MAKE YOUR DAY
We don't know where this video came from - the alleged date seems wrong - but it's not to be missed. Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino - playing piano at the same time. Not to mention Ron Woods of the Rolling Stones, Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) and others playing backup plus cameo appearance by Rod Sewart and all, apparently under the direction of Paul Schaeffer.
CRASH TALK
Washington Post - House Democrats have reached an agreement to narrow the impact of legislation allowing bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages. Under the current version of the legislation, a bankruptcy judge could cut the principal balance of a homeowner's mortgage, lower the interest rate and extend the terms. But after moderate Democrats raised objections last week, delaying a vote, Democratic leaders agreed to insert some restrictions, according to a letter circulated by some moderate Democrats in support of the legislation yesterday.
The compromise version, for example, requires that a homeowner share with the lender any profit from the eventual sale of the home if a bankruptcy judge lowers the principal balance. It also gives preference to lowering a homeowner's interest rate over cutting the principal balance.
The compromise also limits homeowners' ability to ask a bankruptcy judge for help if they have already received or been offered a loan modification that lowered their payments to 31 percent of their income.
The financial services industry, which has lobbied against the bill, fought for all those provisions.
Zogby - The nation's current economic conditions have caused many Americans to rethink their spending habits, with 70% saying they have cut back on entertainment, recreation and eating out at restaurants in the past year, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows. . . Younger adults are most likely to say they have cut back - 76% of those age 18-29 are spending less on entertainment, compared to 55% of those age 65 and older who say the same. Entertainment spending has suffered the most, but 40% said they have also limited or canceled their normal vacation plans due to the cost and another 40% have put off the purchase of a major item such as automobile, home entertainment electronics, or a computer.
Contrary to the coverage given by mainstream media, a Gallup poll finds that 64% of Americans are will to give aid to homeowners who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure
Geraint Jones, Daily Express, UK - Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a "summer of discontent" in Britain. . . MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers. . . What worries emergency planners most is that the middle classes, now struggling to cope with unemployment and repossessions, may take to the streets with the disenfranchised. The source said "this potent cocktail is reminiscent of the poll tax riots which fatally wounded Margaret Thatcher's government in 1990."
Reuters - U.S. companies, consumers and communities may grow so addicted to government financial help that cutting them off could trigger another recession soon after the current one ends. Between the U.S. Federal Reserve's trillions of dollars in lending programs, the $787 billion stimulus package and $700 billion -- and counting -- in bank bailout funds, no one can accuse officials of soft-pedaling their crisis response. But there is increasing concern that when the flow of public money subsides -- beginning next year when much of that stimulus package is spent -- the economy still won't be strong enough to stand on its own.
WBZ, Boston - These days many sellers are so anxious to attract qualified buyers they'll try just about anything. That, coupled with buyers wanting to make the right decision, has led to a new trend called "sleepover showings.". . . Real estate experts say more owners and developers are willing to give these "sleepover showings" a try. .
ACTIVISM
NEWS RELEASE TIPS
JUST POLITICS
Wired - Following three months of investigation, California's secretary of state has released a report examining why a voting system made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly known as Diebold) lost about 200 ballots in Humboldt County during the November presidential election. But the most startling information in the state's 13-page report is not about why the system lost votes. . . but that some versions of Diebold's vote tabulation system, known as the Global Election Management System, include a button that allows someone to delete audit logs from the system. Auditing logs are required under the federal voting system guidelines, which are used to test and qualify voting systems for use in elections. The logs record changes and other events that occur on voting systems to ensure the integrity of elections and help determine what occurred in a system when something goes wrong. . . The Diebold system in Humboldt County, which uses version 1.18.19 of GEMS, has a button labeled "clear," that "permits deletion of certain audit logs that contain - or should contain - records that would be essential to reconstruct operator actions during the vote tallying process," according to the California report.
Arizona Central - In a state that gave America its 2008 Republican presidential candidate and regularly elects conservative policy makers, a snapshot survey of 950 Arizona teenagers indicates that they are leaning decidedly left. Among the results of a survey released today: 75 percent support giving illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens, 72 percent believe global warming is long-term and human-caused, and 65 percent say women have a right to choose abortion. Greater legal restrictions on gun ownership get a nod from 56 percent. Although nearly half report that religion plays an important role in their lives, half also agree religious faith isn't necessary to live a moral life and nearly 60 percent say religion should not play a large role in public policy.
