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14 Nov 2010 21:44

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Politics: Max Headroom: James Clyburn not THAT annoyed by his role

  • Not too bothered James Clyburn made a passionate defense for himself – and Democratic leadership in general – on CNN’s “State of the Union” today. He claims that the same team being criticized now led Democrats “out of the wilderness” four years ago, and could do it again.
  • The Ed Show annoys us Ed Schultz took on Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Clyburn, and for balance, had Ron Christie, a former Cheney staffer, on to defend Rush. Rachel Maddow is not like Fox News a lot of the time. Ed Schultz, however … man, why the loud yelling, dude?
  • Rand Paul: Cut everywhere In one of the Kentucky senator-elect’s first interviews since being elected two weeks ago, he seems much stronger than he did six months ago. But he still is fervent about Washington not changing his anti-big-government ways. Ah, idealism. Will it hold up?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 21:13

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Culture: Denzel Washington’s “Unstoppable” unstoppable, except it isn’t

  • $30
    million     the amount “Megamind” made in its second weekend; it’s closing in on $100 million after two weeks
  • $23
    million     the amount “Unstoppable” made, which is ironic in the really funny way that we enjoy source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 21:01

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Music: Sigh: Our least-favorite pop star ever prevented fresh World War

  • 1999 A British calvary officer in Kosovo defied orders to have troops seize an airfield overtaken by Russian troops, which could have reignited the Cold War – or worse.
  • 2004 The American general who ordered the strike, Gen. Wesley Clark, ran for president as a Democrat, and lost. Nobody ever heard from that guy ever again.
  • 2005 The British soldier in question released a song with these lyrics: “You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, you’re beautiful, it’s true.” Yes, that guy. James freaking Blunt. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 20:40

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World: Northern Ireland political icon Gerry Adams: Ireland needs my help

  • We need more voices that will stand up against the consensus for cuts – more voices that will stand up for ordinary people. We need new politics. We need a political realignment. A change of government without a change in policies will be worthless.
  • Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams • Revealing his plans to leave Northern Ireland politics to run for parliament in Ireland’s mainland. It’s ironic that he says “voices” so many times in this quote. Adams’ voice was famously banned from British television in the ’80s due to his party’s ties to the Irish Republican Army. Adams has long been an advocate of making Northern Ireland a part of Ireland proper, but his reasons for running for Irish parliament are largely economic – he plans to run largely in opposition to the deep cuts current leadership is making in the country. We covered some of the country’s problems earlier today. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 20:17

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Biz: College presidents make bank: Millionaires common among ranks

  • 30 college presidents made over $1 million in pay in calendar year 2008, in the wake of the evil recession
  • $4.8M the highest payout among any president, which went to Touro College’s now-deceased founder Bernard Lander
  • three of the eight Ivy League schools paid their president over $1 million; all eight paid over $650,000 that year  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 19:57

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Culture: “Hangover” sequel going all-out for its celebrity cameos

  • crazy Mel Gibson filming a cameo for “The Hangover 2,” then not so much because he’s not very popular right now. We can spoil it because it didn’t work out.
  • crazier A former political figure (who remains popular) popping up in Thailand to film a cameo for “The Hangover 2.” That’s rad. Click the link for the spoiler, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 16:03

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Politics: Alvin Greene presidential run catches allies by surprise

  • I am at a loss for words to describe this new development.
  • Phil Bailey, director of the South Carolina State Senate Democratic Caucus • In reaction to Alvin Greene’s proclamation that he’s “seriously considering” running for President in 2012. After a surprise win in the Democratic primary earlier this year, Greene gave a bunch of interesting interviews, but lost by 34 points in the general. Donna Warren, president of the consulting firm that handled Greene’s recent failed Senate bid, reacted to the news: “Was he kidding you? Oh, wow, he didn’t tell us about that.”   source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Nov 2010 12:09

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World: Haiti’s cholera outbreak tops 900, spreads throughout country

  • 917 the current death toll from waterborne cholera in Haiti as of Friday
  • 14.7k the number of hospitalizations caused by the outbreak
  • six of the country’s ten provinces have had cholera outbreaks source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 12:01

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World: Hamid Karzai to Americans: Mind calming down this war stuff?

  • The time has come to reduce the presence of, you know, boots in Afghanistan … to reduce the intrusiveness into the daily Afghan life.
  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai • Suggesting that the U.S. needs to scale back its military operations in Afghanistan so as to encourage a less volatile situation in the country. The U.S. doesn’t plan to change course, however: “We understand President Karzai’s concerns,” an anonymous military official (the best kind!) said, “but we would not be as far along as we are pressuring the network had it not been for these very precision operations we do at night.” Karzai claims he made the comments to encourage more candor between the two countries, which have often had a “grudging” relationship in the past. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 12:01

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World: U.S. bribes Israel so they’ll stop building West Bank settlements

  • $3 billion the amount the U.S. will offer Israel – mostly in the form of security incentives and fighter jets
  • 90 days the amount of time Benny Netanyahu will enforce a freeze on most new construction in the West Bank source
  • » Clarification: There is some contingency going on here. The U.S. will dangle this carrot over Israel’s head to get them to stop the settlements for now, but it could still fall through if Israel doesn’t sign a peace agreement. So it’s kind of a raw deal, but it’s not that raw.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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