text:
a citizen’s journal by Thomas Nephew

So what exactly *did* Van Hollen say about Social Security and Medicare?

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 17th November 2012

On Wednesday, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a.k.a. PCCC or “,” reacted sharply to the Wall Street Journal article “Obama Sets Steep Tax Target” by Janet Hook and Carol Lee — not, of course, to Obama’s goal to let tax cuts for the richest to expire, but to signs of what some Democrats might be willing to bargain away for that.  From the Wall Street Journal article:

On Capitol Hill, it isn’t clear how strenuously Democrats will resist cutting entitlements. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.) said he and others were open to changes as long as they were done in a measured way and were part of deal that included tax increases. Mr. Van Hollen also said changing Social Security and increasing the Medicare eligibility age above 65 should be part of negotiations.

“I’m willing to consider all of these ideas as part of an overall plan,” Mr. Van Hollen said Tuesday at the Journal’s CEO Council.

The PCCC immediately set up a phone campaign urging supporters to call Van Hollen and tell him “Cuts to benefits should be completely off the table.”

I did, calling Van Hollen’s congressional office — (202) 225-5341.  To my surprise, the staffer I reached told me that Van Hollen had been misquoted and that he definitely does not want to raise Medicare eligibility from 65 to 70 or see cuts to Social Security benefits.

I hadn’t expected a flat denial, and said that was “good to hear.”   But that’s a pretty egregious misquote if that’s what happened — and it occurred to me (after hanging up, as usual) that what Van Hollen might prefer is a different thing than what he’d be willing to vote for.

In fairness, there’s been no hint from Van Hollen before now that he was willing to throw Social Security or Medicare recipients under the bus to avoid sequestration; both in speeches to the Budget Committee in May and in a Politico op-ed in July, the Congressman spoke of wanting to avoid the “meat ax” of sequestration via a “balanced approach” — somewhat vaguely defined as “a combination of spending reductions and cuts to tax breaks for the wealthy and powerful special interests” in the July op-ed, but specifically “preserv[ing] the Medicare guarantee” in his May remarks.

Moreover, Van Hollen is the ranking member of the Budget Committee, so the Democratic alternative 2013 budget has his stamp of approval; it, too, specifically calls for “preserving the Medicare guarantee,” but only speaks (defensively) of preventing Republican plans to privatize Social Security — thus not ruling out other bad ideas like reducing cost of living adjustments, but not proposing them either.

Still, as far as I know, the Wall Street Journal has not issued a correction to its November 14th report — nor has PCCC backed down on asking for more phone calls to Van Hollen.

So please join me in calling Chris Van Hollen’s Washington, DC and Maryland offices some more about this:

  • Washington, DC: (202) 225-5341
  • Rockville, MD: (301) 424-3501
  • Hyattsville, MD: (301) 891-6982

You might say something like,

I understand the Wall Street Journal reported that Congressman Van Hollen was willing to consider changing Social Security and increasing Medicare eligibility age as part of a deal to let Bush tax cuts expire.  Did he really say that?  If not, what did he say?  Cuts to benefits should be completely off the table.

Please let me know what you learned, and/or notify PCCC. Thanks!

Posted in Post | 1 Comment »

Thoughts on Lawyers, Guns and Money at the End of an Election Cycle

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 6th November 2012

Dear sirs,

Thomas Nephew

As I’ve noted before, the level of disrespect and intolerance for alternative left viewpoints at the well-known “Lawyers, Guns & Money” blog and elsewhere bothers me.  So I’ve rewritten my comments here, and hope that a simple chart and reasoned discourse are better than the angry post I started off with.  Let us read  Robert Kuttner:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Post | No Comments »

Greens: reject Ellsberg’s advice, or don’t – just don’t run away from it

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 30th October 2012

October 23 video of discussion between Daniel Ellsberg , Matt Stoller (Roosevelt Institute, “naked
capitalism”), Emily Hauser, (Daily Beast), and Ben Manski (campaign manager for Green Party
presidential candidate Jill Stein), moderated by Huffington Post’s Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.

An article by Daniel Ellsberg and a reply tweet by Matt Stoller set the stage for a very interesting online roundtable last Tuesday attended remotely by Ellsberg, Stoller,  Emily Hauser (a blogger for the Daily Beast ) — and the disappointing Ben Manski, campaign manager for Jill Stein’s presidential campaign.

Daniel Ellsberg’s October 18 article “Progressives: In Swing States, Vote for Obama” was probably not a hit at the White House; the recommendation was despite seeing Obama as “a tool of Wall Street, a man who’s decriminalized torture and is still complicit in it, a drone assassin, someone who’s launched an unconstitutional war, supports kidnapping and indefinite detention without trial, and has prosecuted more whistleblowers like myself than all previous presidents put together.” But Matt Stoller — a one time staffer for Representative Alan Grayson — caustically summarized the inherent contradiction: “Daniel Ellsberg argues for both the impeachment of and reelection of Barack Obama.”

My point here won’t be to review Stoller’s arguments — developed more fully a few days later in “The Progressive Case Against Obama” — though I think they’re well worth considering, and though I think replies have generally been of the familiar, bullying, spluttering “policing the left” quality I saw in responses to Conor Friedersdorf’s foreign policy/human rights Obama critique in September.

Instead, I want to take up Ellsberg’s arguments during the roundtable — because they went quite a bit beyond merely urging “tactical” voting by progressive voters in swing states.  Ellsberg *:

The two women who are running for the Green Party [...] as I said, I’ll probably vote for her or for Rocky Anderson [...]  On the other hand, I do object to the idea that he and Jill Stein and [Cheri Honkala] do, will, by their way of running, in the swing states, whether you regard them as 3 or 4 or as many as 12 or 13 [...] are running in those and peeling off a net balance of Democratic voters.  They are increasing the chance of Roe v. Wade will be eliminated.  I think that is not a position that a progressive of any kind should be in, let alone a feminist one. I’m actually amazed, I think they’re acting very counterproductively for their own cause overall.  [...]

Among progressives, there shouldn’t be disagreement on Roe v. Wade.  And I’m afraid that Stein is acting, by running not only in the 35 to 40 states where she would not be increasing the chance of Roe v. Wade being overturned, she’s also running in the states where she *is* helping Roe v. Wade be overturned.

So not only are voters counterproductive for contemplating a Stein vote in a swing state, Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala are bad for running in one.  Not only that, Ellsberg had earlier asserted that “urging other people, getting a leverage, [having] an influence on a large number or a small number” — i.e., Joe Birkenstock with his lawn sign — was similarly wrong.

Of course, advising against third party campaigns or advocacy when they allegedly increase the chances of an undesirable outcome (i.e., Romney in 2012, or Bush in 2000) is the logical consequence of advising against third party votes in such situations.  But it’s also an illustration of what’s wrong with Ellsberg’s position — at least if you value the actual exercise of free speech, freedom of association, or a vigorous contest of ideas in our country, as opposed to merely genuflecting in the general direction of those values.  Ellsberg would have a Stein or a Nader short-circuit their own campaigns and abandon their own supporters in states whenever it might benefit the worst alternative to their victory.  Since by Ellsberg’s logic that’s roughly “always,” third party campaigns are doomed to “Groundhog Day” like re-enactments of these arguments every four years, for ever and ever, amen.

Worse, I think, it’s not clear when that ought to begin, or where that logic ends.  It was relatively clear that Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, and North Carolina would be 2012 “swing states” — big enough to matter, close enough to be in doubt — ever since, oh, 2008, when they were exactly the same thing.  It was also relatively clear that Obama would face a tough re-election since at least 2010.  Taken to its logical conclusion, Ellsberg is saying Stein was wrong to even try to qualify for the ballot in those states.

So what did Manski have to say to all this?

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Post | 2 Comments »

Pre-debate prep

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 3rd October 2012

“Heyyy wealthy ladies!”

“Sometimes I think that peace prize winners shouldn’t have a kill list”

“US political system is hostile to Americans.”
Wait, what? Oh. This one won’t be at the debate, but have a look…

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Post | No Comments »

Lockstep liberals police the field

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 29th September 2012

One weekend recently I was helping coach my daughter’s community league soccer team; to start the 2d half, we put in a new goalie so the first half goalie could get some field playing time.  But she’d never played the position before, so I thought I’d run over and give her a few tips even I was aware of: don’t stand squarely on the goal line, cut off angles, direct your defense, find the open outlet rather than just whacking the ball up the field.

Within about a minute, the opposing coach came kind of scuttle-walking over at high speed in a weird, bent-over, I’m-not-really-here-but-I’m-embarrassed-for-you fashion and informed me that coaches in our soccer league can’t be on the back line of the field.  Then he kind of banked and scuttled back.

His team was ahead 4:0.

I’m put in mind of this by any number of recent finger-wagging missives by supporters on the topic of what real progressives would do instead of complaining about Obama, e.g., Rebecca Solnit’s “Stop Leftsplaining” in Mother Jones, or Erik Loomis’s ongoing Lecture Series for Dull Progressives at “Lawyers, Guns & Money.”  Solnit, variously:

O rancid sector of the far left, please stop your grousing! Compared to you, Eeyore sounds like a Teletubby.  [...] I want to lay out an insanely obvious principle that apparently needs clarification. There are bad things and they are bad. There are good things and they are good, even though the bad things are bad. The mentioning of something good does not require the automatic assertion of a bad thing.  [...] …as a Nevada activist friend put it, “Oh my God, go be sanctimonious in California and don’t vote or whatever, but those bitching radicals are basically suppressing the vote in states where it matters.”

And here I was this close to donating some cash to the magazine for their role in the Romney 47% expose. Instead of a line by line rebuttal of Solnit’s screed, I’ll just say this: if a few “bitching radicals” can really “suppress” — honestly, how dare Solnit repeat that slander — the vote in Nevada by talking about stuff Solnit simultaneously says “a lot of us already know,” then bitching radicals aren’t her problem, her candidate is.

At least Loomis — who loved Solnit’s piece, of course –  is more specific.  I’ve already mentioned his spluttering “Only a White Person” rejoinder to the Friedersdorf “Why I Can’t Vote For Obama” Atlantic Monthly cri de coeur/quality concern trolling/call it what you need to, call it what you like. In an earlier post, Loomis explained that he “realized the folly of my own political errors and regretted my Nader vote” in 2000 because Nader, in his view,

…wasn’t committed to pushing progressive change from either within or outside the system. He took no leadership positions within progressive movements after 2000 to move the country back to the left except to make another vanity run for president in ’04.  [...]  You turn the Democratic Party into what you want it to be by controlling the mechanisms of everyday party life. By becoming a force that must be reckoned with or at least co-opted.

