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George W. Bush Denies Any Responsibility; Charlie Gibson’s Craven Interview Gives President A Free Pass

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Mike Bock

Last night on ABC News, President George W. Bush denied any responsibility for the financial crisis the country is now going through. He was interviewed by Charlie Gibson, and was given a free pass to say whatever he wanted without being challenged even a smidgen. (See interview here.)

Gibson asked: “Do you feel in any way responsible for what is happening (in the economy)?”

What a question — “In any way responsible” — for crying out loud, Bush has been president for eight years and for six of those years he has had complete control of the federal government. Is he in any way, maybe, just maybe, just a tiny bit responsible? What a goofy question.

Gibson’s question should have been something like: “How in the world could you have allowed this to happen on your watch?”

But in response to the softball pitch he was given, Bush answered: “When history of this period is written people will realize that a lot of the decisions made on wall street took place over a decade or so before I arrived as president.”

Huh? Amazingly, Gibson let the whole thing slide. Does ABC or anybody paying attention think this is journalism? Compared to mush headed Gibson, Katie Couric is a tiger.

Bush has been president for the last eight years and, evidently, he would like for us to believe that the important factors causing the present degradation of our economy happened when Bill Clinton was president. The absurdity of Bush’s arrogance and the gull of his fantasy thinking is astounding. But more astounding is Charlie Gibson’s role in allowing such nonsense to go unchallenged. Evidently, Gibson thinks it’s his job, in these latter days of Bush, to sanction and give respectability to whatever propaganda fantasy nonsense Bush wants to lay out.

Gibson should have asked any number of questions. Here are a few: “Do you think that fighting two expensive wars, while giving tax breaks worth hundreds of billions to the most wealthy, has anything to do with the destruction of today’s economy? Do you think that taking us over three trillion dollars in additional debt just might have had some negative impact on the economy? Do you think that this crisis of confidence in the market is somehow happening detached from the crisis of confidence in your administration? Do you think you deregulation that allowed your rich cronies, corrupt lobbyist, powerful corporations have free rein in the market had anything to do with the plight in which we find ourselves in today?”

,P.

Posted in M Bock, Opinion | Leave a comment

DaytonOS — The November Report

Posted on December 2, 2008 by Mike Bock

At DaytonOS, in November, we averaged 428 visitors each day, and we averaged 1278 “hits” each day. A “hit” indicates that a specific article is accessed. As this chart shows, we were busiest around election day, and have been tapering off since then.

Sort of as an experiment, I placed five “channels” on DaytonOS to display Google ads. The revenue on these ads vary from day to day. My highest amount of ad revenue for one day was $3.63. Total ad revenue for the month was $21.36 or $.71 per day.

I’m thinking that if DaytonOS had fifty times the activity each day that it has now, the ad revenue would be fifty times as much. If the 428 visitors each day is multipled by 50 the result is 21,400. And if 21,400 visitors on average came to DaytonOS, I guess it would be a safe prediction that the the ad revenue would be 50 times as much: $.71 each day multiplied by 50 = $35.50 or $1065 for a 30 day month.

If it could ever be possible to have such a many-fold increase in activity on DaytonOS, the ad income produced from such activity could be used to hire some part time reporters or web-meisters. As a web-site becomes successful, it gains capacity to become even more successful. As they say, nothing succeeds like success. Content drives readership.

DaytonOS has some big long term goals and plans. I am making a new strategy for moving toward these goals and I will write about that new strategy soon. The plans for DaytonOS requires getting a lot more people actively involved working towards a shared vision of purpose. This will require a lot of effort and my intention is to modify my lazy ways and start dedicating more time and personal energy to the project.

Right now, DaytonOS consists of my posts and the posts from Dayton area web-sites that DaytonOS syndicates. We syndicate these sites:

For each post coming from a syndicated site, for those readers who want to make comments, a link is provided to take readers back to the syndicated site.

DaytonOS has some readers who seem to check in on a regular basis, often making comments. But the number of such loyal visitors is small. Of the 400+ visitors we average each day, the great majority find DaytonOS while searching a specific question via a search engine.

I’ve gotten interested in analyzing the search phrases that bring visitors to DaytonOS. It’s sort of amazing that when you float a small bark out into the internet seas, someone, somewhere, is searching to find it. What is interesting is that oftentimes via a search engine, there may be hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of possible matches, but often DaytonOS articles are in the top ten.

My WordPress software tells the search phrase that visitors have used to find specific articles, and shows the search engine result. This information is pretty ephemeral — only the last ten references are held and then the oldest is erased as new searchers are listed.

