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24 Jan 2011 13:00

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U.S.: George Allen back in the Virginia electoral saddle

  • then George Allen, Virginia’s Republican Senator in 2006, was thought to have ended his career after publicly calling a Jim Webb aide of Indian descent “macaca,” a racial slur.
  • now Five years after his “macaca” foul-up, Allen has announced he’ll be jumping into the Virginia Senate race in 2012, hoping that gaffe won’t hurt anymore. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 11:14

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Politics: Keith Olbermann: A long history of bad-terms departures

  • Give us a bit of credit for getting eight years out of him. That’s the longest he’s been anywhere.
  • A NBC News executive • Discussing Keith Olbermann’s ouster late last week. Olbermann’s departure (which was mutual) continued a long trend for the fiery-but-talented anchor, who has left every network he’s worked for on not-so-hot terms. Most famously, of course, was his departure from ESPN, which Olbermann described as a “nuclear war.” But his resume is littered with similar explosive exits. So maybe it was time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:52

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Biz: Google’s Eric Schmidt got a pretty golden thank-you card

  • $100 million in equity earned for his time as CEO source
  • » He still has hefty stock options, too: Schmidt, who recently announced he was stepping down as Google’s CEO, but will stay on as chairman, will keep around 9.1 percent of his voting rights. This, by the way, is after selling a crapton of his stock.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:40

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World: Moscow Domodedovo airport bombing: Yes, it was a suicide bomber

  • The staff organized emergency exits, but the door was very narrow and people crowded there immediately. So the staff started breaking the walls to let the people out. Soon after, the airport stopped receiving arrival flights.
  • Eyewitness Tatyana Papova • Discussing the scene at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport in the wake of the major bombing. She also notes that the only people who stayed behind were those who didn’t get luggage. CNN is reporting right now (we’re listening to our tellies) that the bomb was a handmade suicide bomb loaded with shrapnel designed to cause even more injuries. More details as we get them. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:28

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Biz, World: Ivory Coast leaders fighting with chocolate, in non-funny way

  • cause Internationally-recognized Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara, in an effort to starve still-clinging loser Laurent Gbagbo of cash, has decided to block all exports of cocoa from the country for a month. Ivory Coast is the world’s largest producer, by the way.
  • reaction An immediate effect of the export ban? Cocoa prices have gone way up on the commodities market – a 3.4 percent leap in just a day. Many are afraid of a potential market disruption. Some experts, however, suggest that the market is just overreacting to the news. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 10:13

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World: Palestine: Al-Jazeera’s “Palestine Papers” full of lies

  • We don’t have anything to hide. [The papers have been] taken out of context and contain lies … Al-Jazeera’s information is full of distortions and fraud.
  • PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat • Denying the claims of al-Jazeera and The Guardian, which published the Palestine Papers, which reportedly show that Palestinians were ready to give Israel a huge concession without getting much of anything from Israel. Hamas officials, on the other hand, is quite angry about the report, saying it shows “this leadership is not honest.” FYI: More stuff is coming this week. Keep an eye out. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2011 09:54

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World: Moscow airport bombing; details sketchy but devastating

  • 31+ killed in the blast at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport today
  • 100+ injured; fingers crossed as more details come to light source
  • » What we know: Two things … first, the bombing happened in the airport’s baggage claim area, and Russian state TV is calling the attack a terror attack. Hopes, prayers, etc.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Jan 2011 01:26

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Politics: Max Headroom: Andrew Wakefield denies autism study fraud

  • The autism/vaccine guy speaks out: In recent weeks, Andrew Wakefield’s name, already synonymous with a questionable autism study from over a decade ago, has been dragged through the mud further amid reports that the report is an elaborate fraud. He still stands behind his study, claims the reporting of Brian Deer was completely, utterly wrong, and emphasizes that he did not personally profit off the study as reported. Credit to Alisyn Camerota, who hits him pretty hard with questions the whole way through. It’s weird that this interview isn’t getting much attention at the moment. (Note: He said he was going to upload some proof to his blog, but we see absolutely nothing new there.)
  • Shouting at your laptop If you’re like us and do searches on newsworthy political topics on YouTube every once in a while, you might run into this guy. This guy, a conservative, likes yelling really quickly. it’s his whole schtick. Here, he’s yelling about Keith Olbermann. He’s like a combination of Billy Mays (God rest his soul) the Micro Machines guy, and Rush Limbaugh. Mostly Rush.
  • Backed into a birther corner On “Meet the Press,” our boy David Gregory was chattin’ up our good friend Eric Cantor, basically trying to get him to say something bad about birthers. Cantor, eventually realizing that he couldn’t weasel out of Gregory’s line of questioning, gave him a half-answer on the question. Honestly, Cantor was right the first time. Why are we talking about this still?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

23 Jan 2011 21:50

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Politics: Supreme Court justices may skip this year’s State of the Union

  • last year Obama gave the Supreme Court a piece of his mind during his State of the Union speech, making the justices collectively uncomfortable as he ripped them for hurting campaign finance reform.
  • this year The big statement that the justices could make is whether or not to sit out. Samuel Alito is staying home. John Roberts is undecided but has questioned whether justices should attend anymore. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2011 21:41

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Biz: Independent booksellers collectively freaking out over future

  • We have to figure out how we stay in the game. You have to rethink your whole business model, because the old ways really aren’t going to cut it anymore.
  • Manhattan’s Bank Street Bookstore director, Beth Puffer • Discussing the fate of the independent bookseller at the Winter Institute, the equivalent of Bonnaroo for independent bookstores. While the number of independent bookstores has stabilized in recent years after Barnes & Noble and Borders ate their lunch, many changes are on the horizon – some bad enough to take out the big kids in the industry like Borders. Now, what was once an endeavor of stacking books on a shelf and organizing sections is a matter that requires much more – social media, cool Web sites, the whole thang. But, as important as this stuff is becoming, it can’t be everything. “At a certain point, I begin to feel like we don’t need more PR,” said Connecticut-based bookseller RJ Julia’s founder and president, Roxanne Coady. “We need sales.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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