FCC Finally Approves Sirius Acquisition Of XM!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

FCC Finally Approves Sirius Acquisition Of XM!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Sixteen months after Sirius satellite radio announced its intention to acquire rival XM, the Federal Communications Commission late Friday removed the final regulatory roadblock by formally approving the merger in a 3-2 vote.

If you own an XM or Sirius satellite radio, you can now look forward to more channels and probably at a better a la carte subscription price. XM listeners will now be able to hear Howard Stern’s show and Sirius listeners will be able to hear whatever’s the biggest show on XM (“Oprah & Friends” maybe?).

Find all of the Associated Press’ story on the matter here.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Chicago Field Division Press Release

Federal Bureau of Investigation Chicago Field Division Press Release: "Saturday, July 26th, will mark the 100th anniversary of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) with just 34 Special Agents, it was officially renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. Since then, the FBI has grown to over 30,000 employees, including more than 12,000 Special Agents and nearly 18,000 professional support employees in 56 field offices and 70 legal attache' offices worldwide.

The Chicago Office, along with New York City, is one of the two oldest in the FBI, having opened shortly after the establishment of the BOI. Today, the Chicago office is the fourth largest with over 800 employees occupying a new stand-alone building in the Illinois Medical District and satellite offices in Lisle, Orland Park, Rockford, Rolling Meadows, and at both O’Hare and Midway airports."

Man Accused In Squirrel Deaths

Man Accused In Squirrel Deaths: "(Chicago) -- A man from west suburban Berwyn is accused of catching squirrels and letting them die.
The 72-year-old man, whose name has not been released, is suspected of trapping the animals in his yard and then leaving them to die without giving them food or water.
Berwyn Police confiscated two animal traps from the man who has been issued a ticket for keeping wild animals and cruelty to animals.
He is due in court on August 14th."

Muslim Day at Six Flags a time to relax and connect with others -- chicagotribune.com

Muslim Day at Six Flags a time to relax and connect with others -- chicagotribune.com: "On any other day, Sobia Ahmed would opt to forgo many of the snacks on offer at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. To perform the Islamic prayers she recites five times a day, she likely would slip onto a secluded path at the amusement park or look for solace under a shady tree for a few furtive minutes.

But this Saturday Ahmed and her family will eat and pray at their leisure in the park with hundreds of other Muslims from the Chicago area who plan to visit the sprawling entertainment center for a day catered especially to them.

For the fourth time since 2004, Six Flags in Gurnee is sponsoring Muslim Day, bringing in outside caterers to provide halal food and turning an amphitheater into a makeshift mosque to accommodate Muslims who observe dietary laws and strict prayer schedules. Muslims who plan to go say they appreciate the sense of community the event creates as well as the opportunity to talk about Islam with curious non-Muslims at the park."

WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather - Roaches Not The Only Problem At West Loop Restaurant

WBBM 780 - Chicago's #1 source for local news, traffic and weather - Roaches Not The Only Problem At West Loop Restaurant: "CHICAGO (STNG) -- A kitchen full of cockroaches led to the forced closure of a West Loop restaurant by city health inspectors on Friday, and the eatery was also cited for violating the city smoking ban.

Aroma on Randolph at 941 W. Randolph St. on the Near West Side was closed after Chicago Department of Public Health inspectors discovered a cockroach infestation and other critical violations of the city health code, according to a release from the department."

Michael Savage is drawing a lot of heat...

Message from the floor of the US House: "If Michael Savage wants to see a moron, he should look in the mirror."

from Crooks and Liars by bluegal

Popout

Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA) takes on Michael Savage's ridiculous comments on autism.   The strongest movement yet to

get

Savage

fired

is underway.  

UPDATE: (Nicole) And it's been successful, at least in the Cleveland market.  Media Matters documents Talk Radio Network's impressively spinsational attempt at retroactive context to explain Savage's comments by using comments made after that misrepresented his original comments.

He keeps saying the right things.....

Obama Addresses Tehran From Paris

from Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines

During his quick jaunt to Paris on Friday, Barack Obama sent a direct message to Iran, cautioning it to stop enriching uranium or "the pressure ... is only going to build." Obama had the chance to chat briefly with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who told him that the French would be "delighted" if he won in November's election.

---

The New York Times:

At a joint news conference in the Elysee Palace, Mr. Obama repeated the themes of his speech Thursday night in Berlin, saying that the United States wanted a strong Europe able to share in the collective defense, needed European help in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, welcomed European help in the Middle East and valued allied contributions in shared problems like global terrorism, poverty and climate change.

