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Mark Halperin fresh off his suspension from MSNBC is still pumping his bipartisan right-wing beltway fetishism into the ozone. He must have a lot of pent up High Villager knowledge to impart upon us. He believes Obama should have been bowing down to Rep. John Boehner’s wants and needs yet again leading up to his jobs speech so that they could come together in some magical beltway meeting of the minds, meld them into one and create a real common ground for job creation. Seriously. This man is hired as a top gun political guru and supposedly observes the working of Washington, DC. Is this man smoking embalming fluids ? Digby puts it another way : Mark Halperin is a dick . ..or a fool anyway. Here he is vomiting up the latest beltway CW on the jobs speech on Hardball today: Matthews: Should Obama offer up something in the middle that the Republicans will at least nibble at or should he offer up something so broad and “New Deal” that they’ll obviously reject it but the American people on the Democrats’ side will love it. What should he do? Halperin: Chris, I think he should do whatever is most likely to create jobs. And my sense is, which has been true all year, is the thing that is most likely to create jobs is finding common ground between John Boehner and Barack Obama. I think the way the speech has been led up to, the things that are likely to be in the speech, the Republicans’ pre-reaction to what’s going to be in the speech all suggest that this speech, even if it’s brilliantly delivered is not going to produce the kind of bipartisanship that is required to get something approved by John Boehner, Harry Reid and Barack Obama. Just what does Mark Halperin think that John Boehner wants to do to create jobs? I know! Let’s eliminate all corporate income taxes. Would that do it? No, probably not. We’ll need something more than that. How about completely disbanding the EPA and firing all public employees? No? Right, Republicans are going to need a little bit more than that. The president literally falling on Ulysses S Grant’s sword in the oval office in a prime time speech would certainly be a dramatic capitulation. Would that help? I didn’t think so. Have you ever heard anything more vacuous? Did he take a trip to mars during his MSNBC suspension and miss the whole debt ceiling debacle? Good lord. Barack Obama has been more than willing to give the Republicans everything they want no matter how much it hurts the economy or his own Party. It would be impossible for any President to be more accommodating to the opposition without actually joining them. And they still won’t take yes for an answer. But Halperin doesn’t see it that way. When Matthews said that he was proposing that Obama set forth a bipartisan jobs plan that would be rejected, Halperin robotically replied: I think they should have been consulting with the Republicans all along and I don’t think it’s too late. But to go in and give the speech that it seems he’s going to give, offering up new spending, massive spending proposals with nothing on the other side that the Republicans could say was a trade off that would be worth taking for them, again is going to lead to the kind of gridlock and partisan bickering that isn’t going to solve the problem. If the president is more concerned with creating jobs than his reelection, and he should be, the way he’s approached this and the way he’s headed is not going to produce anything that will be approved by John Boehner and Harry Reid and by Barack Obama. And if the federal government is going to create jobs those guys all have to be on board. I think the question is, “is Mark Halperin a human or a robot, programmed to say exactly the same thing no matter what the circumstances?” Inquiring minds and all that. Jonathan Alter, a lefty Villager himself does at least call Halperin’s thoughts ridiculous. MATTHEWS: Well, that`s a great question I haven`t thought about even getting to. But let`s get to it with you, Jon. Should the president engage in now — he`s got a couple days now — engage in a courtship where he goes up to the Hill through his emissaries, through Bill Daley or whoever else and Jack Lew, and tries figure out the common ground or? Or will that just make him just give away the game? JONATHAN ALTER, NBC NEWS CONTRIBUTING CORRESPONDENT: Been there, done that, fool`s errand. You know, burn me once — you know the expressions. MATTHEWS: Yes. ALTER: At this point, they`re not going to cooperate. The Republicans, like the Democrats, are playing for the 2012 election. So what this speech should do is to tee up the choice for the American people. And it`s an extraordinarily important one about what they think the government`s role should be in creating jobs. And we know we have seen Romney`s proposals. There are some good ones in there. There are some good ideas that he has. And some of what the president will talk about, some of these tax cuts, will parallel what the Republicans want to do. So it may be that they can find some common ground, but he has to lay out a Democratic vision of what government`s responsibility is, and that includes putting people to work immediately. You know, Chris, in 1933, when Roosevelt became president, he said, I want 250,000 young people working in the national parks by summer, three months later. And he did it. He got it done. MATTHEWS: Yes, I agree. I agree. OK. (CROSSTALK) ALTER: In other words, the president can at least lay that out in terms of what he thinks the government`s responsibility is to help people who are jobless. It`s a philosophical difference that has to be heightened and illuminated in this speech . Back to Digby : Matthews suggested that perhaps the president could use the populist tone but just lay out some “small potatoes” with a date certain to get it done — like the payroll tax extension, extending unemployment benefits and maybe some small infrastructure projects. Halperin replied that this sort of tone just won’t work with the Republicans, although he did admit that he hadn’t a clue about what would. Then they just babbled on about how the whole thing was hopeless and Matthews ended with a good point about the idea of setting down some specific dates for the Republicans to meet on jobs: It beats spending the next three months watching this Super Committee decide what to cut. Boy what a loser. All hail the Super Committee! Anyway, if only President Obama would heed some of those words and stop trying to play for independent voters, but it appears his political team will not budge. This is simple. Democrats believe the government can be used for good and Republicans want you to believe government is bad so that they can ravish the land and all its peoples unhindered.

