Friday, February 18, 2011

SAR #11049

Our minds are the main enemy.

There, There: Economists reassure us that the cost of the food in our food is minuscule, and that soaring food prices will hardly be noticed in retail prices for 'food'. Even so, wholesale prices rose sharply in January. Excluding food and fuels, prices rose by the most since October 2008.

Drip, Drip, Drip:  The House has extended the Patriot Act for another 3 months. That'll make all the difference.

Be Careful What You Wish For:  Wisconsin is planning on calling up the Guard to replace striking public employees. Wonder what Army MOS qualifies PFC's to teach 4th grade? If you don't want to have public employees, don't bitch when you don't have any public employees.

Sorry, We Gave at the Office:  Under the 'You Break It, You Bought It' rule, Baghdad wants the US to pay $1 billion for the damage it has done to the city.

Can You Hear Me Now?  While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was giving a speech condemning governments that arrest protestors and limit free speech, police and plain clothes officials grabbed a man who was standing up in the audience with his back turned to the Secretary. The 71 year-old man was beaten and dragged from the auditorium.

Side-Show: While you were reading Obama's budget documents, the yield on Portuguese bonds hit another all-time high. Don't worry, “the euro is a stable currency with strong fundamentals”.

Hockey Stick II: Over 90% of human-caused warming goes into the oceans. The temperature of the Atlantic Ocean water entering the Arctic ocean is “unprecedented over the past 2000 years.” Air temperatures in Greenland have risen roughly 7º F in the past few decades.

Pictures At An Exhibition:  Some people, mostly Wall Streeters, make over $1 billion a year. The median US income is about $30,000 a year. If that's you, and you somehow save every penny you earn, in just 35,000 years you'll have a billion. The top 1% owns more than the bottom 90%. Why should this go on? Why should we let this go on? Why isn't their marginal tax rate at least 90%, as it was under Eisenhower?

Ululation: Adjusted initial claims for unemployment were up 25,000 this week after dropping 35,000 last week.

Drilling, Baby, Drilling:  Exxon Mobil says that over the last decade it has been able to find only 95 barrels of oil for every 100 it pumped. The easy oil is long gone and the hard to find oil is... well, hard to find.

Rules of Engagement:  The current budget deficits are mostly due to the economic downturn. The longer-term projected deficits are wholly attributable to the health care system. If the US paid the same amount per-capita for health care as the rest of the industrialized countries, we'd run a surplus.

Permanent is Relative:  Global warming is on a path to thaw about 60% of the world's permafrost over the next 200 years. Carbon that has been trapped in the permafrost for tens of millions of years will be released into the atmosphere. Scientists say that if we start reducing emissions now, the thaw will still occur, but further into the future. Don't worry, luckily you'll be dead by then.

Porn O'Graph: Steady as she goes?

3 comments:

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

Re Can You Hear Me Now?

Reading more about the perp, Mr. McGovern,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern


we see that "Upon retirement, McGovern was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Medal from Bush (which he later returned) and worked for Washington-based non-profits before becoming co-director of the Servant Leadership School in Washington. Now, McGovern works with Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C."

From this we can conclude that

a)he has become a religious fanatic
b)as someone turning 72 this year, it is not improbable that he is suffering from age-related cognitive decline - this may be causal with respect to the first factor, as well.

If he can be persuaded to remain quietly at home it may not be necessary to involuntarily hospitalize him to prevent him from harming himself or others.

kwark said...

RE: Be Careful What You Wish For: Conservative orthodoxy states that unions are inherently evil thus it follows that ANYTHING done to destroy unions is acceptable. Especially since these are government employees and government, by its nature, also is inherently evil. Unless of course government is enforcing the will of the powerful or behavior as guided by the "correct" religious beliefs - then it's doing God's work. That it, they're doing God's work by destroying unions! What else could matter?

ibilln said...

"If you don't want to have public employees, don't bitch when you don't have any public employees."

Hear, Hear