Salon.com > Business http://www.salon.com Sat, 25 May 2013 20:30:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Is the Environmental Defense Fund ruining environmentalism? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/25/is_the_environmental_defense_fund_ruining_environmentalism_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/25/is_the_environmental_defense_fund_ruining_environmentalism_partner/#comments Sat, 25 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13308509 Pacific Standard The battle over hydraulic fracking of oil and natural gas has pitted land owners against each other. It has also created divides between neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. And now, after the Environmental Defense Fund joined a coalition of nonprofits and oil companies called the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, fracking is also splitting the environmental community.

The Center for Shale Development advocates that oil and gas companies voluntarily adopt 15 performance standards. These cover wastewater disposal, fracking fluids, air pollution standards for drill engines, limits on gas flaring in the fields and more. But this week, 68 grassroots groups protested the Environmental Defense Fund’s move, arguing the big environmental advocacy organization had allowed itself to be “co-opted by industry interests,” and that it was engaged in “greenwashing.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/25/is_the_environmental_defense_fund_ruining_environmentalism_partner/feed/ 3 Developers evict historic women’s shelter to build luxury hotel http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/insurance_company_forces_out_historic_womens_safe_house_to_build_luxury_hotel/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/insurance_company_forces_out_historic_womens_safe_house_to_build_luxury_hotel/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 20:24:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13308294 For more than a century, the Anna Louise Inn provided housing for women fleeing abusive relationships, recovering from drug and alcohol addiction or escaping forced sex work. This month, the historic Cincinnati safe house gave up a two-year legal battle against a Fortune 500 insurance company looking to buy the building and convert it into a luxury hotel.

After running out of money to sustain the legal battle and viewing the ongoing litigation as a distraction from its core service mission, the Anna Louise Inn accepted the sale last week and will move to another location. The Western & Southern Insurance Group bought the building for $4 million, where it intends to build a boutique hotel.

While the safe house will continue to serve women and families in its new location, many view the victory of the insurance company over a community touchstone as a major blow to the city, as Aviva Shen at ThinkProgress notes:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/insurance_company_forces_out_historic_womens_safe_house_to_build_luxury_hotel/feed/ 25 3 possible solutions to international tax avoidance http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/3_ways_to_stop_international_tax_avoidance_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/3_ways_to_stop_international_tax_avoidance_partner/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 18:17:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13308171 Both the WaPo and the NYT have articles today on a topic of great importance for the tax debate in advanced economies.  The pieces discuss how officials from the UK and European economies are being pushed by their citizens to go after the type of tax avoidance engaged in by Apple, Google, GE, and countless other multinationals.

There are at least two reasons this development is important.  First, technology and tax law have led the emergence of what international tax analyst Ed Kleinbard calls “stateless income,” a phenomenon that was on full display at the Apple hearing yesterday, where the company’s spokesperson said in so many words, “you can’t tax this income because it only exists where tax liabilities do not exist.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/3_ways_to_stop_international_tax_avoidance_partner/feed/ 8 David Vitter’s hypocritical, punitive, horrible new amendment http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/david_vitters_hypocritical_punitive_horrible_new_amendment/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/david_vitters_hypocritical_punitive_horrible_new_amendment/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 16:16:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307897 In a sleepy moment on the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Democrats accepted an amendment to the long-delayed farm bill that, if passed in its current form, would represent another step in turning previously incarcerated Americans into a permanent underclass. Certain classes of ex-convicts would be denied food stamp benefits for life, under the amendment offered by Sen. David Vitter (cannily, the crime of soliciting prostitutes is exempted from this ban). While the amendment may sound like common sense, it’s actually a harshly punitive, counterproductive policy that will only increase crime and trap people in the criminal justice system.

The amendment was clearly created as a wedge issue, a perennial Republican effort to get Democratic senators to vote for something that can get used against them later in attack ads. Tom Coburn is a master of this; during the healthcare bill he offered an amendment banning sex offenders from receiving health insurance benefits for Viagra.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/david_vitters_hypocritical_punitive_horrible_new_amendment/feed/ 84 No women allowed: Summer music festivals are dudefests, again http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/no_women_allowed_summer_music_festivals_are_dudefests_again/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/no_women_allowed_summer_music_festivals_are_dudefests_again/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 16:15:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307919 Texas had just shaken off the last bits of a chilly spring. The elegant Austin City Limits Live’s Moody Theatre was packed in anticipation of a concert by the hot French band Phoenix. Producer Terry Lickona took the stage to give the customary warnings about cellphone usage during the TV show taping, and managed to whip what can be an austere crowd into a frenzy.

