CNN / YouTube Debate - Nursing Homes & Private Equity Firms

There's a disturbing trend in the nursing home industry today, and forms the basis for my CNN / YouTube debate question submitted at 10:45 PM PST, 11-25-07, just under the deadline!

The question is are you as a presidential candidate concerned that private equity firms are buying nursing homes, laying off staff, and pocketing the difference, resulting in poor service? If you are concerned, what will you do about it?

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Strong Earthquakes Hit Indonesia

Strong Earthquakes Hit Indonesia
By NINIEK KARMINI, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, November 25, 2007

(11-25) 09:52 PST JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) --

Strong earthquakes shook western and eastern Indonesia on Sunday, sending panicked residents fleeing from their homes. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
A 6.1-magnitude quake early Sunday was centered 110 miles from Bengkulu, a coastal town on Sumatra island that has been hit by a series of tremors in recent months, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
It was followed 13 hours later by a quake with a preliminary strength of 6.7 on Sumbawa island, to the west, the agency said.
The morning temblor near Sumatra had a depth of just six miles beneath the ocean floor, the USGS said, but did not trigger a tsunami.
"It was very strong ... even utility poles were shaking," said Dina Ramadani, a resident in Bengkulu, adding that people started screaming after one pole toppled over and crashed into a street.
The later quake on Sumbawa struck 27 miles from the town of Raba at a depth of 18 miles, the USGS reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a "very small possibility of a local tsunami," but none materialized.
Local officials said there were no reports of damage.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
Two months ago, an 8.4-magnitude quake off Bengkulu that was followed by two tremors measuring 7.8 and 7.1 killed 23 people and destroyed thousands of buildings. The region has since been hit by hundreds of aftershocks.

YouTube's Up - But That Crash Was Huge

At 10:14 AM, YouTube came back up, but why it went down , I don't know. That was weird and unprecendented. Just goes to show you it's good to have videos on more than one system, or else.

But it's good that YouTube's back up -- having it down for a whole day would have been a disaster for millions of people.

It's gotten that large!

YouTube - What's The Deal With "Sorry About That, I Broke YouTube?"

And on top of all of the YouTube outages, I've seen these messages on Technorati:

"My bad… . [ IMG i-broke-youtube] Here is a deal… we was only uploading my many new video as well as it seems similar to we contingency have pennyless YouTube . we figured which possibly my video sucked so bad which we killed YouTube or simply YouTube only had an allergic greeting as well as it should be recuperating shortly. What have been your thoughts ? Will YouTube have it by this dire time ? Don’t be insane during Garry Conn, we didn’t intentionally kill YouTube, we suspicion my video rocked! [ IMG GarryConn] [ IMG]"

I've seen this twice.

What's the deal? Is someone trying to destroy YouTube? Is this a joke?

Has YouTube Crashed 4 Days Before The CNN / YouTube Republican Debate?

Wow. It's Sunday, November 25th at 10 AM.

For some reason, when I go to http://www.youtube.com I get this message:

"Http/1.1 Service Unavailable"

That's wild. It also means I can't review my video traffic or upload videos for the CNN / YouTube Debate. I tried to get to YouTube via my FireFox Browser, but again, I got:

"Http/1.1 Service Unavailable"

So what's going on, I don't know. I just know that in all the time I've used YouTube.com, I've never seen this. And it's certainly impacting the business of thousands of people, including CNN.

Yikes!

CNN / YouTube Republican Debate On Wednesday - Not Too Late To Get In Your Video!

A creation of The CNN / YouTube Debate System

On Wednesday, the CNN / YouTube Republican Debate will be held in St. Petersburgh, Florida. This is the long-awaited second of the debates of the successful CNN / YouTube partnership. I expect the star of the debate not to be the videos, but exchanges between Ron Paul and the other GOP candidates -- forget the "Quarter Question."

