Cowboys hire Monte Kiffin to replace Rob Ryan

IRVING, Texas (AP) ? The Dallas Cowboys hired former Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin as the replacement for Rob Ryan on Friday.

The move signals a switch back to the 4-3 alignment eight years after Bill Parcells implemented the 3-4.

Dallas coach Jason Garrett said he had two days of discussions with the 72-year-old Kiffin and came away believing the Cowboys have the personnel to make the switch work.

The most notable change will be Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware becoming a defensive end, and Anthony Spencer could make the same move if the Cowboys re-sign him.

"Monte Kiffin's level of experience and track record of success as an NFL defensive coordinator are unmatched," Garrett said. "He has produced NFL defensive units that have consistently performed at a high level in a scheme that has stood the test of time."

Kiffin hasn't coached in the NFL since ending a 13-year run in Tampa in 2008. He spent the past four years coaching in college with his son, Lane Kiffin, at Tennessee and Southern California.

At Tampa, Kiffin's defenses frequently were among the league's best, and the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl with him after the 2002 season. That unit was the first in the league since the champion Chicago Bears in 1985 to lead the NFL in total defense, points allowed and interceptions.

"I came away from the interview process with Jason with a feeling that Dallas is the right place to be," Kiffin said. "They're close, and I am confident that there are quality pieces in place for us to be able to get the job done."

Ryan was fired Tuesday after two seasons. His defenses were inconsistent pressuring the quarterback and didn't force many turnovers. In 2011, the Cowboys allowed the second-most yards passing in franchise history.

This season's injury-filled unit couldn't stop New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and rookie Washington running back Alfred Morris in season-ending losses that kept Dallas (8-8) out of the playoffs for the third straight year.

The Buccaneers finished in the top 10 in total defense 11 times in 13 years under Kiffin and had streaks of 69 straight games with a sack and 54 with at least one turnover during that stretch. Tampa had 31 interceptions when it won the Super Bowl, nine more than the Cowboys have the past two seasons combined.

Kiffin, who turns 73 next month, has 26 years of NFL experience with other stops in Green Bay, Buffalo, Minnesota, the New York Jets and New Orleans.

He coached 17 years in college before going to the NFL, including 11 seasons under Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne at Nebraska, his alma mater.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cowboys-hire-monte-kiffin-replace-rob-ryan-203405837--nfl.html

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Pope Pays Homage To The Martyr Church Of Cambodia

  • Thailand Nearly 700 Rohingya Asylum Seekers Allegedly Held By Human Traffickers Rescued

    Huffington Post - Friday 11th January, 2013

    SONGKHLA, Thailand - Thai authorities said Friday that about 700 people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority who had entered Thailand illegally were found in two separate raids in the ...

  • 700 Rohingya in Thailand to be deported to Myanmar

    Tampa Bay Online - Friday 11th January, 2013

    SONGKHLA, Thailand (AP) -- Thai authorities said Friday that about 700 people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority who had entered Thailand illegally were found in two separate raids in ...

  • Statkraft Expanded power plant opened in Laos

    General Sources - Friday 11th January, 2013

    (Ban Nahin/Oslo, 11 January 2013) Laotian utility company Theun Hinboun Power Company (THPC), where Statkraft owns 20 per cent, opened two new power stations in Laos today. The two new power ...

  • Environmental groups slam Laos dam expansion

    General Sources - Friday 11th January, 2013

    The start-up of an expanded hydropower dam Friday on the Nam Ngouang River in central Laos is set to impact the lives of thousands, an international environmental group said. "The ...

  • As Burma Opens Vietnam Clamps Down on Bloggers

    World Press Review - Friday 11th January, 2013

    It is a sign of the times that a journalist in Burma is writing about a freedom of expression clampdown in a neighboring country. With about 80 political prisoners freed in another amnesty on ...

  • 700 Rohingya asylum seekers rescued in Thailand

    The Miami Herald - Friday 11th January, 2013

    SONGKHLA, Thailand -- Thai authorities say they have rescued nearly 700 boat people from Myanmar's beleaguered Rohingya minority who were being held by alleged human traffickers in the ...

