Clipmarks | ratilfar's Comments

Obama's speech seen by 38 million-plus viewers : The most watched in US political history

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:42:43 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

NEW YORK - Barack Obama's audience for his acceptance speech likely topped 40 million people, and the Democratic gathering that nominated him was a more popular television event than any other political convention in history.

More people watched Obama speak from a packed stadium in Denver on Thursday than watched the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, the final "American Idol" or the Academy Awards this year, Nielsen Media Research said Friday. (Four playoff football games, including the Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots, were seen by more than 40 million people.)

His TV audience nearly doubled the amount of people who watched John Kerry accept the Democratic nomination to run against President Bush four years ago. Kerry's speech was seen by a little more than 20 million people; Bush's acceptance speech to GOP delegates had 27.6 million viewers.

Tags: obama, history

Russia to cut oil supply to Europe?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:15:59 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Threatened response to EU sanctions.

Clip Source: kommersant.com

Russia to Cut Oil Supplies to Europe In Response to Sanctions

A worker examines a sample at the receiving station of the oil pipeline ''Druzhba'', or Friendship, in Szazhalombatta, 29 kilometers (18 miles) south of Budapest, Hungary.

Russia’s government may prompt at least one oil company to cut supplies of crude oil to Europe in response to the threats to impose sanctions in the wake of the conflict with Georgia.

It is rumored that supplies via Druzhba pipeline that meets oil requirements of Poland and Germany will be probably reduced and that the LUKOIL leadership has been given the notice.

The reduction might happen already starting from September 1, the sources speculate. People in LUKOIL, however, say they know nothing about the plans to cut down supplies, and people in the Kremlin declined to comment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner declared yesterday that the EU was deliberating whether to impose sanctions on Russia in the wake of events in South Ossetia and Georgia.

Tags: russia, oil

The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:11:57 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: It's also a slap in the face of Democratic women voters. They don't get Hillary but they get Sarah as the first potential woman President? In fact, I can just hear Biden saying, "Sarah Palin, you are NO Hillary Clinton!"

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

The VP Choice that Lost the Presidency for McCain

I think we will look back at today as the day when the Republicans most certainly lost the Presidency.

In choosing Sarah Palin of Alaska for Vice President, the Republicans have made a cynical but clever choice. At least they think it is clever.

Clip Source: wonkette.com

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

She has NO national experience.

She has never been under the intense scrutiny of a national campaign.

She is under investigation for some incident in Alaska that is messy and personal.

She has no international experience.

When Republicans and independents go into the voting booth, will they have the confidence to vote for a McCain-Palin ticket, knowing that John McCain has had several recurrences of his skin cancer, and will be the oldest President ever? Can they imagine Sarah Palin stepping into the Oval Office and dealing with all the problems we face right now?

It's a slap in the face of other Republican women like Kay Bailey Hutchison

Tags: john mccain whore mongering gold digger

Dems comment on Palin Pick

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:57:34 GMT

clipped by: lap322
clipper's remarks: Clearly, McCain thinks women are stupid enough to fall for his pseudo-Hillary.

Comparing Palin to Hillary Clinton is like comparing a high-school freshman to a PhD grad (actually, that almost has some truth to it...)

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Barack Obama Campaign Spokesman Bill Burton responds to John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate:

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel:

"Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? Given Sarah Palin's lack of experience on every front and on nearly every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn't show judgment: it shows political panic."

Barbara Boxer:

If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.

The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart.

Tags: sarah palin, mccain, election, democrats, obama

McCain "Thank God liberals don't shoot people"

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:22:11 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: Unconfirmed Sources political satire and news story parodies as represented above are written as satire or parody. They are, of course, fictitious.

Clip Source: www.unconfirmedsources.com

McCain "I'm safe Democrates don't try to murder their polical opponents."