Josh Goodman, Governing - Soon, there will be four Democrats in Kansas holding statewide elected offices, but none of those people will have been elected to the office in which they serve. Assuming Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson will become governor. He'll appoint a new lieutenant governor. Sebelius appointed the state attorney general, Steve Six, to office after his predecessor resigned in a sex scandal. The governor also appointed State Treasurer Dennis McKinney to office after the old treasurer, a Republican, was elected to Congress.
On January 18th, the Greens in the German state of Hesse received 13.7 percent of the vote, the highest percentage ever for Greens in any German state parliamentary election (other than city-states). In the process they almost doubled their number of representatives, winning 17 seats in the 118-member Hessian parliament, up from 9 seats a year before. As usual, the Greens were also the only party to elect a majority of female Members of Parliament with nine out of 17. . . Led by charismatic party co-chair Tarek Al-Wazir, the Hessian Greens' platform emphasized education, climate change and green energy, gender equity, confronting poverty and increasing democracy and transparency in state government.
Performance activist Reverend Billy Talen launched his New York City Green Party mayoral campaign at a Union Square press conference. The candidate known for his work with the Church of Life After Shopping called for an "affordable and livable" New York that relies on its neighborhoods and independent businesses for sustainable and equitable prosperity.
AFGHANISTAN
McClatchy - A new alliance of Pakistani extremist groups - united after rival warlords vowed to renew the fight against international troops - threatens to escalate the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan just as thousands more U.S. soldiers are to be deployed to the region. NATO nations, which lead the international coalition in Afghanistan, are concerned that the new militant partnership in Pakistan's Waziristan region, which lies on the Afghan border, will significantly increase cross-border influx of fighters and suicide bombers. The move could preempt President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, even before it's launched.
Montreal Gazette - Coalition troops serving in Afghanistan will never rid the country of insurgents and won't win the war simply by maintaining a presence in the area, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said . . . "We're not going to win this war just by staying . . . we are not ever going to defeat the insurgency," Harper said in the interview, which was recorded last week during the prime minister's visit to New York. "My reading of Afghanistan's history is that they've probably had an insurgency forever, of some kind."
Christian Science Monitor - Frustration and fear is sparking opposition to plans that would nearly double the size of US forces there. . . . "At least half the country is deeply suspicious of the new troops," says Kabul-based political analyst Waheed Muzjda. . . Much of the Afghan opposition comes from provinces dominated by the Pashtun ethnic group, which include areas that have seen the most fighting and where the new troops will be deployed. A group of 50 mostly Pashtun members of parliament recently formed a working group aimed at blocking the arrival of new troops and pushing for a bilateral military agreement between Kabul and Washington, which currently does not exist.
Anti-War - As the Obama Administration escalates the fight with a growing number of troops, patience in Europe for the never-ending conflict seems to be waning. Polls have shown growing public opposition to the war, and as governments try to placate a disgruntled electorate over the sagging world economy, the conflict may increasingly become something officials decide they can't politically afford.
FREEDOM & JUSTICE
Pew Center - Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults. The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in the report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons. In the past two decades, state general fund spending on corrections increased by more than 300 percent, outpacing other essential government services from education, to transportation and public assistance. . . Research shows that strong community supervision programs for lower-risk, non-violent offenders not only cost significantly less than incarceration but, when appropriately resourced and managed, can cut recidivism by as much as 30 percent. Diverting these offenders to community supervision programs also frees up prison beds needed to house violent offenders, and can offer budget makers additional resources for other pressing public priorities.
NY Times Do surveillance cameras deter criminals? A recently published statistical study out of New York University says they do not deter it much, if at all, based on five years of evidence from Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan.
MID EAST
Interpress Service - A movement to boycott Israeli goods, culture and academic institutions is gaining momentum as Geneva prepares to host the UN's Anti-Racism Conference, Durban 2, next month amidst swirling controversy. International criticism of Israel's three-week bloody offensive into Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and thousands more wounded, most of them civilian, has breathed fresh life into a Boycott, Divest, Sanctions campaign. . . Another Israeli activist, Matan Cohen, has been central in the first U.S. college implementing a divestment campaign against Israel. Hampshire College in Massachusetts called for divestment from over 200 companies that the college says is responsible for violating its socially responsible investment policies in Israel. The companies which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza include Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex.
