“And one can’t help but wonder if Barack Obama were white, would McChrystal have made the assumption that he could defy military protocol by undermining the Commander in Chief and remain above the fray?”
–Molly Secours, The Huffington Post

“War is bigger than any one man or woman, whether a private, a general or president.  As difficult as it is to lose General McChrystal, I believe it is the right decision for national security. “I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division.”
–U.S. President Barack Obama

“…One could argue – or at least wonder – whether McChrystal didn’t willfully commit to this article and the unlimited access the reporter received to circuitously make the point that the U.S. war strategy must be midcourse corrected before it’s too late.

Maybe the general thought it was better to fall on his sword in this public — and perhaps suicidal — way in order to rescue a mission that, if he remained silent and dutiful to his commanding officer, would likely fail.”
–Fraser Seitel, Foxnews.com

“Gen. McChrystal’s remarks about senior officials exposed what has been an open secret in Washington and Kabul for months: The fissures that emerged during the Obama administration’s three-month review of war strategy last year remain, and many of the personalities involved have strained relations that have festered for months.”
–Jonathan Weisman and Peter Spiegel, The Wall Street Journal

“By pairing the decision on McChrystal’s departure with the name of his replacement, Obama is seeking to move on as quickly as possible from the firestorm.”
–MSNBC.com

“Barack Obama, as candidate and president, in effect created the IED known as Gen. Stanley McChrystal. Now that improvised explosive device has blown up in the midst of the Obama presidency. The damage is severe, if not crippling.”
–Howard Fineman, Newsweek.com

He has fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his combat commander in Afghanistan, in such a way that not only will the general go unmissed but his name will likely soon be forgotten.
Obama’s decision to replace McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus is a stroke of brilliance, an unassailable move, politically and strategically.
–Fred Kaplan, Slate.com

Obama stated that he has asked Gen. David Petraeus to replace Gen. McChrystal as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Obama met with McChrystal earlier Wednesday in the wake of politically explosive remarks the general and his aides made in Rolling Stone magazine about key administration officials. Petraeus is the head of U.S. Central Command.

Obama was “angry” after reading the general’s remarks, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

According to TIME Magazine, it was at the Wednesday meeting that Gen. McChrystal offered Obama his resignation.

The remarks in the Rolling Stone magazine article were at least an indirect challenge to civilian management of the war in Washington by its top military commander, according to Foxnews.com.

Military leaders rarely challenge their commander in chief publicly, and when they do, consequences tend to be more severe than a scolding.

Gates hand-picked McChrystal to take over the war last year, calling him a driven visionary with the fortitude and intelligence to turn the war around. Obama fired the previous commander at Gates’ recommendation.

In Kabul on Tuesday, McChrystal issued a statement saying: “I extend my sincerest apology for this profile. It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened.”

In the Rolling Stone article, McChrystal and his staff described the president as unprepared for their first one-on-one encounter.

McChrystal also said he felt betrayed and blind-sided by his diplomatic partner, Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Eikenberry remains in his post in Kabul, and although both men publicly say they are friends, their rift is on full display. McChrystal and Eikenberry, himself a retired Army general, stood as far apart as the speakers’ platform would allow during a White House news conference last month.

The story characterized the general as unable to convince some of his own soldiers that his strategy can win the nation’s longest-running war, and dejected that the president didn’t know about his commendable military record.

McChrystal also said he felt “betrayed” by Eikenberry for expressing doubts about his proposed troop buildup last year and accused the ambassador of giving himself cover.

“Here’s one that covers his flank for the history books,” McChrystal told the magazine. “Now, if we fail, they can say ‘I told you so.”‘

Apparently, they didn’t take too kindly to my ignoring their generous offer to communicate with me.

Since that Monday, exactly seven days ago, I have been called FIFTEEN TIMES by that number. Never a message is left. The earliest calls always happen a shade after 9 AM, and the latest just a shade after 6 PM.

