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Egypt: Huge Explosion Hits Security HQ In Sinai
Today's Headlines
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Oktoberfest Revellers Guzzle two Olympic Pools of Beer
[An Nahar] Germany wrapped up its world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival Sunday, reporting that 6.4 million visitors drank 6.7 million liter-sized Mass glasses -- more than twice the volume of an Olympic swimming pool -- of the amber nectar over 16 days.
Ah, beer and debauchery. Fond memories.
The 180th edition of the Munich celebration of beer, lederhosen, dirndl dresses and oompah music was "extremely relaxed, folk festival fun for every taste", said its organizer Dieter Reiter.
"Yersh! Very relakshed! More, beer, bitte!"
In festival kitchens, 114 oxen and 58 calves fell victim to the appetite of revelers who also washed down with frothy beer other traditional foods like giant pretzels, pork and dumplings.
I like French cooking, but when you eat in Germany you know you've eaten.
The number of visitors who needed medical attention during the gigantic beer fest fell 20 percent to 7,551, said the Red Cross, including 638 cases of alcohol poisoning and many people who suffered cuts from broken glass.
I'm not going to describe what the next morning feels like after falling down a flight of stone stairs headfirst and backwards. I'm trying not to remember.
Police said they were called out 2,031 times, exactly the same number as the previous year, including for 58 beer-fueled brawls, almost 450 cases of assault and over 500 cases of pickpocketing.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Beer, Boobs, Beef + Brats [bratwurst].

French cooking is good, but w-a-y too expensive for the portions they serve.

D *** NG IT, WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR ... ... ... ... OH YEAH - *HIC* - NOW I REMEMBER *BUUURRRPP* , AND IT TAINT OVER NOW!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/08/2013 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't like the swimming pool image.

Makes me think of the silent "p" in swim.
Posted by: no mo uro || 10/08/2013 5:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Way too much foam.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/08/2013 5:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey! I was there five years ago and it was the BEST BEER I EVER TASTED. It was SO good, I insisted Mrs. Bobby take a sip (she hates beer) and she said, "Not bad, for beer."
Posted by: Bobby || 10/08/2013 7:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Oktoberfest Revellers Guzzle filter two Olympic Pools of Beer through their kidneys

Consider it an old German version of crowd sourcing.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/08/2013 8:17 Comments || Top||

#6  French cooking is good, but w-a-y too expensive for the portions they serve

Pulease. Don't judge French cooking by the cooks chefs we deport who open a restauranty in the United Sates. Go toi about any village in flyover France and you can eat very, very well both in quantity and quality for less than one portion of raped carrots in one of those thieves lairs embassies of French cuisine in America.
Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2013 10:49 Comments || Top||

#7  JFM, wonderful post!
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/08/2013 11:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Hear, hear, JFM!
Posted by: Bobby || 10/08/2013 12:00 Comments || Top||

#9  Two oops about my posts:

The sentence "Cooks we deport to the United States" should have read "crooks we deport to the United States"

and it should have been a "a portion of grated carrots" instead of "a portion of raped carrots" (in French it is carottes rapées)
Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2013 12:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Seriously. One day on TV there were a bunch of New-Yorkers, not actors, real people, from the "made a lot of money by buying dot com shares" who were talking about the French restaurant they were going to and my impression was that this guy was a crook who using the was relieving from their money a bunch of new rich who would have been unable to distinguish a low-end hamburger from a poularde demi-deuil.

But since these people vote Democrat I think he should be given a medal.
Posted by: JFM || 10/08/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||

#11  JFM is on fire today. As for "raped carrots", it is probably just as descriptive and a whole lot funnier. Made my day!
Posted by: SteveS || 10/08/2013 12:35 Comments || Top||

#12  JFM, we'll take your cooks. But we have enough crooks already running our government, thank you very much.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/08/2013 12:57 Comments || Top||

#13  You tell 'em, JFM!

