Plus, Lowe's controversial decision to pull advertising and has Sarah Palin jumped the shark?
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Senate confirms McFaul as ambassador to Moscow (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The Senate on Saturday confirmed Michael McFaul, President Barack Obama's top adviser on Russia, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Moscow.
The voice vote to elevate McFaul to the ambassador's post came on the last day the Senate is meeting this year after several months of delay.
McFaul is regarded as one of the nation's leading experts on U.S. relations with Russia, and has been involved in the Obama administration's efforts to restore shaky relations with the Moscow government.
That includes the signing of the New START treaty that set a ceiling of 1,550 strategic warheads in each country's arsenal.
McFaul, who taught at Stanford, was a campaign adviser to Obama on Russia and Eurasia before moving to the National Security Council to become the president's chief Russia adviser.
Obama nominated McFaul to the post in September, but a Senate vote on his confirmation was held up by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., over issues with U.S. policies toward Russia.
Kirk said he wanted written assurances that the United States will not provide Russia with any currently classified information on a missile defense system. The administration said it had no plans to provide Russia with such information.
Democrats, before leaving for the winter break, tried to secure confirmation of several dozen other nominees, but were blocked by Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky who said the administration must first pledge that it will not make any recess appointments.
Temporary appointments made when Congress is not in session are a means by which presidents can fill positions that have been left open because of opposition in the Senate either to the nominee or to administration policies.
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he would try again to confirm the blocked nominees next year.
They included Richard Cordray to be director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke to be alternate governor of the International Monetary Fund, Mari Carmen Aponte to be ambassador to El Salvador and nominees to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Communications Commission, and Amtrak.
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"Super movie queue" bookmarking system launches (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Netflix ... Amazon Instant Video ... iTunes ... SnagFilms ... Redbox ... Movies on Demand ... VUDU ...
With so many movie queues, a new bookmarking system is letting users streamline them.
The patent-pending Watch It button is created by Plexus Entertainment, which develops products and strategies in an effort to help connect films and filmmakers with audiences.
Watch It launched in beta form Thursday. It was unveiled on GoWatchIt.com and will be available on TheWrap.com in January.
With the "super movie queue," users can locate, bookmark, track, filter, sort and watch their movie picks across multiple digital-distribution platforms, as well as theaters, DVD and Blu-ray.
Watch It users can request and receive email alerts when movies of interest become available on different platforms, whether it be the theater, a digital service or another platform. The button, which can be embedded in movie reviews and blogs, lets users click and see where a film is available.
Through the button, full movies or trailers can be viewed immediately or placed in a queue for future viewing.
Watch It also allows users to share their queues with their Facebook friends.
The company plans to use Watch It to provide movie marketers with analytics by mining and aggregating non-personally identifiable consumer data.
Plexus Entertainment is planning to broaden the Watch It concept to include music, TV, books, and video games online and offline.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
AG Holder vows to enforce civil rights protections (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Tuesday to use the full power of the Justice Department to enforce civil rights protections for voters in next year's elections amid a flurry of activity by states to redraw political boundaries and impose requirements that could reduce voting by minorities who enthusiastically supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election.
In prepared remarks for a speech in Austin, Texas, the nation's chief law enforcement officer urges the country to "call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success."
"Instead, encourage and work with the parties to achieve this success by appealing to more voters," Holder said.
Holder was making his remarks at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum. As president in 1965, Johnson was instrumental in passing the landmark law used by the Justice Department to ensure voting rights in Texas and all or parts of 15 other states, most of them in the South and all of them with a history of discrimination against blacks, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives or Hispanics.
Holder was appearing in a Republican-controlled state which has taken a redistricting dispute with civil rights groups all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a separate dispute, Texas also has enacted a photo ID requirement that the U.S. Justice Department is examining for possible discriminatory impact on voters. In addition, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin have enacted more stringent voter ID laws this year.
Texas Democrats, voting-rights advocates and minority groups had harshly criticized the photo ID law, but were unable to block its passage in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
In September, the Justice Department's civil rights division said it needed the racial breakdown and counties of residence of the estimated 605,500 registered voters in Texas who do not have a state-issued license or ID. The division also asked how many of voters have Spanish surnames. Under the federal Voting Rights Act, the new Texas law needs Justice Department approval in order for it to take effect.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
Call to Ban Cell Phones While Driving Is Absurd (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for a ban on the use of all cell phones, including hands free models for all drivers. According to tgdaily.com, it is because "more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents." This study doesn't say if these are cell phone-related or not, but we'll assume they are. Should such a ban be enacted?
Why is it that we feel it is necessary to infringe on people's freedoms just because there are people out there who have no personal responsibility? Because 3,000 people have been involved in accidents, all drivers should not be punished equally. This is the wrong approach. This is no different than using a double load of buckshot to swat a fly, more than just the fly is going to suffer or not allowing McDonald's to put toys in their Happy Meals because some parents can't control what their children eat.
Government doesn't need to control everything its citizens do. Each time we let them intrude in one area, they will find something else to stick their nose into, using the argument that "We already are doing this so we might as well as do that." As an example, let's say we ban the use of cell phones because we don't want distracted drivers and then we find there is a lot of accidents caused by people who are changing their radio stations. Do we then ban the listening of radios in vehicles, citing the precedent of the banning of cell phones? After all, it is another distraction and people have been killed.
In the meantime, we continue to allow drivers who haven't taken a driving test in 50 or more years to renew their licenses without having to prove they are still capable of reacting in time to avoid accidents, or distinguishing the difference between the gas and brake pedals. Perhaps there haven't been enough deaths caused by elderly drivers yet to require action?
If 3,000 deaths is a lot, isn't even one death too much? Absolutely, but not when you compare it to the deaths of approximately 1.2 million people who are legally aborted every year right here in America, according to the Wiley Online Library. What are these deaths we seem to not be concerned about? This is the number of abortions performed in 2008. Where is the outcry on this?
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Siri Is Apple's Broken Promise [SIRI]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fVn3BzWPkp8/siri-is-apples-broken-promise
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