Now I actually do try to do that — kind of — not by burrowing into the local Democratic Party, but by pushing local action about local civil liberties and civil rights concerns.  Thing is, as far as I can tell there often aren’t that many of us: the Washington Post recently reported that “Democrats approve of the drone strikes on American citizens by 58-33, and even liberals approve of them, 55-35.”  It appears that power doesn’t just corrupt politicians, it can corrupt all too many of their supporters as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Post | 6 Comments »

Outgrowing Booker T. Obama

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 23rd September 2012

In my previous post, I took up Ta-Nehisi Coates’s essay “Fear of a Black President,” writing that “Obama has at best settled for accommodation — for telling us what too many of us want to hear, and for not telling us what we don’t want to hear,” and concluding “As Coates suggests elsewhere in his essay, there are interesting parallels with Obama in America’s past.”  To wit:

“[Obama's] approach is not new. It is the approach of Booker T. Washington, who, amid a sea of white terrorists during the era of Jim Crow, endorsed segregation and proclaimed the South to be a land of black opportunity.”

That sounds about right to me — extremely sad, at best, but about right: someone who (despite slogans of “Hope” and “Change”) routinely settled for a situation instead of setting out to fundamentally change it.

Sad at best, because Obama has considerably less justification for cautious, tactical, “temperamental” conservatism than Booker T. Washington had.  And unlike Booker T. Washington’s constituency, 21st century Democrats have considerably less justification for settling for it either.  Washington was an unofficial leader of a besieged, impoverished people facing not only the daily indignities of prejudice and racism, but brutal ethnic cleansings, unspeakable lynchings, widespread debt peonage and a vicious convict labor prison gulag.   It wasn’t that unreasonable to prefer cautiously building strength to the shorter, more dangerous choice of confrontation.*

Obama, by contrast, is the President of the United States of America; he took office after an electoral landslide that solidified his party’s control of both houses of Congress; he was inaugurated before an adoring, mobilized throng of millions.  The ongoing ‘racialization’ political handicap that Coates discusses is no figment of the imagination –  but it also can not have suddenly become a decisive handicap to President Obama’s political ambitions once he had reached the Oval Office.

Mr. Obama Goes to Washington
Instead, it’s fair to reflect (yet again) on what, precisely, those ambitions are or ever were — not for high office, but for what Obama would do and how he would do it when he got there.  David Sirota’s 2006 piece “Mr. Obama Goes To Washington” remains one of the most useful analyses of that question.  In Sirota’s judgment,

…[Obama] appears to be interested in fighting only for those changes that fit within the existing boundaries of what’s considered mainstream in Washington, instead of using his platform to redefine those boundaries. This posture comes even as polls consistently show that Washington’s definition of mainstream is divorced from the rest of the country’s (for example, politicians’ refusal to debate the war even as polls show that Americans want the troops home).

This being a time when he was still courting progressive voters, Obama valiantly… tried to have it both ways.  Sirota reports:

““You should always assume that when I cast a vote or make a statement it is because it is what I believe in,” he said. “The thing that bothers me is the assumption that if I make a judgment that’s different from yours, then it must mean I am less progressive or my goals are different, meaning I must be not really committed to helping people but rather I am trying to triangulate or drift toward the DLC [Democratic Leadership Council].”

My takeaway from Obama’s statement (and the ensuing 6 years) is therefore that when Obama adopts some neoliberal Beltway conventional wisdom, then that’s what he believes in — and meanwhile he’d like us to believe his goals are ours.

The trouble for Obama is that now that he’s president, the “shared goals” part is easier to disprove, starting with the extrajudicial drone assassinations and terror strikes Coates put front and center in his own essay.  The Obama administration has also given up on any prosecution of torturers; it’s allowing detainees to rot and die in indefinite detention –uncharged, unprosecuted, even approved for release.  It has engaged in unprecedented, punitive investigations, harrassment,  and prosecutions of national security journalists and whistleblowers.  It has pushed for renewals of the egregious PATRIOT and FISA Amendment Acts.   And Obama notoriously co-designed and then signed the NDAA and its indefinite detention provisions — with the signing conveniently timed for the evening of  New Year’s Eve, 2011.

And even if you’re bored with mere human rights, civil liberties,  or rule of law issues, there are plenty of bread and butter reasons to be skeptical of Obama’s leadership and policies, or even outraged by them: income inequality growth that was worse under Obama than Bush; a pitiful mortgage relief program intended to “foam the runway” for banks instead providing real relief to struggling homeowners — and intentionally leaving $300 million in potential mortgage relief unspent; a White House triumphantly touting a debt ceiling agreement that “Reduces Domestic Discretionary Spending to the Lowest Level Since Eisenhower” — at just the time when Keynesian domestic spending was urgently needed to revive a strangled economy; taking Bush era tax cuts off the table prior to the 2010 election; repeatedly putting Social Security and Medicare benefits ‘on the table.’

Indeed, where at least “economic progress in exchange for political impotence was the touchstone of Washington’s creed,” as W.E.B. Du Bois biographer David Lewis has put it*, Obama’s bargain may be the preservation, even exacerbation of a failing economic and political status quo in return for his own political stature — but ongoing progressive/liberal impotence.

I think the common denominators are more important, though: elite support for the political aspirations of a conveniently conservative, charismatic black leader.  In both cases, the rise to fame and power began with a nationally celebrated speech, one that served constituents less than the speaker’s own relentless climb up the ladder.

In Washington’s case, it was his 1895 Atlanta Cotton Exposition speech — an eloquent call for racial peace, an argument to focus on economic growth …but arguably also a surrender speech to white supremacy. Not surprisingly, Washington was suddenly white America’s — and (thanks in part to the “without strikes and labor wars” line) especially white business America’s — favorite black spokesman.  Washington was able to set up an increasingly powerful nationwide black political machine from his desk at Tuskegee Institute, fueled by the dollars of magnates like Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller, John Wanamaker, and George Eastman, to name a few.  Benefactors and recipient shared a common outlook on what to do with those dollars: hire or support those who didn’t rock the racial boat, deny those, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, who would not accept long term second class citizenship, social inequality, and racial terror.

Similarly, Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention keynote address launched Obama onto the national stage.  And in retrospect,  like Washington’s Atlanta speech, it succeeded less by telling hard truths than by flattering its listeners that the country was basically fine, they were basically what was right with it,  Obama was basically the proof, and all that was required was pretending we all agreed with each other.    The upshot was to “affirm the greatness of our Nation” in light of Obama’s own “unlikely” and “improbable” presence on the podium, and (just as Washington established in his 1901 autobiography ‘Up From Slavery’) in light of his compelling biography.

There’s another parallel between Booker T. and Barack H. that’s closely connected to the elite support they received: their frequent validations of outsider critiques of and attacks on their constituencies.  Even Jesus just said “turn the other cheek” –  he didn’t say “agree with the one who slaps you.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Post | 3 Comments »

Eisenhower Democrats

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 27th August 2012

It’s easy to dismiss the froth of election-related ads, articles and Internet campaign memes that’s accumulating as the November election approaches, but if nothing else, it can show how candidates and their supporters would like to appear.  For Democrats — and unfortunately, even for ones in the White House — the answer often seems to be: I’d like to be an old school Republican — I like Ike.

This is a really stupid message

Popular and well-spoken pundit Rachel Maddow, for instance, once famously defined “liberal” as being “in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform” ; the quote is making the rounds again in 2012.  Chalk that up as one last victory for 1956 Republicans; Ike was probably a better Republican than most of the current crop, but that’s no reason to hold him up as an icon to the left.

Sure, I get it: the intent is to say “Republicans used to agree with us on things they don’t now.”  On the other hand, of course, those Republicans are all dead.  And even with the “almost” Maddow wisely includes, the main thing this approach accomplishes is to shrink away from what Democrats do or might stand for, adopt past Republican views as a “good enough” standard, and give a pass to Republican disasters like the Taft-Hartley Act or interventions in Guatemala and Iran.*

And it’s not just Maddow.  After the debt ceiling debacle of 2011, the Obama White House itself invoked the good old days of Eisenhower to defend that disastrous deal.  Touting the outcome as a “bipartisan compromise,” the White House fact sheet “Bipartisan Debt Deal: A Win for the Economy and Budget Discipline” trumpeted the bullet point “Domestic Discretionary Spending to the Lowest Level Since Eisenhower.” Like Maddow, the Obama White House effectively abandoned the goals of Eisenhower-era and post-Eisenhower *Democrats*; using Eisenhower-era spending as a benchmark all but conceded that worthy, signature Democratic efforts like Medicare or the Great Society were wastes of time.

Nevertheless, “Eisenhower Democrats” have taken up points like this one as some kind of triumphant vindication of the Obama team’s economic policies.  This May, Forbes columnist Rick Ungar relayed a Marketwatch finding pointing out that Obama’s own year-over-year budget increases were the lowest of any post-World War II president –  – as if that were a good thing during a crippling recession with hundreds of thousands mired in debilitating, long term unemployment.

So is this

The graphic to the left may mark some kind of low point in the trend of Democrats trying to out-Republican the Republicans.  Think about its message for a second:

“The next time someone tells you that Obama is destroying the economy, remind them that the stock market and corporate profits are at all-time highs.  When they tell you that this hasn’t helped them any, remind them they’ve just admitted Trickle-Down Economics doesn’t work.”

With friends like these, Democrats don’t need any enemies. Corporate profits and the stock market index aren’t the measures of the economy’s health that Democrats should be watching — employment, inequality, and access to baseline public goods should be.  To me, the statement just proves (1) Obama executes Republican goals well, (2) it doesn’t do regular folks (like Obama’s *opponents*!) any good, and (3) Obama’s *supporters* don’t seem to get that.   It’s a really, really strange argument to showcase. “Boom.” Actually, if someone’s telling you these days that the economy is being destroyed, chances are they’re not “admitting” trickle down economics doesn’t work — that’s their whole point.  It just doesn’t seem to be Obama’s.  Or, it would seem, many Democrats’ points either.

Defense spending, 1970-2011 in 2011 dollars.
Note the final three years, 2009-2011.
(Source: Defense Department via CATO Inst.)

