SAR #12303

If you thought the US was a police state, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. Yves Smith

Don't Bother: The election is apparently over everywhere but a few precincts in Ohio, Florida and Virginia. Right now the odds seem to favor Obama to remain in the White House, Democrats in control of the Senate, Republicans running the House, and not a damned thing getting done for another four years.

Out, Damned Spot: The Department of Health & Human services estimates that – so far this year – the Affordable Health Care Act has saved seniors nearly $5 billion. That's only $657, on average, for those caught in the infamous 'doughnut hole'. No wonder they hate Obamacare. 'They' being Big Pharma.

No Comment: Imran Khan, Pakistani cricket hero turned Pakistani politician (leader of the Movement for Justice party) and outspoken opponent of US drone strikes on his country was on his way from Canada to a fund-raising event in New York when the clever folks from Homeland Security detained him and interrogated him over his views on assassination by drone. He said he was against it and they let him go. After several hours. Just making sure.

Pot/Kettles: Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) says that things were better in the old days, when women stayed home. Things would be better if Roscoe had stayed home, too.

Picture/Words: Backing up their 2010 claim that the US government was suppressing information about the extent of the deaths of sea creatures caused by BP's Macondo oil disaster, Greenpeace has released photographs and emails detailing and depicting the extent of the damage. They obtained the material from the government under a FOI request – despite the government's denial at the time of having such evidence.

Proofread: Security experts say new electronic voting machines can be will be hacked. There, now it's accurate. Not a question if, but of how much, how blatant.

Informed Opinion: Former TARP Inspector General Neil Barofsky notes that nothing has been done to curb the reach or the greed of the 'too big to fail' banks, that Washington has made the problem worse by letting the too big get too bigger, and that another bank-based financial crash is “inevitable”. As are the future bailouts of the few survivors.

Small Government: Put a pad and pencil by your chair, and over the next week write down the name of every Republican official who asks Washington for emergency assistance and support to deal with the aftermath of the Sandy storm. The Google them and see how vehemently they have spoken out against big government. For scoring purposes, Bobby Jindal is the current record holder.

For Example: The IMF says that Europe's banks need to dump $4.5 trillion in assets by the end of 2013. Call it deleveraging. History suggests this deflationary process is likely to go on for quite some time.

Rules of the Game:The US drone policy says that if you are in a 'target area' (we used to call them free-fire zones, back in the day), male, between 17 and 35 or 60 or so, and within a half-mile of someone else we suspect, you are a militant. If a drone kills you, you get promoted to terrorist. International law says killing you is a war crime, but you're still dead. And if you are one of the 15% or so of the dead who are acknowledged collaterally dead women or children, tough.

The Parting Shot:

Ah, fellow citizens!