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. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

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.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Root vegetables in the brassica family – like turnips, kohlrabi and rutabaga – contain many of the same antioxidants as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Kohlrabi and rutabaga also are excellent sources of potassium and good sources of vitamin C. Parsnips provide folate, calcium, potassium and fiber, while carrots offer beta carotene. All of these vegetables are high in fiber.

Root vegetables can seem daunting. I had not worked with kohlrabi until putting together these recipes, but I found it enjoyable raw as well as cooked. Remember that for many of this week’s dishes, especially those calling for turnips, kohlrabi or rutabagas, the vegetables are interchangeable.

Radiation may increase long-term heart risks

(Reuters Health) – Women treated for breast cancer with radiation therapy are more likely to die from heart disease 20 years or more down the line than women who don’t get radiation, according to a new study.

Previous studies have suggested that radiation close to the heart can increase a woman’s risk of getting heart or blood vessel-related disease in the future – but little is known about how that risk plays out over multiple decades. The results are from women who received radiation in the 1980’s and earlier, when doses of radiation were significantly higher than those used today.

Radiation “is a very important part of therapy for many women,” Dr. Ronald Witteles, who studies heart disease at Stanford University and wrote an editorial accompanying the current study, told Reuters Health.

People with HIV have high stroke risk: study

(Reuters) – People infected with the AIDS virus may be three times more likely to suffer a stroke than people not infected, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

While stroke rates in the United States fell 7.2 percent in 2006 compared to 1997, rates have spiked among people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV, rising 67 percent during that same period.

Most of the increase is in strokes caused by a blood clot in the brain, a type called ischemic strokes, which is by far the most common.

“Generally speaking, strokes in patients with HIV are not common, so the rise is notable,” said Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele of the University of California, San Diego, and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, whose study appears in the journal Neurology.

Statin benefits questioned in low-risk patients

(Reuters Health) – People without heart disease should think twice before taking cholesterol-lowering statins, British researchers warn in a report out Wednesday.

While the popular drugs require a prescription in the US, they are sold over the counter in England, and one in three Brits over 40 are currently using them, according to researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Antibiotics, blood pressure drugs can be risky mix

(Reuters Health) – Older adults on blood pressure drugs known as calcium channel blockers could suffer dangerous drops in blood pressure if they are given certain antibiotics, according to a study out Monday.

Researchers found that patients on calcium channel blockers who were given the antibiotics erythromycin (brands like E-Mycin) or clarithromycin (Biaxin) were at increased risk of being hospitalized for dangerously low blood pressure.

A third antibiotic in the same class — azithromycin (Zithromax) — was not linked to the risk. And the researchers say it should be chosen over the other two antibiotics for people on calcium channel blockers.

Heavy drinking may raise abnormal heart rhythm risk

(Reuters) – People who drink regularly, especially heavy drinkers, may be more likely than teetotalers to suffer atrial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heart rhythm, according to a research review.

In an analysis of 14 studies, a team led by Satoru Kodama at the University of Tsukuba Institute of Clinical Medicine in Japan found that the heaviest drinkers were more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than people who drank little to no alcohol.

Jogging Strollers recalled for amputation risk

(Reuters) – Around 30,000 strollers in the United States and Canada are being recalled over potential amputation and laceration hazards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada said on Friday.

The Jogging Strollers imported by phil&teds USA have been reported to cause a finger-tip amputation and two lacerations during the folding and unfolding of the strollers, a joint statement said.

WHO recommends food marketing curbs for child obesity

(Reuters) – Governments must work with industry to restrict advertising of foods high in salt, sugar and dangerous fats targeted at children to tackle an epidemic of obesity and other diseases, health officials said on Friday.

The call is part of a focus on combating non-communicable diseases — cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease — that are a growing cause of premature death in poor countries.

Non-communicable diseases will be the focus of global health policy this year, culminating in a debate of heads of state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

Antibodies help seriously ill H1N1 patients recover

(Reuters) – Patients who fell severely ill with the pandemic H1N1 flu responded well when treated with antibodies harvested from survivors of the disease, a study in Hong Kong has found.

The finding, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, underlines the importance of using antibodies from recovered patients to treat critically ill people who fail to respond to standard drugs, said lead author Kwok-yung Yuen, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong.

British flu deaths more than double in week to 254

(Reuters) – The number of deaths in a seasonal flu epidemic in Britain has more than doubled in the past week to 254, up from 112 last week, figures from the government’s Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed on Thursday.

Officials said that despite the rising death toll, which jumped partly because of a backlog of unconfirmed data from the recent holiday period, surveillance data suggested that flu activity across the country was now waning.

Antidepressant May Help Ease Hot Flashes

Jan. 18, 2011 — Low doses of the antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram) cooled off hot flashes better than placebo in about 200 menopausal women, according to a new study.

”We believe escitalopram provides an option for treating moderate to severe hot flashes that are disrupting people’s lives and quality of life,”  says study researcher Ellen Freeman, PhD, a research professor in the department of obstetrics-gynecology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia.

Vitamin E and Fatty Acids May Ease PMS

Jan. 19, 2011 — A supplement containing vitamin E and essential fatty acids may help reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), Brazilian researchers report in Reproductive Health.

Of 120 women with PMS or the more severe premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), those who took 1- or 2-gram capsules of vitamin E and a combination of gamma linolenic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and other polyunsaturated acids daily showed marked improvements in their PMS symptoms at six months, compared to women who received dummy pills.

The capsules were provided by the Brazilian supplement company Hebron Farmaceutica.

Antioxidants may improve male fertility

(Reuters Health) – Couples who struggle to conceive could find baby-making help from antioxidants such as vitamin E and zinc, hints a new review of more than 30 studies.

The researchers focused on men who were subfertile — less fertile than average but still capable of making a baby — and found that those who took antioxidants were more than four times as likely to get their partners pregnant than subfertile men who did not take the supplements.

The New Zealand team stops short of saying that antioxidants actually improve fertility, however. More research is needed to be sure.