Guardian, UK - In an unintended consequence of Israel's offensive in Gaza last month, sales of Palestinian olive oil in Britain are soaring, importers have said. . . "We have run out of one-litre bottles and we expect sales to double to 400 tons this year compared to 2008," said Barry Murdoch, the sales director of Equal Exchange.
INDICATORS
Chinese Bureau of Statistics - The total number of cars for civilian use stood at 24 million, up by 24.5 percent, of which private-owned cars numbered 19 million, up by 28.0 percent.
Boston Globe - Since the beginning of the decade, the employment rate, or percentage of people working, has declined broadly for Americans under 30, with teens hardest hit. . . The percentage of working US teens plunged to 33 percent, or 1 in 3, in 2008, from 45 percent in 2000, or nearly 1 in 2. Meanwhile, the percentage of working adults over 55 rose to 38 percent nationally from 32 percent. . . Industries that traditionally offered work to teens, such as retail, food service, and entertainment, are increasingly filling jobs with older workers, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies. The number of 55- to 64-year-olds working in these industries has increased nationally by nearly 500,000, or 25 percent, since 2000. Teen employment in these industries declined by nearly 560,000, or 12 percent, during the same period.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - More than 8 million renter households paid more than half of their income for rent and basic utilities in 2007, the most recent year for which data are available. Under federal standards, housing costs are considered unaffordable if they exceed 30 percent of household income. Nearly all of these households had low incomes (i.e., at or below 80 percent of their state's median income). Two out of three of them had extremely low incomes (i.e., below 30 percent of the state median income, a level that is roughly equivalent to the federal poverty line). The number of low-income renter households that paid more than half of their income for housing increased by 2 million, or 32 percent, between 2000 and 2007.
HEALTH & SCIENCE
NY Post - The state is trying to shut down a New York City doctor's ambitious plan to treat uninsured patients for around $1,000 a year. Dr. John Muney offers his patients everything from mammograms to mole removal at his AMG Medical Group clinics, which operate in all five boroughs. "I'm trying to help uninsured people here," he said. His patients agree to pay $79 a month for a year in return for unlimited office visits with a $10 co-pay. But his plan landed him in the crosshairs of the state Insurance Department, which ordered him to drop his fixed-rate plan - which it claims is equivalent to an insurance policy. Muney insists it is not insurance because it doesn't cover anything that he can't do in his offices, like complicated surgery. He points out his offices do not operate 24/7 so they can't function like emergency rooms.
Op Ed News - Despite the findings by Health Canada that artificial sweeteners are safe, parents in B.C. have decided to play it safe and say no. The B.C. Ministry of Education has recently pulled all artificial sweeteners from being sold in B.C. primary and middle schools after consultations with parents of school children. . . The guidelines allow for artificial sweeteners in small amounts and as a condiment in secondary schools, but not in elementary or middle schools
Telegraph, UK - How many times have you heard of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet? . . . The truth of the matter is that 42 per cent of Italian men and 27 per cent of Italian women are overweight: 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively are obese. . . A survey of Europe last year by the International Association for the Study of Obesity showed Britain at the top of the chub charts, but closely followed by Mediterranean countries. . . The sad truth is that not even the Italians are following the Med diet, having traded in their olive oil and salads for burgers.
ARTS & CULTURE
THE TICKETMASTER-LIVE NATION MERGER
WILL THIS CRISIS PRODUCE A 'GATSBY'?
RECOVERED HISTORY
RICHARD NIXON TAKES ON ARCHIE BUNKER & HOMOSEXUALS
OBAMA METER
For the first time since he took office, Obama has hit 30% on our Obama Meter.
BUDGET
Washington Times - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer became the second leading congressional Democrat in a week to push back against Mr. Obama's drive to curb member-directed earmarks on spending bills. Saying he was open to the president's "suggestions" about how to reform the spending process, the Maryland Democrat told reporters, "I don't think the White House has the ability to tell us what to do. I hope you all got that down." His remark echoed a warning from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, that the earmarks process is a congressional prerogative. Regarding the deduction for charitable donations, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he "would never want to adversely affect anything that is charitable or good."
