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US embassy security chief gunned down in Yemen
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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15 21:18 Bill Clinton [8] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
11 19:52 Raider [10]
7 15:50 Mullah Richard [7]
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1 06:17 American Delight [1]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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1 12:57 Omerelet Spaique1766 [9]
4 23:19 Grunter [5]
1 06:26 American Delight [2]
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1 05:47 Mike Kozlowski [3]
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Page 4: Opinion
2 18:35 DarthVader [1]
4 23:27 Eric Jablow [5]
5 19:32 Raj [6]
3 12:23 Procopius2k [5]
3 08:05 Perfesser [1]
12 17:40 Black Bart Hapsburg9135 [7]
7 16:55 Procopius2k [1]
Page 6: Politix
6 22:05 Glenmore [4]
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7 22:43 lord garth [3]
10 23:09 Secret Asian Man [4]
14 20:31 rjschwarz [6]
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3 17:46 lotp []
4 17:32 JohnQC [1]
8 20:40 Unang Omeans6347 [10]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
IRS sez tax avoidance at the heart Solyndra bankruptcy
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/11/2012 08:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But the IRS said in court papers that there was little reason for the shell company to exist other than to help the owners avoid taxes. Argonaut is the investment arm of a family foundation headed by Oklahoma businessman George Kaiser, a fundraiser for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

I'll just cut to the chase for the rest of the readers here...
Posted by: Raj || 10/11/2012 19:25 Comments || Top||


Runaway UK teacher charged with child abduction
[France24] Jeremy Forrest, a British mathematics teacher who fled to France last month with a 15-year-old pupil, was charged with child abduction on Wednesday after he was extradited back to the UK.
Posted by: Fred || 10/11/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


-Obits-
SGM Basil L. Plumley "We Were Soldiers" LZ X-Ray
"If any of you sons of bitches calls me grandpa, I'll kill you". Sam Elliot as SGM Plumley
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/11/2012 09:23 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another quote from the movie:
[Plumley hands Galloway an M-16 and several magazines.]
Joe Galloway: Uh, sir? I-I'm a noncombatant, sir.
Plumley: Ain't no such thing today, boy.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/11/2012 11:17 Comments || Top||

#2  When asked why he was not carrying an M16," Son, if I need an M16 there will be plenty lying around to use."
Rough quote.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/11/2012 11:33 Comments || Top||

#3  I think to remind at the beginning his character wears the Medal of Honor but his bio doesn't list it.
Posted by: JFM || 10/11/2012 11:54 Comments || Top||

#4  RIP
Posted by: Hellfish || 10/11/2012 12:00 Comments || Top||

#5  a stud and a hero
Posted by: Frank G || 10/11/2012 12:30 Comments || Top||

#6  I cannot remember the beginning well enough to comment on that, but here @ comment 16:

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=32328#comments

Someone spent the time to put together the list of decorations; and defer to the professionals here or elsewhere accuracy.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/11/2012 14:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Most SGM are like him. Gruff, blunt but effective. Ours lived on coffee and hate. But they took care of you and made damn sure you had enough beans and bullets to do your job.

A line from the move was most like one I met in the service:

"Good day, Sergent Major!"

"How do you know what kind of goddamn day it is?"
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/11/2012 14:25 Comments || Top||

#8  "Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves!"
Posted by: mojo || 10/11/2012 16:36 Comments || Top||

#9  These men didn't like glaring attention. They just hated evil, and they took it out on the devil at every opportunity.

Satan is breathing as sigh of relief.
Posted by: Shavimble B. Hayes9890 || 10/11/2012 16:49 Comments || Top||

#10  I had a 1SGT who jumped into Normandy with the 82nd. He chewed tobacco and smoked cigars at the same time and spent a year wiping my butter bar ass while I learned from him.

I also had a SGM who was so tough even the Bn CO called him sir...tough old SOB was a dead shot with anything that shot bullets and he knew his wines too.

If you haven't read Moore's book "We were Soldiers Once and Young" you are missing a real treat.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/11/2012 17:24 Comments || Top||

#11  He chewed tobacco and smoked cigars at the same time

An old fella from that era I knew chewed tobacco, smoked a pipe and drank hot coffee at the same time... for breakfast.
Posted by: Thoper Whaith5445 || 10/11/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#12  RIP. Sounds like one hell of a good man to be on your side.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/11/2012 17:42 Comments || Top||

#13  "If you haven't read Moore's book "We were Soldiers Once and Young" you are missing a real treat"

That is very true.
Many people from that regiment went on to distinguish themselves e.g. Rick Rescorla.
Posted by: Raider || 10/11/2012 20:02 Comments || Top||

#14  haven't read the book. Got the DVD. It's worn out from watching (I don't rewind, because I'm incourteous to myself that way). Great film. The taxi Western Union message delivery scenes are heartbreaking
Posted by: Frank G || 10/11/2012 20:46 Comments || Top||

#15  Unfortunately for me, Ft Benning was a bit better about survivor notification.

