bad decisions

Last week, a government Boeing 747 (it's only Air Force One if the president is on board) flew at low altitudes over New York City, down the Hudson River, around the Statue of Liberty, and back to Washington D.C.. All because somebody needed to update some photos for the plane.

The trip cost $350,000 and scared the crap out of New York City. For security reasons, only the FAA and a few other people were informed of the plan. The mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, local police and firefighter, and the President of the United States, were not informed. Barack Obama says that he is furious

Daily Show host Jon Stewart watched everything happen two blocks from the Hudson River in the TV show's studio. Here is his response...which is kind of everyone's response.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Mistakes on a Plane
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis First 100 Days

South Park on pirating

Hilarious episode, see full episode at www.southparkstudios.com

Specter switches sides

In a surprise move earlier this week, 29-year Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced he is switching to the Democratic party. Specter says that the reason for the change is because the Republican party views have shifted far to the right of his current views.

The move gives the Democratic party 59 members in the Senate. If Al Franken wins his court case against Norm Coleman, the party would have a filibuster proof 60 members. Several recounts of the November election between the two have held that Franken barely won the election.

While Specter contends he is divorcing the Republican party because of irroncilable differences, the real reason is because he wants to win reelection in November. Specter's recent liberal voting record has drawn criticism from hardcore conservatives and it is believed he would not win the Pennsylvania Republican primary in November. Michael Steele, Chairmen of the Republican National Committee, said that Specter "“left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.”

On a side note, the NY Times article I got this from misspelled Specter several times as Spector. When I do that I get an F on my paper.

Most dangerous cities

I read an article in Forbes today about the 15 most dangerous cities in America. The criteria was number of violent crimes per 100,000 people. The study also included the metropolitan area (suburbs) of the cities, so Schaumberg would be considered part of Chicago.

The most interesting correlation the study mentioned is that many of the cities listed are considered hubs for illegal drug transportation. I bet you don't think of Stockton, Calif as the 5th most dangerous city in the country. However, it is 500 miles from Tijuana and, according to Megan Wolfram, an analyst at iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a Maryland-based risk-assessment firm,

"Stockton is a major transit point along the I-5 corridor on the way to Seattle and Vancouver. A lot of it is similar to crime happening in the Southwest. For the most part, it's drug gang on drug gang."

The top 15 are as follows.
1) Detroit
2) Memphis
3) Miami
4) Las Vegas
5) Stockton, Calif
6) Orlando
7) Little Rock, Ark
8) Charleston
9) Nashville
10) Baltimore
11) New Orleans
12) Baton Rouge, La
13) West Palm Beach, Fla
14) Charlotte
15) Philadelphia

Noticeably absent on this list are New York, LA and Chicago. I was especially surprised not to see Chicago included considering its propensity for shootings. Additionally, I was very surprised to see the inclusion of Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville. Apparently the Ozarks area isn't such a great place for vacations after all. And Orlando? When did Disney World become dangerous for anything other than mom and dad's wallet?

Another trend that wasn't discussed very much in the article, but that I noticed, is cities that rely on a lot of tourism money. Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Charlotte and West Palm Beach were all booming towns leading up to the recession. Tourism was up and homes couldn't be built fast enough. Las Vegas was routinely growing by 10 percent a year. Beachfront Miami property has been absolutely crushed by the housing crash.

An interesting tidbit, on cityrating.com Charlotte, NC is also considered the 9th best place to live. A sentiment echoed by various google searches.

Swine Flu

There is an article in today's Chicago Tribune titled "US declares health emergency as world officials race to contain worrisome swine flu, panic."

Yet, after reading the article, my reaction was more of a, so what? Apparently, this whole thing started in Mexico. The country estimates that there have been around 1,600 cases and 103 deaths. Only 22 of those 103 deaths have been confirmed to be the result of Swine Flu.

But outside of Mexico, almost all people suspected of having swine flu reported feeling mildly ill. I feel mildly ill about 10 times a years...many more if you include hangovers. It seems like the biggest reason people are dying from this disease is because of how much Mexico sucks ass.

