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18 Feb 2011 12:27

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Tech, U.S.: Obama meets with everyone TechCrunch cares about all at once

  • Finally. Most of the people we write about were in a single room last night, having alcohol together. Obama. Mark Zuckerberg. The Twitter guy. Steve Jobs. And if you’re stretching it, that @$$hole Larry Ellison. If a nuclear bomb hit this restaurant last night, we would have nothing to write about and would probably have to shut down the blog. We’re glad it wasn’t. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 15:43

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Politics: Another day, another call to compromise from President Obama

  • I expect that all sides will have to do a little bit of posturing on television and speak to their constituencies, and rally the troops and so forth. But ultimately, what we need is a reasonable, responsible, and initially, probably, somewhat quiet and toned-down conversation about… ‘where can we compromise and get something done?’
  • President Barack Obama • Setting the stage for the looming budget kerfuffle breaking out in Washington, the President urged measured and bipartisan conversation with the ultimate goal of compromise. If this ends up looking anything like his previous calls for bipartisan rigor, though, you’re likely to see Republicans get a pretty generous compromise that liberals will be asked to stomach, followed by the Republicans insisting that President Obama is a far-left Spendocrat who didn’t really compromise on anything. Which, it bears mentioning, is infuriating to watch once, let alone over and over again. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 15:21

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U.S.: Three Medal of Freedom recipients you should get to know

  • one John Sweeney, he of a prototypically heart-warming “America” story, grew up the child of Irish immigrants (his mother a domestic worker, his father a bus driver) to later become head of the AFL-CIO.
  • two Dr. Tom Little, a New York optometrist who was murdered in Afghanistan, where he lived and raised his family for over 30 years, while working to provide eye care to any Afghans who needed it.
  • three Sylvia Mendez, who as a young child was the central figure in a legal battle over segregation in California. Her family’s victory in 1946 was a precursor to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 11:27

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U.S.: By the numbers: Obama’s budget cut plans deep, but not too deep

  • $3.73
    trillion     the size of Obama’s latest budget plan, just released today
  • $1.1
    trillion     the amount Obama plans to cut from the deficit over the next decade
  • 2/3 the share of deficit cuts that would come from cutbacks in various federal programs
  • $7.2T the amount that would be added to the public debt – not the deficit – over the next decade
  • $4T the amount Obama’s own deficit commission wanted to cut over the next decade source
  • » Only one silo gets the cuts: Obama wants to effectively limit all non-security discretionary spending for the next five years, an area which only accounts for 12 percent of federal spending, at the cost of doing something about defense spending or programs like Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security – which, as popular as they are, account for huge chunks of the pie. The cuts are also much lower than what Republicans want, although they’re also hoping to avoid defense spending cuts, even though that’s a huge chunk.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 21:37

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Politics: Mubarak’s speech made Obama, Leon Panetta look like fools

Uh-oh, someone bought into the narrative. (At a speech in Michigan, Obama suggested Egypt’s transition was imminent. Panetta did the same earlier in the day.) But so did everyone else. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 14:30

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Politics: Barack Obama makes his tax pitch to the business community

  • Another barrier government can remove is a burdensome corporate tax code with one of the highest rates in the world.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce, the President reiterated his State Of The Union pledge to cut the corporate tax rate. This plan writ large may not cause too much angst to his liberal supporters, provided that the reciprocal promise he made, eliminating loopholes in said corporate tax code, also sees some motion. Chamber of Commerce head Thomas Donahue called it  “a good change in tone.” source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Feb 2011 20:20

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Politics: Obama tries mending profitable fences with Chamber of Commerce

  • If there is a reason you don’t believe that this is the time to get off the sidelines — to hire and invest — I want to know about it. I want to fix it.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce today about the business role in building an economic recovery. Obama’s meeting with the organization was an attempt to mend fences. “I’m here in the interest of being more neighborly,” he said. “I strolled over from across the street, and, look, maybe if we had brought over a fruitcake when I first moved in, we would have gotten off to a better start. But I’m going to make up for it.” The speech, which balanced profit-making motives with Obama’s desire to see business actually hire people, didn’t go over very well with some. Just listen to this jerk: “I think it’s a little outside the bounds to suggest that if we hire people we don’t need,” said Buffalo Supply executive Harold Jackson, “there will be more demand.” We think Harold Jackson is full of crap. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

06 Feb 2011 20:38

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Politics: Obama on Egypt: He’s sure they’ll “work together with us.”

  • What I want is a representative government in Egypt and I have confidence that if Egypt moves in an orderly transition process, they will have a government in Egypt that will work together with us.
  • Barack Obama • Talking to Bill O’Reilly pre-Super Bowl. The conversation of course took a turn towards the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Obama had this to say: “But here’s the thing that we have to understand, there are a whole bunch of secular folks in Egypt, there are a whole bunch of educators and civil society in Egypt that wants to come to the fore as well. So it’s important for us not to say that our own only two options are either the Muslim Brotherhood or a suppressed people.” Obama wants to see an orderly transition that reaches everyone, not just Islamists or any other group, in hopes that the region doesn’t radicalize. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Feb 2011 13:02

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U.S.: Obama gives speech to the National Prayer Breakfast… but why?

  • event The National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event in Washington D.C. boasting thousands of attendees, some foreign dignitaries and officials. The NPB is organized by “The Family,” also known as “The Fellowship.”
  • reality “The Family” is a Christian group with U.S. politicians as members, and included Ugandan MP David Bahati while he authored religion-inspired legislation to execute or imprison “serial” homosexuals.
  • awkwardPresident Obama gave a speech today to a group that considered David Bahati a friend, and hasn’t publicly or vehemently denounced his proposed law, which legalizes grave crimes against humanity.  source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Feb 2011 21:42

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Politics: Obama on Mubarak: Barack is still speaking in code about Egypt

  • An orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.
  • President Obama • Speaking tonight about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s plan to not run for re-election this year, a decision that his administration pushed – to the point where a diplomat reportedly came to visit Mubarak in Egypt. Obama also had this to say about the country’s forthcoming election process: “Furthermore, the process must include a broad spectrum of Egyptian voices and opposition parties. It should lead to elections that are free and fair. And it should result in a government that’s not only grounded in democratic principles but is also responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.” A little clearer than he has been recently regarding Egypt, but our boy’s still speaking in code a little. Criticize the guy if you mean to criticize him! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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