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Posted: 13 May 2012 04:02 PM PDT
 In yet another impressive performance Serena Williams overthrew Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3 on Sunday to win the Madrid Open in a fit of strength that left her top-ranked opponent smashing her racket to the ground in frustration. The women played out their short lived match on a brand new blue clay court that featured big service and fierce returns. Serena started out the match with four straight games and then witnessed very little battle from Azarenka throughout the rest of the match. Williams is confident that her play will only get better after returning from a yearlong illness. “I can still do better,” said Williams. “This is really good. I have been working hard. I had some tough battles and really unfortunate circumstances so I really love this.”In dominating her match Serena Williams served 14 aces to claim her 41st title and the second of this season. Williams is now unbeaten during her last 13 matches on clay. Hitting into double-faults, missing opportunities and otherwise refusing to play like a player who has won their last four tournaments Victoria was simply no match for a well rested and focused Serena Williams. When all was said and done the match lasted just 64 minutes and ended when Serena Williams scored her final ace. After the match and her humiliating loss Azarenka said of her opponents win: “I want to congratulate Serena for a great week. She did a great job.Are you surprised by the lopsided victory Serena Williams managed to capture during the Madrid Open? Serena Williams Wins At Madrid Open is a post from: The Inquisitr        |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 03:51 PM PDT
Mother’s Day is a time of remembering your mother and celebrating the enormous contribution that she has made to your life. SO why not send your thanks, and the thanks of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) with it?
White House Releases Pro-Obamacare E-Card For Mother’s Day is a post from: The InquisitrThat is what the White House would like you to do. The White house released a page on its site today which allows you to print an e-card wishing your mom a Happy Mother’s Day and touting the benefits of the Affordable Care act. The White House is hoping people will send the card around in order to “show some appreciation for the mom in your life.” The e-card is titled “Happy Mother’s Day From The Affordable Care Act.” It goes on to say, “Being a mom isn’t a pre-existing condition.” The card says that while insurers before the overhaul could “deny coverage for women with pre-existing conditions like breast cancer or pregnancy,” they will be prohibited from denying coverage over any pre-existing condition starting in 2014. The White House sent out an e-mail saying that people should send the card. The e-mail said, “As rewarding as being a mom can be, it sure isn’t easy. That’s part of why the Obama administration is taking steps to level the playing field for mothers and their families,”The card was released at a time when the whole law is facing an uncertain future. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments as to whether the law’s most controversial piece, the individual mandate forcing all Americans to buy health insurance, is Constitutional. President Obama’s principal contender for the White House, Mitt Romney, is fiercely opposed to the law and has vowed to repeal it.    |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 02:50 PM PDT
 While the United States has invaded much of the Middle East in search of lower gas prices, perhaps President Bush should have been focusing his efforts on the Midwest region of the United States during the first Iraq war. According to GAO auditor Anu K. Mittal in an address to Congress this week, the Midwest area known as the “Green River Formation” has nearly 3 trillion barrels of oil, about half of which may be recoverable using current technology. Speaking to a Congressional Committee Mittal noted: “The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered … At the midpoint of this estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world’s proven oil reserves.”Mittal was in Washington to talk about domestic drilling and revealed that Washington was in “a unique position to influence the development of oil shale,” because nearly 75% of the oil drilling sites in the Midwest would fall on government owned land. Anu K. Mittal acknowledged that drilling for the shale could cause problems in areas of air, water, topsoil, vegetation and wildlife, but also that the drilling would create thousands of jobs and potentially lower gas prices while removing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil manufacturers, specifically in terrorist friendly regions such as Iran and Iraq. According to Mittal increased Midwest oil production could also create a headache for government officials dealing with local infrastructure problems: “While large-scale oil-shale development offers socioeconomic opportunities it also poses certain socioeconomic challenges that also should not be overlooked … Oil shale development like other extractive industries can bring a sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional stressed on local infrastructure. Development from expansion of extractive industries has historically followed a boom-and-bust cycle making planning for growth difficult for local governments.”Do you think Midwest oil drilling production should increase to avoid further dependence on foreign oil? Midwest Has As Much Oil As Worldwide Oil Reserves, Congressional Report Says is a post from: The Inquisitr    |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 02:09 PM PDT
