SAR #10267

There are not enough jobs for everyone, and there won't be.

A Big Secret:  The CIA has a big – 3,000 man - secret army running around Afghanistan (and into Pakistan) assassinating Taliban and Al-Qaida targets.  Sort of land-based drones and probably about as accurate.  Or not.

Reruns:  The GOP “Pledge to America” is an election season piece of propaganda that promises to return to the glorious days of yesteryear, when Bush cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes and invaded countries.  It would privatize Social Security, gut Medicare, kill all those parts of the health care reform bill that cut into the profits of insurance companies and add trillions and trillions more to the national debt.  It is the know-nothing platform of a group of dimwits, well designed to lure the unthinking and fearful.  Some said it is the GOP's 'Bad Idea', which isn't quite right: The GOP itself is a bad idea.

You're Not My Mother:  T-Mobil – admitting it reads all of  your texting - claims it has the right to censor text messages that are sent over its network.  Freedom of speech does not extend to text messages unless they are sent by large corporations in support of right wing political candidates.

Risky Business:  Insurance companies have stopped selling child-only insurance policies because they can no longer refuse to insure kids who might get sick.  That's why we should vote Republican and let the insurance companies go back to gouging people for profit – it makes for a healthy health insurance industry.

Summer Houses:  Existing house sales edged back over the 4 million mark in August after reaching a ten year low in July, while the backlog of unsold houses dropped to 11.6 months (which does not count a year or two's worth of shadow inventory).

Headliner:  “President tries to humanize healthcare...”    How dare he!  We want our inhuman healthcare system back.

And the Beat Goes On:  China has (or has not) banned the export of rare earth metals to Japan as part of the wrangle over the South China Sea. The metals are essential in the manufacture of high tech things like hybrid cars, wind turbines and guided missiles, and China controls 95% of the world's supply. Oh, they’ve kissed and made up. 

Totally Fracked:  An independent lab in Pennsylvania has found fracking chemicals in the well water of "almost everybody" living in one neighborhood in Pennsylvania where 'hydrofracking' has been done. Cabot, the guilty party, said they were not responsible.  The residents agreed that Cabot was irresponsible.

Pop Quiz:  Why are there no hyenas in Europe? Because they're all in DC.

All Along the Watchtower:   The Pentagon is moving 8,000 Marines and their dependents (plus civilian contractors etc) from Okinawa, where they are not wanted, to Guam, where they are not wanted either.  The move will increase Guam's population by 45% - by some 79,000 people.  Why not just bring them back to the US?   And it takes 70,000 people to deploy 8,000 Marines?

In Range:  Another week of initial unemployment claims and the four week moving average of those claims to hover in in 450,000 – 475,000 range, where it has been for about 10 months.

Porn O'Graph: 0.2% That's the latest spread, and the Dems are on top.