Monday mornings are typically a slow news day. Whatever’s been going on has been happening behind the scenes and it’ll take a day or so before it’s revealed to us. And today isn’t just a regular Monday, it’s the Monday before The State of The Union Address by the President. So. With that in mind, here are some of the stories that caught my eye this morning:
The San Franciso Chronicle is looking for trouble. It seems to me we’ve seen political parties written off before :
The Republican Party, as a brand, is dead in California.
That’s the eye-opening consensus of a crowd of political observers, lawmakers and strategists – Democrats and Republicans – gathered at a UC Berkeley symposium this weekend to mull over California’s defiantly blue status in the wake of a conservative tide that swept the nation in November.
Stupid answers to tough questions?
Obama pledges to put ‘economy into overdrive’ by 2012
“We’re going to build stuff, and invent stuff,” Mr Obama said on Friday. Regarding China, he said: “That’s where the customers are. It’s that simple.”
But, I want to know who’ll be assigned to cover the red carpet:
State of the Union Bipartisan Seating: Comity Central for Lawmakers
Dozens of lawmakers eager to appear bipartisan, if only for a few hours, answered the call. They range from New York Reps. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, and Peter King, a Republican, whose wife called the duo the “biggest loudmouths” in the House, to the bipartisan Congressional Women’s Softball Team.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will attend with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D), while Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will become an item for the night.
“I think if Coburn and Schumer can sit next to each other, then probably just about everybody can,” Schumer said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
There were stories a few months ago about the relationship between lack of sleep & obesity in adults. It turns out there is a similar relationship in children.:
Catching up on Z’s could curb kids’ weight
In the study, researchers monitored the sleep patterns of 308 children between the ages of 4 and 10 and and recorded their Body Mass Indexes or BMIs. They found that children who had regular sleep schedules and slept the recommended number of hours per night had the least risk of being obese or having unhealthy blood markers. In contrast, children who slept the least and had irregular sleep schedules had more than a fourfold increase in the risk of being obese and having unhealthy blood markers that indicate the beginning of other conditions.
But investigators also found that sleep-deprived kids who catch up during the weekend reduce that risk from four times to slightly less than three times the obesity risk of kids who get adequate sleep
“Lack of sufficient sleep can have major adverse consequences to the body, such as reduced memory and cognitive performance, lack of attention and focus and in children hyperactivity and ADHD like behaviors.” says Dr. David Gozal, physician-in-chief, for the Department of Pediatrics at Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago. “In addition helplessness and depression can develop,” he adds.
I am not at all surprised to see that they’ve found evidence that lack of sleep can affect memory and cognitive performance and other issues. One of the ways I know that I’m overtired from lack of sleep is that I forget the names of friends or common objects. It’s like there’s a hole where that information is — it’s gone. It totally freaked me out when it first happened. But, somehow I discovered that stepping back and getting sleep and rest pulled everything together again.
I hope this study gets the attention it deserves.
No details on this one but, it sounds horrible:
Domodedovo blast: Explosion rocks Moscow’s main airport
Moscow’s Domodedovo airport – the busiest in the Russian capital – has been rocked by an explosion that has killed at least 10 people.
Dozens more are thought to have been injured in the blast, which reports suggest may have been the work of a suicide bomber.
Emergency services are on the scene and tending to the wounded.
The airport is 40km (25 miles) south-east of the city centre, and is popular with foreign workers and tourists.
And you don’t need a link to Krugman but, this bit from today’s post fits into the discussions we’ve been having here:
But let’s not kid ourselves: talking about “competitiveness” as a goal is fundamentally misleading. At best, it’s a misdiagnosis of our problems. At worst, it could lead to policies based on the false idea that what’s good for corporations is good for America.
[Edited to add] And finally, the great Jack LaLanne died yesterday. He was a great man. As commenter, djmm said last night:
Mr. LaLanne changed everything when it came to how the American public viewed exercise.
1) He thought everyone should do it.