And you're right - I didn't like Paris (too big-city-ish - but great museums), but once we got outside the city, France is just like a normal country. The regular French people were nice, too (don't get me started about snooty French waiters in snobby restaurants, both there and here). ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 10/08/2013 13:55 Comments || Top||

#14  Perhaps I didn't get far enough away from Geneva for the lower prices to kick in. Something about 30 euros per person made me clutch my shrinking wallet and look for an open grocery store instead. (Wonderful bread)
But when I did eat out, the portions were plentiful and I didn't get flack for my threadbare French.
Posted by: James || 10/08/2013 14:52 Comments || Top||

#15  I had some of the best meals ever, when driving through France. (although I had some equally nice ones in Italy, too - I thought the roadside food in Italy had a much better chance of being better than roadside food in France, at least in the mid-1980s.
Some of the best was at tiny two-star hotels like this one in Blois. Pt. 1 -
Part 2 - here
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/08/2013 19:46 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Long Island Middle School Bans Footballs, Other Recreational Items
[NEWYORK.CBSLOCAL] Worries about injuries at a Long Island school have led to a surprising ban. As CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan reported Monday, officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington are worried that students are getting hurt during recess. Thus, they have instituted a ban on footballs, baseballs, lacrosse balls, or anything that might hurt someone on school grounds.
Did you just hear Jack London turn over in his grave?
Tossing a football during recess has long seemed to be a rite of passage for kids in the school community. "I think we need the soccer balls, the footballs and everything, so we can have some fun," one student said.
The ghost of Jim Bridger just snorted and stalked off to shoot the ghost of something on the endangered species list.
But the students will have no such option anymore. They were just informed that during recess, football is out and Nerf ball is in. Hard soccer balls have been banned, along with baseballs and lacrosse balls, rough games of tag, or cartwheels unless supervised by a coach.
I can remember Bonnie Funk turning cartwheels on the asphalt playground at our elementary school. We were in first grade. Girls did stuff like that in 1953. That was before they became empowered.
Students were not thrilled about the news.
No!... Re-e-e-e-eally?
"Cartwheels and tag -- I think it's ridiculous they are banning that," one said.
Entirely too physical. Better to organize the students to write letters to their congresscritters supporting Nobamacare.
"You go for recess -- that's your free time to go let loose and recharge," another said.
Back in my day, we had our fist fights outside, in the play yard, not in the classroom.
"That's all we want to do," a third student said. "We're in school all day sitting behind the desk learning."
"And not even much of that!"
But Port Washington schools Supt. Kathleen Maloney said the change in policy is warranted due to a rash of playground injuries.
"Injuries, by Gawd! Blood! We've been applying bandaids like they're going out of style!"
"Some of these injuries can unintentionally become very serious, so we want to make sure our children have fun, but are also protected," Maloney said.
Wusses. I didn't even know knees were supposed to have skin on them until I hit puberty.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Officials at Weber Middle School in Port Washington have no balls.
Posted by: badanov || 10/08/2013 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  All according to plan.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/08/2013 1:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Jeez, they don't want kids to be kids, do they.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/08/2013 2:15 Comments || Top||

#4  No, RJ, they just don't want boys to be boys.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/08/2013 7:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Let's Moo!
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/08/2013 9:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Learn it early, kids. What YOU want has nuthin to do with it...The Pussificaton of America rolls on.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/08/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Meanwhile back in the hood, the kids are playing real hard stuff. Darwinistic. Coyotes. When the lights go out, you're kids will be their lunch. You won't have a future generation. They will. Such is history.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/08/2013 9:48 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Mauritania opposition divided over election boycott
[MAGHAREBIA] The Islamist National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawassoul), a member of the 13-party Co-ordination of Democratic Opposition (COD), decided to participate in the Mauritania elections, November 23rd, ANI reported on Saturday (October 5th). The COD plans to boycott the November 23rd poll.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Libya Troops Occupy PM Office to Demand Pay
[An Nahar] Dozens of unarmed Libyan soldiers occupied the prime minister's office in 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...
on Monday to demand unpaid wages, the privately-owned Alnabaa television reported.

The channel said the soldiers had been protesting against the "non-payment of their salaries for months."

The troops were not armed but forced their way into the building, preventing anyone else from entering or leaving, Alnabaa reported.

