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27 Jan 2011 23:52

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U.S.: Financial meltdown: Completely avoidable & we’re all to blame

  • The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies not in the stars, but in us.
  • Democrats on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission • Reporting the findings of an investigation into what caused everything to go to hell back in September of ’08. The majority statement was issued by the commission’s six Democrats, and opined that the crisis was avoidable: “The public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings,” it read. The four Republicans on the committee didn’t agree; three said that it was the unavoidable result of global economic forces, while the fourth blamed the crisis on (wait for it) over-regulation of the housing markets. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 19:04

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U.S.: Does Rahm Emanuel get to stay on the Chicago mayoral ballot?

  • YES so step off Rahm-en Boy’s back, hataz source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 18:46

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U.S.: Who’s this Jay Carney dude? A wasted opportunity, that’s who.

  • We have no clue who this Jay Carney loser is. But we don’t like him. He looks like a square whose nose doesn’t completely fit on his face. We had a lot of hopes and dreams about helping the Obama administration on its long road towards triangulation, but now, the dream is dead. This loser, who once worked at some lame-ass publication that nobody’s ever heard of called “Time”, used to be Biden’s press secretary before they moved him over to Obama’s job. Had he kept said job, we would’ve been totally cool with him. But, now, Jay, it’s war. You’re about as suited to this job as Jim Varney would’ve been. You guys have phonetically similar names. That’s not a coincidence. Like Mr. Varney, you will be considered a laughingstock in your industry. And we’ll be sitting over here, waiting for you to fall down, ready to gain what is rightfully ours. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 15:11

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U.S.: McConnell, Reid hash out “gentleman’s agreement” over filibuster

  • problem The exploding use of the filibuster rule has stagnated the Senate, with a 60-vote supermajority often needed to pass legislation, one senator being able to secretly block any vote they so please, and the president’s appointments being held up in the confirmation process seemingly endlessly.
  • solution? Today’s “gentleman’s agreement” between Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell, in which for more capacity to add amendments, the GOP will filibuster less, will support ending the secret vote block, and will cut by one-third the number of Obama appointments that need Senate confirmation. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 14:38

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U.S.: Terror threat level warnings to get a functional overhaul

  • The alerts will be specific to the threat. They may recommend certain actions, or suggest   looking for specific suspicious behavior. And they will have a specified end date.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano • Speaking on the topic of the oft-maligned terror threat level scale imposed following 9/11 (you know the one, orange=bad, red=really bad), Napolitano claimed that the future system of warning Americans about terrorism risks will be more informative. The old system, which merely stated the risk with no contextual information, was often accused of being vague and unhelpful. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 14:14

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U.S.: CDC issues dire estimate of American diabetes

  • 105 million people with diabetes or prediabetes, CDC claims source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 10:32

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U.S.: By the way, New Yorkers, DC-area residents feel your pain, too

  • 422,000 without power (but not us) source
  • » We’re going to work today, but … many federal employees are going into work late, if at all in the wake of the wet, slushy mess which crimped our collective commutes home last night. We’d complain more, but we have power and were able to make it to Panera this morning.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Jan 2011 10:21

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U.S.: NYC sets January snowfall record (grumble grumble)

  • 36˝ number of inches of snow that has fallen in Central Park this month – a January record, by the way
  • 27.4˝ the previous record, set all the way back in 1925 (!); good work, Mother Nature, you hag you source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 00:09

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U.S.: “Separate but equal” returns: On the Kelley Williams-Bolar situation

  • Is this case The new “separate but equal”? The case of Kelley Williams-Bolar, a single mother who went out of her way to put her children in a better public school district that wasn’t crime-ridden, sparks a lot of emotions. The biggest, of course, is caused by the incredibly harsh punishment that Williams-Bolar received. The Akron, Ohio resident, a teacher’s assistant only a few credits shy of a teaching degree, can no longer teach in the state of Ohio because she’s a convicted felon. (They knew this when making the decision.) While she was released from jail yesterday, the court seemed to make her an example for something which doesn’t seem like it should be a crime. Some thoughts:
  • Kelley’s crime The crime that Williams-Bolar committed is one which may not be clear from the surface. She filed paperwork claiming that her children lived with her father, but she in fact shipped them over to her dad’s house daily. Williams-Bolar lives in subsidized housing, and the method prevented her from paying tuition and property taxes – a key issue for many.
  • “But we pay taxes!” For many not so kind to Kelley’s case, this is the crux of the issue. The people who live in the Copley-Fairlawn City School District pay out the wazoo for those nice schools, and in their view, Williams-Bolar is carpetbagging. There are a lot of issues at play, but by no means do they reach the level of felony. It’s way too harsh and has long-term ramifications.
  • The system doesn’t work The school district found out about what Williams-Bolar did by doing a stakeout after they got suspicious. You know, that really says it all, doesn’t it? The public education system, whether it’s intentional or not, favors haves over have nots. This is a brave act on the part of Williams-Bolar. She chose to defy the system, and by doing so, she exposed a major flaw. Kudos.
  • » One other thought: Race plays a huuuuuuuge factor in this story, obviously, and that is one point we don’t want to underplay. Blogger Kalimah Priforce has a great open letter up about the whole situation from a racial/civil disobedience angle. The whole thing is worth a read, but this is the point that really struck home for us: “At some point they determined that your girls didn’t belong in their schools and rather than meeting with you to determine a way for your children to stay with the same teachers and classmates they become accustomed to, they hunted you down and threw you into prison.” Honestly, we could see this case going to the Supreme Court. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 19:51

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U.S.: Mosque drama: California town allows one … after much NIMBY rage

These folks here? Muslim. They want a mosque in Temecula, Calif. But the crazies came out and filed an appeal. The City Council eventually denied the appeal after a LOOONG meeting. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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