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04 May 2011 17:25

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U.S.: Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the new chair of the DNC

  • Democrats get a new boss: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 44, will likely be approved as the new chair of the Democratic National Committee today, assuming a position vacated by former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. Whether this signals a shift in Democratic Party politics writ large is hard to say, but it bears mentioning that she’s considerably more left-wing than her predecessor. The Florida congresswoman is known for her staunch defenses of Democratic ideals, as well as her fundraising acumen, which figure to be keys to any success Democrats may have in the 2012 elections. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 16:17

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World: Fatah, Hamas sign reconciliation deal to Israel’s chagrin

  • Signed on the dotted line: Hamas and Fatah made official their surprising reconciliation deal today, which calls for a new interim government and for elections within one year. This has sparked a lot of angst from Israel, who are fearful of the a unified Palestinian authority that includes Hamas  — they’re also opposed to a Palestinian attempt to get statehood recognition from the United Nations, expected to take place this September. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:52

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Politics: Maddow wants the media to stick to the facts on bin Laden’s death

  • There’s going to be plenty of time to score political points on this. Osama bin Laden is going to be dead forever. Osama bin Laden is never coming back.
  • Rachel Maddow • Discussing attempts in the news media to tilt the facts of the Osama bin Laden raid to suit certain political themes, in her appearance on The Daily Show last night. Maddow is spot on in this analysis, for a very good reason — it’s demonstrably obvious that news agencies since bin Laden’s death don’t have a conclusive, clear view of exactly what went down. This is borne out by the wild conflicts and discrepancies in reporting various details of the operation since word broke on Sunday. Maddow, to her credit, has done two episodes of her show post-bin Laden, and both were earnestly refreshing in acknowledging that waiting for verifiable fact is more useful than rushing to make the story sound cooler, or fit into a political narrative. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:30

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Politics: Apache tribe wants apology over Bin Laden’s “Geronimo” moniker

  • geronimo A prominent and storied Native American leader, known for his daring attacks and escapes while battling both Mexican and U.S. soldiers — also, the code name given to Osama bin Laden in last weekend’s operation.
  • apache The modern representation of Geronimo’s Apache tribe, from Sill Falls, Oklahoma, has taken issue with this. Tribe Chairman Jeff Houser wants an apology from the White House for using Geronimo as the bin Laden code name. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 15:01

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Biz: Warner Bros. buys up Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster

  • A conflict of interest on the side? One of the internet’s most popular movie review websites will now be owned by one of America’s major movie and entertainment studios. The acquisition has less to do with Rotten Tomatoes, however, than it does Flixster, a movie review/streaming company that counted RT as one of its subsidiaries — Warner Bros. wanted Flixster to push a competitive advantage against Netflix, and their new ownership of the widely-known review aggregator is a byproduct of that. So, if Warner Bros. makes a piece of utter dreck, hopefully you’ll still be able to see that not-so-fresh “tomatometer” rating. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 12:36

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U.S.: Blackwater (er, Xe) turns the page … with John Ashcroft?

  • problem Xe Services, better known as Blackwater, has had some major PR problems ever since a 2007 shooting where Iraqi civilians died at the hands of the company’s private contractors. It led in part to their name change.
  • solution The company has hired John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General under Bush forever tied to his counterterrorism efforts, as an independent director. Really? Is that the right guy to rehab your long-damaged image? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 11:10

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World: NATO head: We’ve significantly weakend Gaddafi in Libya

  • Every week, every day we make new progress, hit important targets. But I’m not able to quantify the degree to which we have degraded Muammar Gaddafi’s military capabilities, but definitely it is much weaker now than when our operation started.
  • NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen • Noting that in the time NATO has tackled the Libyan crisis, they’ve successfully weakened the Gaddafi regime greatly. Now, he can’t quantify this, but he still said it! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 May 2011 10:59

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Politics: Mitch Daniels’ limited foreign policy cred becoming obvious

  • Monday In perhaps the meekest single comment ever published, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ staff revealed he had no official opinion on Osama bin Laden’s death. Not even a “heckuva job?” It’s not like you couldn’t glean these details from a newspaper or anything.
  • Tuesday The strange revelations continued when he revealed to a roomful of reporters that he probably couldn’t take on Obama in a foreign policy debate. “His foreign-policy details are TBD,” noted the National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru. Well, guess he’s not running. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:45

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Culture: Steelers’ Rashard Mendenhall feeling heat over Bin Laden tweets

The Pittsburgh halfback said this: “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side.” He also doubted al-Qaeda’s role in 9/11. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2011 10:33

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Politics: Tim Pawlenty: Get off the sideline, GOP! BEAT THIS OBAMA GUY!

  • I think it’s time to say, ‘It’s time to get off the sideline.’ We’ve got less than a year and a half to beat him … and it’s going to take all of us going full tilt to beat him.
  • Tim Pawlenty • Coming up with a line which could perhaps be a rallying cry for the GOP over the next year and a half. “It’s time to get off the sideline” would also work as a rallying cry during the third quarter of a football game. T-Paw could totally be the new Michael Irvin! But in all seriousness, this is a good line. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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