McCain, Palin and Biden

McCain and Palin Couric Interview - Another interview between Couric and Palin, this time with McCain himself there to babysit, another minor disaster. Partly because Palin continues to sound incompetent, but this time with an assist from McCain over "gotcha questions." Apparently it’s not right to ask a VP candidate about how they would handle Pakistan. How dare someone expect a VP to have thought about foreign policy! If Palin cannot handle the press, then the American people cannot expect her to handle national affairs nor heads-of-states.


Republicans Continue to Blame Pelosi - As a sign that Republicans just don't seem to get it, they continue to drum the beat that hurt feelings do to Pelosi's floor speech (see below and play the game of trying to find the offensive words). Do they not realize that they are essentially saying they put their own personal feelings ahead of the needs of the country?


Credit Crunch Starts Hitting "Main Street" - As a sign of why the bailout is needed, "Main Street" is starting to feel the credit crunch. Sadly, yes the bailout will mostly benefit the rich, but sadly without those happy rich, we tend to have failed businesses which lead to higher jobless rates which help no one. No credit for "Main Street" means businesses can't grow or ride out the bad times to prosperity. It also prevents new businesses from starting. Net result is stagnation which always leads to business failures.

Biden's Debate Strategy - It’s sad but true, but expectations for Palin's debate success is pretty much zero. Essentially if she shows up and answers one question coherently, the debate will be a success for her. The problem is that means that Biden actually has to walk a strange little tightrope. He attacks her, he is perceived as a bully. He doesn't correct her though and counter arguments, he is perceived as weak. So a dance is needed that allows her to look incompetent and by extension McCain while not causing a sympathetic backlash. It’s sad, people want her judged by the standards any VP candidate would be judged by yet when it comes to actually doing that it becomes "Whoa, slow down, no beating up on the little lady please." Essentially they want it both ways and I can't agree with that.

The Bailout Fiasco, Cafferty and SNL Palin Sketch

Bailout Fails, Dow Jones Drops - 2/3 House Republicans and 2/5 Democrats voted against the bill killing it by 13 votes. The cause seems mostly because their constituents have been against the bill, thinking it’s designed to bail out the rich. The lack of understanding is if the rich fail, their companies fail and those constituents are out of jobs. It’s a big domino that is about to fall because of the ignorance of the average voter. The 777 drop, worse in history, concerns me because now the Dow Jones sits at 10480 points. Sadly the Dow Jones is about 1 part real world data and 3 parts psychological. Once it drops below the psychologically important 10000 point, I think the slide will accelerate.

Bailout Blame Game - Oddly Republicans are blaming a partisan speech before the vote as the reason for not supporting the bill. While the speech was probably in bad taste, in essence Republicans put their hurt feelings before the needs of the country. I wish I knew their names because they should be removed from office ASAP. Democrats blame Republican leadership for failing to get their support on their end. McCain took credit for the bill earlier today, "I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now" so its pretty clear he failed to do his part in getting Republican support for the bill he apparently helped draft. So it seems if a leader needs to be blamed, McCain is your man.

Jobless Claims at 7 Year High - Further proof that Republican trickle down (reaganomics) is a complete failure. The problem with all these "market will out" beliefs is the refusal to recognize that unrestrained greed often leads to self destructive decisions.

Wachovia Bought by Citigroup - The consolidation of banks continues as Wachovia is being bought out thanks to its $53 billion debt it from the mortgage crisis. Technically nothing changes for customers but I am betting by this time next year, the nickel and diming for basic services will begin.

Cafferty on Palin - He comments on the Palin, Couric interview and pretty much lays it out why the various excuses made for her are unacceptable and the woman being a heartbeat away from the Presidency should "scare the hell out of you."


SNL's Palin, Debate Sketches - Two direct hits from SNL where they make fun of the Couric, Palin interview with Tina Fey just nailing it out of the park as usual. The debate sketch gets a little weird but overall pretty fun send up of the whole affair.

The First Presidential Debate

Well, the first Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain has ended. In my view, the debate ended in a tie. Which is bad for McCain who needed a clear victory in what was supposed to be his strongest area, foreign policy.

The basic theme of the debate for McCain is that Obama doesn't know anything and doesn't have the experience. For Obama the theme was McCain is advocating four more years of Bush policies. In nether case was a real argument made to really discount those accusations either.

Some ideas I would have liked to have heard is both candidates advocating the Line-Item Veto. Both talked about cutting earmarks and "changing" Washington. That would be a step in the right direction. Congress can promise all the earmarks they want and the President can proceed to veto em. That would save a lot of money.

Another idea for fixing the economy that I personally advocate (because its mine) is capping interest rates on all form of loans. Sadly it is an idea that will probably never have traction.

McCain's constant drum-beating about Iran continues to concern me. This fear card of imminent danger risks igniting a third front that this country can ill-afford.

