Is This The Great Big Flu Epidemic to End All Flu Epidemics?

April 27, 2009

“Is swine flu ‘the big one’ or a flu that fizzles?” Get ready for many of these kind of stories, with intonations from the health policy experts who matter. More likely, this potential pandemic is more limited in scope. “We have no clue right now where we are between those two extremes. That’s the problem.”

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The Argumentative Genius: Raising Bill Gates Took a Lot of Work

April 27, 2009

Boy geniuses are difficult. “The first stage, argumentative young boy, started about the time he was 11.” People who hate Bill Gates and Microsoft would argue it never stopped, but it takes a certain type of parent to “acquiesce when Bill quit Harvard and then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico” to start a “soft-ware” company.

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Pakistan Wavers as Taliban Meets Little Resistance: Foreign Policy Worries Stack Up

April 25, 2009

Time for the team of Clinton, Holbrooke, and Biden to shine: “Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates publicly expressed frustration with reports that Taliban forces had moved eastward into two new districts of the country this week with no apparent resistance from government forces, bringing them within 60 miles of the Pakistani capital.”

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Obama Refuses to Use Word 'Genocide' in re: Armenian Slaughter, Despite Campaign Promise

April 25, 2009

It’s a small area, but worth noting because Obama’s promises on this front signaled he perhaps took genocide more seriously than the prior Administration. Armenians are “profoundly disappointed … All the more so because his statements on this before he became president nailed it in terms the facts, the practical side and the moral dimension.”

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The Life and Times of Andrew Cuomo, Consummate Political Actor

April 25, 2009

A glowingly Machiavellian profile of the man who would be Governor: “Cuomo turned up the tension with well-timed leaks and subpoenas, seizing on the juiciest details: partridge-hunting trips paid for with federal bailout money! Resort junkets! The public outrage had been a useful tool … not coincidentally, making Cuomo wildly popular.” Politics is fun.

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Sen. Nelson to Oppose Obama's Nomination of Ex-NARAL Counselor

April 24, 2009

Uh oh. This could signal real trouble for a key Obama nominee under assault by the right: Office of Legal Counsel chief Dawn Johnsen, a fierce Bush critic who would be at the center of the war over whether Obama will meaningfully reverse a host of Bush-era legal policies.

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Al Franken Won't be a Senator, At Least Until June

April 24, 2009

The never-ending Minnesota Senate race won’t be decided until this summer, thanks to a state Supreme Court decision Friday to hear oral arguments starting June 1.

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Baghdad Bombings: Is Iraq Unraveling Again?

April 24, 2009

Is Iraq unraveling again? Nervous Iraqis worry that the new spate of violence is a sign of what could happen when the U.S. begins pulling its troops out in June (the complete withdrawal is slated for the end of 2011).

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Gingrich and Gore Face Off on Climate Change, Environment

April 24, 2009

WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Al Gore and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were facing off Friday before lawmakers, each on opposite sides of a major climate and energy bill. Both were testifying on the fourth and final day of a hearing before the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee.

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Poll: 58% of Americans Believe CIA Memo Release Endangers National Security

April 24, 2009

Fifty-eight percent (58%) believe the Obama administration’s recent release of CIA memos about the harsh interrogation methods used on terrorism suspects endangers the national security of the United States. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 28% believe the release of the memos helps America’s image abroad.

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