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Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Today's Headlines
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Economy
The high price of Fed dollar depreciation - Oppenheimer Fund
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 19:56 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Qatar Bankrolls Ascendant Muslim Brothers as U.A.E. Jails Them
Qatar is courting Islamist groups across the Middle East, sometimes the same ones that make its neighbors nervous.

Since Mohamed Mursi became the first Muslim Brotherhood member to lead an Arab state, Qatar has promised Egypt at least $20 billion in aid and investment. Other nations in the Persian Gulf, which holds almost half the world’s oil, see the Brotherhood as a threat. Saudi Arabia has shunned it for at least two decades, and the United Arab Emirates has jailed dozens of people this year on suspicion of links to the group.

Qatar’s pro-Islamist line is backed by cash, from gas reserves that have made its 2 million people the world’s richest. Its support is helping the religious parties that emerged as the biggest winners from last year’s wave of Arab revolts. At the same time, it’s causing unease among Gulf monarchies that are resistant to political change and under U.S. pressure to show a united front against Iran.

“The Qataris have identified the Muslim Brotherhood as a vehicle” to expand their influence, said Ghanem Nuseibeh, London-based founder of political risk analyst Cornerstone Global Associates. “That has certainly created tension between Qatar and other Arab governments,” which mostly view the group with “intrinsic distrust.”

Qatar has other vehicles for its ambitions, too. It created the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera, has broken art-market records and will host soccer’s World Cup in 2022. Qatar hosts the U.S. Central Command base that directed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Diplomatic Passport

It’s also home to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Egyptian-born cleric widely known as the Brotherhood’s spiritual leader, who holds a diplomatic passport and has close ties with Qatari royals. Khaled Mashaal, political chief of Hamas, which has links to the Brotherhood, moved to the Qatari capital Doha from Damascus after splitting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

After Mursi’s election, Qatar promised $8 billion over five years to build a port in the Egyptian city of Port Said, $10 billion for a resort on the north coast, and a $2 billion deposit for Egypt’s central bank. Qatar National Bank SAQ, which hired Qaradawi as an Islamic adviser, is considering buying Societe Generale SA’s Egyptian unit.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 18:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Paradise Lost: CA to Provide Free Cell Phones for Homeless
In California, the unemployment rate may be above 10.2%, and the state debt may be above $16 billion, the state’s GDP may be in serious trouble and businesses may be leaving in droves due to ever-increasing tax rates, but that isn’t going to stop the gravy train for the state’s poor and dispossessed. The California Public Utilities Commission is all set to greenlight a new program that would give homeless and low-income people free cell phones – call them Obamaphones – with free service. The idea is to help them reach out to possible job opportunities and stay connected with family.

San Francisco’s head of homeless initiatives, Bevan Dufty, was overjoyed: “This is great – it is transformative for homeless and low-income people. I expect San Francisco to be in the forefront and a model city for this program. Fundamentally, to be in the mainstream of our society you have to have a phone. And really, for the homeless population, you need a cell phone because they don’t have a home to hard-wire one into. We really need this plan.” Dufty is pushing an effort to allow the homeless to call 311 to find out where there’s an available bed at a homeless shelter.

The state has funded phones for the poor for years, but they were always hardline phones, not cell phones. The new program will give beneficiaries some 250 minutes of time and 250 free text messages every month.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 18:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336097 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Press Uno for Spanish
Press Dos for English...

Do they come with Earbuds so they can listen to ITunes downloads?
Posted by: airandee || 12/10/2012 19:04 Comments || Top||

#2  So the homeless are now considered "mainstream". Nice. Yep, the grand experiment has failed.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 12/10/2012 20:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Idunno...."Brownfone" just does not have the panache of "Obamaphone".....

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 12/10/2012 21:44 Comments || Top||


Economy
Obama Prepares To Kick Out Fannie's Ed DeMarco
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 17:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UK military in talks to help Syria rebels
What's the definition of insanity again? Oh yes! doing the same thing over and over again as in Libya and expecting a different result.
A plan to provide military training to the Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime and support them with air and naval power is being drawn up by an international coalition including Britain, The Independent has learnt.

The prospect of Western intervention comes as opposition groups, which have been disorganised and divided, at long last formed an umbrella political group and a command structure for their militias. Their foreign backers are said to believe that the 22-month-long civil war has now reached a tipping point and it has become imperative to offer help to the revolutionaries to enable them to make a final push against the regime.

The head of Britain’s armed forces, General Sir David Richards, hosted a confidential meeting in London a few weeks ago attended by the military chiefs of France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE, and a three-star American general, in which the strategy was discussed at length. Other UK government departments and their counterparts in allied states in the mission have also been holding extensive meetings on the issue
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 16:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Establishing a protestant enclave in the north are they ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 17:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Shhhhh! It's a secret!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 17:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Gunmen Kill Afghan Women's Affairs Official
Gunmen on Monday shot and killed an Afghan women's affairs official, just months after her predecessor was assassinated in a car bombing. As the United Nations marks Human Rights Day women still face challenges in Afghanistan.

Najia Sediqi was on her way to work in the capital of eastern Laghman province when she was gunned down Monday. The drive-by killing had all the hallmarks of a Taliban targeted attack.

Sediqi was the acting director of the provincial women's affairs department. She had stepped in to lead the office after the July assassination of Hanifa Safi, who was killed when a bomb attached to her car exploded.

A spokesman for the provincial governor's office, Sarhadi Zawak, said Sediqi had just left her home in Mehtarlam when she was attacked by gunmen on a motorbike.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 16:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the systerhood remains sylent...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/10/2012 16:54 Comments || Top||


Troops brace for violent backlash against 'The Innocent Prophet'
AUSTRALIAN troops are bracing for violent protests in Afghanistan over the likely release this month of a new film mocking Islam.

Riots were sparked across the Islamic world in September after a 14-minute trailer for the "Innocence of Muslims" video was released on YouTube. Troops are now on heightened alert to the risk of another round of protests because a derivative film called "The Innocent Prophet" is slated to be released on Friday.

The new footage created by an ex- Muslim originally from Pakistan has already inflamed tensions in his former home country ahead of its release.

Coalition forces are prepared for extreme reactions to the provocative video that could hamper their efforts in neighbouring Afghanistan, which is already a tinder box of religious sensitivities.

Defence forces are warned to be wary of inadvertently offending locals as part of their preparations for deployment to the main Australian base in Uruzgan province or other centres of Kabul and Kandahar.

Cultural sensitivity training is a standard element of soldiers' pre-deployment training in Australia.

But the key points are drilled into all military and civilian personnel going to work in Afghanistan in another intensive four day program at the Al Minhad Air Base outside Dubai.

The training includes appropriate ways to handle and store the Koran, which is generally wrapped in a cloth and only opened after the reader has ritually cleansed themselves.

This preparation has taken on extra urgency in the aftermath of an increase in insider attacks against Coalition forces.

Retribution for perceived slights on Islam are thought to be one possible trigger for these turncoat attacks, which claimed three out of the seven Diggers' lives lost in Afghanistan this year.

Coalition forces are wary of violent reactions from Afghans who are upset by breaches of religious protocol.

Days of rioting ensued after Coalition soldiers burned copies of the Koran when they were disposing of old books at the Bagram Air Base near Kabul last February.

US President Barack Obama and the chief of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, both issued televised apologies in a bid to quell the outcry, which insurgents have used as justification for attacks.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 15:38 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whatever happened to
"Whatever happens, we have got
The Maxim gun, and they have not."
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2012 16:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Australian media doing what they do best- creating fear, uncertainty and doubt.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/10/2012 16:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Australian media doing what they do best- creating fear, uncertainty and doubt.
No doubt about it Grunter, although sometimes they can be funny.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 16:42 Comments || Top||


Economy
Obama Fav Battery Company to be bought by Chicoms
Chinese bid wins auction for A123
By Anousha Sakoui

A Chinese car parts maker has won the auction for bankrupt US battery maker A123 Systems, in a further success in international dealmaking for Chinese groups.

Wanxiang Group bid about $257m to win the auction for the battery maker, which supplies electric cars. The sale still requires the approval of the Delaware court where A123 filed for bankruptcy...The sale will also require the approval of the US Committee on Foreign Investment.
... Wanxiang will not be taking over A123’s defense business, which will be sold to Illinois-based Navitas for $2.25m.

In October, A123 – which was awarded a $249m grant from the US government – became the latest stimulus-backed company to file for bankruptcy, prompting a fresh round of attacks on President Barack Obama’s support for emerging energy technologies...
It also received grants and tax credits from the state of Michigan of up to $141M.

Back in the W admin, the US paid $14M to the company for it to develop and particular product (which the company did). Although that transaction was a typical contract the Obama Admin has claimed a number of times that they were just following W's lead.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/10/2012 15:34 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How does this happen ?

Check it out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Try this link instead.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 17:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Be sure to klik on "advisors".... and check out the main mug.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 17:18 Comments || Top||


Africa North
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's 'trial of power' (+video)
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 15:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336082 views] Top|| File under:


Inside Look at Muslim Brotherhood’s Torture Chambers
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 15:19 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:


The Grand Turk
Ottoman Ghosts
Strategy Page.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 15:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
World War II fighter plane retrieved from Lake Michigan
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2012 15:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My friend Tom Camp has a fully restored, flyable FM2. He has kept it factory original including the manual landing gear lowered and raised via a crank in the cockpit connected to a series of chains and pulleys.

See pictures here

Thumbnail pictures can be expanded by clicking on them.

Here is the FM2 in flight.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2012 15:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I believe there is another one on the floor of the USN Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola. If I remember correctly, it sits just as it was pulled from the bottom of Lake Michigan and still had air in it's tires.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Was it from the Wolverine?

Time for a second look at side-paddle attack carriers.


Posted by: Shipman || 12/10/2012 16:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Thirty-one World War II planes have been recovered from Lake Michigan, said Taras Lyssenko, a partner in A&T Recovery. The recovery process involves the approval of various state agencies, the Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers. Lyssenko estimated that 70 to 80 airplanes are still in the lake. Finding them, he said, gives him reason to use the "needle in a haystack" expression.

The Wildcat retrieved Friday was one of many planes used during the war to train pilots for landing on aircraft carriers. It rolled off a converted steamship Dec. 28, 1944, and sank about 45 miles southeast of Waukegan after the engine failed during its third takeoff.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/10/2012 17:49 Comments || Top||

#5  To paraph Perts + veteran Pilots on the History Channel, Japan designed the A6M Zero-sen as a Paper Kite wid an Engine.

The Wildcat was outperformed by the more contemporary = "modern" Zero, yet the former was still able to destroy 6.9 enemy aircraft for every one Wildcat lost.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 19:20 Comments || Top||

#6  THAT was due to armor and the Thatch Weave...

Ironic that a nation of individuals won in the air with a tight team structure while a nation of rigid structure fought as individuals...

Orion
Posted by: Orion || 12/10/2012 21:18 Comments || Top||

#7  What? No Messerschmitt?
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 22:06 Comments || Top||

#8  IMHO, until the Tomcat, the Wildcat was the last good looking military airplane built by the Iron Works. No way can you say the Stoof, the Greyhound, Hummer, Prowler or Intruder are pretty. Functional, yes, but pretty? they are in a 'the girl you take home from the bar at 2 A M' kind of way.....
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 12/10/2012 23:19 Comments || Top||


Europe
European Union officials accept Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo ceremony
Hailing the European Union as "the most dramatic example in history that shows that war and conflict can be turned into peace and cooperation," Nobel committee chairman Thorborn Jagland presented the Nobel Peace Prize to top EU officials at a ceremony Monday in Oslo.

The award to the 27-nation EU for advancing peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights, was handed to its three leaders, Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council; Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission; and Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament.
An appreciative audience on hand included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and leaders of European member states and institutions along with the Norwegian royal family.

Van Rompuy, in accepting the award, paid homage “to all the Europeans who dreamt of a continent at peace with itself, and to all those who day-by-day make this dream a reality.

"War is as old as Europe,” he reminded his audience. “Our continent bears the scars of spears and swords, cannons and guns, trenches and tanks, and more.”

But “keeping peace where there is peace” is “another historic task….This couldn't be more clear than it is today, when we are hit by the worst economic crisis in two generations…..putting the political bonds of our Union to the test.”

In a nod to critics who point to Europe’s ongoing divisive financial turmoil, Barroso, his own remarks, acknowledged that, “European unity is not a perfect work of art; it is work in progress that demands constant and diligent tending...Despite its imperfections, the European Union can be, and indeed is, a powerful inspiration for many around the world,."
Lovely. Channeling Peter Sellers as Chauncey Gardiner in Being There.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 14:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336108 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We now join live coverage of the acceptance speech...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/10/2012 18:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Of all the proposed or desired OWG "Global Federal Unions, the EU/EUZ is the only one that was formally supported in national referendums + made operational.

AFAIK Year 2015 [or ASAP after] is still the benchmark goal for establishing NAU.

* E.G. FREEREPUBLIC > INTEL REPORT: US WILL NO LONGER BE SOLE SUPERPOWER BY 2030.

Although WASH DC is still expected to be a major City + US Capital under NAU, its not clear yet just how much sovereign power-n-authority the US + US Govt is willing to give up to NAU under OWG.

One can make the argument that the reason, or one of them, the US is engaging in overt Socialism is that IT DOESN'T KNOW HOW THINGS WILL BE - FREEDOMS + FREE MARKETS, ETC.- UNDER OWG NAU, I.E. BETTER "SAFE THAN SORRY" + TRY TO GET GOVT-LED, GOVT-CENTRIC CONTROL OF AMERICANS + AMER SOCIETY ASAP AMAP ALAP IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINITY + A OWG NAU THAT W-I-L-L BE ENACTED COME 2015 OR ASAP AFTER.

"2015" = also means or infers that there won't be enough time, given the current + projected sttae of the US-World Economy + overseas foreign policy setbacks [GWOT, China, Iran], to formally put the issue of NAU before the Amer people in national referendum(s).

STRONG/EMPOWERED OWG NAU = either the US GOVT VOLUNTARILY GIVES UP SOVEREIGN POWER-N-AUTHORITY, OR ELSE IS MILPOL FORCED TO VIA STRATEGIC INTERNATIONAL = GEOPOL CONFRONTATIONISM, E.G. AVOIDANCE OF MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE NUCLEAR WAR IN EAST ASIA VEE RISING CHINA.

