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Wow.. And all it took was Republican on Republican vote rigging for (some of) them to wake up! It's not like this has been an issue for over 10 years.. It's not like over 85 percent of vote tally software is under the control of two brothers, both Republicans, and that less than 30 dollars can swing an election.. But wow, some Republicans gets screwed, and now it's a national issue!
It's funny (peculiar), conservatives have spent the last 10 years casting legitimate questions about the no-verification, highly corrupt voting apparatus this country so willingly embraces as 'whacked out conspiracy theories,' until it effected them. Now, because they're the ones making the accusations, This Issue Is Serious! That's not the only reason people think wingnuts are self-absorbed douchebags, but it is a pretty good example.
An old fault line reactivates almost right underneath Fukushima? Not awesome. Really Not Awesome, considering Reactors 2 and 4 seem to be much worse than thought. The only ingredient missing for Catastrophe is a 7.0 or greater quake. According to the article, there's a 70 percent chance of that happening this year, and a 98 percent chance of that happening in the next three years.
Not If. Only When.
Uh-oh. All of Europe's gonna get Greece-d. Zero Hedge's Tyler Durden has the details. Excerpts:
As anticipated in November 2011, Moody's Investors Service has today adjusted the sovereign debt ratings of selected EU countries in order to reflect their susceptibility to the growing financial and macroeconomic risks emanating from the euro area crisis and how these risks exacerbate the affected countries' own specific challenges.
Moody's actions can be summarised as follows:
- Austria: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- France: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
- Italy: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Malta: downgraded to A3 from A2, negative outlook
- Portugal: downgraded to Ba3 from Ba2, negative outlook
- Slovakia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Slovenia: downgraded to A2 from A1, negative outlook
- Spain: downgraded to A3 from A1, negative outlook
- United Kingdom: outlook on Aaa rating changed to negative
..
The main drivers of today's actions are:
*The uncertainty over (i) the euro area's prospects for institutional reform of its fiscal and economic framework and (ii) the resources that will be made available to deal with the crisis.
*Europe's increasingly weak macroeconomic prospects, which threaten the implementation of domestic austerity programmes and the structural reforms that are needed to promote competitiveness.
*The impact that Moody's believes these factors will continue to have on market confidence, which is likely to remain fragile, with a high potential for further shocks to funding conditions for stressed sovereigns and banks.
To a varying degree, these factors are constraining the creditworthiness of all European sovereigns and exacerbating the susceptibility of a number of sovereigns to particular financial and macroeconomic exposures.
When everything collapses, don't forget to yell "Jenga!!" And, as always, don't forget to stock up on canned goods and bottled water! Happy Valentine's Day, yo!
Here we go.. Greek financial and political discourse is about to get really rocky.. With real rocks. The Roundup begins now.. The Extinction Protocol, via Reuters.. Excerpts:
Historic cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens on Sunday as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers looked set to defy the rage by endorsing a new EU/IMF austerity deal. State television reported violence spread to the islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were being looted in the capital in the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy. As parliament prepared to vote on a new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a messy bankruptcy, a Reuters photographer saw buildings in Athens engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke rose in the night sky.
Yeah, it's burning..
So, what does this all mean? Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge 'splains and sums up..
The Greek parliament just passed the latest proposed austerity plan with a majority voting Yes. Judging by the reaction of the EURUSD, which experienced a modest 40 pip short covering squeeze in the last few minutes, one would imagine that today's Greek vote outcome is surprising. It isn't: after all, all Greece has done is promise to do something it won't do in hope it can get another bailout package, this time amounting to €210 billion (of which its people will pocket a de minimis 19%). As we said earlier: "The only real questions are i) what the Greek population may do in response to this latest selling out of a population "led" by an unelected banker, which if history is any precedent, the answer is not much, and ii) how Germany will subvert this latest event, and put the bail [sic] back in Greece's court once again."
Plus, a little funny for you..
..everyone knows revolutions in heavily socialist countries only start between 9 am and 5 pm, with a 2 hour break for siesta.
Not funny, though, is how the Greek people will respond to these financial shenanigans. Not well is the answer; Not well at all..
I fear for a social explosion: Greeks can't take any more punishment The Guardian. Excerpts:
Despair has enveloped Greece. This weekend the bankrupt nation, for that is what it is, began negotiating the latest act of a drama that many fear will end in catastrophe – financially, socially and politically.
In an electric atmosphere, with thousands demonstrating outside parliament, MPs began debating the arduous terms of a €130bn (£110bn) rescue package that the interim prime minister, Lucas Papademos
"A disorderly default," he said, referring to the 20 March deadline that Greece faces of repaying €14.5bn in maturing debt, "would plunge our country in a disastrous adventure. It would create conditions of uncontrolled economic chaos and social explosion."
..
But in both parties MPs are far from convinced. The country has reached a crossroads, of that there can be no doubt. But almost two years since it was first "rescued" with €110bn, the nation's acceptance of this latest lifeline puts it in a perilous place. Politicians, almost without exception, believe they are "damned if they do and damned if they don't".
After more than two decades reporting from Athens, I can only concur. For the truth – as unpalatable as it may be for the IMF, EU and European Central Bank, Greece's "troika" of creditors – is that, far from plugging the country's budget black holes, the harsh austerity pursued in the name of deficit-reducing goals has pushed it towards economic and social collapse. Relentless wage and pension cuts, tax rises and cost-cutting reforms have left the country a shadow of itself. In its fifth successive year of recession, Greece is a hollowed-out version of what it once was, coming apart at the seams a little more with each day. Men and women forage through rubbish bins late at night. More sleep on the streets. Last week as Eurostat, the European statistic agency, announced that poverty had engulfed more than a third of the nation, it was revealed that unemployment had also exceeded one million people, from a record 19% to 20.9% in one month.
"Nothing functions. Nobody pays anybody any more and the state is not just crumbling but in complete stasis," said Giorgos Kyrtsos, a prominent political commentator. "These guys," he said of officials in the troika of European agencies negotiating the bailout, "should really lose their jobs. They've miscalculated everything. I understand on Friday the police trade union called for their arrests. Well, maybe they are right!"
..
A series of resignations by ministers on Friday, unwilling to support the latest measures, not only underlined the panic of the political class – in a country where MPs no longer feel safe walking in the streets – but proved how tenuous public support is for the bailout. If there is to be a social explosion, many said that it would come because Greeks had been pushed too far. The loan agreement not only will lead to job losses and more cuts in salaries and pensions but a 22% reduction in the minimum wage.
Ferment on the street is back. The clashes during last week's second general strike are generally expected to be a prelude to something much more ominous. "There is going to be a huge social eruption," said Apostalia Kiroudi, an unemployed jeweller shouting herself hoarse in front of parliament.
"Our politicians lied to us. They never told us the truth, and now they want to pass policies that they have no mandate to do. As that sign says over there," she said, pointing to a friend holding a placard, "We choose to be free. Keep your money."
Things are going to devolve rapidly. The bankster gangsters won't take The People's shit, and vice versa. And the Greeks have proven time and again they're always up for a fight, and a fight they shall have. I sure hope Riot Dog has been resting up--In the coming days, he's going to be busy!
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