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07 Nov 2010 22:00

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Politics: Max Headroom: Keith Olbermann’s incredibly busy week

  • The week in Olbermann Keith Olbermann has had a pretty busy week. It started with him ripping Jon Stewart while kneeling to him simultaneously. It ended with him getting suspended and getting Bill Kristol of all people defending him. This is prime territory of two media sources: Howard Kurtz and Mediaite. Both are covered here.
  • Countdown’s quick word “We know you are all looking forward to Keith’s return, and so are we.” We can imagine how weird it must be for Olbermann and the network that Olbermann revitalized to be going through with this. MSNBC sounds like Courtney Cox trying to be diplomatic about her separation from David Arquette.
  • So, to be clear … Eric Cantor, the likely new House Majority Leader, showed up on “Fox News Sunday” today, and was thrown a question on whether he’d allow a government shutdown on Obama’s watch, like in 1995. Notice how he didn’t say no, and suggested it would be Obama’s fault if it happened.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 21:38

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World: Even Myanmar’s citizens think today’s elections are a sham

  • what Today’s elections in Myanmar (also called Burma) didn’t have very many voters, despite it being the military-controlled country’s first election in two decades.
  • why A lot of reasons, but one man put it like this: “Auntie Suu told us not to vote.” Despite her lengthy house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi still has hold in her country. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 21:27

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Politics: Keith Olbermann breaks silence via Twitter; happy for support

  • Atta boy Keith. We don’t think what you did was particularly smart, but we think MSNBC overreacted. Glad to see you keeping up your spirits. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 21:09

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Politics: Rep. Paul Ryan: We’re gunning for healthcare, wanna kill it by 2013

  • This bill is such a fiscal and economic train wreck for our country and for the health care system itself. We’re going to do everything we can to try and repeal and replace this thing. And ultimately, I think 2013 is when it will be done the right way.
  • Rep. Paul Ryan • Explaining the GOP’s plan for taking on health care after the midterms. First, choke the funding sources. Then, hopefully, after Obama has been kicked out of office, repeal the damn thing entirely. Look, we like Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan is a good member of Congress and has good, well-intentioned reasons for pushing what he’s pushing. Unlike someone like Mitch McConnell, we don’t think he plays politics for the sake of playing politics. Plus, he looks like he could’ve been the third Darren from “Bewitched.” But we simply think that the lead item on the GOP’s agenda should not be repealing health care. Figure out ways to work with the president and get people more jobs, then work on your beef with health care. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 20:36

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Tech: New browser startup Rockmelt lies to us right off the bat

  • Yeah yeah, Toby… You think you’ll be able to charm us into downloading a copy of the Rockmelt beta by talking about your apartment above a bar with turtle racing … but we have a secret for you guys. Moorhead’s Scottish Pub doesn’t exist! We don’t care if Marc Andreessen managed to get a bunch of the old Netscape gang back together for this one. Or that you’re based off of Chromium. Or that you’re not as cluttered as that other browser with the same idea, Flock. You lied to us, and we don’t know what to believe anymore. TO-BY. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 20:13

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Culture: New York Times once again proves more clever than everyone else

  • There’s journalism, and then there’s the NYT. Today, as runners got past the finish line at the New York Marathon, the New York Times (fresh off Cheesegate) got a bunch of the finishers to take post-race photos, and some of the faces are pretty amazing. Witness the post-marathon glow. (In other news, Chilean miner Edison Pena reached the finish line, too.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 12:07

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World: Haiti’s cholera outbreak gets much larger after Hurricane Tomas

  • 500+ people have died in Haiti’s recent cholera outbreak
  • 7,000+ have fallen ill to the very scary waterborne disease source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

07 Nov 2010 11:53

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Biz: Healthy? Yeah, right. The government’s pro-cheese efforts

  • As a culture, our cheese-eating is way higher than it should be. Yeah, it’s tasty, and we know how tough of a habit it is to break (looks down at stomach), but we’ve gotten hooked on it as a culture at large. But the thing you should be really scared about? That, with the help of the government, the dairy industry is pushing us to eat even more of it. Dairy Management, Inc., a government-created industry marketing group, has been pushing for more cheese in foods, even as our culture has slowly been switching to low-fat or even plant-based forms of milk. Some more details:
  • 33 number of pounds of cheese the average American eats yearly source
  • bad That 33 pounds number is triple what the average American ate back in the 1970s, when the culture was cheesier in general.
  • worse Cheese is a key source of saturated fat, that kind of really safe fat that’s linked to heart disease and high calories.
  • worser Dairy Management has been promoting eating more cheese as a form of weight-loss, even though that’s not true.
  • The government feeds big dairy… Dairy Management is a very powerful group, and has been closely tied to both the Bush and Obama administrations. They have a budget of around $140 million, mostly from fees the government forces on the dairy industry, along with some money directly from the Agriculture Department. This is despite the public get-healthy face that folks like Michelle Obama have pushed in recent years. Not so much.
  • … And we just eat it up In recent years, Dairy Management’s efforts have led to new products such as Domino’s pizza relaunch (which had way more cheese), Taco Bell’s quesadillas (which have eight times more cheese than any other item on their menu), and cheesy burgers from Wendy’s and Burger King. In 2007 alone, their efforts led to an increase in cheese sales of 30 million pounds. You feel guilty now, don’t you?
  • » Are you a cheese-snacking fanatic? All of this underlines the big problem: The Agriculture Department is both the regulator and the government group that pushes the economic engine of the farming and dairy industries. This is very problematic for a lot of reasons. By the way, one group that Dairy Management is specifically focusing on: Families who eat lots of cheese and don’t really worry about the health qualms. That’s who these crap food products are marketed towards. Perhaps you should consider ordering your next sandwich without cheese.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 10:58

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World: G20 Summit in Seoul draws the usual unhappy protesters

Every time there’s a Gsomethingorother – G7, G12, G20, what have you – there are anti-capitalism protests. Right now, the ones in Seoul are calmer than most. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Nov 2010 10:44

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World: Indonesia’s erupting Mount Merapi not calming down anytime soon

  • 156 people have been killed by Mount Merapi’s massive eruption since October 26
  • 12.4 number of miles the volcano’s danger zone extends; ash has killed some living miles away
  • 200k people have been displaced by the volcano’s 3.7-mile-high wrath source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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