DEFEAT OR STALEMATE, under NucWar conditions = "Nuclear Munich"???

* Also from FREEREPUBLIC this AM, ...
> CAN I DRIVE INTO MEXICO WIDOUT AN AMERICAN DRIVER'S LICENSE?
> MASS MIGRATION FROM MEXICO MAY BE HISTORY (MICHAEL BARONE}
> LIBERT OF FLORIDIANS THREATENED BY "SEVEN50" [United Nations] INITIATIVE.

THE STEADY BUT PCORRECT-DENIABLE, NON-ELECTORAL, ANTI-CONSTITUTIONAL MARCH TOWARDS OWG = more OWG Globalism disguised as Regionalism disguised as Localism = "Communitarianism/Communalism"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 20:00 Comments || Top||

#3  The "damp rag" was there, too.
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 22:10 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptian army takes over security ahead of vote
The Egyptian military assumed joint responsibility with the police today for security and protecting state institutions until the results of a December 15 constitutional referendum are announced.

The army took up the task in line with a decree issued Sunday by President Mohammed Morsi. The Islamist leader on Monday also suspended a series of tax hikes announced the previous day on alcohol, cigarettes and other items.

The presidential edict orders the military and police to jointly maintain security in the run-up to Saturday's vote on the disputed charter, which was hurriedly approved last month by a panel dominated by the president's Islamist allies despite a boycott of the committee's liberal, secular and Christian members.

The decree also grants the military the right to arrest civilians, but presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said it was nowhere near a declaration of martial law.

"It is merely a measure to extend legal cover for the armed forces while they are used to maintain security," Ali told The Associated Press.

There were no signs of a beefed up military presence outside the presidential palace, the site of fierce street clashes last week, or elsewhere in the capital on Monday.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 14:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:


Taking sides in Egypt a slippery slope
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 13:48 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Smuggling is on the rise along historic California coastal route
[New York Times]
Summary: We've done a good enough job interdicting the border that drugs and people are now being moved by sea from Baja, Mexico north along the California coast. There has been a fourfold increase in boats spotted since 2008, and deliveries have moved north from San Diego County as far as California's Central Coast, with Santa Barbara County taking the brunt of it. More money for more men and equipment is needed.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 12:08 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aren't there two (2!) branches of the military that handle this?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 12/10/2012 20:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Cartel Mini-Subs look way cooler than surface craft.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 20:29 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Mystery Surrounding Illinois Democrat Facing Felony Gun Charges Deepens
We met this guy last week...
After his arrest, 62-year-old Trotter claimed that he had the gun, a .25 caliber Berretta, due to his second job as a security guard. His job as state senator pays $67,000 per year plus lucrative per diem when the Illinois Senate is in session.

Trotter has been in the Illinois Assembly for 24 years. But while the company he claims employs him as a security guard, All Points Security and Detective Company, lists him as an employee, he never disclosed this employment on any of his campaign finance records. He is not answering questions about the second job. Neither is All Points.
"Nothing! We know nothing! Tell them, Hogan!"
But All Points has large government contracts. Trotter's mysterious employment with the company, plus his failure to disclose said employment as the law requires on his campaign finance documents, raises the possibility that his security guard job is a payoff scheme.
No! Re-e-e-e-e-ally?
My faith in politicians (as crooks) has been restored.
Trotter is among the Democrats vying for the US House seat recently vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr.
From Gus Savage to Mel Reynolds to Junior to Trotter. What a legacy for the 2nd district...
The virtue of democracy is that it gives the pee-pul the government they deserve.
Posted by: Spot || 12/10/2012 11:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like Tony Soprano's "job" as a Sanitation Consultant.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 12/10/2012 15:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Years ago security company employees who carried firearms had to undergo a licensing regime. The firearms licensing required that any arrests of a licensed security guard had to be reported through the employer to the State or municipal agency that issued the firearms license. If in fact Trotter was licensed, I suppose all of those unsightly details were seen to by the arresting officer...........
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 15:36 Comments || Top||

#3  .25 caliber Beretta? Nice little belly gun.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/10/2012 17:29 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 11:10 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  she throws like a girl
Posted by: Snaque Angaing6271 || 12/10/2012 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Birthday Gam Shot

Emmanuelle Chriqui [Canuck][Filmography](age 35)



Oh Canada!

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Warm holiday colours always excite me.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 12:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Birthday Gam Shot 12/09

Dia Mirza [Bollywood][Filmography](age 31)



Bondywood



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2012 12:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Birthday Gam Shot 12/08

Teri Hatcher [Filmography](age 48)



Working hard priming a seat for Gorb

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 12/10/2012 12:15 Comments || Top||

#6  The mirror will likely survive, but Haverty's will never take back that splintered, French foyer table.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 12:17 Comments || Top||

#7  They are real and they are spectacular
Posted by: Beavis || 12/10/2012 12:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Ive got a specialised bike, but its only a hybrid.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/10/2012 13:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Nice, eh... jacket.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/10/2012 20:11 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh happy days!
Posted by: gorb || 12/10/2012 22:18 Comments || Top||


Economy
China’s Wanxiang Buys Battery Maker A123 Systems For $260 Million
Call it the worst case scenario come true. After going through a court-managed bankruptcy and auction, defunct EV battery maker A123 Systems has been (mostly) sold to Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang group. The selling price of $256.6 million was the highest bid, though the sale still has to be approved by the government.

Wanxiang group competed with a joint bid from Johnson Controls and NEC, as well as bids from other groups for control of A123’s battery operations. These batteries are currently used in the Fisker Karma, which has had to stop production pending bankruptcy proceedings. A123′s batteries are also slated to be used in the upcoming Chevy Spark EV as well.

Pending approval by the Delaware bankruptcy court and the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States, Wanxiang will take over A123, which received a $249 million low-interest loan from the U.S. government. A123 can apparently still draw down on $120 million of that loan, though its stocks will hold no value as the sale price is less than its debt.

Wanxiang and A123 had discussed a $465 million deal that would have saved the battery maker but given Wanxiang controlling interest. The bankruptcy filing killed that deal, and now Wanxiang will end up with almost all of A123’s technology and contracts.

Almost, because one thing Wanxiang could not bid on was A123 System’s U.S. military and government contracts. Those will likely go to Navitas Systems, based in Woodridge, Illinois. Wanxiang already does a billion dollars in auto parts business in the U.S. every year, though what happens to A123 going forward remains to be seen.

Not a good day for EV advocates, though maybe the Chinese can turn A123 around for the better?
Posted by: Beavis || 12/10/2012 10:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Has China slowed down buying US Bonds? Of course, that's why the US lost its AAA credit rating or maybe that was a coincidence. However if it's OK for a bankrupt Greece to sell off its assets in a fire sale, it should be OK for the US as well.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 14:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Is that pronounced Wank Shang?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/10/2012 14:25 Comments || Top||

#3  A123, which received a $249 million low-interest loan from the U.S. government.

That's not quite right. The $249M was a draw down grant - not a loan. Of course with the Obama admin the difference is sometimes less than real.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/10/2012 17:24 Comments || Top||


Over 1 Million Americans Enter Poverty In Last Two Months
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 05:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Poverty is not the point---dependency is the point!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2012 7:16 Comments || Top||

#2  FDR era ration books and stamps issued by the gov't (basted upon "needs" of course), appear to be the future. We might as well become accustomed to it and embrace our socialist, single party masters. Property ownership was such a pain in the a** anyway, all those leaves to rake and association meetings.

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 8:21 Comments || Top||

#3  I know I'm preaching to the crowd...but here's a good slogan on poverty for the rest of the world to appreciate: "America, where our definition of poor is obese people with cell phones, access to internet, t.v.'s, air conditioning, and automobiles."
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/10/2012 9:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Don't forget the 40" Plasma TV and Cable!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/10/2012 10:38 Comments || Top||

#5  A third-world peasant would weep with joy to be offered "poverty" in the US.
Posted by: mojo || 12/10/2012 10:44 Comments || Top||

#6  All the tchotchkes in the world won't make you rich if not getting out of debt and being able to own big things isn't an option.

My _not_ buying a smartphone isn't helping me with the basics of my bad situation. The poor who are buying smartphones may be reacting rationally to their situation, since either way they can't get to the point of owning land or a house.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/10/2012 11:10 Comments || Top||

#7  They voted for, re happy with it according to Rasmussen polls, they deserve it.
Posted by: JFM || 12/10/2012 11:21 Comments || Top||

#8  And those HH jackets...
Posted by: Steve White || 12/10/2012 12:15 Comments || Top||

#9  http://youtu.be/DL-a-r7iJIU

Welfare state in action.
Posted by: warthogswife || 12/10/2012 15:45 Comments || Top||

#10  I hope those in poverty in the US are not as deprived as those in Australia where they are missing out on stomach reduction for obesity.
A survey of almost 50,000 obese Australians found those living in socially disadvantaged areas on low incomes were less likely to have bariatric surgery than their higher earning, better-educated counterparts.

This was despite evidence that people from lower socioeconomic groups were more likely to be obese.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 16:22 Comments || Top||

#11  Here's a link to the video warthogswife linked to.

Its a hoot.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/10/2012 17:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Sorry folks if my link didn't work and thanks Crazy Fool for catching it.
Posted by: warthogswife || 12/10/2012 19:08 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe clings to scorched-earth ideology as depression deepens
Like the generals of the First World War, Europe’s leaders seem determined to send wave after wave of their youth into the barbed wire of tight money, bank deleveraging, and fiscal austerity a l’outrance.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 04:11 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You didn't expect them to admit being wrong---did you?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2012 7:17 Comments || Top||

#2  ..no more than those in Beltway.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:43 Comments || Top||

#3  More aep nonsense. Im sorry but aep is a fool.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/10/2012 13:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Im sorry but aep is a fool.
Maybe BP. In the Middle ages the Court Jester was the only one allowed to "speak truth to power"
Maybe AEP is the new Court Jester?
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 14:17 Comments || Top||

#5  No, aep plays the role of the syphylitic insane nobleman.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/10/2012 15:48 Comments || Top||

#6  I always know it's AEP, just by the headline.
He is... entertaining
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 22:07 Comments || Top||


Economy
AEP: World risks fresh credit bubble, Switzerland's BIS warns
Asset prices across the world have risen to heady levels not seen since the credit boom five years ago and may be losing touch with economic reality yet again, the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 04:02 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too many people looking for places to park money. All the good spots are filled, and they're starting to use the fire lanes.
This will not be pretty.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/10/2012 11:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Too much credit chasing down yields till yield below risk = systematic bankruptcy.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/10/2012 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  D *** NG IT, ITS GOOD "GLOBALISM" + "OWG", + ITS FOR THE CHILDREN!

Won't someone please think of the Children!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 20:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Food poisoning at wedding leaves 80 people in hospital
[Dawn] Over 80 people were taken to the capital's Polyclinic Hospital after they had eaten contaminated food at a wedding, DawnNews reported.
"Here! Try the chapattis!"
"Hmmm... Never saw chapattis that color before!"

A doctor from the Polyclinic Hospital said that after eating the contaminated food at the wedding, around 80 people were brought to the hospital.

He said that majority of those hospitalised are out of danger.

The doctor also said that a sample of the food has been taken to the laboratory for testing and seems to be a case of food poisoning.

Among those taken to hospital included the bride and groom, along with several women and kiddies.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Tribesman killed in cross-border shelling
[Dawn] A man was killed and two others were maimed in North Wazoo on Saturday after NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
and Afghan forces carried out two attacks with mortar shells from Afghanistan.

Fifteen rockets were fired on the Lataka Macha Madakhel area of Dattakhel tehsil early on Saturday and one of them hit a house, killing a primitive and injuring two others. The name of the dear departed could not be ascertained.

Later, the Dandi Kach locality of Spinwam tehsil was attacked with eight mortar shells. No loss of life or property was reported in the second attack because the shells landed in empty places in the hilly areas.

Pak troops didn't retaliate.

Meanwhile,
...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase...
there was no clue to the two soldiers kidnapped in Ghulam Khan area in North Waziristan on Friday.

Hawaldar Adil Hussain and soldier Niaz Ali were on duty at Bangi Dar checkpoint, near the Afghan border, when gunnies kidnapped them.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebel Envoy Says World 'Passivity' Boosts Syria Jihadists
[An Nahar] Syria's rebel ambassador to La Belle France warned Sunday that the "passivity" of the international community was boosting the rise of Islamist Death Eaters in his war-torn country.

Monzer Makhous, named last month as the Syrian opposition National Coalition's envoy to Gay Paree, also called in a newspaper interview for the weapons embargo to be lifted so rebels could better arm themselves.

"The international community must understand that its passivity favors the rise" of jihadists in Syria, he told the Journal du Dimanche. "The arms embargo voted by the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
must also be lifted."

Makhous is due to travel to the eastern French city of Strasbourg Tuesday on a "Syria peace train". With him will be dozens of French intellectuals, actors and celebrities who are calling for an end to the conflict.

He and other Syrian opposition figures will meet members of the European Parliament in the city the same day.

In mid-November, Syrian opposition factions agreed to establish the National Coalition and bring together rebel forces under a supreme military council.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Romania's Ambassador Leaves Syria over Security Concerns
[An Nahar] Romania's ambassador to Syria has left Damascus
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...
to relocate in Beirut due to security concerns, the Romanian Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

"The security situation in Syria is significantly deteriorating, including in central Damascus, which has led to a reduction of Romania's diplomatic activities," the ministry said.

The ambassador to Syria will monitor the situation from Leb, it added.

Romania is one of the few Western countries that kept its embassy in Syria open until now.

Thousands of Romanian citizens, most of them married to Syrian nationals, have been caught in the conflict in Syria.

The authorities in Bucharest called on them to "leave Syria as soon as possible".
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


International-UN-NGOs
UN Hunting Season
[Ynet] PA closely following Israel's response to European condemnations over settlement building

November and December have always been difficult months for the Jews dating back almost to the UN's inception. The General Assembly has been passing insane anti-Israel resolutions during these months since way before the Six Day War conquests, and always with a vast majority. On December 10, 1949 the UNGA adopted an Australian resolution to internationalize Jerusalem. Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett, the leftist member of Ben-Gurion's government, immediately declared "I do not see a force in this world that can prevent the realization of Jerusalem's historic destiny to become the capital of Israel."

