- Look at you, Honduras, going all country club and elitist
with your real estate development. While many wealthy people have dreamed of
living in a world where they can wall themselves off from the filthy, unwashed
masses and live in their own private chunks of the world, no one has found a
way to make this dream a tangible reality. Honduras is out to change that and
the country’s own government is fully on board with the idea. To prove it, the
government has signed a deal to hand
over land to private investors for the construction of three privately run
cities with their own legal and tax systems. That’s right, private cities that
run and govern themselves and let’s just say the impoverished common folk will
not be the ones buying up homes in these new cities. Shockingly, this
experiment meant to bring badly needed economic growth to the small Central
American country has generated a lot of controversy. While no one disputes that
Honduras’ weak government and failing infrastructure are ravaged by corruption,
drug-linked crime and lingering instability from a 2009 political coup, walling
off (literally or figuratively) cities to keep the unwanted souls out reeks of
elitism and raises all manner of ugly issues revolving around exclusion and
societal division. The project isn’t some distant dream, either; both sides
hope to begin construction of the first city in coming weeks. Proponents of the
projects argue they would create 5,000 jobs over the next six months, while the
civil society groups opposing the plan, including indigenous Garifuna people,
argue land is being unjustly seized for the new cities………
- Having Bob Dylan perform to reopen a refurbished theater
definitely does not suck. The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y. is a famous venue and has
hosted many big shows since it opened as a movie theater in 1926. Bands
performed at the theater from 1970-76 and it officially reopened as a concert
venue on Tuesday night with Dylan performing. The fit was a natural, as the
iconic folk singer has often used the Capitol as a rehearsal space. Dylan was
energetic and rotated between his instruments — piano, organ, electric guitar —
and stints as a lead singer without an instrument. The timing of the show was
anything but a coincidence, as Dylan’s 35th studio album, "Tempest,"
is due for release next week and is already being streamed online. However,
Dylan didn’t perform any songs off the new album and instead hopped into the
way-back machine to play older versions of familiar songs, always uncorking his
familiar (and often maligned) vocal style. He opened the concert with
"Watching the River Flow” and changed the track’s opening line from “What’s
the matter with me?" to "What’s the matter with you//I don’t have much to say."
With a full band behind him - Tony Garnier on bass, George Recile on drums,
Charlie Sexton and Stu Kimball on guitars and Donnie Herron on pedal steel
guitar, violin and other instruments – those on hand for the unique show
definitely did not get cheated on the price of admission. The group tweaked,
revised and musically overhauled major portions of well-known Dylan songs,
reaching back across decades to rewrite slices of musical history. On stage, a
set of framed mirrors, round and rectangular, were placed in front of the band
and faced the audience. The show drew a capacity crowd of 1,835 to the Capitol,
with gilded painted reliefs, a lobby bar still under construction and a
tricked-out interior that should make it a solid venue for other concerts in
the future……….
- It has been a huge week for companies and organizations
hammering home the harsh realities of life to disabled and handicapped
children. After a museum in New Hampshire got the party started by ripping the
cane from a legally blind 8-year-old girl visiting with her family, American
Airlines kicked it up a notch by yanking a family from a cross-country flight to Los Angeles
because their 16-year-old son has Down’s syndrome. Joan and Robert Vanderhorst
were flying on American Airlines from Newark, N.J. to Los Angeles with their
son Bede and claim Bede was singled out and discriminated against because of
his disability. The Vanderhorsts claim they were waiting to board the flight
when airline representatives informed them they were not allowed on the plane.