On the plus side the press seems to be fact checking the debate better then usual. USA Today's is here, AP here and CNN here. Some highlights include both candidates being right on the Kissinger comments and both wrong. They go into voting records, spending, and foreign policy so both are worth reading. Overall, the next result in bending of the facts is a tie. Both did it about equally depending on what points where being made.

Time's score on the debate was a marginal victory to Obama. Watching CNN, the consensus seems to be a virtual tie so as a result it was essentially a win for Obama.

I couldn't find an article on Fox News but its safe to say they give the victory to McCain if their emphasis on Obama's "He's Right" statements are any indication. Apparently occasionally agreeing with your opponent is wrong in Foxland. Of course McCain did agree with Obama with issues, he just didn't say it, instead he just repeated similar statements. Call me crazy but agreeing with your opponent every now and then is not a bad characteristic.

The net result I think is the debate only encourages those who already chose their candidate and in states that are essentially decided just added a few points to a pre-determined victory. For the "battleground" states, I think the net result will be a wash. The points gained in one state will be offset by points lost in another. At most the popular vote will move about 1% to Obama's favor and the Electoral College breakdown will probably barely budge.

The next debate is the Vice Presidential Debate on October 2nd. Considering that Palin wasn't even made available to talk today, it’s clear that McCain has once again circled the wagon for after pathetic Couric interview. I will frankly be shocked if the VP debate occurs.

To watch the debate, you can find the videos here.

Stewart, Colbert, Palin Interview, Bank Failures, and Lego Mac

Stewart and Colbert EW Interview - Click the link to read the interview that goes with that hilarious cover. In it, mostly Stewart, talks politics and how the press (doesn't) cover it very well.

Sarah Palin's Couric Interview - The more I see of Palin, the more she scares me. She really is like Bush in drag. Her information comes across as a series of talking points rather then original thoughts of an intelligent woman. Like Bush, when things go off script, say a follow-up question to her own response, she gets flustered. I am also amused how she keeps trying to turn things into a McCain discussion, which is to be expected, but it’s handled so poorly that it’s laughable. Even sadder, she seems to have drunk her own kool-aid. Its one thing to sell to people that being a neighbor is the same as experience. It is another thing to actually believe it. What should scare you is the continued Iran rhetoric (which smells much of Bush's Iraq rhetoric in 2000) and never second guessing Israel on any actions. If this candidate is an independent thinker, she sure is doing a bad job of expressing it.



Washington Mutual Fails, Bought - The bank failed and was sold to JP Morgan at bargain basement price today. The net result for consumers overall is a continued consolidation of the banking industry. The result for WaMu customers their bank has new owners but their money remains safe. For now anyway.

Wachovia Next To Fail? - WaMu has fallen, now Wall Street believe that Wachovia could be next. And sadly thanks to that belief they are selling off its stock left and right. The net result is it will probably become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Lego Mac Case - A time lapse video that shows the assembly of a Lego Mac Pro case. Pretty cool. Even better, you can order your own at the Lego Factory but the cost for the 2,558 pieces is $376.65.

Bricked Mac - Time-Lapse from RP Cuenco on Vimeo.

Lego, Letterman vs McCain, Larry Munson, Wario Land, and Keating Five

Lego Yankee Stadium - Built by Sean Kenney over the course of three years using 45,700 bricks. The scale is 1:150 and is 60'' x 66'' x 14''. Very cool. Lego should consider buying it for one of their parks or something. Click the link for a full gallery.

Letterman Tears McCain A New One - McCain "suspended" his campaign to pretend to go to Washington and do Senator stuff that he has not bothered to do 80% of the time. He also cancelled his appearance on Letterman. It turns out, as the video shows, that McCain wanted to appear on The Evening News instead. So basically McCain was so concerned about the financial crisis, getting negotiations on the bailout on track...that he had time to make stop in New York to discuss his plan to go to Washington. Much like Palin, it seems the only real action that McCain is capable of is calling a press conference.


UGA's Larry Munson Retires - After 42 years the voice of the dogs is calling it quits. The reason is declining health which apparently got worse considering how sudden the announcement was. Hopefully, if the Georgia Bulldogs make it the national championship, he will be able to do one last game.


Jack Thompson Disbarred in Florida - The Florida Supreme Court has officially decided to disbar him. Of course Thompson is threatening to sue, some nonsense about "owning a Bar". The man's knowledge of the law seems to be based on what he believes it should be rather then how it is. For those that don't know, Thompson has been on a crusade to ban video games he doesn't like and his tactics has been the root cause to the disbarment. Let's just hope no other state accepts his credentials.

Wario Lands Destroys YouTube Page - Cute means of promoting the game has the trailer running and the explosions and crashes cause the page itself to fall apart. Embedding the video wouldn't do it just so make sure to check out the page.

Keating Five Scandal in 97 Seconds - A nice summary of the scandal that McCain was involved in. He claims it was just a meeting, it was more then that. The scandal was a result of that last time the government needed to do a bailout (tune of $500 billion) thanks to lack of regulation and illegal behavior on Wall Street.

