Is this worthy of a great nation?

Hard work has always played an important role in America, but so has compassion. This is a troubling study that needs to be addressed. Nobody is saying to throw money at a problem but this needs attention. Families trying to raise kids need to be able to provide proper diets if they have any hope of moving up and on to a better life.

One study shows that low-income Americans now would have to spend up to 70 percent of their food budget on fruits and vegetables to meet new national dietary guidelines for healthy eating.

And a second study found that in rural areas, convenience stores far outnumber supermarkets and grocery stores -- even though the latter carry a much wider choice of affordable, healthy foods.

Plenty of education is needed in the US though will the corporate food giants that we have allowed to grow allow it? Read the rest of this post...

Billion dollar bailouts spread across Europe

Plenty of bailouts for bad business to go around. Were regulators awake anywhere in recent years? The US may have a long list of billion dollar bailouts but Europe isn't looking very brilliant either with UBS, Barclays, Northern Rock, Lloyds, Societe General, Credit Suisse and now the bailout by Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Epargne for CIFG.

Who will join the party next? How many years will this excessive greed and regulatory ignorance set everyone back? Sure, this seems like a great bunch to let regulate Social Security. We really need these banks taking helping us out and it's just so obvious that they will do better than the government. Go ahead and tell how much better they will be. Just let the dust settle first and count up the billions down the drain. Read the rest of this post...

Pakistan's Supreme Court (recently packed with Musharraf supporters) sets up re-election for the dictator

No wonder George Bush loves Musharraf so much. They both cheat using their Supreme Courts to win:

Pakistan's Supreme Court, stacked with judges friendly to President Pervez Musharraf, on Thursday threw out a final challenge to his re-election and paved the way for him to quit as army chief.

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How to deep fry a Thanksgiving turkey

(THIS IS NOT A RECIPE, DON'T TRY THIS UNLESS YOU READ UP ABOUT IT ELSEWHERE FIRST.) Well, we survived. We deep-fried the Thanksgiving turkey yesterday and everyone survived (well, not everyone). Mom made a second turkey in the oven, just in case. It turned out great. One of the juiciest, tastiest turkeys of my life. My brother-in-law, who did the officiating, says they injected the meat with something before cooking, I don't recall what now, but other than that - and these are not the exact recipe, so read up on this before you try it at home, kids - you heat the oil to 365 or so, dip the bird in slowly, bit by bit, dunking and raising it, so as not to have the entire thing boil over at once, then finally you dunk the entire thing and let it cook for, I think, 2 to 3 minutes a pound. Our turkey was around 12.5 pounds (they tell you not to cook anything bigger than 15 pounds), so we cooked it for 45 minutes. It gets super dark, and was simply wonderful. Bro-in-law went out and bought an entire turkey-frying contraption that connects to your fuel tank from a gas bbq. Here's a video of the entire process. And oh yeah, when we were almost done, we heard a very strange, loud, growing sound coming from the south. Suddenly we looked overhead and there was a flock, or several flocks, of geese flying in circles. Was very strange. After a few minutes, they were joined by a fourth flock from the south and then they all moved on together. They were apparently waiting for the other flock to join them. Amazing. Didn't stop us from frying up one of their brethren, but it was still pretty cool. Read the rest of this post...

Bush administration finds another way to prevent new Americans from voting

For all Bush's talk about democracy around the world, he has an uncanny way of working to prevent American citizens, yes citizens, from voting. A lot of it is the sheer incompetence of the Bush team, but with that crowd, you know something more nefarious is usually at play:

The Department of Homeland Security failed to prepare for a massive influx of applications for U.S. citizenship and other immigration benefits this summer, prompting complaints from Hispanic leaders and voter-mobilization groups that several hundred thousand people likely will not be granted citizenship in time to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election.

Bush administration officials said yesterday that they had anticipated applicants would rush to file their paperwork to beat a widely publicized fee increase that took effect July 30, but did not expect the scale of the response. The backlog comes just months after U.S. officials failed to prepare for tougher border security requirements that triggered months-long delays for millions of Americans seeking passports.

Bush is the worst president ever. The Bush administration can't even handle the basics. No wonder the big things are such a mess. Read the rest of this post...

