Feb
2011 11
2011 11
#CHAMBERLEAKS: US Chamber of Commerce Employing Hackers to Infiltrate Opponents
According to e-mails obtained by ThinkProgress, the Chamber hired the lobbying firm Hunton and Williams. Attorneys for the firm solicited a set of private security firms — HB Gary Federal, Palantir, and Berico Technologies (collectively called Team Themis) — to develop a sabotage campaign against progressive groups and labor unions, including...
Feb
2011 9
2011 9
The Republican Picture
The always insightful 538 Blog by Nate Silver has offered a Graphical Overview of the 2012 Republican Field. Silver explains some of the thinking: One can certainly debate exactly what it means to be a moderate or a conservative, and exactly where any particular candidate falls along this spectrum. Likewise, the insider/outsider dimension is...
Feb
2011 8
2011 8
Iowa’s Erik Helland: Drunk Driver and Proud Supporter of “Legislation to Increase Predictability”
Sorry, Erik. You were already pretty predictable. 30-year-old State Rep. Erik Helland (House District 69) had a guest opinion piece, in yesterday’s Des Moines Register, oddly titled Improve Iowa’s Business Climate, Tout Work Force. What Helland means by “tout work force” is ‘inform businesses that Iowa’s...
Feb
2011 1
2011 1
Confusing Say: Statistics Good, Real Life Bad
NPR reports today that U.S. manufacturer output grew in January for the 18th straight month, while construction spending fell 2.5% in December, down nearly seven percent from December 2009. 11 of 18 manufacturing industries, though, are...
Jan
2011 31
2011 31
Neither Health Care nor the Deficit Are At the Top of America’s Concern List. Jobs Are.
The surest indicator that voters are not as inflamed about either the deficit or “Obamacare” as the right keeps claiming can be found in Karl Rove’s Wall Street Journal musings. To argue that Americans share his two obsessions, Rove now is reduced to citing polls from either Fox or a Brand X called Resurgent Republic, ...
Jan
2011 31
2011 31
Fox Does the TMZ Dance: Dallas Apparently Facing a “Stripper Shortage” Ahead of the Super Bowl
Give us a break, please! A “stripper shortage” is a good thing. Maybe this article should have been titled “Dallas Facing a Morality Boost” or “Things Are Looking Up For Dallas.” Instead, the report that “the 60 or so Dallas-area strip clubs will require approximately 10,000 strippers combined” tops...
Jan
2011 27
2011 27
Speaker Boehner Says He “Made a Mistake” When He Suggested Raising the Retirement Age. And Then He Says “It Should Be on the Table.”
Unsure whether this is actually news or not. It’s seems like it’s news, so we’ll just go with it. Speaker of the House, John Boehner, in a CNN interview, back tracks on previous assertions that raising the retirement age is a way to help fix the deficit, and then suggests that since life expectancy is ...
Jan
2011 27
2011 27
Battlefield Worth: NFL Commissioner Says He’ll Work for $1. Players’ Union Head Says He’ll Work for $0.68
Twitter is the arena in which the game between the NFL owners and Players Union is being played. According to the New York Times: With the current labor agreement between the league and the union expiring March 3, the two sides are jabbing, countering and needling each other on Twitter, Facebook and on Web sites ...
Jan
2011 25
2011 25
State of the Union Survival Kit
Tonight, people across the globe will tune in to see how Barack Obama will describe the state of the world’s most talked about union. There has been intense dialogue leading up to the annual address, much of it to do with the Republican selection for SOTU rebuttal — Paul Ryan got the nod but, naturally, ...
Jan
2011 24
2011 24
Robert Parry on Keith Olbermann’s Removal from MSNBC: Liberals are “Media Orphans.”
Robert Parry, for consotrtiumnews.com, had much to say about the ousting of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC. Parry contends that Olbermann did not leave on his own accord and that his removal is just another in a long line of NBC decisions to place ratings over necessary content and influential political commentary. Olbermann isn’t allowed on ...
Jan
2011 24
2011 24
VIDEO: Incredible Near-Crash with 18-Wheeler
BBC reported this dashboard-mounted footage of something straight out of Hollywood. See it to believe it...
Jan
2011 22
2011 22
VIDEO: Night-Riding Surfer Shreds Record 40-Foot Wave with Special LED Surfboard and a Helicopter
Hawaii. January 20th. Professional big wave surfer, Mark Visser, makes history by achieving a night ride on waves measuring 40 feet off the shores of Maui. Visser and his crew used specially engineered LED lights built into a buoyancy vest and modified into the surfboard. big wave surfer mark visser makes history – night rider ...