The problem of climate change, Mr. Obama said, would be "one of my highest priorities" if elected president in November.

Both men agreed that Afghanistan is "a war we have to win," Mr. Obama said, vowing to send two more American brigades to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda there. Mr. Sarkozy, who has already sent another 700 French combat troops, said that "we are not allowed to fail" in Afghanistan and let the Taliban again "prevent 6 million little girls from going to school."

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

try ans guess who had the better thursday....

Daily Show: Obama in Berlin vs. McCain in the supermarket

from Crooks and Liars by SilentPatriot

 

Jon Stewart juxtaposes how the two candidates spent their Thursdays.

 Download | Play   Download | Play

"But watching Senator Obama address a crowd of 200,000 in Germany while Senator McCain addresses a crowd of two in the frozen food section…"

That about sums it up.

Business Spectator - NAB will shock Wall Street

Business Spectator - NAB will shock Wall Street: "US banks have written down $450 billion in bad housing loans. The revelation from NAB means that they will now certainly need to take provisions to $1,000 billion. But write-downs of $1,300 billion and perhaps even more are on the cards.

Where will the equity come from to cover these bad loans? The world has never attempted a rescue effort of this size and it will make liquidity in the globe very tight. That’s why corporates will be hit. All Australian companies that need equity should raise it now."

cryptogon.com » Archives » National Australia Bank Writes Off 90% of U.S. AAA Rated CDOs

cryptogon.com » Archives » National Australia Bank Writes Off 90% of U.S. AAA Rated CDOs

Via: Business Spectator:

The National Australia Bank’s decision to write off 90 per cent of its US conduit loans will have dramatic repercussions around the world. Wall Street will be deeply shocked when they understand the repercussions of what NAB has done. It is clear global banks have nowhere near provided for their exposures to US housing loans which in the words of John Stewart are experiencing a “meltdown”.

We are now way beyond sub-prime. NAB says that it is suffering a 55 per cent loss on American housing loans – an event that has never happened in the history of a developed country in recent memory. This is an unprecedented event and means that the cost of bailing out the US financial system is now far beyond the highest estimates. A US recession is now locked in, but more alarmingly, 55 per cent loan losses point to the possibility of a depression.

It means the cost of bailing out housing exposures to the two mortgage insurers will be so great that it will leave no room to bail out anything else and there are several US banks that are now in big trouble. NAB says that the dislocation in the residential market is separate from the corporate market, but the flow on is inevitable.

While global banks have been writing down their balance sheet assets, few have tackled their conduit exposures which are off balance sheet but to which they are ultimately liable.

This morning at around 6am I wrote that we had been experiencing a ‘dead cat bounce’. I had no idea that NAB would trigger the downturn and confirm what I had written. And of course Wall Street will receive a deep shock when it wakes up.

More: Bad Debt Bombshell from National Australia Bank

5 Simple Steps to Make Feeling Like Crap Benefit You | @ Dumb Little Man

5 Simple Steps to Make Feeling Like Crap Benefit You | @ Dumb Little Man

Here's my advice on hacking at the root of negativity, instead of clipping the twigs and the leaves:

• Pay attention to what's making you feel negative. It all starts with awareness right? A lot of people don't want to face their negative emotions. And for good reason, it's unpleasant. But if we deny all our negative feelings, we're really denying ourselves and before long, there won't be much left.


• Realize that negativity is there to help you. Negative emotions and responses are there for a reason. They're trying to tell us something just isn't right. Instead of just feeling your negative feelings, try to dig deep and see what's causing them. You might have to go through a few layers of emotions before you find the root.


• Is it really important, or are you just whining? This is one of the most important questions you can ask and really forces you to be honest with whether you're just whining, or if your feelings are legitimate. After all, a really negative person, can make even the best situation seem terrible. In the same way an overly (unhealthily) positive person can make even the most negative situation seem positive.
  
  See, this article. If you think you're just whining, complaining and making excuses, you probably are. This is the test if it's something that can be fixed with an adjustment of your attitude, or if it's going to take some deeper work.


• Untie the knot. In Buddhism, there's a concept called internal formations. Basically, when you have a negative emotion: anger, fear, frustration, depression, or despair, it's telling you there's something you need to take a look at. By simply accepting our negative feelings, we can witness the source and being to "untie the knot." When we find the root, we can go to work at what caused the knot to take form, and begin to discover how we can release it.