“You know what happens at 12:01 tonight,” he said to a flurry of preemptive cheers.

They did: The lineup for the 14th Austin City Limits Music Festival would be released in the wee hours of the morning. No doubt many members of the crowd fought sleep in anticipation of poring over a lineup of heavyweights fit for the festival's debut as a two-weekend affair. The Cure, Depeche Mode and Lionel Richie ultimately crowned the six-day bill, topping a collection of burgeoning acts and festival veterans.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/no_women_allowed_summer_music_festivals_are_dudefests_again/feed/ 20 Democrats may be even worse than Republicans at regulating Wall Street http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/democrats_cant_be_trusted_to_control_wall_street_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/democrats_cant_be_trusted_to_control_wall_street_partner/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 15:08:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307857 Who needs Republicans when Wall Street has the Democrats? With the help of congressional Democrats, the Street is rolling back financial reforms enacted after its near meltdown.

According to the New York Times, a bill that’s already moved through the House Financial Services Committee, allowing more of the very kind of derivatives trading (bets on bets) that got the Street into trouble, was drafted by Citigroup — whose recommended language was copied nearly word for word in 70 lines of the 85-line bill.

Where were House Democrats? Right behind it. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat of New York, a major recipient of the Street’s political largesse, co-sponsored it. Most of the Democrats on the Committee, also receiving generous donations from the big banks, voted for it. Rep. Jim Himes, another proponent of the bill and a former banker at Goldman Sachs, now leads the Democrat’s fund-raising effort in the House.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/democrats_cant_be_trusted_to_control_wall_street_partner/feed/ 18 There’s no substitute for government disaster relief http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/theres_no_substitute_for_government_disaster_relief/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/theres_no_substitute_for_government_disaster_relief/#comments Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307407 Within hours of this week's tornado disaster in Oklahoma, I (like many others) received emails from the president of the United States and my U.S. senator. With impassioned language, they both claimed to care deeply about yet another community devastated by a cataclysm, and then said the best way for America to support private charities.

The work of non-governmental organizations, no doubt, is critical, and contributing money to them is laudable. But there is something troubling about government leaders initially implying -- if subtly -- that a non-governmental response is as significant as a governmental one. And there is something even more disturbing about that message being sent at a time when budget cuts and sequestrations engineered by those very governmental leaders threaten to prevent a more effective response to such disasters in the future.

It all suggests that the anti-government zeitgeist in America has become so powerful that public officials now feel compelled to downplay the public sector for fear of being tarred and feathered as a socialist, a Marxist or an opportunist unduly "politicizing" a tragedy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/24/theres_no_substitute_for_government_disaster_relief/feed/ 41 Billionaire hedge funder: Babies, breast-feeding “kill” focus, keep women from succeeding http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/billionaire_hedge_funder_babies_breastfeeding_kill_focus_keep_women_from_succeeding/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/billionaire_hedge_funder_babies_breastfeeding_kill_focus_keep_women_from_succeeding/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 21:06:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307216 Billionaire hedge fund executive Paul Tudor Jones believes mothers don't make good traders because having babies and breast-feeding are focus and ambition "killers."

“Every single investment idea ... every desire to understand what is going to make this go up or go down is going to be overwhelmed by the most beautiful experience ... which a man will never share, about a mode of connection between that mother and that baby,” Jones told an audience at the University of Virginia, according to a video obtained by the Washington Post. “And I’ve just seen it happen over and over.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/billionaire_hedge_funder_babies_breastfeeding_kill_focus_keep_women_from_succeeding/feed/ 32 “Bookless library” set to open in Texas http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/bookless_library_set_to_open_in_texas/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/bookless_library_set_to_open_in_texas/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13307082 Some are calling it a "bookless" library, but paperless is a more accurate description of the all-digital public library branch set to open in Texas this fall.

The $1.5 million facility in Bexar County will not house a single printed book, but will offer 100 e-readers on loan, and 10,000 digital titles accessible to readers via their home computers and digital devices, with more being added regularly.

“If you want to get an idea what it looks like, go into an Apple store,” Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, the man behind the digital overhaul, told San Antonio Express News when plans were first announced earlier this year.

