The Big Gamble

Rendell Explodes On Lesley StahlYoure An 'Idiot!'
Governor Rendell isn't a big "60 Minutes" fan, apparently. In a preview of this week's show on the "60 Minutes website," Rendell yells at reporter Lesley Stahl, who's covering the state gambling boom. The Governor calls her an "idiot" and "simpleton" in the clip. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite...

Gov. Rendell to 60 Minutes: Youre Simpletons!
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Television viewers across the nation will get to see something on Sunday night that Pennsylvania residents have experienced before: an angry eruption from Governor Ed Rendell. In a “60 Minutes” interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl (right), Governor Rendell explodes on camera as he is pressed about the negative impacts of expanded gambling. The eruption comes as the governor hopes to land a gig as a TV news commentator.  In an exit interview wit...

Rendell Calls "60 Minutes" Staff "Idiots."
No Going Gently Into That Good Night Here. From our friends at The Inky : "A clip being televised this morning shows an angry Gov. Rendell saying "you're simpletons, you're idiots" during a CBS 60 Minutes interview. The segment is to air Sunday evening as part of an examination of the proliferation of casino gambling across the country. Interviewed by correspondent Lesley Stahl, Rendell reportedly was explaining that gambling addicts already had opportunities elsewhere. But by allowing casin...

Outburst at Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes is pure Rendell, observers say
This Sunday, on CBS's 60 Minutes, an event will occur that will shock the heck out of everyone in America. Except those who live around here. Ed Rendell's going to blow up at a reporter. The outburst is recorded and ready to roll. The subject is casinos. Lesley Stahl, longtime CBS reporter, one of the smarter people in the business, is pressing Rendell about casinos and their effect on addictive gamblers. He takes it less than well. "People are losing money for the state to get its reven...

Stephen Baker: Why IBM's Watson Is Smarter Than Google
While working on my book about IBM's Jeopardy-playing computer, the most common question I encounter is this: Doesn't Google already answer questions? The short answer is no. Google depends our brains in two ways: It gets us to think like a computer when formulating our query, picking three or four words that will make most sense to the machine. Then it directs us to the neighborhood of the answer we're looking for, but leaves it to our infinitely more nuanced brains to find exactly what we're...

Tom Coughlin Lets His Critics Know Where They Can Kiss Him
We all know that Tom Coughlin is a man who sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him. Thanks to the cameras that NFL broadcasters keep trained on him for 60 Minutes every Sunday, the world has seen Coughlin overreacting like a madman to everything that happens on the field of play. Arms wave, cheeks get red and the occasional punter gets reamed out by a man who rarely seems to be anything short of apoplectic. When he's standing in front of the media, however, Coughlin is a very different c...

Bernanke to speak with the press
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will take questions from reporters next month as the Central Bank continues to ramp up its Public Relations operations. Bernanke will speak to Journalists at the National Press Club Feb. 3, and will take questions, according to The Wall Street Journal.  The move is the latest attempt by the Fed to improve its communications with the public, as it continues to face criticism from skeptics, including several members of the GOP, over its recent policy decisi...

Rendell defends bringing slots to Pa.
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, in an interview with the CBS show "60 Minutes," angrily defended his decision to bring legal slot machines to the state. Clips from the show to be aired Sunday show Rendell arguing that gambling addicts already have available casinos. He said that now, at least, Pennsylvania will benefit instead of Atlantic City, N.J. "You guys don't get that," Rendell snapped at interviewer Leslie Stahl, who interjected "I do get that." "You're simp...

Local perspectives
Somebody wasn't thinking. Turns out that people who want to enjoy the bike and Pedestrian path along the New River Canal and Interstate 595 have to take their lives into their hands to do it. They have to cross busy six- to eight-lane streets to get to the path. There are no crosswalks, no overpasses, nothing to facilitate access. It's a dangerous situation that should be rectified as soon as possible. Thanks to the deluge of complaints, county administrators -- Broward owns and maintains the N...

Israeli troops kill wrong man in Hamas raid
By Mohammed Assadi HEBRON, West Bank | Fri Jan 7, 2011 8:39am EST HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli Soldiers killed a 65-year-old Palestinian in his bedroom Friday during a pre-dawn Raid to seize a Hamas suspect who lived in the same building, in what The Army admitted was a mistake. The man was shot as Troops swooped on houses in the occupied West Bank to re-arrest five members of the Islamist Hamas group who had been freed from Palestinian jails just the day before. The U.S.-backed admi...

Congressman Allen West Joins Armed Services Committee; Understands Sharia Threat
A previous blog of mine featured Allen West’s candid remarks about the living legacy of Jihad during a forum in early 2010. Below are extracts from an interview West gave with Frank Gaffney, subsequently, after his election to Congress, this past November 2, 2010. These statements demonstrate that the Congressman-elect clearly understands the full ideological spectrum of the Jihadist threat we face—non-violent as well as violent—rooted in the Sharia. West’s reality-based ...

What Progressive Women Want: Boehner, Brawny or Bill?
When our new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, was sworn in this week, it was obviously a very emotional event for him and tears were shed. As most people know, this is not a surprise coming from Boehner, who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Lesley Stahl spoke with him about it in her 60 Minutes report, where he explained himself without Apology. What should come as a surprise is how many Progressive women seem to be disgusted by this. Weren’t our feminists the first to ask for a sens...

