| "Glenn Beck Becomes Publishing Legend With Creepy Children's Book" |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|06:40 pm] |
Glenn Beck Becomes Publishing Legend With Creepy Children's Book (NWS)
Erin Carlson | Nov. 9, 2009, 4:16 PM
File this under Things That Might Severely Traumatize Your Children: Glenn Beck has authored a holiday tome for kiddies entitled "The Christmas Sweater," and according to publisher Simon & Schuster, it will debut at No. 1 on the New York Time's children's picture book bestseller list.
( Read more... )
Source @ Business Insider |
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| And then there were 61? New poll says Snowe would lose to conservative challenger in GOP primary |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|06:34 pm] |
It looks like Olympia Snowe could have a pretty hard time getting nominated for another term in the Senate as a Republican.
There are now more folks in her party who disapprove than approve of Snowe's job performance. 46% of GOP voters think she's doing a bad job to 40% who give her good marks.
Snowe is still pretty popular with the liberal/moderate wing of her party, earning a 64% approval rating from them. But even in Maine 68% of Republicans are conservatives and they give her just a 29% approval rating with a 56% majority disapproving of her.
Asked how they would vote in a primary contest between Snowe and a more conservative challenger, just 31% of likely Republican voters say they would pick Snowe while 59% say they would go for the conservative alternative.
Obviously 2012 is a long ways away. Snowe could get herself back into the good graces of the Republican electorate, or a conservative challenge could fail to materialize. But given the recent successes of the Club for Growth, at least within the sphere of GOP voters, Snowe seems a pretty likely target.
Snowe's overall popularity is still decent, with 51% of voters approving of her to 36% disapproving. That owes to a 60% approval rating with Democrats and a 51% mark with independents. Even her pretty good marks with Democrats speak to the perils of moderation though- she's down from a 70% approval rating with them three weeks ago. It may be that while her actions on health care have proven to be too much for Republicans, they're not enough for some segment of the Democratic electorate.
Ultimately Snowe's future political survival may have to come as an independent- winning either party's primary could be a challenge. And the good news for her is that Maine has been unusually hospitable toward independent candidates, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility.
Primarying (is that a word?) Snowe has to be cutting off the GOP's nose to spite its face. I wonder if this will affect her health care vote . . .
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| RI gov vetoes same-sex funeral planning rights |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|06:33 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
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PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed legislation Tuesday that would give same-sex couples in Rhode Island the same right to plan the funerals of their late partners as married couples.
The socially conservative Republican said the proposed protection represents a "disturbing trend" of the incremental erosion of heterosexual marriage. Rhode Island does not recognize same-sex marriage.
"If the General Assembly believes it would like to address the issue of domestic partnership, it should place the issue on the ballot and let the people of Rhode Island decide," Carcieri said in a letter to lawmakers.
Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in the Legislature and frequently override Carcieri's objections.
Sen. Rhoda Perry and Rep. David Segal, the bill sponsors, said they would seek to override the veto. They proposed the legislation after one of their constituents was unable to retrieve the body of his late partner from the state medical examiner for weeks because they weren't married or next-of-kin.
Gay rights supporters were indignant at the veto.
"It is absolutely unconscionable that Gov. Carcieri would step in the middle of people being able to take care of their loved ones at such a sorrowful time," said Kathy Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, which advocates for gay marriage. "Why would he make it more difficult? I just don't get it."
The proposed funeral planning rights would apply to same-sex couples who have had a relationship for at least one year and pass other tests, such as owning property together. Carcieri said some of the guidelines were vague.
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| BRAVE MARINE ATTACKS TERRORIST WITH TIRE IRON—OKAY SO MAYBE IT WAS JUST SOME RANDOM GUY WITH A BEARD |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|06:07 pm] |
TAMPA - A U.S. Marine reservist attacked a visiting Greek Orthodox priest he believed to be a terrorist, Tampa police say.
When the priest tried seeking directions from Jasen D. Bruce, 28, of Tampa, on Monday, Bruce struck the priest with a tire iron and chased him.
Police say he attacked the Rev. Alexios Marakis, 29, of Crete, Greece, who was visiting St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs and wound up lost in Tampa.
Marakis had performed a blessing of another retired Greek priest in the West Shore area and then accidentally exited Interstate 275 north into downtown Tampa. He followed cars into the Seaport Channelside Apartments on Twiggs Street and got out to ask Bruce for help.
