The lobster traps are not the quaint wooden lobster pots one sees as decor in nautically-themed restaurants.  Rather, they are big wire-mesh boxes, about the size of a dog crate.  hey aren't cheap and they are the lobstermens' second-most important tool, the first being a boat.  The shooting and this case not only were a narrowly-avoided death, but also a tragedy in that it tore apart the tiny community of lobstermen and their families on the isolated island.

A new study from the Center for Community Economic Development indicates that single black women, even in their peak earning years, have a median net worth of only $5.

As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the study also found that single white women between 36 and 49 have a median wealth of $42,600 -- well below the figure for single white men. But the finding that black women have virtually no assets at all stunned even the study's participants.

[snip]

Even black women who were married or in a long-term relationship had a median net worth of only $31,500, compared to a figure of $167,500 for white women.

Interesting question which I've noted in recent times that people on the left often raise.  It is one not unreasonable argument which undercuts the conservatives zeal to put the guy on Mt Rushmore and on the $50 bill.  After all, how can you elevate someone to such heights if he was mentally incompetent half of his presidency -- a mere doddering figurehead?

Otoh, making that argument lets Reagan off the hook, seems to me, for his considerable lawbreaking activity in re Iran-Contra -- arguably at least as grave an offense, and as impeachable, as Watergate.  (I-C:  one of the most egregious examples of Dem wimpitude as Congress let Ronnie and Poppy off the hook for some serious felonies.)

And I can't quite be sure that the former professional actor Reagan, at least in some of his immediate post-presidency court appearances involving I-C people, didn't find it personally advantageous to act as if his mental state had deteriorated much more than it had.  It sure was interesting in the timing of the onset of the Alzheimer's symptoms -- right around the time he left office and then was subpoened to testify in court.  

I'm inclined to believe he was faking it selectively prior to the final decade or so of real decline, and that generally his lack of mental or intellectual acuity before that owed more to his personal limitations and old age/lack of energy/leisurely work habits than any crippling mental disease.

Based on the first commercial plant (.pdf) ever built in Huntorf, Germany, the Electric Power Research Institute and Nakhamkin's engineering firm came up with a plan to store compressed air in a salt dome in Alabama. They created a geological pocket 900 feet long and up to 238 feet wide in the dome by pumping water into it to dissolve the rock salt. When the (briny) water was pumped back out, the salt resealed itself and they had an air-tight container: "The solution-mined cavern is a large subterranean pressure vessel," as an EPRI report explained.

During off-peak times, electricity runs a compressor which pumps the air down into the cavern. Then, when energy is needed, the air is released from the reserve to power a fairly standard turbine, with a little help from natural gas. The system has worked for more than 25 years.

Today's consensus is that Rep. Bart Stupak's anti-abortion bloc appears smaller and smaller as it recedes in the rear-view mirror.

Unwary popcorn-munchers with nothing better to do might amuse themselves with my earlier speculations on the subject.

Briefly, to execute a hold-out hold-up like Stupak's, one must deliver the Yes votes if satisfied AND deliver the No votes if unsatisfied -- and even then, the agenda-meisters must require those votes.

Among the "tells" deflating Stupak's bluff were the inclusion (on many speculative lists) of Rep. Berry (D-AR) and Rep. Cao (R-LA) -- both unequivocal No's no matter the disposition of Stupak's language.

Once the current HCR package passes, the skids are greased for a variety of classic Hacker public options and/or incremental "Medicare for More" broadening of single payer.

Huh? How can that be???

Legislators, constituents, interest groups may oppose the "HCR I" package as a whole on account of a whole gamut of real and perceived particulars (from their diverse perspectives) ...
mandates, subsidies, regulations, deficit concerns, etc.

Including the public option now would only add to the list of objections that can peel off supportive votes. It won't add any votes (even Kucinich)

But when "HCR I" is law, many of its natural enemies become natural P.O. supporters.

With HCR I "in the bank", original points of objection (mandates, regulation, etc) become moot. Meanwhile, any P.O. is neutral or attractive to individual mandated policyholders in home districts. Likewise, it's a federal budget saver, attracting Congressional budget hawks in both caucuses -- many of whom are holdouts in the current legislative cliffhanger.

Further, most options/extension moves can be constructed as grist for 50%+1 reconciliation in the Senate.

Doesn't mean your choice of P.O. variations will pass later this session, and the D's may or may not sustain majorities in either house this Fall.

A "family-friendly" bill is set to pass in Florida that would deny tax credits to movie and TV productions that feature gay characters, the Palm Beach Post reported this week. State tax laws already offer a 2% tax credit on production costs of "family-friendly" productions; the bill would raise that credit to 5% and ban productions promoting "nontraditional family values."