Suppose, as some experts advise, that the new national dietary guidelines due this spring will lower the recommended level of salt. Suppose further that public health officials in New York and Washington succeed in forcing food companies to use less salt. What would be the effect? A) More than 44,000 deaths would be prevented annually [...]
Archive for February, 2010
When It Comes to Salt, No Rights or Wrongs. Yet.
Posted in Health on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
Obama’s Business Buyout
Posted in Economy and business, Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
President Obama is proposing that the U.S. government both guide the economy and do so with a new, aggressively redistributive tax policy. It made perfect sense for President Obama to speak yesterday to the Business Roundtable. Businesses big and small could use a pep talk just now. Bank lending last year fell the most since [...]
The Slippery Nature of Secrets
Posted in Conflicts and wars on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
The shah wasn’t supposed to fall; Iraq’s WMD were supposed to be a ‘slam dunk.’ When we hear the sound of hoofbeats, should we think horses or zebras? The question is a classic problem of intelligence analysis. Too often in recent years the CIA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security have got it wrong—most recently [...]
Mr. Holder’s Triumph
Posted in Conflicts and wars, Law on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
The Attorney General doth celebrate too much. Eric Holder has had a rough few weeks—er, months—so it’s not surprising the Attorney General would try to celebrate some good antiterror news. To wit, this week he seized on a guilty plea in a terrorism case to rehabilitate his policy that emphasizes civilian law enforcement over intelligence [...]
What the GOP Should Say at the Health Summit
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
It is risky to correct a president to his face, but it must be done. The congressional Republicans at today’s televised health-care “summit” at the White House naturally want to prevent the president from turning it into a PR stunt. This is no easy task. They’ll not only have to point out problems with his [...]
Number of Church Abuse Cases Continues to Rise in Germany
Posted in Law on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
Calls for Full Investigation Even the German government is unequivocally calling upon Church leaders to take action — an extremely unusual approach in the context of the relationship between Church and state. “I expect the Catholic Church to provide concrete information on which measures are being taken for a complete investigation,” says German Justice Minister [...]
Convict Digs Out of Prison With a Spoon
Posted in Strange but true on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
Tunnel Vision No match for some cutlery and a bit of ingenuity. A convict in the Netherlands has escaped from prison after tunneling out with a spoon. Her secret tunnel began in a cellar and was concealed by a removable hatch. A convict in the Netherlands has succeeded in breaking out of prison with [...]
App ‘Censorship’ Has German Tabloid Fighting Mad
Posted in Other on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
Undressing with the iPhone The idea is simple enough: German tabloid Bild wanted to allow readers to undress their daily page one girl on their iPhones. But the app has run afoul of Apple’s decency standards, leading the paper to accuse the US computer giant of censorship. The case seems far-fetched, but Apple’s criteria remain [...]
Obama’s continued audaciousness on health reform could backfire
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on February 24, 2010 | Comments Off
The White House description of President Obama’s health-care proposal as his “opening bid” raises the question: With whom is he bidding? The public dance is with Republicans, but this is hardly serious. The White House does not enter Thursday’s summit expecting Republicans to make a deal. The real target of presidential bidding is his own party [...]
A New Look at Hitler’s Mistress Eva Braun
Posted in History, tagged Eva Braun, Hitler on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Til Death Do Us Part Historians have long portrayed Adolf Hitler’s mistress Eva Braun as little more than an apolitical accoutrement to the dictator. But a new biography of the woman who was Hitler’s wife for a mere 40 hours casts doubt on that image. The field research on the details of the relationship between [...]
The Nazis’ Bid to Control Carnival
Posted in History, tagged Nazi Germany on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Harnessing Anarchy for Hitler Germany’s Carnival is an expression of anarchic fun and mockery of those in power. Yet the Nazis sought to harness the potential of the festivities for their own ends. Anti-Semitic floats and speeches attacking Germany’s enemies were commonplace, and defiance was rare. It was Rose Monday in the German city of [...]
When the Kitchen Knives Come Out
Posted in Living on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Your mother probably taught you that the fastest way to win someone’s heart is to cook a meal. Too bad she didn’t mention the broken dishes. Doug McGrath can tell you all about them. He worked as a short-order cook in high school and still prepares food by memory, often throwing in a dash of [...]
Wandering, Waiting
Posted in History on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
In European cities before the revolution: polemics, squabbles and ‘sexuality.’ ‘There it is, my fate,” Vladimir Lenin complained in December 1916. “One fighting campaign after another—against political stupidities, philistinism, opportunism and so forth.” At the time a political exile, Lenin was riding out World War I in Zurich. Less than three months later came the [...]
What’s the Matter With Democrats?
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
The party embraced globalization while its union allies were cut down. It’s no secret that the tea party faithful regard the Obama administration as a Constitution-shredding tyranny. But in a profile of the movement published last week, the New York Times reported the surprising news that many of the protesters have come to this view [...]
The Big Bluff?
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
The Democrats in the Senate and Democrats in the House don’t trust each other. President Obama’s revised health-care plan is an ambitious attempt to bridge the divisions between two warring camps of Democrats who do not trust each other — Democrats in the Senate and Democrats in the House. Both factions have passed versions of [...]