  • Japanese PM to visit Thailand next week

    China.org.cn - Friday 11th January, 2013

    Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pay an official visit to Thailand next week and hold talks with his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra on bilateral and regional ...

  • Roadside bomb attack in restive southern Thailand kills 2 soldiers

    Canada.com - Friday 11th January, 2013

    SONGKHLA, Thailand - Police say suspected insurgents have detonated a roadside bomb that killed two soldiers in Thailand's violence-plagued south. Police Col. Wasan Puangnoi says a group of ...

  • 2 soldiers killed by road bomb in Thailands south

    The Miami Herald - Friday 11th January, 2013

    SONGKHLA, Thailand -- Police say suspected insurgents have detonated a roadside bomb that killed two soldiers in Thailand's violence-plagued south.Police Col. Wasan Puangnoi says a group of ...

  • Cambodia to free one Thai spy next month reduce 6-month jail term for other

    Global Times - Friday 11th January, 2013

    Cambodia will release a Thai "yellow-shirt" activist on February 1 and reduce a six-month prison term for the other in order to mark the cremation of the country's King Father Norodom ...

  • Thailand to deport 400 Rohingya migrants after raid

    The Straits Times - Friday 11th January, 2013

    BANGKOK (AFP) - Around 400 Rohingya migrants discovered in a raid on a camp hidden in a remote rubber plantation in southern Thailand will be deported back to Myanmar, Thai police said on Friday. ...

  • Ex-Thai PM urges Laos to find missing activist

    Asia News Network - Thursday 10th January, 2013

    Former Thai prime minister Anand Panyarachun has appealed to the Lao government to do more to locate the missing activist Sombath Somphone, who disappeared in Vientiane nearly a month ago. Anand, ...

  • Source: http://www.laosnews.net/index.php/sid/211901942/scat/a6670896145a3ae3

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    Officials: Hostage in Somalia killed in rescue attempt

    By John Irish and Abdi Sheikh, Reuters

    PARIS/MOGADISHU - A French intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia since 2009 was killed along with at least one other soldier during a botched rescue attempt by French troops on Friday night, the French Defense Ministry said Saturday.

    But the Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen insurgent group who were holding Denis Allex said in a statement that he was still alive and being held at a location far from the base where French military helicopters attacked overnight.

    The al-Qaida-linked insurgents also said they were holding an injured French soldier.

    Both sides described a fierce firefight during the raid on the Horn of Africa country that France said was carried out by the DGSE intelligence agency that Allex worked for.

    'Inhumane'
    The French Defense Ministry said 17 Somali fighters were killed in the fighting, which came on the same day France carried out air strikes against al-Qaida-linked rebels in Mali in west Africa.

    "Faced with the intransigence of the terrorists, who refused to negotiate for three-and-half years and who were holding Denis Allex in inhumane conditions, an operation was planned and carried out," the ministry said.

    "During the assault, violent combat took place. Denis Allex was killed by his captors and in trying to liberate their comrade, two soldiers lost their lives."

    The government later told a news conference one soldier was killed and one was missing.

    Allex was one of two French intelligence officers from the DGSE who were kidnapped by al-Shabab in Mogadishu in July 2009 but one, Marc Aubriere, escaped a month later. Allex had been held ever since.

    Authorities in Bula Mareer, a town about 75 miles south of Mogadishu, said helicopters attacked on early on Saturday.

    "Helicopters attacked al-Shabab at 2 a.m. this morning? [6 p.m. Friday ET]. Two civilians died in the crossfire," Ahmed Omar Mohamed, deputy chairman for lower Shabelle region, told Reuters.

    An al-Shabab official who asked not to be named said they exchanged fire with French commandos.

    "Three helicopters dropped French commandos. We exchanged fire," the official told Reuters.

    The ministry said on Saturday Allex was kidnapped when he was carrying out an official aid mission with the Somalian government. France has previously said the two men were in the Somali capital to train local forces.

