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8 Views
00:00:00 02/09/12
Chicken of the Sea SuperCook Contest Winners
[LESS INFO] 8 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:00 02/09/12
Chef Dee is back in The Balancing Act Kitchen to showcase the 3 finalists recipes from our Balancing Act’s Chicken of the Sea SuperCook Contest.
0 Views
00:00:00 02/09/12
Using Healthier Ingredients For Healthier Cooking
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:00 02/09/12
With our hectic, stress-filled lives, it’s not always easy to get the nutrition we need just from the foods we eat. But these days more cooking products are created with extra nutritional benefits that can help us live a healthier lifestyle -- easier! In this segment Celebrity Chef and author Nick Stellino joins Pompeian CEO Bill Monroe to explain the many health benefits of cooking with a new, nutrient-infused olive oil that is good for your brain, your eyes and your heart. They will also explain the antioxidant value in various red wine vinegar products, infused with pomegranate, acai, blueberry and roasted garlic. Chef Nick will highlight two delicious recipes: a Citrus Pomegranate Glazed Salmon, and Chili-Lime Chicken Breasts with Tumeric Rice.
2 Views
20:04:10 01/30/12
Home Theater Geeks 96: Captain 3D
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 20:04:10 01/30/12
Hosts: Scott Wilkinson and Leo Laporte
Scott talks with his guest Phil "Captian 3D" McNally a stereoscopic supervisor at Dreamworks Animation, about the wonderful world of 3D.
Guests : Phil McNally
Phil "Captain 3D" McNally most recently served as Stereoscopic Supervisor on DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2. Prior to Kung Fu Panda 2, he worked in the same capacity on Megamind, Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and DreamWorks Animation’s first stereoscopic 3D film Monsters vs. Aliens.
Hailed as the expert on all things 3D, McNally was introduced to stereoscopic photography in 1990 while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. This hobby soon became his passion and has developed over the years through a range of creative projects, from Viewmaster promotional reels to gallery installations.
In 2001, McNally moved to California to work as an animator at Industrial Light & Magic after the success of his short animated film Pump-Action. His stereoscopic experience was rewarded when Disney tasked ILM with converting Chicken Little into a 3D release in 2005. McNally also supervised the stereoscopic work on Disney’s Meet the Robinsons and advised on The Nightmare Before Christmas conversion to 3D.
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/htg .
We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes .
Find Scott at HomeTheater.com
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 1:01:30
4 Views
19:57:39 01/30/12
Home Theater Geeks 96: Captain 3D
[LESS INFO] 4 VIEWS | ADDED 19:57:39 01/30/12
Hosts: Scott Wilkinson and Leo Laporte
Scott talks with his guest Phil "Captian 3D" McNally a stereoscopic supervisor at Dreamworks Animation, about the wonderful world of 3D.
Guests : Phil McNally
Phil "Captain 3D" McNally most recently served as Stereoscopic Supervisor on DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2. Prior to Kung Fu Panda 2, he worked in the same capacity on Megamind, Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and DreamWorks Animation’s first stereoscopic 3D film Monsters vs. Aliens.
Hailed as the expert on all things 3D, McNally was introduced to stereoscopic photography in 1990 while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. This hobby soon became his passion and has developed over the years through a range of creative projects, from Viewmaster promotional reels to gallery installations.
In 2001, McNally moved to California to work as an animator at Industrial Light & Magic after the success of his short animated film Pump-Action. His stereoscopic experience was rewarded when Disney tasked ILM with converting Chicken Little into a 3D release in 2005. McNally also supervised the stereoscopic work on Disney’s Meet the Robinsons and advised on The Nightmare Before Christmas conversion to 3D.
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/htg .
We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes .
Find Scott at HomeTheater.com
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 1:01:30
2 Views
10:49:34 01/26/12
Pub Crawl #062: Half a Gallon of Beer for Six Bucks
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 10:49:34 01/26/12
Dave and Alicia tell us to pucker up with a new twist on a contemporary cocktail, then we talk chicken, beer, and growlers on our Pub Crawl Adventure. We wrap up with some tips for those of you coming into town for the Big Game. Show notes: Visit LASIK of Nevada (50% Off Premium LASIK [...]
6 Views
01:30:00 01/24/12
Home Theater Geeks 96: Captain 3D
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 01:30:00 01/24/12
Hosts: Scott Wilkinson and Leo Laporte
Scott talks with his guest Phil "Captian 3D" McNally a stereoscopic supervisor at Dreamworks Animation, about the wonderful world of 3D.
Guests : Phil McNally
Phil "Captain 3D" McNally most recently served as Stereoscopic Supervisor on DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2. Prior to Kung Fu Panda 2, he worked in the same capacity on Megamind, Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and DreamWorks Animation’s first stereoscopic 3D film Monsters vs. Aliens.
