In other news,

[No Elephants]

Briefs: No links. Enough info to google, though, if you wish.

1. Every single Obama administration official, past, present and future (or so it seems) has given out an alarming story about how bad the sequester is going to be I did not post a whole lot of "OMG, we're falling off the financial cliff' stories, which made the media drumbeats about Iraq pale in comparison. I'll sum it up. Apparently, if the sequester kicks in, life will no longer be worth living. People on Social Security and Medicare should just march on the White House and beg on their hands and knees, to have those entitlements taken from them, right fucking now.

I am not going to post a whole bunch of the the parade of horribles that the sequester will/may bring us. I'll leave all that to establishment propaganda arms. Their drumbeats helped mofos b.s. into Iraq and now this. Fuck 'em twice.


2. The economy is still bad -- bad, I tells ya-- in many countries. Not only that, but the Euro is having problems. (drip, drip, drip, at home and abroad)


3. Apparently, the U.S. lawsuit against ratings agency Moody's had no chilling effect. Moody's just downrated Britain, much to the chagrin of Osborne. This is as relevant to me personally as is the resignation of the Pope. I can't manage even an eye roll.


4. Another huge group of stories I've been ignoring deliberately: Media still can't seem to get over the Pope's resignation. Not sure why. The same people who fawn on every Pope, no matter what he's like or what he does, will fawn on the next guy, whoever he turns out to be. Is all the media shock and awe supposed to convince the rest of us that the Pope is super human, after all? I don't get it.

For Papal gossip mavens, though: Seems as though the Vatican is getting its revenge on Bennie. Reuters just posted Part 2 of what seems to be a hatchet piece in which the Vatican cooperated fully. Seems Pope Bennie did not work and play well with others, so no wonder he can't carry on: supporting someone who isolates himself is very difficult. Oh, and he never fully chose to become Pope either. He signed his books with both his original name and his papal name. So, i guess we don't really have a resignation from a Pope, only from some guy who refused to give up being Rat Zinger, (Only God knows why. Me, I probably would have married someone at 17, just to get rid of that name.)

Oh, and the pope's resignation seems somehow connected to Italy's elections.


5. Egypt's Mursi wants an election. His rival doesn't, saying, with all the unrest, an election would be a recipe for disaster. (Because letting people determine their own fate always upsets them???)

Obviously, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. Because I am not sure what is behind the story, I have been passing on this clump of stories, too. But tonight, there's a story about the opposition leader's office getting ransacked. So, the plot thickens. Opposition honcho's name is Ayman Nour.

6. After many stories about the U.S. and Japan investigating the Dreamliner's habit of starting fires that seem to battery-relatedm, Boeing has proposed a solution to the FAA. This is why I keep all my spare batteries in the freezer. (Really, I do. They last much longer. You're welcome.) I'm taking a wild guess that the FAA will be sympathetic.

[Enthusiast]

1. Yeah.

I already suspect every single news story that comes on TV to be comprised of mostly misleading allegations. I try to see through the bullshit. It's a major task.

[No Elephants]

2. I have no doubt that every story is slanted.