After four years of being told that the switch to digital TV was coming, an Obama aide has suggested that the president elect will attempt to get Congress to postpone it. Of course all the networks are in favor of this (including PBS) though I don’t believe it’s out of any real sense of altruism. The switch from analog to digital broadcast will open up the 700MHz band for other uses and move broadcast TV to a new spectrum. The change would affect anyone who receives TV signals using an antenna (cable and satellite subscribers would be unaffected). The government is selling off the analog spectrum (mainly to phone companies, though there is some spectrum in there for the emergency services) but apparently has run out of money for its converter box subsidy program (with the coupon you were supposed to get $40 toward the purchase of a box which would allow your analog set to display the new digital broadcast).
(more…)

Earlier in the year Bloomberg TV reported on hidden fees in 401k retirement plans, and how in some cases they may amount to a net loss for plan contributors over the term of the plan. The 401k providers are apparently not required to reveal all the fees, and in at least one case, specifically Walmart, the contract with the provider actually stipulated that Walmart was forbidden to reveal information about the plan to employees! Bloomberg recently won an Emmy for their investigative reporting on this issue.

The videos are posted on YouTube if you want to add financial insecurity to your list of worries this holiday season. Click read more for links.
(more…)

I watched the entire VP “debate” and was fuming through most it. A debate is supposed to be an argument between two (or preferably more!) people where their interactions are formally structured. At its most basic, to *win* a debate, a participant should at least answer the questions directly…
(more…)

I have to admit that my first reaction when I saw these pictures was “that’s gotta be photoshopped”, but upon further investigation it appears to be the real deal.

Pam and Warren Adams rebuilt their home in February 2006 after Hurricane Rita destroyed it the previous year. Hudspeth said that the couple hired a contractor to build a home that could withstand a Category 5 hurricane. Warren Adams watched over every step of the construction to make sure it was done correctly.

NonProphet posted recently about Gorbachev’s Op-Ed in the New York Times about Georgia. It’s hard to criticize a nobel peace prize winner (oh, unless you’re a Republican and you’re talking about Jimmy Carter), but look at it this way: South Ossetia was artificially severed from North Ossetia by Stalin. It used to be one nation. In fact, most of the borders in that region are the result of Stalin’s desire to *create* ethnic tensions.
(more…)

Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has once again introduced articles of impeachment against George Bush (he’s done so before but the Dems have decided it wasn’t in their best interest to pursue them). Will they, once again, be ignored? Impeachment is merely a rebuke. It carries no punitive weight other than public embarrassment, but for some reason speaking out against injustice, corruption, and abuse of power hasn’t been very much in vogue during the last few years. Hard to believe this nation believes that sexual trysts in the white house rise to the level of impeachment while the following real crimes do not, but it appears to be so.

I’ve posted a handy list of the articles below. For a full accounting behind each see the document posted here. If true, I would be particularly interested in hearing Bush’s justification for the charges in Article XX: “The continued detention of such children, some as young as 10, by the US military is a violation of both convention and protocol, and as such constitutes a war crime for which the president, as commander in chief, bears full responsibility.” since the Geneva convention clearly states that children younger than 15 are to be treated as victims, not combatants.

(more…)

This is pretty cool if you have some videos posted. Google/Youtube announced that they have just released a new statistics package called Insight today for users of YouTube that lets video authors see a stats graph of the hits on their videos, as well as a map that displays from where around the world these hits are coming. I recognize the graph display from Google’s finance page. Click on Account | Manage My Videos | Videos, Favorites, & Playlists then click any ‘About this video’ button to see the new stats info.