- After the Obama administration instituted strict new rules on lobbying, over 1,000 more lobbyists than would be expected to deregister did just that.
- California will begin taking an extra 10% out of paychecks. It is not a tax increase because taxpayers will get it back in a refund next year if they overpaid. It is a tax free loan.
- Thirty years ago, Iranians stormed and took over the American embassy in Tehran. Today, many of those same people are prominent dissidents seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.
- Stalin is increasingly viewed favorably in Russia.
- North Korea has threatened the U.S. that unless it begins bilateral talks, North Korea “will go its own way.”
- Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is being investigated by the FBI for using his authority to retaliate against political opponents.
- The Russian Army recently carried out a mock invasion of Poland. Poles were not happy. Russia invaded Poland in 1791 and occupied it for a century, and joined with the Nazis in carving it up in 1939.
- The 2010 United States foreign aid budget includes $6 million to promote civil society in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, $500,000 for border security in Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya and $56 million to support the rule of law and human rights in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
- After being declared the victor in the Afghan Presidential election, Hamid Karzai said he will form a “national unity” government. Let’s see, civil war, opponent drops out because elections are rigged…uh-huh, no problem.
- Al Gore is on pace to become the first “carbon” billionaire.
- November 23 is the trial date for Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal against a sodomy charge.
- The Malaysian state of Terengganu wants to halt a divorce epidemic by developing workshops to handle problems with body odor and monotonous sex. “I know of one case where a separation was triggered just because the spouse smelled of fish crackers,” a government official said.
- Hundreds of former soldiers who took part in Salvador Allende’s 1973 coup offered to reveal where the bodies of victims were buried if they receive immunity, pensions and psychological help.
- Vladimir Putin is warning Western Europe of gas shortages this winter as another disagreement between Russia and Ukraine looms over the transport of that gas.
- A British Minister of Parliament will resign after equating the expense scandal plaguing him and other parliament members with the Holocaust.
- Iranian journalist and activist Emadeddin Baghi was denied from traveling outside Iran to receive a prestigious human rights award.
