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Americans seem to think their dogs deserve better food than they do

Roberto A. Ferdman
Quartz
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 11:09 UTC
Dog Restaurant
© Reuters/Brendan McDermidTable manners to come.

Difficult times may have forced Americans to scale back on a few expenses, but dog food doesn't appear to be one of them. Not the fancy stuff, anyway.

Dog food sales have just about doubled in the US since 2000. Americans spent a record $14 billion feeding its pet canines last year, and that number is expected to climb another 19% to nearly $17 billion by 2018, according to data from Euromonitor. But no dog food is selling quite like fancy dog food.

The market for premium dog food - the most expensive kinds, including pricey organic offerings and never-frozen meals - has grown by nearly 170% over the past 15 years. It now accounts for a bigger chunk of the market than medium- and low-priced varieties combined. Far more, in fact. So much so, that the most expensive chow now accounts for some 57% of the overall dog food market, compared to the 36% share it held back in 1999.

Americans are spending more overall on dog food because they're buying more dogs. There are now more than 83 million dogs in the US. Some 57% of American households now own a dog, according to a 2013 survey by the American Pet Products Association.
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Che Guevara

Protesters descend on Albuquerque City Hall calling for police reform


RT
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 10:39 UTC
Image
Downtown Albuquerque is on high alert as tensions between police state and civilians boil over
Protesters filled Albuquerque City Hall on Monday evening, forcing the city council to clear its legislative agenda and turn the podium over to citizens furious with police over a spiking number of fatal shootings.

City Council President Ken Sanchez told the Albuquerque Journal that more police officers would be assigned to make sure the meeting was peaceful, and that the meeting would be adjourned if tempers flared, but said the council is mulling legislation that would create more oversight over the department.

"We need to make some dramatic changes," he said. "We're confronting a crisis situation at this time."

Tensions have been building between police and the public for years. Wynema and Michael Gonzagowski told Cindy Carcamo of the Los Angeles Times that, upon moving to Albuquerque, friends warned them to avoid the police. They did not take those warnings seriously until they watched police fatally shoot their neighbor, Alfred Lionel Redwine on March 25.

"I've never been scared of cops, but out here, the cops terrify me," said Michael, age 39. "They treat you like you're out looking to cause trouble every time they talk to you."

Comment: See also:

U.S. cops out of control: Albuquerque Police Department crack down on peaceful protest against police murder of yet another unarmed civilian just trying to live his life

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Stock Down

Hungry in America - U.S. children rely on free food handouts to survive

Tom Parmenter
Sky News
Sun, 28 Jul 2013 00:36 UTC
Image
Children tuck into some food on the Lunch Box bus
Summer feeding programmes tackling hunger across America say they are seeing unprecedented demand for free food.

Millions of meals are served every week to children who do not eat properly during the school holidays.

Tennessee is one of many states that has various schemes designed to help youngsters get through the summer.

The Lunch Box is one of them, an old yellow school bus which now doubles as a cafe on wheels, touring around the small town of Rogersville.

Volunteer driver Paul Beckner told Sky News: "Oh yes the need is here - we have kids that come on and that say they don't have any food in the house.

"We have other kids who come who, regardless of what we give them, eat every bite and are glad to get it - so the need is definitely here."
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Megaphone

'Leaving in a hurry,' hundreds of residents chase Westboro 'christians' out of tornado-ravaged Moore, Oklahoma


KFOR.com
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:24 UTC
Image

Hundreds of Moore residents lined Broadway across from Central Junior High Sunday afternoon.

They were ready and waiting for members of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church.

Members of that church have long contended that God hates homosexuality and America's tolerance of homosexuality.

They also claim that he sends disasters as punishment.

Church members had a permit to picket in front of the school, which has been housing Plaza Towers Elementary students since last year's deadly tornado.

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Calculator

The objective reality that keeps hitting America's 'reality-creators' in the face: Senate votes to extend jobless benefits

Jennifer Liberto
CNN
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 23:57 UTC
Image
"Sorry, no jobs for you, there's too much profit to be made for us..."
The Senate on Monday passed a bill to extend federal jobless benefits for more than 2 million unemployed workers through May 31.

It passed 59 to 38.

