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26 Sep 2011 21:33

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Politics: Obamacare likely headed to the Supreme Court pretty soon

  • what The Obama administration has decided not to ask an appeals court to re-hear arguments over his lightning rod of a health-care bill.
  • why The president probably plans on taking it to the Supreme Court. Just in time for the 2012 election, guys! This should be fun. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 21:19

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U.S.: U.S. Army cutting nearly 9 percent of its forces by 2016

  • 50k number of troops the U.S. Army plans to trim from its roster
  • 8.6% the share of the Army being cut over the next five years
  • 22k number of soldiers getting cut in the first round source
  • » Going on a diet: With over half a million soldiers, the U.S. Army isn’t lacking in warm bodies, but those numbers went way up in recent years, in part due to the troop surge in Afghanistan. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, the Army is ready to move on. “We feel that with the demand going down in Iraq and Afghanistan, and given the time to conduct a reasonable drawdown, we can manage (the force reduction) just as we have managed drawdowns in the past,” noted Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick. Is this nearly enough?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 20:38

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Biz: Meet the country’s most innovative/sketchy payday loan lender

  • According to the Wall Street Journal, Scott Tucker has a really impressive story. Tucker, a late-blooming race star who scored a third-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race earlier this year, only picked up auto racing about five years ago, and he’s earned such fame that he had a documentary about his life air on the Discovery Channel. But here’s the part this storyline doesn’t tell us — how he got here. Sure, the WSJ’s story calls him a “private investor,” but the Center for Public Integrity notes he earned his significant fortune — enough to start up his own auto-racing team — by running a payday lending company. This company uses partnerships with Native American tribes as a front to get around laws designed to protect consumers — allowing his company to do incredibly sketchy things, such as hiding its address and shielding itself from lawsuits using shell companies. Somehow, this is legal. And Tucker won’t be talking about it himself. “Due to a confidentiality agreement, I am not permitted to discuss the business of my employer,” he said about his businesses. Read the report at the source link — the first part in a series. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 17:41

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World: Libya’s transitional council says no to Lockerbie inquiries

  • Suggesting that the Lockerbie case is closed is ludicrous. I am not surprised that the new interim government might want to avoid getting involved, but this is a miserable attempt to avoid a perfectly reasonable request for any information or evidence that there might be in Libya. Perhaps there is nothing.
  • Pamela Dix, sister of a Lockerbie victim • Decrying a refusal by Libya’s National Transitional Council to give Scottish prosecutors access to any newly discovered evidence relating to the Lockerbie bombing. The prosecutors had been hoping to find new evidence implicating other figures in the plot, for which Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001. The NTC’s interim justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, stated that “the case is closed,” which prompted the above response. Libya’s interim leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, claimed in March that he had evidence of Gaddafi’s involvement, which does make this a bit hard to answer for. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 11:31

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Tech: Tumblr scores another massive funding round, making them super-rich

  • $85 million amount raised by Tumblr in a funding round just today
  • $30 million amount raised by Tumblr in a prior funding round earlier this year source
  • » Total funding? $125 million: With a growing, increasingly diverse audience, Tumblr’s latest funding round could help the brand blow up to new heights and in new directions. It’s happened pretty fast, too. Well, at least that’s what founder David Karp thinks: “Tumblr has come far since we began our journey. From the early users signing up to easily share all of the things they cared about, to the global community today where creators have an incredible opportunity to reach an audience of hundreds of millions, it’s been a remarkable four years.” Suggestion to David and Tumblr: Don’t get all Scrooge McDuck on us and start swimming through the funding round. NYC doesn’t have enough space for a giant money bin anyway. Instead, focus on uptime, possibly buying Missing e from Jeremy Cutler, and giving content creators a way to turn their hard work into more than just a hobby.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 11:10

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Culture: More pet owners choosing to euthanize suffering pets at home

  • traditional Losing a pet and having to pay someone to put them out of their misery; it’s something that many people pay vets to do from the cold comfort of a vet’s office.
  • trending Paying someone to make a house call. It’s becoming increasingly common to pay someone money to put a pet down from the warm comfort of home. source
  • » A tough decision for pet owners: Some pet owners see going to the vet’s office as a bit too difficult to handle. “It really made a terrible situation much better,” noted Wendy Bowlds of Gainesville, Va. “There’s nothing so awful as leaving the vet’s office with nothing but the empty leash.” Bowlds had her own dog put down in her kitchen. So, what do you guys think? Personally, we could never do a house call. Too disturbing. Could you?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Sep 2011 10:23

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World: Wangari Maathai, African sustainable development advocate, dies at 71

  • She will be remembered as a committed champion of the environment, sustainable development, women’s rights, and democracy.
  • Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan • Speaking about Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, who died Sunday of ovarian cancer at age 71. Maathai, a Kenyan, founded the Green Belt Movement, an organization that encouraged methods of sustainable development. Her work with the Green Belt Movement, which spanned over 30 years, led to her winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. “We need people who love Africa so much that they want to protect her from destructive processes,” she noted in a 2005 speech. “There are simple actions we can take. Start by planting 10 trees we each need to absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale. Get involved in local initiatives and volunteer your time for services in your community.” This world needs more people like her, not less. Based on the strong response on Twitter today, lots of people agree. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
 
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