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04 Apr 2011 16:12

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Politics: Democrats pledge to filibuster anti-Planned Parenthood amendment

  • 41 Senators want to retain public funds for Planned Parenthood source
  • » Why this number matters: Forty-one is the magic number of senators needed to mount a filibuster and, in doing so, block a bill’s passage. Harry Reid has already stated that the anti-Planned Parenthood amendment passed by the House of Representatives won’t be included in the final legislation; however, with this group this size backing him up, Reid’s words now carry much more weight. Interestingly, while the Gang of 41, as someone will undoubtedly refer to them sooner or later, is composed entirely of Democratic-aligned senators, three Republicans have also voiced opposition to stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funds. This will undoubtedly complicated budget negotiations going forward, but we’re nonetheless heartened to see this many senators stepping up to defend such a vital national service. Here’s to hoping they remain intact.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 15:52

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Politics: 2012: Are Pawlenty’s over-the-top campaign ads working?

  • The same day President Obama announced his reelection campaign, GOP hopeful Tim Pawlenty put out another Bruckheimer-esque ad for his own 2012 run at the White House. This has all the charming affectations we’ve come to expect from Pawlenty’s ad shop, which is attempting (transparently, though not unwisely) to paint T-Paw as a more exciting candidate than he’s generally thought to be. We actually think Pawlenty is running a pretty smart campaign, despite the superficially goofy feel of these ads. Whereas nobody took his campaign seriously at its outset, some beltway types are now coalescing around the notion of Pawlenty as the wisest, or at least most plausible, choice for the GOP in 2012. Of course, winning over voters in New Hampshire is a different story entirely. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 15:25

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Politics, U.S.: Jon Huntsman prefers the Foo Fighters to smoking weed

  • Very few [Mormons] straddled in between, but Jon was very good at being in between– he was faithful to his faith from everything I can see– but he also would go out and hang with guys, and maybe not partake in things… I never saw him inhale.
  • Eric Malmquist, former bass player for “Wizard” • Talking about his memories of then bandmate Jon Huntsman. Huntsman was the keyboard player for the band, of which there are sadly no known recordings. Supposedly, long after they had broken up and each gone their separate ways, former drummer Howard Sharp got a page on his medical beeper, as he’d turned to a career in medicine years before. When he hurriedly returned the call, it was Huntsman on the line: “It’s not a medical emergency but it’s a rock and roll emergency. The Foo Fighters are coming to town and we have got to get tickets.” We admit, we like Huntsman a bit more after hearing this, his glaring misuse of an emergency medical pager notwithstanding.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 14:03

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World: TEPCO begins draining radioactive water, tries to find major leak

  • lesser evil TEPCO has begun releasing thousands of tons of radioactive water into the ocean, freeing up space to store the much more dangerously radioactive water they now have to contend with, a release of which would be much worse.
  • square one Dye was used to determine the location of a leak of highly contaminated water, which TEPCO has fought for days. They didn’t see it in the ocean outside, meaning the leak is not where they’d been trying to plug the past couple days. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 13:42

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World: Kazahkstan’s incumbent President decimates opposition

  • 95% of the vote for Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev source
  • » An electoral red flag: International elections monitors are crying foul over what took place in Kazakhstan yesterday, as incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev (who’s been in power since the 1980s) soared to this startling vote tally. It’s being reported (albeit from an unnamed source) that students were threatened with expulsion if they didn’t head to the polls. We’re reminded of a point about show elections made by Christopher Hitchens; why do these leaders always desire such a staggering percentage of the vote? It all but screams a corrupt, undemocratic, strong-armed process- the leaders in question could lay much more claim to credibility if they tried to manipulate themselves to, say, a 55-45 win instead.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 13:19

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Offbeat: This week in misplaced tributes: MJ statue bugs soccer fans

  • A misplaced memorial: The man you see above is Mohammed Al Fayed, the owner of the Fulham FC soccer team (or football, as everybody else calls it). The fellow immortalized in statue form behind him is clearly the late Michael Jackson, who was a friend of Al Fayed’s- the owner commissioned the statue after MJ’s death, and ultimately placed it just outside his team’s stadium. Some fans have claimed that the statue is inappropriate, or at best a bizarre display for an athletic stadium, to which Al Fayed responds thusly: “If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell. I don’t want them to be fans. If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea, they can go to anywhere else.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Apr 2011 00:06

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World: Two Gaddafi sons propose exit plan for father; will rest of family sign on?

  • yes Two of Muammar Gaddafi’s children are said to be developing a proposal to move their father out of power and transition the country into a constitutional democracy.
  • maybe? Would Gaddafi take the deal, which would place his son Seif at the head of the new government? There’s no indication that he will; reportedly, he’s receptive to the idea. source
  • » Complicating the situation is the fact that Gaddafi doesn’t have two sons total–he’s got seven, including one who controls his own militia. Seif and Saadi are the only two known to support the proposal. Will the other brothers get on board, or will the country’s power struggles spread from the streets to the Gaddafi family? As we find ourselves saying at just about every juncture in this increasingly complex and unpredictable conflict, only time will tell.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

03 Apr 2011 17:15

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Culture: Torpedo insufficiently violent, truthful for Detroit

  • NO Charlie Sheen isn’t great at putting together a live show source
  • » We’re tentative about even broaching this, as we got tired and sick of the media’s Sheen-o-rama much quicker than most. But even if only as a means to interrupt the flow of globally important, sometimes dire news for a little diversionary breather, this New York Times article about the disastrous debut of Sheen’s live show (characteristically called Violent Torpedo of Truth) last night is worth a look. We kept thinking while reading this about what Bill Maher predicted two weeks ago: “He’ll come out, he’ll say his catchphrase ‘duh, winning,’ the place will go nuts, and then it will be a long, slow march to 9:30.” It looks like he nailed it.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Apr 2011 14:54

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World: Japan’s victims not seeing direct results from donations

  • $1 billion the total donations for Japan’s earthquake relief to the Red Cross
  • none the amount of those donations that have gone directly to victims  source
  • » Yukiyo Edano says speed it up: Edano, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, explained that the standard procedure is for independent panels throughout the prefectures to decide how to handle the money; basically, distribution at the local level. This can slow the whole process when these communities are in such disarray, though, which is why Edano believes the central government should set up an independent committee. The Red Cross, it bears mentioning, has sent over 200 crisis relief teams into stricken areas. And it must be said in the strongest possible terms that we don’t mean to discourage people who either have, or want to donate to Japan’s relief efforts. Rather, we think it’s worth understanding the functional realities that can hamstring those efforts. But the donations are nonetheless noble, vital, and necessary; none of this changes that.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Apr 2011 14:27

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World: Unintended consequences, priorities complicate Japan crisis

  • action Lacking the ability to pump water through the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant as they usually would, workers were hosing in as much seawater as they could to try to cool the unstable fuel rods.
  • outcome This consequently left the plant covered in contaminated salt water, and has made it extremely difficult for those in the plant to work near the reactors, thus impeding the crisis control effort. source
  • »And don’t forget about Japan’s other problems: Prime Minister Naoto Kan was pretty unpopular prior to the earthquake and tsunami that decimated the country, and his abilities at crisis management haven’t escaped public criticism. Reuters reports that many Japanese are unhappy with the Prime Minister’s focus on the nuclear crisis, feeling that not enough attention is being paid to other pressing humanitarian tolls caused by the earthquake; the number of dead or missing currently sits at 28,000 people, though obviously that estimate is changing all the time. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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