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24 Apr 2010 19:19

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U.S.: Twitter concerned about tornado-stricken Mississippi



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Apr 2010 15:54

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U.S., World: Obama on Armenian massacre: “Atrocities,” not “genocide”

  • On this solemn day of remembrance, we pause to recall that 95 years ago one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century began. In that dark moment of history, 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or marched to their death in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
  • President Barack Obama • In a statement regarding the 95th anniversary of the 1915 slayings of many Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey). There’s a lot of controversy around this because Armenians want this labeled as a genocide, but Turkey has pushed very hard against calling it that. It’s a huge diplomatic spat. Obama got around the issue by calling the deaths “atrocities.” It’s surprising how much language can affect the perception of an entire group of people. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2010 17:12

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U.S.: Arizona governor signs super-harsh immigration bill into law

  • What the law does The law gives law enforcement the right to question those they think are illegal immigrants. It forces them to keep their papers on them at all times. And it punishes those that help harbor them – by hiring them or knowingly transporting them.
  • Why it’s controversial Simply put, critics of the law feel that it gives into racial profiling. Obama, specifically, calls the law “misguided” and says the law threatens “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”
  • A key compromise Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill into law, but also pushed through an executive order designed to train law enforcement officials not to engage in racial profiling. Will it work? Who knows, but it might be a fun ride. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2010 13:35

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U.S.: SEC officials too busy watching porn to prevent financial crisis

  • 31 Securities and Exchange Commission officials were nailed watching porn in the last two and a half years
  • 17 of those idiot workers were senior staffers who made between $100,000 to $222,000 per year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2010 10:50

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Biz, U.S.: Washington hawking over WellPoint’s crappy insurance practices

  • As you know, the practice described in this article will soon be illegal. The Affordable Care Act specifically prohibits insurance companies from rescinding policies, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact.
  • Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius • In a letter to health insurer WellPoint regarding a Reuters article that ran yesterday. The article suggested that breast cancer patients were specifically targeted in investigations in an effort to find a way to cancel their insurance. This crappy practice, by the way, is banned in the new health care law, but experts say the bill lacks the teeth to actually stop it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Apr 2010 21:59

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U.S.: Residents of Oregon: There’s a new killer fungus among us.

The airborne fungus Cryptococcus gattii has already killed fairly healthy six people in the Pacific Northwest and could be headed to California soon. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Apr 2010 20:43

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U.S.: Protip: Using black bar redactions on PDFs doesn’t really work

  • Mediaite broke it. DocumentCloud totally owned it. The Blago corruption court case hit a new high today after it was suggested that Obama might be implicated in the case. But this fact didn’t come out directly. It was actually redacted in this subpoena released today. However, a glitch in the PDF software they used to make the document made the redacted statement very easy to read. Which gave the boys at DocumentCloud a chance to show off their mad skillz. Check ’em out. They’re pretty awesome. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Apr 2010 11:13

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U.S.: Protip: Don’t take a tribe’s DNA and do all willy-nilly with it

  • ethical Arizona State University takes DNA from the Havasupai Indians to help with research into high rates of diabetes for the tribe.
  • unethcial The school uses the DNA for many other unrelated studies, and now the school is paying the tribe lots of money. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Apr 2010 11:07

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U.S.: One California county could be a big loser due to pot legalization

  • $500 million yearly from illegal pot manufacturing source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Apr 2010 10:39

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U.S., World: Happy Earth Day or something. It’s 40 years old today.

The New York Times (of course) has a killer timeline on the environment, and Earth Day’s role within that history. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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