Former conservative French president's wife endorses Hillary

Ok, this is very cute, and we all know I love the French, but this is not helpful. And the notion of Chirac's wife attending the Democratic Convention is, as the French say, fou. Then again, Bush is now making nicey-nice with the French, so perhaps the GOP will have a hard time launching their French bashing all over again (then again, this is what the Republicans excel at, speaking out of both sides of their mouth, and using surrogates to do the attacking - so yeah, I still think this is very dangerous territory for Hillary). Read the rest of this post...

Dollar again drops against world currencies

When Wall Street CEOs can't give a straight answer about the extent of credit losses, why should anyone be surprised when the dollar free falls? Who can honestly have any near term faith in this mess that Bush, Greenspan and the GOP created? The bill for America's easy credit years has arrived and it's not pretty. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Off to a slow start today.

What do we need to know? Read the rest of this post...

It's Black Friday

Be safe out there and no pushing and shoving.

The questions of the season include:

- What's the "hot" item this year?
- How much do you intend to spend on gifts?
- Will the high gas prices have an impact or are they overrated?
- Will the credit crunch mean anything to individuals or is it too distant to relate?
- Turkey, ham or other for Christmas dinner? (Too early to ask?)
- Is the season about giving, receiving, religion or some of all?
- When do the lights go up?
- When does the tree go up? Natural or artificial?

In France, the Christmas toys and dedicated shelf space at the stores has been focused on Christmas since early October. As an American, the holiday season seems more low key (except that early start in the stores) compared to other countries.

I visited a cousin in Vienna a few years ago during this season and just loved the local neighborhood Christmas markets. It was cold, but so charming and friendly. Everyone out walking and socializing. I know they have markets like that in Paris, but they're just not the same. The German/Austrian Christmas markets somehow just feel more Christmas-y, the way you thought it should be. What are the fun holiday markets where you are? Read the rest of this post...

Transport unions in France vote to start work again

It's about time. The strike has only delayed the inevitable fairness in retirement programs that voters - not street marchers - have concluded they want. Over the past few decades opinions have changed. People who rely on public transport to get to and from work have been punished during this strike, forced to walk or pay expensive taxi fees if they want to hold their own jobs. Some people who are on the outside looking in seem to think that France is some sort of a workers paradise, with guaranteed job security. It's different but not necessarily better or even good, for that matter.

Despite generally hating rules and regulations, when it comes to the work environment, they rule the day. In recent years organizations have increasingly used short term contracts to employ workers which means these people have employment, but it's similar to what we have in the US. Few benefits and no guarantees. People take these jobs because unemployment for youth is well into double digits. Even among the general population the rate is over 8%.

People in the workforce certainly have more security than in the US though this also cuts both ways. Organizations take months to hire someone new because they know it's expensive to get rid of that person if it's the wrong person. For job seekers, this translates to six months or more to find new work. There are no shortages of qualified people who can be looking for work for a year, even two or more. Compare that to the US where perhaps you can be fired easily enough, but it is dramatically easier to find new employment compared to France.

So as the strike dies down and transport workers go back it appears as though France is moving in the direction of modernizing its employment environment. Will this mean France will become like the US with employment laws? There is only so much change the French will accept so nothing will change overnight. Like many issues, finding a middle ground that works will be important. France isn't the only country that has trouble finding a middle ground though after years of watching neighboring Britain move forward while France is stuck in neutral, I suspect France is ready enough to try. Read the rest of this post...

Afghanistan continues to fall

Even Kabul is close to being threatened. Chalk up another botched mission by Team Bush and his boot-licking Tony Blair. If the US wants to be a leader, it's going to have to actually lead and not run away as we've seen in Afghanistan. Moving troops out of Afghanistan and into Iraq is coming back to haunt us. It's only a matter of time before the Bush crowd starts complaining again about NATO needing to send more troops when in fact, it was the US who abandoned this war. Mission Accomplished?

The Taliban has a permanent presence in 54% of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into Taliban hands, according to a report by an independent thinktank with long experience in the area.

Despite tens of thousands of Nato-led troops and billions of dollars in aid poured into the country, the insurgents, driven out by the American invasion in 2001, now control "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas, some district centres, and important road arteries", the Senlis Council says in a report released yesterday.

On the basis of what it calls exclusive research, it warns that the insurgency is also exercising a "significant amount of psychological control, gaining more and more political legitimacy in the minds of the Afghan people who have a long history of shifting alliances and regime change".

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