Jerusalem has been our capital for the past 64 years, thank God. Regrettably, there are no foreign embassies in Jerusalem, but the famous Israeli sun continues to shine. We have learned to live with the UN's animosity and even find comfort in the fact that the most painful UN votes are a moderate alternative to the pogroms of yesteryear. Today's Israel haters can't harm us physically, so they organize UN votes against us.

In early December 1969 the General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution that called on Israel to allow the Paleostinian refugees to return to their homes at once. Britannia and La Belle France abstained. Did we return the refugees? Does anyone even remember that resolution?

"The Arabs have hijacked the UN," Israel's UN ambassador Chaim Herzog said in 1976 after the General Assembly adopted a report submitted by a special committee which gave Israel an ultimatum -- withdraw from all the territories within six months and establish a Paleostinian state in the West Bank and Gazoo.

Today, our situation in the international arena is still grim, but the state of our resilience is even worse. In 1949, when the UN objected to Israel's annexation of west Jerusalem, it was criticized by both the coalition and the opposition. When it compared Zionism to racism in 1975, no one blamed the government. The sense of pressure was converted into determination and defiance. The Haifa Municipality changed the name of one of the city's streets from United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
Boulevard to Zionism Boulevard. Sixteen years later, the UN folded and annulled the decision.

The UN may also capitulate one day with regards to the construction in Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim. But Israel must not. If we agree to freeze construction in Jerusalem until a permanent agreement is reached, we will never be able to resume it, because the Paleostinians have shown that they have no intention of making peace with us in the next 100 years. Their main goal in life is to use the international community to obstruct Jewish construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Now they are closely following Israel's response to the European condemnations and are already calculating their next steps in case Israel responds hesitantly. The best way to deter them is to show that we are not dissuaded.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  The reason the Palestinians are so against the settlements of Jews in the West Bank territories is that it scares the hell out of the Palestinians. It works.
Pure and simple ,its effective.
It takes the West Bank a house and a yard and a block at a time and it swallows them. And it will continue to do so. It is only a matter of time.

In fifty years, a yard at a time, a house and a fence and an orchard at a time it will seep throughout the West Bank until there is no more West Bank for the Palestinians at all, just Israelis hanging their laundry.
The UN can'r stop it and the Israelis aren't GOING to stop it. Why should they? It works!

There will come an inevitable day when it will simply be like someone using an eyedropper of hot water on a sugar cube, the West Bank will simply erode and dissolve until its just another israeli mail route.
You will wake up one morning and find the Palestinians have all moved to Brazil or have opened falafel shops in New Jersey. There will be israelis walking their dogs all over the West Bank and there won't be a postage stamp of land left in the West Bank that doesn't have a yarmulke all over it.

And if that doesn't work there are always fine 120 mm guns on the MerkaBah Tanks. So, if the Palestinians don't like it they can pick their noses.
And the UN can get hosed.

Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 12/10/2012 4:10 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
A relatively rational Iran?
From The New York Times Haaretz:
The question of whether Iran is a rational player has for some time been a critical focus of international discussion about how to respond to Tehran's nuclear program. In Israel and abroad, those who oppose attacking Iran's nuclear sites highlight the rationality of the Islamic Republic's leadership -- something they say suggests that deterrence can be relied upon if and when Iran finally possesses nuclear weapons. Those who support targeting Iran's nuclear sites claim, among other things, that there is a big question mark regarding the degree of rationality of the Iranian leadership. As a result, they say, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to deter Iran's leaders from eventually using nuclear weapons against Israel.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and particularly during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, Iran has proven that it is more often driven by pragmatic policy considerations than by ideology-based decision making. However, the Iranians have not always judged correctly the reactions of their opponents, nor do they appear to be as risk-averse as Western countries, even when the lives of their own people are at stake. A question mark about the soundness of Iran's judgment arose last year with the attempt on the life of the Saudi ambassador to Washington - an act that, if carried out, could have led to war with the United States.

It's possible that Iran would act against Israel, despite the risks to its own survival, for two main reasons. The first is the central role of religious-messianic considerations among the Iranian leadership. The second reason is that this regime has pledged itself to Israel's annihilation and is acquiring the means to accomplish it. The question whether the Iranians are rational seems to split Israeli decision-making circles.

When using the term "rationality," one needs to recognize that it can have a relative component - for example, two rational actors could reach different conclusions when faced with the same circumstances and data. Human beings, including leaders, are often hard pressed to choose between alternatives and may be influenced by ideology, intuition, culture and political and institutional biases. Iranian leaders thus could be no less rational than their Israeli or American counterparts, but may reach different conclusions when confronting the same circumstances.

Thus, even if we assume that Iran is a rational actor, it is difficult to understand the calculations that guide its leadership, and to predict its decisions and behavior in crisis situations. In addition, there is incomplete information about the decision-making process in Iran, as well as the quality of information that the supreme leader enjoys.

For reasons besides the degree of rationality of the Iranian regime, political factors, geographical proximity and technological issues will also complicate the stability of a future mutually deterrent environment between Israel and Iran. There is also the possibility that Iranian nuclear weapons could be used without the explicit intention of the leadership. Iran has not yet institutionalized its nuclear doctrine and system of operations and has a history of a defective chain of command that could lead to unauthorized use. The first years after achieving nuclear capability are the most dangerous and portend crises, which can be accompanied by the threat of escalation because of the temptation of others to destroy the capability as long as it is nascent, and the possibility of using it in a conventional conflict (use it or lose it ).

There is a need for further examination of scenarios in which Iran eventually becomes nuclear, even if doing so would be interpreted by some as accepting a nuclear Iran. It is insufficient to consider Iran's rationality in terms of either yes or no. Rather, we must seek insight into Iranian nuclear decision making based on its own sense of rationality. This effort could help us identify essential preparations and arrangements on our part that are not yet being considered.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iran has received much criticism over the years for its alleged support + propagation of International terror - IMO its fair to say that Iran recognizes it will again be heavily criticized, iff not attacked, iff Radical Islam's Hard/Burqua Boyz go de facto Nuke-WMD, hence its hallowed "JAPAN/EGYPT" NUCLEAR MODEL.

Iran does desire to ultimately be the world's first ISLAMIC/MUSLIM GLOBAL NUCLEAR SUPERPOWER, for which possession of NucWeaps by Iran will be required - however, Iran also does NOT desire to be attacked while its NucProg + future Nuclear Arsenal is still budding, hence again its reliance for time being on NUKE-ARMED PAKISTAN, REGIONAL + TRANS-REGIONAL PRO-ISLAMIST, PRO- NUCLEAR "ARAB SPRINGS", + ANTI-US NATIONS to deter or defend from outside attack until Iran is ready.

Lest we fergit, as the US + Western World
"steadily decline", IRAN + MUSLIM WORLD + CHINA ASCEND.

Yes, Iran is being quite rational, but NOT because it is interested in peace or the status quo or "post-US" Empire.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Most people are essentially cowards. There is nobody in the EUroweeny who isn't. The UN is worthless. They always were.

The US is led by a man who wouldn't fight for his own mother. ( but have you seen his mother? I wouldn't fight for that either). So what does that leave us?

Israel can't carry the fight alone. Its too big a risk to start a war with no backing except guys wearing yellow suits and pink ties.

The US no longer has balls and the days of the Big Johnson are as dead as Johnson himself. Its all Bush's fault and Katrina too.
Gay marriage and legalized Pot are what we got. Ain't it Hot?

Iran is going to get the bomb, then they will get cruise missiles. And then they will tell you what's what ,and slap you in the snot.

And you will bend over because that is what most of you are. Have a good day, Dwayne.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 12/10/2012 4:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Their younger generation are rational and want freedom.I see the same thing in Egypt.
Posted by: Flineger Elmilet5035 || 12/10/2012 7:59 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt opposition calls mass protests rejecting referendum
[Dawn] Egypt's opposition on Sunday called for mass street protests on Tuesday rejecting a December 15 referendum on a new constitution largely drafted by President Mohamed Morsi's allies.

"We do not recognise the draft constitution because it does not represent the Egyptian people," the opposition National Salvation Front said in a statement read out at a news conference by front man Sameh Ashour.

"We reject the referendum which will certainly lead to more division and sedition," he said.

"The Front calls for demonstrations in the capital and in the regions on Tuesday as a rejection of the president's decision that goes against our legitimate demands," he said.

The statement also condemned "militias" from the Moslem Brüderbund backing Morsi and "terrorist gangs."

The protest call meant Egypt's weeks-long political crisis was to continue, despite Morsi on Saturday making a key concession to the opposition by rescinding a controversial November decree that had given him expanded powers free from judicial review.

Tuesday's demonstrations could lead to more violence if Morsi's supporters challenge them, as occurred on Wednesday when seven people were killed and hundreds injured in vicious festivities outside the presidential palace.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Afghanistan
Afghans Attack Iran Consulate over Alleged Killings
[An Nahar] Hundreds of angry demonstrators tried to storm the Iranian consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
on Sunday in protest at the alleged killing of Afghan immigrants by Iranian security forces.

The 200-strong crowd threw rocks and broke consulate windows before security forces drove them back by firing warning shots into the air, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

The crowd claimed 13 Afghans who had crossed the border into Iran were seized and later rubbed out by Iranian security forces about three months ago.

"Over the past several months we have been demanding the Iranians return the bodies of our relatives but they are not returning them," one protester told AFP.

Protesters shouted slogans against Iran and its President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and said they would "support the United States if it invades Iran".

Dozens of police blocked the crowd as it tried to storm the Iranian consulate, the AFP news hound said. The mob later gathered around the governor's house and continued shouting anti-Iran slogans, he added.

Consulate officials could not be reached for comment.

About 2.4 million Afghans -- refugees and undocumented Democrats -- live in Iran, many of whom moved after the 1979 Soviet invasion. Afghans continue to migrate to Iran and Pakistain in search of work and for political reasons.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  At least they are starting to learn that the real enemy is Iran and Pakistan.
Posted by: Flineger Elmilet5035 || 12/10/2012 8:20 Comments || Top||

#2  ...said they would "support the United States if it invades Iran"...

That's typical. They want us to do their fighting for them.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/10/2012 11:18 Comments || Top||

#3  At least they are starting to learn that the real enemy is Iran and Pakistan.

They're Tadjiks, an ethic group that resides in both western Afghanistan and eastern Iran. Like most ethnic groups, they are somewhat close-knit, not concerned about what happens outside their territory, and national borders are both an opportunity (for smuggling) and an inconvenience.

Given that, it's highly unlikely that they care about what Pakistan is doing in the eastern half of Afghanistan, or what Iran is doing in the western half, only what Iran has done to fellow Tadjiks.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 15:06 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears
[Telegraph.Co.UK] Fears that the end of the world is nigh have spread across the world with only days until the end of the Mayan calendar, with doomsday-mongers predicting a cataclysmic end to the history of Earth.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I read that the Mayans didn't understand "Leap Year" so the time has passed months ago, NO PANIC HERE.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2012 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  The Mayans were off by a month and 15 days.
Posted by: Perfesser || 12/10/2012 3:42 Comments || Top||

#3  So has it passed, Perfesser, or will it arrive January 31st?
Posted by: Bobby || 12/10/2012 7:11 Comments || Top||

#4  I thought it was the 12th when the Electoral College meets.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Will the new Mayan calendar have pictures so I can tell what month it is? Words are hard!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 12/10/2012 9:31 Comments || Top||

#6  It's just a CALENDAR, ya morons!
Posted by: mojo || 12/10/2012 10:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Are you sure the Mayan calendar didn't end on Nov. 4, 2008?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/10/2012 10:43 Comments || Top||

#8  I can't wait personally. Whatever survives after an apocalypse would be better than what we have now. :p
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/10/2012 11:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Indeed, Darth. Especially if the space aliens come and eat all the stupid ones.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 12:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Mebe I could finally lose a few pounds on FEMA biscuits. But then there would be no walk to the mailbox.... so it might just all even out. :-(
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 12:04 Comments || Top||

#11  crap! The 21st is a payday Friday
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 15:13 Comments || Top||

#12  The 21st is a payday Friday

They call it stormy Monday,
But Tuesday's just as bad.
...
The quetzalcoatl flies on Friday,
On Saturday, I go out and play.
-- "Stormy Monday"
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 15:27 Comments || Top||

#13  LOL
Posted by: Shipman || 12/10/2012 16:07 Comments || Top||

#14  Of course the calendar doesn't end, like ours doesn't end on Dec 31st.
The Mayan calendar (long count) has been there before but we're still around.

But if you like to sell me your life insurance for 10% of its value, I'm game.
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 19:05 Comments || Top||

#15  Btw the only calendar to watch is the Pirelli calendar...
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 19:06 Comments || Top||

#16  Why the hell am I not asking people for their worldly possessions before the end? Somebody has got to be stupid enough.
Posted by: Charles || 12/10/2012 19:10 Comments || Top||

#17  "for safekeeping"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 20:38 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Around 80 seminaries still unregistered
[Dawn] As many as 80 seminaries in the federal capital are still not registered with the Auqaf department, or their registration process could not be completed due to security reasons.
"You an inspector? We shoot inspectors in these here parts."
According to a report prepared by the ministry of interior and presented to the National Assembly, there are 280 seminaries in the federal capital. Out of these, 118 belonged to the Brailvi and 147 to Deobandi schools of thought while five are owned by the Shia community and eight by Ahle Hadith.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa North
Our Man In Cairo
David Ignatius:
Morsi and his Brotherhood followers are on a power trip after decades of isolation and persecution. You could see that newfound status when Morsi visited the United Nations in September and even more so during the diplomacy that led to last month's cease-fire in Gaza, brokered by Morsi and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Brotherhood leaders had gone from outcasts to superstars, and they were basking in the attention.

Morsi's unlikely role as a peacemaker is the upside of the "cosmic wager" Obama has made on the Muslim Brotherhood. It illustrates why the administration was wise to keep its channels open over the past year of post-revolutionary jockeying in Egypt.

