And Now Big Bird Has Become A Full-Fledged Obama Attack Ad Against Mitt Romney

In a new television ad drooling with sarcasm, the Obama campaign slams Mitt Romney for saying last week during the presidential debate that he would cut the federal subsidy to PBS — despite the fact that he "loves Big Bird."

The new Obama campaign ad mockingly casts Big Bird as a corporate savage comparable to Bernie Madoff and Kenneth Lay. It continues the theme Obama has hit in recent days on the campaign trail, when he has mocked Romney for "getting tough on Big Bird" and Sesame Street — but not Wall Street.

“Criminals. Gluttons of greed,” a narrator says in the ad, cutting to images of Madoff, Lay and former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski. “And the evil genius who towered over them?”

An outline of Big Bird then appears in a window, and the video cuts to Romney saying "Big Bird" in the debate last week.

“One man has the guts to say his name,” the narrator says. “... Big. Yellow. A menace to our economy. Mitt Romney knows it’s not Wall Street you have to worry about, it’s Sesame Street. Mitt Romney. Taking on our enemies, no matter where they nest.”

PBS also slammed Mitt Romney after the debate >

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The Stocks to Blame for the Dow's Drop

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) closed today's trading session lower by more than 26 points. The index was as low at 13,552, down 57 points early in the day, but it finally ended at 13,583, down only 0.19%. The early slide was in response to comments from the World Bank. The organization cut its growth outlook for China and other Asia-Pacific economies to 7.2%, down from the estimated 7.6% growth rate it had announced in May.

Not all the Dow components moved lower on the World Bank's announcement; 11 were in the green and one was flat for the day. Of the 18 losers, four of them were Disney (NYSE: DIS  ) , Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) , Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) , and Home Depot (NYSE: HD  ) .

So why are they down?
Verizon Wireless slid 1.02% lower today after the Federal Communications Commission announced plans late Friday to reduce regulation for exclusive programming deals. Comcast and Time Warner will gain from the ruling, which will give them control over regional sports-network distribution. Besides Verizon, AT&T, DISH Network, and DirecTV will find themselves on the wrong end of the deal.

Disney also slid more than 1.21% today, after an analyst at Caris downgraded the stock to "average" from "above average." This came on a day when the company also saw its newest animated film, Frankenweenie, come in fourth place, making only $11 million at the box office this weekend.

Although neither company had any major news related directly to it, both Hewlett-Packard and Home Depot closed the day as the worst two Dow stocks, down 1.83% and 2.09%, respectively. Oddly enough, Home Depot is the second best-performing Dow component year to date, up more than 47%, while Hewlett-Packard is the worst Dow stock, down more than 43% during the same time frame.

Hewlett-Packard's fall today could be related to the World Bank's comments. The reduced growth rates indicate that demand for Asian goods is slowing, and with the majority of consumer electronics being produced in Asia-Pacific countries, PC makers will surely feel the lack of demand.

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Andrew Sullivan Is Freaking Out About Obama's Latest Polling Numbers

Andrew Sullivan

Daily Beast blogger Andrew Sullivan is not happy about the latest Pew Research poll, which shows Republican presidential candidate surging 12 points to hold a 49 percent to 46 percent lead over President Barack Obama. 

Here's what Sullivan had to say about the poll: 

"The Pew poll is devastating, just devastating. Before the debate, Obama had a 51 - 43 lead; now, Romney has a 49 - 45 lead. That's a simply unprecedented reversal for a candidate in October. Before Obama had leads on every policy issue and personal characteristic; now Romney leads in all of them. Obama's performance gave Romney a 12 point swing! I repeat: a 12 point swing.

Romney's favorables are above Obama's now. Yes, you read that right. Romney's favorables are higher than Obama's right now. That gender gap that was Obama's firewall?"

