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15 Jan 2011 20:22

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U.S.: Arizona shooting victims making mark in surprising ways

  • arrests A week after being hit in the leg and back during the shooting, minorly-injured victim Eric Fuller got himself arrested at a taping for ABC’s “This Week” by angrily telling a Tucson Tea Party leader, “You’re dead.”
  • transplants In much more heartwarming news, some of 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green’s organs saved an East Coast child’s life, thereby providing a bittersweet antidote to the story on the left. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 19:19

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U.S.: After “don’t ask” repeal, women in combat could be next

  • Service policies that bar women from gaining entry to certain combat-related career fields, specialties, units, and assignments are based on standards of conventional warfare, with well-defined, linear battlefields. However, the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have been anything but conventional.
  • A draft report by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission • Arguing that women should be allowed to take part in more combat roles. Currently, the military has “combat exclusion policies” that prevent women from playing full roles in combat – rules that have been in play for decades. The Military Leadership Diversity Commission has only been in play for a couple of years, by the way, so there’s no word on how effective their report will be – there’s been a push for this for nearly two decades. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 18:36

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U.S.: Good news: Gabrielle Giffords now breathing on her own, guys

  • negative A week after the shooting which mortally wounded her, Gabrielle Giffords is still in critical condition at a Tucson-area hospital.
  • positive She’s the only shooting victim still in critical condition – most have improved or gone home at this point.
  • positiver She can now breathe  without a ventilator – a big step. Doctors are very happy with her progress so far. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 13:32

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World: A quick recap of Tunisia’s presidential situation at the moment

  • one Tunisian president in the 23 years before yesterday’s freefall
  • three Tunisian presidents in just 24 hours; sounds fairly stable to us source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 12:58

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Politics: John Boehner keeps declining Obama’s high-profile invitations

  • nope Boehner was invited to ride with Obama on Air Force One to the Tucson memorial on Wednesday. He declined because he had GOP-related plans in D.C.
  • no way The House Speaker was then invited to a state dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao – a pretty high-profile world leader – but he declined that, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 12:48

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Politics: Obama hoping for bipartisanship in wake of Arizona shooting

  • As business resumes, I look forward to working together in that same spirit of common cause with members of Congress from both parties — because before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans.
  • President Obama • Looking to emphasize bipartisan goodwill in the wake of last week’s Gabrielle Giffords shooting. He made the statement during his weekly address, which was followed by a response from Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake, who said that the incident should not force Congress to be afraid of doing its job. “And so it is our duty to uphold our oath, to listen and to represent,” he said. “We will not let this inhumane act cow us into doing otherwise.” In other Arizona news, Obama literally wrote the memorable “Gabby opened her eyes” bit on the way to the basketball arena just before he spoke at the memorial earlier this week. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 12:19

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Biz: Johnson & Johnson recalls more drugs over quality issues

  • 47 million more over-the-counter drugs recalled by J&J (wow) source
  • » Why did they recall them? Mainly, there were some quality control issues with the drugs. Johnson & Johnson, which has had to recall a lot of drugs in the last little while due to safety issues, claimed that when researching the prior recalls, they found that manufacturing and safety standards weren’t up to snuff for most of the drugs recalled (Tylenol, Benadryl, Sudafed and Sinutab, which make up about 42.9 million of the 47 million recalled products). The rest of the drugs were insufficiently-labeled packs of Rolaids. J&J has lost hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to the recalls, which first began in late 2009 thanks to some metal specks in children’s medicine.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Jan 2011 20:06

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Tech: Hey guys, look what the Huffington Post is doing with our data

  • Look, it’s great that the Huffington Post is trying to make our news experience more social, but this is a tad bit over the line. Come on. This is just plain unethical. Look, the social news element is one thing, but they gathered people’s birthdays from Facebook and used them in a really weird way, without telling us they were going to do it. Bad idea. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

14 Jan 2011 19:30

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U.S.: The weirdest Jared Lee Loughner news we’ll post, well, ever

  • A Walgreens in Tuscon [sic], Ariz. turned over to police racy photos of gunman Jared Loughner with a Glock and a G-string that were taken to the store to be developed the night before the shooting rampage that left six people dead and 14 wounded. … In the photos he holds the pistol against his crotch and buttocks while wearing a bright red thong, sources told ABC News.
  • ABC News • Leaving us speechless. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2011 14:49

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Politics: Michael Steele unintentionally nails his legacy with the RNC

  • “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Guess which book Michael Steele thought this iconic quote was from? (Hint: Not from “A Tale of Two Cities.”) Anyway, even though he completely misattributed the quote (he said it was from his favorite book, “War and Peace”), let’s face it, that’s everything you need to know about his two years as RNC chair. Despite the immense level of success the Republican Party had in winning elections in 2009 and 2010, their current financial situation is pretty much the polar opposite of what one would expect from the party of fiscal responsibility. So, let’s take a moment to honor the RNC weirdo in his last stand, the one whose party succeeded despite his own personal failures. And the fact that he attributed this quote to the wrong book explains everything about why he won’t return. (Edit: He’s currently behind in the vote, which is taking place now … he’s not doing bad but losing support.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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