Thursday, June 18, 2009

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Lloyd Garver: Obama's Food Problem Top
It's been over a month since President Obama and Vice President Biden snuck out from the White House to have some burgers for lunch. However, we haven't heard the last word about this controversial act. It has been pushed off the front page because the headlines have been hogged by pesky things like the economy, Iran, and Miss USA. But don't make the mistake of thinking that the burger story is toast. I assume that people on all sides are just marshalling their forces before they carefully articulate their responses. The first salvos will probably be from the vegetarians. Expect things like, "How can a President who presents himself as caring about living things eat cow for lunch?" Barack Obama is not just the President of the United States; he is also the top politician of America. As such, he is careful to please as many people as possible and to offend as few. Presidents always have to balance what they do in public. That's why they rarely choose one sports team over another. Obama has broken with this tradition, openly rooting for some silly baseball team on the South Side of Chicago. So maybe his area for trying to please all the people all the time will be culinary. Since he went to a place for a hamburger, we can assume that he was appealing to those who feel he is a namby-pamby, recycling, hybrid driving, book reading, yogurt eating liberal. He was showing them that he eats Red Meat. After the polls indicate that he has won over these critics, look for him and Biden to be photographed having lunch at a place like "Mike's Metaphysical Meatless Mart." He'll be biting into an avocado and sprouts sandwich, drinking a carrot and kelp cocktail, and slapping Biden on his hemp shirt. There will be those who oppose his hamburger consumption on the basis of health. "The President and First Lady talk about healthy eating all the time, and he has lunch at Ray's Hell Burgers!" It wasn't an accident. He may talk about eating more fruits and vegetables, but he doesn't want to be seen as hurting the cattle ranchers and everyone else in the meat industry. So he had a very public hamburger. If he orders chicken in a restaurant, he'd better specify "free range" chicken or the PETA proponents will be all over him. (This "free range is more humane" thing is something I've never quite gotten. I understand that chickens that are kept in cages are ill-treated and have unhappy lives before they meet their demise and are eaten. But is it more humane to let chickens roam happily like the cast of an old Disney movie and let them think their lives are beautiful, and then surprise them with the axe before putting them on our plates? At least the caged chickens have no dashed expectations). The next time he and Michelle go on a dinner date in New York, watch for the outcry if they go to a French restaurant. Even though an overwhelming number of Americans now feel that our invasion of Iraq was a mistake just as the French felt when it happened, Americans are always mad at France for something. So you can assume that if the First Couple dines on duck a l'orange, soon they'll be at Ye Olde Publick House, eating "bangers and mash." Let's say Obama has a hankering for some Middle Eastern food and he goes out for falafel. Before the word gets out that he's soft on certain Arab countries, he'll have to stop off at a deli for some lox and bagels. If he eats Korean food, he'll make sure everyone knows he only likes South Korean food. If he orders a take-out Chinese dinner, he'll be certain that the rear bumper of the car picking it up will have a "Free Tibet" sticker on it. No wonder Presidents eat most of their meals in the White House prepared by their chefs. It's less of a hassle, less of a chance of offending someone. At least that's the theory. But it seems to me that by doing so, the President runs the risk of offending a huge voting bloc of Americans - those of us who don't have chefs. Lloyd Garver has written for many television shows, ranging from "Sesame Street" to "Family Ties" to "Home Improvement" to "Frasier." He has also read many books, some of them in hardcover. He can be reached at lloydgarver@gmail.com . Check out his website at lloydgarver.com and his podcasts on iTunes . More on Food
 