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"During the chase, the suspect called 911 and claimed an Arabic male attempted to rob him and he was going to take him into custody," a Tampa Police Department news release states. "When officers arrived, the suspect claimed the man was a terrorist."
Marakis, who speaks limited English, was treated at Tampa General Hospital and released.
Marakis declined to comment today, saying he did not speak much English. The Rev. Michael Eaccarino of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral said Marakis is doing well.
Police came to Bruce's home for a follow-up interview. Bruce's lawyer was there, and Bruce wasn't helpful, police say.
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Officers say they are trying to determine if the attack meets the standard for a hate crime.
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| Excerpt from Carrie Prejean's "Still Standing" |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|05:37 pm] |
In her memoir, “Still Standing,” the former Miss California recounts her infamous response about gay marriage at the 2009 Miss USA competition. An excerpt.
My moment of truth
“Next, let’s have California, Carrie Prejean.” I looked directly at Billy Bush, Access Hollywood star and host of the Miss USA 2009 pageant. I strode over to the center of the stage, trying to display ease and confidence.
Beneath the smile, however, my stomach churned with anxiety. When you’re on stage like that, though the bright lights blur out the crowd, you’re in a proverbial fish bowl: all eyes are on you. The lights make you want to squint, but you try to smile and walk across the stage naturally, even though you’ve practiced this same walk ten thousand times before.
This was my last test. We were down to five semi-finalists. One of us would be crowned Miss USA. Answering any question before a world audience of seven million people is going to be hard; mine would be a lot harder than I could have imagined.
I stepped forward and reached into a glass bowl and removed the folded card that would reveal the identity of my questioner. It was Judge Number Eight — Perez Hilton, self-styled celebrity blogger and professional gossip.
“Are we worried?” asked the co-host, actress Nadine Velazquez. “You should be,” a deep voice said into a microphone. I turned to face Perez Hilton, a jowly, boyish-looking man with blond highlights in his hair. It was his deep voice that had given me this warning — no doubt half in jest, but half menacingly too.
He asked his question: “Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit? Why or why not?”
( More behind the cut )
Source.
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| N.Y. Senate Delays Gay Marriage Vote |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|05:35 pm] |
The fate of same-sex marriage collided with a dysfunctional political process in Albany on Tuesday as the State Senate delayed a vote on a bill that would make it legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry in New York, putting the issue off indefinitely.
Though Gov. David A. Paterson put the bill on the agenda for an emergency session that convened Tuesday and gay rights advocates had been aggressively lobbying for an immediate vote, the legislation’s prospects have grown more complex in recent days. Supporters have had difficulty securing the 32 votes they need for approval in the Senate, and a dispute between Mr. Paterson and legislative leaders over how to close a budget deficit that now exceeds $3 billion has held up votes on major legislation.
It remained unclear when — or if — the Senate would take up the marriage bill. Wednesday is Veterans Day, a holiday, and legislators were heading back to their districts late Tuesday. Mr. Paterson said he was hopeful an agreement could be reached on cutting the deficit by Monday, meaning that the Legislature could return to Albany early next week to vote on both the budget and the marriage bill.
“Hopefully next week we clear this up,” Mr. Paterson said.
( Read more... )
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| Discharged under 'don't ask, don't tell' |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|05:41 pm] |
Darren Manzella saw two tours of duty in Iraq, first as a combat medic and later as a liaison officer. He earned three promotions in his six years as a U.S. Army sergeant.
Despite his professional success, Manzella says he began to question his personal life.
"After returning from my first deployment in Iraq, after seeing death and violence, losing friends and comrades, it really made me look over my life," he said. "I looked at some issues I had always had trouble with. I had debated, 'Am I gay?' "
As he struggled with his sexual identity, Manzella began a relationship with a man. Soon after, while in Texas between tours, Manzella said he began receiving anonymous, harassing e-mails and telephone calls.
"They told me, 'You are stupid, the Army is going to kick you out, but before they do, they are going to take your rank away and all your money away.' "
( Read more... )
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| Suicide likely in national goalkeeper's train death |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|11:09 pm] |
German international goalkeeper Robert Enke has been killed after being hit by a train at a level crossing, Hannover police said on Tuesday.
Police said that the death was likely a suicide.