New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, the US and a few other countries have had less than a dozen confirmed cases from recent visitors to Mexico. Many of these visitors were students returning from spring break. According to the article, these students got mildly ill and that the current strain is being treated with Tamiflu and Relenza.

Currently there is no vaccine, but the CDC is hard at work manufacturing one. It is still unknown where in Mexico the disease started and how it is spread, other than it involves pigs. The current strategy is to quarantine and treat. A couple of schools in New York and Texas canceled classes last week to contain any possible spread.

Anyone remember when the bird flu was supposed to destroy the world? Wasn't it supposed to be an unstoppable mega-plague that made the black death look like a case of chicken pox? 11 years after the nightly news was showing people in China wearing surgical masks, the nightly news is showing people in Mexico wearing surgical masks.

It seems like the common denominator between the bird flu and swine flu is the nightly news using words like; pandemic, epidemic, outbreak, plague, crisis, and emergency. Lost in the conversation are words like; treatment, mild symptoms, limited spread, prevention, and control.

Ford has $1.3 billion moral victory

Ford lost $1.3 billion dollars in the 4th quarter. Somehow...this is good news.

Analysts were predicting the company to do even worse. There were several reasons Ford beat analysts predictions. Without getting into the numbers, they basically used their cash reserves to dramatically cut cost and debt despite plumitting shares. Of the big three American auto companies, Ford is the only one that has not accepted any government money. As a result, when times improve, they will be primed for a big rebound. Their stock price is already reflecting these expectations. Since March 6th, shares are up 272 percent.

This is what is called the silver lining

Ford lost $14.7 billion in 2008 and is expected to be unprofitable until 2011. Yet, they made a few smart decisions, beat analysts predictions, and watched their stock go from $1.65 to $4.50 in six weeks. Additionally, with Ford being in a superior financial position to GM or Chrysler, in the next five years they will be able to afford more advertising, more models, better employee benefits, etc.

When the great depression ended, the blue-chip stocks were the one's from extremely beaten down sectors but that outperformed their competition. After this recession, expect a bank, a housing company, and a car company to explode. (among others)

journalists getting arrested

Here are two YouTube videos of cops arresting journalists. See if you can spot any common themes in treatment and attitudes.

Miss America story

In the latest version on national news that is not news, networks are constantly discussing Miss California's comments during the televised pageant. Go ahead and turn to CNN or Fox News, it won't take long, I'll wait...

For those of you who aren't aware (I envy you) Miss California was asked about her opinions on gay marriage. She responded by politely saying she believed marriage should only be between a man and a woman. One of the judges, Perez Hilton (yes that's actually his name) is openly gay and consequently was very upset and has gone on a media tour afterward.



I DON'T CARE!!!

An honest opinion about a heated and divisive political issue got somebody upset?

NO WAY!!!

Both sides of the gay marriage debate have valid opinions and points and open discussions about this topic are needed. But those discussions need to be in the right format between the right people. Those discussions need to be well calm and well researched. They need to be between powerful people capable of making changes happen.

Attacks through Fox News by a dumb blonde and an entertainment tonight lackey is not an appropriate dialogue. It is a waste of everyone's time. Why don't we just strap a mic to a couple of idiots off the street while we're at it?

torture memos

This past week the Obama administration released a few memos from the Bush administration detailing what types of torture were acceptable and how extensively these torture (er...enhanced interrogation methods) could be used. Numerous high profile Pentagon and CIA officials have gone public with their disagreements on this subject.

I have two questions:
1) why were these memos released?
2) why the objections?

My guesses, is Obama is making a purely political move to try and propagandize against the Republican Party. He is nearing the end of his honeymoon and his approval numbers are dropping as the national public is starting to realize that he is in fact, just a man, just a politician. Obama may still do a lot of good in the next 4 or 8 years. But he also might screw everything up even worse.

If Obama wanted to make diplomatic amends for the actions taken at secret prisons during the Bush administration, then release all the memos, release all the information, including what was confessed as a result of the torture. But he doesn't want to do this, he only wants to let out the information which looks bad for the Republicans.

This is a political move, nothing more.

