Square Enix teases something 'stylish' for FFXIII

As if the wait for Final Fantasy XIII wasn't already difficult enough, Square Enix's assistant PR director, Sonia Im, is making it even more torturous. On her Twitter account, Im teased "something cool most of you can participate in a few days from now" within a mysterious Square Enix memo. Im later added that the memo "eluded [sic] to something stylish." If you squint, the date in the memo seems to be December 17, which would coincide with a PSN update.

It's anybody's guess past that, but we're hoping for a totally magical Final Fantasy-themed fancy dress party for us and a few of our closest friends, set inside PlayStation Home. Can you even imagine?

That, or a demo like the one our Japanese friends already have. Either way.

Gallery: FINAL FANTASY XIII (12/14)

Square Enix teases something 'stylish' for FFXIII originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The most efficient way to make money in MMOs

Filed under: Culture, Economy, Making money, Opinion

Cash flow in many games is almost as big a problem as it can be in real life. We've recently had our resident EVE Online column running a series on the best ways to make ISK in the game, and you can barely throw a stone without hitting a site offering a guide to make X ludicrous amount of gold per hour in World of Warcraft. But we may have reached the end of all this maneuvering, as We Fly Spitfires has recently posted the most efficient way to make money in every game, ever. Go ahead and take a look right now, but fair warning -- it requires some out-of-game work. And your credit card.

Now, before you start sending angry letters, take a moment to consider the point. It's not that the author is condoning RMT, simply that he's pointing out how much we seem to want to streamline the process of playing the game when, really, we already know the absolute fastest way to increase our virtual coffers. That doesn't make it commendable or ethical, but if we're so keen on speeding ourselves up, we might do well to remember that the journey, not the destination, is more frequently our reason for playing.

The most efficient way to make money in MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 30 Essential Android Apps

In a year, Android's gone from shaky upstart to mobile juggernaut. And nowhere is that more apparent than the apps—the Marketplace is positively bursting, with over 14,000 apps. Here are the ones you need, the essentials.

If you want them all on one page, click here.

If we've missed anything or you've got a superior alternative, let us know in the comments, since you vastly outnumber us. By 'us' I mean me.

Read More... [Source: Gizmodo: top]

See space sizzle in these five new Star Trek Online screens

Filed under: Screenshots, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

First off, alliteration? Always fun. Moving on, we've got five new Star Trek Online screens for your viewing pleasure today. If you're wondering whether or not we're embellishing with our headline, well just take a look at the image above this post. That's a pretty good preview of what your eyes will be seeing in the rest of these images.

If screens aren't enough to please you (and let's face it: they never are) then you should take a look at our several community Q&A features covering ships, space combat and ground combat. As usual, the five new screens can be found at the end of our gallery. Enjoy!

Gallery: Star Trek Online Gallery

See space sizzle in these five new Star Trek Online screens originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steven Spielberg Launching a MySpace For 'Close Encounters' Types

Filed under: Computers, Celebrities, Breaking News

Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg is getting ready to prove that you really can have a social network for just about anything. His latest online project started out with Yahoo!, but has since found a home with an independent company after the mega-portal shelved the movie director/mogul's idea of a social network dedicated to those who have had or want to share a paranormal or extra terrestrial experience.

Stories have circulated about Spielberg having such an encounter himself at the Excelsior House hotel, where he was so frightened by ghosts that he fled the hotel for another one... 20 miles away.

Sources say the site should launch in the next couple of months.

From TechCrunch

Related Links:

• Possible UFO Spotted Over Texas, Chased By F16s
• Wired Celebrates 60 Years of Flying Saucers
• UFO Terrorizes Flickr Photo Site

Steven Spielberg Launching a MySpace For 'Close Encounters' Types originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable

One of the least surprising "World Exclusive" reveals during last night's Video Game Awards show was the unveiling of Harmonix's next single-band opus, Green Day: Rock Band. In case you missed out on the late-to-the-party announcement, you can check out the debut trailer after the jump. If you don't feel like watching a streaming video at the moment, we'll summarize: It looks a heck of a lot like when you play those Green Day DLC songs on Rock Band 2.

