Hudson Blogs

• I don’t get Lieberman and Lincoln..

  —Jason Gooljar

  She added: “But let me be perfectly clear. I am opposed to a new government-administered health care plan as a part of comprehensive health insurance reform, and I will not vote in favor of the proposal that has been introduced by leader Reid as it is written.” But Senator Lieberman, [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:15am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Local legislators put their federal counterparts to shame when dealing with foreclosures

  —Jason Gooljar

  To protect neighboring property values and prevent health hazards that surround an unkempt, foreclosed home, the bill S66007 would require lending institutions to maintain the property so that it remains in a safe and habitable condition. To protect the tenant, the lending institution that acquires the foreclosed property must notify [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 3:00pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Health Insurance corporations and their execs are terrorists

  —Jason Gooljar

  Wonder why? Because insurance companies can profit from blocking down reform. A newly identified report from Goldman Sachs looked at the impact of health reform on major health insurance companies and put it in stark terms – insurance company earnings could be cut by 50% over the next decade if [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 1:17pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• I like Bernie Sanders’s banking act

  —Jason Gooljar

  That said, Mr. Sanders’s philosophy seems sensible. Breaking up the biggest financial firms would remove unfair subsidies in the form of implicit government backing, sharply reduce systemic risk, and perhaps foster greater competition. Given the poor performance of some of the biggest financial conglomerates, it might even benefit shareholders. It’s [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:04pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• AG Cuomo goes after spaceman (Intel)

  —Jason Gooljar

  New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, alleging the chipmaker threatened computer makers and paid kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, Cuomo’s office said Wednesday. via NY attorney general Cuomo files antitrust suit against Intel – Nov. 4, 2009. What ever happened to the free [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:48pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Workers get some sleep!

  —Jason Gooljar

  This isn’t the first study to show that interrupting natural sleep cycles is harmful. A previous study whose mouse participants were even more unfortunate found that chronic jet lag can be fatal. Uh, yikes. Suddenly my frequent flier miles are looking less appealing. Another study, this time with hamsters in [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:19pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Small things I gleamed from a trip to New York

  —Jason Gooljar

  I’m heading back home to the DC Metro area tomorrow but I wanted to blog about three observations I’ve made in traveling back and forth from Manhattan to Hartsdale, NY to visit mom & sis. The first thing was an ad I saw in a subway car about a local [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 11:27am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Indoor plants good for the office

  —Jason Gooljar

  New research shows that ornamental plants can drastically reduce levels of stress and ill health and boost performance levels at work because they soak up harmful indoor air pollution. via Indoor Plants Could Save Your Life | CommonDreams.org. If you work in an office it appears that getting some plants will help [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:18am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Screw credit cards and the banks!

  —Jason Gooljar

  Lenders are making the moves in advance of tougher federal regulations for credit cards scheduled to take effect on Feb. 22. The new rules will limit how companies can modify credit card agreements, specifically prohibiting them from retroactively raising interest rates and fees on existing balances. via Credit Card Firms Hurry [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:09pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Google Sidewiki: A new tool for activists

  —Jason Gooljar

  Eric Lee over at Labourstart in his latest newsletter has pointed out the usefulness of Google Sidewiki. I do think this is actually quite brilliant. Unless you’re a regular reader of the official Google blog (and I’m not) you probably haven’t heard of Google SideWiki.  But a trade union activist in [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 6:39am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Why would a health group take money from Coca-Cola?

  —Jason Gooljar

  The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy’s consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org. via Coke to Bring You Advice About Health and Soft Drinks [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:43pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• No jobs in America so Americans are leaving!

