Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. According to TMZ, Paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back. He was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources say.
UPDATE: Yep, I was right. Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to having a marital affair. What an idiot.
Previously…
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford resurfaced yesterday after mysteriously disappearing for seven days. His wife didn’t know where he was. His staff didn’t know, then did know, then didn’t know, then misled the press about it. What makes it even more strange is he missed Father’s Day.
I know one thing. If I just took off and didn’t tell my wife where I was going and it just happened to be Father’s Day weekend, all hell would break loose.
Yet, Sanfords staff and his wife spoke to the media about his disappearance with minimal emotion. Almost like a coordinated response. Weird.
Yesterday it was reported that Sanford went hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Well, at least that’s what the staff said. They lied. In fact, Sanford flew to Argentina, by himself, to “unwind”. And it appears that his staff new where he was all along, since someone called the governor to warn him that the media was on to his sudden absence and that he should get back to town before things really get out of control. Weird.
Instead of flying home to South Carolina, Sanford flew to Atlanta in hopes he could avoid the media throng who by this time were hiring their own people to search the globe for the governor. Much to Sanford’s dismay, he was found out. When confronted about his vanishing, he appeared dumbfounded that anyone would care. Weird.
Who do you think you’re fooling, Mark? You’ve either got a severe marriage problem or hidden substance abuse issues which involve blacking out and landing in foreign countries.
The point is, when you’re a public official, your every move is public. If you want privacy you should stay out of public service. If you are having marital problems you must face the fact that they will become public. If you don’t like that you should resign and then work on your issues in private. No politician should love the trappings of a public life and then demand privacy when life’s problems creep in. In this day and age, it’s impossible for the public to butt out. Your drive-by media will guarantee that.
So, we await a press conference from the governor today. We’ll either be told to mind our own business and this is much ado about nothing (more lies) or someone with a brain will tell the governor to come clean about whatever it is that’s messing up his family life. I’ll give you one guess as to which explanation we’ll hear.
While all eyes are on Iran, trouble continues to brew on the Korean peninsula. The regime in Pyongyang has ratcheted up their rhetoric significantly in the last few weeks. The latest threat comes in the form of a missile pointed toward Hawaii. Allegedly, Kim Jong Il has plans to fire a Taepodong-2 with a range of 4,000 miles on July 4th in the direction of the 50th state. What do we make of all this and why should we worry?
We should worry about North Korea because Kim Jong Il isn’t a reasonable man. In fact, he’s a lunatic with a suicide wish.
Kim Jong Il has proven over the years that he worries about one thing and one thing only. He worries about Kim Jong Il. He doesn’t care about Korea. He doesn’t care about it surviving one day more than he survives. He’s crazy enough to make sure the country goes up in flames just before he breathes his last breath. So, if this is the case, why doesn’t he do it now? Why doesn’t he just blow the place up? He doesn’t because he believes he’s still got time left, and he wants to remain in power.
The threats coming from North Korea today are not necessarily aimed at inflicting their own annihilation. They are an attempt to obtain more allowances and concessions from the U.S., China and Russia. A quick look in the rear view mirror shows that they’ve been successful at this in the past. Their playbook is well known. Hike up the threats, act belligerent, flex a muscle, get a few U.N. sanctions and then back down, shut a few nuclear reactors, say some nice words and throw some love toward Seoul. It’s a method that guarantees they’ll get what they want from the big three. Food, mostly, and other necessities. Then, the government can parcel out just enough to keep the North Korean people from revolting. After all, this worked with the Clinton and Bush administrations. It’s got to work with the Obama administration. Heck, Obama has even said he’s willing for direct negotiations between the U.S. and the communist regime. It’s got to work.
And it just might, but what if it doesn’t?
Back to the sanity of Kim Jong Il. What does he have to live for? Although some in the media have said that Jong Il has already chosen his successor, there’s no guarantee there will ever be a need for one. What I mean to say is, Kim Jong Il is crazy enough that he might just want to light up the sky on his way off this planet. Again, he has nothing to lose, and obliterating Seoul and lobbing a dozen missiles into Tokyo would certainly put his name in the history books forever. He doesn’t care about the North Korean people, so why not take them out at the same time?
He could do it, and he just might.
