Clean lines, bright hues and limited release numbers make the latest adidas Skate drop a surefire sneaker to cure your post-summer blues. This special Ronan has been offered by boutiques nationwide as a thank you for their support and only 1000 pairs have been produced. True Blue suede dresses the upper, white leather contrasts are used and Pool can be seen peeking out from behind the heel. Act quick and grab a pair of these clean kicks now from select stores, including Politics.
Adidas Ronan
True Blue/White/Pool
G49728
$75
Further shoring up its green credentials, Google has invested $75 million in Clean Power Ventures, a startup that makes solar power generators for homes.
The initial outlay, announced on Google’s Green Blog, brings Google’s total investment in renewable energy to $850 million.
Clean Power Ventures has been licensing its proprietary software to solar panel installers but will now offer a new service: connecting solar power installers with investors like Google looking to buy solar power systems.
Google’s deal with Clean Power Ventures works like this: Homeowners can get solar panels installed on their roofs but won’t own them. Instead, they’ll sign a contract to buy the electricity generated by the panels. Google can then buy the solar panel systems from Clean Power Ventures, which gets a cut of the homeowners’ monthly payments.
The announcement comes after Google invested $280 million in SolarCity — a company that helps homeowners and businesses start using solar energy as a power source.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Abi Skipp
More About: Clean Power Ventures, Google, green, solar
Forbes estimates that His Airness brings in $60 million in endorsements annually, more than what he made when he was a player. [ more › ]
President Barack Obama spent yesterday in California, fielding questions about creating economic opportunity and putting America back to work at a Silicon Valley town hall hosted by social media site LinkedIn. As the nation grapples with a 9.1 percent unemployment rate, the connection between education and ending the nation’s unemployment crisis dominated the conversation.
“When we were at our peak it was in large part because we were doing a better job than anyone else in the world in training our workers,” Obama told the crowd. “The rest of the world is catching up.” He pointed out that China and India are increasing the number of high school and college graduates well-trained in math and science and ready for the tech jobs of the future, while the United States still struggles with ending its high school dropout crisis.
Indeed, the high dropout rate is sure to continue to spell bad news for the American economy. It’s become trendy to question the value of a college degree, but August data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the more education someone has, the better chance she has of being employed. Only around 5 percent of the nation’s almost 47 million college graduates are currently unemployed. In comparison, 8.2 percent of people with only some college or an associate’s degree and 9.6 percent of people with only a high school diploma are unemployed. Hardest hit are the nation’s high school dropouts: almost 15 percent are jobless.
But what about those unemployed workers that already have a degree? When an out-of-work IT analyst from Chicago asked what kind of education and training programs she should seek out to boost her future job prospects, the president acknowledged that the current education system and labor market makes it tough to pick up new skills. “The one thing we can do is to make it easier for you to go back to school if you think there are skill sets that you need,” he said.
A request for words of encouragement from another unemployed IT worker who was laid off after 22 years on the job, spurred the president to make it clear that “the problem is not you. It’s the economy as a whole.”
The president said that people like the IT workers, who already have degrees and marketable job skills, will be in demand once the nation gets its fiscal house in order and companies start hiring again. However, he warned, if we don’t fund education reforms and “don’t prepare our people with the skills they need, we’re going to have problems.”
President Obama’s approval rating is at an all-time low as concerns for his re-election grow. With a bad economy and an even worse job market, morale in the “Yes We Can” believers has taken a big hit in the past three years.
Even though there are now more women serving on the Supreme Court than at any point in its history, August’s unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent. Osama Bin Laden may be captured and deceased but the U.S credit rating has been downgraded from its AAA status for the first time since it was first issued in 1917. And even though Obama just announced a new initiative to get veterans back to work, foreclosures are still on a wild roller-coaster ride placing families into unimaginable situations.
While there are probably 40 more reasons why Obama shouldn’t be re-elected, here are 40 more why he should.
1. Authorized the housing resucue plan and new FHA residential housing guarantees.
2. Authorized a $789 billion economic stimulus plan – 1/3 in tax cuts for working-class families; 1/3 to states for infrastructure projects; 1/3 to states to prevent the layoffs of police officers, teachers, etc., at risk of losing their jobs because of state budget shortfalls.
3. Instituted a new rule allowing the public to meet with federal housing insurers to refinance (in as quickly as one day) a mortgage if they are having trouble paying.
4. Authorized the “Cash for Clunkers” program that stimulated auto sales and removed old, inefficient, polluting cars from the road.
5. Convened a “jobs summit” to bring experts together to develop ideas for creating jobs.
6. Authorized the federal government to make more loans available to small businesses and ordered lower rates for federal loans to small businesses.
7. In November 2009, Obama extended unemployment benefits for one million workers.
8. Signed historic Wall Street reform bill – Designed to re-regulate and end abusive practices and promote consumer protections.