( More behind the cut )
His poor wife - to lose first a child and then her husband...
ETA: Sorry, forgot the source. |
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| On Counting Jobs "Created or Saved" by Obama Stimulus Passage |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|02:53 pm] |
In recent weeks, seemingly every effort has been made by those opposed to the president to frame the current economic situation in the worst possible light. Lately, it's even as if many Republicans conveniently seemingly forgot that the new administration did not even have their first day in office until the economy was literally on a Second Great Depression trajectory, and at that time losing what is now estimated to be an average of three quarters of a million to a million jobs a month during the first quarter of 2009. (Again, a quarter that the new administration is clearly not responsible for, but this inconvenient truth still escapes those who somehow find it in their own heads to pin the blame for the currently high unemployment rate on the Obama administration).
This recreating of history and distortion of the facts is often most obvious in the mainstream media, which despite what some (Faux, for example) say, is largely owned and operated by big business-friendly ideologues, not lefties. It becomes most comical when the mainstream media starts pointing at the mainstream media for being "liberal." In reality, for example MSNBC is probably much closer to just not being conservative-enough for the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Bill O'Reily, than actually being a "far left organization," as Bill O calls them. For example, most of the time when discussing economic issues, MSNBC is busy supporting the positions of their sister station, that ultra left CNBC. If MSNBC was really "far left," one should actually expect them to be beating a daily drumbeat for the impeachment of everyone in both the Bush & Obama administrations, and imprisonment of all the countless politicians who have been in bed with Goldman, et. al. That is obviously not the case, duh.
Yesterday, Gary Burtless over at Brookings points out the administration actually underestimates the jobs saved/created: Counting the Jobs Produced by the Stimulus, by Gary Burtless, Brookings: When the stimulus package was enacted last winter, the Administration said its goal was to create or save 3½ million jobs by the end of next year. How closely has the Administration come to achieving that goal? A couple of weeks ago the White House issued an interim report on jobs directly created or saved as a result of one part of the stimulus package, the grants or contracts directly made by the federal government or indirectly provided through federal aid to state and local governments. The report has been subject to minor carping and major criticism. ... In essence, the reports distilled by the White House provided evidence from 150,000 anecdotes. According to the Administration’s summary, the reports offered evidence that 640,000 jobs have been directly created or saved... Jared Bernstein, the Vice President’s chief economist, emphasized that the 640,000 count represents an incomplete tally of the total jobs added or saved as a result of the stimulus package. It ignores, for example, the jobs created or saved as a result of personal tax cuts or hikes in unemployment compensation checks. We cannot collect anecdotes from Walmart, Safeway, or Disney World telling us how many jobs have been produced by higher consumer spending induced by the stimulus package. ... We must rely on elaborate, less transparent data analysis to uncover the indirect effects of the stimulus package. When the indirect effects are included, White House economists estimate that over a million jobs have so far been added or saved as a result of the stimulus. The Wall Street Journal suggests that the White House estimate of 640,000 jobs directly saved or created may overstate direct job creation by 20,000 positions. Even if the Journal’s estimate is correct, the difference represents less than 2% of the total number of jobs directly or indirectly saved and created by the stimulus. ... Unless the labor market deteriorates much further, I am pessimistic about the political prospects for another major stimulus package. The Administration’s opponents have been successful in sowing doubts about the wisdom of the last stimulus. ... In this political environment it is unlikely Congress will pass a major new stimulus package anytime soon. What is more likely - indeed, what is essential - is the continuation of stimulus programs that are currently scheduled to expire. Last week the House and Senate extended unemployment protection for workers who have lost jobs in the current recession. These protections ought to be extended until the job market improves significantly... If unemployment is likely to remain over 9% for an extended time, there is a compelling case for additional public infrastructure investment. Given high unemployment in the construction and capital goods industries and federal borrowing costs that remain near a post-war low, it makes sense to invest in public capital projects over the next few years. If the federal government does not have adequate plans for such investments, it should start making them soon.
As Burtless highlights, counting up jobs saved or lost directly is challenging enough, and easily off a few percentage points, but the even greater totals saved or created "indirectly" is almost impossible to know, exactly. But does one need to be absolutely precisce to put out a formula?
Well, for all those who insist that the stimulus has somehow "failed" (Fox News, Stephen Moore, John Boehner, etc.) and also for those who are challenged at coming up with a "total" of jobs created or saved "directly + indirectly" by the Obama stimulus, I have a pretty easy formula for you to use.
