SAR #11118

Collapse: First the quality of life goes, then life itself. Plan accordingly.

McCain's War: John McCain says the US should arm the Libyan rebels just like we did the Afghans in the 1980s. Because that turned out so well...

Papers, Please: France and Italy, fearing an influx of North Africans, want to go back to full scale national passport checks, dissolving the passport-free travel agreement among the EU states. At the same time you will be able to exchange your euros for francs and lira.

Watch The Birdie: When Steve Jobs insists that "Your precise location is never transmitted to Apple," the word 'precise' is 1) an adjective 2) a qualifier 3) disingenuous or 4) a lie.

The Long View:When asked if the Fed could do more about unemployment, Bernanke responded: "Going forward we'll have to continue to make judgments about whether additional steps are warranted.” If unemployment/underemployment above 16% of the workforce doesn't 'warrant' additional steps, what would?

Interesting Idea: What if Medicare required a living will?

Either/Or: Wal-Mart's CEO says that the company's core shoppers are running out of money earlier in the month these days, and blames it on their stopping to fill up the car in the parking lot before coming into the store. Either way, they're getting the money – just not so much of it. Wal-Mart has had seven straight quarters of declining sales.

Overtime: In his spare time, an al-Qaida operative accused of bombing two churches and a hotel was working for British intelligence. They had a better medical plan.

Avoidance: Three reasons not to read Jeremy Grantham's latest letter: 1. It's accurate. 2. It's depressing. 3. You've heard it all before. Teaching point: Compound growth is not sustainable. Growth in a closed system must end.

Keep On Keeping On: Halliburton doubled its first quarter earnings to a record $5.3 billion. And they still get billions in subsidies from Uncle Sam. Good work if you can finagle it.

Just So Story: In Afghanistan in late 2005 both NATO forces and the US military began turning their “detainees” over to the Afghan security service. The British and Dutch did so because they wanted to distance themselves from the reputation for torture that the US had earned. And the US did so because they felt the Afghans were better torturers. Results vary.

Not Necessarily News: Profit has replaced democracy as the citizens of at least one Michigan town have been ruled to be incapable of self-governance and a fiscal manager appointed. And the GOP drive to the past continues.

Shifty Paradigm: Instead of the old-fashioned wage-price spiral, the new inflation is a commodities-price spiral. It's the Bernanke Bubble.

ET Windows Call Home: Windows 7 phones do not save your GPS and Wi Fi network location data like Apple and Goggle devices do.  Instead, they transmit the data directly to Microsoft. It was not possible to locate a Microsoft representative to explain this, as he had apparently disabled the GPS tracking on his cellphone.

Diplomatic Humor: Syria is slated to take up a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

True, True: Social Security has not contributed to the national debt. Social Security is not responsible for even one penny of the deficit this year. Social Security will not cause even a one cent increase in the national debt for at least another 25 years. Social Security is fully self funded for that long. It is paid for directly out of funds paid in by workers. When the workers put in a surplus they lent it to the Congress. But that did not do away with the surplus and won't unless the government defaults on its debts. Which it may do, but it will not be the fault of Social Security. Ask John Boehner and Paul Ryan to stand in front of the American worker and say “Yes, we stole borrowed your money and we are not going to pay it back.”

Good Point: Most Americans are unsure where Donald Trump was born. Or why.