The Bailout

Currently the policy makers are working on a $700 Billion dollar payout to help AIG and Wall Street get out of the mess they buried themselves in. The problems being discussed is not should Congress bail them out but how. Ironic considering the Republicans have spent the entire time claiming that letting the market do its thing is the solution to all problems.

Sadly it appears the lesson still hasn't been learned. Republicans, especially Bush, are pushing for a blank check approach. Give the Secretary of the Treasury the power to do whatever he wants and worry about checks and balances later. The Democrats want all kinds of checks, probably many that are not even necessary. In the middle is the lobbyist, all making sure that their companies getting the piece of the pie.

Regardless of how this falls out, it seems once again the average American will be left out. Democrats are making noises to make sure a bail out includes us but more then likely that will left out. Sadly by the time the pork is doled out the average American will just be stuck with the bill.

On the off chance that doesn't occur, there are a few things I think the bailout must have. The most important is the re-instate usury laws and then take them to a new level in the form in interest rate caps. Part of the reason we are in this mess is banks, in an effort to make up for shortfalls, kept increasing interests rates, this in turn cause more people not be able to make payments, led to more foreclosures, which lead to higher interest rates, which lead to...well you get the idea. All interests’ rates regardless of for a home, a car, a credit card, whatever, should have a cap. That cap can vary on scale and type of loan but it should have a ceiling that is point above prime. Say a home loan can only be 5 points above prime, a car loan 8 points, and a credit card 4 points. I think the net result would be to decrease the credit burden for everyone, increase confidence in the financial system and give banks and others a real chance of getting some of their money back. Right now the proposal seems to be an all or none proposition.

The second thing a bailout should include is the end of golden parachutes and ridiculous bonuses. CEO, board of directors and the like should be held to the same standards they hold their employees to with bonuses and the like on the same scale. If they give their people a 10% bonus at the end of the year, then that’s all they get. If the cap rises to 3% a year, then that's their cap. This idea includes failure to perform. You get fired, you get the same severance package of any fired employee (say two weeks, a month, whatever). Uniform application of company payroll polices should be enforced regardless of title.

A third aspect should include some path to help the average homeowner get out of the credit trench they are in. The cap of the interest rate is one method but now it should include a method to decrease monthly payments for a period of time or a bailout of accumulated interest leaving on the principle. Exactly what I don't know but it needs to give people the chances that want to keep their homes a realistic opportunity to do so.

A final aspect is some form of checks and balances. In short, regulation to prevent this type of rampant irresponsible behavior from continuing. Bring in the economists, determine what "broke" the system and close the loopholes. No more, no less. No new oversight committee is needed. No complicated form of auditing. Between a credit cap and closing of opportunities of abuse that was used to reach this point.

Anything that doesn't fall in those categories should be dismissed as not helping solved the problem. Any attempt at pork barrel politics should be dismissed. Lobbyists, their calls, their emails, and so forth should be not allowed and kept away from the Capital building for the duration of this crisis. Sadly instead of trying any or all of the above we will probably get a bill that hand over a ton of money to the very same people that pushed us over the edge to begin with.

New Penny, McCain Quits, Free Sarah, and Lego Diorama

New Penny Designs - Starting next year, the Treasury Department will produce new pennies with four designs that invoke President Lincoln. Each design will come out about three months apart starting on Lincoln's birthday (2/12).

McCain Campaign Manager Lobbyist for Freddie Mac - As a continued sign of the McCain's ownership by lobbyist, it has been discovered that his campaign manager, Rick Davis, has been getting paid $15,000 up to last month to help lobby for the company. Keep in mind while campaigning for McCain, during the bailout of Freddie Mac and the years previous to block attempts to reform the mortgage industry to prevent exactly was occurred. McCain is claiming he is the man to fix the economy but how can he when his advisors are those that helped pave the way?

McCain Suspends Campaign - In a dramatic bit of pandering, McCain has decided to suspend his campaign (and avoid Friday's debates) to supposedly help fix the bailout plan that is being debated in Washington. Republicans want a blank check, Democrats want restrictions and oversight. McCain has already said he is anti regulation so what is he going to add to the discussion. Now, you can claim he isn't pandering but considering he has missed voting in the Senate 80% of the time, clearly lawmaking isn't a priority for him. As a side note, it occurs to me that this move gives McCain the excuse to move Friday's debate towards the end of October so that the final debate people will remember is one that plays to his strengths (foriegn policy) rather then his weakness (domestic policy).

Free Sarah Palin - Campbell Brown initiated a call to allow Sarah Palin to actually do Vice-Presidential things like talk to the press. She phrased it in terms of sexism. I don't think McCain is being sexist, he just doesn't trust Palin to handle the press. Of course many claim she should be sheltered because of the poor mean biased press. My response is if she can't handle that mean biased press, then she has no business being in the White House.