ON CAMPUS
Reuters - A university in Liverpool has launched a Master of Arts degree in The Beatles, the city's most famous sons, and called the qualification the first of its kind. Liverpool Hope University says on its website that the course entitled "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society" consists of four 12-week taught modules and a dissertation. "There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address," said Mike Brocken, senior lecturer in popular music at Hope.
ECO CLIPS
Portland Press Herald, ME - Commercial fishing might be causing genetic changes in fish that swim in the ocean, making them smaller and less fertile. . . However, the study also found that fish can grow larger again if the big ones are allowed to get away. . . Efforts to bring back the fish still include rules - such as minimum sizes and large-mesh nets - that encourage fishermen to catch and kill the largest fish and spare the smaller ones. That is sending the wrong message to the fish, genetically speaking. . . Shrinking fish sizes also mean a population reproduces at a slower rate, something that makes it more vulnerable to natural pressures such as predation and less able to recover from overfishing. . . Larger fish are generally much more fertile than smaller ones.
BELIEFS
Andrew Santella, Slate - One in seven adults changes churches each year, and another one in six attends a handful of churches on a rotating basis, according to the Barna Group, a marketing research firm that serves churches. Church shopping isn't a matter of merely changing congregations: A survey by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life last year indicated that 44 percent of American adults have left their first religious affiliation for another.
DRUG BUSTS
Telegraph - Making up counterfeit anti-impotence pills can be as much as 2,000 times more profitable than dealing in hard drugs, according to one expert. With millions of potential buyers available on the internet, the trade is also less risky for gangsters. But there were warnings that the fake blue pills, often made from a cocktail of prescription medicines, can be highly dangerous for users. Last months a report in Singapore highlighted that four men died and three were left in comas in just five months after taking counterfeit impotence drugs.
FURTHERMORE . . .
We don't know where this video came from - the alleged date seems wrong - but it's not to be missed. Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino - playing piano at the same time. Not to mention Ron Woods of the Rolling Stones, Carl Perkins (Blue Suede Shoes) and others playing backup plus cameo appearance by Rod Sewart and all, apparently under the direction of Paul Schaeffer.
CRASH TALK
Washington Post - House Democrats have reached an agreement to narrow the impact of legislation allowing bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages. Under the current version of the legislation, a bankruptcy judge could cut the principal balance of a homeowner's mortgage, lower the interest rate and extend the terms. But after moderate Democrats raised objections last week, delaying a vote, Democratic leaders agreed to insert some restrictions, according to a letter circulated by some moderate Democrats in support of the legislation yesterday.
The compromise version, for example, requires that a homeowner share with the lender any profit from the eventual sale of the home if a bankruptcy judge lowers the principal balance. It also gives preference to lowering a homeowner's interest rate over cutting the principal balance.
The compromise also limits homeowners' ability to ask a bankruptcy judge for help if they have already received or been offered a loan modification that lowered their payments to 31 percent of their income.
The financial services industry, which has lobbied against the bill, fought for all those provisions.
Zogby - The nation's current economic conditions have caused many Americans to rethink their spending habits, with 70% saying they have cut back on entertainment, recreation and eating out at restaurants in the past year, a new Zogby Interactive poll shows. . . Younger adults are most likely to say they have cut back - 76% of those age 18-29 are spending less on entertainment, compared to 55% of those age 65 and older who say the same. Entertainment spending has suffered the most, but 40% said they have also limited or canceled their normal vacation plans due to the cost and another 40% have put off the purchase of a major item such as automobile, home entertainment electronics, or a computer.
Contrary to the coverage given by mainstream media, a Gallup poll finds that 64% of Americans are will to give aid to homeowners who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure
Geraint Jones, Daily Express, UK - Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a "summer of discontent" in Britain. . . MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers. . . What worries emergency planners most is that the middle classes, now struggling to cope with unemployment and repossessions, may take to the streets with the disenfranchised. The source said "this potent cocktail is reminiscent of the poll tax riots which fatally wounded Margaret Thatcher's government in 1990."
