July 27, 2012

How the London Olympics Will Revolutionize Food

from Civil Eats:



How the London Olympics Will Revolutionize Food

July 27th, 2012
By Katrina Heron


Olympic training regimens are the stuff of legend, but here’s one you probably haven’t heard of: spend 18 hours a day for five years researching every fresh, healthy, comestible, and delicious recipe the host nation can muster—and then be ready to serve them all at lightning speed.

It’s a new sport, launched by an intrepid group of food planners charged with feeding the athletes—and everyone else—at the London-based Games of the XXX Olympiad, which kick off officially today. Over a total of 27 days, 14 million meals will be consumed at 44 venues in and around the city. The athletes alone will pack away 1.2 million of them—65,000 on the busiest day.

The food for what has been described as the largest peacetime catering operation in the world is measured in tonnes (2,200 pounds), as in: a staggering 330 tonnes of fruits and “veg”; 100 tonnes of meat; 21 tonnes of cheese. But that’s the warm-up. If a “Food Vision” meticulously plotted under the auspices of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) succeeds, it will lead the way to a much bigger prize: a new standard for the procurement and consumption of healthy, regionally sourced, environmentally sustainable food in London and beyond.

Beating the nearest rival in the Olympic competition was a snap. At the Beijing Summer Games in 2008, it was a toss-up which was worse, the quality of the food or the fact that it kept running out. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2012/07/27/how-the-london-olympics-will-revolutionize-food/

July 27, 2012

David Sirota: Gold Medalists in Fake Outrage

from truthdig:



Gold Medalists in Fake Outrage

Posted on Jul 27, 2012
By David Sirota


Fake outrage is a little like pornography—hard to narrowly define, but you know it when you see it. It is the television pundit railing on the supposed “War on Christmas” or the radio host calling a woman a “slut” for the alleged crime of discussing contraception. It is the Democratic partisan pretending to be offended by John McCain’s expensive shoes, or the Republican partisan taking umbrage at President Obama for daring to repeat the truism that “if you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.” And when it comes to the 2012 Olympics, it is the typical congressional leader criticizing American athletes’ uniforms for being made in China.

This has been the big story in the lead-up to the games, as top lawmakers from both parties are pretending to be upset that Team USA’s clothing was manufactured far away from home. The operative word, though, is “pretending.”

A look at the record shows that many of these lawmakers supported (and continue to support) the tariff-free trade policies that eviscerated the domestic textile industry—aka the industry that should be making the uniforms. And yet, these same lawmakers preen before the cameras, clad in suits made in factories their votes helped offshore. Gold medalists in fake outrage, they breast beat about jobs and American pride, correctly betting that few reporters will highlight their phony indignation’s inherent deceit.

Of course, while Washington’s purported outrage over the uniforms is entirely fake, the underlying questions about offshoring and domestically sourced products are very real—and very troubling. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/gold_medalists_in_fake_outrage_20120727/

July 27, 2012

‘Kind of like Mr. Bean, only he's an American’

Lee-Anne Goodman
The Canadian Press


WASHINGTON—Mitt Romney’s trip abroad was meant to illustrate his command of the international stage as he aims to deny U.S. President Barack Obama a second term in November.

Instead, there was this headline Thursday adorning one of the biggest and most respected newspapers in Great Britain, the Guardian: “Mitt Romney’s Olympics blunder stuns No. 10 and hands gift to Obama.”

The Guardian even featured a live blog devoted to Romney ridicule.

“Romney in London,” read one Tweet highlighted on the blog. “Come on. We needed this. It’s a little comic relief. Kind of like Mr. Bean, only he’s an American.” .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1232546--london-2012-mitt-romney-in-london-kind-of-like-mr-bean-only-american

July 27, 2012

Facebook needs someone to 'like' it

(Independent UK) Facebook shares slumped to a new record low last night, after admitting it could not forecast when it will start to make the big profits investors have been hoping for.

