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US drone strike near Sanaa kills 7 hard boyz
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa Subsaharan
UN plans to use spy drones over eastern Congo
The Security Council has approved the use of surveillance drones over eastern Congo to monitor roving militias so it can more effectively deploy U.N. peace keepers.
Whose drones? The French ones are busy right now...
A letter released Thursday from the president of the Security Council to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the council members note the robot spy planes will be used "on a case-by-case basis" and will not set a precedent for the U.N.'s general consideration of "legal, financial and technical implications of the use of unmanned aerial systems."

The letter from Pakistan U.N. Ambassador Masood Khan, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency, was released as a U.N. expert launched a special investigation into drone warfare and targeted killings, which the United States relies on as a front-line weapon in its global war against al-Qaida.
Posted by: tipper || 01/24/2013 16:12 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Kurds Point Finger at Turkey as Paris Murder Plot Thickens
[An Nahar] Kurdish organizations in La Belle France and Iraq on Wednesday claimed that the alleged killer of three female activists rubbed out in Gay Paree must have been a shadowy double agent working for Turkey.

Omer Guney, 30, was charged with the triple murder on Monday.

French authorities initially described him as an ethnic Kurd who had acted as an occasional driver for the most prominent victim, Sakine Cansiz, a co-founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Police sources said Guney himself had told them he had been a member of the PKK for two years, fueling suspicions that the brutal murders had been the result of an internal feud in the organization.

That was denied by the PKK while a Kurdish group in Gay Paree said the alleged killer had faked his Kurdish identity to infiltrate the activist community in Gay Paree from November 2011 onwards.

"After his arrest, we discovered that he was not Kurdish, as he had pretended, but was in fact a Turk from the Sivas region and the product of a family with links to the Turkish nationalist extreme right," a statement from the Kurdish Information Center in Gay Paree said.

Judicial sources indicated that the French authorities continue to regard Guney as being Kurdish, having been born to a Kurdish father and a non-Kurdish mother. He was born in Sarkisla, an ethnically mixed town in the Sivas region.

A PKK leader said there was no way Guney could have been a member of the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies and defended as a national liberation movement by its supporters.

"The allegations on the suspect's ties with the PKK do not reflect the truth," Murat Karayilan, who heads the PKK in the absence of its locked away
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
leader Abdullah Ocalan, told the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency at his base in northern Iraq.

"It is not that easy to be a member of the PKK in two years," Karayilan said.

"PKK does not accept members from Europe in this way. The mentioned person is not a member of our movement and he is not known by our side or by our executives in Europe."

The rebel leader said he had no doubt Turkey was involved in the killing and that Ankara was well known for infiltrating agents into the Kurdish movement.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336103 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PKK spokesman said today "This whack-job turns out to be a loose cannon whack-job, and in fact someboby else altogether's whack-job. He was disguised as one of our whack-jobs."
Or words to that effect.
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/24/2013 7:27 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama Regime Declares War on Women, Wants To Put Then in Front Lines
Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta plans to announce Thursday a lifting of the ban on female service members in combat roles, a watershed policy change that was informed by women's valor in Iraq and Afghanistan and that removes the remaining barrier to a fully inclusive military, defense officials said.

Panetta made the decision "upon the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," a senior defense official said Wednesday, an assertion that stunned female veteran activists who said they assumed that the brass was still uneasy about opening the most physically arduous positions to women. The Army and the Marines, which make up the bulk of the military's ground combat force, will present plans to open most jobs to women by May 15.
Our daughters will not be put into a murderous bloody traumatic situation and we will not allow them to be captured and brutally raped and tortured by hostiles. Draft or no draft, we have and will go to war with anyone to protect our daughters.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 01/24/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336146 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The 14th Amendment employed to justify equal access and therefore no discrimination based upon race, color, etc has to come into play. This was just one of the reasons the Equal Rights Amendment failed, but the courts have pursued to implement anyways. You can not impose upon one half of the population to take the burden of defense while granting the other half the privilege of deciding to participate or not. While Art. I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to regulate the militia [by law the basis of selective service], it has till now excluded women from such obligatory service via the prohibition from serving in combat units. By this administrative act, the one obstruction to 14th Amendment modification has been removed.