On the other side of the coin...why the objections? Here I figure the answer is simply a desire to keep important information private. Information is perhaps the most powerful weapon in a war. The less the enemy knows the better. America waterboarded, I know it, you know, they know it. Releasing these memos only gives knowledge to the allies of those who were waterboarded.

Obama's use of new media

The Democratic Party and Barack Obama perfected the use of the internet in 2008. This is not necessarily because Obama or his campaign manager David Axelrod is such savvy politicians, and it isn’t because the Democratic Party had an epiphany. In 2004, the internet just hadn’t matured enough yet.

The bread-and-butter of Obama’s campaign was social networking sites. YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and their sister sites, either didn’t exist or were in their infancy stages in 2004. The only people who knew about and used these sites were the internet savvy and computer nerds. In 2004, one couldn’t even sign up for Facebook without a college e-mail address and only the largest division I universities had been given permission to be included. Smaller schools and private schools were still petitioning for inclusion.

The old way of social networking is dead. The day of the $5,000 a plate fundraising dinner has been proven unnecessary. According to an article by The Atlantic, in February 2008, Obama raised $55 million dollars. $45 million of that came from online donations, and he never hosted a single fundraiser. Micro giving has replaced the fat check. Obama’s website was set-up so the people could donate $20 or even less. Additionally, people could program the system to deduct the sum on a monthly basis like a magazine subscription. Therefore, people could budget their donation over many months instead of writing a single, larger, check.

According to the Minnesota Independent, 49 percent of Obama supporters initially donated less than $200. By the end of the campaign, 47 percent had given at least $1,000 and Obama had collectively attracted 100,000 more individual donors than both 2004 candidates combined.

The combination of the maturation of social networking sights and the foresight of Obama and Axelrod to use these sights on an unimaginable scale is the reason Obama overcame a large deficit to beat Hilary Clinton in the Democratic primary and to beat McCain by a 2-1 margin in the Electoral College in the presidential election.

Going into election night, official Obama video posted on YouTube had viewed collectively for 14.5 million hours. According to Joe Trippi, to purchase 14.5 million hours of time on television would cost roughly $47 million, depending on when the time is aired.

Post election, the use of new media has continued. Each week, Obama releases a short video message through his website. These messages are very reminiscent of FDR’s Fireside Chats in there form, structure and rhetoric, so there is nothing new about them politically. What makes them significant is that Obama is choosing to release them via the internet instead of through a news network. Of course the messages quickly make their way to the nightly news, but this conscience decision and selection of the internet to emphasize what his administration finds important is drastically different from previous presidents.

To date, Obama has racked up 13 million e-mail addresses, and counting, in his database. And those social networking sights still have donation links on every page. Currently, the only use of these e-mail addresses and constant funding is to help persuade the general public to support specific legislation when he deems it necessary.

However, when 2012 rolls around, the Democratic Party will have already assembled an arsenal of political ammo to defeat the Republican opponent. Obama related Facebook and Myspace groups will continue to grow until 2012. His YouTube page will continue to add videos and collect hits, thereby spreading the Democratic message and persuading swing voters. Change.com will continue to collect donations.

Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have revolutionized American politics for only the third time since George Washington was elected. FDR was the first to extensively use the radio and thus replaced the cross-country train trips. Then, Kennedy used the television to put a face on politicians and the radio became second fiddle. Obama has shown the internet is the medium of the future and the television will soon become something from our parents’ generation of politics.

My Cuban vacation

Most Americans think part of Obama's campaign of change should involve new policies toward Cuba

In a recent poll by worldpublicopinion.org, 70 percent of Americans say they favor ending the US ban on travel to Cuba and removing the economic embargo which has been in place since March 1958. Cuba was once one of the top Caribbean travel destinations by US tourists. It was a Hollywood getaway and was featured in numerous songs and movies.

President Barack Obama, set to leave on his first trip to Latin America this week with stops in Mexico and at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad-Tobago, is expected to address US policy toward Cuba at his first summit with Latin leaders.