Saying goodbye to the printed page may be tough for some to swallow, but remote access to digital files is key to bringing books to the low-income and unincorporated areas of Bexar County currently without library access, says "BiblioTech" project coordinator Laura Cole.

Cole told the BBC in an interview this week:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/bookless_library_set_to_open_in_texas/feed/ 12 Greek yogurt, toxic waste hazard? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/greek_yogurt_toxic_waste_hazard_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/greek_yogurt_toxic_waste_hazard_partner/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306930 AlterNet The latest in "healthy" foods that are not actually good for us is Greek yogurt. Over at Modern Farmer, Justin Elliott explains that every three to four ounces of milk produces only one ounce of the creamy snack,  and what's left becomes acid whey, " a thin, runny waste product" too toxic to dump because whey decomposition could potentially turn waterways into aquatic-life-destroying "dead seas."

Now, with a rapidly expanding $2 billion Greek yogurt market, the question has become, what to do with the whey? According to Elliott, the Northeast region alone produced more than 150 million gallons of acid whey just last year.

Though Chobani pays farmers to take their acid whey, this method has proven insufficient, as the waste product is difficult to incorporate into farming. Dave Barbano, a dairy scientist at Cornell, believes the small amount of protein in acid whey could be used in baby formula. Before he can say for sure, however, Barbano needs a cost-effective method of protein extraction, and is just beginning research.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/greek_yogurt_toxic_waste_hazard_partner/feed/ 50 Incoming BBC news director on journalism gender gap: “We can do better” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/incoming_bbc_news_director_on_journalism_gender_gap_we_can_do_better/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/incoming_bbc_news_director_on_journalism_gender_gap_we_can_do_better/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 16:08:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306883 Incoming news director at the BBC James Harding knows there's a dearth of women broadcasters featured on the network, and he intends to address that gap in his new position, according to a recent interview.

"I think that as an outsider there is clearly an issue about the number of female broadcasters -- the number of broadcasters on air -- that is one thing you do notice," Harding said at the BBC News Festival. "And we're going to have do something determined about that."

The Independent goes on to report:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/incoming_bbc_news_director_on_journalism_gender_gap_we_can_do_better/feed/ 2 Illegal construction, shoddy materials at fault in Bangladesh factory disaster http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/illegal_construction_shoddy_materials_at_fault_for_bangladesh_factory_disaster/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/illegal_construction_shoddy_materials_at_fault_for_bangladesh_factory_disaster/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 15:32:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306837 A government investigation into the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Sava,Bangladesh, found that cheap building materials and a series of other construction-related violations were at fault for the disaster that killed 1,127 people.

As reported by the Associated Press:

"The owner used extremely poor quality iron rods and cement," committee head Khandker Mainuddin Ahmed told The Associated Press a day after submitting the report to the government. "There were a series of irregularities."

The report found that building owner Sohel Rana had permission to build a six-story structure and added two floors illegally so he could rent them out to garment factories. Past statements from authorities said the owner had permission for a five-story structure and added three floors illegally.

The report also said the building was not built for industrial use and the weight of the heavy garment factory machinery and their vibrations contributed to the building collapse. Those factors had previously been cited.

The ground on which the building was built was not fit for a multi-story building, the report said.

"A portion of the building was constructed on land which had been a body of water before and was filled with rubbish," Ahmed said.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/illegal_construction_shoddy_materials_at_fault_for_bangladesh_factory_disaster/feed/ 6 Destroying the planet for record profits http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/destroying_the_planet_has_never_been_so_profitable_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/destroying_the_planet_has_never_been_so_profitable_partner/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 14:34:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306780 We have a word for the conscious slaughter of a racial or ethnic group: genocide.  And one for the conscious destruction of aspects of the environment: ecocide.  But we don’t have a word for the conscious act of destroying the planet we live on, the world as humanity had known it until, historically speaking, late last night.  A possibility might be “terracide” from the Latin word for earth.  It has the right ring, given its similarity to the commonplace danger word of our era: terrorist.

The truth is, whatever we call them, it’s time to talk bluntly about the terrarists of our world.  Yes, I know, 9/11 was horrific.  Almost 3,000 dead, massive towers down, apocalyptic scenes.  And yes, when it comes to terror attacks, the Boston Marathon bombings weren’t pretty either.  But in both cases, those who committed the acts paid for or will pay for their crimes.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/destroying_the_planet_has_never_been_so_profitable_partner/feed/ 22 Lawsuit alleges anti-gay hiring practices at ExxonMobil http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/lawsuit_alleges_anti_gay_hiring_practices_at_exxonmobil/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/lawsuit_alleges_anti_gay_hiring_practices_at_exxonmobil/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 13:15:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306713 A lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Freedom to Work alleges that ExxonMobil discriminated against a prospective employee because the individual was gay.

