Wednesday, February 18, 2015

SAR #15049



It's In There: If you have a hard drive in your computer (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) the NSA has probably bugged it. No mater what brand, what model, what year, or where in the world you might be, it's prob ably got a little piece of firmware in there that boots up every time you turn the damned thing on and gives them access to everything you do. Undetectable. Unremovable. The biggest mystery is how the manufacturers were not complicit.
 
Theme Song: Following a Canadian National oil train derailment and fireball in Ontario, a CSX oil train derailed and exploded in West Virginia. Acts of God, of course.

This Little Piggy: What happens after Greece simply walks away, refuses to play, refuses to pay? No, no matter how much she'd be urged to send in the Wehrmacht, Angela won't. After all, there are other, more impressive forms of coercion these days, starting with the IMF. Besides, the Greeks don't have a say in it. In anything, anymore. They are run from Brussels. 
 
Good Question: Ron Paul asks “How many more wars?” Just the one, Ron, with the US attacking anyone, anywhere, anytime over the next three years.

Don't Try This At Home: Wisconsin's Governor Walker says he can balance the state's woefully underfunded budget by simply not making scheduled payments on the state's debts. If you owe taxes to the state, don't try this.

Definition: Free trade negotiations: The process by which international corporations destroy national sovereignty for the benefit of the richest 1%, made attractive to the peasantry by offering them cheap products at the hidden cost of cheap wages, their jobs and their children's futures.

Vaporware: For only $29 a month more, ATT promises not to track your browsing history. Everybody else still will, but hey.

Nutshell: One of the most serious problems in the US healthcare industry is pharmaceutical pricing. Prime example is Solvadi (the hepatitis C drug), an outright life-saver. Assuming, that is, that you have $84,000 to pay for the 12 weeks of treatment by drugs that cost about $100 to manufacture. And don't give me the old R&D bs – the drug was largely developed with federal research money. 
 
Next Question: Yes the oil market is rigged, manipulated and opaque. You didn't think the Washington, Riyadh and OPECs banksters would let a $3 trillion market go out alone, did you? 
 
A Little Knowledge: The University of Massachusetts, in the best tradition of academic freedom, has banned Iranian citizens from certain graduate studies that would be dangerous for them to know. The history of US involvement in overthrowing governments, for one.

Quoted: “The money [politicians] need to be elected comes from people who don’t understand or care what’s happening to most Americans, and think it’s all about economic growth.” Robert Reich

The Essence: Under the ACA, several million more Americans are insured. Not covered, read the fine print. And it is not about health care, it's simply about more people buying health insurance.

Clarification: The North Carolina State Ethics Commission has ruled that sex between lobbyists and government officials “does not constitute a gift that must be listed in disclosure reports”. Unless one or both is wearing a little blue dress.

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