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15 Feb 2012 21:56

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Politics: Ex-Countrywide head Angelo Mozilo summoned by Rep. Darrell Issa

  • F.O.A. The above stands for “Friend of Angelo,” the internal designation formerly used by Countrywide Financial to specify people who, some of them public figures, were to be given deluxe mortgage rates, so named for then-Countrywide top-dog Angelo Mozilo.
  • Rep. Issa The head of House Oversight, Rep. Darrell Issa has requested an interview with Mozilo, on such loans given to public officials (current Reps. McKeon, Session, Towns, and Gallegly) — Congress isn’t allowed to accept publicly unavailable financial perks. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 21:12

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Politics: Lisa Chan, actress in racist Hoekstra ad, apologizes for her role

  • I am deeply sorry for any pain that the character I portrayed brought to my communities. As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice, this role is not in any way representative of who I am. It was absolutely a mistake on my part and one that, over time, I hope can be forgiven. I feel horrible about my participation and I am determined to resolve my actions.
  • Lisa Chan • Apologizing for her starring role in Pete Hoekstra’s racist campaign ad, which aired in Michigan during the Super Bowl. Chan took a lot of heat following the airing of the ad, as has Hoekstra, obviously — what was launched clearly as an attention grab for his campaign, likely to try to spur fundraising, has now backfired into a full-on disaster, with his incumbent opponent opening up a 14-point lead over him. We imagine it can’t make things any easier for the star of the ad to now be issuing such a public mea culpa about her involvement; it would be interesting to hear more from Chan about how this ad was produced and how she got involved with it, but there’s no way to know yet whether such details will be coming. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 20:39

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World: Syria’s Assad sets date for constitutional referendum

  • A plan for reform, or a play to credulity? Considering the Arab League deal Syria accepted then ignored, the complete lack of efficacy of the peace monitors they allowed the AL to send in, and the recent surge of violence (even in relative terms), it’s hard not to assume the latter. Bashar al-Assad has, nonetheless, set a date for a constitutional referendum, ostensibly for Syrians to approve a democratic system, and presidential term limits (of two, seven-year terms). The vote is scheduled for February 26th, but it begs the question; who would vote in an election if the integrity of it relies on Assad’s word alone? It would also force dissenters to publicly congregate at a place of the government’s choosing; not a welcome idea, we suspect. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 20:00

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World: Prison fire in Honduras leads to terrible death toll

  • 359 inmates killed during a huge fire at a prison in Honduras source
  • » Crowded chaos: The fire started yesterday night at the prison in Comayagua, with authorities believing, by another prisoner’s report, that an inmate started the blaze by igniting their mattress. Honduras is a state plagued by high rates of crime (the United Nations says it has the world’s highest murder rate), which has caused its prisons to be absurdly overstuffed, and many are old and dilapidated. Angry relatives of the inmates gathered outside the prison this morning, protesting and at times trying to force their way in; police responded by firing tear gas. President Porfirio Lobo pledged to “take urgent measures to deal with this tragedy, which has plunged all Hondurans into mourning.”
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 15:23

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Tech: Apple affirms that Path violated their terms, issues iOS update fix

  • Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.
  • Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr • In a statement about Apple’s privacy policies, as pertaining to the iPhone. This statement came hot on the heels of the revelation that two Democratic congressman (G.K. Butterfield and Henry A. Waxman) had sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, requesting information about privacy permissions. The inciting incident here was the iPhone app Path, which was revealed to be uploading users’ address books to their company servers without asking permission, or offering any notification. Path tried to curb the controversy by apologizing and offering an opt-out, but  the damage to their credibility (and, by association, Apple’s) had already hit. And amidst word that a number of widely-used apps — most notably Twitter — did the same thing, Apple has affirmed that what Path did was a violation of their privacy practices, and has released an update for iOS that allows users to delete the database by switching off location services. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 14:38

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Politics: PolitiFact chief Bill Adair responds to Rachel Maddow’s criticism

  • Our goal at PolitiFact is to use the Truth-O-Meter to show the relative accuracy of a political claim. In this case, we rated it Mostly True because we felt that while the number was short of a majority, it was still a plurality. 40 percent of Americans consider themselves conservative, 35 percent moderate and 21 percent liberal. It wasn’t quite a majority, but was close.
  • PolitiFact chief Bill Adair • Responding to some aggressive criticism from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, over PolititFact’s rating of Marco Rubio’s claim that “a majority of Americans are conservatives.” The polling used by PolitiFact to score the claim proved that, in fact, only 40% of Americans self-identify as conservative — not a majority. However, they rated his claim “mostly true,” the stated justification being “conservatives are the largest ideological group, but they don’t cross the 50 percent threshold.” PolitiFact has been the subject of some derision lately, with the spotlight turned on them after their controversial 2011 “Lie Of The Year” selection, about which Bill Adair authored a rather prickly, underwhelming defense. Earlier this week, they got some criticism over debunking a claim from an episode of “Glee.” Frankly, PolitiFact’s ratings have always brought with them a measure of subjectivity, as you might find with any media arbiter; it’s their own lofty title that makes this an issue. Majorities aren’t pluralities. For a fact-checker, that’s just a dictionary search away. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 11:19

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World: In Canada, politician uses classy tactic to push online surveillance bill

Regarding his Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, which would force ISPs to hand over personal info without warrants, MP Vic Toews fought off critics by saying people “can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.” Seriously. (ht papastain) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Feb 2012 11:06

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Culture: “Linsanity”: People already trying to trademark Jeremy Lin’s success

  • Yenchin Chang is a fan of Jeremy Lin, above. Like Lin, he’s from California. Like Lin, he’s also Taiwanese. But unlike Lin, he filed a trademark application for the phrase “Linsanity” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Why? “I wanted to be a part of the excitement,” Chang said. “I’m very proud of Jeremy.” Chang was one of two people to file for the trademark in the past week. The other guy, Andrew W. Slayton, claims to have coached Lin in high school, though this fact hasn’t been confirmed; Chang doesn’t even know Lin, but just wanted to have fun with the trademark for a bit. *facepalm* (photo by nikk_la on Flickr) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 10:36

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Politics: Could Romney run out of big-money Republican donors?

  • I don’t know that he’s completely tapped out, but they are trying to look under every stone. You run out of people you can hit up for $2,500.
  • A top New York Republican fundraiser • Discussing the plight of Mitt Romney, whose campaign thus far has largely been funded by big donors. Seems that the well is starting to run dry, though, and unlike Obama’s strong contingent of small donors (which Santorum is starting to build up), Romney has never been able to rely on those. In fact, just by the numbers, most of Romney’s donors have been big ones — in 2011, for example, 82 percent of Romney’s individual donations were $1,000 or higher. Is this a long-term problem? Possibly. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2012 10:20

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World: Iran says it’s making its own nuclear fuel, doesn’t care what you jerks think

  • cause In a dramatic speech Wednesday, a white-lab-coat-clad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran had figured out a way to produce its own domestically-made nuclear fuel. If true, this would be a big deal on the diplomatic front.
  • reaction For this and other reasons, both the U.S. and Europe are considering slamming the country with some super-strong financial sanctions, which have already led Iran to cut off oil exports to six European nations. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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