The MTV Games press release that landed in our inbox shortly after the trailer aired contained one particularly interesting piece of news -- unlike The Beatles: Rock Band, all of the tracks in Green Day's outing will be exportable to the core Rock Band games. In addition, all the Green Day DLC released so far for the music platform, as well as the three 21st Century Breakdown tracks that will hit this Tuesday, will be compatible with Green Day: Rock Band. No release date has been given thus far, but the presser specifies that its coming to the Wii, PS3 and 360.

Continue reading Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable

Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Republican committee members call for unity around conservative principles - Washington Post

The Week Magazine

Republican committee members call for unity around conservative principles Washington Post By Perry Bacon Jr. Conservative Indiana Republican James Bopp Jr. on Monday began circulating a draft resolution calling on the Republican National ... Conservatives Make a List to Measure Candidates' CommitmentNew York Times "Conservative" Republicans Seek to Impose Litmus Test for CandidatesThe New American CNN's Sanchez Misrepresents Dem Stupak's Amend. as a 'Conservative Republican ...NewsBusters (blog) CNN Political Ticker -The Week Magazine -Radio Iowa all 153 news articles »

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Reminder: Last day to enter Zombie Driver Steam download code contest

Filed under: Contests, Action

If you still have the need to drive a heavily armed vehicle and blow away scores of undead creatures then you have just one more day to (maybe) make that happen. Today is the last day in our Zombie Driver contest where we are giving out five Steam download codes to get this debut game from developer Exor Studios.

You have until 11:59 pm Eastern Time tonight to enter via our contest web page. Please remember; you need to be eligible to enter our giveaways in order to win so please keep that in mind. And if you don't get picked don't worry; we have other giveaways coming this month we think you will really like.

Reminder: Last day to enter Zombie Driver Steam download code contest originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sheva and Chris getting new duds in Resident Evil 5 DLC

If you're desperately wanting to get your hands on some new glad rags for Resident Evil 5's co-operative protagonists, then the expanded "Mercenaries Reunion" gametype in the game's upcoming DLC should fulfill your sartorial fantasies. Sheva's new outfit, nicknamed "Fairy Tale," resembles Little Red Riding Hood's garments, as reimagined by someone involved in the adult film industry. Chris's new outfit, nicknamed "Warrior," simply turns him into a person-shaped collection of fists.

Sheva's duds can be seen in the video above, while Chris's can be found just after the jump. Proceed with caution if you elect to view the latter -- there's a very real possibility that your eyeballs could get punched.

Continue reading Sheva and Chris getting new duds in Resident Evil 5 DLC

Sheva and Chris getting new duds in Resident Evil 5 DLC originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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True Crime in Hong Kong revealed at Spike VGA [update]

The second world premiere of the VGAs was the full version of the teaser we saw a couple weeks ago -- you know, the one we initially presumed was for another installment in the True Crime series? Yeah, well, it was totally for another installment in the True Crime series, which is being developed by ModNation Racers creators United Front. Guess there's no more mystery as to what Activision's upcoming Hong Kong-set action title is, huh?

It'll be a little while before we can get the high definition version of the trailer up, but until then, check out a screengrabbed version of the trailer after the jump, and feel confident in the fact that we're very good guessers.

Update: We've added a hi-res version of the trailer above.

True Crime in Hong Kong revealed at Spike VGA [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our Best TV Pick: Pioneer Kuro Elite 50-Inch Plasma HDTV

Filed under: Audio/Video, Advice, Editor's Picks, TV, Switched Video, Video Junkie, Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews, Featured Stories

For the videophile who's been really, really good this year, there's no better way to say "I love, but I'd like you to stop talking so much" than by giving the top-of-the-line Pioneer Kuro Elite 50-inch PDP-5010FD. With picture quality so pristine that, from 3.5-feet you can see the film grain -- but not the pixels -- this TV will leave anyone speachless.

Our Best TV Pick: Pioneer Kuro Elite 50-Inch Plasma HDTV originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yet another use for Dropbox: USB cable

Filed under: Tips and tricks, TUAW Tips, iPhone

As a seasoned world traveler and Apple geek, I'm always fascinated to see how others in the Mac and iPhone community make lemonade from lemons when they encounter difficulties on the road. The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet was recently in Italy (and may still be there) and from the sound of a recent post, he must have arrived well before part of his luggage did. The result? He had a lot of photos on his iPhone that needed to be moved to his Mac, and didn't have a USB cable to link the two.

