At the very least, our friends to the north will soon have another Acura TL trim level to choose from. Reader Steve F. dropped us a line to let us know he received this mailing from Acura, which included an announcement a new TL A-Spec model. What is it? Sadly, it isn’t as exciting as it might sound. Start with a loaded Acura TL SH all-wheel drive with the tech package, and add 19-inch wheels, summer rubber, an aero kit, and A-Spec badges, and friends, you have the TL A-Spec. In short: it’s an appearance package. Canadians, it’s coming this spring to your neck of the woods. Will we see it Stateside as well? Don’t know, and we’re won’t lose sleep wondering about it, either. Thanks for the tip, Steve!
Have you seen the behind-the-scenes photos of Lady Gaga and Beyonce on the set of their forthcoming video collabo, “Telephone?” According to Lady-GaGa.net, the video features prison-themed and will see “Sasha Fierce” busting the “Bad Romance” hitmaker out of jail with the help of a fully-equipped vehicle called “The Pussy Wagon!”
Bestiario‘s interactive map allows users to drag and zoom, turn on or off geographical layers, click on an active ‘square’ to download all the registers located in the selected area. Circular frames show the detailed locations of individual finds.
In a historic first, three women — Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga — will each vie for the top three prizes at tonight’s 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. The big show kicks off @ 8 PM on CBS — but you can always check out this live stream, courtesy of Justin.TV.
Watch and Share Your Thoughts In The Comments Section!
The monstrous screen on the 27″ iMac, while a beautiful sight to behold, can be equally unsightly when some flaw is discovered. Issues such as flickering video and cracked glass have been problematic for some users, possibly causing shipping delays for recent orders. Now, an issue of yellowish areas appearing on some screens may be causing further shipping delays. While Apple hasn’t publicly acknowledged the problem, an internal tech support document reveals it is aware of the problem.
The problem appears in a number of ways, including vertical or horizontal stripes that appear more yellow than surrounding areas. It can also manifest as a yellowish tint that becomes more obvious in one corner of the screen. Obviously it’s not something you want to see when you’ve just spent $1,700 or more on a new computer.
According to one Gizmodo reader who attempted to fix the problem on his own, the problem is related to a layer of material behind the LCD used the scatter the LED backlight. He suspects this material may become misaligned during shipping, causing some areas of the backlight to have an uneven color temperature.
Whatever the cause, information on the issue appears to be in Apple’s internal support system. Apple support technicians are told to tell customers complaining about the issue that slight variations are normal. If the customer complains further, the tech is supposed to get contact information so the customer can be contacted about having the display panel replaced “in approximately three weeks.” Those asking for “immediate resolution” should be offered a refund and not a replacement.
While the problem also seems to affect 21.5″ iMac models as well, the Apple support information doesn’t address those models.
Since Apple specifically mentioned a three-week window for an expected fix, you might want to hold off buying one in the meantime. Online orders quote at least a three week wait, so Apple may be holding of shipping machines until the fix in place. Still, for users currently experiencing the problem, another month-long wait or a refund probably isn’t a very satisfying solution.
Curious folks around the world enjoy a bit of hackintosh every now and then (although once is enough for many), but no geek has successfully ventured as far as Toni Nikkanen of Finland, who became the first person to run OS X on a phone — the Nokia N900. As you can see in the video after the break, Toni’s hack relies on PearPC — a PowerPC emulator — to install good ol’ OS X 10.3 (Panther), but the mammoth sluggishness means it’s far from usable. Still, if you can spare 90 minutes for each boot-up plus plenty more for the snail-paced cursor, then head to the source to learn from Herra Nikkanen.
Oh No! Top Chef foodie Padma Lakshmi was radmitted to a New York City hospital after experiencing complications with her pregnancy, The New York Post’s
Page Six Column said Sunday.
The Indian-born TV chef, 39, announced that she was expecting her first child last October. At the time, Padma branded the pregnancy a “medical miracle” after years of struggling with endometriosis, in which the lining of the uterus grows in other areas of the body. According to medical studies, only 20% of women who suffer from endometriosis will conceive naturally.
Details of Lakshmi’s medical problem are unknown, but a source has told the publication, “The baby was in serious danger.”
The former model is now recovering at home under the watchful eye of close friend Teddy Forstmann. Lakshmi has refused to name the father of her baby, but new reports suggest the dad is venture capitalist and Columbia Business School professor Adam Dell — the younger brother of Dell Computers founder Michael Dell.
The editors at Cars.com have been covering the Toyota recalls from the beginning and offer some consumer advice to current Toyota owners and prospective buyers.
“While the news regarding the Toyota recalls is evolving, we wanted to get some basic information that we’ve gathered to consumers who might be affected by the recall,” said Cars.com Editor in Chief Patrick Olsen.
The editors at Cars.com provide these answers to key questions that are currently on the minds of Toyota owners and shoppers:
How do I know my car has a problem now?
The accelerator might feel a little balky or stiff or rough when you depress it. The pedal may be slow to return to its original position after you let up on it. It won’t spring back like it used to. If you notice any of these symptoms contact your dealer immediately. The problem is progressive, meaning if you feel a slight change, it likely will get worse over time.
Is there a fix for the problem?
Toyota has yet to announce how they will fix the problem. If owners experience any sort of unusual feedback from the accelerator pedal they should call their dealer immediately for a diagnosis and repair.
What if my dealer can’t or won’t fix the problem?