Reuters - U.S. companies, consumers and communities may grow so addicted to government financial help that cutting them off could trigger another recession soon after the current one ends. Between the U.S. Federal Reserve's trillions of dollars in lending programs, the $787 billion stimulus package and $700 billion -- and counting -- in bank bailout funds, no one can accuse officials of soft-pedaling their crisis response. But there is increasing concern that when the flow of public money subsides -- beginning next year when much of that stimulus package is spent -- the economy still won't be strong enough to stand on its own.
WBZ, Boston - These days many sellers are so anxious to attract qualified buyers they'll try just about anything. That, coupled with buyers wanting to make the right decision, has led to a new trend called "sleepover showings.". . . Real estate experts say more owners and developers are willing to give these "sleepover showings" a try. .
ACTIVISM
NEWS RELEASE TIPS
JUST POLITICS
Wired - Following three months of investigation, California's secretary of state has released a report examining why a voting system made by Premier Election Solutions (formerly known as Diebold) lost about 200 ballots in Humboldt County during the November presidential election. But the most startling information in the state's 13-page report is not about why the system lost votes. . . but that some versions of Diebold's vote tabulation system, known as the Global Election Management System, include a button that allows someone to delete audit logs from the system. Auditing logs are required under the federal voting system guidelines, which are used to test and qualify voting systems for use in elections. The logs record changes and other events that occur on voting systems to ensure the integrity of elections and help determine what occurred in a system when something goes wrong. . . The Diebold system in Humboldt County, which uses version 1.18.19 of GEMS, has a button labeled "clear," that "permits deletion of certain audit logs that contain - or should contain - records that would be essential to reconstruct operator actions during the vote tallying process," according to the California report.
Arizona Central - In a state that gave America its 2008 Republican presidential candidate and regularly elects conservative policy makers, a snapshot survey of 950 Arizona teenagers indicates that they are leaning decidedly left. Among the results of a survey released today: 75 percent support giving illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens, 72 percent believe global warming is long-term and human-caused, and 65 percent say women have a right to choose abortion. Greater legal restrictions on gun ownership get a nod from 56 percent. Although nearly half report that religion plays an important role in their lives, half also agree religious faith isn't necessary to live a moral life and nearly 60 percent say religion should not play a large role in public policy.
Josh Goodman, Governing - Soon, there will be four Democrats in Kansas holding statewide elected offices, but none of those people will have been elected to the office in which they serve. Assuming Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson will become governor. He'll appoint a new lieutenant governor. Sebelius appointed the state attorney general, Steve Six, to office after his predecessor resigned in a sex scandal. The governor also appointed State Treasurer Dennis McKinney to office after the old treasurer, a Republican, was elected to Congress.
On January 18th, the Greens in the German state of Hesse received 13.7 percent of the vote, the highest percentage ever for Greens in any German state parliamentary election (other than city-states). In the process they almost doubled their number of representatives, winning 17 seats in the 118-member Hessian parliament, up from 9 seats a year before. As usual, the Greens were also the only party to elect a majority of female Members of Parliament with nine out of 17. . . Led by charismatic party co-chair Tarek Al-Wazir, the Hessian Greens' platform emphasized education, climate change and green energy, gender equity, confronting poverty and increasing democracy and transparency in state government.
Performance activist Reverend Billy Talen launched his New York City Green Party mayoral campaign at a Union Square press conference. The candidate known for his work with the Church of Life After Shopping called for an "affordable and livable" New York that relies on its neighborhoods and independent businesses for sustainable and equitable prosperity.
AFGHANISTAN
McClatchy - A new alliance of Pakistani extremist groups - united after rival warlords vowed to renew the fight against international troops - threatens to escalate the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan just as thousands more U.S. soldiers are to be deployed to the region. NATO nations, which lead the international coalition in Afghanistan, are concerned that the new militant partnership in Pakistan's Waziristan region, which lies on the Afghan border, will significantly increase cross-border influx of fighters and suicide bombers. The move could preempt President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, even before it's launched.
Montreal Gazette - Coalition troops serving in Afghanistan will never rid the country of insurgents and won't win the war simply by maintaining a presence in the area, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said . . . "We're not going to win this war just by staying . . . we are not ever going to defeat the insurgency," Harper said in the interview, which was recorded last week during the prime minister's visit to New York. "My reading of Afghanistan's history is that they've probably had an insurgency forever, of some kind."
