meme<->link: 2011

Friday, September 9, 2011

"Let's just take a quick look at what all the Republican candidates have to say about science, shall we?"

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/07/140071973/in-their-own-words-gop-candidates-and-science?sc=fb&cc=fp

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

'Epicenter of Violence': Guatemala Combats Brutality Toward Women

News Wrap: Iraqi Government Attempts to Minimize Protester Turnout

Public Pension Problems: a Tale of Two Cities in Rhode Island

Shields, Brooks on U.S. Facing Tough Calls on Libya, Pension Woes

Saudi Arabia's voices of discontent

Are social reforms enough to avert a revolution in the kingdom?

Sedgwick's Effort to Boost Local Farm Sales Raises Safety Concerns

Residents of the small Hancock County town of Sedgwick have approved a "Local Food and Self Governance" ordinance that seeks to preserve small scale farming and food processing. The ordinance exempts direct farm sales from state and federal licensing and inspection requirements. Several other Maine towns are also considering similar measures, but not without some concern from the Maine Agriculture Department.

LePage's Proposed Welfare Cuts Meet Strong Opposition

Proposals by the LePage administration to reduce state funding for a number of welfare programs were opposed by large numbers of people who signed up to speak before the Legislature's Appropriations Committee today. The panel began a series of public hearings on changes to numerous programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services that the governor says will put the state back on the right financial track. But many warned that the projected short-term savings will only produce long-term problems for the state.

Barney Frank: “Re-Deregulating the Economy”

Libya's Turmoil Rages: Should World Powers Intervene?

A tool of torture and abuse?

Egyptians are turning their anger towards the country's much feared and hated state security apparatus.

Courtney Martin: Reinventing feminism

Maine Turnpike Authority Head Resigns Amid Financial Questions

The long-time executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority resigned today amid accusations of extravagant spending habits at the quasi-public agency. Paul Violette and the Turnpike Authority came under widespread public scrutiny after the Legislature's Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, or OPEGA, released a report in January that questioned spending policies at the agency.

Maine's New Education Chief Lays Out Agenda

Today was Steve Bowen's first as Maine's top education official and his schedule left little room to stop and breathe. There was a cabinet meeting with the governor that ran an hour late, a legislative work session and back-to-back appointments. Jay Field squeezed in a few minutes with Bowen to talk about the LePage administration's education agenda and what issues it plans to tackle first.

TDS: Diane Ravitch on Teaching

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Doubleheader: Shields and Brooks on Money, Muslims and the NFL

Losing the information war

Is the US really losing the information war, as Hillary Clinton claims, and how can it fight back?

Anthony Atala: Printing a human kidney

Report: Maine's Economy Shows Bright Spots, Red Flag

The Maine Economic Growth Council has issued its 2011 "Measures of Growth" report. The annual report details indicators of the state's economic health. The Maine Development Foundation's Ed Cervone worked on the report, which found that international exports rated a "gold star." He talked with MPBN's Irwin Gratz about other indicators, including this year's other gold star, for land conservation.

Maine Teachers Blast Governor's Proposed Benefit Cuts

Teachers from across the state gave the LePage administration and lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee a lesson in economics today, as the panel wrapped up three days of budget hearings on proposed benefit cuts for state employees and educators. Many criticized the administration's plan to move the normal age for teacher retirement up to 65 from 62. They also charged the governor with holding public employees responsible for losses sustained by the state pension fund.

How to Spot a Liar

How To Spot A Liar by Forensic Psychology

In California, Rising Health-Insurance Premiums Spark Outcry

Gaddafi: Fighting for survival?

Will ICC involvement make the Libyan leader respect human rights or will he just fight harder to avoid prosecution?

The Hectic Life of a Social Media Manager

Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools

Budget News On its Way

A special Arizona Illustrated Political Focus previews the new state budget, slated for release on Monday

Maine Cities Balk at Plan to Slash General Assistance

More fiery debate over Gov. LePage's budget is likely to take place Monday, when lawmakers hear testimony on proposed changes to Maine's financial aid program for its neediest citizens. Officials from Bangor and Portland say cutting state reimbursement payments for general assistance could force Maine's large cities to eliminate other social service programs at a time of great need.

