SAR #11116

Better build more drones.

Negotiations: Syrian tanks rolled into the home of the five-week-old uprising, leaving the dead in the streets as object lessons. In the poorer areas on the outskirts of Beirut, army troops carried out sweeping arrests dumping people into the dungeons previously reserved for US-sponsored 'detainees'.

Wording: EPA rules force Shell to abandon oil drilling plans... Or. Shell Oil has chosen to forgo drilling off the northern Alaska coast rather than operate responsibly within EPA guidelines.

Sound and Fury: So-called western leaders (mostly failed American presidential candidates) are calling for NATO to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi. Keep in mind "who and what is a legitimate target depends on their behavior." And point of view.

Optimists:Wells Fargo Securities projects “a modest increase” in sales of new houses over the next two years. Maybe as much as 55% of the old normal.

Get That Education: Along with democratic pressures and economic conditions, the final straw in the Middle East – North African unraveling is education. You cannot teach them to read without teaching them to think. Education turned out to be a self-hoisting petard.

Taxing Lies: The claim that only rich people pay taxes is a lie pedaled by people who are deliberately trying to deceive you.

Quick Study: It seems likely that a few small tweaks to drone technology will make warfare – by those possessing the drones – easier, cheaper and more likely. When they get shot down, they don't bleed. Their parents don't complain to their government. Plus they are cheaper than mercenaries.

Homework: Please define “reasonable” and “acceptable” as used in this sentence: “A world oil price of $120 a barrel is reasonable and acceptable.”

Undo It Yourself: Republicans, at the behest of their hyper-rich supporters, are set on destroying all of the social gains of the last 100 years and more. They are working to destroy unions in order to cut the pay and diminish the influence of teachers, police and firefighters. The want to abolish the social safety nets of Medicare and Social Security or at least privatize them for the profit of their controllers. Their mantra is the survival of the fittest (for which read richest, greediest) and the elimination of all regulations that prevent complete destruction of the commons and the commoners. Do they think we joined the NRA just for the neat logo?

Bargains! About half of all the houses on the market now are distressed properties. That'll drive up the prices.

Clip & Save: The IMF says that China's economy will surpass the US in 2016.

Porn O'Graph: And that's what you get for the money...