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14 Aug 2009 12:16

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Biz, Tech: Like a bean bag chair, Apple’s sitting on a big pile of cash

  • $31.1 billion reserves; Steve Jobs is holding out on us source

14 Aug 2009 10:43

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Politics, U.S.: On death panels and bold-faced lies spread about health care

  • I guess what surprised me is the ferocity, it’s much stronger than I expected. It’s people who are ideologically opposed to Mr. Obama, and this is the opportunity to weaken the president.
  • AARP executive vice president John Rother • Which supports changing the health care plan, on attacks the plan has received, including suggestions of a “death panel” by Sarah Palin, a claim which is completely false but has much more traction than it should. The claims have much in common with the claims used to kill the health care movement in 1994. One conservative commentator from that era who flipped sides, David Brock, put it best: “In the 90s, every misrepresentation under the sun was made about the Clinton plan and there was no real capacity to push back. Now, there is that capacity.” • source

13 Aug 2009 22:55

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U.S.: Just when you thought big tobacco judgments were dead …

  • $1.9 million for the husband of a lifelong smoker in Florida source

12 Aug 2009 21:09

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U.S.: To call this year’s deficit freaking huge is to understate

  • $1.8 trillion the size of the deficit that the government has this year source

12 Aug 2009 10:24

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World: Russia’s a big country willing to defend tiny pieces of land

  • $500 million to boost military in tiny Abkhazia source

09 Aug 2009 21:31

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Biz, U.S.: Pay-for-play internships: Trust fund kids get to try on dream jobs

  • It’s kind of crazy. The demand for internships in the past 5, 10 years has opened up this huge market. At this point, all we can do is teach students to understand that they’re paying and to ask the right questions.
  • University of Kansas career center director David Gaston • On the high demand for internships, which has created a niche market for services designed to help you (or your parents help you) get that awesome internship you always dreamed of. One organization, the University of Dreams, received 9,000 applications for the services last year alone. We don’t like this; this is very much gaming the system. • source

07 Aug 2009 10:02

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Biz, U.S.: More proof the economy’s improving: Even AIG made a profit

  • $1.8 billion amount the company made last quarter after seeing the light at the end of the tunnel source
 

06 Aug 2009 20:58

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U.S.: Cash reclunked: The senate lets more clunker funds flow

  • 60-37 looks just like the Sotomayor vote source

06 Aug 2009 11:10

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Biz: Rupert Murdoch is talking about charging for content, too

  • He has slightly more sense about it than AP, though. Murdoch, smarting from huge declines in News Corp. this quarter, wants to start charging for all of his news products within the next year. But rather than simply a blanket “let’s screw everyone” approach (though he’s saying that, too, suggesting “furious litigation”), he wants to do it by differentiating the content of his products from what you can get for free. He should have an easy time with that, as his products tend to break a lot of big stories, especially when it comes to celebrity news. Still, though … don’t just close the doors, man. Figure out ways to let the outside world in. source

05 Aug 2009 23:33

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U.S.: William Jefferson’s freezer didn’t protect him from a conviction

  • 11 of the 16 charges against the lamest congressman ever stuck source