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23 Feb 2011 23:23

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Politics: Mike Huckabee: Obama’s DOMA move conflicts with voters’ views

  • Mike Huckabee no likey what the DOJ did today. The social conservative, who looks like a reasonable bet as a 2012 candidate, gives an interestingly socioeconomic view of why Obama’s move to not defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court is a bad idea. We disagree with him but note that his argument that voters have turned it down at the ballot negates the fact that the public’s views have shifted recently. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2011 20:39

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Politics: Obama on Libya: World’s “one voice” needed against injustice

  • The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters.
  • Obama • Speaking out finally (and directly) about the situation in Libya. Obama, who is the first president ever to meet with that Gaddafi weirdo, says that he plans to do anything to protect American citizens stuck in Libya during a time of crisis. While Obama has offered to use a full range of options to deal with the crisis, sanctions will only go so far. U.S. sanctions were only $665 million last year, while aid was less than $1 million. Hence why there’s a humanitarian crisis right now. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2011 15:12

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Politics: Six anti-abortion activists protest at Speaker Boehner’s office

  • Our pro-life constituencies are weary of campaign promises and empty rhetoric… We don’t want another symbolic victory.
  • “Operation Rescue” founder Randall Terry • On the topic of anti-abortion politicians following through with policy. This came after the arrest of a group of six Terry supporters outside the office of John Boehner (who wasn’t even inside at the time), where they were demanding that the Speaker stand firm on defunding Planned Parenthood, no matter the Senate’s reaction. Not that Speaker Boehner can force the Senate to do anything, but procedural nuance isn’t always the strong suit of hyper-zealous, single-issue political groups. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2011 12:49

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Politics: This New Koch just doesn’t taste as good

  • It ain’t the real Koch: Ian Murphy, editor of the website “The Buffalo Beast,” successfully got Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on the phone by pretending to be David Koch, one of the two billionaire brothers that’s a driving financial force behind the current anti-spending, pro-business conservative movement. One highlight, as pointed out by Slate’s Dave Weigel: Walker seems to lay out a plan he’s hatched to push the vote forward, wherein he agrees to hear Democratic concerns if all fourteen fled Democrats return to the capitol, which he and his team believe would allow them to hold the vote even if the Democrats then recessed and left again. In explaining this plan, Walker states that he’s willing to talk, not negotiate, and if “Koch” hears that he’s talking to the Democrats that’s the only reason why. Getting pranked is bad enough, but revealing your political endgame in the midst of said prank, thus poisoning the well? Pure political calamity. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2011 10:30

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Politics: Anderson Cooper on getting bashed for calling Mubarak a “liar”

  • I’m not big on calling people names, or I try not to take political stands, but based on facts the guy’s lying.
  • Anderson Cooper • Talking on last night’s Daily Show about the bizarre controversy that followed him when he claimed, on-air, that Hosni Mubarak was “lying” about what was happening in Egypt. This was actually a thing for a little while, and other journalists went out of their way to criticize him. Cooper wondered aloud why journalists are “afraid to say that something that is demonstrably not true is not true…I’m not quite sure why so many people kind of shy away from that.” Our best reasoning? They went to the David Gregory school of journalism. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2011 21:42

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Politics: Muslim Brotherhood: Keep working to take down Gaddafi, protesters

  • We ask that the Libyan people (should) continue in their revolution to expel this dictator and that (they) should sacrifice and they will have the victory and win. And also, we appeal to all free men in all places in the world to be on the side of, and support, the Libyan people.
  • Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson Esam Alarian • Offering support to Libyan protesters in taking down Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The spokesperson for the  Egypt-based organization also emphasized that their country needs to assist in ensuring Libyans get the help they need from their country. “We ask the Arab league and the Egyptian government and the army to give support and also give aid to the Libyan people,” Alarian continued. We like the idea of Egypt helping other countries deal with their protests. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2011 15:48

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Politics: Voice Of America’s website hacked by “Iranian Cyber Army”

  • Mrs. Clinton Do you want to hear the voice of oppressed nations will from heart of USA? Islamic world doesn’t believe USA trickery. We call on you to stop interfering in Islamic countries.
  • The “Iranian Cyber Army” • A message posted on the front page of Voice of America, which fell victim to the self-proclaimed Iranian hackers. This became known to us while attempting to view an article VOA had posted regarding the UN Security Council’s special session on Gaddafi and Libya. The link directed to the site’s main page, which had been taken over by a logo bearing an Iranian flag and a rifle, as well as this message. This is not uncommon for this group- Twitter was notably struck in 2009. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Feb 2011 14:24

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Politics: Supreme Court Justice’s impressive streak of questionlessness

  • 5 years since Clarence Thomas’ last question of an arguing attorney source
  • » The question is, why? Thomas has offered some indication, saying that he feels the process is overdone and that the other justices ask any questions he might have, but it seems improbable at best that he legitimately hasn’t had a question worth asking in five years. It’s true, though, that this may have no real impact on how the Court conducts business, but it does beg the question: should inquisitiveness be held up as more of a virtue than it is in this day and age? Or do you prefer the strong, silent type?
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2011 13:26

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Politics: Ohio may be going the way of Wisconsin on deficit issues

  • State employees are not the cause of the economic problems we’re having, and for Senator Jones and other Republicans to point to them as the problem is absolutely unfair and untrue.
  • Ohio State Senator Joe Schiavoni • Speaking about the burgeoning labor face-off in Ohio. The Republican state legislature is considering a bill to tackle the state’s financial troubles, which presently amounts to an $8 billion deficit, that may sound rather familiar to those protesting in Wisconsin right now. Namely, it weakens or strips away long standing and hard fought collective bargaining rights for organized labor, a typically Democratic voting block. To be clear, fiscal responsibility does matter. But isn’t there a way to do this that’s all about being good with money, without the distracting attempt at anti-labor scapegoating that these bills reek of? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2011 12:50

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Politics: University of Arizona announces new Institute in wake of Tucson

  • the talk Much discussion was had in the wake of the Tucson, Arizona shootings at the hands of Jared Loughner regarding civil political discourse. As these things tend to, we expected this surge of goodwill to not really go anywhere.
  • the walk? The University of Arizona will establish the National Institute for Civil Discourse, a non-partisan organization with honorary chairmen Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush (those two do everything together). source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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