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21 Feb 2010 11:10

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Politics: Glenn Beck: The GOP just as bad as Democrats on spending

  • Hello, my name is the Republican Party, and I have a problem! I’m addicted to spending and big government.
  • Glenn Beck • Speaking at CPAC last night as if the Republican Party was at an AA meeting. The Fox News and radio host noted that both parties had big problems with spending during his speech – Democrats tax and spend, while Republicans just spend. Beck said that as a result, people were losing faith that things would improve. Beck’s comparison holds weight – between this and the Debbie Medina thing, he’s actually starting to sound smart! How did this happen? Is there hope for Glenn Beck yet? source

21 Feb 2010 10:58

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Biz: College students will have a (necessarily) harder time getting credit

  • $1,879 amount of credit card debt the average college student had in the heady days of 1998
  • $3,173 amount of credit card debt the average college student had in 2008, which is a huge increase source
  • » So, what changes? A law that takes effect Monday will regulate the credit industry at large, but with the largest effect on adults under 21. They won’t be able to get credit without a parent’s signature and proof of other assets. The new policy will help limit high amounts of debt for college students, but may also hurt them, as many often use the credit to pay for necessities.

21 Feb 2010 10:41

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Biz: The first meal of the day for many unemployed people? Lunch

  • 4% dip in fast-food breakfast traffic as joblessness hit 10% source

21 Feb 2010 10:27

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Biz: Is The New York Times giving Carlos Slim preferential treatment?

  • Under any other circumstances, the business section of the Times would be expected to cover it, as the Journal and Bloomberg have. Yet as of Saturday midday, I cannot find a single mention of any aspect of this case, anywhere in the physical New York Times, or on its Web site – not even a blog post or a wire story.
  • The Big Money blogger James Ledbetter • Regarding a huge uncovered scandal involving billionaire Carlos Slim, who has a huge stake in The New York Times. J.P. Morgan is accused of trying to push Grupo Televisa’s business secrets to a bank owned by Slim, who owns a major rival. Other major sources have covered it, but there’s literally nothing on the NYT site about the scandal. This is bad precedent. source

21 Feb 2010 10:04

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Offbeat: Yitta Schwartz’s Hasidic family extended, and then some

  • 2,000+ living descendants of Yitta Schwartz, who died last month at 93
  • 18number of kids the Satmar Hasidic Jew had directly; wow
  • 75 her eldest daughter’s age; a new relative is just six days old source

21 Feb 2010 09:54

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World: The Portuguese island of Madeira drowning in huge flood

  • 40+ people have died in Madeira’s flooding, and many more are missing
  • 120+ people are injured as a result of the resort island’s natural disaster source

21 Feb 2010 01:43

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Biz: The AP’s using Twitter to link to stories on Facebook. WTF?

  • What they’re doing The AP has been linking to all of their stories on Twitter through their Facebook page, which is something Sarah Palin would do. But the world’s largest news organization?
  • Why it’s smart Because it allows people to easily comment socially on the stories Facebook posts. It centralizes an often-decentralized presence in online media.
  • Why it’s stupid Dudes, you realize that you can easily do something similar on your own site using Facebook Connect and Disqus, right? Then you get to keep all the ad money! source
 

21 Feb 2010 01:08

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Politics: Point and laugh, guys: Ron Paul won the CPAC straw poll

  • 31% of CPACers think libertarian Ron Paul is the freaking MAN!
  • 22% support rapper-punching airplane passenger Mitt Romney
  • 7% think Sarah Palin is still actually kinda cool somehow source