LePage Pitches "Incentives" to Lure Fishermen Back to Maine

Gov. Paul LePage told a standing-room-only crowd at the annual Fishermen's Forum in Rockport today that his adminstration wants to see the groundfishing industry return to the state of Maine. Lepage says he's supporting a number of steps, including the elimination of a tax on diesel fuel used on groundfishing boats, as incentives to make that happen. He also vowed to cut what he says are unnecessary regulations that burden Maine fishermen, and to promote efforts to grow the state's seafood processing industry.

How Traffic Jams Happen

Wisconsin Protest Stirs Questions on Public vs. Private Sector Pay

What now for Egypt's revolution?

Hundreds of demonstrators continue to gather in Tahrir Square in a bid to force further change.

Just What Does Your State Do Best?

Wael Ghonim: Inside the Egyptian revolution

Episode 8: Medicaid Cuts Could Constrict State's Recovery

Health care for working poor, insurance rates, and the overall economy would all suffer if Arizona slashes or stops AHCCCS, experts say

The Friday Podcast: A City Throws In The Towel

Friday, March 4, 2011

Proposed Pension Cuts Set off Dueling Rallies at Maine State House

Hundreds of Mainers who oppose or support Gov. Paul LePage's proposed cutbacks to state worker pensions squared off outside the State House today, and then took their case inside, hoping to convince lawmakers to support their cause. The demonstrations were staged as the Legislature's Appropriations Committee holds its second consecutive day of hearings on LePage's plan to balance the budget. The governor wants to freeze and then reduce cost-of-living increases for state employees and teachers, and also require them to pay a larger share of the cost of their pension costs.

A World Obsessed With Facebook

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

Divisions Appear in DEP over Bill to Limit Pollution Enforcement

Twice since 2005, both the Maine Attorney General and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have opposed legislation to establish a statute of limitations for environmental violations. And both times the Maine Legislature has agreed with them and rejected the bills. This year the DEP supports a measure that would give its enforcement agencies six years to go after polluters. But one staffer who works in DEP enforcement is going against his bosses to make the case that the bill is a bad idea.

Worldwide Mobile Operating Systems

Proposed Dirigo Funding Cuts Leave Policyholders in Limbo

Gov. Paul LePage has proposed a two-year budget that gradually reduces funding for the Dirigo Health agency, shutting it down by 2014. LePage and the Republican majority in the Legislature say that the agency, which provides state-sponsored health insurance, is too costly, and has not performed up to expectations. That leaves nearly 15,000 people covered by Dirigo programs wondering what will happen to them. Some are urging policymakers to reconsider.

TDS: Teachers vs Wall Street

The Daily Show
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AFL-CIO's Trumka: No American Should Face Choice Between Rights, Job

Maine State Workers Turn out in Force to Oppose Benefit Cuts

While supporters and opponents of Gov. Paul LePage's $6.1 billion state budget gathered at the State House, members of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee held a day-long public hearing on several major changes to the benefit packages of state workers and teachers designed to generate more than $400 million dollars in savings. Although a few fiscal conservatives rose to speak in favor of the proposed revisions, the overwhelming number of active and retired state employees told lawmakers they were bitterly opposed to the changes.

Visualize Economics Upcoming Income Zine

News Wrap: Gunman Kills 2 U.S. Airmen, Wounds 2 at German Airport

JR's TED Prize wish: Use art to turn the world inside out

Cutting the Cable: The State of Internet TV

Mayoral Race Draws New Contenders

Two Republicans push for making Tucson better for commerce

Portland Shellfish Company Gearing up to Reopen

Employees at Portland Shellfish Company can start returning to work next week after a federal order closed the plant for more than six weeks. Back in January, the seafood processing company was ordered to halt operations at its two plants after a federal judge approved a consent decree to stop shipping its ready-to-eat lobster, shrimp and crab products. An inspection carried out by the company last summer found listeria contamination, both at one of the plants and in a ready-to-eat product. The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.

VW Transparent Factory (Dresden, Germany)

Supreme Court Weighs In on Privacy Rights, Employment Discrimination

Apples to Oranges: The Final Comparison

Infographic by Smarter.org

Calling for a no-fly zone

Can a no-fly zone really help to end the violence in Libya?

Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world

Average Student Budget

Outcry Over Access

This week's Arizona Illustrated Political Focus looks at state Senate President Russell Pearce's decision to disallow public access to the legislature's news conferences

Feelin' Lousy- Financially Groovy In Song

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Maine Family Planning Clinic Supporters Protest Looming Funding Cuts

More than 100 people turned out in Portland today to support family planning clinics that face funding cuts at the state and federal level. Public funding makes up nearly half of the budgets for Maine's 45 family planning clinics. But Gov. Paul LePage is proposing to cut roughly a third of the $1.5 million in state funds for family planning. And the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure that would eliminate the federal family planning program that provides $2.2 million to Maine centers.

