| Chartered to protect the henhouse, has the FTC turned into a fox?
I rarely get e-mail from the USA Today's Byron Acohido (who from time to time interviews me for my opinions on tech). But today, Acohido drew my attention to a story that he has co-authored with Jon Swartz under the headline FTC under fire as credit bureaus sell consumers' data. The story draws attention to a complex Web of potentially conflicting interests involving Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, the law firm she used to work for, her husband who still works for it, how that law firm represents one of the big three credit reporting bureaus, and whether or not the FTC has morphed into an agent of the credit reporting bureaus' success from the consumer guardian that The People have entrusted it to be. While the targets of this follow-the-money like inquest deny any impropriety, I can certainly understand the position of Robert Kuttner, author of The Squandering of America: How the Failure of Our Politics Undermines Our Prosperity who, who in response to the USA Today inquiry, said: Federal agencies that are supposed to be looking out for the consumer are really protecting the companies that do bad things the agencies were set up to prevent.
Eric Karros
Eric Karros, the all-time home run leader in Los Angeles Dodgers history, joined KCAL 9 and CBS 2 as a baseball analyst in March 2006. The former first baseman will partner with Gary Miller to host KCAL 9's THINK BLUE TV Los Angeles Dodgers pre-game shows. Karros spent 14 years in the Major Leagues, including 12 seasons with the Dodgers (1991-2002) after being drafted by Los Angeles in the sixth round of the 1988 draft. In 1992, he won the National League Rookie of the Year Award after leading the Dodgers with 20 home runs, 88 runs batted in and a .426 slugging percentage. During his 12 seasons in Dodger Blue, Karros set the team's Los Angeles career record for home runs (270) and career home runs at Dodger Stadium (130). He also ranks among the all-time Los Angeles Dodgers leaders in games played (1,601 fourth), hits (1,608 fifth), extra base hits (582 second), doubles (302 third), RBI (976 second), runs (752 sixth) and total bases (2,740 third).
McCain spokesman John King of CNN
The e-mail flood started out we caught you guys, we never did trust you. That kind of thing. I think it is a very interesting dynamic. I saw middle-aged women just throw their arms around Barack Obama, kiss him hard on the cheek and say, you know, I'm with you, good luck. And i think he feels it, too.Dana Milbank, The Washington Post:ABOARD THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS, Jan. 7 For the moment, at least, the John McCain of yore has returned. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain is back. Left for dead when his campaign ran out of cash last summer, he returned to his endless town hall meetings and freewheeling talks on his campaign bus . . . Revived along with McCain's spirits: A level of "straight talk" bordering on the masochistic. . . . Mac is Back . . . . Perhaps as important, McCain has learned a small degree of restraint.
12/11: Ben Lee
Lee was all of 14 and still living in Sydney, Australia, when his early band, Noise Addict, made him the toast of American hipster icons from the Beastie Boys to Thurston Moore. He's almost 30 now but still approaching his music and life with the youthful enthusiasm of a man who understands that sometimes when you find the comic you've been looking for, it really is fantastic. "It's funny," he says. "When I first started doing this, I thought, OK, I'll do this for a couple years. Now, almost 15 years later, I'm still out there doing it. But it's a good life. I feel really blessed that I've got an audience that still seems to be growing, which is pretty rare." Most of his peers, he says, have thrown in the towel and moved on to a normal existence. "Most people like touring in bands when they're, like, in their late teens, early 20s, just having a crack at it to see if they can meet girls or have some sort of an experience they can remember once they've settled down.
JAQUITTA'S JOURNEY: Read Her Blog
It's finally happened after all the hot flashes, being super hot and then back to normal, sweating, you name it. I'm catching a cold---beginning with a sore throat that's actually sore and scratchy. Difficult to swallow, so I'm already on the meds. Okay, today was day 2 of radiation. It's a fairly quick procedure. I have to lay down on my back on this huge piece of equipment with my arms up over my head holding onto a bar. You don't feel anything at all, it's relatively quick and easy for me. Actually it's a breeze after going through chemo. I'm just a lot more tired today because I think I'm getting sick, so I'm trying to take cold med's to hedge it off. Anyway, back to what radiation is like -- when the radiation is being administered there's this loud buzzing noise and a red beam of light.
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