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Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Covers Black Eyed Peas

Jeff Tweedy , the Chicago rock genius and frontman of TRB fave band Wilco , covers a song by my least favorite Bar Mitzvah Rap act the Black Eyed Peas . This was apparently done at the behest of Rahm Emanuel at a fundraiser event. Hilarity ensues… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Reformed Broker Discovery Date : 07/09/2011 15:23 Number of articles : 4

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Fire Destroys Scores of Texas Homes, Lists Go Up

Firefighting crews started Wednesday to gain control of a wind-stoked blaze that has raged unchecked across parched Central Texas for days, leaving hundreds of charred properties in its wake and causing thousands of people to flee. (Sept. 7)

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Jimmy Kimmel Bids Tear-Filled Farewell to Uncle Frank

Exactly two weeks after Frank Potenza passed away , the former New York City policeman’s nephew delivered a tear-filled monologue last night. It was the first show back for Jimmy Kimmel following the passing, and he scarcely made it through an opening that included heartfelt references to his Uncle Frank’s penchant for being early and the deep appreciate he had for portraying Jimmy’s sidekick since… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Hollywood Gossip Discovery Date : 07/09/2011 14:41 Number of articles : 4

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Guardian app now available on Android

The best content from guardian.co.uk is now available on and offline in a native Android app I am very excited to announce that the Guardian app for Android is now available. The app – which is free to download and is available from the Android Market worldwide – includes the latest news, sport, comment, reviews, videos, podcasts and picture galleries from guardian.co.uk . A full list of features and further information is available from our FAQs , but there are two bits of functionality that we’re really excited about. First, the homescreen is highly customisable – if you like football, you could do away with the usual mix of news and sport and instead see the top five stories from our Premier League page followed by the latest from your favourite team and then Barry Glendenning’s most recent posts. If you want in depth coverage of a particular story, you can add that topic to your homescreen – UK riots or phone hacking, for instance. This level of customisation has also influenced the offline reading options. Rather than manually selecting what you want to download, there is one button that allows you to download your homescreen and your favourites. Alternatively, you can schedule this download to take place at a certain time each day – for example via Wi-Fi before you leave the house and go offline. The app was designed and developed by an in-house team – headed by lead Android developer Rupert Bates – using the Guardian’s Content API . It is the first version of the app and we intend to make improvements and introduce new features in the coming months based on user feedback. A widget is currently on top of our to-do list and we are also thinking about ways to improve the live-blogging experience, but please let us know what you’d like us to add (or even fix!). In other news, our iPad app is nearing completion and I’m happy to report that our existing mobile products are performing really well. The mobile site, m.guardian.co.uk , now accounts for around 12% of our digital traffic on average and witnessed a record 802,975 visitors recently. The iPhone app also goes from strength to strength with a total of 480,914 downloads since its launch in January 2011. As ever, please feel free to share your feedback in the comments below, or get in touch with us on Twitter via @guardianmobile . Android Guardian app for Android Subhajit Banerjee guardian.co.uk