Prechter: Social Mood Negative: Markets Will Soon Follow

Too little, too late?

We discuss whether forced reforms and state subsidies will counter further unrest in the Arab world.

Downtown's Evolving Development

More businesses are taking a chance on moving to downtown Tucson

Man Takes On Bank - and Wins

Group Decries "Assault" on Maine's Environmental Laws

For weeks, environmental groups have been railing against Gov. Paul LePage's plan targeting state environmental regulations deemed harmful to business. But the state's largest environmental group, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, says there is an assault on Maine's environmental safeguards that goes well beyond the governor's proposals. The group has released a list of what it calls the "50 worst" bills for Maine's environment.

'Parazit' Fuses Iranian Politics and Comedy

Are sanctions enough?

We ask what the international community can do to protect the Libyan people.

Understanding the Middle East

Anthropologist Lawrence Rosen discusses epicenter of unrest

The Tuesday Podcast: Discipline And Forgiveness

Debate Over Right-to-Work Legislation Rages in Maine

A weekend interview that Gov. Paul LePage gave to a national press outlet has racheted up the rhetoric in the ongoing battle over right-to-work legislation in Maine. The governor says he will do everything he can to get a bill passed prohibiting agreements between trade unions and private sector employees that makes union membership or dues a condition of employment. Labor leaders in Maine say they will vigorously oppose any effort to pass a right-to-work law, which they say discourages workers from organizing.

Read story: http://www.mpbn.net/News/MPBNNews/tabid/1159/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3762/ItemId/15439/Default.aspx

Most Popular Movies Getting Worse (1991-2011)

Moki.TV presents visual evidence that overall, films are decreasing in quality. Moki noted the “spike in highly polarizing movies (Twilight movies, the Transformers sequel, Fast and the Furious) with wide ratings distributions. And, they note Sequels are (almost) always more polarizing.

Here is the trend:

Interactive infographic and story found here: http://moki.tv/blog/visual-evidence-movies-are-getting-worse

Frank W. Buckles, the last known surviving American WWI veteran, has passed away.

Frank W. Buckles died Sunday, sadly yet not unexpectedly at age 110, having achieved a singular feat of longevity that left him proud and a bit bemused.

In 1917 and 1918, close to 5 million Americans served in World War I, and Mr. Buckles, a cordial fellow of gentle humor, was the last known survivor. "I knew there'd be only one someday," he said a few years back. "I didn't think it would be me."

Mr. Buckles, a widower, died on his West Virginia farm, said his daughter, Susannah Buckles Flanagan, who had been caring for him there.

Read the rest here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022800165.html

Decoding Your Car’s VIN Number

Extended Interview: Kambiz Hosseini and Saman Arbabi of 'Parazit'

Libya's humanitarian crisis

As protests continue, medical supplies, along with fuel and food, are running dangerously short.

A Comparative Look at State Taxes

Ever wondered which state has the highest gas tax or the lowest overall tax burden? Interact with the infographic below to compare income tax, property tax, and other taxes by state.

Check out the infographic here: http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/General-Tax-Tips/A-Comparative-Look-at-State-Taxes/INF13824.html

A Freshman's Take

Recently elected lawmaker analyzes changes in Arizona's politics and national image

What A Coin Toss Has To Do With The Housing Market

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Shields, Brooks on Collective Bargaining's Future, Shutdown Chances, Libya

Battle Over Maine State Worker Levels Intensifies

A progressive advocacy group is challenging the Maine Heritage Policy Center's call to eliminate 3,800 state jobs to bring state employee ratios closer to the national average. Christopher St. John, of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, says efficiencies can be found in state employment levels--but nothing on the scale of the cutbacks identified by the conservative think tank.

Govs. Daniels, Schweitzer on Looming Federal Government Shutdown

Gaddafi's inner circle

The Doubleheader: Walker's Prank Call, Government Shutdown and Carmelo Anthony

Firewood Demand Hike in Northeast Sparks Rise in Complaints

Record-setting snowfall and sub-zero temperatures in the Northeast have led to increased demand for firewood this heating season. There's also been an uptick in complaints by consumers who say they're getting less firewood than they pay for. As part of a collaboration with Northeast stations, WNPR's Diane Orson reports.