    After his abduction al-Shabab issued a series of demands, which included an end to French support for the Somali government and the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers, whose 17,600-strong troops are helping battle the rebels.?

    Read more coverage of Somalia from NBC News

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

    Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/12/16477334-officials-french-agent-held-by-al-qaida-group-in-somalia-killed-in-rescue-attempt?lite

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    The Top NBA Players Of All Time

  • 1

    1963

    Shooting guard, Small forward

    United States of America

  • 2

    1959

    Power forward, Point guard

    United States of America

  • 3

    1947

    Center

    United States of America

  • 4

    1936

    Center

    United States of America

  • 5

    1956

    Power forward, Small forward

    United States of America

  • 6

    1934

    Center

    United States of America

  • 7

    1978

    Point guard, Shooting guard, Swingman

    United States of America

    24

  • 8

    1963

    Center

    United States of America, Nigeria

  • 9

    1938

    Point guard, Shooting guard

    United States of America

  • 10

    1972

    Center

    United States of America

    36

  • 11

    1950

    Small forward

    United States of America

  • 12

    1976

    Power forward, Center

    United States of America

    21

  • 13

    1963

    Power forward

    United States of America

  • 14

    1938

    United States of America

  • 15

    1963

    Power forward, Small forward

    United States of America

  • 16

    1962

    Point guard

    United States of America

  • 17

    1984

    Small forward, Point forward

    United States of America

    6

  • 18

    1965

    Small forward

    United States of America

  • 19

    1955

    Power forward, Center

    United States of America

  • 20

    1965

    Center

    United States of America

  • 21

    1974

    Point guard

    Canada

    10

  • 22

    1976

    Power forward

    United States of America

    5

  • 23

    1962

    Center

    United States of America

  • 24

    1961

    Point guard

    United States of America

  • 25

    1962

    Shooting guard, Small forward

    United States of America

  • 26

    1934

    United States of America

  • 27

    1960

    Small forward

    United States of America

  • 28

    1978

    Power forward, Center

    Germany

    41

  • 29

    1975

    Point guard, Shooting guard

    United States of America

  • 30

    1965

    Shooting guard

    United States of America

  • 31

    1947

    United States of America

  • 32

    1973

    Point guard

    United States of America

    5

  • 33

    1961

    Small forward

    United States of America

  • 34

    1982

    Point guard, Shooting guard

    United States of America

    3

  • 35

    1957

    Power forward, Center

    United States of America

  • 36

    1940

    United States of America

  • 37

    1928

    Point guard

    United States of America, France

  • 38

    1988

    Small forward

    United States of America

    35

  • 39

    1975

    Shooting guard

    United States of America

    34

  • 40

    1952

    Shooting guard

    United States of America

  • 41

    1977

    Small forward

    United States of America

    34

  • 42

    1945

    Point guard

    United States of America

  • 43

    1968

    Point guard

    United States of America

  • 44

    1961

    Power forward, Small forward

    United States of America, United Kingdom

  • 45

    1953

    Center

    United States of America

  • 46

    1932

    Power forward, Center

    United States of America

  • 47

  • 48

    1985

    Point guard

    United States of America

    3

  • 49

    1988

    Point guard

    United States of America

    1

  • 50

    1924

    Center

    United States of America

  • Source: http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-top-nba-players-of-all-time

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    Oklahoma Pushes for Increased Elder Care Safety ... - Legal Planet

    Oklahoma Pushes for Increased Elder Care Safety With Video Monitoring in ? Law Firm Newswire (press release) Waxahachie, TX ( Law Firm Newswire) January 10, 2013 ? There is a growing push to install video cameras in nursing homes. The security cameras would be placed to catch incidents of elder care abuse, nursing home neglect and other areas of concern for ?

