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Seven killed, 11 injured in attacks across southern Thailand
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Page 4: Opinion
6 16:23 Besoeker [336130]
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2 19:27 Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division [336149]
3 19:27 lord garth [336134]
1 00:52 JosephMendiola [336093]
10 22:21 Alaska Paul [336129]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Brennan brings US passport expertise to office of Director, CIA - Atlas Shrugs
Dated yes, but a memory jogger for our readers, nothing more.
Memory joggers are always useful, especially for those, like me, whose memories are more porous than we like.
Posted by: Aude Sapere6322 || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But the big question everyone wants to know; is he a Muslim?
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 4:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, we can't know for certain, but he's been seen wearing a sequined tutu and marching in their annual parade.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 5:26 Comments || Top||

#3  but he's been seen wearing a sequined tutu and marching in their annual parade.
Besoeker, as Maxwell Smart would say Ah! the old tutu trick.
But if his name is "Rodger" and he is married to a Muslim and a convert (mandatory if you want to marry a Muslim woman in a Muslim ceremony) and uses a prayer beads, then he should have a lot of cognitive dissonance when he puts on his tutu.
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 6:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Certainly no shortage of "cognitive dissonance" within this administration. More sordid intrigues and backstabbing buggery than Downton Abbey with a flashing NO VACANCY sign. The faster we drive away from Albion, the closer we get!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 7:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Everyone is waiting for the car that runs on water. A pill that prevents people from "going native" would transform the world more quickly...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 02/11/2013 8:55 Comments || Top||

#6  If he walks like a mooselimb, and he quacks like a mooselimb...
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2013 13:36 Comments || Top||

#7  If he walks like a mooselimb, and he quacks like a mooselimb...

He gets to be CIA director.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/11/2013 15:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Obama Urges Balanced Approach to Deficit Reduction
The Obama definition of balance: he increases spending while Congress raises taxes to partially cover it.
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama
I inhaled. That was the point...
urged Congress Saturday to find a balanced approach to deficit reduction, warning that steep budget cuts known as "the sequester" would hurt the economy and threaten thousands of American jobs.

"If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

"All our economic progress could be put at risk," he added.

The cuts, which are due to take effect on March 1, would also affect U.S. military readiness, said the president.

"As our military leaders have made clear, changes like this affect our ability to respond to threats in an unstable part of the world," Obama pointed out.

The sequester was agreed by the president and Congress in 2011 to be so punishing that it would force Washington's warring political factions to forge an agreement on a way to cut the U.S. budget deficit.

But amid partisan gridlock, no agreement on cutting the deficit has been reached and cuts due in March will slash defense spending by $55 billion and non-defense discretionary spending by $27 billion this year.

On Friday, the White House issued a doom-laden survey of the impact of sequestration.

It said 10,000 teacher jobs were at risk, food inspections could stop, 373,000 mental health patients would lose treatment and prosecutors could be furloughed.

The FBI would have 1,000 fewer officers, small business loans would be cut by $540 million, and around 600,000 women and kiddies could lose government-funded emergency nutrition, according to the White House.

"The good news is, there's another option," Obama said.

He reminded his audience that two months ago, the White House and Congress faced a similar prospect of deep cuts and tax hikes, known as the "fiscal cliff".

On that occasion, said the president, Democrats and Republicans managed to come together and make "responsible cuts and manageable changes to our tax code" to pull back from the brink.

"This time, Congress should pass a similar set of balanced cuts and close more tax loopholes until they can find a way to replace the sequester with a smarter, longer-term solution," Obama said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fear notteth, America = Amerikka, MEXICO + GREENLAND + CANADA will rescue us once we surrender to OWG + NAU 2015!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  It said 10,000 teacher jobs were at risk, food inspections could stop, 373,000 mental health patients would lose treatment and prosecutors could be furloughed.

What about bunny inspectors?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2013 1:33 Comments || Top||

#3  What about Alphabet Agency SWAT teams?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/11/2013 5:20 Comments || Top||

#4  What about the EPA wasting money fighting lawsuits against its truly absurd regulations?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/11/2013 5:36 Comments || Top||

#5  "Balanced", do it MY way.
Or else.
But DON'T stop Over spending.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2013 9:56 Comments || Top||

#6  "All our economic progress could be put at risk," he added.