Hailed as the expert on all things 3D, McNally was introduced to stereoscopic photography in 1990 while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. This hobby soon became his passion and has developed over the years through a range of creative projects, from Viewmaster promotional reels to gallery installations.
In 2001, McNally moved to California to work as an animator at Industrial Light & Magic after the success of his short animated film Pump-Action. His stereoscopic experience was rewarded when Disney tasked ILM with converting Chicken Little into a 3D release in 2005. McNally also supervised the stereoscopic work on Disney’s Meet the Robinsons and advised on The Nightmare Before Christmas conversion to 3D.
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/htg .
We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes .
Find Scott at HomeTheater.com
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 1:01:30
5 Views
01:30:00 01/24/12
Home Theater Geeks 96: Captain 3D
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 01:30:00 01/24/12
Hosts: Scott Wilkinson and Leo Laporte
Scott talks with his guest Phil "Captian 3D" McNally a stereoscopic supervisor at Dreamworks Animation, about the wonderful world of 3D.
Guests : Phil McNally
Phil "Captain 3D" McNally most recently served as Stereoscopic Supervisor on DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2. Prior to Kung Fu Panda 2, he worked in the same capacity on Megamind, Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and DreamWorks Animation’s first stereoscopic 3D film Monsters vs. Aliens.
Hailed as the expert on all things 3D, McNally was introduced to stereoscopic photography in 1990 while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. This hobby soon became his passion and has developed over the years through a range of creative projects, from Viewmaster promotional reels to gallery installations.
In 2001, McNally moved to California to work as an animator at Industrial Light & Magic after the success of his short animated film Pump-Action. His stereoscopic experience was rewarded when Disney tasked ILM with converting Chicken Little into a 3D release in 2005. McNally also supervised the stereoscopic work on Disney’s Meet the Robinsons and advised on The Nightmare Before Christmas conversion to 3D.
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/htg .
We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes .
Find Scott at HomeTheater.com
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 1:01:30
0 Views
05:07:46 01/08/12
Alabama Crimson Tide 2012 Victory Song
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 05:07:46 01/08/12
Alabama Crimson Tide Win 2012 National Championship This is their Victory song.. [Hook] by Willie Spade (No really.. it's Willie Spade go listen and compare) [Verse] Willie Spade N-N-Now I don't call it monkeytown This Gorilla City Manne We Living by the minute hand "Welcome to Dixie Land" Snitches on the witness stand Get a "2 piece" like they "Nixon hands" You think it's hot in yo city check the tempature where I'm living manne We'll get it manne til our bodies "tired" like "michelene mane" Sons of the confederate An Alabama Crimson Fan Roll Tide! WE GON RIDE until our paper right Enduring the summer days for our Talladega Nights* Now look here Under TN between Georgia and Mississippi* Alabama Beautiful but known for an ugly history The music industry skipped us Thinking we a bit slow "Seperated but we equal"Thought we finished that wit "Jim Crow" Our story we've yet to tell If you thinking we rhyming frail We do "corpoal punishment" you'll get "whipped" by the "bible belt" You'll try and fail... even our "rivals" wanna put this region on And even tho they know the deal ya'll can get your "eagle on" [Hook] [Verse] Uni-Ali Home of the elephant chicken boxes to box chevy's They not ready for Bama up in they spot heavy So watch carefully Follow the play like Referees Now they having "Nightmares" STILL from when they "Slept" on me My disposition got dough intentions I'm standing tall We on a mission We bussin' cannons we cannon ball Bama the beautiful home of lets get a blunt for four Can buy a case and get braces right at the country store Come check the pedigree homie feel free to dig deep You'll see my roots is bout roastin and pickled pig feet From tuscaloosa to tuskegee you must see me Catch me in Verbena with green Greener then "Hulks Pinky" My state is great no mistaken my pride is evident My Crimson Creed's Be excellent in everything I'm in Lets show these haters we lock and loaded the torch mine Universal Baby got pig twisted like Pork-Rinds
1 Views
18:55:04 12/31/11
Lindsey's Gaming Show!! - Minecraft! Cupquake! New Year's Celebrations!
