Party Platform - Cliff Notes Version

The republican presidential candidates in two sentences:

"Don't regulate corporations.
Do regulate Women."

President's Day

Um, 'Happy President's Day', I guess. I'm old enough to remember when we celebrated Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday as individual holidays. But now we get one holiday to celebrate all our presidents, even the ones we'd rather forget (would anyone say "Happy Nixon Day"?). So today, I'm celebrating Millard Fillmore, our 13th president, because I doubt anyone else will. Ol' Millard should best be remembered for this:

Fillmore was also a staunch defender against foreign intervention in Hawaii. France's Napoleon III attempted to annex the Hawaiian Islands, but was forced to withdraw after a strongly worded message from Fillmore suggesting that "the United States would not stand for any such action."^[17]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore

Yes, he saved Hawaii from the French for us. Also, I seriously doubt we'll ever have another president named "Millard". Although we are at risk of a "Willard".

Really Grand Larceny

Sometimes there are things in the news that go way beyond my small brain capacity to comprehend, like when I read that in Italy police seize $6 trillion of fake U.S. T-bonds. I mean, counterfeiting $100 dollar bills I can grasp. But phony billion dollar T-bills? You can't spend those at the liquor store; the clerk wont have change. The total scope is amazing to me.

The fake securities, worth more than a third of U.S. national debt, were seized in January from a Swiss trust company where they were held in three large trunks.

Most of us (unless Bill Gates or Warren Buffet happen to be reading this) would consider a million dollars an amazing sum to have. We fantasize about what we'd do if we won the lottery, but it's usually a fairly mundane level fantasy: travel, buy a yacht, indulge our family and friends, that kind of luxury. With 6 million million, you could easily buy several countries. Or finance a couple of major wars...wait a minute...has anybody dusted those bills for Cheney's fingerprints?
(h/t to Pissed on Politics for the link)