As some of your know who are regular visitors to this space, my question -- "The Quarter Question" -- was part of the Democratic CNN / YouTube debate process. And as some of you remember, I was a guest on the CNN Roland Martin Show as well as on local Channel Five here in Oakland. So basically CNN and YouTube launched my career as a political commentator. But because of that, my questions may not be picked this time around. I submitted nine of them, and I've got one more up my sleeve before the November 25th deadline.

Which reminds me to tell you that there's still time to get your questions in. Regardless of what CNN does with me, I think it's the greatest debate format ever done and is so right for its time, it could not have been done even four years ago.

Now as far as advice, my suggestion is to stick to questions that concern the Republican Party. I've noticed that a heck of a lot of the submissions -- including mine -- have a "democratic" bent to them. I also read in the NYTimes that CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Borhman has stated that questions which pander to CNN will be rejected, so that excludes one question I submitted and was inspired by a segment of last week's "CNN Situation Room."

But, in their racially ignorant way, the NYTimes -- which employs a writer who managed to present me as two different people in two consecutive paragraphs in an NYT article before the last CNN / YouTube debate -- managed to miss the obvious question to ask Bohrman: if by picking questions that deal with "Republican Issues" they will skip questions concerning race. At a time when the party's beset by divisive questions regarding how it treats African Americans, I can't imagine a debate that avoids that issue.

We shall see.

Ron Paul - Republican - Will Not Support The Republican Nominee Because Of Iraq War

Congressman Ron Paul said that he will not support the GOP nominee for the Presidential election because of the Republican Party's stance on the Iraq War.

Southern California Fires Blaze Again - Fires Return to Malibu, Burning 35 Homes

It's not hard to wonder if this is the work of arson.

MALIBU, Calif. — A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and mountains of this wealthy enclave for the second time in little more than a month Saturday, destroying more than 30 homes and forcing as many as 14,000 residents to flee.

The fire erupted shortly before 3:30 a.m. PST after the long-predicted Santa Anas finally returned, and by late morning it had grown to 2,200 acres, or about 3.5 square miles, but winds began to die down.

"Waking up at 4 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here, but it always comes as something of a shock," said Mayor Jeff Jennings.

Twenty-three helicopters and airplanes, including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet, attacked from the air while 1,700 firefighters battled flames on the ground. One firefighter suffered a minor eye injury.

"It's great to be able to say that we have no loss of lives," Jennings said. "We're sorry about the one injury that's been suffered, but it's certainly not as bad as it could have been."

Helicopters lowered hoses into pools and the nearby Pacific to refill their tanks for water-dropping runs, and SuperScooper amphibious airplanes skimmed the ocean to reload.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted winds, which had been expected to blow most of the week but didn't arrive until late Friday.

Officials remained wary despite the decrease in wind speeds.

The mayor urged residents to "listen to your radios, go outside and see which way the wind is blowing. Stay alert. Stay vigilant."

An estimated 35 homes were destroyed, and 10,000 to 14,000 people evacuated, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

The fire broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, and there did not appear to be power lines in the area, Freeman said. Investigators were trying to determine the cause, he said.

Another fire broke out Saturday morning in San Diego County near the town of Ramona and was 40 percent contained after burning 50 acres, said Roxanne Provanik, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Power lines blown down by fierce winds caused last month's 4,565-acre Canyon Fire in Malibu that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church. That blaze was part of siege of more than 15 Santa Ana-stoked wildfires that destroyed more than 2,000 homes, killed 14 people and blackened a total of 809 square miles between Los Angeles County and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Santa Anas, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, blow into Southern California from the north and northeast, racing down through the canyons and passes of the region's east-west mountain ranges and out to sea, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep and narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast on the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. Among them was a 1993 blaze that destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday's fire burned to the west of the portions of Malibu that burned in October.

Neighbors alerted one another, while authorities drove through Corral Canyon, a neighborhood of about 350 homes, telling people to leave.

Meredith Lobel-Angel, 51, and her husband, Frank Angel, 54, said they had 15 minutes to leave their split-level home and managed to take little other than some clothes and their laptops.

