So just how good a speaker is the new senator-elect from Florida, Marco Rubio? Conservatives are rightly highly impressed with Rubio's oratory, especially his election night victory speech . However, even liberals are giving high marks to Rubio's speaking abilities. John McWhorter of The New Republic even commits liberal sacrilege by grudgingly admitting (after slamming the speeches of other conservatives) that Rubio is a better speaker than Obama. Of course, this also scares him as well: Marco Rubio, in his victory speech, was the exception, and showed as he often has why he is the Tea Party’s real secret weapon. Starting out with gushy God talk and closing by stressing that he is a “son of exiles, ” Rubio is – let’s face it – a better Obama in his way. His Christianity will always be clear to those who care, and his foreign forebears are ones who fled Communism. At first we were to suppose that Obama’s mongrelism made him “like America,” but the leftist Kenyan business is ripe for the Becks and D’Souzas among us to frame as alien, never mind that Indonesia is a Muslim country. Rubio’s foreignness is more cuddly, immune to Fox News-style demagoguery. Plus Rubio is a natural talker. No stagy incantations of lines based on things other people said long ago; no giggling; no props; no wandering off topic. He can rub a noun and a verb together, with minimal attendance to notes. As a result, like Bill Clinton, he seems intelligent in a way that Paladino and O’Donnell do not, and approachably human and on the ground in a way that Paul, despite his active mind, cannot. read more
Continue reading …The second half of 2010 is nearly behind us, and we’re afraid we’re not seeing a whole lot of 60GHz modems on store shelves. So, when will WiGig’s 1.5Gbps wireless transfer speeds forever shape our content-consuming lifestyles? The inside word is 2012. TrustedReviews sat down with VESA chairman Bruce Montag — who also happens to be on the WiGig board — and was told that the wireless DisplayPort products made possible by the recent WiGig / VESA partnership are due in “the first half of 2012.” You won’t necessarily need to wait that long to read about how they’re going to make mothers of young, video gaming children jump for joy — should all go according to plan, we’ll be treated to glimpses of the first prototypes early next year. WiGig’s 60GHz WiFi prototypes slated for 2011, real products for 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Are they not properly vetting their liberals over at MSNBC? As NewsBuster Lachlan Markay
Continue reading …In an odd flipping of the political script, the Taliban has called on the U.S. Congress to dispatch a “fact-finding mission” to Afghanistan to probe what it calls the lies and propaganda used by the Pentagon and U.S. generals to extend and justify the war. —JCL Agence France-Presse: The Islamist militant group has been fighting for more than nine years to topple the Kabul government, which is backed by 150,000 US and NATO troops. In the past year, Taliban influence has spread across the country from their bastion in the south where the war is concentrated, and momentum has been widely seen to have turned in their favour. The statement, addressed to “Messers American Congressmen,” was emailed to AFP and signed by Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, “spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. Read more Related Entries November 7, 2010 Why Pelosi Wants to Stay November 6, 2010 Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise
Continue reading …How many of you remember what happened 10 years ago today?
Continue reading …Did MSNBC suspend Keith Olbermann because he refused to apologize for his campaign finance activities on camera? That's what Politico's Mike Allen is reporting Sunday (h/t Mediaite ): read more
Continue reading …NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a U.S. visit on Sunday to meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discuss ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem November 3, 2010. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad) “It is our fervent desire that the current impasse can be overcome and we see an expeditious return to direct talks with the Palestinians,”…
Continue reading …Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. The title of Apple’s recent Back to the Mac event turned out to have multiple meanings. The first was heralding a shift of Apple’s event focus to the product that was once synonymous with the company. But it also had a more literal connotation, that traits associated both with iPad software and hardware would now be finding their way back to the Apple’s computers. But the impact of this round trip could have different implications for hardware and software. Apple’s new MacBook Air was cited as taking on traits associated with the iPad such as thinness, flash storage, longer battery life, and instant on. The new MacBook Air also dispenses with an optical drive, but so did the previous MacBook Air, and indeed so do nearly all netbooks and quite a few other “thin and light” notebook PCs. Most would agree that the new hardware choices produce desirable traits in an ultramobile notebook. Continue reading Switched On: The iPadification of Mac OS Switched On: The iPadification of Mac OS originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Nov 2010 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Lake Travis (Austin, Texas), July 2009. Image credit: University of Nebraska at Lincoln , National Drought Center; Photo courtesy of Bridget Cameron, Texas Water Development Board. Large swaths of US southern states are experiencing drought impacts, with some of the most extreme impacts seen in the Lower Mississippi River watershed, extending east through Florida. Parts of Texas, as pictured, are also impacted. Production of tobacco, peanuts, soy, and wheat have fallen significantly in roughly a dozen states because of the drought; … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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