2) He showed them how to exercise with no special equipment (which made it affordable).
3) He encouraged both men and women to do weight training. (This is particularly helpful for women to lower bone loss.)
4) He made it fun.He had a great life, apparently a great marriage and he was fit and active pretty much all of his 96 years. I wish we could all be so lucky!
RIP, Mr. LaLanne — bless you and thanks!
Here’s a clip from his early days. THIS is how I remember Jack LaLanne:
So that’s the news on my monitor — what’s going on in your stretch of the Internet?
Filed under: General |
“We’re going to build stuff, and invent stuff,”
wow, he’s like, so super-intelligent and so eloquent. *swoon*
Maybe this is a quote from the rough draft?
that’s not very reasssuring
heh.
I clicked the link and it’s from his Immelt announcement which makes me mad all over again.
The sheer brazen corruption of appointing a lackluster CEO who happens to be head of the biggest shills that elected you and relies on government contracts to survive just makes my blood boil.
I know … it’s disgusting.
Dammit. I’ve been breaking stuff and sabotaging people’s inventions all along. It may have taken him two years to think of that, but it’s all worth it now.
We’re going to build stuff, and invent stuff he does have a way with words. In fact wasn’t he supposed to be such a great communicator that folks bought into his meme?
Oh, yeah, they even elected him imperial leader
oooh, I felt a tingle when I heard those words…oh, nevermind, it was just my pager.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70N2TQ20110124
Latest on Moscow airport. Suicide bomber kills 30+.
That’s awful.
It looks really bad from the video they’re showing on TV too.
Chechen?
How horrible. It sounds like it happened near a baggage claim area (if I understood the linked audio correctly).
The baggage claim areas in the US are outside the secured areas of the airport. People meet travellers there and bags can easily be left laying around. I wonder if they will start changing that too here in the US.
I may be mistaken, because I tend to tune Obama out whenever he speaks, but didn’t he promise to “jump start” the economy & create “jobs, jobs, jobs” at the last SOTU? We’re supposed to believe him now, because . . .?
(nodding quickly) I especially don’t get how you can talk “competitiveness” at the same time. Don’t they downsize in the name of competitiveness?
Yes. Competitive means paying USA workers as little as Chinese and Indian workers.
Yes. “Competitiveness” is definitely the buzzword for “lay offs.”
I’ve never believed a word that came out of his mouth and since when did what he said make any sense. Since he never had a real job before the Senate, how would he know anything about it?
Remember when the big buzzword was “flexibility?” We listened (my organization)to endless tripe like “doing more with less” and “you’ve got to learn to be more flexible” while we were assigned more work for less pay and fewer benefits. The final gasp came when the CEO told us we should be thankful for having such flexibility and I remarked that whether or not you think it’s great depended on whether you were the flexor or the flexee. I didn’t get fired, tho I did get punished, and the CEO and his shadows switched to “productivity” for their excuses to enrich themselves and screw everyone else.
They always find a linguistic buzz to mask their evil intent. I’m wondering when the divine right of kings will resurface.
I’m thinking the “divine right of kings” resurfaced in 1978, they just hid it up until now.
It makes as much sense as anything else.
And you couldn’t question it because it was ‘divine.’
They ARE very flexible, at least ethically.
In fact we might have the most ethically limber president of all time.
You might say he was Boneless Obama.
yeah, with just a crispy outer shell to keep him standing.
Otherwise it would be like the boneless chicken ranch at the White House.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Teese02a/boneless1.jpg[/IMG]
hmmm, didn’t post
Gawd! That’s great–I propose the ByRock Obama Backbone Award– A Slinky.
This just happened:
Court: Rahm Emanuel Can’t Run For Mayor, Not Chicago Resident
Love it!
(I’m mean that way!)
He can appeal to the IL state supreme court. So, it isn’t over yet.
