- Maybe the message will sink in to fast-food eateries
that have become scarily efficient factories for cranking out the unhealthiest
of unhealthy eats. Health officials and advocates have long pressured such
restaurants to pare down their portion sizes and cook using healthier
ingredients, but maybe pressure was the wrong tactic. A report released
Thursday offers eateries the incentive of being more profitable if they upgrade
the low-calorie options on their menus. “We found that those restaurant chains that were
growing their lower-calorie items, they demonstrated business advantages,” said
Hank Cardello, lead author of the report from the think tank Hudson Institute. “These are not
just nice-to-have items, these are necessary parts of the portfolio.” Whether
his argument that doing the right thing for customers’ health “makes sense to
your bottom line” is actually accepted by the restaurant industry remains to be
seen. To compile their data, Cardello and colleagues looked at 21 of the
nation’s largest restaurant chains, both fast-food and sit-down establishments,
with the 21 chains accounting for $102 billion in annual sales. For a five-year
period from 2006-11, the restaurants with lower-calorie food and drink
outperformed other choices in 17 of those chains, the report showed. As the
federal government refines its mandates for providing nutritional information
on menus, the report is another weapon to use in the fight against one of the
leading causes of obesity. The obesity rate in 39 states is 25 percent or
higher in 2013, compared to a mark of 15 percent or lower in every state in
1990. In the study, the Hudson Institute set a 500-calorie limit for a sandwich
or entrée to be called lower-calorie and a 150-calorie limit for side dishes,
appetizers and desserts. Eight-ounce drinks had a threshold of 50 calories. During the five years of
the study, the chains reported an increase of 472 billion servings of
lower-calorie foods and beverages and those establishments offering such foods
saw a 5.5 percent increase in same-store sales, compared with a 5.5 percent
decline among chains selling fewer lower-calorie servings………
- Making sure stoners are abiding by Washington’s new,
more relaxed marijuana laws is going to be difficult if everyone doesn’t stay
out of the Seattle
Police Department’s business. Specifically, Mayor Mike McGinn needs to slow his
roll and take two giant steps back because his opposition to the police
department’s controversial plan to fly unmanned aerial surveillance drones over
the city is a major problem. McGinn has brought the plan to a screeching halt
and now two drones the department acquired in 2010 and hoped to use as
crime-fighting tools are just glorified paper weights or lawn ornaments. “Today
I spoke with Seattle Police Chief John Diaz and we agreed that it was time to
end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on
public safety and the community-building work that is the department’s
priority,” McGinn said in a written statement. Hopefully someone in the
accounting department saved the receipts and the manufacturer has a lenient
return policy because McGinn wants the drones returned to the vendor. Worse
still, the mayor doesn’t sound like he just needs time to warm up to the idea.
“I don’t see us picking up on this in the near future,” McGinn added. What
makes McGinn’s stance so infuriating is the fact that he appears to be
kowtowing to the fleeting whims of his constituents, many of whom angrily spoke
out about the drones at a city council meeting less than 24 hours before his
decision. Citizens decried the drones as a violation of their civil rights and
excoriated the council and the city’s Civil Rights and Technology Committee as
the two groups attempted to draft regulations and rules for use of the drones.
The bleeding hearts of the American Civil Liberties Union also weighed in on
the matter. “The mayor wisely realized that the case was made, that these were
not necessary for public safety, and questions about privacy were not
answered,” said ACLU representative Doug Honig. Thankfully, at least one
council member had the right perspective on the controversy: chairman Bruce
Harrell, who is running for mayor against McGinn. Harrell boldly declared that
scrapping drones without further talks was a bad move. “What the mayor
demonstrated today was he has no plan; you don’t apply all this effort, apply
for federal funds, and scrap it arbitrarily,” Harrell countered. It’s brilliant
logic by a man who will hopefully be Seattle’s next mayor……..