• Look at the root. After we untie the knot, it's important that we look at the root of the knot in the first place. Let's say you're feeling like crap because you don't like your job. So you untie the knot, you take a day off of work and recoup. But going to work at the root, means solving the problem that caused the knot in the first place. If you really hate your job, figure out why and find a way to fix it. That might mean changing positions, working with new people, or simply quitting. Do whatever it takes to solve the problem directly, instead of making a quick fix.

DRM still sucks: Yahoo Music going dark, taking keys with it

DRM still sucks: Yahoo Music going dark, taking keys with it: "The bad dream of DRM continues. Yahoo e-mailed its Yahoo! Music Store customers yesterday, telling them it will be closing for good—and the company will take its DRM license key servers offline on September 30, 2008. Sure, it's bad news and yet another example of the sheer lobotomized brain-deadness that has characterized music DRM, but the reaction of most music fans will be: 'Yahoo had an online music store?'

If you think this sounds familiar, it's because this happened earlier this year with MSN Music, although Microsoft has since relented and will keep the DRM authorization servers up and running through 2011.

Once the Yahoo store goes down and the key servers go offline, existing tracks cannot be authorized to play on new computers. Instead, Yahoo recommends the old, lame, and lossy workaround of burning the files to CD, then reripping them onto the computer. Sure, you'll lose a bunch of blank CDs, sound quality, and all the metadata, but that's a small price to pay for the privilege of being able to listen to that music you lawfully acquired. Good thing you didn't download it illegally or just buy it on CD!"

The 25 Most Modern Libraries in the World | Best Colleges Online

The 25 Most Modern Libraries in the World | Best Colleges Online

Check these out...

from consumerist - beware travel clubs and red lobster...

Careful, That Red Lobster Coupon Could Cost You $7,500 [Scams]

from Consumerist by Meg Marco

How do you define a scam? Does your definition include anything where you have to put down money upfront in order to get discounts later? Maybe it should. Meet Stephen and Jean Liang of Kansas City, Missouri. They went to a presentation for a travel club, and ended up joining for $7,500— with the condition that they could cancel after 3 days. Before they left, they were offered a discount for Red Lobster. They thought it was a bonus for joining the club. It wasn't.

From CNN:

During the presentation, Stephen and Jean were told they could get discounted condo rates and other travel benefits around the world. They decided to join — for $7,500. Jean said they were assured they could cancel within three days.

Before Stephen and Jean even left, they were offered a discount coupon for Red Lobster.

"We really enjoy Red Lobster," Jean said. "We thought it was a bonus for joining."

They were asked to sign a piece of paper after they received the card. The Liangs didn't think much about it.

"We thought we needed to sign it to show we'd gotten the card," Jean said.

But, unfortunately, Stephen and Jean didn't realize that by accepting the Red Lobster card, they had used the services of the travel club. And by signing that piece of paper, they were waiving their right to cancel their membership.

But the couple soon found out the next day when they tried to cancel.

Jean said they felt deceived. "This is really, really wrong. A person's word is what they are." The couple found out the hard way that it doesn't always work that way.

The BBB warns consumers that they receive lots of complaints about these travel clubs. Here's what they have to say about them:
"Vacation clubs, special travel agent training and bargain-finder software, often aren't good deals because initial costs are rarely recouped by any future savings on travel costs since the bargains and special deals don't really exist as portrayed in the sales pitches," said the BBB's spokesperson. "Consumers need to be very wary of travel club offers and research the companies extensively before committing any money or giving out credit card or bank account information."

It's better to save your pennies than bet them on a deal that may never come.

Watch out for the 'free' stuff [CNN] (Thanks, prameta1!)
(Photo: danesparza )

t r u t h o u t | The Company We Keep

t r u t h o u t | The Company We Keep: "Since 2005, Congress has banned the use of such methods by the military, but we have no way of knowing whether the CIA continues to use them (For example, The Associated Press reported Thursday that, 'CIA Director Michael Hayden banned waterboarding in 2006, but government officials have said it remains a possibility if approved by the attorney general, the CIA chief and the president).'

Such is the secrecy and deliberate obfuscation that have characterized our nation's descent into lawlessness and duplicity, depicted brilliantly in New Yorker magazine investigative reporter Jane Mayer's new book, 'The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals.'

