SAR #11341

Perpetual economic growth is necessary, but impossible.

Carpe Diem: Saying they're going to sign a new treaty and actually getting it done are two different things. Also keep in mind that this is the 17-nation Eurozone telling the 27 member European Union how life is going to be. The 17+ co-conspirators must individually amend their constitutions to cede financial sovereignty to the technocrats in Brussels and to tie themselves to a mandatory balanced budget. Which is the same as imposing austerity conditions on their citizens to infinity and beyond... And once they do all this, no bailout money will have been approved (or found), they're all still broke except for Germany (which may be by then) and the ECB still will have no money. Unless it just prints the 2+ trillion euros they need...

Temporary Suspension of Disbelief: The Department of Labor invites you to believe that unemployment claims dropped 23,000 in a week, to 381,000 - a number that hasn't been seen since Jesus lost his paper-route. We're saved, and just in time for Christmas shopping, too.

Ignorance is No Defense: John Corzine, former Goldman Sachs CEO, former US Senator, former NJ Governor, and hopefully future federal prisoner, says he "didn't intend to break the rules" (these rules are criminal statutes), nobody told him anything, he was just the boss and he didn't know the gun was loaded.

What Part of 'No' Don't You Get? The US Chamber of Commerce, acting through their toadies in the GOP, have beaten back another attempt by the administration to install someone as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Until a way of rendering the CFPB toothless and impotent is found, the Republicans paymasters do not want it to operate.

Yes, But: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has introduced a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United ruling. It would be better to force them to revisit Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad and actually rule on whether or not a Corporation has rights under the Bill of Rights. They never have, you know.

You Have My Word: Obama says he will not trade approval of the Keystone Pipeline for a Payroll Tax Cut. That's today's position. Tune in tomorrow, offer void West of the Rockies, your mileage may vary. As always, he's open to suggestions, so make him an offer.

The Ten-cent Tour: Turn on the 'Bright Lights' and take a tour of the secret dungeon the CIA operated for years in a suburb of Bucharest. Here's a handy guide. Don't bother to check Orbitz, your travel arrangements have been made for you.

And Bread Eaten in Secret is Sweet: The Republicans are urging the administration to publicly endorse undertaking covert operations against Iran and Syria. That's an improvement; Republican overt operations against Iraq and Afghanistan didn't work out too well.

Black Is White: Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS group is running ads against Elizabeth Warren implying that she was responsible for bailing out Wall Street. Lying, for the GOP, has become mandatory.

Betty Davis's Eyes. In Australia, archaeologists have found the insect-like eyes of an ancient super-predator, with 30,000 lenses in each eye. The better to see you with.

No Exit and Other Plays: Best question of the day: How can anyone possibly believe that totally incompetent and clueless politicians and central bankers who created the problem can or should be trusted to solve anything?

Nostalgia: Newt continues to maintain that making 5-year-olds work is "a good life experience" and that current restrictions on child labor are "truly stupid." Child labor, he says, brings children "into the world of work, the world or prosperity, the world of savings, the world of investment — and we want every young American to have an opportunity to do that.”

My Girls... Father of two girls, Barack Obama asks "When it comes to 12-year-olds or 13-year-olds, the question is: Can we have confidence that they would potentially use Plan B properly?" What he really meant was, like any father, he doesn't want his girls even thinking about sex until they're 34 and have been married several years. So he over-ruled the FDA on over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B.