Lord Mayor of London and distinguished chairman of Lloyds of London.  Meanwhile, China, not knowing this, is working to calm down their dangerous asset bubbles.

Bathtub:  In Michigan, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop wants teachers, professors and all state and local government workers to take a 5% pay cut and expect no raises in the next 3 years.  Sounds like a plan, a Republican plan.  And it is.  To get there he wants to suspend part of the state's constitution.  Sound familiar?  "We cannot afford the government …”  And that's just one. If enough states shrink, will the whole thing go down the drain?

A Quote:  "Civilization as we know it will come to an end sometime in this century unless we can find a way to live without fossil fuels."

Generics:  Explaining that the secret biblical reference on military rifle sights doesn't actually help the soldiers kill God's enemies, USAF Gen Redfield said it was no different than putting God on US currency.  Exactly.

Not Necessarily the News: The FBI made up fake terrorism emergencies in order to illegally collect more than 2,000 (!) telephone call records between 2002 and 2006. I'm shocked. Are you shocked? Good, it's unanimous, we're shocked . We're shocked because the number is in the gadzillons.

A Rose By Any Other Name:  Blackwater, which muddied the water so badly in Iraq that it had to run and hide and change its name, wants to increase the size of its private army in Afghanistan.  The $1 billion contract they now have just doesn't make them enough money.  Might as well, they can't hurt the US reputation much more than errant Predator attacks already have.

Pot/Kettle:  Paul Krugman wants to make chutzpah a crime.  Okay, but be careful what you wish for.

Continued Recession:  The current recession is very much energy-related (and was probably energy inspired) and will continue because the US cultural, social and economic systems were all developed with relatively cheap oil and are dependent on cheap oil to function.  As the price of petroleum climbs and the economy declines, tax revenues will fall, making investment in renewables and nuclear difficult if not impossible.  Money spent on petroleum cannot go to repaying debt or buying consumer toys.  If petroleum costs continue to rise, the past will remain the past and the future will be a chimera.

Thumbscrew:  The FHA plans to require a higher premium for its insurance and limit the amount of “outside support” a mortgagee can receive and still qualify for FHA insurance.  These steps are necessary to start plugging the gaping holes in FHA finances, but they're not going to do housing any good.  But they let stand the ridiculously low 3.5% down-payment requirement.

Hmmmmm?  The National Climatic Data Center reported that the 2000-2009 decade was the warmest on record, easily surpassing the 1990s - the previous hottest decade.  The average global temperature was 0.96ºC above the long term average and further evidence that the planet is warming at a potentially disastrous rate.  2009 was 1.01ºC above average – the fifth warmest on record.

Porn O' Graph:  Coming 'round the mountain. Or down the other side?