America's problems with Cuba stem from it being a Communist ally of the Soviet Union. It was the reason for the embargo, the reason for the Bay of Pigs and the reason for the Cuban Missile Crisis. But the Soviet Union is gone, and the the U.S. is considered an ally of Russia. Additionally, The only Communist world power, China, owns more than a third of all U.S. debt and is our biggest trading partner.

To me this is the definition of hypocrisy. The United States of America refuses to trade with one country because of its communist government and its actions, but welcomes trade with another country despite its communist government and actions.

Fidel Castro is 82 and the cold war ended 20 years ago. Let it go America, let it go.

Another dirty chicago cop

According to the Chciago Tribune, former Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo used extortion and strong-armed tactics to force numerous organizations to hire guards from his private security firm. The list of companies forced to hire guards from Scavo's company were local bars and resturaunts, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, Navistar and Kiddieland amusement park.

Additionally, many of these guards were on-duty policeman. Therefore, these policeman were bring paid twice, once by the city and once by the client.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Andersson said that a waste disposal company that was paying another security firm $17 an hour for a security guard was pressured into paying $45 per guard from Scavo's firm.

Scavo, police chief from 1996 to 2006, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, obstruction of justice, mail and wire fraud and filing false personal and corporate federal income tax returns.

21st century Tea Party

Yay! It's tax day! To celebrate, protesters around the country have organized "Tea Parties" to protest Obama administration spending policies. According to ABC News, 750 such parties will take place around the country. The protests have largely been grass roots organized via social networking websites.

Only problem is, according to a recent gallop poll, more Americans think they are being taxed just right than not. This has happened once since 1956, and that was in 2003.

The protesters will be primarily conservatives and the national media, other than fox news, will give token coverage with little substance. In the grand scheme of things, this protest is inconsequential and will change nothing. Those involved are spinning their wheels and getting nowhere.

Where the Tea Party protests may find importance is that the Republican Party has been scrambling to develop an online precense since the 2008 elections. In the months leading up to the Nov. 2008, the Democratic party focused significantly more time and energy on social networking sights, youtube, and the internet in general. And the election reflected that.

These protests may provide a cornerstone for the Republican party in the Facebook and Twitter world. It would be a cornerstone they desparately need if they want to compete with the Democratic party for young voters in upcoming elections.

Blago might appear on celebrity survivor show

Former Governor Rod Blagojevich has agreed to appear on "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here." The show will be filmed in a Costa Rican jungle and is set to air on NBC on June 1. The show will pay the financially strapped governor $80,000 a week.

The problem is, Blagojevich is will need permission from U.S. District Judge James Zagel to leave the country. He currently faces conviction of 16 counts of criminal counts of racketeering, conspiracy and wire fraud.

Two things came to mind when reading this story in the Chicago Tribune.

The first is that I don't think Blago is very money smart. If his entire political career was spent trying to make himself richer by selling appointments, collecting bribes and extorting contributions, it appears he either should have asked fore more, or been smarter with his dirty money. The man should have spent a weekend watching old gangster movies. Maybe read an Al Capone book? Either that, or maybe he should have just plead guilty. I am no lawyer, but I have a feeling that it is hard to win a case where the prosecution has audio recordings of the defendant committing the crimes of which he is accused.

The second thing is that if this show is structured like Survivor, Blagojevich should be pretty good at it. Let's see, the point of Survivor is to be underhanded and sneaky, to make and break promises, to outwit, outplay, outlast.

Seems to me, Blagojevich has been winning that game for the last 20 years.

Stuff gets cheaper

The March Consumer Price Index reported that the average price of goods fell last month. This is the first time the CPI reported a March decrease since 1955. The CPI reported the price of goods fell by 0.1 percent.

Though a 0.1 percent decrease in cost will go unnoticed at the checkout counter, the year 1955 brings an different focus to the report. It adds support to the claim that this is the worst economic decline since the great depression.

"The numbers speak to an economy that is in deep recession, but we're no longer in the shock mode of staggering numbers that speak to a serious slide lower in terms of macroeconomic activity, coupled with the threat of inflation," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets.

Additionally, industrial production fell 1.5 percent. Analysts had predicted a 1 percent decrease.

