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25 Jan 2011 13:15

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U.S.: Biden gets out of jury duty the honest way

  • This is important… It is an honor to be a part of the system.
  • Vice President Joe Biden • The VP was called for jury duty in his home state of Delaware, and waited in the courthouse Monday before being released with the rest of the prospective jury pool. Unnamed jurors claimed Biden was friendly while waiting, joking about whether they’d mispronounce his name. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 13:02

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U.S.: U.S. government recovers record Medicare fraud dollars in 2010

  • $4 billion worth of Medicare fraud recovered by the government source
  • » Who do we thank? The Affordable Care Act (which you may know under its other name, somebody hissing “Obamacare”). The health care reform law institutes harsher penalties for Medicare billing fraud, and those penalties came to bear in 2010 as the Justice Department filed charges against almost 300 defendants, yielding this record-setting recoup of fraudulent claims.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 11:21

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Politics: Tea Partiers: We’re NOT trying to usurp Paul Ryan’s SOTU response

  • I think you get a variety of opinions and all Republicans aren’t the same, but I don’t see it as trying to usurp somebody else’s prerogative. I think one main Republican message, but other voices as well.
  • Sen. Rand Paul • Defending Michele Bachmann’s decision to offer her own, secondary, Tea-Party-focused response to the State of the Union speech tonight. (We’ll be covering this as much as we can tonight, by the way.) Anyway, Paul is trying to make it clear that Bachmann’s speech isn’t meant to take the wind out of the sails of Paul Ryan’s speech, but just to offer a different perspective. To which we say, don’t do this, Michele. People already don’t take you seriously, and this only makes you look worse. It also greatly damages your party, which, based on the “R” next to your name, is not the Tea Party. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 11:06

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Culture: Golden-voiced Ted Williams doesn’t stick with rehab very long

  • entering After a fight with his family members, Dr. Phil talked golden-voiced homeless guy Ted Williams into entering rehab, which he did.
  • exiting Less than two weeks after that hopeful gesture, Williams exited rehab on his own, suggesting a fall off the wagon. Sigh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 10:59

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Biz: Consumers pretty confident in January, ready to take on world

  • 60.6 consumer confidence level – the highest since May source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 10:51

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World: OOH BURN: Russian opposition leader rips Putin over airport blast

  • The battle against terrorism is clearly not among Putin’s priorities, unless, of course, we discount his daily demagoguery on the subject.
  • Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov • Getting in a major burn on Vladimir Putin in the wake of yesterday’s deadly blast at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport. It’s just one of many deadly terror attacks in the country in the last fifteen years, leading to claims like Nemtsov’s, where he takes Putin to task for not taking the work of terrorism quite seriously enough. And he’s not alone – many in the Russian blogosphere feel the same way, that the country is ineffective at actually preventing tragedies like yesterday’s. Are they right? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 10:42

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Biz: How much meat does Taco Bell have in its “taco meat filling”?

  • 40% the percentage of meat needed in a product to call it “meat taco filling,” according to the USDA
  • 36% the percentage of meat in Taco Bell’s “meat taco filling” (UH-OH); here comes the lawsuit source
  • » The other ingredients: Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate. (thanks rubenfeld)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

25 Jan 2011 10:33

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World: Lebanon’s not having a very fun day today, guys

After the Hezbollah-backed Najib Mikati won appointment as Prime Minister, all hell broke loose in the country, leading to fiery scenes like this one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 10:20

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Culture: A quick, ten-second overview of this year’s Oscar nominations

  • 12 totally expected nominations for “The King’s Speech”
  • 10 nominations for the Coen Bros’ “True Grit” remake
  • eight nominations (far too few) for “The Social Network”
  • eight nominations (also far too few) for “Inception”
  • surprises Who decided to nominate Javier Bardem for Best Actor for a movie that absolutely nobody saw (“Biutiful”)? How many people even knew what this movie was before this morning? Raise your hand.
  • disses Among others: Mila Kunis in “Black Swan.” Andrew Garfield in “The Social Network.” Ryan Gosling in “Blue Valentine.” No best documentary nod for “Waiting for Superman.” Criminal! source
  • » And the ultimate diss: “Inception” got eight nominations, don’t get us wrong. The movie totally deserved all of them. But the one it was most deserving of which it did not get? Christopher Nolan didn’t get a best director nod for “Inception.” The category was stacked, admittedly, but the Coen Brothers may have been the weak men this year. On a side note, there could be one even bigger diss this year – if “Toy Story 3” doesn’t win an award outside of its animation comfort zone.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2011 00:07

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Culture: James Cameron spills the beans on “Avatar” sequels

  • Basically, if you survived the first film, you get to be in the second film, at least in some form.
  • James Cameron • Discussing the back-to-back “Avatar” sequels he’s currently writing. Question: What does he mean by “…at least in some form?” Flashbacks? Ghosts? Long-lost twins? Regardless, the two films are set to be released in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but that’s obviously subject to change. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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