SAR #11026

Desperation takes many forms.

SOTU For From Dummies:  “I want to be liked by everyone and I am afraid of offending anyone, especially big money and the Republicans (but I repeat myself) and have no particular goals. The country cannot let politicians pick winners but must let the rich continue to do so. Politicians can and will pick the losers and we have decided that the old and the very young and the sick are the first to go. Despite abundant evidence that Wall Street needs close supervision, I will not let regulation stand in the way of the continuing rape of the environment or the people. Let's have some ice cream.”

Dominoes:  A wave of anti-government protests is sweeping the world, some based on shortages and rapid price inflation of food and fuel, others rooted in decades of oppression. A partial roll call: Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Yemen.

You've Been Warned:  Praising Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) “fabulous” plan to privatize Social Security and 'voucherize' Medicare, Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL) put forth a plan to drastically cut Social Security and end traditional Medicare and most Medicaid. In that the Social Security Trust Fund has a $2.6 trillion surplus and is solvent as is until 2037 and the majority of voters overwhelmingly oppose these cuts, what is the GOP's long term game plan? Abolishing elections?

War Is Still Hell:  For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Future Is Now:  China is going to merge Guangzhou and 8 other Pearl River Delta cities into a megalopolis larger than the state of New Jersey, with a population of 42 million. Late last year the merger of Beijing and Tainjin to form a core city of 19 million in an urban area holding 60 million was announced.

Huh?  GOP Arizona State Senator Linda Gray blames abortion, not too many guns in the wrong hands, for the Tucson shootings.

As the World Turns:  Now that Fannie and Freddie hold all the mortgages, the banks want to take over securitizing them, with government guaranteeing the mortgages and thus the MBS based on them. A good business plan: let the taxpayer shoulder the risk and let the banks pocket the profits. Sounds familiar.

Modern Times:  They have money. We have votes. How is it, then, that a tiny fraction of the population managed to pervert the political-economic system to the point where we, the many, are marginalized and ignored while they steal everything that's not nailed down? Because one dollar equals one vote and representative democracy be damned.

Wrong Question:  The headline question was “Are We Finished with Major Expansions of the Social Safety Net?” It should have been 'Are We Finished With The Safety Net?' And the answer is yes.

Ludicrous:  California’s state treasurer has denounced efforts to permit states to declare bankruptcy, saying no state needs to declare bankruptcy. “It's a phony crisis” he said, pointing out that California's cuts to health care and education programs plus deferring payment on bills until some tax money shows will put of the crisis for a while and that when that ploy fails the state can issue IOUs. Then comes bankruptcy.

Falling House Zone:  Fannie & Freddie hold about 30% of all US repossessed houses – some 242,000 houses 'valued' at $24 billion. They are being held so as not to flood the market and drive down prices even further. Sooner or later they will have to sell them and drive down prices. It's a home, not an investment!

Qualifications:  Rep Michelle Bachmann believes “that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States," claiming that "men like John Quincy Adams... would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country." John Adams, not John Quincy was a founding father, but he died on July 4, 1826 (as did Thomas Jefferson) and slavery was not outlawed until the 13th Amendment was approved on December 6, 1865.