Dick Cheney and the CIA

From Reuters

“Cheney, who has emerged as a vocal defender of Bush administration policies since leaving the White House, said the intelligence obtained from harsh interrogation techniques had saved lives”

Will Dick Cheney ever learned that his methods never resulted in any real information? Will ever admit that the interrogation was done so it would justify the views of Bush Administration?

My opinion is that 09/11 made Bush and Cheney excessively paranoid about the real level of threats. Therefore, out of their fears, they resorted to torture because they needed their paranoid fears confirmed.

And Dick Cheney is very afraid to be brutally honest what happened there in 2001 and 2002. And I doubt that Cheney will never tell the truth because he is not capable telling the truth.
For him to tell the truth would be a miracle indeed.

Alabama Cancels High School Sporting Events and It May Future Cancellations for Weekend Trips in Juine

AL.com reports that the swine flue has made it to Alabama. The people in Alabama are very serious about this swine flu outbreak.

Very serious. Like postponing all high school as reported by ESPN. This thing is really starting get to be quite serious. I do not think this will be another 1918 but it will be quite serious and quite a few deaths will result.

For some reason, I have this fear that several events that I have planned in June such an AA convention in Palm Springs and Elysium might be cancelled because of this pandemic. If Alabama is cancelling high school sporting events, than my fears could be true.

Right-Wing Hysteria

Yesterday, I was watching Countdown and there was a discussion that the right-wing is going nuts.  The guys at the Corner at the National Review are calm and rational right now.  The National Review is a intellectual conservative journal that I read sometimes.

  However, this blog is over the top and even makes Glen Beck and Bill O’Reilly look rational.   Here is the excerpt

“Another traitorous attack on behalf of the seditious administration. The military is the enemy. He needs to demonize America’s much loved military. Destroy their reputation. It’s what the leftists do. It’s how they destroy the enemy. DISINFORMATION (Soviets were brilliant at this, as are the current EU statist thugs and their tools).

The Mohammedan president is going to gin up his constituency across the world while deploying our troops in a nonsensical military strategy in Afghanistan. Do you see what he is doing? He is going to decimate the military. The left did this in the 60s. They demonized the war and our troops along with it. This time, they demonized this war, but it did not work in besmirching our beloved soldiers. So now they have to make them look bad.
BRING HOME THE TROOPS! 

Save our boys from a jihad sympathizing president. I said this in a previous thread — Obama wants trials. Obama wants to divert attention from his coup on the Constitution. Dear leader wants to control the images, the news you hear. He needs to distract the American people while he destroys America. They do not want tea parties, they do not want cognizance. They do not want you to think about what they are doing. Show trials. It is very much like terrorists who start a fire to distract first responders, so they can set off a bomb somewhere else.

Obama and his traitors will “start a fire” and hypnotize the American people with torture! cruelty! and put Bushchimphitler policy on trial with a special prosecutor, of course, while they overthrow the constitution, capitalism, freedom of speech, and enact gun control. That is what is happen”

This guy needs to sit down with a shrink and explain his delusional paranoia to a master psychologist.   They have a delusional belief that Obama is going to take their guns and do all kinds of other horrible things.   I just do not understand why these people have to resort to delusional beliefs just becaues a Dem won and he is a black man.

Do you have any explainations?  Right now, I am loss for words over this paranoia.

The Deficit is High As the Stars

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

Can imagine a trillion dollar debt? The size is this huge. How we are every going repay that? Don’t ask me that question? The solution is insane tax hikes and spending cuts. No Laffer Curve is going to solve this one. The Republicans just cannot give up the Laffler Curve but that is life

Sarah Palin

In Ann Coulter’s piece on Human Events, she states that Sarah Palin is the Conservative of the year. Ann Coulter writes that when McCain choosed Palin, McCain became a real “maverick”. To Coulter, a “Maverick” is somebody does not agree with the Editorial board of New York Times. A maverick for standing out among the crowd and drive liberals like me crazy.

To me, she deserves the award. She has a certain charm and wit about her. But she was one that brought out of the whackos. In real life, she just a normal conservative but her personality brought the real nutjobs out. On the Left Coast, we call them freaks.

So hats off to Sarah Palin because you deserve it

Do not Text While You Drive

KNBC reports that texting while driving will be illegal starting in January 1, 2009. Do you know how hard it is text while driving?