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Elizabeth Taylor’s Jewels to Be Sold

The Associated Press recently viewed about two dozen of Elizabeth Taylor’s most iconic pieces at Christie’s auction house, which is selling her complete jewelry collection, valued at $30 million, in New York on December 13 (September 7)

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Heavy Gunfire in Central, North Syria

A barrage of gunfire by security forces that left residents cowering in their homes killed at least nine people and wounded several others Wednesday in Homs, a hotbed of opposition to President Bashar Assad’s autocratic regime, activists said. (Sept. 7)

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Man Uses Dolphin in Marriage Proposal

A Chinese man surprised his partner with a marriage proposal at a dolphin show in China’s eastern city of Qingdao. The young woman was invited to interact with the dolphins, when her partner approached on one of the animals. (Sept. 7)

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Man Uses Dolphin in Marriage Proposal

A Chinese man surprised his partner with a marriage proposal at a dolphin show in China’s eastern city of Qingdao. The young woman was invited to interact with the dolphins, when her partner approached on one of the animals. (Sept. 7)

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Ron Paul Ad Disses Rick Perry, Hypes His Own Reagan Ties

Click here to view this media Ron Paul’s use of Rick Perry’s endorsement of Al Gore back in 1988 ( Perry was the Gore’s Texas campaign chairman when he ran for President ) is contrasted with Paul’s own endorsement of Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1980. Perry had been a Democrat, but switched to the Republican party in 1989. It’s a curious choice but probably has some resonance with Republican voters where brand loyalty is a must, and the canonization of Saint Ronnie was declared years ago. However, Ron Paul’s own invocation of the Reagan legacy –whenever it suits him, it seems– is the more curious aspect of the ad. From a factcheck by Newsweek in 2008: From Ron Paul Web site: “Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first.” – Ronald Reagan Paul’s embrace of Reagan’s legacy represents a significant change of heart. Actually, it’s the second time that Paul has changed his mind about Reagan. After endorsing Reagan for president in 1976 and again in 1980, Paul became disenchanted, leaving the Republican party in 1987. The following year, he told the Los Angeles Times: Paul (May 10, 1988): The American people have never reached this point of disgust with politicians before. I want to totally disassociate myself from the Reagan Administration. Paul’s disaffection started early in Reagan’s presidency. “Ronald Reagan has given us a deficit 10 times greater than what we had with the Democrats,” Paul told the Christian Science Monitor in 1987. “It didn’t take more than a month after 1981, to realize there would be no changes.” Sometime between 1988 (during Paul’s run for the presidency on the Libertarian Party ticket) and 1996 (when Paul, running as a Republican once more, successfully ousted an incumbent House member in a GOP primary), Paul once again embraced Reagan’s legacy. The New York Times reported then that Paul had used the longer version of the Reagan quote in a videotape sent to 30,000 households. According to the Times, Reagan’s former attorney general, Edwin Meese III, flew to Texas “to insist that Mr. Reagan had offered no recent endorsements.” We were unable to document Reagan’s endorsement of Paul. When we asked the Paul campaign for documentation, a spokesperson told us that the campaign was “a little more focused on positive things.” The Paul campaign did not provide the Times with a date for the quotation in 1996, either. So Ron Paul continues to use Reagan as necessary, with a quote which may or may not have occurred, or simply been a rubber-stamp endorsement presidents often make on behalf of congressmen, to keep trying to get elected by republican voters. Curious indeed. Below is a Ron Paul tv ad from 2008.

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