HOUSTON – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' chief physician says she is "even more alert today" and progressing nicely with therapy a day after arriving at Texas Medical Center in Houston to begin rehabilitation. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Dr. Gerard Francisco said the Arizona congresswoman did not speak or make any sounds when he examined her on Saturday.
That could be because Giffords still has a breathing tube. He said it is too soon to say whether she can or will be able to talk.
Giffords was shot two weeks ago while meeting with constituents in Tucson.
Albania's opposition Socialists vowed on Saturday to stage more anti-government demonstrations a day after three people were shot dead in a protest against Prime Minister Sali Berisha's rule.
Supporters of the Socialists, who refuse to accept the results of a 2009 election and accuse Berisha's government of corruption and vote fraud, pelted his office building with sticks and stones on Friday, prompting police to respond with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and stun grenades.
Three civilians died in the confrontation, one of a gunshot wound to the head and the two others with close-range shots to the chest, in the worst violence in the former communist country since protesters stormed the main government building in 1998 following the death of a lawmaker.
As mourners prepared to bury the dead on Saturday, the leader of the Socialist Party, Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, promised more protests and blamed Berisha's government for the deaths.
"The opposition will observe a day of mourning, but after we honor the dead in a show of freedom and justice, we assure Sali that we will confront him with all the historical and civil responsibility we feel for getting rid of this intolerable regime of thieves," Rama said.
Berisha has accused Rama of attempting a Tunisia-style uprising.
"Albania is not in a state of emergency and will not pass into a state of emergency. But scenarios of violence will not be tolerated," Berisha said late on Friday.
Outside his office on Saturday, workers were cleaning up stones, sticks, anti-government banners and the carcasses of gutted cars.
The Socialists have staged many non-violent protests in central Tirana, including a lengthy hunger strike, since the 2009 election. But some analysts believe its confrontation with the government could escalate unless the West intervenes more robustly than it has so far.
In a joint statement, the Tirana missions of the EU, United States and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said they deeply regretted the casualties and called for a compromise.
The European Union rejected Albania's application last year to become an official candidate to join the bloc, urging it to fight corruption and establish a functioning democracy.
Redbox, other kiosks now used more than rental stores Redbox locations
Well that didn't take very long. In the third quarter of 2010, more people rented DVDs from kiosks such as Redbox than from retail stores such as Blockbuster, according to a new report.
In fact, with 31 percent of the U.S. market share, the use of kiosks is approaching the use of mail services such as Netflix, which according to research firm NPD Group had 41 percent of the market. Retail stores, which are having a tough time competing against the newer services, were responsible for about 27 percent of U.S. rentals.
Maybe I was blind, but I really didn't notice these Redbox kiosks in Seattle until about a year ago. They're already more popular than rental shops? Was Seattle late to this trend?
Redbox, on its website (PDF), says it started market-testing its kiosks in 2004 at McDonald's restaurants in the Denver area. (Redbox started as a division of McDonald's in 2002 and produced 12 kiosks then. Coinstar invested in Redbox in 2007, then purchased a controlling stake in 2009.)
After good customer response, the test expanded in 2005 to Baltimore, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City and St. Louis. Today, the company says, there are more than 24,900 Redboxes across the contiguous 48 states in grocery stores (such as Safeway), McDonald's locations, Walmarts, Walgreens stores and 7-Elevens.
But I don't know when, for sure, we got our first Redbox in the Seattle area. I contacted Redbox to find out, but hadn't heard back by publication time.
But man -- Redbox and others (Blockbuster started up its Blockbuster Express service in 2008) sure elbowed their way into the market quickly. Quickly and with authority.
Who Gets More Speeding Tickets - Men get more speeding tickets along with reckless driving and seatbelt violations.Who receives the most speeding tickets? Men or Women?Who receives more speeding tickets? Men or women? #MillionDollarMoneyDrop they put ALL their money ($300K) on men. Let's see!!
So the final question is who gets more speeding tickets, men or women? First one I have no clue what the answer is lol
Dick Cheney's NBC Interview: Addresses Obama, Palin 'Target Map,' Arizona Shootings, And More
In his first interview since undergoing major heart surgery last July, former Vice President Dick Cheney addresses a wide range of topics, including the Arizona shooting and the resulting political fallout, his latest views on Barack Obama's presidency, his offer to George W. Bush to step down as vice president, and his upcoming health decisions.
