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08 Dec 2009 23:03

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Politics: A couple PR rules, through the vector of Tiger Woods’ idiocy

  • What Gotti understood, albeit at some primitive level, is that the news media abhor a vacuum and that if you don’t face them on your own terms, they will create the terms for you.
  • Reuters columnist Charles Feldman • In a column titled “What Tiger Woods Can Learn From John Gotti,” which looks at Woods’ mishandling of the media. Feldman is making the very argument we’ve been making for the last week and a half. Which is that Woods is so concerned about his privacy that he’s doing the opposite of everything he should be doing as a public figure. Woods isn’t afraid to accept the public’s money for his success, so he shouldn’t be afraid to come clean when he’s done wrong. He’s completely allowed the press to write the terms of his failings, so now the fall from grace is even more spectacular and painful as a result. (David Letterman clearly knew this, BTW.) source

08 Dec 2009 21:34

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Music: One-word music reviews: Hey guys! A new feature! Check it out!

  • We like short posts, duh. And we figure you do, too. We also like music. And reading reviews. So every Tuesday, we’re gonna cover a bunch of recent albums using a single word for each. Is the new Spoon album gonna be “consistent” or “mediocre”? Keep reading. We’re getting there, guys.

08 Dec 2009 21:17

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U.S.: Public option not needed? The Democrats bend for health care

  • You knew it was gonna happen. After over a week of intense debate, Democratic senators have given in to the biggest factor affecting whether the bill was going to pass. The public option is off the table for now. Liberals, cry a single tear. It’ll be okay. *pat* source

08 Dec 2009 20:42

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U.S.: The Senate isn’t playing by the House rules on abortion amendments

  • 54-45 over a longstanding wedge issue source

08 Dec 2009 10:52

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Politics: Abortion fail: Fox News pulls out dicey “low-income babies” card

  • That’s some hard-hitting questioning on abortion right there, Alisyn Camerota of Fox News. Some would argue that it’s racist or disrespectful to the poor. We’d argue that it just makes you an awful human being. Our favorite part of the clip is the obvious disbelief about the line of questioning by Kate Obenshain, her guest. source

08 Dec 2009 10:39

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08 Dec 2009 10:25

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Music: Some weird animal guy wants to go to Africa. Give him money.

Deacon, the least-prominent member of Animal Collective, wants to go to Africa. So he’s using Kickstarter to raise $25,000 for a trip. Donate and get cool crap. source
 

08 Dec 2009 10:19

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Politics: Climate change expert: That e-mail controversy no big thang

  • Well, I can tell you, privately when I talk to my friends, I use language much worse than that. This was purely private communications between friends, between, colleagues, they were letting off steam. I think we should see it as nothing more than that.
  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Chairman Rajendra Pachauri • Throwing in his two cents on the climate change hacked e-mail scandal. He points out that even if they were trying to push inaccurate information into reports, the reports are peer-reviewed so it would’ve never gotten through. “There are so many checks and balances in the processes and procedures that we follow at the IPCC, there is not one iota of possibility that something like this would happen,” he said. source

08 Dec 2009 10:09

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Tech: The iPhone App Store looking lighter after scam developer removed

  • 1,000 apps from one company, mostly rip-offs of better apps, were removed from the store
  • 1% the percentage of apps they represented; they had inflated ratings and fake reviews source

08 Dec 2009 09:59

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World: Looking to fend off recession, Japan pushes their own stimulus

  • $81 billion to help keep their economy afloat source