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06 Oct 2010 22:49

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U.S.: The Supreme Court has a field day with the Westboro Baptist Church

  • This is a case about exploiting a private family’s grief.The question is: Why should the First Amendment tolerate exploiting this Marine’s family when you have so many other forums for getting across your message?
  • Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg • Asking the best question of the day to Westboro Baptist Church lawyer (and member) Margie J. Phelps, who represented the church in their case against the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, whose funeral they protested way back in 2006. While wanting to favor free speech as much as possible, the justices clearly struggled with this case, with many trying to find a narrow path that allowed them to limit the private-person-damaging hate speech of a group like Westboro while not affecting other kinds of speech. Fortunately, Phelps made it easy on them, suggesting that wounded soldiers shouldn’t have a cause of action if they’re being protested against by a group similar to hers. At that point, the justices jumped on her. It’ll still be a number of months before we know how this one plays out, guys.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 22:34

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Politics: If you haven’t seen the Donald Duck/Glenn Beck mashup yet …

  • The creator of this new classic has earned a full-on scornful reaction from Glenn Beck, who says that it’s “some of the best well-made propaganda I have ever seen.” And it is well-made. We disagree on the propaganda part. We think it’s less an attempt to attack Beck and more an attempt to make us question the political climate as a whole. Beck is just the easiest example of how this works. There’s no reason the creator couldn’t have used Hannity or Maddow or anyone else, left or right. The point is not simply the message, but the way that one hears and instantly accepts the message. To us, all this clip is saying is to remain skeptical of and diversify your sources of information. Just for sake of contrarian value, here’s the D.C. Examiner’s take, which is essentially that we should be questioning the politicians, not the talk-radio blabbers. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 22:15

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Politics: Feds issue fresh subpoenas in John Edwards sex scandal

  • bad John Edwards has spent the last couple of years attempting to move on after a very public love-child scandal. It hasn’t been so easy for him.
  • worse Federal investigators are still on the case, issuing subpoenas to see if he used campaign funds to pay for Rielle Hunter’s love nest. So yeah, it could get worse. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 20:28

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Tech: Tech CEOs to Obama: Let us tell you how to cut the deficit

  • Our report contains straightforward, proven ways to pare back $1 trillion from the deficit while increasing productivity and enabling sustainable competitiveness.
  • Dell CEO Michael Dell • Regarding the suggestions the Technology CEO Council has for the President regarding reining in the national debt. Dell, whose own company knows something about leveraging partnerships and cutting corners in the money-saving process, is one of many CEOs backing the plan, which reportedly would cut debt by around $1 trillion in a decade using such methods as consolidating and standardizing processes, using virtualization and cutting energy usage. The methods have already been in use at many of the companies and have already shown results. Will Obama take the bait? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 20:12

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World: Rogue police officers thought about killing Ecuador’s president

  • Remember last week’s near-coup in Ecuador? Apparently, it didn’t go as far as it could have. According to a recording released by the Andes news outlet on Tuesday night, rogue police officers talked about killing President Rafael Correa. “They should kill Correa so this will end,” an unidentified someone said on the recording. “Kill Correa and this demonstration will end.” Is it true? If it is, Correa dodged a bullet – possibly literally. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 17:12

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Politics, U.S.: National Rifle Association endorses Dems, angers Repubs

  • 14 Democrats in competitive districts endorsed by the NRA source
  • » The National Rifle Association normally breaks for the Republicans. However, they have an endorsement policy that’s giving insurgent GOP candidates a headache: if the incumbent and challenger in an election are equally gun-friendly, the NRA will endorse the incumbent. The GOP hopes to win seats from moderate Democrats in conservative districts; however, since those Democrats are incumbents who support gun rights, they’ll be the ones receiving the NRA’s support. The result? Republican challengers who could benefit most from the NRA’s endorsement won’t be getting it.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 16:37

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Politics, U.S.: The most unenthusiastic endorsement possible

  • We have a constitutional requirement for somebody that’s gonna run for President. Of course, [Sarah Palin]’s qualified.
  • Senate Candidate Joe Miller •  When asked by Megyn Kelly whether or not Palin is qualified to be President. He’d earlier refused to answer the question, prompting an angry e-mail from Todd Palin. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

06 Oct 2010 13:05

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Tech: Voting board asks hackers to wreak havoc, hackers comply

  • invitation DC’s Board of Elections asked hackers to give their new online voting system their “best shot,” hoping to discover its weaknesses.
  • acceptance University of Michigan successfully broke into the system and made it play their college fight song after voters filled out their ballots. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 11:25

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U.S.: Vice President isn’t ‘Biden’ his tongue

  • If I hear one more Republican tell me about balancing the budget, I am going to strangle them.
  • Vice President Joe Biden • In an interview with ABC News. Makes sense, given that the GOP position of extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich would cost the country about $830 billion. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 11:12

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U.S.: Judge: Government can’t use major witness in civilian terror trial

  • whatJust before the start of a domestic terror trial in New York City, a judge said the prosecution could not use a key witness.
  • whyApparently the government learned about the witness from the defendant himself during a crazy interrogation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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