Thursday, August 2, 2012

SAR #12214

Romney's campaign theme seems to be “Take It Or Leave It.”

Mulligan! If I copy off Bobby's paper during a test and he's got the wrong answer, do I get a do-over? If I'm eavesdropping on a train, misunderstand, rush to the office and buy thousands of shares of a stock that's tanking, do I get a do over? Well, if I'm a Wall Street broker using robots to buy and sell, yes. If you are an investment banker/broker, heads you win, tails you get a do-over. Even after the NYSE gives nearly everyone a massive do-over, Knight (“Ma, he started it!”) will probably be on the hook for a few hundred million.

Austerity Has Been An Epic Failure: They'd have told us earlier, but they just now figured it out.

Don't Worry, They Said: Experimental research – which should have been done before, not after BP sprayed dispersants all over the Gulf – shows that the stuff they used has put the Gulf of Mexico's food chain in danger of collapse.

Just Wondering: Why do politicians outlaw some things for only a limited period of time? Like the Violence Against Women Act, which is set to expire, after which apparently beating the crap out of women will be okay.

Spot Quiz: In that the states only have to carry 10% of the cost of expanded Medicaid under ACA, why do those states that have the largest numbers of uninsured citizens refuse to participate? (a) They have Republican governors. (b) This is socialized medicine and encourages the poor to evade their punishment for being poor. (c) All of the above.

Devil/Details: Under The Mitten's proposed tax rules, the top 0.1% would get an after-tax raise of 4.4% and the bottom 99% would have 1.2% less to call their own.

Rationing: Illinois has joined 16 other states in telling people they can't take all the medicines their doctors prescribe. Republicans in Illinois have decided that if you are poor you can only be sick enough to need four prescriptions, so ask your doctor which of the life-saving drugs you can live the longest without.

Networking, Or Not: In July, new online help-wanted postings fell the most since January 2009. Note that in 7 out of the last 8 times online help wanted ads fell so severely there were also large declines in both non-farm and private payrolls. Be advised.

Drumbeats: The Republicans are putting together a spending bill that would cancel Title X funding (family-planning services, breast and cervical cancer screenings and STD tests for poor women) prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal money as long as it provides any abortion-related services, and nullify nearly all of the Affordable Care Act's women's health initiatives. The war goes on, tormenting women for the benefit of votes.

Miss Manners: We knew that Big Brother was watching us, but weren't quite sure why. Maybe they're planning on enforcing the rules of polite society – turning us in for impolite tweets and politically incorrect utterances, like the Brits are doing at the Olympics.

Porn O'Graph: Greedy Bastards are US. Or not.

The Parting Shot.

120802

This way out.

3 comments:

I'm Not POTUS said...

Wonder no more:
Expiring legislation requires the voter to reelect the "crusading" politician and party in perpetuity.

Same goes for every institutionalized concept.
If the Cancer charity cured Cancer the people working there would be out of a job. If the Charity cured poverty, same thing.

Lucky for us no one in charge is principled enough to do their job or we would all be out of work and living in Utopia. What a disaster that would be.

Anonymous said...

Just Wondering:

Isn't Violence against women taken care of under assault and battery laws. Kind of like all those stupid Cell Phone while Driving laws. I thought that was covered under careless driving. Silly me.

and I'm Not Potus - March of Dimes? Is Polio making a comeback?

RBM

I'm Not POTUS said...

Anon,

MoD moved on to other things. What happened back when words and deeds meant something is of no use now when corporatized charities actively lobby against legislation that would have improved the health of Americans.

Don't waste 1's and 0's on remembering how well things worked out in the past. Bernake needs as many binaries as possible to keep you sated with the present state of affairs.