The social network's first set of financial results as a public company turned out to be lacklustre at best, and a bullish performance from founder Mark Zuckerberg on his maiden conference call with Wall Street analysts did nothing to stem the slide in Facebook shares.

In fact, a sell-off that began well before the results came out accelerated in after-hours trading, and by the end of the day Facebook had lost 18 per cent of its stock-market value. What was already one of the most disappointing flotations ever seen in the technology industry has now turned into a complete rout, and the shares dipped last night below $24 for the first time, compared with the $38 which new investors paid barely two months ago.

At last night's share price, the value of Facebook has slumped from $104bn to less than $66bn. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/facebook-shares-hit-record-low-as-fifth-of-value-is-lost-in-one-day-7979783.html

July 26, 2012

Keiser Report: Jellyfish Rat-Heart Robot Bankers

Published on Jul 26, 2012 by RussiaToday

In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss the jellyfish robot with a rat heart, aka The Perfect Banker. They also welcome the audience to the world of banking 2012 and introduce the silver dosimeter that signals exposure to toxic financial products and bad economic policies. In the second half of the show, Max talks to Mark O'Byrne of Goldcore.com about silver, gold, manipulation and the crooks put in charge of cleaning up Ireland.

July 26, 2012

Let Them Eat Sports

via truthdig:



Let Them Eat Sports
Posted on Jul 26, 2012


As public sector jobs, education, health insurance and social welfare programs crumble amid the specter of economic austerity, the British government has spent more than $14 billion on preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games—far more than the $4 billion that was estimated a few years ago.

Prime Minister David Cameron claims the games could attract more than $20 billion to the British economy over the next four years. But experts are skeptical.

As Ned Resnikoff explains at MSNBC’s Lean Forward blog, there’s more to this spending on a one-time sporting event than just where the money goes. London’s workers and the non-locals who have been shipped in to run the gears that keep the games moving are being subjected to miserable working conditions.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly. Follow him on Twitter: @areedkelly.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/the_cost_of_londons_olympic_games_20120726/

July 26, 2012

LONDON CALLING.........

...... and it's saying, "America, please come reclaim your arsehole. Cheers."




[font size="6"]'Disconcerting' signs about London's Olympic readiness[/font]

July 26, 2012

Amy Goodman: U.S. Gun Laws: Guilty by Reason of Insanity

from truthdig:


U.S. Gun Laws: Guilty by Reason of Insanity

Posted on Jul 25, 2012
By Amy Goodman


James Holmes, the alleged shooter in the massacre in Aurora, Colo., reportedly amassed his huge arsenal with relative ease. Some of these weapons were illegal as recently as eight years ago. Legislation now before Congress would once again make illegal, if not the guns themselves, at least the high-capacity magazines that allow bullets to be fired rapidly without stopping to reload. Holmes bought most of his weaponry within recent months, we are told. Perhaps, if sane laws on gun control, including the ban on high- capacity magazines, were in place, many in Aurora who are now dead or seriously injured would be alive and well today.

The facts of the assault are generally well-known. Holmes allegedly burst into the packed theater during the 12:30 am premier of the Batman sequel “The Dark Knight Rises,” threw one or two canisters of some gas or irritant, which exploded, then began to methodically shoot people, killing 12 and wounding 58.

“Everybody sort of started screaming, and that’s when the gunman opened fire on the crowd, and pandemonium just broke out,” Omar Esparza told me. He was in the third row, with five friends out for a birthday celebration: “He started opening fire on the audience pretty freely, just started shooting in every direction, that’s when everybody started screaming, started panicking. A lot of people had been hit at that point at those initial few rounds, and that’s when everybody sort of hit the floor and started to exit.”

