Thursday, August 29, 2013

SAR #13241


People like to be told what they already know.

Rematch: Speaker Boehner says that the Republicans will not raise the debt ceiling unless they get 'matching' reductions in federal spending - without touching Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, farm programs and Congressional pensions. Obama's not inclined to negotiate at all, maintaining that the federal debt is the result of Congresscritters like Boehner passing laws that spend money without having the guts to raise taxes to pay for the programs. Beating up the current administration for the ills of a couple of decades of Congressional cowardice simply doesn't seem reasonable. But the Republicans do not need to be 'reasonable' - they have cut up congressional districts so their seats are safe as long as they keep the rightest of the right wing nuts happy. This game of chicken will come to a head in mid-October, reserve your seats now.

Times Change: When it is one of our (albiet temporary) friends that uses chemical weapons, like Saddam, it is ignored. Plausible denial, y'know, when the thug is one of ours.

Morality And Sanctity: The ongoing portrayal of public workers' pension contracts as disposable tissues shows just how little respect for contracts the banksters and their henchmen have when it doesn't involve their own bonuses for bankrupting companies. The 'elites' are happy to treat the contracts that provide workers with pensions as worthless scraps of paper. (Exhibit A is Detroit, B is Chicago, more to follow.)) The banksters, who made off with the pension funds, now find it inconvenient to uphold their part of the contract. So they will wiggle out through bankruptcy, even though these pension obligations are guaranteed under the state constitution. The only thing that's guaranteed is that the rich will steal the money and leave the workers pensionless. 
 
New BFF: Over 70 countries made requests for users' data from Facebook, Google, Microsoft – our own government itself made tens of thousands of them, even though few governments need to go to others to track you down. Supposedly the vast majority of these requests relate to criminal cases. Supposedly.

Restocking: The number of existing homes on the market has increased by 24% so far this year. Some say this is because the increase in sales and prices has prompted more folks to put thier homes on the market, now that they might break even and get out of their mortgages. Others suggest that the inventory is growing because the baseless surge in activity is petering out. Either way, more houses on the market usual result less upward pressure on prices.

The Rules of Law: In 2011, FISA Court Judge John Bates noted that 'The court is troubled that..” That three times in three years the government had to appear in the FISA court and admit that it had told the court “substantial” lies in misrepresenting “the scope of a major collection program.” Good thing they're on our side.

Wanna Bet? Just when you thought the Federal Government was with the program, the Department of Veterans Affairs says that Title 38 of the US Code defines "spouse" as a person of the opposite sex and as long as it does, DVA doesn't care about what other laws may say, they say the language of USC 38 rules. Wait till you hear some of the language our veterans will use.

The Parting Shot:
 Outlook

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