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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Feb 10, 2012
February 10, 2012
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Lincoln's birthday!:
Hey, let's show one of our greatest presidents some love! His birthday is the 12th, so we've just got time to mention it today! Did you know Abe grew a beard for the 1860 presidential campaign after a little girl named GRACE BEDELL wrote him a letter telling him that all the ladies like whiskers and they'd tease their husbands to vote for him. So he became the first president to have a beard! (Source: "U-S Presidents for Dummies").
Editor's note: Try telling a candidate something like that today --they gotta have 18 different surveys and polls before they'll even go to the bathroom just to see what toilet paper brand to use. (RB)We all know about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which is a model for concise speech. The great orator, Sen EDWARD EVERETT, spoke for two hours the same day, and nobody writes anything about his speech. Abe spoke for two minutes and the speech went down in history.
Editor's note: Don't tell your program director about this. I'm just sayin'.Big Money, Big Problems:
The U-S Postal Service says it lost $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2011 --blaming declining mail volume and higher costs for retirees. It's asking the government to pass legislation to allow it to cut costs. Due to a law Congress passed in 2006, the Post Office is required to fund their pension plan for 75 years in the future. Legislation currently exists in Congress, supported by almost 300 lawmakers but it's being kept bottled up in committee by California GOP Rep DARRELL ISSA.
The Post Office cannot set its own price for postage. Congress sets the postage.
The Postal Service said at the rate things are going, it'll be out of money by October. (Maiman)Looking at Logos:
Kodak says it's getting out of the camera-making business.
The financially troubled company announced yesterday it will stop making digital cameras and pocket video cameras, focusing instead on its more profitable printing business.
The company is reeling after filing for bankruptcy last month, and said that its decision to ax digital photography may save the company upward of $100 million annually. (Maiman)Gossip Central:
Strange celeb Valentine's Day gifts from Us Weekly magazine:
--JERRY O'CONNELL had 800 grapevines planted in the backyard for wife REBECCA ROMIJN
--COURTENEY COX bought then hubby DAVID ARQUETTE an antique carousel horse
--ANGELINA JOLIE bought partner BRAD PITT an olive tree they planted at their French chateauCelebs who aren't fond of Valentine's Day from Us Weekly magazine:
--LAUREN CONRAD decorated a table at a restaurant only to have her boyfriend show up drunk
--JESSICA BIEL made a huge card for a boy and found it in the garbage the next day
--HODA KOTB met and divorced her first husband on V-day, so it's not her favorite (Myers)Chic Sh*t:
No doubt there’ll be some extreme manicures on the red carpet at Sunday night’s Grammy awards ceremony... including the debut of a $5-thousand-dollar gold nail polish. It’s being made by a company called --wait for it-- Red Carpet Manicure. The polish is called Amor 24. StyleList.com says the reason for the sky-high price tag is the 24-carat gold dust that’s added into their gel. It took three months to produce the limited-edition polish because the gold dust was so hard to come by.
Editor’s Note: Sounds like a polish tailor-made for STEVIE NICKS. (...and cue up the obvious Fleetwood Mac “Gold Dust Woman” segue.) (Bartha) -
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