"They say that they are waiting for an official to negotiate with," the broadcaster said.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was not present when the incident took place, as he started a three-day state visit to Morocco on Sunday.

The headquarters of the prime minister and the interim government has often been the scene of protests demanding unpaid wages by former rebels who helped overthrow dictator Muammar Qadaffy
...a proud Arab institution for 42 years, now among the dear departed, though not the dearest...
in 2011.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Morocco Frees Teens Held for Facebook Kissing Photos
[An Nahar] Three Moroccan teenagers incarcerated
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
for posting photos of themselves kissing on Facebook were released to their parents on Monday ahead of their trial for breaching public decency, judicial sources said.

The young couple and a male friend who took the photos had been held in a juvenile detention center in the northern city of Nador since Thursday, as their arrest sparked outrage on social media.

After the detainees formally asked to be released, the judge on Monday agreed to their request and ordered that they be delivered to their parents, the public prosecutor said.

The teenagers, aged between 14 and 15, were arrested after a Moroccan NGO filed a lawsuit at the end of September which charged that the photos "deeply affect Moroccan education and culture, and upset people's feelings."

The teens' lawyer, Moneim Fettahi, told Agence La Belle France Presse they were due to stand trial on Friday for public indecency.

The photographs were taken outside the high school in Nador where the three accused are students.

Young people have posted similar photos on social media and called on Facebook for a "giant kiss-in" on Wednesday in the coastal town of Mohammedia.

"Let's mobilize against the arrest of these two teenagers ... and fight against this backward, medieval mentality," said the organizers of the event.

A similar group smooch, dubbed "free kiss," is planned in Rabat on Saturday outside parliament.

Morocco has a reputation for religious tolerance and personal freedoms, particularly when compared to other Moslem countries, but it remains a deeply religious society.

Under article 483 of the kingdom's penal code, anyone found guilty of violating public decency risks up to two years in prison.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Argentine President to Undergo Surgery for Brain Bleed
[An Nahar] Argentine President Cristina Kirchner is to undergo surgery Tuesday for complications related to a head injury, amid uncertainty over who is in charge while she recuperates.

Kirchner, 60, was greeted with encouraging words from supporters Monday, television footage showed, as she entered a Buenos Aires medical center for further testing.

She was hospitalized overnight to await surgery, the Fundacion Favaloro hospital announced in a statement.

The president had suffered a blow to the head on August 12, but it wasn't until Saturday that doctors detected a "chronic subdural hematoma" -- a type of brain bleed -- and ordered her to take a month's rest.

Further symptoms, including a "transitory and slight" loss of muscular strength in her left arm on Sunday, prompted doctors to order surgery to drain the blood.

Vice President Amado Boudou pledged to keep the government running, though he has not officially assumed the presidency.

"As the president asked us, we are going to maintain the administration," Boudou said earlier Monday as he took her place at a ceremony at the Casa Rosada, Argentina's presidential palace.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems to have had a head injury for quite a while.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/08/2013 5:37 Comments || Top||

#2  the Caudillos are dropping like flies. Feeling OK, Evo?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/08/2013 8:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't a brain a prerequisite for a brain bleed? I smell something fishy.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/08/2013 8:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Wonder if CNN will have Hillary on as a brain-injury expert?
Posted by: Pappy || 10/08/2013 14:18 Comments || Top||


Economy
Get your fiscal house in order: China warns US as superpower expresses concern for $1.3tn of investments
[INDEPENDENT.CO.UK]
Because if there's any country in the world that's responsible with economic development and currency stability, it's China...
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait until they start dumping T-bills & T-Notes on the open market...
Posted by: Raj || 10/08/2013 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  As mentioned times before, CHINESE PERTS-BLOGS > CHINA DOESN'T REALLY NEED TO FIGHT A WAR AGZ THE US-ALLIES IN EAST ASIA.

All China has to do is demand that the US pay its massive debts = accounts payable, or in the alternate, demand that the US unilaterally give up collateral, e.g. SOVEREIGN TERRITORIES, in lieu of paying off its debts.

CHINA HAS SUCH AN OPPORTUNITY WID THIS SEQUESTER + NOW SHUTDOWN.