After the oil and gas giant failed to adopt a nondiscrimination policy that included protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, Freedom to Work ran a "paired resume" experiment to see if the company actively discriminated in its hiring practices. The LGBT worker advocacy group submitted two fictitious resumes in response to a listing for an administrative position at Exxon's Illinois offices. One of the candidates, the complaint alleges, was a highly qualified LGBT individual; the other was less qualified but had no ties to the gay community.

Exxon never responded to the employment request from the LGBT candidate while it actively pursued the other candidate, a practice in violation of Illinois' Human Rights Act, the suit alleges:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/lawsuit_alleges_anti_gay_hiring_practices_at_exxonmobil/feed/ 1 The Maker kids are alright http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_maker_kids_are_alright/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_maker_kids_are_alright/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 22:14:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306332 You don't see bicycle-powered cardboard rhinos every day. But when you nearly stumble into one at a Maker Faire, you don't even blink. After just a few hours spent navigating one's way though twirling electric-powered cupcake cars and dashing steam-punk-attired ladies and gentlemen, you become well-trained to expect the incongruous and delightfully absurd. And you start thinking, hmm ... I've got a lot of cardboard in my basement ... what completely bonkers thing can I do with?

Mark Frauenfelder, editor in chief of Make Magazine, calls the Faire "a magic space-time moment." I can't argue. The Maker Faire my son and I visited in San Mateo, Calif., on Saturday pulsated with a vibe so enthusiastic, so healthy, so creative, and so gosh-darn happy it was impossible not to get swept away. If the hands-on, funky robot, DIY delirious madness of the Maker Faire offers us a clue as to where the culture is headed this century, then guess what: Maybe things aren't going to be so bad, after all.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/the_maker_kids_are_alright/feed/ 8 Portland’s senseless war on fluoride http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portlands_senseless_war_on_fluoride_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portlands_senseless_war_on_fluoride_partner/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 21:41:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306188 Scientific American

Late last night, Portlanders rejected a plan to fluoridate their city’s water supply (and the water of over a dozen other cities). It’s the fourth time Portland has rejected the public health measure since 1956. It’s the fourth time they’ve gotten the science wrong.

When new medical treatments are implemented, when new drugs are introduced into the populace, there is always some hesitation. There are (hopefully) some clinical trials to back up the new intervention, but the long-term implications are often unclear. Water fluoridation doesn’t have this problem. For over 65 years, it has been rigorously tested as a public health measure, and considered one of the most successful measures of the last 100 years, alongside others like recognizing that tobacco use is a health hazard.

Simply put, the refusal of water fluoridation doesn’t have any scientific support. A review on fluoride’s effect on IQ out of Harvard was waved about as the main scientific opposition, but has since been thoroughly refuted. Decades of studies in different cities in different states, involving millions of people, have concluded that there is a safe level of fluoride—one part-per-million—that can be added to water for enormous benefit to our teeth and oral health with little to no adverse effects.

Without a study to stand on, the main opposition to water fluoridation seems to be political. It is almost understandable that Portland could stand up to health experts and refuse fluoride. Part of the American experiment was letting states decide for themselves what’s best for them and giving citizens the freedom to criticize government action. But the opponents of water fluoridation are boxing with a ghost. There are no known victims of water fluoridation. There are no cities receiving a toxic concentration of the ion. Water fluoridation isn’t just the addition of fluoride; it’s the regulation of fluoride in the water supply. The ion occurs naturally in ground water in varying levels, some that are in fact too high. When this is the case fluoride is actually removed from the water to get the greatest benefit. Arguing against having a regulated supply of fluoride in your water is like an anemic refusing to take iron supplements. The doctor isn’t trying to add enough iron to your blood so that Magneto could pull it out; she is trying make sure the levels in your blood are right for health.

“Keep Portland Weirdly Out Of Touch With Modern Medicine”

Portland is a lovely, if a little rainy, city replete with greenery, mountains, and some of the most interesting nightlife you will ever see. But chemophobia is in the air. Fluoride—an aggressively electronegative atom with an extra electron—has been singled out for scrutiny with a smear campaign. The charge against this negatively charged particle uses propaganda laced with a high concentration of fear-inducing terms and mischaracterizations to rally a small but highly vocal base.