The good news is that the stock market is always the first thing to improve at the end of a recession. It will be the first sign that the economy has finished crapping on...everyone. It is up 1,500 points since March 6.

child abduction

Personal note:

I don't understand the national media's recent obsession with child abduction stories (I'm looking at you Nancy Grace!). For the past two months, it was story after story on Haleigh Cummings. Now, its story after story about Sandra Cantu. I remember when JonBenet Ramsey was murdered and the media was obsessed for a year. Ramsey's case even spawned books and a made-for-tv movie!

According to Child Shield USA, 100 children were kidnapped last year, 75 percent of those were dead within three hours of being kidnapped. Where are the months of coverage about the other kids?

The media latches on to the stories involving photogenic girls with affluent but psychotic parents who think their kid will be returned if they thrust themselves in front of every camera they can find. These parents make shirts, hold rallies, announce large rewards, and turn a tragic event into a never ending crap fest that wreaks of tabloid sensationalism.

Child abduction is a horrible occurrence, especially when it ends in murder. But when is it newsworthy? Ethically, should it even be reported?

In August of 1996, one of those 100 kidnappings a year to a 12-year-old girl in my hometown. Her story was reported by the local media but nobody else. Police offered a $20,000 reward for information about the case. A google search of her name turns up 143 hits. The case was never solved.

Six months later, six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey went missing. The JonBenet Ramsey Children's foundation offered a $100,000 reward for information about the case. A google search of her name turns up 324,000 hits. The case was never solved.

You make sense of it.

Detroit to close 23 schools

The current recession started in Dec. 2007 according to the National Bureau of Economics. Since then, Autotown, USA, has been one of the hardest hit cities in the country.

This fall, the Detroit Public School system will close 23 schools and lay-off 600 teachers, this amounts to 11.3 percent of all DPS teachers. The decision will force 7,500 students to transfer schools. According to the Detroit News, the move was because of "plummeting enrollment and mounting deficit." The DPS system was anticipating a $306 million deficit before the closings.

According to Robert Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager, (I can't help but wonder is he goes by Bob Bobb) the closings will save $8.8 million annually starting in the fall of 2010.

In the last 10 years, DPS enrollment has gone from 173,848 to 95,000 today. In that same time period, 70 buildings have been closed, and another 30 could be closed in 2010. Bobb has asked state Superintendent Mike Flanagan for $200 million of the state's $1.5 billion in federal stimulus funds to help pay the district's deficit and upgrade the school's still open.

I feel bad for the students in Detroit. When a kid spends 35 hours a week at a school, more if they are involved in clubs or sports, they unavoidable develop alot of strong emotions about those hallways. Granted, for a lot of teenagers, high school sucks ass and a lot of those emotions are contempt and anger, but nobody likes being forced to switch schools.

Most of the teachers will be given severance packages and if they look hard enough they will find jobs in other cities. Their lives will be disrupted and they might have to move, it might take them a long time to find another job, but I still think the kids have it harder.

Black Pearl seen off Somalia Coast

The U.S.-registered Maersk Alabama freighter was attacked yesterday by a group of pirates off Somalia's coast. The ship, which was carrying food to Africa, is the first U.S. flagged vessel to be attacked by pirates in 200 years, said a maritime official to the Los Angeles Times.

According to initial reports, the pirates initially took over the ship, only to have it retaken by the ship's crew, which is around 20 people. When fleeing, the pirates were able to take the captain hostage, where he remains.

The U.S. Navy and Pentagon have been monitoring the situation closely and have been attempting to summon the Flying Dutchmen and Captain Barbossa. Phone Calls to Long-John Silver and Blackbeard were not immediately returned.

The Maersk freighter is part of Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Line shipping. Maersk Line shipping has been a Pentagon shipping contractor for many years. According to Maersk Line Chief Executive John Reinhart, the crew is trained in anti-piracy tactics.

These tactics are said to include:
giving the pirates fake treasure maps
firing grape shot at the pirate's sails
stealing the pirate's wind
dumping heavy cargo and outrunning the pirates
Gentlemenly swordfights.