Read the full release from NBC News along with key quotes below. * * * *
NBC NEWS EXCLUSIVE -- FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY SITS DOWN WITH JAMIE GANGEL IN HIS FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE HIS HEART SURGERY LAST JULY
The Interview Will Air On "Today" Tuesday, January 18 and an Excerpt Will Air Tonight On "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams"
NEW YORK - January 17, 2011 -- In his first interview since his heart surgery last July, former Vice President Dick Cheney sits down exclusively with "Today" National Correspondent Jamie Gangel. The interview will air on "Today" tomorrow, Tuesday, January 18, and an excerpt will air tonight on "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams."
In the wide-ranging interview from his home on the eastern shore of Maryland, Cheney opens up to Gangel on multiple topics. On his health, Cheney says he hasn't made a decision yet on a heart transplant. On President Obama, Cheney says he still thinks he is a one-term president, but he is pleased to see him adopting some of the Bush/Cheney policies on the war on terror. On the tragedy in Tucson, Cheney says we should be careful about drawing a connection to political rhetoric. He also reveals he offered to step aside as vice president multiple times. Cheney also discusses his upcoming book, which is set to come out in September.
Excerpts from the interview below; mandatory credit to NBC News with airdates.
Jim Bell is the executive producer of "Today" (Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-11 a.m. ET)
***
CHENEY ON HIS HEALTH:
JAMIE GANGEL:
Let's start in the obvious place. For those who have not seen you recently, you look a little different. You lost some weight. This past summer your doctors told you that after five heart attacks you had to make a decision. And you had major surgery. And you had a heart pump put in. Can you tell me a little bit about what they did?
DICK CHENEY:
Sure. Well, there's a system called the LVAD, Left Ventricular Assist Device. And it in effect takes blood from the ventricle chamber of your heart and moves it into your aorta. And it significantly increases the amount of blood flow you've got going, which is vital when you get to end stage heart failure.
It significantly improves the function in the kidneys and your liver because they get an adequate supply of blood. And I'd reached the point after 30 years and five heart attacks where I really needed to do something. And so that's what we did. It's a pump that runs at about 9,000 RPMs. It's battery powered from the outside. But it's a wondrous device. It's really a miracle of modern technology. And now I'm here today because we have that kind of technology. And because the doctors were able to adapt it to my situation.
...
...
JAMIE GANGEL:
More and more people are using these instead of heart transplants, but usually they use them for a year or two. Are you thinking about a heart transplant?
DICK CHENEY:
I haven't made a decision yet. The technology was originally developed to provide a transition. To take somebody who's reached the point where they needed a transplant but a transplant wouldn't immediately be available, so they put this in as a temporary measure.
What's happened over time is the technology's gotten better and better and we've gotten more and more experience with people living with this technology. So I'll have to make a decision at some point whether or not I want to go for a transplant. But we haven't addressed that yet.
***
CHENEY ON PRESIDENT OBAMA:
JAMIE GANGEL:
You said that you thought that President Obama was going to be a one term President. Do you still?
DICK CHENEY:
I do.
JAMIE GANGEL:
Because?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, because I think he embarked upon a course of action when he became President that did not have as much support as he thought it did. That once he got into the business, for example, of the healthcare reform. I think he's enacted a program that a great many people are very worried about. And that there's a lot of support out there for the effort to repeal that healthcare package.
I think his overall approach to expanding the size of government, expanding the deficit, and giving more and more authority and power to the government over the private sector is a lack of-- sort of a feel for the role of the private sector in-- in creating jobs, in creating wealth and getting our economy back on track. Those are all weaknesses, as I look at Barack Obama. And I think he'll be a one term President.
JAMIE GANGEL:
He's recently rebounded in the polls a little bit. Do you think he's gotten more in tune with some of these things?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, I think perhaps he learned a lesson or two in the off term elections, the off year elections. The Democrats suffered major defeats. The Republican victory in the House was one of the most momentous changes, if you go back and look at our history, that we've ever had in terms of the number of seats captured.
He obviously has been through the fires of becoming President and having to make decisions and live with the consequences. And it's different than being a candidate. When he was candidate he was all for closing Gitmo. He was very critical of what we'd done on the counterterrorism area to protect America from further attack and so forth.
I think he's learned that he's not going to be able to close Guantanamo. That it's-- if you didn't have it you'd have to create one like that. You've got to have some place to put terrorists who are combatants who are bound and determined to try to kill Americans.
I think he's-- in terms of a lot of the terrorism policies-- the early talk, for example, about prosecuting people in the CIA who've been carrying out our policies-- all of that's fallen by the wayside. I think he's learned that what we did was far more appropriate than he ever gave us credit for while he was a candidate. So I think he's learned from experience. And part of that experience was the Democrats having a terrible showing last election.
