tagged w/ Scranton
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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's flamboyant President Hugo Chavez has made a show business appearance singing on a new compilation of revolutionary songs released by his United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Chavez, who is prone to belting out Venezuela folk songs during his frequent television appearances, sings an ode to a 19th century rebel leader on the album, released to coincide with the last weeks of campaign to elect governors and mayors.
The president's familiar growling baritone rolls over a traditional harp-led "joropo" backing in the song, which praises the exploits of Maisanta, a rebel fighter from whom Chavez claims to be descended. The album, called "Battle Music" and sporting a clenched fist on the cover, also features a rap track that samples a Chavez speech.
Last year, one of Chavez's aides put together a selection of the former paratrooper's top singing moments.CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's flamboyant President Hugo Chavez has made a show... more
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The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a political event in Scranton.
The agency followed up on a report in The Times-Tribune that a member of the crowd shouted, "Kill him!" after one mention of Mr. Obama's name during a rally Tuesday for Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
The remark came while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd at the Riverfront Sports Complex. There is no indication Mr. Hackett or Mrs. Palin, who took the stage a half-hour later, heard the remark.
The remark was reported almost immediately on the newspaper's Web site and today in the print edition.
Times-Tribune employees who covered the rally were interviewed today by the Secret Service.
Spokesman Darrin Blackford said the agency takes the threat seriously. If the agency can determine who shouted the remark, it would present that information to federal prosecutors, he said.
[original article from http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/10/15/news/doc48f6128d24004210022010.txt]The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic... more
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The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama during a political event in Scranton.
The agency followed up on a report in The Times-Tribune that a member of the crowd shouted, "Kill him!" after one mention of Mr. Obama's name during a rally Tuesday for Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
The remark came while congressional candidate Chris Hackett was addressing the crowd at the Riverfront Sports Complex. There is no indication Mr. Hackett or Mrs. Palin, who took the stage a half-hour later, heard the remark.
The remark was reported almost immediately on the newspaper's Web site and today in the print edition.
Times-Tribune employees who covered the rally were interviewed today by the Secret Service.
Spokesman Darrin Blackford said the agency takes the threat seriously and will make an arrest if it can determine who shouted the remark.The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a threatening remark directed at Democratic... more
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In the Dunder Mifflin land of Scranton, Pennsylvania Bill and Hillary Clinton rally support for presidential candidate Barack Obama.In the Dunder Mifflin land of Scranton, Pennsylvania Bill and Hillary Clinton rally... more
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Thursday, we learned that Jerry Seinfeld, one of the funniest men on the planet, will be the new spokesman in an ad campaign for Microsoft's Vista operating system. Can Seinfeld steal some of the marketing thunder from Apple's hipster Macintosh dude and the poor, shlubby Windows fella who clearly needs to get his suit tailored?
Well, as our readers have noted, there's a bit of irony to this, since many of us recall that Seinfeld was always using a Mac on his '90s sitcom. That got us thinking: Should Microsoft hire someone not so clearly playing both sides of the fence? Thankfully, our readers had some terrific ideas.
• Our first commenter, "J-Hawaii," had a good suggestion, a Borg drone from Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, I'm not sure this is the best representative of Microsoft's business-first attitude. While we often think of the Borg as joyless automatons of a conformist culture, the best-known Borg, Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager, added new femininity to cyber-kinetic life forms. Even the creepy Borg Queen in the movie Star Trek: First Contact had a certain je ne sais quoi about her.
Could a Borg offer the first sex appeal to a Microsoft ad campaign since the Rolling Stones were singing Start Me Up for Windows 95?
• Commentator "Dirk VanNerden," along with many others, suggests Steve Carell and the rest of the cast of The Office. Makes sense; you've got vaguely unhappy office folk stuck in workplace purgatory in Scranton, Penn. (I grew up about 20 miles from Scranton, so trust me: "purgatory" is a nice way to put it.) Total Microsoft stereotype. Nails it.
However, a Microsoft fan might point out that the cast of a Carell movie, The 40-Year-Old Virgin could work just as well for Apple. You know, gadget heads stuck forever in some sort of adolescent, video-game-playing, pot-smoking purgatory.
• Homer Simpson, Charlie Brown, Rodney Dangerfield, Jason Alexander (who played hapless "George" on Seinfeld), and other people doomed to never get it right (unless they do the opposite of what they'd normally do, like George did): Personally, I think the diabolical, nuclear-plant-owning "Mr. Burns" on The Simpsons might be a better stand-in for a company that throws out a profit of a few billion dollars every quarter, despite the Vista follies. But, hey, that's just me.
• "Cafteach" suggests the great comedian and San Franciscan Robin Williams. Makes a lot of sense: Like Microsoft, Mork was at the height of his powers in the '90s, winning an Oscar for his performance in Good Will Hunting. And like Microsoft, he's laid some eggs in recent years. Did anyone even see RV? That said, he was still awfully funny as a penguin's voice in Happy Feet (or was that a puffin?)
• "Theoscnet" offers the cruelest cut of all: The two Coreys, "Corey Feldman and Corey Whoever..." It's Corey Haim, Theo. I looked it up for you. It's been a long time since we got the double-Corey treatment in '80s classics such as License to Drive and The Lost Boys. (But wasn't Keifer Sutherland really scary as a Jim Morrison-inspired vampire?)
The last we saw the two Coreys, they were puffy 30-somethings starring in The Two Coreys--"a look at the lives of former child stars Corey Feldman and Corey Haim living together as adults," as The Internet Movie Database puts it.
Microsoft...a metaphor for washed-up child stars? No way, but it's fair to say the company is starting to look a little puffy and out of fashion in its middle age, as our readers are quick to point out.Thursday, we learned that Jerry Seinfeld, one of the funniest men on the planet, will... more
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WASHINGTON - Joe Biden has lived a life of second chances, a cycle that's been cruel and redemptive by turns. Now he's starting over once again.
Deeply private yet in-your-face, collegial yet ideological, the Delaware senator brings a wealth of foreign policy experience to Barack Obama's Democratic ticket, plus wisdom in the ways of Washington and an infectious enthusiasm for political donnybrooks.
He adds suspense, too, over the question of when - not if - he'll put his foot in his mouth. Biden's agile mind comes with a loose tongue that cannot always be properly restrained.
Back in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., Biden's Catholic schoolmates nicknamed him Dash because he stuttered so much his speech sounded like Morse Code. Biden overcame that rip at his confidence, smoothed his talk and doesn't seem to have quieted down since. The strongest sign Obama was seriously considering Biden for his running mate, despite some differences over national security, energy and more in their voting records, was Biden's odd absence from the public in recent days.
WASHINGTON - Joe Biden has lived a life of second chances, a cycle that's been... more
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