SAR #13071

Things are often easier to do than to explain.

Immaterial: Building or not building the Keystone XL pipeline is a pointless argument. Either crappy Canadian tar sands oil flows to market through a pipeline or it will flow to market on long trains of oil tankers, but it will flow to market. The environmental damage from a possible pipeline leak is minor compared to the inevitable damage it will cause via global warming.

Mirror Image: One of the popular (with politicians) Social Security and Medicare 'reforms' is to extend the eligibility age. But that will lead to fewer lifetime benefits for the poor, who will end up paying for the extended lifespan benefits for the rich. Ought to be the other way around.

Perspective: During the worst of the Iraq war the US Army was going through less than 6 million rounds of ammunition a month. Homeland Security is buying 1.6 billion rounds – that's enough for 20 years of war at an intense pitch. Why does the order include hollow-point rounds? Why so much ammo for snipers? Why? To get a good deal on the bulk buy, they say.

Inheritance: Turns out that we've been dying from atherosclerosis for at least the last 4,000 years – without the benefit of french fries, hamburgers, smoking, booze and cable TV to clog our arteries. This suggests that atherosclerosis may be “an inherent component of human aging and not associated with any specific diet or lifestyle.” This does not mean the doctor is wrong about changing those bad habits – there's always heart attacks...

Minyan: Why are cardinals who have been implicated in covering -up for pedophilia in the Church not being banned from taking part in electing the next pope (or being the next pope)? Because without them, the Vatican couldn't field a quorum.

Bully: The US is throwing a hissy-fit, threatening Pakistan with Bad Things if it goes ahead with its planned gas pipeline link with Iran. The US says it wants to help Pakistan find “more reliable ways to meet its energy needs” than importing natural gas from its next door neighbor.

Hiding In Plain Sight: Some 60 large US corporations 'hid' $166 billion in profits – over 40% of their profits - in offshore accounts. This did not include any of Mitt's funds.

On Fear, With Loathing: Conservatives have been warning about high inflation and interest rate spikes for over four years, yet it hasn't happened. Every social program is, they claim, going to doom the stock market and kill business. It hasn't happened yet, but they keep saying it will. And the Dow climbs on and interest rates remain low and inflation is non-existent. But they continue with their dire predictions, not because they believe them, but because it gives them an excuse to implement policies that would further their ideological preferences – cut Social Security, slash Medicare, abandon the poor, the old, the sick. Screw the workers, bust the unions, fire the teachers, privatize everything. They are high priests, needing sacrificial offerings, but they obviously have no insight into the actual workings of the real world.

I'm OK, Are You OK? Heart attacks rise about 10% following the start of daylight saving time. They fall the same amount in October. Me, I get up in the morning.

Unbelievers: Americans are not only not saving for retirement, they don't think it's worth trying to do so. They believe health care costs will consume their savings no matter how much they save. They're pretty sure investment returns won’t be high enough to provide decent retirement income regardless of how much they manage to put away. The only piece of wisdom the majority share is the conviction that they shouldn't trust investment advice.

Porn O'Graph: What, Me Worry?

The Parting Shot:

 

Sycamore starter kit.