Latest News and Politics from the U.S. - Huffington Post (April 2011 Diet)

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Recently, the Census Bureau confirmed what many of us who work in immigrant communities already know -- that the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population are those who identify as Hispanic or Asian. Along with other immigrant communities -- from the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, Latinos and Asians, these are the Americans who are paying taxes and casting votes -- the backbone of our economy and the pulse of our democracy. Jointly, the country's immigrant and minority communities need to find more effective ways of harnessing our economic power and political potential into policy making that responds to the needs of a diverse America. From decisions on government contracts to education policy, our country's leadership is neither prepared for, nor reflective of, the population it serves.We're used to hearing about the diversity in leadership in places like San Francisco (where the board of supervisors has more non-whites than whites) and in New York City (where the majority of City Council members are now black, Hispanic or Asian. Although those places still have communities who are unrepresented in political leadership, they are far ahead of the newest places on the map who have growing minority populations -- Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Utah, and Vermont, all places where the percentage of minorities grew by more than 50 percent from 2000 to 2010. Most of these states have almost no representation from minority and immigrant communities.More...

Source: From the Community to the Capitol: Census Figures and Leadership in the U.S.

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WASHINGTON -- Seventeen Democratic governors have signed and sent a letter to congressional leaders stating their firm opposition to a Medicaid reform proposal championed by House Republicans.The letter, sent on Monday, is a preemptive strike of sorts against House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) before he unveils a 2012 budget proposal that is expected to endorse turning Medicaid into a block grant program.More...

Source: 17 Democratic Governors Launch Preemptive Strike Against Paul Ryan's Medicaid Proposal

[THP]

While prices at the pump shoot over $4 a gallon, five United States senators are calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether gas prices are being manipulated.  The job of assuring that our energy markets are fair actually falls not upon the FTC but upon the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), but it's had little success to date at curbing oil speculation and slowing this latest run-up in price. The senators may be hoping that the FTC, using a newly crafted 2009 law, can lend a hand.There's good reason for Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to be frustrated with the CFTC.  The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill, signed into law on July 21, 2010, mandated that the CFTC write rules for the oil markets designed to stop speculation from controlling prices on crude oil and gasoline and driving them to astronomical levels, as they did in 2008.  The bill also demanded that these rules be in place and working by February of this year.More...

Source: Oil Speculation Continues Unabated -- $5 Gas Next?

[THP]

Here's a question from a reader about perimenopause and forgetfulness.

Dear Maddisen:More...

Source: Perimenopause and the Fog of Forgetting

[THP]

Even though 2011 isn't even to the halfway mark, President Obama's announcement that he's seeking re-election has officially kicked off the 2012 Presidential election. That's exciting news for us, not because we think elections should be two years long, but because now all the funny political parodies and campaign spoofs can roll out.Right off the bat, The Full Ginsberg brings us this campaign video for a very special candidate: Anyone But Trump. Yes, it is true that Donald Trump is planning to run for President. But if you really care about America, The Full Ginsberg pleads with you to vote for Anyone But Trump instead. And when they say anybody, trust us, they mean anybody.More...

Source: 'Anyone But Trump' In 2012: The Full Ginsberg Pleads With America (VIDEO)

[THP]

Antiquities is "the only area of the art world that deals entirely with stolen goods." Perhaps that is an exaggeration -- certainly, many ancient objects were never looted from historic sites or even dug out of the ground -- but it is a bit of hyperbole that has a growing level of acceptance, to some degree with the public and overwhelmingly with archaeologists. Clemency Coggins, professor of archaeology and art history at Boston University, who made this comment, describes herself as a moderate on this issue because she believes that some antiquities can be legally owned. However, in her ideal world, antiquities dealers would "get out of the business."One might assume that the trade in antiquities would be diminishing on its own. Almost every nation on the planet (the United States is a notable exception) has enacted laws to limit or prohibit the export of cultural property older than some specified number of years. With Mexico, it's pre-Columbian objects; with Pakistan, it's art and antiques dating before 1857. Presumably, no more comes out of these and other countries, leaving a dwindling supply of stuff that hasn't already been donated to museums.More...

Source: Is It Possible to "Collect" Antiquities These Days?

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WASHINGTON -- One day after announcing his re-election bid, President Obama is staffing up his 2012 campaign, hiring one-time White House communications aide Ben LaBolt to serve as national press secretary.LaBolt will work out of Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters and manage the press shop at least through the (likely anti-climatic) Democratic primary. Katie Hogan, another former White House communications aide, will join him as deputy press secretary.More...

Source: Obama 2012 Campaign Names National Press Secretary

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April 5, 2011 11:16:04 PMMore...

Source: Operator Of Japan Nuclear Power Plant Says Radiation-Tainted Water Has Stopped Leaking Into Ocean

[THP]

How many times does one need to say it before people who are supposed to have their fingers on the pulse of the country "get it"?In February 2010, and again in August 2010 I urged both Houses -- when Democrats still controlled  them -- to bring the Ryan budget to a vote.  There would have been two possible outcomes: either Republicans vote for it and the battle can be joined by pointing to a specific vote by individual members; OR, Republicans vote against it, in which case it is revealed for its lack of seriousness and the entire party is exposed  (once again) to be hypocrites.More...

Source: Bring the Ryan Budget to a Vote

[THP]

In the years that followed, my ex would go to a high-powered divorce lawyer in Manhattan, who would say to him, "Oh, Christ!  Not another one.  If I had a penny for every time a man comes in here saying that his wife 'found herself'!" Then, it was wounding: a line of men, teeth bared, baleful gazes, waiting for one of the women before them to try to break through and run.  Now, I cheer, and I hope that guy has an office overflowing with pennies.But for us, divorce did not end up as a pitched, expensive battle in the courtroom over money or custody.More...

Source: The Moment I Knew