It is difficult. Look, I tried to surfing the internet in traffic a few times. Way too hard. Trying to text or surf the internet while driving will make people riled up and make them honk on the horn. It also result in a accident

At least this one law that makes sense

Rick Warren

I just sick of people wasting their time complaining about the Rick Warren problem on the internet. Don’t people have a better thing to do with their time.

Worrying about Rick Warren will not change America. Find something else better to do with your time.

Gas Prices

CNBC is reporting that oil has dipped below $40.00. If oil has dipped below $40.00, than this show how messed up our economy. This economy is enough to make me gloomy even though I have job

New Business Model for the LA Times

In the Huffington Post, I found this link about the LA Times.   The LA Times is one of my favorite newspapers and I usually try to read it everyday online if I have the chance.  For me, I could care less if the print edition of the paper disappears.

 

According to Alexa  the LA Times is rated the 380^th most popular web site.   People like me enjoy the content of the website and enjoy the reading the content of the paper.   The problem is that the newspaper does not receive revenue for me looking at the website.   The company receives me for advertisements.

 

When the paper sells a printed version of newspaper,  they receive revenue from selling the paper.  In addition, they make significantly more money off the advertising on the hard copy newspaper than the online edition

 

If the newspaper decides to go online only, they will drastically have to alter their business model.  The article in the Huffington Post suggests a new model.  The model is describe as the following

 

“Now factor into the post-paper newsroom budget the elimination of many tasks – print production, design, editing. Step back from that knife, Mr. Zell. Rather than eliminating those positions, they must be converted to enabling local networks of partners – freelancers, bloggers, citizens – to expand the journalistic reach of the paper into the community.

 

And now add in the rumor that the LA Times might get rid of its national – that is, Washington – and international coverage and hand it – or its readers – over to the Washington Post. I’ve been arguing for some time that the national papers – especially the Post but also the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and perhaps USA Today – could become the Washington bureau to the nation’s papers, saving them all money, giving them all the flexibility to redirect staff (reporters and editors) to local coverage, and giving their readers the best coverage. It’s reverse syndication.

 

The LA Times could play this same role with other papers if it provided the very best coverage of Hollywood and entertainment to them, in return for links and new audience and traffic. News becomes a network of links made by those who do what they do best and link to the rest.

 

Clearly, by getting rid of print production and distribution, the LA Times not only gets rid of huge costs – which usually amount to at least half a newspaper’s budget – it also loses both circulation revenue and advertising revenue, which is much higher than digital revenue. As Westphal pointed out in our email exchange, some digital advertising is tied in bundles to print advertising and so the risk is that getting rid of print would hurt digital. But I suspect the opposite would happen: Some of that print advertising will now be forced online. Indeed, I’ve long argued that newspapers should force both readers and advertisers to online – to the future – and turning off the presses would do that.

 

There’s no question that the scale of the business would be smaller, much smaller. But with only edit and advertising sales costs (I’d market only during the transition) it could be a profitable business – a profitable digital journalistic business. That is the promised land. Welcome to the future”

 

That is a potential model for the newspaper.  Personally, it is one feasible model but the paper can remain business for indefinite period of time if it embraces a creative business model that is adapted to the

 

The only problem that I see is that will anger the older readership.  A lot of the people that I encounter in real life do not use the Internet extensively and will only read the newspaper if it is in hard copy format.   In reality, it is time for those people to get on a computer and learn to use the internet efficiently.

Christmas Top Ten From David Letterman

Thanks to a blog on the Riverside Press-Enterprise for this top ten list from Letterman

10. On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me absolutely nothing because of the bad economy.

 

9. Amy, the red-nosed Winehouse, will need a new liver soon…

 

8. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, but Al Gore tells me we’re all screwed…

 

7. Biden might do all right if his hair plugs stay in tight.

 

6. Dr. Tannenbaum, Dr. Tannenbaum, is Cialis right for me?

 

5. Deck the halls with illegal payoffs, Bla-Bla-Bla-Bla-Bla Blagojevich.

 

4. Ahmadinejad, Ahmadinejad, Ahmadinejad, you set our heart aglow like a spent fuel rod.

 

3. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, 1929.

 

2. I have an irregular heart beat, pah-rum-puh-puh-puh-pum.

 

Joy to the world, George Bush is done