I had a layover between Airborne and Ranger School and they put me on survivor notification. So I put on my greens jumped in a staff car with a handful of these letters and go down to the housing area. IT WAS AWFUL. Worst job in the world telling a woman ten years older than you with four kids that her husband was dead.

I've never forgotten looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the crowd of wives following me down the street to see whose house I was stopping at. Sometimes they would go in the back door and have the wife seated in the living room with a group of supporting wives when I gave my little speech about "The PResident of the United States gives you greetings and regrets to inform you that your husband died in the service of his country on x date. Etc., I forget the rest of it.

I would have loved to have served with Plumley and Moore they were probably quite a pair together.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 10/11/2012 21:18 Comments || Top||


Economy
Greek unemployment rate hits 25.1%
Posted by: ryuge || 10/11/2012 06:49 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course that would be the "seasonally adjusted" rate.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/11/2012 9:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Do you think that this includes those who have stopped looking for work, or the underemployed?
Posted by: AlanC || 10/11/2012 10:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Numbers reflect all 13 Greek regions plus Mount Athos (unlike the 49 US States reported here this morning, which failed to account the one abstaining large mystery state).
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/11/2012 10:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Greece just needs to hire consultants from the US Bureau of Labor BS.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/11/2012 11:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Noting that CNBC describes the recession as "austerity fuelled" rather than the recession and austerity as direct consequences of the Greek's spending too much, working too little and signing up for a pan-European fantasy project.
Posted by: Excalibur || 10/11/2012 12:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes, indolence as a factor of lack and poverty evades them once again.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/11/2012 12:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Excalibur is on to something. Every single article I looked at as a candidate to post here dutifully mentioned the "austerity fueled" concept. So did the hourly news on one of the local conservative radio stations here. Perhaps economists across the board agree that the austerity measures taken by the Greek government made Greece's situation worse. But if not, this is just another example of "Journolist-ism", where a narrow class of people almost exclusively control the most widely-available news stories.
Posted by: ryuge || 10/11/2012 14:53 Comments || Top||

#8  The problem was the lack of austerity (i.e. the rise in debt) before they crashed masking the real state fo the economy (for both lender and debtor)!

Germany got Exports! employing people, and Greece got an GDP boost from the borrowing.

Both parties are now worse off.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/11/2012 15:25 Comments || Top||

#9  next weeks forecast for Greece ... scattered riots with a chance of firebombs.
Posted by: Raider || 10/11/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe that's where California'a numbers went.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy || 10/11/2012 18:58 Comments || Top||

#11  next weeks tomorrow's forecast for Greece ... scattered riots with a chance of firebombs.

I've upgraded your forecast, mate!
Posted by: Raj || 10/11/2012 19:30 Comments || Top||


Europe
Greece's Biggest Company Quits Country
Greece's biggest company is leaving the country, drinks bottler Coca Cola Hellenic (CCH) said on Thursday in announcing it will move to Switzerland and list its shares in London, dealing a blow to the debt-crippled Greek economy.

The material impact on Greece may be limited — its Greek plants will go on working and CCH said the five percent of its business that the world's second-ranked Coke bottler has in Greece will be unaffected. But analysts quickly saw it as bad news for a nation struggling to compete inside the euro zone.

CCH, which already has secondary stock market listings in London and New York [CCH 20.35 -0.71 (-3.37%) ], said in a bourse filing in Athens that shareholders, most of whom are abroad, will exchange all their stock for shares in Coca Cola HBC, based in Switzerland. That stock will have its primary quote in London [CCB.L 14.6894 --- UNCH ].

"A primary listing on Europe's biggest and most liquid stock exchange reflects better the international character of Coca Cola Hellenic's business activities and shareholder base," the company said in its regulatory statement.

The firm, in which The Coca-Cola Company [COKE 69.27 0.61 (+0.89%) ] of the United States has a 23-percent stake, bottles Coke and other drinks in 28 countries from Russia to Nigeria. About 95 percent of its shareholders and business activity are outside Greece.

"This transaction makes clear business sense," chief executive Dimitris Lois told analysts in a conference call. An overwhelming majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which has long complained about Greek taxes.

Analyst Manos Hatzidakis of Beta Securities in Athens said that the move made sense for the firm, which follows Greek dairy group FAGE this month in seeking a low-tax, low-volatility haven for its corporate base — in FAGE's case Luxembourg.