* IIRC FOX NEWS AM > BOEHNER = ARGUED BEFORE THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE THAT THE BAMMER WOULD RATHER SEE THE US GOVT DEFAULT THAN NEGOTIATE WID THE GOP ON OBAMACARE + DEBT CEILING.

Remember, the Bammer wants to RAISE the debt ceiling, which in turn means or infers he = USA will have to borrow from China.

* RIGHT WING WATCH > GLEN BECK: OBAMA [ + Marxist Revolutionaries widin US Govt.] ARE [seriously] PLANNING TO KILL MILLIONS OF AMERICANS IN THE USA, SAYS HE MAY TAKE TEABAGS, FLEE TO CANADA.

As if the Globalists or Jihadists won't eventually attack Mackenzie-land.

Lest we fergit, 9-11 + GWOT > WAR FOR OWG-NWO > WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE WORLD = THERE'S NO WHERE/PLACE TO RUN TO. ONE MUST EITHER STAND-N-FIGHT, OR ELSE MUST DIE.

* TALKING POINTS MEMO > WHITE HOUSE: OBAMA WILL NEVER NEGOTIATE ON THE DEBT CEILING AGAIN, as long as he is POTUS.

ITS THE BAMMER'S WAY, OR THE HIGHWAY.

* BLOOMBERG NEWS > US DEFAULT SEENS AS CATASTROPHIC DWARFING LEHMAN'S FALL.

* REUTERS, CHINA DAILY > CHINA WARNS US, JAPAN, + AUSTRALIA NOT TO GANG UP IN [East China Sea + South China Sea] SEA DISPUTES.

* WORLD NEWS [Middle East Online] AFTER EVAPORATION OF US THREATS, ASSAD SLAMS REBELS, WARNS TURKEY.

Ditto as per "evaporation of US threats" by Obama vee IRAN? CHINA?

IFF THE US THREAT DISAPPEARS FOR WHATEVER REASON, CHINA WON'T ACT LIKE BABY ASSAD AGZ JAPAN, ROK, TAIWAN, PHIL, VIETNAM, ASEAN, + INDIA????

WORLD POLITICAL, MILITARY HISTORY SAYS THE RISE OF GREAT POWERS IS VERY RARELY, IFF EVER, "PEACEFUL".

CHINA WANTS GUAM + HAWAII + 1/2 OF CONUS-NORAM FOR "LIVING SPACE".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/08/2013 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Giggle
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/08/2013 1:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I see a return to the old fashioned system of only lending with an carefully evaluated risk premium.

I'd argue the current world problems stem from the false idea that there is risk free sovereign lending.

There isn't.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/08/2013 1:55 Comments || Top||

#5  OBAMAS CUT OFF, oh woe what will "O Holy Obama" do?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/08/2013 2:19 Comments || Top||

#6  >Because if there's any country in the world that's responsible with economic development and currency stability, it's China

Don't want to sound rude, but compared to Bernankeville, Carneyton-on-thames or Junkerbond-sur-la-Reine; China's potemkin economy is least worst.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/08/2013 5:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Demographics underlies it all. I am still trying to figure out how to explain it, but feel there is an inevitability to the national and global economic changes we are seeing. The politicians may only be pretending to try to do anything, or they may actually believe they can paddle a canoe up Niagara Falls.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/08/2013 7:39 Comments || Top||

#8  The problem for the Chinese is that they read the American MSM not understanding like its former Soviet brethren Isvestia and Pravda, you have to read between the lies line to find out what is really happening. Let'm panic.

If the debt ceiling is not raised debts will be serviced. It's all other spending that will get cut. In other words, the budget becomes a budget again and not a magical money tree for pols to buy votes with even more funny money. Per Powerline -

But there is no threat of default. Constitutionally, the federal government must pay its debts. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, states:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

I believe this provision is universally understood to mean that the federal government must pay its debt obligations, both principal and interest, even if that means prioritizing debt service over other government spending. So the question is, if Congress does not raise the current debt ceiling, will the federal government run out of money needed to pay its existing debts? The answer is clearly No. A reader supplies the math:

On average the federal government’s daily expenditures are about $16.7 billion; receipts are about $14 billion, implying an average daily borrowing requirement of about $2.7 billion. So the planned flow of revenues is now about $650 billion less than the planned flow of expenses…about $2.7 billion a [business] day, $650 billion annually.

