NYT daily reminder: we are screwn.

[Warren Stupidity]

Every morning the Grey Lady emails me their top headlines, and almost invariably every morning I get from that same email a reminder that we are ruled by an insane clown posse that, while feasting on the plunder from our national treasury, is gleefully driving our creaky old school bus of a republic off a steep cliff.

Today's insanity.

Lawmakers Set Deal on Raising Fuel Efficiency. 35 mpg by 2020.

Do I actually have to comment here? Ok, I'll state the obvious. This is total bullshit. We need 35 by 2010 and 70 by 2020. In fact we need to restructure our society so that it is not completely dependent on individual automobiles run on oil.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/washington/01energy.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Witness Names to Be Withheld From Detainee.

Defense lawyers preparing for the war crimes trial of a 21-year-old Guantánamo detainee have been ordered by a military judge not to tell their client — or anyone else — the identity of witnesses against him, newly released documents show.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/nationalspecial3/01gitmo.html?th&emc=th

Now I realize that most of us slept through Civics class, if in fact we had a Civics class. So for those who don't quite recall:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

That is commonly known as the sixth amendment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/us/nationalspecial3/01gitmo.html?th&emc=th

But wait, we are not done yet!

Wall St. Sees Silver Lining in Economy

As Wall Street rallied this week, it seemed that investors were taking comfort in the notion that the economy had become so imperiled by the crumbling housing market that it was forcing the government to finally mount an aggressive rescue effort.

Yes indeed, the same folks who brought you the S&L bailout are gearing up for another massive raid on the treasury for their own benefit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/business/01econ.html?th&emc=th

Ain't life grand?

[fasttense]

1. 35 mpg by 2020?????????

Hell, I get well over 35 mpg right now with my cheap little Nissan. This is a huge joke right? The congress is ribbing us right?

[Warren Stupidity]

2. More like they are pissing on us giggling insanely. nt.

[Neshanic]

3. By 2020, shit why not make it 2050? Europe is already at 35mpg.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. It seems hopeless at this point.

As I said, we are screwn. There is no intent in Washington to do diddly squat about either peak oil or catastrophic climate change other than occupy mesopotamia and shoot anyone who tries to get near our oil until there isn't any left.

[depakid]

6. Not hopeless, but neither of the major parties will survive the fallout

over peak oil and climate change. And rightly so, as neither of them have any real plans to take the steps required to mitigate the problems.

Between now and 2020, Americans are in for some very interesting times, that's for sure.

[K Gardner]

4. Even Cafferty was railing on the idiocy of the 2020 deadline...

Its beyond worthless.