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18 Mar 2010 09:54

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Politics: Twitter’s debating the CBO’s health-care findings



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2010 09:50

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Politics: The CBO’s firm numbers on health care help the Democrats

  • $940B the amount the bill as written will cost to implement
  • $130B the amount the bill will cut the deficit in the next ten years
  • $1.2T the amount the bill will cut in the ten years after that source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2010 09:41

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Culture: Apparently, winning a Best Actress Oscar ruins your marriage

  • Sandra Bullock is going through hell right now. She’s been married to Jesse James, West Coast Choppers CEO and stuntman, since 2005, but it appears her marriage is publicly falling apart. As far as Best Actress Oscar winners go, she’s not alone. Here are a few examples of the Best Actress Oscar curse:
  • Halle Less than a year after winning for “Monster’s Ball,” she divorced from singer Eric Benet, who reportedly had a sex addiction.
  • Reese The “Walk the Line” star didn’t make it past seven years marriage with her husband, Ryan Phillippe, separating months after she won her Oscar.
  • Hilary The “Million Dollar Baby” star, was married to Chad Lowe for 11 years; they divorced soon after she won. (She also won for “Boys Don’t Cry.”)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Mar 2010 09:24

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Politics: Obama goes on Fox News, has a hard time getting a word in

  • You know what? It wasn’t so much the questioning that kept Obama off Fox News all these months. It was the interruptions. Bret Baier seemingly wouldn’t let Obama finish a question with a complete answer. “I know you don’t like the filibuster,” Baier put it, but this interview was tough to watch simply because Baier wouldn’t go with the flow. However, and Time makes a good point in this regard: “But I give Fox News credit for not letting Obama turn the interview into an infomercial for Democratic health care reform. Aren’t we all a little tired of those?” Agreed, but there are ways to do it without cutting Obama off. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2010 22:33

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Music: R.I.P. dude: Four ways you know Memphis rocker Alex Chilton

  • Sadly, Alex Chilton is the second Memphis music legend to die this year. The first, Jay Reatard, was a still-growing legend greatly inspired by him. And he had good reason to be inspired. Chilton was one of the principals behind Big Star, a band that ALWAYS comes up in conversations about underrated bands. Chilton died today at 59, reportedly of a heart attack. Here’s how you should remember him.

  • 1. At the tender age of 16, Chilton peaked commercially. His band, The Box Tops, scored a No. 1 hit with “The Letter,” a tune known more for its prominence than who sang it.  The band had more hits, but none as lasting as this soul-tinged classic.
  • 2. You know this song in a different form. For nearly a decade, it was the theme song to “That 70s Show,” but before that, it was a Big Star tune. And well, it still is. Know what a popular TV show theme song gives you? Financial security.
  • 3. “Remember what we said about ‘Paint it Black.'” “Thirteen” may be the best song ever written about adolescence, and it’s a tune that’s covered often, most notably by the also-deceased Elliott Smith.
  • 4. You know you’ve made it when Paul Westerberg writes a song about you, and it’s really freaking good. “Alex Chilton” was immortalized as a Replacements single, and Chilton himself played on the band’s “Can’t Hardly Wait.”
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2010 22:09

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Music: A Big Star flames out: Alex Chilton dead. Twitter takes it in.



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17 Mar 2010 22:06

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Tech: Your iPhone probably made some Chinese factory worker sick

  • It would be good for the people who use those phones so happily to consider the sacrifice we made.
  • A 21-year-old former factory worker • Talking about the hell that she and others have been through personally because of poor conditions at a factory which she worked, which specialized in Apple and Nokia phones. The factory was using a toxic chemical, n-hexane, a fast-drying cleaning solvent which they didn’t have the proper permits to use and made the workers gradually sick. First it was nothing, then they felt tired, then their fingers went weak, then they fainted. The thousand-screen-a-day quota added up. Some have had to stay in a hospital for eight months. Holy crap. source
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17 Mar 2010 21:51

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Politics: Alan Simpson’s leading Obama on a trail to deficit-cutting

  • “Here guys, a balanced budget is this way.” They don’t make Republicans like Alan Simpson anymore. The former Senator isn’t anti-tax if it means cutting the deficit down. (Sample quote: “Go ahead, keep babbling into the vapors. I’m not out to raise taxes but, for God’s sake, if these dizzy guys can’t figure out that this country…”) And right now, he’s got a job as co-chairman of President Obama’s bipartisan federal debt commission. The guy behind him is Erskine B. Bowles. The guy behind Erskine is Obama. And behind him is Joe Biden. They’re about to do a cakewalk. It should be fun. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Mar 2010 21:36

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U.S.: Craigslist pimp: “Prostitute yourself or your daughter gets it”

  • What a jerk this guy apparently was. A Minnesota man living in Illinois was arrested over the weekend felony pandering (a.k.a. pimping) charges. Clinton Danner was arrested for the crime after his wife went to authorities to complain about the racket. According to authorities, Danner prostituted her out in eight states, took the money himself, and reportedly threatened bodily harm on her daughter if she didn’t comply. Yikes. Sounds scary. By the way, this guy was caught in Cook County, Illinois. The sheriff of that jurisdiction, Tom Dart, is a pretty huge critic of the site’s adult sections. source
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17 Mar 2010 10:59

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Politics: Twitter tackles the Dennis Kucinich health care football



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