Saturday, May 22, 2010

SAR #10142/weekender

Intolerance, ignorance, bigotry; American values.

Hmmm:  The stock market staged another one of its late Friday recoveries.  If I weren't so credulous I'd wonder if the Plunge Protection Team was back at it.

Yes, But, You See, Assume...  Here's the only really solid data about the quantity of oil surging into the ocean: BP lied.  Or 'misspoke' or relied on a 'technical myth'.  But they say they'll stop lying issue a revised estimate sometime on Saturday.  Whatever amount it is, the vast majority of it is lurking below the surface and will be with us for years.

Motivation:  The USAF plans to upgrade Shindand Air Base in Afghanistan to handle more commando helicopters and drone aircraft.  Okay, but does the fact that Shindand is only 20 miles from the Iranian border have anything to do with it?

Silver Bullet?  What does it take to kill the whole 'free-market', black/white, Friedmanite beggar-thy-neighbor Chicago School of economics?  A stake through the heart?

Busted:  Nevada's April unemployment stood at 13.7%, in Las Vegas it was 14.2%.  No, it wasn't a lack of gamblers – it was austerity, government austerity, as in letting 5,500 civil servants go last month.

Rebound:  Greenland's ice is melting so quickly that the island is rising “noticeably” - as much as an inch a year.

Papers, Please:  Julian Assange, the founder and head troublemaker at WikiLeaks, had his passport confiscated by the police in Melbourne  “because it was looking worn.”  He received a letter from the Australian Communication Ministry telling him he may get it back once the government completes an investigation into various leaks posted to WikiLeaks.

Ruse Rules of the Game:  The whole point of corruption is not only to gain an advantage, but to secure protection from retribution by making your activities legal if you can and by co-opting those in power so they won't dare come after you for fear of destroying themselves.  Sound familiar?

Again:  Here's Rand Paul – the GOP's new poster boy for Civil Wrongs - on the BP oil spill:  "I think it's part of this sort of blame game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen."

Another One:  Rand Paul, to distract attention from his antediluvian stance on civil rights, attacked President Obama as un-American and anti-business for "his boot heel on the throat of BP."

The Plot Thus Far:  “The Greatest Generation” suffered through and survived the Great Depression and World War II then quietly lay the groundwork for a world of abundance.  The next bunch, The Locusts, have gone through that abundance and pretty much devoured the seed corn, too.  Now we're in the wind-down of the Ponzi Generation as it transforms into the Tooth Fairy Generation which believes, still & despite all the evidence, in a magic would where taxes can be cut without cutting services and entitlements.  Somewhere, just over the horizon, is the Root Canal Cohort which will pay in pain and suffering for the previous delusions.

Porn O'Graph:  The problem with the problem banks.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

RE: The Plot Thus Far

"The Locusts" I've never heard a more apt description of the self centered boomers.

RBM

Dink said...

"Tooth Fairy Generation which believes"

I think they kind of know they're screwed. The ones I know don't really talk about buying houses, getting rich, or really anything future-oriented because I think they know its now impossible. I guess some might argue that this has always been a characteristic of youth, but I dunno. It seems more pervasive with this group not to talk about anything more than 12 months into the future.

Anonymous said...

RAND PAUL:

Inquiring minds might ask, is this knucklehead and dragger actually named after AYN RAND? Sort of reminds me of that old John Cash song: Boy Named Sue. Of course, RAND is much better than FRIEDMAN PAUL.