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17 Aug 2011 00:42

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U.S.: Headline of the day (LA Times)

  • Prediction: Republicans will accept this dare. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2011 22:26

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U.S.: John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi both very unpopular

  • -24 net approval of Speaker John Boehner
  • -24 net approval of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi source
  • » The moral of the story? Don’t become Speaker of the House. Boehner’s approval ratings have fallen thirty-one points (!) since he assumed the Speaker’s chair; Pelosi, meanwhile, is just as hated as when she handed over the gavel. These numbers comport with surveys showing Congressional disapproval ratings at their highest levels in thirty years.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2011 21:39

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U.S.: Out-of-context Perry quote leads to race controversy

  • controversy On Tuesday, Rick Perry gave a speech in which he referred to a “big black cloud” hanging over America. The propagation of this quote by Ed Schultz and ABC News led to charges of racism against Perry.
  • explanation Both the Ed Schultz edit and the ABC quotation excluded Perry’s full comments, wherein he makes it explicitly clear that the “big black cloud” to which he refers is the nation’s debt. Not, as Schultz claimed, the President. source
  • » There are several different elements to this. First and foremost, two respected media outlets provided a half-quote when they should have provided a full quote. The intent (if any) behind the ABC article is debatable—they later updated it to make Perry’s comments clearer—but Ed Schultz was being flatly disingenuous when he said that “[the] black cloud Perry is talking about is President Barack Obama.” It wasn’t, and that was clear in the original quote. However, it is legitimate to ask whether or not the phrase “big black cloud” was consciously chosen to evoke—however subconsciously—racial imagery. The whole strategy behind race-baiting is to suggest race with a veil of plausible deniability, and while it’s not at all clear that Perry was doing this, it’s at least a fair question to ask. What do you think?
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2011 20:32

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U.S.: Ron Paul cops a move from T-Paw’s playbook

  • Tim Pawlenty may no longer be running for president, but his influence on the race continues to be felt. If you don’t believe us, check out this new Ron Paul commercial, which mimics Pawlenty’s wonderful Michael Bay-style campaign ads. Paul’s take is admittedly a bit more toned-down, but the general approach is the same–trick young (or disengaged) voters into thinking they’re watching a movie trailer, then flip it on ’em and start pitching the candidate. This ad appeals to electability, making the spurious claim that only Ron Paul can defeat President Obama in the general election. It’s an attempt to widen his appeal, which is devoted (to say the least), but still rather narrow. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Aug 2011 10:11

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U.S.: Video: Three dozen dudes loot a 7-Eleven en masse, steal tons of stuff

  • It’s not a “flash mob,” but: Our friends at Gawker got caught up in the phrasing used to describe this mass robbery of a store that doesn’t usually close, but let’s make no mistake — dozens of kids running into a 7-Eleven and stealing crap without care is generally not a common occurrence. And for this one store in Germantown, Md., it’s a pain they know too well. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2011 22:30

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U.S.: Arizona: Home of the Grand Canyon and the country’s cheapest gas

  • desert Quick, road trip to Arizona! The state has seen the lowest gas prices of the country since early July. Residents of the state pay an average of $3.347 per gallon, and if you’re in Tucson, you’re paying a fairly svelte $3.255 per gallon.
  • oasis? Quick, road trip to — uh, maybe not. The islands of Hawaii show the country’s highest price per gallon since March: over $4. But you wouldn’t be able to drive to Hawaii anyway, unless your car was equipped with fins. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Aug 2011 10:39

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U.S., World: Did China get a good look at the downed Bin Laden stealth copter?

The Pentagon thinks Pakistan let the uber-powerful communist nation take a look at this stealth Blackhawk copter, which crashed just before a bunch of Seal Team 6 members killed Osama bin Laden. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Aug 2011 10:19

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U.S.: Mmm, beefy: Hot dog makers fight over false advertising claims

  • beefy In 2009, Sara Lee, the company that makes Ball Park Franks, sued Kraft over false advertising by claiming that an ad which said that Oscar Mayer wieners tasted better than Ball Park Franks was simply untrue. Oh, and that Oscar Mayer wieners aren’t made with 100 percent beef.
  • beefier Meanwhile, Kraft shot back with a lawsuit of its own, in which it claimed Sara Lee ran its own ads with false advertising claims suggesting other hot dogs “aren’t even in the same league.” Can’t we all just get along and claim that the process used to make hot dogs is kinda gross? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Aug 2011 22:20

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U.S.: Anonymous BART hack: Thousands of users hit in retaliatory attack

  • 2,000+ people affected by MyBART hack source
  • » Were the right people affected? While members of the group Anonymous claimed that the hack was intended to draw attention to a recent attempt by BART to quell a planned protest by blocking cell-phone signals, users affected by the hack felt that the attack hit the wrong target. One MyBART user on the list, Owen Rubin, put it like so: “I understand the reason why they’re protesting, but they’re hurting the wrong people. They’re hurting the commuters, and they’re hurting the consumers like me who have nothing to do with BART other than having to ride it as a way to get to and from work.” For what it’s worth, those who leaked the data claim that the site was very insecure — “Any 8 year old with a internet connection could have done what we did to find it,” the note accompanying the data breach says — but the frustration is something that users affected by many recent hacks will understand. These victims suffer indirectly, exploited as something of a third party to the real target in question, be it Sony, BART, or the federal government.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Aug 2011 21:25

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U.S.: Andrew Cuomo sure flies around a lot using taxpayer money

  • bad A little while back, cost-cutting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got a lot of crap over taking a helicopter to his son’s softball game. He ended up repaying the costs of the plane ride, but he didn’t apologize, claiming that it was important for him to be a good father.
  • worse Now, his neighbor directly to the north, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is facing similar scrutiny, but in his case, he used state aircraft to fly 19 times between his girlfriend’s place in Westchester and his job in Albany. Should we judge him for this? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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