Careful though as the argument will be raised that the militia/draft is outdated and can be done away with thus protecting your daughters. That is an indirect attack to remove private ownership of guns as well. No militia, no guns. Or so the argument will be eventually be presented.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/24/2013 0:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Typical Muslim, Women are hell and MUST be killed,
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 01/24/2013 0:20 Comments || Top||

#3  The US Govt-DOD sees no more major or large-scale inter-State wars thru 2050 iff not 2100, just UN-style Peacekeeping roles or OOTW.

However ...

* E.G. TOPIX > [Telegraph.UK = Michael Deacon] SKETCH: TERRORISTS OR MILITANTS. THEY'LL BE AN ENEMY FOR GENERATIONS.

* SAME, WORLD NEWS > THE WAR IS IN MALI, BUT THE THREAT IS INTERNATIONAL.

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > JIHADISTS EVOLVING TO THREATEN AMERICA IN [roughly = circa] 2030.

* IIRC FOX NEWS CHANNEL > "THE FIVE'S" GREG GUTFIELD = quipped that THE MOST IMPORTANT US PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION WILL BE THE NEXT ONE AFTER OBAMA [2017], FOR THAT IS WHEN IT MAY BE HELD OR SPOKEN IN CHINESE.

Thus far, the Burqua/Hard Boyz in AFPAK + elsewhere have shown little inclination to refrain from attacking and destroying Civilian Villages in outlying areas under Govt-Army control or striking at non-Army Police or Local Constabulary forces + beheading or executing everyone they capture - IOW, THE JIHADIS/MILTERRS ARE ATTACKING WHERE THEIR ENEMIES ARE LEAST OR WEAKEST.

THIS WILL NOT CHANGE - THE ONLY THING THE BAMMER ADMIN + PANETTA HAVE DONE IS PUTTING A TARGET SIGN ON US FIELD UNITS [Combat Support + Services] WHERE WOMEN COMPRISE SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS.

Instead of attacking the front-line, all-male heavy infantry + related direct combat/action units, the Bad Boyz will be prioritizing attacks agz the flanks + rear echelons that have female-heavy units.

IRONICALLY, THE ADMIN + PANETTA + BAD BOYZ HAVE JUST INADVERTENTLY VALIDATED PRO-GUN RIGHTS INCLUD THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE ASSAULT GUN OWNERSHIP + HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINES.

DEDICATED JIHADIS = DEDICATED CRIMINALS = WANT TO WIN + PREVAIL = DESIRE TO QUICKLY, DECISIVELY, + OVERWHELMINGLY STRIKE AT THE WEAKER OR WEAKEST ELEMENTS WID THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE WEAPON OR ADVANTAGE + WID THE LEAST INJURIES TO THEMSELVES.

JIHADIS OR STREET CRIMINAL, THEY WANNA HIT-N-RUN AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, WID NO INJURIES + WID ALL THE GOODIES THEY CAN GET. THEY DON'T WANT TO FACE AMAP ALAP ANYONE WID WEAPON TECHS, ETC. ON PAR, SUPERIOR, OR DOMINANT IN OPPOSITION TO THEIRS.

THEY DON'T TO FACE JOHN WAYNE IN ANYTHING.



Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/24/2013 1:12 Comments || Top||

#4  i don't understand the highlighted words in this article. Women in the Army and Marines have been actively campaiging to be positioned in the front lines. They WANT to be there. They have argued that it is discrimination against their roles in the military to be denied the ability to fight the enemy. In a way they are right ... so ling as they only do "support jobs" they may be denied promotions based on active service.

If you've got a beef with what Panetta has just done ... take it up with the women who want to serve in active duty.
Posted by: Raider || 01/24/2013 1:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Wunderbar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2013 1:35 Comments || Top||

#6  take it up with the women who want to serve in active duty.

Active duty is not what this is about, it is about violence against women. I don't condone violent acts against women. Any man or woman who supports brutal violence against women are are debased.
Posted by: Dino Shomomp7692 || 01/24/2013 2:24 Comments || Top||

#7  It's skin in the game Dino.
The franchise was limited from the beginning of the Republic to the same people who were the militia which at the time was 'all free white males', per the Militia Act of 1792. That act was modified in 1862 to include Americans of African decent, followed thereafter by the 15th Amendment adding said group to the franchise. It's at the 19th Amendment that the linkage (skin in the game) between the vote and duty was decoupled.