File under the bulging book of ironic punishments:
(via HuffiPo): “This is a matter of serious importance affecting essentially half of the state of Illinois just because of the population and impact of the economy,” [Rahm’s unnamed mouthpiece] lawyer said. “So you can expect the Supreme Court will act very quickly. The parties will simply recycle their briefs responding to the appellate court opinion.”
How do you say “Freudenfreuden” in English again? bwaaaaHAHAHAHAHA?
God always cracks me up but The Goddess is a total scream!
Things might be sketchy for the Republican Party brand in Cali but the Dem Party should resist smugness. The fastest growing party affiliation for the past several years has been “decline to state” aka “independent.”
Also, Schumer referring to himself in third person is creepy.
>>I want to know who’ll be assigned to cover the red carpet
Joan Rivers?
Ricky Gervais?
Stephen Colbert?
How about all three?
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
I don’t need to watch Obama to hear “out of the park speech”, and “best SOTU speech evah”.
“Truly inspiring”
“chills”
“tingles”
“America’s Pastor”
“transcendent”
Have you ever felt unsecure by the ways of the ones in political power?
For those who would like see their state provide for state presidential eligibility laws, please read the following article. Some states already have enacted eligibility laws, some states are in the process of enacting eligibility laws and some states have done nothing. The states with eligibility laws and proposed bills need refinement also. ‘jbjd’ has worked on this project for a while to provide a guideline for lawmakers to strongly consider. Please review, understand and send the information to your state representatives and senators. Why? The same thing could happen in 2012 and beyond. Thanks everyone!
http://jbjd.org/2011/01/24/write-smart-eligibility-laws/comment-page-1/#comment-3597
OMG…did anyone post this yet? Can he BE any more of a panderer? What sickens me is how impressionable people are. How can the “base” be so appalled by him a month ago, and his numbers are climbing because he is pulling out the usual “let’s all get along” b.s. What happened to all the screaming about his lies and compromises? Sheep.
Obama: Reagan saw that ‘we are all patriots’
By Barack Obama
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-01-23-ronald-reagan-president-obama_N.htm
I don’t believe his numbers are climbing. IMO it is just like all the bs that the “economy is recovering” — tell it to all the unemployed.
Obama talking to Americans about patriotism is like a serial arsonist giving a lecture to Scouts about campfire safety.
FTW!
showing my lack of comprehension of blog acronyms:
What’s FTW?
On “Obama pledges to put ‘economy into overdrive’ by 2012”:
There goes BO again: promising everything again to gain the sympathies of us voters and then when the tough part comes, he will begin breaking those pormises again. You know, that has been his MO since housing crises.
That is why whatever he promises must be doubted very seriously.
“You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” — G.W.B. 2001 at a Wash
Those who are fooled all the time will be watching the SOTU, best speech evah.
Great roundup, Katiebird, and thanks for the clip of Jack LaLanne. I should have added one more thing: he even had the radical idea that older people — even the elderly — could improve their quality of life with exercise and nutrition.
Remarkable man.
As for President Obama’s Love Song to President Reagan (LSTPR or LSPR?), I doubt that surprises many here. He sang President Reagan’s praises even during the primary. It was one of the first indication I had that Senator Obama was not my kind of Democrat. I would not be surprised to hear him invoke “St. Reagan’s” name in the SOTU Address.
I remember how bad the Reagan years really were. It is going to be a long two years.
djmm
Tuesday’s tabloids
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/tabloids-rahm-out-trying-to-get-in-moscow-explosion/
i feel compelled to note that over at the gay blog i read regularly, people were talking about Lalane’s homophobia. apparently (and i don’t know for sure because he was never on my radar) he was pretty nasty about it. publicly, too.
I had not heard that and hope that is not true, Chicago Dyke, but I do not know. I read a moving tribute to him from Richard Simmons, who considered him a mentor:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/24/simmons.jack.lalanne/index.html?iref=allsearch
(I don’t know that Richard Simmons is gay, but someone with homophobia might react negatively to his extravagant style — though I don’t know how anyone could.)
djmm
I’m looking for a gay blog, could you send me a link for the one you mentioned?