9. Instituted enforcements for equal pay for women (Lilly Ledbetter Bill).
10. Signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (2010) - To curb wasteful spending.
11. Signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which provides small tax cuts for 95% of “working families” - The tax cuts were not as big as was suggested during the 2008 campaign.
12. Reduced taxes for some small businesses to stimulate the economic recovery.
13. Extended the Home Buyers Credit for first-time home buyers.
14. Overturned the Bush-era practice of not listing certain federal programs in the federal budget – Bush did this (so did Reagan) in an effort to hide programs and make the budget look smaller; such “off budget” items are now included in the annual budget.
15. Ordered the Pentagon to cover expenses of families of fallen soldiers if they wish to be on site when the body arrives back in the US.
16. Working to increase pay and benefits for military personnel.
17. Fulfilled campaign promise to have combat troops (90,000) out of Iraq by August 31, 2010.
18. Appointed Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina, to the Supreme Court.
19. Appointed a diverse Cabinet and diverse White House staff.
20. Spoke at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization.
21. Signed the first major piece of federal gay rights legislation that includes acts of violence against gays under the list of federal hate crimes.
22. Allowed the State Department of offer same-sex benefits for employees.
23. After eight years of neglect, the Justice Department and EEOC are again enforcing employment discrimination laws.
24. Increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
25. Programs to assist Spanish speakers with the US Census.
26. Increased funding available for student loans.
27. Expanded the national youth service program.
28. Initiated a “Race to the Top” competitive federal grant program for states who develop innovative policies.
29. Proposed that the Pentagon repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; placed a “freeze” on current efforts to remove alleged homosexuals from the military.
30. Increased investment in technologies for schools/education.
31. Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness.
32. FEMA once again reports directly to the president – Bush removed FEMA (prior to the Hurricane Katrina disaster) from this status.
33. Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office.
34. Health insurance plans must cover birth control as preventive care for women, with no copays.
35. Reversed some of the Bush-era restrictions that prevented Medicare from negotiating with pharmaceutical firms for cheaper drugs, allowing government to again competitively bid.
36. Individuals living at or below the poverty line were eligible for healthcare under Medicaid, but by 2014 individuals/families living slightly above (making up to $14,404/$29,327) the poverty line will also be eligible for benefits.
37. Individuals/families making less than $43,320/$88,200 per year will qualify for government subsidies to help purchase health insurance.
38. Families can keep their children in college on their plans through age 26.
39. Childhood Obesity Act (spearheaded by Michelle Obama)- purposed to subsidize free meals in low-income areas, to ensure that children receive well-balanced and nutritious school meals, to provide free or reduced-price meals to nearly 31 million low-income children and to ultimately reduce childhood obesity.
40. Obama proposes Jobs Bill to help put Americans back to work.
Could Cornel West’s Obama Attacks Could Affect 2012 Election?
Obama Begins Midwest Bus Tour To Hear From Voters
After looking at this graphic, I imagine most viewers come away thinking that fast food is more expensive than cooking at home, which was the intention of the accompanying opinion piece by Mark Bittman. The graphic succeeds in conveying visually just exactly the point that the article made using words.
The photographs are vibrant and catchy, bordering on food porn.
The sidebars feature the calorie counts for these meals in addition to the large price tags. The nutritional information graphs are useful for Bittman’s response to existing critics of the ‘cooking at home is better’ movement who have tried to argue that though fast food may be more expensive on a per meal basis, it is actually cheaper on a per calorie basis because fast food is so calorie dense (if a bit too heavily reliant on nutritionally vacuous fats and sugars). Bittman uses the nutritional information graphs to refute this claim and I applaud the graphic designer for including the rebuff of the critics in the graphic. It would have been easy enough to simply run the photos of the meals with their price tags.
The photos take up too much space. This almost looks like an advertisement for McDonald’s, chicken, and beans.
The nutritional information bar graphs are potentially confusing. They do not measure absolutes so much as they show how each of the home-cooked meals stack up against McDonald’s. Since people are not used to thinking of their meals in comparison to what they would have eaten had they eaten at McDonald’s, I’m not sure the comparative nutritional graphs work as well as one graph that used absolute data and had all three meals on it. I am almost positive the graphic designer probably tried making just exactly that graph – if they are out there reading this I invite them to send me what that looked like to prove that my hunch to use a unified graph on this one would have been ugly, confusing, or just plain wrong.
Bittman, Mark. (24 September 2011) Is Junk Food Really Cheaper? New York Times, Sunday Review. Op-ed column.
Bittman, Mark. (20 September 2011) Cooking Solves Everything: How Time in the Kitchen Can Save Your Health, Your Budget, and Even the Planet [e-book] published by Byliner.