But power corrupts, and this is as true with the Muslim Brotherhood as with any other group that suddenly finds itself in the driver's seat after decades of ostracism. Probably thinking he had America's backing,
Golly, why would he think that?
He didn't. He knew that Mr. Obama could be caught in a bind and hence wasn't going to do a damn thing to his newest, bestest friend in Egypt
. Morsi overreached on Nov. 22 by declaring that his presidential decrees were not subject to judicial review. His followers claim that he was trying to protect Egypt's revolution from judges appointed by Hosni Mubarak.
Not Egypt's revolution, but certainly the Brotherhood's...
But that rationale has worn thin as members of Morsi's government resigned in protest, thousands of demonstrators took the streets and, ominously, Muslim Brotherhood supporters began counterattacking with rocks, clubs and metal pipes.

Through this upheaval, the Obama administration has been oddly restrained. After the power grab, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said: "We call for calm and encourage all parties to work together and call for all Egyptians to resolve their differences over these important issues peacefully and through democratic dialogue." Not exactly a thundering denunciation.

The administration's rejoinder is that this isn't about America. Egyptians and other Arabs are writing their history now, and they will have to live with the consequences. Moreover, the last thing secular protesters need is an American embrace. That's surely true, but it's crazy for Washington to appear to take sides against those who want a liberal, tolerant Egypt and for those who favor sharia. Somehow, that's where the administration has ended up.
Unexpectedly.
For a lesson in the dangers of falling in love with your client, look at Iraq: U.S. officials, starting with President George W. Bush and Gen. David Petraeus, kept lauding Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, despite warnings from many Iraqis that he was a conspiratorial politician who would end up siding with Iran. This misplaced affection continued into the Obama administration: Even after the Iraqi people in their wisdom voted in 2010 to dump Maliki, the United States helped him cobble together enough support to remain in power. Arab observers are still scratching their heads trying to understand that one.
It's quite simple. Humans as a rule prefer the status quo. Liberals, despite the label, are even more attached to the known knowns; that's why the Cold War went on far longer than it should have, and why Western educated thugs have it far over your garden-variety, non-Islamic 'revolutionary'.
When assessing the turbulent events in the Arab world, we should remind ourselves that we're witnessing a revolution that may take decades to produce a stable outcome. With the outcome so hard to predict, it's a mistake to make big bets on any particular player. The U.S. role should be to support the broad movement for change and economic development and to keep lines open to whatever democratic governments emerge.

America will help the Arab world through this turmoil if it states clearly that U.S. policy is guided by its interests and values, not by transient alliances and friendships. If Morsi wants to be treated as a democratic leader, he will have to act like one.
What if he merely wants to be treated as the new caliph of the revived caliphate?
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood

#1  It isn't going to get better. There is going to be another war. A big one. Its finally going to happen and the weenies are going to be the first to get sucked in and gob smacked.

We , over here, are harder to reach, but we are led by yellow monkeys on welfare and everybody is looking for that 'ol free ride.

As long as we can we will stand on the sidelines and yell while we tremble. And then finally we will get sucked in too.

Israel will have to eventually stand alone and the Moslem world will ally with anyone who will still sell them cheap guns and they will go for the Caliphate which was all it ever came down to in the end.
Why lie to yourselves?

That is where it is all headed. Every beard and pointing finger should tell you so. You are all out of Twinkies, Jack.
And when China wants the whole China Sea no one will say a thing.
And you?...well you will work for anybody who is willing to give you a job and pay you. Because your bills are due.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 12/10/2012 5:02 Comments || Top||

#2  You go ahead and give up, if that's what you need, Threater Flusoper9823. I think you are enjoying the dramatics a tad overmuch, myself, but hyperventilating has always made me dizzy. You'll excuse me, I'm sure, while I get on with dealing with actual reality. You have stocked your pantry and arranged enough flashlight batteries and a car charger for your cellphone, just in case, right?

Oh, and we're already in that big war. Afghanistan and Iraq -- and Iran, when the time comes -- are only some of the battlefields.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 13:03 Comments || Top||

#3  That cadence, it's familiar somehow....
Posted by: Shipman || 12/10/2012 16:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Think 'Angleton9'.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 21:03 Comments || Top||


Tunisia Union Wins Int'l Backing for General Strike
[An Nahar] Tunisia's main labor union has won key support for a rare nationwide general strike to be held next week from the International Trade Union Confederation, a local ITUC official said on Sunday.

ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow will arrive in Tunis on Tuesday at the head of a delegation "to express her support for the UGTT general strike that will be observed on December 13," ITUC front man in Tunisia Ghassen Ksibi said.

The ITUC represents 175 million workers in 153 countries and has 308 national affiliates, of which the UGTT which has a membership of more than 500,000.

The UGTT called next week's strike amid tensions with the ruling Islamist Ennahda party following what the union said was an attack by Ennahda supporters on a UGTT demonstration in Tunis.

A union leader told AFP the UGTT demands the dissolution of the pro-Ennahda League for the Protection of the Revolution, which it accuses of carrying out last week's attack.

Burrow "will express her support for the UGTT's decision calling for a general strike" and its backing for the union "following the attacks it has faced," Ksibi said.

The December 13 general strike is to be held on the eve of the second anniversary of the revolution that ousted former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, amid rising social and economic tensions in the country.

Many Tunisians feel bitterly disappointed by the failure of the revolution to improve their lives, especially in the marginalized interior which suffers from a chronic lack of development and high unemployment.

Clashes, strikes and attacks, including by hardline Islamists, have multiplied across Tunisia.

The nationwide strike call is only the third to be made by the powerful UGTT since its foundation in the 1940s.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack to unveil Obama bust in City Hall
[NJ] One week to the day after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, Mayor Tony Mack will unveil a bust of President Barack Obama
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
in City Hall, his administration announced today.

The bust, which Mack said was purchased through donations, will sit directly in front of the wall that bears pictures of Mack and the city's other chief executives. Mack's color photo will be just feet away from the Obama likeness.

In a statement, Mack said the piece is being dedicated to honor the nation's first African-American president.

"The Barack H. Obama Presidential Bust recognizes the efforts of a great American who went on, against all odds, to change the course of American history," Mack said. "I can think of no more fitting a tribute in one of America's oldest cities; Trenton."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Your generous donation of $10. or more will ensure our president takes his rightful place on Mt. Rushmore. Chiselers are standing by to take your call.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 2:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Cult of Personality

I'm sure the Emperor is pleased.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd chip in $10 for an Obama toilet.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 12/10/2012 11:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Thought you couldn't have religious icons on govmint property? After all he has been deified by Oprah and the Obamaites.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/10/2012 11:21 Comments || Top||

#5  "Obama" & "bust" - two words that belong together
Posted by: Woodrow Jitle1819 || 12/10/2012 11:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Meshaal Says 'Resistance' Depends on Situation
[An Nahar] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, chief-in-exile Khaled Meshaal, on the third day of a trip to Gazoo, told students that different situations called for different measures -- from rockets to a truce.

He also renewed his call for efforts to implement a stalled Paleostinian reconciliation deal between his Hamas faction and bitter rival movement Fatah, which is led by president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
Speaking at the Islamic University in Gazoo City, Meshaal appeared to back the continuation of a truce agreed between Israel and the Hamas movement last month, which ended an eight-day conflict in and around Gazoo.

"Resistance is the basis, but sometimes we agree to a truce, sometimes we escalate in various manners, sometimes we fire rockets, sometimes we don't," he said in a speech.

He praised the efforts of Gazoo's hard boy groups, saying they had surprised Israel's leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

"Oh, young men and young women, we surprised the enemy, neither Netanyahu, nor Lieberman, nor Barak believed that the population of Gazoo, this small but wonderful piece of land, would dare to bomb Tel Aviv," Meshaal said.

He reiterated a call for Paleostinian unity he made at a Saturday rally celebrating the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas which rules the Gazoo Strip.

"We want national unity in the armed resistance and popular resistance. I urge you towards reconciliation and national unity of the Paleostinian ranks," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  It is important for Hamas and Fatah to reconcile so the Juice can kick all their asses next time they go shooting off rockets. Viva la Moronistance!
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  this small but wonderful piece of land, would dare to bomb Tel Aviv," Meshaal said.

This slight little sliver of Brown,
This sewage plant,
This HellHole
This Gaza.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/10/2012 16:05 Comments || Top||

#3  That brought a tear to my eye, Ship.
No, wait a minute, it's the ammonia fumes.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/10/2012 22:57 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tunisian President's Party Threatens to Quit Coalition Govt.
[An Nahar] The party of Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki could pull out from the coalition government amid tensions with the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, the secretary general of the CPR warned on Sunday.

"The Congress for the Republic will quit the government if its proposals and those of President Moncef Marzouki are not taken into account," the party's secretary general Mohamed Abbou told news hounds.

Marzouki, a veteran human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
activist with Tunisia's center-left CPR party, last month said the Islamist-led coalition government was not meeting the expectations of its people and called for a cabinet reshuffle.

The president warned that Tunisia was at a crossroads between "the road to ruin and the road to recovery" as unrest and strikes gripped the country, two years after the revolution that ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In November intense festivities between police and disaffected youths in the town of Siliana, southwest of Tunis, left some 300 people maimed, after a strike and protests over poor living conditions degenerated into violence.

Tensions are also mounting between the powerful General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) and the ruling Islamists, and the UGTT labor union has called for a rare nationwide strike for December 13.

Many Tunisians feel bitterly disappointed by the failure of the revolution to improve their lives, especially in the country's marginalized interior, which suffers from a chronic lack of development and high unemployment.

And in an interview with The World Today, edited by the London-based think tank Chatham House, the president said earlier this week he longed for stability in his country where the "situation is getting worse by the day."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:


Egyptian Opposition Rejects Morsi's Planned Referendum
[VOA News] Egypt's opposition National Salvation Front has announced that it will not participate in a December 15 referendum over a disputed draft constitution. Earlier, President Mohamed Morsi revoked part of a controversial decree giving him sweeping powers but insisted the referendum on the new document would go ahead as planned.

The head of Egypt's Journalists Union, Sameh Ashour, told news hounds Sunday that National Salvation Front leaders has decided not to participate in the constitutional referendum due to take place next Saturday.

He says the National Salvation Front categorically refuses to take part in the December 15 referendum and will not give its blessing to a vote that will inevitably lead to more divisions and civil strife.

Ashour went on to blast President Morsi and the Islamist Moslem Brüderbund group for their decision to go ahead with the constitutional referendum.

He says that the National Salvation Front insists that what he calls repression, despotism and the hijacking of the state by the president and his (Moslem Brüderbund) group is contributing to the economic woes of all Egyptian families.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Economy
BRICs Give US Cities a Millionaire-Inferiority Complex
[CNBC] New data from WealthInsight shows that Beijing and Shanghai each have more multi-millionaires now than Los Angeles. The study measures the segment of the population worth $30 million or more, known in wealth-industry parlance as "ultra-high-net-worth individuals."

Beijing has 1,318 people in that group. Shanghai has 2,028. Both are higher than Los Angeles, which has 950 people worth $30 million or more.

New York still towers over the others when it comes to the ultra-highs, with 2,929 people worth $30 million or more.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OTOH see BHARAT RAKSHAK > WHY CHINA'S [+ Pakistan's] SUPER-RICH ARE PACKING UP AND MOVING ABROAD.

Those whom haven't left are planning to leave.

THE TALIBAN = HARD BOYZ MAY HATE FEMALE EDUCATION + LIKE TO BLOW UP GIRLS' SCHOOLS, BUT EVEN THEY SEND THEIR OWN DAUGHTERS OVERSEAS TO ELITE SCHOOLS.

OH THE BOOK/DOLLAR-MANITY!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 23:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Charlie Crist joins the Democrats: What drives a political chameleon?
[CS Monitor] Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's
... Formerly the Republican governor of Florida, now reinvented as a Democrat party hack...
decision to formally join the Democratic Party -- making the announcement via Twitter after a fist bump from President B.O. -- suggests to his critics a savvy political chameleon prepping for a 2014 gubernatorial run against Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

But Mr. Crist's steady move to the left -- he ran for the Senate as an independent in 2010 -- is also clearly a natural curve, boosted by hardball GOP politics, including allegations Crist himself has leveled that GOP hardliners willfully suppressed the vote last month, albeit to no avail.

To be sure, Crist, who served as an Obama surrogate and spoke at the Democratic National Convention, has set himself up as an ideal foil for Republicans both in Florida and nationally, none of whom were surprised at his decision.

Yet Crist's formal declaration as a Democrat, after telling the DNC that "I didn't leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me" (echoing Ronald Reagan when the former president left the Democratic Party), still highlights a central GOP post-election conundrum: How to become more, not less, appealing to middle America.

In an interview after the election, Crist pointed to deliberate moves by Republican leaders, including Gov. Scott, to curtail early voting and voter registration efforts, which independent analysts have calculated led to a cumulative 20 percent decrease in early voting hours in some Florida counties.

"After I signed the executive order in [2008] expanding [early voting hours]," Crist told The Palm Beach Post last Sunday, "I heard from Republicans around the state who were bold enough to share it with me that, 'You just gave the election to Barack Obama.'?"
The campaign's over, John...
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope they're happy with him, and he's happy with them.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/10/2012 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Finally out of the closet. A few more should join him.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 2:29 Comments || Top||

#3  That's why we call them RINOs. It's why the RNC which is composed mainly of RINOs hates the Tea Party.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Procopius2k:

Absolutely 100% correct.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/10/2012 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  He knows what side of his bread has butter, especially after Sandy.

Enjoy him dhimocrats.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/10/2012 10:46 Comments || Top||

#6  cornering the Orange People niche
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 20:18 Comments || Top||


Rubio: 'Tax Increases Will Not Solve Our $16 Trillion Debt'
[Weekly Standard] Tax increases have nothing to do with the debt. Tax increases have to do with the fact that the Publicans as a group have publicly promised not to raise taxes. Therefore taxes must be raised, and when they are raised the Publicans will own the increase, which will be loudly pointed to in the next Congressional election, which is only two years from now.