A Karzai Lament
Posted in Conflicts and wars, tagged Afghanistan on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Afghanistan’s president becomes a NATO scold. Since U.S., British and Afghan troops began pushing into the Taliban stronghold of Marjah two weeks ago, they have gone to unprecedented lengths to minimize civilian casualties. Among other restrictions, they are forbidden from calling in air strikes until they have confirmed that targets pose a legitimate threat and [...]
Though the White House won’t want to admit it, Bush lawyers were protecting the executive’s power to fight a vigorous war on terror. Barack Obama may not realize it, but I may have just helped save his presidency. How? By winning a drawn-out fight to protect his powers as commander in chief to wage war [...]
‘You Don’t Have to Risk Your Life to Tell a Good Story’
Posted in Arts and Entertainment, Photo galleries on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Italian freelance photographer Pietro Masturzo, 30, won the prestigious World Press Photo prize for his picture of women taking part in night-time protests on a Tehran rooftop. He talks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about the risks of the job and defends himself against accusations that he was a coward for not photographing the street demonstrations. SPIEGEL [...]
Restored ‘Metropolis’ Comes Home
Posted in Arts and Entertainment on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Restored ‘Metropolis’ Comes Home After 83 years, Fritz Lang’s Sci-Fi classic “Metropolis” has returned to Berlin in its full glory. On Friday night 2,000 fans braved the snowy weather to watch the restored classic at the Brandenburg Gate. It took restorers a year to repair the damage to the newly discovered scenes. They say the [...]
Counsel of Despair
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health, Politics on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Dems can’t win, so they might as well wreck health care. A recent National Journal interview with Charlie Cook, one of America’s pre-eminent political prognosticators, has been getting a lot of attention. Cook is harshly critical of the Obama administration, but what’s raised the most eyebrows is his prediction that Republicans are almost certain to [...]
The Arrogance of China’s Leadership
Posted in Politics, tagged China on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Masters of the World China’s confidence has been fuelled by surging economic growth, even during the crisis. The West hopes that China’s growing prosperity will also lead to political liberalization. But the reverse is likely to be true. The Communist Party’s increasing confidence means China is set to become more of a troublemaker on the [...]
The princess and the bear
Posted in Other, Politics on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Europe’s aristocracy, alive and kicking GEORGIA struggles to make its case in Germany, which sees trade ties with Russia as vital and the ex-Soviet Caucasian republic as troublesome. So who better to burnish Georgia’s image there than a German-educated Habsburg? Georgia’s new ambassador to Berlin, once she presents her credentials to the president next month, [...]
China’s Tibet Pique
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics, tagged China, Tibet on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Beijing’s anger is likely to backfire. Much ado has been made about President Obama’s chat with the Dalai Lama last week and the response from Beijing. “The U.S. act grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs . . . and seriously damaged the Sino-U.S. ties,” said a Chinese government spokesman, but the barrage reveals more about [...]
ObamaCare at Ramming Speed
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
The White House shows it has no interest in compromise. A mere three days before President Obama’s supposedly bipartisan health-care summit, the White House yesterday released a new blueprint that Democrats say they will ram through Congress with or without Republican support. So after election defeats in Virginia, New Jersey and even Massachusetts, and amid [...]
Europe’s Crisis of Ideas
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Politics on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Europe is in a crisis. Superficially, the crisis is about money: the Greek budget, a German-led bailout, the risk of contagion, moral hazard, the fragility of the euro. Fundamentally, it’s a crisis of ideas. At last month’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou offered a view on the [...]
Into the Mire
Posted in Editorials and opinion, Health on February 23, 2010 | Comments Off
Barack Obama came to Washington with the nation’s hope for change riding on his shoulders. He promised to reform the health care system. He hired many of the country’s top experts who had written brilliantly about how to do reform. He immediately moved away from some of their ideas. This was understandable. America isn’t Plato’s [...]
Henry Sutton’s top 10 unreliable narrators
Posted in Literature on February 22, 2010 | Comments Off
From Huck Finn to Holden Caulfield and Humbert Humbert, the novelist provides an entirely trustworthy guide to some of literature’s slipperiest characters Shady character … Jeremy Irons as Humbert Humbert in Adrian Lyne’s 1997 film version of Lolita Henry Sutton was born in Norfolk in 1963. After training as a journalist he worked for a [...]
Markus Zusak’s top 10 boxing books
Posted in Literature on February 22, 2010 | Comments Off
From Homer to Norman Mailer and Joyce Carol Oates, the novelist picks out 10 TKOs Clash of the titanic egos … Muhammad Ali spars with Norman Mailer. Markus Zusak is an Australian author born in 1975, the son of Austrian and German parents. His novels for younger readers have won numerous awards and one, The [...]
Sam Baker’s top 10 literary stepmothers
Posted in Literature on February 22, 2010 | Comments Off
From Mrs Dashwood to the Wicked Queen, the novelist considers one of the culture’s most traduced figures Not the best public image … Lily Savage as celebrated stepmother the Wicked Queen Sam Baker has edited some of Britain’s bestselling magazines, including Company, Cosmopolitan and currently, Red. She published her first novel, Fashion Victim, in 2005, [...]
Ten of the best monsters in literature
Posted in Poetry on February 22, 2010 | Comments Off
Echidna Spawned in Greek mythology, this “Monster direfull dred, / Whom Gods doe hate, and heauens abhor to see” returns to vigorous life in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. She couples with “Cruell Typhaon” and their progeny is “the Blatant Beast”, poisonous embodiment of slander and detraction. Cyclops The best monsters want to eat you. [...]