Deane Waldman: The One-Eyed King Top
In this kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed person is not a happy king: he is frustrated. President Obama and his new Secretary of HHS are leading us toward quicksand. The one-eyed king sees where we are heading. He is unsure whether our leaders are truly blind or simply have their eyes closed. Sadly, the one-eyed king can do nothing (except write this). The latest stumble-blindly-in-the-wrong-direction is the government's touted 'fix' for healthcare. Their Plan is nothing more (and nothing less) than a new competitor in the health insurance industry called The Federal Government. There are a multitude of things wrong with this approach that the one-eyed king can readily see by activating his non-special power - a power that everyone has - called root cause analysis. The government's Plan is intended to fix two problems: millions of Americans without health insurance and unsupportable individual as well as national healthcare expenditures (not costs ). 1) Will the Plan get health CARE (not just insurance) for all Americans? 2) Will the Plan reduce expenditures on healthcare, which has become the leading cause of personal bankruptcies and is approaching 20% consumption of GDP? Fixing healthcare requires - to use the President's own words - dealing with " root causes ." Does his Plan address the reasons for uninsured Americans and escalating healthcare outlays? My answer to this question is a resounding no! BEWARE. Do not let anyone use the crisis excuse : that it is always better to do something now than to wait. A 'something (anything!) now' is quicksand: it always produces a fix-that-fails-or-worse-backfires. What are the root causes of high healthcare costs? There are ten. The first two we want to keep. The others should be prohibited, minimized, reversed, eliminated, excised, prevented, removed (?), and prosecuted. ROOT CAUSES OF NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SPENDING in order of cost to the nation. 1. New Value . Health care can do things that it could not before. They cost money. 2. More People . There are more Americans and they are living longer. 3. Act w/o evidence . [thesystemmd.com/?p=35] People in authority make decisions without proof that their decisions will produce the intended outcomes. 4. Bureaucracy (especially regulatory ), Inefficiency, and Reconciliation. This non-value adding element consumes at least one third of all healthcare dollars. Regrettably, a single payer system will have little impact on this cost factor. 5. Disconnection. [thesystemmd.com/?p=15] In healthcare, consumer, cost-driver, and payer are three different people. Because of disconnection, 'markets' cannot balance supply and demand. 6. Perverse incentives. The system rewards outcomes we do not want. 7. Defensive medicine. In our adversarial litigious environment, providers spend money preemptively to defend themselves. 8. Adverse outcomes and errors (not necessarily the same). These consume resources in extra medical expenses, loss of productivity, and legal costs. 9. Profit-taking. Money is taken out of healthcare as profits. 10. Fraud and embezzlement. Healthcare has its share of Jay Skellings and Bernie Madoffs. Repeatedly, I ask my fellow Americans to judge for themselves and not simply put their blind trust in our leaders, self-styled experts, or me. Many moons ago, I offered a simple test guide called a " Quorum & A Chant " to help you decide. So decide: Will the President's Plan address (fix) any of the root causes noted above or not? Is the Government fixing root causes or are we getting more snake oil ?
 
Josh Dorner: Big Coal Writing House GOP Talking Points on Clean Energy Bill Top
Dirty energy interests have long held sway with the GOP's leading figures. In fact, we don't even have to merely speculate that the Bush-Cheney energy policy was written both by and for the coal, oil, and nuclear industries. We have proof . And now we have proof that Big Coal is writing the talking points that the House GOP is using to attack the clean energy jobs plan, the American Clean Energy & Security Act, that could come up for a vote as soon as next week. Without the facts on their side, conservative congressmen and their allies like the Heritage Foundation have been forced to turn to fearmongering and outright lies to try and defeat the Waxman-Markey bill, as the plan is known. The latest attack came today as the House GOP's "Rural America Solutions Group" attempted to capitalize on continued unease among Members from agricultural districts by holding a conference call to roll out a map entitled "Most States Lose Under the Pending Climate Bill." (Click HERE to take a look.) The map purported to use unspecified Congressional Budget Office and Energy Information Administration data to illustrate that while consumers in California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont would gain under the bill, consumers in the remaining FORTY-ONE states would lose hundreds of billions of dollars in just the first year of the cap. The ploy initially seemed to work , with one Midwestern Democrat hurling attacks at a fellow Member from the Northwest, citing the map as evidence. Yet, despite the citations, one was left with the feeling that something didn't quite add up. Leave it to our friends at Grist to put on their thinking caps and take a little looksee at the "properties" of the powerpoint document. Well, lo and behold, it turns out the document's "author" was listed as one Greg Boyce , with its "manager" identified as a certain Chris Taylor . Who are these gentlemen you ask? Why, the CEO and communications services manager, respectively, of one of largest dirty energy companies in America and the world's largest coal producer: Peabody Energy (read: BIG COAL). Now, why on Earth would these folks literally parrot one of the world's worst, dirtiest energy companies? Perhaps it's the more than $13.4 million the coal industry has funneled to the GOP since 2000 (approximately 80 percent of its total campaign contributions). More on Dick Cheney
 
Patrizia D'Addario, Former Escort, Says She Shot Secret Video In Berlusconi Bedroom Top
A showgirl who claims that she and other women were paid to attend Silvio Berlusconi's private parties said yesterday that she had pictures showing her with the Italian Prime Minister in his bedroom. More on Silvio Berlusconi
 
Bailed-Out Bank CEOs Flew to Resorts on Corporate Jets Top
Some executives at banks propped up by government aid have retained a coveted perk: personal use of the company jet. More on The Bailouts
 