Sensing what was going on, Joan Vanderhorst pulled out her smartphone and began
filming to document what she believes was a violation of her son's civil rights
and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Airline representatives explained Bede
had been labeled a flight risk, which he certainly looks to be when seen in his
mother’s video, sitting at the gate, quietly playing with his hat. His mother
can be heard crying and his father sounds like he is doing everything he can
not to punch someone in the face. "He's behaving," Robert says in the
video. "He's demonstrating he's not a problem." Joan Vanderhorst said
she asked repeatedly if the problem had to do with her son having Down’s
syndrome but that she never received a direct answer. The issue seems to stem
from the Vanderhorst family sitting in first class and a young boy being seated
near them. That apparently raised some sort of security red flag because American
Airlines claimed Bede was "excitable, running around, and not acclimated
to the environment" and that a pilot had unsuccessfully tried to calm him
down. "For the safety of the young man and the safety of others, American
Airlines offered to book another flight for the family," American Airlines
spokesman Matt Miller explained. Just so everyone is clear, the chance that a
raging 16-year-old with Down’s syndrome (because Down’s syndrome patients are
always so angry and full of rage, of course) could cause a mid-flight emergency
landing is the root of the drama in this case. The matter was eventually
resolved when the Vanderhorsts were booked on a United Airlines flight and made
it home safely and without further incident. Here’s hoping for more
insensitive treatment of disabled children soon………
- God hates Cleveland. That lesson is hammered home for
Cleveland sports fans on an annual basis as the Indians, Browns and Cavaliers
find new ways to disappoint, depress and embarrass their fans with terrible
seasons, fast starts to raise expectations before crashing back to Earth or mangling
high draft picks by selecting players who didn’t even start for their college
team. The curious case of Browns cornerback Joe Haden is yet another example of
this pattern and with the start of the NFL season just four days away for his
team, Haden still has no idea of how his possible four-game suspension for failing a drug test will turn out.
Haden, one of Cleveland's best players, is awaiting word from the NFL on the
possible suspension and after Browns president Mike Holmgren admitted in a
radio interview that he is as much in the dark as anyone else, the mystery is
unsolved and shows no signs of wrapping up. Haden reportedly failed a test for
taking Adderall, which is on the league's banned substance list, but appealed
the suspension and is now in league legal limbo. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello
reiterated that the league "has nothing to report at this point,” which is
odd considering that letting a star player known whether or not he is suspended
at the start of a new season would seem to be kind of, sort of important. Haden
himself is unsure if he will be able to play in Sunday's season opener against
Philadelphia. "I have no idea," Haden said Monday. Given how long the
NFL has allowed the case to drag on, Haden seems likely to play this week and if
he is suspended, he would then miss subsequent weeks. No suspension has been
announced because the league does not announce suspensions until the appeal
process is completed in order to protect the player's privacy. For the Browns,
the season rarely matters beyond the first few weeks of the year, so having
Haden on the field with defensive tackle Phil Taylor and linebacker Chris
Gocong already out with injuries and linebacker Scott Fujita is serving a
three-game suspension for his role in the Saints' bounty scandal is vital. If
the past is any indication, it should mean that the NFL will suspend Haden
Saturday and allow the Browns to pick up the pieces at the last possible
minute…………
- Gluten-free. Sugar-free. No preservatives. Whole grain. Steroid-free.
Healthy foods are an obsession for some and the wheat grass-drinking, organic
market-shopping, hybrid-driving hippies who demand wholesome foods build their
lives around the idea that being environmentally responsible, eating organic
foods and protecting both their bodies and the planet are paramount. So what
might happen if those organic foods shoppers pay so much money for aren't all
they are made out to be? Dr. Crystal Smith-Spangler of Stanford University decided to find out
the truth about organic foods and led a study to determine how good organic
food really is. She and her colleagues examined 17 studies comparing effects of
organic and conventionally grown foods on human beings and 223 more that
focused solely on the levels of nutrients and contaminants in the items. The
survey included fruits, vegetables, eggs, grains, dairy, poultry and meat, but
no processed foods. Smith-Spangler also treats patients at the Veterans Affairs
Palo Alto Health Care System and says she routinely receives questions from
patients about whether the price of organic foods is worth it. Suffice it to
say, the answer from this study is an emphatic no. "We did not find strong
evidence that organic foods are consistently more nutritious than conventional
foods," Smith-Spangler said. Among the areas where the two types of food
were similar was in rates of allergies
such as eczema and the lone significant exception was for levels of phosphorus,
which were higher in organically grown produce. None of the differences found
in the study are likely to be of any health significance, the study found.
While scattered instances of slightly higher levels of antioxidant activity and
omega-3 fatty acids were identified, there was precious little evidence that spending
more for organic foods is anything other than a psychological crutch for
healthy eating devotees. Yes, the study’s authors found a 30 percent lower rate
of detectable contamination in organically grown produce and less pesticides is
a good thing, but the pesticide levels in conventional foods were still within
acceptable levels in the study. These trends held true for meat products as
well and at a minimum should propel those shopping at the Mustard Seed, Whole
Grain Market or other organic food market to pause, read the latest issue of the
Annals of Internal Medicine and reassess their food choices……….
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