While more and more of them are apparently adopting the Eisenhower-era slogans “I like Ike” or “what’s good for corporate America is good for the country,” one thing Democrats ought to remember the Eisenhower era for generally goes unheeded — his warning about the military-industrial complex and the vast amounts of money the nation squanders on defense spending. Instead, the typical Democratic talking point these days boils down to “we are *so* spending too much on the military!”  The syndrome is perfectly illustrated by a February, 2012 Center for American Progress headline “Wall Street Journal Graph Falsely Suggests Military Spending Is On The Decline.”

Indeed it isn’t. But that’s not something for progressives to adopt a tone of injured pride about.

The 1956 GOP platform included paeans to brutal and/or anti-democratic US interventions in Guatemala and Iran. Also, as the 1956 Democratic Party platform notes, the Republicans were taking credit for a minimum wage hike they wanted to be lower than the Democrats who passed it did.  Similarly, Democrats wanted to repeal the disaster for labor that was the Taft-Hartley Act, while Republicans wanted to improve it to better protect the rights of management.  Democrats were no cup of tea in the 1950s either, but there was still a reason they were FDR’s and Adlai Stevenson’s party, not Ike’s: they were more consistently on the side of the average American, not the one percent.

UPDATE, 8/31: more and better on the Democratic Party’s adoption of deficit-reduction ueber alles by Corey Robin (“We’re Going To Tax Their Ass Off!”)  and Alex Gourevitch (“Pastiche without Purpose: Democrats and the Politics of Debt”).

Posted in Post | 9 Comments »

Todd Akin: the best opponent a corporate Democrat could buy

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 22nd August 2012

In the so-called false good Samaritan con, one con artist first creates a problem (e.g., steals a wallet, lets rats loose in the neighborhood), then another rides to the rescue (e.g., retrieves the wallet, offers pest control services) and demands a reward.  Something similar is happening in Missouri’s Senate race: a created problem, a less than fully deserved reward.

Over the weekend, Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin repeated a revealing, reprehensible, and medically false statement* popular among pro-forced birthers about how “legitimate” (read: forcible) rape was somehow different from other rape and was less likely to lead to conception.  He has since compounded the insult by saying what he really meant was that women often lie about rape.  The result has been a well-deserved firestorm of disapproval, thereby considerably boosting beleaguered incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill’s chances: one poll showed Akin losing 8 points overnight, dropping him into a statistical tie with Senator McCaskill.

The thing is, though, that Akin became the Republican candidate with help from… Claire McCaskill and the Democratic Party.  On August 8, Sunlight Foundation’s Keenan Steiner reported:

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Democratic outside groups, pouring in over $1 million during Missouri’s Republican Senate primary, got the guy they wanted: Rep. Todd Akin, who Tuesday upset two other Republicans to take the GOP nomination.

The thinking was he was more beatable by Democrats than the Republican frontrunners he defeated. So as Akin portrayed himself as the most conservative candidate to Republican primary voters, McCaskill ran ads agreeing with him.

Now Akin is definitely a misogynist moron. But that’s what makes him so very useful to nebbishy corporate-Democratic politicians like Claire McCaskill, who among other things sponsored “CAP Act” legislation essentially putting Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block, who helped kill an “audit the Fed” bill for bailout transparency, and who boasts companies like Monsanto, Boeing, and (wait for it) Bain Capital among her top 20 campaign contributors.  If it weren’t for crazy Akin, a lot of people would notice McCaskill looks a lot like a Republican herself. And as another Missourian once said, “if it’s a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time.”

So let’s get off our high horses about Akin for maybe just a minute or two, and not pretend real Democrats and/or progressives benefit much when Democratic backroom political decisions court disasters like him.

First of all, of course, Akin might still hang in there and win.  What does that say about Democrats stewardship of women’s reproductive rights as opposed to stewardship of Senate seats?  Should running this kind of risk really commend McCaskill to her number one contributor: Emily’s List?

But focusing on extremists like Akin also lets McCaskill and elected Democrats like her avoid defending, discussing, or above all recalibrating their own conservatism: they don’t need to.   To the extent rank and file Democrats have one or two other issues on their minds every six years besides post-rape abortions, that’s an important opportunity lost for those voters, and an all-too useful pass for their Senator.

UPDATE, 9/8: Don’t Look Now But Todd Akin Has Crept Back Into the Missouri Senate Race (Voorhies, Slate): “McCaskill enjoyed leads of nine and ten points in a pair of polls taken last month as Akin was being hit from all sides. But the two most recent polls show a different story, with Akin clawing his way back within one point of the Missouri Democrat in the (liberal-leaning) PPP survey and into a three-point lead in the (conservative-leaning) Wenzel Strategies poll.”

Posted in Post | No Comments »

Liberal establishment ISO “right” movement

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 25th June 2012

Does the Liberal Establishment Care About Anything But Itself? The Hard Lessons of Wisconsin” is an unintentionally revealing title for a disappointing discussion with Rebuild America guru Van Jones.

In the interview, conducted by Adele Stan of Alternet, Jones starts by saying the Wisconsin governor’s recall race was lost due to the “inaction of the liberal establishment.”

Yet the recall effort was waged for the Wisconsin liberal establishment more than for anyone else.  As Rick Perlstein noted in a valuable Rolling Stone post-mortem, Walker’s opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett, galumphed into the race on the strength of Democratic establishment connections.  And he did it over the objections of Wisconsin labor… and with a far less resolute approach than Kathleen Falk’s (the prior front runner) to fixing the core issue at stake: restoring collective bargaining to Wisconsin public employees.

But Jones’s purpose apparently wasn’t really to conduct an objective inquest on the Wisconsin recall — it was to artfully (or confusedly, take your pick) blur the lines between “establishment” and “movement”:

“Our national movement was doing its minimum. You didn’t see the big national Democrats there. There were exceptions, but in general, you didn’t see the national civil rights movement, the environmental movement, the women’s movement — we left a lot of artillery unused.”

Strangely, what that tells Van Jones is that his liberal and progressive audience should be redoubling their efforts for… wait for it… precisely the “one big national Democrat” who did the absolute minimum (well, aside from one tweet) in Wisconsin himself:

Remember how you felt when you woke up and found out that we lost in Wisconsin. Now, imagine how you’re gonna feel waking up to President Romney and a Republican sweep of Congress. Now, I say that because we have a lot of progressives who are saying things like they’re so disappointed with Obama that they’re not going to do anything to help him get reelected. I think that is ill-considered because we feel this way right now, but tomorrow always comes. And when we’re actually living in a world where the Tea Party is the government of the United States, which is where we’re headed, we’re gonna wish we had done more.  [...]

Shifting ever more fluidly between “you” and “we”, Jones then buttered up Alternet readers with “you can’t fault the peace movement, we had as many people marching for peace in the streets of America the first six weeks leading up to the Iraq War than we had in the first six years of the Vietnam War.” Not that anyone was faulting the peace movement, one thinks, but whatever, this tastes good.  And so, with readers presumably disarmed, the real rhetorical gambit occurs:

…So, you can’t fault the peace movement, but you had the wrong president.

With Obama, you had arguably the right president, but you had the wrong movement with the Tea Party out there, pulling things in a negative direction. The key is to have the right president and the right movement at the same time. That’s what we’ve got to be aiming for. You’ve got to have a president who is willing to be moved — which is not Bush and not Romney. But then you’ve got to have a movement that’s willing to do the  moving. And that’s what we’ve got to be aiming for, which means that we have to work twice as hard as we did in 2008, not half as hard or a tenth as hard.

You know, I look around and I don’t hear a lot of progressives talking about where they’re going to spend October in terms of the swing states. I don’t hear people talking about the fundraisers that they’re doing. I don’t hear [of] people doing any of the things that we did in 2008. And if we think we’re going to put our minimum up against our opponents’ maximum, when they’ve been given this huge window with Citizens United and all of this voter disenfranchisement, then we’re crazy.

And thus the shabby magic trick is complete.  The best, rightest movements  of them all — the Wisconsin uprising, Occupy Wall Street: forgotten.  Emanuel’s poisoning of the race with Barrett: ignored.  The right president: ‘arguably’ (nice touch) Obama.  Obama’s MIA performance: camouflaged as “big national Democrats.”  The legacy of Wisconsin, as Jones appears to see it: to catalyze Obama 2012 house parties.

For all I know, Netroots Nation ate it up — apparently Jones was recycling some of the comments from a speech there; Adele Stan sure seemed to.

But I’m not buying.  Does the liberal establishment care about anything but itself?  That’s a surprisingly good question, given the adoring interview Ms. Stan conducted.  And judging by Jones’s comments, Obama’s no-show, Bill Clinton’s tepid speech for Barrett, and Barrett’s tepid race against Walker, the answer is: no.

We shouldn’t have to settle for a president who’s “willing to be moved” — we needed and need one to lead the moving.  We don’t need a president who admires and wants to be part of the elite — we need one to impose some boundaries on that elite’s arrogance and power.  And we don’t need a movement defined for us by a Van Jones.  We should do that for ourselves.

Posted in Post | 1 Comment »

Ladies and gentlemen: your infinitely cunning Democratic Party

Posted by Thomas Nephew on 14th March 2012

So I listen to Chris Van Hollen tonight, and he’s “asked about” health care reform — i.e., the moderator shuffles a bunch of question cards people submitted and then boils some of them down to a key word.

Van Hollen starts shaking his head and says (paraphrasing) “”Obamacare” was really patterned on *Romney*care; Obama’s going to be able to look at Romney in a debate and say “this is your plan.” Yes, what a stirring moment that will be for Democrats.

Then he added “*Democrats* wanted Medicare for all.”  Golly!  If only they’d had the White House and both houses of Congress, they could… have… never mind.