Julie Menin: We Can't Turn Our Back on Iran Top
As the protests in Iran over the recent election results continue, an opportunity for the United States to strongly support democracy and women's rights was sadly lost this week. This week President Barack Obama proclaimed that there was not much difference between Mir Hussein Moussavi and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he stated: "Either way (the United States is) going to be dealing with an Iranian regime that has historically been hostile to the United States, that has caused some problems in the neighborhood and is pursuing nuclear weapons." Yet, with respect to women's rights--one of the key issues for reform minded Iranians--this is absolutely not the case. Moussavi campaigned on restoring women's rights in Iran and promised during the campaign that, if elected, he would "reform laws that are unfair to women" and disband the so-called "morality police" force who regularly arrest women they view as inappropriately dressed. Zahra Rahnavard, Mr. Moussavi's wife who is something of a feminist icon in Iran, said during a campaign rally for her husband: "We should reform laws that treat women unequally. We should empower women financially, women should be able to choose their professions according to their merits, and Iranian women should be able to reach the highest level of decision making bodies." When thousands of Iranian women are risking their lives, and literally could face arrest or execution, to rally for an overturn of the election results in Iran, it is disheartening and deeply disappointing that our President has not struck a firmer tone of support for protesters in Iran who are marching peacefully for freedom of speech, women's rights, democracy and transparent elections. While President Obama and his advisors state that they do not want to "meddle" into internal Iranian affairs, and while we all know the cold harsh political reality that Obama wants to preserve his ability to negotiate with Ahmadinejad over nuclear weapons, we cannot sacrifice the very ideals that we are trying to promote throughout the world. It is hardly meddling to issue a strong statement of support for the protesters who are trying to reform the oppressive regime in Iran. We have to remember that women face not only real discrimination in Iran but also persecution just for trying to peacefully exercise their rights. Numerous Iranian activists who have worked on women's rights initiatives, such as the campaign to collect one million signatures demanding an eradication of discrimination against women in Iran, have been arrested and imprisoned. Women are forced to wear the hijab and the morality police have arrested many women if they are not properly covered. Legally, men in Iran have the sole right to divorce and to have custody. In court, a woman's testimony is equal to half that of a man and men can forbid their wives from working outside the home. While the government has now technically disavowed stoning, it nevertheless exists in the penal code as punishment for women who commit adultery. The fact that women, and men, are turning out in droves day after day to protest the election results and the oppressive regime in Iran, deserves our support. When we look back at how other Presidents have used strong rhetoric to promote ideals that the Unites States is trying to promote (whether it be Kennedy's famous 1963 "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech or Reagan's "Tear Down that Wall Mr. Gorbachev"), we have seen US Presidents insert their beliefs and ideals to promote change. While clearly President Obama must tread carefully with regard to the ultimate goal of getting Iran to stop its nuclear program, we cannot turn our backs on a historic opportunity to have a reform minded movement in Iran that ultimately may be our best hope of producing a solution on the nuclear issue. More on Iran
 
Children Of The Recession: Foreclosures Reduce Student Population, Closing Schools (VIDEO) Top
With so many Americans losing their homes and moving away with their children, many school districts are faced with a new problem - empty desks. CBS News Correspondent Ben Tracy continues our series, CBS Reports: Children of the Recession.
 
Joan E. Dowlin: Palin's Triumph Over Letterman Is a Victory for All Women Top
The feud between David Letterman and Governor Sarah Palin has ended for now with an apology from Dave on his show and an acceptance by Ms. Palin in the press. Score round one to Palin. This win marks a triumph not just for the Governor but for women and girls across the country. It has heartening to see liberal NOW feminists and the ladies of The View as well as conservative women stand up for Palin and her daughters. Maybe it was the motherhood element as expressed by Joy Behar on The View . Whatever it was, it was a victory for the female sex. Letterman and other late night comedians will think twice now before telling tasteless, sexist "jokes" that demean females. I never liked that term "knocked up" thinking it was degrading, implying that women are sex objects to be used by men, regardless of their age. Let's hope it is the beginning of evolution for men as Palin referred to in her acceptance of Letterman's mea culpa. As women, it is up to us to call out sexism wherever and whenever it occurs. The fight against racism has been long and difficult and still has a ways to go, but the revelation of so-called "code words" has been very valuable in the struggle. We need to point out sexist code phrases and we can begin with Letterman's "knocked up" and "slutty". I also felt Perez Hilton was wrong to call Carrie Prejean (the ex Miss CA-USA) a "dumb bitch" on his website after she came out for "opposite sex" marriage. It was sexist. Who cares if it came from a gay man? I am a lesbian and for gay marriage but the remark was demeaning. How would Hilton like being called the "f" word for being a gay man? I never thought David Letterman should be fired, just called to task as Don Imus was when he made his racist (and sexist) remarks about the Rutger's women's basketball team. (I didn't feel Imus should have been fired either.) I am all for freedom of speech, but I'm also for decency. Racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks are "hate speech", plain and simple. Sometimes they are disguised as humor. I and many others don't find them funny. In fact, they can be very damaging. It doesn't matter if you are liberal or conservative, people should be treated with respect. This goes for men too. It is just as sexist to call a man a "male chauvinist pig" as it is to call a woman the "c" word. If we can learn anything from the Palin-Letterman feud, it is that speaking out for the rights of all people is not just a freedom but our responsibility. Seeing all the unrest and oppression in Iran puts everything in perspective, and I for one am glad to live in a country where we can even have this conversation.
 
