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05 Jan 2011 23:25

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Politics: Dear Obama: We’re everything you need in a press secretary

  • Look, now that Robert Gibbs is leaving you must be taking resumes or something. And before we go about submitting an application to the Obama/Biden beast (and spending hours upon hours updating our resume), we thought it might help to explain what you’d be getting if the ShortFormBlog staff took over the work of Mr. Professional himself, Robert “Obama’s bulldog” Gibbs. We can’t expect to be everything for you that he was, but we do have a lot of unique qualifications, including:
  • We like complaining! We notice that your administration doesn’t know when to complain about the right’s withering attacks on your character, on your policies, on your place of birth, on how ugly Bo is, on how much money Michelle spent on that trip to Spain, etc., etc. … God, can you give us a break? This job is really hard and we’re trying to save you from yourselves!
  • Blurby Press releases The Obama administration has had many PR innovations in its first two years in office – an open-source Web backend, a hugely-popular Twitter account, an entertaining Flickr account … but you’re missing something. You need press releases with giant numbers, profanity and myriad obscure pop-culture references. We can offer that.
  • The press will be putty Look … between CNN, Fox News, NBC, the other networks … they’ll all ask really tough questions and we’ll evade them by using the Socratic method. Sample dialogue: Them – “Why was Obama golfing during the oil spill?” Us – “Why do you care? You’re annoying and nobody watches your channel anyway, CNN.” Yeah, we’re good.
  • » So, what do you say, brah? We’re available to work immediately, and your organization could use someone like us. We’d make things interesting, because we know how drab the White House gets when there’s no change. We can be that change you promised, Barack.

05 Jan 2011 22:36

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Politics: Robert Gibbs: My leaving the White House useful for Obama

  • The best service I can provide this president is, for the next couple of years, outside this building.
  • Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs • Explaining his reasoning for leaving the warm confines of the White House. Essentially, he won’t be working for Obama inside of the press room, but on the public circuit, where he can show off his feisty nature a bit more freely. It says a lot about Obama’s presidency that two of his top three first-term guys in the White House will still play major roles in his second term – even if it’s not inside the stoic walls of the White House itself. His lead confidantes are mostly loyal. source

05 Jan 2011 22:16

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U.S.: John Wheeler’s harrowing last video: What happened next?

  • What happened to John Wheeler in the thirteen hours between the shooting of this security tape and his discovery at a landfill? Because what happened in this clip is harrowing. “He had dirt on his right leg,” said Cathleen Boyer, a security guard who witnessed Wheeler hobbling through a garage around the time this clip was taken. “His eyes were red, like he was crying or something.” Wheeler was offered help. He didn’t take it. He needed it. source

05 Jan 2011 21:39

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Culture: Golden-voiced homeless guy comes with lots of baggage

  • » The Cavs still want to help, though: Look, if you have a long history of drug and alcohol abuse like Williams here, it’s understandable that there might be a criminal record in there. But that isn’t deterring Quicken Loans, which owns the Cleveland Cavaliers and has offered Williams a home along with an voiceover job with the team and company. “We believe in second chances and second opportunities,” said Tracy Marek, senior vice president of marketing for the Cavaliers. “The gentleman deserves an opportunity to explain certain situations. We’re not jumping to conclusions. It’s not fair.” We hope that the obvious rough edges don’t deter anyone else, either. Too many give up on the homeless – and most of them don’t become YouTube celebrities.

05 Jan 2011 21:00

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U.S.: Tax watchdog: Taxes too complicated, take too much time

  • United States Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says something has to change. Olson, who makes a yearly report on the collective state of tax compliance, says we spend too much time paying our taxes, and the process is way too overwhelming. “There has been near universal agreement for years that the tax code is broken and needs to be fixed,” she says. “Yet no broad-based attempt to reform the tax code has been made.” Some of her findings:
  • 6.1B the number of hours it takes for businesses to comply with tax-filing requirements
  • 3M the number of workers Olson estimates are needed to ensure everyone tax compliance
  • 550% the increase in liens the IRS has filed against taxpayers over the last five years source

05 Jan 2011 20:06

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World: Report: Retracted autism/vaccine study “elaborate fraud”

  • It’s one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors. But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data.
  • British Medical Journal editor-in-chief Fiona Godlee • Explaining that the findings in an infamously retracted autism study in 1998 were not only false, but fraudulently made-up. BMJ claims that the Lancet study’s author, Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the histories of the twelve people used in the study. The result was a sharp drop in vaccinations, leading to a significant increase in measles cases in the ensuing years. Wakefield’s medical license was revoked las year as a result. He apparently received over $674,000 from a law firm that wanted to sue vaccine-makers, which was not made public until years after the study first came out. He does have some supporters who question the allegations, but if this is true, he’s an evil mother(#&@)!#. source

05 Jan 2011 11:23

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Biz: Could unemployment rate drop? Key indicator looks very positive

  • 297k new payrolls among private employers in December, according to payroll processor ADP, which tracks stuff like this
  • 100k new payrolls were expected in the December survey, so this is an extremely positive sign for economic growth
  • eleven straight months of growth for private-sector payrolls … but will unemployment drop? (those numbers will come Friday) source
 

05 Jan 2011 11:11

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U.S.: Was ex-Pentagon staffer killed because of feud with neighbor?

  • weird The body of a former Pentagon staffer, John P. Wheeler, was recently found in a landfill – which, let’s admit it, is disturbing and doesn’t exactly happen everyday.
  • weirder Reports suggest that not long before Wheeler died, he may have tried to blow up somebody’s home. He was apparently in a feud with a neighbor. He must’ve lost. source

05 Jan 2011 10:59

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U.S.: “Lost” numbers could’ve netted you piece of Mega Millions jackpot

  • $150 made by picking 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 source
  • » Oh yeah, the full jackpot: The winning numbers – 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and 42 – scored two lucky dudes (in Idaho and Washington, separately) a split of the $355 million Mega Millions prize. We knew we should’ve bought a lotto ticket last night.

05 Jan 2011 10:43

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Politics: Ninth circle of hell? Michele Bachmann may run for president

  • Nothing is off the table. The congresswoman is excited about her first trip to Iowa this year.
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann’s chief of staff, Andy Parrish • Suggesting that Bachmann may be interested in running for president in 2012. And you thought Sarah Palin was bad … (thanks apsies) source