Saturday, February 14

Derek Henson is the guest editor today.

 

On the Rocks

“Obama’s bailout plan, added to the FY 2009 budget deficit he has inherited from Bush, opens a expenditure hole of about $3 trillion.  As Roberts, former assistant secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan years, pointed out here last week, ‘Who is going to purchase $3 trillion of US Treasury bonds? Not the US consumer.  The consumer is out of work and out of money. Private sector credit market debt is 174 per cent of GDP.’”

 

Iraq Vet: We're Losing 'More Soldiers to Suicide Than to Al Qaeda'

 

Deflated Expectations

“The complete disconnection of price movements from underlying real cost changes in modern times is a measure of contemporary monetary authorities’ laxness when it comes to preventing inflation, combined with their refusal to acknowledge the theoretical possibility of a benign deflation.”

 

Obama Honors Lincoln's Vision of Strong Union

“'Only a nation can do these things,’ Obama said. ‘Only by coming together, all of us, and expressing that sense of shared sacrifice and responsibility...can we do the work that must be done in this country. That is the very definition of being American.’” 

 

The Six Most Insane Moral Panics in American History

 

International Criminal Court Faces Big Test With Israel

 

New Shock Absorber Harvests Energy From Bumps in Road, Increases Fuel Economy

“In their testing so far, the students found that in a 6-shock heavy truck, each shock absorber could generate up to an average of 1 kW on a standard road -- enough power to completely displace the large alternator load in heavy trucks and military vehicles, and in some cases even run accessory devices such as hybrid trailer refrigeration units.”

 

Bongs, Virginity and Other Stuff You Can't Sell on eBay

 

Antiwar Radio: Dahr Jamail

Scott Horton interviews Dahr Jamail on Iraqi security, US funding of militias, and the unlikelihood of the US leaving soon.

 

Fresno Police Officers Violent Arrest of a Homeless Man

 

Armed Police Raid Wild West Party

 

Latin American Leaders Say U.S. Drug War a Failure

“From Mexico 's gang wars to the drug-funded FARC guerrilla group in Colombia and daily shoot-outs between gangs and police in Rio de Janeiro 's shantytowns, much of the region is scarred by drug violence and many believe U.S. policies have failed.”

 

Addicted to Fake Outrage

“America is a place where you can destroy millions of lives as a Wall Street executive and still get invited for photo-ops at the White House; a land where the everyman icon - Joe Sixpack - is named for his love of shotgunning two quarts of beer at holiday gatherings...Phelps is the evildoer of the hour because he went to a party and took a hit off someone's bong.”

 

FDA Approves Depressant Drug for the Annoyingly Cheerful

(Video) Satire.

 

Sen. Harry Reid Says Paying Taxes Is Voluntary

(video, Editor's pick)

 

Request Your Stimulus

(Editor's pick)

 

Shoe Leather Zoom

A photo blog.