Life and Chuck Season Premiere Episodes - Click the link to find the first episodes of the season for Life and Chuck. I highly recommend both enjoyable programs and personally looking forward to their return to the airwaves.

Lego Star Wars Diorama - Click the link for pics of a diorama between the evil Empire and the Rebellion using Legos built at a 1:200 micro scale.

T-Mobile's G1

T-Mobile announced the first Android base phone today in New York. The net result is "meh". It’s clearly an attempt to compete with the iPhone but is still falling short of the goalpost in many areas. Mostly in terms of flexibility and usability. They even repeated the first gen iPhone mistake of having an exclusive headphone jack. Long story short, much like the iPhone, wait until the second generation when they hopefully learn things the hard way by then.

G1 Specs
Price: $179 (with two year contract), $399 (without contract)
Launch date: October 22nd
World coverage: UK in November, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, and Netherlands early 2009
- Phone is locked to T-Mobile (expect unlockers on day or later of release)
- Antennas: Wi-Fi, 3G, HSDPA 1700/2100, quadband Edge, bluetooth
- 3-megapixel camera
- 1gb integrated storage plus microSD expansion
- Android Market, Amazon mp3 store, Push GMail, Google Maps
- No Microsoft exchange support
- Feature comparison chart- size comparison: 116.84x54.864x15.748mm
- Hands-on video - Bit of learning curve, multiple input options, keys hard to use, scrolling smoothness varies by app, lots of UI makes browsing clunky, liked maps, liked the background apps and how multitasking is handled, doesn't like the lack of a headphone jack, music app is ok but speaker is loud and nice.
- "Five flaws" - I am rough on this thing because they have had time to improve on the iPhone and so far the result is a step back. Flaws include no desktop synching of Google contacts etc, no exchange support, no video playback (only YouTube) but theoretically devs can add it later, no multi-touch maybe in a later model, no headphone jack, limited memory (a problem once video is added).
- Liveblog of event - Just a walk through of what was discussed during the press conference.

Android Market- No approval process for software, open content distribution model
- No talk of what prices, content creators money model is
- It appears that software will have greater access to the OS operating system
- Does allow for background apps (iPhone doesn't).

Just Say No to Palin, McCain

It has been weeks and the message is clear, Sarah Palin is unfit to be Vice President of the United States. Not because she can't do the job of VP. It is because she isn't fit to be President. The job of the VP is to be ready to become President if the need sadly arises. She must be judged on that standard and its clear many are not. Instead we get fed lies and exaggerations about her qualifications and it seems people are eating it.

Personally I find the choice insulting and the means to sell her insulting. And so should you. John McCain claims its "America First" and yet he makes the ultimate choice in pandering by making a choice that has nothing to do with ability and everything to do with getting the base to accept him and maybe peal off Clinton supporters along the way. He does this and then says to your face he isn't. If that was the case would her foreign policy experience be based on proximity to Russia? Or would the title of "Commander-in-Chief" of the Alaskan National Guard needed to be tossed around.

A housewife from Wasilla lays out exactly why Sarah Palin is a joke to be the second most powerful person in the land. If anyone knows how incompetent Palin is, I think a resident would know. The problem fundamentally comes down to demonstrated lack of ability to do any job well and allowing personal issues to interfere with the running of government.

Let us look at her "executive experience". That experience is mayor for six years of Wasilla, at the time only 5000 residents strong. Some high schools have more students then the town does. Its funny how that number rarely comes out. Apparently 5k was too much for her though because party leaders had to force her to hire a city administrator when she proved unable to handle the work load. What was she doing instead? Apparently she worked on getting city hall remodeled and re-docorating her office several times. As Governor, she leads a state population of 650,000. By comparison the city of Atlanta has 519,415. Suddenly jumping to leading 300 million is within her skill experience? I think not.

Wait, she is fiscally responsible! Yeah not so much. It turns out she didn't even do that right. When she became mayor of Wasilla, she inherited $0 debt. When she left office, the city was $22 million in debt. For about 6000 residents by then. Where did that money go? To infrastructure improvements? To a library? A sewage treatment plant the city didn't have? Nope, $1 million for a park, $15 million for a sports complex that remains a money pit for the town in part because of millions spent on litigation when Palin didn't verify the city had a title to the land the complex was built on. As governor, she advocated taking oil surplus profits and giving it back to residents. Sounds good on paper. Except again the state needed infrastructure work for road projects and the like. Her solution? Borrow the money. So you have a surplus that wouldn't require putting the state in debt but to score points for re-election she chose the fiscal irresponsible choice of more debt. Maybe her fiscal responsible rumor comes from that fact that under her administration the city use to charge woman for their own rape kits. Yep, victims had to pay for the tests that proved they where raped (I wish I was lying). At least until the Alaska governor outlawed it.

But, but she is for smaller government and lower taxes! Nope not even there. As mayor she increased government expenses by 33% and increased taxes by 38%. She did cut property taxes, to the happiness of corporate property owners but to make up that shortfall she increased a regressive sales tax which taxed purchases including food. The next result is corporations paid less, residents paid more.

