SAR #12216

On Wall Street they go for the gold every day, yours.

A Sense of Urgency: Don't worry about energy supplies, we have enough coal and petroleum to fry ourselves and seem intent on doing so. We may or may not be at the top of the curve for oil production, but that will turn out to be irrelevant because we have arrived at the tipping point for global climate change. If some sort of energy revolution is going to save us, it had better arrive suddenly and in mass... and I don't hear the hoofbeats.

Agenda: “The Libor affair is one in a series of things laid bare by the ongoing financial crisis that will inevitably, at one point or another, force us to confront the moral bankruptcy at the heart of our societies.” Raul Ilargi Meijer.

As Expected: Romney's tax plan – according to the painstakingly nonpartisan Tax Policy Center – will lower taxes on the very rich and increase them on the middle and lower classes, which will lead to exaggerating the deficits as an excuse for looting Social Security and destroying Medicare. Where's the news?

Compare And Contrast: Obama wants to raise tax revenue by $80 billion a year, Romney wants to cut it by $450 billion a year. One is inadequate, the other irresponsible.

Verbosity: The author asks "Should the ethanol mandate be temporarily suspended?” which stands corrected: "Should the ethanol mandate be temporarily suspended?” All in favor say aye.

Suicide By Cop 2.1: In Jonesboro, AR, a young man who was handcuffed with his hands behind him and shoved into the back of a police car managed to shoot himself in the head. Go ahead, you try.

Trust, But Verify: BLS reports unemployment went up 0.037% last week. That's pronounced "thirty-seven one-thousands of one percent."

Facts In A Certain Order: Homeland Security and the City of Houston have a new video coaching the citizenry on how to behave when a nut with an automatic weapon opens up on them in the workplace, because “bad people do bad things, and unfortunately you need to be prepared for the worst.” What did you expect them to do, issue body armor?

Galileo, Call Home: North Carolina's Republican lawmakers have outlawed using science as the basis for governmental decisions or in formulating laws. Or education.

Slip Sliding Away: The Arctic sea ice extent is at a record low for this time of year and the volume of sea ice shows an even sharper decline. If the processes continue on the current trend, ice volume and ice extent are projected to reach zero about 2016. Zero. Nada. Bupkus. Zip. Gone.

Quoted: This fall's election is mainly about the “concepts of social fairness, entitlement, equality and, yes, standards of behavior for a rich and civilized society. This is an election about social responsibility – a society’s obligation to support those who are struggling, through no fault of their own, to find jobs and make ends meet. It is about protecting the most vulnerable segments of society, including by providing them access to proper health coverage. It is about reforming an education system that fails America’s young people (and about providing appropriate retraining to those who need it). Among the numerous issues of fairness and equality, it is about the rich giving back to a system that has brought them unimaginable wealth.” Mohamed El-Erian

Porn O'Graph: Needy Bastards are us.

The Parting Shot:

Commelina communis. Yes, they really are that blue.