Andy Plesser: News Aggregation Site "Newser" Gets $2.5 Million Investment Top
Newser, a new news content aggregation site, has raised $2.5 million investment funds, its first, Rafat Ali at paidContent reports . Rafat says the investment round involves several individual investors. Rafat gets the the story with co-founder Patrick Spain. Spain tells Rafat that the site has 2 million visitors per month. Compete puts the number of monthly uniques at 650,000. I interviewed his co-founder Michael Wolff last week at Advertising 2.0. This is my second interview with Michael. This one about Newser. The first interview was about News Corp's MySpace "calamity." You can find this post on Beet.TV
 
Andrea Chalupa: French People in NYC, a Dater's Guide Top
When I went to France one summer, I came back with a Parisian boyfriend and a long distance relationship. Suddenly it seemed like everyone in New York was French or longing to be. It turns out New York and Paris are sister cities, no, rather, in a long, hot love affair--of the stuff of Aries and Aphrodite. New York may be a melting pot, but France enjoys a quiet stronghold, with a bistro practically on every block. While Paris watches over our Marc Jacobs and David Sedaris, New York gives France's former first lady, Cecilia (Sarkozy) Attias, her morning jog and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind filmmaker Michel Gondry a feast for the imagination. Luckily for us jaded New Yorkers, we're right at home with French cynicism and love of intellectual conversation and the Frenchies love us for our...chutzpah, only they call it sans-gene. Whether you're in search of the endless charm of a love affair with a French person or a reverse-greencard, here are a couple tips for dating French people in New York: They travel in herds: Checking out an early Cedric Klapisch film at Alliance Francaise , attending a NYC French Social meet-up, or crashing a party by Accueil, a social organization for French people, or hunting with other Francophiles at French Tuesdays , it's important to know that like any community abroad, the French travel in herds. Where there's one, there's plenty more where he or she came from. Thanks to my French boyfriend, who now lives in New York, I still manage to be one of the only English speakers at many a wine drenched party. Little Paris: If any neighborhood in Manhattan deserves the label Little Paris, it would be the Lower East Side. Sure, the Upper East has its share of bistro after bistro, thanks to the mother ship, Alliance Francaise, being on 60th, but it's the L.E.S. that gives you sexy, salty, jazz-infused Paris. The blog Paris in New York points to over a dozen hot spots where you're sure to overhear French swelling from tables or see men and women take a break from their meals to smoke a cigarette outside. My absolute favorite, just based on personal history, is Cafe Charbon, the proper name being Epicerie and Cafe Charbon , where the bubbly, laid-back waiters are chill enough to let you practice your bad French and the dining room is a throw-back to a quaint grocery, and the dark bar, with its palm trees, makes you feel like you're in Casablanca or someplace a 25-year old Ernest Hemingway used to drink. Food: The way to a French person's heart is their stomach. This cannot be stressed enough. The French are a country obsessed with food--talking about it and eating. How else do they stay so slim--they have a healthy relationship with food, good food--the au naturel. If you promise to shop from Dean & Deluca--a fine store in New York that closely resembles the grocery stores the French are used to, then ask them to show you how to cook--every one of them knows something. Even ratatouille is just throwing veggies into a pot. Inside Baseball: Now, here are some curve balls you can throw your Frenchie, once you have "elle" or "lui" in your crosshairs. Don't gush over Paris--it's boring because they get it all the time and he or she may be from Lille . Instead, tell them that Zidane, or rather Zizou's footwork belongs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (it does) then follow this up by shaking your head at the Italians. Also, the French love or know how to "rock dance," which is a more upright version of swing dancing. They grow up, especially as teenagers, rock dancing, it's something they do at any age at weddings, so get them to show you some of that "dance le rock?" It's also important to know that Serge Gainsbourg was a musical genius with the potency of Michael Jackson, Andy Warhol, and chain-smoking Frank Sinatra in one. Get a load of his song New York U.S.A. (1964) . And today, the French love to DJ, and they love their electronic music. If you're already obsessed with Daft Punk and Dimitri from Paris, may I recommend Martin Solveig and Bob Sinclar Africanism Project II . (It will make you want to go to Miami, a place French people and New Yorkers love.) And once you're ready to take the encounter up a notch, blow smoke, gently, in his or her face and purr, "tu es mignon"--you're cute. This basically let's them know you want to be kissed (or worse) and that someone told you that, as adolescents, the French blow smoke in the face as a form of seduction. But it's still a cute gesture that shows, I'm one step ahead of you. Frenchie.
 