The debt itself is an abstract thing. There ain't really no such number as a trillion, much less sixteen of them. We're never really, truly gonna run out of money. But the money we have will become less and less valuable (even though we're assured that inflation's at historic lows) until a 15 cent hamburger costs $3.69... Oh. Wait. We're already there. I mean until a $3.69 hamburger costs $15.95.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In 1913 the Federal Reserve replaced the national bank system, and Federal Reserve notes were issued with a promise to redeem them in gold on demand (at about $35. per ounce). *Parenthesis my entry

Then, in the year 1933, the United States abandoned the gold standard. These were the circumstances:

1.On April 5, 1933, one month after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a national emergency and ordered all gold coins, gold bullion, and gold certificates to be turned in to the Federal Reserve banks by May

1. This order applied only to those residing in the United States. It did not apply to foreigners living abroad. Within the United States, only those who had special gold collections or needed the gold for industrial or professional use were allowed to retain quantities of the yellow metal.

2.As gold coins, gold bullion, or gold certificates were turned in, the American people received Federal Reserve notes redeemable in silver.

3.On May 22, 1933, Congress enacted a law (48 Stat. 31) declaring all coin and currencies then in circulation to be legal tender, dollar for dollar, as if they were gold. It also empowered the President to reduce the gold content of the dollar up to 50 percent.

4.On June 5, 1933, Congress enacted a joint resolution (48 Stat. 112) that all gold clauses in contracts were outlawed and no one could legally demand gold in payment for any obligation due him.


The price of an ounce of gold on Friday's market was just over $1707. A circulated Morgan Silver Dollar is worth about $34. From the FDR era until today, the correlation between gov't borrowing and repayment with programmatically devaluated currency is inescapable. All of this might explain the challenge "The Forgotten Man" currently has with..... saving paper dollars (which earn no bank interest) for retirement. With the scheme loaded against us, it really is remarkable we've done as well as we have.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 3:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred's right. Tax increases will not solve the debt. The public sector knows that the end is near and will want to do whatever it takes to keep the gravy train going, willfully avoidning thoughts about complete system collapse. Furthermore, it is now apparent that they have no conscience about how much financial damage they are willing to do to private businesses and their workers in order to maintain the magic checks. What happened in Greece is only presaging what is happening here.

How to stop the madness? Ten years of hard work and change.

Pubs cut taxes. Dems raise them. It is the spending where things must change. That means millions losing their jobs and some services being scaled back. We MUST do this and bull through the consequences or we lose it all. Times will be ugly, but the cost of not doing so will be worse.

Deport every illegal alien, decrease the size/cost of the public sector workforce by 40-75% (Charles Murray has been advocating this for years) and have them do those jobs, roll the regulatory burden back to what is was in 1980, and let the prime rate rise to a number that represents the actual cost of borrowing money.

Immediately disband departments of education, EPA, ATFE, NMFS, and TSA and the like at the federal level. If the states or municipalites wish to do those things, let them. Cut other alphabet agencies to a ghost of what they are now.

Pass laws to the effect that public workers belonging to or organizing unions amounts to treason (conspiring against the public interest) and apply the law accordingly.

While this is happening, phase out the home mortgage interest deduction over a ten year period and privatize all student college loans. Also move to a consumption vs a productivity tax. And pass a balanced budget amendment that only allows borrowing in the case of a declared war or natural disaster (a "war" on poverty will not qualify). Simultaneously pass an amendment making it unlawful to pass any law or regulation that is unfunded at the level of the legislature and executive who pass it (no unfunded mandates on states/ municipalities/ businesses/individuals from the feds).

Raise the minimum age for SS to 70 immediately. If lifespan continues to increase, raise it more. When people go on SS, everyone should get what they put in plus interest. When that point is reached, means test every recipient. If they have plenty of assets/ income drop them from SS. If not, continue to pay them what they have been getting but have the honesty to call it what it is at that point - welfare - and fund it accordingly, from the general welfare fund. Make the penalties for trying to cheat this system by misrepresenting or hiding wealth extremely severe. Whatever money is not disbursed to someone because they die before they go on the program or during it before they use up what they put in will be used to administer the program. Revisit the rules for SSI and throw the bums off of the rolls.

We may not be completely fixed at the end of those ten years, but we will be well on our way out of this mess.



Posted by: no mo uro || 12/10/2012 7:09 Comments || Top||

#3  That's SSDI.
Posted by: no mo uro || 12/10/2012 7:14 Comments || Top||

#4  We will not deport the illegal aliens. They are here illegally, to be sure, but we will not deport them.

How could you?

And would you want to live in the kind of country where the federal government, led by Barack Obama, could make that happen?

Not me, thanks.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/10/2012 8:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Some say that if you end welfare for illegals, and free medical (except in immediate life-threatening situations) and education bennies and they will self-deport.

Also go after businesses and individuals hiring them - make it *much* more expensive (in penalties) to hire them.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/10/2012 8:52 Comments || Top||

#6  "And would you want to live in the kind of country where the federal government, led by Barack Obama, could make that happen?"

-Yes, I would. As it is his job to uphold the laws of the country. Not just the ones he agrees with. I took an oath of office, he took an oath of office. We could deport many more folks, our leaders lack the will.

In all fairness, I have read that BHO has deported more illegals in the same amount of time vs GWB.

Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/10/2012 9:22 Comments || Top||

#7  Here's a thought. Confiscate the goods owned by illegals to pay for back taxes. The IRS does this to citizens all the time. Do it to 1 out of 500 and the rest will scamper.

Same principal that California applies to businesses.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/10/2012 9:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Please bring the last three years of your United States Federal Income tax returns, copies of your last three months of earnings statements and we will discuss your eligibility to remain in the US.

No can do? No problem, hit the border, scram!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 9:30 Comments || Top||

#9  Under the YJCMTSU - if you wish to marry a foreigner [or sponsor their children and families] and import them to the country you have to sign an agreement, I-864, with the State Dept [the Feds] that you're financially responsible for them and they will not become a 'burden' upon government support.

Yet, if one violates the law and the immigration processes and comes in illegally, you're entitled to exactly those welfare and support programs.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 9:51 Comments || Top||

#10  That's 100% true Proc. I had to do it when I brought over my Fiancee. And I believe its for 10 years (40 quarters) after they become self-sufficient.

And if they go on welfare or any un-earned support - the feds can come after their sponsor for repayment.

Yet the illegals get free medical, free education, in-state tuition, welfare and SSI for nothing. On and under Obumbles nothing prevents them from voting themselves more of the same.

We. Are. So. Screwed!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/10/2012 10:36 Comments || Top||

#11  It costs a lot to make a democrat CF.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 11:59 Comments || Top||

#12 
#4 We will not deport the illegal aliens. They are here illegally, to be sure, but we will not deport them.

How could you?


Simple: any employer that cannot prove his working is a citizen is fined $100K. start by checking hotels, food chains, construction companies. As the jobs dry up the illegals will deport themselves. and by the way as the jobs open up US unemployment will go down as folks are moved off the 99 week program.
Posted by: airandee || 12/10/2012 12:35 Comments || Top||

#13  Oh. Wait. We're already there. I mean until a $3.69 hamburger costs $15.95.
Keep going Fred. Don't let imagination let you down. Think Wiemar or Zimbabwe.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 13:20 Comments || Top||

#14  Meh, Peek Oilz and Global Warming will kill us anyway. Why worry?

However, I look for the Singularity and the Rise of the Machines. This is why I always change the oil regular and keep the HD defragmented.
Posted by: Shipman || 12/10/2012 16:39 Comments || Top||

#15  How could you?

Easy. Put 'em on a bus. Put 'em on a plane. Put 'em on a slow boat. Just get 'em the hell outta here before they take over the government. Oh, wait...in California they already have. Too late.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/10/2012 18:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Under OWG + proposed NAU, etc. related, IFF ANYTHING TO EMPOWER THE SAME IMO THE US JUST-UNDER-$16.4 TRILYUHN MUST UNFORTUNATELY GROW HIGHER, NOT LOWER.

INTER-STATE protractive, common = shared chaos + mutual survival, just in case one or a number of sovereign nations don't want to voluntarily give up their state-specific sovereign power-n-authority to the desired future OWG + "Global Federal Unions".

THERE IS LITTLE TO NO SIGN THAT THE US + INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIY ARE N-O-T WORKING OR PUSHING TOWARDS OWG = GLOBAL GOVERNANCE INCLUDING REGIONAL OR TRANS-REGIONAL "UNIONS".

The Pols can deny, whitewash, or spin things all they want, but they're not fooling anyone.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 20:19 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Leb Army Begins Implementing Security Plan in Tripoli
[An Nahar] The army on Sunday deployed heavily in the Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and its entrances, ending the deployment of gunnies there, in the first phase of its plan to restore security in Tripoli, state-run National News Agency reported, after six people were killed and 40 others maimed on Sunday alone.

“The second phase will be the deployment of the army in Bab al-Tabbaneh and all the frontiers of the festivities,” NNA said.

Shortly before the army's move, fierce festivities erupted on the Jabal Mohsen-Haret al-Barraniyeh frontier, NNA reported.

“We took clear measures that will materialize in the coming hours in Tripoli,” Prime Minister Najib Miqati, meanwhile, said in a Twitter message.

Earlier on Sunday, the Higher Defense Council convened at the Baabda Palace to discuss the latest round of festivities.

Six people were killed and 40 others maimed in festivities between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen on Sunday, a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The latest fighting in the northern city came amid growing international concern about the potential for neighboring countries to be dragged into the Syrian conflict.

Sunni gunnies from the port city's Bab al-Tabbaneh district exchanged machinegun and rocket fire with Alawite residents of the neighboring Jabal Mohsen district leaving three members of each community dead, the security official said.

The fighting broke a tense calm that had held since the army deployed troops between the two impoverished neighborhoods early on Friday.

During the night, troops held their positions on sidestreets but not on the ironically named Syria Street that forms the frontline.

The festivities rocked Tripoli's rival neighborhoods intermittently throughout the day, the security official said, adding that fighting was still taking place "off and on" in the afternoon.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
New negotiator tackles thorny issues in MILF peace talks
Posted by: ryuge || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
10 Dead as S. Sudan Army Opens Fire on Protesters
[An Nahar] At least 10 people have been killed after South Sudanese troops opened fire on demonstrators angry at officials moving the seat of local authority outside a state capital, the United Nations said Sunday.

"The SPLA (army) opened fire" on protesters "demonstrating the excessive use of force," said U.N. peacekeeping mission spokesman Liam McDowall.

Four people were killed in the town of Wau during clashes overnight Saturday, while six more were shot dead on Sunday, he said.

However, there were conflicting reports as to whether some of the demonstrators may also have been armed.

"We are investigating the allegations of armed elements inside the demonstrations, as well as allegations of the disproportionate use of force by the army against civilians," Kella Kueth, an army spokesman, told Agence France Presse.

Protests began after officials said they would move the seat of local authority out from Wau, capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal state, to a nearby smaller settlement of Bagare.

Troops were sent in on Saturday to remove protestors blockading roads leading out of Wau, while U.N. peacekeepers had been shuttling between demonstrators and the army to try to calm both sides.

"A number of protestors fled to the cathedral where they took sanctuary," McDowall said, adding that the army later surrounded the building and had to be persuaded back to their barracks by the Bishop of Wau.

The situation was "still tense" on Sunday, with authorities issuing a curfew from dusk until dawn, McDowall added.

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, is awash with weapons after decades of war with Sudan, which it broke free from in July 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How long until the US is subjected to Kent State style protest control again?
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/10/2012 10:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Not long I suspect, but Kent State is not a very good example. They fellas that did the shooting thought they were being fired upon. An M1 Garand will shoot a long, long ways. If the campus police tell you to 'break it up and move along', it might be a good thing to do. It was a very nasty time.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 11:58 Comments || Top||

#3  The fellas that did the shooting thought they were being fired upon

This came out about two years ago. Not sure if it was ever debunked.

That said, it's safe to say the SPLA nowhere approaches the professional level of a 1960s National Guard unit.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Muslim conflicts
[Dawn] FROM the desert of the Sahel to the islands of the Pacific, Moslem peoples and states are today afflicted by conflicts and violence of varying dimensions and intensity.

The malicious myth propagated by Islam's adversaries is that Moslems are prone to violence due to their faith and culture.

'Islamic' terrorism, militancy and extremism are the only ones to have acquired a religious sobriquet. With this simplistic explanation for every situation of conflict and violence involving Moslems, it has become much easier to brush aside the legitimate interests and rights of Moslem states, nations and communities across the world.

It is thus essential to analyse the nature and causes of the current crises and conflicts in the Islamic world and point to the steps required to resolve them.

A first observation is that most Moslem conflicts are local. Whether in Cairo, Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
, Benghazi or Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, these conflicts arise mainly from local political, social and economic causes. Often, if unresolved, these conflicts intensify and extend beyond their original boundaries. Broadly, such 'local' conflicts can be placed in four categories: socioeconomic, ethnic, sectarian and externally imposed. Frequently, these categories overlap.

The Arab Spring and the dramatic political changes it propelled have been the most visible manifestations of indigenous socioeconomic revolt in the Arab and Moslem world for decades. Even after emerging from colonial and foreign rule or tutelage, common people in the Islamic world remained quiescent under unequal rule by elites.

The genie of rising popular expectations and demands, unleashed by growing inequality, poverty and injustice and the Internet, will be difficult to put back in the authoritarian bottle. Yet, such popular revolts, as evidenced by the history of almost all 'democratic' nations, also crystallise these fault lines in societies -- class, sect, ethnicity, political affinity -- yielding a period of turbulent transition.

The "revolution (often) eats its children". Its achievements can be reversed. Stability will only come to the countries of the Arab Spring through clear political direction and rapid economic growth.

Ethnic differences and diversity are another cause of the current conflicts within Moslem states. The Kurds, dispersed across Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, have remained a source of dispute and violence especially since the demise of the Ottoman Empire. The competing loyalties among the Pakhtuns, Baloch, Azeris and similar ethnic communities within and across Islamic states create difficulties in the governance of these states and complicate interstate relationships. These ethnic issues require equitable and wise domestic and regional solutions to be promoted by governments of the concerned states.

A third and disturbing cause of conflict in the Moslem world is growing sectarianism. The modern incidence of violence between the Sunni and Shia communities dates back to the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Soon after, the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, supported by ( Zia-ruled) Pakistain, the US, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
and others, saw the rise of Sunni militancy.

The years after the end of the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan witnessed the first round of Sunni-Shia violence in Pakistain, mostly financed and sponsored by outside powers. Pakistain remains afflicted by this menace of sectarian violence. But the sectarian divide has now emerged as a strategic issue, with implications that go well beyond the Moslem world.

