• 83
  million people watched the telethon on one of many TV networks Friday night
• $61
  million poured in as a direct result of the George Clooney-led telethon source

• When will people learn not to use IE ever again? Just days after a major security exploit finally got patched in Internet Explorer, another security flaw – this one a combination hack which allows for control of a user’s machine by using a series of exploits – was nailed by security company Core Security Technologies. There has to be a point where Microsoft says “screw it, we’re just not supporting IE6 anymore, and we’re switching our browser framework to WebKit,” yet they continue to validate its existence to millions of users who don’t question it. source

• 2 workers died before rush hour; this is not an isolated incident source

• 47% are all excited about the tea-party-backed Marco Rubio
• 44% are still behind moderate incumbent Charlie Crist, who’s lost his entire double-digit lead
• 6% haven’t decided yet; both are ahead in the general election source

• 50% increase in 1st-quarter sales for tablet-bound Apple source

• I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president. … You know, there is a tendency in Washington to believe our job description, of elected officials, is to get reelected. That’s not our job description. Our job description is to solve problems and to help people.
• Barack Obama • In an interview on ABC News. The president seems awful headsure about his selflessness of late, and it’s pretty impressive that he can say this a year after his election. The problem, of course, is that two years from now, he’s going to have a hard time not eating his words when he’s trying to get reelected. Will he regret saying this when he’s taking on a tea-addicted Sarah Palin in 2012? source

• The merger has been approved after a yearlong investigation. This nightmare merger had been what many music fans had been fearing, but it appears the Justice Department found some common ground. “We were prepared to litigate this case, and I told the parties that,” said Justice Department antitrust representative Christine A. Varney. “The required divestitures and behavioral prohibitions alleviate our concerns.” Ticketmaster has to ditch a ticketing division and license its software to a competitor. Oh, and the boys at Justice will be watching them like a hawk for 10 years. Good idea – music fans will thank you. source

• 17% of the budget will be affected by the cap

• » Subject to cuts: Reports say that the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Energy, Transportation, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services will be affected by the cuts. Guess what, kids? D.C.’s about to have a three-year recession.
• » Unaffected by cuts: Social Security and Medicare (he couldn’t touch those even if he wanted), and organizations affected by military, veterans, homeland security and international affairs. The cuts only take on discretionary spending.

A douchey comment by Michael Steel:

• Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest.
• Rep. John Boehner’s spokesman Michael Steel • Regarding the budget cuts. Considering the year of controversial spending that the Obama administration has just had, we imagine any cuts in the nature of this would be welcomed by the right. Or maybe they’ll make jokes about pie contests. We’ll see. source

• Note: in an earlier version of this story, we mistook Michael Steel for RNC chair Michael Steele. We apologize. We’re sure he gets that a lot. At least we’re not alone in making this boneheaded mistake.Thanks to Joel McDonald for correcting us below. Much appreciated.