Now after a couple of generations of feminist indoctrination, the logical end is coming in sight. Full equality means full responsibility. Why should any man die defending a system that says they are expendable while the other gender gets all the benefits and protections of that system?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/24/2013 4:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Sounds sensible as long as ability assessment is assessed in a equal way.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/24/2013 7:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Isn't this the result of sequestration? Obama pays women less, so we get more bang for the buck! So to speak.
Posted by: Guillibaldo Johnson4614 || 01/24/2013 8:17 Comments || Top||

#10  This is the mouse in the living room. Here is the elephant, and why all of this discussion and political dialogue is purely theater.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 9:01 Comments || Top||

#11  They would make for some interesting conversation at the slit trench latrine out in the field.
Posted by: OCCD || 01/24/2013 9:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Women have been fighting on the front lines since the Revolutionary war and still do today, just not as active front line units.

As an infantryman, I really don't have a problem with this as long as the women know what they are signing up for and the physical standards aren't pushed down (women can do them, they ain't THAT hard).

Now make all women eligible for the draft just like men (they can work in the rear areas if needed) and it will be full equality for everyone. Can you just imagine some of these reality twits being drafted. Makes me grin.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/24/2013 9:34 Comments || Top||

#13  practically ... I suppose it all depends on how the Pentagon puts this into practice. I'm guessing that any women who want front line active duty - would need to volunteer for that assignment. If they do things that way - I've got no problem with the policy.

As far as violent treatment of women goes ... the truth is that our enemies are very nasty people - esp. in the third world. It's not just women who have that risk. Men can be brutalized, raped, and mutilated too. Anybody on the front lines better stick with their unit for protection, or save the last bullet for themselves.
Posted by: Raider || 01/24/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#14  Unfortunately, its not really about ability/merit, it's all about promoting, breaking the senior grade positions which are largely held by combat arms officers who are male. We've been through this political game before, just look at the selections for the Supreme Court and the political preconditions attached to the nominees.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/24/2013 10:18 Comments || Top||

#15  Why should any man die defending a system that says they are expendable while the other gender gets all the benefits and protections of that system?

Because the men are far less necessary for delivering the next generation.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/24/2013 10:23 Comments || Top||

#16  I see many problems with this.Yes, women have served honorably and bravely in combat. However, despite what the feminazis say, there are differences between men and women.

The most obvious difference is in physical strength. The average man is stronger than the average woman. An infantryman carries a combat load that can approach 100 pounds. How many women can do that? Will the army have women carry less weight than men?

What will America say when a woman is captured and gang raped to death?

Many men are protective of women. So in combat, men may try to protect the women - possibly at the cost of other men.

Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/24/2013 10:33 Comments || Top||

#17  Many men are protective of women. So in combat, men may try to protect the women - possibly at the cost of other men. Posted by Rambler in Virginia

From centralized promotion board guidance and PT tests, the duel standard system and deference paid to female soldiers [officer and enlisted] by the senior grades and the Department of the Army is longstanding and unquestionable. None of this should come as a surprise.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 10:42 Comments || Top||

#18  Because the men are far less necessary for delivering the next generation.

I recall recent postings on demographics that show without immigration (legal/illegal) we're already in the Euro/Japanese population decline. Time is already running out assisted by governmental policies that have supplanted the traditional responsibilities of fatherhood.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/24/2013 10:45 Comments || Top||

#19  Over 40 years of legalized abortion comes with a price.

Without global imports, 54 million human beings are difficult to replace.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 10:49 Comments || Top||

#20  Based on what Procopius2k says, this opens the door to a court challenge against separate physical fitness requirements for men and women -- something I would dearly love to see struck down. You want to serve? Fine. Pass the same tests.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/24/2013 10:56 Comments || Top||

#21  I agree with DarthVader. Having served in the Reserve Army of three different countries, I remember being told by all three that the ratio of support staff was seven to one. There is no reason why women, as a critical resource, cannot be used in these support roles just like the Israeli Defence Forces.
As long as it is handled intelligently, where allowance is made for pregnancy and motherhood and not driven by idiotic equal opportunity nonsense, women should ne an asset to any defense force.
Posted by: tipper || 01/24/2013 11:01 Comments || Top||

#22  The quite obvious "double standard" of women being assigned to combat arms units, [only when they request it] is already circulating the media. Guess what might happen if a male soldier refused assignment orders or transfer to a rifle company of the 3rd Infantry Division.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 11:14 Comments || Top||

#23  @Iblis - we've already seen fire departments have double standard requirements. Also, some liberated ladies should have been careful for what they asked for because if the draft is ever reinstated, there will be many unhappy ladies going into basic training and doing more than pilates.
Posted by: warthogswife || 01/24/2013 11:30 Comments || Top||

#24 
Without global imports, 54 million human beings are difficult to replace.