Post 9/11, she reports, 'For the first time in its history, the United States sanctioned government officials to physically and psychologically torment US-held detainees, making torture the official law of the land in all but name.' The late American historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., she says, told her that 'the Bush administration's extralegal counterterrorism program presented the most dramatic, sustained and radical challenge to the rule of law in American history.' Over lunch in 2006, the year before Schlesinger died, he said, 'No position taken had done more damage to the American reputation in the world - ever.'"

Yeah Rep Wexler! From Crooks and Liars....

Congressional Hearing On Bush Abuse Of Power: Rep Wexler Brings The Heat

from Crooks and Liars by Logan Murphy

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

The House Judiciary Committee is holding hearings today on the numerous abuses of power and impeachable offenses of George W. Bush and right out of the gate, Florida Rep. Robert Wexler lays out the clear case for the need to begin impeachment hearings. 

I fully recognize the significance of holding impeachment hearings and I have not come to this position lightly. Not one bit. But when an administration takes actions that amount to High Crimes, we, the Representatives of the people, are left with no option other than to seek impeachment and removal from office. Our government was founded by a delicate balance of powers, whereby one branch carefully checks the other branches to prevent a dangerous consolidation of power. The actions of this White House have eviscerated this careful balance. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. This is an American issue. Without these checks and balances the President can run roughshod over any law with impunity. Congress must end this disturbing pattern of behavior, and in these circumstances, unfortunately, the only option left is impeachment hearings.

You got to give Wexler credit, he's b

The Unfortunate Reality Behind PUNISHER WAR ZONE... -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

The Unfortunate Reality Behind PUNISHER WAR ZONE... -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Bad news for fans of the Punisher...looks like its 0 for 2. From AICN:

The Unfortunate Reality Behind PUNISHER WAR ZONE...

Hey folks, Harry here... I know I'm not at Comic Con - but that doesn't mean I'm not covering it. At the PUNISHER WAR ZONE panel yesterday, Gale Anne Hurd told the audience that Lexi Alexander was on her "Honeymoon" and couldn't make it.

That is what we call a "story" - others may call it a "cover" and still others may call it a "bald face lie."

How can I say that? Well when I posted that Comic Con footage with the shitty music and terrible scratches (that otherwise rocked) - a source of mine that I've been in contact for years inside Lionsgate contacted me out of sheer frustration, whom I'll call JIGSAW. It seems that after a summer, where we've had incredible success with Superhero properties that were treated with respect by filmmakers that were left to do their thing... that Lionsgate has turned a deaf ear to all of that.

Lexi Alexander has been kicked to the curb - part of that treatment was her "honeymoon" from Comic Con. However, there's more totally awesome wedding gifts that Lionsgate has given the blushing bride. She's off the movie and wrapped up in a non-disclosure clause - so we won't be hearing from her anytime soon, UNLESS THINGS CHANGE RADICALLY - but Lionsgate isn't necessarily known for calming down. They've decided to market it HARD CORE - and they've decided to jettison the composer for the film in lieu of loud thrashing metal, because nothing says PUNISHER like raspy amps.

The music choice is very much about producing a soundtrack that'll sell well, fuck whether or not it serves the film. Jigsaw also told me - that the film may survive the manhandling, but will not be the film that lovers of Garth Ennis and Tim Bradstreet are hoping for. Expect an erratic head pounding METAL show.

The Impeachment Hearing That Wasn't | BuzzFlash.org

The Impeachment Hearing That Wasn't | BuzzFlash.org

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Meg White

Though the name of the hearing -- Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations -- didn't include the hot-button word, impeachment was on the minds of judiciary committee members and witnesses Friday.

Last month, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush. In an interview with BuzzFlash shortly after the introduction, Kucinich said it was imperative that Congress act now, rather than later:

"If we wait, we're licensing further abuses of power. There's been broad concern that this administration could attack Iran. Why should we give them the opening to do so by failing to challenge the lies that they told that took us into war with Iraq?" he asked. "We cannot wait for after the election. We don't know what could happen in the next six months with respect to a further erosion of our democratic process. And what the impeachment process would do would be to have a chilling effect on further abuses of the Constitution and on creating another war."

Kucinich recently introduced more articles of impeachment against Bush. After years of sticking to her impeachment is "off the table" line, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said earlier this month that she supported the idea of Kucinich's articles making it to a hearing.

