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20 Apr 2010 23:36

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Politics: Rahm Emanuel wants to take his Chicago politics … to Chicago

  • He wants to be mayor of the Windy city someday. Dude dropped the hint to Charlie Rose last night, saying he would run if the current mayor, his buddy Richard M. Daley, chose not to run again. But he hopes Daley does. Emanuel has $1.2 million in his coffer for a run like this, and would know whether Daley plans to retire in February. He’s promised his services to Obama, by the way, for two years, but that could be extended. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Apr 2010 20:03

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Politics: People like today’s Supreme Court ruling on dogfighting

  • The ruling struck down a law barring the distribution of animal cruelty videos. Today’s Supreme Court decision may be the strongest across-the-board decision they’ve made in a while, finding in favor of documentary producer Robert Stevens, who sold dogfighting videos that violated a 1999 law (and was jailed for the practice). In this case, free speech won, but by the way everyone’s talking, you’d think both sides won:
  • Free-speech fans A lawyer for the Cato Institute, which filed a brief in the case, said it was a win for free speech, no matter what kind: “The government’s effort to remove any area of public expression from the First Amendment’s protection would have been highly troubling.”
  • Animal Cruelty fighters The U.S. Humane Society saw silver lining in the court’s 8-1 decision: “The Supreme Court’s decision gives us a clear pathway to enact a narrower ban on the sale of videos depicting malicious acts of cruelty, including animal crush videos and dogfighting.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Apr 2010 10:55

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Politics: Republicans trying to railroad Charlie Crist out of Florida race

  • If any of you have influence with Governor Crist, we hope you will call his campaign and encourage him to do the right thing.
  • National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Rob Jesmer • In a note regarding the current Senate campaign in Florida. Gov. Charlie Crist, despite his strong name recognition and likeliness of winning the general election, is facing a tough fight from Marco Rubio, who’s supported by bizarro hippies. Crist is seriously considering running as an independent, and if he does, he’ll likely win – at great cost to the Republicans. Even longtime friends are pressuring Crist to drop out. “They need to tell him this race is over,” said Pasco County Republican Party Chairman Bill Bunting, “I like Charlie as a friend, but this is not his time.” Ouch. Where’s the love for the moderate Republicans, anyway? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2010 23:11

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Politics: Bill Clinton on OKC bombing anniversary: Don’t demonize leaders

  • Criticism is part of the lifeblood of democracy. No one is right all the time. But we should remember that there is a big difference between criticizing a policy or a politician and demonizing the government that guarantees our freedoms and the public servants who enforce our laws.
  • Former President Bill Clinton • In an op-ed piece that ran in today’s New York Times. Clinton wrote the piece to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, an act of domestic terrorism which in some ways still offers vibrant lessons today. Clinton has been espousing these concerns for a few days, but (no matter your political party) they come from the right place. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2010 10:41

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Politics: Does the internet create political polarization? A new study says no

  • perception The internet is making it easier for people to focus only on the extreme opinions they want to hear, either left or right. This creates strong political polarization.
  • reality As a new study notes, “Extreme sites are more common than extreme readers.” And strongly ideological readers read a little bit of everything online. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2010 23:26

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Politics: Max Headroom: Geraldo’s unlikely lifeline? Mike Huckabee

  • Geraldo nearly killed Bizarro Hippie Express chairman Mark Williams was on Fox News’ “Geraldo at Large” talking about extremism in the movement, except in reality, he was on the air to rail on Geraldo Rivera (he even calls him out for his yellow journalism!). Mike Huckabee looks like an unfortunate bystander to this trainwreck.

  • Clinton on extremism Earlier this weekend, Bill Clinton said some stuff about extremism that suggested another Timothy McVeigh could come out of the bizarro hippie movement. It drew a lot of scorn from the right. This clarification during ABC’s “This Week” makes his position sound entirely reasonable.
  • colbert on fact-checking We love this clip for three reasons: First, it name-checks journalism smart guy Jay Rosen (one of our smart people we love reading on our iPad); second, it makes a reasonable suggestion for fact-checking Sunday shows; and third, it holds David Gregory’s feet to the fire for not doing so.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2010 20:17

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Politics: Robert Gates: Believe nothing you read about me in the NYT

  • The memo was not intended as a ‘wake-up call’ or received as such by the President’s national security team. Rather, it presented a number of questions and proposals intended to contribute to an orderly and timely decision making process.
  • Defense Secretary Robert Gates • In an attempt to defuse the controversy that blew up around a New York Times article regarding his department’s Iran policy. The article, which suggested that the Obama administration didn’t have a long-term plan to deal with Iran, was rooted in a memo written by Gates. The Times’ anonymous sources said the memo shook up the entire department; The Washington Post’s anonymous sources say it wasn’t that big a deal. We trust anonymous. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

18 Apr 2010 11:30

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Politics: Bill Clinton: Me or Hillary on Supreme Court a bad idea

  • Because I’m already 63-years-old, I hope I live to be 90. I hope I’m just as healthy as Justice Stevens is. But it’s not predictable. I’d like to see him put someone in there, late 40s, early 50s, on the court and someone with a lot of energy for the job.
  • Former President Bill Clinton • Regarding the possibility of his becoming Supreme Court justice. He says that, while he’d enjoy the job, it’d be better to choose someone younger. He also discounts the possibility of Hillary’s nomination. “She’s like me, you know, we’re kind of doers. We like being out there and doing things, rowing our own boat and making changes we could see happen.” So that’s that. Clinton recommends putting someone on the court who hasn’t been a judge before, who knows the impact of their decisions. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

18 Apr 2010 10:04

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Politics: McCain on Iran policy: U.S. needs to be willing to “pull the trigger”

  • I didn’t need a secret memo from Mr. Gates to ascertain that. We do not have a coherent policy… We have to be willing to pull the trigger on significant sanctions.
  • Sen. John McCain • Speaking on Fox News Sunday this morning. The senator claims that the secret memo leaked by the New York Times yesterday merely states the obvious. He wants to push for more sanctions, saying the U.S. has long held a loaded gun at Iran’s head but has been afraid to “pull the trigger.” Somebody likes using metaphors to get his point across! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2010 17:04

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Politics: Chicago Sun-Times columnist calls bizarro hippies a “pity party”

  • My feeling was, heck, if staging public gripe fests gives these people something to do, then great. It’s outside. It involves handicrafts, the making of signs and costumes. It’s like Scouting for irked middle-aged white people.
  • Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg • In an often-hilarious takedown of the bizarro hippies. The article, written after he went to the Chicago Tax Day Bizarro Hippie Fest, notes that he attempted to talk to multiple people at the event only to see the protesters run away from him. He started conversations with phrases such as, “I’ve used tinfoil hats as metaphor, but I’ve never seen anyone actually wearing one …”, and later compared the bizarro hippie movement to the anti-interventionist America First movement around the time of World War II. As you might guess, the comment thread on this article is best to be avoided. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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