LOS ANGELES TIMES: Stewart Parnell, the Peanut Corp. owner, refused to answer the congressional subcommittee’s questions Wednesday, repeatedly invoking his 5th Amendment rights. Internal company e-mails obtained by the subcommittee show the company’s president was alerted on numerous occasions to the fact that batches of the company’s products were infected with salmonella. Yet according to Parnell’s e-mail responses, he instructed staff to “turn the product loose.” At the hearing, Parnell said only: “Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. […]
THE POLITICS OF DANCING: When One Man’s Terrorist Is Another Man’s Freedom Fighter
NEW YORK TIMES: To many Americans, Maya Arulpragasam, known as M.I.A., is the very pregnant rapper who gyrated across the stage at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Yet in Sri Lanka, where she spent her childhood years, M.I.A. remains virtually unknown. And some who do know her work say she is an apologist for the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels fighting in the country’s long-running civil war. M.I.A. — who has been nominated for an Oscar for the song she co-wrote for the hit film “Slumdog Millionaire” — has branded herself through music videos and interviews as the voice of the country’s Tamil […]
HACKERY: McCain Fiddles While Rome Burns
PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL: U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Tuesday he is definitely running for reelection in 2010 and has begun using criticism of the $838 billion federal economic stimulus plan as a platform to raise money. McCain, 72, had given indications of a run for fifth term, but publicly told supporters in a fundraising e-mail Tuesday he is definitely seeking reelection. He also used the opportunity to criticize Democrats over the spending package. “The economic challenges currently confronting our nation are immense and unfortunately, the Democrats in Congress propose addressing these challenges through increased spending that wastes billions of […]
THE WAGES OF CONSERVATISM: The FDA Is A Joke
NEW YORK TIMES: The Peanut Corporation of America closed its processing plant in Plainview, Tex., on Monday night after a laboratory test indicated possible salmonella contamination, a development that threatens to widen one of the largest food recalls ever and raises more questions about why the government allowed the plant to operate. The company’s plant in Blakely, Ga., was identified a month ago as the source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak. And even though investigators soon determined that the company may have deliberately shipped contaminated products to some of the nation’s largest food makers, officials allowed the company’s plant in […]
HELLER: It’s A Thin Line Between Love And Hate
INQUIRER: On the stand, Fumo was somber yet personable and expansive, his voice an alto scratch. He would take frequent verbal peregrinations on any number of subjects, going off-question, offering a five-minute answer when five words would do. Many were the times that lawyers, on both sides, asked him to return to the task at hand. “I can go into depth,” Fumo said. “No, don’t do that,” Cogan admonished. Fumo described an approach where “everything in my life was intertwined,” he said. “I don’t know how to run an organization without that familial methodology,” he said. He referred to staff […]
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Being Shepard Fairey
FAST COMPANY: Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the famous Obama poster image, and who was accused by the AP last week of copyright violation, has now counter-sued the AP claiming his use of the image was fair use. Arguing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Fairey’s lawyers acknowledged that he had used the photo, which was taken by Mannie Garcia for the AP, but said he had transformed the literal depiction into a “stunning, abstracted and idealized visual image that creates powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message.” Fairey’s getting some powerful help in his fight. The […]
STIMULUS PACKAGE: Just Do It, Gallup Poll Says
ABC NEWS: Sixty-seven percent of the American people approve of how President Obama’s handling his efforts to pass an economic stimulus bill, as opposed to 48% for Democrats in Congress and 31% for congressional Republicans. Congressional Republicans actually have a staggeringly high 58% DISapproval rating for how they’re handling the stimulus debate, compared to 42% for Hill Democrats and only 25% for President Obama. Gallup says that 51% of those polled believe that passing the economic stimulus plan is “critically important” for the economy, with 29% saying it’s important. Only 16% say it is “not that important.” MORE GALLUP POLL: […]
200 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF DARWIN: You Still Gotta Fight To Live On The Planet Of The Apes
DAILY MAIL: On the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, professors at Southern Oregon University will devote the week to emphasizing that evolution is more than a theory — it’s hard science.”It’s theory and it’s fact. You can say it’s ‘just a theory’ like the theory that the earth goes around the sun,” says biology professor Charles Weldon, lead speaker of Darwin Week. “In science, a theory is not speculation. It’s supported by mountains of evidence. It’s one of the best supported theories in science.” A century and a half after publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of […]
WEEKEND UPDATE: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #8 Just do it, people.
OBAMALICIOUS: Reason # 647 Why Obama Is The Best Thing To Happen To The White House Since Lincoln Dreamed Up The Emancipation Proclamation
BOSTON PHOENIX: In his bestselling autobiography, Dreams From My Father, President Obama introduces us to his high school friend, “Ray,” who, like him, is bi-racial. Who, also like him, is casting about to find his place in the world. But, who, unlike him, has a potty mouth that would make a sailor blush. Best of all? When reading the audiobook version of his bio, Obama does impressions of Ray’s manner of speech. Swear words and all. It’s fucking awesome. And it’s a way of talking we probably won’t be hearing from him now that he’s POTUS. Or will we? MORE […]
OUR STIMULUS PLAN: Buy Death Star, Kill Recession
GIZIMODO: If you had $15.6 septillion and 94 cents in your account, would you save the world from the economic crisis or build a Death Star, destroy the world, and move on to invade the galaxy? A guy called Ryszard Gold—who probably is an alien villain from the Outer Rim planets and got a 49-point score in our Geek Social Aptitude Test—made the calculation of the most basic Death Star’s price with current materials and space transport costs here on Earth. Here’s a quick summary…MORE HOT DOCUMENT: So we just got this email from the White House Press Office outlining […]
AMEN: The Reefer Madness Of American Pot Laws
WASHINGTON POST: Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps and Sheriff Leon Lott of South Carolina’s Richland County are being forced to treat seriously a crime that shouldn’t be one. As everyone knows by now, Phelps was photographed smoking from an Olympic-sized bong during a University of South Carolina party last November. [Sheriff] Lott is threatening action against Phelps because … he has to. Widely respected and admired as a “good guy” who came up through the ranks, Lott is in a jam. Not one to sweat the small stuff, he nevertheless has said that he’ll charge Phelps with a crime if he […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR Sarah Chayes first went to Afghanistan to report on the Taliban for NPR, but in 2002, after the fall of the Taliban government in Kabul, she left journalism and dedicated herself to rebuilding the country. She drew on her experiences to write her 2006 book, The Punishment of Virtue. Chayes is an advocate for economic development in Afghanistan, and she founded a cooperative in Kandahar that produces skin-care products from local crops. The cooperative aims to help farmers earn a living from licit crops rather than opium. Chayes joins Fresh Air to explain how the Taliban is using […]