Bernanke: Tax codes should be reformed together
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said Friday that it made sense to make changes to the individual and Corporate Tax codes at the same time, instead of just revamping the corporate code. Speaking before the Senate Budget Committee, Bernanke appeared hesitant to delve too deeply into the politics of Tax Reform. But he did note that there are “many interactions” between the two tax codes. “So yes, ideally I hope that you would look at the tax system as a holistic single pa

Quite possibly the most idiotic government program to date: let's help illegal aliens cross the boder.
This is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. CALEXICO, Calif. - A government agency on the front lines of the Immigration debate has begun installing lifesaving buoys in a fast-moving canal along the U.S.-Mexico border where migrants drown each year as they sneak into the country illegally. The debate over the lifelines has long presented authorities with a moral dilemma: Is it acceptable to do nothing when so many immigrants are dying in the water? Or do...

Speaker Boehner takes the gavel
Eric Cantor knows best? The GOP moves on Health Care. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) didn't give a full-on snort as he did on "60 Minutes." But his expressions of emotion were plainly apparent, and I'm glad he didn't try to hide them. To quote Vice President Biden in another context, Boehner's accomplishment is "a big #&@!% deal." Now comes the hard part -- governing. Before handing over the Speaker's gavel, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) read through the litany of Legislation the ...

Guest Post: Why Everyone Hates You A Guide For Politicians
Why Everyone Hates You – A Guide For Politicians The US Congress is welcoming 112 new members this week. Congratulations, if you’re on of them. Now get this through your thick, newbie head. No one likes you. No one thinks you’re smart. Chances are you got the only reason you got this gig is because your predecessor couldn’t follow simple instructions. So stop thinking of yourself as a champion of __________ or the protector of _________. You’re hired help, nothing...

Bernanke Cites Economic Improvements
Reuters reports: (Reuters) - The U.S. economy may finally be hitting its stride even if growth remains too weak to put a real dent in the nation’s jobless rate, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday. Offering no real clues on the future direction of Monetary Policy, Bernanke sounded cautiously more upbeat than he had in his most recent public remarks. He cited improvements in Consumer Spending and a drop in jobless benefit claims as hopeful signs a languid recovery w...

Bernanke grows more confident in recovery
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 7, 2011 7:48pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy may finally be hitting its stride even if growth remains too weak to put a real dent in the nation's jobless rate, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday. Offering no real clues on the future direction of Monetary Policy, Bernanke sounded cautiously more upbeat than he had in his most recent public remarks. He cited improvements in Consumer Spending and a drop in jobless be...

Report Linking Vaccines to Autism Was an Absolute Fraud
I wonder how many Children have become ill thanks to Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent study linking the MMR Vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) to Autism. Quite a few people bought into and stopped having their Children vaccinated. The journal that originally published the study had to retract it. The findings have never been able to be replicated. But it wasn’t just a case of bad science, it turns out the study was intentionally fraudulent. Authored by Andrew Wakefield and 12 other...

Gov. Ed Rendell Goaded into Turning into Hulk on National Television
Don't make out-going Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Apparently… A CBS promotional video clip shows an angry Gov. Rendell saying "you're simpletons, you're idiots" during a 60 Minutes interview. The segment is to air Sunday evening as part of an examination of the proliferation of casino gambling across the country… Rendell reportedly was explaining that gambling addicts already had opportunities elsewher...

In Mocking John Boehner, David Letterman Derails a Valuable Conversation About Statesmanship
Hailing from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Calvin Freiburger is a Political Science major at Hillsdale College. He also writes for the Hillsdale Forum and his personal website, Calvin Freiburger Online. For all of the ways in which contemporary society claims to have broken free of stereotypes, there’s still one sure-fire way for men to raise eyebrows: cry in public. John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House, is learning that the hard way. On 60 Minutes, the GOP leader tearfully confessed that ...

Merchants want parking limit enforced
Denise M. McLane hoped that a sign in the front window of her downtown consignment store before Christmas would have the done the trick in telling people not to take up parking spots all day on Public Square. It didn't. So she put up another one earlier this week that reads, "New Year New Hope for Parking and Good Neighbors." Ms. McLane, owner of Solitary Consignment, and a growing number of other Public Square merchants are complaining about employees of various downtown businesses using ...

House Speaker John Boehner Cries (Video)
Surprising absolutely no one, the new House Speaker John Boehner cries during his introduction to lead the brand new 112th Congress. Known for getting publicly teary on many recent occasions, he managed to hold it together in order to give a Speech, but had his handkerchief on standby just in case. Get the full story, plus pictures and video below! Crying political figures have had a hugely polarizing affect on the general populous ever since Glenn Beck started choking up on ...

Anya Landau French: Wynton Marsalis, "60 minutes" and the Case for People-to-People Travel to Cuba
For those who missed it, 60 Minutes aired a segment on last October's visit to Havana by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra earlier this week. It's a must-watch for jazz, Marsalis, Cuba and New Orleans enthusiasts alike. (View the entire 13-minute segment here) I hope someone in the White House caught this segment because it's a deeply moving reminder of why promoting broad people-to-people contacts between the U.S. and Cuba is the right, sane and humane policy. Photo ava...

Israeli military chief: Draft ultra-Orthodox Jews
JERUSALEM -- The commander of Israel's Military says ultra-Orthodox Jews should be drafted into The Army. Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews have exemptions to continue their religious studies. The exemptions have long been a sore point in Israeli society. Army Radio quoted Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as telling parents of newly drafted Soldiers Thursday that "those who do not serve must be made to feel ashamed." He said, "The ultra-Orthodox can also join (the military), and they must be mad...