 Time Magazine may have the “most controversial cover” title this week, but Newsweek isn’t too far behind. Newsweek called President Obama the United States’ first gay president this week in light of the president’s recent support of gay marriage. Newsweek puts Obama under a rainbow halo on the new cover. (The CS Monitor notes that Obama is also on a rainbow themed cover of the New Yorker.) But being the “first gay president” may not help (or hurt) the president come election season. Rep. Barney Frank, the first openly gay member of congress, said: “If you were going to cast your vote based on a candidate’s position regarding same-sex marriage, you were already going to vote for Obama [or] Romney based on that. I literally don’t think anybody’s vote was changed by this one way or the other.”The Inquisitr reported earlier this week that Obama’s stance on gay marriage may have a negative impact on his campaign. A recent Gallup poll showed that 26% of voters were less likely to vote for Obama due to his support of gay marriage. 60% said that it made no difference and 13% said that they were more likely to vote for him. Obama’s support of gay marriage may not help him win an election, but according to the Newsweek story, it has comforted thousands of LGBT people around the country. Andrew Sullivan, the openly gay writer who penned the Newsweek story, wrote on his blog last week. “Let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human garbage because they loved another human being. I think of Frank Kameny. I think of the gay parents who now feel their president is behind their sacrifices and their love for their children.”Do you think Obama is the “first gay president?” Does his stance on gay marriage change your opinion about him?  Obama Is First Gay President, Says Newsweek is a post from: The Inquisitr    |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 01:33 PM PDT
 James Peterson is a veteran fist-pumper. In fact, he may be the world’s best. Peterson recently fist-pumped for 17 straight hours in the hopes of setting a Guinness World Record. The 34-year-old from Ohio said that this isn’t the first time he’s gone on a fist-pumping marathon, but it is the first time that he’s had it documented. Peterson said: “I did this on St. Patrick’s Day but it was not documented… I used to hang light fixtures so I am used to having my hands above my head.”The Slideshow reports that Peterson used superglue to make sure that his hand remained in a fist throughout his attempt. Peterson started fist pumping on Friday morning and ended his world record attempt at about 3 a.m. on Saturday. Peterson was followed by two videographers during his attempt and the tape has been sent to Guinness. Peterson doesn’t know if he’s in the Guinness Book of World Records yet, but the book of world records does have quite a few fist-pumpers throughout its pages. In 2010, 5,726 people set the world record for most people to fist-pump in one location. Are you impressed by Peterson’s strange world record attempt? Man Fist-Pumps For 17 Hours Straight To Set Guinness Record is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 01:13 PM PDT
 According to the Washington Post, authorities are stating that the former Taliban member turned peace negotiator was shot down by three unidentified gunmen in central Kabul. Rahmani, 70, was a former Taliban deputy minister, and was considered a very important mediator between active militants and the current Afghan government. He was a member of the High Peace Council, who has been responsible for managing reconciliation between the insurgency and government. He is the second council member to be assassinated in the past year. Huffington Post reports that a member of the Taliban leadership council (Quetta Shura), Agha Jan Motasim, condemned the murder of Rahamani, saying: “He was a good Muslim. He was a nationalist and worked for an Islamic system in Afghanistan. We respected him.”Gen Ayub Salangi, a Kabul police chief, told the BBC that: “Mr Rahmani was shot in his heart and died instantly. His nephew, who was also his driver, didn’t even realise he had been shot.”The assassination of Arsala Rahmani comes at a difficult time, when the U.S. and other NATO-led forces are attempting to implement a timed exit strategy. The announcement of a third group of areas to go into the transition period, where Afghan forces will take control and NATO forces leave, was announced on Sunday as well. With the recent rise in violence in Afghanistan, however, some analysts are wondering how safe it will be. Nisar Hares, a lawmaker, and also a close friend of the victim, stated that: “It is a big loss for Afghanistan. He was thinking about peace and about key national issues.”So far, no one has claimed responsibility in the attack. Afghan Peace Council Member Assassinated is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 12:38 PM PDT
 Ashton Kutcher is taking on perhaps one of the most iconic roles he will ever face, playing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in an independent film that focuses on the deceased CEOs early life and work and now the first photos from that gig are beginning to surface. The low-budget indie picture titled Jobs: Get Inspired just recently began filming around LA and the first photo features Ashton Kutcher walking around in Steve Jobs’ trademark jeans and black polo sweater, a staple of the billionaires wardrobe over the last several decades. The film showcases Steve Jobs‘ business prowess through the founding of Apple, his years helping start Pixar and his NeXT years. In the meantime the Ashton Kutcher flick could soon be facing some stiff competition from Sony Pictures who just purchased the film production rights to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the former Apple CEO. Sony Pictures hopes to convince The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin to write the biopic. For his part Ashton Kutcher is having a great year, having just signed on for a 10th season of Two and a Half Men where he will now early $725,000 per episode, a $25,000 pay raise for his role as billionaire Walden Schmidt. Here’s a first look of Kutcher as Steve Jobs thanks to a still capture from TMZ :  Do you think the former That 70s Show star can make a convincing turn as Steve Jobs or will his upcoming movie make Pirates of Silicon Valley looking like an Oscar winning made-for-TV movie? Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs: First Pictures Surface is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 12:22 PM PDT