Bladder control problems more common in ADHD

(Reuters Health) – Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be more likely than their peers to have problems with bedwetting and other bladder control symptoms, a new study finds.

Turkish researchers found that among 62 children with ADHD and 124 without the disorder, kids with ADHD scored considerably higher on a questionnaire on “voiding” symptoms — problems emptying the bladder.

In particular, they tended to have more problems with bedwetting and habitually feeling an urgent need to go to the bathroom.

Some child hearing loss tied to virus in pregnancy

(Reuters Health) – Hearing loss in a child may have links to a virus that Mom got while she was pregnant, according to a new study.

In kids that had some degree of hearing loss, about 9 percent also had cytomegalovirus (CMV) at birth, says a new study in the Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.

“(CMV) needs to be on the list of things we think about when we see a child with hearing loss,” said Dr. Stephanie Misono, an ear, nose and throat fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and lead author on the study.

CMV is a common virus that normally causes a harmless infection, although people with weakened immune systems can get sick from it. Infections can be avoided by washing your hands regularly especially after dealing with sick people and toddlers, who sometimes carry it, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Studies show swift impact of rotavirus vaccines

(Reuters) – Countries that vaccinate babies against rotavirus, which can cause severe diarrhea and kill in days, have significantly reduced the number of children admitted to hospitals with the disease, a report showed on Thursday.

Data from the United States, Australia, Mexico and El Salvador, where rotavirus vaccines have recently become part of routine childhood immunizations, show steep and swift falls in the number of children under five becoming ill with the virus.

The studies published in a supplement to The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, also show large reductions in rotavirus disease among older, unvaccinated children, suggesting that vaccination of babies may also limit the overall amount of virus transmission, giving what is known as “herd immunity.”

Strawberries, Blueberries May Ward Off High Blood Pressure

Eating Plenty of Anthocyanin-Rich Blueberries and Strawberries Lowers High Blood Pressure Risk, Study Finds

Jan. 21, 2011 — Eating just 1 cup of strawberries or blueberries each week can reduce your risk of developing high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The new findings appear in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Shoveling Snow Injures Thousands Each Year

Back Injuries, Fractures, and Heart Problems Are Among the Risks From Shoveling Snow

Jan. 20, 2011 — Next time you are faced with the daunting task of shoveling snow, consider this: The task sends on average more than 11,000 adults and children to the hospital every year.

A new 17-year study published in this month’s American Journal of Emergency Medicine details the most common health hazards associated with shoveling snow. Snow shoveling can sometimes lead to bad backs, broken bones, head injuries, and even deadly heart problems.

5-a-Day ‘Not Enough’ Fruits and Vegetables

New Research Finds 8-a-Day May Be Needed to Cut the Risk of Dying From Heart Disease

Jan. 18, 2011 — We’re all urged to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, but new research finds eight servings may be needed to cut the risk of dying from heart disease.

The diet and lifestyles of more than 300,000 people across eight countries in Europe found that people who ate at least eight portions of fruits and vegetables a day had a 22% lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who ate three portions a day.

Each additional portion in fruits and vegetables was linked to a 4% lower risk of death.

One portion counted as 80 grams, such as a small banana, a medium apple, or a small carrot.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and around the world, accounting for more than one in every four deaths in the United States, according to the CDC.

“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 you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Dana Milbank: Republican spending plan signals a new culture war

The morning after the House voted to repeal the health-care law, Speaker John Boehner walked into a TV studio in the Capitol complex to announce his next act: “a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions across all federal programs.”

It “reflects the will of the people,” Boehner proclaimed. “It’s one of our highest legislative priorities.”

Actually, Mr. Speaker, 63 percent of voters said the economy was the most important issue, according to exit polls for the November election. Voters asked for jobs – and you’re giving them a culture war.

Dean Baker: Who Can Fight Off the Social Security Pillagers?

That is the question that supporters of Social Security should be asking as we brace for President Obama’s State of the Union address next week. Specifically, the question is whether Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid will keep up his spirited defense of Social Security or whether he will buckle to the pressure from the financial industry and the Washington insiders.

For those who missed it, Senator Reid distinguished himself by saying the obvious on one of the Sunday talk shows two weeks ago. He said that Social Security is not contributing to the deficit and that the shortfall it faces is still distant and relatively minor. He said he was tired of people picking on this program, which is vital to the financial security of tens of millions of retirees and disabled workers and their families.

Truth is rare in Washington, so Senator Reid’s comments really stood out. If the Senator is prepared to hold his ground, he can save the program.

John Nichols & Robert McChesney: Comcast/NBC Merger Takes Media Consolidation to the ‘Disaster’ Level

Senator Al Franken, the former media personality who has emerged as one of the savviest analysts of media policy in Washington, got it exactly right when he termed the anticipated merger of Comcast and NBC Universal a “disaster.”

Like many critics of the deal the Federal Communications Commission approved by a 4-to-1 vote on January 17 (and that the Justice Department’s anti-trust division OK’d the same day), the Minnesota Democrat focused on immediate concerns about America’s largest cable and Internet company merging with one of the country’s oldest and largest news and entertainment producers. “When the same company owns the content and the pipes that deliver that content, consumers lose,” explained the senator. That complaint parallels objections raised by Stop Big Media, a coalition of consumer, labor and community groups that objected to the deal, which studies suggest will cost cable viewers as much as $2.4 billion over the coming decade.

But a second objection voiced by Franken, echoing other critics of the merger, is even more unsettling: “Allowing this merger to proceed could lead to subsequent deals, leaving Americans at the mercy of a few powerful media conglomerates.”

Marcy Wheeler: Obama’s Kabuki Jobs Council, Brought to You By “Nut on China” Jeff Immelt

When Google announced that Eric Schmidt was stepping down yesterday, I joked that Schmidt must be leaving to lead Obama’s campaign economy – the one he’ll use to get re-elected with. After all, Schmidt is one of the Obama’s closest CEO buddies, and he’s leaving at the same time as Jim Messina and Patrick Gaspard are leaving to take over the campaign infrastructure. The decision to close the Office of Political Affairs seems to indicate a decision to stop governing and start spinning wildly to ensure re-election. There’s no area where Obama will need to spin more wildly than with the economy, right?