DENVER, Colorado (Ucs News) --Responding to reports of white supremacist "meth heads" planning to assassinate Barack Obama in Denver, Arizona Senator John McCain stated he was grateful that "All liberals are cowards that hate guns." and the he feels "perfectly safe."

The Obama campaign offices in St. Paul Minnesota were also attacked. When police arrived to the scene, officer found two large plate glass windows and a glass door completely smashed out and paint splattered on the outside and inside of the building. A campaign worker was in the basement at the time of the incident, but was unhurt. Police believe the Obama campaign office was targeted because of its Democratic affiliation.

McCain campaign has largely been free of the death threats and violence that have plagued is challenger Barack Obama.

Tags: satire, unconfirmedsources

Olbermann dislikes freedom of speech and of the press

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:49:18 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.editorandpublisher.com

In an unusually heated attack on a veteran political reporter by a cable news host, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann laced into the Associated Press's Charles Babington an hour after Barack Obama had concluded his speech in Denver on Thursday night.

Olbermann was outraged that the AP's Babington had written, in his analysis of the speech, just off the wire, that Obama had tried nothing new and that his speech was lacking in specifics.

It is analysis that strikes me as having borne no resemblance to the speech you and I just watched. None whatsoever. And for it to be distributed by the lone national news organization in terms of wire copy to newspapers around the country and web sites is a remarkable failure of that news organization.

Obama backers have criticized the coverage of their candidate by the AP

AP had transmitted a Babington preview of the Republican convention earlier in the day in which he declared "Republicans appear to have lost their identity

Tags: olbermann, ap, msnbc, liberal, bias, obama, politics

Georgia breaks ties with Russia

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:01:52 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Moscow regretted Tbilisi's decision.

"The possible end of diplomatic relations with Georgia is not the choice of Moscow, and Tbilisi will have to bear the entire responsibility," the state-controlled Tass news agency reported him as saying.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Georgia has decided to cut diplomatic ties with Russia, days after Moscow recognised the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions.

Moscow said the decision "will not help bilateral relations" between the two nations - who had a brief war this month over South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Reports claim Russia intends to deepen its involvement with the two regions.

Meanwhile, a rights group has said UN satellite images prove ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia were torched.

Human Rights Watch says the pictures of five villages near the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, are "compelling evidence of war crimes and grave human rights abuses".

The organisation called on the Russian government to prosecute those responsible.

Georgia had already announced that it would scale back staffing at its Moscow embassy, and that its ambassador - who was withdrawn last month - would not be returning.

But the foreign ministry now says all of its diplomats will return from the Moscow embassy by Saturday.

Tags: russian-georgian war, russia, georgia

Election is over

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:39:51 GMT

clipped by: pecksnif
clipper's remarks: McCain may take 50 states.

Clip Source: curmudgeonlyskeptical.blogspot.com

"Erection Over"

Tags: mccain-palin, obama-smarmy

McCain picks history's least experienced VP candidate

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:58:06 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Under investigation for abusing the power of her office. Has no foreign policy experience; governor for 20 mos., formerly small-town mayor. She'll have to debate Joe Biden.

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

Ready to Lead?: McCain taps Alaska Gov. Palin as VP

The choice is problematic for McCain on a number of fronts.

Palin is the least qualified and experienced running mate in the history of the office, having served a total of 20 months in office.

The contrast between her and McCain could not be greater.

Does anyone really want Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Presidency should McCain become unable to serve?

Although known as a reformer, Palin is a product of the corrupt Alaskan political machine, and is even under criminal investigation herself for abusing the power of her office.

Can she possibly face off against Joe Biden on any issue?

She pronounces “nuclear” like George Bush.

She supports Obama’s energy plan, all but undercutting the one supposed strength she brings to the ticket.

Download | Play Download | Play

Tags: mccain, palin

Does John McCain think Women are that stupid?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:29:36 GMT

clipped by: NonStatQuo
clipper's remarks: Do women care more about having a token example on any ticket over finding a woman who won't support a women's right to choose?

