the Week That Was

++ Governor Rick Perry has gone birther after meeting with Donald Trump. Birther Queen Orly Taitz now endorses Perry. Perry picked up a serious endorsement with Steve Forbes.

++Michelle Bachmann's campaign staff in New Hampshire quit.

++One of the coolest things I've heard. Jon Huntsman boycotted the Las Vegas debate and stayed in New Hampshire. What did he do? He listened to Trout Mask Replica by the great Captain Beefheart. Huntsman is a real Beefheart fan. Naturally, this disqualifies him from the race.

++Herman Cain still has no real organization in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. He has hired a former Dole staffer to help "professionalize" his Iowa operation. Since these primaries are virtually tomorrow in our political life, some pundits are raising questions whether Cain is actually running for President at all.

++Willard Romney has been demoted from being the Republican John Kerry to its Michael Dukakis as George Will ripped into him on a Sunday Talk Show. Willard seems to have walked into more problems in the Republican primaries. His Massachusetts Health reform did allow for the treatment of illegal aliens, compounding his lawn service problem. Republicans are wondering why none of Romney's many sons ever enlisted in the military. And Romney claims he may or may not be for the Fair Tax.

++Frothy Mix Santorum announced that President Obama lost the war in Iraq because we're leaving while Iran has enormous influence over the country. Rick said in 2005, when Iran had about the same influence, that we could have left then.

++Mitt Romney said that we should have heard from our military about leaving Iraq, tending to forget the commander-in-chief is in command of our military--at least until the 1% demand total control.

++Lindsey Graham, who is against President Obama's plan to rebuild the American infrastructure, is enthusiastically for rebuilding Libya's infrastructure. Lindsey was fairly effusive about the ability of the United States to make money in the newly liberated country.

++His sidekick, John McCain announced that military operations would soon begin in Syria, conveniently forgetting that he isn't President.

++The money the United States paid "Mookie" Al Sadar for a temporary ceasefire during the Iraq War was equivalent to the sum of funds for Planned Parenthood this year. Funds unaccounted for is $70 billion. The direct cost of the war was $1.25 trillion and it is estimated that the war will ultimately cost $3-5 trillion, taking into account the costs of medical treatment for the over 42,000 American soldiers wounded in the conflict.

++Senator Mitch McConnell continued his streak of filibusters, first killing the American Jobs Act in the Senate and the second bill to restore funding for teachers and firefighters. McConnell said his job was not to employ teachers, firefighters and policemen. But then again, it would be nice to just have an up and down vote on the issue--something the Minority Leader refuses to do.

++President Obama has gone from "Pass This Bill" to "We Can't wait Any Longer". The President, who knew the Republicans would never pass the Jobs Bill, has now taken to using his executive powers to stimulate the economy. Over the next two weeks, he will be anouncing a series of single measures from refinancing mortgages to suspending payments on student loans to tweek the economy.

++President Obama's approval rating ,according to Gallup, is 44%. The kicker is that his likeability rate is over 55%. It was the second number that provided George W. Bush with his 2004 re-election as his job approval rating sagged. With the DOW nearing 12,000, you would have made 50% on your money during Obama's term. It's a little hard to understand the animosity of the 1% towards the President, when he pulled their chestnuts out of the fire.

++the Occupy Wall Street Movement has now gone to Tehran, Iran and China has censored news of the movement for fear of a similar homegrown movement. Subcommadante Marcos of the Zapatistas has endorsed it and Sean Lennon was captured on Youtube serenading the protestors. Arrests of thousands continued around the country. In Maine, someone threw a chemical bomb at the Occupy Portland protesters.

++The House continued to pass laws that restrict abortion, even though they have no relevance to Planet Earth. So far, the House has a perfect record in not introducing any bills that would lead to any job creation. Remember the mantra of John Boehner "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs". Well, he doesn't seem like he's gotten around to it yet. There are only a few more weeks until this session of Congress ends until next year.

++Rating agencies have threatened another downgrade in the U.S. rating because the Secret Committee, which is supposed to reach an agreement to cut the national debt, is deadlocked since Republicans will not include any new revenues for the government. So the discussion now centers on cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and entitlement programs for veterans. Both sides refuse to cut any defense spending even though in real terms defense spending has doubled since 1999.

++ The U.S. Treasury is in discussions with Wall Street about issuing another type of security that would guarantee the American debt. The Idea is that the security would automatically reflect the interest rates as they go higher. The FED also is expected to engage in another round of easing to avoid another recession.

++ There are strange signs in the economy that there are gradual improvements. Car sales are up, housing starts are up dramatically but only for rental units, and manufacturing still continues to grow. There are modest gains in retail sales. Taken together, they don't indicate a roaring recovery but may pay off in a few months.