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The Rupert Murdoch Lesson the U.S. Media Should Learn
Tweet Share on Facebook July 12, 2011 Comment (11)Rupert Murdoch always had one impressive asset going for him as he lorded over his world publishing empire: while cities around the globe saw the demise of their local newspapers, Murdoch expanded. Some of his newspapers were lurid and of questionable reliability, but Murdoch had never closed a newspaper.
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Betty Ford Was a Feminist Icon Just By Being Herself
Tweet Share on Facebook July 11, 2011 Comment (1)Make a quick mental list of first ladies who made a difference in the social development of the country, and the names are obvious: Eleanor Roosevelt. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And Michelle Obama, whose impressive credentials as a Harvard Law School graduate are a footnote to her work against childhood obesity. Less often mentioned, but highly worthy of praise in the recent history of women’s advancement, is Betty Ford.
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Men Outgaining Women for Jobs in the Recovery
Tweet Share on Facebook July 8, 2011 Comment (4)Men were disproportionately hurt in the job market during the Great Recession, losing 5.2 million jobs from December 2007 to June 2009, compared to 2.1 million for female workers during the same time period. But as the country climbs its way painfully into a recovery, it is men who are disproportionately getting the new jobs. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, males have picked up 768,000 jobs in the recovery, and women just 218,000.
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Michele Bachmann's 2012 Chances Are Not About 'Sex Appeal'
Tweet Share on Facebook July 7, 2011 Comment (19)Michele Bachmann is a strikingly beautiful woman. Now, can we all just get over that and move on?
It seems not, unfortunately. Vin Weber, an adviser to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, one of Bachmann’s GOP primary rivals, assessed Bachmann’s strengths to The Hill newspaper by saying, "She's got hometown appeal, she's got ideological appeal, and, I hate to say it, but she's got a little sex appeal too."
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Casey Anthony Verdict Is a Welcome Blow to Mob Justice
Tweet Share on Facebook July 6, 2011 Comment (42)Something terrible happened to 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, but a jury has decided it wasn’t due to murder by the girl’s mother, Casey Anthony. That verdict has caused an outcry among people with way too much time on their hands who have been following the case and salivating at the prospect of the execution of a 25-year-old woman described as being more interested in partying than parenting. Perhaps Casey Anthony did, as legions of angry Internet posters have categorically judged, "get away with murder;" an alternate juror interviewed on the Today show said that the verdict was due to the fact that prosecutors had not proven her guilt without reasonable doubt.
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DSK, Rape Accuser Both Deprived of 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty'
Tweet Share on Facebook July 5, 2011 Comment (11)"Innocent until proven guilty" is an essential and cherished element of the U.S. criminal justice system. Former IMF chief and French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arguably denied this proudly American right when he was indicted for sexual assault and attempted rape of a housekeeper at a fancy New York hotel. And now, his accuser is being subject to the same rush to judgment.
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Obama's Press Conference Kicked Off 2012 Campaign
Tweet Share on Facebook June 30, 2011 Comment (10)He was always "no drama Obama." He promised to bring civility and a sense of cooperation back to Washington.
But in his news conference this week, President Obama had clearly had enough of trying to make nice with Republicans—or even, for that matter, with Congress in general, which he chided for heading back to their districts for constituent work periods instead of staying in town, as he has done, to work on the debt crisis.
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Sarah Palin Is LIke LeBron James, Not Michele Bachmann
Tweet Share on Facebook June 29, 2011 Comment (9)Sarah Palin is sometimes compared to other candidates and political figures in a way that is often unfair, unwarranted, or downright sexist. The comparisons to Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, were absurd, since the two women are dissimilar in both ideology and approach to politics. The comparisons to GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann are a little less out of right field, since they are, at least, both conservatives. But Bachmann is more appropriately compared to fellow Minnesotan and GOP primary rival Tim Pawlenty than she is to Palin; linking the two women reduces both to sex symbols—or rather, gender symbols. And comparisons to Republican heavyweights such as Ronald Reagan are also inappropriate, since while Palin has a devoted following, she has not displayed the consistent galvanizing power of someone like Reagan. Surely, there is no reason to believe she will have such an historical impact.
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Blagojevich, Trump Show Politics and Reality TV Don't Mix
Tweet Share on Facebook June 28, 2011 Comment (3)In a world where entertainment and politics are becoming too intimately aligned, there have been some hopeful signs of sense and justice besting the powerful strength of reality TV.
Donald Trump’s departure from the presidential race (if he was ever seriously considering a candidacy) was the first sign that Trump’s "brand," while profitable in bad TV, doesn’t translate to political power or popularity. And the conviction of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges deals another blow to bad-behavior-as-celebrity.
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Time to End the Wave of Campaign Pledges
Tweet Share on Facebook June 27, 2011 Comment (12)Here’s a pledge worth considering as election season heats up: no more pledges.
Presidential candidates for many cycles have been asked to "take the pledge" in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary. That pledge has been not to raise taxes, although it’s not always been kept.
