Of Course They Did

Evidence. Destroyed.

Gitmo interrogators told to destroy handwritten notes.

A military defense lawyer today said that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were instructed by the Pentagon “to destroy handwritten notes that might have exposed harsh or even illegal questioning methods.” According to Navy Lt. Commander Bill Kuebler, who is representing Canadian Omar Khadr, interrogators may have “routinely destroyed evidence” that could have been used [...]

It’s Not Just Because Walking CAN Be Healthy

A hike to the supermarket could be healthy. But, when it’s 90 degrees and you’re 80 years old, it’s not such a good idea.

New Trend, Walking To The Supermarket

Over the past few weeks I have noticed something I have never seen before here in Texas. On several different days and occasions, I have witnessed people walking to and from one of our local supermarket’s (HEB) and some of the people making these walks are traveling miles during their round trip visits. I believe these people are walking to the supermarket because the nationwide price of gas hit $4 per gallon this weekend for the first time. Not only are gas prices at record highs, the price of basic foods are also going up as well. Remember [...]

Setting Up For Monday

This kind of report doesn’t bode well for influencing the stock market in a good way Monday.

Credit Crisis Expands, Hitting Wide Swath Of Consumers

The credit crisis triggered by bad home loans is spreading to other areas, forcing banks to tighten credit and probably extending the credit crisis that’s dragging down the economy well into next year, and perhaps beyond. That means consumers are going to have an increasingly difficult time getting bank loans for car purchases, credit cards, home equity credit lines, student loans and even commercial real estate, experts say. When financial analyst Meredith Whitney wrote [...]

No Kidding

There goes the “talking point”…

Leading surrogate: McCain ‘absolutely’ wants to continue Bush domestic policies

John McCain and his campaign have been working diligently to reject any suggestion that he’d offer another Bush term if elected. Given this, I’m surprised his campaign surrogates haven’t been prepped with better responses to questions like these. The clip shows Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), arguably McCain’s most sycophantic toady, on ABC’s “This Week” earlier today. [...]

What Went Wrong

Care to comment? Much of this rings pretty true to me.

Why Clinton Lost

Only a few short years ago, it was taken as a given that Hillary Clinton would be, in 2008, the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. It was presumed to be inevitable; we were deluged with assertions that she was the frontrunner long before any true campaigning started, before any votes were cast, before we knew who the full set of campaigners might be, and before we were given any more than the shallowest of [...]

Olympic Atmosphere

Things are not looking good for the Bejing Olympics. Would you want to try to perform outdoors in this atmosphere?

Pollution reading in Beijing climbs to hazardous

The International Olympic Committee has threatened to postpone events if athletes are at risk from pollution during the Aug. 8-24 Games. Beijing has spent 120 billion yuan ($17 billion) on measures to improve air quality. From July 20, the city will cut almost half the cars from the roads, limit production at factories and halt construction. Vice Mayor Ji Lin said in March: “You can be [...]

The Future of Television News

Let’s call it the “Olbermann Effect”. With technology changes ripping through the world of broadcast and cable, we’re seeing huge shifts in the style of the news we watch. If you track the nightly ratings among the cable newsers (I’ll try to dig out some links later today), you’ll notice that MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” is topping Bill O’Reilly on Fox News on a fairly regular basis. “Horror of horrors” shrieks the hardcore right. How dare he get more viewers than our beloved Bill?

Inside Cable News notes a newspaper reports analyzing what’s happening. Of particular note, the reference to the future being viewing news on a tiny screen on a wireless phone. As one who just upgraded to a phone that allows that, there IS something “freeing” about being able to call up a weather update, or watch highlights of the Clinton campaign-ending speech while waiting for friends at lunch.

Olbermann: The Future of TV News?

Howard Rosenberg in the LA Times opines about Keith Olbermann and the effect he may be having on TV News… We worried in Walter Cronkite’s day in the ’60s and ’70s that a news anchor would sway public opinion merely by raising a brow in subtle response to a story. Oh the horror. Yet today, mainstream TV [...]

Sunday Almost-Afternoon

Slow and lazy Sunday morning. The coffee was unusually decent. The air continually hot and muggy. It’s taken me 20 years, but I’ve finally discovered how to effectively utilize all of the ceiling fans in the house. The air conditioners seem to be running much less than usual, despite the 90 degree weather.

Now, if I could just do something about gas prices.

$4 A Gallon: National Gas Price Average Reaches Record

Drivers are paying an average of $4 for a gallon of gasoline for the first time. AAA and the Oil Price Information Service say the national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose to $4.005 overnight from $3.988. But consumers in many parts of the country have already [...]