Sweeping U.S. government spending cuts totalling $85 billion begin taking effect Friday, slicing deeply into military and other programs in an unwanted move toward austerity that displays Washington's paralyzing partisan divisions.

The cuts are kicking in after the White House and congressional Republicans could not overcome bitter disagreements and come up with a better plan to tackle the country's $11.7 trillion debt. The warring sides have spent this week assigning blame rather than seeking a way out, and rival Democratic and Republican measures to modify the cuts failed in the Senate on Thursday.

Victims’ rights groups have called for a registry to be set up to alert residents when Members of Parliament enter their community. They argue the measures are necessary to protect children and other venerable members of society from the dangerous amounts of bullshit that certain politicians discharge.  

As Lab rats are being fed water via the internet and, as these ratty communications are hailed as breakthrough in mind development technologies, one also hear some alarm bells on the food front... Gus' apologies to the creators of "Sniffy and Brains"... all we need is a better mouse-trap.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/28/brains-rats-connected-share-information

During the week following my 2011 Archibald win, one Melbourne radio announcer introduced me with the following: ''So if you can wear a horse suit and go 'neigh' you can call yourself an artist - on the line I have Ben Quilty''. I'd fired him up because I'd suggested in my Archibald acceptance speech that I felt it was time a Higher Education Contributions Scheme fee was implemented at the Australian Institute of Sport.

It’s a place where angels fear to tread; where criminals, frauds and mysterious corpses turn up as regularly as rats in the metro. The Institute for Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican bank, was set up in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage the vast Vatican finances. Often referred to as the world’s most secret bank, the operation is run by a CEO and overseen by five cardinals who report directly to the Pope.

from Crikey ….

Warning to Australia: Cameron's 'Big Society' failed in UK

Iron-ore magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest is fighting attempts to exploit the mineral wealth under his own cattle station in the Pilbara.

Mr Forrest, 51, founder and executive chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, is suing to block attempts to search for uranium on his Minderoo Station and last month failed in an attempt to halt sand mining on the property.

Julia Gillard will have no paucity of distractions during her sleepout at the marvellously named Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney's western sprawl which was once Labor's heartland but is currently feared as The Badlands.

It is not about who can or should lead the Labor Government. It’s about the rotten anti-worker policies Labor serves up to we workers. That’s why Abbott and has ship of fools is leading 56% to 44% in the two party preferred vote in the latest Nielsen poll.

from Crikey .....

Essential: how determined are voters to throw Labor out? Very.

There are some words and phrases that almost inevitably crop up in politician-speak across the ideological spectrum. No matter how fond one might be of one’s own relatives, for instance, by the conclusion of an election campaign we’re all heartily sick of families, be they ‘modern’, ‘working’, or otherwise. Some words, though, are a little more abstract, such as community and the mainstream.