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02 Jan 2011 23:06

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Politics: Max Headroom: Darrell Issa has newfound power, car alarms

  • This guy wants to kill $200 billion in government waste: Rep. Darrell Issa is ready to take a hacksaw to the federal budget in an effort to kill waste in a number of organizations, including the EPA. As the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Issa will have the power to do just that (along with many other things). Fun fact: Issa is rich because his company invented the Viper car alarm system, which features his voice telling people to get away from your car. We want Issa to do the same thing with wasteful spending. “Step away from the pork!”
  • Liberals: scared of Darrell Issa Not everyone likes the idea of the car alarm dude having this much power. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee, is one of Issa’s fiercest critics, as MSNBC (and this Politico dude with a kinda weird accent) remind us. You can see the fear in their eyes.
  • Libertarian-a-Palooza John Stossel is probably one of the most well-known libertarians who could be called a journalist. Ron Paul is the current face of the libertarian movement. We don’t know the other guy, but he’s libertarian, too. They just keep agreeing with each other. It’s kinda weird.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 21:52

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U.S.: What’s more important: A massive copper mine or a campground?

  • commerce About a decade ago, the U.S.’s largest copper mine was discovered in Arizona – 7,000 feet deep and with enough copper to cover a fifth of the nation’s supply. It could also create thousands of jobs, and politicians have been helping make it happen.
  • nature Unfortunately for the mining companies and politicians, the area includes Oak Flat Campground, popular with both campers and rock-climbers (and federally protected from things like this). As a result, the move is very unpopular with Arizona residents.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 21:33

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Culture: In general, we’re watching more television – and a LOT less CNN

  • +1% the increase in the total audience on all cable and broadcast television channels in 2010
  • -7% the decrease in Fox News’ total audience – they’re still on top of the cable news game
  • -34% the decrease in CNN’s total audience – the worst of any cable network, period source
  • » Time to bring back “Pop-Up Video”: Behind CNN, the second-biggest loser in cable was VH1 (down 31 percent), which, unlike big gainer The History Channel (up 34 percent), is unable to bank on an antiques-and-pawn-shop lineup to pump up the ratings.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 21:15

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Politics: House GOP plans useless, ineffective Obamacare repeal vote

  • You’ve seen that the more people learn about Obamacare the less they like it. So we will put forth a clean repeal bill of Obamacare, and you’ll continue to see us make that fight because that’s what the American people want us to do.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann • Speaking about the House GOP’s plan to vote on a repeal of the health care bill – before the president’s State of the Union later this month. Between this and the reading-the-Constitution thing, the GOP is big on symbolic measures that waste everyone’s time, aren’t they? Then again, the Democrats did something similar with the tax compromise, so maybe we should just hush. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:25

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Politics: Tea Partiers upset because they get upset about everything

  • Choice quote of the freaking day: “For them to legislate when they’ve collectively lost their mandate just shows the arrogance of the ruling elite. I can’t imagine being repudiated in the way they were and then coming back and saying ‘Now that we’ve been repudiated, let’s go pass some legislation.’ ” That’s a Tea Party dude, Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots, ripping Democrats for taking advantage of their lame-duck session to get some actual work done. Then after ripping the Democrats, he ripped the GOP for letting it happen: “The Republicans, frankly, have been a disaster. They stood strong on some things, but the only reason they stood strong is because we stood behind them with a big stick.” Nobody cares, Mark. Stop whining. (thanks inothernews) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:15

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World: Did mob attack on Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara fizzle out?

  • Everything is calm at the hotel, we’re very serene.
  • Alassane Ouattara spokesperson Patrick Achi • Expressing relief that the planned mob attack of the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, where the Ivory Coast’s should-be leader is staying, seems to have fizzled out. We’re glad it did too, because it could’ve led to fresh civil war in the country. Fingers crossed it doesn’t happen. In other news, current leader Laurent Gbagbo unsurprisingly ignored a deadline to quit on New Year’s Eve. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 12:05

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U.S.: Dear early-bird tax filers: The IRS isn’t ready for you guys yet

  • good Obama got the tax compromise through late last month, even if it didn’t have absolutely everything he wanted in it. There’s no more uncertainty, which is good.
  • bad As a side effect of it coming so late in the year, the IRS can’t take as many as 50 million itemized tax forms until late February, due to tax code changes. Sorry, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Jan 2011 11:47

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U.S.: Bad idea: Pretending to be a comedian when you’re in the Navy

  • Dear Capt. Owen Honors: Look, we know it gets lonely when you’re out to sea, but you’re not Dane Cook. You’re held to a higher standard than Dane Cook, as our good friends at the Virginian-Pilot reminded you when they put this video on their site. There’s a lot of not-kosher comedy in here, OK for, say, Carlos Mencia or Denis Leary. But for the people on the U.S.S. Enterprise who had to watch these terrible excuses for comedy, they were just a wee bit offended. Leave the comedy to Louis CK (or these guys) so you don’t get reprimanded. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 11:23

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Tech: On iPhones, alarm clocks, and the quality of our own internal clock

  • so, our alarm didn’t go off this morning. Weirdest thing. It was set and everything, but it simply didn’t make noise. Fortunately, our internal clock managed to wake us up at 9 a.m. so it wasn’t too bad. But apparently the problem is widespread. See, our alarm clock? It’s an iPhone. And for some strange reason, the alarm stopped working on everyone else’s phones, leading to people not waking up in the morning. While Apple claims the problem will disappear on January 3rd … uh, wow. How did this happen in the first place? Isn’t this something you might test when you’re building your Jesus-phone? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Jan 2011 11:09

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Biz: Is American Airlines screwing over online travel sites?

  • It appears American Airlines is burning online travel bridges. In recent weeks, both Orbitz (who couldn’t reach a contract with the airline) and Expedia (who voluntary took them out) have ditched the airline. Is it possible that these sites have been so successful at their mission that they’ve actually forced airlines to make their flights cheaper? Well, to test this theory, we looked online at American Airlines’ site for travel deals to from DC to Dublin (where we’re taking our girlfriend in the next few months). The average cost at a site like Orbitz was roughly $650 per person for a flight and hotel. The lowest price at AAvacations.com? $1260 per person. It’d be way harder to figure out that was an awful deal if we had to go to every airline to compare prices. AA’s efforts to strongarm online travel sites are simply bad for consumers and should not be supported. Who else has good deals to Dublin? (photo by lrargerich) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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