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19 Dec 2009 12:24

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U.S.: Congress sends a huge military spending bill to Obama

  • $636 billion to do all sorts of willy-nilly with source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2009 19:13

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Politics: Let’s use a metaphor to explain the climate change deal

  • Like riding a bike Let’s say you gave yourself two weeks to learn how to ride a bike, hoping you’d be able to ride around the neighborhood with your friends. But your mom was scared you might ride too far away, so you rode around the block a few times using training wheels. You’d been working on it, hoping you could eventually take off your training wheels.
  • Hopes dashed A couple weeks later, you ask your dad (who’s been absent lately, on account of work) if you can ride your bike around the neighborhood. Your dad said no. However, he’ll let you take off the training wheels and said things will change “someday.” Problem is, by the time “someday” comes, your friends won’t be around anymore.
  • Metaphor to realityThe “bike” is climate change. The “training wheels” are the deal in Copenhagen. “Mom” is the U.S. and other western powers, and “Dad” is Barack Obama. Your “friends” are other, less powerful nations who were held at the G8’s mercy. And, well, the “neighborhood” is how far we can go with emissions. We failed today, guys. Badly. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Dec 2009 08:53

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U.S., World: Perhaps Obama should’ve been in Copenhagen longer than a day

  • We are running short on time. And at this point, the question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. Whether we prefer posturing to action.
  • Barack Obama • Trying to set a mood at the Copenhagen climate change summit, which has fallen over on itself in a mess of infighting, criticism and so on and so forth. The Guardian seems to play it off as a terrible speech that promised little, though we’ve seen few places that agree with them so far. In other news, China isn’t offering much of anything either. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2009 09:16

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U.S.: If they can make a climate change deal, the U.S. will help – big time

  • $100 billion in U.S. help to fight global warming source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Dec 2009 09:23

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U.S., World: Another tension point: The U.S. froze a lot of Iran’s money

  • $2 billion in funds has been held up since June 2008 source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Dec 2009 01:10

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U.S.: The government settles with Indian tribes over squandered trusts

  • $3.2 billion – a big settlement, but not nearly enough source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

07 Dec 2009 20:23

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U.S.: It’s likely that you, too, have had a fresh drink of contaminated water

  • 49 million people have had a swig of some dirty dew source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

04 Dec 2009 15:25

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World: The U.S. will have a little help from their friends in Afghanistan

  • 7,000 troops coming from NATO, too source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Dec 2009 23:34

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U.S.: Ben just got Bernanke’d by Bernie Sanders. Ouch.

  • bernanke1202
  • Yeah … Our boy’s gonna have trouble getting a second term. Ben Bernanke’s first term as Federal Reserve chair was marked by a whole bunch of crazy bank failures, financial market distress, bailouts, and pissed-off tea partiers who probably want to hurt him. On the eve of a second confirmation hearing, one independent senator has said “enough.” Bernie Sanders plans to put a hold on Bernanke’s nomination, which means he might be able to filibuster easily. He’s pretty much screwed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Nov 2009 10:03

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U.S.: We’re not thankful for a Thanksgiving day shooting in Florida

  • 4 people, including a child, were killed; the suspect’s on the run source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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