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 18:55:04 12/31/11
Lindsey's Gaming Show!! - Minecraft! Cupquake! New Year's Celebrations!
www.youtube.com Click here to watch Lindsey's Gaming Show!! - A very special Minecraft Birthday! Lindsey's Gaming Show!! - Minecraft! Cupquake! New Year's Celebrations! Part one of my New Year's Celebrations with iHasCupquake who is a Minecraft vet! Watch as I give her a tour of my home and we discuss our origins in Minecraft, and talk about what we're most excited about for the new year, 2012. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This Realm video will show you: How to play in creative mode. How to be a mushy gushy girl. How to build a snow golem - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Like Machinima Realm on Facebook! facebook.com Enlist in the Respawn Army! therespawnarmy.com FOR MORE MACHINIMA, GO TO www.youtube.com FOR MORE GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE SPORTS GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE MMO & RPG GAMEPLAY, GO TO: www.youtube.com FOR MORE TRAILERS, GO TO: www.youtube.com Tags: yt:quality=high Machinima Realm Hundar ZBOT Lindsey ellezeemarie Grit Ian Joel Kitty RPG MMO "lindsey's gameplay show" zmarie zmarie87 Epic Win Fantasy "role play" Games Massively "How to" Multiplayer online PC piggy family piggies "piggy love" "deserted island" minecraft antoes seananners "baby animals" coal wheat sheep diamonds pickaxe "chopping wood" ihascupquake cupcake notch mojang "open world" digging blocks LGS "piggy families" "wooden Boat" fence cows chickens zombies skeletons creepers From: MachinimaRealm Views: 25575 279 ratings Time: 08:18 More in Gaming
6 Views
16:00:56 12/29/11
Mitt Romney's Big Promises - and Bigger Lies
[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 16:00:56 12/29/11
Click here to view this media
In the election of 1928, the Republican Party of Herbert Hoover promised voters "a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard." (We all know how that turned out.) Now, Mitt Romney is pledging that "If I'm President" every college graduate will be guaranteed a job, Iran will have no nuclear weapons and the United States will dominate the 21st century. And when Romney isn't making fantastic promises about what he'll do when he gets to the White House, he's slandering the current occupant , Barack Obama.
"I Won't Let Iran Get Nukes"
Governor Romney's guarantees start with Iran and its nuclear program . In a November 10, 2011 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Romney pledged, " I won't let Iran get nukes ." Or as he put it 10 days earlier during a GOP national security debate : >
"If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. If you elect me as president, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon."
As to how he'll ensure that outcome, Romney explained that "If you want peace, prepare for war." And despite occasionally acknowledging the complexity of a strike against Iran and even the questionable possibility of success, Romney told the Wall Street Journal this weekend how he would get it done: >
So what would he do about it? "I do not have a top secret security clearance at this stage to be able to define precisely what kinds of actions we could take." But he adds that "the range includes something of a blockade nature, to something of a surgical strike nature, to something of a decapitate the regime nature, to eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether."
No U.S. Decline in Romney's "American Century"
Romney's promise to "eliminate the military threat of Iran altogether" is just part of his larger assurance that the 21st century will be another " American Century ." Pretending that the rise of India, China and Brazil doesn't inevitably entail the relative loss of U.S. power and influence, Romney announced in his October address at The Citadel : >
"This century must be an American Century. In an American Century, America has the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world. In an American Century, America leads the free world and the free world leads the entire world...As President of the United States, I will devote myself to an American Century. And I will never, ever apologize for America."
Not content to rest there, Romney accused President Obama of "waving the white flag of surrender": >
"An eloquently justified surrender of world leadership is still surrender. >
I will not surrender America's role in the world. This is very simple: If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your President. >
You have that President today."
Two months later, Mitt Romney repackaged his promise and his slander at the December 15 Republican debate in Sioux City, Iowa: >
"Our president thinks America is in decline. It is if he's president. It's not if I'm president. This is going to be an American century."
As for Romney's charge that President Obama "went around the world and apologized for America," the Washington Post Fact Checker deemed it a Four-Pinocchio lie .
A Job for Every College Graduate
At an event in New Hampshire last week, Governor Romney's pandering went from the sublime to the ridiculous. There, Mitt pledged President Romney would deliver full-employment for all American college graduates: >
"What I can promise you is this -- when you get out of college, if I'm president you'll have a job. If President Obama is reelected, you will not be able to get a job. That's the reason I will hopefully get young people who are in college is to say, You know what, I understand what it takes to get jobs in America."
As the record shows , not so much. After all, as the Los Angeles Times recently documented, Romney's "Bain Capital often maximized profits in part by firing workers." That's why FactCheck.org , the Washington Post Fact Checker and Fortune all refused to vouch for Romney's claim that "In those hundreds of businesses we invested in, tens of thousands of jobs net-net were created."
Obama "Has Not Created Any New Jobs"
If Mitt Romney can't prove his boasts about his own job creation record, neither can he justify his blatant lie about President Obama's : >
"25 million people are out of work because of Barack Obama. And so I'll compare my experience in the private sector where, net-net, we created over 100,000 jobs." >
"I'll compare that record with his record, where he has not created any new jobs."
Sadly for Mitt Romney, the Bush recession began in December 2007. As ThinkProgress rightly noted, "The private sector has added 2.3 million new jobs since March 2010, and it took the Obama economy one year to create more jobs than the economy under President Bush did in eight." As The Economist explained earlier, the recession was not at its deepest just as Barack Obama was entering office, but far worse than official statistics revealed at the time. Romney might also want to check with former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi as well as the non-partisan CBO , who concluded that the Obama stimulus program "added up to 0.9 million jobs in 2009, 3.3 million jobs in 2010 and 2.6 million jobs in 2011."
