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Miscellaneous (News/Activism)

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  • Al Gore is now 'richer than Romney'

    01/10/2013 5:40:36 PM PST · by jakerobins · 11 replies
    Someone finally has done all the math on the recent sale of Al Gore's Current TV to the Arabic language channel Al-Jazeera for $500 million. Jobs were lost, buzz created, employees angered, but the former vice president had little to say about it. He did walk away with a reported $100 million — a tidy sum for a man who had less that $2 million in assets when he ran for president more than a dozen years ago, says Forbes magazine. "Taking into account taxes to be paid on the deal, possible earlier debt and the fact that Gore's representatives...
  • Al Gore is now 'richer than Romney'

    01/10/2013 5:40:20 PM PST · by jakerobins · 13 replies
    Someone finally has done all the math on the recent sale of Al Gore's Current TV to the Arabic language channel Al-Jazeera for $500 million. Jobs were lost, buzz created, employees angered, but the former vice president had little to say about it. He did walk away with a reported $100 million — a tidy sum for a man who had less that $2 million in assets when he ran for president more than a dozen years ago, says Forbes magazine. "Taking into account taxes to be paid on the deal, possible earlier debt and the fact that Gore's representatives...
  • Poll: Most of Ireland favors wider abortion access

    01/10/2013 4:27:50 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 17 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan. 10, 2013 2:46 PM EST | Shawn Pogatchnik
    Most people in Ireland want lawmakers to give women wider access to abortion, a poll revealed Thursday as senior clerics testified before a parliamentary committee investigating Ireland’s ban on the practice. Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s government has pledged to legalize abortion for women whose lives are deemed in danger from a pregnancy, including those who threaten to commit suicide if denied an abortion. Opponents of abortion argue that the suicide-threat rule would be open to deceit and permit increasingly broad access to abortion in this predominantly Catholic country. …
  • Self-professed 'gun nut' Keith Ratliff found fatally shot in the head in suspected homicide

    01/10/2013 4:13:13 PM PST · by jakerobins · 34 replies
    Keith Ratliff was a fervent Second Amendment gun advocate and believed all Americans should be able to possess assault weapons. In a rather macabre bit of irony, a self-professed "gun nut" who was a YouTube channel producer for fellow gun enthusiasts was found fatally shot in the head in his Carnesville, Ga., home on Jan. 3. Police are investigating the case as a homicide. Keith Ratliff, 32, was a channel producer for the popular FPSRussia firearms channel on YouTube, according to FoxNews.com. The channel boasts 3.4 million subscribers and has more than 537 million video views. The videos largely consist...
  • Rex Trailer, Host Of WBZ-TV’s ‘Boomtown,’ Dies.

    01/10/2013 10:16:45 AM PST · by massmike · 25 replies
    http://boston.cbslocal.com ^ | 01/10/2013 | n/a
    Boston TV icon Rex Trailer died Wednesday night, his family announced on his website Thursday. Trailer, 84, was the host of the popular children’s television show “Boomtown,” on WBZ-TV from 1956 to 1974. The program often included children with disabilities in the studio audience. Trailer, who lived in Sudbury, was in Florida for Christmas visiting his sister when he came down with pneumonia and went into the hospital. His family issued this brief statement: Rex Trailer left this earth peacefully last night surrounded in love and song by his family. Rex had been in Florida for the holidays when he...
  • My Conversation With a Douchenozzle

    01/10/2013 3:55:41 AM PST · by BO Stinkss · 36 replies
    http://iowntheworld.com/ ^ | January 10, 20 | BigFurHat
  • South Africa: Farm workers’ protests turn violent

    01/10/2013 5:45:39 AM PST · by Olog-hai · 2 replies
    Associated Press ^ | Jan 10, 2013 7:58 AM EST
    Striking farm workers in South Africa have clashed with police for a second day during protests for higher wages. … The protesters want their daily wages to be more than doubled to 150 South African rand ($17.50). Vineyards in the province are key to South Africa’s wine industry; laborers also work on apple and other fruit farms. …
  • Video: Two Minutes Of 1953 Corvette Engineering Videos