Because there is no evidence that a regulated amount of fluoride in our water is causing harm—the reality is just the opposite—graphic posters like this one on the right color the conversation. Poison? Insecticides? Bone cancer? Why would Portland fluoridate if this poster were right?

But it isn’t. The fear of fluoride follows the same playbook for mischaracterizing chemicals. First, the chemical is labeled “toxic,” but it isn’t mentioned that everything is toxic in the appropriate amounts. Advil and Tylenol are toxic at high enough concentrations, as is water. Many chemicals are harmless within a range of toxicity, and many are beneficial up to certain point. Next, the chemical’s dangerous effects at massive concentrations are stated. But 1/100 or 1/10 of an ounce of fluoride would never be in a glass of tap water in a regulated area—indeed, you are much more likely to find dangerously high levels of fluoride in unregulated water supplies. One part-per-million is the recommended dose, and so one ion floats among a million water molecules. What happens at higher doses can be terrible, which is precisely why you won’t find those levels in regulated water supplies.

The final effort is to link the chemical to other scary things that contain it. This may come as a surprise, but it shouldn’t scare you—your body produces formaldehyde. It does so naturally, but the chemical doesn’t damage or kill you. It’s all about the dose; it makes the poison. Just as a natural amount of formaldehyde in your body isn’t a cause for alarm, neither is a regulated, and proven beneficial, amount of fluoride in your water.

And the fear is selective. Where is the anti-chlorine lobby? Chlorine is a chemical—also an ion—added to water, also considered one of the greatest public health measures in history. It too is proven to reduce disease and create a more healthy population. Chloride has all the attributes that make fluoride “scary.” When an identical situation produces almost no blowback, it speaks to the basis of fluoride fear. It’s not science.

Posters and information campaigns like the one above have caused more damage to the reputation of chemicals than yesterday’s vote. The chemophobia playbook has tattered edges and frayed bindings. The game plan for destroying public support for a chemical is tired, disparaging, inaccurate, and it worked in Portland.

Chemical Conspiracy

“Portland is wrong about fluoridation” is exactly what a government shill would say, isn’t it?

The claims against fluoride are overblown, the science deems it safe, so what’s left are the conspiracy theories claiming it to be a mind control agent or a dumbing-down recipe fed to the helpless sheeple. Though a conspiracy is nigh impossible to refute—every piece of evidence against the conspiracy is “part of the conspiracy”—the supposed fluoride conspiracy is nigh impossible to accept. While we sit in stagnant congressional deadlock, accepting a fluoride conspiracy means answering “yes” to all the following:

Could the government…?

  • Control each and every scientist who has ever published a study on water fluoridation?
  • Control each and every website that promotes the use of fluoridation?
  • Have significant private control of the infrastructure of the Internet to suppress conspiracies?
  • Keep every government employee or scientist who knew about fluoridation for the last 65 years from mentioning one word about its dangers at recommended levels?
  • Control and coordinate advocacy groups on the local level to write reports and organize in favor of the process?
  • Have the time and resources to conduct all these suppressive operations for half a century?

Fluoridation conspiracy theorists can’t trust the government to safely add/remove something to/from their water—as they do for chlorine, cryptosporidium cysts, carbon-based solids, oil, grease, arsenic, lead, and selenium—but will give the government the benefit of the doubt when it comes to policing every shred of information on fluoridation for the last 65 years. As with most conspiracies, pulling on the thread unravels the theory.

And if water fluoridation is a grand conspiracy, at least it’s a safe and cost-effective one. The CDC estimates that every $1 invested in the practice saves approximately $38 in dental costs.

The freedom to question the government that makes America great is a banner that shades our most cherished values. Sometimes, the shadow creeps too far. Should we have the freedom to refuse a critically important public health measure? When the enshrinement of autonomy bleeds into areas where personal opinion is the lowest form of evidence, it leads to perplexing questions about whether or not we have a right to be less healthy by choice.