Today, Shia 'power', wielded by Iran, Iraq, Alawite Syria and Hezbollah in Leb is ranged against Sunni states -- Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt -- in the battle for Syria. The latter are supported by the US and Europe. The outcome will determine the balance of power in West Asia. This sectarian contest obviously has further weakened the ability of Moslem states to promote pan-Islamic objectives.

These pan-Islamic objectives would normally be to protect and promote Moslem communities and groups which face discrimination, oppression and violence from non-Moslem sources. The most celebrated Islamic cause is to restore the legitimate rights of the Paleostinian people and secure Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including (East) Jerusalem. Due to internal fissures and weaknesses, the ability of the Arab and Islamic world to secure this 'sacred' goal in Paleostine and Al Quds has progressively declined.

Inevitably, the political space has been increasingly occupied by bully boyz on both sides, neither of which wants the internationally prescribed two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The recent Gazoo skirmish may presage a wider conflict which may draw in not only the West Bank Paleostinians but also neighbouring Arab states.

Two decades ago, the cause of Kashmire used to enjoy equal billing with Paleostine on the Islamic agenda. Today, not even Pakistain mentions the 'K' word in its speeches at the UN. Yet, Kashmire will continue to see violence because of the refusal of its people to accept Indian rule and inevitably force itself on the Islamic and Pak agendas.

There are several other situations of Moslems being oppressed in non-Moslem states, most recently the Rohingyas in Myanmar. The Islamic countries have yet to develop effective diplomatic mechanisms to offer aid and protection to such oppressed Moslem minorities in non-Moslem states.

The creation of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda was the violent response of Arab and Moslem bully boyz to the perceived injustices against Moslem people, especially by the West. Al Qaeda proclaimed a global and anti-Western campaign and perpetrated the 9/11 atrocity. It also was provided the 'opportunity' to fight Western armies close to home -- in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But most of Al Qaeda's violence has been directed against fellow Moslems, especially in Pakistain, but also in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and now in Mali. Worse yet, Al Qaeda's actions and pronouncements have been utilised by adversaries to portray every Moslem militancy as terrorism. Thus, all Kashmiri jihad boy groups have been depicted as terrorists, although most of them did not have affiliations with Al Qaeda.

However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
it is clear that such 'labelling' is expedient for the West (also known as the "international community"). Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
and most Taliban leaders and groups were placed on the US and Security Council 'terrorism list'. Once it was clear that negotiations would be needed with them, a concerted effort was made to take 'cooperative' Taliban off the list. Since the Haqqani 'network' is seen to be non-cooperative, it has been recently placed on the terrorism list. Pakistain was asked in the past to kill or capture the Afghan Taliban leadership; now it is being asked to release them to expedite negotiations.

Some general conclusions can be drawn from this analysis. First, economic and social development is essential to resolve most Moslem conflicts and must be the first priority. Second, a much greater effort is required to explain and project the real nature and causes of various 'local' conflicts. These should not be allowed to be tarred with the Al Qaeda brush.

Third, Moslem states need to overcome the sectarian and ethnic divisions which will further weaken them, individually and collectively. Fourth, external (non-Moslem) intervention or involvement in a Moslem conflict is unlikely to prove positive in the long term. Solutions would be best promoted by the concerned Moslem parties themselves. Finally, the Islamic Conference (OIC) must be awakened from its slumber to serve its prescribed role as the vehicle for Islamic cooperation.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are a lot of Moslems shooting and knifing and blowing up other Moslems. Its all a coincidence right? They all really love each other? Yes, of course. Syria and Egypt show the Religion of Peices in sharp outline....the True Faith dedicated to a slice and a gut cut.

Maybe we should sell these nice people of the True Faith some obsolete weapons, something about forty years old at the back of the warehouse? Pat them on the back and say go git 'em.

It couldn't happen to nicer people.
Watch where you spit.

If the Moslems ever start getting peaceful, we can always poke 'em with a stick.
Posted by: Threater Flusoper9823 || 12/10/2012 4:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The only people Mooselims prefer killing more than Jews add Christian infidels, are each other.
Posted by: RJ45ACP || 12/10/2012 22:13 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Ohio, Virginia eye proposals for more proportional split of electoral votes
[Washington Times] Officials in Virginia and Ohio, once reliably red states that have gone for President B.O. in the past two elections, have discussed the idea of apportioning their electoral votes by congressional district -- a system some say would more accurately reflect the will of the states' voters but one that others dismiss as an unnecessary political ploy.

The talks come as demographic shifts have pushed the GOP's reliable bastions to more exurban and rural areas, allowing Democrats to win such states by sufficiently running up their margins in a comparatively small number of densely-populated cities and counties.

To that end, Virginia state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., Grayson Republican, has introduced a bill that would award one electoral vote to the winner of each of the state's 11 congressional districts, and the state's two at-large votes to the candidate that wins the majority of the districts.

Mr. Carrico cited the results in the southwestern 9th Congessional District -- where Willard Mitt Romney
...former governor of Massachussetts, the Publican nominee for president in 2012. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney has a record as a successful businessman, heading Bain Capital, and he rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from the midst of bribery and mismanagement scandals....
won 63 percent of the vote -- as part of the reason he introduced the bill.

"People in my district -- they feel discouraged by coming out because their votes don't mean anything if they're outvoted in metropolitan districts," Mr. Carrico said. "It can go either way -- it doesn't necessarily mean that one political party is going to be favored over another. When they come out to vote, they know their vote counts instead of a winner-take-all. I'd love to see other states to do this because I don't feel the Electoral College right now is a fair system."

To Mr. Carrico's point, Mr. Obama won a slightly higher percentage of Virginia's vote in 2008 than President George W. Bush did in 2000 -- 52.62 percent to 52.47 percent -- but won just 48 of the state's 134 localities, compared to Mr. Bush's 104. He won even fewer this year -- 46 -- but still carried the state with 51 percent of the vote.

Under Mr. Carrico's proposal, Mitt Romney would have won nine electoral votes to Mr. Obama's four, as Democrats are largely clustered in the state's population hubs of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 had been the last Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia before Mr. Obama broke through in 2008.

Forty-eight states, plus the District of Columbia, use winner-take-all systems to distribute their electoral votes. In Nebraska and Maine, each district gets one vote and the statewide winner receives two at-large votes. In 2008, Mr. Obama actually benefitted from the quirk, picking up an extra vote by winning Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District by 3,000 votes -- marking the only time in history that either of the two states have not awarded all their votes to one candidate.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...then there is no need for the states. When the money crunch does hit, why keep around a redundant level of government given all the dictation 'direction' from the Beltway.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Some of the oldest states have the worst state government. Some of the younger ones have not learned all the bad habits yet. Take it for what it's worth...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/10/2012 11:28 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Conspiracies against MQM still taking place: Farooq Sattar
[Dawn] Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Dr Farooq Sattar said the delimitation of constituencies is an attempt to rob the vote bank of the party, DawnNews reported. He said that the MQM will not allow this conspiracy to succeed.

Speaking during a speech commemorating 'Martyrs Day', Dr Farooq Sattar said that 1992 was the biggest trial for the MQM.

"Over 15,000 workers were martyred... Forget about punishment, not a single murderer has ever been tossed in the slammer
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
," he said.

Farooq Sattar said that they are ready to make sacrifices for peace in the country and that they will never bow down before any oppressors.

While paying tribute to the sacrifices of deaders, he said that they will strive to make Pakistain the nation Quaid-e-Azam wanted it to be.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Arabs Offer Palestinians $100m A Month
[Ynet] Arab states agree to provide Paleostinian Authority with $100 million monthly 'financial safety net' after Israel freezes tax payments
Promises are easy, especially in that part of the world. This promise wouldn't have been needed, though, if any of the previous ones had been kept.
Arab states agreed to provide the Paleostinian Authority with a $100 million monthly "financial safety net" to help President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
's government cope with an economic crisis after the United Nations
...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least...
granted de facto statehood to Paleostine.

Israel has responded to the Nov. 29 UN vote by ordering 3,000 Jewish settler homes be built in the West Bank and announced it would hold back payments of customs duties it collects on behalf of the Paleostinians to pay an outstanding electricity bill.

In a statement issued on Sunday after a meeting in Doha, Arab foreign ministers called for the "immediate implementation" of a resolution passed at an Arab summit in Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
in March, which called for the provision of a $100 million monthly safety net.

But the statement did not give details of how the money would be paid or who would pay.
Prob'ly because there aren't any.
Israel and the United States opposed the UN General Assembly's upgrade of the Paleostinians' status to "non-member state", saying Abbas should instead resume peace talks that collapsed in 2010 over Israeli settlement-building.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund said in September that a gathering crisis in the Paleostinian economy will worsen unless foreign funding increases and Israel eases long-standing curbs on development.

In a separate report, the World Bank also forecast a $1.5 billion Paleostinian budget deficit for 2012, with donor funds expected to cover only $1.14 billion of this shortfall.

Last Thursday, the Paleostinian cabinet said at a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah that $240 million were needed every month to meet demands arising from the Israeli decision to stop customs revenues transfers and the failure of donors to transfer previously pledged funds.

The Paleostinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank and receives most of its aid from the United States, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and Arab states.

But over the past several years there has been a shortfall in aid coming from Arab states resulting in the PA being unable to pay salaries to its 153,000 civil servants on time on several occasions. The administration has yet to pay November salaries following Israel's decision to withhold money transfers.

The Arab ministers also called for convening of a donors conference to discuss ways to support the Paleostinian people in the West Bank and discuss reconstruction in the Gazoo Strip.

Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, pledged $400 million to help develop Gazoo during a visit there in October. But recent fighting between Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers and Israel has caused further destruction to the territory, requiring more funds for reconstruction.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  The answer is simple. Instead of relying on the Israeli Shekel, Palestine should, as a newly minted UN state have its own currency. Then Palestine can run its printing presses 24/7 and they will never be short again. Print to eternity I say.
And Allan knows best.
Posted by: tipper || 12/10/2012 13:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Qatar's ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, pledged $400 million to help develop Gazoo during a visit there in October.

Rumor is that this was a 'thank you' to Hamas for abandoning Assad. Of course this is a pledge so the money will be dribbled out slowly.
Posted by: lord garth || 12/10/2012 15:46 Comments || Top||

#3  they already tried faking that once, tipper. they claimed there was a "palestinian pound" as a way of legitimizing their history.
Posted by: American Delight || 12/10/2012 19:58 Comments || Top||

#4  IOW, will Qatar, etc. end up paying Egypt US$400.00 Milyuhn since Gaza is Egyptian territory, + Cairo has not + is NOT willing to hand it over to the Paleos likely for a long long while yet - DITTO AS PER JORDAN + WEST BANK???

"PA" = NATIONAL/SOVEREIGN PALEO GOVT WID NO PHYSICAL NATION = ACTUAL TERRITORY TO CALL ITS OWN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 20:26 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Terror strikes roads
[Bangla Daily Star] Even before the sun broke through the winter fog, thousands of BNP and Jamaat activists took absolute control of Dhaka's entry points yesterday and went on the rampage, bashing and torching vehicles, and sending terror down the spine of city dwellers.

At least two people were killed during the violence. A Jamaat activist died in Sirajganj town during a clash with Awami League activists. In Dhaka's Sutrapur, a tailor died in the beating by Chhatra League
... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ...
activists who mistook him for a blockader.

The opposition has called for a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal
... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ...
tomorrow and demonstrations today protesting what they said government sabotage of their blockade programme.

The BNP activists emboldened by their Jamaat and Shibir allies, overran a few ruling Awami League activists who tried feebly to resist the blockaders. The Awami League activists had firearms with them, but in most cases they tuck their tails and bravely ran away. The law enforcement agencies mostly remained silent spectators, as if in a truce with the rampaging activists.

Later, the Awami League activists made a comeback with the protection of police and chased and beat up the blockaders. In some areas, opposition activists engaged in festivities with police and ruling party men.

In one terror strike, the blockaders threw a Molotov cocktail from an under-construction building on a police patrol car on Panthapath in the capital. The car went up in flames and three coppers were maimed.

The city took a deserted look and hardly any vehicles plied the streets as the blockade turned into something tougher than hartal.

Some of the violent incidents had the telltale signs of the recent Shibir attacks. The blockaders came out of alleys very early in the morning, vandalised and torched vehicles in their blitzkrieg attacks and then vanished. Vehicles parked in front of hospitals and even inside residences were not spared in some cases.

Clashes between blockaders, ruling party men and law enforcers took place in and around the capital and other places in the country. More than 70 homemade bombs went off, around 50 vehicles were torched, including five police vehicles, and over 150 others were vandalised yesterday.

At least 250 people and 40 coppers were maimed.

There were reports of festivities in Sirajganj, Narayanganj, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Lalmonirhat and Laxmipur.

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam, however, termed the violence a government sabotage.

At a presser at party's central office at Nayapaltan, he claimed, "Four people were killed, 665 were tossed in the clink
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
and over 600 were maimed across the country."

However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
Assistant Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Gazi Rabiul Islam said 162 people were arrested in connection with the violence.

BNP's national standing committee and the 18-party alliance last night sat at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
's Gulshan office to decide their next course of action.

Fakhrul disclosed their decision on the hartal after the meeting and said it was called to protest the government's effort to obstruct yesterday's blockade.

He said they would stage demonstrations today as well.

The BNP-led 18-party alliance on November 29 called the blockade from 6:00am to 2:00pm yesterday for detaching the capital form the rest of the country to press home their demands. Their demands include restoration of the caretaker government system to oversee the next parliamentary elections.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hariri Urges Tripoli Residents to 'Show Solidarity to Foil Suspicious Plots'
[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday telephoned Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji and Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, urging military and security forces to “shoulder their responsibilities in order to stop the security deterioration and impose state authority” in the violence-hit city of Tripoli.

Hariri called for “putting an end, once and for all, to the cycle of violence that some parties want to drag the capital of the North into,” according to a statement issued by the ex-PM's press office.

The opposition leader urged “extraordinary and strict measures against anyone violating the city's security or plotting against its safety and coexistence.”

Hariri called on the city's residents to “close ranks and show solidarity in order to foil the suspicious plots that are well-known by everyone, especially state authorities who we do not believe are unaware of what's happening in Tripoli and of the operations of arming parties tasked with organizing violence rounds every now and then.”