He continues: 

"Seriously: has that kind of swing ever happened this late in a campaign? Has any candidate lost 18 points among women voters in one night ever? And we are told that when Obama left the stage that night, he was feeling good. That's terrifying. On every single issue, Obama has instantly plummeted into near-oblivion. He still has some personal advantages over Romney - even though they are all much diminished. Obama still has an edge on Medicare, scores much higher on relating to ordinary people, is ahead on foreign policy, and on being moderate, consistent and honest (only 14 percent of swing voters believe Romney is honest). But on the core issues of the economy and the deficit, Romney is now kicking the president's ass." 

He ends: 

"I've never seen a candidate self-destruct for no external reason this late in a campaign before. Gore was better in his first debate - and he threw a solid lead into the trash that night. Even Bush was better in 1984 than Obama last week. Even Reagan's meandering mess in 1984 was better - and he had approaching Alzheimer's to blame."

Sullivan, a moderate conservative-turned-Obama fan, was one of the harshest critics of the President's debate performance last week, and the Pew numbers bear out his doomsday take on Obama's onstage collapse. 

But it's also very possible that Sullivan is overreacting. Pre-debate polls that showed Obama opening up a big lead over his Republican opponent will likely inflated — a fact that even Democrats pointed out at the time — and Romney's huge post-debate bump is also likely to even out over the next few days. In reality, the Pew poll simply tells us what both campaigns have been telling us from the beginning: This is going to be a very close race. 

Read the rest of Sullivan's post here > 

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Inside The Massive 'World Of Coca-Cola,' Which Attracts More Than 1 Million People Each Year

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As a kid growing up in Atlanta in the early 90s, you could hardly get through a school year without taking a tour of the epic World of Coca-Cola Museum.

I was six the first time I was dragged there against my will by visiting relatives, and I've always wanted to return as an adult. 

Since then, the museum has been entirely rebuilt and moved a few blocks away into the heart of the city's Centennial Olympic Park.

It's huge and attracts more than a million visitors each year, according to Seen Magazine.

I had the chance to check it out last month, and I can safely say it's worth a visit if you're passing through.

The new World of Coca-Cola museum has only been around for about five years. It's located in the heart of Atlanta, at Pemberton Place??just steps from CNN World Headquarters.

It's also just a stone's throw away from the massive Georgia Aquarium.

The line for tickets was packed when we visited on a Friday afternoon.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Dish Network Is About To Drop My NBC Affiliate That Isn?t Even Local

Dale only has one complaint about Dish Network, but it’s sort of a strange one. Yes, he can tune local broadcast channels from Minneapolis through his Dish tuner, but they’re not local enough. He lives in more than 200 miles away in Bemidji, MN.

His closest broadcast market is Grand Forks, N.D., but Dish Network doesn’t believe him. Local channels … [More]

Source: http://consumerist.com/2012/10/08/dish-network-is-about-to-drop-my-nbc-affiliate-that-isnt-even-local/

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'GMA' Weatherman Sam Champion Comes Out By Announcing His Engagement To Boyfriend

Sam Champion

"Good Morning America" weather anchor Sam Champion has come out of the closet after 14 years on the popular morning program.

But that's not all, the 51-year-old has also just announced that he is engaged to his longterm boyfriend, Brazilian fine-arts photographer Rubem Robierb.

This marks the first time that a co-host of a network morning television show has publicly identified as gay, although Champion's sexual orientation was always known to “GMA" staff, as well as his colleagues and competitors in the media industry.

The engagement news was first broken in a New York Times wedding announcement for “MSNBC Live” host Thomas Roberts and Patrick Abner last week.

The announcement broke—and buried—the Champion's news, writing:

Among the 170 or so guests at the reception was Sam Champion, the weather anchor at ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He took a turn on the dance floor with his partner, the photographer Rubem Robierb.

“We’re getting married New Year’s Eve in Miami,” Mr. Champion said in the spirit of the moment.

Mr. Robierb corrected him: “We’ll do it here officially, and then have a party in Miami.”

