SAR #11225

Supporting tyrants is always wrong.

One Size Fits All: When the eight Republican presidential candidates were asked “Is there any ratio of cuts to taxes that you would accept? Three to one? Four to one? Ten to one? Would you walk away from a 10 to 1 deal?” They immediately, as a group, all raised their hands. No brain cells were harmed in this experiment.

Keeping Score: The CIA maintains that none of the drones it has fired into Pakistan in the last year have harmed a single non-combatant civilian. Opinions vary.

One From Column A: Cameron considers shutting down social media. 'London Police Say 1,051 Arrested Over Riots.' NPR. 'Widespread policy failures have bred a feral British underclass.' Sydney Morning Herald. 'Panic on the streets of London.' Penny Red Blog. 'Caring costs – but so do riots.' The Independent. 'Anarchy and Austerity: Why London Won't Be the Last City to Burn.' The Atlantic. 'It is too simplistic to blame the coalition’s cuts for these riots.' New Statesman. 'Police chief attacks ‘irrelevant’ politicians.' The Times. And last but not least: 'U.S. would deal with UK-style riots... by sending the Army to areas with 'large numbers of minority groups'. The Daily Mail.

The Beat Goes On: Syrian security forces fired into protesters as they left a main mosque in Deir al-Zor after Friday Prayers demanding President-for-their-lives Assad step down. In Yemen, hundreds of thousands poured onto the streets in cities and towns across Yemen, demanding President step down. In Israel, 88% of the public support the ongoing demonstrations demanding cheaper housing, education and health care.

Sin Banned: Thinking the banks are going to collapse Short-selling financial stocks has been banned in Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, South Korea and Turkey. They are allowed to make money from your troubles, but turn about isn't fair play.

Risk Free Loans: Once upon a time a banker was expected to be an excellent judge of character, protecting his depositors by only extending loans only to those he had good reason to believe would repay the money. Today a banker is expected to get the government to cover any lapse in judgment made by the bank in making loans. Since it is a risk-free business, why pay these people so much?

Point: In real dollars, the average worker's wages have been stagnant for the last 30 years, and actually fell 15% from 2007 to 2009.

All's Fair: Michele Bachmann promised to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for all future enrollees, starting immediately . “We will reform the entitlement programs now, not five years from now, not 26 years from now, [but]now.” Rick Perry, on the other hand, says God told him Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional.

Homework Assignment: For a good weekend read, a list of things not to read.

Less Is Not Less: Yes, the number of new foreclosures is down, but that's because the banks are pretending to get the actual paperwork together instead of fraudulently filling with forged documentation. It takes longer to do these things right legally. Once they do, they can't sell them because title insurance companies cannot figure out who has the legal right to sell them.

Pot/Kettle: Russia urges Ukraine not to politicize gas deliveries.

Crime In Progress: The American political and financial overlords intend to see their theft of the Social Security Trust Fund through to completion. Back in Ronnie's days they conned the public into overpaying FICA taxes and promised that the overage would go into special Treasury bonds so the money would be there when it was needed. But they spent the money on current budgets instead of paying their fair share of taxes. The intention was to raise your taxes and cut taxes on the rich. And so they did. If we could raise taxes to repay the money borrowed from Social Security, the fund would be fully funded for another 25 years. And then we could raise the taxes on those making over $125,000 or so and the system would remain solvent. But that's not the plan. The plan is to finish stealing the money, then stiff the public.

Shocker! From deepest Iowa comes the startling revelations that few of the GOP presidential wannabes support gay rights. Few?

Porn O'Graph:Correlation may well be causation this time.