JAMIE GANGEL:
You said you believe President Obama has made America less safe. That he's actually raised the risk of attack. Do you still feel that way?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, when I made that comment, I was concerned that the counterterrorism policies that we'd put in place after 9/11 that had kept the nation safe for over seven years were being sort of rapidly discarded. Or he was going to attempt to discard them. Things like the enhanced interrogation techniques or the terror surveillance program.
They'd been vital from our perspective in terms of learning basic fundamental intelligence about al Qaeda, about how they operated, who they were, where we could find them. And we were able to put in place a successful policy that did prevent any further major attacks against the United States over all those years. And he campaigned against all of that.
As I say, I think he's found it necessary to be more sympathetic to the kinds of things we did. They've gotten active, for example, with the drone program, using Predator and the Reaper to launch strikes against identified terrorist targets in the various places in the world.
That's all well and good. That's a plus that he's learned in that regard. But I still worry that until you've been there -- clearly a day I'll never forget-- 9/11-- I mean most Americans will always remember where they were on that day. But to sit in the Presidential bunker under the White House as al Qaeda launches hijacked aircraft and hits New York, hits Washington and kills 3,000 Americans, that's something I'll never forget.
And-- it requires you to-- certainly stimulated in me and I think the President I worked for an absolute commitment that that's never going to happen again on our watch. And that we'll do whatever we have to do in order to prevent it. And I hope President Obama is to that point now where he has that same basic attitude. But we might never find out until there's actually another attack.
***
CHENEY ON THE TRAGEDY IN TUCSON AND POLITICAL RHETORIC:
JAMIE GANGEL:
We don't know what motivated this young man, but immediately there was an uproar about contentious political rhetoric being responsible. Whether it's Sarah Palin using words like, "Don't retreat, reload," or President Obama in 2008 said, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun," are those kinds of metaphors dangerous? Do you think the political rhetoric has gotten out of control?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, I think we have to be a little bit careful here-- about a rush to judgment. Trying to explain the event when we don't really know everything we need to know in order to be able to make sort of a final judgment. There's a lot more I'd like to know about the man who was the perpetrator of this awful crime.
And I think we need to be a little careful about assuming that somehow the rest of society or the political class bears the responsibility for what happened here when it was the act of a deranged, crazed individual that committed a crime.
I think our politics can get pretty rough at times. Having been vice president for eight years, maybe I'm more (CHUCKLES) sensitive to it than others, but the fact of the matter is, a good, tough political fights is one of the great strengths of our democracy. And so I think we have to be cautious I guess about jumping to conclusions here about the extent to which the sort of the political environment contributed to or caused this event. I think the event was caused by a deranged individual. And-- that's where we ought to look in terms of trying to assess guilt.
In the meantime certainly there's nothing wrong with, and I wouldn't be critical about people who are saying, "Look, we need to be careful about our rhetoric. We need to treat one another with respect during the course of our political debates," and so forth. I think that's always good, sound advice.
But I don't think we should anticipate that we can somehow take a system that was designed for political combat, if you will, between the parties, between ideas, between principles and set that aside. I wouldn't want to do that. That's the heart and soul of our political system. And that's basically a good thing.
JAMIE GANGEL:
Do you think we should watch our language? Do you think we should avoid things like targets on websites?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, perhaps. But again, as I say, I'm reluctant to judge our politicians based upon the act of what appears to be a lone, crazed gunman. Who perpetrated the crime.
***
CHENEY ON OFFERING TO STEP ASIDE AS VICE PRESIDENT:
JAMIE GANGEL:
Let me talk to you about President Bush's book. In his memoir he said about you, "Ten years later I've never regretted my decision to run with Dick Cheney," but he also writes that you offered and he considered dropping you from the ticket. And he says, quote, "He'd become a lightning rod for criticism. He was seen as dark and heartless, the Darth Vader of the administration." First of all, why did you offer to step aside? And I gather it was not the only time you offered?
DICK CHENEY:
Well, I actually went in about three different times because I didn't think he took me seriously the first time. That it was all in that period right before the '04 campaign. And the reason I did it was I thought he needed to have the ability to do whatever was necessary-- to make sure he won.
I always remembered what happened in '92 when his father ran. And there was a lot of speculation at the time that if he had gotten a new Vice President-- not to say anything negative about Dan Quayle. He's a friend of mine. But if he'd reached out and gotten a new Vice President he might have won reelection.
And I didn't wanna stand in the way if in fact that kind of decision would enhance the President's prospects of winning reelection in 2004 when he was up against John Kerry. And I thought he ought to have the freedom to change anybody he wanted, including me.