Patricia Zohn: A Girl's Guide to Love and Opera: La Traviata Top
The story of La Traviata , the great Verdi opera, is classic 19th century female-disaster prone and turns on the love life of a woman with loose morals (see Madame Bovary , Anna Karenina , Nana et al) who has a change of heart. The original novel by Dumas, La Dame aux Camelias , has been the basis for many offspring including the Garbo film, Camille. Violetta Valery, our doomed heroine, becomes a reformed party girl, probably the very worst kind. Notorious for her prior relationships with a variety of men, Vi makes mincemeat out of the heart of Alfredo, the scion of a wealthy family -- and then compounds the debris by actually falling in love with him. Anna Netrebko (Violetta Valéry). Photo by Terrence McCarthy And where is it set? Why, Paris of course, home to all bad girls, sooner or later. The anti-heroines of 19th century literature and opera are beautiful, sexy, irresistible Carrie Bradshaws who get consumption instead of Manolos, all because of falling in love with the wrong Mr. Big. You know how some mothers remind you from birth you can just as easily fall in love with a rich man? Well Violetta has more or less been following this path. And what does she do to try to get over him? Why resort to the default naturally: go out and party more. Anna Netrebko (Violetta Valéry). Photo by Terrence McCarthy Last weekend, I saw the divine Anna Netrebko in San Francisco strut Violetta's stuff, rejiggered to the Flapper Era. Here was Violetta as Zelda Fitzgerald, a madcap heroine throwing herself onto overstuffed beds instead of into pools. The gorgeous music from La Traviata will be recognizable to even the most opera-adverse among you, so download it . If one of my sons can actually accompany me to the opera, the least you can do is this -- it will make you cry every time you hear it. Love songs, especially those that express longing and misery -- are often the way in which we survive relationships, especially when they are fraught with heartache. San Franciscans have a chance to see Anna Netrebko , whose voice has only improved since motherhood (all of you who are complaining about multi-tasking, think what it would be like to be an opera diva, whose schedule is a bear, running all over the world, without the father of your baby, whom you haven't even had time to marry, having to be in perfect voice and working nights) a few more times. Anna Netrebko (Violetta Valéry). Photo by Cory Weaver Angelenos are also in the midst of a lauded Traviata cycle and soon in Santa Fe you can catch Natalie Dessay, an actual French dynamo, sing it there. New Yorkers will have to wait until next season at the Met , when they do a Traviata of their own. It's the third most performed opera after Madame Butterfly and La Boheme -- two more operas with courtesan heroines. Don't feel sorry for the courtesans -- they mostly had it nailed: they had all the perks of hanging out with rich men and none of the tedious obligations of the wives. Watching these operas makes it seem like this might be something we have to bring back a little bit: making men aspire to having us even if they have to give up everything in order to do it. It's never too late to break a heart or two. Check out your local opera's summer schedule or Met's summer series of free concerts and HD presentations.
 
Allen Stanford Surrenders To Authorities After Warrant Issued For HIs Arrest Top
DALLAS (AP) -- The attorney for R. Allen Stanford, chairman of troubled Stanford Financial Group, says the Texas billionaire has surrendered to FBI agents in Virginia. Houston attorney Dick DeGuerin told The Associated Press that Stanford surrendered Thursday afternoon to FBI agents parked outside a residence where Stanford was staying. DeGuerin said Stanford walked out and asked if the agents had a warrant. He told them to arrest him if they did and that he planned to return to Houston on Friday to turn himself in if they didn't. A grand jury in Houston has been investigating Stanford Financial Group. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges earlier this year accusing Stanford and his top executives of conducting an $8 billion fraud by advising clients to buy certificates of deposit from the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.
 

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