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25 May 2011 16:12

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Politics: Kathy Hochul’s NY-26 win a big deal for Democrats?

  • Harbinger or happenstance? It’ll be curious to see how last night’s upset win by Kathy Hochul is received and interpreted by political media, and by the parties themselves. (We’ve already seen a bit of it from man of the hour Paul Ryan.) You may remember back when Scott Brown defeated Martha Coakley to become a Senator from Massachusetts, for example — his win in a traditionally Democratic stronghold was seen as an early signal the Democrats were in trouble in the 2010 mid-terms, a special election turned bellweather. With evidence now that Ryan’s Medicare plan is a huge political liability, will it cost the GOP in 2012? And should they be verbally flogging their only candidate who came out against it? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 15:19

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World: In Soviet Russia, CNN competes with … uh, itself. Kinda.

  • A Russian fan went above and beyond, it seems. It seems like someone has taken the liberty to set up a CNN site for Russia — but the site is not officially associated with CNN in any way. In fact, the stories are just run through an online translator, so they often translate horribly. One story referenced the head of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the head of a penis, not an organization. No one knows who’s running this thing, but a note on the website says that it only republishes parts of stories from CNN.com and links back to them. To do this, the site uses Joomla, a CMS system like similar to WordPress. A spokeswoman from CNN said that they’re “evaluating the next steps.” Hopefully they can get to the, er…head of the problem. (thanks to Mediaite for pointing us in the right direction with this one) source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 14:10

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Biz, U.S.: Bubble watch: Is the student loan market about to crash?

  • $24k average amount of debt a graduating college student has
  • $800B amount in outstanding student debt — with 30% of it securitized
  • 40% number of student loans that are in default after 15 years; not good source
  • » This is huge. To put it in perspective: Student loans are the nation’s largest source of debt – even more than credit cards. Tuition has risen faster than inflation, and lenders are quick to help students. That’s because until 2009 the government had a program in place that purchased loans that weren’t paid back. That sounds a lot like the housing market, right? Couple all of that with the fact that college graduates are having harder times finding jobs, and you don’t get a very good picture over the long-term.
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 11:19

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U.S.: Woman dies after finding out about her dad’s death in Joplin tornado

  • Another crushingly sad tale from the Joplin storm: After a 54-year-old woman found out on Tuesday that her father died in Sunday’s incredibly tragic tornado in the Missouri town, she had a heart attack and later died. The woman, a schoolteacher, lived in a nearby town and attended church in the city of 50,000. Despite the fact that she wasn’t killed in the storm itself, the coroner says that they will consider her death a storm-related casualty. Such a gut punch. Officials in the city plan to continue searching for those missing, combing over areas they’ve covered as many as three times already — all in the hopes of finding a survivor in the rubble. Hold out hope. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 10:39

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Biz: clearXchange: The banking system’s years-late answer to PayPal?

  • what Three of the nation’s largest consumer banks — Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo — have created a system for simple money transfers via phone or e-mail.
  • why The new service, clearXchange, gets around a banking system that takes a really long time, requires a routing number, and has to go though the Federal Reserve’s tubes.
  • threat This model threatens PayPal, the  solution du jour for this problem — which will likely someday make more money than its corporate parent, eBay. Unless this new thing takes off. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 May 2011 10:19

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Politics: Paul Ryan: This special election not a referendum on my plan

  • I saw the ads. I saw burning people’s Medicare cards. If you can scare seniors into thinking that their current benefits are being affected, that’s going to have an effect. And that is exactly what took place here. So yes, yes, it’s demagoguery, it’s scaring seniors.
  • Rep. Paul Ryan • Blaming Democrat Kathy Hochul’s win in New York’s 26th House District on scare tactics, rather than the New York Times’ line (“a referendum on the Paul Ryan Medicare plan”). Ryan also blamed Jack Davis, a third-party guy that siphoned votes from the GOP’s Jane Corwin: “When a Democrat runs as a third party, tea party candidate and spends a couple million dollars, it’s going to have an effect,” he says. A few things here:  Remember how the guy in this district — a Republican, mind you — resigned, leading to the special election? You don’t think that could’ve had an effect on things? That’s a question for both Ryan and the NYT. Also, to Ryan’s point about Davis: There were four candidates in this election, and we’re sure Ian Murphy (while a minor candidate) siphoned some votes from Hochul as well. (Also, we’re sure this stunt of Murphy’s hurt Corwin’s election chances too.) Either way, Paul kind of has a personal stake — Jack Kemp, who gave Ryan his first job, long represented this district. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 23:17

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U.S.: Upset: Dem Kathy Hochul wins GOP House seat in special election

The NYT portrayed her win in a conservative NY district as a statement on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan. They didn’t mention Scott Walker prankster Ian Murphy’s 1 percent of the vote. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 May 2011 20:45

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Politics: Elizabeth Warren subcommittee hearing devolves into pissing match

  • What time was Elizabeth Warren supposed to leave? We’re not completely sure, but she seems pretty angry about being held up by GOP Rep. Patrick McHenry (on top of having the meeting rescheduled repeatedly). Warren, the Harvard professor helping to launch the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for Obama, faced a tough line of questions from Republicans on the House Oversight subcommittee — questions which showed they didn’t even seem to know basic facts. It got so bad that Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth had to say this in her defense: “The questioning of your veracity when there is documented evidence that you are being totally truthful indicates to me that this hearing is all about impugning you because people are afraid of you.” Word on the street is that Warren may take on Scott Brown in his upcoming Senate race, which is a stupid idea because Brown is a moderate Democrat in every respect but party affiliation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 16:40

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Politics: New Jersey Gov. Christie’s poll numbers looking worse

  • 40% of New Jerseyites view Gov. Chris Christie favorably source
  • » Is the grass just looking greener from here? So, something seems to be happening. Even as Governor Chris Christie’s national profile has expanded, and his frequent denial of national ambition can barely beat back the GOP clamoring for him to enter the 2012 race, his poll numbers back in the Garden State aren’t looking so hot. We’re wondering if this might have to do with the difference between how it looks from outside to see a “tough” leader calling the shots, versus how it feels to be the constituents under that thumb. Strident austerity measures, YouTube videos of Christie verbally sparring with public employees, and his generally bombastic personality may play like a GOP action movie in Oklahoma, but could it be wearing thin on those closest to it?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 May 2011 15:58

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Politics: Trial of the Century: Blagojevich may testify in his own defense

  • Big day for Blago? The Chicago Tribune is reporting that “sources” indicate disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich may take the stand to testify in his own defense. We forgive you if you’re skeptical, as we heard repeated proclamations from the man himself that he would testify in his last trial, only for his defense to rest without his name being called. Now in his retrial, will Blagojevich give the public what they want? His defense team has also implied they might call some high-profile witnesses from the political world, among them Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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