If this is 'economic progress', let the sequester happen.
Posted by: Raj || 02/11/2013 10:08 Comments || Top||

#7  The sequester was his idea. The Republicans called his bluff on it and now he's trying to put the stink of it back on the Republicans.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/11/2013 10:15 Comments || Top||

#8  "All our economic progress could be put at risk," he added.

Classic Obamesian economics (failure = progress).
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 10:16 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: junkiron || 02/11/2013 12:04 Comments || Top||

#10  J'ai l'air d'un gars intelligent, mais je suis vraiment un idiot du village perdu.

O and John Kerry, two members of adjoining villages.
Posted by: Winky Thaitch5539 || 02/11/2013 13:11 Comments || Top||

#11  A balanced approach means you do it my way.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2013 14:54 Comments || Top||


Nancy Pelosi To Fox News Sunday: It's A 'False Argument To Say We Have A Spending Problem'
[MEDIAITE] On Fox News Sunday, House Minority Leader Nancy San Fran Nan Pelosi
Congresswoman-for-Life from the the Socialist paradise of San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace...
(D-CA) told Fox News Channel anchor Chris Wallace that the ongoing debate about a balanced approach to deficit reduction should not place undue emphasis on spending cuts. She said that it is "almost a false argument" to say that Washington has a "spending problem." Pelosi noted that there have been "plenty of spending cuts," and budgetary priorities like education and food safety must be protected.

"Sequestration is a bad idea all around," Pelosi began.

"The fact is we've had plenty of spending cuts, $1.6 trillion in the Budget Control Act. What we need is growth," Pelosi said. "Slashing spending indiscriminately, she said, would hurt growth prospects for the U.S. economy."

"What we do need is more revenue and more cuts," she added. "What I would like to see that is a big, balanced, bold [budget] proposal. Short of that, we must do something to avoid the sequester."

Wallace asked Pelosi for her thoughts on House Speaker John It is not pronounced 'Boner!' Boehner's
... the occasionally weepy leader of House Republicans...
(R-OH) insistence this week that Washington must "deal with its spending problem."
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336130 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yokay - uh, uh, the US has too many committments + outstanding liabilities, etc. which it doesn't want to change or reduce???

See - twasn't a "spending" problem after all.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Doublethink
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2013 1:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Scandalous, her speaking to those tabloid people down in the village.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 5:38 Comments || Top||

#4  A friend of mine was pulled before his bosses due to his fondness for "long lunches"
The first question they asked him was if he had a drinking problem?
No,he said; "only when I'm broke"
So no, it's not a false argument to say that Washington has a "spending problem." especially when it's broke
Posted by: tipper || 02/11/2013 6:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Wife to Husband "I do NOT have a shoe buying problem. You don't work long, enough."
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2013 6:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The sad|scary part is that people _believe_ her.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/11/2013 7:55 Comments || Top||

#7  As any alcoholic or druggie will tell you, it's a supply problem, not a behavioral problem.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2013 8:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Didn't she vote for the sequester?
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/11/2013 10:17 Comments || Top||

#9  I got a nose bleed reading this article.

For all of those who point at Bush's last four as the real reason for the recession, just remember WHO was SOH and WHAT party controlled both the HOR and the Senate...geez, the abbreviation for House of Representatives is so appropriate for them these days
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 02/11/2013 10:20 Comments || Top||

#10  It's A 'False Argument To Say We Have A Spending Problem'

It's a LIE to say (As you do) That we DON'T.

Gotcha, or do lies NOT count, well if you're in power, I guess they don't (Until election time)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/11/2013 12:35 Comments || Top||

#11  #6 The sad|scary part is that people _believe_ her.....

It's sad to think of who put her in office--particularly if they think she makes any sense. One would think she has been hittin the California mind bender medical marijuana or Thai Stick before the interview.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2013 14:03 Comments || Top||

#12  Don't forget LSD. Her eyes look a bit dilated in the video, especially considering all they lights they must have been using for a televised interview.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/11/2013 15:36 Comments || Top||

#13  Two words: Botox Overdose.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/11/2013 16:18 Comments || Top||

#14  Sooner or later the global banking system is gonna crash. With this kind of denial in positions of leadership, and outrageous trading practices by banks and hedge funds, the outcome is pretty much guaranteed. Everybody still thinks they've got their own place at the betting table ... but no-one wants to admit that their checkbook is empty.

