SAR #132074

Sometimes failure is the lesson.

Slowly, Slowly... Three former UBS banksters have been sentenced to federal prison for rigging the market for certain municipal bonds. The longest sentence was but 27 months, a fraction of what the Justice Department had sought, and a tiny, tiny fraction of what they deserved. Perhaps it is an object lesson for the folks at SAC Capital Advisors who have been indicted by the Feds after a six year investigation into insider trading at a firm that was responsible for about 10% of trades on the NYSE. Next?

Less Bread, More Circus: Michigan's Governor Snyder strongly supports the Michigan Strategic Fund's approval of spending $225 million on an arena for gladiatorial contests featuring debt collectors against pensioners in bankrupt Detroit.

Sight/Mind: In the wilderness near Cold Lake, Alberta, an underground oil blowout has been going on for nine weeks. No one understands what happened or what is happening, while animals are being killed and lakes and the forest are being contaminated. The leak shows no signs of stopping. The operator, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, shows no signs of knowing how to stop it.

Sturgeon’s Revelation: At the very least, 90% of everything is crap. 
 
Sausage: The leaders of the Senate Finance committee, currently rewriting the entire US tax code, have assured fellow senators that they may insert whatever loopholes their owners desire with absolute confidence that neither they nor their perfidy will be identified for at least 50 years. It's called doing the public's business. Or giving the public the business. Or something like that.

Novel Idea: Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) wants to force the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to hear both sides of cases brought before the court. Which would require that the defendant know he's being castrated before the voice change sets in. It'll never catch on.

Some're Reruns: The Republicans are again ready to push the country into default and shut down the government – you hadn't noticed because the media and the country have come to see this as the GOP's default position. There is no economic justification for this, especially their long disproven claim that cutting spending will boost the economy. Why? Because they are fearful that Obamacare is going to work and going to be liked by most of the country. “Thus this last-ditch effort to stop people with preexisting conditions and/or low incomes from getting health insurance. Apparently, the prospect that their fellow citizens might receive this help is so horrifying that nothing else matters.”

Takes One... San Diego's Mayor Bob Filner has been 'uninvited' to address the National Women’s Veterans Association of America about sexual assault. He was overqualified.

Sound The Attack! “We need to adopt public policies in advance to help rescue the economy before the next zero bound episode. That means giving the Federal Reserve a powerful new tool to hand out money to people and working out an automatic mechanism for state governments to get injections of money in severe downturns." Do I hear a second?

Carlos Atlas: According to Steve King (R-Wonderland) most of the young immigrants who would be covered under the DREAM Act are drug mules. JHe says we can identify them just by checking out the calf muscles they've got from humping “75 pound bales of marijuana across the desert.”
The Parting Shot: