Why I Mocked Marco Rubio?s Water Fail on Twitter

By Amanda Marcotte
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 9:58 EST

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So this happened during the speech. True story: I was about to recommend drinking more water before speaking on Twitter and right before I hit send, Rubio went for it. You could just tell that his mouth was gumming all up from nerves and he really needed a drink of water. I made much fun of this on Twitter, since the gif possibilities were endless, but had no intention of blogging about it this morning. It was, in my mind, the Super Bowl blackout of the State of the Union festivities: an opportunity to make jokes on Twitter, and nothing more. Winning the internet, like playing poker, can get your adrenaline up, but it?s important not to take it too seriously.

Apparently, focusing on this was a controversial choice. Erik Loomis accused folks like myself of being Maureen Dowd, except Twitter doesn?t actually pay me an ungodly sum a year to crack mean girl jokes, whereas Dowd, I hear, is not a volunteer for the New York Times. Raw Story?s own Roxanne Cooper suggested the howls of laughter were a bit much. So now I feel duty bound to defend all the Donald Glover gifs and Twitter ya-yas that were had over the drink of water.

1) I doubt anyone making fun actually thought that there was something terribly unprofessional about taking a sip of water while speaking. It?s not that he took a drink of water. It?s the way he did it. The panicked look in his eyes. The way you could tell that his mouth was drying up from nerves because it sounded like he developed a sudden lisp. And ultimately, the lunge. That bottle might as well have been full of flop sweat.

The thing is that Rubio was choking under pressure during the entire speech, and the water moment was the moment that crystallized it. The water moment is classic?synecdoche, which is not an uncommon rhetorical device in the deployment of humor. In the 140 character format, synecdoche is especially fun to play with.

2) I know that the assumption behind complaining about the water jokes is that they are being made in lieu of substantive analysis of Rubio?s ideas. Hell, it?s not an unspoken assumption; Erik asserts this directly.

Look, Marco Rubio is an awful guy. He wants to destroy the middle class, make abortion illegal, etc., etc. The only reason Republicans are looking at him as their savior in 2016 is that he?s brown. There?s all kinds of things to attack him on. Go for it. Tear his horrible ideas to shreds.

In theory, yes. But in order to engage someone?s ideas, it helps if they would offer them. For those of you who wisely snapped off your TV before Rubio spoke, here?s the text of that speech, which was an incoherent and contradictory set of attacks on the President that was only intended to rile up stupid people who don?t really understand much beyond how much they hate the President. His response to climate change was, in sum, ?nuh-uh!? and he kind of implied that you could trust that he?s not out to destroy the middle class because it would affect his property values. But mostly it was just reiteration of a bunch of buzz words that give conservatives hate erections, and are meaningless to anyone else. Paul Waldman gamely mounted a rebuttal, and his assessment was the same as anyone else with two working ears and common sense, calling the speech ?insipid? and ?a combination of calumny and clich? that demonstrated just why Republicans are having such problems appealing to voters?.

Next year, instead of sending one of their supposedly promising politicians up to derail his presidential hopes with a pointless rebuttal speech, I recommend instead that the Republicans put up a sandwich board filled with buzzwords??Solyndra?, ?big government?, ?job-killing?, ?more taxes?, ?moral breakdown?, ?America?s decline??and put this guy next to it:

Conveys the same message, but without sacrificing a politician?s dignity to do so. I don?t see why not. At this point, they have nothing to lose.

*Title stolen shamelessly from Roxanne Cooper.

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/13/why-i-mocked-marco-rubios-water-fail-on-twitter/

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About 550,000 Pontiac G6s in U.S. probed for bad brake lights

DETROIT (Reuters) - Safety regulators are investigating an estimated 550,000 Pontiac G6 cars because the brake lights may malfunction, raising the chances of an accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had received 212 consumer complaints alleging the brake lights do not operate properly on model-year 2005 through 2009 G6s, echoing similar complaints that led to a recall several years ago. The NHTSA has opened the investigation only into cars from model years 2005 through 2008, however.

Pontiac is a former brand of General Motors Co.

Consumers say the brake lights on the cars illuminate when the brake pedal has not been depressed or do not illuminate when the pedal has been depressed, according to documents filed with NHTSA. In addition, consumers complain the car's cruise control may not engage or will disengage unintentionally.

A GM spokesman said the U.S. automaker is cooperating with NHTSA in the investigation.

In September 2008, NHTSA said it had opened a similar investigation into allegations of brake light malfunctions on model-year 2005 through 2007 G6 cars, resulting in the recall of 8,012 of the vehicles from model years 2005 and 2006.

NHTSA said it had opened the latest probe to further analyze the scope, frequency and consequence of the alleged problem.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/550-000-pontiac-g6s-u-probed-bad-brake-131858176--finance.html

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Haley applauds House GOP for tax-cutting bills, Jack Kuenzie reports

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Is Tech Training at Community College the Key to the Future?

Perhaps we shouldn?t be pressing as many high school students to head straight for the university, since many high-tech manufacturing jobs are sitting empty. Community colleges are being transformed into the training step into these jobs, and more students need to be heading straight there. That?s the message Kelsey Sheehy is hearing, as reported in US News & World Report.

Two years ago, President Obama was speaking of this need, and more recently, the head of the National Association of Manufacturers testified to Congress about the deep need for change to manufacturing jobs. Jay Timmons estimates that as many as 600,000 skilled labor positions are unfilled around the nation. In a time of deep recession, that?s keenly important information for young people.

We?re already seeing a trend in which young (or not so young) adults go back to school for additional job training, even if they already have four-year university degrees. As they pick up certificates or two-year degrees, they are carrying student debt from their first journey through higher education. Now editorialists, business leaders and the mayor of Chicago are suggesting that high school students should skip the debt-heavy traditional education and just get a two-year degree in a STEM field. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It includes electrical engineering, computer tech support, medical equipment, and industrial skills like specialized welding.

Timmons also suggested, in his House testimony, that manufacturers should create their own system of certification tests. He expressed support for the new America Works Act, which would help fund these manufacturing skills tests, among other things.

The city of Chicago is moving to create targeted programs for the industries based in its region. The programs will start in vocational tracks in high school. The difference is that they?ll be more targeted than usual by teaming up with a company that might hire graduates:

Five high schools in the Chicago Public Schools district, including Corliss High School, Chicago Vocational Career Academy, and Lake View High School, began offering career-training tracks in September. The vocational programs are aligned with the needs of area businesses such as IBM, Motorola, and Verizon, which each partnered with a school to design alternative curricula, according to the CPS Website.

Chicago plans to coordinate these high school courses with the City Colleges of Chicago so that students can work toward two-year technical degrees at the same time.

US News points out that many people have the mistaken idea that shorter degrees train only for low-paying work. Not so:

Promoting two-year tech pathways can also open students? eyes to lucrative careers in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). Electrical engineering technicians earn a median salary of about $56,000 with an associate degree, and the median pay for nuclear technicians is roughly $68,000 with an associate?s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

When these jobs pay better than the median salary for a region, why, asks Timmons, do students continue to think of them as lower options than university? The wall between education and work has grown too high, and students simply do not know about these low-investment, high-paying tracks. The NAM hopes that skills certification will start to bring down this wall and make education more practical.

Source: http://www.educationnews.org/higher-education/is-tech-training-at-community-college-the-key-to-the-future/

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The Weinstein Company takes its first young adult franchise: Vampire Academy

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - The Weinstein Company has picked up domestic distribution rights to "Blood Sisters," the first film adaption from the popular young adult novels, "Vampire Academy."

"Mean Girls" director Mark Waters will direct the film, which should begin shooting this summer. The Weinstein Company wants to release it on Valentine's Day, 2014, which is also a long weekend due to President's Day.

It marks the independent distributor's first foray into the lucrative young adult market. The book series, which includes six titles thus far, has registered 8 million sales worldwide.

Waters' brother Dan Waters adapted the first tale, which follows two vampires, Rose Hathaway (Zooey Deutch) and Princess Lissa (Lucy Fry), who attend a school designed to help vampires remain somewhat human as they mature. The two eventually team with Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), a guardian, and together, they must battle evil forces intent on harming the princess.

"This series is fantastic and I am excited to bring it to the screen for diehard fans and introduce the stories to a whole new audience," TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein said in a statement.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/weinstein-company-takes-first-young-adult-franchise-vampire-212258131.html

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Fundraising for Sports Field Hits Home Stretch

WHEELING - Mayor Andy McKenzie is certain the J.B. Chambers Recreation Park planned for East Wheeling will open sometime this summer, although he said the city still needs to raise more than a half-million dollars to fully fund the estimated $3 million project.

"I want the field done by summer, so we need to raise the money quickly. ... It will be open this summer," McKenzie said.