Toyota has told Cars.com that dealers have been instructed to take vehicles on a case-by-case basis, and if owners are concerned that their vehicle wasn’t properly treated by the dealer, they should call Toyota Customer Service.
Are all the vehicles in the recall prone to unintended acceleration?
Each car is equipped with the faulty system, but the recall is the result of a wear issue, meaning it takes a certain amount of use before problems arise.
Toyota has not given a time frame or mileage driven that owners can look for to know if their car is at risk.
The vehicles known to have the issue vary in those regards, which is one reason it took so long to diagnose the problem.
If you just bought a new Toyota, it will likely take time for a problem to occur, but, again, there is no known mileage or time because climate and daily use can impact the amount of wear.
Are new cars with the faulty system still being sold on dealer lots?
No, Toyota announced it has stopped selling all models included in the recall yesterday.
Is Toyota still building new models involved in the recall?
Yes, but production will halt on Feb. 1. Those vehicles assembled before then will not go on sale.
What cars are affected?
The 2009-10 RAV4, 2009-10 Corolla, 2009-10 Matrix, 2005-10 Avalon, 2007-10 Camry (excluding the hybrid), 2010 Highlander, 2007-10 Tundra and 2008-10 Sequoia.
When will more information be available about a fix?
Developing a solution may take some time, but more information about the process will likely be announced in a few weeks. Toyota said they are working “rapidly” to develop a fix.
For more information and up to the minute news about the Toyota recall, visit Cars.com’s blog: KickingTires.
About Cars.com
Cars.com is the leading destination for online car shoppers, offering credible, easy-to-understand information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car.
With comprehensive pricing information, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and a large selection of new- and used-car inventory, Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions.
Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo (NYSE: BLC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company ( WPO).
Hanover Park police arrested a suspect in a robbery that happened last week at a local convenience store.
Travis D. White, 19, of 5432 Sinatra Lane in Hanover Park, was later charged with one count of burglary.
He appeared in DuPage County bond court Sunday morning, where his bond was set at $30,000. White remained in DuPage County Jail Sunday afternoon.
Hanover Park police arrested White Friday night in the 5500 block of County Farm Road after a witness reported White riding his bicycle in the area.
Police tracked down White and found he matched the description of the suspect.
The robbery took place just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Al’s Pantry, 5561 County Farm Road.
The clerk told police that an unknown man entered the store and, leading the clerk to believe he was carrying a weapon, took two packages of cigarettes before fleeing.
A description of the suspect and the bicycle he used to flee the area was obtained from witnesses, police said.
More coverage of TUAW’s inside look at developer boot camp. See below for notes & disclaimer.
I’m on my second day at Big Nerd Ranch, settling in and getting some blogging done between 3-hour lectures on Objective-C fundamentals. I sat down with our first instructor, Mark Fenoglio, last night to discuss Big Nerd Ranch from his point of view. He’s a very dynamic guy, even if my “talking head” video angle doesn’t portray that very well. If you’re curious about the kind of people Big Nerd Ranch has on the teaching staff, this is a good introduction. I’ve also got a few clips of classmate “first impressions,” some walking tour-video of the ranch and plenty to write today, so you’ll hear more from me soon.
To view the video, click on the “Read more” link below.
In order to give our readers the first-hand account of what it’s like to experience developer boot camp, Big Nerd Ranch has permitted Brett to attend complimentary classes and has provided transportation/lodging assistance. Other than those considerations, no sponsorship or advertising relationship exists between BNR and TUAW. This series is not an endorsement of BNR’s programs or teaching methodology.
Steve Jobs recently held a Town Hall meeting for Apple employees, and according to Wired, he had some very choice words for both Google and Adobe. While these likely aren’t direct, word-for-word quotes, as they come from employees who spoke to Wired and MacRumors on condition of anonymity, if they’re even in the ballpark of what Jobs said, Apple’s response to both Google and Adobe can be summed up in two words: “Bring it.”
On Google: “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake: they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them […] This don’t be evil mantra? It’s bullshit.”
Snap. Maybe a tad belligerent there at the end, Mr. Jobs? I wonder what brought that on?
On Adobe: “They are lazy. They have all this potential to do interesting things, but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash. The world is moving to HTML5.” Sounds like the petitions can stop now. If that’s really what Apple’s CEO thinks of Flash, then make no mistake: Flash is never coming to Apple’s mobile devices.
Some other tasty tidbits from the Town Hall courtesy of the folks at MacRumors:
– Jobs considers the iPad on a par with the iPhone and Mac as one of the most important products he’s worked on
– Apple acquired Lala because they wanted to bring Lala’s people to the iTunes team
– The next iPhone is “an A+ update” that Android won’t be able to keep up with
– New Macs this year will take Apple “to the next level”
– Apple is still playing “wait and see” with regards to Blu-Ray, and won’t implement it until/unless Blu-Ray sales take off
Services were pending Sunday for veteran suburban teacher and baseball coach Edward F. Dillard, Jr., the father of state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Republican candidate for governor.
Edward Dillard of Hinsdale died Saturday at the age of 82 from natural causes, according to his son’s campaign.
Dillard suspended his campaign activities Saturday night in advance of the Tuesday primary.
Edward Dillard was a history teacher and baseball coach for 40 years at Hinsdale Central High School.
He served in the U.S. Army, starting its first interracial baseball team, according to his family.
Edward Dillard also played in the minor leagues in the 1950s, was the MVP of basketball and baseball at Lakeview High School in Chicago and played in the All Stars at Wrigley Field.
