Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

08 Feb 2012 21:18

tags

Politics: South Carolinian adults are not so aware of the Vice President

  • 29.3% of South Carolinians don’t know the VP source
  • » Joe B. Anonymous: According to a recent poll conducted by Winthrop University, the above percentage of adult residents of South Carolina couldn’t name the current Vice President of the United States. In fact, 3% of those polled claimed Dick Cheney was still roaming the halls of the White House. Sounds like Joe Biden has some work to do on his name recognition, no?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 20:58

tags

Politics: In case you missed it: Pete Hoekstra’s racist Super Bowl ad

  • “We take your jobs”: We’re a couple days behind on this one (though, admittedly, hannahhorvath did tip us off), but seriously, how about this patently racist ad that aired during the Super Bowl in some markets? It hinges on a particular brand of racial paranoia (the woman in this ad is American, and has absorbed a lot of heat for taking part), itself born from a profound economic paranoia. And it gets worse — apparently the microsite for the video had some perceived-racist source code in it. Reaction to the ad has been strong. What do you think? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 20:23

tags

Politics: Big successive days for marriage equality movement

  • yesterday A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down California’s Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban which voters approved in 2008. As we noted, the ruling didn’t endorse same-sex marriage as a right, but said voters had no rational reason to prohibit it; a step forward regardless.
  • today Washington’s state legislature passed, by a vote of 55-43, a bill that legalizes same-sex marriage. The bill will almost assuredly face a legal challenge by opposing advocacy groups, but Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire will likely sign it into law at some point during the next week. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 20:04

tags

Politics: CNN suspends Roland Martin for offensive Super Bowl tweets

  • Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.
  • A statement issued by CNN • Explaining their decision to suspend Roland Martin from their network, following a series of Super Bowl tweets that landed Martin in hot water with GLAAD, among other LGBT advocacy groups. He said if you knew a guy who liked David Beckham’s underwear ad, you ought to “smack the ish out of him.” Martin insisted, while apologizing for the offense, that he was attempting to be disparaging of soccer fans, not a man  sexually attracted to Beckham, but these excuses fell in deaf ears when it came to his employer. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 19:57

tags

U.S.: Mother sues New York City for an amount larger than the city’s budget

  • $900 trillion lawsuit against the city of New York source
  • » The city’s 2012 budget? $65 billion: Despite the big number, there is a strong tinge of sadness to the case. Fausat Ogunbayo, a Staten Island mother of two, had her two children (ages 16 and 13) taken away back in 2008 amid concerns for her mental stability. However, an appellate court ruling last month provided her with some legal ammo, saying that despite Ogunbayo’s history of mental illness, that didn’t immediately equate neglect, as the city claimed. Now she’s suing the city, saying that it violated her civil rights, along with her children’s, and claiming that the separation caused “over three years of terror, horror, grievous harm, time lost, substantial economic hardship and injuries.” She may have a case; she may want to knock down that dollar total, though.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 15:43

tags

U.S.: Another teacher suspected of aiding LA school’s pedophilia scandal

  • She was a teacher who would escort little girls into Berndt’s classroom when he was all alone. Berndt would come over in the middle of day, whisper in her ear, and they would giggle, and then teacher would pick out two girls, escort them through a common door, so that they were stuck with a pedophile in this classroom.
  • Lawyer Bryan Claypool • Speaking on the rash of horrific charges to emerge from the pedophilia case at Miramonte Elementary, in the Los Angeles County School District. Claypool says he notified the Sheriff’s department after becoming aware of a female teacher, who he believes “patently aided and abetted” the alleged pedophilic abuse methods of fellow teacher Mark Berndt, one of two former teachers arrested on such charges. As a consequence of the scandal, and the public outrage directed at the school, the entire staff has been removed pending further decision. Be warned, the full details of this story are quite graphic and disgusting. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 14:41

tags

World: Egypt/U.S. relations strained over detained American NGO workers

  • one As we’ve mentioned before, the Egyptian military government has barred 19 U.S. citizens from leaving the country. They worked for pro-democracy NGOs, and are being held on claim they took foreign money without official approval.
  • twoSenators John McCain, Kelly Ayotte and Joe Lieberman have warned of a potential “disastrous rupture” in U.S./Egypt relations. At risk is nearly $1.3 billion in military aid, which the U.S. has already threatened to halt. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

08 Feb 2012 13:56

tags

Tech: Iris, Android’s Siri clone, has a biblical insight about abortion

  • “Is abortion wrong?”: You typically might not think to ask such a heady question of your mobile phone, but if you happen to have Android’s “Iris” (is it good marketing to so obviously reverse the name “Siri?”) you’ll get a strong response. The issue seems to be that Iris is powered by an Ask Jeeves style search engine called ChaCha, which answers user questions with answers from paid freelancers. Meaning that in asking your phone whether abortion is wrong, you’re actually asking an unknown human being – one which might have a strong opinion on the subject. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 11:31

tags

World: Falkland Islands still major sticking point for Britain, Argentina 30 years later

  • 1982 The United Kingdom went to war with Argentina over possession of the Falkland Islands, a land of roughly 3,000 people fairly close to Antartica, claimed to be possessed by each country. The war, which killed hundreds on each side, ended without a resolution of the islands’ ownership, but the two countries later rebuilt their diplomatic relationship.
  • 2012 As the 30th anniversary of the war approaches, the two countries are arguing about the Falklands again, with Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez accusing Britain of “militarizing the South Atlantic” and promising to complain to the United Nations, and British PM David Cameron saying that “The people of the Falklands choose to be British.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2012 10:28

tags

Politics: Rick Santorum wants to be “the conservative alternative to Barack Obama”

  • I don’t stand here and claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.
  • Rick Santorum • Offering up a bold line while speaking to supporters in St. Louis, who picked him for the non-binding primary in Missouri last night. He also won caucuses in Minnesota, and somewhat surprisingly, Colorado. Two weeks ago, it looked like Gingrich was the guy going toe-to-toe with Romney. Now, with last night’s wins, that storyline looks old hat. Does Santorum have a shot at going all the way? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
top tags
older >>