meme<->link: February 2011

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

Judge: Maine's Campaign Finance Law Constitutional

A federal judge has ruled that Maine's campaign finance disclosure law is constitutional, rejecting a challenge from a national group that actively opposes same sex marriage laws around the country.

Visualizing the Pro-Democracy Movement in Egypt

Read the story: http://www.kovasboguta.com/1/post/2011/02/first-post.html

What the Hell is Tofu?

Shields and Brooks on Boehner's 'New World Order,' Wisconsin Protests

Madeleine Albright: On being a woman and a diplomat

Crushing Libya's revolt

Episode 6: "Arizona Is Open for Business"

GOP governor says economic development package will put Arizona ahead of recovery

In Obama's Budget, 'A Lot Of Things To Question'

Michael Ferrara was a prince among Aspen's elite Alpine rescuers. But the mountain took a dreadful toll

MICHAEL FERRARA HAS trouble pinpointing the exact moment when his life began to unravel. A plausible starting point, though, might be March 29, 2001.

The weather was snowy and cold on that evening nearly 10 years ago. Fifteen friends from Los Angeles, most of them in their late 20s, had chartered a jet for a few days of spring skiing to celebrate a buddy’s birthday. Something went wrong on the final descent into Aspen’s small airport; the pilot apparently couldn’t see the runway. A wing tip caught the ground, the plane flipped, and the tail segment broke off. Then the plane exploded into flames.

Ferrara, who at the time was both a Pitkin County sheriff’s deputy and an assistant coroner, was among the first to arrive. He had worked on a half-dozen small-engine plane crashes in the mountains around Aspen. As a paramedic, a ski patroller, a high-angle rescuer, and an avalanche specialist, he’d often dealt with blood and trauma. Among scores of incidents, he was first on the scene when Robert Kennedy’s son Michael Kennedy, 39, fatally struck a tree while skiing in Aspen in 1997. Steeped in the stoic culture of the first responder, Ferrara instinctively took charge in chaotic situations. But he wasn’t prepared for this.

The first charred and bloodied body he came upon was still buckled to his seat, his cell phone ringing in his pocket. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Ferrara saw something jammed into the elk fence: a hunk of flesh, dripping with serous fluid. Ferrara spent that terrible evening with fellow officers, assembling body parts into plastic bags. All 18 people, including the crew, were killed. Ferrara got home at 4 in the morning, smelling like jet fuel. He stripped out of his gore-smeared clothes and left them in the front yard.

Read the rest: http://theweek.com/article/index/212002/the-last-word-rescue-me

Maine Gambling Board Sidesteps "Mile" Calculation Dispute

The state gambling contol board has sidestepped an issue that threatened to place a roadblock in the path of the planned Oxford casino. Lawyers for a proposed gaming facility in Biddeford maintained that the Oxford casino would violate existing state law that prohibits the establishment of another gaming business within 100 miles of Hollywood Slots in Bangor. Rather than debate how the distance should be measured, the board collectively agreed that the will of the voters who approved the Oxford casino should prevail.

Facebook and Twitter Are Changing the Middle East

Obama Takes Messages of Innovation, Jobs to Silicon Valley Leaders

Yemen's 'days of rage'

Rio Nuevo Surges Forward

Despite financial and legal troubles, project has plans for progress

When Borrowers Don't Pay, Should The Bank Take Everything?

LePage Launches Capitol for a Day Program

Today Governor Paul LePage kicked off his "Capitol for a Day" program in which he plans to visit each of Maine's 16 counties on a monthly basis, and hold town hall-style meetings. In doing so, LePage says he's reintroducing a tradition started by Gov. John McKernan, a fellow Republican, in the mid-1980s.

Why is Fox News Trashing Ron Paul?

Busted: Fox News Fakes CPAC Presidential Straw Poll

Bizarre deception by Fox News via boingboing, running the 2010 crowd noise booing Ron Paul’s 2011 win here.

At the 4:40 mark, you can hear the actual 2011 crowd — and they cheer Ron Paul for a full minute:

When reporting that Ron Paul had defeated mainstream Republican Mitt Romney in the CPAC straw poll, Fox News superimposed archive footage of people booing from last year’s event.
Bonus Fox misbehavior! When a liberal blogger asked Fox News reporter Jesse Watters for comment on recent claims from an insider that the network makes stuff up, Watters ignored the question and mocked the interviewer’s cheap camera. After MSNBC ran the clip, which makes Watters appear evasive and smarmy, Fox produced heavily edited versions of the clip for its own shows, claimed their man was ambushed (he was in fact approached at the same heavily-attended conservative event) and praised its reporter for ‘trash talking’ the interviewer.

From: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/02/fox-news-trashing-ron-paul/

The Doubleheader: Medicaid Shortfalls, Public Unions and Spring Training

Bahrain on the brink

Is Tucson's Image Tarnished?

As local organizations work to reduce negative perceptions of the city in the wake of the Jan. 8 shooting, tourists say they'll continue visiting

Maine Kids Squeezing Business Savvy out of Lemons

Lemonade stands are a common sight in summertime USA. Many listeners probably have fond childhood memories of mixing up and selling their own version of the sweet citrus drink from neighborhood roadside stands to earn a few extra dollars. An initiative is now underway in Maine to join a national effort that uses the lemonade stand as a model to teach children how to run their own businesses.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: (1) 'We're Broke' (2) Missing Dems Need to 'Do Their Job' (2 of 2)

Spotlight Libya

Bush, Clinton to Chair New National Institute for Civil Discourse

Organization aims to advance the national discussion that arose in the wake of the Jan. 8 shooting and develop constructive solutions

Oxford Casino Developers Facing Fine for Alleged Environmental Violations

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has proposed a penalty of more than $70,000 against several principals in the Oxford casino project and a West Gardiner construction firm for a series of alleged environmental violations. The draft administrative consent agreement stems from site work that was done in connection with the Nateva music festival in Oxford County last summer. But some are worried the case reflects poorly on the business practices of the casino developers, and once again highlights why the new commissioner at the DEP may have a conflict of interest.