Turns out, I wasn’t far off.

What else can you conclude from the news that Obama is replacing his President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by Paul Volcker, with a President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, led by General Electric CEO Jeff “Nut on China” Immelt?

Les Leopold: Financial Socialism by and for Wall Street Elites?

As bonus season arrives, the gap between the American people and Wall Street couldn’t be wider. And where is Washington in this great divide? Don’t ask.

At a moment when Americans desperately want jobs on Main Street and expect Wall Street to pay its fair share, Washington officials are hard at work — seeking jobs for themselves on Wall Street. (Congratulations, Peter Orszag, on parlaying your position as Obama’s OMB director into a top job at CitiGroup, the bank that received hundreds of billions in taxpayer bailouts and guarantees on your watch!)

Most Americans rightly sense that our mixed free-enterprise economy, which once built a broad middle class, has devolved into a system of financial socialism by and for elites. The public wants and deserves answers to these basic questions.

Robert Weissman: One Year Later, Movement Is Growing to Overturn ‘Citizens United’

The theory and practice of the U.S. Supreme Court’s dreadful decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission are incompatible with a well-functioning democracy.

One year and one election after the decision, we know that Citizens United remade the electoral landscape. Not only did it enable corporations to write large checks to affect who would and would not be elected, but it also established that Wild West rules would prevail for campaign 2010. The 2010 campaign and the 2010 election results were influenced quite considerably by Citizens United.

Citizens United has cast a shadow over all policymaking, because elected officials now know that if they cross powerful corporate interests, they face the prospect of an unaccountable, outside campaign to defeat them in the next election.

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

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 22 is the 22nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 343 days remaining until the end of the year (344 in leap years).

On this day in 1968, the NBC-TV show, “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”, debuted “from beautiful downtown Burbank” on this night. The weekly show, produced by George Schlatter and Ed Friendly, then Paul Keyes, used 260 pages of jokes in each hour-long episode. The first 14 shows earned “Laugh-In” (as it was commonly called) 4 Emmys. And “you bet your bippy”, Nielsen rated it #1 for two seasons. Thanks to an ever-changing cast of regulars including the likes of Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Ruth Buzzi, JoAnne Worley, Gary Owens, Alan Sues, Henry Gibson, Lily Tomlin, Richard Dawson, Judy Carne, President Richard Nixon (“Go ahead, sock it to me!”), the show became the highest-rated comedy series in TV history.

Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to May 14, 1973. It was hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin and was broadcast over NBC. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967 and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (EST).

The title, Laugh-In, came out of events of the 1960s hippie culture, such as “love-ins” or “be-ins.” These were terms that were, in turn, derived from “sit-ins”, common in protests associated with civil rights and anti-war demonstrations of the time.

The show was characterized by a rapid-fire series of gags and sketches, many of which conveyed sexual innuendo or were politically charged. The co-hosts continued the exasperated straight man (Rowan) and “dumb” guy (Martin) act which they had established as nightclub comics. This was a continuation of the “dumb Dora” acts of vaudeville, best popularized by Burns and Allen. Rowan and Martin had a similar tag line, “Say goodnight, Dick”.

Laugh-In had its roots in the humor of vaudeville and burlesque, but its most direct influences were from the comedy of Olsen and Johnson (specifically, their free-form Broadway revue Hellzapoppin’), the innovative television works of Ernie Kovacs, and the topical satire of That Was The Week That Was.

 565 – Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus.

1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.

1521 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, opens the Diet of Worms.

1771 – Spain cedes Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands to the United Kingdom.

1824 – Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.

1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.

1863 – The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.

1877 – Arthur Tooth, an Anglican clergyman is taken into custody after being prosecuted for using ritualist practices.

1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Isandlwana – Zulu troops defeat British troops.

1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke’s Drift – 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors.

1889 – Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C.

1890 – The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1899 – Leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation.

1901 – Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.

1905 – Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.

1917 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for “peace without victory” in Europe.

1924 – Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1941 – World War II: British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass.

1944 – World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio, Italy.

1946 – Iran: Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people’s Republic of Mahabad at Chuwarchira Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. He is the new president; Hadschi Baba Scheich is the prime minister.

1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.

1947 – KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood, California.

1957 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.

1957 – The New York City “Mad Bomber”, George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.

1959 – Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.

1962 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba’s membership.

1963 – The Elysee treaty of cooperation between France and Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.

1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.

1968 – Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.

1969 – A gunman attempts to assassinate Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

1970 – The Boeing 747, the world’s first “jumbo jet”, enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from John F Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

1971 – The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.

1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decision in Roe v. Wade, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.

1973 – A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.

1984 – The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous “1984” television commercial.

1987 – Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself during a televised press conference, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism.

1987 – Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000-15,000 demonstrators at Malacanang Palace, Manila, killing 13.

1990 – Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the 1988 Internet Computer worm.

1991 – Gulf War: Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people. Three elderly people die of heart attacks.

1992 – Rebel forces occupy Zaire’s national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government’s resignation.

1999 – Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.

2002 – Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous president.

2007 – At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Anastasius of Persia

         o Vincent of Saragossa

         o Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

         o January 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Reunion Day (Ukraine)

Blackwater Invades Somalia Hoping To Bring The Same Tragedy And Destruction They Gave Iraq      

Blackwater founder sets up new force to tackle piracy

‘Prince of Mercenaries’ who wreaked havoc in Iraq turns up in Somalia

Erik Prince, the American founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, has cropped up at the centre of a controversial scheme to establish a new mercenary force to crack down on piracy and terrorism in the war-torn East African country of Somalia.