"I ran out on the deck and I just saw a little fire and smoke up the canyon on the ridge (about a mile away)," Frank Angel said. "By the time we evacuated it was already over the ridge. It spread faster than I've ever seen it."

Carol Stoddard, 48, was told by firefighters that her home was probably gone. The 3,500-square-foot, seven-level home was worth $2 million.

Stoddard, a freelance videographer and photographer, captured some of the fire's destruction as trees beside her home and her collection of 12 uninsured cars burned.

"I stayed there until I couldn't breathe and the embers were flying everywhere," she said. "It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn't see. I couldn't grab enough stuff that was of importance like my passport."

As a precaution, officials at Pepperdine University told its students to move to a campus shelter, although the school remained largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

"Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday I was told the weather conditions was Santa Ana winds and we all know what that means," said university spokesman Jerry Derloshon.

Stoddard was philosophical about the probability that her house was gone and said she was determined to stay in Malibu no matter what the conditions.

"I'll maybe live in a tepee," she said.

___

Associated Press writer Noaki Schwartz in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Ny Observer's Steve Kornacki Hammers CNN For "Fixed" Democratic Debate

This is definitely "terring them a new one" in every sence of the words.

As soon as last Thursday’s 128-minute Democratic presidential debate concluded, CNN called on two analysts—part of what the cable channel has dubiously and incessantly branded “the best political team on television”—to interpret what had just transpired for the several million viewers at home.

Not surprisingly, James Carville, one of Bill and Hillary’s closest friends, and David Gergen, a Clinton (and other) White House alum, agreed that it had been a winning night for Hillary Clinton. Apparently, Harry and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason weren’t available.

The use of Mr. Carville, and to a lesser extent Mr. Gergen, provoked some criticism, with watchdogs griping that CNN didn’t properly disclose its conflicts. But disclosure isn’t really the issue. The question is why, given the endless supply of eager political pundits who are unaffiliated with the Clintons and every other campaign, CNN ever offered such a prominent spot to Mr. Carville and Mr. Gergen in the first place.

Not that it was the only insult to viewers last Thursday.

Once the gold standard for all-news television, the Cable News Network used the night to make a convincing argument that it should never again be entrusted with a presidential debate.

The network’s journalistic crimes are legion, starting with how the debate—which, at least in theory, is supposed to serve as a public service to voters—was promoted. In full-page ads, CNN cast it as pure sport, a boxing match in which “the gloves will come off.” Really? How would CNN know ahead of time that that this would be a contentious forum, especially after most of the previous debates had been tame, unless they were planning to force conflict?

There was also the warm-up act, a full-hour of Lou Dobbs fulminating against illegal immigrants and reading letters from adoring and sycophantic viewers, all presented by CNN as some sort of debate preview. This is the same Mr. Dobbs who has done little to quell talk that he himself wants to run for President next year. (Not that this came up on CNN, either.)

It got worse when it was time for the actual debate. First, CNN persisted with the prize-fighting motif, with moderator Wolf Blitzer playing the Michael Buffer role and calling the candidates to the stage individually, like boxers entering the ring. Then Mr. Blitzer introduced Campbell Brown, John Roberts, and Suzanne Malveaux, fellow CNN personalities who would join in the questioning.

“They are part of the very best political team,” he informed viewers.

As the candidates were fitted with their microphones—shouldn’t that have been done backstage?—Mr. Blitzer awkwardly handed off to analyst Gloria Borger, who stuck with the boxing imagery as she told viewers which candidates could be expected to come out “swinging” in the public policy forum they were about to watch.

If CNN was intent on giving America a fight, it could have at least tried to put on a fair one.

But the audience at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas was slanted heavily in favor of New York’s junior senator. One of the first questions of the night, from Mr. Blitzer, sought to incite a tangle between Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton used her turn to criticize Mr. Obama’s health care plan, but when Mr. Obama began, loud shouts from the audience distracted him and viewers at home.