His solution? Use Dropbox and the hotel's Wi-Fi connection instead of emailing photos and then saving the attached photos to a folder on your Mac. The simple answer involves making sure that you have a Dropbox account (doesn't everybody?), the Dropbox iPhone app [Free, iTunes Link], and access to a Wi-Fi network.

Within the Dropbox app, tap on the Camera button, then tap Existing Photo or Video. From the iPhone's photo albums, you can send your photos to any one of the folders in your Dropbox. As Jeff points out in his post, this has the added benefit of making sure that your vacation photos are backed up online.

Once you've moved the photos to your Dropbox, it's a simple matter of moving or copying them over to your Mac's photo library by literally clicking and dragging them (or option-clicking and dragging if you want to make a copy and keep the originals in the Dropbox) to the iPhone app icon in the dock.

There's only one issue; you have to move one photo or video at a time with the current version of the Dropbox app. Let's hope that Dropbox can address that in an upcoming version of the app.

[Tip of the travelin' hat to Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer]

TUAWYet another use for Dropbox: USB cable originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TEA Party: Movement or political party? - Examiner.com

Times Online

TEA Party: Movement or political party? Examiner.com Ordinary citizens, Republican, Independent, Conservative and even Democrat have been inspired and provoked into standing up, speaking out and demanding that ... Michael Peltier: Conservative groups targets GOP rail backersNaples Daily News Tea Party radicals gear up for 2010 electionsSan Francisco Chronicle Tea Party rally at Colorado Capitol weighs in on governor's raceDenver Post KYMA -American Spectator (blog) all 18 news articles »

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Lenny Dykstra's Patek Philippe and More at Auction

My colleague Deirdre Woollard has been entertainingly chronicling former baseball star Lenny Dykstra's travails in bankruptcy court. Now it seems the hard-charging athlete-turned-entrepreneur is trying to raise a little ready money by selling off some of his prized possessions. Among the lots at Patrizzi & Co.'s Dec. 14th Exceptional Watchmaking Masterpieces auction in NYC is Dykstra's 18K white gold Patek Philippe (above) made in 2004. The fine and rare annual calendar timepiece shows the phases of the moon and has a power reserve indication. Estimated at $28,000 - $ 35,000, it comes accompanied by a photograph of Dykstra playing with the New York Mets. Also included in the sale are two major pieces of Dykstra sporting memorabilia: a 1986 New York Mets World Series trophy and plaque, estimated at $18,000 - $25,000; and a Silver Slugger Award from 1993 with a Louisville Slugger bat and National League Player of the Week 1990 plaque, estimated at $12,000 - $16,000.

Filed under: Timepieces, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Sports, Wealth

Lenny Dykstra's Patek Philippe and More at Auction originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HERRINGPOST &quot;<b>CONSERVATIVE</b> POLITICAL BLOG&quot;: Trillions, Trillions <b>...</b>

HERRINGPOST "CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL BLOG". A LEADER IN BLACK CONSERVATIVE NEWS. Monday, December 14, 2009. Trillions, Trillions,Trillions " America Fiscal Insanity". In the first year of President Obama Administration, he has shown that ...
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Les Bonner � Blog Archive � Liberal Democrats challenge <b>...</b>

Today, Radio 4 challenged the Conservative position on the tax status of UK legislators, saying the Liberal Democrats would bring an amendment to the Constitutional Renewal Bill. The Tories had objected every time the Liberal Democrats ...
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Conservative mess - Northwest Herald

Conservative mess Northwest Herald Recently, it seems that many of your readers feel that the federal government is not adhering to conservative principles. I find this strange, ...

