We'd better laugh, because it's becoming too late to cry

"Some Assembly Required" has some gems today - (please follow link to original).

Here are a few:


Buckle Down: Barclays says that people must worker longer hours for more years for half the pay and nearly none of the social benefits they've grown accustomed to. And shut up and like it, too.

Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin: The right insists that the 'Special Issue' Treasury bonds that represent Social Security surpluses dating back 25 years are hollow promises that will never be honored. Possibly true. But if so, that makes the Reagan/Greenspan Social Security reform nothing but a cynical tax ripoff of the poorest of society's workers. It would be almost worth it to accept the neocons' view of the bonds if they'd just agree to call Reagan and Greenspan frauds, guilty of knowing theft.

Sorry: The US Army has apologized for letting its killers take pictures of their trophies.

Crooking the Books: David Stevens has a new job, as head of the Mortgage Bankers Association. And he didn't have to give up his day job either – as Assistant Secretary for Housing in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as the Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration – where his job was is to regulate mortgage bankers.

here are a couple from yesterday:


Future, Tense: If you liked the Fukushima Daiichi extravaganza, watch geoengineering save us from global warming.

"Imminent Threat" Congress once had the sole prerogative of sending the boys off to war. Then representative government became too leisurely for the snap decision to use nukes. Now it has become simply inconvenient – easier to present the fait accompli to a cowed Congress. Usual prize for anyone who can find a constitutional basis for our war with Libya, or a definition of “consulting Congress” that passes the smell test. Ditto for Iraq. And Afghanistan. I'll even accept a rational argument for any of them.