March 2, 2010
Newsweek’s Oscar Roundable 2010
Countdown to the Academy Awards by watching clips from Newsweek’s high-brow (or, if you will, pretentious-seeming) Oscar Roundable 2010. I came across the 2008 one and admit to getting pretty addicted, mostly because James McAvoy and George Clooney were really funny. Morgan Freeman, Jeff Bridges, and Gabourey Sidibe, among others, discuss 2010 performances and, um, how great it is just to be nominated!
WNYC’s Radiolab on Lucy the Chimp
It looks like Radiolab is gearing up for some new spring shows, and is giving us a taste of its audio goodness. A podcast and slideshow preview an episode whose arc is the tragic tale of Lucy the Chimpanzee. From what I can tell from navigating the site, this full episode airs April 9, 2010.
February 26, 2010
Science Friday: Dinosaur Plumage
Were dinosaurs more elegant looking than we think? Below and here.
February 24, 2010
Senate Passes $35 Billion Jobs Bill
The Senate has passed a jobs bill that would, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), create:
- A payroll tax holiday for businesses to encourage hiring
- Allow Section 179 expensing to help small businesses expand
- Extend the Highway Trust Fund to allow billions in infrastructure investment and saving one million jobs
- Expand Build America Bonds program to allow states to borrow more for infrastructure projects.
Read the bill here. The House, which passed a far more extensive and expensive jobs bill in late December, must decide whether to adopt this measure as-is and send it to the president or fight to pass their one big measure. Most observers expect the House to pass the Senate version, and wait for additional jobs-related proposals to trickle out of the Senate.
February 23, 2010
Health Care Tracking Poll: Splitsville
Two days before the White House convenes a health care summit, the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll reveals a 43-43 split among Americans who favor or oppose health care reform legislation pending in Congress. But when you break the bill’s components down and ask people whether they support or oppose various elements, vast majorities approve of the major pieces of the legislation, including health insurance reforms, small business tax credits, and a health insurance exchange/marketplace. Few say they want to drop health care reform altogether, the poll shows.
Dig deep into the results here.
Robert Greenstein, executive director of the number-crunching Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, had this to say about the Obama administration proposal announced yesterday:
“The President’s proposal represents the last hope, perhaps for years to come, to enact comprehensive reforms that extend coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans, provide important consumer protections to tens of millions of insured Americans whose coverage may have critical gaps, and begin to slow the growth of health care costs.”