 After lying about his computer science degree on his Yahoo resume CEO Scott Thompson is said to be stepping down according to several sources close to the decision. AllThingsD says Yahoo will list Thompson’s resignation as quitting for “personal reasons.” Sources say Yahoo board members and shareholders are not happy with how Scott Thompson handled the discussion that followed his botched resume after it was first reported one week ago. The manager who hired Scott Thompson to run Yahoo has already been fired. In the meantime it is believed that global media head Ross Levinsohn who most recently ran Yahoo’s Americas unit will step in as interim CEO. While Scott Thompson resigning from his position is now a distinct possibility analysts point out that sweeping changes at the company need to be approved by Yahoo’s full board of directors. The biggest victor from the situation could be Daniel Loeb of Third Point, a shareholder with Yahoo who discovered the fake resume and is working towards a settlement with the firm. The hedge fund investor is set to get three board seats on the company as part of a proposal in his proxy fight with Yahoo. While Scott Thompson’s team has called the resume issues a simple “flub” in his record, Loeb and his team point out that the fake academic accomplishments not only affected the hiring of Scott Thompson but were also included in official regulatory filings for the company after he was hired in January 2012. Thompson in the meantime used two employee meetings to explain away his resumes faults, blaming a headhunting firm for creating the mistake when he was hired for a job at eBay in the mid-2000s. That headhunting firm Heidrick and Struggles shot back, calling the claim “verifiably not true” in which the company says they have the original resume Scott Thompson had submitted to them in which it showcased his inaccurate computer science degree. Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Quitting Over Fake Resume [Report] is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 11:01 AM PDT
 Federal guidelines released Friday are demanding that when insurance companies send out premium rebates this summer that they alert customers that the rebates are the result of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Since its passage the Obama Administration has struggled to draw attention to the laws benefits and this shows again that he is trying to do so before the fall elections. The bill faces quite and uncertain future at the moment. The Supreme Court is expected to rule before June whether the law’s individual insurance mandate violates the Constitution. Also, President Obama’s primary challenger for the White House this fall, Mitt Romney, has vowed to repeal the law if elected. Under The Affordable Care Act insurers are required to spend a certain portion of their premiums on care instead of administrative costs. If they do not they must refund the difference. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation has projected refunds would total about $1.3 billion and go to roughly 16 million people who buy their own policies or get them through an employer. Kaiser estimates checks would range from an average of $72 for those with insurance through a large employer to an average of $127 for those who bought individual policies. Rules finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday tell insurers that the following text must be put in a letter to beneficiaries who receive a rebate: “This letter is to inform you that you will receive a rebate of a portion of your health insurance premiums. This rebate is required by the Affordable Care Act-the health reform law.”Republicans, while critical of the new rules, do not believe that the letters will sway public opinion. Insurers Must Credit Obamacare When Isuing Rebate Checks is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 10:04 AM PDT
 The Avengers has been in theaters for less than three weeks but the Marvel super hero movie has already grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. According to the Associated Press, the new superhero flick starring Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, and Chris Hemsworth, brought in another $103.2 million this weekend. The movie also scored $95.4 million this weekend overseas to bring its grand total to just over $1 billion. Robert A. Iger, Disney’s Chairman and CEO, said: “We’re obviously thrilled with the global success of ‘The Avengers.’ It’s a fantastic movie and an extraordinary franchise that will continue with more great stories and compelling characters for years to come.”The new Marvel movie needed just 19 days to pass the $1 billion mark and now sits just outside of the top ten highest grossing movies of all-time. The Avengers, which had a budget of $220 million, was the fastest movie to hit $200 million, the fastest to hit $300 million, and has now set the ticket sales speed record by grossing more than $1 billion in just 19 days. The Avengers hit $1 billion faster than Avatar, but James Cameron’s epic is still at the top of the movie world. Cameron’s Avatar brought in $2.7 billion, so The Avengersstill has a way to go to reach the top. Have you seen The Avengers? Are you surprised that the movie has done so well at the box office? ‘Avengers’ Passes $1 Billion Mark In Just 19 Days is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 09:14 AM PDT