- A winter storm that made a trip to the movies impossible
for much of the East Coast and an overly snarky critic calling its female lead
“a hippo” were not enough to keep the new movie “Identity Thief” from claiming
the top spot at the weekend box office. The film debuted in first place with
$36.6 million even though star Melissa McCarthy was decried as being obese and
annoying by critic Rex Reed. “Warm Bodies” slipped one spot from last week,
relinquishing the top spot and settling for second with $11.5 million. Through
two weeks, the project has banked $36.6 million. Another newcomer, “Side
Effects,” finished third with a so-so $10 million debut. “Silver
Linings Playbook” remained in the top four for the fourth straight weekend as
it padded its domestic earnings with $6.9 million for a 13-week tally of $90
million. “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” snagged fifth place with $5.8
million for a three-week domestic tally of $44 million. Low-budget horror flick
“Mama” was sixth with $4.4 million and has banked $64.1 million thus far. Seventh
place belonged to “Zero Dark Thirty” as it added $4 million to its coffers and
has brought in $83.6 million and counting. “Argo” vaulted back into the top 10
with $2.5 million, good for eighth place, and so far it has amassed $123.7 million.
“Django Unchained” landed in ninth place, made $2.3 million and has accrued
$154.5 million in seven weeks. “Bullet to the Head” somehow managed to avoid
falling out of the top 10 in its second week, stumbling to $2 million to up its
whopping two-week haul to $8.2 million as it claimed the tenth spot. “Lincoln”
(No. 12), “Parker” (No. 13) and “Les Miserables” (No. 15) all fell out
from last week’s top 10………
- Syria’s opposition movement should feel great about its
chances to overthrow the tyrannical regime of the despotic dictator Bashar al-Assad.
This observation is based not on numbers for either side or the weapons they
possess, but rather on a video that made its way to YouTube this week. The
video should send a shiver down al-Assad’s spine and a jolt of hope through the
opposition movement. It shows what appear to be Syrian soldiers dancing and
singing to the hack-tastic 2004 song “Yeah!” from pop/R&B hack Usher.
Sadly, the video has not been verified and if the Syrian army has any
self-respect, it never will be. Still, both pro and anti-regime activists have
seized upon the video and used it to prop up their cause and their version of
the ongoing struggle for control in the embattled nation. In the short clip,
heavily armed soldiers dressed in camouflage and flak jackets can be seen
bobbing their heads to the music at first, then rising to their feet and
beginning to move their feet and hips to the beat while pointing their weapons
to the sky. With smiles on their faces, the soldiers line up and file past the
camera, still swinging their gun-wielding arms and bobbing their heads. As the
two-minute clip comes to an end, the dancing abruptly stops and a loud bang is
heard and the soldiers break out into a battle cry that translates to,
"With our souls, our blood, we sacrifice for you Bashar!" The end is
a buzz kill, especially when some of the soldiers then begin spraying bursts of
gunfire in the air. The video was reportedly filmed in southern Syria, but even
though the uniforms appear to be consistent with those worn by Syrian soldiers,
no one has stepped up to confirm its veracity………
- If one statement could sum up the stance of every union
representing professional athletes on the issue of performance enhancers and
other drugs, it would be the response by baseball union head Michael Weiner in
relation to several Major League Baseball players being implicated last week by
the Miami New Times for allegedly receiving performance-enhancing substances
from a Florida anti-aging clinic. The weekly newspaper published documents it
alleged showed the players received PEDs from the clinic and notable names such
as Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon and Nelson Cruz
were all named in the story. Other players, including Ryan Braun and Jhonny Peralta,
have since been linked to the clinic and most of those singled out have issued
denials of the allegations. Despite these links, Weiner went directly to the
union playbook for such instances and made sure no one was convicting any of
the players he represents of crimes they almost assuredly committed, be it in
the court of public opinion or elsewhere. "This investigation that MLB is
running has yet to produce any evidence that any player has violated the
program, much less than any agent has violated the program," Weiner said.
"It's unfair that both players that have had distinguished careers and
that agents who have had distinguished careers such as ACES have had their
names raised in this context." No Weiner, what’s unfair is that players
have cheated the game and the sport for so long and the union you now helm has
defended their right to cheat by fighting stronger testing at every turn. Yes,
MLB is attempting to gain access to the documents and establish a chain of
evidence that could be used to justify any potential suspension for
violating the sport's drug agreement, but would anyone be stunned if they found
such evidence? Whether PEDs are being obtained through Biogenesis of America
LLC, the clinic in this case, or somewhere else is irrelevant because they are
clearly being obtained……….
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