So the “default” scenarios are bogus. Interest on the $16 trillion in debt is covered by a factor of about 10x by revenues! That puts the federal government deep into AAA land. Revenues would have to fall by a staggering 90% to jeopardize interest payments.

And, of course, retiring principal by “rolling over” maturing debt can never require an increase in the debt ceiling, since there is no net increase in the nation’s debt, even if the money used to repay the original principal is borrowed.

So what will actually happen if Congress doesn’t increase the debt ceiling by approximately October 17? The government’s debt obligations will be paid, but reductions in other spending will start to become necessary. In effect, leaving the debt ceiling as is would function as a spending cut. This is why the Democrats hate the idea so much. They know there is zero chance of default, but they are horrified at the prospect that voters and taxpayers may find out that there is a relatively simple way to bring about spending reductions that would create, in effect, a balanced budget. Hence the hysteria.


Thus, the Balance Budget. The Tea Partiers/Porkbusters will achieve one of their major objectives. Why should they negotiate when they get what they want by default.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/08/2013 8:15 Comments || Top||

#9  Our Mandarin masters have spoken.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/08/2013 11:30 Comments || Top||

#10  There is another explanation for this idiocy--O is deliberately tanking the global economy so the new proposed currency can be imposed, all controlled via Supercomputers in Brussels. And if China collects on our debts, it "levels the playing field" on a global scale. He can be hailed a Progressive hero while the Trunks and TPP get blamed for the crisis....
Posted by: Anging Hatfield6648 || 10/08/2013 11:38 Comments || Top||

#11  China's potemkin economy is least worst.

That's not a hell of an endorsement there.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/08/2013 14:19 Comments || Top||

#12  There is no collateral behind US Treasury paper. Federal Reserve Notes are good for "all debts public & private" - at least that's what is printed on them. Chinese investments in the USA are only paper promises. Ben Bernanke can just print FRN's. Only the Lord knows what "shall not be questioned" actually means.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/08/2013 14:29 Comments || Top||

#13  Chinese investments in the USA are only paper promises.
When you owe the bank a billion dollars, you have a problem; when you own a trillion dollars, the bank has a problem.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/08/2013 14:51 Comments || Top||

#14  This is why the Democrats hate the idea so much. They know there is zero chance of default, but they are horrified at the prospect that voters and taxpayers may find out that there is a relatively simple way to bring about a balanced budget. Hence the hysteria.

When I went to close the WaPo window - I forget why I opened it hours ago - it is chock full of the 'Pubs are in trouble' articles and editorials. I HOPE they are hysterical!
Posted by: Bobby || 10/08/2013 14:58 Comments || Top||

#15  This line from "Animal House" is particularly appropriate here.
http://youtu.be/zOXtWxhlsUg
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/08/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#16  >That's not a hell of an endorsement there.

Wasn't meant to be!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/08/2013 17:02 Comments || Top||

#17  We may have to downgrade, but will make up for it with volume.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 10/08/2013 17:21 Comments || Top||

#18  #8 procopius...

Hmm, so if Obama fails to prioritize debt payments in a way that threatens the credit-worthiness of the United States, then Boehner can file articles of impeachment based on violation of the 14th amendment...
Posted by: Ptah || 10/08/2013 19:10 Comments || Top||

#19  See also RELATED REUTERS > CHINA TO US: "CLOCK IS TICKING" ON DEAL TO AVOID DEFAULT.

Iff the US goes into [prolonged?] default after October 17, 2013 how will China react to formally or officially recover its $$$ from the US???

and

* TOPIX > [Business Week] OBAMA LOSES FACE + POSSIBLY GROUND IN ASIA.

* BIG NEWS NETWORK > [The Standard] CHINA ENVOY TELLS JAPAN NOT TO CHALLENGE WORLD ORDER.

* SAME > CHINA: JAPAN DEFEATED NOT ONLY BY ATOMIC BOMBS, but also espec by the will + efforts of anti-Fascist Nations.