Obama's Debt Exceeds All Previous Presidents Combined
Mitt Romney didn't just lie about Barack Obama's jobs record. At the Sioux City debate, he got President Obama's contribution to the federal debt all wrong as well: >
"We all understand that the spending crisis is extraordinary, with $15 trillion now in debt, with a president that's racked up as much debt as almost all of the other presidents combined."
Of course, we don't all understand that, because it's not true . After Ronald Reagan tripled the gross national debt and George W. Bush doubled it again, Uncle Sam's red ink totaled almost $11 trillion when Barack Obama took the oath of office.
Obama is "Taking over 100 Percent" of Health Care
In his desperate quest to win over conservative Republican primary voters, Mitt Romney has turned his back on his signature achievement which he once boasted was a health care model for the nation. And to do it, Romney has been lying for months by telling voters "Obamacare is about taking over 100 percent of the people's insurance in this country."
In a September 15, 2011 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer , Romney made the same charge: >
"The Massachusetts plan was crafted for Massachusetts, for the needs of 8 percent of our population that didn't have insurance, not for the 92 percent that did. Obamacare is a plan that takes over 100 percent of the people in the country and their health care, and that's one of the reasons why people don't want it."
Sadly for Mitt Romney, repetition of a lie doesn't make it any more true.
The Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in the spring of 2010 targets the 17 percent of people (over 50 million people) who are uninsured . As Politifact explained in deeming Romney's fraud another "Pants on Fire" lie: >
According to the Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans without health insurance nationally was slightly under 17 percent in 2009, the year Obama began pushing for the bill. According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, the number was about the same in 2010, when the measure was signed into law. Other estimates have pegged the national number at about 15 percent.
As Henry Aaron, a senior fellow with the centrist-to-liberal Brookings Institution right noted, comparing 8 percent to 17 percent "would have been apples to apples" when it comes to the impact of the individual mandate at the center of both the Massachusetts and national plans. Sadly, Politifact concluded, Romney was guilty of "a felony case of comparing apples and oranges."
Romney "Will Reverse President Obama's Massive Defense Cuts"
During that same "American Century" speech in October, Governor Romney pledged: >
"I will reverse President Obama's massive defense cuts. Time and again, we have seen that attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price, not only in treasure, but in blood."
Sadly for Romney, as Steve Benen pointed out, defense spending has not only gone up every year of the Obama presidency . It is higher than it ever was when George W. Bush sat in the Oval Office.
Of course, Romney's confusion over matters of war and peace are hardly new. In an April op-ed for the Manchester Union Leader, Mitt forgot about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as he denounced President Obama for "one of the biggest peacetime spending binges in American history."
Obama's "Equal Outcomes" and "Entitlement Society"
Last week, the Romney campaign rolled out what may well become the meta-theme and meta-lie for the 2012 general election race.
After President Obama declared in his Osawatomie, Kansas address that Republican trickle down economics "never worked," Romney struck back. Just not with the truth: >
"Just a couple of weeks ago in Kansas, President Obama lectured us about Teddy Roosevelt's philosophy of government. But he failed to mention the important difference between Teddy Roosevelt and Barack Obama. Roosevelt believed that government should level the playing field to create equal opportunities. President Obama believes that government should create equal outcomes. >
"In an entitlement society, everyone receives the same or similar rewards, regardless of education, effort, and willingness to take risk. That which is earned by some is redistributed to the others. And the only people who truly enjoy any real rewards are those who do the redistributing -- the government. >
"The truth is that everyone may get the same rewards, but virtually everyone will be worse off."
By raising the mythical red menace of communism and falsely attributing it to Barack Obama, Romney in the words of Paul Krugman had introduced " The Big Lie " into his " Post-Truth Campaign ." While Andrew Sullivan announced "Mitt Romney is a big, fat liar," Steve Benen lamented that "Romney, allegedly the responsible one in the Republican field, has been reduced to lying uncontrollably." And while Greg Sargent in the past had expressed amazement at "Mitt Romney's casual, effortless falsehoods," New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait explained that Romney's red scare rose to a whole new level of duplicity: >
"This isn't just a casual line. In eight sentences, Romney asserts over and over again that Obama wants to create "equal outcomes" and give everybody the "same rewards." This is nuts, Glenn Beck-level insane. Restoring Clinton-era taxes is not a plan to equalize outcomes, or even close. It's not even a plan to stop rising inequality. Obama's America will continue to be the most unequal society in the advanced world -- only slightly less so. The alternative proposals accelerate inequality even further."