In response to the attack, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has flown to Tortuga to meet with local leaders.

Google delays world domination until May

This May, Google will release the latest version of its Android operating system. Currently, the Linux based, open-source code, operating system has been relegated to the cell phone market. Samsung and T-Mobile will offer phones carrying Android, and everyone else is considering it.

Google is new to the iphone challenger market, and Android's release will coincide with the releases of phones from Nokia, Palm and Apple.

The difference between Android, Windows and Leopard (apple's current system) is that Android is the only one which is Linux based. The Linux operating system is notoriously non-user friendly, but is open-source code, and therefore nerd-friendly.

The advantages of Anderoid are basically two-fold.

1. Open-source code systems and programs allow users to manipulate and conform their compter in any way they see fit. Therefore, with a little coding knowledge and self-education, your computer becomes an expression of yourself, and will fulfill your exact needs much better than either windows or leopard ever could.

2. Windows and Apple source codes are protected and kept secret so users must purchase the program instead of downloading it for free. The definition (and beauty) of open-source programs like Linux, is that the coding is public knowledge, and therefore free. Computer manufacturers like HP and Dell do not have to pay large licensing fees to Apple or Microsoft for the right to run their operating system. So now, the $1200 computer in the store just became $800.

How this will affect the mobile phone market, I don't know. But Google has a reputation of becoming an industry leader at whatever they create, and whatever they don't create they buy.

Gmail, youtube, blogger, google news, google search, chrome (web browser), google finance, etc. If Google is entering the competitive mobile phone market, they are going to make their precense felt, not just known.

Japan spends lots of yen

Japan announced a stimulus package of 10 trillion yen, or $100 billion. This package will double the amount of money the government of Japan will spend to curb it's own recession.

The concern here, is that Japan's national debt was about 120 percent of its GDP before the recession, and is currently 175 percent of its GDP. By far the worst debt/GDP ratio of the world powers. Economists are questioning whether Japan has the ability to implement such a large stimulus package. The news became an immediate double-edged sword. The Asian stock markets reached a six-month high after the news was released, but the yen reached a six-month low against the dollar.

"Japan's debt is already so high that a few additional percentage points would make little difference. At these levels, whether gross debt is 175% or 180% is surely neither here nor there. Japan has had little difficulty financing large budget deficits for many years. Near-zero official interest rates, persistent deflation and sluggish economic activity have kept Japanese government bond yields low even without additional support to the market from quantitative easing."

Pentagon's new budget

Defense Secretary Robert Gates introduced the new Pentagon budget today. Where his budget becomes noteworthy, is the dramatic shift Gates is making away from current technology, to towards future technology.

For example, in the new budget, Gates decreased funding for the F-22 fighter made by Lockhead Martin. Only 187 F-22 fighters will be produced. However, Gates increased funding for Lockhead Martin's next model, the F-35, which is not yet in production (as far as we know). Dramatic cuts were also made in the "Future Combat Systems" program, and the proposed new fleet of presidential helicopters was canceled.

As far as the Navy is concerned, the new budget shifts focus from larger ships and submarines, to smaller, faster, more mobile units.

To put a different spin on this...I will put on my nerd hat. If you do not have a nerd hat, feel free to stop reading.

Imagine this is all an eight person free-for-all game of StarCraft on a money map, and the United States is Protoss. It is early game and the United States is playing a bunch of noobs who don't know build orders and are way behind. The U.S. has effectively bunkered in by building 8 photon cannons at the entrance behind a row of pylons, and a few more cannons around the base to prevent spies. In the base are a 10 zealots, 5 dragoons, and 20 probes.

Any attack on the U.S. right now will result in Uber Pwnage.

Because the U.S. is bunkered in, proper strategy dictates that it needs to shift focus from building up numbers, to research and technology. Therefore, when a noob gets brave and attacks, he will come with a 150 or so basic units. Superior numbers of basic units that have only been upgraded with level 2 sheilds.

By that time, the U.S. will have a fleet of arbiters supporting a fully upgraded army of archons, reavers, carriers, zealots and dragoons. Victory will be swift and complete.