With his proverbial political tail between his legs, President Barack Obama has articulated his clearest signal yet that he is open to a post-midterm compromise with newly empowered Republicans that would sustain some parts of the Bush-era tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010. —JCL Reuters: President Barack Obama gave his clearest signal yet on Saturday of a possible post-election compromise with resurgent Republicans that could prevent tax rates from rising for any American, even the wealthiest, come January. Obama, in his first weekly radio address since his Democrats suffered big losses in Tuesday’s congressional elections, reasserted that Bush-era tax cuts should be made permanent for the middle class before they expire at year-end. But while insisting tax cuts for wealthier Americans should not become permanent because of a $700 billion impact on the deficit over the next decade, he left the door open to a temporary extension for higher income levels—as long as it falls short of costing that much. Read more Related Entries November 5, 2010 Olbermann Suspended From MSNBC Over Campaign Contributions November 5, 2010 A Speaker Who Stood Out
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A team of scientists “on a research cruise” (what?) have discovered severe damage to coral reefs near the location of the Deepwater Horizon’s blown-out wellhead. Coral, which is a barometer of the health of an ocean’s ecosystem, was found to be “sloughing off tissues and producing mucus.” Gross. —JCL Los Angeles Times: Scientists on a research cruise this week found a community of dead and dying deep-sea corals not far from the site of BP’s blown-out wellhead. “Within minutes of our arrival … it was evident to the biologists on board that this site was unlike any others that we have seen over the course of hundreds of hours of studying the deep corals in the Gulf of Mexico over the last decade,” Penn State University biology professor Charles Fisher and the cruise’s chief scientist said in a news release. A colony of hard coral at a depth of more than 4,000 feet was sloughing off tissue and producing mucus, while a nearby community of soft corals had extensive bare areas. A type of starfish associated with the coral was also in bad shape. Read more Related Entries November 5, 2010 Olbermann Suspended From MSNBC Over Campaign Contributions November 5, 2010 A Speaker Who Stood Out
Continue reading …Verizon trials unlimited text and data cellular plans for preferred customers, starting at $70 a month
November 6, 2010 No Comment
Sure, Verizon’s pushing tiered data plans in public, but it’s simultaneously expanding its unlimited offerings behind closed doors — yesterday, the wireless carrier launched a promotional plan with 450 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data for $70 a month. Before you jump at the chance to lower your monthly bill, however, we should warn you that this is very much a limited trial: Verizon will check its computers to verify that you were sent a promotional email before letting you into the deal. Furthermore, the offer doesn’t ring up as a new plan in Verizon’s computer system, but rather an amalgam of the company’s existing $60 Talk and Text plan and its $30 unlimited data plan, with a $20 credit applied to your bill each and every month. The upside of that is that selected customers can basically add unlimited data to any Talk and Text plan they choose for an extra $10 monthly, but the downside is that it’s far too early to call the promotion a portent of things to come. See the full offer at our source link… or in your inbox, we suppose. [Thanks, Sam] Verizon trials unlimited text and data cellular plans for preferred customers, starting at $70 a month originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Architecture Meets Comics In Bureau Spectacular’s Mobile Briefcase House
November 6, 2010 No Comment
Photos: Bureau Spectacular Transformer spaces never cease to amaze with their ability to morph and adapt to the user’s needs of the moment. Jimenez Lai of Bureau Spectacular offers another take on the genre with this intriguing residential loft addition; though it’s not a true transformer space, it’s envisioned as a “briefcase house”, ie. a house within a house — which he explains dramatically with comics. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …The last time I was involved in an SAT test I was 18 years old.
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Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. With al-Qaeda declaring Christians are “legitimate targets” in Iraq and with George Bush trying to justify America’s preemptive wars and killings in his new book, one can observe how individuals often convert to peaceful faiths imposing their own war-like ideologies and values. Obviously, an al-Qaeda group had captured Christians in a Baghdad church demanding the release of several women. They alleged Egypt’s Coptic church of holding the women in a monastery after converting to Islam. When a deadline expired, Iraqi-U.S. forces tried to free the Christians. At least 46 worshippers were killed in a shooting melee and horrible bloodbath. It…
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KABUL (AFP) – NATO said Saturday it was investigating reports that an Afghan soldier had shot and killed foreign troops, while a NATO official said on condition of anonymity that two US Marines had died. The alliance's media office said it was aware of “the incident in Helmand province,” which was reported by Pakistan-based Afghan news agency Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). A team from ISAF and the Afghan government “is investigating the incident” but…
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Need another use for those 3D glasses you were suckered into buying as an integral part of this year’s Halloween costume? Look no further, bubs. MSI has just outed its latest 3D-friendly laptop, the CX620 3D. Outfitted with a Core i5 (or a Core i3, if you’re looking to save a few bucks), this 15.6-incher also gets up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, a 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 GPU, HDMI / VGA outputs, 320/500/640GB hard drive, a DVD writer, two USB 2.0 sockets, an ExpressCard slot, 4-in-1 card reader and a pair of stereo speakers. You’ll find Windows 7 Home Premium runnin’ the show, while 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, gigabit Ethernet and a 1.3 megapixel webcam all make expected appearances. There’s no telling how long the six-cell Li-ion will last once the deathmatch gets going, nor how much it’ll cost when it lands sometime between now and who knows when. But hey, 3D! MSI reveals 15.6-inch, Core i5-equipped CX620 3D laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Nov 2010 01:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Peggy Noonan can still write ‘em .
Continue reading …With time served he only has about a year to go : A judge sentenced a white former transit officer to two years in prison Friday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on a California train platform, angering friends and family members of the victim who wanted a much harsher punishment. The case has provoked racial unrest at every turn, and police in Oakland were on alert for more problems following a sentence that many thought was too light. Defendant Johannes Mehserle had faced a possible 14-year maximum term after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors sought prison time for Mehserle, whose lawyers argued for probation. Perry said Mehserle has served nearly 150 days in custody and with credit for time served, he has 293 days applied to his sentence, nearly cutting it in half. Despite the attempts by the race activists to claim this was premeditated murder, it was clearly an accidental shooting and the sentence is probably appropriate. You might want to stay out of Oakland this weekend.
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