“Edward always had good story to share for all occasions,” read a statement from his family.
“He was an avid baseball fan and his memory was outstanding right to the end. Edward’s vast knowledge in all areas astounded everyone he met.”
Edward Dillard is survived by his wife of 58 years, Martina, his children Kirk Dillard, Kimberly Dillard-Schaeffer and Karyn Mina Dillard-Gits and his brother, William.
Actress Gail O’Grady has been granted a temporary restraining order against an alleged stalker.
In legal papers filed in Los Angeles on Friday, the former NYPD Blue and American Dreams actress claims Steven Church has been bombarding her with phone calls and text messages after she refused his romantic advances in September, TMZ.com has learned.
The star claims the Los Angeles man has repeatedly showed up at a store she owns in the city and was even spotted outside her five-year-old son’s school. Church must stay at least 100 yards away from O’Grady and her son until a Feb. 18 hearing, when O’Grady hopes to make the order permanent.
Heads up to all Dynasty Warriors fanatics! Koei has announced that the English demo of the upcoming console iteration of Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce will be coming to PSN and Xbox Live this week.
AReview: CIUDAD JUAREZ: Gunmen drove up to a house where a high school party was in full swing and opened fire killing 13 people and wounding 17 others, the city public safety agency said Sunday in Mexico’’s murder capital, Ciudad Juarez. Most of the victims were “youngsters,” said the Chihuahua state attorney general’’s office. Witnesses said the gunmen drove up to the house in several cars, first shooting at people gathered outside the dwelling, then pursuing some of the youngsters who jumped over a fence to get away. “A young man was celebrating his birthday with his schoolmates… and when the host of the party came out to drop off his girlfriend” the shooting broke out, a neighbor told media. Local press reports said the party host’’s father was among the dead. Other sources said the young people were members of a local soccer team celebrating a championship victory, a local daily said on its website. The shooting took place in Ciudad Juarez, the city on the border with the US state of Texas that holds Mexico’’s record in bloodshed, with more than 2,500 people killed last year in drug-related gangland crimes. It was the third mass shooting of youngsters in Mexico since September when, within two weeks, 28 youths were killed in two separate shootings at drug rehabilitation centers.
AReview: KUSUR: The prisoner sentenced with capital punishment died mysteriously here in a District Jail on Sunday, Areview news reported. This is the second occurrence of enigmatic death in two days meanwhile, jail administration said prisoner, Aslam alias Sajid Raja was resident of Jhang district, claiming he died of cardiac arrest amid being transported to hospital. On the other hand, hospital sources said he had died before being shifted to hospital. It may be mentioned here that such an identical incident also occurred in same jail some days ago and there is no doctor for medical attainment of prisoners in jail.
Since Apple announced its forthcoming iPad tablet device last week, there’s been quite a bit of banter about its shortcomings. The device has no camera, no phone, no Flash support, no way to project to a big screen (TV), and doesn’t allow multitasking, just to name a few of the issues.
But before you conclude Apple’s made a terrible mistake here, remember, this is exactly how Apple it’s launched several of its most successful devices.
Remember how the Macbook Air came without a DVD drive? And how the iPod Touch came without a camera or speakerphone? It seemed like a no-brainer — why wouldn’t Apple put a camera and a speakerphone in iPod Touch and make it more attractive? After all, the iPhone has both of these features and is still almost the same size as iPod Touch (3G does add a little weight of course). So why does Apple leave out obvious features? Well, here’s why:
1. It doesn’t want to sell too many of one product at the expense of another. So while a few additional features would certainly make iPad more PC-like and open it up to broader sales, they could also eat into MacBook sales (just as adding a speakerphone and video camera to iPod Touch would reduce iPhone’s sales). While Apple is obviously interested in maximizing revenues from iPad, it is even more interested in maximizing its total revenues from all products.
2. Adding more features to iPad would increase its price to a point where it’s no longer affordable. Adding certain features could also compromise its size and performance, and thus defeat the basic selling point of the iPad: its portability and form factor. It’s no secret that iPhone performs better than certain competing operating systems because Apple consciously left out such performance hogging capabilities as Flash and multitasking.
3. Apple believes in doing fewer things right than doing a lot of mediocre things. For example, when iPhone came out, it didn’t have a copy and paste feature because there was no easy way to implement it without a physical keyboard. Since iPhone didn’t have any keys except the home button, Apple had to invent a more intuitive way to copy and paste. Eventually it did come up with the feature, and when it did, it was a brilliant solution, which has since been copied by other touch screen smartphone manufacturers.
4. Time to market is important. Should Apple wait for another year to make iPad “perfect” before it launches it, or launch it when it’s good enough? I’m sure that, with time, Apple will find a solution to do multitasking in a less resource intensive fashion, or the processors on small devices such as iPad and iPhone will become powerful enough to handle multiple applications at the same time (this is assuming that Apple didn prevent multitasking on iPad to avoid reducing Macbook sales). This leaves opportunity for Apple to launch newer versions in the next few months or years, in turn generating more revenue in the long term.
Fundamentally, hat Apple’s created in the iPad is a new category of device. By defining its feature the iPad’s feature set the way it has, it’s not creating a new phone or a new kind of PC or just an e-book. It’s creating something new, and — here’s the sticking point, perhaps — the industry is having a hard time deciding if the category Apple’s defining here really makes sense.
Well, the answer’s clearly still out on that, but at this point it does seem that Apple’s the only vendor playing into this new category.
