Monday, March 23, 2009

Excellent Summary of Our Economic Rage at the Moment

Frank Rich wrote an excellent column that captures the current state of our rage:

Inquiring Americans have the right to know why it took six months for us to learn (some of) what A.I.G. did with our money. We need to understand why some of that money was used to bail out foreign banks. And why Goldman, which declared that its potential losses with A.I.G. were "immaterial," nonetheless got the largest-known A.I.G. handout of taxpayers' cash ($12.9 billion) while also receiving a TARP bailout. We need to be told why retention bonuses went to some 50 bankers who not only were in the toxic A.I.G. unit but who left despite the "retention" jackpots. We must be told why taxpayers have so little control of the bailed-out financial institutions that we now own some or most of.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Blogs

Hearthstones™ by Lee Bowers
http://www.hearthstonesweb.com/

Former Quarter Ton Man
(Michael Conway)
http://www.formerquartertonman.com/

Motorcade under a Mackerel Sky
(Jennifer Lopez)
http://www.thejenniferlopez.blogspot.com/

Penny For Your Thoughts
(Aria Littlehouse)
http://arialittlhous.blogspot.com/

Politico
http://www.politico.com/

Open Secrets
http://www.opensecrets.org/

Blog Directory

Political Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Blog Directory

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Cheney's Secret Death Squads

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh comes through for the American people again!

Eric Black's article on MinnPost tells the story of former Vice President Dick Cheney's secret assassination squads:

"... the Joint Special Operations Command -- JSOC it’s called. It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days, they reported directly to the Cheney office ...

"Congress has no oversight of it. It’s an executive assassination ring essentially, and it’s been going on and on and on. Just today in the Times there was a story that its leaders, a three star admiral named [William H.] McRaven, ordered a stop to it because there were so many collateral deaths.

"Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving. That’s been going on, in the name of all of us."

Can a plastic water bottle make you fat?

A recent article in Popular Science examined some unusual possible sources of America's obesity problem.

One theory: obesogens

The article explains that bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in many household plastics and food containers, might trigger responses that cause people to get fat.

"Evidence suggests that it can mimic the hormone estrogen and interfere with the body's natural mechanism for regulating fat cells."

Another related article:

Pollution can make you fat, study claims

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The Well-Being Index

"The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index™ has been developed to provide the official measure for health and well-being. It's the voice of Americans and the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to measure what people believe constitutes a good life."

http://www.well-beingindex.com/

The Great Disruption

Scary forecast!

In the New York Times, Thomas Friedman quotes Paul Gilding:

"We are taking a system operating past its capacity and driving it faster and harder," he wrote me. "No matter how wonderful the system is, the laws of physics and biology still apply."

The Inflection Is Near?


... and Tom Ashbrook interviewed Gilding in March 2009 on the "On Point" radio program

The Great Disruption


Another good resource on the topic

Climate Progress