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29 Jun 2011 18:03

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U.S.: Cost of last decade’s wars much higher than Obama said

  • $3.7 trillion cost for the United States’ post-9/11 wars source
  • » The wages of war: When President Obama referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America’s wars in the last decade, he clearly hadn’t spoken to the folks running the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute. The project determined the above figure through calculations that included future costs, such as health services for wounded veterans returning home, as well as counting what’s generally referred to as our “secret” war in Pakistan.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 17:00

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Politics: President Obama dismisses congressional “fuss” on Libya

  • A lot of this fuss is politics… I said there would be no troops on the ground. I said we would not be carrying the lion’s share of the operation, but as members of NATO we would be supportive of it because it’s in our national security interest and it’s the right thing to do. We have done exactly what I said we would do.
  • President Obama • Defending his military intervention in Libya, and dismissing complaints from Congress. In the process of doing so, Obama struck a more confrontational tone towards his critics than is common for his administration. There’s a definite argument that one can make for the warfare going on in Libya, on fairly simply moral grounds — nobody really doubts what would have happened in Benghazi had nobody moved to stop it. Making that sort of argument would, we think, go a lot further to appeal to American sensibilities than judicial wrangling over defining “hostilities” would. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 14:38

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Politics: Palin is still unsure of running — or is she?

  • It’s a tough decision, it’s a big decision to decide whether to run for office or not. I’m still contemplating. I am still thinking about the decision and you know a lot goes into such a life-changing, relatively earth-shattering type of decision.
  • Sarah Palin • talking about her decision to run for President. She still isn’t giving anyone a straight answer on what she plans on doing, but her daughter Bristol said some stuff on Fox that says she does have a plan. She told the news station that Palin knows what she’s going to do, and Bristol thinks her mom should go for it. But why would Palin run if Bachmann already did? They’re basically the same kind of candidate — and Palin has pretty much already lost her opportunity to get back into the national spotlight after her bus tour kind of sputtered. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 14:32

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World: North Korea is looking to avert a revolution

  • fear North Korea seems afraid of a revolution similar to those we’ve seen in the Middle East. They bought a lot of anti-riot gear from China, and there’s been extra police forces around. But where do the revolutions usually start? With the kids in college.
  • reaction North Korea has closed all of their universities until April 2012, blaming it on their ailing economy — all the students have to go work in factories. This might be true, but more than likely it’s not — they’re trying to keep those most likely to revolt from doing it. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jun 2011 11:42

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World: Greek austerity passes parliament, ensuring international loan

  • 155-138 mostly along party lines source
  • » Harsh words for the opposition: George Papandreou, the leader of the Socialist Party, had this to say towards the opposition New Democrats in the heat of the all-important vote: “All of Europe knows that your party is responsible for the current situation.” The vote, which only one member of parliament on either side crossed lines for, means that the country will receive a $17 billion rescue plan to make it through the Summer, with a second, much larger one in the works. Meanwhile, outside parliament, large-scale protests continued unabated.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 22:33

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U.S.: Arlington National Cemetery faces more record-keeping scrutiny

  • bad Arlington National Cemetery, the iconic military cemetery, reported, after an inquiry, that a number of its graves were mishandled. How does that happen?
  • worse The cemetery faced harsh congressional from Sen. Scott Brown, who unfavorably compared their paper-based record-keeping abilities to those of an iPad.
  • worser Now the situation at the cemetery is so bad that  the Justice Department is investigating possible criminal activity — ticking up the case’s severity to a whole new level. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 17:52

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Offbeat: Eguchi Aimi, fledging Japanese pop star, is computer generated

  • Somebody just lost their dream girl: We certainly wouldn’t fault any fans of Japanese pop group AKB48 if they’re feeling a bit sore or a bit duped. As the video above exposed last week, the sixth and newest member, Eguchi Aimi, doesn’t fit the job prerequisites for an “all-girl” band — she’s actually entirely computer generated. Her features were cobbled together from the faces of her flesh-and-blood partners — there’s something both cool and deeply disconcerting about this. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 17:24

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World: Christine Lagarde named new head of IMF

  • The new face of the Fund: The International Monetary Fund’s hunt for a new managing director (in the wake of rape allegations against former leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn) has come to an end, and Christine Lagarde is the winner. Lagarde is currently a French Finance Minister (meaning the European grip on this position will continue), and will begin a five-year term as the IMF head on July 5th. Her first comments of relevance since the announcement, predictably, were about Greece: “If I have one message tonight about Greece, it is to call on the Greek political opposition to support the party that is currently in power in a spirit of national unity.” Translation: I’d really like you all to get going with this unpopular austerity plan, sooner rather than later. (photo via the World Economic Forum’s Flickr page) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 16:33

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U.S.: U.S. is wasting money on unsuccessful dollar coin program

  • 2005 Congress passed a bill to establish coin currency as a bigger force in America’s day-to-day transactions. Their plan was to produce $1 coins featuring, progressively over time, the full run of American Presidents. Republican Rep. Mike Castle sponsored the legislation.
  • 2011 The bill’s language has meant that the coins are still in production despite broad unpopularity — so much so that the Federal Reserve is sitting on an ever-expanding billion dollars worth of unwanted currency. Wanna talk wasteful spending? Here’s exhibit A. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2011 15:24

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U.S.: Slim margin eliminates one of Wisconsin GOP’s recall efforts

  • 2 signatures short for Wisconsin Rep. John Nygren’s recall candidacy source
  • » GOP pushback comes up a hair short: Following challenges by the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, the state’s Government Accountability Board has ruled that 26 of the Nygren campaign’s recall petition signatures are invalid, and as that left Nygren with just 398 signatures, they kicked him out of the race. Nygren is pursuing legal options, and frankly we don’t expect this to be over — two signatures is such a slim margin, it seems obvious that every last signature is again going to get combed over. The GOP still has a candidate, an activist named David VanderLeest, but given his comparatively lackluster background, we imagine they’re pushing to get Nygren back.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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