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30 Aug 2011 10:20

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World: Weird timing: Gaddafi’s only daughter gives birth in Algeria

Aisha Gaddafi, referred to as the “Claudia Schiffer” of the Arab region in this CNN article, reportedly just gave birth a day after leaving Libya with her mom. She lost a daughter during a NATO airstrike in April. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Aug 2011 09:57

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U.S.: Hurricane Irene, Joplin tornado run into wall of tightly-funded political reality

  • Any projects that have not come in for approval, we’re not going to be able to fund those as this point. We’re going to postpone those. Our goal is to keep this disruption as short as possible, but it was prudent.
  • FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate • Describing the reasons that FEMA is putting their long-term work to repair Joplin, Mo. on hold, and instead putting that money towards Hurricane Irene. Another issue arising in the Hurricane Irene situation? They might run into yet another wall of House Republican suck. That’s because House Majority Leader Eric Cantor makes no guarantees about funding Irene cleanup unless there are budget cuts to match, which is a real jerk move which shows how out-of-touch with reality that the GOP is. Now, granted, Ron Paul pitches ideas like these all the time. But when the GOP leadership continues to do so without regard to the current situation at hand, it makes you you want to vote all the bums out en masse next year. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 23:58

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U.S.: Sect leader Warren Jeffs in coma after fasting in prison

  • Jeffs fasted for three days, became unstable: Polygamist sect leader and convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs is being treated for fasting-related complications. “He did indicate to staff that he was fasting, but he is currently being treated for other medical ailments and conditions,” said a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. She also said that she “cannot confirm that he is in a coma.” (An AP source says that he in fact is in one.) Jeffs is to face a second trial — this time for first-degree bigamy — in October. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 23:19

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Culture: Oh, Matthew Fox. This weekend was NOT a “Party of Five”.

  • jack, you have to go back. No, really. Matthew Fox tried tried to join a bachelor party in Cleveland on Sunday morning. (He’s in town shooting a movie.) The party bus driver didn’t recognize him as a celebrity; she did recognize him as the “guy who assaulted me.” “I don’t care that he is a celebrity,” she told a reporter. “Assault is against the law.” He was detained in a patrol car before being released to a friend. No, we don’t think he was Lost, either. We’re pretty sure we know how this saga ends. Bad move, Jack. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 23:14

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Tech: Mario + Portal = Mari0, a game we absolutely want to play now

  • Continuing with our trend of posting all things Mario, this as-yet-released mashup of Super Mario Bros. and Portal pretty much puts the kind of twist on two different classic games that seems like magic in action. We approve. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 22:51

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U.S.: Wisconsin patients possibly exposed to blood-borne diseases

  • 2,345 patients were possibly exposed to HIV source
  • » One Wisconsin nurse didn’t alternate between insulin pens when giving diabetes test demonstrations. She changed needles, but not the insulin pen; as a result, blood could have remained on the pen between patients. Now a clinic’s trying to clean up a scary mess caused by a nurse who didn’t know proper procedure. Yikes.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 22:42

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Politics: Piers Morgan nails the “Hurricane Irene Overhyped” meme to the wall

  • How many have to be killed for you to assess this as serious enough?
  • Piers Morgan • During a suitably dramatic debate on whether the media overhyped coverage of Hurricane Irene. Morgan and a couple of his fellow guests — New York Times super-reporter Brian Stelter and meteorologist Chad Meyers — ripped into the Washington Times’ Joseph Curl, who claimed that the storm was in fact overhyped. Curl was against a stacked jury: Stelter (who is on Tumblr) had just gotten back from North Carolina, Meyers is a meteorologist and Morgan is a sucker for passionate quotes. The overhyped argument loses again in the media sphere. Now, let’s go talk about getting some donations to people who need it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Aug 2011 21:39

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World: WikiLeaks criticized for releasing cables with names unredacted

  • redacted In recent months, WikiLeaks made a name for itself by releasing diplomatic cables with the help of media outlets that parsed through the data and helped ensure the data redacted names and other sensitive data from the cables.
  • unredacted Recently, however, WikiLeaks has gone back to simply releasing the cables on its own, using Twitter as a main mechanism. This time, however, the redacted names are staying in — giving officials and human rights activists pause. source
  • » Remaining defiant amid criticism: WikiLeaks did not take kindly to the New York Times portrayal of this story, by the way. “Sorry, NYT,” the organization wrote on its Twitter feed just as we were typing this all in, “It doesn’t matter how many sleazy hack jobs like Ravi Somaiya you hire, we’ve out published your Pentagon tabloid already.” Somaiya co-wrote wrote a fairly unflattering profile of Assange that ran with the diplomatic cables they published.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 20:27

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World: VIDEO: U.S. ambassador to Syria gets assaulted by pro-Assad demonstrator

  • Note: The clip above is not in English. One thing the highly-produced clip does show,, though, around the two minute mark, is the assault of Robert Ford, the Damascus-based U.S. ambassador to Syria, who was ambushed by pro-Assad demonstrators. One of the protesters tried to wrap him up in a posters that features the Syrian leader’s face. So the real question, of course, is, how did he allow himself to get into such a situation? Just in case you’re wondering since you don’t understand Arabic — the clip they show is something of the Syrian equivalent of a Nancy Grace report, and is totally stilted and biased. “[The clip is] a weak, banal, laughable attempt by the Syrian thugs to have the international community focus on anything but the real story,” a State Department official said, “which is the government’s continuing campaign of terror on its own people through torture, murder and illegal imprisonment.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Aug 2011 17:42

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Politics: House Republicans plot major deregulatory push

  • Deregulation = jobs: A memo obtained by ShortFormBlog contains details of an upcoming Republican effort to push massive deregulatory legislation through the House of Representatives, in hopes of unshackling “costly bureaucratic handcuffs” faced by businesses. The letter, sent today by Eric Cantor to the House Republican caucus, details the “Top 10 Job-Destroying Regulations,” and how Republicans plan to address them. “By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations,” Cantor wrote, “we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers.” Some key proposals:
  • Weakened emission limits  The TRAIN (Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation) Act, along with the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, would delay implementation of EPA standards intended to limit air pollution.
  • Limiting union power The Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act would limit the National Labor Relations Board’s power, rescinding its ability to influence relocation of manufacturing plants.
  • Farm dust for all The Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act would, as expected, restrict the federal government’s ability to regulate farm dust, allowing it to do so only within state and local regulations. source
  • » In keeping with Republican orthodoxy, Cantor also proposes to two tax cuts (one for government contractors, another for small businesses), and the repeal of unspecified provisions of the Affordable Care Act. What do you all think of Cantor’s plan? Read the whole thing at the link. (AP Photo)
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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