Saturday, January 17, 2009
Growing majority worried over Obama eligibility Even half in Illinois say issue should be reviewed, resolved
Now there’s a Barack Obama-branded cellphone (in Kenya)
Handset vendor, Mi has launched a Barack Obama branded mobile phone for sale in Kenya - the home country of the President Elect's father. The handset is co branded with the Obama colours and logo and is being sold for roughly $30. The company says that the Mi-Obama handsets are available exclusively at Fone Xpress@ Nakumatt, Tuskys and Phonelink retail stores throughout Kenya, the product in its first week of availability has already sold over 1000 units in Nairobi alone. "The coming of the new President of the USA is an auspicious moment for all Kenyans and the people of Africa. It is our pleasure to be able to launch the Mi-Obama phone as a memento that will always stay within the user's hearts and minds" says Alpesh Patel, Director of Mi-Fone. The company said that it thought the opportunity was just too good to miss. The President-Elect himself is famously addicted to his BlackBerry phone. A Barack Obama Branded Mobile Phone
Zimbabwe introduces $100 trillion banknote
Zimbabwe's central bank will introduce a $100 trillion Zimbabwean banknote, worth about US $33 on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages, state-run media said on Friday.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Google Announces Layoffs
Google has announced layoffs. Not contractors. Not hourly workers. Googlers. Not many, thankfully--only 100--and some may be able to find jobs elsewhere in the company. But they're all in HR, which tells you something about how quickly Google has scaled back its own growth expectations. From the Google Blog: As we made clear during our last quarterly earnings call in October, Google is still hiring but at a reduced rate. Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring. Changes to recruiting
1/14/2009 03:01:00 PM
Our first step to address this was to wind down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google. However, after much consideration, we have with great regret decided that we need to go further and reduce the overall size of our recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions.
We know this change will be very difficult for the people concerned, and we hope that many of them will be able to find new roles at Google. They helped build this company, new hire by new hire, and we are enormously grateful for everything they have done.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Court rules that teachers can have sex with 18-year-old students
The Associated Press reports that the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that the state law that bars teachers from having sex with students doesn't explicitly include students who are 18 or older. The judges said the law is too vague.
This stems from a case involving a choir teacher at Hoquiam High School and an 18-year-old student in the choir. According to the opinion information sheet, no one denies the facts of the case --- it's the vagueness of the law that was called into question.
It would be interested to see how this might affect the person's teaching certificate, if it is determined that no crime was committed. A teacher found guilty of sex crimes against students have their licenses permanently revoked.
Or, perhaps the law will just get revised.
You can read the opinion for yourself. It's rather interesting how closely the judges parse the words "student" and "minor" to try to determine the intention of the law.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
66th Annual Golden Globe Award Winners List
Movies:
Television:
The Commercialization of The Presidency.
The Inauguration is less than one week away and Washington, DC is all about President Elect Obama….it seems like everyone is trying to make some money…. Greg Craig’s New Mantra: The President Is Not Your Mascot When big-time Washington lawyer Gregory B. Craig picked up the portfolio of White House counsel for President-elect Barack Obama, he rightly expected he’d be on the cutting edge of big issues involving the separation of powers or other lofty legal matters. It may not have occurred to him that he’d also be charged with stopping the commercial exploitation of his client’s image — the Obama can openers, Obama chocolate chip cookies, Obama chocolate bars and the like now on sale just about everywhere. And Craig is also the keeper of the official presidential seal, making sure it doesn’t get used on T-shirts or beer bottles contrary to White House policy or even federal law. The counsel’s office for many years has been obliged to complain to businesses about the use of the presidential or White House seals on mugs and such. There’s even a federal criminal statute (18 USC 713) against improper use of the “likeness of the great seal of the United States,” or those of the Senate and House. Violators can be fined or even hit with six months in the slammer. Similar federal laws protect Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, the 4-H Club emblem and even the Swiss Confederation coat of arms. Maybe you’ve been making a killing recently selling “Obama-endorsed” change purses. But as of click here for the rest of the article By the way…..other politicians are having the same problem…check out this calendar …..other politicians have their likenesses used, too:
By Al Kamen
Monday, January 12, 2009; A11
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