SAR #11345

Confusion is often mistaken for insight.

Cliff Note: The only thing those gathered in Durban actually agreed on was to put off doing anything about global warming for 8 years. Everything else was essentially a matter of waving hands and expressing sincere best wishes for a future, as the world approaches the edge of the precipice and prepares to jump off.

True Believers: Europe's leaders (for which read Germany) wants to commit the continent to severe fiscal austerity believing there is some magic in mass suffering that will make contractionary policies produce expansionary results. No mater how righteous suffering may be, it is not going to save the euro. The cavalry are not coming. And remember it was the Germany obsession with austerity and hard money that created the conditions that gave rise to Hitler.

Times Change: Young, relatively wealthy Russians are no longer afraid to speak out politically and are turning out by the tens of thousands to express their disapproval with Putin. Odds are that Mr. Putin will find ways of expressing his disapproval of them, too.

There They Go Again: Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says the Consumer Finance Protection Board the Democrats want to pass (oops, it's already law) has no independent nor Congressional oversight (which isn't true), and the conditions the GOP insists on do not exist for any other regulator. It's also not Stalinist just because it protects people, not businesses.

Fifth Amendment? The SEC is demanding that US companies doing business with Syria, Iran, and other “state sponsors” of terror must publicly confess their sins so investors will realize what poor an investments they are.

Self-Survey: it should not come as a surprise that federal agencies such as the DEA and ICE use drones to spy on protect the public, but how do you feel about your local police using drones to monitor your behavior?

Shadows at the Center: Last month the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development reported that there was a significant deterioration of belief in democracy and in the free-market system in the “transition economies”. Nobody wants to say “fascist” but that's the fear.

Wannabe Watch:

Geography Lessen: Ask Rick Perry to point out on a map “the country of Solynda”, on which he says the US has spent “over $500 million”.

Math Problem: Wannabe Michele Bachmann claims to have ”spent 50 years in the real world as a private business woman.” But her work history shows 5 years at the IRS and 11 in elected office. Even if she started at age 5 working for Newt in a coal mine her business experience could not amount to more than 35 years, most of it part-time while she was in grade school and college. Maybe she counts raising foster children as business experience.

Try Before You Buy: Leading wannabe Newt Gingrich thinks the unemployed are being paid “99 weeks to do nothing,” and wants unemployment taxes to go to fund training programs like the one in Georgia that pays the “unemployed” $240 a week for eight weeks of forced labor provided free to companies who can, but are not required to, hire some of those who complete their “tryouts”. The serial adulterer has (once more) promised to “ uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others”.