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13 Jun 2011 23:31

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Politics: T-Paw backs off “ObamneyCare” line

  • [Pawlenty] choked at a critical moment when he wouldn’t repeat the criticisms he’s made of Romney to his face…if you criticize someone when they’re not around, be ready to say it to their face. If you’re not, you’re just not for real.
  • Josh Marshall at TPM • On Pawlenty’s refusal to repeat the phrase “ObamneyCare,” which he coined last Sunday, during tonight’s debate. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 18:02

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Politics: Ferris Bueller 2: Reality or pipedream?

  • “Another Day Off”: Apparently there’s a screenwriter named Rick Rapier who wrote a spec script for a Ferris Bueller sequel, and he’s been shopping it around for years. He claims via Twitter that it’s taking off, though it’s impossible to know if he’s telling the truth or not — what details of the script we’ve heard don’t exactly inspire us, frankly. Apparently Ferris is a mega-rich motivational speaker with a private jet, and former principal Ed Rooney is his stalker. This sounds suspiciously like one of the major criticisms of The Hangover 2; namely, that the sequel is just setting up a façade to have the same plot happen again. Also, considering Ed Rooney actor Jeffrey Jones is now a convicted sex offender, that character may not play like the enjoyably sinister villain anymore. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 17:24

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Culture: LeBron James isn’t (not) bothered by the haters

  • All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. So they can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy … But they got to get back to the real world at some point.
  • Miami Heat forward LeBron James • Speaking during his post-game press conference after losing the championship to the heavy underdog Dallas Mavericks in six games. This is exactly the sort of remark that feeds the public’s disdain for James, a disdain that’s been steadily growing since his decision to help form a Voltron-style superteam down in South Beach (and being not so humble doing it). What’s especially illuminating about this quote, besides the implication that the common NBA fan rooting against him is probably some tribulation-addled scrub with an unenviable life, is that it completely defeats the point he was trying to make; that he isn’t bothered by people being happy that he lost. “I don’t care what you think, cause you’re a loser with a loser life compared to mine?” Yeah, doesn’t sound like you’re quite at ease with this, man. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 17:02

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Politics: A bumpy ride: Romney unveils new attack ad against Obama

  • Bump in the road: Be warned, you’re going to hear those four words a lot in this new ad by the Mitt Romney campaign. The ad has stirred up some discussion, specifically because it’s making such a strident criticism of such an offhanded turn of phrase. Arguments about the content of the ad aside, though, here’s what we’ll say: This is a poorly constructed piece of political handiwork. The reason being, the ad uses the words “bump in the road” so many times that they begin to lose all impact well before the end (in which it dissolves into a full cacophony of “bumps in the road”). It’s really, really trying too hard, which is something we sometimes think about Mitt himself. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 16:38

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Biz, World: Standard and Poor’s downgrades Greece’s credit rating again

  • Greece’s S&P credit rating now world’s lowest: Standard and Poor’s, the international credit rating agency, has slashed Greece’s rating by three levels, from B down to CCC — their lowest rated nation. They also warned that a potential debt restructuring would likely be viewed as a default, which would cause them to cut Greece further down to SD (selective default) for their credit rating, and D for the nation’s debt instruments. So, on top of this bad news, it seems almost assured to get worse before it gets any better. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 15:52

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Politics: Herman Cain asserts his Americanism over President Obama’s

  • … I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I’m a black man in America. Barack Obama is more of an international. … he was raised in Kenya, his mother was white from Kansas and her family had an influence on him, it’s true, but his dad was Kenyan, and when he was going to school he got a lot of fellowships, scholarships… He spent most of his career as an intellectual.
  • GOP Presidential candidate Herman Cain • Speaking to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, in an interview he wrote for Bloomberg View. Goldberg, to his credit, corrected Cain that President Obama spent some years of his childhood in Indonesia, not Kenya, to which Cain replied, “Yeah, Indonesia.” Whether this was a sincere mistake or not is impossible to say, and frankly doesn’t entirely matter — Cain is trying to paint Obama as mysterious and foreign, as opposed to himself, an American black man who rejects the term “African-American.” He also throws in some anti-intellectualism for good measure, but really, the story here is his stoking of, if not birtherism, the core belief that allowed that rumor to spread — he ain’t one of us. In trying to seize momentum with his recent, strident remarks, Cain’s campaign slogan could easily share a title with a classic 80s film — “Say Anything.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 14:33

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U.S.: Rapture alert: Harold Camping suffers a mild stroke

  • He’s 89 years old, so it isn’t really a surprise. Apparently, the rapture preacher, who spent $100 million of his own money telling people the world would end May 21st, is recovering just fine. “He is presently recuperating in a local hospital and the doctors are pleased with his progress,” said Family Radio special projects coordinator Michael Garcia. But either way, it doesn’t really matter in the long run. According to his own calculations, he’s only got a few months left to live; he’s now saying that the world is going to end on October 21. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

13 Jun 2011 14:13

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U.S.: The White House annoyed about this Weinergate thing

  • The president feels, we feel at the White House, this is a distraction, as Congressman Weiner has said himself, his behavior was inappropriate, dishonesty was inappropriate.
  • White House Press Secretary Jay Carney • responding to Weinergate. He didn’t go so far as to say Weiner should resign, though. It seems like the White House is pretty upset about this whole thing, which is understandable. Obama just made a speech about jobs today, and it’s easy to imagine him being fed up with Weiner getting all this press. Not only is Weiner’s situation bugging Democrats, but he’s taking press away from Obama. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 13:31

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Music: Clarence Clemons hospitalized after massive stroke

  • The beloved saxophonist of the E Street Band has had two brain surgeries since the stroke, and initially suffered paralysis on his left side, but he’s able to move his left hand now and his condition is still improving. Over the past few years, Clemons hasn’t had the best health — he’s had surgery on his hips, knees and back. Despite that, he has yet to miss a concert because he’s so passionate about making people happy. Recently, Clemons guested on Lady Gaga’s new album “Born this Way.” Here’s hoping he gets better and gets back to what so many people love him for — making music. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jun 2011 11:21

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Biz: Apple Store worker really wants unions for some reason

  • what Cory Moll, a part-time Apple Store employee in San Francisco, has come forward with his plan to push for unions for the company’s 30,000 retail employees at 325 retail stores worldwide. Moll started a Web site for his campaign, which, from our vantage point, is currently down (we linked a cached version).
  • why Moll says that the big problems on his end are wages and benefits. He says he makes $14 an hour in a city where the minimum wage is nearly $10 an hour. “Right now what I hope to gain is to get people to start talking about it and get comfortable with it,” he says. Do you guys think he’ll win? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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