It goes like this:
You take the total job loss during the 1st quarter of 2009, when the stimulus was barely dried ink on a piece of paper, and extrapolate that out to what would have been seen in Qs 2 & 3 given the trajectory of the economy (remember, when Obama took office most agree that we were sliding into another Great Depression), vs. the job losses actually seen during the 2cd & 3rd quarters when the stimulus had actually started dramatically hitting the economy. This formula is really quite simple really, so even a nucklehead should be able to get it.
Real Net Job Losses in Q1, when we were sliding into another Great Depression: About 2,500,000
Extrapolated Net Job Losses for Q2 on the GD2 Trajectory: About 2,500,000
Extrapolated Net Job Losses for Q3 on the GD2 Trajectory: About 2,500,000
Total GD2 Trajectory Net Job Losses for Qs 2&3 without stimulus in place: About 5,000,000
Actual Net Job Losses over Q2 + Q3, and while under Obama stimulus plan: About 2,000,000
Actual Net Jobs "Saved or Created" under Obama stimulus plan in 2009 through the end of the third quarter: About 3 Million
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| Kiwis slap 'vacant' sign on Paris Hilton |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|07:03 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Shogo Sakai - Gentle Rain | ] |
 Paris Hilton's lawyers are preparing to move against the New Zealand firm who thought it would be a bit of wheeze to advertise empty billboard space in Auckland by sticking up a fetching snap of El Reg's fave celebutard with the slogan "Vacant".
According to the Sunday Star Times, the outrage (pic here) is the work of Media5, which has around 70 billboard sites in Wellington and Auckland. The company's Adam McGregor insisted it was merely "a bit of fun", and explained: "We wanted to draw some attention to some of our unsold display as we expanded, so we briefed a friend who runs his own boutique agency to work up a range of creative concepts. "We liked the ones he came up with using high-profile public figures the best because they were fun." He continued: "We were thinking about using Winston Peters, but Paris is much prettier and she has a proven ability to laugh at herself. We assume that the agency has taken care of the rights to the image of Paris, but we will ask the question." To answer McGregor's question, Hilton's manager Jamie Freed said Media5 "had no permission to use Hilton's image, and they could expect to hear from Hilton's lawyers". If that does happen, then McGregor said he'd "probably" pull the campaign. He concluded: "We're not trying to offend anyone." ® Source: The Register
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| ИФ РАН: ВЫСЕЛЕНИЕ ИЗ РАЯ |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|12:01 am] |
НА САЙТЕ АПН ВЫШЛА НАША СОВМЕСТНАЯ С ИГОРЕМ ДЖАДАНОМ (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) igor_dzhadan) СТАТЬЯ "ИФ РАН: ВЫСЕЛЕНИЕ ИЗ РАЯ", ПОСВЯЩЁННАЯ БРОНЗОВОМУ БЮСТУ АКАДЕМИКА ГУСЕЙНОВА
Однако, странно, что в свободной демократической стране, в которой 85% населения этнические русские, интеллектуальной политикой по-прежнему довольно успешно пытаются рулить люди, откровенно стесняющиеся употреблять слово "русский" в своих произведениях и выступлениях. Платон и Аристотель специально подчёркивали, что пишут свои произведения для эллинов. Какая часть работ сотрудников ИФ РАН предназначена русским, абсолютно непонятно, поскольку слово "русский" в них встречается почти исключительно в историческом контексте. Эти люди в душе давно похоронили русский народ, и совершенно неудивительно, что теперь, когда речь ведётся о выселении их с насиженных мест – здания ИФ РАН в центре Москвы – русские не горят желанием выходить на улицу, чтобы защитить фальшивый "оплот философской науки".
Если таковы люди, получающие зарплату от российского государства за решение вопроса, кого считать философом, а кого нет, то плохи дела русской философии. Русская философия никогда не поднимется с колен, не освободившись от навязанных ей в период слабости русского государства институций, единственный смысл существования которых в том, чтобы кастрировать и топтать независимую русскую мысль. По большому счёту следовало бы не только выселить, но и ликвидировать как академическую институцию «Жёлтый дом». Это лишь ускорит движение страны к свободе, которое ей так необходимо. Периодическое заигрывание высших лиц государства с мастодонтами позорного (пост)советского безмыслия в свободной, независимой от этно-олигархических группировок России не только эстетически отвратительно, но и политически неприемлемо.