Although he's confident the city's final fundraising push will be successful, he did not rule out using taxpayer money to meet that self-imposed deadline and reimbursing city coffers as additional private donations are collected.

Article Photos

Photo by Ian Hicks
Between $500,000 and $600,000 is still needed to complete fundraising for the future J.B. Chambers Recreation Park in East Wheeling, according to Mayor Andy McKenzie.

City Council took a similar approach with the project's early phases, spending about $1.2 million for design, the purchase of properties on the city block bounded by 15th, 16th, Wood and McColloch streets and demolition of the buildings on them.

It remains McKenzie's goal to pay for the park - which will include an artificial turf field suitable for multiple sports, two basketball courts and brand new playground equipment - entirely with private contributions.

Though the mayor said the city has received multiple large donations and pledges in writing - all of which he noted are $50,000 or larger - a $750,000 gift from the J.B. Chambers Foundation has been the only publicly announced donation toward the project to date.

According to McKenzie, no donor thus far has asked to remain anonymous. And while he's not prepared to release their identities just yet, he stressed he wants to eventually recognize those who have contributed to the project.

He offered one example, a donor he said contributed about $500,000 toward the project. When adding that donation to the Chambers donation, the city will have needed to raise an additional $1.25 million to be $500,000 from its goal.

"I want to make a big deal of that support, because we couldn't have done it without this person," McKenzie said.

The mayor said there hasn't been much discussion about the timing of such announcements, noting his priorities are finishing the fundraising effort and keeping the city as a whole financially sound.

"We may announce them individually, we may announce them collectively. ... It could be the day we break ground that we'll announce them, it could be tomorrow," McKenzie said of the donors.

He said every contribution pledged thus far has come from individuals, businesses and foundations.

"No churches, though," McKenzie said. "Of course, we've not asked any churches, either."

One of the issues surrounding the project has been allegations the field is being built primarily for the benefit of Wheeling Central Catholic High School, operated by the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. After months of rumors, the accusation was raised in open court when three property owners attempted to block the city's use of eminent domain powers to secure their homes.

However, now-retired Circuit Judge Arthur Recht dismissed those claims based on lack of evidence, calling them "naked allegations" based on "gossip and innuendo" during a hearing last January.

He ultimately affirmed the city's right of entry to the properties and ruled the city could proceed with the project.

Last month, Wheeling Central football coach Mike Young announced a partnership with Wheeling Jesuit University that is likely to result in the Maroon Knights playing their home games at the university's James LaRosa Field, possibly by this fall, and indicated the school is involved in helping the university raise money toward an estimated $2 million in planned renovations to that facility.

Before construction on the East Wheeling sports field can proceed, American Electric Power still must relocate some of the utility lines that lead to its substation near the project site. Once that's done, demolition contractor Edgco Inc., the city's demolition contractor, can return to the site, fill in the foundations of the razed buildings and level the site in preparation for the field to be built.

In addition to what McKenzie said will be the only artificial turf field in the Ohio Valley open for the public's general use, the park will feature two basketball courts and a brand new, centrally located playground to replace the equipment at the former Elks Playground that was removed during demolition.

Source: http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/581197.html

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Comcast grows in Q4, buys the rest of NBCUniversal and rolls out more new DVRs

It's been a busy day for Comcast, so we'll catch you up on the key points. First, it announced today that it's buying the 49 percent of NBCUniversal that it didn't already own from General Electric in a deal worth about $16.7 billion, plus 30 Rockefeller Plaza and CNBC's New Jersey headquarters for an additional $1.4 billion. That's an acceleration of the original schedule, which gave Comcast the option to expand its ownership starting in 2014. In other news, Comcast reported its Q4 earnings, noting that while it still lost around 7,000 cable TV customers in Q4, the total number of video, internet and phone subscribers rose by 503,000 to a total of 51.3 million, up 3 percent from last year.

In other news, Comcast announced expansions in its rollout of the new X1 DVR platform. Already live in areas of Georgia, New Jersey, Boston, Tennessee, San Francisco and Philadelphia, it's recently launched in Colorado Springs, CO with more promised in the coming months. It also locked down a deal with Fox that covers local broadcasts, cable TV networks and brings a number of the network's shows to Xfinity streaming apps and services on other platforms. That deal also reveals that Fox will soon add TV Everywhere authenticated streaming to its Fox Now apps, which Comcast customers will be able to access. There's an earnings call tomorrow where we may find out more details, for now you can look after the break and at the links below for the full press releases.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Comcast Voices, Comcast, Q4 Results

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