Of course, as the proliferating profiles from the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , the Washington Post and others show, Mitt Romney is no stranger to inequality. Legendarily cheap and analytical , as a Harvard Business School student Romney gave a presentation to his classmates that "proved the value of family time based not on emotion but on yield." Two Romney quotes - " I love business " and " I love data " - seem to sum up the man.
As for loving the truth, that for Mitt Romney is apparently another matter altogether.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives .)
5 Views
19:00:30 12/28/11
Notable Death of the Year: RIP Austerity Economics, 1921-2011
[LESS INFO] 5 VIEWS | ADDED 19:00:30 12/28/11
"Smokestack Lightnin'," with Hubert Sumlin backing Howlin' Wolf in 1964
This is the time of year when we're reminded of all the famous people who died over the last twelve months, a list which includes two of my favorite guitar players ( Hubert Sumlin and Cornell Dupree ). But there were also some notable non-human deaths in 2011, especially in the world of economic policy.
One of those deaths should have completely altered the political debate in Washington. The name of the deceased was "Austerity Economics," and it was first glimpsed in a 1921 paper by conservative economist Frank Wright. Austerity died of natural causes brought on by prolonged exposure to reality.
But the debate in Washington didn't change nearly enough after its passing. In the nation's capital, dead things still rule the night.
Why Austerity?
"Austerity economics" backers claim that today's economic woes can only be fixed by dramatic reductions in government spending, which will lead to increased private-sector confidence and therefore to greater investment and growth.
But it's never worked. And if investors have lost confidence in the U.S. government's fiscal stability, they're sure not acting that way. There hasn't been this much demand for Treasury bonds since the government began tracking it twenty years ago, and they haven't performed as well since the go-go 1990s.
It's easy to understand austerity's attraction for power elites inside and outside of government. The people who suffer from austerity budgets aren't the kinds of people they know personally, since they're typically public employees like teachers, police, firefighters and the administrators of social programs; people who need government assistance, like the poor; and middle-class people with the temerity to either grow old or become disabled.
Austerity's attraction became even greater in the U.S. because once it became conventional wisdom that tax increases on the wealthy was "politically infeasible." That made it a program whose sole purpose was to cut government spending, lowering the pressure to increase taxes on the wealthy from today's historically low levels.
For a one-percenter, what's not to love?
Austerity Comes of Age
The idea's been around in one form or another since that 1921 paper, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been imposing it on Third World nations for decades.
But 2009 was the year that austerity really came of age. That was the year that a wealthy stockbroker's son named David Cameron began campaigning for Prime Minister of Great Britain on an explicitly pro-austerity platform.
It was also the year that Cameron helped to form a group named European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) dedicated to electing like-minded politicians across Europe and helping them collaborate on ways to slash government spending. It was also the year that right-leaning Angela Merkel won reelection as the Chancellor of Germany with a stronger mandate than she'd been given in her first term.
With Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France, Great Britain was the only major European power not yet in the hands of the corporate-backed austerity crowd.
The Global Sado-Erotic Thrill Machine
That changed with Cameron's election as Prime Minister in May 2010, an event that threw pro-austerity Americans into throes of near-erotic ecstasy. And if that sounds like hyperbole, consider conservative Anne Appelbaum's reaction to Cameron's budget in September of 2010: >
Vicious cuts." "Savage cuts." "Swingeing (sic) cuts." The language that the British use to describe their new government's spending-reduction policy is apocalyptic in the extreme. The ministers in charge of the country's finances are known as "axe-wielders" who will be "hacking" away at the budget. Articles about the nation's finances are filled with talk of blood, knives, and amputation.
And the British love it.
What can I say? There are people who collect serial-killer memorabilia, too. But Appelbaum wasn't just speaking for herself. It became unacceptable for any politician in Washington, Democrat or Republican, to advocate anything other than an austerity budget for the United States.
And it was more than an economic strategy to its backers. Austerity became a way to demonize those who had suffered most from the banking abuses and self-indulgences of the wealthy, a totemic "blame the victim" response that turned the political debate into a grotesque inversion of morality. Again, Appelbaum: >
"Not only is austerity being touted as the solution to Britain's economic woes; it is also being described as the answer to the country's moral failings."
Bad Metaphors vs. Good Economists
The Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, jumped onto the bandwagon with both feet by repeatedly lecturing Americans on the need for government to stop "spending beyond its means." Obama recycled the popular conservative metaphor of a family that has to sit around the kitchen table and decide how much money it has to spend.
That's one of the worst metaphors in modern politics. Does a family establish its own currency -- especially one that has the unique position of the dollar? Can a family borrow money at rates so low they're effectively less than zero? Would a family let Grandma go hungry because Junior bought too many Porsches out of the family kitty and then gambled it away on lousy mortgage investments?