'Bravest Woman in Mexico': 21-Year-Old Police Chief Takes Aim at Cartels

Wisconsin's Crowded Capitol: Collective-Bargaining Protest Grows

Hibernating Black Bear

Sen. Bernie Sanders: 'I've Got a Lot of Problems With President's Budget'

News Wrap: Israel Says Iran About to Send Warships to Syria

Protests Intensify, Spread in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen

Thursday, February 17, 2011

LePage Taps Conservative Policy Analyst for State's Top Education Post

An analyst for a conservative advocacy group who has been tapped by Gov. Paul LePage to run the state Department of Education promises to revitalize Maine's education system and bring it into the 21st century. Steve Bowen, formerly an education analyst for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, says he plans to rely on his experience as a Maine teacher to emphasize the importance of the student in crafting the state's educational policy. Bowen, who is also a former Maine legislator, says he can build the consensus necessary to implement new educational reforms.

Juarez: 'The Most Lethal Place on Earth'

Lisa Gansky: The future of business is the "mesh"

Change or status quo?

AZ Business Gets a Helping Hand

AZ Local chamber leader expects economic improvement

Maine Lawmakers Consider Bills to Tighten Voting Requirements

Members of the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee are considering a pair of bills that supporters say are designed to build more confidence in Maine's election process. But opponents characterize both as potential barriers to voters that would roll back existing rights and cost the state more money. One bill would eliminate same-day voter registration and the other would require a photo ID in order to vote.

Will Iran's Opposition Movement Gain Traction?

Jacqueline Novogratz: Inspiring a life of immersion

Can Egyptians forgive and forget?

Are AZ State Lawmakers Dismantling Government?

Political writer Jim Nintzel analyzes the legislative trends at work in the state capitol

New Brunswick Population-Boosting Initiative Touted as Model for Maine

Maine's population, we've often heard in recent years, is aging. But some analysts are also concerned about another demographic shift, and what it might mean for the state's economy over the long term.

Rand Paul on President Obama's Budget Outlook: 'Mind-Boggling'

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

LePage Administration Targets Maine's Informed Growth Act

One of the regulations Gov. Paul LePage would like to see in his wish list of business-friendly reforms is repeal of Maine's Informed Growth Act. Enacted by the Legislature in 2007, the act requires municipalities to conduct economic impact studies to determine whether proposed large-scale retail developments, such as Walmarts, would have "undue adverse impacts" on local economies and communities. If so, the municipality may not grant the applicant a local land use permit. But the governor thinks the act may be interfering with some towns' desire to grow.

What's Fueling Protests in Arab World: People, Social Media or Both?

LePage Proposal Would Cut Legislature Out of Corrections Decisions

Joseph Ponte, a career prison administrator who most recently worked for the private sector Corrections Corporation of America, was quickly confirmed today as Maine's next corrections commissioner. But some members of the Legislature are wondering what Ponte and Gov. Paul LePage have in mind for the department after the governor inserted sweeping language into his budget proposal that essentially cuts the Legislature out of the decision-making process when it comes to everything from approving the department's overtime budget to closing entire prison facilities.

Chicagoland Students See Success Hitting the Gym, Then Hitting the Books

Maine Secretary of State Seeks Expanded Powers

Maine's new Secretary of State, Charles Summers, is asking the Legislature to grant him new expanded powers designed to help small businesses that feel stymied by state regulations. Summers testified before the newly-formed Joint Select Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform yesterday, and asked the panel to grant him the power to temporarily stop enforcement actions against Maine businesses.

Mainers Chilled by Obama's Proposed LIHEAP Cuts

President Obama's budget proposes deep cuts to the federal heating assistance program known as LIHEAP. Nearly half of Maine's $56 million grant could disappear. Meantime, the number of state residents who depend on LIHEAP to stay warm stands at 64,000 and continues to grow. Jay Field visited to a social service agency that helps people apply for assistance and met a woman named Pam.

Read here: http://www.mpbn.net/News/MPBNNews/tabid/1159/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3762/ItemId/15202/Default.aspx

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Maine's Aging Population Poses Challenges--and Opportunities

Mainers are getting older. That's not just a truism--it's also a demographic fact of life. The Census Bureau says Maine's median age, 42.2, is the oldest in the U.S., a full-year older than the number two state, Vermont. The intersection of Mainers' age and economic prospects is the topic of Ted Fishman's talk in Portland today. Fishman is the author of a book on aging and the economy called "Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival, and Nation Against Nation." Fishman visited our Portland studios yesterday and talked with Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz.

2012 US Budget: $3.7 Trillion

For interactive infographic:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119-budget/index.html

Clinton on Internet Freedoms

Cuts, Deficit Highlight 2012 Budget Blueprint, But Battles Loom

State By State Housing Market

For interactive map go here: http://www.coldwellbanker.com/imgs/cbnetftp/WorksVideos/ColdwellHousing.swf

Arab anger

Debate Continues Over Social Media's Role in Egypt's Revolution

Maine Regulatory Reform Hearing Draws Overflow Crowd

The LePage administration today released more details about phase one of the governor's proposed regulatory reforms at the start of a day-long public hearing. But the 48-page document released to members of the Committee on Fairness and Regulatory Reform raised more questions for some who came to testify. Several of the governor's most controversial environmental rollbacks are expected to be taken up at a later date. In the meantime, a coalition of environmental groups is asking the Legislature and the governor to adopt a set of guiding principles for improving Maine's economy and protecting the environment.