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06 Sep 2010 10:54

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Biz: Housing market: Would a correction help homeowners?

  • Housing needs to go back to reasonable levels. If we keep trying to stimulate the market, that’s the definition of insanity.
  • George Mason University real estate finance professor Anthony B. Sanders • Suggesting we let the housing market go to hell so it can correct itself. It’s a somewhat unique argument, but considering the way that overdevelopment and overbuilding has defined the real estate market of the last decade. So, the debate as it currently stands: Does the Obama administration keep trying to stimulate growth in the housing market, or does it focus less on devlopment and more on ensuring the value of the investments that millions of homeowners have already made? A tough answer, but we think the latter sounds like a good idea. source

05 Sep 2010 20:22

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Politics: Coming soon: More Obama stimulus efforts on the way

  • $100 billion in tax credits to encourage R&D source
  • » And that’s not all: Get ready for even more stimulus talk later this week; Obama plans to launch another major effort to kick-start the economy on Wednesday. The big question: Will he be able to pull it off given all the crap he’s had to take from the right lately? (In fact, it’s good to note that these efforts are relatively modest because of that.)

01 Sep 2010 12:06

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World: Barack Obama: Kicker of asses and taker of names

  • There is no Plan B. Obama is Plan B.
  • Amjad Atallah, co-director of the New America’s Middle Eastern Task Force • Regarding the precarious nature of the upcoming peace talks, initiated by Obama, between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. We really hope, by the way, that this quote resurfaces ten years from now in an action movie about the Obama presidency. source

31 Aug 2010 20:31

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U.S.: Obama: The (combat end of the) Iraq war is officially over and stuff

  • Mission accomplished? Obama’s presidential address tonight marked the end of a long war (as far as combat operations go), and the next step will be to move forward and deal with more pressing concerns – Afghanistan and the economy. Now, there were certain things that might cause great disagreement – the somewhat firm emphasis that we’ll be getting out entirely next year is kind of a biggie – but ultimately, average people aren’t in this mode anymore. They want to see a stronger economy, not a never-ending, ultra-contentious war. source

31 Aug 2010 20:04

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U.S.: Watch the video of Obama’s Iraq speech here, guys

  • Here’s The first half …
  • … Annnnnd here’s The second half

31 Aug 2010 20:00

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29 Aug 2010 20:34

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U.S.: Obama says that he’ll work harder for Katrina victims

Here’s Obama speaking at Xavier University today. He said that he hopes that Katrina’s legacy after five years can be “not one of neglect, but of action.” source
 

27 Aug 2010 13:39

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Politics: Poll: Muslims like Obama more than anybody else

  • 78% of Muslims give Obama high approval
  • 63% of atheists and agnostics do the same
  • 24% of Mormons think he’s the bee’s knees source
  • » Most Christians are mixed: As Christian-based religions go, Mormons aren’t alone in their dislike of Obama; just half of Catholics approved of him and 43 percent of Protestants did. Jews were another group that greatly approved of Obama, with 61 percent giving him love. Other non-Christian religions largely approved of him too. Despite this, it’s worth noting that he’s down in every religious category listed, but none more than Mormons, where he’s fallen by 19 percent.

24 Aug 2010 10:15

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Culture: John Boehner throws down gauntlet on Obama’s economic peeps

  • President Obama should ask for – and accept – the resignations of the remaining members of his economic team, starting with Secretary Geithner and Larry Summers, the head of the National Economic Council.
  • House Minority Leader John Boehner • Throwing a grenade into the whole debate on Obama’s economic policies. Great. While Obama’s probably going to ignore this request, the fact tof the matter is that he’s not exactly on steady ground because his economic policies haven’t really turned the economy around as of yet. But his people blame Bush’s economic policies. Which, you know, is totally not a stretch of the imagination. source

23 Aug 2010 00:14

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Politics: Max Headroom: A fact check is not a second opinion, just an FYI

  • A rip from Howard DeanJust remember, Obama staffers: He says this out of love, not hate. Howard Dean, still an icon of progressivism, ripped into Obama’s staff today, saying that they didn’t understand the concerns of regular people in their own party. Ouch.
  • Blago explains himselfOn “Fox News Sunday,” the man, the myth and the hair did a pretty terrible job evading Chris Wallace’s questions about how his case could hurt Democrats nationally. We think he should probably stick to awful reality TV instead.
  • Fact check? Not reallyWhile the guy they have on here certainly makes some good points about Franklin Graham’s rant on CNN the other day, the fact of the matter is that Boston University professor Stephen Prothero is analyzing, not “fact-checking.”