SAR #12086

Save the dress.

Smoking Gun(s): Jon Corzine is not only an embezzler, thief, and perjurer, he is a friend of the president. That last is no more a crime than the former appear to be, but will make the coming hearings a much needed entertainment.

Seal Of Approval: Bill Black's enumeration of the shortcomings of the JOBS Act is mandatory reading.

Public Television: The Homeland Security/NSA Total Awareness Program is moving along nicely. Turns out that the iPad is a listening device, and that new Samsung TV units come with built in cameras and microphones, complete with facial and voice recognition software. The set gives no indication of when you are being monitored. Or by whom.

Unexpectedly: The European and Chinese PMI numbers unexpectedly fell, with Germany's manufacturing PMI leading the way down. The data suggests Europe is falling back into recession and China is beginning to do an Icarus. Two out of three?

Progress: The United States has more of its citizens in jail – both absolutely and as a percentage of the population – than Stalin ever threw into the Gulag. Seven to ten times more than other developed countries. The great majority of jailed US citizens are locked up – at a cost of about $45,000 a year – for possessing relatively minor amounts of illegal drugs. It's another war we keep fighting even though it is obvious we have already lost.

Now I Feel Better: The IEA's Maria van der Hoeven says not to worry about losing Iran's oil from the market, because Saudi Arabia will be able to pump enough oil to compensate for any loss of Iranian output. Now about that bridge..

Reports from the Front: In Idaho the GOP'ers want women seeking an abortion to “think about whether they were really raped.” In Alaska, the appropriately named Republican state representative Alan Dick does not believe that when a woman is pregnant, it’s really “her pregnancy,” and wants a law requiring abortion seekers to have written permission from the father – assuming he has been located and arrested by the police.

Lessons Learned, Iraq Version: 1. The US lost. 2. It is fairly easy for a bunch of neocons to start a war. 3. Ahmed Chalabi.

Victory Lap: Under Obama, the US finished losing the war in Iraq and called it victory, and is rushing to the same end in Afghanistan. The President has assumed the right to kill anyone, anywhere, at any time; the Bill of Rights has been gutted. Congress has been excused from any input in the decision to go to war, and any act of war approved by the President is automatically both just and legal war. Also, under Obama, military spending continues to soar, murder by drone has become commonplace and murder itself become an extension of the Justice system. We have more soldiers dying from suicide than from combat, while making corpses remains a priority, urinating on them is found unacceptable. It continues to be acceptable to overthrow governments to get their oil, but not acceptable to interfere with a dictator slaughtering his citizens as long as he continues to torture prisoners for us. Fraud, forgery, embezzlement and perjury have become legal for Wall Street and the banks. And we're told we should re-elect him because the other guys are worse?

Rhetorical Question: Is global warming responsible for the March heat wave?

A Little Off The Top: A federal judge said the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its mission when it tried to keep 2,278 acres of mountaintop from being dumped into nearby streams. The judge reminded the EPA officials that protecting the environment was their priority only if doing so did not interfere with coal miners profits.

Trading With The Enemy: Pakistan is considering importing petroleum and food from its deadly enemy, India. When you are hungry and cold, some things are more important than others.

With Comments: Dick Cheney had a heart implant Saturday. So far the heart has not rejected him. This'll set back the donor program by years. What did he use for a trade-in?

Porn O'Graph: Apple pie?