Libya's Instability, Worries Over Regional Contagion Rattle Oil Markets

What would a new Libya look like?

News Wrap: Saudi Arabian College Student Charged in Texas Bomb Plot

Maine School for At-Risk Kids Transforms to Survive

Two summers ago, financial problems forced Maine's only home for severely at-risk kids to shut down most of its programs. Since then, Goodwill Hinckley has hired a new director, started talks to sell part of its Fairfield campus to the Maine Community College System and announced plans to open an agriculture and sustainability-themed magnet school. Jay Field paid a visit to Goodwill Hickley and has this report on the ongoing transformation there.

Libya's Bloody Struggle Tests Loyalty of Gadhafi's Forces

Daily Show: American Workforce Makeover

The Daily Show - American Workforce Makeover
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

In Policy Shift, Obama Orders Halt to Legal Defense of Marriage Act

Libya's power struggle

Ahn Trio: A modern take on piano, violin, cello

Episode 7: Federal Supremacy vs. Arizona's Rights

Attorney General Horne expects to defend state in several cases as Legislature gets confrontational

Friday, February 25, 2011

Discovery's Launch Marks Beginning of End for NASA Shuttle Program

NASA Shuttle Launch: Discovery's Final Mission Takeoff

NASA Shuttle Launch: Watch Space Shuttle Discovery's Final Mission Takeoff

In Mexico, Monterrey Becoming 'City of Massacres'

LePage Proposes to Split Maine's Department of Health and Human Services

Gov. Paul LePage says the Department of Health and Human Services is too large and unwieldy and needs to be broken up. The governor wants to split the agency into a new cabinet level department focused on health issues and a second department focused on welfare.

Getting to Know Gadhafi: Examining the Quirks, Intellect of Libya's Strongman

Court Hears Challenge to Plum Creek Development Project OK

It's been more than a year, since the state approved one of the largest development projects in Maine's history--a plan by Plum Creek Timber Company to build two resorts and more than 820 homes in the Moosehead Lake Region. But its approval by the state's Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC, is still being fought in the courts by several environmental groups, who are worried about overdevelopment. Today, the Maine Superior Court took up an appeal of LURC's decision.

Obama Says All Options Are on Table for Libya Response

An old news report from 1981 on the future of newspapers on the internet.

Frontline Examines Muslim Brotherhood's 'Strong, Layered' Role in Egypt

Why Save PBS?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Gadhafi's 42-Year Rule of Libya a Mix of Iron Rule, Eccentricities

US Drone Strikes in Pakastan

The number of drone strikes in Pakistan, believed to be led by the CIA, has doubled under the Obama administration in 2010 - leading to hundreds of deaths. Channel 4 News maps a secret war.

Read the whole story or see the interactive infographic:http://www.channel4.com/news/pakistan-drone-strikes-the-cias-secret-war

Obama Condemns Violence in Libya: 'The Entire World is Watching'

Embattled but defiant

Danny Hillis: Understanding cancer through proteomics

Education in Arizona: Is it Broken?

Education leaders discuss current challenges in Arizona

Maine Lawmakers Consider Resetting Budget Timetable

Maine's new governor and a bumper crop of freshmen lawmakers say they're running against the clock trying to meet the timetable for submitting and considering a two-year state budget plan. There is growing consensus among Democrats and Republicans that it may be time to adopt a new budget. State Rep. Bernard Ayotte, a Caswell Republican, is advancing a bill to establish a transitonal one-year budget cycle to provide an opportunity for a change in the budget schedule.

Who’s to blame for rising oil prices?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The world's biggest family: The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren

Read the story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358654/The-worlds-biggest-family-Ziona-Chan-39-wives-94-children-33-grandchildren.html

Wisconsin Gov. Walker Urges Continued Civil Debate

Libya on the brink

Elizabeth Lindsey: Curating humanity's heritage

Family Planning at a Crossroads

While legislators talk of cutting Medicaid, health advocates fear for the future of Title X

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Maine Paper Mill and Hundreds of Jobs at Stake in Sale Deal

The owner of Katahdin Paper in East Millinocket says it will permanently close the mill in 60 days if a sale to Meriturn Partners does not close by the end of April. Last week Meriturn announced it had signed a letter of intent to buy the East Millinocket facility, as well as Katahdin Paper's already shuttered mill in the neighboring town of Millinocket. Hundreds of jobs are at stake in a deal that grows more complicated by the day.