Given that their parent chose to kill them, I'm not sure were worse off without them. It's called the Roe effect and it will have an impact.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/24/2013 13:22 Comments || Top||

#25  Guess what might happen if a male soldier refused assignment orders or transfer to a rifle company of the 3rd Infantry Division.

I can't speak to the enlisted ranks, but from 2001-2008 more West Point cadets tried to branch infantry than there were slots available each year.

And more women and men, both, tried to branch as combat pilots than there were slots available, too. Rear echelon specialties were the least often chosen.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2013 14:05 Comments || Top||

#26  Because the men are far less necessary for delivering the next generation.

Nope. Because winners/survivors used to receive reproductive privileges.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2013 14:06 Comments || Top||

#27  I don't understand your point.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/24/2013 14:37 Comments || Top||

#28  Individual rather than group selection
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2013 14:50 Comments || Top||

#29  Still don't understand, but I must be dense. My point, which may be what is confusing, is that vast numbers of men are not going to bear or rear the next generation. If they die in combat, it will not threaten the opportunity for the next generation to be produced. Therefore it is not in society's interest to send large numbers of those who can create the next generation into combat where they may die.

If you are making some Darwinian argument, I would suggest that whatever qualities are lost to the gene pool through combat death will be even more likely to be lost if the women who have those genetic qualities are allowed to go to combat as well.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/24/2013 15:08 Comments || Top||

#30  Women can't hump the boonies, a lot of men can't either. Support? sure.
Posted by: bman || 01/24/2013 15:22 Comments || Top||

#31  My argument NS, is men used to fight because we were getting something in return. Nowadays it doesn't apply.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2013 17:54 Comments || Top||

#32 
Two old ladies lay'n in bed,
One rolled over to the other and said.
I wanna be an Airborne Ranger,
I wanna lead a life of fun and danger.


And now they CAN!
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 18:17 Comments || Top||

#33  If they are going to go ahead and do this by executive fiat, then there better be a non-gender specific set of physical performance standards that ALL combat arms have to meet. The current standard for USMC Men ought to be it. In combat, it may or may not matter if your battle buddy is female male gay or straight - but it most certainly WILL matter if they are not strong enough to go hand to hand in a room clearing. Or if they cannot haul as much ammo as you and run out or have to tap yours, or if they are too weak to fireman/buddy carry/drag you if you are wounded (while both of you are in full battle rattle), or cannot repeatedly haul a M2 (or 81MM mortar) base or ammo a few hundred yards to set up a tactical firing point, or do not have the strength to "break track" to get your tracked vehicle moving again.

If anyone has the proven physical strength/capabilities, and has passed the training to the same standards, and has at least the same mental outlook, then I have no objections other than the cultural/behavioral issues, like is she going to be as comfortable taking a dump in a cat hole while a male buddy overwatches, or vice versa? There are few real secrets in a proper combat arms unit, and certainly no physical privacy.
Posted by: OldSpook || 01/24/2013 18:30 Comments || Top||

#34  Today's Penneta release was timed to mask or override the Clinton ARB testimony and media headlines. The administration psyops campaign against the American people continues.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 18:36 Comments || Top||

#35  The Taliban, whom we are at war with at the moment love to take their women to soccer fields with stadiums full of towns people, make the woman drop to her knees as the crowd watches the Imam walk up and put a round through the back of her skull.

We now have "friendlies" turning their guns on our male troops frequently. The same friendlies would therefore have no problem kidnapping our daughters on the front line, and releasing even more sinister videos to the world of their terrifying demise.

The ignorance of this this decision is another astonishing criminal act by the Hussien Regime.
Posted by: wr || 01/24/2013 19:37 Comments || Top||

#36  Have fun with that (HT: Drudge):

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/24/us-pregnancies-servicewoman-idUSBRE90N1B820130124
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 01/24/2013 19:54 Comments || Top||

#37  Ranger school is of course more than airborne, Besoeker, but do note that women have successfully completed airborne school in mixed-sex cadres for some time now. An acquaintance of mine, an Army senior aviator who was on track to make master aviator before she took her career in another direction, was one of the first to do so years ago. As I recall there were 2 women among the 100 soldiers in her training group. I don't think the other woman made it through but the overall success rate was maybe 60% or so IIRC, which means a good number of the men washed out as well.