The project, which emerged yesterday when an intelligence report was leaked to media in the United States, requires Mr Prince to help train a private army of 2,000 Somali troops that will be loyal to the country’s United Nations-backed government. Several neighbouring states, including the United Arab Emirates, will pay the bills.

Duvalier Calls For Himself To Be Tried For Torture And Corruption  



Duvalier in Haiti: ‘Baby Doc’ calls for reconciliation



He said his surprise return had been prompted by last year’s earthquake and his desire to help rebuild the country.

Mr Duvalier also wanted “to express deep sorrow for all those who say they were victims of my government”.

He is being sued for torture and other crimes against humanity.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday by a former United Nations spokeswoman, Michele Montas, and three Haitians who were jailed during Mr Duvalier’s 1971-1986 rule.

Promises Are Not Results  

Mohamed Ghannouchi pledges to step down amid fresh protests calling for the departure of all remnants of the old regime.

Tunisia PM vows to quit after polls

In an interviewon Tunisian television on Friday, Ghannouchi said he will leave power after a transition phase that leads to legislative and presidential elections “in the shortest possible timeframe.”

After a month of widespread protests ended with the ouster of longtime Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, protesters have continued to demand the departure of all remnants of Ben Ali’s old guard.

Victim compensation

Ghannouchi was an ally of Ben Ali and a member of his ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). Despite resigning his membership in the party, he has been struggling to restore calm under a new multiparty government that the opposition complains retains too many RCD members.

Japan To Stupid And Stubborn To End Its Illegal Whaling  

 

Japan’s whaling fleet on the run

IN THE shadows of intent, somewhere between harmless fireworks and deadly force, lies the whaling conflict in the Antarctic.

At one end of this spectrum are the stink bombs thrown against water jets. At the other is the near fatal collision involving the Ady Gil.

Among all this piratical colour and movement, decisive moments of a decades-long struggle can pass little noticed.

Such was the case last week when a bizarre fleet manoeuvre formed in the Southern Ocean.

Three black ships of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society took up positions around a red fuel tanker and escorted it out of the Antarctic. Skulking in their wakes were two of the three harpoon-equipped whale hunter ships in the Japanese fleet.

Cheese In High Places

Francois Driard wanted to live in the Himalayas, and figured traditional French cheese making would be right at home.

French cheese maker finds a niche in Nepal  

Reporting from Chandeshwori, Nepal –

Francois Driard enters a cave dug into the steep Himalayan hillside, scares off a mouse and, in a twice-weekly ritual, wipes mold from several plate-sized wheels of cheese sitting on crude shelves against the wall.

Voila! High-end French cheese has reached a new level, literally, with Driard’s farm an hour from Katmandu, where the 32-year-old has become what he believes is the only French cheese maker in the Himalayas.

Xenophobia Lives On Through Arizona’s  Attorney General

Attorney general attacks anti-white ‘brainwashing’, but critics say he is pandering to xenophobic sentiment

Tucson teachers fight to overturn ban on Mexican American classes

Arizona is a state riddled with anti-government white militias, radio stations pumping out racist hate speech and politicians who wave guns as they denounce the oppressive rule of Washington. But Arizona’s attorney general apparently believes the real threat to the stability of the US government is being fomented in a handful of high schools in a liberal corner of the desert state.

Tom Horne has declared classes in Mexican-American history and social studies in the city of Tucson illegal on the grounds that they are “propagandising and brainwashing” students into overthrowing the constitutional government and hating white people.

One of the most popular, and in my opinion, most talented of the British Invasion solo acts was Donovan Philips Leitch, known simply as Donovan.  He had several monster hits both in the UK and in the US in the mid 1960s, and many people recognize the music but not necessarily the artist.

His style was more folk than rock, and I personally believe that if it had not been for Bob Dylan Donovan would be remembered as the greatest folk singer of the 1960s.  Fortunately, he is still with us and has a talented progeny as well.  

Donovan is Scottish, unlike most of the British Invasion.  Born in the Maryhill part of Glasgow in 19460510, he is now 64 years old and still performs occasionally.  If you have seen live performances of videos of them you might notice that he has a bit of a limp.  This was due to a case of polio when he was young, and he never recovered completely from it.  This makes me realize that I really need to do a Pique the Geek installment about polio, one of the most destructive infectious diseases that can be just about completely eliminated.

In any event, this piece is about Donovan.  I am not going to go through a complete history on him like I have for other artists, but enough to give you some flavor for his work with only a short biography.  He was at the peak of his popularity around 1968 or so.  This was despite a drug bust in 1966, and, interestingly, the United States government did not block his entry into the country for performances.

He had what is now termed a psychedelic style and was very acoustic rather than hard electronic.  He also used extremely sexually graphic lyrics (for the time) but wrote his material so cleverly that no one in authority really noticed that they were explicit.  For example, here is a live version of his first big hit, Catch the Wind.  This song was on the record What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid (titled in the US as Catch the Wind).  By the way, this song was recently used for a TeeVee advert here in the US.  This is a live version from the US TeeVee show Shindig!.  The record was originally released in 1965.  It hit number four on the UK charts and 23 on the US Billboard chart.  After doing some research, I think that I will do a piece entirely devoted to Shindig! in the near future.

The lyric

To feel you all around me…

certainly is a sexual reference, and there is an even a more daring one in a song to which we will get to later.

His next big hit was Colours, released in 1965 as well.  It also hit #4 in the UK, only #61 here is the US.  It is a wonderful song, with a subtle reference to psychedelics.  Here is a version, also from Shindig!.

As you can see, his style is completely different from that of my favorite band, The Who.  But his work is hauntingly beautiful and, actually, relaxing.

His next hit was not one of his own composition but rather by the female folk artist Buffy Sainte-Marie (who is also still with us).  This song, The Universal Soldier, made it to #1 in the UK, but only #53 here.  It is a wonderful rendition of her song.  I do not know the source of this video.  The original was released in 1965.

Once again, hauntingly beautiful it is.