She took on corruption! Sorta. If by taking it on, you mean quitting a job she didn't like do to the pay, commute, structured hours (oh noes!) and work load, and using corruption as an excuse, then sure. If you mean taking action, say via laws, firing people, closing loopholes and other "executive" action. Then no. Calling a press conference and citing corruption as a reason for quitting a job isn't fighting the system to me.

She took on big oil! Where? I tried to find evidence of this but really haven't seen anything that led to meaningful chances in how the oil companies do business. Just chances in how they do business with her. Once is a boom to her the other is a boom to others.

She is anti-pork! Nope not even a little bit. That bridge to nowhere project...she was for it before she was against it. She was only against it after public outcry had already killed the project. However, $442 million was provided to the state which she chose to keep rather then return. Of that $25 million was spent on a road that goes to an empty beach. So not only morally ambiguous, pro port, but remains fiscally irresponsible. She actually is so pro-pork she hired lobbying group Robertson, Monagle and Estaugh to get hold of earmarks totaling $27 million in one year. Her attempt to prove her anti-pork stance is...essentially a press conference. She used a line-item veto to kill "pork" projects that turned out to be rather important. Enough so that public outcry and legislative action restored most of the projects.

She has other things going for her! What? NRA member? So. Hockey mom? So. PTA mom? Way back when for her first born but not since. She is pro-life but has yet to take any legislative action to support it. Publicly she is against under all circumstances, no exceptions. For abstinence only education despite having a daughter that proves why people are against such limited education of sex.

Let's summarize. Pro-small government? No grew Wasilla government. Pro-tax relief? No, just shifted the burden from corporations to residents. Fiscally responsible? Nope, left a city of 5k $22 million in debt prefers to borrow money to rebuild infrastructure rather then use oil profits. Transparent? Nope, she surrounds herself only with loyal members and reveals little (including her pregnancy until the 8th month). Political maverick? A press conference does not a maverick make.

How does this relate back to McCain? The real question you should ask yourself is how comfortable are you with the idea of President Sarah Palin. McCain is a military man. As such he knows all about contingency plans. The VP position is the ultimate contingency plan to make sure governance continues if the worse happens. He has chosen to ignore this plan and put America at risk. In essence the choice of Palin is a big FU to America, instead of putting "America First", he made the choice that is really is "McCain First." Considering the multiple crisis this country is facing, I don't think we need someone of such narrow and self centered thinking in charge.

Emmy, Box Office, Yankee Stadium and SNL

Emmy Winners - The Emmys where held today and people one stuff. 30 Rock scored the top prize of best comedy, actor and actress. John Adams a record 13 wins. The Daily Show took home best variety program and Colbert Report for best writing. Mad Men won best drama. The awards, as usual, favored movie actors and the elder actor statesmen.

Box Office Weekend - Estimates are in and Lakeview Terrace (slow but entertaining) took the top spot with $15.6M. Burn after Reading (utter crap) took in $11.3M. My Best Friend's Girl scored third with $8.3M, followed by Igor ($8M), and Righteous Kill ($7.7). Ghost Town (good movie, recommend) debuted at a pathetic $5.2M.

Goodbye to Yankee Stadium - Tonight the last game ever was held at The House Ruth Built. The Yankees won. Click the link for a review of its history and greatest moments.

McCain Approves This Lie - A hilarious skit from SNL that makes fun of McCain and his campaigns wiliness to lie regularly about Obama in a by any means necessary bid for the Presidency.

Politics: Bailouts, Social Security, and McCain

Blame Boards of Directors for Financial Mess - A commentary from CNN that lays some of the blame for the banks that are failing or need bailouts on board of directors that rewards themselves and CEO's regardless of performance. I happen to agree with the idea. For CEO's and boards members they get "golden parachutes which usually pays them tens of millions of dollars regardless if they run a company into the group or not. Where you would get fired for incompetence, they get rewarded. Your continued employement and ability to meet your responsibilities requires you to do your job and do it well, theirs do not. Failure is rewarded nearly as much if not more then failure. Even in failure they can often get hired elsewhere. Long story short, there is no incentive to succeed. Long story short, if companies anywhere want to survive in the long term, they need to treat their executive leadership the exact same as their employees. Reward success, penalize failure. If a CEO demands a golden parachute for "guaranteed bonuses" then a new CEO is required. The example begins at the top and currently for most companies the examples are of laziness and reward for failure. It’s no surprise when that infects an entire company and eventually kills it.

Privatizing Social Security Still Good? - Remember when Bush wanted to privatize Social Security and McCain supported it. Does it seem like such a good time now considering the beating the market took (which means SS would have also lost millions?). For something that important, does it still look like a good idea to leave it up to the whims of the market?


What $700 Million Could Buy - A write-up on what the cost of bailing out the banking idiots could be better used on. Buy 3.5 billion laptops? Give 23 million free college education, or triple R&D spending on alternative energy. This list is rather long on what better things that money could be spent on then bailing out the rich of their own greed.

