If we want to be the Education City we need the infrastructure.
Google has provided a form for individuals to fill out in order to nominate their city for the Google Fiber project. The City of Kalamazoo is asking all citizens to nominate Kalamazoo for this project.
The last several weeks have been great fun from a music perspective. This album blows me away. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There Is No C) by Ray Wylie Hubbard is just outstanding. It’ll likely be the album of the year and perhaps the decade. I’ll put the grade right up front. A I don’t grade easy either.
You can hear both Muddy Waters and Jack Daniels in his music. He has some of the rough edges that make me a fan of Lucinda Williams and a casual, a little sloppy - right on the edge of losing control manner that reminds me of the Stones at their best. This is a classic album, good enough to make me think Austin should be allowed to remain with the rest of the country when Texas secedes.
E.coli, salmonella, and other food-borne illnesses, cost the U.S. $152 billion annually in health care and other losses, according to a report released today. The financial cost determined in the new report, published by the Produce Safety Project ,was significantly higher than the $35 billion reported by the Agriculture Department in 1997. The government estimates 76 million people are sickened each year by food-borne illnesses, hundreds of thousands are hospitalized and about 5,000 die.
Virginia State Senator Robert Hurt (GOP) defended a local power plant caught overcharging customers by blaming their rate hikes on federal "cap and trade" legislation, saying "The federal “cap-and-trade” passed by the House of Representatives last year is an example of the “devastating policies” that affect people’s lives, forcing companies to raise rates to revamp their facilities to follow environmental rules." The problem? Sorry, Mr. Hurt, but that legislation is currently stalled in the Senate and is not a law yet, at all.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., TN): Using reconciliation would "end the Senate." Quote: " It would turn the Senate, it would really be the end of the Senate as a protector of minority rights, the place where you have to get consensus, instead of just a partisan majority."
Igor Volsky of the WonkRoom points out that, four times in the past decade, Sen. Alexander voted for reconciliation: [WonkRoom]
Sen. Lamar Alexander, 2003: Votes for reconciliation on the Bush tax cuts which increased budget deficits by $340 billion by 2008.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, 2005: Votes for reconciliation on the Deficit Reduction Act to strip $26.1 billion from Medicaid.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, 2005: Votes for reconciliation to extend tax cuts on things like capital gains.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, 2007: Votes for reconciliation on a bill to forgive student loan debt.
In an effort to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers, Catholic Charities in D.C. will not offer benefits to spouses of new employees or spouses of current employees who are not already enrolled in the plan. That's right-- legalizing gay marriage in the District has motivated Catholic Charities to stop offering benefits rather than recognize legal marriages.