A crash may not happen this year ... but it's gonna happen. I hope that people like Bernanke and Pelosi get pelted with eggs when it does go down.
Posted by: Raider || 02/11/2013 16:28 Comments || Top||

#15  I agree Raider, & this woman is a pathological liar; as are many in her profession. She can be comforted by the fact that 20% of the electorate will be so stupid as to believe it. Another 20% will be too apathetic to care, and the last 20% will be the die-hard statists that don't care because they're good w/having future generations be tax serfs. The sad fact is this - neither side really wants to cut, and it might be too late anyhow. Bring on the cliff, the sooner, the better. Or just shut down congress to essential DOD functions to protect the country from outside attack. Although I think our internal stupidity has already runined us.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 02/11/2013 17:04 Comments || Top||

#16  Ditto BH6. I would only add "feckless pathological liar".
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 17:07 Comments || Top||

#17  I can see the future and in the future, when it collapses and the riots begin, Nancy of Morons will say, "Let them eat red tape"
Posted by: Silentbrick || 02/11/2013 18:34 Comments || Top||

#18  ..the riots will be in the dark blue disarmed urban areas. Those beyond the outer belt won't have much of a problem other than keeping the refugees confined to the interstate on their way to the next deep blue urban area. Just tell them the 'free' stuff is over there ->
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2013 21:10 Comments || Top||

#19  Well, after listening to her for X amount of years, I think the woman's problem is that she's just a fuckin idiot.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 21:19 Comments || Top||


John Kerry refuses to speak French at news conference
[BBC.CO.UK] John Kerry has prompted a Gallic shrug by refusing to speak French at his maiden news conference as US Secretary of State.

Asked to answer a question with a "bit of French please", he said: "Not today. I got to refresh myself on that."

The response surprised some in the francophone world as Mr Kerry attended a Swiss boarding school and is known to speak the language well.

He was speaking after meeting his Canadian counterpart in Washington.

Mr Kerry's knowledge of French prompted scorn from the right-wing US press during his unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2004, due to the souring of US-French ties over the war in Iraq.

Since then, he has played down his language proficiency, bolstered during childhood summers spent at his mother's family estate in Brittany.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Awwwww, not even one French expression wid a John Wayne-ish "Pilgrim" at the end???

D *** NG IT - YA SEE, VIRGINA, THIS IS WHY UNCLE HUGO WEARS A RED BERET, NOT A BLUE ONE!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/11/2013 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "bit of French please"

L'évasion fiscale?
Posted by: Pappy || 02/11/2013 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  "J'ai l'air d'un gars intelligent, mais je suis vraiment un idiot du village perdu."

Finally, an honest comment by John Kerry.
Posted by: Winky Thaitch5539 || 02/11/2013 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Asked to answer a question with a "bit of French please", he said: "Not today. I got to refresh myself on that." There's always Rosetta Stone for a refresher. In the meantime, a suggestion:

Je me contrefous de ce que tu penses! Tu es con a bouffer de la bite!
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/11/2013 13:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Aidez-nous John Kerry, nous somee restes coinces dans Irak!

Ou est les VC?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/11/2013 14:08 Comments || Top||

#6  Boy, those French: they have a different word for everything!


/Steve Martin
Posted by: Frank G || 02/11/2013 14:56 Comments || Top||

#7  How droll. The American Phillipe Petain.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/11/2013 16:43 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL Snowman, that was mean.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/11/2013 16:57 Comments || Top||


Federal employees' union head: Obama pay raise proposal 'simply not enough'
[THEHILL] The president of the American Federation of Government Employees says a one-percent increase is "absolutely unconscionable."
He saw what the Chicago Teachers Union got...
The head of the largest federal employee union said Saturday that President B.O.'s proposal to increase pay for federal employees by 1 percent was "absolutely unconscionable" and "simply not enough."

"It is not enough to allow federal employees to make up lost ground from two-plus years of frozen pay. It is not enough to allow workers, most of whom earn very modest salaries ranging from $24,000 to $70,000, to maintain living standards. And it is not enough to send a message with any kind of clarity that the administration values the federal workforce and doesn't believe it should continue to bear an enormously disproportionate share of deficit reduction," David Cox Sr., the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said in a statement.