Portland has the right to keeps fluoride out of its water because the battle cry of American freedom trumps a data point on a graph. Even when surveys of 1st-3rdgrader’s dental health recommend water fluoridation, the issue is contorted and amplified into a political screech with unpleasant lows and cringe-worthy highs. Portland remains out-of-step with dental health by choice, by political motivations, and by often-valid concerns over government intrusion. Yesterday’s vote was a failure of science communication, and it falls on public health officials to rectify that, to take back the word “chemical.” Perhaps re-framing the conversation in terms of dental health or water fluoridation as regulation, not just addition, could help. Until political questions are seriously informed by scientific answers, fear and freedom beats facts.

Science can lead a man to fluoridated water, but it can’t make him drink.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portlands_senseless_war_on_fluoride_partner/feed/ 126 Is Pittsburgh the next Portland? http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portland_is_dying_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portland_is_dying_partner/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305659 Pacific Standard What does a dying city look like? Brains are draining. The population is shrinking or aging, or both. Vibrant, creative class cool Portland is the antithesis of dying. Yesterday, journalist Annalyn Kurtz tweets: “See! The Portland labor force lost 25,000 workers in the last year.”

What in the name of Richard Florida is going on here? The link will take you to the Bureau of Labor page with a bunch of employment data for Portland (select data recreated below). You can see the boom, the fuel for Portlandia. More recently, the labor force number plateaus. Recession. Financial crisis. You know the drill. What comes next? Will the boom pick back up?

portland-stats

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/portland_is_dying_partner/feed/ 61 “Original Coca-Cola had a very small amount of cocaine” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/original_coca_cola_had_a_very_small_amount_of_cocaine_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/original_coca_cola_had_a_very_small_amount_of_cocaine_partner/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 17:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305746 AlterNetFor God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergast is the definitive history of the product so many see as a symbol of America itself. This impressive tome – recently released as a third edition with added new material – is not a critique of Coca-Cola, nor is it a fan’s tribute, as Pendergast reveals things the Coca-Cola Company doesn’t want you to know. (Yes, it used to contain cocaine.) He even reveals the drink’s original secret formula (which is less exciting than you might think).
Coca-Cola is not fascinating for what it is – colored sugar water with bubbles – but for what it represents. And that’s a point long known by the company’s marketers, with the exception of when they forgot it during the New Coke fiasco in the 1980s. Today, marketing students in business schools everywhere study that famous gaff.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/original_coca_cola_had_a_very_small_amount_of_cocaine_partner/feed/ 18 Justin Bieber will destroy you if you live-tweet his parties http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/justin_bieber_will_make_your_life_miserable_if_you_live_tweet_his_parties_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/justin_bieber_will_make_your_life_miserable_if_you_live_tweet_his_parties_partner/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 16:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305720 The Daily Dot You'll never get invited to one of Justin Bieber's house ragers, but if you do, don't even think about live-tweeting it. The precocious singer will sue you to high heaven.

The 19-year-old is now making friends and acquaintances sign a waiver before entering his Calabasas, Calif., home. The waiver, obtained by TMZ, warns "under no circumstances will you divulge the details of you entering and being on the Property or engaging in the Activities by any means or through any media whatsoever, including without limitation, through photographs, video, blogging, texting, 'Tweeting' or posting any such information on any social media site."

Among other concerns, guests are banned from bleating about the "physical health, or the philosophical, spiritual or other views or characteristics" of Bieber or anyone else associated with him.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/justin_bieber_will_make_your_life_miserable_if_you_live_tweet_his_parties_partner/feed/ 7 Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/who_is_company_doe_a_new_test_in_corporate_secrecy/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/who_is_company_doe_a_new_test_in_corporate_secrecy/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 16:53:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305682 If you look at the redacted decision a federal judge in the District Court of Maryland handed down last October, you would think it involves a classified CIA program, burying all pertinent information -- sometimes almost entire pages -- under black boxes.

But the case isn’t about a secret weapons program -- it’s about baby strollers or kitchen appliances or action figures or some other consumer product. But we don’t actually know because everything, from the name of the company involved to the product it makes, is secret, thanks to a potentially unprecedented court ruling that consumer advocates fear could set a standard of allowing corporations to challenge actions they don’t like without even revealing their names. Welcome to the “Company Doe” case.

In 2008, after a spate of high-profile recalls of lead-tainted toys from China and other products, Congress passed a law to beef up the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency that regulates everything from baby cribs to ATVs to swimming pools -- over 15,000 different products, altogether. The law also created a user-friendly online database aimed at making it easier for consumers to learn about potentially dangerous products by centralizing government reports and allowing any consumer to post his or her own complaints.

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