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Lancôme Selects Julia Roberts as "Global Ambassadress"

Main Entry: am·bas·sa·dress
Pronunciation: \am-��ba-s�"-dr�"s, �"m-, im-\

Function: noun

Date: 1594

1 : a woman who is an ambassador
2 : the wife of an ambassador

Lancôme has bestowed the first definition on Julia Roberts in the ongoing epic "Another Day, Another Celebrity Endorsement." Cynicism aside, Lancôme has, through the years, had a bevy of beautiful women endorsing its products -- Isabella Rossellini, Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, and numerous models. Roberts is the newest, according to a WWD exclusive:

"By her remarkable personality and career, Julia Roberts is an emblematic woman of her time," said Youcef Nabi, president of Lancôme International. "Her exceptional talent, her radiance, and her strong commitments perfectly echo Lancôme's values. We are convinced she will embody the brand in the most sublime way possible."

Lancôme executives declined to share details on the relationship between Roberts and the brand, including the amount the actress is being paid to sell the products, the length of her contract, and specific duties, saying more would be revealed early next year.

Roberts, who is said to command salaries upward of $20 million for her acting projects, is in post-production on two films - Eat, Pray, Love, and Valentine's Day.

The WWD article goes on to say that "getting Roberts - or any other star of her caliber - to appear in U.S. advertising a decade ago would have been a longshot, although many stars consented to appear in product advertising outside the U.S. ... however, the celebrity culture has become ubiquitous, and the stigma once associated with selling products to middle America seems to have disappeared."

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping, Cosmetics and Fragrance

Lancôme Selects Julia Roberts as "Global Ambassadress" originally appeared on Luxist on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs up for Time's 'Person of the Year'

Filed under: Other Events, Steve Jobs, Apple

Time magazine has revealed its final seven candidates for Person of the Year, and one Mr. Steven P. Jobs has made the list. Though the editors of Time have already chosen the winner (to be announced on The Today Show on Wednesday morning), MSNBC.com wants to know who us average folk would vote for.

At the risk of our audience being slightly biased, I'm going to release the same poll here. So vote below, and don't feel bad if you don't think Steve should get it. He's already won another little award this year.

View Poll

TUAWSteve Jobs up for Time's 'Person of the Year' originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flying Oskar: Santorum Talks The Social Conservative Talk - Spartanburg Spark (blog)

Flying Oskar: Santorum Talks The Social Conservative Talk Spartanburg Spark (blog) To those people, Santorum's message couldn't be more clear: the only way to be a true believer is to get behind the social conservative cause. ...

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PM welcomes the Olympic Flame to Parliament Hill (<b>Conservative</b> <b>...</b>

PM welcomes the Olympic Flame to Parliament Hill (Conservative Party of Canada) - December 14th, 2009; Harper Government highlights accomplishments as fall legislative session comes to an end (Conservative Party of Canada) - December ...
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PC game retail sales numbers for November revealed

Filed under: Biz

Even though the NPD Group has abandoned releasing weekly sales lists for PC game lists, they still relate some PC game sales data. GameSpot reports that the organization has estimated that $51.7 million was spent on PC gaming software in retail stores back in November.

That's a huge improvement from the $27 million that one analyst said the game industry brought in from PC game sales only back in October. Remember that the numbers come from retail sales only; sales of downloadable only PC games are still something of an unknown factor in the PC game business and not much is currently known about specific sales numbers from that area.

PC game retail sales numbers for November revealed originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vancouver Olympics demo on XBLM

Sega has released a demo of Vancouver 2010 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games. We're not sure about the gameplay, but the title definitely deserves a medal. Come on, it has the word "game" in it twice. As for the demo, it has a sample of one of the Olympic sim's fourteen different modes, as well as the Landing Zone challenge. If you think your well-trained thumbs are up to the task, the demo can be yours for only 684MB of free space.

Shortcut: Download the Vancouver 2010 [via Xbox.com]

Vancouver Olympics demo on XBLM originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ranking The Creep Factor Of Human CGI: The Uncanny Valley Effect

The more realistic a CG human is, the creepier they become. There's nothing spookier than a half-computer half-child CG face on the big screen. We've ranked all the worst CG humans, in order of creepiness.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with the Uncanny Valley, we've added the 30 Rock Clip which expertly illustrates this phenomenon.

Additional reporting by Julia Carusillo.

Read More... [Source: io9: top]

Obama takes Wall Street to the woodshed -- but will he follow through?

Filed under: People, Investing, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs , Bank of America

On Sunday night's 60 Minutes, President Obama punched up his ongoing rhetorical battle with Wall Street, declaring that "fat cat bankers" have shown little "shame" about their out-sized compensation packages. Today, investors will see if the leader of the free world backs up his words with deeds as Obama meets with top financial executives.

