07/31/2010 archive

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

When you have a big, savory pot of beans at hand, there’s no shortage of dishes you can make: salads, soups, even gratins. Beans offer protein and fiber, and they’re a good source of potassium, calcium, iron and folic acid.

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Christmas limas are an heirloom bean: big and beautiful, they’re mottled with whites and purples. They’re just as lovely when cooked, turning light and dark reddish brown, with a sensuous texture and sweet, savory flavor. Christmas limas are expensive but worth the occasional splurge.

If you can’t find Christmas limas or don’t want to spend the money, all of this week’s recipes work well with more modestly priced large white limas. You can find them in many grocery stores and in Middle Eastern markets.

“Punting the Pundits“ is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever yoHe was not the only lawmaker to solicit donations in this manner, his lawyers argue, saying that peers who did the same thing were not punished.

Bob Herbert: A Sin and a Shame

The treatment of workers by American corporations has been worse – far more treacherous – than most of the population realizes. There was no need for so many men and women to be forced out of their jobs in the downturn known as the great recession.

Many of those workers were cashiered for no reason other than outright greed by corporate managers. And that cruel, irresponsible, shortsighted policy has resulted in widespread human suffering and is doing great harm to the economy.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Andrew Sum, an economics professor and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. “Not only did they throw all these people off the payrolls, they also cut back on the hours of the people who stayed on the job.”

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There can be no robust recovery as long as corporations are intent on keeping idle workers sidelined and squeezing the pay of those on the job.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Germany and Japan, because of a combination of government and corporate policies, suffered far less worker dislocation in the recession than the U.S. Until we begin to value our workers, and understand the critical importance of employment to a thriving economy, we will continue to see our standards of living decline.

Well, I have to be up and take notes anyway since Richard and Emily are off attending a wedding in upstate New York (not that one).

Join me below the fold.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour a cup of your favorite morning beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

On this day in 1948, the Broadway musical “Brigadoon” closed after 581 performances. It originally opened on March 13, 1947 at the Ziegfeld Theater. It was directed by Robert Lewis and choreographed by Agnes de Mille. Ms. De Mille won the Tony Award for Best Choreography. The show was had several revival and the movie starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse premiered in 1954.

Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as “Almost Like Being in Love” have become standards.

It tells the story of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night. The enchantment is viewed by them as a blessing rather than a curse, for it saved the village from destruction. According to their covenant with God, no one from Brigadoon may ever leave, or the enchantment will be broken and the site and all its inhabitants will disappear into the mist forever. Two American tourists, lost in the Scottish Highlands, stumble upon the village just as a wedding is about to be celebrated, and their arrival has serious implications for the village’s inhabitants.

Many of you who read my posts know that I am a very big fan of the British TeeVee series, Dr. Who.  This is not a recent infatuation.  I have followed The Doctor since 1978, when I first discovered the series.  It was 15 years old by then.

I have written a number of posts about this series, and you can find them by examining my profile on the Kos site (I have not written on Docudharma.com or Thestarshollowgazette.com as long).  As you read those, you will find that I have a very special place in my heart for that series.

Tonight we shall examine the season finale for the current iteration.  It was good, if a bit rushed in the last episode.

Every once in a while, something happens that is so completely wrong, so inexplicably confused, that it makes you shake your head in utter  disbelief.  Today was one of those days.  The Anti Defamation League  (ADL), an organization that has been in the forefront of the battle for religious tolerance for decades, announced that it opposed the building of a mosque near the former World Trade Center site.  I find this almost impossible to believe.

The New York Times reports:

The nation’s leading Jewish civil rights group has come out against the planned mosque and Islamic community center near ground zero, saying more information is needed about funding for the project and the location is ”counterproductive to the healing process.”

The Anti-Defamation League said it rejects any opposition to the center based on bigotry and acknowledged that the group behind the plan, the Cordoba Initiative, has the legal right to build at the site. But the ADL said ”some legitimate questions have been raised” about funding and possible ties with ”groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values.”

”Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right,” the ADL said in a statement. ”In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain — unnecessarily — and that is not right.”

Last chance to see Lawrence O’Donnell and Chris Hayes, and at that only the one because we want to watch prison documentaries, especially those with Joe Arpaio.

• AMC– JFK
• CNBC– Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• ESPN– X Games, BMX Vert Final, Moto X Step Up Final, Skate Vert Final, Moto X Best Whip, Moto X Best Trick Final, Skateboard Vert Best Trick
• FX– 27 Dresses
• Oxygen– 50 First Dates
• SciFi– Eureka (premier), Haven (premier)
• TBS– Forrest Gump
• Turner Classic– Let the Good Times Roll
• Discovery– Odd Couple Survival Night
• TNT– Walking Tall x 2
• Nick– iCarly @ 8 (premier)

From 9 to 10 Toon has the 2 part Clone Wars where Anakin rescues R2, but it’s going head to head with a Phineas & Ferb premier on Disney with the added short feature- Monster Truck Mater.

Later-

Dave has Madonna and Harry Connick Jr..  Alton talks about knives.

AMC has The Ninth Gate, actually a pretty fair horror flick with Johnny Depp.  Turner Classic is showing Let’s Spend the Night Together, the 1983 Rolling Stones tour documentary.

Adult Swim has moved Children’s Hospital (premier) to a new time, midnight.  Tonight’s Venture Brothers episode is Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean.  Look Around You has episode 1 of season 2, Music 2000.

Yahoo TV Listings

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 New BP boss vows to stay the course in Gulf clean-up

by Matt Davis, AFP

27 mins ago