SAR #12170

Financial interests owe allegiance to no state, the reverse is not true.

Mooting The Question: Greece is going to run out of money before Austerity cures all of its problems, no matter who forms a government. And if Angela gets her way – which is likely – Spain and Italy will also be forced out of the eurozone.

Superman's Cape: Fearless Joe Arpaio, self-important Arizona sheriff, continuing his successful campaign to qualify as an ass, has arrested a 6-year old girl who is suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

Divorce: After 30 years of cohabitation, the US has told Egypt's generals it wants a trial separation.

Terrortory: The biggest bar to a European solution that would maintain the euro and forge at least the beginnings of the political framework required to make it viable is seen in the rise of far-right political nationalism. The members of Golden Dawn (Greece), the Front Nationale (France), the True Finns (Duh), and even Sinn Fein are representative of the fear-fed fascist revival that is prowling Europe.

Mirror, Mirror: With the diplomatic version of a straight face, the US has denounced the death of Yemeni General Ali Qoton by an al-Qaeda drone suicide bomber.

Promises, Promises: If the Republicans get their way and prevent the Congress from taking effective action on the “fiscal cliff” legislation – spending cuts, tax increases etc. - 82.9% of US households will face tax increases averaging $3,700. These are the same Republicans who are proud of nearly shutting down the government the last time around.

Liar's Poker: Venezuela claims it has passed Saudi Arabia in the amount of petroleum “reserves”.

Well Said: “Industrial society was only possible because our species briefly had access to an immense supply of cheap, highly concentrated fuel with a very high net energy...   Starting in the 18th century, fossil fuels—first coal, then coal and petroleum, then coal, petroleum and natural gas—gave us that energy source. All three of these fossil fuels represent millions of years of stored sunlight, captured by the everyday miracle of photosynthesis and concentrated within the earth by geological processes that took place long before our species evolved.  They are nonrenewable over any time scale that matters to human beings, and we are using them up at astonishing rates.” From the Archdruid, who you should read weekly.

Lighten Up: Researchers say the collective population of the world is 17 million tons overweight – and that nearly 6 million of those excess tons reside in the US of A.

Fiction: The Pope says that child abuse by Irish clergy is “a mystery”. No, the mystery is why any parent, anywhere, would let a Catholic priest within 10 miles of a child.

Lessons Learned: Impossible is an overused word, and forever doesn't last all that long. For example, we now routinely ask when the eruozone will break up, how fast and how far will China's economy fall, can Japan borrow from the future much longer, and will the US follow Japan into 20 years of stagnation or will global warming get us first? And all of this – even the climate change – was avoidable.

Public Notice: The United Nations has placed Canada on its human rights watchlist as a consequence of Bill 78.

Austerity in Ohio: Since January 2011, Ohio has cut its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance program by about 25%, by throwing nearly 70,000 people—including 40,000 children—off of the rolls. That's more people than are on TANF assistance in 39 states.