"The amazing response from folks all over the country was just incredible for us," Champion exclaimed today on "GMA." "Thank you for the Tweets, and the Facebook and just coming up on the street and saying the most wonderful things."

To watch Champion talk about his upcoming wedding on "GMA," click here.

The low key coming out follows a few months after CNN host Anderson Cooper went public with his sexual orientation and was done similarly to how "The Big Bang Theory" actor Jim Parsons came out this summer, with mention of his partner also buried in a Times article.

"Star Trek" actor Zachary Quinto also came out by discussing his sexuality for the first time in a New York magazine profile, saying of his role in the play "Angels," it was “the most challenging thing I’ve ever done as an actor and the most rewarding ... And at the same time, as a gay man, it made me feel like there’s still so much work to be done, and there’s still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed.”

SEE ALSO: Anchorwoman lashes out at viewer who called her a bad role model because she's fat >

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The Insider Trading Ban For Congress Has Some Serious Loopholes

congress

While insider trading is banned in Congress, it's still completely legal for lawmakers to sponsor bills that could benefit the businesses and industries or their family members have invested in, and according to The Washington Post, 73 congressmen and women have figured out how to use this loophole—a jump from the 16 they found when they published this study in February. 

In March, Congress passed a ban on insider trading after being embarrassed by 60 Minutes last November on the ways members had taken advantage of their information to trade stock on hot legislative tips.

President Obama gave the practice mention in his State of the Union, and after some protests from members, some new rules went into effect like requirements to disclose stocks purchased on the Internet.

So no more sneaky legislators financially benefiting from legislation! Now, as The Washington Post's team of Kimberly Kindy, David Fallis, and Scott Higham explain, it's all about legislators blatantly benefiting from legislation.

Due to the remaining loopholes, to name just one example, Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican of Pennsylvania, was allowed to sponsor a natural gas bill the same month Exxon negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal with his wife.

Across the aisle, former Rep. Dennis Cardozo, Democrat of California, helped pass a bill that involved tax breaks for racehorses and was then bought seven such racehorses when the new tax breaks came into effect. 

"The practice is both legal and permitted under the ethics rules that Congress has written for itself, which allow lawmakers to take actions that benefit themselves or their families except when they are the lone beneficiaries," writes The Post, which looked at the financial disclosures of 535 members of the House and Senate and compared them with public records. They did an analysis which was published in February and found that 16 members "who have taken actions that aided entities connected to their immediate families." In their latest analysis published last night, they found that number was actually larger with 73 members using this loophole to benefit themselves and/or their immediate family in recent years. Now that isn't to say that there's an increase since the insider trading ban went into effect—The Post's team doesn't disclose how many of those cases are post-insider trading ban. But their example of Rep. John Yarmuth shows how relaxed that "lone beneficiary" loophole is and has been (in)active for at least five years:

After Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) took office in 2007, he asked the House Ethics Committee whether he could vote on legislation that might affect his personal holdings, including an investment worth as much as $5 million in his brother’s home health-care business, Louisville-based Almost Family. The panel advised he was prohibited from actions that would benefit his assets in a “direct and distinct manner, rather than merely as a member of a class.” Otherwise, the committee said, he had a duty to vote. 

In office, Yarmuth joined the congressional Home Health Caucus, a group of two dozen lawmakers that promotes the value of in-home health care. He also has helped co-sponsor a handful of bills of interest to the industry, including the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act. That pending bill would expand the number of health professionals who can refer patients to home health care. And, in May, Yarmuth co-sponsored a legislative amendment to block across-the-board Medicare cuts to providers, including home health aides.

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Scientists Win Nobel Prize For Stem-Cell Breakthroughs

Shinya Yamanaka

Shinya Yamanaka of Japan and John Gurdon of Britain won the Nobel Prize on Monday for work in cell programming, a frontier that has raised dreams of replacement tissue for people crippled by disease.

