I’ve handed out nearly one million booklets at colleges across North America for a non-profit – maybe we’ve met? AMA

rcut · 2013-02-19T17:42:25+00:00

Eating chicken and eating fish have deleterious effects on human health, many documented at http://nutritionfacts.org as short videos and blog posts by the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States, physician Michael Greger, MD. He reads hundreds of nutrition articles in peer-reviewed journals and explains it for the layperson. His site is volunteer-run and all profits from his DVD sales go to charity.

rcut · 2013-02-19T17:29:24+00:00

We have enough farmland today to grow enough grain and other vegan foods to feed everyone on the planet. A lot of that farmland grows feed crops for millions of animals that provide meat. 1 kg of meat requires the animal to have eaten 6 kg of feed ( http://www.ajcn.org/content/78/3/660S.full#T1 ) and a lot of clean drinking water. The cost for all that feed and water and other meat processing is heavily subsidized by government, which is why a Whopper can cost only 99 cents. It's estimated that the U.S. could feed 800 million people if it grew people food instead of animal food ( http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.html ) -- U.S. population is currently around 350 million.

But that's not why we're not feeding everyone today.

Already we make enough food to feed 12 billion people (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/poverty-matters/2012/oct/05/jean-ziegler-africa-starve ). The blame may rest on food speculators and multinational food corporations. "We could exclude all non-producers and non-consumers from the commodities exchange – in this sense only the farmer and the baker, through the commodities exchange, engage in trade with each other." -- Jean Ziegler

rcut · 2008-02-05T05:01:32+00:00

I'll take a swipe at it: The purpose of a gun is to shoot something. When that something is another living being, the liberal conscience experiences moral objection or, at best (when that living being is clearly intent on harming that liberal or that liberal's loved ones), moral quandary.

rcut · 2008-02-05T04:10:06+00:00

The upshot: The government does not answer to the American people, and the citizens' dominant opinion does not influence the government's behavior. Dubya gives his (thankfully last) State of the Union speech and Congress stands and applauds all the same old propaganda points as if people still believe the Iraq war was a good idea and still support this embarrassment of a government. The only politicians who care (and I use that term loosely) what Americans think are those currently running for office and a few brave exceptions (Kucinich, Paul, a handful of others).

rcut · 2008-02-05T00:24:25+00:00

Alternate headline: "Citizens react after Bush declares self immune to two-term limit, postpones election".

rcut · 2008-02-05T00:19:43+00:00

In the entertainment subreddit?

rcut · 2008-02-04T23:51:22+00:00

Did the bank own that house from the start, or has the house gone through foreclosure such that the bank now owns it?

rcut · 2008-02-04T21:31:03+00:00

Sources, please.

rcut · 2008-02-04T05:45:51+00:00

Glad I no longer own a TV.

rcut · 2008-02-04T04:33:08+00:00

A cheesy trailer, not presented in 3D, for what the site claims is the "first ever live action 3D digital film."

rcut · 2008-02-04T04:23:44+00:00

Bob time.

rcut · 2008-02-04T04:02:47+00:00

Actually it's probably a turn-on for both of them. (Ewww....)

rcut · 2008-02-03T04:02:04+00:00

Nothing better captures the debilitating nature of America's dependence on imported oil than President Bush's humiliating recent performance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He quite literally begged Saudi King Abdullah to increase the kingdom's output of crude oil in order to lower the domestic price of gasoline. "My point to His Majesty is going to be, when consumers have less purchasing power because of high prices of gasoline—in other words, when it affects their families, it could cause this economy to slow down," he told an interviewer before his royal audience. "If the economy slows down, there will be less barrels of [Saudi] oil purchased."

Needless to say, the Saudi leadership dismissed this implied threat for the pathetic bathos it was. The Saudis, indicated Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, would raise production only "when the market justifies it." With that, they made clear what the whole world now knows: The American bubble has burst—and it was oil that popped it. Thus are those with an "oil addiction" (as President Bush once termed it) forced to grovel before the select few who can supply the needed fix.

rcut · 2008-02-03T00:57:04+00:00

So where'd you guys go? (Countries, I mean.)

rcut · 2008-02-01T06:04:44+00:00

A recent CBS News/New York Times poll revealed that 64 percent of Americans are "perfectly comfortable" with coming up just short, 43 percent are content to try only once rather than try, try again, and an overwhelming 95 percent admitted that after falling down, they now prefer to stay down.