For some reason that I can not determine, Donovan became more popular in the US than in the UK in 1966.  His next big hit was his only #1 Billboard entry, but only made #2 in the UK.  It is the famous Sunshine Superman, with another extremely explicit sexual reference.

I have included both a live version and the original studio one for this number, since they are so different.  Which one do you like better?

This is the live one:

This is the one from the record:

I prefer the studio version, but that is just me.  Here is what I perceive to the be explicit reference to cunnilingus:

Superman or Green Lantern, ain’t got nothin’ on me.  I can make like a turtle and dive for your pearls in the sea.  You can sit there thinking, on your velvet throne…

Perhaps I just have a dirty mind.

The next big hit of his (#2 in the US, but only #8 in the UK) is probably his most well known song, Mellow Yellow.  There is some history involved here, and it has to do with smoking bananas.  At the time, it was thought that if one took banana peels and scraped the soft material from them, dried it, and rolled it into a cigarette that smoking said cigarette would get one high.  The interesting thing is that the song came out before the story about the supposed psychoactive properties of the banana broke.  In retrospect, it seems that some wiseguys took the song and made a “story” about it.  Trustworthy research has proven that there are no psychoactive substances in the banana.

Here is a video that is recent, from 2010.  I am not sure that is not lip synched, but he seems to be holding up pretty well:

Here is the studio version from 1966:

I very much like the song, and the lore that goes with it.

After that, his popularity started to wane.  However, he still had a few left in him.  This live video is from the Bobby Gentry Show, a very short lived US TeeVee show.  Bobby Gentry rose to fame rapidly with her song Ode to Billy Joe and plummeted shortly thereafter.  This tune made it to #8 in the UK but only to #11 on Billboard.

Still, the hauntingly beautiful character of his music is evident.

Wear your Love like Heaven never made the UK charts, but it did hit #23 in the US.  I remember this song well because it was used shortly after it was released in 1967 for the TeeVee adverts for Herbal Essence Shampoo!  Does anyone else remember that?  I like the song very much.

His haunting artistic abilities are still evident.  I use the word “haunting” a lot in this piece, but that is the best term that I can think of for his style.  It gets to me.

I had forgotten all about this next song until I did the research, I absolutely remember that tune.  It is Jennifer Juniper, and the back story is quite complex, and since I am running up against my deadline to post, will not go into it.  We can discuss it the comments if you wish.  It is another beautiful piece of lyrical work from Mr. Leitch.  This song reached #5 in the UK, but only #26 on Billboard.

I sort of wonder if Donovan likes gin, since juniper is the major flavoring agent in it.

His last Top Ten in the UK was Hurdy Gurdy Man.  This was sort of a different direction for him, but is an excellent song.  It made #4 in the UK and #5 on Billboard.  I find it sort of strange, but still flavored with the Donovan haunt.

Here is a live, recent recording from 2007:

And here is the studio version:

Some electronic effects were used on the studio version, obviously.

His last big hit, in the US and NOT in the UK was what I think might be his best song, Atlantis.  I remember this song very well from when I was only 11, since it was released in 1968.  It only made #23 in the UK, but #7 on Billboard.  I love this tune!

Listen to his Scottish brogue on the introduction for this one!  It is wonderful.

He never had another Top Ten song either in the UK or the US.  I still think that he is genius, and hope that he realizes that there are lots of us still out here that value his music.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention one of his other great songs that did not do well on the charts.  It is Lalena, about a prostitute and written with extreme empathy for working girls.  Deep Purple Mark I covered the song on their third album as well.  By the way, Deep Purple material is hard to find for free on the tubes or I would have done a piece about them already.  The first iteration of the band was outstanding, but they deteriorated after kicking out Evans and Simper.  Here is Lalana.

I WAS able to find the Deep Purple cover of this song.  They were really good at one time.

Well, that is about it for this evening.  I hope that you have enjoyed going down memory lane with one of the most gifted of all of the British Invaders.

I did mention that he had talented progeny.  One of his sons is the actor, Donovan Leitch, Jr., and one of his daughters is the, yes, hauntingly beautiful Ione Sky.

This just in:  I am done with MSNBC.  Kicking Keith off was not only stupid, but counterproductive.  I will NEVER tune to that channel again, unless they realize their mistake and restore his program.  I know that he will land on his feet, but to hell with MSNBC.

Warmest regards,

Doc

Crossposted at Docudharma.com and at Dailykos.com

Consider this a working thread.

My father, Richard, who is a devoted fan and TheMomCat have both informed me that Keith is fired.

Comcast coincidence?

I don’t have any more information.  Developments below.

Keith’s Sudden Farewell!

From Josh Marshall @ TPM, Keith’s first guest has left and arrived home to hear the news! He had no inkling of what was about to happen.

I was just on in the opening segment of Olbermann tonight. And I get home and get this press release from NBC saying this was the last episode of Countdown. At first I figured it had to be a spoof email because, jeez, I was on and I didn’t have any sense that any other than a regular Friday evening show was on. But sure enough I pulled up the recording and now I’m watching his final sign off.

MSNBC released the following statement on their new programming order:

Starting Monday, January 24, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” will move to 8 p.m. ET/PT and “The Ed Show,” hosted by Ed Schultz, will move to 10 p.m. ET/PT on MSNBC. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “The Rachel Maddow Show” will continue to air live at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

   Also starting Monday, Cenk Uygur, MSNBC contributor and host of the popular web show “The Young Turks,” will be filling in as host of the 6 p.m ET hour.

The New York Times

9:24 p.m. | Updated Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he is leaving “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” immediately.

The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.

In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion, the show had become too much for him.

Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as anti-establishment.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders

The mega-merger of Comcast-NBC will lead to less local news coverage, fewer points of view, & reduced competition for viewers & ads.

Twitter is going wild! Rachel Maddow is on with Bill Maher.