The world's top economists, those who had successfully predicted the crisis of 2008, tried telling the rest of the world what was wrong with the idea: Joblessness and consumer fears were killing any chance of real recovery. More short-term spending was needed to get the economy moving again. Austerity would make things worse, not better.
But nobody listened. Austerity's S%M-like attraction had the world's elites in its grip.
Death of a Delusion
And then something else came into the picture: Reality.
Cameron's austerity budget had a shattering effect on the already-struggling British economy. His government's financial stability was downgraded five times during his first year in power and retail sales had fallen 2.5 percent. Household income was projected to fall an additional 2 percent if his austerity plans were carried forward. Britain's modest employment gains were reversed, youth unemployment reached record levels, and income inequality was the worst it had been in more than half a century.
Anne Appelbaum's erotic dreams had become Great Britain's nightmare.
As Europe's ruling austerity class pushed forward with their plans, even the IMF tried to dissuade them. It was clear to anyone who wasn't blinded by ideology or political cynicism that austerity economics was a failed program. Even in countries like Greece, where government was far graver than elsewhere, the austerity programs imposed from outside threatened to destabilize society while other reasonable measures like improved tax collection were still not taken seriously enough.
And now the entire Eurozone hangs in the balance. Bankers became wealthy by treating governments as if they were mortgages, lending recklessly and pocketing their fees without considering the long-term reliability of their loans. European leaders insisted for months they were take the kind of sensible steps that should've been taken in the United States by requiring bankers to accept at least part of the losses for the bad loans they had issed.
That plan was quietly dropped last month. "Austerity economics" never calls for austerity from those who have gotten rich by being irresponsible, only from those who didn't benefit from it at all.
The Afterlife
President Obama has dropped his austerity rhetoric, at least for the time being, but the Republicans have not. Listening to Mitt Romney discuss economics is like having a doctor wave a dead chicken over your head and saying he's decided to cast a spell on you rather than operate on that thing they found in your X-rays.
Aside from the bill introduced this month by the House Progressive Caucus to almost no media attention, there's no comprehensive plan for dropping this country's ineffective austerity strategy and replacing it with an agenda that works.
Rational solutions to our economic problems are being ignored. There won't be a real debate about alternatives to austerity until an entire political party, not just part of it, adopts this kind of program. Until then there will be chaos. And where there is chaos, austerity's powerful advocates can step in and take charge.
Austerity economics died in 2011 and is survived by the British, German, and French governments as well as the GOP and large portions of the Democratic Party. Instead of sending flowers, the family has asked the public to abandon all hopes of future economic growth.
1 Views
19:00:30 12/28/11
Notable Death of the Year: RIP Austerity Economics, 1921-2011
[LESS INFO] 1 VIEWS | ADDED 19:00:30 12/28/11
"Smokestack Lightnin'," with Hubert Sumlin backing Howlin' Wolf in 1964
This is the time of year when we're reminded of all the famous people who died over the last twelve months, a list which includes two of my favorite guitar players ( Hubert Sumlin and Cornell Dupree ). But there were also some notable non-human deaths in 2011, especially in the world of economic policy.
One of those deaths should have completely altered the political debate in Washington. The name of the deceased was "Austerity Economics," and it was first glimpsed in a 1921 paper by conservative economist Frank Wright. Austerity died of natural causes brought on by prolonged exposure to reality.
But the debate in Washington didn't change nearly enough after its passing. In the nation's capital, dead things still rule the night.
Why Austerity?
"Austerity economics" backers claim that today's economic woes can only be fixed by dramatic reductions in government spending, which will lead to increased private-sector confidence and therefore to greater investment and growth.
But it's never worked. And if investors have lost confidence in the U.S. government's fiscal stability, they're sure not acting that way. There hasn't been this much demand for Treasury bonds since the government began tracking it twenty years ago, and they haven't performed as well since the go-go 1990s.
It's easy to understand austerity's attraction for power elites inside and outside of government. The people who suffer from austerity budgets aren't the kinds of people they know personally, since they're typically public employees like teachers, police, firefighters and the administrators of social programs; people who need government assistance, like the poor; and middle-class people with the temerity to either grow old or become disabled.
Austerity's attraction became even greater in the U.S. because once it became conventional wisdom that tax increases on the wealthy was "politically infeasible." That made it a program whose sole purpose was to cut government spending, lowering the pressure to increase taxes on the wealthy from today's historically low levels.
For a one-percenter, what's not to love?
Austerity Comes of Age
The idea's been around in one form or another since that 1921 paper, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been imposing it on Third World nations for decades.
But 2009 was the year that austerity really came of age. That was the year that a wealthy stockbroker's son named David Cameron began campaigning for Prime Minister of Great Britain on an explicitly pro-austerity platform.