The last week or so, I’ve been checking the statistics periodically to see how people find DaytonOS. Here are some of these references I noticed in the last week. These show: Search engine rank (position) out of (total entries indicated), Search phrase: the exact phrase used by searcher, The article found, the date the article was written:

Position #2 Out of 466,000 Search phrase: there is no need for reform in public school Public Schools Need Radical Reform, Educational Leaders Must Answer the Question: BY WHAT METHOD? March 7, 2008
Position #7 out of 480,000 Search phrase: how will america pay for all the new debt?
Who Cares? America Will Never Pay Off It’s Debt – Why Try? June 15, 2008
Position #1 Out of 473,000 Search phrase: mission strickland education Governor Strickland In “Education Forum” Discusses Six Principles To Guide Ohio’s Education Reform July 31, 2008
Position # 5 Out of 1,970,000 Search phrase: postwar housing Solutions to the Postwar Housing Crisis November 14, 2008
Position #2 Out of 445,000 Search phrase: dangers of national debt Ross Perot Warns About Dangers of National Debt August 31, 2008
Position #2 Out of 4,010,000 Search phrase: how much do stitches cost How much do 3 stitches cost? October 7, 2008
Position #5 Out of 4,010,000 Search phrase: Krugman on auto bailout Paul Krugman Gives Two Reason He Supports Bailout of Auto Companies November 16, 2008
Position #1 Out of 8,710,000 Search phrase: how do you tell if a school is a good school A Great Question: How Can We Tell If a School Is Excellent? November 2, 2007
Position #2 Out of 457,000 Search phrase: children die because of health insurance Two Ohioans Die Every Day Because of a Lack of Health Insurance March 19, 2008
Position #3 Out of 262,000 Search phrase: roubini economist Nouriel Roubini, Prescient Economist Known as “Dr. Doom,” Says Bailout Process Is a Disgrace September 26, 2008
Position #1 Out of 3,250,000 Search phrase: a democracy if you can keep “A Republic, If You Can Keep it!” October 18, 2007
Position #1 Out of 58,900 Search phrase: post-war housing shortage Solutions to the Postwar Housing Crisis November 14, 2008
Position #10 Out of 351,000 Search phrase: where can obama be bold in the role of president Krugman: Regardless of $Trillion Deficit, Obama Must Be Bold And Enact A New New Deal November 7, 2008
Position #13 Out of 6,520,000 Search phrase: world war II emergency housing #13 The Industrial Suburb at War: Home Front Boom Town November 6, 2008
Position #4 Out of 721,000 Search phrase: brief history of debt A brief history of our Federal debt November 18, 2008
Position #2 Out of 9,610,000 Search phrase: will obama go to the moon Barack Obama’s “Go To The Moon” Challenge For Our Time Should Be: Transform Public Education May 9, 2008
Position #1 Out of 438,000 Search phrase: play on thoughtfulness Was Hamlet A Thoughtful Person? November 15, 2008
Position #1 Out of 18,800,000 Search phrase: sorry county blues Sorry County Blues November 23, 2008
Position #2 Out of 183,000 Search phrase: Peter Principle palin Does The Rise Of Sarah Palin Illustrate The “Peter Principle” At Work? October 2, 2008
Position #1 Out of 3,060,000 Search phrase: Paul Krugman on financial crisis Paul Krugman: “Ugly Financial Crisis Will Soon Create Ugly Politics” March 14, 2008
Position #4 Out of 183,000,000 Search phrase america third word country America: a third world country. October 11, 2008
Position #1 Out of 248,000 Search phrase: ohio state inheritance tax budget State Senator Tom Roberts – Ohio’s Estate Tax March 6, 2008
Position #2 Out of 2,390,000 Search phrase: krugman and bailout of auto industry #2 Paul Krugman Gives Two Reason He Supports Bailout of Auto Companies November 16, 2008
Position #3 Out of 1,760,000 Search phrase: most important legislation Obama wants passed #3 Unions Want Obama’s Help In Passing Legislation That Helps Workers Unionize November 12, 2008
Position #1 Out of 1,740,000 Search phrase: was hamlet brilliant? Was Hamlet A Thoughtful Person? November 15, 2008
Position #2 Out of 59,300 Search phrase: david matthews reclaiming public education The Problem Behind the Problem: What Does It Take To Make Our Democracy Work As It Should? April 8, 2008

Posted in Features, Special Reports | Tagged daytonos, google ads, google search, revenue from google ads, search engines | Leave a comment

Looking Back: My 15 Months Of Web Log Posts On DaytonOS

Posted on December 1, 2008 by Mike Bock

This morning, I decided to go through the DaytonOS archives and look through the articles that I’ve posted on DaytonOS — from the time of my first post about 15 months ago. I’ve enjoyed writing these posts, and I’m thinking, indirectly, by writing these posts, I’m developing a technique of self-education and personal growth that could be developed for implementation in educational programs– particularly programs, such as home schooling, where there is opportunity for choice and personal direction.

A lot of my posts center on summarizing articles I’ve read by other authors. But, these 73 articles referenced below represent my effort, at least once each week, to focus my own thoughts on a question or topic and to write my own article.

December is a good time to take a breath, evaluate the fading year and contemplate the coming new year. I’m hit with a double dose of thoughtfulness this time of year, because my birthday falls on December 31. These 73 posts are a good reminder to me of my own thinking these past 15 months, a good foundation for this new year. To anyone thinking about making a New Years resolution centered on increasing personal growth, I’d recommend the developing and sharing of a web log.