Excerpt: “Meanwhile, the number of people ending their lives on MBTA tracks is rising, despite new helpline posters at nearly 50 bus and train stations.”

Causes me pause. -Pk

Massive layoffs causing suicide hotlines to ring off the hook

(Fixed)

Excerpt: "What separates the average person from someone that inspires? Just a voice, and we all have one. Find yours, and use it...for anything...for whatever is important to you. Just speak up and be heard. Whether on a small or large scale, everyone has the ability to touch history. Then you become more than just a voice...you transform yourself into an ambassador of hope, and hope is infectious."

A nice pleasant read given the election. -Pk

Hope Springs Eternal

For the current few days 'Alexander the Average' has been bloggin about Rita.

Excerpt: "Analysis: All of this is happening without one bit of federal resources being committed. FEMA is at the state operations center, but its a state and local show right now. We never planned on FEMA saving our bacon. And no this plan didn't happen overnight. It has taken years of detailed planning to reach this point. Will there be screw-ups? Yes. Will we do better than LA and NOLA? Probably."

Take a look. -Pk

Rita Rita Rita.

Excerpt: "Scalia is hardly the only justice whose personal values bleed into his rulings. He is, however, the one most critical of his colleagues for allowing their decisions to be dictated by ideological preferences. There is no reason to believe Scalia is consciously hypocritical on any issue. Yet time and again, his strict construction of the Constitution happens to coincide, almost precisely, with some ideological preference of his own."

I haven't heard his name as much as I expected lately. -Pk

Antonin Scalia, Judicial Activist

Excerpt: "Any deal would be the first sale of the Lockheed Martin-built munition to a foreign country."

Except that all of Lockheed's fighters are on the USML list too.

Anyway, I chose to post this from GNN for what know whose reason but there is lots of other coverage on the matter. Congress has ~30 days to reject the deal but it's unlikely they would. Symbolic? Preparation? Cheers, -Pk

US Wants to Sell Israel ‘Bunker-Buster’ Bombs

Excerpt: "Seoul also has expressed concern about U.S. statements that it would like a more "regional" role for its forces. If China engaged Taiwan, policy-makers are worried that South Korea could inadvertently be drawn into a conflict if U.S. forces were dispatched from here."

Don't worry SK, China is coming after your economic growth bases anyway. -Pk

S. Korea unwilling to update U.S. plan

Just a confirmation that they're going to harvest spent fuel rods for reprocessing. I'm sure hundreds of stories will follow. -Pk

N Korea suspends work of its only nuclear reactor

Excerpt: "While American stubborn denial, and often a belittling public denouncing, especially of Serb sources, that al-Qaeda is in Kosovo may be politically motivated, it is, nevertheless, fueling delusional belief among Albanian public that al-Qaeda is not among them."

Lengthy and has a number of links to background. And the author's bio/archive link has a couple of other stories worth glancing at if time provides. Cheers, -Pk

Al Qaeda in Kosovo

Excerpt: "Over a period of several years, the CIA assembled a group of South American informants who were in contact with Iranians there. "We dangled our people out there and the Iranians recruited us," the former official said."

I can't think of one Iranian I know who lives or lived in South America though. -Pk

CIA SPY RING: Had eye on Iran until al-Qaida became priority

Excerpt: " The best way to reduce the American dependence on foreign oil and the country's overall oil consumption would be to supplement market forces by raising the price of gasoline gradually, perhaps by increasing the federal gasoline tax by 25 cents each year for eight consecutive years."

Umm. Suuuuuurrreeeee that'd be a good thing. Kinda like the ciggy tax and the ciggy settlements that people are dependant on like crack. Read the whole article for proper context... -Pk

Even costlier oil would help U.S.