So pro-Clinton was the crowd that Mrs. Clinton needed only to pause for a beat during an answer and the audience would fill the vacuum with raucous cheers. Meanwhile, when Mr. Obama and John Edwards sought to engage Mrs. Clinton, they were shouted down.

Conspiracy theorists will say that CNN had packed the crowd for its old friend. But the audience imbalance, like the inclusion of Mr. Carville and Mr. Gergen, was more an indictment of CNN’s incompetence. The network farmed out the distribution of tickets without insisting on any kind of balance. The resulting Clinton rah-rahing was both distracting and misleading to viewers.

Similar incompetence was at work in the framing of questions. Time and again, candidates were presented with simplistic hypothetical scenarios and told to pick one side. They were invariably presented false choices—human rights or national security?—but if they failed to provide direct answers, they risked looking like typically evasive politicians.

And nothing but incompetence can explain why CNN decided to end on a “cute” question, prodding a UNLV student—who had hoped to quiz the candidates on the Yucca Mountain issue—to inquire if Mrs. Clinton preferred diamonds or pearls.

Knockout stuff.

Angry Man In A Box In San Francisco

This is a slice of a few seconds of life. I was walking along toward the Web 2.0 Expo conference earlier this year, when this voice from the box was basically scaring people. So I got my camcorder and went back to film him in action

SCARY MARY - Video Recasts Mary Poppins As A Horror Flick

I don't know if you've seen this, but check it out.



According to the description:

This recut of the Disney classic 'Mary Poppins' was made by myself (Chris Rule), with assistance by Nick Eckert. This is TOP-QUALITY for YouTube and TAG-FREE.

This contains the musical piece "A Violent Attack" composed by Caine Davidson for the film 'An American Haunting,' "Stay Awake" written by Richard and Robert Sherman for Disney's 'Mary Poppins,' and stock sounds from iMovie.

Incompetence At The Highest Level- Part 1

In a business environment, it is imperative for managers and executives to foster
teamwork,facilitate group problem solving and focus the group’s attention and
enthusiasm on continuous improvement. Naturally, it is a forgone conclusion to expectthat the federal government is well equipped and prepared to protect the American people,guide them through destructive and tumultuous times and provide hope and optimism,instead of negativity and despair. It has become increasingly evident over the past seven years that through dishonesty, amateur style leadership and unskilled and unprofessional men and women, the American taxpayers have lived through destructive and abominable events that will forever persist. Moreover, incompetence has reigned supreme in Washington.

When the war in Iraq was first sanctioned by the 109th Congress back in 2003, our commander and chiefs approval rating skyrocketed to its highest mark ever and democrats and republicans were in agreement about the goal at hand. What has precipitated over the past four disheartening years has been wasteful spending to the tune of over $800 billion, more than 3,800 lost lives and continuous lies and mishaps by our leaders in charge.

Of the $18.4 billion allocated by Congress last year for the reconstruction of Iraq,
only $1.1 billion has been spent because of increased tension, and a mere 110,000 out of the 800,000 intended jobs for Iraqis have been established. It’s evident that somewhere someone has floundered miserably. Additionally, this dictates that President Bush’s stern words of ‘’stay the course’’ was nothing more than an unrelenting lie to deceive the American people into thinking progress was being made in the Middle East and that our brave troops would one day be able to return to home. According to Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, the performance of our administration is ‘’beyond pitiful and embarrassing’’.

General after general in Iraq has failed to bring any level of sustainability to the region and above all has failed to securely protect the interests and safety of
Americans by permitting insurgents to regain charge. In the workplace, when an employee does not adequately master the mission statement of the company they are handed their walking papers. Conversely, the American people have been forced to pay theconsequences of their governments wrong doings as they face the calculated risk of another terrorist attack, see their taxes escalate as President Bush is handed a blank check, fall victim to increased security checks at the airport and watch their way of life reform drastically before their very eyes.