Christian Science Monitor - Frustration and fear is sparking opposition to plans that would nearly double the size of US forces there. . . . "At least half the country is deeply suspicious of the new troops," says Kabul-based political analyst Waheed Muzjda. . . Much of the Afghan opposition comes from provinces dominated by the Pashtun ethnic group, which include areas that have seen the most fighting and where the new troops will be deployed. A group of 50 mostly Pashtun members of parliament recently formed a working group aimed at blocking the arrival of new troops and pushing for a bilateral military agreement between Kabul and Washington, which currently does not exist.
Anti-War - As the Obama Administration escalates the fight with a growing number of troops, patience in Europe for the never-ending conflict seems to be waning. Polls have shown growing public opposition to the war, and as governments try to placate a disgruntled electorate over the sagging world economy, the conflict may increasingly become something officials decide they can't politically afford.
FREEDOM & JUSTICE
Pew Center - Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults. The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in the report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons. In the past two decades, state general fund spending on corrections increased by more than 300 percent, outpacing other essential government services from education, to transportation and public assistance. . . Research shows that strong community supervision programs for lower-risk, non-violent offenders not only cost significantly less than incarceration but, when appropriately resourced and managed, can cut recidivism by as much as 30 percent. Diverting these offenders to community supervision programs also frees up prison beds needed to house violent offenders, and can offer budget makers additional resources for other pressing public priorities.
NY Times Do surveillance cameras deter criminals? A recently published statistical study out of New York University says they do not deter it much, if at all, based on five years of evidence from Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan.
MID EAST
Interpress Service - A movement to boycott Israeli goods, culture and academic institutions is gaining momentum as Geneva prepares to host the UN's Anti-Racism Conference, Durban 2, next month amidst swirling controversy. International criticism of Israel's three-week bloody offensive into Gaza, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead and thousands more wounded, most of them civilian, has breathed fresh life into a Boycott, Divest, Sanctions campaign. . . Another Israeli activist, Matan Cohen, has been central in the first U.S. college implementing a divestment campaign against Israel. Hampshire College in Massachusetts called for divestment from over 200 companies that the college says is responsible for violating its socially responsible investment policies in Israel. The companies which provide the Israeli military with equipment and services in the occupied West Bank and Gaza include Caterpillar, United Technologies, General Electric, ITT Corporation, Motorola and Terex.
Guardian, UK - In an unintended consequence of Israel's offensive in Gaza last month, sales of Palestinian olive oil in Britain are soaring, importers have said. . . "We have run out of one-litre bottles and we expect sales to double to 400 tons this year compared to 2008," said Barry Murdoch, the sales director of Equal Exchange.
INDICATORS
Chinese Bureau of Statistics - The total number of cars for civilian use stood at 24 million, up by 24.5 percent, of which private-owned cars numbered 19 million, up by 28.0 percent.
Boston Globe - Since the beginning of the decade, the employment rate, or percentage of people working, has declined broadly for Americans under 30, with teens hardest hit. . . The percentage of working US teens plunged to 33 percent, or 1 in 3, in 2008, from 45 percent in 2000, or nearly 1 in 2. Meanwhile, the percentage of working adults over 55 rose to 38 percent nationally from 32 percent. . . Industries that traditionally offered work to teens, such as retail, food service, and entertainment, are increasingly filling jobs with older workers, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies. The number of 55- to 64-year-olds working in these industries has increased nationally by nearly 500,000, or 25 percent, since 2000. Teen employment in these industries declined by nearly 560,000, or 12 percent, during the same period.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - More than 8 million renter households paid more than half of their income for rent and basic utilities in 2007, the most recent year for which data are available. Under federal standards, housing costs are considered unaffordable if they exceed 30 percent of household income. Nearly all of these households had low incomes (i.e., at or below 80 percent of their state's median income). Two out of three of them had extremely low incomes (i.e., below 30 percent of the state median income, a level that is roughly equivalent to the federal poverty line). The number of low-income renter households that paid more than half of their income for housing increased by 2 million, or 32 percent, between 2000 and 2007.