It has been suggested that Pelosi took impeachment off the table to avoid being entangled in legal issues.

A Washington Post article from December of last year revealed that party leadership such as Pelosi had been briefed by the Bush Administration early on regarding torture policies, including waterboarding, as well as other controversial subjects. Journalists and lawmakers alike have suggested that the Democratic Party's reluctance to hold impeachment hearings relates to these closed meetings. They have suggested that Pelosi and others could be held legally responsible for their reticence on harsh interrogation techniques.

When such Bush Administration wrongdoings are brought up publicly, Republican lawmakers often say that since the Congressional leaders known as the Gang of Eight did not express concern at the closed hearings that they are complicit in the condoning of torture, an opinion mentioned again at today's hearings.

In at least one way, these were the impeachment hearings that weren't.

Conyers' staff made sure each witness had a written copy of the House rule that state "personal abuse, innuendo, or ridicule of the president is not permitted. . . Any suggestion of mendacity is out of order."

Being called out of order could result in being barred from speaking for the duration of the hearing. In order to talk specifically about impeaching the president, Congress would have to vote to begin an inquiry.

"To the regret of many, this is not an impeachment hearing," Conyers said.

What the Fu@k?!....From Scholars and Rogues...

How do you feel about free speech, Mr. Candidate?

from Scholars and Rogues by Dr. Slammy

Our friends over at Colorado Independent have a great new analysis up on free speech zones graveyards at the upcoming DNC. As Constitutional attorney John Whitehead explains, the Dems will be the only party this summer building a fence around open expression.

Protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Denver in late August will be corralled into caged "free speech zones" made of chicken wire and chain link fences which are located more than two football fields from the delegates' entrance. Those who attempt to exercise their First Amendment rights outside this makeshift cage, which is partially obscured by trees and sculptures, will be arrested. (Ironically, protesters at this year's Republican National Convention will not face a cage or even policemen in riot gear.)

Pardonnez-moi le Francais, but this is a fucking embarrassment of the first order. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you're only free to speak in certain areas, far removed from any chance of actually being heard, then what you have is not free speech. "Free speech" under these conditions is tortured into the sort of Rovian Newspeak we've had to endure these past few years, an open lie so bald-faced it would have shamed Richard Nixon.

Stalin had "free speech zones," too, only he called them "prisons."

S&R has been credentialed to cover the DNC and we'll be bringing a fair-sized team to the show. Some of us will be inside watching the official events unfold, but rest assured, others will be hunting for free speech, no matter what part of Denver officials try to hide it in. (And since a lot of us live here, we know our way around.) We don't expect to agree with everything being said - heck, we may not agree with a word of it - but I think a lot of us here feel an obligation to certain Constitutional principles that both parties seem to have abandoned. And if we've hated how the GOP has redefined "freedom," you can bet your sweet ass we're even less enamored of Vichy Democrats bent on out-GOPping the Busheviks.

So fine, DNC - try and hide free speech as best you can. But we're going to go find it and bring it back for all to hear.

Meanwhile, a question for the man who ought to be out front in making sure that free speech graveyards are a thing of the past: Sen. Obama, why aren't you defending the right to free speech in America?

Ever want to call someone and have it go directly to voicemail...from techcrunch

Slydial Lets You Avoid Awkard Calls, Go Straight To Voicemail

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 07:44 PM CDT

It's Friday night, you've got a blind date in an hour, and the last thing you want to do is make small talk with a stranger. You'd like nothing more to cancel, but there's no easy to do it. Text messages and emails are out of the question - they're too cold and impersonal, especially with so little notice. So you call, hoping with every ounce of your soul that the message will go to voicemail. Of course they pick up after one ring, and a hopelessly clumsy conversation ensues.

Slydial, a new service from MobileSphere, is looking to offer users a way to avoid this situation. The service allows users to call any mobile line and go directly to voicemail, without the awkward conversation. Their phone will actually display a missed call from your original number, but they won't have a chance to answer it.

To use the service, dial 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425), and enter your contact's number (note: this isn't a toll-free call). Slydial works with all US wireless carriers, and users can make the initial call from either landlines or mobile phones. And, if you really hate talking to people, you can make an account on the company's website and use a contact list to leave voice messages from your computer.

Slydial seems like a service that is ripe for abuse, but it's still great to have (I just saved it to my contacts list). Sure, it's devious and impersonal, but at least it isn't a text message. And voicemail is dead anyway, isn't it?

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