"The Greek bourse is losing a very good company and the London Stock Exchange is gaining a very important group," said Hatzidakis. "It's very bad news for the Greek economy and bourse."
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/11/2012 18:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An overwhelming majority of shareholders have already accepted moving a company which has long complained about Greek taxes.

So, one of the few Greek taxpayers left is voting with its feet. How long until Greece exits the eurozone one way or the other?
Posted by: Raj || 10/11/2012 19:21 Comments || Top||

#2  "It's very bad news for the Greek economy and bourse."

Greeks and the Greek gummint are very bad news for the Greek economy.
Posted by: Barbara || 10/11/2012 20:03 Comments || Top||


Le scandale at the Elysee Palace
THE Elysee Palace was hit with a sex scandal yesterday when it was alleged in a book by two prominent French political journalists that Valerie Trierweiler, the country's first lady, was conducting affairs with the socialist Francois Hollande and a minister from the previous right-wing administration while married to a third man.
Busy girl, with a passion for her avocation.
A lawyer for Ms Trierweiler, 47, hit back last night at the unauthorised biography, La Frondeuse (The Rebellious One), which is published today, saying that it was based on a collection of "author assertions backed by unproven rumours" and that Ms Trierweiler was planning to sue for breach of privacy.

The book alleges that Ms Trierweiler, a mother-of-three, began the affairs while Mr Hollande was still living with Segolene Royal - the mother of his four children and a former presidential candidate - and while Patrick Devedjian, who is a senior member of the opposition and close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, was living with his wife of more than 30 years. Mr Hollande and Ms Royal did not publicly end their relationship until this year, but the book claims he kept a mistress for many years.

Ms Trierweiler filed for divorce in 2007 from her husband, Denis, a fellow journalist at Paris Match; the separation was completed in 2010.

She is deeply unpopular in opinion polls. She has been described as the "First Concubine" by the French media, who have delighted in the mutual loathing between her and Ms Royal.

With Ms Trierweiler, who has her own office in the Elysee Palace, fiercely disputing the allegations, the book is likely to raise further questions about the private lives of French politicians.
Posted by: tipper || 10/11/2012 18:12 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Zardari Graft Cases: Pak SC okays letter to Swiss authorities
[Bangla Daily Star] Pakistain's top court yesterday drew a line under a showdown with the government over corruption allegations against the president which has dragged on for nearly three years.

Since December 2009, the Supreme Court has insisted that the government re-open multi-million-dollar graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
that were frozen when he became head of state in 2008.

Earlier this year it convicted and dismissed prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ...
for refusing to ask Switzerland to re-open the cases, but the government appeared to back down last month by agreeing to write to the Swiss.

After weeks of wrangling over the wording, the Supreme Court yesterday approved a third draft of a letter to the Swiss authorities and asked for an update on the situation in four weeks.

"We found that the proposed communication conforms to the judgement of this court and it also expresses concern of the prime minister of Pakistain," judge Asif Saeed Khosa said, ordering another hearing on November 14.

The government has long argued that it could not ask the Swiss to reopen the cases as the president has immunity from prosecution as head of state.

The full letter was not released, but portions read out in court asked the Swiss to disregard a 2008 communication the former attorney general sent to close proceedings against Zardari.
Posted by: Fred || 10/11/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2012-10-11
  US embassy security chief gunned down in Yemen
Wed 2012-10-10
  Turkey Intercepts Syrian Civilian Plane
Tue 2012-10-09
  Taliban bravely shoot Pakistani schoolgirl campaigning for peace
Mon 2012-10-08
  Syria Rebels Advance in North, Pushed Back in South
Sun 2012-10-07
  1 dead, 10 arrested in anti-terror sweep in France
Sat 2012-10-06
  US suspected drone kills five persons in Shabwa
Fri 2012-10-05
  18 Republican Guards killed in Damascus province
Thu 2012-10-04
  Violence and Protest in Iran as Currency Drops in Value
Wed 2012-10-03
  Syria shells kill five inside Turkey
Tue 2012-10-02
  More Than 130 Dead in Syria amid Clashes in Aleppo Souk
Mon 2012-10-01
  Children killed in Kenya church attack
Sun 2012-09-30
  Thousands rally in Karachi against anti-Islam film
Sat 2012-09-29
  Kenyan Army Claims Fall of Kismayo
Fri 2012-09-28
  Iraq militants attack Tikrit prison, freeing 90 inmates
Thu 2012-09-27
  Clinton Sees Link to Qaeda Offshoot in Deadly Libya Attack


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