Are we prepared to deal with this scenario? Or more to the point, is Obama prepared to deal with this? I think the 44th president believes if you’re human you must be able to reason at some level. I’d suggest he’s arrogant enough to believe that if HE had a chance to sit across the table with even a nutcase like Jong Il, he could say something that would make sense to the man. Unfortunately, that’s a fallacy. Terrorists hate Americans so much that they would want to die themselves to kill as many as possible. How do you reason with a person like that? Kim Jong Il has been trying to garner attention ever since he took over for the great leader. He can’t bear to die without making a name for himself. So far he hasn’t succeeded. He’s been reportedly ill for years now after suffering a stroke. He has to know his time is running out. If he fails at this latest negotiation ploy, and he fails to prove his mettle to North Koreans, what does he have to live for?
If the Korean peninsula becomes a burning ball of sulfur, and millions of Chinese and Japanese die as a result, will China sit idly by? Won’t they want to pin blame on someone either than Kim Jong Il? Won’t that someone be the United States?
It just might happen.
Are we prepared for this possibility? Do we have the right leadership in place to handle a crisis of this scale? Or are we whistling in the dark?
Great…just great.
Sen. John Ensign of Nevada resigned his Republican leadership post Wednesday, one day after confessing marital infidelity. Aides refused to answer questions about records showing that a woman on his political payroll received a promotion and a pay raise around the time he said the affair began in late 2007. Nor would Ensign or aides respond to reports of an earlier affair, in 2002.
Ensign, 51, has said he intends to remain in the Senate.
The Nevada lawmaker is a member of the Christian ministry Promise Keepers and has championed causes pushed by the GOP‘s conservative religious base while seeking to raise his political profile for a possible presidential campaign.
He offered to resign as head of the Republican Policy Committee in a phone call with Sen. Mitch McConnell, the party leader.
“He’s accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman of the Policy Committee,” said McConnell, R-Ky.
OK, everyone is human, we’re all fallible, blah blah blah. I understand all that. The problem is, once these guys get elected and they live within the Washington bubble for any amount of time, they start to believe they’re infallible. They think the rules apply to the people they govern, not themselves. And this isn’t just a Republican problem, obviously. It happens in both parties. I’m not just talking about infidelity. I’m talking about ethics, personal responsibility, the rule of law. Increasingly, our leaders in Washington are living in a parallel universe. They look upon their constituents as if they are gods, wielding power and implementing their superior will.
I’m sick of it.
So long Ensign. You deserve to be expelled and it’d be great if you could take a few more with you.
We desperately need a reset button for congress.
Be prepared for long lines and shortages.
Apple will officially begin selling its iPhone 3GS on Friday, but some analysts are predicting shortages that could leave some consumers disappointed. If advance orders are any indication, the demand for the iPhone 3GS may outstrip the at-launch supply.
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States, and Best Buy have sold out of inventories for Apple’s latest smartphone.
Apple was still taking orders on its Web site Tuesday, but the June 19 delivery date is not a guarantee. Likewise, AT&T posted a message on its Web site that indicates advance orders will shop seven to 14 days after the order is placed — on a first-come, first-served basis.
I won’t be in any line nor will I be worried about the status of product in stock. I have an iPhone 3G that is a little more than 6 months old, so you know what that means. Yep, I’m stuck in AT&T contract hell. And there’s no way in hell I’ll be shelling out $400 for a new phone. And I won’t buy my way out of the contract either. That’s the way it is.
Yeah, there are ways to get an iPhone 3GS for less, but as far as I’m concerned, the hassles are just too great. So, have fun you new iPhone 3GS users. Have fun with your compass and your 3.0 megapixel camera. I’ll be joining you in another year…maybe.
It’s a drag when you’re no longer #1.
MySpace, the social network owned byRupert Murdoch’s News Corp, said it will cut 30 percent of its staff to lower costs as it struggles to stay popular in the face of rising competition.
MySpace will be left with about 1,000 employees, it said in a statement released on Tuesday. The company declined to say how many people work at the service, but the percentage suggests that about 400 people will lose their jobs.
The cuts, which were presaged in several blog reports in recent weeks, are the biggest move so far by new management at the social network and an attempt, it said, to return the service to a “start-up culture.”
“Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered by our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company,” MySpace’s new chief executive, Owen Van Natta, said in the statement.
“I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace.”
First of all, why in the world does a social networking website need to employee 1,400 people? And what do those people do? Seems excessive to me. That seems to be a general problem with Web 2.0 sites. Get most of your money from venture capitalists firms. Spend it all so you can go ask for more. Tell the VC’s that you’re business plan is on a slow ramp up, and that you’ll be profitable “soon”.