John Arivosis at AMERICAblog has a petition

I Stand with Keith

From the Guardian.uk

Keith Olbermann abruptly fired by NBC

Keith Olbermann, the controversial MSNBC cable news host, has his contract abruptly terminated by parent company NBC

Keith Olbermann, the liberal, outspoken anchor of MSNBC’s Countdown show, had his contract dramatically terminated by the US cable new network’s parent company NBC on Friday night.

Abruptly announcing that the current show would be his last, Olbermann calmly read aloud a poem by James Thurber before signing off with the words: “Good night and good luck.”

While Olbermann was live on-air, NBC issued a statement reading:

   Statement regarding Keith Olbermann

   MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

The Associated Press reported that Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president, would not comment on Olbermann’s exit. But a spokesman did say that the acquistion of NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval this week, had nothing to do with the decision.

Bizarrely, nearly half an hour later during an ad break in the following programme, MSNBC showed a station promo featuring Olbermann. But the promo was interrupted halfway through by a mattress advertisment.

Some premiers.  No LoDo, which is a good thing, but you pay for it with no Keith and Rachel repeats and no Jon and Stephen.  No Conan either.

No matter what they say, it’s all about money. So let’s imagine, ladies, that you’re a savings and loan officer. Watch – one, two, three; see, you’ve got it all, and we’ve got nothing. You’ve got all four, take a look.

• AMC– Swordfish, The Specialist
• Bravo– The Pacifier
• Disney– Wizards of Waverly Place, Fish Hooks (premiers), Phineas and Ferb
• Discovery– Alaska! Gold Rush x 2 (last week’s and new), Flying Wild (premier)
• ESPN– Hoopies, Knicks @ Spurs, Lakers @ Nuggets
• ESPN2– Australian Open
• FX– What Happens in Vegas x 2
• National Geographic– Dog Whisperer (premier)
• Oxygen– Pretty Woman x 2
• Sci Fi– Merlin (premier)
• Style– Only You
• TBS– Mama Mia
• Turner Classic– City Streets, Scarface
• TNT– Kill Bill: Vol 1 and Vol 2
• Toon– Clone Wars (Nightsisters Part 3 premier)

Later-

• AMC– Return to House on Haunted Hill
• Sci Fi– Being Human (Series Premer repeat), Merlin (Instapeat)
• Style– A Perfect Murder
• TBS– Step Up, Step Up 2: The Streets
• Turner Classic– Little Caesar, The Mayor of Hell
• TNT– Batman & Robin
• USA– Harry’s Law (Series Premier repeat)

Dave hosts Nathan Lane, Mike Palascak (get a wiki page!), and Esperanza Spalding.

A staple of the superhero mythology is, there’s the superhero and there’s the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red “S”, that’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He’s weak… he’s unsure of himself… he’s a coward. Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race.

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Blair ‘profoundly’ regrets lives lost in Iraq war

by Alice Ritchie, AFP

1 hr 10 mins ago

Anthony Blair-

• Liar
• Murderer
• War Criminal

May he end his long, long life of suffering locked in a dank cell at Spandau, despised and forgotten.

2 Blair hits back over Iraq legal advice

by Danny Kemp and Alice Ritchie, AFP

Fri Jan 21, 9:40 am ET

3 Haiti to probe Duvalier excesses: rights group

by Alice Speri, AFP

2 hrs 23 mins ago

4 Haiti under US-led pressure over tainted vote

by Edouard Guihaire, AFP

Thu Jan 20, 7:39 pm ET

5 Lebanon’s Jumblatt becomes possible kingmaker

by Jocelyne Zablit, AFP

1 hr 43 mins ago

6 Lebanon rivals braced for showdown

by Jocelyne Zablit, AFP

Fri Jan 21, 10:17 am ET

7 Irish PM forced to set March 11 election date

by Andrew Bushe, AFP

Thu Jan 20, 3:36 pm ET

8 Canada’s ‘Igloofest’ revels in music, loves cold

by Michel Viatteau, AFP

Fri Jan 21, 10:43 am ET

9 Protests as Tunisia mourns victims of unrest

By Lin Noueihed and Andrew Hammond, Reuters

1 hr 21 mins ago

10 Bank of America posts Q4 loss on mortgage problems

By Joe Rauch and Maria Aspan, Reuters

18 mins ago

11 Hu’s U.S. visit sets new tone but tensions remain

By Andrew Stern and Christopher Buckley, Reuters

2 hrs 12 mins ago

12 Revived Obama faces tough State of Union challenge

By Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

Fri Jan 21, 11:51 am ET

13 Google investors worry about future growth

By Paul Thomasch and Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters

2 hrs 52 mins ago

14 GE earnings climb on strengthening global economy

By Scott Malone, Reuters

2 mins ago

15 House Republicans launch healthcare law push

By Donna Smith, Reuters

Fri Jan 21, 6:16 am ET

16 HP shakes up board, adds Meg Whitman and 4 others

By Gabriel Madway, Reuters

Thu Jan 20, 7:10 pm ET

17 Obama names GE’s Immelt to lead fresh push on jobs

By Steve Holland, Reuters

2 hrs 18 mins ago

18 Special Report: Augmented hype? Mobile’s next big thing

By Tarmo Virki, Reuters

Fri Jan 21, 2:51 am ET

19 Irish PM blunder forces early election

By Padraic Halpin and Yara Bayoumy, Reuters

Thu Jan 20, 2:26 pm ET

You should read this.  This is the future of the Democratic Party under the “leadership” of Barack Hussien Obama.