Several other vendors have showed off prototypes this month of tablets due out later this year, and as far as I can tell, they’re all chasing the established categories. Lenovo’s IdeaPad is a particularly interesting hybrid of a netbook and a tablet. You can detach the “monitor”, and take it with you as tablet. However, the high price of $999 isn’t too attractive.
Then there’s the Dell Mini 5, which has a 5 inch screen and is based on the Android operating system. Its size makes it more of a powerful smartphone and less of a tablet, which makes it less interesting for “e magazines”. Its price is unknown at this point.
Then there are at least three slate PCs coming down the pipeline (one from HP), all running Windows 7 and all targeting the PC category. However, there isn’t much information available about them yet.
What is clear about all of them is that they offer more functionality than iPad. If their manufacturers are able to pull off these tablet devices without compromising either size or price (I don’t think they will), they could offer stiff competition to Apple’s iPad, when or shortly after it launches, which means iPad won’t get the same head-start iPhone got when it first launched (Andorid, Palm, and Blackberry were quick to launch competing touchscreen smartphones with competing app stores, but iPhone had already built substantial momentum by then).
Is iPad truly a new category?
In case you’re just not buying my new-category argument here, let’s take a closer look.
Let’s rank Apple’s current products (and other computing devices) in terms of power and mobility. A laptop is on the high end of power but on the low end of mobility. iPhone or iPod Touch on the other hand rank low on power and functionality, but rank highest on mobility. These two attributes make them very different from each other, ensuring that more sales of one product won’t impact sales of the other. It is no wonder that iPhone ate into iPod sales: Both rank high on mobility, and iPhone ranks higher on power and functionality. When the price difference between the two becomes small enough, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to buy an iPod (although arguably Apple has done a good job of keeping them in slightly different buckets: For example, iPod Touch’s maximum storage capacity is 64GB compared to the 160GB of an iPod Classic).
iPad obviously ranks in between a Macbook and an iPhone — both on power and mobility. According to Jobs, neither Macbook nor iPhone does a better job at browsing, email, photos, video, music, gaming, and e-books.A tablet seems to be the best device to use for browsing when you’re laying on the couch watching TV.
How does it then compare with a netbook? Doesn’t a netbook lie in the same spot in our map — between a laptop and a smartphone in terms of power and mobility? And yet a Windows 7 netbook lets you practically replace a laptop, whereas iPad is nowhere near to replacing a MacBook. A third attribute might explain the difference.
While iPad ranks lower than a netbook on the functionality scale, it ranks much higher in form factor. Due to its tablet form factor, it allows things not possible with a netbook. For example, its accelerometer allows developers to design creative games such as F.A.S.T, which detect motion and positioning of the device to move a jet in the game. Moreover, its touchscreen and form factor open up opportunities for media companies that a netbook cannot dream of (more on that in a minute).
This is not to say that the iPad’s better than a netbook — netbooks remain a highly viable category. However, saying that iPad is inferior to netbooks because it doesn’t allow for a webcam or multitasking is missing the point that it allows for a lot of other things that netbooks don’t.
It’s also important to note that most PC manufacturers, such as HP and Dell, didn’t have a choice but to make netbooks, even if it meant lower profit margins. Otherwise Acer and others would eat into their market share as people start buying more netbooks and fewer laptops. On the other hand, Apple would be shooting itself in the foot if it launched a netbook, as that would eat into its MacBook sales. And therefore it makes even more sense for Apple to define a new category.
Three reasons the iPad will outsell the competition
What I’m betting is that, even with more feature-rich tablets on the market, the iPad may sell best for three reasons: First, there’s a huge ecosystem of iPhone apps iPad can immediately tap into, most of which are games, and thus will make iPad an entertainment device from day one of its launch. Second, iPad’s form factor and weight would make it a more likely destination for reading “e magazines”, thus making media partnerships more likely. Third, fewer features mean a lower price.
So what does this all mean for entrepreneurs?
Tablet PCs offer several new opportunities for startups and established companies alike. iPad,with its huge ecosystem of app developers, will especially help the following markets.
Content Publishers
I’m not going to predict that iPad is going to save the media industry, because it isn’t. However, it does give media companies a chance to reinvent themselves by offering beautiful and meaningful content, making full use of iPad’s real estate (screen size). If you want to see what’s possible, watch this video of a tablet being sponsored by Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc in a project dubbed a “Hulu for Print” by The Economist. What they’re trying to do with their new tablet is already possible in iPad. Few media companies have the expertise to envision and produce such rich and interactive content, and this opens up a tremendous opportunity for players such as Zinio who can help traditional publishers go digital.
Advertisers
Content on iPad would open up opportunities for creative ads and thus open doors to entrepreneurs who want to innovate in “e advertising”. Bigger screen size, higher video quality, and portability allow for greater innovation in advertising business. This would partly pay media companies for their content. Media companies could also subsidize the cost of an iPad for readers buying annual subscriptions, for example.
Gaming
Although iPad is not a competitor to XBox, Wii, or Playstation, it could present a threat to mobile gaming platforms like PSP and Nintendo DS. What it really does, however, is open up a new market for gaming. iPhone has already proven that it is an extremely successful gaming platform. iPad, with its bigger screen size, offers a lot more possibilities to game developers — for example, allowing them to introduce new and enhanced controls for iPad versions of their iPhone games.
Video and TV
One big reason mobile TV hasn’t picked up is the small screen size of mobile devices. iPad removes that limitation. It makes perfect sense for products such as Boxee that do not have an iPhone app, now to write an app for iPad.