  —Jason Gooljar

  James is awaiting final approval on his visa to Korea. The hagwon, a special school for learning English, has hired him for about $1,000 a month plus living expenses. He explains that it’s the best he can do: even the Korean English-teaching market, which used to hire any college graduate [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:37pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• AFI workers win union

  —Jason Gooljar

  But the spat ended on Wednesday when the union announced that it had negotiated an agreement with AFI to represent the Maryland theater workers. The agreement provided “significant wage, benefit and condition improvements,” according to a statement from the guild, which touted how Loeb had “put pressure on the company [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 7:49am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• BPA in canned soup? Just great…

  —Jason Gooljar

  The food processing world is reeling right now one day after a shocking new series of tests released by Consumer Reports revealed that many leading brands of canned foods contain Bisphenol A (BPA)—a toxic chemical linked to health risks including reproductive abnormalities, neurological effects, heightened risk of breast and prostate [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:31pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Cereal ads detrimental to your kids health

  —Jason Gooljar

  According to a new study from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the least healthy breakfast cereals are the most frequently and aggressively marketed to children. via Cereal ads might be bad for your child’s health : Consumer Reports Health Blog. I’m not surprised. Kids really have it rough [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:24pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Latisse drug a lesson in subersive consumerist advertising

  —Jason Gooljar

  But I still couldn’t quite believe the level of glam-infused over-the-topness the commercial imparted, making a powerful prescription drug that can cost more than $100 a month sound like just a really, really cool new makeup item (and featuring superstar Brooke Shields, no less). If I didn’t know better (and [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:18pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Mondello on Election Night

  —Nassau GOP Watch

  Newsday Spin Cycle reports that "Mondello, in the cheerier climes of Tuesday’s GOP gathering in Westbury, was widely quoted as saying: “This is a night to remember.”
  
  Keep in mind that the sinking of the Titanic was called "A Night to Remember" too.
  " [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:10pm EST
  

• What’s the matter with Canada?

  —Jason Gooljar

  Number of comments: 2
  Yet no crop could grow in the pitch-black surface exposed by the machine working 1,000ft below our helicopter. This is the edge of a fast-expanding open-cast mine in the Canadian tar sands, one of the world’s most polluting sources of oil. It takes only a few minutes to fly across the [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 6:18pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• On affordable housing was Andy Spano right about Westchester County, NY?

  —Jason Gooljar

  The race matter reached its peak of controversy late last month when Spano, at a League of Women Voters of Westchester debate, said he thought much of the opposition to the housing settlement — what he dubbed as code words like economics, zoning and home rule — were really covers [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:53am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Senator Burr sides against rape victims

  —Jason Gooljar

  “SENATOR BURR: You were wrong to side with your campaign contributors from the defense industry and Chamber of Commerce and against your constituents, who overwhelmingly support the Franken Amendment protecting rape victims. Women, families, and workers expect better from you — and our democracy deserves better.” via Change Congress. What’s probably the [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:12pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Mining giant uses divide-and-conquer tactics

  —Jason Gooljar

  Global mining giant Vale is a highly profitable company.  Its net profits in 2008 were thirteen billion US dollars. Yet it tells the union that deep concessions are now needed, and tried to divide the workers by undermining seniority and providing fewer benefits to new employees. 3,500 Vale employees in Canada responded [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:57pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• This is why I laugh at the nativists who are anti-immigration like Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan

  —Jason Gooljar

  Of all the American contenders to try and break the 27-year men’s drought in the New York City Marathon, Meb Keflezighi may have represented the American dream more than any of them. Born in war-torn Eritrea, one of 11 siblings in a village with no electricity, Keflezighi now wears his [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 3:39pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• PepsiCo learns a $1.26 billion lesson – HA, HA!

  —Jason Gooljar

  The Wisconsin men said they talked with the distributors in 1981 about their idea to bottle and sell purified water and that PepsiCo later stole the idea by creating Aquafina. via PepsiCo learns a $1.26 billion lesson over misplaced letter | U.S. | Reuters. There is no shame when it comes to [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 1:06pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• BP smacked by OSHA | Chevron, Exxon Mobil and &c. take heed..

  —Jason Gooljar

  Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced today the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has levied the largest fine in its history—$87.4 million—against BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Texas, refinery. via AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | BP Hit [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 7:21pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Has the Bronx changed?