( Read more... ) |
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| Do Young Men Need A New Kind Of Masculinity? |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|02:39 pm] |
Courtney Martin writes in the American Prospect about groups of young men who are trying to shake off the homophobic, misogynistic, Tucker-Max-inflected aspects of modern masculinity. The problem is: what's left?
In a way, Martin's article is optimistic — she writes about young men getting together not to slam feminists or domestic violence victims, but rather to "share strategies for getting college men involved in gender-based activism" and say "no to toxic masculinity." But what does nontoxic masculinity look like? For young, feminist men — and yes, there are some — this is a difficult question. Martin writes that "we've certainly got plenty of pictures of men who are stubbornly clinging to the old paradigm of maleness," but relatively few examples of any new paradigm (the closest, she says, is Stephen Colbert). As a result, Martin explains,
Many young men, it seems, are stuck in stage one of gender consciousness. They want to prove that they are one of the "good ones" and separate themselves from all the gendered behaviors and beliefs that they now see as oppressive. That, or they wallow in guilt. (This is not unlike the stage many white kids get stuck in upon fully realizing their role in perpetuating racism.) At worst, this point of view is paralyzing. At best, it leads to burnout.
( Read more... )
Source was too busy fawning over Stephen's beard-o to comment. |
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| Fort Hood Memorial |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:41 pm] |
President Barack Obama has flown to Texas to lead a memorial service at Fort Hood Army base for the people killed in last week's shooting rampage and to console their relatives and loved ones.
Accompanying Obama to Texas on Air Force One, spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president will talk briefly about each of the 13 who fell under a gunman's siege last Thursday. The spokesman said Obama also plans to praise "the dedication of the armed forces" and say just how much people all over the country were touched by acts of heroism and professionalism under incredible stress.
Gibbs called the ceremony "a very solemn event" and said Obama is proud to take part in "honoring these men and women so close to Veterans Day."
HuffPo: Fort Hood Memorial (VIDEO): WATCH LIVE
CNN
Live Stream from Fox in Austin
Obama Ft. Hood Speech: FULL TEXT Of Memorial Remarks
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| Columbia Professor Punches Woman In "White Privilege" Brawl |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:21 pm] |
Police arrested a Columbia University architecture professor suspected of punching a female colleague in the face in a racially charged bar brawl on Friday. Professor Lionel McIntyre, 59, allegedly struck Camille Davis, a production manager in Columbia's theater department, after arguing with her and another man about "white privilege" in Toast on Broadway and 125th Street.
According to the New York Post, at around 10:30 pm, McIntyre, who is black, shoved Davis, who is white. When a bar employee tried to separate the two, the architecture professor punched Davis in the face. "The punch was so loud, the kitchen workers in the back heard it over all the noise," bar back Richie Velez, 28, said. "I was on my way over when he punched Camille and she fell on top of me."
When another bar patron, who is white, scolded McIntyre for punching a woman, the professor took a swing at him as well, the tabloid reports. "He knocked the glasses right off my face," said the man, identified by only his first name, Shannon. "The punch came out of nowhere. Mac was talking to us about white privilege and what I was doing about it — apparently I wasn't doing enough."
According to police reports obtained by the Columbia Spectator, Davis suffered "bruising and redness in the right eye.” The Post reports that McIntyre — who once served as co-liaison for an organization called the "People to People Friendship Delegation" — and the victim had argued about race in the past. McIntyre was released without bail at his arraignment last night and told the paper: "It was a very unfortunate event. I didn't mean for it to explode the way it did."
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| My mom e-mailed me this today, and I thought it was relevant. |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|11:59 am] |
Roger Ebert: Sign the Social Contract
It has been argued that universal health care is an offense against individual liberty. I've been told by readers that they'll deal with their own health care, thank you very much, and have no interest in government interference. At root this is a libertarian argument; conservatives are more likely to oppose it on the grounds that it undermines the free enterprise system. They warn of a Nanny State.
But what, I ask libertarians, about your families? Your children? What if the day comes that you lose your job-based health insurance and can't afford your own? What if you're denied coverage? That's their business, they tell me. I should butt out.( Read more... )
(Source) |
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