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    Posted by dunkele on Jan 10 2013. Filed under ELDER LAW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

    Source: http://legalplanet.com/2013/01/10/oklahoma-pushes-for-increased-elder-care-safety-with-video-monitoring-in-law-firm-newswire-press-release/

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    Raw Vegan Brownies | Eat Drink Better

    by Andrea @Vibrant Wellness Journal

    Got a healthy recipe that you?d like to share? Head over to our Submit a Recipe page to share it with us!

    Raw Vegan Brownies

    These raw brownies are rich in superfoods, but decadent enough for all your fancy dinner parties. This recipe is adapted from A Dash of Compassion.

    Yield: 16 small brownies

    Ingredients

    Brownie:

    • 1 cup raw almonds
    • 1 cup raw walnuts
    • 1 1/2 cups pitted Medjool dates
    • 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
    • 1 Tablespoon vanilla powder or vanilla extract
    • 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
    • Pinch of sea salt

    Peppermint Fudge:

    • 1 cup coconut butter
    • 1/4 ? 1/2 cup agave nectar or honey
    • 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
    • 2 teaspoons peppermint extract

    Cooking Directions

    1. For the Brownie: grind almonds and walnuts in a food processor to a fine powder.
    2. Add dates and pulse until the mixture is combined and crumbly. Add cacao powder, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt and pulse to combine. The mixture should stick together when pressed between two fingers.
    3. Line an 8?8 baking dish with parchment paper or waxed paper. Press the Brownie mixture into the bottom pan and set aside.
    4. For the Peppermint Fudge: Blend coconut butter and agave until smooth. Add cacao and peppermint extract. Blend again, and taste, adding more agave or peppermint to taste.
    5. Spread Peppermint Fudge onto Brownie layer, and smooth with a spatula.
    6. Let Brownies chill in refrigerator for one hour before cutting. Store in refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy cold or warmed!

    Got a healthy recipe that you?d like to share? Head over to our Submit a Recipe page to share it with us!



    Source: http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2013/01/11/raw-chocolate-peppermint-fudge-brownies/

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    The Movie Club

    Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook. Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook

    Courtesy The Weinstein Company.

    Ugh, Keith, you?re so right about how Oscar season comes along every year and squashes all movie conversations in progress, like that giant animated foot that used to come down and stomp out sketches in progress on Monty Python?s Flying Circus. Judgments of a given film?s value get inextricably tangled up with estimations of its likelihood of winning; our love for one movie or performance becomes tainted by resentment for that other, annoying one that?s getting all the attention instead.

    Much as I enjoyed David O. Russell?s Silver Linings Playbook when it came out, I couldn?t help but lift an eyebrow yesterday when it up and became the first movie in 31 years (since Warren Beatty?s Reds) to get nominated for an Oscar in every acting category?not to mention Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. If by some dark miracle of Harvey Weinstein necromancy Silver Linings turns out to be this year?s The Artist?a slight, imperfect, but amusing picture that inexplicably elbows its way past worthier competitors to the Oscar finish line?then yeah, that?ll be irritating. This ungainly comedy is not only not the best picture of the year, it?s not even Russell?s best work. (I still prefer his early, manic, overstuffed farces: Flirting with Disaster, I Heart Huckabees.) But especially after a second viewing (undertaken to test whether I?d unfairly prejudged Bradley Cooper?s performance the first time around, which I think I did), I?m fine with Silver Linings elbowing its way onto so many awards slates. More romantic comedies should be this loose-limbed, this idiosyncratic, and this flat-out funny and sexy and sweet. Sure, Russell?s script is uneven and a little shapeless. The movie seems to sit up halfway through, realize ?Oh crap, I need a climactic resolution,? and then race to provide a rushed, overly tidy one. But much of what comes first is so marvelously untidy that you forgive it a lot. Russell?s moviemaking practice has something in common with the rough wisdom espoused by Jennifer Lawrence?s character when accused by Bradley Cooper?s of being a ?big slut?: ?There?s always going to be a part of me that?s sloppy and dirty, but I like that.?

