Jeff Dunham, Puppet Master

For most people, being caught in an enclosed space with either a terrorist or a ventriloquist would qualify as a hostage situation. But Jeff Dunham, a ventriloquist, is perhaps the most popular stand-up comedian in the U.S. And he broke through by playing straight man to a terrorist — a fiberglass one.

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U.S. calls for cease-fire in Sri Lanka

The State Department Thursday called for a cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tigers to allow civilians to escape the fighting, after a two day humanitarian pause ended with renewed violence. “We call upon the government and military of Sri Lanka, and the Tamil Tigers to immediately stop hostilities until the more than 140,000 civilians in the conflict area are safely out,” Acting Spokesman Robert Wood said in a statement. “Both sides must immediately return to a humanitarian pause and both must respect the right of free movement of those civilian men, women and children trapped by the fighting.” Wood urged the government to halt shelling of the safe zone and allow international monitors into ensure the safe exit of the civilians

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Facebook Takes a Dive: Why Social Networks Are Bad Businesses

The business of having online sites with content created by amateurs to be viewed by other amateurs never had a reasonable chance of making money. The fact that at one point Facebook had a $15 billion valuation, that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp bought MySpace, and that Google bought YouTube only proves the “greater fool” theory. YouTube was started in 2005 and MySpace in 2003

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Saving the Real Estate Market by Paying the Neighbor’s Mortgage

The quickest way to help the auto industry would be to make sure that no one in the U.S. defaults on a car loan. Certainly the government could make sure that people who are employed and do not have a history of being deadbeats get a portion of their car loans paid.

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