Greed is generally a pre-existing
condition.
The Results Are In: Black Friday was (a) terrific or (b) disappointing – I don't know, I'm much too busy to read fantasy. But no matter which it was, let's not get all serious and pretend that it means anything.
A Creation Myth: Over and over we're told that the rich create jobs and that's why they shouldn't have to pay taxes. But (a) taxes on the rich are at record lows and (b) speculating on financial instruments only creates jobs in Wall Street restaurants while wages are at an all-time low (except for Wall Street's bonus babies). Rich people do not create jobs, healthy economies do. And in a healthy economy all the profits cannot go to the 1%.
Numbers are Numbers: Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) has lived up to her promise of reducing the backlog in the state's child protective service system. Why in one week in November over 3,000 cases were
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid: Dianne Feinstein(D-CA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI), leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, say Americans are not as safe today as they were a few years ago before our leaders set out to make the world safe for
Revised Version: Rick Santorum, Republican presidential wanna-be, says that his copy of the First Amendment gives people the right to deny various forms of health care to other people. Mike Rogers (R-MI) says that helping the ‘few’ 48 million uninsured isn't worth doing. And RC Cardinal Dolan says his version of The Church opposes the ACA because it excludes “the unborn.” And the undead, too.
A Better Place: One out of four Spaniards would consider emigrating for employment if there were any place they could go. Don't worry, we're all going to get rich exporting stuff.
Austerity Is As Austerity Does: Spain has imposed severe restrictions on various acts of public protest,all who engage in "unruly conduct" will be fired, with fines of up to €30,000 for burning the flag, insulting the state or “causing serious disturbances outside parliament.” Frivolous disturbances will still be allowed.
Fill in the Blank: The greatest danger to ________ is the stupidity of its leaders. Okay, too many right answers. Write an essay defending yours.
Progress Report: James Brewster, the new US ambassador to the Dominican Republic, has introduced his husband to the country. Brewster is the seventh openly gay US ambassador. Catholic leaders and Christian Evangelicals are predictably unhappy.
The Friendly Skies: Homeland Security has identified 700,000 individuals who are too dangerous to be allowed on an airplane.
Twins: "The taper is coming!” has joined “runaway inflation is coming” as the much anticipated non-arriving threat to the
About The Debt: If the Pentagon has mislaid $8.5 trillion in the last 15 years, why are we talking about cutting Social Security? For $8.5 trillion we could have had free single-payer heatlhcare for everyone for a very long time.
Porn O'Graph: Where the money went.
The Parting Shot:
Courtyard, Mosterio dos Jerónimos,
Belém,
Portugal.
2 comments:
Come now. The Department of Defense hasn't "lost" 8.5 trillion bucks over the last 15 years. That's the amount it spent -- around 550-600 billion bucks per year. The issue is that it hasn't been audited -- accountants haven't poured through the checks and receipts and records to make sure it was properly disbursed without error. which has to be expected when a fair amount of military spending is "black" -- hidden from public or Congressional review because of secrecy.
There probably is some waste in DoD spending, some graft, some overpayments, some inefficient spending, and it'd be nice to get a handle on how much. But it's silly to maintain there is so much waste that paychecks to soldiers always bounce and that contractors such as Lockheed Martin are developing fighter aircraft purely as a charitable gesture.
Pentagon has never been held to account ever since Ron elevated all military activities to divine status. They spend that money whether there is a balance in the account or not, and then tell the accounting guys to hide it somewhere. Another item in the 'disgrace' category that will never change because AMURKA
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