It’s hard to write an analysis before the product is actually out in the market, and even harder when several of its competitors are not out either. But given Apple’s history and a strong developer support, I think iPad will live up to the hype. What would make it even more compelling are media partnerships and a few more powerful apps such as the ones suggested above.
Shortly before the Rally for the Republicans, Ron Paul and Rand Paul were interviewed about the Tea Party Movement, undeclared wars, terrorism, Israel, and Rand Paul’s candidacy for the US Senate.
Date: 01/31/2010 Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Transcript:
Interviewer: Doctors Paul, thanks for joining us here before your Rally for the Republicans, and because you’re the candidate here in Kentucky, with all due respect to Ron Paul, we’ll start with you, Rand.
First of all, it’s a Rally for the Republicans and you made very clear from the beginning that you are a Republican. Early in the campaign though, wasn’t there some question about that though, it terms of maybe the GOP would best fit the campaign, but is that exactly what you were. Can you explain that.
Rand Paul: The interesting thing is I have always been a Republican. I registered as a Republican when I was 18, went to the Republican convention when I was 13, and my family supported Reagan, so I’ve always been a Republican. Really in my case, as opposed to my opponent’s case, there has never been a question I’ve always been a Republican
Interviewer: And Ron Paul, isn’t there a redefining of the party always going on, especially right now?
Ron Paul: Yes, and I think that is the big issue right now because you hear about Tea Parties and other kinds of parties, and independence and all. But no, I think the Republicans are going through transition on trying to define themselves, because the Republican Party had a tough time a couple of years ago because they sort of didn’t do the job they were hired to do when they got control of the House and the Senate and the Presidency. And so they are struggling now to get their credibility back and define themselves.
The only thing I’ve noticed in Washington, when they’re out of office they’re real good conservatives. It’s the problem, and people know this, that when we get in office then we don’t have the determination to do what we had promised the people. And that’s what the American people are after now. They want people to go into office, say what they believe in, and expect them to do it, and this is where we are today, and people aren’t going to buy into… […] when you think about Massachusetts, here we have a Republican up there, so, I think it’s an interesting time, but I think all of this, whether you’ve been in the Republican party a short or a long time, you’re participating in defining that particular party.
Interviewer: The nation’s top elected Republican is Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. How would you describe his leadership, first to you.
Ron Paul: Well, first thing, I’ve never met him, and I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. If you ask me about John Boehner, I’ve met him, but I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. They’re Republican leaders and they fit in the mold, they’ve been in Washington, but I don’t have any one strong opinion one way or the other.
Interviewer: Dr. Paul, you and I have talked in the past about that, and one question I asked you before was about the hypothetical Jim DeMint vs. Mitch McConnell battle for minority leader, but you know why I asked the question, It’s more about who best fits the mold of the leader of a Republican Party that you would like to see. So I ask the question again to you, but I ask you, is Mitch McConnell is the kind of leader of the GOP that you would eventually want?
Rand Paul: I think in some ways he has been very good in being a minority leader, in some ways he has been very good in opposing Obamacare, we maybe had a chance of stopping that, reintroducing the health reform we would like to, so I think he has done a good job with that. I try to complement him on the areas we agree, but I think Kentucky wants two senators, they don’t want one senator, and so he’s fought for 10 years to overturn McCain-Feingold. I think that’s a very noble goal, it’s overturning legislation that another Republican introduced, it shows that we as a party are big enough to disagree. He disagreed with John McCain on McCain-Feingold, fought it in court and when the Supreme court ruled 5-4 last week, I called his office to complement him. Even though he isn’t particularly helpful in my primary, I will ask him for support after the primary.
Interviewer: Do you think he is supporting Trey Grayson then?
Rand Paul: He’s doing fundraisers for him, but I think I’m a big enough person that we’re going to win the primary. And when the primary is over I want to work with the whole party and not just part of the party.
Interviewer: And where do you think that the Republican Party has failed the most?
Rand Paul: Well, I say, our platform is wonderful. Our platform says we don’t bail out private businesses, our platform says we don’t have government ownership of business. But we voted for the bank bailout. Look at the President the other night. The President said, oh, everybody hates the bank bailout. Then why did he vote for it? You know why he voted for it? He didn’t read it like the rest of them. It was printed at midnight, 1,000 pages long, passed at noon the next day. They don’t read the bills. That’s why people come behind our campaign because we’re saying, stop, wait a minute, read the bills.
Interviewer: So I see a chip of the old block.
Ron Paul: He sounds better than I do, so he must have learned well plus some other.
Interviewer: What is it like for you just personally to hear him, to see him in this mold first of all, where a year ago… when did you actually declare your candidacy?
Rand Paul: That was August, actually.
Interviewer: So a year ago obviously, you’re a well known opthamologist in Bowling Green, an eye surgeon there, but when you see him doing this now…
Ron Paul: I think it’s pretty pleasing, but I was pretty pleased when he went to the medical school I went to, and became a doctor, he went to the same medical school to became an opthamologist, and that pleases both my wife and I very much. As a matter of fact, in life, sometimes that may well be more important, but it also proves the point that he has done something other than politics, but both are very pleasing.
Interviewer: Just in terms of obviously, you’re known, and your son has described you very aptly over the last few months a couple of times as really being a hero to many people, to stand up for libertarian small l values, and that kind of ideas. Do you think that he has and opportunity to be an even bigger leader than you in that respect if he’s elected to the US Senate?