Someone who has limited experience?

Blacks won't vote for Obama just because he is black, and women won't vote for women just because of token gender.

I hope we are all SMART enough to look at the issues beyond race or gender.

Clip Source: www.google.com

Tags: politics, women, abortion, guns, mccain, women are smarter than this

Olbermann dislikes freedom of speech and of the press

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:49:18 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.editorandpublisher.com

Olbermann was outraged that the AP's Babington had written, in his analysis of the speech, just off the wire, that Obama had tried nothing new and that his speech was lacking in specifics.

Obama backers have criticized the coverage of their candidate by the AP

AP had transmitted a Babington preview of the Republican convention earlier in the day in which he declared "Republicans appear to have lost their identity

Tags: olbermann, ap, msnbc, liberal, bias, obama, politics

Olbermann dislikes freedom of speech and of the press

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:49:18 GMT

clipped by: n2sooners

Clip Source: www.editorandpublisher.com

Olbermann was outraged that the AP's Babington had written, in his analysis of the speech, just off the wire, that Obama had tried nothing new and that his speech was lacking in specifics.

Obama backers have criticized the coverage of their candidate by the AP

AP had transmitted a Babington preview of the Republican convention earlier in the day in which he declared "Republicans appear to have lost their identity

Tags: olbermann, ap, msnbc, liberal, bias, obama, politics

McCain picks history's least experienced VP candidate

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:58:06 GMT

Clip Source: www.crooksandliars.com

Ready to Lead?: McCain taps Alaska Gov. Palin as VP

The choice is problematic for McCain on a number of fronts.

Palin is the least qualified and experienced running mate in the history of the office, having served a total of 20 months in office.

The contrast between her and McCain could not be greater.

Does anyone really want Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Presidency should McCain become unable to serve?

Although known as a reformer, Palin is a product of the corrupt Alaskan political machine, and is even under criminal investigation herself for abusing the power of her office.

Can she possibly face off against Joe Biden on any issue?

She pronounces “nuclear” like George Bush.

She supports Obama’s energy plan, all but undercutting the one supposed strength she brings to the ticket.

Download | Play Download | Play

Tags: mccain, palin

McCain picks Alaska Gov. Palin as running mate

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:57:15 GMT

clipped by: dewitte

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain has picked Alaska Gov. Sarah as his running mate, a senior McCain campaign official told CNN on Friday.

Palin, 44, who's in her first term as governor, is a pioneering figure in Alaska, the first woman and the youngest person to hold the state's top political job.

She catapulted to the post with a strong reputation as a political outsider, forged during her stint in local politics. She was mayor and a council member of the small town of Wasila and was chairman of the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which regulates Alaska's oil and gas resources, in 2003 and 2004.

Palin's term has not been without controversy. A legislative investigation is looking into allegations that Palin fired Alaska's public safety commissioner because he refused to fire the governor's former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

Palin acknowledged that a call was made by a member of her staff to a trooper in which the staffer suggested he was speaking for the governor.

Tags: mccain, vp, alaska, palin

Muppet Show to return to TV after 27 years

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:59:54 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The Jim Henson-created characters may be on their way back thanks to a new Disney Film.

In the movie, written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall star and writer Jason Segel, the Muppets reunite to save their studio with one last variety show.

Should the film go well, it opens up the possibility of a television programme, also written by 28-year-old Segel.

A source said: "Jason is a massive Muppets fan and is seen as the man to finally bring The Muppet Show back to TV.

"It will obviously have all its old fans but Jason's comedy is hugely popular with youngsters so it will open it up to a whole new audience."

The source added: "If the movie script is popular Jason will write the TV series too. He is already coming up with ideas for it."

In the original series, Kermit, arguably the world's most famous frog, was the show's stage manager, attempting to keep order amidst the chaos, while being pursued by Miss Piggy.

Tags: muppet, muppets, show, kermit, miss piggy, hiyaaah!