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03 Mar 2012 10:20

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Politics: Sandra Fluke ‘outraged’ by Rush’s attempts to silence her

  • I’m certainly not going to be silenced.
  • Georgetown student Sandra Fluke • Responding to the controversy that began Wednesday, when conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh began a series of attacks on her character and asked that she upload videos of her sexual encounters for his viewing pleasure. Fluke became the target of Limbaugh’s rage after testifying before Congress on Georgetown’s contraceptive policy; however, Limbaugh’s comments cost him four sponsors, and condemnation from pundits across the country. Friday afternoon, President Obama called Sandra to offer words of encouragement and support, and Georgetown president John J. DeGioia defended the student in a statement calling Limbaugh’s attacks “misogynistic” and “vitriolic”.  source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2012 17:45

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Politics: Sandra Fluke vs. Rush Limbaugh: What you need to know, in a nutshell

  • cause Last week, a Georgetown law student, Sandra Fluke, testified in front of Congress on the Jesuit school’s policy on contraception, an issue which has drawn many emotions of late.
  • reaction Many on the right attacked Fluke for her testimony, but none as harshly as talker Rush Limbaugh, who called her a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show. Yeah, that’s not cool.
  • result Limbaugh’s comments drew strong reactions from the left especially. Republican House Speaker John Boehner criticized Limbaugh. The president even called her up today. Really. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Feb 2012 20:43

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Culture: New Jersey residents, others upset about flying flags half-staff for Whitney

  • cause To honor one of the state’s greatest pop stars, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had state buildings fly flags at half-staff (usually reserved for military or politicians) ahead of Whitney Houston’s funeral this past Saturday.
  • reaction Reactions to the decision have been strong — one New Jersey town basically ignored the order and a Michigan man (whose son was killed in Iraq back 2005) burned a replica of the state’s flag on his outdoor grill.
  • response Christie defended his decision last week, prior to Houston’s funeral: “For those people who say, ‘I don’t think she deserves it,’ I say to them, ‘I understand that you don’t think that. I do, and it’s my executive order.’” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2012 10:56

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U.S.: Family matters: Son tries to evict 98-year-old mother from home

  • I didn’t think he would do it. My husband worked hard, difficult jobs to buy this house. He built the garage and did a lot of work on the house and he told me never to leave it.
  • 98-year-old Mary Kantorowski • Discussing her 71-year-old son, Peter, who attempted to evict her from her own Connecticut house a couple of months ago. She’s lived there since 1953. The son says he’s concerned for his mother’s well-being, claiming that she’s living in poor conditions and is disoriented. Peter, who owns the house, tried evicting her in an effort to get her to move in with him, or into a nursing home. Instead, she got a lawyer involved and is actively fighting her son’s efforts. Peter says that his intentions are noble, but his brother Jack claims otherwise, suggesting he’s simply trying to sell the home: “There are no other words to call him. He’s just a scumbag.” Does not sound like a good family situation. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Jan 2012 10:58

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U.S.: Occupy Oakland protests: Arrests, tear gas, tough statements from officials

  • Whenever journalists are arrested/detained for reporting the news, everyone’s freedom is at risk.
  • KGO Radio reporter Kristin Hanes • Discussing her arrest late Saturday as the Occupy Oakland protests flared up. She and Gavin Aronson of Mother Jones were among the over 200 people placed into custody Saturday night, as the Oakland protests reached a new breaking point — including the burning of an American flag. Both mayor Jean Quan and the police were quick to pin negative attention on the protesters: “The Bay Area Occupy Movement has got to stop using Oakland as their playground,” Quan said in a statement. However, it’s important to keep in mind the nature of the police actions — including violence towards protesters and the use of tear gas grenades. An OpenSalon writer has a pretty informative first-person piece worth reading, which describes both the nature of the protesters (not as bad as reported) and why things flared up Saturday. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2012 19:44

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Biz: CBS Sports fires blogger who flubbed Joe Paterno death report

  • Bad sourcing plus poor timing: Adam Jacobi took to Twitter earlier this afternoon to reveal that CBS Sports — which ran with a erroneous story that Joe Paterno had died hours before he actually did, based on a single tweet from a student Web site, originally linked to and otherwise unsourced (then retracted it, naming the source and initially refusing to take full credit for the error) — fired him over the incident. “In the end, CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did,” Jacobi wrote. “and I understand completely. Thanks, everyone, for reading.” The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple calls the move classy on Jacobi’s part, and an important line in the sand for CBS: “Not only does CBSSports.com put on notice its employees that multiple sourcing matters,” Wemple writes,”it puts on notice the entire industry.” While we don’t necessarily think Jacobi should’ve been fired, CBS made a good move, as it initially looked like they would let the sword fall onto Onward State. It would’ve been better if they took credit right away. (photo via Flickr user audreyjm529) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2012 10:52

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Culture: Obviously: People trying to sell free Joe Paterno memorial tickets on eBay

  • 16,000 number of free tickets given out for Joe Paterno’s memorial, which happens this afternoon
  • $98,000 the amount some of the tickets have gone for on eBay — before eBay took the sales down source
  • » Greed over grieving: With Paterno so highly regarded in the Penn State community, it only makes sense that there’s a lot of demand for these tickets. “It took only minutes more for pairs of the tickets to start showing up on eBay,” the Centre Daily Times pointed out. But, thing is, eBay has a rule where you can’t sell tickets you got for free for money. So many of the ticket sales got taken down. Suggestion to all: Don’t sell tickets for a memorial. A guy died. It’s not the Super Bowl. (Thanks Time’s Moneyland for the tip)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Jan 2012 10:05

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Tech: SOPA fight leaning towards opponents, as Rupert Murdoch’s feed suggests

  • So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery.
  • Rupert Murdoch • Posting on Twitter yesterday afternoon about the Obama administration’s stance on SOPA, which discouraged the bill in its current form. CNET’s Greg Sandoval says that Murdoch’s reaction is a strong sign that the entertainment industry is starting to lose the battle, with a key provision of PIPA and SOPA — which involved the DNS system — getting removed from both acts. Murdoch, meanwhile, was quick to rip Google for what he perceived as their strong influence on the White House statement: “Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” he said on Twitter. On the plus side, at least Rupe isn’t making gambling jokes that could be misinterpreted. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2012 10:12

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World: Reaction to shocking Marine corpse desecration video extremely strong

  • The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps. This matter will be fully investigated.
  • A statement from the Marine Corps Headquarters • Angrily criticizing a video, posted on YouTube, that appears to show Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. However the video, which has floated around YouTube for the past day, has not been verified. The Pentagon, however, said there is no indication that the video isn’t authentic. The video has drawn a number of angry responses from officials as varied as Sen. John McCain, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Council on Islamic-American Relations. In Karzai’s case, he called the video “completely inhumane.” If the video is accurate, he’ll find us agreeing with him. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2012 10:09

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Politics: Michelle Obama tired of being portrayed as “angry black woman”

  • I guess it’s more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman and — you know? But that’s been an image that people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I’m some angry black woman.
  • Michelle Obama • Defending herself from claims that she fostered tension with the president’s top deputies — Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs — leading to the claims getting into New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor’s book “The Obamas.” We can certainly agree with the basic thrust of what she’s saying — even if Kantor’s book is accurate, just look at how much crap she gets over the stupidest things from the right. That is clearly the result of others trying to typecast her in a certain image. Let’s cut the image politics here. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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