Posted in Post | 3 Comments »


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Truncated: length

WARC-Type: response

text:
Tactical Links

World Policy Institute Expands to LMU

The World Policy Institute, in partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, announces the creation of the World Policy Institute at LMU, a first of its kind interdisciplinary research and academic center. Michael Genovese, Ph.D., professor of Political Science who holds the Loyola Chair of Leadership Studies and is director of the […]

Continue Reading

Burcham, Orci to Speak at LMU Commencement

Outgoing Loyola Marymount University President David W. Burcham and producer-screenwriter Roberto Orci will be the commencement speakers at Loyola Marymount University’s undergradaute and graduate ceremonies on the weekend of May 9-10. Burcham will speak at the undergraduate ceremony on Saturday, May 9, at 9:30 a.m. in the Sunken Garden. He has been president of LMU […]

Continue Reading

Branden Grimmett to Lead Office of Career and Professional Development

Branden Grimmett, a nationally respected leader in building and transforming career service centers, has been named associate provost for the Office of Career and Professional Development at Loyola Marymount University. He will assume his new position on June 1. Grimmett, who was the current and founding director of the Piper Center for Vocation & Career […]

Continue Reading

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-22
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


text:
Current weather

  • Scattered clouds
  • 79°
    Scattered clouds

Augusta scores in middle of AARP 'livability' index

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 4:36pm

As Augusta’s senior commissioner pushes to make the city more age-friendly, a new index from AARP gave the city 51 out of 100 points for meeting current and future needs of residents.

The “livability” index gave Augusta a higher score than Columbia County, Aiken County, North Augusta and Macon, which all received a 49, but a lower one than Savannah and Columbus, both of which garnered a 52.

read more

Laney to hold parade to celebrate girls basketball title

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 1:50pm

The Laney girls basketball team will be honored with a parade Saturday.

The Wildcats won the program’s first GHSA state title in March with a 70-55 win against Beach in the Class AAA state championship.

Starting at noon Saturday, the parade will begin at the football team’s practice field (Mill Street) and then go on Wrightsboro Road to Augusta Avenue. After that it will continue on to Laney-Walker Boulevard and to Eleventh Street. From there, it will go to Wrightsboro Road and back to the football practice field.

Poll shows Ga. GOP surprise

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 1:13pm

ATLANTA -- As delegates gather at this weekend’s Republican state convention in Athens, a first-time candidate and the winner of Georgia’s ‘08 primary top the list of presidential favorites among party rank and file.

Tied for first, 10 months before the Georgia primary, are neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a political novice who’s among the most recent to formally announce, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who failed to capitalize on his primary win here seven years ago.

Carson and Huckabee were tied with 20 percent.

read more

Greenville, SC, man dies in Appling crash

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 12:00pm

A Greenville, S.C., man was killed Thursday morning in an Appling traffic accident.

Columbia County Deputy Coroner Harriett Garrison said Garud S. Acharya, 65, died at the scene from blunt-force trauma to the head.

About 10:30 a.m., Acharya was stopped in his Toyota Camry on Bennett Road. He worked for ADT and was in the area for his job, Garrison said.
As he tried to turn left on Ray Owens Road, Acharya pulled into the path of a northbound dump truck, according to sheriff’s Capt. Steve Morris.

read more

Train hits semi truck in Johnston, but no one hurt

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 11:19am

JOHNSTON, S.C. — No one was injured Thursday when a train traveling through downtown Johnston struck a truck stalled on its tracks, smashing the tractor-trailer and causing debris damage to vehicles in the nearby library parking lot.

The southbound Norfolk Southern train with two locomotives and 59 cars ripped through the truck about 9:45 a.m., according to a statement from company spokeswoman Susan Terpay.

read more

Lawn equipment stolen

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Thu, 05/14/2015 - 1:35am

More than $4,300 worth of landscaping equipment was stolen from a trailer at Augusta Mall while workers groomed the grounds Wednesday.

One of the landscapers told Richmond County sheriff’s deputies he and his crew were working between 10 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. when he saw a black man jump into a white pickup truck and flee toward Wrightsboro Road. After checking the back of one of his trailers, he saw that two leaf blowers, two edgers, two weed-eaters and two push mowers were missing.

read more

Columbia County residents invited to give feedback on 20-year development plan

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Wed, 05/13/2015 - 11:36pm

Columbia County residents will have yet another chance to offer ideas and voice their concerns on the next 20 years of growth and development today at Evans public library.

The public is invited to an all-day “land use charrette” today to provide input for Columbia County’s comprehensive development plan, dubbed “Vision 2035,” which will help planners and elected officials make decisions about the next two decades of growth and change, said Andrew Strickland, the county’s director of Planning Services.

read more

Richmond County Board of Education approves delay in Murphey-Josey merger to 2017-18

Latest from The Augusta Chronicle - Wed, 05/13/2015 - 11:33pm

The Richmond County Board of Education has decided to delay the T.W. Josey High School-Murphey Middle School merger until the 2017-18 school year.

The decision made at a Tuesday committee meeting will allow time for the construction of a new wing at Josey and for the entire student body of Murphey to move to their new school as a single unit, school officials said. The board voted 9-0 to approve the delay, with member Frank Dolan absent.

read more

Follow News-Times:

News-Times Video »

  • Main: 706-868-1222
  • Fax: 706-823-6062
  • Email:
  • 4272 Washington Rd, Suite 3B, Evans, Ga. 30809


text:
new york, ny free classifieds > New York services >

New York massage

> ad

Blue Sky Spa . The Best Massage Spa In Queens!!!

Back to ad is an interactive computer service that enables access by multiple users and should not be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. © 2015


text:
Harlem Residents Without Gas Service Get Food Aid From Citymeals-On-Wheels

Water Main Break (credit: CBS 2)

Water Main Break (credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Citymeals-on-Wheels is providing emergency food relief for Harlem residents who live in buildings with no gas service.

The organization was delivering 2,100 shelf-stable meals on Wednesday for residents, including the elderly and children.

“Take-out is not an option for many whether because of economic reasons or health concerns,” Rachel Sherrow, Director of Programs and Community Affairs at Citymeals on Wheels, told 1010 WINS. “Getting our boxes out is incredibly important for those who need food and need it right away and need to be able to prepare it without having to heat it up.”

Items include tuna fish, crackers, mayonnaise, organic apple sauce, brown rice, instant coffee, powdered milk and juice.

It’s been estimated residents could be without gas service for up to six weeks following a water main break in Hamilton Heights last Friday.

According to Con Edison, Friday’s water main break has left over 7,000 customers without gas and many without comforts often taken for granted.

Citymeals says it expects to do several more deliveries to the area if the hardship continues.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


text:
Bloomberg Unveils Redesign Of Times Square Pedestrian Plaza

Construction equipment in Times Square (credit: CBS 2)

Construction equipment in Times Square (credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Times Square is set for a $40 million makeover, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the first phase of the project on Monday.

But as CBS 2’s Janelle Burrell reported, not everyone is thrilled about the timing.

The three-year makeover is being undertaken an effort to make the area more pedestrian friendly. It comes just eight days before the big New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square – and Mayor Bloomberg’s last day in office.

Bloomberg and the Times Square Alliance celebrated phase one of the redesign, which includes a stretch along 42nd Street and Broadway that is now topped with new concrete pavers.

“More than 400,000 pedestrians pass through Times Square every day and with the improvements we’ve made to this plaza’s infrastructure, lighting and broadcasting connections, it can host more public events like this one,” Bloomberg said.

Mayor Bloomberg admitted he was skeptical when the idea to close down part of Broadway was suggested by the transportation commissioner a few years back.

“Predictions ranged from Carmageddon-style gridlock to wind-swept empty plazas,” Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan recalled.

But the mayor said traffic measurements prove it’s helped.

“The data in terms of traffic flow, the facts are the facts,” Bloomberg said. “Measured by the computer, we think this the right thing to do.”

Sadik-Khan also noted the plazas have helped cut down on pedestrian injuries.

“So when people say ‘oh it’s faster or slower,’ that’s park bench wisdom that depends on your last trip. The real numbers you have are from the computer,” said Bloomberg.

With the project under way, brand new granite pavers are now part of the walkway along Broadway between 42nd and 43rd streets.

The work also means extensive electrical upgrades.

“The underground work includes replacing water mains from 1904, sewers from 1919, and century-old street car tracks,” Sadik-Khan said.

But some have said the Crossroads of the World has been looking more like a crossroads of construction lately, and they do not like it at all.

“Unbelievable, crazy, and insane trying to get to work — especially from here, it’s a nightmare,” said Sharlene Turner of Lower Manhattan.

“The construction is hard,” said East Village resident Kathy Kapp. “You have to go around or circumvent a different way.”

Some also said they were not pleased with the barricades that have been mounted right along the entrances to several stores during what is typically one of the busiest times of the year.

“When it’s really crowded, you can barely move there are so many people, so you can’t really get to the businesses,” said Mike Messina, who works nearby.

“It is stressful,” added Elizabeth Gonzales of Passaic, N.J. “But what can you do? It’s New York City.”

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who takes over at City Hall in the new year, said he has mixed feelings on keeping Broadway open to foot traffic only. But Bloomberg said it’s too late now.

“You’d have a very tough time rolling this back,” said Bloomberg, now that pavers have replaced the potted plants and painted asphalt.

The question now is whether it will all be cleared up before the ball drop. City leaders said indeed it would, pointing to a layer of pavement already in place.

City officials also said the barricades will be removed.

Construction will stop between Dec. 27 and Jan. 1 for the ball drop, and the entire project is set to wrap up in 2015.

For more information, visit

Check Out These Other Stories From


text:
Skilled Pilots Make Stomach-Turning Stunts Look Easy At Bethpage Air Show

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) — Engines roared from above Saturday at the Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach, Long Island.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators braved the sometimes chilly temperatures to witness the glory of the stunt show, CBS 2’s Steve Langford reported.

From the Blue Angels to the Golden Knights parachute team, necks were hurting as the crowd strained to catch every minute of the sky-high action.

After a cloudy start to the day, the weather was picture perfect when the show began, WCBS 880’s Sophia Hall reported.

“I enjoyed seeing the airplanes. I enjoy the start of summer. The patriotism of it,” one spectator said.

FA-18 Hornets zoomed across the sky at speeds of up to 700 miles an hour, sometimes flying just 18 inches apart from each other.

“I don’t know how they do that. I really don’t. It’s awesome,” another spectator told Langford.

“I actually thought it was amazing. Probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen a plane do,” said Boston resident James Dottin.

It was something that never fails to amaze even family members who were there to cheer on their pilots, including a group from Cincinnati who went to watch Lt. Commander John Hiltz.

“Has done two tours on aircraft carriers and has been all over the world, but this has been a highlight for his career getting to do this,” said Cindy Hemsath, a relative of a Blue Angel pilot.

Among the crowd were veterans who worked on some of the featured aircraft over the years, who said they never miss the air show.