Ron Paul: Oh, I think so, because I still am a little bit bewildered about the amount of attention I’ve gotten, because after you’ve been saying it for 30 years and nobody listens, you figure, well, nobody will ever listen. But all of a sudden, last couple of years… but events have changed, and he has a tremendous opportunity, people have a tremendous opportunity to look at these issues.
If you talk about a Federal Reserve system, nobody cares, nobody understands it, and all of a sudden you have a financial crisis and the Federal Reserve is involved, all of a sudden what you have been talking about becomes very, very important, and I think that is the difference, and it’s given me the opportunity, but still it’s a surprise to me, but I think he has unlimited opportunities compared to what I’ve done.
Interviewer: And is there a danger, I’ll ask you first, of being overshadowed by your dad?
Rand Paul: I think my dad has helped me tremendously. Not many people could run for statewide office as a first race. Because I’ve been part of that movement, I’ve helped him, had become well-known within the movement that he started, it definitely helps. But I also tell people, there are a lot of kids of candidates who never win, and I may be one of them, but the only way I win is on my own two feet, being out to present the message, and I have a great deal of respect and I owe him so much, but I can’t win it just on his coattails, I have to do it on my own.
Interviewer: Was there any reticence on your part to come here today just because of that danger of over shadowing your son?
Ron Paul: Yes, as a matter of fact, I would say that if other people judge what I’ve done so far, “why haven’t you done more”? So, no, this is the first time I’ve been here, and it’s going to be a couple of hours, so the way I figure it, I couldn’t be looking over his shoulder when he was in medical school, so I won’t be looking over his shoulder in politics, and besides, people think differently, it’s a different atmosphere, a different state, so I don’t think it would be an advantage to him, And I wasn’t jumping up and down, I didn’t call him and say “Hey, I’d really like to help you out, let me get up there.” When it was suggested, I said, “Well, I just might be able to work that into [my schedule].”
Interviewer: Tell me about some of the issues that your opponent especially has fixated on. The website that called the both of you “too kooky for Kentucky”, okay? So welcome to Kentucky. But some of the views are, for instance, let me ask both of you. Is America responsible, is it America’s fault that 9/11 happened?
Ron Paul: No, they’re not at fault, they didn’t get blamed, but I have talked a lot about this that America is you and me, and you and I aren’t at fault. But, policies have consequences, ideas have consequences. It’s sort of like saying, the people are at fault, because they allowed our government to spend too much. Well, the policies are bad, and I do challenge the policies overseas and I think they do have consequences, but that’s a lot different than blaming America.
Interviewer: But America, as an institution, as a government, do you think that the American government then is in part responsible for 9/11?
Ron Paul: For a long time I think we’ve gotten off-base on it. Just the same as, I talk about monetary policy, a lot started in 1913. I talk about […] foreign policy shifted, so I like to talk about, thinking about what the Old Right used to talk about in foreign policy, and that is sort of what George Bush talked about in the year 2000, when he was running, he said, “you know, maybe we shouldn’t be doing all this nation-building and playing the policeman of the world” as he was criticizing Clinton, and I just stay consistent with that message and I think the American people like that message.
Interviewer: How much like your father are you on that position on 9/11?
Rand Paul: What I would say is that the most important think you say from the beginning is, if someone murders your family, it’s their fault. We got to say, these people attacked us, and we say it is their fault.
There are other questions you can ask about it. Did they murder your family because you left your house unlocked? There are ways of looking at it and you need to look at the big picture, and the big picture includes foreign policy. I think there is a danger sometimes and where people misinterpret my father I think is that they think somehow it is blaming America, and it’s not. We are not to blame for people attacking us. It is their fault and they did something horrendous, and that’s how the conversation needs to begin. but then we say, why in the global scheme of things is this happen?
And the interesting this is that many people say we don’t look at this; in Saudi Arabia we had bases and we no longer have bases. Osama bin Laden wanted us to leave Saudi Arabia. Did we appease him? It was the George Bush administration that left Saudi Arabia. Maybe it was time that we left Saudi Arabia, but did we do that because we were attacked? Then it’s appeasing terrorists, which we don’t ever want to do, but at the same time do we want to have bases in Saudi Arabia? We’ve chosen now not to, we no longer have bases there we’ve gone to a friendlier country.
And there are other questions we have. The questions we have are, are we everywhere all the time to everyone, or are we nowhere and always here at home. And maybe we’ve gone to far in one extreme that we’re everywhere all of the time, and so I think we do need to be concerned with all borders, for example with national security. I talk a lot about that fact that 16 of the 19 hijackers came here on legal visas. Ten years later, the underwear bomber comes here on a legal visa, one-way ticket, no baggage, paid for by cash, his dad turned him in, and we still have no security in our country. We spent hundreds of billions dollars, and they can’t stop a guy that has every red flag possible.
We have to defend ourselves against these people, and a different foreign policy doesn’t stop all of that. We do have to defend ourselves.
Interviewer: What would you change about our foreign policy to discourage another 9/11 attack?
Rand Paul: I would end all travel visas to terrorist nations right now, and stop them until we have a better idea and understanding of how to regulate and police our own visa system. So I would stop them. I would put a moratorium.