Another acquaintance, a recently retired Navy wing commander and also a pilot, regularly aced her fitness tests, including within weeks after giving birth to each of her 3 children. She's been pretty much at the top of her unit's scores since before graduating from Annapolis. And by scores I mean raw scores: number of pushups, pullups, time on runs, etc., not 'grading on a curve'. FWIW - and yes, I know that's not the same thing as infantry in the field. But it's a data point.

A third acquaintance of mine used to be Secret Service. She later spent a number of years doing private protection for some high profile people in rather sketchy places. She is a deadly shot with either hand and by the usual measures (dead weights she can lift/carry/move, aerobic endurance, mental stamina) she is about as fit and strong as many men I know. It's not a military measure, but again it's a data point. Her preferred martial art is krav maga.

Now I, OTOH, have never been in that kind of shape. :-)

Given that many men who branch infantry find their bodies wearing out heavily by the time they're 40, I do wonder about career endurance if women do so, given the significantly increased weight loads soldiers carry in the field now. Current equipment is ill suited for weight distribution across the female frame of shoulders and hips, I suspect. OTOH other approaches are being taken to that for both sexes in the form of rapidly maturing robotic assistants, including the Marines' Robo-mule system which is coming along rather well according the DARPA.

Old Spook's comments are dead on IMO.
Posted by: lotp || 01/24/2013 20:12 Comments || Top||

#38  I also agree with OS's comments. Unfortunately however, the "standards" have already been bent and will be again.

[affirmative results will dictate that standards be adjusted - seen done for decades, just the way it works in gov't]
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2013 21:57 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Punjab measles death toll rises to nine
[Dawn] A one-year-old child who had been suffering from measles died in Lahore on Wednesday, taking the corpse count in the current outbreak in Punjab to nine, DawnNews reported.

The child passed away in Lahore's Children's Hospital where he had been admitted for treatment.

Official figures say nine deaths due to measles had so far been reported in the province, whereas over 1,400 children were currently suffering from the disease.

Moreover, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had earlier directed the provincial administration to come up with an emergency plan to ensure vaccination in order to eliminate the disease.

The outbreak of the disease in Punjab comes as Sindh continues to battle the epidemic which has claimed over 200 lives in the southern province.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336100 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Vaccines or not, they figure it is an American plot either way.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2013 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  But, no one is answering the important question: Were the measles fired by the juice?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2013 17:53 Comments || Top||


Pneumonia claims at least 20 young lives in Upper Dir
[Dawn] Seasonal Pneumonia in remote villages of Upper Dir District has left at least 20 children dead in the last two weeks, prompting emergency teams from the World Health Organisation to be dispatched to the areas to cope with the epidemic.

Local villagers told Dawn.Com that the Thall, Komrat and Lamoti areas of Union Council Kalkot have been the worst hit and scores of children have died in the village and the surrounding hilly cluster.

According to the locals, some families have even lost more than child as a result of the fast-spreading virus.

A resident of Thall told Dawn.Com that announcements had been made on loudspeakers in mosques that all children with symptoms of the disease should be shifted to local hospitals and Basic Health Units.

Another resident Aurangzeb Khan said that scores of children who died because of the 'cold' may have succumbed to pneumonia which went undeted.

According to reports, the most number of deaths have been reported from Thall, Komrat and Lamoti areas.

The local sources also added the actual number of deaths maybe much higher than the reported deaths.

The Executive District Health Officer Upper Dir, Amir Badshah, upon contact said that after reports of pneumonia outbreak, a joint team of health department and WHO had been dispatched to the area.

"There are reported deaths but we can not confirm the number yet, but necessary medicines and the staff has been dispatched to take care of the situation," he stated.
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336096 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "Seasonal pneumonia" could be either plain influenza or too little heat and food at home. Typical ways for marginal lives to end.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/24/2013 12:56 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
$20 trillion shale oil find surrounding Coober Pedy 'can fuel Australia'
The Wests reliance on blackmailing ME oil ticks keeps decreasing.
SOUTH Australia is sitting on oil potentially worth more than $20 trillion, independent reports claim - enough to turn Australia into a self-sufficient fuel producer.

Brisbane company Linc Energy yesterday released two reports, based on drilling and seismic exploration, estimating the amount of oil in the as yet untapped Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of oil.

At the higher end, this would be "several times bigger than all of the oil in Australia", Linc managing director Peter Bond said.