“Proud to see them and I’m happy that I’m one of them,” one veteran said.

WCBS 880’s Alex Silverman had a chance to fly with one of the world’s most experienced stunt pilots.

“I love always getting outside of my comfort zone,” experienced pilot Sean D. Tucker said.

Tucker gave the controls to WCBS 880’s Silverman and then took a back seat as the plane hit high speeds. Silverman zoomed through the skies high above Jones Beach and got a taste of life as a stunt pilot.

You May Also Be Interested In These Stories


text:
Martha Stewart

Prom Tuxedo (file / credit:

Stories From Main Street: Old Clothes Get A Second Life During Prom Season In Katonah

It might be hard to believe, but in the same town where Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren live, there are some teens who can’t afford to attend their prom.

Pekingese Malachy poses for photographers after winning Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on February 14, 2012 in New York City. (credit: Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

Top Dog Malachy The Pekingese Enjoys Victory Meal At Famed NYC Restaurant

Malachy enjoyed the traditional victory meal at Sardi’s in the theater district on Wednesday. He had his favorite chicken and rice instead of steak.

Malachy the Pekingese (credit: USA Network)

Pekingese Crowned America’s Top Dog At Westminster

This Peke was at his peak. Malachy the Pekingese wobbled off with best in show Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club, becoming America’s dog to the delight of an adoring crowd that called his name.

Martha Stewart and daughter Alexis Stewart (credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Sirius XM)

Gotham Gossipist: Growing Up With Martha Stewart Not Picture Perfect, Daughter Writes

Alexis Stewart, the 46-year-old daughter of Martha Stewart, has some not-too-flattering things to say about her iconic mother in her new book, “Whateverland: Learning to Live Here.”

12: Modern Antiquities - Hudson, NY (file / credit: Hudson Antiquities Dealers Association)

Rough Economy Takes Anne McInnis From NYC Corporate World To Upstate Antique Shop

With the economy still in a sorry state, more out-of-work professionals are chasing their dreams and turning them into second careers.

Queen Latifah (Photo by Mario Anzuoni-Pool/Getty Images); John Travolta (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

John Travolta, Queen Latifah Among Inductees Into NJ Hall Of Fame

A who’s who of luminaries from entertainment, sports and the arts were being inducted into New Jersey’s Hall of Fame on Sunday night.

John Travolta (L) Queen Latifah (M) Tony Bennett (R) (credit: Getty Images)

Travolta, Latifah, Bennett Set For Induction Into NJ Hall Of Fame

NEWARK, NJ (WCBS 880/AP) — Some of the Garden State’s greatest will be honored Sunday evening as the newest inductees into New Jersey’s Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees are a who’s who of luminaries from […]

Lisa Turkki - AP Photo

Aunt Accused Of Stabbing Nieces Faces Arraignment

The woman who allegedly stabbed her two nieces as she babysat for them across the street from where Martha Stewart lives faces arraignment today.

Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Martha Stewart, John Travolta Among NJ Hall Nominees

John Travolta, Martha Stewart and Tony Bennett are among 30 nominees to the New Jersey Hall of Fame Class of 2011.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

B&C Show Blog & Audio: Yankees Fans for Rangers

The Yankees gave the ball to A.J. Burnett last night with the hopes that he could salvage his dreadful season and at the same time even their series with the Texas Rangers. The result was rather predictable.

Victims of Katonah stabbings say they're in good condition. (Photo/Terry Sheridan)

Parents: Katonah Stabbing Victims in Good Condition

The parents of two girls who were stabbed in their home across the street from Martha Stewart’s estate in Katonah say they’re in good condition.

WCBS 880–08/03/2010

Katonah Stabbing

Relative Charged In Stabbing of 2 Girls In Katonah

A relative has been accused of stabbing two young girls she was baby-sitting at a home across the street from Martha Stewart’s.

1010 WINS–08/01/2010


text:
Wherefore Stars?

Wells: star arbiter. Photo: NYT

"If you hope [stars on reviews] are going to organize the entire New York City restaurant scene into an objective and verifiable hierarchy of good, better and best, you’re going to find that the reviews are a weekly exercise in frustration. (A corollary: If you read the reviews believing that all restaurants with a given number of stars are meant to be equally good, you’re going to lose your mind.)" — Yeah, Pete Wells, we confess we've been there recently. [Diner's Journal/NYT]


text:
[Photograph: Robyn Lee]

The kitchen at Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria does some incredible sandwiches, but don't forget about the bakery counter up front. The pre-wrapped Salami Toscano ($15) looks pretty plain—a massive loaf of focaccia that eclipses any trace of sausage, but it delivers.

Open up the sandwich and you'll see that there is a generous portion of excellent salami Toscano, a dry, coarse sausage flavored with red wine and peppercorns. It's just mounded up in the center under a blanket of nutty aged goat cheese. Take a bite and it all comes together—not-too-fatty sausage with just-oily-enough bread, plenty savory with a peppery kick. It's pricy for a pre-made sandwich but big enough to share, and a portable way to enjoy some excellent charcuterie.

About the author: Max Falkowitz is the New York editor at Serious Eats. You can follow him on Twitter at @maxfalkowitz.

Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria

Editors' Pick

Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria

  • East Village

53 Great Jones St btwn Lafayette & Bowery New York NY 10012 212-837-2622

Read more
a Foursquare-powered location - View

Comments can take up to a minute to appear - please be patient!

Previewing your comment:


text:
[Photographs: Niko Triantafillou]

The Gluten-free Chocolate Cookie ($2.50) from Foragers City Grocer is definitely worth investigating if you're in need of a sweet fix but are avoiding gluten.

Crisp on the outside and soft within, the cookie bends without breaking as a chewy cookie might. The chocolate flavor, which seems to come solely from cocoa powder, is mild but satisfying, and it makes for a light cookie rather than a dense chocolate bomb.

Sometimes that's just the kind of cookie you want: one without chocolate chips or chunks to weigh it down. No gluten? Now that's an added bonus, and it comes in a cookie tasty enough that gluten eaters can enjoy it as well.

About the author: Native New Yorker Niko Triantafillou is the founder of DessertBuzz.com his photographs of desserts and pastry chefs have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Dessert Professional Magazine. He is an unabashed foodie nerdling. Follow him on Twitter at @DessertBuzz.

Foragers City Grocer

Foragers City Grocer

  • Chelsea

233 8th Ave at W 22nd St New York NY 10011 (212) 243-8888

Read more
a Foursquare-powered location - View

Comments can take up to a minute to appear - please be patient!

Previewing your comment:


text:
You are viewing 3 events for February 2013 in the category Events

Laser Love Wine Valentine at NextFab

    • jillevanibiza

Looking for a unique, chic, romantic, and geeky way to start a memorable Valentine's Day evening?

Join NextFab founder Evan Malone and Jet Wine Bar proprietor Jill Weber for a fun and informative evening of love, lasers, and wine!
Your evening will begin with our professional photographer capturing your portrait.
Next, our expert staff will begin to laser-etch your portrait on a porcelain ceramic tile for a unique and indelible reminder of your romantic adventure.
While etching is underway, learn about the laser process and take a tour of NextFab's art and technology studio facilities hosted by Evan Malone. Then enjoy a mini-wine tasting hosted by Jill Weber, of Jet Wine Bar, and lounge while enjoying a glass of your favorite and a selection of premium cheeses.
Early arrivals will be able to leave with their keepsake, while we'll ship or hold for pick-up for those who arrive later or need to leave early.
Two sessions will be held, one starting at 6pm and one at 7pm.
Limited to 5 couples per session, one ticket per couple, please.
Buy Tickets HERE
Categories: Events

Attention all NextFabbers! This is your opportunity to show off your projects or ideas and get feedback from fellow members, NextFab expert staff and folks in similar industries. Get started on your elevator pitch!

Is your project unfinished? Ask experts for suggestions and recommendations.

Meet other designers/creators and get to know them in person.

Each presenter will have 15 mins to talk about their project followed by a brief Q&A session. Presentation slots are open to all level NextFab members (Standard, Weekend, Community). Slots are limited. If you are interested in presenting, please contact us to reserve your slot today!

Non-members are welcome to participate as audience.

Eventbrite - SHOW & TELL

Categories: Events
Tags: Show & Tell

NextFabulous Social

    • social 2

It’s our very first Social at the new location. Over 50 people have joined us since we reopened! Come meet your fellow members, find out what other people are working on, and maybe meet a future project partner!
Beers and snack are on us.
We are welcoming all NextFab members; that includes Standard, Weekend, and Community members. We are looking forward to meeting you all! .

Eventbrite - NextFabulous Social

    • social 1
    • social 2
Categories: Members , Events

February 2013

Previous Next
Su M T W Th F S
27 28 29 30 31 01 02
03 04 05 06 07 08 09
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 01 02


text:
Frank Ocean Writes ‘F*ck Off’ in a $212,500 Check to Chipotle

Last Friday, Chipotle filed a lawsuit against Frank Ocean after failing to deliver a song he was suppose to record for an ad campaign.

The company paid Ocean $212,500 upfront to record a cover of the Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory song “Pure Imagination” for their “Scarecrow” ad campaign. According to court papers, the deadline came and Ocean didn’t deliver. Instead, his representatives sent a letter with the following:

“When Frank was asked to participate in this project, Chipotle’s representatives told him that the thrust of the campaign was to promote responsible farming. There was no Chipotle reference or logo in the initial presentation, and Chipotle told Frank that was an intentional element of the campaign.”

So basically, Ocean thought he was promoting responsible farming, not Chipotle’s brand. Things got dicey when Ocean didn’t return the advance, which prompted the lawsuit by Chipotle.

In response to the lawsuit, Ocean wrote a check for $212,500 addressed to Chipotle and wrote “F*CK OFF” in the memo. He then posted the check in his personal tumblr.

We’ll have to see if Chipotle still moves forward with the lawsuit as they can still sue for additional damages.

Source: Gawker, Hollywood Reporter
(Visited 26 times, 1 visits today)
Like us on Facebook

Leave a reply


text:
Skip Global Navigation to Main Content
Skip Breadcrumb Navigation

Doing Business in Nicaragua

Ambassador Phyllis M. Powers official portraitAmbassador Phyllis M. Powers

With its growing economy and membership in the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), Nicaragua offers many opportunities to the informed investor.  The U.S. Embassy in Managua looks forward to supporting U.S. firms as they seek business, trade and investment opportunities in Nicaragua’s economy.