The two scientists found that adult cells can be transformed back to an infant state called stem cells, the key ingredient in the vision of regenerative medicine.

"Their findings have revolutionised our understanding of how cells and organisms develop," the Nobel jury declared. "By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy."

Among those who acclaimed the award were Britain's Royal Society; Ian Wilmut, the "father" of Dolly the cloned sheep; and a leading ethicist, who said it eased a storm about the use of embryonic cells.

Stem cells are precursor cells which differentiate into the various organs of the body.

They have stirred huge excitement, with hopes that they can be coaxed into growing into replacement tissue for victims of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases.

Gurdon, born in 1933, said he was grateful but also surprised by the honour, since his main research was done more than 40 years ago.

In 1962, he discovered that the DNA code in the nucleus of an adult frog cell held all the information to develop into every kind of cell.

This meant that an adult cell could in essence be reprogrammed.

His landmark discovery was initially met with scepticism, as the journey from immature to specialised cell was previously deemed irreversible.

"I'm amazed and immensely grateful and astonished that they should recognise work done such a long time ago," Gurdon told Swedish Radio.

"Of course I'm extremely grateful to be recognised with Shinya Yamanaka who's done this wonderful work," he added.

Based at Cambridge University, Gurdon is fond of recalling that his school tutor told him when he was 15 that it would be a "total waste of time" to pursue a career in science, and credits his mother with encouraging him to follow his passion.

More than four decades later, in 2006, Yamanaka, now 50, discovered how mature cells in mice could be turned back to their youthful state using a batch of reprogramming genes.

The advantage of this would be to avert the need to use stem cells taken from early-stage embryos. These are hugely versatile but have stirred ethical controversy.

"This is not only a giant leap for science, it is a giant leap for mankind. Yamanaka and Gurdon have shown how science can be done ethically," a professor of practical ethics at the University of Oxford, Julian Savulescu, told the Science Media Centre in London.

Yamanaka "deserves not only a Nobel Prize for Medicine, but a Nobel Prize for Ethics," he said.

Yamanaka, a professor at Kyoto University, has pointedly warned of the ethical controversies of science.

"We should limit the application of technology to treatment or what can make patients happier," he has said. "We may be able to generate new life (with this technique), so we are presented with another ethical issue."

Stem-cell research is still at a very early stage, and only a tiny number of human trials have taken place.

In the field of so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, for which Yamanaka was singled out for the Nobel, work is still only in the lab.

The pair had been among the frontrunners for a Nobel after they won the prestigious Lasker Prize in 2009 and Yamanaka shared the 1.2-million-euro Millennium Technology Prize earlier this year with a software engineer.

Because of the economic crisis, the Nobel Foundation has slashed its prize sum to eight million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million, 930,000 euros) per award, down from the 10 million kronor awarded since 2001.

On Tuesday, the winners of the physics prize will be announced, followed by the chemistry prize on Wednesday and the literature prize on Thursday.

Perhaps the most-watched award, for peace, will be announced Friday and the economics prize will wind up the Nobel season on October 15.

The laureates will receive their prizes at formal ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

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Govt Insured Program For Senior Home owners

Reverse mortgages are an progressively preferred way for seniors to dwell off the equity from their residences and cease creating mortgage payments. This government application for seniors is assisting them give a method to combat the slowing financial system. This federal government application was developed from the Division of Housing and concrete Advancement (HUD) in [...]

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Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2012/06/27/govt-insured-program-for-senior-home-owners/

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Should You Consolidate Debt With 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers?

Consolidation Loans For People with Bad Credit With the new CARD act, a lot of card companies started to change their business models which helped in making zero percent credit card balance transfers a very rare commodity according to the wall street journal. But there are still a few and when properly executed, they can [...]

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Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2012/06/28/should-you-consolidate-debt-with-0-balance-transfer-credit-card-offers/

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