This has the potential to turn Australia from an oil importer to an oil exporter.

"If it comes in the way the reports are suggesting, it could well and truly bring Australia back to (oil) self-sufficiency," Mr Bond said.

State Mineral Resources Development Minister Tom Koutsantonis said there were exciting times ahead for SA's resources industry.
Posted by: tipper || 01/24/2013 10:20 || Comments || Link || [336132 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It must suck to be Champ. The first president in maybe 30 years who isn't talking about energy independence, and he's the one sitting in the Oval Office when it becomes a reality.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/24/2013 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  It sucks to be the people who work in the industry more than it sucks to be him. He gets to take credit for stuff we worked on for twenty-five years while guys like him were nickel-and-diming the industry to death.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/24/2013 12:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Chicoms and Indians got to be wondering what they are sitting on. And so far we have ignored 70 % of the earth's surface. I'm starting to worry about Peak Bullshit.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 01/24/2013 12:26 Comments || Top||

#4  We will NEVER run out of BS.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/24/2013 12:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I would like to see every continent discover that they are sitting massive deposits of gas and oil. All available by fracking.

Let the Saudi oil ticks eat sand and enjoy their Islam in poverty.
Posted by: Vespasian Noodleman5308 || 01/24/2013 14:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Coober Pedy?
Just don't mess with the Opals!!!!!!!

My bet is that this will be the threatened resource that the antis will be trying to protect there.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/24/2013 14:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Coober Pedy?
I think that's near the Purdy Spackle Formation.
Posted by: Shipman || 01/24/2013 15:50 Comments || Top||

#8  They don't call Australia "The Lucky Country" for nothing.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/24/2013 20:04 Comments || Top||

#9  That sound you're hearing is Mama Russia saying "PFFFFTTT, I'M N-O-T IMPRESSED"???

To wit,

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > RUSSIAN SHALE OIL RESERVES MAY BE ENOUGH TO TO FEED THE WORLD FOR 64 YEARS.

---------

OTOH, wid all this talk about "shale oil", i.e. oil that is at or near the surface of the earth as opposed to "deep oil", THE QUESTION MUST AGAIN BE ASKED HOW LONG BEFORE THE US-WORLD CAN RELY ONCE MORE ON "DEEP OIL" PRODUCTION???

Perhaps more succintly, as per the "ABIOTIC OIL THEORY", HOW LONG MUST WORLD GOVTS-STATES = HUMANITY WAIT BEFORE MAMA EARTH CAN NATURALLY REPLENISH ITS NON-SHALE "DEEP OIL" RESERVES TO BE USED AGAIN IN CHEAP FOR HUMAN ACTIVITIES, AS PER AT CURRENT, FUTURE RATES-OF-DEMAND???

Lest we fergit, OWG-NWO = ORGANIZING EARTH'S GOVTS + RESOURCES FOR PURPOSES OF DEEP SPACE EXPLORATION + COLONIZATION [SUN = SOLAR ISSUES INCLUD GWCC nothwithstanding].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/25/2013 0:03 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Muslim group opposes ban on female circumcision
MUI deputy secretary-general Amirsyah Tambunan told reporters at a press conference on Monday that the government should continue to allow female circumcision, calling it a constitutional right.

"Circumcision is a part of the Islamic teachings that were recommended for Muslims, both male and female," Amrisyah said at MUI headquarters as quoted by Antara news agency. "The MUI and Islamic organisations in the country firmly stand against any efforts to ban female circumcision."

Female circumcision performed by licensed doctors, nurses or midwives was legalised by a Health Ministry rule issued in 2010 that defined the practice as "incising the skin that covers the front part of the clitoris, without harming the clitoris".

Last month, the UN approved a non-binding resolution urging its 193 member states to enforce legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation.

According to the World Health Organisation, female genital mutilation can cause urination problems, severe bleeding and complications during childbirth.

In Indonesia the practice ranges from symbolic -- a small tap with a bamboo stick -- to slicing the clitoris off with scissors.

