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29 Nov 2010 11:22

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U.S.: A federal pay freeze might halt out-of-whack wage increases

  • 3% the yearly increase in pay rates above inflation for public-sector workers
  • 0.8% the increase of the same measure for private-sector workers source
  • » Also worth noting: As of 2010, 82,000 federal workers make over $150,000 – a huge leap from even five years earlier. And had Obama not ordered the pay freeze, federal pay would’ve gone up by 1.4 percent across the board. Federal workers are getting paid out of whack with the private sector as-is. To stop this now, as he’s getting hit on all sides, seems like a very smart move on Obama’s part, though we’ll see as the story develops.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 11:02

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U.S.: RIAA lawsuits’ last stand: SCOTUS won’t hear downloader’s appeal

  • good The recording industry has moved away from suing the crap out of copyright infringers. About time; who did that help, anyway?
  • bad One of the people sued in such a fashion, Whitney Harper, lost her case – and the Supreme Court wouldn’t hear her appeal. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:35

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U.S.: Obama announcing federal employee pay freeze

  • This is gonna hurt federal workers en masse. Obama will offer details in a press conference in a little while, but expect DC residents to feel the hurt, as 600,000 federal workers reside in this little out-of-the-way villa. Hey, Obama, could we make a suggestion for you, as outside observers? Cut the pay of the highest-paid federal workers – the bureaucrats with random non-public-facing jobs, but raise it for TSA staffers, because they’re not getting paid enough to take their arguably more important job seriously. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 10:00

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U.S.: Wikileaks: Wow, there’s a lot of espionage in these cables

  • Is it a natural part of diplomatic activity to have diplomats collecting biometric data? … [It’s] a contravention of how diplomats are supposed to conduct business.
  • Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson • Expressing the organization’s level of surprise at the extent of the espionage they found. The State Department claimed that its diplomats were in fact not spying.  “Contrary to some Wikileaks’ reporting,” wrote State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley, “our diplomats are diplomats. They are not intelligence assets.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Nov 2010 00:19

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U.S., World: Five random facts from Wikileaks’ diplomatic cable leak

  • one China was behind the hack attack that led Google to temporarily withdraw from the country. (Duh.)
  • two Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah wants the U.S. to attack Iran to kill off its nuclear program. (Hmm.)
  • three The Afghan vice-president came a-knockin’ in the UAE with $52 million dollars in his luggage.
  • four The U.S. worries about Silvio Berlusconi’s tight friendship with Vladimir Putin, but not Leo’s.
  • five Obama would only meet with Slovenia if they took a Gitmo detainee from the U.S. Wow. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Nov 2010 11:33

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Tech, U.S.: The U.S. government gets bolder with its anti-piracy actions

  • 70+ illegal torrent sites shut down by the Feds; single tear source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Nov 2010 11:19

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U.S.: Portland tree-lighting bomb suspect had been plotting for months

  • You know there’s going to be a lot of children there? You know there are gonna be a lot of children there?
  • An FBI operative working undercover • Talking to Portland, Oregon tree-lighting bombing suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud back in August, months before the incident took place. Portland police stopped Mohamud a mere 18 minutes before the ceremony began, which is kind of amazing. They say, though, that the the device wasn’t in any shape to actually explode (because the FBI supplied it to him, even though he tried to detonate it) and that the public was never in any danger. Whew. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

26 Nov 2010 20:28

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U.S.: Did FedEx ever find that radioactive barrel they lost?

  • YES one less thing to be scared #*^@less about source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Nov 2010 15:11

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U.S.: Looks like a job for Radioactive Man: FedEx loses radioactive barrel

  • normalFedEx regularly ships small amounts of radioactive material, within compliance of federal and state regulations. (We’re guessing UPS does the same thing.)
  • abnormal FedEx lost a big barrel of Germanium on one of its routes, causing a mad scramble. If it stays in its lead barrel, we’re safe. If not … hope you don’t find it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Nov 2010 11:51

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U.S.: Retired NYC fire marshal: I wanna kill Obama, then myself

  • It had been a good solid fifteen months or so. We were due for another one of these. Seems that Michael Bowden, a 77-year-old retired police officer and fire marshal who worked in NYC, had discussed a plan to kill Obama – and then himself – because he was not doing enough to help out African-Americans. (Bowden is white, by the way.) Police checked his Spartanburg, South Carolina home and found a ton of loaded semiautomatic weapons next to his bed, suggesting that he was well along with his plan. Obama has faced a handful of assassination plots like these, but generally it’s not because Obama is doing too little to help black people. So this is new. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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