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10 Aug 2011 21:46

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Politics: How dare Obama take a vacation! (Or thank goodness!)

  • The presidency travels with you.
  • Jay Carney, White House press secretary • Defending Obama’s vacation plans. The president is still heading to Martha’s Vineyard, despite the economic picture of America. After Standard & Poor’s downgrading of America’s credit rating, should Obama be taking this vacation? Or is a family vacation now more important than ever? Whatever the case may be, it’s not like Obama hasn’t sacrificed time off for the sake of the country already. Last year, he took part of his vacation in Pensacola, Fla. in an effort to draw attention to the Gulf Oil Spill. And he’s already called off multiple vacations this year as a result of budget negotiations. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 20:39

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Culture: “Lopez Tonight” gets the ax; final episode is tomorrow night

  • 40% ratings drop; George Lopez, he ain’t no Conan source
  • » “Lopez Tonight” is no more. Apparently TBS couldn’t justify “high production costs of the program given the revenues coming in.” Let’s have a moment of silence for the comedian, who let Conan take his time slot but didn’t get a ratings bump in return.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 20:13

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Culture: J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore = Kinda like Beatlemania

  • A first look at Pottermore: While the latest project from J.K. Rowling isn’t quite ready to be released, the BBC was able to get a glimpse at some of the site’s features. Here’s a peek at Ollivander’s wand shop and some of 4 Privet Drive. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 15:00

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Offbeat, U.S.: How imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs will keep his influence

  • cause Warren Jeffs is the leader of a polygamist sect of the Mormon church who was recently sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse. Not only was he married to underage girls, but many others in the complex he ran were clearly pregnant. However, this was all part of his religion, he claimed — and everyone there has been pretty much brainwashed to believe the same.
  • effect Life in prison won’t separate those in Jeffs’ cult from him. Since he’s been in jail, his followers have continued to believe that he is a prophet and he’s continued to lead church services over the phone. “Now we can really begin to focus on liberating these people and freeing their minds from the mental shackles that Warren Jeffs has put on them,” said Elissa Wall, a former member of the church. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 14:28

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World: London riots: Overworked officials fighting fire with water

  • 1,100 people arrested in the London riots source
  • » And authorities are fed up. That’s why they’re planning on breaking out the water cannons — which have never been used in England before. While London has been more calm today, violence has begun breaking out in other cities. The fact that they’re going to all new measures for security shows just how desperate they are for it, but they have a good reason to be. The riots are calling into question authorities’ ability to keep London secure. It’s not a good time for this to crop up — they can’t afford the extra instability ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 14:10

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Biz, World: French credit weaknesses pushing markets down worldwide

  • The cost of insuring France’s debt rose to a record high today. And unlike the United States, France can’t just increase their money supply to pay its creditors. Partly as a result, it’s the most indebted of all European AAA-rated countries. It’s having a ripple effect that’s driving markets down worldwide. While S&P and the two other major ratings firms say they have no plans to downgrade France’s credit rating, it’s evident that investors are not as confident in the country’s financial situation. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 10:30

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Biz: Striking Verizon worker: They want to turn us into “Wal-Mart workers”

  • All the benefits that we’ve worked and fought for, 30 and 40 years, they want to take off the table … they want to make us like Wal-Mart workers. No benefits and low pay.
  • Striking Reading, Mass. Verizon worker Paul Murphy • Offering his take on the negotiations that led to the first strike Verizon’s had in over a decade. The strike, which involves the company’s landline workers, flared up after the company pushed to make it easier to fire workers and give raises based on performance, not seniority. The company says that the workers are among the highest-paid telecommunications workers in the industry, and that they have no plans to outsource workers. (h/t John Ness) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Aug 2011 10:07

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Biz: Whole Foods learns that Ramadan promotions are headache-inducing

  • claim After the company faced weeks of criticism from right-wing blogs who perhaps equate Muslims with terrorism too quickly, Houston Press claimed that Whole Foods backed away from a Ramadan promotion, which was meant as groundbreaking but instead created a bunch of headaches for the company. Fail.
  • rebuttal However, Whole Foods claims that they never ended the promotion. “We never sent a communication from our headquarters requesting stores take down signs or remove parts from this promotion,” the company tweeted. Instead, they say one regional branch decided to back away from the promotion (which led to the criticism). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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