McCain and His 13 Cars - In never ceases to amaze me how stupid people can be. Obama is still labeled an "elitist" and McCain isn't. Yet how many houses does Obama own? 1. McCain? Too many for him to keep up with. Number of cars Obama owns? 1 Number for McCain, 13. Call me crazy but if you have that kind of money you sure are not a member of the "average joe" club. I don't think I ever even met someone that owns that many cars.

Thank You John McCain - A thank you to McCain for the helping create the last eight years of Bush "leadership".

Mega Man 9 Release Date, Bailouts, Email Hack and Flashpoint

Mega Man 9 Dated - The game, which will cost $9.99, will be released on the WiiWare starting September 22 or Playstation Network starting 9/25, or on XBox Live starting 10/1.

"The Moral Imbalance of Bailout" - From Buzzmachine, it pretty much summarizes how bizarre American's and the government can be when it comes to bailouts. If it’s for individuals experiencing disasters due to say fire or health, we pretty much have a "let them eat cake" attitude. If it’s a large disaster affecting many, we do a bailout - pay for a new house, pay to relocate, whatever. If a company that needs help, it apparently seems to depend on how many lobbyist and big wigs might be impacted. Otherwise, again "let them eat cake."

More on Palin's Email Hack - Little bit more information on the hack of Sarah Palin's yahoo account that was used as her government account. It discusses security is a reason that gov accounts should be used and not just as a means to skirt the law. Why the press isn't ripping her a new one on this issue after Rove is beyond me. It is just a shame we are stuck with screenshots because I get the feeling that mailbox held some incriminating evidence.

Flashpoint Renewed - In a bit of amazement, CBS decided to renew its co-production with Canada's YTV for another season. Usually these summer shows are burn offs that get cancelled after. I am please though as I like the show.

Election and Economy Stuff

McCain's Campaign Lies - The "Maverick" continuing to show signs that he is simply more of the same, as devolved to pretty much out right lies in an attempt to win the office. Efforts that even Karl Rove has said were a bit much. The video does a good job of ripping apart their current crop of crap.


Jim Cramer's Told You So - Mad Money's Kim Cramer lost it just a touch this time last year when discussing the state of the lending industry with its high interest rates (which are still excessive) and no attempt to vet whether re-payment was feasible. People made fun of him for it and as he points out, he nailed it.

Obama's Economic Ad - A pretty good video where Obama acknowledges that the economy has issues that need to be addressed. Much better then McCain's "whatever my lobbyist friends" want plan.


Sarah Palin IS the Bush Doctrine - The Daily Show has fun with Sarah Palin's complete inability to answer any real facts about recent history. She is good at making pandering statements, but the details are clearly beyond her scope of ability.


Candidate "Generic Off" - Daily Show again, this time making fun of the candidates of both parties generic statements about the bank implosions. I especially liked Stewart's "Did she win a contest?" in regards to Palin who basically said the government needs to regulate the banks more and then said a few moments later that government needs to get out of business. I get the feeling she and the idiots she was speaking to didn't even pick up on the contradiction.


Sarah Palin's Email - It turns out that Palin continues to show her stripes. B=Much like the Bush White House, she decided to flaunt state law and require her and her staff to use personal email for correspondence. The reason is because personal email isn't required by law to be kept and much harder to have to provide in an investigation (say "Troopergate"). The problem with this grand plan is security. Which Sarah now knows since her personal work address was hacked and the contents provided for all to see. I don't know if any secret goodies where revealed but somehow I doubt it.

Bond Trailers, N64 Mod, Prof Wikipedia and MegaMan 9

More Bond 22 Trailers - Quantum of Solace is out on November 14th and already the campaign is in full swing. You can see the new TV trailers here and here.

Portable Nintendo 64 Mod - The "Darth 64" that is derived from the N64, PSOne, Gamecube and Lazer Doodle. Combine em all together in some magical way and the result is a batter powered handheld 64 console in a Darth Vader like shape.

Professor Wikipedia - Funny video that demonstrates what teaching a classroom would be like if Wikipedia was the source for everything discussed in the class.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Maguire Starts the $50 Million Club - Rumor is going around that Sony may back up the money truck to Tobey Maguire to get him to reprise his role for Spider-Man 4 and 5 with a huge payday and profit shares. Personally I say replace him and save the money. It’s the writing, directing and FX that make that movie. The actor is important, but also replaceable.

MegaMan 9 "Packaging" - If only I was part of the video game press corps just so I could get the MegaMan 9 press kit which is designed to look like an old NES cartridge and box. The cartridge holds the CD so press can play the game for reviews and whatnot.

SNL Palin Skit, Dow Tumbles, Lich King and Weekend Box Office

SNL Palin Skit - The lovely Tina Fey made a guest appearance on SNL's premiere episode to do a spot on impression of Sarah Palin. The skit has Palin and Clinton talking about sexism in politics. Worth watching regardless of politics. If you’re just interested in voting for a woman, screw the issues, you really should watch it. Might learn something.


