Archive for January, 2009
Karl Rove Gets Supoenaed by Congress, Again
USA Today: Democrat John Conyers of Michigan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, today subpoenaed former White House aide Karl Rove to testify a week from today before the committee.
It’s the second time Conyers has tried to get Rove to appear in connection with what he calls the politicization of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, including the firing of U.S. attorneys and the prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.
Conyers said in a press release that while the Bush administration said Rove had immunity, President Obama disagreed with that claim. “Change has come to Washington, and I hope Karl Rove is ready for it. After two years of stonewalling, it’s time for him to talk,” Conyers said.
It’s unclear if Rove will be compelled to appear next week. Eric Holder, Obama’s choice for attorney general, has not yet been confirmed. And Obama has said he wants to look…
Liberals in Love: Examining the Media’s ‘Romance’ with Obama
Bill Steigerwald, Pittsburgh Tribune: Award-winning network TV reporter Bernard Goldberg is back with A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media. The Regnery Publishing book indicts mainstream print and electronic journalists not for having liberal biases, which are a given, but for becoming open and unapologetic activists for Obama.
Q: What’s your 60-second synopsis of your book?
A: This is not a book about the same old media bias. This time journalists cross a very bright line. This time they stopped being witnesses to history and they were intent on helping to shape history. They moved from media bias to media activism. In my whole life I have never seen the media get on board for one candidate the way they did this time around and — this is very important — they did it without even a hint of embarrassment.
It isn’t just…
President Obama Ordered Air Strikes on Villages in Tribal Area
Ewen MacAskill,The Guardian: Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for his first military action on Friday, missile strikes against suspected militants in Pakistan which killed at least 18 people.
Four days after assuming the presidency, he was consulted by US commanders before they launched the two attacks. Although Obama has abandoned many of the “war on terror” policies of George Bush while he was president, he is not retreating from the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.
The US believes they are hiding in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, and made 30 strikes last year in which more than 200 people were killed. In the election, Obama hinted at increased operations in Pakistan, saying he thought Bush had made a mistake in switching to Iraq before completing the job against al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US marine corp commander said yesterday that his 22,000 troops should be…
Just Plane Despicable: ‘Rescued’ CitiGroup Buying $50 Million Jet
NY Post: Beleaguered Citigroup is upgrading its mile-high club with a brand-new $50 million corporate jet — only this time, it’s the taxpayers who are getting screwed.
Even though the bank’s stock is as cheap as a gallon of gas and it’s burning through a $45 billion taxpayer-funded rescue, the airhead execs pushed through the purchase of a new Dassault Falcon 7X, according to a source familiar with the deal.
The French-made luxury jet seats up to 12 in a plush interior with leather seats, sofas and a customizable entertainment center, according to Dassault’s sales literature. It can cruise 5,950 miles before refueling and has a top speed of 559 mph.
There are just nine of these top-of-the-line models in the United States, with Dassault’s European factory churning out three to four 7Xs a month.
Citigroup decided to get its new wings two years ago, when the financial-services giant was flush with cash, but…
Geithner Wins OK for U.S. Treasury Despite Tax Woes
WASHINGTON (Reuters): Timothy Geithner won confirmation as U.S. Treasury secretary on Monday as the U.S. Senate set aside misgivings about his past income tax problems in light of his experience battling the financial crisis.
Geithner, 47, was expected to be sworn in quickly to help lead President Barack Obama’s efforts to stabilise a worsening economy. The Senate approved his nomination on a 60-34 vote.
With the U.S. economy in full-blown crisis, Geithner’s experience in dealing with the past year’s rapid-fire rescues of key financial firms trumped the taint from his late payment of $34,000 (24,287 pounds) in self-employment taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund earlier this decade.
The new Treasury chief is expected to soon unveil reforms to the United States’ $700 billion financial bailout program to provide more support for housing and credit markets, and possibly a new effort to absorb troubled assets from banks.
…
‘Drunken Negro Face’ Cookies On Sale at Greenwich Village Bakery
Gothamist: At at a time when any decent baker should have been selling racially harmonious black and white cookies by the truckload, one Greenwich Village bakery popular with celebrities and shows like Sex and the City has outraged neighbors by selling a “Drunken Negro Face” cookie in, um, “honor” of President Obama.
A shocked customer tells My Fox NY that Ted Kefalinos, proprietor of Lafayette French Pastry, asked her, “Would you like some drunken negro heads to go with your coffee? They’re in honor of our new president. He’s following in the same path of Abraham Lincoln; he will get his.”
Later, her friend stopped by the bakery and said Kefalinos corrected her about the name of the cookies—they’re actually drunken “N-word” cookies. She says the backwards baker then repeated the dark suggestion that, like Lincoln, President Obama “will get what’s coming to him.”
Go Secret Service, go!
…
Obama Aims for Oil Independence
Obama on the three steps to energy independence:
President Barack Obama has called for the US to become energy independent, saying its reliance on foreign oil and global warming posed threats.
Outlining his energy priorities, he said the country would not be held “hostage to dwindling resources, hostile regimes, and a warming planet”.
He called for greater fuel efficiency and an “energy economy” aimed at creating millions of jobs.
Guantanamo Case Files in Disarray
Washington Post:
President Obama’s plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them.
Instead, they found that information on individual prisoners is “scattered throughout the executive branch.” A Cabinet-level panel named to review each case will have to spend its initial weeks and perhaps months scouring the corners of the federal government in search of relevant material.
Several former Bush administration officials… said that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were reluctant to share information, and that the Bush administration’s focus on detention and interrogation made preparation of viable prosecutions a far lower priority.
