WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS OF "COMPLETE AND FINAL" DENATIONALISATION OF STATE SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES (as documented here, here, here, here and here) are drooling in sheer, unadulterated envy (and then some) @ the news that Treasury Secretary Paulson has declared the current State system to be in clear and present danger of "financial unsustainability," with the current Social Security Trust Funds set to be bankrupt by 2041 unless "drastic measures" are timely undertaken.

As in "complete and final" denationalisation of the "failed and failing" State system, preferably through a "taxpayer lawsuit" filed by some Joe Sixpack type who can be easily influenced enough to parrot, and on cue, the line of denationalisation advocates acting as a United Front for the purposes of same, seeking to have the current State system declared bankrupt "financially as well as morally" (even to the extent of covering related legal expenses and costs)--all the while unaware that the whole is really nothing less than exploitation for shameless publicity purposes of a "winning of hearts and minds" sort.

Made all the more unaware because of trick and deception ... not to mention unaware that what the "sponsors" of the Petition for Bankruptcy really want is nothing less than "gifting schemes" of the kind using PayPal in furtherance thereof, packaged as "retirement savings plans" as pervert the whole idea of mutual self-help hyperconservatives enjoy holding dearly, targeting in particular the Lower Working Classes....

Two teenage Bulgarian sisters have been rescued by Italian police from a circus in which one of them is said to have been forced to swim with piranhas.

Police say that while the 19-year-old sister had to swim in a transparent tank, the 16-year-old had snakes draped across her body and suffered bites.

Four members of the family have been freed from what has been described as a "circus of horrors" south of Naples.

Three men have been arrested and charged with holding them in slavery.

The women were paid €100 (£78/$156) a week, forbidden to leave the camp and forced to work 15- and 20-hour shifts, according to police.

The Bulgarian family has now been moved to a safe house but their case highlights the plight of people caught up in human trafficking networks in Europe.

The European Union estimates that 500,000 people are affected by trafficking every year in Europe.

In 2006, more than 100 Polish workers were freed from forced labour camps in the Puglia region of Italy where they had been promised seasonal farm-work.

But then again, you could just imagine Branson being home to such a sick and depraved "circus" promoted as "wholesome family entertainment" alongside the likes of Shoji Tabuchi, Mel Tillis, Tony Orlando and other examples of what Cal Thomas described as "nutritious patriotism" in entertainment form, appealing mostly to Kankerdom with easily-manipulated patriotic feelings crossing, as required, into jingoism.

Especially so the young girl dressed up in mermaid costume and forced to swim with the aforementioned piranhas, not to mention "cultural heritage" excusing blackface minstrel routines and other politically-incorrect displays thereof pandering to the crudest of racist feelings in said target audience.