 Howard Stern’s turn as a judge on America’s Got Talent has drawn the ire of the Parents Television Council but that hasn’t stopped pizza chain Pizza Hut from airing its family friendly advertisements on the popular TV series. The Parents Television Council has been urging advertisers to pull out of the show while threatening boycotts. Pizza Hut however had agreed to keep its commercials in place, releasing the following statement: “Pizza Hut strives to maintain the highest standards of quality and excellence in our communications to the public. Our advertisements are no exception, and are designed to draw attention to our products and appeal to a broad audience.”The company’s rep continues: “Unfortunately, we may not always success in generating a positive impact on every guest, and we apologize if our methods offend some.”It is likely that many advertisers for the show were well aware of the blow back that would occur when Howard Stern was announced as the shows newest judge and therefore prepared for the moment when they would come under attack by outside groups attempting to quell Howard Stern’s voice on the show. In the meantime Howard Stern is just rolling with the punches and seems indifferent to this newest round of media hype, telling NorthJersey.com: “Somebody wrote that I wanted to do TV because I’d fallen out of the public consciousness. That’s so ridiculous. I went to satellite to get away from people.”What might be most crazy about Stern taking over for Piers Morgan is the simple fact that Parents Television Council has no idea how he’ll act on the show. Sure Stern is not the most pleasant host on talk radio but he also conducts himself behind the “closed doors” of subscriber based satellite radio, for all we know Stern’s personality on America’s Got Talent could be more along the lines of a cranky Simon Cowell type than a shock jock looking to offend the shows viewers with potty mouth humor. Pizza Hut Stands By ‘America’s Got Talent’ And Howard Stern is a post from: The Inquisitr    |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 08:04 AM PDT
 CBS, Warner Brothers TV and the cast of Two and a Half Men have reached agreements that will keep the show moving forward for a 10th season. The network has agreed even after slipping rating to raise Ashton Kutcher’s salary from $700,000 per episode to $725,000, an amount equal to $15 million to $16 million. Jon Cryer’s salary was not revealed however he is believed to be making just slightly less than Kutcher while Angus T. Jones makes about half of what his co-stars make, which is fitting given the show is called Two and a HALF Men. While Two and a Half Men slipped in overall ratings during the latter part of the ninth season, it did manage to pull in higher viewership in key demographics, including total viewers (up 13 percent to 15 million) and a 20 percent increase in the 25 to 54 year old range (6.5 million() and a 27 percent increase for 18 to 49 year old viewers. Two and a Half Men fell to number three in the TV series race, behind both CBS’ The Big Bang Theory and ABC’sModern Family. In the meantime the show will have a different group of behind the scenes supports for season 10 as show runner Lee Aronsohn will hand the show over to writer-producers Don Reo and Jim Patterson who will work alongside show creator Chuck Lorre. Two and a Half Men will have plenty of competition in the TV series space as How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Mike & Molly, Big Bang Theory and various other hits have already been renewed. Two And A Half Men Renewed, Ashton Kutchers Gets A Pay Raise is a post from: The Inquisitr     |
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Posted: 13 May 2012 07:03 AM PDT
 Filing bankruptcy allows millions of American’s to clear their debt and move on with their lives, however a recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that anywhere from 200,000 to 1 million Americans are “too poor” to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That particular debt protection can cost more than $1,500 to complete and because of the cost many American’s wait for their tax refunds to arrive before filing, in fact a study conducted by Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis found that nearly 200,000 people would not have the money needed to file if they didn’t use a tax refund specifically for that purpose. The study also revealed that paperwork filing typically only costs $300 while the rest of the fee needed for a bankruptcy goes to the law firm representing a client. Other fees also add to the cost including mandatory pre-bankruptcy credit counseling and a pre-discharge debtor education course. Lawyers for their part claim higher fees are now necessary because they are being forced to jump through more hoops now than they have been required to jump through in the past, causing longer work hours to be claimed in order to complete the average bankruptcy. In the meantime under the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act the cost of a bankruptcy continues to increase as government entities attempt to reign in the number of cases filed on an annual basis. Since that law took effect the number of bankruptcies has fallen from a rate of 1.4% in 2004 to 1.3% in 2011. For individuals who can not afford to file a bankruptcy experts suggest finding a pro bono lawyer willing to help, although they warn that finding a pro bono bankruptcy lawyer is only likely for a very small fraction of those in need. For anyone looking to file on their own experts warn that the process has become extremely complicated and a dismissed bankruptcy will hurt a credit score just as badly as a completed bankruptcy. Essentially a failed attempt at bankruptcy will give a filer all of the downsides of a bankruptcy with none of the benefits. One Million Americans Are “Too Poor” To Go Bankrupt is a post from: The Inquisitr |
Monday, 14 May 2012
News Culled from The Inquisitr
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