    Silver Linings Playbook is stuffed to bursting with small pleasures. There is Lawrence?s movie-star-making turn as the proudly dysfunctional village bicycle Tiffany, Robert De Niro?s most committed performance in a decade, and all the lovingly established details and rhythms of everyday life in a working-class Philadelphia neighborhood. It?s a very rhythmic film all around, at times recalling Robert Altman in its easy, loping pace and dense overlapping dialogue. And I admire the care Russell invests in the specificity of even the smallest characters: Julia Stiles as Jennifer Lawrence?s tightly wound sister, Paul Herman as Robert De Niro?s omnipresent gambling partner, Chris Tucker as Bradley Cooper?s obsessive-compulsive buddy from the ?loony bin? (the script?s term, not mine). Love it or not, you leave that movie having visited a world.

    The same is true of Benh Zeitlin?s Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012?s Sundance Cinderella, that has floated through the year as if coated in pixie dust. I don?t mean to be sarcastic toward this beautiful, earnest, intermittently affecting film?it?s a hard movie to entirely hate, especially when you see phone footage of 9-year-old Quvenzhan? Wallis dancing at the Critics? Choice after-party in a pink dress. Stephanie and Wesley compare Beasts to a graduate thesis on poverty; to me it was more like a kindergarten ceramics project, lovingly made and offered, but nonetheless lumpy and inexpertly glazed. I think Benh Zeitlin seems like a filmmaker of enormous promise, and I?m glad his movie?s success will give other weird, uncategorizable-by-genre projects like it a chance to get made and seen. But that doesn?t mean his movie isn?t a sodden, unfocused mess.

    I feel like I?ve gone through the year having conversations where someone who loved Beasts makes the case for it, I make the case against, and both of us walk away having utterly failed to connect. Precisely what they like about the movie must be what I don?t, I guess: the unswervingly high emotional pitch of the story; the ever-present swelling chords of the pretty folkie score (co-composed and performed by Zeitlin); and that horrible, relentless voiceover. I loved Wallis both as a physical presence onscreen (in those rubber boots and orange undies, how could you not?) and in her scenes with other actors, but I think she was done a disservice by being forced to read aloud reams of florid prose that seemed to be originating from anywhere but her 6-year-old character?s brain. By the movie?s end, I was ready to send the writers? teeth ?flying around the sky in a million little pieces,? or whatever that line is.

    When I first saw the trailer for Beasts?that shot with the little girl running through a slow-motion shower of sparks while the music plays in the background?I thought, wow, this looks sensational. Little did I know that the music would never let up, or that that image would appear not at the movie?s emotional climax but somewhere in the first 10 or 15 minutes, or that the whole film would essentially be a string of just such decontextualized bursts of feeling with no dramatic downtime for getting to know the characters or their world. By the second hour I started to feel as if I were watching a tearjerking television commercial for ? what? Poverty? Authenticity? Crawfish boils?

    Keith, for this last round (already??), I won?t even throw you a particular title to riff on. I?ll just set you loose in the newly stocked storage room of 2012 movies. Which ones do you want to pick up, dust off, and turn over again, just for the feel of them in your hands?

    Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=66db6f18878379efd0860e806f16d6b7

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    DEBT CEILING FACTS

    Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is likely to leave before the debt ceiling gets resolved. So his successor will have to figure out how to pay the bills without borrowing. As this illustration shows, those bills pile up quickly.

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

    To help separate fact from fiction in the battle, here's what you need to know about the issue.

    What is the debt ceiling exactly? It's a cap set by Congress on the amount of money the federal government may borrow. The limit applies to debt owed to the public (i.e. anyone who buys U.S. bonds) plus debt that the Treasury owes to government trust funds such as those for Social Security and Medicare.

    Why does it need to be raised? The debt ceiling needs to be raised periodically because both parties in Congress have approved tax cuts and spending increases over the years, knowing full well they will add to deficits. By doing so, they increase the country's future borrowing needs.

    That's why raising the debt ceiling is not a "license to spend more," as some Republicans assert. It simply lets the Treasury Department continue to pay all the country's obligations that Congress has already approved -- whether it's a payment to a federal contractor, a Social Security check to a senior, or interest on the debt to a bond investor.