In that same vein I would also introduce a frequent flier plan internationally and domestically, and if you’re going to submit to a pre-screening process… My brother in law is an airforce academy graduate. He flies three times a week and he is scrutinized, […] and all of this. My dad is a Congressman, scrutinized, […] Could we not do a little bit of checking in advance and not waste our time on people who are not going to attack us? Ten years and it’s not any better, because their answer is, let’s double and triple the bureaucracy, let’s throw money at it.
Homeland Security – everybody’s for it. Do you know who had the most earmarks for Homeland Security? Indiana. Do you know who got some money for Homeland Security? The pumpkin festival of Smithfield, a town of 2,000, the annual pumpkin festival got Homeland Security money. […] Instead of doing our job we just throw money at everything.
Interviewer: That’s anti-terrorists, but as far as anti-terrorism it seems to me that Congressman Paul, you’re talking about a situation where our policies alienated the United States from some parts of the world and in that way, it somewhat encouraged the attacks.
Ron Paul: Yes, and you know, when somebody gets murdered, the first question they always seem to ask in the press is, so-and-so is a suspect, but what’s his motive? Is there a motive? And I think that is important, and nobody wants to talk about the motive. But it’s out there, it’s laid on a platter. Bin Laden writes of it. He wrote of it all the time. He has a very strong motive, and as bad a guy as he is, he’s not known to be a liar.
So somebody should read that and find out exactly what the motive is. And that affects our foreign policy and if we ignore that then I think we’ll have more terrorism rather than less.
Rand Paul: And the other question that you have to ask on the foreign policy is, he was our ally for 15 years. Bin Laden was on the CIA payroll. We gave him stinger missiles. That was a mistake. It was the stated policy of our State Department throughout the 1980s to support radical jihad. Now everybody thinks jihad is a danger to our country.
We were promoting it because we didn’t like the Soviets. We hated the Soviets more than we didn’t realize radical jihad would eventually be a problem. Saddam Hussein was our ally. That were the things of our foreign policy that were mistakes, to give Hussein weapons and planes and billions of dollars because we hated the Iranians more than the Iraqis. But it all comes back to bite us because it’s a foreign policy that may be too overreaching, and that […] our own defenses.
Interviewer: Is it too overreaching in Israel, is that one area you’d like the US to scale back its involvement and support?
Rand Paul: I think Israel is an important ally in the Middle East, it’s a democracy, and there are many things that we will have in common and should work together with. I do say, and I’ve told the people who do support Israel in a big way, I’ve said, look, the problem is that we give $6 billion to Israel’s enemies that are all around her, and we give Israel $4 billion. We have to ask the question, where is the money coming from, we have a massive debt and we’re out of money.
And two, is it wise to sell 200 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia? What if next year they’re overthrown and they’re a big threat to Israel. So we may not be helping Israel by funding both sides of the arms race. We fund Israel’s side, but we also fund all of the Islamic allies, people who are somewhat opposed to Israel, we give them money too. We give everybody money. That I think is a problem.
Interviewer: Are we occupiers of Israel?
Rand Paul: I wouldn’t say of Israel, no.
Interviewer: Congressman Paul?
Ron Paul: No, that doesn’t fit the description of occupying. We occupy other countries, though. We occupy quite a few countries.
Interviewer: I know this is an issue that has been raised a couple of times here in the campaign, and I’m trying to make sure to understand your position. It’s because we can’t afford it, or because it’s the wrong idea for us to be supplying Israel, or bankrolling some of that support.
Rand Paul: Well I think financially we have to look at what we’re doing as a country. But I’m not saying we have no relationship to Israel, we never send anything to Israel. I’m saying right now we give 6 billion to all of their enemies, we give 4 billion to them,
And our country is approaching bankruptcy and approaching a deficit that is unmanageable.
So I do think we have to rethink what we’re doing on those. It’s not to say that there’s not going to be exchanges or sale of weapons to Israel. It’s just to say that we’ve gone way to far in the direction where we give everything to everyone, and we have to reevaluate what’s going on.
Interviewer: Gitmo is another issue in the campaign. Congressman Paul, I’ll start with you. Should Guantanamo Bay be shut down?
Ron Paul: Yes.
Interviewer: And why?
Ron Paul: Because I don’t like military prisons and military tribunals.
Interviewer: Would it be a danger at all to… Where would those prisoners go?
Ron Paul: They would go to the same courts that we tried the individuals that bombed the towers the first time. They went into our court system and they were tried and they are all in prison for life. Why should we be so frightened about them?
Interviewer: I guess the argument would be that these are military combatants as opposed to civilian ones and…
Ron Paul: Well, that’s where we get into the sloppy language, because the one thing that we as Republicans and conservatives have failed to stick to our guns on, is the constitution on war.
I was trying to get them to declare war when we went into Iraq so that you know who the enemy is and who the war is and where the battlefield is. But when you declare war on a tactic, the whole world is at war, and now we’re attacking, arresting people, assassinating people worldwide.
I think it’s very dangerous and I do not like the idea that Osama Bin Laden [Obama?] right now is contemplating on declaring that an American-born citizen, who happens to be probably a bad guy, but you and I don’t know that, he is an American citizen, and he is contemplating on assassinating him.
What has America come to? We have to have the law to protect us because we’re American citizens, and we want that same protection, but to say that, “oh, he is an enemy combatant”? He’s a suspect nine times out of time.
So I would say, defending the rule of law is probably one of the most important things any of us could do, because someday we might like to be protected by the rule of law, so I think we should be very, very cautious, and we prevent a lot if we as conservatives would say, “look, don’t go to war unless it’s declared, know who the enemy is, fight, and win it, and get it over with, and don’t have perpetual war for so-called perpetual peace.” That’s where think our mistake has been.
