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26 Apr 2010 10:27

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Politics: The status of the financial reform bill: Look beyond today

  • today With both sides at an impasse, it’s unlikely that the bill will clear a key Senate procedural vote today.
  • later However, both sides are optimistic they’ll get the votes to make this thing actually happen. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Apr 2010 10:19

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World: Officials: Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir re-elected handily

  • 68% of the vote went to the
    war criminal guy source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 23:18

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Politics: Max Headroom: Geraldo lets a good question leave his grasp

  • Maddow’s irish clone Sinead O’Connor and Rachel Maddow are talking about really serious stuff here – the whole Catholic Church abuse scandal. The activist/singer wants leadership to quit for putting reputation over the safety of children.
  • A good question, lost How did the GOP’s leading lights turn into Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann? Geraldo asked Bachmann this question directly, then asked if they would be running for president together. In both cases, she evaded.

  • Gossip, politics collideNaomi Campbell has attacked a lot of objects in her day, and the latest is a camera, which got it after an ABC News reporter asked a reasonable question about a diamond she reportedly got from an African leader. Scandal-ous!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 21:50

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Offbeat: Here’s a 104-year-old video of pre-quake San Francisco

  • Since films were silent back then, we’re guessing you won’t mind the Air soundtrack that comes with and fits the tone of the whole thing pretty well. One think we’ll note about the cityscape here: Nearly all the buildings you see here no longer exist. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake flattened them. Either way, it’s a pretty awesome clip. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 20:56

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U.S., World: Japan complains loudly, again, about the U.S. military presence

  • 100,000 people protested the
    U.S. military presence on the
    island of Okinawa today
  • 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed
    in Japan, more than half at the Okinawa base source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 20:43

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Tech: Spammers resort to outsourcing their blogspam CAPTCHAs

  • 80¢ the starting rate for doing 1,000 CAPTCHAs source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 20:35

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U.S.: Billy Graham, 91, convinces Obama to hang out with him

“Hey Billy, how you been? I’m what, the seventh, eighth president you’ve met in person? What, twelfth? Wow, you’ve been around the block.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

25 Apr 2010 11:51

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Politics: Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby seeing more of each other lately

  • I hope tomorrow we can get those votes; we may not, but I hope we do because we need to move forward.
  • Sen. Christopher Dodd • Regarding his push for a financial reform bill. He hopes to pull at least one Republican over with a bipartisan bill. Sen. Richard Shelby is currently working with him to make it happen. For what it’s worth, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks it’s going to happen. “We don’t have a bipartisan compromise yet, but I think there’s a good chance we’re going to get it,” he says. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 11:46

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Offbeat: Guys in primary-colored spandex scare us to the core

  • Look, we like performance art as much as the next guy, but you know, we’re sure that the Blue Man Group has figured out a way to make the spandex look a little less … uh … scary. Watch the video. You’ll see what we’re getting at. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2010 11:36

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U.S.: Is the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court as “liberal” as they say it is?

  • Short answer: kinda. Longer answer: It used to be very liberal. With the controversy around Obama appointee Goodwin Liu taking shape, much of the bad-talking has been around the court he was recommended for. The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court has a rep driven in part by its decision against using the phrase “under god,” and the Supreme Court’s consistent rulings against its decisions. But let’s throw some numbers at you guys and let you decide.
  • 88% the rate the Supreme Court has reversed its recent decisions between 2008 and 2009
  • 12k the number of cases the court heard last year – far higher than any of the other appeals courts
  • 58% of the court’s appointees came from Democratic presidencies, the highest rate of any appeals court
  • » Why does it lean liberal? Simply put, Jimmy Carter was in office during a period when this circuit court was expanded, and it allowed him to throw in 15 liberal-leaning judges. The geographic area is more liberal, too. But this has eased in recent years, due to the fact that those judges got old and Bush appointed seven of the 27 judges currently on the court. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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