The White House told labor leaders of the proposed increase in the 2014 fiscal year budget in a phone call late Friday night. That raise would come on top of the half-point pay hike, scheduled to take effect in late March, which has been delayed as part of the "fiscal cliff" deal struck last month. Federal salaries have been frozen since 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 02/11/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336119 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't see a problem---just cut military salaries/benefits and use the money.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/11/2013 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  "Unconscionable" indeed. Only a federal employee's union representative would label a wage increase a reduction, then bitch about it. Perhaps they should all simply walk out? A work slowdown would certainly go unnoticed. Hopefully the IRS will lead the way.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 5:51 Comments || Top||

#3  If you sack some employees then you'll have more money for the remaining.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/11/2013 6:52 Comments || Top||

#4  With 14 percent real unemployment, maybe its time to suspend the Civil Service Act*, and open jobs to competition. *Why should everyone else but government have uncontrolled open borders [re: regulations] that can provide employers with an unlimited labor pool? What's good for everyone else should be good for the government as well.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/11/2013 8:54 Comments || Top||

#5  A dissolution of the Civil Service Act would unhinge 60+ years of civil rights, advances in social justice and women's rights. Paternoster lakes will appear in hell prior to the end of the Civil Service.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 9:10 Comments || Top||

#6  You are right, sir.

You are all fired.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/11/2013 10:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Go ahead. Go on strike.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/11/2013 12:06 Comments || Top||

#8  The greediest of the greediest are the US government. I'm of mind to fire everyone in that damn thing. I do not want, need, or desire 32 million idiots sucking on the tit.
Posted by: newc || 02/11/2013 14:00 Comments || Top||

#9  This is one reason why (among a litany) that I'm not a member of the AFGE.

Mr. Cox, you tone-deaf bastard.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/11/2013 14:39 Comments || Top||

#10  One of the big problems is that we always talk about pay raised for EVERY federal employee, regardless of series, grade or performance.
Why would all feds get a raise? I'm all for breaking it down to high performing, valuable employees getting a raise and the ticks going without. I'm pretty confident I'd do fine and many others wouldn't.
But putting a blanket pay freeze on the federal service for 3 years is driving hard to retain professionals out. I have a job interview at 0900 in the morning with a regional utility company and, if the job and compensation look right, I'm gonna take it.
Who will do my job that I currently do at my agency?
I don't really care...I've been kicked around alot the last few years. You can't treat experienced engineers like janitors for very long before they start jumping ship.
But I digress, pay raises for strong performers and valuable people, but not for everybody would be my recommendation. That way you keep the people you want and need the most.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 02/11/2013 14:57 Comments || Top||

#11  That's not how democracies work, bigjim-CA. The categories with the biggest numbers (mediocre-poor performers) get the best deals & the minorities (strong performers) get screwed. That's why we were set up as a republic.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/11/2013 15:39 Comments || Top||

#12  So quit. See ya.
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 02/11/2013 16:56 Comments || Top||

#13  Please keep in mind, General Service "Step Increases" and "Annual Bonuses".... can by some, be viewed as pay raises as well. Matter of fact, I'm one of em!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/11/2013 16:58 Comments || Top||

#14  So tell 'em to quit. The private sector's doing just fine so they should have no problem picking something up at the same or even more money and bennies.
Barry Obama told me.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/11/2013 21:08 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2013-02-11
  Seven killed, 11 injured in attacks across southern Thailand
Sun 2013-02-10
  Syrian troops, rebels clash over Damascus highway
Sat 2013-02-09
  India Executes Man Convicted in 2001 Attack on Parliament
Fri 2013-02-08
  Suicide bomber hits north Mali, troops clash in capital
Thu 2013-02-07
  Syrian Army Launches 'All-Out Attack' on Capital Region
Wed 2013-02-06
  Fat Lady Sings for Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed
Tue 2013-02-05
  Second big turban nabbed in northern Mali
Mon 2013-02-04
  Ansar Dine #3 arrested in northern Mali
Sun 2013-02-03
  Yemen Troops Kill 12 'Qaida Militants' in Restive South
Sat 2013-02-02
  Syria Suicide Attack on Regime Kills 53
Fri 2013-02-01
  Binori Mosque cleric among 10 killed in Karachi
Thu 2013-01-31
  Boko Haram 'commander' declares ceasefire
Wed 2013-01-30
  Mali and Niger forces retake Ansongo
Tue 2013-01-29
  Sahel jihadist groups splinter
Mon 2013-01-28
  Timbuktu mayor: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts

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