    Since March 1962, Congress has raised the debt limit 76 times, according to the Congressional Research Service. Eleven of those times occurred in the past decade.

    How high is the debt ceiling now? The ceiling is currently set at $16.394 trillion. The country's borrowing hit that mark on Dec. 31.

    As a result, Treasury can't borrow any new money in the markets (although it still is allowed to rollover existing debt). So it has begun to use "extraordinary measures" to temporarily stave off the risk that the country will default on any of its obligations.

    What are "extraordinary measures" and how much time can they buy? Treasury has four options, which combined can raise $200 billion.

    The biggest of them is to temporarily stop reinvesting federal workers' retirement savings in special-issue short-term bonds.

    Treasury has said that normally $200 billion can cover federal borrowing needs for about two months. But how much it buys this time around remains uncertain.

    The Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that Congress will have to raise the ceiling as soon as Feb. 15 but no later than March 1.

    What happens if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling in time? It's impossible to say with certainty. But generally speaking, nothing good will come of it.

    Treasury would not be permitted to borrow. So it would only be able to pay those bills for which it has enough revenue on hand. Problem is, there won't be enough revenue on hand to cover the payments due on any given day.

    So who would get paid and who would get stiffed? Treasury would be forced to make legally questionable decisions, in essence, picking winners and losers. "The reality would be chaotic," the Bipartisan Policy Center concludes in an analysis of Treasury's cash flow.

    Some say the country could avoid default if Treasury simply chooses to pay interest due to bondholders first. It's not as simple as it sounds, but that is what most experts expect Treasury would do since defaulting on U.S. bonds would cripple the economy, send markets into a tailspin and potentially "trigger another catastrophic financial crisis," in the words of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee.

    But if the debt ceiling standoff persists, there's no guarantee that paying interest but shirking other legal obligations will protect the country from the perception of default or at least instability.

    If the debt ceiling isn't raised in time, will there be a government shutdown? Not technically, but effectively it may feel like a partial one.

    A real government shutdown occurs if lawmakers fail to appropriate funds for federal agencies and programs. Without appropriated funding, government operations would cease, except for essential services.

    By contrast, if the debt ceiling isn't raised in time, the government remains open and Uncle Sam has revenue coming in to pay for government services and agencies. Just not enough revenue to pay for everything.

    "There would have to be severe cutbacks, but it is unlikely that large parts of the government would be shut down completely," said former Congressional Budget Office Director Rudolph Penner.

    What's all the noise about the 14th Amendment? If Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, some believe the president could choose a "nuclear option" and invoke the 14th Amendment.

    That amendment states: "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law ... shall not be questioned."

    By invoking the 14th Amendment, the argument goes, Obama could direct the Treasury secretary to keep borrowing in order to pay the country's obligations.

    The White House has rejected the suggestion several times. But minds may change, experts say, if the country is really on the brink of default.

    It would, however, be risky politically.

    And the country could still be hurt financially. Invoking the 14th Amendment could spark a constitutional showdown -- not exactly an affirming message to send markets already questioning Washington's ability to govern.

    What about a $1 trillion platinum coin? Another instant-presto fix that some experts believe could be used to avert default is the creation of a $1 trillion platinum coin. Then again other experts think the idea is legally questionable and in any case not a bright move.

    The idea goes like this: Treasury is not allowed to print money. But because of a legal loophole it is allowed to mint platinum coins. If it opts to mint a $1 trillion coin, it could deposit it at the Federal Reserve and thereby keep paying the country's bills even though the debt ceiling hasn't been raised yet.

    "Minting a $1 trillion coin sounds like the plot of a Simpsons episode or an Austin Powers sequel. It lacks dignity," writes Donald Marron, a former Congressional Budget Office director, in an opinion piece.

    But, he adds, the platinum-coin option might be better than the alternatives if political intransigence really does put the country at risk of default. To top of page

    First Published: January 10, 2013: 5:46 AM ET

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/money_topstories/~3/6q02GNyZg8Q/index.html

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