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11 Dec 2011 11:03

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Biz: Amazon’s controversial price-check app draws Senator’s ire

  • Amazon’s promotion — paying consumers to visit small businesses and leave empty-handed — is an attack on Main Street businesses that employ workers in our communities. Small businesses are fighting everyday to compete with giant retailers, such as Amazon, and incentivizing consumers to spy on local shops is a bridge too far.
  • Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) • Openly criticizing Amazon’s new price-check app, which allows users to go in stores, scan the barcodes and see if Amazon has lower prices than said shops do — for a discounted price at Amazon. With the location feature turned on, consumers effectively can let Amazon know what their brick-and-mortar competitors are selling something for. What do you all think? Clever or sketchy? Does it empower the consumer or hurt small businesses? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Sep 2010 11:27

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U.S.: Hurricane Earl is a pretty massive storm. Here’s proof.

  • 166,000 the number of square miles Hurricane Earl covers
  • 160,000 the number of square miles California covers source
  • » It’s going to nail a lot of places: The Outer Banks of North Carolina will get hit first by the Category 4 storm, but there are watches and warnings as far up the coast as Maine, and it looks like it’s on a relatively direct path towards Massachusetts, which just filed a hurricane warning.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Jul 2010 11:12

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Politics: As Obama begins his vacation in Maine today, three things

  • one You got financial reform through both Houses, ready to sign, but nobody knows what it is.
  • two You’re polling at some of the lowest levels of your presidency right now, so don’t get too comfy.
  • three The oil spill is at a very critical juncture, so you better be ready to get back down there. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

15 Jul 2010 12:11

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U.S.: Key votes in the Senate’s passage of finance reform

  • 60-38 the initial vote to allow the real vote
  • didThe three more moderate East-coast members of the GOP – Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.
  • didn’tRuss Feingold, that scallion of Wisconsin, felt the bill didn’t go far enough. Oh, and Robert Byrd just died. source
  • » So, what’s next? Well, in a couple of hours, the bill will go through the real vote, at which point it will head to Obama. Then, ta-da! It becomes law.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

01 Apr 2010 20:27

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Politics: Obama’s still stumping for health care, this time in Maine

  • Every single day since I signed reform into law, there’s another poll or headline that says ‘Nation still divided on health reform! Polls haven’t changed yet!’ Well, yeah. It just happened last week. It’s only been a week!
  • President Barack Obama • Discussing the health care bill in Maine today. The president, whose political legacy rides on the success of the health care bill, got a tweak in at Sen. Olympia Snowe, saying she was a friend “and who spent many hours meeting with me about this bill.” But really, he main target was the media, which he hit with full force. “Can you imagine,” he said, “if some of these reporters were working on a farm, had planted some seeds and came out the next day and looked, ‘Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re going to starve! Oh no! It’s a disaster!’” Hey, that hurts, man! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Nov 2009 21:38

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Politics: Olympia Snowe could get snowed out by her own party

  • Well of course there is an audience that would love to see Olympia Snowe out of office, within the ranks of social conservatives, that’s for certain.
  • Family Research Council Action PAC president Connie Mackey • Describing social conservatives’ newfound desire to get moderate Maine Senator Olympia Snowe out of office. The group is encouraged by a recent study by Public Policy Polling that showed Snowe would lose 59%-31% to a generic Republican challenger in a primary. For some reason, they think it’s a good idea to make their party more conservative, not less. We just don’t understand it. (hat tip Andrew Sullivan) • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Nov 2009 21:13

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Politics: Holy crap, did you see Maine’s anti-gay-marriage ads?

  • Jesus Christ, wouldn’t you vote yes if you saw an ad this freaking scary-sounding? It makes gay marriage sound like a nightmare and a legal boondoggle. We’re kind of offended by the fact that scare tactics played such a huge role in this campaign. Even though more money went to the “No on 1” campaign, they still lost. Sigh.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Nov 2009 10:09

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U.S.: Here’s a photo of a bunch of sad gay marriage supporters in Maine

It was a fairly close race considering, but 47.25% isn’t enough to ensure gay marriage across the state of Maine. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Nov 2009 08:34

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U.S.: It’s election day 2009. Here’s a roundup of the various races.

  • Thanks to Sarah Palin, New York’s 23rd district is on everyone’s mind. The GOP candidate dropped out over the weekend. source
  • Jersey’s Jon Corzine is a fairly unpopular governor, but is still doing well in the race to keep his seat. It’s close, though. source
  • Maine voters get the chance to decide whether gay marriage should be legal in the state. It could be a huge precedent. source
  • Democrat Creigh Deeds is lagging behind Republican Bob McDonnell in Virginia; is this a dry run for elections in 2010? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Nov 2009 11:49

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U.S.: Daily poll: Maine’s same-sex marriage referendum, in wider context

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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