Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

18 May 2011 21:58

tags

U.S.: Obama’s focus tomorrow: The quickly-changing Middle East

  • Obama’s giving a big speech tomorrow. With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heading to town to discuss the long-gestating peace deal with Palestine, Obama will give a speech from the State Department intended for both the American public and the Middle East. There’s speculation that he may push for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation … or more surprisingly, endorse pushing back Israel’s borders to pre-1967 levels as a starting point in negotiations between Israel and Palestine. What’s he gonna say? One thing that’s pretty clear at this point is that Egypt’s getting some aid money — roughly $2 billion, to be exact — possibly as an anchor to encourage support of Israel. All in all, fun day ahead. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 May 2011 23:20

tags

U.S.: Influential conservative says failing to raise debt limit bad

  • The full consequences of a default — or even the serious prospect of default — by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. […] The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.
  • Ronald Reagan, circa 1983 • Regarding legislation to raise the debt limit. This guy seems like a flaming liberal, doesn’t he? Oh wait, maybe not. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 May 2011 21:52

tags

U.S.: Sony PlayStation Network’s return a pretty bumpy one

  • great After weeks of downtime, Sony got their PlayStation Network online for the first time in nearly a month — a month full of hacks, reports of credit card fraud and apologies that followed. There was much rejoicing in the gaming world.
  • troubling WIthin minutes of its return, the system went down. “Please bear with us as we continue working on #PSN restoration. We are experiencing extremely heavy traffic,” a tweet from Sony said. It’s back up, but for how long? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 May 2011 15:18

tags

U.S.: Mississippi floodways opened to keep big cities safe

  • Saving urban areas by flooding farmland: Officials opened up the Morganza Floodway Saturday in an attempt to divert water from the Mississippi River, which will eventually drain into the Gulf of Mexico. Even though this move will destroy valuable crops, it’s better than running the risk of flooding large cities like New Orleans at levels worse than Hurricane Katrina. (Photo from US Army Corps of Engineers’ Flickr page.) source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 May 2011 11:51

tags

U.S.: John Boehner: Obama isn’t serious about cutting the deficit

“He’s talking about [the deficit],” Boehner says. “But I’m not seeing real action here.” Obama put the Bush tax cuts on the cutting board. You won’t. Who’s serious again? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 May 2011 19:47

tags

U.S.: IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn accused of sexual assault

  • A French presidential candidate. A leader of a powerful financial organization. A suspect in the sexual assault of a maid. Dominique Strauss-Kahn has a lot to lose with the just-breaking scandal, which involved his arrest at the airport before making a trip to France. According to reports, Strauss-Kahn attempted to assault the maid in a hotel room, she ran away, and he immediately booked it to the airport. Ironically, the Socialist party in France just accused Nicolas Sarkozy’s party of a smear campaign against the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, whom the New York Daily News refers to as “the great seducer.” Now they have bigger problems. (photo via the World Economic Forum’s Flickr page) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2011 03:00

tags

U.S.: And now, in the “questions we never needed answered” department…

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 May 2011 16:42

tags

U.S.: A bad day for former Senator John Ensign

  • attempt When John Ensign resigned from his position as Nevada’s junior senator on May 3rd, it was widely believed he was trying to halt an ethics investigation into his affair with a staffer, and subsequent alleged payoffs to her family.
  • failure The Senate Ethics Committee isn’t letting their old buddy John off that easy. They’ve forwarded their findings to the U.S. Justice Department, saying they found that Ensign violated the law. Jeez, all that resigning for nothing. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 23:54

tags

U.S.: Liberal county attempts secession from Arizona

  • Pima County wants to become the 51st state. It’s a left-leaning county in conservative Arizona, and a group of residents have initiated the process of secession. The new state, dubbed “Baja Arizona,” would be larger than four existing states and more populous than five others. The movement gained steam after some controversial moves by Republican Governor Jan Brewer, but it has a long road ahead. First, petitioners must collect 48,000 signatures. Then, voters need to approve a measure to send the proposal to the state legislature. Then, the legislature has to pass it. Then, voters have to approve it again. “All the stars would have to align for this to happen,” a lawyer backing the Baha effort said, “but it could conceivably happen by the fall of 2013.” As residents of California, count us skeptical. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2011 19:37

tags

U.S.: “Mitch The Knife” lives up to name, cuts health services for poor sick people

  • NO Planned Parenthood access for poor Hoosiers source
  • » Last June, he called for a “truce” on social issues. Now, with a presidential run looking ever-so-tempting, Mitch Daniels has no problem cutting reproductive services for 9,300 Medicaid recipients in Indiana, of which he is regrettably the governor. Today, a court rejected Planned Parenthood’s efforts to postpone enforcement of the bill. For low-income Indianans who feared they might have life-threatening illnesses, Planned Parenthood was one of their only resources. Now, thanks to Daniels’ quixotic presidential ambitions, they’re out of luck. (Note: A separate request for an injunction, filed by the ACLU, has not yet been ruled on)
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>