It was also the year that Cameron helped to form a group named European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) dedicated to electing like-minded politicians across Europe and helping them collaborate on ways to slash government spending. It was also the year that right-leaning Angela Merkel won reelection as the Chancellor of Germany with a stronger mandate than she'd been given in her first term.
With Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France, Great Britain was the only major European power not yet in the hands of the corporate-backed austerity crowd.
The Global Sado-Erotic Thrill Machine
That changed with Cameron's election as Prime Minister in May 2010, an event that threw pro-austerity Americans into throes of near-erotic ecstasy. And if that sounds like hyperbole, consider conservative Anne Appelbaum's reaction to Cameron's budget in September of 2010: >
Vicious cuts." "Savage cuts." "Swingeing (sic) cuts." The language that the British use to describe their new government's spending-reduction policy is apocalyptic in the extreme. The ministers in charge of the country's finances are known as "axe-wielders" who will be "hacking" away at the budget. Articles about the nation's finances are filled with talk of blood, knives, and amputation.
And the British love it.
What can I say? There are people who collect serial-killer memorabilia, too. But Appelbaum wasn't just speaking for herself. It became unacceptable for any politician in Washington, Democrat or Republican, to advocate anything other than an austerity budget for the United States.
And it was more than an economic strategy to its backers. Austerity became a way to demonize those who had suffered most from the banking abuses and self-indulgences of the wealthy, a totemic "blame the victim" response that turned the political debate into a grotesque inversion of morality. Again, Appelbaum: >
"Not only is austerity being touted as the solution to Britain's economic woes; it is also being described as the answer to the country's moral failings."
Bad Metaphors vs. Good Economists
The Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, jumped onto the bandwagon with both feet by repeatedly lecturing Americans on the need for government to stop "spending beyond its means." Obama recycled the popular conservative metaphor of a family that has to sit around the kitchen table and decide how much money it has to spend.
That's one of the worst metaphors in modern politics. Does a family establish its own currency -- especially one that has the unique position of the dollar? Can a family borrow money at rates so low they're effectively less than zero? Would a family let Grandma go hungry because Junior bought too many Porsches out of the family kitty and then gambled it away on lousy mortgage investments?
The world's top economists, those who had successfully predicted the crisis of 2008, tried telling the rest of the world what was wrong with the idea: Joblessness and consumer fears were killing any chance of real recovery. More short-term spending was needed to get the economy moving again. Austerity would make things worse, not better.
But nobody listened. Austerity's S%M-like attraction had the world's elites in its grip.
Death of a Delusion
And then something else came into the picture: Reality.
Cameron's austerity budget had a shattering effect on the already-struggling British economy. His government's financial stability was downgraded five times during his first year in power and retail sales had fallen 2.5 percent. Household income was projected to fall an additional 2 percent if his austerity plans were carried forward. Britain's modest employment gains were reversed, youth unemployment reached record levels, and income inequality was the worst it had been in more than half a century.
Anne Appelbaum's erotic dreams had become Great Britain's nightmare.
As Europe's ruling austerity class pushed forward with their plans, even the IMF tried to dissuade them. It was clear to anyone who wasn't blinded by ideology or political cynicism that austerity economics was a failed program. Even in countries like Greece, where government was far graver than elsewhere, the austerity programs imposed from outside threatened to destabilize society while other reasonable measures like improved tax collection were still not taken seriously enough.
And now the entire Eurozone hangs in the balance. Bankers became wealthy by treating governments as if they were mortgages, lending recklessly and pocketing their fees without considering the long-term reliability of their loans. European leaders insisted for months they were take the kind of sensible steps that should've been taken in the United States by requiring bankers to accept at least part of the losses for the bad loans they had issed.
That plan was quietly dropped last month. "Austerity economics" never calls for austerity from those who have gotten rich by being irresponsible, only from those who didn't benefit from it at all.
The Afterlife
President Obama has dropped his austerity rhetoric, at least for the time being, but the Republicans have not. Listening to Mitt Romney discuss economics is like having a doctor wave a dead chicken over your head and saying he's decided to cast a spell on you rather than operate on that thing they found in your X-rays.
Aside from the bill introduced this month by the House Progressive Caucus to almost no media attention, there's no comprehensive plan for dropping this country's ineffective austerity strategy and replacing it with an agenda that works.
Rational solutions to our economic problems are being ignored. There won't be a real debate about alternatives to austerity until an entire political party, not just part of it, adopts this kind of program. Until then there will be chaos. And where there is chaos, austerity's powerful advocates can step in and take charge.
Austerity economics died in 2011 and is survived by the British, German, and French governments as well as the GOP and large portions of the Democratic Party. Instead of sending flowers, the family has asked the public to abandon all hopes of future economic growth.
