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!
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.
The Senate has passed a jobs bill that would, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), create:
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.
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.”
The Credit CARD Act of 2009 takes effect today, ushering modest but real credit card protections.
The nonprofit Consumers Union lists some of the major provisions that have kicked in, including curbs on raising interest rates, double billing, and fees.
TARP watchdog Elizabeth Warren told Bill Maher on Friday, however, that more is needed to protect the public from financial sector exploitation and reiterated calls for a consumer financial protection agency. (Watch a clip from the show.)
If you haven’t had a chance to read Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s articles about the U.S. soldiers’ Marja offensive, please at least read today’s dispatch. It’s simply excellent war reporting.
Reingold, a D.C. creative services firm for which I write and edit on occasion, sends me a Video Valentine. It’s just the latest incarnation of the firm’s annual Valentine’s Day message, an always special gift that encapsulates the message that Reingold’s work comes from the heart, that “We’re on a mission … Yours.”
It’s easy to see from the video why it’s fun to work with Reingold, but perhaps even more apparent why it also feels meaningful.
It really is all about the love. What a concept! Way to go Reingold!
Sign up for Reingold’s e-newsletter, Shop Talk, here.
The Democrats and President Obama today marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) with a series of announcements and events around the country.
Here’s the latest ARRA promo item: The online quiz. Pretty inventive.