* GLOBAL TIMES > VOICE ON WHAT CHINA SHOULD DO IFF THE DISPUTE OVER THE DIAOYU ISLANDS IS INCLUDED IN THE GUIDELINES FOR JAPAN-US DEFENSE COPERATION.

Opined that China "MUST MAINTAIN MILITARY PRESSURE TO PROTECT ITS SOVEREIGNTY".

IOW, China must be willing to consider the option of using military force to enforce its will or protect its interests.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/08/2013 23:52 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Dir family seeks protection from ex-minister
[Dawn] A local family held a protest demonstration outside Timergara Press Club here the other day against the police for not taking action against former provincial minister Nawabzada Mahmood Zeb for subjecting them to torture over a piece of land.

The members of Khalilullah's family, including elders and children, rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the former minister. They also carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the police and the former minister.

Talking to journalists, Khalilullah and his son Hussainullah alleged that workers of the former minister and local police subjected both of them to torture when they were working on a piece of land. "They tore our clothes, tortured us physically and took away our farming tools," said Mr Khalilullah.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Maldives Supreme Court Annuls Presidential Vote
[An Nahar] The Maldives Supreme Court Monday annulled the results of last month's presidential elections, in a move likely to deepen international concern amid high tensions on the troubled Indian Ocean archipelago.

The court annulled the first round of voting, which was held on September 7 and won by former leader Mohammed Nasheed, and ordered a fresh ballot.

"The court in a majority decision of 4-3 annulled the elections and ordered fresh elections on October 20," a court official told news hounds after the long-awaited judgement.

The court ordered that a run-off election should be held before November 4 so that the new leader could take office by the constitutionally mandated November 11 deadline, the official said.

The vote was seen as a key test a year and a half after the violent ousting of Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president, who came to power in 2008.

Local and international observer groups found the first round of voting to be free and fair.

But the court suspended the run-off election while it heard a petition into allegations of electoral fraud made by a defeated candidate, businessman Qasim Ibrahim, who demanded that the results be annulled.

Nasheed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had won the first round with 45.45 percent of the vote, but not the minimum required 50 percent to win outright.

His Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has been critical of the court and there had been occasionally violent protest since the run-off was suspended on September 23, but there was no immediate sign of fresh protests after Monday's decision.

There had been growing international concern over the hold up of the run-off elections with the U.N. leading calls for an early resolution of the political deadlock.

Hours before Monday's ruling, six masked men set fire to a private television network that supports Nasheed's campaign.
Posted by: Fred || 10/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does that mean some other Argentinian will win it? Huh, obooboo? Huh?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/08/2013 10:01 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
New Air Force Italian Built Cargo Planes Fly Straight into Mothballs
The Pentagon is sending $50 million cargo planes straight from the assembly line to mothballs because it has no use for them, yet it still hasn't stopped ordering the aircraft, according to a report.

A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed "the boneyard," and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered -- with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, where some 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles, with a total value of more than $35 billion, sit unused.

The C-27J has the unique capability of taking off and landing on crude runways, Ethan Rosenkranz, national security analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, told the newspaper. But with sequestration dictating Pentagon cuts, the planes were deemed a luxury it couldn't afford.

"When they start discarding these programs, it's wasteful," he said.

The planes are built by Rome-based Alenia Aermacchi, under what was initially a $2 billion contract, though that was scaled back.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 10/08/2013 10:46 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The C-27J has the unique capability of taking off and landing on crude runways

Which of course the ground forces need, but doesn't fit the Fighter Mafia's agenda. Form a Strategic Command like the Russians, put the bombers/missiles/etc in there and return to the old Army Air Corps - air/ground support like the Marines have in house.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/08/2013 11:43 Comments || Top||

#2  And yes, the Army wanted these aircraft but the AF lobbied Congress to cut them out of the purchase. And instead of giving them to the Army the mothball the aircraft.
Posted by: tipover || 10/08/2013 12:07 Comments || Top||

#3  These aircraft were supposed to go to the Army in the first place, right?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 10/08/2013 12:15 Comments || Top||