HEALTH & SCIENCE
NY Post - The state is trying to shut down a New York City doctor's ambitious plan to treat uninsured patients for around $1,000 a year. Dr. John Muney offers his patients everything from mammograms to mole removal at his AMG Medical Group clinics, which operate in all five boroughs. "I'm trying to help uninsured people here," he said. His patients agree to pay $79 a month for a year in return for unlimited office visits with a $10 co-pay. But his plan landed him in the crosshairs of the state Insurance Department, which ordered him to drop his fixed-rate plan - which it claims is equivalent to an insurance policy. Muney insists it is not insurance because it doesn't cover anything that he can't do in his offices, like complicated surgery. He points out his offices do not operate 24/7 so they can't function like emergency rooms.
Op Ed News - Despite the findings by Health Canada that artificial sweeteners are safe, parents in B.C. have decided to play it safe and say no. The B.C. Ministry of Education has recently pulled all artificial sweeteners from being sold in B.C. primary and middle schools after consultations with parents of school children. . . The guidelines allow for artificial sweeteners in small amounts and as a condiment in secondary schools, but not in elementary or middle schools
Telegraph, UK - How many times have you heard of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet? . . . The truth of the matter is that 42 per cent of Italian men and 27 per cent of Italian women are overweight: 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively are obese. . . A survey of Europe last year by the International Association for the Study of Obesity showed Britain at the top of the chub charts, but closely followed by Mediterranean countries. . . The sad truth is that not even the Italians are following the Med diet, having traded in their olive oil and salads for burgers.
ARTS & CULTURE
THE TICKETMASTER-LIVE NATION MERGER
WILL THIS CRISIS PRODUCE A 'GATSBY'?
RECOVERED HISTORY
RICHARD NIXON TAKES ON ARCHIE BUNKER & HOMOSEXUALS
OBAMA METER
For the first time since he took office, Obama has hit 30% on our Obama Meter.
BUDGET
Washington Times - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer became the second leading congressional Democrat in a week to push back against Mr. Obama's drive to curb member-directed earmarks on spending bills. Saying he was open to the president's "suggestions" about how to reform the spending process, the Maryland Democrat told reporters, "I don't think the White House has the ability to tell us what to do. I hope you all got that down." His remark echoed a warning from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, that the earmarks process is a congressional prerogative. Regarding the deduction for charitable donations, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat and chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he "would never want to adversely affect anything that is charitable or good."
ON CAMPUS
Reuters - A university in Liverpool has launched a Master of Arts degree in The Beatles, the city's most famous sons, and called the qualification the first of its kind. Liverpool Hope University says on its website that the course entitled "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society" consists of four 12-week taught modules and a dissertation. "There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address," said Mike Brocken, senior lecturer in popular music at Hope.
ECO CLIPS
Portland Press Herald, ME - Commercial fishing might be causing genetic changes in fish that swim in the ocean, making them smaller and less fertile. . . However, the study also found that fish can grow larger again if the big ones are allowed to get away. . . Efforts to bring back the fish still include rules - such as minimum sizes and large-mesh nets - that encourage fishermen to catch and kill the largest fish and spare the smaller ones. That is sending the wrong message to the fish, genetically speaking. . . Shrinking fish sizes also mean a population reproduces at a slower rate, something that makes it more vulnerable to natural pressures such as predation and less able to recover from overfishing. . . Larger fish are generally much more fertile than smaller ones.
BELIEFS
Andrew Santella, Slate - One in seven adults changes churches each year, and another one in six attends a handful of churches on a rotating basis, according to the Barna Group, a marketing research firm that serves churches. Church shopping isn't a matter of merely changing congregations: A survey by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life last year indicated that 44 percent of American adults have left their first religious affiliation for another.
DRUG BUSTS
Telegraph - Making up counterfeit anti-impotence pills can be as much as 2,000 times more profitable than dealing in hard drugs, according to one expert. With millions of potential buyers available on the internet, the trade is also less risky for gangsters. But there were warnings that the fake blue pills, often made from a cocktail of prescription medicines, can be highly dangerous for users. Last months a report in Singapore highlighted that four men died and three were left in comas in just five months after taking counterfeit impotence drugs.
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