SAR #12206

The rich will win the elections, again.

Short Course: Spain is falling apart, its borrowing costs have climbed far beyond any rational hope of repayment, its stock markets have crashed, following the pattern seen in Greece, Ireland and Portugal and setting the standard for Italy. Germany has blocked the supposed deal made by EU leaders last month to bail out Spanish banks. The Catalonia region, following Valencia and Murcia, has come begging for help but the cupboard is bare. Europe is a disaster happening in slow motion; it started with Greece and has moved on to Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, and now Spain – Europe is in “clear and present danger” of disaster.

One Size Fits All: “My advice here is to be afraid, be very afraid.” Paul Krugman.

Penis Envy: It's as American as apple pie – slaughtering civilians with automatic weapons. We mow down 10,000 a year or so, but that's the price we pay so the mentally challenged can pretend they could one day take on the 101^st Airborne. Is there a way to stop the massacres? Probably not, but banning all automatic and semi-automatic weapons would be a place to start.

More Lies: The businessman that Romney's add cites as having built his own business did so with over $1 million in government loans. The same ad had the deceptively edited “quotes” that maliciously make Obama seem to say things that he never did.

Keeping The Tigers Away: Pre-trial documents in a voters' rights lawsuit in Pennsylvania suggest that the state has no evidence whatsoever that any “in-person voter fraud” has occurred in the state, or that the state has ever been asked to investigate allegations of such an event, and that the state does not intend to argue that voter fraud is likely to occur. It seems unlikely that they will rely on the truth – that voter ID laws will keep potential Democratic voters from casting their ballots.

One Damned Thing After Another: Scientists suspect that the sudden emergence of bacteria responsible for an outbreak of Vibrio infections (gastroenteritis) in northern Europe is due to global warming’s effects on the Baltic Sea.

Hypocritical Oafs: The Republican version of a health care act would eliminate the ACA's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, would prohibit any research into patient-centered outcomes (what other types of outcome could possibly matter?), and keep the NIH from considering any economic factors in studying healthcare. The Republicans not only want to privatize Medicare, they want to prevent the customer/patient from finding out what works, what doesn't and how much it should cost.

Spelling Bee: 'Freefall' S – p – a – i – n. “Freefall”.

Making A Dent In It: Harry Dent, who believes that demographics is destiny, sees the Dow falling to 3000 – a 75% decline – by 2020 as the “Baby Bust” generation leads economic trends downward: less home buying and less consumer spending just as their Baby Boom parents up their savings and cut their spending as they enter retirement.

Clip & Save: According to Zillow, “Home values in the United States have reached a bottom.” But then they add: “ Of course, there is still some risk...” Others remain doubtful.

Horse/Mouth: “Americans should lose faith in their government. They should deplore the captured politicians and regulators who distributed tax dollars to the banks without insisting that they be accountable. The American people should be revolted by a financial system that rewards failure and protects those who drove it to the point of collapse and will undoubtedly do so again.” Neil M. Barofsky, Special Inspector General for the TARP bailouts.

Best Friends Forever: Is The Mitten buying Twitter followers? If not, what explains over 100,000 new 'followers' signing up for his twits tweets last Friday – about 10,000 an hour. Over the weekend the tsunami slowed to about 1,100 an hour, and in the last day or so his numbers have even dropped a bit.

The Parting Shot:

 

Rudbeckia hirta – Blackeyed Susan