SAR #13200

13200

"We need to figure out a better way to stimulate demand than either going to war or going into debt" Tom Streithorst

Hardball: The US, seriously upset because Venezuela might end up providing safe-haven for Edward Snowden, has revoked entry visas of Venezuelan diplomats and businessmen and threatens to suspend the sale of gasoline and oil to Venezuela. Nothing was said about the million barrels a day of Venezuelan petroleum the US imports. Another well thought out knee-jerk.

The Unions, The Unions! Detroit has filed for bankruptcy; guess who'll get the blame. Better, guess who'll get the profits.

Re-Constituted: Ken Cuccinelli, VA Republican candidate for governor, wants to ban oral and anal sex between consenting adults as a way of stopping predators from sexually assaulting children – who are neither adults nor consenting. Didn't the Supremes find such a stricture unconstitutional ten years ago? Who says being a Republican sucks?

Cup/Lip: US Secretary of State John Kerry says he’s “won Arab League backing . . . to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks”- without the Palestinians, apparently, who have already refused Kerry's offer.

Irrational Exuberance, The Sequel: House prices in Southern California were up 28% y/y. Bubble, what bubble? These are solid values and you can turn around and sell the place for an immense profit in a few months.... "This market’s getting really interesting.”

It's All Greeks To Me: Greece has knuckled under to Germany & The Rest by sacking another 4,000 government workers and putting 25,000 teachers, firemen, police and sanitation workers in a "mobility pool"in which they are given eight months to find work in another department or get fired. Unemployment, now at 27%, is expected to continue to rise. No Greek governmental departments are hiring, of course. This €7 billion to Athen's debt, which they will immediately use to pay off the German banks for earlier loans. The wheels on the bus go round and round...

Paradox: According to Republicans central planning is a Bad Thing for governments but a Requirement for successful businesses, yet they desire to run the government as though it were a business.

Those Were The Days: Jimmy Carter, former US President and full-time honorable man, says that “America has no functioning democracy,” and that Snowden's NSA revelations have not harmed US national security because terrorists, friendly nations and anyone who wasn't brain dead already knew.

Better Mousetrap: Retail stores have begun tracking your movements (via your cell phone) while you shop. Hey, you thought it was just NSA and the cops?
 
Fearcast: As long as House Republicans are secure in their gerrymandered safe districts and only have to fear primary candidates from the farther right, expect the idiocy to continue = more pointless 'debates' on budgets, deficits, national debt, reading and writing until at least 2020. Also expect continued Republican attempts to throw women, children, the poor, the unemployed and uninsured into the street whenever possible – for their own good, of course.

Slippery Slope: Fearing the possible infringement of 2^nd Amendment rights, House Republicans have rejected a bill banning "the sale of firearms to individuals on the FBI’s terrorist watch list”.

Porn O'Graph: Warm-up question.

The Parting Shot: