Affordable Healthcare and Food Policy

It is a truth universally acknowledged that food policy and healthcare are closely interrelated.

Currently, as a medical economy measure, we ourselves are treating swelling and bruising associated with a dislocated shoulder by using bags of frozen vegetables as cold compresses. We hope to maximize medical benefits by using the veggies in a pot of chicken soup (taken by mouth, twice daily) but have yet to find a recipe easily cooked while using  just one arm.

Health consumer note: Safeway has two-pound bags of peas and corn kernels on sale, two for $4.

While good food clearly contributes to good health, the relationship between health and mass transit is more problematic. We dislocated that shoulder after slipping on those damn tiles in a DC Metrorail station.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Economic Recovery Simplifed

All you need to know about the current economic situation in the United States.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

“Citi” and the Citi logo are registered trademarks of Citicorp, 40 percent of which is owned by U.S. taxpayers. 

 

 

Happy Hour Health Risk

Sobering news for the ladies: a study of over a million women found that just one alcoholic drink a day increases your risk of cancer.  Wine, beer, or liquor, the risk is the same. The more drinks, the greater the risk.

Results of the British study will be published next week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, but here is a tasting menu (acidic, bitter; hints of pharynx, esophageal, larynx, rectum, breast, and liver tumors):

 ”Study Links Alcohol, Cancer Risk in Women,” PBS Online News Hour

“A Drink a Day Raises Women’s Risk of Cancer, Study Indicates,” Rob Stein, Washington Post

Zero Tolerance for Clowns

Congressional Update: The Omnibus Federal Appropriations Bill continues funding for the absolutely-useless-beyond-belief Community Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program.  The current version of the bill reduces CBAE funding from $122 million to $94 million.

But $1.5 billion has already been wasted on this malarkey over the past 12 years without discernible benefit. Enough is enough.

New Job for Bush

You may be out of work, but George W. Bush has a new job. The former president is using his legendary oratorical skills to forge a new career, Mike Allen reported in Politico. After hearing the news, David Letterman’s writers required oxygen.

Mr. Bush is booked to give ten speeches this year in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He is represented by the Washington Speakers Bureau. The agency’s motto: “Inspiration from the World’s Greatest Minds.” Really.

Robert Burns at the Library of Congress

Washington friends of Scotland’s National Poet Robert Burns are celebrating his 250th birthay at the Library of Congress Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday, February 24 — 25. The Library’s American Folklife Center has organized a free symposium and concert, Robert Burns at 250: Poetry, Politics & Performance, and a few seats are still available (register here).

Tuesday afternoon’s highlights include an address by The Right Honorable Alex Salmond, MP, MSP, First Minister of Scotland, and a concert and poetry recital with Billy Kay, Margaret Bennett, Ed Miller, Valentina Bold, and others.

Wednesday’s events feature poetry readings and panels on Burns and traditional culture, Burns the celebrity, and the state of poetry and literature today in Scotland and America (see the complete program). Participants include poets Robert Crawford, Patricia Gray, Kay Ryan (Poet Laureate of the United States), and Myra Sklarew.

Robert Burns at 250: Poetry, Politics & Performance Symposium
February 24-25, 2009
Mumford Room, 6th Floor
James Madison Memorial Building
The Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC

 

Image (wee puir thing) by Mike Licht.

Citigroup Explained

The United States government, currently the largest shareholder in the Citigroup family of financial companies, may increase its share of ownership to 25 or even 40 percent.

The importance of this is explained by a simple graphic (above).

 

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Kindling the Bonfire of History?

Stephanie at UrbZen points out the downside of the web-based Kindle digital book reader:

… the Kindle’s very name is weirdly evocative of book burning …

The printed word — physically printed, on paper, in a book — might be heavy, clumsy or out of date, but it also provides a level of permanence and privacy that no digital device will ever be able to match.

In the past, restrictive governments had to ban whole books whose content was deemed too controversial, inflammatory or seditious ….  Censorship in the age of the Kindle will be more subtle, and much more dangerous.

Blogs With Bite

   

Blogs with Bite is an occasional omnivorous sampling of food blogs and websites we find particularly tasty. Follow the trail of bread crumbs back to earlier editions, starting here.

 Today’s serving of Blogs with Bite:

Food & Think – Amanda Bensen and Hugh Powell blog for the Smithsonian Institution. Science, history, anthropology, and art of food, dining and drinking. Recipes, too.

Junk Food News – Shake hands with the Devil; you can always clean the grease off with a moist towelette.  Observe the awesome industry news feed page; feel the pulsing peristalsis of America’s industrial-culinary complex. You’ll swell with patriotic pride.

Caviar and Codfish – Robin Damstra’s charming food blog. Fine recipes and photos.

Beef Label Decoder – Supermarket survival tool.

2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The 43rd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall (June 24-June 28 and July 1-5, 2009) will feature the culture of Wales, Latin American music, and African American oral tradition.

Jacqueline Trescott wrote about festival plans in the Washington Post, and the paper’s “Going Out Guru” Fritz Hahn suggested booking Welsh musical faves Tom Jones, Super Furry Animals, Dame Shirley Bassey, mclusky, Catatonia, Helen Love, and Teen Anthems.  Mr. Hahn also recomended another Welsh product, Brains Dark.

Iechyd Da (Cheers).
(Pronunciation)