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08 Feb 2011 13:35

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U.S.: Has Scientology issued their blanket denial and reactionary attack yet?

  • 1 FBI investigation into the Church of Scientology’s Sea Org labor rules source
  • » That new-time religion: The Church of Scientology, in addition to dealing with last year’s high-profile defector, high-profile director Paul Haggis, now must survive the fruit of Haggis’ labor with New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright; a 26-page tale of his ascent and subsequent rejection of the church. Amongst the familiar charges the article makes (secrecy, strident and at times brutally violent discipline by church leader David Miscavige, disconnected families, and an inscrutable origin story that Scientologists are forbidden to admit exists), it also reveals that the FBI has been investigating Scientology for almost a year regarding potential rights abuses in their elite “Sea Organization,” or “Sea Org.” They’re looking into defector allegations of forced manual labor, shockingly low pay, and “re-education” through rehabilitation camps, which it goes without saying are at best creepy ideas, at worst wicked ones.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 11:25

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Politics: It’s official: Keith Olbermann going with Current TV – and more

  • Well, there’s the tease. Olbermann’s coming to Current TV, meaning that now Keith has an outlet that’s going to basically let him do what he wants. He also becomes the network’s “Chief News Officer,” meaning that rather than fighting with Phil Griffin, he effectively is Phil Griffin. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 7 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 11:14

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World: Assange extradition trial pulls out the “biased against men” card

  • Well, that’s one way to win your extradition trial, Julian Assange. In what might be one of the more unlikely legal tactics out there, the WIkileaks founder’s defense team flew in former Swedish appellate court judge Brita Sundberg-Weitman to rip on the prosecutor in the case against Assange. Why? Because Sundberg-Weitman is willing to say in a court of law that prosecutor Marianne Ny has a “rather biased view against men.” Oh, and there’s more: “She seems to take it for granted that everybody under prosecution is guilty. I think she is so preoccupied with the situation of battered women and raped women that she has lost balance.” Damn. How about them apples? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 11:01

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Tech: Did Verizon pull bait-and-switch on iPhone buyers with data plan?

  • cool After many years of waiting, Verizon started selling the iPhone on its service. It’s reportedly selling at extremely fast rates – faster than the Droid, even, Verizon’s previous best-selling phone. Apple could break its own sales record, too.
  • lame But, in a sneak attack only made public after a blogger happened to trip upon it, Verizon changed its data-management policy so that “unlimited” data users will see their speeds slow to a crawl if they use too much of it. WTF? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 10:44

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World: Recently-freed Egyptian protester Wael Ghonim inspires many

  • I want to tell every mother and every father of the people who died, I am so sorry, I swear to God it’s not our mistake. It’s the mistake of the people who are in charge of the country and don’t want to leave their positions.
  • Egyptian protest figurehead Wael Ghonim • Talking on Egyptian television about the people who were injured and killed while he was held in captivity for days. Ghonim’s statements, which were very teary-eyed and heart-wrenching, have proven inspiring to protesters today, who are reportedly showing renewed vigor on the streets this morning. “I’ve been following since it started, but after last night I realized I couldn’t stay away any more,” says Ahmed Osman, who was inspired to join the protests in Cairo based on Ghonim’s statements. “Our demands are simple, and they haven’t been met.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 10:19

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Offbeat: Real headline: “Man Stabbed to Death by Rooster During Cockfight”

The bird was wearing a blade that stabbed a man in the leg, severing a major artery. In other news, cockfighting is an evil sport that hurts animals. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 10:08

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Biz, Culture: Groupon CEO Andrew Mason tries to explain awful ad campaign

  • Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it’s cool to kill whales. In fact – and this is part of the reason we ran them – they have the opposite effect.
  • Groupon CEO Andrew Mason • Attempting to explain that his company’s controversial Super Bowl ads were in fact – IN FACT – meant to be respectful to other cultures and environmental causes. “The last thing we wanted was to offend our customers – it’s bad business and it’s not where our hearts are,” Mason concluded. Too bad nobody took the ads that way. Commenters on the blog post are savaging him and the company for trying to be a little too clever with its commercial approach without explaining its reasoning. They could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble had they actually put a domain name on the ad somewhere. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Feb 2011 09:53

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World: Dividing Sudan: Forgive us of our foreign debt. Please?

  • $38B the amount Sudan owes in foreign debt – $30 billion in debt arrears
  • 1993 the last time the country could get a loan from the World Bank
  • 75% the amount the country hopes to get forgiven before it splits source
  • » The spit has something to do with it: The size of Sudan’s debt could effectively limit the region’s ability to get a fresh start as it splits into two. Southern Sudanese official Gabriel Changson Chang is making a hard push for the changes before the countries divide. “We want both the north and south to be economically viable,” he says. Current president Omar al-Bashir has made similar claims as well, and with good reason: Half of the country’s population currently lives on less than $1 a day and need some sort of food aid.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 02:26

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Politics: Max Headroom: Reporters talk about their Egypt battle scars

  • Somehow, these guys made it out. Perhaps one of the most harrowing reporter stories to come out of Egypt this week comes from Fox News reporter Greg Palkot and cameraman Olaf Wiig, who were smoked out of the building they were staying in, only to get caught in a crowd of pro-Mubarak supporters. Palkot has some pretty severe injuries. Yikes. A lot of reporters probably were put in situations similar to this, and it’s good to note that their hard work kept the cameras on the country as things started to waver. source
  • Anderson Cooper gets scared, tooIn one of the more harrowing clips from the past week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he of getting punched in the face by some pro-Mubarak supporters, is in some random room trying to report the news. He left the country not long after this episode, a victim of having a well-known face in an area not kind to journalists.
  • Are things really getting better?On tonight’s show, Rachel Maddow brought up the plight of Ayman Mohyeldin, the Al Jazeera reporter who was detained by authorities for a few hours before finally getting released. Mohyeldin’s words, Maddow argues, show that the narrative doesn’t support what’s actually happening in Egypt. It’s way worse.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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