As with any new environment, before beginning business in Nicaragua, interested parties should conduct serious research, particularly when considering purchasing property.  The links below will start you on the road to getting to know Nicaragua, and the Embassy’s officers are available to assist with further enquiries.

Business Links

  • Country Commercial Guide

    The Country Commercial Guide, updated yearly, presents a comprehensive overview of the commercial environment in Nicaragua. Sections include the Investment Climate Statement and an analysis of Leading Sectors for U.S. Export and Investment

  • osac logo
    Overseas Security Advisory Council
    The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) promotes security cooperation between American private-sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. More...
  • graphic icon of a house with a warning sign on top of its right side
    Buying Property in Nicaragua

    Before purchasing property in Nicaragua, there are a few precautions to consider.  It is essential to conduct in-depth due diligence.  Further information can be found in the Embassy’s Due Diligence Advisory and through the Embassy’s Property Office.

  • Commercial Services

    Working with the Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service, the U.S. Embassy in Managua is able to provide certain Commercial Services to interested U.S. entities.

  • Information for U.S. Agricultural Exporters

    The Embassy's Office of Agricultural Affairs offers a variety of services to U.S. companies to facilitate U.S. agricultural trade with Nicaragua.

  • Doing Business in Nicaragua

    A report by the World Bank on the Ease of Doing Business in Nicaragua:

  • Free Trade Agreement

    The Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), which came into effect in 2006, has created many valuable opportunities for U.S. exporters, importers and investors. Further information on CAFTA_DR can be found on the Embassy’s Economic and Commercial Section, as well as through the FTA Tariff Tool which allows users to see how individual products are treated under CAFTA-DR.

  • Top Economic Statistics for Nicaragua

    This World Fact Book report covers all of Nicaragua’s key economic indicators.

  • Visiting Nicaragua

    For information on visiting Nicaragua, please visit the Embassy’s website, Traveling in Nicaragua section.

    Travel Advisories
    Make sure to check the current State Department Travel Warnings. More information can also be found on through the Embassy’s Messages for U.S. Citizens, and Emergency Messages for U.S. Citizens.

  • FCPA

    The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is an important anti-corruption tool designed to discourage corrupt business practices in favor of free and fair markets.  The FCPA prohibits promising, offering, giving or authorizing giving anything of value to a foreign government official where the purpose is to obtain or retain business.  These prohibitions apply to U.S. persons, both individuals and companies, and companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges. The statute also requires companies publicly traded in the U.S. to keep accurate books and records and implement appropriate internal controls.

    For More information on the FCPA, please visit its website.

    A party to a transaction seeking to know whether a proposed course of conduct would violate the FCPA can take advantage of the opinion procedure established by the statue.  Within 30 days of receiving a description of a proposed course of conduct in writing, the Attorney General will provide the party with a written opinion on whether the proposed conduct would violate the FCPA.  Not only do opinions provide the requesting party with a rebuttable presumption that the conduct does not violate the FCPA, but DOJ publishes past opinions which can provide guidance for other companies facing similar situations.

    More information on the DOJ opinion procedure can be found on this document

  • u.s. department of state logo Other government resources
  • Selectusa logo

    Establezca su Negocio en los Estados Unidos

    Las empresas que quieren establecer su negocio en los Estados Unidos tienen un nuevo aliado poderoso – SelectUSA. Oficina creada por el Presidente Obama en 2011, siendo el primer esfuerzo de todo el gobierno federal para facilitar la inversión de las empresas como un motor de crecimiento del empleo y el desarrollo económico.

    Contacte a la oficina de SelectUSA Hoy

    Para saber más sobre SelectUSA y sus servicios, visite o llame +1 (202) 482-6800.

  • logo

    The Business Information Database System (BIDS) gives U.S. businesses up to the minute information about significant foreign government and multilateral development bank procurements. Through an interactive map interface, businesses can find new export opportunities, validated by U.S. government economic and commercial experts overseas. Public and private partners can link to or download BIDS data for matchmaking, analysis, or other purposes.

  • logo
    Direct Line for American Business

    The Direct Line for American Business program connects U.S. businesses and American Ambassadors and U.S. mission personnel overseas, making you part of our "country team." You will get up to the minute information on markets vital to your business, and learn about new sectors and tenders to help you expand your business.

  • BusinessUSA logo is the U.S. Government's official web portal to support business start-ups, growth, financing, and exporting.

Contact Us

Adobe Reader

  • Download Free
    Download Free

    All downloadable documents on this page are provided in PDF format.  To view PDFs you must have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You may download a free version by clicking the link above.


text:
Hearing Loss

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Don't Ignore Hearing Problems

Some people have a hearing problem without realizing it. Others might think they have a problem, but are too embarrassed to tell their doctor, friends, or family. You can help identify a possible hearing problem by asking yourself some key questions and, if necessary, having your hearing checked by a doctor.

If a hearing loss is ignored or untreated, it can get worse. But a hearing loss that is identified early can be helped through treatment, such as hearing aids, certain medications, and surgery.

Do You Have A Hearing Problem?

Ask yourself the following questions. If you answer "yes" to three or more of these questions, you could have a hearing problem and may need to have your hearing checked by a doctor.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss, or sudden deafness, is a rapid loss of hearing. It can happen to a person all at once or over a period of up to 3 days. It should be considered a medical emergency. If you or someone you know experiences sudden sensorineural hearing loss, you should visit a doctor immediately.

Who Should I See?

The most important thing you can do if you think you have a hearing problem is to seek professional advice. There are several ways to do this. You may start with your primary care physician, an otolaryngologist, an audiologist, or a hearing aid specialist. Each has a different type of training and expertise. Each can be an important part of your hearing health care.

An otolaryngologist -- a surgeon who specializes in ear, nose, and throat diseases -- will try to find out why you have a hearing loss and offer treatment options. He or she will ask you for your medical history, ask if other family members have hearing problems, perform a thorough exam, and prescribe any needed tests.

An audiologist is a health professional who can identify and measure hearing loss. The audiologist will use a device called an audiometer to test your ability to hear sounds of different loudness and pitch (where the sound falls on the scale, from high to low).

The tests that an audiologist performs are painless. Audiologists do not prescribe medications or perform surgery. If you need a hearing aid, some audiologists are licensed to help you choose the right one.

A hearing aid specialist (or hearing aid dispenser) is a licensed professional that can check your hearing, fit a hearing aid, counsel and rehabilitate, evaluate treatment for tinnitus, and help with swim molds, ear molds, and noise protectors.


text:
< ! --Digital window verification 001 -->

Weekly Nikon news flash #111

Pin It

  • A reader found the original song from those "I am Nikon" videos (I wonder if the music video was shot on a Nikon):

  • Japanese Nikon D7000 commercial:

  • Another Nikon D7000 promo video:

  • New Nikon D5100 commercial shot on the D5100:

This entry was posted in Weekly Nikon News Flash. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.
  • Stevens

    I love my D90!

  • http://sonidoaudio.com cubivore

    what does the korean iphone app do? there is a funny mispelling on their promo image 😛

    • M Jesper

      Oh yeah you’re right, SatrShot/StarShot. Woops !

  • cpm5280

    Seeing the 28/1.4 listed at that price makes me want to sell mine. I could take a vacation AND buy a new ZF.2 35/1.4…

    • Global

      Sell it. They used to be $4,000 at one point. So basically you lost out. Buy a Nikon 24/1.4G & take your vacation.

    • Manuel

      The price of the 28mm/1.4 seems to come back slowly to reasonable regions. USD 2,750 is about EUR 1,950 – for a mint copy. At the moment, the AF-S 24/1.4 is priced at about EUR 1,800 (USD 2,550) at serious non-Ebay dealers in Germany.

  • plug

    Somme video…a bit over the top maybe!

  • ZoetMB

    The “Battle of F-Stop Ridge” looks really good (although a very cloudy day, so they didn’t have to battle with dynamic light extremes), but I’d love to know whether it was shot on a Nikon or a Canon. The original file (without going through YouTube compression) probably looks even better.

    • Worminator

      You are thinking too hard. Just sit back and laugh a little.

      • http://www.russbarnes.co RussB

        +1. I laughed my ass off. Even my Mrs laughed and she hates photography :)

      • asdf

        I actually didn’t find it very funny.

        • c.d.embrey

          Pathetic. After spending all that money for GEAR, the most creative thing they’ll ever do with it is to appear in this video.

          When will the “behind the scenes video” be posted.

          • Michael Vincent

            Actually it’s probably all rental gear from the store and most of them, and particularly two are very accomplished creative photographers.

  • broxibear

    Another Nikon relevent thing that happened this week was Japan falling into another recession.
    All the carmakers and electronics companies are waiting to see the impact of the Summer power cuts, the warmer the weather the more prolonged the power cuts…as many have pointed out certain manufacturing processes can’t happen without constant power.
    “The power shortages may last quite a long time; some experts are predicting that Japan’s shortage of electricity may last two or three years and that production slowdowns will continue in many sectors such as automotive, semiconductors, electronics, special chemicals, machinery, and precision equipment.”

    • One More Thought

      broxibear: we need to call you “Sunshine” for all of your optimistic updates :)

      All kidding aside, thanks for keeping us informed…

      • broxibear

        Hi One More Thought,
        I know what you mean lol, but I just post the information when I get it…positive or negative it is what it is ?
        I do give Peter/admin other interesting links, a few of the videos above are from me… It’s not all bad.

        • http://nikonrumors.com/ [NR] admin

          Yes, I do get a lot of Nikon related links form Broxibear and they are not all negative :)

    • Eric Pepin

      you realize japan is on the other side of the equator, meaning there in fall and soon going to be in winter? so colder weather.

      • Gerry

        I think you need to brush up on your geography…..

      • Common Sense

        Can somebody please donate a National Geographic Channel or Discovery Channel to this guy? I like how confident he is….”you realize…”.

      • asdf

        Australia is on the moon!

      • broxibear

        Hi Eric Pepin,
        If Japan were south of the Equator you’d be right, but it’s not. I know the recent earthquake moved it a few metres but not that much… http://www.free-photos.biz/images/nature/earth/world_map_with_equator.jpg

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/manarianz5/ manarianz5

    converting 10.5mm DX lense to FX by shave the lense hood,such a good idea,,,

  • RMT

    In the Battle video, what was the camera that “misfired”? : )

    • http://snailartphotography.daportfolio.com/ benjamin

      the one with the film dangling out? Nikon FA with MD15 motor drive. PMAS, matrix metering, 1/4000, 1/250 sync, ttl. prob most versatile manual focus nikon ever!

