SAR #13238

The Dream has become a recurring nightmare.

Is Assad An Idiot? As the Washington warmongers move closer to starting Afghanistan 2.0 or Iraq Light, the question arises: Why would Syria's Assad launch a chemical attack while UN inspectors were in town? Why would he do the one thing that would upset Putin? What would he gain by provoking Obama into action? Why use gas against women and children and not against the al-Qaeda and US backed rebels? Ask yourself what Assad had to gain, as opposed to what the rebels stand to gain. Not to mention the warmongers back in DC.

Working Definitions: California prison authorities sterilized nearly 150 female prisoners between 2006 and 2010. Don't get too upset; anesthesia was used and, with nearly 150 instances, it was hardly unusual. Move along.

Halving The Dream: Boby Jindal took the anniversary of The Speech to explain that racism in the US persists because blacks insist on being black, and George Will lectured to the oppressed that it was single motherhood and not white discrimination that was the problem. Meanwhile, in South Carolina a group of black diners were ejected because they wanted to sit at the whites only lunch counter a couple of whites felt 'intimidated'. Wannabe Ted Cruz chimed in, claiming that repealing the Affordable Care Act would help Africa-Americans somehow or other. On a positive note, Colin Powell says (hopes, really) that the Republican imposed suppression of black votes is "going to backfire" against them. 
 
Door To Door: It's been fun, watching the real estate apologists explain away the god-awful downward trend in new home sales. “Remember, it's just one month's data,” they say, ignoring the previous two months. “The downward revisions were expected,” they say, but don't suggest that the bad July numbers will also be revised downward. “Rising mortgage rates show up in New Home sales first,” they say, which should simply prepare you for a drop in existing home sales, not cheer you up. This could be a really big deal, pay attention.

Correction: The headline read: 'Politics has Doomed the Climate Change Debate.' Wrong, it is not the debate that is doomed, it's us.

I'm Loving It: While stopping nasty terrorist plots left and right and reading all of your emails, NSA also found time to 'occasionally read the private communications of their ex-lovers. Some suggest that every pillow in every cheap motel in the DC area is wired; maybe so, but not always by NSA. Even so, the guys at Fort Meade found time to break the UN's encrypted communications, as well as – one certainly hopes – 98% of all the diplomatic codes in current use. 
 
Them That Has, Has Mattresses: Turns out that one of the brakes on inflation is that the rich are keeping 37% of their cash out of circulation. 
 
Identity Theft: A major legacy of the Greater Recession is the four million long-term unemployed, folks who can't get their resumes read, can't even get hired at McDonald's. Why is that, do they lack education? Nope. Is it because they're black or Latino or something? Nope. Are they old farts? Well, yes. But mostly, the long term unemployed are simply the short term unemployed who didn't luck into a job, week after week, month after month. And pretty much it is not their fault.

Sleazy Exits Stage Left: Clueless and unrepentant, San Diego's Bob Filner is done as Mayor, but he's not sure why. He maintains he did nothing wrong, that his inappropriate words and groping was just his way of making friends and “had no intention to be offensive...” Just think what it'd have been like if he tried.

The Parting Shot:

 Morning Commute, Venice.