In the interview, Obama suggested that many banks are paying back their TARP money early solely to free themselves from government restrictions on pay. He used fairly strong language, in what appeared to be a nod to the populist outrage over Wall Street bailouts.

Continue reading Obama takes Wall Street to the woodshed -- but will he follow through?

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Beta Beat: Droplr adds to the quick-share repertoire

Filed under: Software, Beta Beat

One of my favorite features in OS X is the ability to drag pretty much anything, drop it on pretty much anything else, and have the item be contextually useful in some other application. So pervasive is this gesture that we even waxed romantically about it some time ago. An example of this would be dragging an image from Safari onto an iChat window, allowing you to share the image with one of your buddies.

Enter Droplr. This tiny application sits in your menu bar and allows you to drop all manner of files onto it and share them via a variety of venues such as Twitter or email. The tagline "drag, drop, share" is about as accurate as one can get when referring to Droplr's simplicity in file-sharing. If you're intrigued, head on over to the Droplr homepage and peep the screencast they have made available.

The Snow Leopard-only app and hosting service is available now for free (as in ad-supported) with 1GB storage. Don't be surprised to see a for-pay option with no ads and additional storage in the near future. Go check it out and let us know in the comments how it works out for you.

TUAWBeta Beat: Droplr adds to the quick-share repertoire originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A <b>Conservative&#39;s</b> View� � Cherie&#39;s Place

John Betts The Wrekin Rotary President and Mark Pritchard Conservative MP for The Wrekin Last Thursday Mark Pritchard MP for the Wrekin was invited to speak at The Wrekin Rotary club meeting. Mark talked to the members and guests about ...
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Teach a liberal how to be a <b>conservative</b> about healthcare <b>...</b>

This incentivizes each lucky conservative to shop for the lowest priced insurance, which in turn incentivizes the evil insurance companies, greedy to make a profit, to offer the lowest insurance premiums possible. ...
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After Censure, Graham Defends Work With Democrats - CBS NewsOxs

Quick link to Headline

WCBD

After Censure, Graham Defends Work With Democrats CBS News Kevin Bishop, a spokesperson for the senator, highlighted the importance of bipartisan legislation and pointed out Graham's consistently conservative voting ... No room for reason in the GOP?Washington Post SC GOP castigates Lindsey GrahamCharleston Gazette Two New Polls Show Graham TankingFITSNews Huffington Post (blog) -Politico -New York Times all 260 news articles »

mDpcJ

The Virginia result � a step towards a centrist GOP? - Gov MonitorgxJ

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The Virginia result � a step towards a centrist GOP? Gov Monitor Whilst the conservative right saw this as adding weight to their battle for the Republican Party, the GOP campaign for Governor of Virginia provides a ... ANALYSIS-Abortion exposes divisions among US DemocratsReuters Conservatives and Revisionist Historyfox4kc.com A Very Special ColumnCommonConservative.com American Thinker -Frederick News Post (subscription) -CQPolitics.com all 37 news articles »

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Could the US Republican Party pick up steam? - Xinhuacgh

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The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

Could the US Republican Party pick up steam? Xinhua In New Jersey and Virginia, Christie and McDonnell ran on tax cuts and other traditionally conservative principals, Edwards said, adding that he believes ... NJ suburbs still get no respectNJ.com Republicans win major electionsSandspur (subscription) all 17 news articles »

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Beware of Democrats bearing gifts - Pottstown MercurymB

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Beware of Democrats bearing gifts Pottstown Mercury Having turned over control of your personal health care to the government, there is nothing to prevent a conservative from one day taking office and ... Another Option for the Public OptionConsortium News all 27 news articles »

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ANALYSIS-Abortion exposes divisions among US Democrats - Reutersxgc

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Washington Post

ANALYSIS-Abortion exposes divisions among US Democrats Reuters ... anti-abortion candidates in Republican districts and states. "The national party is paying the price right now because of all these conservative ... Seeking common ground on abortionLas Vegas Sun Time for men to make a sacrificeguardian.co.uk all 226 news articles »

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