    01/10/2013 12:18:11 AM PST · by Impala64ssa · 13 replies
    Chevy Hardcore ^ | 1/9/13 | Chris Demorro
    We think it is fair to say that today, most people take video recording technology for granted. After all, most smartphones come equipped with video recorders that produce better-quality movies than those huge home video camcorders from just 20 years ago. Sixty years ago, filmmaking was still astonishingly primitive, and few car companies bothered to record, nevermind release, the hundreds of thousands of hours of engineering footage they took from back then. CorvetteBlogger has come across some footage that is remarkably relevant to right now. The video above is a little more than two-minutes of 1953 Corvette engineering test footage,...
  • Bobcat that attacked Massachusetts family was rabid, officials say

    01/09/2013 7:56:15 PM PST · by South40 · 31 replies
    USNews/NBC.com ^ | 1/9/2013 | Daniel Arkin
    The wild bobcat that attacked two people in Brookfield, Mass., leaving a man with severe gashes on his face and arms, had rabies, according to a town official. Stephen J. Comtois, chairman of the town council, announced at a council meeting Tuesday evening that the bobcat was infected with the neurological disease, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported. Comtois said the victims of the attack were being treated with vaccination shots. ((snip)) Amid the frenzy, Mundell and his wife managed to pin the animal to the ground with a walking crutch. While Mundell kneeled on the bobcat, his wife ran...
  • (Alabama QB) A.J. McCarron Upset Over Girlfriend's Sudden Fame

    01/09/2013 5:51:23 PM PST · by drewh · 38 replies
    TMZ ^ | 1/9/2013 1:55 PM PST | BY TMZ STAFF
    Katherine says she decided to pull out because she feared her relationship with A.J. will be viewed as a "celebrity status" thing ... instead of a real, legitimate connection ... and worries that the misconception could spell doom for the couple. "I want it to be about me and him," Webb says ... adding, "He's a guy I can see myself having a real future with." 0314_divider_graphic Katherine Webb has gone off the grid ... banning herself from speaking to ANY media outlets ... partly because her superstar QB boyfriend A.J. McCarron is upset that he's been overshadowed by Webb's...
  • RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving an active shooter event.

    01/09/2013 12:40:07 PM PST · by null and void · 37 replies
    Run>Hide>Fight. Your guide to surviving an active shooter event. This is a video the city of Houston put together on what to do should you (a citizen) run across an active shooter, such as the guy in the movie theater. They were just finishing it when the Colorado shootings occurred. If you haven’t seen it……it is well worth the watch and worth sharing with your family and friends as well. DHS sponsored video, worth watching. They sorta gloss over the gun free zone sign on the door. I'd be somewhat inclined to spray the fire extinguisher in the shooter's face,...
  • Zorbing horror death: Man killed after runaway inflatable ball plunges off cliff at ski resort

    01/09/2013 11:22:30 AM PST · by Gamecock · 23 replies
    Mirror.Com ^ | 9 Jan 2013 | Andy Rudd
    (Did a search and couldn't find this posted elsewhere) A thrill-seeker died when the giant inflatable Zorb ball he was riding in with a pal plunged over a cliff. Married dad-of-two Denis Burakov, 27, broke his neck and spine after the sphere veered off course and began rolling down a mountain. Amazingly Vladimir Shcherbakov, 33, escaped with concussion, cuts and bruises. The friends' harrowing death ride plunge, in the Caucasus mountains of southern Russia, was caught on video but we have chosen not to use it. As Denis climbs into the Zorb he can be heard telling him: "Denis, you'll...
  • India test-fires manoeuvrable version of BrahMos missile

    01/09/2013 11:09:22 AM PST · by James C. Bennett · 5 replies
    The Times of India ^ | 9 Jan 2013 | The Times of India
    NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vizag in the Bay of Bengal. "At 9.30 am, the missile blasted off in a pre-designated war scenario taking a 'double-manoeuvre in S-form' hitting the designated target ship just one meter above water line. The sheer velocity and power of the hit made the missile rip through the ship's hull," BrahMos Aerospace CEO Sivathanu Pillai said on Wednesday. This is the 34th launch of BrahMos after the successful October launch from INS Teg...
  • Al Gore Is Richer Than Romney Thanks to Current TV Sale