    • E.

      To me it looked an F3, probably the most common version, which is the F3HP or “High Eyepoint” model. The angle of the motor drive seems to confirm it and that would be the MD-4. The base of the motor drives for the lighter models is shorter, without the forward slant.

      Considering the humorous intent of the video I cannot think of a better choice of camera to include. The F3 constitutes, at least in my mind, the alignment of the design features found in earlier “pro-grade” Nikon equipment with the most fundamental values of traditional masculinity, which the video captures with remarkable effectiveness.

      I anyone has interest in understanding the historical mystique of Nikon professional-grade equipment and does not yet own an F3, I would suggest getting one. They can be found in near perfect condition for less than $300 and the motor drives are just about everywhere. I have two F3 bodies, one of which I use with both, the MD-4 Motor Drive and the relatively rare MK-1 Firing Rate Reducer (not shown in the video). The MK-1 is used to give 1, 2, or 3 frames per second, or the maximum allowed by the drive. The entire package is one impressive piece of “ordnance” even though the F3 alone is small enough to make it a very practical 35mm camera.

      • http://snailartphotography.daportfolio.com/ benjamin

        o.. my bad! it IS an F3. can see by the flash attachment.

  • http://photoartbymark.zenfolio.com photoartbymark

    at least no one died

  • Dweeb

    Don’t think I’ll be shaving anytime soon. A few years ago there was a product marketed as a lense cleaner that you applied like a collodion and peeled off with the dirt attached. I wonder if that would be used to give the element a bit of protection during the procedure. If the product is still available.

    • Jimmy Lamont

      Hell, some simple quality masking tape would work just fine…That guy is taking risks for no reason.

  • BenS

    Nikon D700 with a 16mm lens captures space shuttle Endeavour’s last flight. >> Did the D700 get toasted by the space shuttle ? did it survive the amount of vibration caused by the launch ? Poor D70o, it must have been traumatized :) :) :)

    • Common Sense

      If it didn’t survive….would you be looking at those pictures? If the d700 body was toasted…what do you think would happen to the memory card?

      • http://meanwhileinwv.com Kuyler McComas

        Tethered capture? The Nikon Wi-Fi broadcaster? Something like the Eye-fi?

  • chuck

    I found another creative use for the 10.5 fisheye in the ultra durable high speed field:

  • http://kimbullockphotography.com/blog Kim Bullock

    Wow, that was quite the video

  • Greg

    Why is the ebay auction for the 28mm 1.4 listed here? Is it your auction? It’s no exactly a rare lens.

  • http://www.almondbutterscotch.com/home Almond Butterscotch

    The Japanese Ashton Kutcher seems a lot more likeable (and certainly a lot more attractive) than his American counterpart.

  • http://flickr.com/vidaextinta joaquim Prado

    The band video was shot with nikon lens and probably with a 5D Mark II ! hehehe. I guess nikon didn’t had any FullHD DSLR at the time so the guys did with a canon. hehehe

  • The invisible man

    Back from Seaworld (Orlando) $5.60 a gallon of gas !

    I took a picture of the gas station’s sign (I wish I could post it on NR)

    25lb (10kg) on my back all day under 90° (35c) I need to get rid of one of my lenses.

  • http://www.truphotos.com gnohz

    Great battle video! 😮

  • http://www.dreamlitephotography.com Jon T.

    Don’t think the 28mm 1.4D on ebay is much of a big deal. Here in NJ, I saw one at a local photo store in Princeton for sale. In NYC alone, one smaller store (fotocare) carried 2-28mm 1.4 lenses on their used shelf. everyone shoulda sold those lenses for $3k, $4k before nikon started releasing the new AF-s f/1.4 lenses.

  • Lucho

     great battle f-stop video

  • http://www.ilophoto.ca nfiorito

    I went to school with the guy who made the Battle at F-Stop ridge vid! Very cool video and very cool store; I get most of my gear through them.

  • Back to top


text:
Take It Back

Toddla T
Take It Back

Released 23/05/2011

The first single to be taken from Toddla T’s forthcoming new album will be the brilliant, Soul II Soul-esque "Take it Back" featuring Shola Ama and J2K.

Since the release of his debut in 2009, Toddla has been working non stop on his second album Watch Me Dance (Aug 2011). He’s been busy writing and recording in Sheffield, London and Jamaica, slotting in sessions between his mind-numbing DJ schedule and Radio 1 DJ slots.

In ensuring Watch Me Dance was everything Toddla envisaged it could be he’s carefully selected an impressive line up of friends, peers and musical icons to guest vocal, co-produce, remix, co-write with him on the album. Names including previous collaborator Roots Manuva, fellow DJ, producer and remixer Skream, Ms Dynamite, Ross Orton, Wayne Marshall, Donaeo, Roisin Murphy and of course Shola Ama.

Remixes of ‘Take It Back’ will come from The 2 Bears, Dillion Francis, D1, Des Demure and DJ Q. – completing the re-introduction to our boy Toddla as he prepares to stamp his mark all over summer 2011.

Toddla T Releases

<< Previous

Kensal Road EP

Toddla T Sound

I Don't Wanna Hear That

Toddla T, Danny Weed and Jammer

Toddla T Sound

Worst Enemy

Toddla T Sound

Toddla T & Shola Ama

Ninja Tune Releases

Buy Tracks

Take It Back (Club Edit)
MP3 0,83 € More
Take It Back (The 2 Bears Remix)
MP3 0,83 € More
Take It Back (D1 Remix)
MP3 0,83 € More
Take It Back (Dillon Francis Remix)
MP3 0,83 € More
Take It Back (Des Demure Remix)
MP3 0,83 € More
Take It Back (DJ Q Remix)
MP3 0,83 € More

6 Tracks

Play all


text:
Yalangbara: Art of the Djang’kawu: exhibition launch

Mawalan 2 Marika, Matilda House, Franchesca Cubillo, Dr Margo Neale and Andrew Sayers

9 December 2010

After introductions by Andrew Sayers and Dr Margo Neale and a welcome to country by Matilda House, Mawalan 2 Marika speaks on behalf of the Marika family, followed by Franchesca Cubillo, senior Indigenous art curator at the National Gallery of Australia.

More info

Related programs

%s1 / %s2


text:
Skip all navigation and go to page content
NN/LM Home About Us | Contact Us | Feedback |Site Map | Help | Bookmark and Share

Information from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

For parents who need help in talking to their children about the recent events in Boston here are some links from the NCTSN.

Tips for Parents on Media Coverage

After a Crisis: Helping Young Children Heal

Talking to Children about the Bombings

Parents Tips for Helping Preschool-Aged Children after Disasters

Parents Tips for Helping School-Aged Children after Disasters

Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After the Bombings

Bookmark and Share

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.


text:
No 2-Minute Warning

Houston Chronicle: Houston Cougars invited by Big East

Houston Chronicle says invite has been offered

UPDATE: Big East commissioner John Marinatto said no invitations had been sent out.

The Big East has extended an invitation to the University of Houston to join as a full-league member according to a report by The Houston Chronicle. The invitation was reported to have been offered following a conference call of university presidents and chancellors of the Big East discussing expansion Monday evening.

The report suggests that the time frame for Houston to leave Conference USA and join the Big East would be completed in 2013, which would mean one more season in Conference USA for the Cougars if they were to accept the invitation, which seems likely. Conference USA requires one calendar year before a team may move out of the conference and the withdraw fee is $500,000 plus the price of any lost television revenue projected for the five-years following the change.

The Big East is looking to move to a 12-team conference and would need six new members to join after the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse (ACC) and TCU (Big 12). TCU accepted an invitation to the Big 12 last week despite previously accepting an invite to the Big East. TCU will not be held to the 27-month waiting period that Pittsburgh and Syracuse are being tied to at the moment.

Other possible targets for the Big East include Central Florida, SMU, Boise State, Air Force and Navy. Temple and East Carolina could be added to the conversation if the Big East loses any more members.

CBS Sports also reported the Big East voted to raise the exit fees within the conference from $5 million to $10 million, but the change is contingent on the additions of Air Force and Navy to the conference. The two service academies seemed to be waiting for more security within the Big East before moving forward with any plan to join the Big East. The larger exit fee would seem to give Air Force and Navy that long-term security but the exit fee of $10 million may not be enough to keep members from bolting for the Big 12 if the conference should come calling. Missouri’s stepping toward the SEC could also have an impact on the Big East, with Louisville, West Virginia and Cincinnati have been mentioned in various Big 12 expansion discussions to get the conference to 12 members.

Big East commissioner John Marinatto has a media conference call scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, at 1:30 p.m., to discuss “current information on conference realignment.” It is expected that Marinatto will confirm the exit fee increase in the conference and may be in position to touch on an invitation to Houston and other potential members.

On Friday the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA jointly announced plans to unite their conferences in an effort to strengthen their presence and positions in the conference realignment situation. The move may be seen as an effort to convince schools like Houston, Boise State, Air Force and Central Florida to stay in their current conferences rather than leave for the Big East. Both conferences stand to lose some of their top programs and television markets to the Big East.

Originally posted on

Sort: Newest | Oldest
R. Carrell UH '77
R. Carrell UH '77

Things have not been right in college football since the SWC ceased to exist. Although Conference USA is a joke, and the Big 12 is in disarray, so is the Big East. It would be no step up. Don't be pathetic and just go for the bucks!


text:
Contact Us

Bret Michaels, Loretta Lynn Working on Remake of a Poison Classic

Getty Images

Poison frontman Bret Michaels is working on a duet with country music legend Loretta Lynn.

Michaels and Lynn will re-record the Poison classic ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn,’ which was a number one hit for the Sunset Strip demigods in 1988. The remake of ‘Rose’ will be included as a bonus track on Michaels’ upcoming album ‘Get Your Rock On.’ Turns out the duet was Lynn’s idea. The unlikely pair spent Thanksgiving together and she suggested the duet.

“One of the ideas she had was redoing ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ and I thought it would be unbelievable for me and her to do that together,” Michaels told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. “We were out at her ranch in Hurricane Mills (Tenn.) and we sat there, me and her, and after everyone, the whole family and my crew sort of dissipated, we sat there and started writing some songs together.

