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22 Feb 2010 08:44

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Politics: Arnold Schwarzenegger trashes on his own party’s antics

  • I don’t want to beat up on my Republican colleagues, but I think it’s kind of politics rather than thinking about only one thing, and this is, how do we support the president? How do we support him and do everything we can in order to stimulate the economy?
  • California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger • Discussing the stimulus plan and Republicans’ reaction to it. The comments, which he made on “This Week” yesterday, also agreed with Obama on GOP members’ handling of the stimulus plan. “I find it interesting that you have a lot of the Republicans running around and pushing back on the stimulus money and saying this doesn’t create any new jobs,” he notes, while noting they’re the ones handing out the checks. “It doesn’t match up.” He says they should support the president. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2010 21:40

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U.S.: Obama wants to slap health insurers over unfair rate increases

  • action Anthem Blue Cross of California is discussing boosting its premiums by 39%, citing a bad economy and (we think) contempt for its customers. People get pissed off.
  • reaction Obama wants to push a new piece into the health care bill giving the government more oversight of premium increases. Who’s singing an anthem now, Anthem? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 10 Comments • Permalink

19 Feb 2010 12:50

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Politics: “Tamed, not eradicated”: Is Keith Obermann right on racism?

  • “Where are they? Where … are they?” Keith Olbermann’s recent statement on racism in the Tea Party movement strikes us as a little true, a little untrue, a little harsh, and a good bit needed. (The context which he brings to his criticism, going from Don Imus to John Mayer, helps his point some.) Now, there are black tea party members (who apparently stick out like sore thumbs if the photo we used with that article says anything), but the overarching point that he’s getting at is one much-better-explained than his MSNBC counterpart Chris Matthews – race is a complex thing in this country and the relative uniformity of the Tea Party movement is an example of how far we still need to go. Is he wrong? Are we? Let us know.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2010 22:03

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Politics: Good news! Robert Gibbs’ tweets subject to Presidential Records Act

  • What I write and what I tweet is archived as a part of this Presidential Records Act of 1978 because it is work product created as part of my job at the White House. People that follow me, people that read that, people that re-tweet that, none of that goes into this or is archived as a result of the Presidential Records Act.
  • White House press secretary Robert Gibbs • On the archive status of his tweets. Gibbs, who just became the first person in the White House to tweet on an official basis, is required to have the information documented. It’s good because it keeps him honest. It’s good because it keeps the history alive. But it’s still kind of strange due to the fact that social media and the PRA aren’t super-compatible. In other news, after a questionable first post, he’s doing a pretty good job of going with the Twitter flow. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2010 12:05

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Politics, U.S.: New York Times: The stimulus bill an unheralded success

  • The program has had its flaws. But the attention they have received is wildly disproportionate to their importance. To hark back to another big government program, it’s almost as if the lasting image of the lunar space program was Apollo 6, an unmanned 1968 mission that had engine problems, and not Apollo 11, the moon landing.
  • New York Times journalist David Leonhardt • In an analysis piece describing why the stimulus program actually worked. The numbers are somewhat inconsistent, but he points out in his article that yes, the stimulus has actually improved the job picture. People disagree on the details and Republicans will use it as a good excuse to trash Obama, but the numbers, Leonhardt argues, favor Obama. One point worth noting: In most worldwide financial crises this century, it generally takes five years for jobs to bounce back to normal numbers. Obama’s already doing better than that, Leonhardt says. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2010 11:08

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U.S.: How much did the stimulus help? Depends on who you ask

  • 1.5+ million jobs have been saved already, according to Obama’s chief economic adviser, who used a mathematical formula
  • 500,000 jobs have been saved so far, according to the CEO of Onvia, a contractor-advising company that tracks government spending source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2010 10:58

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Politics: Obama says the stimulus stopped a “depression.” Twitter reacts.



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

16 Feb 2010 12:54

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U.S.: Obama loans lots of money to a couple of nuclear reactors

  • $8.3 billion goes to two reactors in Burke County, Georgia source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2010 22:00

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Politics: Obama needs an official Twitterer; must not suck at their job

  • Think you know how to use social media to the fullest? The Obama administration might want to use your services. The prior social media queen, Mia Cambronero, is leaving, and they have a job opening for the position. They need your help to make sure Obama’s Twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages are well-updated. Note: One of the main qualifications is “Ready to work hard; this isn’t a 9-5 sort of job.” Secondary note: Newsbusters is freaking out because Cambronero is tied to MoveOn.org. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Feb 2010 21:15

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Politics: We have a tip for Robert Gibbs: Don’t call it “the Twitter”

  • before A while back, our boy Robert Gibbs admitted in an interview that he wasn’t able to use Twitter from the White House, which hurts Obama’s until-then-solid Web 2.0 cred.
  • now Gibbs joined Twitter today as the account @PressSec, and his handle of the service is a little suspect. He called it “the Twitter.” He’s a PR person. Yikes. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
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