Bad news round-up

Grab a cup of coffee (or pour yourself a stiff one, if that's still legal), but above all, gird your loins. The news is not good.

The coming apocalypse:
North Korea declares all-out push for nuclear weapons

Impending economic collapse:
RS McCain on the FDIC and the housing market

I would submit that when the FDIC chair is in a knock-on-wood situation vis-a-vis a collapse of the banking industry, things are probably much worse than we imagine. And now for the truly scary stuff:

A housing rebound is a virtual impossibility. Homeowners currently have the least amount of equity in their homes on record. Overall, the number of borrowers underwater climbed to 20.4 million at the end of the first quarter, up from 16.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter. . . .

Keep reading if you're one of those face-reality types. *Update: And read this: Think we're in a recovery? Think again. Then read this, just in case the worst happens.

Government corruption:
At the mercurial speed with which Obama is effecting hope-n-change, we knew it would be mere moments before our scruples-free power-grabbing president had a Clintonesque scandal (complete with that Lady Macbeth touch) to call his own. From Michelle Malkin: Obama's Americorps scandal:

President Obama is hoping you won’t notice his abrupt change of inspectors general over at Americorps, the government-run, taxpayer-subsidized “community service” boondoggle (which Republicans helped expand as part of the $6 billion GIVE/SERVE Act in March despite its wasteful track record. Thanks, Republicans).

With intervention from Michelle Obama, the Americorps inspector general was given the boot and replaced — for doing his job too well, it seems, and uncovering squandering of funds by favored contributors, educational institutions, and left-wing groups.

[. . .]

Who’s looking out for you now? Cronies, that’s who.

Much more. There's a chance that this won't disappear without a trace, in spite of our integrity-challenged msm. So make it your weekend project to master the details. I'm right behind you.

Regulation of private industry:
It's for our own good, fellow simpletons! See Smoker in Chief Praises Government's Big Tobacco Grab and Senate moves forward with government tobacco takeover: "another day, another industry grab."

Government takeover of health care:
Volumes have been written about Obamacare. Read it at your leisure. But check out this video from Verum Serum, or see it at Gateway Pundit: Say goodbye to private insurance (video). *Updated to add link to William Jacobson's Getting Punked on Healthcare Reform.

And read this from Bloomberg: House Health-Care Proposal Adds $600 Billion in Taxes. It's only money, after all.

And maybe we just won't care.

Cross-posted in the Green Room.

Linked by Michelle Malkin (buzzworthy)

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