Esparza continued: “It sounded like the bullets had stopped, and it sounded like he was either switching guns or reloading his rifle. At that very second when we sort of heard the silence, we realized that that was our only opportunity of getting out or of dying. So, at that split second, we had to react and had to exit as quickly as possible. And we barely made it, too, because approximately a second after we had exited, we heard him starting to shoot again.” ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/us_gun_laws_guilty_by_reason_of_insanity_20120725/

July 25, 2012

The dispensary tour: These Michigan dispensaries are nondescript, businesslike and law-abiding

from the Detroit Metro Times:



The dispensary tour
These Michigan dispensaries are nondescript, businesslike and law-abiding

By Larry Gabriel
Published: July 25, 2012


Maybe there are marijuana dispensaries where clouds of smoke drift through the air behind beaded curtains as loud music pounds from speakers, dancing girls gyrate and heavy lidded smokers nod while reclining on overstuffed pillows.

Those kinds of places may exist, but I didn't see anything like that when I visited the People's Choice medical marijuana dispensary in Ann Arbor and the Trans Love Compassion Collective in Detroit. They are among the approximately 80 facilities currently operating in Michigan after last year's Court of Appeals decision in a Mount Clemens case prompted many of the nearly 400 outlets then in Michigan to shut down. (Some see a state Supreme Court readiness to hear an appeal of the appeals decision as an indication that the high court has a kinder disposition regarding dispensaries.)

People's Choice is in a nondescript area behind a Chinese restaurant near the intersection of West Liberty and Stadium. There is a growing equipment store next door that seems more flamboyant than the People's Choice. When I knocked a woman who later described herself as the "bulldog at the door" answered and asked if I had a Michigan medical marijuana card. When I didn't produce, I had to cool my heels at the door until the owner Ronald (Harry) Cayce, who was expecting me, came out to vouch for me.

There isn't much to the place and no smoke in the air; the rule is no smoking on the premises. There is a central hallway about 30 feet long with three or four small rooms to either side. Bulldog woman, one of three workers there when I visited, sat in a small office to the right. She checks and verifies the cards of all who enter. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/mmj/the-dispensary-tour-1.1347747

July 25, 2012

Recharge the economy: U of Michigan prof proposes boosting economy with government plastic

from the Detroit Metro Times:



Recharge the economy
U-M prof proposes boosting economy with government plastic

By William Greider
Published: July 25, 2012


Rome is burning while Congress fiddles. The president is out on the road trying to secure a second term, while the economy once again teeters on the brink of bad possibilities. The governors of the Federal Reserve Board seem to understand this better than most of Washington's power hitters. But what can the Fed do? The central bank has already dispensed trillions to the financial system and pulled interest rates down to rock-bottom levels. Yet the economy doesn't respond. Banks won't lend, businesses won't hire. Anxious consumers stopped buying, the order books are bare.

Miles Kimball, an imaginative economics professor at the University of Michigan, has stepped forward to propose an ingenious solution for the Fed's dilemma. The government should create a "federal credit card" and send one to every adult in the nation, enabling each person to borrow $2,000 at a very low interest rate and not pay back any of the money until after the economy has fully recovered. The provocative kicker in Kimball's proposal is that the Federal Reserve would itself provide the financing, not Congress or the president through the federal budget. And he argues that the central bank can do this with its unique power to create money.

A federal line of credit, Kimball suggests, could become a new, fast-acting channel for economic stimulus — more potent than the usual methods like tax rebates, and far less costly. That's because consumers would not get any benefit from this government assistance unless they use the card — that is, borrow and spend — and do so before the government's offer expires. After all, this is exactly what the economy needs. Why give the money in tax breaks for banks or businesses, which may not use it for the intended purpose? Why not deliver the aid to consumers, who will?

Kimball argues that this novel approach could deliver a strong, quick jolt to the stagnant economy, $400 billion or more. Yet it would add very little to the federal budget deficit, because the Federal Reserve operates under its own, independent balance sheet. Further, it's not free money but a temporary loan, like the trillions in short-term loans the Federal Reserve gave the banking system at the height of the crisis. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://metrotimes.com/columns/recharge-the-economy-1.1347766