SAR #11047

You cannot have a wage-price inflationary spiral with 15 million unemployed.

Smoking Gun:  As any number of irresponsible lefties claimed at the time, the Iraqi codenamed Curveball, who was the source of all of Dick Cheney's “intelligence” about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, now admits he made it all up. Now can we pick up our ball and go home?

Mercy Killing: South Dakota's Republican legislature plans to classify the murder of doctors and nurses involved in providing abortion services as “justifiable homicide”. Licensing and an open season are being planned.

Compassion:  The Obama/Democrats' budget strategy – tax cuts for the rich, austerity for the poor – differs from the Republican approach only in that the Democrats pretend to feel bad about it.

Present at the Creation: One factor hidden behind the revolution in Egypt is this: Egypt's petroleum production declined over the last decade, as the population increased. In the last year or so it became a net importer of petroleum. What had been a money source became a money sink. It may not have been a prominent cause of the upheaval, but it certainly did not help.

Lost in the Mist:  The Royal Dutch Shell plea that the Royal Navy “do something” about the Somali pirates who have taken two large oil tankers this month has been overshadowed by other events in the area.

Pocketbook Veto: Retail sales were up only 0.3% in January, markedly down form the 0.9% rate of increase for the previous 6 months. And all of that gain, and more, came from the increased cost of food and gasoline (both up 1.4%). Seems that after we pay for gas and food we don't have money left for other stuff. Good thing they don't figure in the cost of living. Just as we were becoming numbed by reports of ever increasing food prices, along comes a warning to prepare for a 10% increase in clothing prices.

Pay to Play:  An Italian court has indicted PM Berlusconi on charges of paying for sex with an under-age girl and abuse of power. Ah, those Italians, so romantic.

The Rule:  A NY court ruled that the fact that MERS was involved with 50% of all residential mortgages in the country did not make the deliberate avoidance of the traditional mortgage recording process legitimate. The willful repetitive breaking the law does not establish an acceptable precedent for breaking the law.

It's Only Natural:  Economists have a secret meaning for the word “natural”, as in 7% is the new natural unemployment rate . Poverty, thus, is the new natural condition.

Crime and Punishment, Punishment, Punishment:  In return for a promised two year sentence, Ibrahim al Qosi, 50, pled guilty to being an enemy combatant and was sentenced to 14 years punitive confinement. After he serves his sentence he will be held indefinitely - or for the rest of his life, whichever comes later – in punitive confinement. Do you ever really stop and think about the things done in our name?

Ancient History:  In January 2008, Bush's EPA Administrator told him that it was no longer credible to deny climate change and to put off regulating CO2 emissions any longer. Bush overruled him, based on the wishes of Dick Cheney and Exxon Mobil Corporation.

Yes.... And?  Tim Geithner just noticed there is “lots of unfairness' in the US tax system.