Yuck — A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary About School Lunch

This all started when young Zachary Maxwell wanted to start packing and taking his lunch to school. His parents, however, thought that the school lunches as described and pictured on line looked like they would be just fine. So young Zachary smuggled in a camera to school in order to show his parents the reality of those school meals. He kept filming (even got busted once) and made a short documentary called Yuck -- A 4th Grader's Short Documentary About School Lunch. Love this kid. Anyway, this doc has won some awards and has been playing the festival circuit. I'm posting the trailer and another piece with clips below. It sounds as if this entire film will be online shortly, but I don't know when:
Late Night Video — Know Your Food

Late Night Video — Know Your Food

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This is a xTed Talk (approx. 8.5 mins long) featuring an 11-year old who has figured out how conglomerate-produced food isn't exactly the healthiest choice. Since we're close to the point where locally grown food will be getting plentiful, this guy has good advice:

President Obama and the Guantanamo Heckler

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Hecklers of speeches -- especially major ones -- aren't new. A public disruption of a speaker is meant as an attempt to embarrass the speaker and get attention for the heckler and the heckler's cause. Yesterday, Medea Benjamin of Code Pink attended the President's speech at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair yesterday and proceeded to heckle him 3 times during the speech. The video below (approx 8 minutes long and I apologize for the commercial) shows that segment of the President's speech. I couldn't hear everything she said, but it seems clear to me that she was calling for the immediate release of some number of the Gitmo prisoners. While the President was proposing a new plan to close Gitmo. What is fascinating to me about this clip is the President's reaction to Ms. Benjamin's interruptions. Not only did he appear to be listening to her, but he validated her concerns (or some of them) as important and worth listening to. I can't imagine GWB managing this kind of respect towards someone yelling at him, and whoever was yelling at him would have been immediately hustled away from the event -- not given two more times to disrupt. I haven't had a chance to see the entire speech to know what exactly the President said, so I'm not here agreeing or disagreeing with what he proposed yesterday. But I am pretty proud of the way he handled this:

Thursday Open Thread [5.23.13]

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This is both hysterical funny and hysterical crazy (not to mention headache inducing):
That's why you saw the House of Representatives pass my [Michelle Bachmann's] bill, the full repeal of Obamacare last week, and that's why I have renewed confidence that we can see this bill pass in the Senate and I think the President will ultimately be forced to repudiate his own signature piece of legislation because the American people will demand it. And I think before his second term is over, we're going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we'll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare. I believe that's going to happen and we saw step one last week with the repeal of Obamacare in the House. We have two more steps. We serve a mighty God and I believe it can happen.
Yah, Michelle, you keep telling yourself that. Methinks you will be disappointed in your God quite soon, as the repeal bill will never be heard in the Senate and even if it did, it will be defeated.
Upcoming Events: Happy Birthday, Mr. President….

Upcoming Events: Happy Birthday, Mr. President….

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This sounds like a cool panel to check out. The Delaware Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare (NCPSSM) are co-hosting an event on the former President's birthday as a tribute to President John F. Kennedy, who strengthened Social Security, fought for the establishment of Medicare, and advocated for closing the same corporate tax loopholes that corporations still abuse to this day. The speakers will be Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams, retired Delaware Social Security executive Tom Tobin, NCPSSM Grassroots National Director Ernie Powell, and businessman Andrew Groff, and Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, former lead singer of the famous Sha Na Na, will sing Happy Birthday to the President, hopefully not in the Marilyn Monroe style.

I like this new Pope.

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“This ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy … The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! … We all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there,” – Pope Francis, in the weekly Wednesday homily (sermon) today at the Vatican.
Finally got my hands on the Phillips complaint.

Finally got my hands on the Phillips complaint.

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It's pretty disgusting, the allegations contained therein. Read at your own peril. It is a public filing, so it is ok for you to read it. And while the Plaintiff/alleged victim is over 18 now, and while her name is plastered all over that complaint, I will not tolerate any mention of her name here in the comments. If the complaint is to be believed (and I do believe it), this young woman was a sexual assault victim, and I will not have her attacked by name or even mentioned by name on this thread. Consider it the Rape Shield Law extended.
How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?

How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?

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Pete Santilli went on a disgusting rant and caught the attention of the Secret Service who paid him a visit saying...
“We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will take the appropriate follow up action,” Edwin M. Donovan, a Secret Service spokesperson, told TPM on Monday. “He certainly has a right to free speech, but the Secret Service has a right and an obligation to determine what a person’s intent is when making comments like this.”
And what were those comments?
‘Miss Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted, she needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina,” he said. “I wanna pull the trigger. That ‘C U Next Tuesday’ has killed human beings that are in our ranks of our service. I want to remind you that in Benghazi, Miss Hillary ‘the fricken’ biggest vagina on the face of the planet’ told troops to stand down and to not go in and interfere with the operation that they set up because they’re moving arms; Barack Obama is moving drugs through the CIA out of Afghanistan and Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America.”
24 Dead in Oklahoma Monster Tornado

24 Dead in Oklahoma Monster Tornado

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70 of them are children. The revised number is 24 dead, with 20 of them being children. That the monster tornado destroyed two elementary schools is what makes this tragedy so horrible. I wondered on Facebook yesterday why these elementary schools, or any structure really, had no basements or underground storm shelters while located in the heart of Tornado Alley. To me it seemed criminally negligent. But then I was told that the ground in the area, which is either clay with a high water table or bedrock, makes it cost prohibitive to build them. I am not satisfied with that explanation, but at least it is an explanation. Come inside for some stream of consciousness thoughts about this latest human tragedy.
Buycott, Shop Your Conscience

Buycott, Shop Your Conscience

Have you heard about this app? Buycott installed on your smartphone can scan products you intend to buy and give you a rundown of that product's corporate history. It can also give you data on what those corporations do with the money they earn from your purchases. Interesting, right? For people who are trying not to buy anything from Koch Industries, for example, data from the scans you take can help you leave their stuff on the shelf.

Monday Open Thread [5.20.13]

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This has all happened before and it will happen again. The president "has just weathered one of the worst weeks of his time in office," according to Chris Cillizza. I don't know Chris, I think death, destruction and obstruction (Boston Marathon Terror Attack, West,TX Explosion, Senate Background Check failure) trump three non-scandals that have been blown up by the media and the GOP as being worst than Watergate. The network news ratings were down, so they gladly accepted the lies of the GOP (see Jon Karl) as news and proceeded to hyperventilate. But once again, as in the 1990's, the American public are not fooled. The President's approval ratings have actually improved over the last month, according to the latest CNN poll and Gallup polls.