    01/09/2013 10:48:33 AM PST · by grundle · 15 replies
    yahoo.com ^ | January 9, 2013 | Bent Lang
    Post-vice presidential life has been very good to Al Gore. Thanks to the $500 million sale of his liberal news station Current TV to Al Jazeera this month, Gore now has a personal fortune of $300 million, Forbes magazine estimates. That puts him ahead of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, whose estimated $230 million left him vulnerable to charges that he was out of touch with the common man. The financial publication ascribes Gore's wealth to a series of savvy investments that substantially multiplied the $2 million he listed as assets when he ran and lost the presidential race to...
  • A call for suggestions of Talking points to combat the Oppressive-Leftat.

    01/09/2013 8:19:23 AM PST · by BerserkPatriot · 54 replies
    Jan 9 2013
    A national radio host made an excellent suggestion the other day that we conservatives should pursue with vigor. The Oppressive-left loves to use simple talking point slogans to hammer their lies into the publics conscious. These simpleton lies are designed to crowd out real thought and logic of the truth. It is about time for our side to get on board and come up with our own talking point slogans we can all use to hammer the truth into them (rhetorically speaking of course) This posting is to advance that idea and get the ball rolling. The technique Oppressives is...
  • Nixon at 100: A model for GOP?

    01/09/2013 8:07:32 AM PST · by Perdogg · 30 replies
    Wednesday is the 100th anniversary of Richard Nixon's birth. He remains a controversial figure, and not just on the political left. Last year, I was covering the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington when I came across a stall selling old political pins. Unable to resist, I bought one with a picture of Tricky Dick giving his best crocodile smile beneath the classic slogan "Nixon's The One!"
  • Former FBI agent missing in Iran photographed in Guantánamo jumpsuit

    01/09/2013 1:12:31 AM PST · by MestaMachine · 49 replies
    UK Telegraph ^ | 08 Jan 2013 | Barney Henderson
    Former FBI agent missing in Iran photographed in Guantánamo jumpsuit By Barney Henderson 8:44PM GMT 08 Jan 2013 The family of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing in Iran in 2007, have released pictures of him dressed in an orange jumpsuit like a Guantánamo Bay prisoner, as they continue to hold hope that he is still alive.
  • Was 'Hottest Year on Record' Based on Phony Data?

    01/08/2013 8:07:44 PM PST · by PJ-Comix · 14 replies
    NewsBusters ^ | January 8, 2013 | P.J. Gladnick
    Not Even Close: 2012 Was Hottest Ever in U.S. So declared The New York Times in an article almost dripping with self-righteous jubilation. This sentiment was also echoed at the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, and many other media outlets. But could they all end up eating globally warmed crow? According to Anthony Watts of Watts Up With That? that is exactly what they might be forced to do. The source upon which this  "Hottest Ever" story is based is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). According to Watts' intensive research, it...
  • Lost cat makes incredible 190-mile journey home

    01/08/2013 7:37:06 PM PST · by BerryDingle · 48 replies
    wpbf.com ^ | Jan 07, 2013 | Terri Parker
    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —The last time Jacob and Bonnie Richter saw their 4-year-old tortoiseshell cat Holly, she bolted out of their motor home at the Daytona International Speedway on Nov. 4, apparently frightened by fireworks. For days, the distraught couple searched for Holly, putting up flyers and alerting rescue agencies before despondently heading home to West Palm Beach. There was a brief glimmer of hope two weeks later when a rescue group spotted the distinctive cat outside of a Daytona Beach restaurant which fed feral cats. But before the Richters could drive there, Holly had disappeared. Then she showed...
  • This Rape Infographic Is Going Viral. Too Bad It's Wrong.

    01/08/2013 7:12:47 PM PST · by grundle · 20 replies
    Slate ^ | January 8, 2013 | Amanda Marcotte
    Yesterday, under the headline, "The saddest graph you'll see today," Dylan Matthews at the Washington Post published this infographic created by the Enliven Project to put the legal issues around rape, its prosecutions, and concerns about false accusations into perspective. The graphic quickly made the rounds on Twitter and Facebook, but unfortunately, while well-intentioned, it is also misleading in significant ways that can be used to undercut its basic message, which is sound: that false rape accusations are rare.