#4  I think you have all overlooked and important reason for the planes being mothballed straight off the assembly line .... All the maintenance and flight instructions are written in Italian

or Tutte le istruzioni di volo e di manutenzione sono scritti in italiano
Posted by: Au Auric || 10/08/2013 13:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Plane - Cockpit:







Posted by: Au Auric || 10/08/2013 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  It'sa durn Tea Party, holding up the ...sequester ... or debt ceiling ... or the shutdown ... or sumpin like that, so that fat cats can get richer, blah, blah, blah.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/08/2013 14:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Something like 200 units split to AF, Army and foreign sales. See RAIT airshow.
Fondly known as the plane that Bob Drewes built.
Or maybe the one that broke him, as he retired and key staff resigned within weeks of the award.
Posted by: Skidmark || 10/08/2013 14:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Fine looking aircraft.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/08/2013 16:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Looks like a baby C130. Its probably ideal for spoke and hub support of FOBs from a central airbase where the heavies fly in to the hub, and these do the tactical resupply. Army would glady have flown them. These should be at Ft Rucker. Damn Zoomies.
Posted by: OldSpook || 10/08/2013 16:29 Comments || Top||

#10  Army should borrow them and convert them to drones so the Air-farce doesn't get to ruin things for them.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/08/2013 16:52 Comments || Top||

#11  Gen. Raymond Odierno:

We — the Army has a stated requirement for intra- theater lift which we need in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and we’ve discussed this over time. The Army has the C-23 Sherpa program which, frankly, is getting old and, frankly, will no longer be capable of doing the mission we need it to do in the future. However, so we’ve defined this requirement.

The Air Force has come back and said, “We can meet all of your intra-theater lift requirements with the C-130.” So we have worked with them to develop concepts that will put C-130s in direct support of Army units in order to meet these requirements.

So I — I would just answer your question by saying we identified the requirement for intra-theater lift. C-27 was one solution. The Air Force has come back and said “we can solve this problem using the C-130.” So we are working with them to come up with the procedures in order for us to solve this problem using the C-130.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 10/08/2013 17:50 Comments || Top||

#12  coincidental article in the san Diego news paper
(http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Officials-Seek-Old-Military-Planes-to-Fight-Fires-226968761.html)

speaks about a solicitation to the DoD for 'out of use' aircraft for fire fighters and they specifically mention the C-27.

Posted by: USN,Ret. || 10/08/2013 23:01 Comments || Top||


Novartis vs Bushido
h/t Gates of Viena
Switzerland-based pharmaceutical kingpin Novartis
the people who invented ADHD to market Ritalin
is under investigation in Japan after two universities there recently caught the company engaging in scientific fraud. According to new reports, a former Novartis employee fabricated clinical trial data to exaggerate the benefits of the blood pressure drug Diovan (valsartan), which is currently licensed for use in more than 100 countries, and Japan's Ministry of Health is now trying to determine whether or not Novartis in any way violated Japanese law with its actions.

Earlier this year, five papers authored by the once prominent Japanese cardiologist Hiroaki Matsubara were retracted by the American Heart Association (AHA), including the main publication of the well-known 2009 Kyoto Heart Study. Not long after, the legitimacy of the Jikei Heart Trial, which was first published in The Lancet journal back in 2007, was also called into question. As it turns out, both clinical trials were worked on by former Novartis employee Nobuo Shirahashi, who failed to disclose his affiliation with Novartis while serving as a member of the statistical analysis organizations for both studies, and both studies were riddled with serious errors.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 10/08/2013 02:52 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a former Novartis employee fabricated clinical trial data to exaggerate the benefits of the blood pressure drug

Former Novartis, now works for the IPCC & UEA and AlGore on projects with similar controls as methodology.
Posted by: AlanC || 10/08/2013 7:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah Toshiro, how we miss you.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 10/08/2013 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't that an AR-15 he's holding?
Posted by: Matt || 10/08/2013 9:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Matt wins snark of the day.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/08/2013 14:39 Comments || Top||



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Tue 2013-10-08
  Egypt: Huge Explosion Hits Security HQ In Sinai
Mon 2013-10-07
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