Miers withdraws nomination for US Supreme Court

I for one is go glad she withdrew her nomination. She is a fine lady but doesn't have what it takes to be in the supreme court.

I really wish that Bush chooses someone outside of his circle who is respected in the legal community and has the experience to sit in the nation's highest court.

BTW, I really feel Sandra Day's departure is a great loss.

Harriet-Microsoft Nexus

I was reading Harriet Miers's senate questionnaire and was pleseantly surprised to see that she was a lead local counsel for Microsoft. Here is what she said about her role:

Microsoft Corp. v. Manning, 914 S.W.2d 602 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 1995, pet. dism’d).
I served as lead local counsel for Microsoft and was the principal client contact. This case was an appeal from a state-court ruling that had granted the plaintiffs’ motion
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for class certification. The putative class of software purchasers sued Microsoft alleging breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment, and violations of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty--Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, and Washington Consumer Protection Act. The case turned on the interplay between state and Federal class action laws, and also raised Federal constitutional issues involving the proper application of the Due Process Clause and the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Other issues included the speculative nature of the damages where no actual loss of data was shown and whether or not reliance-based causes of action could be certified as a class action in light of the multitude of individual fact issues arising from each class member’s circumstances. Microsoft contended that the trial court’s class certification violated Microsoft’s due process rights under the state and Federal constitutions and the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution. Specifically, Microsoft argued that the trial court violated the Constitution by applying Texas law to plaintiffs outside Texas whose own states’ laws did not recognize such a legal theory. However, the trial court held that the class certification did not violate constitutional due process or the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Microsoft lost its appeal to the intermediate appellate court. On behalf of Microsoft, I filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus with the Texas Supreme Court, oral argument was granted and briefs were filed. After Microsoft filed its brief with the Texas Supreme Court, the district court, on its own motion, vacated its class certification ruling, stating expressly that it did so after finding Microsoft’s Supreme Court brief persuasive. (Subsequently, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed Microsoft’s position in this case by holding that reliance-based causes of action are not suitable for class certification. See Henry Schein, Inc. v. Stromboe, 102 S.W.3d 675 (Tex. 2002)). Thereafter, the plaintiff non-suited the case.

Whatever it is, I still think "Mr.World's smartest President Bush" could have selected a better candidate.

Apple, Never it was and never it will be

I am so glad I am not using any of the Apple products to encourage some of what they are doing. What pisses me off so much? Read it for yourself:

Apple steps up iPod 'tax' push
"...Apple has made the program a requirement for manufacturers who want their gadgets to plug into the "dock connector" at the bottom of the music player, Senior Vice President Phil Schiller confirmed to CNET News.com last week. "
"...According to a source familiar with the program, Apple is getting a royalty on the order of 10 percent of a device's wholesale price."

I can't imagine Dell/Hp or any other Computer/gadget manufacturer taxing other companies when they release products that electronically connect to the use the ports they provide. What a short sighted strategy!! Talk about Microsoft being a close source/proprietery yada yada. Technically, they could demand or do whatever they want to do. They don't understand that it is a win-win situation for everyone to not have iPod tax. It may benefit Apple short term but in the long run, it isn't helping them build an industry around Apple just like Microsoft built. Even if Microsoft/Intel doesn't do much now, the industry lets them flourish due to some what less restrictive policies.

Apple has been doing something similar with their Mac hardware by trying to kill the competiton. Which is why I think Apple will never be a major long term player. It will have spikes but not steady growth.

Quag-Miers

Bush has again proved that he is incapable and incompetent. Doesn't he know anyone more capable outside of his circle of trust? He puts people who he trusts/loyal in top jobs even though they barely meet the standards and qualification for the job. Here are my favorites
1. Alberto Gozales in justice department
2. Micheal Brown the chief of FEMA who got fired recently. He was the president of Arabian Horses Association with no background on emergency management.
3. Linda Chavez as labor secretary who withdrew from candidacy
4. His nominee for DHS Bernard B. Kerik who withdrew
5. Timothy Flanigan as deputy attorney general who Mr.Bush himself withdrew the nomination
6. The nomination of Bolton for U.N. Though he had the qualification, he chose the wrong person for job at hand which is to bring the world together. Bolton is known to be divisive and people including Colin Powell thought that it wasn't a good choice
7. Paul Wolfowitz who is now the president of the World bank knows only how best to kill people and have no background on macro economy. Compare him with the last president!
8. And the latest, Harriet Miers who has no judicial background other than being a private lawyer now being appointed for the nation's higest court

What is going on? Nothing. Good for the rest of the world. Bad for America. The American people are shooting themselves in the foot by letting these happen. The capitalistic attitude is completely missing in these nominations by picking the top candidate for the job. There is a saying that Bad hires end up making more bad hires and here is an example right before our eyes.

Say no to Hybrids

Since the day I learned about the Hybrid cars, I wanted one but resisted the urge to go get one. Bottomline, you are much better off, money savy and do more for the environment by driving a "1992 GEO METRO" than today's Hybrid. Here are the top reasons why I didn't think it was a great idea to go buy a Hybrid:

• They are expensive. I could not find a seller who sells it below the sticker price++ and without the few months wait. If you are in for a Hybrid to save some money because of its gas mileage, you aren't getting any benefit for at least the first 5 years. In other words, they offset any savings you may get through better mileage.
• These Hybrid vehicles depreciate faster.
• The EPA mileage rating is a scam and the average real world mileage is around 45MPG (not 60+ as published which is under some standard test condition). You are much better off buying a "Geo Metro" as it has better fuel efficiency than Prius for example.
• Hybrids are a diversion and it buys time for the vehicle manufactures from really developing cleaner alternatives like Hydrogen vehicles.
• No one knows how the batteries used by the Hybrids are going to be disposed/recycled. It is a environmental disaster waiting to happen and no one is talking about it since it has not reached the critical mass.
• They are slow and not time tested. The first 5 years are like the test period for these vehicles and we wouldn't know about their reliability and maintainability until this time passes.

Though I had come up with many of the above findings originally by researching it on the internet, I ran into this article which pretty much sums up what I had learned. Here is the summary found from that article:

There is no sensible reason to buy hybrid.

Fuel savings are minimal, performance suffers, repair is problematic and the price is high. The powertrain is overly complicated, and though automakers have thoroughly tested these vehicles, they will likely suffer when exposed to real world driving conditions. As a result, in a few years there will be mountains of batteries that automakers can't dispose of properly, and fleets of hybrids will be selling cheap on used car lots. If you still want a hybrid when this happens, go for it -- you're sure to get a good price. Or you can have fun now with a car that moves you better at a lower price, and wait until hydrogen cars hit the market.