Michaels is a big country music fan but ‘Get Your Rock On’ won’t be all twang. Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen, My Darkest Days guitarist Sal Costa and Jimmy Buffett will also guest on the record.

Watch Poison’s ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ Video

The Loretta Lynn duet isn’t the only big thing on Michaels’ horizon. The rocker just appeared on the CBS daytime show, ‘The Talk‘ to tell viewers how to get the most out of life. His top tip? Make family a priority.

And if that isn’t enough, just the other day, drummer Rikki Rockett announced on Facebook that Poison and Def Leppard would be hitting the road together this summer.

Watch ‘Bret Michaels on Destroying Your Hotel Room’ Video

Recommended For You

Around the Web

Leave a Comment

It appears that you already have an account created within our VIP network of sites on . To keep your personal information safe, we need to verify that it's really you. To activate your account, please confirm your password. When you have confirmed your password, you will be able to log in through Facebook on both sites.

Forgot your password?

It appears that you already have an account on this site associated with . To connect your existing account just click on the account activation button below. You will maintain your existing VIP profile. After you do this, you will be able to always log in to using your original account information.

Please fill out the information below to help us provide you a better experience.

(Forgot your password?)

Not a member? Sign up here

Sign up for Noisecreep quickly by connecting your Facebook account. It's just as secure and no password to remember!


text:
Category: Uncategorized

The gnarly sunchoke tuber. Sunchokes can be found in many Brooklyn parks and vacant lots, and they're at their sweetest at this time of year.

Sunchoke, also called Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) is a native North American root vegetable that is delicious raw or cooked. Except when it’s not. With this vegetable, timing is everything.

Right now, after a few frosts, sunchokes are perfect. At this time of year they’ve got a subtle sweetness that matches the earthy overtones of their flavor. Raw, they are crunchy — something like a cross between jicama and water chestnut — and great on salads. They are also great cooked. Sunchokes cook more quickly than potatoes but can be used in similar ways. And they make interesting pickles.

But before they’ve gotten the chill treatment from a couple of frosts, sunchokes sometimes have a really funky, unpleasant aftertaste. The reason is a starch called inulin. Cold weather or refrigeration turns inulin into fructose, which is why sunchokes taste sweeter after cold weather.

Another good reason to wait until sunchokes have gone through a chill is that the inulin in sunchokes can cause even more digestive gas than beans do. Fructose doesn’t have the same effect, so once the inulin is converted to fructose by cold weather, this isn’t as much of an issue.

I prefer to use the name sunchoke for this root vegetable because its other common name, Jerusalem artichoke, is confusing. It is not from Jerusalem and it is not an artichoke. Apparently a French explorer named Samuel Chaplain tried them in Cape Cod in 1605 and announced that they had a taste similar to artichokes. That explains that half of the name (I guess – personally I don’t think they taste at all like artichokes).

The theory about the other half of the name is that early settlers dubbed this plant girasole, which is Italian for “turning towards the sun.” Like its close relation the sunflower, Helianthus tuberosus flowers do indeed turn towards the sun as it moves across the sky. The theory is that girasole sounded like Jerusalem, and the latter became part of the plant’s common name.

Sunchokes can grow up to 9 feet tall. They have flowers that look like small sunflowers. In Brooklyn, they usually bloom from late summer through mid-autumn. The alternate, ovate leaves usually show signs of powdery mildew by the end of August. The stems — and to a lesser degree the leaves — are covered by coarse hairs.

Sunchokes (Helianthus tuberosus) are normally identifiable by their blossoms during the summer.

The tubers, which are the part we are interested in for food, look like knobby, gnarly potatoes. Some varieties have a tinge of purple or reddish color. You sometimes have to dig as deep as a foot down to find them, but when you do there will be plenty.

This is one native plant that can be harvested fairly freely if you find a good stand of it. A hardy and quick-growing perennial, it will regrow from even a small chunk of one of its tubers left in the ground.

Sunchoke grows in several Brooklyn parks, but I also find it in vacant lots. I think that’s because squirrels are as fond of this food as I am. They hoard the tubers in their underground caches, which is the equivalent of transplanting Helianthus tuberosus to new territory.

In winter, ID sunchokes by looking for their tall stalks with the remains of flowers or seedheads, and alternate leaf scars or remains of leaves. But remember Forager’s Rule No. 1: If in doubt, leave it out. Always be 100% certain of your plant ID. If you’re new to identifying this plant, look for it in late summer and early fall when it is in bloom and easy to recognize. Come back later in the year to harvest.

If you aren’t going to forage sunchokes this winter but still want to try them, buy some at the Park Slope Food Coop or the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. Store sunchokes in the refrigerator and use them within two weeks. Or preserve them with this pickle recipe.

Pickled Sunchokes and Mushrooms
Makes 4 half pint jars

3 cups thoroughly cleaned, sliced sunchokes (slice them about 1/4-inch thick)
1 cup cleaned, sliced mushrooms (shiitake and maitake are especially good in this recipe)
1/2 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
1 teaspoon whole allspice

Toss the sunchokes and mushrooms together with the peppercorns, mustard seeds and allspice. Pack into clean canning jars.

Bring the water, vinegar, honey and salt to a boil. As soon as the mixture reaches a boil, pour it into the filled jars. The sunchokes and mushrooms should be completely covered by the brine, but there should still be 1/2-inch head space between the surface of the food and the rims of the jars.

Screw on canning lids. At this point you can opt to store the pickles in the refrigerator, where they will keep for 3 months (they are still safe to eat after this, but the quality starts to decline). For longer (up to a year) storage at room temperature, process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Either way, wait a week for the flavors to develop before eating the pickles. Serve Pickled Sunchokes and Mushrooms with savory roasted meat or vegetables, or alongside curries.

Leda Meredith is the author of The Locavore’s Handbook: The Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget. She is the Gardening Program Coordinator for Adult Education at the New York Botanical Garden and an instructor specializing in edible and medicinal plants at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Info on her many upcoming classes and events can be found on her blog at

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Foraging Brooklyn: Winter-Sweet Sunchokes

  1. If you are going for best contents like me, only pay a quick visit
    this website every day for the reason that it gives quality contents, thanks

  2. Pingback: Northeast Foraging with Locavore Leda Meredith | Leda's Urban Homestead

  3. Pingback: Powdery Mildew treatment – is it working? | Enviro Strides

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:   <acronym title="">
      <q cite="">


text:
NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository

Research Journals >
Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research (JSIR) >
JSIR Vol.65 [2006] >
JSIR Vol.65(02) [February 2006] >

Title: Design of fuzzy system for vapour compression refrigeration system
Authors: Singh, Jagdev
Singh, Nirmal
Sharma, J K
Keywords: Vapour compression refrigeration system
Fuzzy modeling
Sugeno fuzzy inference system
Issue Date: Feb-2006
Publisher: CSIR
IPC CodeG06N7/02
Abstract: This paper presents fuzzy modeling of multi-input single output (MISO) control of vapour compression refrigeration cycles. Fuzzy model of two input parameters, mass flow rate, and evaporating temperature was developed to describe the significant dynamic of vapour compression cycles. To develop an effective model, fuzzy rule base was designed for MISO control in vapour compression system. The effect of input parameters on superheat through the developed fuzzy model was studied. Comparison of fuzzy and mathematical modeling showed that the MISO control could significantly improve the performance and energy efficiency of vapor compression refrigeration cycle.
Page(s): 135-141
ISSN: 0975-1084 (Online); 0022-4456 (Print)
Source:JSIR Vol.65(02) [February 2006]

Files in This Item:

File Description SizeFormat
JSIR 65(2) 135-141.pdf460.28 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
 Current Page Visits: 715
Recommend this item

Online Submission of Articles |  NISCAIR Website |  National Knowledge Resources Consortium |  Contact us |  Feedback

Disclaimer: NISCAIR assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. The editorial staff in its work of examining papers received for publication is helped, in an honorary capacity, by many distinguished engineers and scientists.

CC License Except where otherwise noted, the Articles on this site are licensed under Creative Commons License: CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India

Copyright © 2015 The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. All rights reserved.

Powered by DSpace Copyright © 2002-2007 MIT and Hewlett-Packard | Compliant to OAI-PMH V 2.0

Home Page Total Visits: 720559 since 06-Feb-2009  Last updated on 15-May-2015Webmaster:


text:
Our Blog

Kid Friendly Gourmet

After deciding that the crème brulee trio would be centerpiece of the Valentine’s dinner menu, I decided to keep the French theme when looking for ideas for the other dishes. The challenge would be that most of the items would need to be Atticus-friendly. He loves chicken, bread, cheese, and fruit like most kids, so those ingredients plus great flavor would be a real pleaser. I also received some good suggestions from friends and found good resources that I’ll use anytime I need to plan a dinner. {Click dish name for recipe links.} Here’s how my menu is shaping up. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

1} Perfect French Bread - Toasted
2} Brie Cheese drizzled with honey and almonds or
Sole Memphis recipe

I can’t wait!
Photos from related menu links.

1 comment:

  1. The menu looks great! I hope everything goes well and have an awesome VDay dinner w/ your family! =)

norococo Designed by Templateism | MyBloggerLab Copyright © 2014

Powered by Blogger.


text:
Register now for boating safety course Aug. 11 in Massena
Saturday, August 2, 2014 - 7:32 am

MASSENA -- A boating safety course, “About Boating Safely," will be offered by U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 092-01-01 at the Hawkins Point Visitors Center on Aug. 11 and 12 from 5 to 9 p.m. each night. Both sessions must be attended for certification. Cost is $35 per person and family rates are available. A boating safety certificate will be issued at the completion of the course. Pre-registration is required.

Info, registration: 250-3049


text:
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A whole new level of procrastination

I'm the type of person who likes to do practical things when I'm procrastinating. Usually cleaning, washing dishes, washing laundry. When it gets really bad I'll mop the floor or do filing. I guess it makes me feel better about procrastinating from something I should be doing by doing something that needs to get done anyway.

I think there are even times when I have avoided doing something and then that very task became a way of avoiding some other thing!

Anyway, I've got a lot to do these days - getting ready for and going on a trip, sewing like crazy, preparing for Christmas, making gifts, and all the normal everyday things (not to mention finishing that pathway...). But I had this idea and I just had to do it! Total procrastination.

A little bit of color for our kitchen. =)

No comments: