Saturday, February 11, 2012

SAR #12042

Greece is not unique, it is just first.

Definition: A terrorist is now officially defined as anyone who disagrees with the government on anything: Protesters who think we shouldn't bomb the crap out of Iran. Those who think killing random civilians via drones is wrong. Those who buy coffee for cash at Internet cafes. Those, like Ron Paul, who think that we are overtaxed and over-regulated. And those who think Nixon was wrong to dump the dollars last tie to gold are going to be in a whole lot of trouble, along with the rest of us.

Easy One: The banks or the Greeks? Europe appears is prepared to pay what it costs to save its banks. But not to rescue Greece.

Cave Dwellers: Around the world youth are leading the social unrest as they are the hardest hit by the global deleveraging. The US is not insulated from this – youth unemployment is above 20% and 1 out of 3 in the 25-29 age-range are back living with the parents. Don't be surprised when Yankee-Spring comes along.

Is There An Echo In Here? Ireland beat Portugal to be the first of the beggars to step up and ask for equality with the Greeks in writing off debts and handing out haircuts.

Car Pool: Gasoline consumption declined 21% from 54.8 million gallons a day(MGD) in July 2008 to 42.4 MGD in July 2011 and has now fallen another 27% to 30.9MGD in November 2011. Driving less during the ongoing economic contraction would be the likely explanation, but all the positive economic data put out by the government rules that out. Must be carpooling in all those hybrids.

Catchachism: Over 8,000 instances of child sex abuse have allegedly occurred in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee. You know – Catholic Preists – old white men who know what's best for women... and little kids. Why would anyone ever send their child to a Catholic Church?

Shopper's Guide: Saudi Arabia says it will buy a nuclear weapon if Iran tests one. From E-Bay?

Pin Money: During a 2003 peace rally in Chicago, about 500 demonstrators were beaten, maced, arrested, charged, held for two days and then released. Others were arrested and released without charges, and many others were 'detained' but not arrested. Every single one of them will get from $800 to $15,000. Hey y'all, come on out to the NATO/G8 protests in March and make some money!

See You and Raise You: The “$4.00 a gallon by May” has now been upped to $5 by year's end, due to increasing demand from places like China and India that more than replaces the drop in demand from Europe and the US as their economies stall.

Sex, Lies & Politics: Huckabee tells CPAC: ‘We are all Catholics now!’ He's wrong, of course. And over 90% of Catholic women use some form of birth control and would like their health insurance to cover the costs. This is more of the Republicans hiding behind religion so they can punish women for having sex.

Asked & Answered: Why are capital gains and dividends not taxed the same as income from honest labor? Silly, look who does the honest labor and who buys the politicians. The old Golden Rulers again.

Tidy: A floating mass of trash the size of California, carried out to sea by the tsunami in Japan, has begun washing up on beaches in Washington. No hurry, it'll be washing up for years, if not decades. The Japanese disavowed paternity, "No one knows if it's from Japan.” Well it's not from Dayton, bubba.

Value Judgment: Facebook is valued higher than Citi or Pepsi. Valued. Not worth more, just 'valued'. At $102.6 billion, how many ads do they have to sell for how many years to make enough profit so the mania is anything but a Bigger Fool investment?

Shaken, Not Stirred: Improved satellite data has helped climate scientists refine their estimate of global warming's impact on ice caps and glaciers. While nearly 230 billion tons of ice is melting into the ocean from glaciers, ice caps, and mountaintops annually, that's about 30% less than previously estimates. The same research shows that glaciers in the higher Himalayas that have not yet begun to melt. It is very still very chilly up there and will be for a long time. Which means it will take us longer to drown, but eventually we'll get 'em to melt.

3 comments:

tulsatime said...

Retail gasoline is going 'over there' since we are not buying it here. Just a shame they have to keep raising the price, but as long as we have some money there has to be a way to take it.

You know, I had heard a while back that Pakistan had sold nukes to Saudia Arabia. The supply and demand line up well on that transaction.

Eric Hacker said...

It should be noted that the GRACE ice met study did not look at Greenland or Antarctica. The Headline of the USNews article says "Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought" which is a total fabrication. This study didn't look at the polar regions, only glaciers at high elevations elsewhere.

It seems obvious that USNews is either incompetent or in the climate change denier camp.

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Eric - Does the one prevent the other? I thought that 'incompetent' and 'denier' were anything but mutually exclusive.

ckm.