The ex-PM urged Tripoli's residents and dignitaries, “especially those who live in neighborhoods affected by the clashes, to exercise self-restraint and patience in the face of what is being plotted against their city,” asking them to “cooperate with the relevant authorities, given that the state is the sanctuary that preserves the security of Tripoli and the safety of its people.”

Later on Sunday, Prime Minister Najib Miqati said in a Twitter message that state authorities “took clear measures that will materialize in the coming hours in Tripoli.”
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Arab League Hopes U.S., Russia Reconcile on Syria
[An Nahar] Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
chief Nabil al-Arabi hoped on Sunday that the United States and Russia could reconcile their views over Syria in order to facilitate a settlement of the crisis in the war-ravaged country.

"Talks between the United States and Russia along with the international envoy (Lakhdar Brahimi) continued in Geneva today," Arabi told a meeting of the Arab ministerial committee on Syria held in Doha.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Foster Dulles ...
on Thursday met her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Brahimi in Dublin.

Clinton said there had been no "great breakthrough" during those talks, but said there would be further meetings between officials.

Arabi said the aim of the U.S.-Russian talks was to "prepare a resolution for the (U.N.) Security Council" over the Syrian crisis.

"This resolution will send a clear message to the (Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
) regime that it is no longer protected."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336064 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Unregistered seminaries in Dir to face action
[Dawn] Operation Commander in Upper Dir district Brig Zaheer Malik on Saturday asked seminaries to get registered with Wafaqul Madaris by December 31, otherwise they would be sealed.

He was speaking at a jirga attended by MPA Anwar Khan, PPP's Arifullah Khan, JI district president Sahibzada Fasihullah, PML-N's Mohammad Nisar, JUI-F's Inamullah Khan, DCO Mohammad Ali Shah and DPO Ihsanullah Khan.

The commander warned that after Dec 31 unregistered religious schools would not be allowed to function. "Unregistered seminaries would be sealed," he told the jirga at Panakot near Dir town.

He said that Afghan nationals were not allowed to lead prayers at mosques or teach at madressahs, warning that action would be taken against anyone violating the order.

Mr Malik said that political parties would not be allowed to hold election rallies in some places in the region owing to security concerns. He said that all rallies and big political gatherings should be held at Dir Stadium where they would provide better security to the people.

Brig Malik asked the jirga to tell the people to hand over heavy weapons to the government. "People can keep Kalashnikov for their protection, but they should surrender heavy weapons because these are not for their personal use," he said.

He said that heavy weapons in the area could fall in the hands of snuffies and anti-state elements. Action would be taken against people keeping heavy weapons, he said. He added that the army was in the area to protect people against krazed killer attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They've been promising/threatening this for a while. The problem is, for the poor who want any sort of education for their children, the free, unregistered seminaries are the only option... or for the poor who can't afford to feed all the children they have, sending some of them off to these places at least gets them out of sight.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 13:26 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Report: Biden Booed At Army-Navy Game…
Biden reportedly confused, wants to know who this “Boo” guy is.

Posted by: Uncle Phester || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:

#1  POTUS-Relect Bammer + SecState Susan Rice? + post-Biden? African-Amer VPOTUS makes three - four iff the Speaker of the House or the Senate???

Again, 2013-2016 = POTUS Bammer second term may be the only opportunity for a long long while as per an all-Black US Admin, or in alternate a more realistic all-Black Top 3-5, plus vee the National Command Authority + US Constitution???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  They really shouldn't make fun of Slow Joe. It's rude to make fun of the mentally handicapped.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 12/10/2012 9:38 Comments || Top||

#3  I'll bet Plug's sons Hunter and Beau were very proud.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Good game. Felt bad for the Army QB.
Felt worse for America, seeing that doofus play at being VicePrez.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 15:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Allowing the cadets to boo at the VP while they are in uniform is bad form, no matter how much of an ass he is.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/10/2012 16:34 Comments || Top||


Cory Booker considering runs for N.J. governor, Senate
[CBS News] Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker did not skirt the question nor pause for a moment when asked if he had aspirations for higher office. Booker said he is considering running for either the New Jersey Senate seat or governor.

"I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration." Booker said on CBS News' "Face the Nation." He added that he is also considering a run for Senate.

Booker, should he be the Democratic nominee for governor, would run against current governor Chris Christie, who's approval ratings reached 67 percent in a Monmouth University poll last week.

Booker, however, said he needs to decide "in the next few weeks" if he is going to make the move. "[T]here are a lot of very good candidates for governor in New Jersey on the Democratic side and I have to give my party and be a part of my party's push forward, whether me as a candidate or supporting other candidates for that office."

If he instead chooses to run for Senate, it would be for current Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat. Lautenberg is the oldest sitting senator and would be 90 years old on Election Day in 2014, but he has not announced plans to retire.

Democrats consider Booker a rising star - a young African-American politician who has made national news for a range of reasons, including his efforts to turn around crime in his city and for running into a burning building to save a neighbor. He is also an avid conversationalist on Twitter, which led him to a food stamp challenge in which he is currently living off $30 dollars worth of food for one week, the amount the average 46 million food stamp recipients receive. He called it "very challenging."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cory Bootlicker more likely after his mea culpa for leaving the plantation
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 20:19 Comments || Top||


Is Rice really so bad?
The Republicans' opposition to Susan Rice's potentially becoming the next secretary of state is pretty hard to understand.

It wasn't long ago that Republicans were all for a different black woman named Condoleezza Rice taking the same job -- is the GOP just bigoted about the name Susan?

Republicans' stated objections to Rice make no sense. They complain that she's "dishonest" and "incompetent," to which she could easily respond, Well, duh, that's why I work for the government.
Frank J Fleming at his best....RTWT
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not so bad, but not good enough.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2012 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Iff the Bammer likes + wants Rice for post-Hillary SecState, he will nominate her irregardless of the critics.

AFAIK, by most accounts Hillary is not going to leave DepState until circa EOY 2013 anyway -"Susan/Susie" broadly then has most of an entire year to prove herself to her critics.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 0:31 Comments || Top||

#3  I don't see China backing down in ECS or SCS, + war agz Iran either next March or Summer 2013???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 0:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Really so bad? Yes. Go ask the Diplomad. He had to work with her.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 0:55 Comments || Top||

#5  A candidate for the top diplomatic post in the nation should be intelligent enough to identify a terrorist attack conducted against a US Diplomatic Mission. She either wasn't, or was party to a cover up. Both explanations disqualify Ms. Rice.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 2:18 Comments || Top||

#6  When you are made the point man, it's always understood that you may well get whacked. The real question is why the WH thought she was expendable as such or believed because of race/gender she is above questioning [real racism/sexism at work].
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:39 Comments || Top||

#7  She either wasn't, or was party to a cover up

Twice (Kenyan/Tanzania and Libya) and under two separate administrations.

The real question is why the WH thought she was expendable as such or believed because of race/gender she is above questioning [real racism/sexism at work]

More toward the latter, but mainly because she's been both a proverbial State Department insider and a reliable ideological hack.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/10/2012 12:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Rice is not the issue.

The issue is a White House cover up of a catastrophic diplomatic failure which resulted in the loss of American lives. Rejecting Rice's nomination (or potential nomination) is absolutely essential because any other action could be viewed as a sanction of the White House's actions.
Posted by: Iblis || 12/10/2012 14:48 Comments || Top||

#9  I reckon if we wish to see folks like Susan Rice rise to even higher positions of leadership and responsibility in gov't.... we could just let it slide. lblis is right, rejecting Rice is essential.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 14:54 Comments || Top||

#10  you might just as well blame Jamie Gorelick for the intel wall between the CIA and FBI before 9/11/01...oh wait....that date ...ummm....

nevermind
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 20:16 Comments || Top||

#11  Rice is not the issue.

She is an issue, all right. Just a separate one from the Benghazi cluster-foo.

(does this admin have anything besides issues?)
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 21:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Ummm, guyz?

It's Frank J.

Salt (and pepper, and mustard, and pickles) accordingly. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 12/10/2012 21:33 Comments || Top||

#13  Yeah, we know. But we're still outraged by the whole mess.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 21:38 Comments || Top||

#14  "was party to a cover up"

Isn't that the point of a diplomat?
Posted by: European Conservative || 12/10/2012 22:09 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Netanyahu Accuses Hamas of Calling for Israel's 'Destruction'
[VOA News] Last month's deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, faceless myrmidons in the Gazoo Strip may be over, but the war of words continues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the Islamic hard boy group Hamas, accusing its leader of calling for Israel's destruction at a mass rally Saturday in Gazoo.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel's Paleostinian enemies have proven once again that they are not interested in compromise.

He was referring to comments by Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, who returned to Gazoo on Friday after 45 years of exile. At a rally marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Meshaal vowed Hamas would fight until all of Paleostine, including the territory of the State of Israel, is liberated from the Jews.

He reiterated this position at speech Sunday in Gazoo. There will be "no concessions on a single inch of Paleostine," he declared. He said armed struggle would continue until the liberation of Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  As we learned the other day from Human Rights Watch (spit), it is not really a call for the destruction of Israel unless they actually destroy Israel.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/10/2012 14:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Again, the PA is a Govt. widout a Country = land or physical territory to call its own.

LAND WIDOUT A COUNTRY??

* ION WORLD NEWS > NETANYAHU: IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM [nuclear challenge] MUST BE CONFRONTED IN 2013.

No more iffs, ands, buts, or maybes.

* SAME > IRAN'S [nuclear] TIME BOMB IS NO LONGER HYPOTHETICAL.

Wehell, iff there is going to be de facto empowerment of Secession + "Civil War II" movement in Amerikka, the catalyst for such will occur this year vee "perfect storm" of crushing debt, domestic economic morass, OWG NAU, + foreign policy failures of defeats.

2014 = THE YEAR THAT US STATE GOVTS, NOT JUST INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS, CALL FOR SECESSION + DISUNION, because of what may or will happen in 2013???

Thats what Politicos get for thinking that "representative govt" = means hiding, waffling, + BS'ing the Electorate forever.
WHAT-CAN-NEVER-HAPPEN IS HAPPENING.

Lest we fergit, 9-11 + GWOT > WAR FOR OWG-NWO . WAR FOR ANTI-STATUS QUO = KEEP YOUR OBLIGATIONS, ETC. OR GET OUT OF THE WAY = IFF YOU DON'T CHANGE OR GET OUT OF THE WAY VOLUNTARILY, YOU WILL BE MOVED/SHOVED OUT OF THE WAY VIOLENTLY, EVEN MORTALLY.

1990's > America adopts Socialism, or America will be destroyed.

THE DEVIL MAY BE BAD, BUT GOD IS BADDER.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 23:42 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pakistan ready to assist Kabul in spy chief attack probe: FO
[Dawn] The Foreign Office hit back on Saturday at President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
's allegation that attack on the Afghan intelligence chief was planned in Pakistain, asking him to share proof before pointing fingers.

"Before levelling charges the Afghan government would do well if they shared information or evidence with the government of Pakistain that they might have with regard to the cowardly attack on the head of NDS," the FO front man said.

Asadullah Khalid, chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was critically injured when a jacket wallah posing as a Taliban emissary went kaboom!" at a guest house in Kabul during a meeting with him on Thursday.

President Hamid Karzai told newsmen in Kabul earlier during the day that the attacker had come from Quetta and that he would take up the issue with the Pak authorities.

Mr Karzai did not directly accuse the ISI, but said "the attack was a very sophisticated and complicated act by a professional intelligence service".

The front man added the Pakistain government was ready to assist in any investigation into this criminal act. Pakistain had earlier condemned the attack on Mr Khalid.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with him. We hope for his early recovery," the FO had said in the condemnation message.

The Foreign Office front man expressed fears that the goodwill created by steps taken by Pakistain to assist in the reconciliation process would be lost because of the incident. He, however, added that the Pakistain government remained committed to supporting the grinding of the peace processor.

The Foreign Office asked Mr Karzai to find out how the bomber managed to get so close to the intelligence chief, implying that there was a security failure on part of the Afghan authorities.

"They would also do well by ordering an investigation into any lapses in the security arrangements around the NDS chief."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "Assist" - it should be in sneer quotes.
Posted by: mojo || 12/10/2012 17:01 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuelan army vows "full loyalty" to President Chavez
[El Universal] Venezuelan Defense Minister Diego Mollero Bellavia voiced solidarity with His Excellency President-for-Life, Caudillo of the Bolivarians Hugo Chavez in a blurb.

"We are positive that you will go out victorious from this fight, impregnated with your people's love, who deem you, rather than president, as a brother, a friend, a father, and the indisputable leader of the socialist and Bolivarian revolution," reads the text cited by state-run news agency
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
AVN.

"This is just another battle that you will win," the minister said.

In the communique, Mollero Bellavia stressed the army "full loyalty" to the people and the government led by President Chavez.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Yup. Loyal to the end,( Which is near)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/10/2012 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Hugo who?
Posted by: Angaviter McGurque6446 || 12/10/2012 20:04 Comments || Top||

#3  lost my cookie apparently
Posted by: Frank G || 12/10/2012 20:05 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Proposal for global regulation of web
[FT] An unexpected new proposal for international regulation of the internet drew warnings over the weekend of a spread of online censorship and left a global conference on the issue on the edge of collapse.
Y'see, the internet is entirely too wild and wooly. Sombody's gotta be in charge!
The deep divisions over treatment of the internet came after a group of Arab states put forward a plan late on Friday that would require countries around the world to explicitly regulate internet companies.
So don't even think about making fun of the Profit (PTUI!)...
The proposal, made at a conference in Dubai to agree a new international telecoms treaty, has also won the backing of Russia and China, along with a group of other countries.
"Da, da! Can't have counterrevolutionaries... erm... forces of anarchy undermining stability!"
The pitch for direct regulation came as an unwelcome surprise to delegations from the US and other countries that have supported the current light system of regulation for the internet.
Just a few days ago they were saying this sort of thing wasn't gonna happen...
"The conference has been hijacked by a group of countries that want to extend regulation of the internet," said one person familiar with the US position. "This is completely unacceptable to the US point of view."
"If they take over it'll be no more dirty pictures, you betcha!"
Although countries are already free to impose national regulations, the US and its allies argue that enshrining the approach in a treaty would extend international legitimacy to repressive regimes that want to limit internet communications, while also making it easier for countries to co-operate on censorship and other restrictive practices.
If "regulating" the internet is a prerogative of governments, then the UN, as the world's sooper-dooper übergovernment, should be in overall charge. That means a new bureaucracy, by Gosh and by Goo.
Tariq al-Awadhi, head of the Arab states delegation, said that it made sense for internet companies to be included in the regulations since this would help force them to work together with network operators. "They need to come to commercial agreements with one another anyway," he said.
"Tut tut! A mere minor adjustment to procedures already in place. Nothing to get worked up about!"
A number of countries in the Arab world and in Africa have argued that internet companies should hand over more of their revenues to the communications networks that carry their traffic in other countries.
"They gotta be allowed to wet their beaks, too! It's just basic fairness!"
Traffic agreements are currently reached through direct negotiations between internet and network companies, an approach that the US maintains already allows for rates to be set at a fair level.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bp proposes global removal of web regulators.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/10/2012 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Russia backs out:

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Russia-led coalition on Monday withdrew a proposal to give governments new powers over the Internet, a plan opposed by Western countries in talks on a new global telecom treaty.

