SAR #13033

None of the ways to make money from shale gas involves actually producing shale gas.

Happy Days: The BLS reported that employment increased by 157,000 in January, the November number was raised by 50% and December by 30%. Warms the heart.

End Run: The administration has worked out a way that women working for churches and religious organizations that pretend to be shocked at the idea of birth control could “receive contraceptive coverage through separate individual health insurance policies, without having to pay premiums or co-payments.”

Well Said:According to the IMF's Christine Lagarde, “Unless we take action on climate change, future generations will be roasted, toasted, fried and grilled.”

Great Expectations: More than 90% of the interest rate derivatives British banks sold to small businesses may not have complied with regulatory requirements, and “customers could now expect compensation from their banks.” They could, but but they better not bank on it, because the banks have only set aside about 650 million pounds to cover upwards of 10 billion pounds in damages.

Wade-ing On: . Roe v. Wade guaranteed abortion as a legal right across the country, yet Oregon is the only state that does not limit a woman's access to abortion. Try that with the right to own firearms.

Devil/Details: India “is committed to reducing the emissions intensity” of its GDP by at least 20% by 2020. Sounds good until you notice that it is “the emissions intensity” and not actual emissions that is going to be reduced. More, and more profitable emissions for all.

Early Warning: A former employee claims BP is manipulating the US natural gas liquids market.  Aw, and they seemed like such nice folks.

Nobody's Perfect: In 2005, 11 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, after Bernanke's four years of rescuing the economy, 50 million are on food stamps. Over 12 million are out of work or working part-time for lack of a real job. We've lost 5 million homes to foreclosure and another 5 million are behind on the mortgage. Today, for the first time since Wall Street ruined the fun back in 2007 the DJI broke 14,000. Big whoop.

Confession: Retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony has been relieved of all church-related duties for concealing the crimes over 100 pedophilic priests for over a decade.

No Detour: Turns out that almost everything you learned about dieting from daytime TV and checkout counter magazines is probably wrong, unless you're one of those stick-in-the-muds that thinks that calories count.

True, True: Banks don't commit fraud, bankers do.

Surf's Up: We've already burned enough fossil fuels to trigger melting that will eventually raise sea levels by about 70 feet. Or more.

About Inequality: It's become fashionable to attribute America's enormous and still growing inequality to increasing technology and industrial robots. It's not the robots. It's globalization and it's de-unionization and it's deregulation making theft by the 1% not only legal and acceptable. And there's a strong whiff of design about it.

Porn O'Graph: Feeling better yet?