Archive For February 2010
The Enthusiasm Gap
on February 28, 2010 by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
I had dinner the other night with a Democratic pollster who told me Democrats are heading toward next fall’s mid-term elections with a serious enthusiasm gap: The Republican base is fired up. The Democratic base is packing up.
The Democratic base is lethargic because congressional Democrats continue to compromise on everything the base cares about. For a year now it’s been nothing but compromises, watered-down ideas, weakened provisions, wider loopholes, softened regulations. Health care went from what the Democratic base wanted — single payer — to a public option, to no public option, to a bunch of ideas that the president tried to explain last week, and it now hangs by a string as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid try to round up conservative Democrats and a 51-vote reconciliation package in the Senate.
Consumer Groups Rip Chris Dodd Over Financial Protection Agency Compromise
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Consumer advocates are reacting harshly to a compromise Consumer Financial Protection Agency being proposed by Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.).
HuffPost and other media outlets have obtained a copy of a memo outlining the proposal that Dodd sent to committee members this weekend. Read the memo here.
Google, China, and 1984
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
The Google v. China controversy has missed the point. It should be about The Cloud, and how China’s attack on The Cloud brought us closer to the future presaged in George Orwell’s 1984.
“The Cloud” is where Facebook, Google, Amazon, and other web service companies host, store, and analyze the behavioral, or psychographic, data of their users. It is the new ideal for online businesses, offering cost efficiencies and scalable services for the enormous audiences that Cloud-based businesses have begun to attract.
Vancouver Olympics 2010: Spectacular Moments From February 27 (PHOTOS)
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
The Vancouver Olympics have entered their final day, but Saturday was filled with lots of action and a range of medal events. With a stunning 36 medals and at least one more guaranteed, the U.S. set a Winter Olympics medal record, while Canada tied the mark for most golds.
The main competition on Sunday is the gold-medal hockey game between Canada and the United States. The U.S. beat the host nation a week ago in a game that drew huge ratings on both sides of the border — but the stakes tonight will be even higher. Scroll down for photos from Saturday’s Olympic events.
Chile Earthquake Leaves Millions Homeless
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
As the death toll from Saturday morning’s 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Chile reaches over 700, attention is split between rescue operations and providing shelter and resources for the two million people across the South American coastal nation that have been displaced.
An estimated 500,000 structures were destroyed in the quake, and many residents whose houses outlasted the quake chose to spend the night outside anyway, fearing powerful aftershocks.
Another hummingbird cam: Buzzie Bea …
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Arianna Discusses The Move Your Money Campaign On CBS Sunday Morning (VIDEO)
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
The “Move Your Money” campaign was featured on CBS Sunday Morning this week. Arianna appeared on the show to talk about why moving money out of big banks and into smaller banks is important:
“JP Morgan, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo — these banks, that have received taxpayer money, that have been bailed out by the taxpayer, have not done their job at helping small businesses, at lending, so that the economy can start again, and start producing jobs.”
Mahendra Kumar Trivedi Interview at Sages and Scientists Symposium
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
The Patriot Cooks
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Americans have done a lot of great things since our forefathers limned our democratic identity, but we’ve never collectively known how to eat. American culture developed fast, without centuries of agricultural subsistence to define our landscape and our habits. Unlike any other nation, we came of age in the post-industrial era, when great things were accomplished on assembly lines. In less than two hundred years we went from being colonists to being consumers. Now, we get what we want, whenever we want it — especially when it comes to food. But the belief that we can have it all, with no reverence for the natural restraint of seasons and regions, has created a food culture that is destructive for our bodies, our society and our land.
Because America existed for just over a solid century before industrialization reshaped the food landscape, our regional and seasonal eating patterns did not have time to fully take hold. Gumbo still defines Louisiana cuisine and New Englanders love apple pie with cheddar cheese, but by and large, we are without the lasting culinary specialties that characterize virtually every other culture. Without strong traditions borne from seasonal and regional limitations, Americans have adopted the only diet in the world that is killing rather than sustaining its people and natural resources. Although diets across the globe are completely variable, all have managed to sustain a system of human life in conjunction with the land. What other food cultures have in their unadulterated form is a unified understanding of how precious food is to grow and prepare. Eating with delight, appreciation, community and pleasure comes with an understanding of the cost and value of real food.
Steny Hoyer: House Must Move First On Health Care
on by Jude Emantsal in Other News, Comments (0)
Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Sunday that the House must move on a package of fixes to the health care bill before the Senate can act.
House and Senate Democratic leaders have been arguing for weeks over which chamber should jump first: House leaders say their members don’t trust that the Senate will follow. Senate leaders argue that for technical, legislative reasons, the House must pass something before the Senate can act.