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28 Dec 2010 09:56

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Politics: Alvin Greene’s running for office again – this time, more modestly

  • Filing closes (noon Monday), and until that time, someone could pull out or change their mind. People wanting to know more should wait until next week. That’s all I’ve got to say right now.
  • South Carolina joke candidate Alvin Greene • Regarding his apparent decision to run for an open South Carolina state House seat, which opened up after state Rep. Cathy Harvin died earlier this month. In case you’re wondering, the filing fee is a tad cheaper than the $10,500 he paid for his Senate run – a modest $165. So, even though he’s still throwing away money, he has a slightly more realistic chance at winning this time around. But like he said, someone could pull out or change their mind. (thanks Larry Crider) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2010 09:39

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World: The Ivory Coast nearly couped yesterday – in Paris, that is

These dudes are blocking off the Ivory Coast’s French embassy. Why? Supporters of should-be-winner Alassane Ouattara took it over for a bit yesterday. Uh-oh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2010 09:17

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U.S.: How did Bell, California’s city government become so corrupt?

  • The L.a. Times has a lengthy article on Bell’s corruption that’s worth reading. We could go into great detail with the piece, but we think we can probably explain the story best through the starting and ending salary of one of the most corrupt members of Bell’s government, one of seven town officials who took advantage of low voter turnout and high amounts of power to bilk a fairly poor municipality out of $5.5 million. Here’s how much Robert Rizzo made when he started working for the city, and when he stopped:
  • $78,000 Bell city administrator Robert Rizzo’s starting salary in 1993; he was paid $8,000 less than his predecessor and known for cutting things left and right
  • $800,000 Rizzo’s salary just before he lost his job – at which point it became clear he was cheating one of the poorest municipalities in the L.A. area source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2010 08:56

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Culture: Disney World spying on guests so they can shorten long lines

Disney doesn’t want you bored in line, so they’re researching how to make sure you’re still having fun using an underground command center. Creepy, but cool. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 22:46

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Offbeat: NYC blizzard’s worst victim: This unlucky Ford Explorer

  • We don’t know the sanitation workers who did this to this poor vehicle, but if we did, we’d smack them around for a little bit. (thanks Adam Griffiths)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 20:40

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Politics: Ed Rendell brings up good point for exactly the wrong reason

  • We’ve become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.
  • Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell • Complaining about a football game cancelled because of snow. Wait … comprehend that a second. The governor of Pennsylvania is really annoyed because a football game was cancelled because of snow. And as a result, he’s bringing up the industrial fight the U.S. is losing with China. He’s thinking of a fairly smart concept, but trying to apply it to football. We can’t get behind Ed Rendell on this, not because his overarching point isn’t fair, but because he’s bringing it up over a delayed football game. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 20:23

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Politics: Gallup’s “Most Admired” poll: SARAH PALIN BEAT OPRAH?!?!?!?!?!

  • 22% of people think Obama is the male they admire most – worse than 2008 or 2009, but still decent
  • 17% of people think Hillary Clinton is the female they most admire – she kills at this poll, usually
  • 12% of people think Sarah Palin is the female they most admire; who are these people? source
  • » To emphasize our dislike of this poll: Sarah Palin beat Oprah. SARAH PALIN BEAT OPRAH!!!!!!!! While George W. Bush was just behind Obama, he didn’t have 12 percent. Cannot believe this, guys. We think we might have to go to bed after this one.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Dec 2010 14:34

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Biz: H&R Block can’t loan you your tax refund early anymore, guys

  • situation H&R Block offered instant loans to those who didn’t want to wait a couple of weeks to get their tax refund – which often benefited low-income customers.
  • conflictUnfortunately for them, the US government stepped in and forced the bank backing the loans, HSBC, to stop offering them, in part due to their very high interest rates.
  • defeatThe decision was made very late last week, and now H&R Block’s stock is down by a solid 10 percent, because they don’t have a backup for HSBC’s loans. source
  • » A weakened competitive position: Unfortunately for H&R block, that 10 percent drop isn’t the only bad news they have to deal with. See, the IRS informed HSBC and Republic Bancorp that they wouldn’t be underwriting the controversial loans anymore, and wouldn’t be informing tax services which consumers were eligible for said loans. But their top competitor, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, managed to find other banks to offer the service, so as a result, they’ll have a significant competitive advantage over H&R Block next year – which has caused H&R Block’s stock to lose nearly half its value and Jackson Hewitt to skyrocket 37 percent in recent weeks. Just a tip to our friends who use these loans – their interest rates are predatory in nature, so be careful.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 13:54

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Tech: Amazon has record-setting holiday season, led by the Kindle

  • 158 units sold each second, and 13.7 million overall source
  • » And the key factoid? Amazon’s best-selling item of all-time is the third-generation Kindle, which only came out a few months ago. That’s not the best-selling technology item. No. It managed to top the final book in the “Harry Potter” series for the mantle of Amazon’s biggest seller of all-time. At $139, guess they found their price point. And guess we have egg on our face.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Dec 2010 13:18

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U.S.: Alabama at top of Medicaid bonus class … and then some

  • So, fun fact about Medicaid for children: Around two-thirds of uninsured children are eligible to receive it. But nearly 4.7 million children who are eligible for the service don’t receive it. Why? Well, to put it simply, state and federal governments are absolutely terrible at informing parents that it’s an option. It’s something the Obama administration has been working on, however, and thanks to some incentives, 15 states are being rewarded for insuring more children (around 874,000 in total) in the last year. Or, actually, Alabama and 14 other states:
  • $309
    million     the amount in Medicaid bonuses that the Obama administration is handing to the states
  • $55
    million     the amount that Alabama – *ALONE* – is taking in, more than double any other state on the list source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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