Stocks Take A Pounding - The Dow drops 504 points, the largest since September 17, 2001. Where that drop was from the attacks, this drop was a result of the credit crisis. Two new casualties include the 158 year old firm Lehman Brothers (bankruptcy) and Merrill Lynch which sold itself to Bank of America for $50 billion. Basically these and other banks that survived the Depression learned they could not survive the Bush Presidency.

WOW: Wrath of the Lick King Dated - It is official; the next expansion for the World of Warcraft will be released on November 13th. It will include a collector's edition similar to the two previous releases.

Weekend Box Office - The numbers for the weekend are out. Burn after Reading (a pointless boring movie) took in $19.4M, The Family That Preys took $18M, Righteous Kill (predictable, maybe rentable) took in $16.5M, the Woman was 4th with $10M, and finally The House Bunny took in another $4.3M.

9/11 7th Anniversary

There are a lot of memories that go with 9/11/2001. The one that I choose to remember most isn't the horrible images of violence and destruction, but a gesture of support.


Background - Little background Britain's show of solidarity
Tribute From Germany - A good tribute video of the day.
9/11 Remembrance Presentation - A video that shows the attacks and some of the aftermath such as Jon Stewart's remarkable speech.

Various Amusing Videos

Army of Post-It Slinkies - A neat little video that shows office workers having fun with post-it notes in imaginative ways.

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

Cat vs. Printer - Cute video of a cat beating on a printer, enhanced with sound effects.


Super Mario Rescues the Princess - Funny video from Seth McFarlane that shows what happened after Mario rescued the princess. Suffice it to say she was not worth the effort. The video was done for Burger King and seems worth it to me.


iPod Apple Event - Click the link if want to watch Steve Jobs introduce the new wave of iPods.

Olbermann: Hijacked 9/11

Keith Olbermann did another special comment (transcript here), this time for the Republicans use and abuse of 9/11 as a means to win elections. Rudolph "9/11" Giuliani is the perfect example of this where he can't say a sentence without evoking the day. While McCain avoids direct references, the RNC has a whole has no problem using it whenever the opportunity presents itself. Irony is if Democrats used it the same way Republicans do the crap would hit the fan hard and fast. Instead it’s just allowed without question. But it should be questioned. If someone is going to invoke that day they should have a damn good reason for doing so beyond a simple effort to invoke fear. Sadly though, Republicans have not run a campaign where fear isn't a major component in nearly 70 years, so why would they start now?

New 007 Trailer, Scientology and Politics

New Quantum of Solace Trailer - A new trailer for Bond 22 that is much more kinetic but still mysterious on what the story is about.


Scientology Issues DMCA Takedown Notices - As per its usual methods, Scientology attempted to fight the truth by hiding it. In this case they sent out 4000 takedown notices to YouTube, which per its policy it automatically grants. In turn, counter-notices where filed and the videos restored. Net result was a whole lot of time wasted but its just further proof of just how nasty the cult is.

Obama Blasts the Distractions - At the end of the day the Republican Party runs on two things. Fear and distractions. If look at the core "promises" of the campaign, McCain is promising four more years and not a whole lot else. As part of that he keeps harping on irrelevant things like gaffes and his POW record while completely ignoring the issues. Obama pretty much sums up what I think. I could care less about verbal mistakes; I could care less about how they dress or talk how a candidate does in a sport or appeared in a pageant. I just want to know why your way is the best way to improve the country. McCain refuses to talk about these things, which tells me he isn't really interested in the issues. As a result, I am not interested in him.


Matt Damon on Palin - Matt Damon pretty much sums up just how screwy and dangerous a choice that Sarah Palin is as Vice President. The press doesn't talk about it, but she could become President of the United States. Is she an exactly of someone you want leading the country?

Apple's iPod Line Announcements

Today Steve Job introduced the refresh of the iPod product line. Overall its a drop in price and small little improvements across the board. The shuffles get new colors, the Nano gets a new design and itouch like features, the classic now only has one model, and the iTouch gets a price drop and improved look. Also a new firmware update is coming, iTunes 8 is out (with Genius feature) and new expensive headphones.