Dictator Loses Grip in Desert

Gadhafi Warns 'Everything Will Burn' if Libya's Protests Continue

Iain Hutchison: Saving faces

Internet Speeds Around the World

The Tuesday Podcast: Inside The Great Depression

Gov. Walker Rejects Compromise as Wisconsin Union Protests Continue

Maine GOP-Appointed Task Force to Seek $25 Million in State Savings

Gov. Paul LePage has left a $25 million dollar hole in his two-year budget, to be filled by the recommendations of a special 11-member task force. The panel will be appointed by the governor and Republican legislative leaders, and charged with finding government efficiencies in the second half of the budget cycle. The plan has some lawmakers concerned about what they perceive as an attempted end run around the Legislature.

Collins Calls for Restoration of Civility in Politics

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is urging colleagues on both sides of the aisle to restore civility to political discourse. Collins, who speaks on the topic this afternoon in Portland, says the decline of decorum on Capitol Hill is a reflection of society as a whole, and is having a negative effect on the process of government.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Maine's Aging Population Renews Interest in Reverse Mortgages

As Maine's elderly population grows, more may find themselves "house rich" but "cash poor." Writing in the current issue of the Maine Policy Review, Portland attorney Andrew Helman of the Bernstein Shur law firm, says that makes the time ripe for reverse mortgages. But Helman told MPBN's Irwin Gratz that it would help if government created a program to certify lenders who took steps to make their reverse mortgages safer and more secure.

US Map: Rent vs. Buy

Interactive infographic found here: http://trulia.movity.com/rentvsbuy/

Locked in a Vegas Hotel Room with a Phantom Flex

I was working a gig in Vegas with a brand new Phantom Flex high speed digital cinema camera. I had to try it out. In fact, I never did go to bed that night. I opened up a wormhole shooting at 2,564 frames per second.

The Rise of Mobile Shopping

For Egypt's Women, Harassment Remains Part of Daily Life

Noreena Hertz: How to use experts -- and when not to

Libya: Ready for civil war?

In Legislature, a Week of Cuts and Change

Arizona lawmakers pass major business incentive bill and prepare for deep Medicaid cuts

The Friday Podcast: Gold Standard, R.I.P.

Teen girls keep having children, writes high school teacher Gerry Garibaldi, and we keep encouraging them

In my short time as a teacher in Connecticut, I have muddled through President Bush’s No Child Left Behind act, which tied federal funding of schools to various reforms, and through President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative, which does much the same thing, though with different benchmarks. Thanks to the feds, urban schools like mine—already entitled to substantial federal largesse under Title I, which provides funds to public schools with large low-income populations—are swimming in money. At my school, we pay five teachers to tutor kids after school and on Saturdays. They sit in classrooms waiting for kids who never show up. We don’t want for books—or for any of the cutting-edge gizmos that non–Title I schools can’t afford: computerized whiteboards, Elmo projectors, the works. Our facility is state-of-the-art, thanks to a recent $40 million face-lift, with gleaming new hallways and bathrooms and a fully computerized library.

Here’s my prediction: the money, the reforms, the gleaming porcelain, the hopeful rhetoric about saving our children—all of it will have a limited impact, at best, on most city schoolchildren. Urban teachers face an intractable problem, one that we cannot spend or even teach our way out of: teen pregnancy. This year, all of my favorite girls are pregnant, four in all, future unwed mothers every one. There will be no innovation in this quarter, no race to the top. Personal moral accountability is the electrified rail that no politician wants to touch.

My first encounter with teen pregnancy was a girl named Nicole, a pretty 15-year-old who had rings on every finger and great looped earrings and a red pen with fluffy pink feathers and a heart that lit up when she wrote with it. Hearts seemed to be on everything—in her signature, on her binder; there was often a little plastic heart barrette in her hair, which she had dyed in bright hues recalling a Siamese fighting fish. She was enrolled in two of my classes: English and journalism.

My main gripe with Nicole was that she fell asleep in class. Each morning—bang!—her head hit the desk. Waking her was like waking a badger. Nicole’s unmarried mother, it turned out, worked nights, so Nicole would slip out with friends every evening, sometimes staying out until 3 AM, and then show up in class exhausted, surly, and hungry.

Read the rest:
http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_teen-pregnancy.html