20 China’s Hu meets business leaders, visits school

By DEANNA BELLANDI and CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press

16 mins ago

21 Obama goal: ‘Putting the economy into overdrive’

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

1 hr 40 mins ago

22 AP-GfK Poll: Obama popular but doubts on progress

By LIZ “Sprinkles” SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer

2 hrs 15 mins ago

23 Families reject Blair apology over Iraq dead

By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press

Fri Jan 21, 12:52 pm ET

24 Google turns Page on Schmidt, names co-founder CEO

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

Fri Jan 21, 6:23 am ET

25 Judge: Former players to testify at Bonds trial

By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press

20 mins ago

26 Hewlett-Packard replaces a third of its board

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer

Fri Jan 21, 12:49 am ET

27 Hu urges closer US-China ties as world powers

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 11:10 pm ET

28 Wal-Mart gives boost to push for healthier food

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 11:33 pm ET

29 WikiLeaks GI’s complaint targets his Marine jailer

By DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press

28 mins ago

30 Do pets pose another threat to safe driving?

By SUE MANNING, Associated Press

30 mins ago

31 Fla. man spends month in lions’ den to raise cash

By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press

57 mins ago

32 US company stops making key death penalty drug

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, AP Legal Affairs Writer

1 hr 1 min ago

33 US Rep. Bachmann brings tea party message to Iowa

By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press

1 hr 16 mins ago

34 EPA approves more ethanol in fuel for cars

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

1 hr 20 mins ago

35 Abortion foes upbeat; see chance for tougher curbs

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

1 hr 32 mins ago

36 Hawaii Senate ends daily chamber prayers

By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press

1 hr 34 mins ago

37 Guantanamo detainee’s bid to toss verdict rejected

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

2 hrs 5 mins ago

38 Charter schools expand with public, private money

By TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press

Fri Jan 21, 6:05 am ET

39 California almond harvest expected to set record

By Jeff Nachtigal, For The Associated Press

Fri Jan 21, 3:11 am ET

40 On JFK 50th, Kennedy family gathers in Washington

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press

Fri Jan 21, 1:30 am ET

41 Idaho GOP gets ready to nullify health care reform

By JOHN MILLER, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 11:48 pm ET

42 Smart phones foster dumb habits among pedestrians

By DAVID BAUDER, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 11:36 pm ET

43 Bush, ex-officials mark Gulf War anniversary

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 10:25 pm ET

44 Victim’s family sues Schwarzenegger over clemency

By JUDY LIN, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 8:58 pm ET

45 Spared slaughter, some bison migrate into Montana

BY MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 8:27 pm ET

46 Smithsonian chief says banned video a work of art

By SUE MANNING, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 7:50 pm ET

47 US: Haiti needs credible elections

By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 7:26 pm ET

48 New governor’s words don’t upset many in Alabama

By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 6:37 pm ET

49 Conservatives want spending cut $90 billion more

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

Thu Jan 20, 6:24 pm ET

“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 you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Paul Krugman: Media Unwittingly Plays Republicans’ Deficit Game … Again

Who could have seen this coming?

The Washington Post editorial board was shocked (shocked!) to discover in early January that incoming congressional Republicans aren’t serious about deficit reduction.

“You could listen to their rhetoric – or you could read the rules they are poised to adopt at the start of the new Congress,” they wrote in a Jan. 2 editorial. “The former promises a new fiscal sobriety. The latter suggests that the new G.O.P. majority is determined to continue the spree of unaffordable tax-cutting.”

By “fiscal sobriety,” I imagine The Post was referring to a Republican policy that basically requires lawmakers to offset any new spending by cutting other programs or by raising revenue, not by raising taxes. Of course, The Post was supportive of the deal President Obama struck with Republicans at the end of 2010 to extend the Bush-era tax cuts to all Americans (which means a revenue loss of $3.9 trillion over 10 years, according to the United States Treasury Department), calling it an achievement “to be celebrated” in an editorial on Dec. 23. This achievement to be celebrated is now called unaffordable tax-cutting less than a month later.

I was going to be snarky, but this requires seriousness: the gullibility of much of the media establishment in the United States regarding this issue is ridiculous. Their inability to spot the hollowness of Republican claims to fiscal responsibility amounts to journalistic malpractice.

Mark Weisbrot: Aristide Should Be Allowed to Return to Haiti

Haiti’s infamous dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier, returned to his country this week, while the country’s first elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is kept out. These two facts really say everything about Washington’s policy toward Haiti, and our government’s respect for democracy in that country and in the region.

Asked about the return of Duvalier, who had thousands tortured and murdered under his dictatorship, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, “this is a matter for the Government of Haiti and the people of Haiti.”

But when asked about Aristide returning, he said “Haiti does not need, at this point, any more burdens.”

Wikileaks cables released in the last week show that Washington put pressure on Brazil, which is heading up the United Nations forces that are occupying Haiti, not only to keep Aristide out of the country but to keep him from having any political influence from exile.

Laila Lalami: Tunisia Rising

In conventional thinking about the Middle East, perhaps the most persistent cliché is “moderate Arab country.” The label seems to apply indiscriminately to monarchies and republics, ancient dictatorships and newly installed ones, from the Atlantic Coast to the Persian Gulf, so long as the country in question is of some use to the United States. And, almost always, it crops up in articles and policy papers vaunting the need for America to support these countries, bulwarks against growing Islamic extremism in the Arab world.

A perfect example is Tunisia. Just three summers ago, Christopher Hitchens delivered a 2,000-word ode to the North African nation in Vanity Fair, describing it as an “enclave of development” menaced by “the harsh extremists of a desert religion.” This is a country with good economic growth, a country where polygamy was outlawed in 1956, a country with high levels of education, a country with perfect sandy beaches. And, Hitchens wrote, it “makes delicious wine and even exports it to France.”

Never mind that the president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, in power for twenty-three years, was regularly winning elections with 90 percent of the vote. Never mind that his wife, Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser, had a stake in almost all of the country’s businesses. Never mind that the unemployment rate among college graduates was reportedly as high as 20 percent. Never mind that there was a police officer for every forty adults and that the Internet was censored. In January all these things added up, making the ouster of Ben Ali seem not only possible but probable, and later inevitable.

Joe Conanson: Fudging the Facts on Health Care and Deficits

Facts always matter, but never more than when politicians deal with issues of real consequence, like health care and budget deficits. . . . . .

Yet the Republican leaders in Congress are now insisting on their own “facts” concerning health care and deficits, which directly contradict the careful studies of the Congressional Budget Office. They have gone so far as to denigrate the CBO, among the most respected agencies in Washington since its founding in 1974, by accusing its analysts of using “rigged” assumptions to reach its conclusions.