Ridley Scott Ditches 'Alien' Prequel for More 'Provocative' Film
While the prequel of "Alien" is not getting significant progress in the last two years, Fox moves on to developing a new project which still involves Ridley Scott as the director and Noomi Rapace as the possible lead actress. A new and original movie which is given the title "Prometheus" is set to be released on March 9, 2012.
"While Alien was indeed the jumping off point for this project, out of the creative process evolved a new, grand mythology and universe in which this original story takes place," said Scott in a statement. In getting the new project up and running, Scott is helped by Damon Lindelof in the script writing. The draft was originally written by Jon Spaihts based on Scott's idea.
"The keen fan will recognize strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative," Scott continued. "I couldn't be more pleased to have found the singular tale I'd been searching for, and finally return to this genre that's so close to my heart."
Lindelof chimed in, "In a world flooded with prequels, sequels and reboots. I was incredibly struck by just how original Ridley's vision was for this movie. It's daring, visceral and hopefully, the last thing anyone expects."
Well, not really the Chipmunks, but the current controller of everything Alvin, Simon and Theodore, Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., the son of the man who created the characters in the fifties.
Bagdasarian has brought suit against EMI in U.S. District Court for breach of contract and copyright infringement, saying that the company infringed on 24 of his songs. He is looking for statutory damages of up to $150,000 for a potential total of $3.6 million. This is based on the stated terms of the license with EMI that requires them to pay nine cents per copy of each composition whether it is sold or not (i.e., if they press it, they will pay).
This isn’t the first lawsuit recently brought by Bagdasarian against an entertainment conglomerate. In 2009, he sued 20th Century Fox for half the profits on Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, a film that grossed over $200 million.
Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. created the singing rodents in the 50′s, by speeding up his own singing voice. He then dubbed himself David Seville and had major hits with The Chipmunk Song (1958/#1), Alvin’s Harmonica (1959/#3) and Ragtime Cowboy Joe (1959/#16). The franchise eventually spun off into TV series and the very successful movies.
'Glee' exclusive: Season 2 to feature more Gwyneth and Gaga!
Gleeks, I’ve got such amazing scoop that I almost piddled in my pants when I heard it so I can’t imagine how you’re gonna react: EW has learned exclusively that the phenomenal Gwyneth Paltrow is officially reprising her role as Holly Holliday for TWO episodes of Glee in the spring and she’s gettin’ it on with Mr. Schuester!!! Says co-creator Ryan Murphy, “Gwyneth is coming back for two episodes. She’s coming back specifically to date Will [Matthew Morrison]. Those two have become really good friends in real life and had really good chemistry. She’s coming back as a sex education teacher. Gwyneth and I are emailing, talking every week: What are we gonna sing? We’re trying to do something fantastic. So she’ll be [in episodes] 15 and 16. She comes back [to film] in January and she’s with us for three and a half weeks I think.”
You think that would be enough but I have even more redonkulous news: Lady Gaga just this week gave the Glee producers clearance for tackling her highly anticipated new single, “Born This Way,” which hasn’t even dropped yet! Murphy reveals that the song will be used in a March or April episode and will be centered around closeted gay bully Karofsky (Max Adler). “I love that that song is anthem,” says Murphy. “This show is by nature optimistic and I think a character like Karofsky could turn to booze or pills or alcohol and kill themselves or do something dark. But I also love Max and I love that character and I sorta want that character to have a happy ending. So I don’t really know what that’s going to be, but I do know we’re going to do a whole episode that’s about that song.”
And there’s one more Glee favorite returning: Kristin Chenoweth. She will be back as April Rhodes in the last batch of episodes of the season for a multi-episode arc.
Season 2′s second half is looking awfully good and really, really blonde!
Supporters of the Socialists, who refuse to accept the results of a 2009 election and accuse Berisha's government of corruption and vote fraud, pelted his office building with sticks and stones on Friday, prompting police to respond with tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon and stun grenades.
Gleeks, I’ve got such amazing scoop that I almost piddled in my pants when I heard it so I can’t imagine how you’re gonna react: EW has learned exclusively that the phenomenal Gwyneth Paltrow is officially reprising her role as Holly Holliday for TWO episodes of Glee in the spring and she’s gettin’ it on with Mr. Schuester!!! Says co-creator Ryan Murphy, “Gwyneth is coming back for two episodes. She’s coming back specifically to date Will [Matthew Morrison]. Those two have become really good friends in real life and had really good chemistry. She’s coming back as a sex education teacher. Gwyneth and I are emailing, talking every week: What are we gonna sing? We’re trying to do something fantastic. So she’ll be [in episodes] 15 and 16. She comes back [to film] in January and she’s with us for three and a half weeks I think.”
