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At the urging of some troublemakers within the RP Nation, I have redrafted and reframed my piece from earlier this week about Occupy Wall Street/Lexington’s “Invest in Kentucky” initiative. Click here to read “Occupy Wall Streeters: Be Careful What You Ask For” at The Huffington Post. A growing body of research shows that processed foods and drinks sweetened with sugar and high fructose corn syrup may be as addictive as cocaine. [Bloomberg News] Colder weather and soup go hand in hand. Here are ten soups from around the globe that are worth a try. [BBC Travel] Trader Joe’s executives refuse to sign a Fair Food Agreement proposed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a labor and human-rights organization, and supported by social-justice oriented religious leaders. The agreement is intended to address labor abuses in the tomato fields and to increase the pay of tomato pickers by one penny per pound. [The Atlantic] The RP’s Recipe of the Week: Martha Stewart’s Fall Vegetable and Orzo Casserole
This column, written by contributing RP Lisa Borders and former Comptroller General David Walker, appeared in yesterday’s Washington Examiner. We re-print with Ms. Borders’ permission. This summer, the country was issued a warning. When Congress failed to deal with our growing national debt in a comprehensive and responsible manner, our debt was downgraded. We were lucky to get the warning. The country was told to come to terms with its spending habits, escalating deficits, and growing debt burdens or risk a debt crisis that would do serious harm to our already tottering economy. We were given a second chance. Our second chance comes in the form of a so-called “supercommittee” of 12 members of Congress who must recommend at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving, and then sell its plan to the full Congress. Given that a debt crisis will push up interest rates and make our weak economy and high unemployment and under employment levels even worse, you might think Americans would be thankful for the opportunity to make a few sacrifices to avoid it. But no.  Dave Walker leading a No Labels rally Two hundred lobbying groups and special interests are reportedly trying to reach the supercommittee with essentially the same message: “cut everyone else but me; it’s all about me.” The special interests don’t seem to care that every serious bipartisan group that’s studied ways to reduce our growing debt burden has come up with the same conclusions: 1) We need way more than $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction to prevent a crisis; 2) we need to cut costs and raise revenues to restore fiscal sanity, and 3) sky rocketing health care costs are the primary driver of our imbalance. We simply can’t fix our economy without reigning in our national health care programs, including Medicare. Read the rest of… The Politics of Laughter A furious horde of brilliant women… [SMBC] Women are cool [xkcd] “Aack! ‘Cathy’ is a terrible representation of women!” [The Gainesville Sun] Difference Between Men and Women (hilarious result of college writing assignment) [picture] Designing Women [We Could Be Happy]
New research shows that becoming a father decreases a man’s tobacco and alcohol use and participation in crime. [Time] In Thailand, women are combating cervical cancer with a surprising home remedy: vinegar. [NY Times] We all know getting catcalled at is an uncomfortable experience, but research now shows it has serious psychological effects as well. [Psychology Today] Good news: a family history of breast cancer doesn’t necessarily affect your own chances at becoming sick. [Huffington Post] The HPV vaccine has proven effective, so the CDC is now recommending it for boys too. [Wall Street Journal] Kim Kardashian explains what happened to her marriage with Kris Humphries. Why did they only last 72 days? [Huffington Post] Rose Marie Belforti wins reelection as a New York town clerk after refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Belforti claims same-sex marriage is against her Christian beliefs. [Waterdown Daily Times] Is your partner suddenly interested in fitness? A recent study shows that this is a way for individuals in relationships to prepare to reenter the dating game. Is he or she looking to break up? [ABC News]
Did it help? Yup. Dr. Deepak, founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, says that the need for archetypal role models are key in uncovering one’s hidden potential. Because archetypes offer profound wisdom across the ages, they typically represent strength and endurance in the face of struggle; define character traits in which we long to aspire; and they demonstrate the potential to live with a little more oomph. A lot more oomph. While I’m very happy in my marriage and don’t need more than one man (one is great, thanks), I was (am) exploring what it means to be, what my beloved female mentor, Rosalyn Bruyere, calls a “Goddess”, and what my young adult girlfriends call, “kick-ass.”  Grace O'Malley And Grace O’Malley (Grania, in Ireland) delivers. She was a big specimen of female apparently–tall and strong with big thick hair, trousers, a hearty laugh and an appetite to match. She learned to swim in order to avoid drowning at the hands of obnoxious village boys, and she learned to sail the world at the knee of her sea faring father. With work to be done on every expedition, she pulled her weight, literally, with hands raw and bloody along side every single sailor on every single voyage. And years later, on her own ship when fire broke out on deck and relentless flames threatened to take her ship along with the lives of her crew, she beat back the firey rage over and over again with the only thing available in close proximity, her jerkin. That’s old timey talk for “shirt off her backside.” Errr, frontside. So basically waist-up naked, she saved 40 men serving under her. That doesn’t sound right. Read the rest of…
The Web’s next big thing: cheap labor. [Business Week] Will the internet be the front-line of the next war? [CNN] RIAA Chief says: copyright bills will not kill the internet. [CNET] The iPhone 5 rumors have already begun. [Gizmodo]
Since its spontaneous generation a few months ago, Occupy Wall Street has made me cautiously optimistic. “Optimistic” because I’m thrilled that there’s finally a highly visible effort to shine a spotlight on one of our country’s worst modern tragedies: the cancerous spread and increasing metastasization of income inequality. “Cautious” because I’ve feared, as have many others, that the movement’s uber-anti-hierarchical — some would say anarchistic — organizational structure would frustrate the emergence of any meaningful, concrete reforms that could actually tackle the worthy issues OWS is raising. Fortunately, here in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, local OWS organizers have developed a concrete, comprehensible platform: They have formed “Invest in Kentucky,” which they describe on their Web site as “a grassroots initiative calling on the Kentucky State Treasurer to reinvest the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s public funds into a financial institution that is headquartered in Kentucky.” They’ve also specifically called upon the Treasurer to divest the state’s funds from J.P. Morgan Chase, an out-of-state financial institution which was at the center of the country’s 2008 financial collapse, and are asking interested citizens to sign a petition to that effect. Unfortunately, however, “Invest in Kentucky” is aiming its rhetorical weapons at the wrong target. The Kentucky State Treasurer has absolutely no authority — administrative, legal, or political — to take the action “Invest in Kentucky” is demanding. And while I don’t pretend to be the expert on many state policy matters, I’m pretty familiar with this one: I served in that office for eight years. The good news is that there is another, viable path for meaningful reform, should “Invest in Kentucky” choose to take it. And I’m happy to show the way. But first a little history is in order. Read the rest of… Since 1992, women have outnumbered men in college enrollment statistics. See here for an account of how the pattern has developed overtime, as well differences between male and female valuation of college. [Pew Research Center] Not only are more women enrolled in college, but now there are more employed women than employed men above 25 with at least a bachelor’s degree. [Smart Planet] One ramification of the imbalance between men and women in college has been an alteration to the typical dating scene. As females outnumber males, girls are forced to accept a situation in which they “compete” for a small group of eligible bachelors while guys find themselves in a world with increased flexibility. [NY Times] When looking at colleges, women have the option of enrolling in all-girl schools. There are about sixty of these in the country today and they provide a distinct learning environment for their students. See here for a short account of the advantages of a single sex school and a list of female colleges in the United States [College View] [College Scholarships] Although overall more women are enrolled in college, in engineering schools female enrollment is actually decreasing. See here for the statistics, as well as an explanation for some causes of this disparity. [FINS] |
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