Darrel Vandeveld, a former military prosecutor at Guantanamo, said evidence was “strewn throughout the prosecution offices in desk drawers, bookcases packed…
Smart Move in Letting You Pick Price?
By letting Internet buyers name their price for its 2007 album In Rainbows, Radiohead introduced many people to the retailing strategy called “pay what you want.” A new article in the Journal of Marketing sets out to study the mechanism.
The experimenters, Ju-Young Kim, Martin Natter and Martin Spann, persuaded three small businesses in or near Frankfurt — a buffet restaurant, a movie theater and a delicatessen — to adopt pay-what-you-want schemes. On average, customers across the three businesses (who were not always aware of the products’ regular prices) paid 86 percent of normal rates.
Associated Press Delivered Fake News
News is the product from the media industry. It is marketed like any other product. A few days before this past Christmas the Associated Press put out a story that was picked up by virtually every news outlet in the nation, usually with the headline: As Economy Falters, More People Giving Up Pets.
Read the rest of the article at:
http://searchwarp.com/swa426500.htm
The Audacity of Dope
It’s obaminable!
Sullivan County police busted an upstate New York drug ring that was dealing heroin under the positively presidential-sounding “Obama” brand name.
Five suspects were arrested in back-to-back dope busts following a three-month investigation that led to the seizure of marijuana and 80 decks of heroin, much of it stamped in red ink with President Obama’s surname.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Sullivan County undersheriff Eric Chaboty said of the presidential packaging.
Can Free Content Boost Your Sales? Yes, It Can
Have you checked out Monty Python’s YouTube channel? It’s got a selection of their brilliant (as always) clips, and it’s got links to buy their DVDs on Amazon. As those crazy Monty Python dudes put it,
“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”
And you know what? Despite the entertainment industry’s constant cries about how bad they’re doing, it works. As we wrote yesterday, Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.
The World’s First Emoticon?
Does this 1862 New York Times transcript of an Abraham Lincoln speech contain a sideways winking smiley face? If so, it would be one of the world’s earliest emoticons, more than a century before Carnegie Mellon University’s Scott Fahlman became the first person to type a smiley face on the internet. Doubters may say it’s a typo; however, that’s unlikely, as at that time, type had to be set piece by piece. This sideways smiley was likely the work of a visionary editor who glimpsed what would become the future of typed communication.
At Sober Davos Meeting, Will New World Order Coalesce?
They normally come by private jet, for a few days of high-octane dealmaking and maybe a little aprés-ski on the side.
Every January, the Swiss resort of Davos plays host, strictly by invitation only, to the richest and most powerful people on the planet: tycoons and politicians are assembled by the World Economic Forum (WEF) for its annual summit that usually shapes the global economy for years to come. High-end hotels, restaurants and bars put the champagne on ice as deals worth billions are concluded…
If a new economic world order is going to be built from the ruins, the horse-trading will not come until later – starting with the meeting of the G20 industrialised nations in April – but the foundations could well be worked out here. Even the major corporate delegates are talking about the need for tighter regulation, more transparency and accountability.
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Fox Descends Into Obama Panic
Fox News’ coverage from Obama’s first few days as president could be described as “apocalyptic.” Heed Bill O’Reilly’s warning: “You are in danger.”
Scientists Find Obesity Virus
Obesity can be “caught” as easily as a common cold from other people’s coughs, sneezes and dirty hands, scientists will claim today.
Researchers believe that an airborne “adenovirus” germ could be causing the fat plague that is blighting Britain and other countries.
As many as one in three obese people may have become overweight after falling victim to the highly infectious cold-like virus, known as AD-36.
It is known to cause coughs, sore throats, diarrhoea and conjunctivitis but has now also been found to make fat cells multiply, leading to weight gain.
I Don’t Think This is How Obama Wanted to Stimulate the Economy…
You know it’s bound to happen. In today’s American consumer landscape we as a society try to create products for any and every event. We’ve all seen bad Super Bowl souvenirs, memorial 9/11 plaques, even memorial coins for when the Pope came to visit.
Now with the upcoming Obama inaguration a few days away there has been all types of bad shit popping up. While I am all for designing new products I think some of the following are the worst things I have ever seen…
Any Israeli Soldiers Accused of War Crimes in the Gaza Strip Will Be Given State Protection
Ehud Olmert said troops should know Israel would keep them safe after they acted to protect their country. Palestinians say 1,300 people died during the offensive, and UN officials want independent probes into whether war crimes were committed.
Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation is in Egypt for talks on cementing a truce. Israel ended its military operation in Gaza on 18 January, and Hamas declared a ceasefire hours later.
In Brussels, EU foreign ministers meeting to discuss the situation urged Palestinian factions to resolve their differences and speak with one voice. Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that without a Palestinian consensus government the organisation and delivery of humanitarian aid would be undermined.
No formal framework for a lasting ceasefire over Gaza has yet been agreed. While Israel says it requires Hamas to end weapons smuggling into Gaza and rocket attacks on Israel, Hamas has demanded that Israel lift its economic blockade of the…
I don’t think this is how Obama wanted to stimulate the economy…
Alex Chechs
You know it’s bound to happen. In today’s American consumer landscape we as a society try to create products for any and every event. We’ve all seen bad Super Bowl souvenirs, memorial 9/11 plaques, even memorial coins for when the Pope came to visit. Now with the upcoming Obama inaguration a few days away there has been all types of bad shit popping up. While I am all for designing new products I think some of the following are the worst things I have ever seen…
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