Okay, folks. If you're a science geek -- or even not -- I bet you will find this as cool as I did. The video shows lightning strikes slowed down by 300X. While the video lasts 90 seconds, it actually covers less than a second of real time. What a scene. I don't know about you, but I love a good thunderstorm! Enjoy!
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Lightning, Up Close and Personal
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Must Watch: Jon Stewart's Brilliant Roasting of Rep. Charlie Rangel
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Charlie Rangel's War | ||||
| ||||
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Not In My America
Asking citizens “Where are your papers?” We are better than that
Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) wrote, “I do not want to live in a nation where American citizens are asked, ‘Where are your papers?’ We are better than that.” Arizona’s new immigration law strikes deep at the heart of American values of freedom and fairness. Watch this video and then share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
This campaign is sponsored by CAP Action and SEIU.
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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Fab Ohio Billboard Hits Boehner Where it Hurts
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Americans Having Twins More Often
It seems that American women are having twins more frequently than ever. And certain states have even more? Why? There's actually a simple biological explanation, as little Evan and Jamie's mom knows. Yep, a pal of mine had twins, and typifies this growing trend. Perhaps she will take them to the Twinsburg Twins Festival someday!
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Everyone Loves BP - An Unedited Marketing Video a la Breitbart
Some fab new BP-inspired satire from Funny or Die. BP's spokesperson Beau Jangles hits the streets to ask people what they really think of BP.
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
RNC Changes Presidential Primaries, Process to Avoid Winner-Take-All
The Republican National Committee "has approved a resolution making dramatic changes to the way the GOP picks a presidential nominee, moving primaries to later dates and requiring states to allocate their delegates on a proportional basis," The Hotline reports.
"The proposal will move the earliest nominating contests -- in IA, NH, SC and NV -- back from early Jan. to Feb. It will also require states that hold nominating contests in March to award delegates based on the proportion of votes candidates win, eliminating the prospect of an early winner-take-all state that would effectively end the nominating process."
Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg Times reports the 2012 Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa. I won't mind going there.
On June 30, 2010, the Democratic National Committee announced that four cities had been chosen as finalists to hold the convention: Charlotte, Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis. I hope its in Cleveland!! Meanwhile, the DNC has also decided to retain its ridiculous superdelegate process, the one that made the 2008 primary so unnecessarily prolonged. Bad move, guys. You're supposed to learn from your mistakes.
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Friday, August 6, 2010
Turning the Tide: from the Great Recession to Job Creation
Here's some fab propaganda from the office of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's (D-MD) office. It also has the added benefit of being true. Enjoy, and share with friends...the more folks who see it, the better.
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
WWF's Top Ten Critically Endangered Species for 2010
The World Wildlife Fund has released its list of Top Ten Critically Endangered Species. I knew about the Tiger and the Polar Bear, and the Giant Panda, of course. But the Monarch Butterfly is a sad surprise. I guess its something of a Pyrrhic victory that there are no whales on the list.
1. Tiger
2. Polar Bear
3. Pacific Walrus
4. Magellanic Penguin
5. Leatherback Turtle
6. Bluefin Tuna
7. Mountain Gorilla
8. Monarch Butterfly
9. Javan Rhinoceros
10. Giant Panda
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Women's Careers: The More Things Change, the More Things Stay the Same
It's 2010. These days, girls and women can be whatever they want, do whatever they want -- the world is our oyster. Right? Equal opportunity is ours, doors have been flung open, and career and family choices are no longer constrained by gender-based stereotypes.
If you believe that, I have a bridge in a certain NYC borough with your name on it.
According to the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor, the 16 most prevalent occupations for employed women in 2009 were as follows:
Secretaries and administrative assistants: 3,074,000
Registered nurses: 2,612,000
Elementary and middle school teachers: 2,343,000
Cashiers: 2,273,000
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides: 1,770,000
Retail salespersons: 1,650,000
First-line supervisors of retail sales workers: 1,459,000
Waiters and waitresses: 1,434,000
Maids and housekeeping cleaners: 1,282,000
Customer service representatives: 1,263,000
Child care workers: 1,228,000
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks: 1,205,000
Receptionists and information clerks: 1,168,000
First-line supervisors of office & admin support workers: 1,163,000
Managers, all other: 1,106,000
Accountants and auditors: 1,084,000
Do these occupations look barrier breaking to you? Lots of them likely don't pay living wages and are unlikely to have health insurance, paid sick days, vacation, and retirement plans. They also are distressingly, well, typical. That is not to say its not respectable work. What I mean is that women are still very much constrained to career paths that are extensions of their traditional roles in the home. But we know when women get good career counseling that covers the range of options -- including typical pay and benefits -- they often make different choices. These pink collar jobs are often a low-paying self-fulfilling prophecy. The majority of women might now be in the workplace, we still have a ways to go for true equal opportunity. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Copyright 2010 (text only). The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Classic Dave Obey: The Retiring King of House Appropriations Speaks His Mind about Education Reform
Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the irascible longtime chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is retiring. He says he leaves more discontented than when he started. Here is a quote -- and Mr. Chairman is in fine form, I must say -- from an Obey interview with The Fiscal Times:
And by the way, Obama Administration, if you really proposed cutting food stamps, shame on you."The secretary of education [Arne Duncan] is whining about the fact he only got 85 percent of the money he wanted .… [W]hen we needed money, we committed the cardinal sin of treating him like any other mere mortal. We were giving them over $10 billion in money to help keep teachers on the job, plus another $5 billion for Pell, so he was getting $15 billion for the programs he says he cares about, and it was costing him $500 million [in reductions to the Race to the Top program]. Now that’s a pretty damn good deal. So as far as I’m concerned, the secretary of education should have been happy as hell. He should have taken that deal and smiled like a Cheshire cat. He’s got more walking around money than every other cabinet secretary put together.
