The chain reaction

"Hay Kevin, the economy is bad..." 

Step 1: A major video game company decided that they will not spend money on new games since fewer people are buying them, they cut the contract with a small Pasadena startup that develops the new games. 

Step 2: The startup subsequently laid off one of its writer. 

Step 3: The writer who lost his job has to let his nanny go and starts homeschooling. 

Step 4: The Nanny starts to cut his own hair and stops going to a Barber shop; 

Step 5: The Barber has fewer and fewer customers and stop dinning out as he previously did. 

Step 6: The restaurant has fewer patrons so the owner cut the hours of a waitress; 

Step 7: The waitress brings home less money and can't afford new video games for her kids. 

Step 8/1: Fewer people buying video games. 

The Trillion question is where should Obama give out his money to break this cycle? 

See the Los Angeles Times report: "One lay off leads to another". 

 

Jack's last minute push for Hilary

Although many said that Hilary still got a chance even she won't won both Ohio and Texas, but this is one of the most crucial moment of her bid.

Jack is hilarious, but he didn't belong to the few in "A good men". Who is targeted in this ads? The 30 somethings who have actually seen the movie in theaters and think the ads is funny?



And the response:

Will people remember Haditha?

Depends on which people.

For Americans, most likely the answer would be "what Haditha?"

For Iraqis, the horror memories of Haditha probably are there to stay, "Because Iraqis have become like dogs in the eyes of Americans."

Today, three senior officers have been publicly punished, while the charges against most of the soldiers involved have been dropped. The remaining accused, most likely will have a light sentence if ever been convicted. This would be another living proof of ""They are waiting for the sentence -- although they are convinced that the sentence will be like one for someone who killed a dog in the United States."

I will not be surprised to hear that Michael Vick gets a tougher sentence.

Do you have privacy over phone calls and/or e-mail?

Although most people would think Big Brother is always there, the real answer may not be that straight forward, at least before George W became President.

So what's the big deal so far? The government can essentially listen to all your phone calls and e-mails whenever they want anyway already?

The difference is that they were doing it while breaking the law and now they can do whatever they want without any oversight.

The NY Times has an editorial on this issue, which can be found here.

Some excerpts:

"It’s not that FISA makes it too hard; the court approves virtually every warrant request. It’s not an issue of speed. The law allows the government to initiate surveillance and get a warrant later if necessary.

"Instead of answering these questions, the administration has done its best to ensure that everyone stays confused. It has refused repeated requests by Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, for documents relating to the president’s order creating the spying program, and the Justice Department’s legal justifications for it."
"If Congress once again allows itself to be cowed by Mr. Bush’s fear-mongering, it must accept responsibility for undermining the democratic values that separate this nation from the terrorists that Mr. Bush claims to be fighting."

The ripples from the VT shooting: be careful of what you write in creative writing

Americans are now more scared and stupid than ever after the VT shooting.

Allen Lee, a straight A student in Cary-Grove High in Cary, Illinois, was arrested for a creative writing essay he submitted due to violent content and references to school shooting. It was a routine creative writing assignment that the students are asked to write without interruption, making corrections, and censor as asked by his English teacher.

The full essay may be found here at Sun Times.

I guess this would be the end of the creative writing practice. The message now is be careful of what you would like to write, someone will be watching you. In the context of the VT shooting, this will no double stop people expressing their anger and frustration in a peaceful way. As one of the reader of the Sun Times' story pointing out:

"We all imagine gruesome, or sexual, or embarrassing things we wouldn't typically say out loud. Creative writing should be a vehicle to let those things out. Isn't that better than keeping them in? (The professors at Virginia Tech who told the world how they told Cho that his writing was unacceptable bear some responsibility for suppressing a means of escape and relief.)

"The police and school officials responsible for this young man's arrest are the real criminals. Public education and law enforcement have combined to show America how incompetent our public servants really are. With a government like this, you're damn right we need to bear arms."




To me, it's more like the English teacher was pissed about Lee's comments about her boring teaching style and wanted to punish him for that. Well, this teacher should be fired and the school should be sued for violating Lee's civil right and for all the consequences such as not be able to attend school while six weeks to graduation. Imaging a school suspends a student six weeks before graduation.

The trouble at Walter Reed

When you say we support the troops (may be not the war, for some), you have to mean it. How do you support the troops? The first thing you would think of is taking care of the wounded. Well, what's happened in the Walter Reed VA Medical Center is not exactly what one would describe as a warm welcome home.

One other thing, don't blame the Republicans for this alone. The Demarcates didn't do nearly as much as needed on your part. This is your watch too, even you were not the majority. There's a lot to do as the minority.

The Los Angeles Times vs. the Tribune

Personally, I'd like to see the Times to maintain its excellence in journalism. This may sound like the Time's (editors and staff) current position to the downsizing request from the Tribune. However, we somehow need to face that this is a business decision. No matter who's going to run this newspaper in the future, as long as it will be ran as a for-profit organization, they will be facing the cost-profit issue again in a few years.

At the current age of online media, how to profit from quality in journalism remains a challenge for many newspapers. Will online ads revenue be able to reimburse the profit loss from declining sales of paper copies? Will targeted ads such as those run in Google improve the advertising rate?

Let's hope the best.

LA Times' publisher and editor are leaving the newspaper

LA Times' publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson has been fired for not cutting enough staff and other cost. Times editor Dean Baquet resigned to protest the decision by its parent company, the Tribune.

I see both sides of the argument. There may be more than just these above mentioned differences between Johnson and the Tribune board. Although very successful in publishing Pulitzer winning articles, day-to-day profitability is what Tribune cares.

As much as I enjoying reading the times, which is my favorite, I have to admit that I am not a subscriber. Just buying the Sunday edition from time to time while shopping at the Albertson's. Most of the articles I got are from its web site while not (yet) bought anything from their ads sponsors. How do they make money off me?

May be eventually, we will also get use to paying for these services. I've been saying that for years, still not there yet.

Please think twice before buying anything in bulk

Otherwise, you may be arrested for link to "a terrorist plot, "

unless if you are a white blond.

Who cares if they can't prove anything. As long as the stuff you're buying can be used in a terrorist plan. For example, a dinning knife, box cutter (known to be used in 9/11), or baby food (known to be used for making explosives).

That's where your tax dollor best spent.