Finally, this morning I decided to find out who died and finally answer. That’s when I discovered how lucky I was that someone was calling me OnBehalfOfTheDallasMorningNews, WithAnOfferEspeciallyForFormerSubscribers…. and I type it like that because that is how the caller was talking. I kept trying to interrupt to respond that I was not interested, and not waste his time by allowing him to give me his whole spiel only to be turned down at the end. But God bless his probably-underpaid-soul, he would not give me the chance. I’m guessing he took a deep breath before I picked up the phone, because he didn’t even seem to be pausing for breath, he was so busy speeding through his script, and ignoring my attempts to interrupt him.

It wasn’t until I kept repeating, “no, no, no, no” countless times over him that he finally stopped.
I told him I wasn’t interested, and to stop calling me, and to put me on his Do-Not-Call List, to which he responded, “SureWeCanDoThatLetMeJustTransferYouToMySupervisor” and I heard silence on the line. I checked the screen on my phone, and the timer was still going, so the call was still active. After about a minute of this, I finally hung up.

If you google the phone number that called me, you’ll see that I’m not the only one that has complaints about the Telemarketing company that calls from this number.

Dallas Morning News Circulation Department, you have a call to make. And it’s not to me.

Google Trends: remove google background

I can change the image. To another image. But not disable.
A Baltimore newspaper blog post incorrectly described this as Google giving users the “option” of a background image. This is incorrect. This is NOT an option.

Google: This sucks.

And I’m not the only one that thinks so.

According to Google’s own Trends tool, “remove google background” is the SECOND trendiest search on its engine right now, behind only “blackhawks parade” (the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last night).

Google, your users are trying to tell you something.

FIX FOR THE GOOGLE BACKGROUND IMAGE: If you set your homepage (or links or however you get to google) to https://www.google.com with an “httpS” rather than “http”, you don’t get the background image forced on you. For now. Who knows how long before Google decides to force another “option” on us.

In the German legend, Faust was a scholar who sold his soul to the devil many years hence in return for a life now of intellectual brilliance and physical comfort. In our version of the legend, Europe’s governments told the devil that, more than anything, they wanted a life of social protection and income fairness no matter the cost. Life was good. A fortnight ago, the bond devil arrived and asked for his money.

Dan Henninger, The Wall Street Journal

-Tiki Barber, in his 2007 memoir “Tiki: My life in the game and beyond”

“I don’t give a [bleep] that the relationship didn’t work. Not only did he abandon her, I felt like he abandoned us for a lot of our lives. I have a hard time forgiving that.”

-Tiki Barber, speaking of his parents’ split in a 2004 NY Post interview.

Ex-Giants superstar Tiki Barber has dumped his 8-months-pregnant wife, Ginny, for sexy former NBC intern Traci Lynn Johnson, sources told The NY Post last night. The football star-turned-”Today” show-correspondent left his wife of 11 years, Ginny, for the 23-year-old blond, who also worked at the NBC TV show “30 Rock”, the sources said. Ginny, who is expecting twins, found out about the relationship late last year, after the run-around running back moved out of their Upper East Side home.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/timing_tiki_plays_field_TMZxMDNXxvBbNgVBToZL8O#ixzz0kRs1L6NX

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How Much is a H.S. Diploma Worth?

The sole branch of The La Coste National Bank will reopen on Monday as a branch of Community National Bank. Depositors of The La Coste National Bank will automatically become depositors of Community National Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Community National Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Community National Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of The La Coste National Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

As of December 31, 2009, The La Coste National Bank had approximately $53.9 million in total assets and $49.3 million in total deposits. Community National Bank will pay the FDIC a premium of 0.51 percent to assume all of the deposits of The La Coste National Bank. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Community National Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $3.7 million. Community National Bank’s acquisition of all the deposits was the “least costly” resolution for the FDIC’s DIF compared to all alternatives. The La Coste National Bank is the 18th FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Texas. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Madisonville State Bank, Madisonville, on October 30, 2009.

In an article today we predicted that failures by small banks like these will become more and more common as the coming Commercial Real Estate crash gets close.