It blows my mind that the White House would even notice the fight [over Race to the Top]. I would have expected the president to say to the secretary, “Look, you’re getting a good deal, for God’s sake, what this really does is guarantee that the rest of the money isn’t going to be touched.” We gave [Duncan] $4.3 billion in the stimulus package, no questions asked. He could spend it any way he wants. … I trusted the secretary, so I gave him a hell of a lot more money than I should have.
My point is that I have been working for school reform long before I ever heard of the secretary of education, and long before I ever heard of Obama. And I’m happy to welcome them on the reform road, but I’ll be damned if I think the only road to reform lies in the head of the secretary of education.
We were told we have to offset every damn dime of [new teacher spending]. Well, it ain’t easy to find offsets, and with all due respect to the administration their first suggestion for offsets was to cut food stamps. Now they were careful not to make an official budget request, because they didn’t want to take the political heat for it, but that was the first trial balloon they sent down here. … Their line of argument was, well, the cost of food relative to what we thought it would be has come down, so people on food stamps are getting a pretty good deal in comparison to what we thought they were going to get. Well isn’t that nice. Some poor bastard is going to get a break for a change."
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010
President Obama Strongly Urges the Senate to Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act
Below is a press release from the Obama Administration. Yes, they support this bill. Then-Sen. Obama was a co-sponsor. But the heavy push a year and a half after the House passed the bill might have something to do with this recent poll.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release
July 20, 2010
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON EQUAL PAY
In America today, women make up half of the workforce, and two-thirds of American families with children rely on a woman’s wages as a significant portion of their families’ income.
Yet, even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The gap is even more significant for working women of color, and it affects women across all education levels. As Vice President Biden and the Middle Class Task Force will discuss today, this is not just a question of fairness for hard-working women. Paycheck discrimination hurts families who lose out on badly needed income. And with so many families depending on women's wages, it hurts the American economy as a whole. In difficult economic times like these, we simply cannot afford this discriminatory burden.
My Administration has already begun to address this problem. In my first week in office, I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages, and in my State of the Union Address, I promised to crack down on violations of equal pay laws. Today the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force will present its recommendations, which include ways to better coordinate among enforcement agencies and inform employees about their rights. These steps support women, and they also support businesses that are doing the right thing and paying their employees what they deserve.
We cannot do this work alone. So today, I thank the House for its work on this issue and encourage the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a common-sense bill that will help ensure that men and women who do equal work receive the equal pay that they and their families deserve. Passing this bill is one of the Task Force’s key recommendations, and I hope Congress will act swiftly so that I can sign it into law.
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Senate Republicans Block Extension of Unemployment Benefits -- Just Because They Can
Below is a press release from the Office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
For Immediate Release
Date: Tuesday, July 20, 2010
CONTACT: Jim Manley, (202) 224-2939
REID ON GOP DELAY OF UNEMPLOYMENT SAFETY NET: “REPUBLICANS BETTER BE READY TOMORROW TO DEFEND THEIR POSITION”
Washington, D.C.— Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks on the Senate floor this evening regarding Republican delay of a final vote on unemployment benefits extension. Earlier today, Senate Democrats won a key cloture vote to move forward on this legislation that millions of unemployed Americans are depending on:
“I want everyone watching the proceedings tonight to again understand what the Republicans are doing. We just passed badly needed legislation to help 2.5 million unemployed. To show the lack of understanding and feeling and compassion of the Republicans, they're making us waste 30 hours. There are people who are desperate for this money -- desperate. And they're making us wait because that's what the rule of the Senate is.
“Now, I hope the American people understand how callous this is. People are desperate, can't make house payments, car payments, can't pay for kids' food. And they are having us wait for 30 hours after cloture's been invoked. We only need a simple majority to pass this bill now, but they're making us wait. I just can't articulate in strong enough feelings how unfair this is to 2.5 million people. So would the chair rule on my consent?
“Earlier today the Senate invoked cloture on the legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits. As a result, debate on the measure is limited to 30 hours.
“Now, we can finish this 30 hours after this passed, sometime around 9:00 tomorrow night. If that gives these people over here [Republicans] some feeling that -- that 2.5 million people deserve this, then let them do it. I would hope we could come in the morning and get this thing done and so this bill could go on to the House, the house has to pass it and then to the President.
“Every hour that is delayed is more misery for 2.5 million people. The debate over whether it's paid for or not is over with, it's clear, all experts say that this money that is spent will return to us CBO says twofold. John McCain’s chief economic advisor says it will come back $1.61 for every $1 we spend.
“Now, if they think that they're getting even, with who? 2.5 million [unemployed] people because it passed? So I hope we can reach agreement to yield back some of the post cloture time so we can complete action on this bill at a reasonable time tomorrow. Upon disposition of the unemployment bill, the Senate will resume consideration of the small business jobs bill - which is good legislation we need to get to.
“I want everybody to understand, the Republicans better be ready tomorrow to defend their position. Because we're going to have people come during this 30 hours and show how ridiculous it is that we're having to wait for 30 hours. No amendments can be offered. Nothing can be done under that 30 hours except speeches.
“So I would alert my friends, come and explain to the American people how this 30 hours has helped the American people.”
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