Firmware Update
- 2.1 update for iPhone and iTouch will be out Friday
- If iTouch not updated to 2.0, then $10 fee for update. Free for iPhone.
- Expected to fix bugs, fewer dropped calls, better battery life

iTouch
- Price: 8gb $229, 16gb $299, 32gb $399
- More tweak then redesign, but did get a price drop
- Slightly thinner, curved alumnium design.
- Added features: volume controls on the side, built-in speakers, Genius playlist creation, Nike+ (but shoe dohickey still seperate cost).

iPod Nano
- Completely re-designed.
- Battery life: 24 hours for music, 4 for video
- Price: 8gb $149, 16gb $199
- Thinnest iPod yet.
- Larger screen, curved aluminum design, accelerometer, Genius playlist creation
- With accelermoter, has Cover Flow when turned sideways. Same for photos.
- To enable shuffle, simple shake device.
- Does play videos
- Comes in a pretty wide range of colors
- Size comparison here
- Hands-on: Feels better in hand, small and thin, responsive, accelerometer as good as iPhone, great screen, hold middle button now brings up shortcuts, overall impressed.

iTunes 8
- Television programs now available in HD
- HD price: $2.99, standard price: $1.99
- NBC returns to the store. (Guess the Amazon experiment wasn't a boom to the bottom line they thought it would be.
- Genius Sidebar added - A way to create playlists with one click based on listening habits. Of course its main purchase is to suggest music to buy from the store. Genius info is sent anonymously back to iTunes to improve recommendations.
- Hands-on: Slow to install, slow to start, slow to go through and do setup for Genius feature, visualizer is great, grid view not so much. Once completed Genius selections are mostly miss. Too early to know if will improve with time.

iPod Classic
- Reduce line to one 120gb version for $250
- Keep eye out, probably be able to get the 160gb version on clearance soon.

iPod Shuffle
- Price: $49 1gb, $69 2gb
- The same size, same price, same memory, new colors.
- Now comes in gray, blue, green, red and magneta

iPod Headphones
- White $79 in-ear headphones.
- Comes with 3 earbuds and 2 drivers (a woofer and tweeter)
- Essentially for audiophiles.

Iron Man 2, Dell Move, XBox Woes, Robin on Sarah, and RNC

Win An Iron Man 2 Role - In an auction for Stand Up To Cancer, there is an auction to buy a role on the sequel. The winner gets a one day set visit, meet the cast, extra role (may or may not have a line), photo tour of the set and tickets to the LA premiere. The bidding ends on September 15th at midnight EST. The current bid is around $6000.00.

Dell Moving Overseas - As a sign of the times, Dell is going to sell nearly $2.6 billion in production plants in the United States so can move its operations to China. Much like IBM, the company will probably claim to be US based even though a majority of its workforce will not be.

Story of the Xbox 360 Production Issues - As most people with an XBox 360 are aware, there is very much a real threat of getting the vile red ring of death. It turns out that not only was Microsoft aware of the production problems that caused it (as high as 68% failed at first, now around 15%) but it’s the typical story of spreadsheet managers making decisions outside their scope of knowledge.

Robin Williams on Sarah Palin - Robin Williams, in a David Letterman interview, does a hilarious analysis of the Sarah Palin nomination.

9-11 RNC "Tribute" and Olbermann's Reaction - As part of convention last week, the RNC aired a very graphic "tribute" to 9/11 that existed to do one thing and one thing only - remind people that they are scared and scared people should vote Republican. The party, in probably the last 100 years has never run a platform that didn't have fear as a major component, but exploiting the death of 3000 American's is a low blow. As Olbermann points out correctly, if the Democrats or a TV channel ever aired the footage they did, the backlash would have been huge.

Peanuts, XBox 360, Gremlins 3, Weekend Box Office, and Browser Speed Tests

Peanuts Animator Dies - Bill Melendez, the animating master (and voice) that brought Peanuts to life, died Tuesday at the age of 91. His Peanuts work earned him 8 Emmy Awards, 17 Emmy nominations, one Oscar Nomination and two Peabody Awards. Grand total for he helped created 63 half-hour specials, five one-hour specials, 4 features films, and 372 commercials using Peanuts characters including the classis of A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and A Boy Named Charlie Brown. He is also the voice behind fan favorites Snoopy and Woodstock. Next time you’re enjoying a Peanuts cartoon, now you know the man to thank.

XBox 360 Price Drop - Microsoft has made official what everyone has knew about for weeks, a $50 price drop. Starting September 5th, the 360 Arcade is $199, the 60GB is $299 and the 120GB is $499.

Gremlins Add To Movies - Fan made video that inserts the Gremlins nearly seamlessly into Batman, Indiana Jones, Exorcist and a few other movies.


Weekend Box Office - Slow weekend at the movies but money was still made. Tropic Thunder remained at #1 with $14.2M, new Van Diesel movie, Babylon AD, only made $12M. The low dollars is likely due to a neat looking trailer that explained absolutely nothing about the plot of the film. Dark Knight finally topped over the $500M domestic mark, making it only the second movie in history to do that. Still has $95M to go to beat Titanic. House Bunny was fourth with $10.7M and Traitor with $10M.

Beta Browser Speed Tests - With Google Chrome entering the browser arena, Lifehacker decided to test the beta versions of Firefox 3.1, Chrome 0.2 and IE8. It’s not a usability test just speed. While Chrome had a faster startup, Firefox loaded 8 tabs faster, IE was slowest for JavaScript loads, and Firefox used the least amount of system memory. Over all the differences in time amounted to just a second or two so for those that only care about speed, it really doesn't matter which you use.