  —Jason Gooljar

  “I feel great about the change,” said Mr. Muniz, now a salesman at a police goods store. “The neighborhood was hot during the crack era. It was a terrible time. You see it now, the Bronx has changed. I’m amazed at how it looks now.” via Bronx Park South Journal – [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 5:14pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• The problem with Mr. Coburn

  —Jason Gooljar

  “My mission is to frame this health care debate in terms of the fiscal ruin of this country,” said the 61-year-old Mr. Coburn, who recently railed on the Senate floor that the federal debt was “waterboarding” his five grandchildren. “I have instructed my staff to clear my schedule for every [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 10:31am EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Take the Pledge, Mangano.

  —Nassau GOP Watch

  
  Alot has been made of the rumors that D.A. Kathleen Rice is thinking of running for NYS Attorney General.
  Then of course there are the attacks on County Executive Suozzi for the possibility that he may seek office outside of Nassau County. As if [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 2:00am EDT
  

• San Francisco Hotel Workers Vote to Strike

  —Jason Gooljar

  A strike has been authorized by San Francisco hotel workers. More than 9000 hotel workers are represented by UNITE-Here local 2. Ninety-two point three percent of those workers voted in favor of strike authorization at 31 upscale hotels. According to the union the hotels are seeking to increase workloads by [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 10:22pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• White House Public Option: Rumor Check

  —Jason Gooljar

  A rumor is making the rounds that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option.  Those rumors are absolutely false. In his September 9th address to Congress, President Obama made clear that he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 10:02pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Bailed out banks hoard art

  —Jason Gooljar

  Many of the world’s biggest banks — and biggest recipients of government bailouts — have some of the largest collections of art. Some of the works, including abstract pieces and old masters, are hanging in hallways or boardrooms. But much of it is packed away in storage. The art owned [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:53pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• The writing industrial complex?

  —Jason Gooljar

  Even graduates of bartending schools have some sort of employment on the horizon. But that just goes to show you the sheer genius of the literary-industrial complex. The available jobs after graduation are nothing more than a mirage, and even though everyone knows it, people still fork over millions of [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 5:54pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Hello stupid lenders: Produce the note!

  —Jason Gooljar

  One surprising smackdown occurred on Oct. 9 in federal bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York. Ruling that a lender, PHH Mortgage, hadn’t proved its claim to a delinquent borrower’s home in White Plains, Judge Robert D. Drain wiped out a $461,263 mortgage debt on the property. That’s [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 5:02pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• H1N1: The problem with corporate agri-farming

  —Jason Gooljar

  The animals never know the feel of grass, mud or sunshine, and hardly the touch of man, in their six months of life. But they are also free of many of the infections that slow the growth and occasionally end the lives of their outdoor cousins. “We’re producing the most efficient [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 9:52am EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• CRUDE: A Joe Berlinger Film

  —Jason Gooljar

  CRUDE: A Joe Berlinger Film. Today I saw CRUDE and it is everything I thought it would be and everything it needs to be as a film. At the end of the film I was troubled by the fact these people have still not received justice from the legal system in Ecuador as [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:45am EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Privacy.net sues Microsoft, Cisco, Comcast and TRUSTe

  —Jason Gooljar

  The owner of Privacy.net and Network-Tools.com, Russ Smith, has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, Cisco, Comcast and TRUSTe. The lawsuit claims that Comcast, Microsoft, and Cisco collected information about Smith’s IP addresses and either put them on a “blacklist” or gave them a poor “Reputation Score.”  Comcast even blocked his communication [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 9:12pm EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target have predatory book pricing

  —Jason Gooljar

  The American Booksellers Association asked the Justice Department’s antitrust division to investigate “predatory” pricing of books sold by Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. “We ask that the Department of Justice investigate practices by Amazon.com, Walmart and Target that we believe constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:01am EDT
  by Jason Gooljar

• Nina Bastardi vs. Ciotti - Let's Play Match Game!

  —Nassau GOP Watch

  [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 9:39am EDT