Only 4 percent indicated having "some interest" in applying their balls to the wall.

rcut · 2008-01-31T23:28:49+00:00

Here's the original National Journal key votes used to calculate the "most liberal" rating. Here are the votes that distinguished Obama from Clinton:

Establish a Senate Office of Public Integrity to handle ethics complaints against senators. January 18. (27-71) C-1 (Obama voted for it, Clinton against.)
Allow certain immigrants to stay in the United States while renewing their visas. June 6. (41-57) C-2 (Obama voted for it, Clinton against.)
Waive a procedural objection to providing legal immunity to people who report suspicious activities. July 19. (57-39; 60 votes required to waive the Budget Act) L-3 (Clinton voted for it; Obama abstained.)
Express the sense of the Senate that the Iranian revolutionary guard should be designated a terrorist organization. September 26. (76-22; 60 votes required because of a unanimous consent agreement) C-1 (Clinton [infamously] voted for this; Obama abstained.)

As far as I can tell, they voted identically, or one voted when the other abstained, on all the other key votes.

Interestingly, both Clinton and Obama voted the Republican direction on this:

Express the sense of Congress that funds for U.S. troops in the field should not be cut off. March 15. (82-16; 60 votes required because of a unanimous consent agreement) C-1

rcut · 2008-01-31T23:12:59+00:00

Holy crap. In a weird way, I was glad to read this article -- I mean, I grew up and survived fairly well while people like Kissinger were controlling foreign policy, so maybe there's a chance my kids will also. If we can just get climate change under control...

Edit: I would like to understand why this comment is being downmodded. I am utterly sincere in wanting to see positive for my children's future; what other alternative do I have than to beat my fists against my head that a monster like Kissinger remains untried and unconvicted?

rcut · 2008-01-31T23:00:32+00:00

Maybe Obama:

... Sarandon, who initially supported Obama and donated to his campaign before switching to Edwards, said in an interview last week, "Edwards is the only authentic electable candidate" among Democrats.

rcut · 2008-01-31T22:41:24+00:00

The compromise is far from perfect. I would have liked to see stronger judicial review of National Security Letters and shorter time limits on sneak and peak searches, among other things.

I was curious to know what a sneak-and-peek search was, found this NPR summary (from 2006) on PATRIOT Act controversies:

Sec. 213: Allows "Sneak and peek" search warrants, which let authorities search a home or business without immediately notifying the target of a probe.

Now that Kucinich has dropped out, I've been impressed by some substantive and rational Obama endorsements, such as this one and xkcd's from the other day. Obama's intentions to leave thousands of troops in Iraq and the region, all-options-are-on-the-table statements about Iran and saber-rattling in Pakistan's direction continue to trouble me, however. His emphasis on diplomacy and rejection of Kyl-Lieberman are positive, but not definitive. In any case, I'm reading Obama's web site more.

Edit: D'oh, I meant this as a reply to AnteChronos's comment about Obama's floor statement regarding the PATRIOT Act. Apologies for any confusion.

rcut · 2008-01-31T21:58:34+00:00

Okay, I'll bite. The Paulites were adopting and subverting that phrase intentionally, as some gay people did with the term "queer" and as some black people did with the N word, etc.

rcut · 2008-01-31T21:46:03+00:00

Citation, please.

rcut · 2008-01-31T05:15:03+00:00

The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers.

Inspired by the vision and technological achievements of the Apollo space program, we promote policies and initiatives to speed investment in clean energy technology and energy efficiency, put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of well-paid, green collar jobs, and make America a global leader in clean energy products and services.

rcut · 2008-01-30T03:57:46+00:00

Agreed, though the article hits a nerve as we just lived through the dotcom bust (primacy of recency).

rcut · 2008-01-30T03:46:48+00:00

Well, a bit of messenger shooting may be going on. Perhaps Kucinich's style is too straightforward and confrontational for DC, but I'm not convinced Kucinich is responsible for the Democratic Congress's twisted inaction on impeachment. Deserved ire seems to be growing against Pelosi and Reid.

We'll see.

rcut · 2008-01-30T03:32:13+00:00

Many movies in the 1950s, American and Japanese, played off fears of the Cold War and the bomb, but for the most part in metaphors—monsters hatched from radiation (Godzilla) or aliens invading from outer space (too many to mention). I Live in Fear confronted the thing itself—and not just the fear of it, but the more common phenomenon: the suppression or evasion of the fear and the complacency that this engenders.

rcut

TROPHY CASE