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05 May 2010 09:42

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U.S.: Black Republicans at once empowered and disillusioned by Obama

  • 32 black Republicans
    are running for seats in
    Congress this year
  • five the number of black
    Republicans the RNC thinks have a shot
  • eight number of years since a black Republican served in Congress source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 23:25

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Politics: Two ways Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli is kind of a douche to U.Va

  • first He revoked legal protections from
    gay workers at the university,
    causing a massive outrage
    throughout the state that Gov. Bob
    McDonnell had to clean up.
  • second He’s now trying to subpoena the
    university for the records of a
    former pro-climate-change
    professor, Michael Mann, causing
    more angry outrage. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 11:17

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Politics: Sen. Arlen Specter’s party-changing ploy may be in trouble

  • 47% of primary voters plan on voting for our boy Arlen
  • 39% prefer Joe Sestak in May 18th’s Pennsylvania Democratic primary
  • 14% of voters are ready to give
    Arlen Specter fits source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 May 2010 10:21

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Politics: Times Square incident: Sunday talk shows rife with speculation?

  • When they say it’s certainly a one-off, it’s an appropriate question to say, ‘How do you know that; was this based on real briefings?’ To me, the most basic question in journalism is, ‘How do you know that?’ They won’t always tell you, but you can gauge a lot by their response.
  • Columbia University graduate journalism Professor John Dinges • Regarding the seemingly knowledgeable responses of leaders on the Sunday talk shows about an incident that happened just the night before. Many of them – including New York Sen. Charles Schumer and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – spoke of the incident as if they had the evidence to say it was a lone wolf incident, at a point when investigators were still working. While each claimed later that they had been briefed about the incident beforehand by authorities, it still raised a lot of questions, especially since the investigation was just beginning. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2010 19:23

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Politics: Does the TSA need to take some style tips from New York City?

  • So far we have seen a New York-style rather than a Washington-style response to the threat. And while New York is the least ‘American’ of U.S. cities, its emotional and social response is just what America’s should be.
  • “The Atlantic” writer James Fallows • Discussing how New York’s response to the Times Square car bombing attempt is so unlike that of the Transportation Security Administration’s response to any problem. Essentially, Fallows argues that it doesn’t put people in constant fear that something’s going to happen, but emphasizes resiliency. (Note how quickly Times Square re-opened after the incident.) Regarding the TSA’s methods, Fallows explains: “It’s not just that they’re pointless, uninformative, and insulting to our collective intelligence; it’s that their larger effect is to make people feel frightened rather than brave.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2010 17:16

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Politics: Charlie Crist talked it out with Lieberman – it’s gonna be OK

  • 2006 After Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman got trashed in the
    2006 Democratic primary by
    Ned Lamont, he ran as an independent – and won, handily.
  • 2010 Facing a similar situation in
    a Florida Senate race, Gov. Charlie Crist took some advice from Lieberman, which led to his indie-leaning decision. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Apr 2010 20:15

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U.S.: Charlie Crist goes indie, just bought his first Crystal Castles album

  • My decision to run for the U.S. Senate as a candidate without party affiliation says more about our nation and our state than it says about me. Unfortunately our political system is broken. I think we need a new tone in Washington.
  • Florida Gov. Charlie Crist • Who’s now an indie kid in the Florida Senate’s political race. (Though he went out of his way to say “independent.” WTF?) He loses a lot of backing by turning his back on Republicans, but polls suggest he has a much better chance of winning now that he’s out of the primary. The moderate got pushed out as part of a rightward lean by the party, who’s backing bizarro hippie favorite Marco Rubio. The New York Times suggests that Crist may suffer from that lack of infrastructure, though if Rubio or Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek can’t expand their collective bases, he’s the winner. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Apr 2010 10:28

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Politics: Is Harry Reid pondering what we’re pondering?

The Senate Majority Leader can’t seem to make up his mind – first climate change was coming first, then immigration, now it’s climate change again. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 20:12

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U.S.: Financial reform debate’s a go in the Senate, finally

  • Forget the full Senate vote. They shook hands on it. In what’s a pretty big #(&(@&& deal, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agreed to bring financial reform to the floor. BBC notes that a vote failed three days in a row, but eventually went through after Democrats nearly forced an all-night session. Republicans claim they won some concessions, though. While Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, who’s been working with bill mastermind Christopher Dodd, says he still disagrees with many parts of the bill, but has been promised that Republican amendments would be considered. So that’s something. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

28 Apr 2010 11:11

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Politics: The 2010 election prospects for both parties, in map form

  • Harry Reid’s Nevada seat is currently listed as “toss-up.” The Washington Post put together this huge map suggesting what’s happening with all of the major Congressional races this year. There are a LOT of toss-up states in the Senate alone. Is it enough to switch the balance of power significantly? We’ll see. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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