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I think this former Californian has it about right : Listen up, California. The other 48 states—your cousin New York excluded—are sick of your bratty arrogance. You’re the Lindsay Lohan of states: a prima donna who once showed some talent but is now too wasted to do anything with it. After enjoying ephemeral highs and spending binges, you suffer crashes that culminate in brief, unsuccessful stints in rehab. This cycle repeats itself every five to 10 years, as the rest of the country looks on with a mixture of horror and amusement. We’d feel sorry for you if you didn’t constantly flip us the bird. Instead, we’re making bets on how long it will be before your next meltdown. Oh, wait—you’re already melting down. You’ve racked up nearly $70 billion in general obligation debt, and that doesn’t include your $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Your own analysts predict you’ll face a hole of at least $80 billion over the next four years. Your government’s run by a brothel of environmentalists, lawyers, public-sector unions and legislative bums. When they’re not taxing or spending, they’re creating regulations and commissions like the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and the California Blueberry Commission. Many businesses would leave if it weren’t for your sunny climate. Which may explain why you’re so obsessed with climate change. If your climate changes, no one, including your Hollywood friends, would tolerate you anymore. So you’ve created a law to tax carbon emissions—no matter that it will kill jobs. It’s not as if you don’t recognize that you’ve got problems. Roughly three-quarters of you say you’re headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. You’re even more depressed than Illinois and New York, and you’ve got sunshine 10 months of the year! She goes on to talk about the rogues gallery of kooks we just elected to our top offices. All of this explains why on the day after the election I woke up angry and somewhat depressed when I probably should have been elated at the progress the GOP made nationwide. I knew that by electing Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and Gavin Newsome, and rejecting Prop 23 while approving Prop 25, we had just decided as a state that we don’t want to improve our situation, but in fact desire a quicker decline.

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Petit: ‘A Huge Loss in My Life’

Dr. William Petit, whose wife and two daughters died in a Connecticut home invasion, welcomes news of a death penalty verdict for one of the men accused of the crime. (Nov. 8)

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Pope Gets Preachy about Gays, Abortion in Spain

While in Barcelona to dedicate Antoni Gaudi’s famous, yet unfinished, Sagrada Familia basilica, Pope Benedict XVI got down to some unfinished business of his own, zeroing in on a short list of favorite family values issues he sees as causes for concern in a country that once seemed far more set on getting with the Catholic program than it does in this more secular era.

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Raw Video: Gibbs Nearly Pulls Obama From Meeting

During President Barack Obama’s trip to India, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs threatened to pull Obama out of bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh because three US reporters were blocked from covering the meeting. (Nov. 8)

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Radical Cleric Calls for Killing Americans

A US-born Islamic cleric linked to attacks by al-Qaida in Yemen on US targets called for Muslims around the world to kill Americans in a new video posted on extremist websites Monday. (Nov. 8)

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Windows Phone 7 in review: the good, the bad, and the Surround

Windows Phone 7 has arrived in the US , and there are plenty of phones to choose from — even more if you’re looking internationally. So, which one should you get? Is the OS even good enough to bother with just yet? Which one is the prettiest ? We answer all those questions and more in our exhaustive complement of launch phone reviews. You can find them all after the break. You won’t be sorry. Continue reading Windows Phone 7 in review: the good, the bad, and the Surround Windows Phone 7 in review: the good, the bad, and the Surround originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Olbermann to Make His Comeback on Tuesday

Keith Olbermann’s “indefinite” hiatus from MSNBC didn’t turn out to be much of a break, as the powers that be at his network have decided that he can have his show back starting on Tuesday night. No doubt Bill O’Reilly will have something to say about this development.

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Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one

So, just as was rumored , it seems Dell pushed a small handful of Venue Pros to Microsoft’s seven flagship stores for sale today. We just spoke with a friendly rep who told us they were “going fast” and didn’t sound too confident that we’d be able to get one by the time we got down there, but theoretically if we did, it’d be $199 for a new line (or an eligible upgrade) or $449 outright. If you manage to score one, that’ll put you about a week ahead of everyone else — they aren’t expected to be available straight from Dell’s site until the 15th. On a related note, Dell’s website is showing two configurations for the phone — an 8GB and a 16GB model — though none of the stores we called could tell us which one they were stocking. Let’s hope for 16, eh? [Thanks, Andrew and @FocusedProverbs ] Dell Venue Pro on sale at Microsoft stores, but good luck getting one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Climate Science, Circa 1956 (Video)

Image: Screenshot, Climate Denial Crock of the Week One of the prevailing myths about climate change is that it’s a “new” science — merely the latest fad in an ongoing cycle of scientific doom-saying. You’ve almost certainly heard or read someone say something like this: “In the 70s, the scientists were all telling us the globe was cooling — now it’s warming. Well which one is it, durn it?” The implication is that climate science is some kind of a trend, and is apt to change course when those fickle scientists find something els… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Playboy Strips Away Some of Its Art Collection

Playboy to auction more than 100 different pieces of its art collection at Christie’s in New York City. (Nov. 8)

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