The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has consistently urged that the 2010 ministerial regulation be revoked, claiming it violated women's reproductive rights.
Posted by: Beavis || 01/24/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  http://www.tostan.org/

Because Female Genital Mutilation kills women and babies. This organization does a good job educating communities about FGM's effects.
Posted by: mom || 01/24/2013 19:22 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Top Psychiatrist: Meds Behind School Massacres
h/t Gates of Vienna
NEW YORK -- If lawmakers and authorities are truly concerned about stopping gun violence in schools, they need to take a close look at the prescription of psychotropic drugs for children and young people, says a leading psychiatrist.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2013 13:58 || Comments || Link || [336147 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From my experience the doctors find it easy to put you on these tablets but dont tell you how hard it is to come off them.
Posted by: Sneans Phaviger9977 || 01/24/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#2  The Dems will put a stop to this line of thought. These are people who funded the big push for Obamacare, to make sure they had a captive market. Can't be criticizing the product.
Posted by: ed in texas || 01/24/2013 14:25 Comments || Top||

#3  World Net Daily isn't exactly a reviewed journal. Lunatics are the cause, and lunatics aren't getting any more rare or common. There's NO TREND in mass shootings.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/24/2013 15:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Former head of American Psychological Association & widely published Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman does not agree.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/24/2013 15:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Two things about pschotropic medicines:
1) In many cases they are used as a substitute for psychotherapy. This is because demand for therapists far exceeds supply. It is "cheeper" to throw a bottle of pills at someone than have a therapy session.
2) SSRIs have an unusually high incidence of side effects. In particular 4% of teenage boys and men in their 20's exhibit manic behavior when given these drugs.

When you consider the number of young men given these drugs, and the number of men having side effects, it's amazing that we don't have more shootings.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 01/24/2013 15:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Anguper: I looked at your link, he basically said it was All About Guns but said little to convince me that SSRI's weren't to blame.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/24/2013 16:14 Comments || Top||

#7  And frankly, I wouldn't expect anything less from the Washington Post. They're not going to talk about anything other than their social-control-desire-du-jour.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/24/2013 16:22 Comments || Top||

#8  "If lawmakers and authorities are truly concerned about stopping gun violence in schools..."


BIG 'if'.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/24/2013 16:47 Comments || Top||

#9  2 points to get from Seligman:
-- There's a difference between evil and crazy. -- There's no way to predict/control crazy, despite what some shrinks say.
I ignored his conclusions about gun control, which don't follow his main point. Every reliable / sane gun owner has friends, relatives & associates who are not. That includes LEO's. Wiki the Red Lake massacre.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 01/24/2013 17:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Some people are simply not socialized and cannot be socialized. That's all there is to it. If guns did not serve a purpose in deterring tyrants or providing the old or the physically weak with a means of self-defense, I can see a case for banning them. But they do, and Seligman's argument is therefore an instance of hard cases make bad law.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 01/24/2013 20:01 Comments || Top||

#11  Documented side effects from psych drugs are consistent with behaviors evidenced by a lot of these psycho killers. Multiplying out the documented side effect rate by the huge numbers of patients leaves a scarily high number of potentially dangerous people. Maybe not as many as if the drugs were never used on anyone, but still a lot. I have no idea if/how many of the actual killers were or had been on these drugs, but it is a very valid question.
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/24/2013 20:43 Comments || Top||

#12  The definitive story on what is going on with psychotropic drugs in America is at http://youtu.be/41_8hZoVKjE - This report is THREE HOURS long, but uses that time to make an airtight case against these drugs.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 01/24/2013 21:22 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2013-01-24
  US drone strike near Sanaa kills 7 hard boyz
Wed 2013-01-23
  Nuristan Airstrike Kills 14 Insurgents
Tue 2013-01-22
  French seize control of Diabaly, Douentza
Mon 2013-01-21
  Nigeria: Gunmen attack Kano emir's convoy
Sun 2013-01-20
  Algeria crisis: Hostage-takers 'taken alive' at gas plant
Sat 2013-01-19
  Boko Haram leader Shekau shot, escapes to Mali
Fri 2013-01-18
  1,400 French soldiers in Mali for ground assaults: minister
Thu 2013-01-17
  41 snatched by AQIM in Algeria gas plant attack
Wed 2013-01-16
  France deploys armoured vehicles towards northern Mali
Tue 2013-01-15
  Pakistan paralysed after court demands PM arrest
Mon 2013-01-14
  Famed Tunisia Mausoleum Torched by Salafists
Sun 2013-01-13
  19 Killed in Failed French Raid to Free Somalia Hostage
Sat 2013-01-12
  French commandos attack al-Shabab base, explosions, gunfire heard
Fri 2013-01-11
  France confirms Mali intervention
Thu 2013-01-10
  Taliban suspects arrested over Karachi polio killings

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