SlutWalks began after a Toronto police official speaking to a group of women gave them some advice on how to avoid being raped. Michael Sanguinetti told the group: “I’m not supposed to say this, avoid dressing like sluts.”
Rightfully, many women were outraged by his comment that basically told women who dressed “provocatively” that they were asking to be raped. In protest to his misguided comments, some women began having “SlutWalks.” During these “SlutWalks” women take to the streets dressed provocatively to protest the assumption that the way women are dressed is an invitation for rape.
SlutWalks have been gaining steam throughout the world., but recently, a group of Black feminists led by the sisters over at Black Women’s Blueprint questioned whether Black women should be involved with SlutWalks. Although they appreciate the grassroots movement for inspiring debate and protests about rape, they are uneasy about the usage of the word “Slut” and argues it shuts out many Black women who work diligently to eradicate the use of such words.
The letter states:
We are deeply concerned. As Black women and girls we find no space in SlutWalk, no space for participation and to unequivocally denounce rape and sexual assault as we have experienced it. We are perplexed by the use of the term “slut” and by any implication that this word, much like the word “Ho” or the “N” word should be re-appropriated. The way in which we are perceived and what happens to us before, during and after sexual assault crosses the boundaries of our mode of dress. Much of this is tied to our particular history. In the United States, where slavery constructed Black female sexualities, Jim Crow kidnappings, rape and lynchings, gender misrepresentations, and more recently, where the Black female immigrant struggle combine, “slut” has different associations for Black women. We do not recognize ourselves nor do we see our lived experiences reflected within SlutWalk and especially not in its brand and its label.
As Black women, we do not have the privilege or the space to call ourselves “slut” without validating the already historically entrenched ideology and recurring messages about what and who the Black woman is. We don’t have the privilege to play on destructive representations burned in our collective minds, on our bodies and souls for generations. Although we understand the valid impetus behind the use of the word “slut” as language to frame and brand an anti-rape movement, we are gravely concerned. For us the trivialization of rape and the absence of justice are viciously intertwined with narratives of sexual surveillance, legal access and availability to our personhood. It is tied to institutionalized ideology about our bodies as sexualized objects of property, as spectacles of sexuality and deviant sexual desire. It is tied to notions about our clothed or unclothed bodies as unable to be raped whether on the auction block, in the fields or on living room television screens. The perception and wholesale acceptance of speculations about what the Black woman wants, what she needs and what she deserves has truly, long crossed the boundaries of her mode of dress.
Because, as the letter asserts, Black women can’t afford to be called “sluts” because our sexuality is always viewed critically and suspiciously, the authors of the letter want the organizers of SlutWalk to be more inclusive of Black women by changing the name of the movement.
They ask:
In that spirit, and because there is so much work to be done and great potential to do it together, we ask that the SlutWalk be even more radical and break from what has historically been the erasure of Black women and their particular needs, their struggles as well as their potential and contributions to feminist movements and all other movements.
Women in the United States are racially and ethnically diverse. Every tactic to gain civil and human rights must not only consult and consider women of color, but it must equally center all our experiences and our communities in the construction, launching, delivery and sustainment of that movement.
We ask that SlutWalk consider engaging in a re-branding and re-labeling process and believe that given the current popularity of the Walk, its thousands of followers will not abandon the movement simply because it has changed its label.
While I appreciate the writers of the open letter adding some much-needed historical context to the protest movement to end sexual violence (and reminding mainstream movements to be more inclusive of Black women), I’m not sure SlutWalks, by virtue of the name, excludes Black women. Many Black, Latina, Asian, and White women have participated in the walks and Alice Walker, prominent feminist foremother said she “always understood the word ‘slut’ to mean a woman who freely enjoys her own sexuality,” and that SlutWalks were “the spontaneous movement that has grown around reclaiming this word speaks to women’s resistance of having names turned into weapons against them.”
There has been a long-held belief in the Black community that we have to look respectable to be taken seriously (by White folks). Because of this, Salamishah Tillet of The Nation and Robin Givhan wonders if the opposite–to confront those stereotypes head on–is also possible?
Whether you agree with the name or not, one thing is clear: The more people working to end sexual harassment and violence, the better.
What do you think, Clutchettes? Have you participated in a SlutWalk? Do SlutWalks exclude black women because of the word ‘slut”? Is a name change in order?
Talk to me!
Related Reading
An Open Letter from Black Women to SlutWalk Organizers [The Huffington Post]
What to Wear to a SlutWalk [The Nation]
SlutWalks v. Ho Strolls [Crunk Feminist Collective]
Supa Villain remixes Rich Boy & Trae’s “Gwap” record that he produced and adds a new beat & a verse. This will appear on Villain’s upcoming tape that drops this Thursday.
Download: Supa Villain Ft. Rich Boy & Trae Tha Truth – Gwap (Remix)
One Revolution
What He/ She Said