Interviewer: Gitmo?
Rand Paul: My dad’s only been here 20 minutes and you’re making me disagree with him. I didn’t even have a chance to say hello.
I don’t think we should close down Gitmo until we decide what to do with the prisoners. I think there is a form of due process through the military trials. Our soldiers, if they’re accused of murder on the battlefield, are tried in military court, they do not have exactly the same protections as our civilian courts do. But what I’m fearful is that with Khalik Sheik Mohammed we didn’t do all the right things maybe in the way we was apprehended, or we did things that we wouldn’t do in civilian court. I’m afraid we take his case to the civilian court, and the judge says, you did these things, tortured him, or whatever you did to him, and his confession is thrown out, and I think that’s a problem.
I also think that if you pick up people in the battlefield, that you can’t have a microphone coming from the helicopter that is bombing them, saying “you have the right to remain silent”, I just don’t think we can have the same kind of thing in the battlefield. Now […] picked up in the battlefield.
I do agree with my dad though that some of the confusion comes from the declaration of war. the Supreme Court has upheld military tribunals in two cases in World War 2, but war was declared. So I’m a big believer and a stickler for declaring war, and I would have, and if I’m elected I will force a vote on declaration of war anytime we go to war.
And I think it’s open for discussion whether or not you could declare war on a group or not. In Afghanistan’s case though, I think you could have asked the government to turn over the people in those camps, they refused, we could have declared war against the Taliban government and whoever they were harboring and we should have, and then it would be clear-cut what is legal and what isn’t legal, because we would have followed the rule then.
Interviewer: So if you were in office right now then you would not support the war in Afghanistan because it’s not a declared war.
Rand Paul: I would support that we should declare it as a war if we are going to continue in a warlike fashion.
Interviewer: But if the Congress would not declare war then you would not support that action?
Rand Paul: Well, I think that’s a tricky one to go through, and I haven’t made a conclusion in regards to that, I think we have to ask questions. I think there needs to be a debate in the sense that, we have to ask, is our national security threatened? Usually that question is asked in the very beginning when you declare war. Now we’re in the middle of it, does it make sense to declare war after ten years, and who do you declare war against?
So it’s a complicated question, but we do need to bring up the question because it’s why, as we move forward at the very least, we should declare war and I think that’s the most important part of the discussion.
Interviewer: This is full circle as far as the whole tea party movement. How much do you think that you helped to launch that, Congressman Paul, and do you see that as being a key to your son’s campaign?
Ron Paul: Well, I’ll go back one step. I think Rand has proved this own … to think for himself.
The Tea Party Movement, there was a big surge of that interest on the Boston Tea Party Day. It was a big fundraiser, they were around the country, and they stood behind the campaign that I had, and it was a big event, a lot of money raised. It was spontaneous, it was not organized from above, it was organized spontaneously at the grassroots.
But I think it has morphed into something different. I don’t think anybody knows what it is, except for one fact that there’s a lot of people in this country who are sick and tired of the status quo, conventional Republicans and conventional Democrats, conventional spending and conventional foreign policy, the whole works. The American people are sick of this, and they are sick of this debt, and that is what the Tea Party movement is about, even though there is going to be a lot of variations.
I think one issue that we just discussed – I think the Tea Party movement has some disagreements on foreign policy. But they’re still the same people who are upset and want to do what’s best for America. So I think we helped start it; I have my own little private Tea Parties quite frequently, but most of them are held on college campuses, and I’ve been very encouraged that that group of Tea Party people, the young people who are inheriting this mess, they are very receptive to the views we’ve been talking about.
Interviewer: Last word?
Rand Paul: Tea Parties are huge, I think I was at maybe the first one in the country. Faneuil Hall, December 16th, 2007, we raised 6 million dollars for my dad, but it was the Boston Tea Party, not the original Boston Tea Party, but I [was there when it all began], and it is a big movement, and I’ve met with a lot of Tea Party folks in Kentucky and I think we’ll get a lot of them to support us.
Massachusetts Sen.-elect Scott Brown is putting his new-found fame to good use — the Republican lawmaker wants his oldest daughter back on reality TV. On Sunday, Brown told ABC’s This Week that he’d like his daughter Ayla to get another chance on the FOX talent show American Idol, where judge Simon Cowell once described her performance as robotic and empty.
Ayla, a 21-year-old student at Boston College, made it to the show’s Final 16 in 2006.
Brown says Ayla has grown immensely as an artist in the years since her appearance on Idol and argues that having his daughter back as a contestant would be a wonderful way to show other aspiring singers that there’s life after American Idol.
The rise of digital media has led to many a battle between the old guard—record labels, television networks, movie studios, and book publishers—and the companies that sell their wares to the public. The latest skirmish between the two erupted over the weekend when Amazon stopped selling all books published by Macmillan, noting only that they are available through third parties.
On Thursday, Macmillan CEO John Sargent met with Amazon representatives to discuss the pricing of the publisher’s titles on the Kindle e-book reader. Negotiations didn’t go so well, with Sargent wanting to exercise absolute control over the prices of e-books sold through Amazon. According to the New York Times’ sources, Macmillan wanted Amazon to raise prices from $9.99 to $15.
Page Six Column said Sunday.
The editors at Cars.com have been covering the Toyota recalls from the beginning and offer 
More coverage of TUAW’s inside look at developer boot camp. See below for notes & disclaimer.
