• Obama’s critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let ’em know that if they aren’t with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.
• CNN political analyst Roland S. Martin • Regarding his take on Obama and the Democrats in general. His feeling is that the party in general isn’t showing a backbone, and that’s why he’s struggling right now. We’re just imagining Obama actually going gangsta, in the N.W.A. sense. A great visual image. source

• $85
  billion cost of the jobs bill this morning, which had bipartisan support due to unrelated earmarks
• $15
  billion cost of the jobs bill right now, after Harry Reid took a chainsaw to it and pissed off GOP members source

• That oughta work around that Supreme Court decision. So, let’s say that you’re an organization or a corporation and you’re all excited about that Supreme Court decision that allows you to spend as much money as you want to skew a campaign. Well, the Democrats’ new proposed rules would force more transparency in the process, including our favorite, forcing corporate CEOs to say they approve this message. Bailed-out companies can’t fund ads either. Awesome. source

• A stent is something that holds a vessel open. Ex-president Bill Clinton received two of these today when in the hospital. The ex-president is in good spirits today, but we bet he wouldn’t be without this medical wonder. He’d probably be yelling. Hopefully he can go to some other country and play our heroic diplomat again. You aren’t a doctor, are you? (graphic courtesy National Institute of Health) source

• These guys have 222 T-shirts, and two days. They also have a stupidly clever idea on their hands. They probably need to get outside more often, but let’s laugh at them while they’re still inside! We won’t spoil the best parts of the video.

• Remember, it’s just a bill right now. The Democrats’ big plan for jobs? Business tax breaks and construction projects. That’s right, we have a jobs bill coming, and it’s everything you’d expect a jobs bill to be. Will it pass a harshly divided Senate? Will it actually cut that godawful unemployment rate? We’ll find out. source

• $1.99 the price Apple currently sells TV shows for – it’s also a dollar extra for HD, and it’s expensive
• $1 the price Apple is gunning to sell TV shows for, which could help it take on Hulu
• $30 the price they want to charge for all-you-can-eat monthly Apple TV subscriptions source

• 
• We’ve been playing with Google Buzz since last night, and we see a lot of potential here. It builds on some already solid foundations, and does things that prior players in this field – specifically FriendFeed – couldn’t do because of lack of scale. That said, we think Google has PR problems that Buzz largely amplifies. Here are our thoughts:

Google’s Good Buzz

• It has users! Google handled Buzz’s launch better. Wave introduced its platform without users, so while it was technically adept, it gave users no incentive to join. Buzz solves that problem by plugging into Gmail’s wide usership.
• It’s easy-to-use Another big problem with Wave is that while it was technically executed well, it was so complex to use that Gmail users couldn’t grasp it easily. Buzz’s interface is simple by design. There are options, but they’re fairly simple.
• It notifies! Perhaps the biggest mistake that Wave made was that it had no built-in notify feature via e-mail; it was designed to replace it, really. You had to check it to see if people were bugging you. Buzz is tied directly to e-mail.

Google’s Bad Buzz

• Do we need another? If Google had created Buzz three years ago, it would have seemed revolutionary. Now it just seems like Google’s trying to catch up. Facebook has this market cornered; why spend time focusing on this specific angle?
• It eats wave’s lunch Even with all the differences, most users will compare Buzz to Wave. Many people already see Wave as a failure because it never answered a simple question: Why? Buzz is closer to that answer, but the effect is that it neuters Wave.
• Can’t make up its mind The biggest problem Google faces is one due to its size. Google is so big that they try get involved in everything. Apple is successful right now because their decisions are deliberate. Google’s aren’t, and they seem indecisive. source