An ITU spokesman said this plan had now been scrapped.

"It looks like the Russians and Chinese overplayed their hand," said American cyber security expert Jim Lewis of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S. ambassador Terry Kramer welcomed the decision to withdraw the Russia-led plan. But he also said: "These issues will continue to be on the table for discussion in other forms during the remainder of the conference."

China, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had co-signed the aborted proposal. The UAE insisted the document had not been withdrawn.

"It may come down to the wire," said a Western delegate on condition of anonymity. "There are a lot of other (similar) proposals so I don't think this represents a substantial conclusion and could be just maneuvering."

The ITU usually takes decisions by consensus, but the intransigence of both sides means it could come to a vote in which the United States and its allies might be in the minority.

Russia and its allies have insisted they need new powers to fight cyber crime and protect networks.

Countries can opt out of parts of the revised treaty when it is finalized or even refuse to sign it

The talks are due to end on Friday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/10/2012 18:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Methinks the Fed would have to nationalize the Net first ...

Oh wait, that what Critics say the Bammer is doing - OOOOOOOPPPPSSS, my bad.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/10/2012 23:54 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Police Called When Crowd Signing Up For Housing List Gets 'Out Of Control'
[10TV] Columbus, Ohio, police sprayed Mace on several people in a crowd that had gathered to sign up for a list to get subsidized housing at a northwest Columbus apartment complex.
Y'can't expect Obamaphone users to go without a subsidized roof over their heads, can ya?
Police said the crowd started to gather Friday night for the Saturday morning event at The Heritage apartment complex on Gatewood Road near Sunbury Road in northeast Columbus.

Authorities said that its highest number, the crowd reached 2,000 people.

Residents in the area called police overnight and complained about the noise and number of cars in the neighborhood.

According to police, a melee broke out when the manager of the complex started to set up for the event just before 7 a.m. Saturday morning.

Several individuals were sprayed with Mace by police and treated at the scene by emergency crews.

Police did not report making any arrests.
Apparently being sprayed with Mace was its own reward...
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Startin' to get cold up Ohio way...
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/10/2012 6:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't know how you spell your own name, ed, but Texas is always capitalized.
Posted by: gromky || 12/10/2012 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Police warnings and instructions apparently went unheeded and chemicals were used. Strangely (to some possibly) no arrests were made. Civility whilst queuing up will be the first thing to go. I believe I read it here over a year ago.

Special note: Save the video Kashandra, there may be some future disability benefit(s) to victims of racist police, chemical usage.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/10/2012 8:08 Comments || Top||

#4  It looks like a lot of refugees that have been continuously relocated in Columbus. Queuing is not a universal/natural trait. Listen to the narrative about the number of cars which filled the parking lot and flooded over to the residential streets. Only in America, the 'poor' have cars by the boatload.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Not enough free stuff to go around? Better raise taxes on the rich.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/10/2012 11:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Looks like The Heritage may be getting a new name soon. Something like Little Mogadishu or Somaliatown...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/10/2012 17:55 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Ghana election: John Mahama declared winner
[BBC.CO.UK] Ghana's presidential election has been won by incumbent President John Mahama, the electoral commission has announced.

The announcement came hours after the opposition accused the governing party of conspiring with commission staff to fix Friday's poll.

Police in the capital Accra fired tear gas to disperse opposition protesters from outside the commission's offices.

The electoral commission said that Mr Mahama had won 50.7% against his NPP rival Nana Akufo-Addo on 47.74%.

"Ladies and gentlemen, based on the results given, I declare John Dramani Mahama president-elect," electoral commission chief Kwadwo Afari-Gyan told journalists.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
F-16 engines stolen from an Israeli base again
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "suspect the engines were stolen with inside help"
Really? Ya think? They weigh 2 tons a piece crated.
The notion that they're going to sold for scrap is laughable, unless the meaning is that a scrap dealer is going to smuggle them out.
Posted by: ed in texas || 12/10/2012 7:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe we'll see a jet engine track in Israel.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/10/2012 7:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Anybody check Ebay?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/10/2012 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  ..or Mythbusters?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/10/2012 8:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Off to the "secret spares" warehouse.
Posted by: mojo || 12/10/2012 10:42 Comments || Top||

#6  but why would China want F-16 engines?
Posted by: newc || 12/10/2012 10:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Oopsies! Don't you hate it when that happens?
Posted by: gorb || 12/10/2012 12:08 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aoun: We Don't Wish to See Syria Dominated by Takfirist Groups
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
leader MP Michel Aoun
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
on Sunday called on the Lebanese parties to distance themselves from the Syrian conflict, amid deadly Syria-linked festivities in the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
"We must distance ourselves from the conflict in Syria and we don't wish to see it ruled by takfir
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
ist groups," said Aoun during a meeting with a group of dentists who won the elections of the Lebanese Dental Association earlier in the day.

"The Arab Spring is not a spring because of the chaos that happened and this 'creative chaos' is what the Americans had promised us," Aoun added.

But he noted that "we have benefited from the 1970s experience and we will not repeat the mistake."

"We don't wish to see Syria being dominated by takfirist groups," said Aoun.

"We must distance ourselves from the events in Syria to avoid being dragged into the conflict and some parties are not abiding by that," he added.

Sectarian festivities linked to the 21-month conflict in Syria killed six people and maimed 40 in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday.

The latest fighting in the city between Sunni Mohammedans and Alawite co-religionists of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
came amid growing international concern about the potential for neighboring countries to be dragged into the conflict.

Sunni residents of the port city's Bab al-Tabbaneh district exchanged machinegun and rocket fire with Alawite residents of the neighboring Jabal Mohsen district leaving three members of each community dead.

The latest deaths brought the toll from fighting in the city since Tuesday to 19, including two children.

Longstanding tensions in Tripoli escalated when 22 Sunnis from the Tripoli area who had crossed into Syria to join the armed rebellion against Assad's rule were ambushed by troops in the town of Tall Kalakh on November 30.

Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
later agreed to repatriate the bodies at the request of the Lebanese foreign ministry, and on Sunday the corpses of three of the slain fighters were received at the Arida border crossing.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  All the clashes are Denocracy Versus Sharia Law.

What do the muslims want?

The elders want sharia law,the youngsters want democracy imo.
Posted by: Flineger Elmilet5035 || 12/10/2012 8:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Qatar Urges Arab Peace Offer Review, Brands Quartet Failure
[An Nahar] Qatar called Sunday at an Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
ministerial meeting for a rethink of an Arab offer of normal ties with Israel in return for its pullout from occupied land and branded the international Quartet
... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
a failure.

"It is logical after 10 years to objectively reconsider the grinding of the peace processor, including the Arab initiative," said Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, the country's prime minister.

He called for a "thorough look into developments in the region and the world, and to decide carefully on our future steps and roadmap."

Sheikh Hamad, who heads an Arab League follow-up committee, said the initiative tabled in 2002 by Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
and endorsed by the vaporous Arab League "will not be on offer for ever."

The League has proposed a normalization with the Jewish state in return for its pullout from occupied lands, notably the Paleostinian territories.

Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...
, for his part, told the meeting in Doha that he was opposed to a withdrawal of the offer, warning that it could lead to regional conflict.

"It is not permissible to talk about sidelining the Arab peace initiative. It should stay," he said. "It is a very important initiative, and I hope that we would not every time talk about shelving it, because that would mean war.

"Are we ready for war? Personally, I say I am not," he added.

The Qatari premier also criticized the diplomatic Quartet for Middle East peace comprising Washington, Moscow, Brussels and the U.N. which he said had "proven to be a failure and unable to make any achievements."

He called for a "reevaluation of its performance."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels on Sunday seized control of a sector of Sheikh Suleiman base west of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, bringing them closer to holding a large swathe of territory extending to the Turkish border in the north.

The rebels took control of Regiment 111 and three other company posts located inside the base after fierce fighting overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Two rebels and one soldier were killed, while five soldiers were captured. The prisoners said that 140 of their men had fled to the scientific research center on the base," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Sheikh Suleiman sprawls over nearly 200 hectares (500 acres) of rocky hills about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Aleppo city, an area now almost completely under rebel control.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, 10 were reported killed in regime shelling of the town of Maraayan, while five civilians, including a child, were killed as Ahsam village in Idlib province was shelled, the Observatory said.

The watchdog also reported festivities around the Wadi Daif military base, which rebels have been trying to take since seizing the nearby town of Maaret al-Numan two months ago.

The Observatory said the Syrian army clashed with rebels in the capital's southern Qadam neighborhood and on the southern and northeast outskirts of Damascus
...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy...
, pressing ahead with its bombardment of rebel-held towns.

Activists posted an Internet video of a large fire in the Port Said area" of Qadam. "The (rebel) Free (Syrian) Army hit the checkpoints," the cameraman says, as machine gunfire is heard in the background.

The military has for several days bombarded rebel strongholds in the suburbs from ground and air, raising fears of a looming ground assault by the army to try to establish a secure cordon around the capital.

The Observatory, which relies on a countrywide network of activists and medics, gave an initial toll of 41 people killed nationwide on Sunday, including 19 civilians.

In all, more than 42,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
's rule erupted in March last year, according to the Observatory's figures.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  The Chunk with the Chemical Weapons? Or the chunk with nothing but chunks?
Posted by: Charles || 12/10/2012 19:11 Comments || Top||


Africa North
EU to offer Mali another $26m
[Bangla Daily Star] The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
yesterday said it would offer another 20 million euros ($26 million) in humanitarian aid for Mali, bringing the total to 101 million euros to help the country cope with the fallout from the loss of control of the north to Islamist rebel forces.

A European Commission statement said the new funding will "boost the relief effort in all parts of Mali, particularly in the North, as well as in neighbouring countries to which Malian refugees have fled."
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Dine

#1  Why not just offer a bounty of 20 million euros to whoever will kill the most Islamist rebel forces?

You'd get a better return on the investment.
Posted by: American Delight || 12/10/2012 19:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Ex-UC nazim gunned down
[Dawn] A former union council nazim
...small time big shot, the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council...
and activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) was bumped off in Nazimabad on Saturday, police said.

The officials added that 42-year-old Intisar Alvi was targeted at a roadside restaurant in the Jehangirabad area within the remit of the Rizvia cop shoppe.

As the investigation was under way, the police were not yet clear if the motive for the targeted attack was sectarian or political.

"There are different eyewitness accounts and we are investigating each of them," said Rustam Khattak, the area's deputy superintendent of police.

"A couple of people saw only two attackers riding a cycle of violence, while a few others said there were four men riding two
motorbikes."

The officer said that one of the riders got off the bike and fired at Mr Alvi before fleeing.

The victim sustained three bullet wounds and was struck down in his prime, the police said.

"While it's definitely a targeted attack, investigations are in a very early phase and it will not be appropriate to rely on speculation," said DSP Khattak.

Backed by the MQM, he was elected UC Nazim in the non-party local government elections in 2005, the police said. They added that the victim was a resident of Peetal Gali near Gulbahar.

'Family feud' claims life

A young man was rubbed out in Gulshan-e-Maymar, police said.

They added that 37-year-old Ali Gul Brohi was buying cigarettes from a roadside stall near Chawal Godam, off the Superhighway, when two men riding a motorbike pulled up and one of them fired at him.

"The victim originally hailed from Qambar-Shahdadkot and was residing in Essa Brohi Goth in Gadap Town," said an official at the Gulshan-e-Maymar cop shoppe. "The killing is part of an old family feud," he said.

Bodies found

The bodies of two yound men were found in different areas on Saturday, police said.

An official at the Malir Cantt cop shoppe said that a man wearing black shalwar kameez was found rubbed out on a link road connecting Saadi Town with Malir Cantt.

The body of another young man was found near a government primary school in the Ramswami area within the remit of the Nabi Bukhsh cop shoppe.
Posted by: Fred || 12/10/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336063 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
46[untagged]
5Govt of Syria
3Palestinian Authority
3Govt of Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Hamas
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Ansar Dine
1Commies
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Govt of Iran

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On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2012-12-10
  Rebels Seize Chunk of Aleppo Base as Fighting Rages across Syria
Sun 2012-12-09
  Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Sat 2012-12-08
  Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti Drone-zapped During Breakfast
Fri 2012-12-07
  6 dead, 450 injured in clashes at Egypt's presidential palace
Thu 2012-12-06
  Two Dead as Egypt Islamists Overrun Opposition Tents
Wed 2012-12-05
  Hundreds of thousands besiege Egypt's presidential palace to protest draft constitution
Tue 2012-12-04
  Syria FM Spokesman 'Defects' from Regime, Leaves Syria
Mon 2012-12-03
  Car bomb in Syria's Homs kills 15: State media
Sun 2012-12-02
  Mullah Nazir orders out Mehsud Taliban fighters
Sat 2012-12-01
  Egypt assembly approves new draft constitution
Fri 2012-11-30
  Damascus fighting cuts off airport, Emirates suspends flights
Thu 2012-11-29
  Bomb injures top Talibunny Mullah Nazir
Wed 2012-11-28
  Packed Tahrir Square defiant as deadlock prevails
Tue 2012-11-27
  30 Inmates Escape as Gunmen Attack Nigerian Police Unit
Mon 2012-11-26
  Syrian Rebels Claim Capture of Helicopter Base Near Damascus

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
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