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23 Feb 2010 21:08

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U.S.: The Supreme Court stuck between rock and hard place on terror

  • The government has spent a decade arguing that our clients cannot advocate for peace, cannot inform about international human rights.
  • Georgetown law professor David D. Cole • Arguing in favor of the Humanitarian Law Project, which wants to provide support to peaceful efforts made by organizations the U.S. classifies as terrorist groups. This is a tough one, as moderate justice Antony Kennedy noted, and it ought to make things fun for the Supreme Court, which has to decide the case. Solicitor General Elena Kagan noted that the law was in place as a deterrent: “What Congress decided was when you help Hezbollah build homes, you are also helping Hezbollah build bombs. That’s the entire theory behind this statute, and it’s a reasonable theory.” source

23 Feb 2010 20:53

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U.S.: No, Dick Cheney’s fifth heart attack isn’t a rare occurrence

  • yes Former vice president Dick Cheney had a heart attack. It’s his fifth in 32 years. Dude’s had a long history of heart problems big and small.
  • no Uncle Fester isn’t going to die. He’s still alive because medicine is improving (and he spoke at CPAC). It isn’t rare at all. source

23 Feb 2010 09:29

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U.S.: People trust most politicians as far as they can throw them

  • 26% amount of people who mostly trust the federal government’s intent
  • 51% amount most people trust their local government on a similar scale source

22 Feb 2010 21:13

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U.S.: Dick Cheney has chest pains, in the hospital again

The former vice president had his first heart attack 32 years ago. He’s had four since. So yeah, his heart isn’t exactly like the most stable thing ever. source

22 Feb 2010 18:45

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22 Feb 2010 10:23

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22 Feb 2010 10:18

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U.S.: Get ready to sink your teeth into health care again – for the first time

  • Admit it, you’ve been waiting for this moment all morning. Obama’s got a health care plan for everyone to dig into at length, and a fresh Monday morning is as good a time as any to sink one’s teeth into health care. Reuters has the details if you don’t want to dig in, but let’s put it this way: This is put together as if bro wants to get it passed. ‘Nuff said. source
 

22 Feb 2010 09:48

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Politics: Most people say the government’s broken, and then some

  • 73% of Americans think that the government is broken, as Joe Biden sez
  • 15% would venture to disagree with that sentiment
  • 12% would venture to not give a crap about that question source

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

21 Feb 2010 20:58

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Politics: “A narrative of impending tyranny” our new favorite phrase

  • In a word, the Times editors and Barstow know this narrative is nuts, but something stops them from saying so — despite the fact that they must have spent over $100,000 on this one story.
  • Our boy Jay Rosen • Regarding a recent New York Times article about the Tea Party movement which seemed to accept a seemingly wrong-on-its-face statement about our country – “a narrative of impending tyranny” – as fact. This phrase floored Rosen enough that he wrote a huge blog post about it. The point that he’s getting at, and that we completely agree with, is that the need for objectivity doesn’t mean you can’t consider or critique what’s being said. Being impartial is one thing; being oblivious, or repeating what’s being said without qualification is another altogether. We owe readers more than that. source