SAR #9161

Some parts of the world will collapse much faster than others.

Pricing Freedom: "Free speech should be practiced only by those who are ready to deal with the consequences, which just might include a knock on the door by a friendly federal investigator wanting to know if you posted an anonymous comment on a Web site. Were you advocating violence or confessing to breaking the federal tax laws? This is not a hypothetical."

Joe Friday: Gazprom is explaining to Europe that he who has the world's largest reserves of natural gas gets to set the rules. He in this case is Gazprom, fronting for Mr. Putin.

Don't Make Me Tell You Again: The administration, having received its marching orders from Wall Street, is slowly backing away from any change in the way financial markets are regulated. Or not.

Explication: History necessarily involves scandal, for those at the top are the most ambitious, ruthless, unscrupulous and self-serving of the species. This time the British knaves are about to bring down the government, putting them a step or two ahead of their American cousins.

Simon Says: First Paulson forced banks that did not want or need government bailouts to take a few billion anyway. Now they want to give it back and Geithner makes them ask 'May I, pretty please?' Both ends of this deal make sense only as a cover to give $50 billion to certain banks (think Citi, BofA).

Asked & Answered: "Is the Fed Losing Control of Rates and Inflation?" Yes.

Unsettling Resettling: A report from Columbia University, the UN University and CARE projects that by 2050 people will be fleeing the effects of global warming - rising seas, droughts, floods and more - "in migrations that could vastly exceed the scope of anything before."

Danger, Tax Dollars at Work: Who would have guessed that only $6 billion of the $32 billion we've paid KBR was a total waste. A report will be issued and strong words spoken.

First A, Then B: Two major errors by lenders has brought about this sorry state. First they lent money to folks who simply couldn't pay it back. Then they lent far too much to those who might have paid back somewhat less. The first bunch crashed and burned. The smoke is rising from the second pile, and commercial loans - $750 billion of 'em - will be next.

Everything You Know is Wrong, Chapter 47 : New findings about how birds breathe makes it unlikely that birds are 'living dinosaurs". Birds are now thought to have evolved alongside dinosaurs, separate but equal.

Can They Do That? Reports claim the House has subpoenaed the Fed to produce documents showing how much arm-twisting the Fed applied to convince BofA to take over Merrill Lynch. In a couple of days BofA chief Ken Lewis will be telling them his recollection of events.

Porn O'Graph: Bernanke says there is no reason to fear inflation. He lies.

Bonus: Over the river and thru the woods.