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Vick Hopes Burress Uses Him As an Example

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick says he hopes Plaxico Burress uses him as an example in his return to the NFL. Burress, a former New York Giants receiver, spent nearly two years in prison for a gun charge and was released Monday. (June 8)

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I’m sure you are all aware that VP Joe Biden is trying to negotiate some grand bargain with Republicans over the deficit and has been for a while now: The White House and lawmakers are negotiating a budget package that would serve as a “significant down payment” toward cutting the deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday. The remarks suggest the bipartisan group is working on a more limited plan than the comprehensive package offered in December by the White House fiscal commission. The Biden-led talks may not aim at solving all of the country’s budget challenges in time for a crucial summer vote to raise the debt limit. Instead, they could act as an initial step toward bigger deficit-cutting goals. “Look, it’s premature to be optimistic, but I am clearly not pessimistic,” Biden told reporters after a more than two hour meeting at the Blair House. “I genuinely believe we are on the right track here, and there is a real shot for making significant progress defined as making a down payment.” Despite what Republicans say publicly, Biden continued, taxes remain part of the mix. That article was from May, 12th. yesterday it was reported that five Senators wrote a letter to Biden to tell him not to mess with Medicare and some of them are Conservadems: Five Democratic senators are calling on Vice President Joe Biden to reaffirm his commitment to leaving Medicare unchanged during budget and deficit negotiations. Sens. Claire McCaskill, of Missouri, Jon Tester, of Montana, Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Bill Nelson of Florida express their concerns in a letter sent Monday to Biden. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press. They note Biden has made progress in negotiations and say that as talks move to areas with less consensus the vice president must insist that significant changes to Medicare are off the table. They say that’s important because Republican leaders have said their Medicare proposal is still a part of negotiations. Medicaid should be part of their letter too, but at least it puts more pressure on Biden to not sink us all and coming from Nelson, Tester, McCaskill is good news for us.

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New Comic Book Glorifies Hillary Clinton’s Life Story

Move over, capes and spandex. Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits will now be gracing the cover of a new comic book as part of a left-leaning female Justice League. Bluewater Productions, which has previously profiled Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, has just released its newest political comic, “Political Power: Hillary Clinton,” chronicling Clinton’s life after being sworn in as Secretary of State. The writer of the Clinton comic, Jerome Maida, insists his 32-page comic book is a fair and realistic portrayal of the former first lady, but it’s clear he has an affinity for her that shows through the pages of the comic. I am writing Hillary Clinton from a perspective of someone who did not admire her at first and throughout the process of research has come to admire and be utterly fascinated by what is a tale that most have not reported on. We delve into how her decision not to run in 2004 helped make Barack Obama a star, how she took him under her wing and how their battle was more personal than many realize – and how close she came to saying no to the position of Secretary of State and what changed her mind. It’s a fascinating story. The glorification of her career follows Bluewater’s creation of a real-life Justice League. There seems to be an important qualification to become a part of the “ Female Force ” series, however: you should probably be a Democrat. Of the American political and media figures they have covered, there are only four conservative names: Sarah Palin, Condoleezza Rice, Ayn Rand, Laura Ingraham. Every other political cover girl has been much more left leaning, including Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Kathy Griffin, Sonia Sotomayor, Rosie O’Donnell, Meredith Vieira, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Caroline Kennedy, and Barbara Walters. Bluewater’s Palin comic book was extremely popular, but the message with her caricaturization was more of a back-handed compliment. As Bluewater head Darren G. Davis said of her portrayal: You just can’t ignore Sarah Palin. Even those who’d never vote for her can’t deny that the woman has an amazing charisma. She can get away with missteps that other politicians can’t afford to make. Clinton’s comic joins Obama’s famous 2009 treatment by Marvel in a special Spiderman issue released days before his inauguration. As NB's Ken Shepherd wrote then , even comic books are crawling with a pro-Obama bias, although they claim to be non-partisan and respectful of all presidents. Spider-Man will swing to the rescue at the Obama inauguration in the Marvel comics universe, USA Today's David Colton reported in a January 8 story for the newspaper's Life section. Colton's story sought to portray the move not merely as a money-maker for Marvel but part of a storied tradition of graphic novel artists of including the commander-in-chief in comic book cameos. As Shepherd later pointed out, though, a Marvel comics character threatened President Bush's life in the Oval Office in late 2001, so this storied tradition is not exactly as non-partisan and respectful as Marvel says it is. It seems unlikely that, given Clinton's lower visibility nowadays, this book will sell many copies. But then again, media liberalism never was about profit.

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Missouri Ice Cream Store Makes Cicada-Flavored Batch

Nothing says summer in the Midwest like a little cicada ice cream. The first batch of the cicada-flavored ice cream at the Columbia, Mo., joint Sparky’s Homemade Ice Cream sold out before it even hit the display case. Before making a second round, the store checked with the county health officials and—shockingly—nothing in the code

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The new Celebrity Rehab cast has been announced, and boy is it a classy crew. First and foremost, Dad of the Decade Michael Lohan will be in tow, PopEater reports. No word on what he’s addicted to, other than tabloid appearances. Joining him: Amy Fisher, known best for shooting Mary…

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UK and France seek UN resolution on Syria
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Anthony Weiner is getting the Tiger Woods treatment : Gossip site Radar has published every single one of the congressman’s 220 alleged Facebook messages sent to and from Las Vegas blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss . The nine-month correspondence began on Aug. 13. Highlights (warning, NSFW at all ): On Weiner’s hypothetical visit…

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Nintendo Unveils Wii U, Investors Dump Stock

Nintendo stock plunged Wednesday in Tokyo amid doubts about the consumer appeal of the Wii U, the much ballyhooed successor to its hit Wii video game console. (June 8)

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Periodic Table welcomes two new, ultraheavy elements, jury still out on the names

If you bump in to the Periodic Table of Elements today, be sure to give it a hearty Mazel Tov , because it’s just welcomed two new members to the family. Yesterday, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) officially recognized elements 114 and 116, crediting the discovery to scientists from Russia’s Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California. Boasting atomic masses of 289 and 292, respectively, the new man-made additions are now the heaviest elements on record, seizing the belt from copernicium (285) and roentgenium (272). As with most heavyweights, however, both decay within less than a second, making it difficult for researchers to get a grasp of their chemical properties. Nevertheless, both apparently had enough credibility to survive IUPAC’s three-year review process, paving the way for the real fun to begin. At the moment, 114 and 116 are known, rather coldly, as ununquadium and ununhexium, respectively, though their names will eventually be jazzed up — sort of. The Russian team has already proposed flerovium for 114 (after Soviet nuclear physicist Georgy Flyorov), and, for 116, the Moscow-inspired moscovium, which sounds more like an after shave for particularly macho chemists. IUPAC will have the final say on the matter, though one committee member said any proposed names are likely to be approved, as long as “it’s not something too weird.” Head past the break for a full, and somewhat obtuse PR. Continue reading Periodic Table welcomes two new, ultraheavy elements, jury still out on the names Periodic Table welcomes two new, ultraheavy elements, jury still out on the names originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Apparently, being speaker of the house is an expensive gig, because John Boehner is getting a $2,083.33 check to cover unspecified expenses every month—up from the $833 he received as minority leader, Roll Call reports. The figure is exactly the same every month, so it doesn’t appear…

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