I think Facebook will be next, unless they find some real way to generate revenue. They won’t be able to get it from users – free is free and I doubt many will pay to keep their profile. It will forever be subsidized until Mr. Deep Pockets gets tired of waiting for the big pay day.
You can’t just pepper a page with a bunch of ads and pop ups and expect it to last. Another business model will have to come along if these things will survive for decades to come.
David Letterman finally officially apologized to Gov. Sarah Palin tonight after he told some off color jokes about her and her daughter last week during a “Late Night with David Letterman” monologue.
“I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke,” he said. “It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault that it was misunderstood,” Letterman said.
He apologized to both daughters, “and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke,” he said as the studio audience applauded. “I’m sorry about it, and I’ll try to do better in the future.”
Dave could have fixed this early last week, but it’s clear he didn’t understand the importance of the issue and how it his “joke” was perceived by millions of people. Fact is, millions of people love Sarah Palin, and they take her seriously as a future conservative leader. Liberals fear her, and so they ridicule her and denegrate her family at every opportunity. They fear her because of the power she has to motivate and inspire people.
I think Dave apologized because a suit at CBS told him they’d had enough. Ratings through controversy works for a couple of days, but then things have to return to normal, or else the train derails. Upper management at Black Rock let this run its course hoping things would settle down by last Friday. When it didn’t, they had to give Dave the message. Presto! Apologee time.
So, what will this do for Letterman? I think he’s wounded, and this event might just signal an early retirement for him. After all, he’s been on television for decades, and his rough edged comedy lost its edge years ago. These days, Dave’s show highlights how unhip he’s become. His age is showing and he looks like he’s tired of the whole game most of the time. His ratings haven’t improved significantly in a long time. He’s lost the college crowd he commanded back at NBC.
I think Letterman really wanted to be the next Johnny Carson, and he might have been able to succeed at that if he would have kept the same comedy formula from the NBC years. Unfortunately, he didn’t. He got comfortable at CBS, and that was that. No one will ever be as good as Carson, and it’s too late for Letterman to try.
So, it’s ok Dave. We give you permission to hang it up. Take a year or so to make your exit, but do it. It’s time.
More: TVBizwire
Still More: Here’s the video.
According to leaked results of the actual vote in Iran over the weekend, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came in 3rd place, not first as originally reported.
The statistics, circulated on Iranian blogs and websites, claimed Mr Mousavi had won 19.1 million votes while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won only 5.7 million.
The two other candidates, reformist Mehdi Karoubi and hardliner Mohsen Rezai, won 13.4 million and 3.7 million respectively. The authenticity of the leaked figures could not be confirmed.
Mr Mousavi has accused Iran’s government of “fraud” after Mr Ahmadinejad was declared on Saturday to have 62.6 per cent of the vote, making him the landslide winner. The capital has been rocked by disturbances for the last three days.
No wonder they’re rioting.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports today that a public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election. Why this is news I have no idea. Didn’t Sadam Hussein get reelected by 98% of Iraqis a few years ago? Was that supposed to reflect genuine love for the dictator? Of course not. We didn’t believe it then and we don’t now.
Since polling is so rare in Iran, those who were asked how they would vote were no doubt wondering who was really asking the question. Was it a polling company or was it the Iranian government? Clearly, fear played a part in the results of the poll.
I’m afraid none of this will end peacefully anytime soon. As of this writing, people are being gunned down in Tehran.
Just came across this site after browsing over at Bill Quick’s place. It’s called “Tehran 24” and the folks there are doing a great job chronicling the protests and demonstrations that have been going non-stop since the fixed election results were announced yesterday. Go check ’em out.
They didn’t meet as children. They’re 20 years apart in age. Yet, Simon and Schuster, the big time New York City publisher, thinks there’s a story for George Obama to tell. In fact, he’s worthy of an entire memoir. George is Barry’s half brother, and another on a growing list of Obama family members to cash in on the fame of the most recent White House occupant.
Little is known about George Obama. The book, tentatively titled “Homeland” and to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama’s fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing — a passion shared by the president — and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.
“Even had George Obama not been our President’s half brother, his story is moving and inspirational,” David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement Sunday. “It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage.” (AP)
Riiiight.
I bet there’s a political action committee being put together right now for ol’ George. And why not? He has become a community organizer after a life of crime. After all, it worked for his half-brother, and that’s all it takes to be elected U.S. President these days.