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20:31:56 12/21/11
H5N1 Bird Flu Appears in Hong Kong
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 20:31:56 12/21/11
H5N1 Bird Flu Appears in Hong Kong
For more news and videos visit ➡ english.ntdtv.com Follow us on Twitter ➡ http Add us on Facebook ➡ on.fb.me The H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu, has re-appeared in poultry in Hong Kong. Officials are culling 17-thousand chickens as a precaution, in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. Workers began culling 17000 chickens at Hong Kong's largest wholesale poultry market on Wednesday. It comes after a dead chicken there tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian virus, according to a government spokesman. The Hong Kong government also suspended imports of live chickens from mainland China and the trading of live chickens for 21 days... in a bid to prevent any spread of the virus. It's normally found in birds, but can jump to humans. It's caused quite the frustration among poultry workers. [Poultry Worker]: "It's not fair. You should do the testing for live chicken only in that certain area and if you find the virus in that area then we are happy to let you kill them. But if you only pick dead chickens for testing then we don't like that idea." The government announced the measures late on Tuesday after a dead chicken at the city's main wholesale market and two wild birds tested positive for the virus. [Poultry Worker]: "We have lost around half of our business. We only have frozen chicken now, it's the only way." People do not have immunity to the H5N1 virus and researchers worry it could mutate in humans into a form that would spread around the world and ... From: NTDTV Views: 101 6 ratings Time: 01:52 More in News & Politics
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13:03:07 12/10/11
Mixtape Comedy Show - Erin Jackson
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 13:03:07 12/10/11
Erin's family tries to go against stereotypes.
From our monthly show in New York City.
Website ~ http://mixtapecomedy.com
Like ~ http://facebook.com/mixtapecomedy
Follow ~ http://twitter.com/mixtapecomedy
Author: MixtapeComedy
Tags: erin jackson stereotypes black people fried chicken resume condom broken english dimes mixtape comedy show standup stand up jokes comedian humor funny
Posted: 10 December 2011
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13:02:50 12/10/11
Mixtape Comedy Show - Erin Jackson
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 13:02:50 12/10/11
Erin's family tries to go against stereotypes. From our monthly show in New York City. Website ~ http://mixtapecomedy.com Like ~ http://facebook.com/mixtapecomedy Follow ~ http://twitter.com/mixtapecomedy
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22:42:07 12/08/11
Celebs' Favorite Foods
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 22:42:07 12/08/11
Celebs' Favorite Foods
Katy Perry can't get enough In-N-Out burger, model Miranda Kerr loves homemade fried chicken, Scarlett Johansson gets down with Burger King and more of celebs' favorite junk foods! WHEN IT COMES TO GRUB, WE'VE ALL GOT OUR FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURES -- AND THESE CELEBS ARE NO DIFFERENT. MIRANDA KERR'S SLIGHT PHYSIQUE MADE HER FAMOUS, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE VICTORIA'S SECRET MODEL DOESN'T LOVE TO EAT -- HER FAVORITE FOOD IS HER OWN HOMEMADE FRIED CHICKEN. DON'T STRESS IT, GIRL: AIN'T NO THING BUT A CHICKEN WING. SCARLETT JOHANSSON SAYS SHE GENERALLY EATS HEALTHY, BUT WHEN SHE GETS A CRAVING FOR FAST FOOD, SHE THINKS ROYALLY. THE ACTRESS SAYS SHE LOVES BURGER KING'S CHEESEBURGER MEALS -- FOR THE CHAR-GRILLED TASTE *AND* THE TOY THAT COMES WITH THEM. KATY PERRY IS ALSO A BIG BURGER BACKER, BUT HER RESTAURANT OF CHOICE IS WEST COAST FAVORITE IN-AND-OUT BURGER. THE "CALIFORNIA GURL" HAS TWEETED HER DESIRE FOR A DOUBLE-DOUBLE ANIMAL STYLE A COUPLE TIMES -- EVEN WHEN SHE WAS ACROSS THE POND, ON TOUR IN GERMANY. WHAT KATY, ISN'T A LITTLE OF THE LOCAL BREW GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU? MARIAH CAREY'S MEAL OF CHOICE IS PIZZA -- BUT THE DIVA TELLS NOW MAGAZINE THAT IN ORDER TO KEEP HER SIGNATURE FIGURE JUST THE WAY SHE LIKES, SHE DOESN'T INDULGE. SUCH ARE THE SACRIFICES OF CELEBRITY. ONE SINGER THAT DOESN'T HAVE ANY ISSUE WITH GRABBING A SLICE IS GWEN STEFANI. THE NO DOUBT SINGER PROVED THAT WHEN SHE TWEETED THIS PIC OF HER CHOWING DOWN AFTER HER 2010 LAMB FASHION SHOW. SOMETIMES A GIRL'S ... From: CelebTV Views: 915 16 ratings Time: 01:24 More in Entertainment






