Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

10 Jan 2011 20:41

tags

U.S.: Jerry Brown gives California a bitter budgetary pill to swallow

  • $12.5B the size of the spending cuts that Jerry Brown’s trying to sell to California residents
  • five the number of years of tax increases that would also be part of the fairly risky deal
  • no Republicans are on board with Brown on this yet – he used the phrase TAX INCREASE! source
  • » About those tax increases: They would extend a series of temporary tax increase implemented in 2009, which are set to expire in July. Californians are set to vote on the increases in June. And other changes are recommended too – certain services could be transferred from state local governments (such as prisons), and services for the poor are among the ones getting cut the most. However, K-12 schools will be protected from cuts (and just about nothing else).
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 11:21

tags

World: Basque separatist group ETA asks for permanent cease-fire

If your idea of a permanent cease-fire involves a bunch of guys wearing berets and potato sacks over their heads, this may be the cease-fire for you. For Spain, it’s not enough. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 11:07

tags

U.S.: How Congress is overreacting to the Gabrielle Giffords shooting

  • legislation Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Brady wants to make it “a federal crime to threaten or incite violence against a member of Congress or a federal official.” Aren’t the laws on the books already good enough?
  • packin’ North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler and Utah’s very own Jason Chaffetz plan to carry concealed weapons from now on. We guess that’s understandable, but still an overreaction. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 10:46

tags

U.S.: Bryce Tierney: A close friend discusses Jared Lee Loughner

  • Hey man, it’s Jared. Me and you had good times. Peace out. Later.
  • Jared Lee Loughner • Leaving a voicemail for a good friend, Bryce Tierney, in the hours before Loughner shot and killed six people and wounded Gabrielle Giffords. Tierney has a long history with Loughner, and notes that the suspect had some strange quirks, including an obsession with lucid dreams: “I saw his dream journal once,” Tierney said. “That’s the golden piece of evidence. You want to know what goes on in Jared Loughner’s mind, there’s a dream journal that will tell you everything.” Tierney also said that Loughner had an apparent beef with Giffords that goes back years – specifically, he asked a question at one of her events that wasn’t answered to Loughner’s liking. The question? “What is government if words have no meaning?” Giffords’ answer to that pseudo-intellectual drivel may have slowly pushed Loughner over the edge. Really. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 10:32

tags

Biz: Hugh Hefner takes Playboy private: Insert (heh heh) dirty joke here

  • $207 million for Hefner to take Playboy private again source
  • » Why’s he doing this? Simply put, the magazine business is not what it once was, especially in the soft-core sexiness department. And the publisher of Penthouse tried to buy Playboy away for $210 million. But the 84-year-old Hef wasn’t having that.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Jan 2011 10:20

tags

U.S.: Welcome to Atlanta: Snowy, icy city covered in snow and ice

Usually this highway is extremely busy on a Monday morning, but today … something about there being a crapload of snow or something. Mother nature hates Georgia. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 22:34

tags

Politics: Max Headroom: Sheriff Clarence Dupnik takes on “vitriolic rhetoric”

  • To simply the current societal argument going on right now: Some are arguing that the current anger and rage in our country’s politics have influenced events like the Gabrielle Giffords tragedy in Tucson on Saturday. Pima County, Az. Sheriff Clarence Dupnik has perhaps been the leading voice for this kind of opinion. Many conservatives have been of the other opinion on this whole issue. This piece on Fox News, led by Megyn Kelly narrows the two points into one convenient video. Dupnik has some valid points, but Kelly arguably wins – she sticks to her guns and keeps asking for hard evidence, not speculation. She never gets it.
  • Olbermann’s repudiation hunt “If all of these are not responsible for what happened in Tucson, they must now be responsible for doing everything they can to make sure Tucson does not happen again.” It takes a few minutes for Olbermann’s main point to become clear, but when it does, it shines. The reason why it shines? Because he criticizes himself and his own side in the clip. That’s why it sticks to your bones.
  • The most heart-wrenching Story “I just assumed they got into a car accident.” When Christina Taylor Green went to witness Gabrielle Giffords speak on Saturday, she went with the kind of ambition that most nine-year-olds don’t have. And that’s what hurts the most about this incident. Gabrielle Giffords is still holding on and may make it. But her potential successor did not. You could feel it from the way her mom talks. Our heart breaks for her.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Jan 2011 21:21

tags

World: Iranian plane crash: Blame ancient fleet for latest accident

  • Iran’s had trouble with planes recently. Part of this is due to an ancient fleet and little way to get new supplies for the aircraft. So, as a result we have scenes like this one, where 72 people die (and 33 are hurt) in a plane crash. On a ground covered with snow. In the dark. This isn’t even the worst aviation disaster Iran has had in the last decade. Sigh. Can we offer a word of advice, Iran? Perhaps, instead of putting so much energy into building a nuclear facility, maybe you should build some new planes. It might help save some lives. (We retract this for the reasons explained here. See? We’re not made of stone.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 21:05

tags

World: Here’s another awful tragedy to fill out your rough weekend

  • Look, there has been a lot of sadness in the news this weekend. The whole uplifting thing with golden-voiced Ted Williams seems like a long-ago memory, which is unfortunate. And now, more sadness. In Niger, two French men – a groom and a best man – were kidnapped before a wedding could take place. Antoine de Léocour, a 25-year-old aid worker, had planned to marry a local woman, but the two men were instead kidnapped by people reportedly part of al-Qaeda’s North African operation. A day later, they were found killed in the desert. French president Nicolas Sarkozy called the situation a “cowardly and barbaric act.” Like we haven’t had many of those this weekend. Sigh. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Jan 2011 20:36

tags

World: Hotel Shepherd demolished – along with the Israeli peace process?

Thought of the day – tearing down a hotel in Jerusalem with any sort of sentimental value to Palestinians is probably a very bad idea that might hurt the ongoing peace process. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>