Why? The agency’s conclusions are irritating to the Republicans, especially Speaker John Boehner and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, because the CBO found that health care reform will reduce the federal deficit by more than $230 billion during the first decade after it goes into effect-and then by trillions of dollars in the decades that follow.

Ari Berman: Obama: Triangulation 2.0?

Immediately following the Democrats’ 2010 electoral shellacking, a broad spectrum of pundits urged President Obama to “pull a Clinton,” in the words of Politico: move to the center (as if he wasn’t already there), find common ground with the GOP and adopt the “triangulation” strategy employed by Bill Clinton after the Democratic setback in the 1994 midterms. “Is ‘triangulation’ just another word for the politics of the possible?” asked the New York Times. “Can Obama do a Clinton?” seconded The Economist. And so on. The Obama administration, emphatic in charting its own course, quickly took issue with the comparison. According to the Times, Obama went so far as to ban the word “triangulation” inside the White House. Politico called the phrase “the dirtiest word in politics.”

Obama’s distaste for the Clinton-era buzzword seemed a tad ironic, given that he had packed the White House with insiders from the Clinton administration and began year three with prominent Clinton alums as his chief of staff (Bill Daley), top economic adviser (Gene Sperling) and budget director (Jack Lew). Obama’s first legislative deal after the election, on the Bush tax cuts, included major concessions to the GOP in a highly Clintonian compromise. And there was the Big Dog himself, at the White House press podium on December 10, defending the agreement while Obama was under fire from the left, a predicament Clinton was no stranger to. One could be forgiven for believing that the Clinton era had returned. The parallels between now and then are indeed striking.

Michelle Chen: Halfway Through Term, Obama Still Hasn’t Earned His Nobel Prize

When President Obama took office, he vowed to repair the damage done to America’s moral standing on the global stage. You may have hoped that human rights would become an organizing principle of our foreign policy. That the U.S. would finally try to engage pariah states like Iran and North Korea, or that Obama’s presidency would elevate the voices of grassroots movements in economic and environmental policy discussions. In 2011, you’ve probably either lowered your expectations or discarded your hopes.

About a year ago, Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, anticipated the impending disappointment, warning in an op-ed, “President Obama recognizes the importance of redeeming America’s reputation on human rights after the dark Bush years. But it will take more than impressive rhetoric to succeed. Words must be followed by deeds.”

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

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 344 days remaining until the end of the year (345 in leap years).

On this day in 1911, the first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

The Monte Carlo Rally (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco who also organises the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix and the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique . The rally takes place along the French Riviera in the Principality of Monaco and southeast France.

From its inception in 1911 by Prince Albert I, this rally, under difficult and demanding conditions, was an important means of testing the latest improvements and innovations to automobiles. Winning the rally gave the car a great deal of credibility and publicity. The 1966 event was the most controversial in the history of the Rally. The first four finishers driving three Mini-Coopers, Timo Makinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk, and Roger Clark‘s 4th-placed Ford Cortina “were excluded for having iodine vapour, single filament bulbs in their standard headlamps instead of double-filament dipping bulbs.”  This elevated Pauli Toivonen (Citroen ID) into first place overall. The controversy that followed damaged the credibility of the event. The headline in Motor Sport: “The Monte Carlo Fiasco.”

From 1973 to 2008 the rally was held in January as the first event of the FIA World Rally Championship, but since 2009 it has been the opening round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) programme. As recently as 1991, competitors were able to choose their starting points from approximately five venues roughly equidistant from Monte Carlo (one of Monaco’s administrative areas) itself. With often varying conditions at each starting point, typically comprising dry tarmac, wet tarmac, snow, and ice, sometimes all in a single stage of the rally. This places a big emphasis on tyre choices, as a driver has to balance the need for grip on ice and snow with the need for grip on dry tarmac. For the driver, this is often a difficult choice as the tyres that work well on snow and ice normally perform badly on dry tarmac.

The Automobile Club de Monaco confirmed on 19 July 2010 that the 79th Monte-Carlo Rally would form the opening round of the new Intercontinental Rally Challenge season. To mark the centenary event, the Automobile Club de Monaco have also confirmed that Glasgow, Barcelona, Warsaw and Marrakesh has been selected as start points for the rally.

 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.

1643 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to reach Tonga.

1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.

1749 – The Verona Philharmonic Theatre is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.

1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts.

1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

1840 – Jules Dumont d’Urville discovers Adelie Land, Antarctica.

1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.

1864 – The Tauranga Campaign begins during the Maori Wars.

1887 – 465 millimetres (18.3 in) of rain falls in Brisbane, a record for any Australian capital city.

1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.

1899 – Opel manufactures its first automobile.

1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.

1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1919 – Meeting of the First Dail Eireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Fein adopts Ireland’s first constitution. The first engagement of Irish War of Independence, Sologhead Beg, County Tipperary.

1921 – The Italian Communist Party is founded at Livorno.

1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.

1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.

1950 – Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.

1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.

1958 – The last Fokker C.X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashes, killing the pilot and winch-operator.

1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.

1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37. It is the worst air disaster in Jamaica’s history and the first for Avianca.

1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.

1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

1977 – President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.

1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.

1985 – The inauguration of President Ronald Reagan to a second term, already postponed a day because Jan. 20 fell on a Sunday, becomes the second inauguration in history moved indoors because of freezing temperatures and high winds.

The parade is cancelled altogether.

1997 – Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.

1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.

2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutierrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.

2002 – The Canadian Dollar sets all-time low against the US Dollar (US$0.6179).

2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.

2004 – NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.

2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government’s new taxes erupts into riots.

2008 – Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%.

Holidays and observances

   * Christian Feast Day:

         o Agnes

         o Fructuosus

         o Meinrad of Einsiedeln

         o January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   * Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)

   * Flag Day (Quebec)

   * Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)

   * National Hug Day (United States)