“No More Good Wines!”

Posted on 26. Mar, 2010 by admin in Middle Class Crunch, Uncategorized

The restaurant business has never been easy, but when the mortgage crisis hit, fancy dining was one of the first expenses people cut back on. And in New York, where banks and insurance companies slashed their staffs and tourism dwindled, restaurateurs found themselves in a tough spot.

Bernard Ros, owner of Manhattan’s Meli Melo, has weathered the storm so far. In our latest episode of “Little Green Shoots”, we recently caught up with Bernard to learn what he did to keep his business afloat.
http://www.vimeo.com/10465456

Hey – What’s Your Deal, Guy?

Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by admin in Economy, Energy Security, War on Terror

(An Ongoing Series About Your Finest Public Servants At Work)

Health care reform has launched Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) back into the spotlight. After four terms, we thought, perhaps Lieberman sprinkles legislative magic from Hartford to the Hart Building. Let’s take a look.

Lieberman is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security. One of the most important functions of that committee (and of Congress) is not just to spend money but to keep track of it. In fact, checks and balances are the whole point. But Lieberman held no hearings. None. Possible malfeasance by the Bush administration? Nope. Checking up on the progress of the Department of Homeland Security? Not hardly.

“We like to do legislation,” he told reporters. “We don’t like investigating … just to see who is at fault.”

Aetna, I'm glad I met ya!

This must extend to the role of Alberto Gonzalez, too. The former attorney general was supportive of the now-infamous torture memos. Lieberman said this: “As he leaves public service, the Attorney General deserves our appreciation for his work for our nation.”

Then again, Lieberman was also supportive of waterboarding, voting against a ban, saying, “It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological”

He has been repeatedly and publicly foggy on the war on terror, calling Iraq “the central front of the war on terror against the enemies who attacked America on 9/11/01,” and in 2005 stating that “The last two weeks have been critically important and I believe may be seen as a turning point in the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism.”

Nearly $1 trillion spent on the war later, let’s look at health care reform, which Lieberman worries will increase the national debt.

Lieberman’s nickname (as told by one of our favorite congressional sources) of “Senator Aetna” comes from the $110,000 in campaign donations this year alone that the insurance giant has given him.

The senator, who is up for re-election in 2010, has promised to filibuster health care reform, and hold an investigative Homeland Security hearing on the recent shooting at Fort Hood by a Muslim soldier.

Perhaps he’s scheduling this flurry of activity between his ubiquitous television appearances. Hey, Senator Lieberman—what’s your deal, guy?

Common Debt

Posted on 03. Nov, 2009 by admin in Economy, Middle Class Crunch

When photojournalist Kelly Shimoda set out to chronicle debt for Film@11, the average US household had it — Harvard University’s Elizabeth Warren was seen as a Cassandra for her study that found families were in financial trouble due to large, fixed expenses like mortgages and health care insurance —but no one wanted to talk about it, at least not on record. Debt was seen as painful and shameful.

Well, it’s still painful, but the shame is no longer personal. Over 1 million Americans filed for bankruptcy last year. Many of them filed because of health care costs, and many of those actually had health insurance.

Our latest episode of “Political Graffiti” tackles the sticky question of reform and what to reform. Former Cigna executive Wendell Potter suggests starting with the insurance cartel itself.

Settling In For The Long Haul

Posted on 24. Aug, 2009 by admin in War on Terror

Despite calls from the Obama administration and other members of the international community, Israeli settlers continue to occupy parts of the West Bank, in violation of the Geneva Convention and Israeli law. For the Palestinians, this means continual harassment, pressure, and intimidation as settlers attempt to force them from their homes. And the ongoing power struggle within the Palestinian government isn’t helping things, either.

To the apparent consternation of the Israeli government, the issue of the settlements has been brought front and center, and it’s not something that will be settled soon, nor easily. Episode 4 of “Political Graffiti” examines the problem from the ground level.

Haven't We Played This Record Before?

Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by michelemitchell in War on Terror

Admittedly, it doesn’t help when you have a president citing Gog and Magog as swell reasons to go to war. Countries like, oh, say, Israel, might be forgiven for being confused now, after eight years of ears open to Biblical reasoning to public policy, that the same arguments aren’t working on the Obama administration.

So if you can’t count on good old fashioned American biblical rhetoric, maybe you can count on good old fashioned American short-term memory! We’re famous for it.

Today’s Haaretz has the interior minister touring the E-1 corridor in Jerusalem and saying “he hoped Israel would succeed in convincing the U.S. to approve construction.” The minister goes on to note that the “the new [U.S.] administration is different from the last,” and that the Bush administration had “made clear comments” regarding its acceptance (italics, ours) of construction in that area.

Sigh. We are hoping that our upcoming episode of “Political Graffiti” will be our Last Story About Israel Ever, but then there are moments like these, when we have information. So in our Second to Last Story About Israel Ever:

In addition to the on-record testimony we have from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the E-1 corridor–”“We have told the Israelis in no uncertain terms that [settlement in the E1 area] would contravene American policy”–we have from a US source involved in the negotiations that “the issue Rice got the most incensed over was the development of the E-1 zone. The US said time and time again: you do not start E-1.”

Now, whether or not Israel presses forward and starts construction is one thing. But the ruse that this was a project ever approved by any US administration (Elliot Abrams does not count as an “administration”) is just that–another ruse.

"Don't do it! Doooon't...do...it!"

Gog and Magog leave Chirac…well…Agog

Posted on 06. Aug, 2009 by michelemitchell in War on Terror

So ’tis the season for policymakers and politicians to steer public opinion their way, via books. We know one is on the way from Cheney. Former President George W. Bush, too. And we’re really hoping that when Bush publishes his “decision” book that he includes some guidance as to how he decided to pitch former French President Jacques Chirac on the war with Iraq…by citing Gog and Magog.

According to a new book by Chirac (Si Vous le Répétez, Je Démentirai–If You Repeat it, I Will Deny) to be published next March, Bush told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

Chirac had no clue what Bush was talking about, so his staff asked Swiss theologian Thomas Roemer of the University of Lausanne to explain. We went to Wiki.

"I simply have no idea what on earth you are talking about."

Common Sense, Episode 3: The Real McCain (part 1)

Posted on 11. Oct, 2008 by filmat11tv in Energy Security

Here’s a guy we’ve covered before–we saw what happened in South Carolina, up close and in person, in 2000. So when we got a shot to ask Sen. McCain….well, see for yourself.