If enacted, the bill would retroactively help the unemployed, who have been without benefits. It would throw a financial lifeline to those who have been scrambling to get by since federal jobless benefits lapsed the week of December 28. Expiration of the recession-era program took away a safety net for long-term unemployed Americans who have been unable to find new work.

However, its fate in the House is uncertain, especially since Speaker John Boehner has said he has concerns about the bill. Top Republicans have yet to say whether the chamber will consider the bill.

In the Senate, six Republicans signed on to the $9 billion measure last Friday.

Comment: The true unemployment figure in the U.S. is 37%.

All these decades the U.S. establishment has decried 'socialism', preaching neo-liberal predatory capitalism to the whole world and imposing restrictions on other countries doing this, but now when the chips are down it cannot escape the reality that it has unwittingly created: A HUGE number of Americans that are dependent on social welfare as a result of their 'downsizing' millions of jobs to China and elsewhere in their chase of PROFIT$.

If they don't give America's unemployed (and all their dependants, something like 150 million people) some means to eat, it's game over for the US of A as millions revolt on the streets.

Actual U.S. unemployment is 37.2%, not "6.7%", record number of households on food stamps in 2013

Incredible Truth: 36.8% of Americans over 16 are unemployed

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Arrow Down

Italy's bishops pass Vatican-backed rule that child molestation does not have to be reported

Kashmira Gander
The Independent, UK
Fri, 28 Mar 2014 23:35 UTC
Vatican City
© The Independent, UKThe rule was passed at a conference on Friday.
Italy's bishops have adopted a policy, with backing from the Vatican, that states they are not obliged to inform police officers if they suspect a child has been molested.

The Italian Bishops' Conference said the guidelines published on Friday reflected suggestions from the Vatican's office that handles sex abuse investigations.

Victims have denounced how bishops systematically covered up abuse by moving priests while keeping prosecutors in the dark.

Only in 2010 did the Vatican instruct bishops to report abuse to police - but only where required by law.

Italian guidelines cite a 1985 treaty between the Vatican and Italy stipulating that clergy aren't obliged to tell magistrates about information obtained through their religious ministry. The guidelines remind bishops, however, they have a ''moral duty" to contribute to the common good.
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Arrow Down

Steve Jobs's response to finding out he just got a Google employee fired typical of shady world of Silicon Valley companies

James Vincent
The Independent
Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:00 UTC
Steve Jobs
Emails have surfaced as part of a wage-fixing lawsuit currently in action against the big Silicon Valley tech firms
Three years after his death, Steve Jobs is hailed as a genius of both consumer design and good old-fashioned capitalism, but no one ever said he was nice - as can be clearly seen when he found out he'd just got a Google employee fired. His response? A single :) smiley.

Jobs's reaction comes from a cache of emails published by tech site Pando Daily, which are actually part of a landmark class action lawsuit currently in progress against the tech giants of Silicon Valley.

The prosecutors in this case are alleging that seven tech giants including Google, Apple and Intel, all engaged in secret agreements to not poach one another's employees, suppressing wages amongst their workforces and letting each company dominate their given sector of the market.

Comment:
What Everyone Is Too Polite to Say About Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs' Apple Revolution and the Fall of Man

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Heart - Black

Syracuse orthopedic surgeon accused of slapping anesthetized patients


Long Island Newsday
Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:41 UTC
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© Google A Google street view image of the St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, N.Y.
Federal investigators say a Syracuse surgeon often slapped anesthetized patients on the buttocks and insulted them before surgery.

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that the doctor slapped patients so hard he sometimes left red marks or hand prints.

St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center faces sanctions over the issue, including a possible termination from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
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Snakes in Suits

One more banker down: Liechtenstein CEO murdered in underground garage

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 10:05 UTC
Juergen Frick
© bankfrickJuergen Frick

Over the weekend the world was gripped by the drama surrounding the mysterious murder-homicide of the former CEO of Dutch bank ABN Amro and members of his family, and whether there is more foul play than meets the eye. However, that is nothing compared to what just happened in the tiny, and all too quiet Principality of Lichtenstein, where moments ago the CEO of local financial institution Bank Frick & Co. AG, Juergen Frick, was shot dead in the underground garage of the bank located in the city of Balzers.
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Laptop

Research shows the Internet could be making Americans lose faith


Daily Mail
Sat, 05 Apr 2014 15:57 UTC
Losing our religion: New research shows the Internet could be making Americans lose faith.

New research has shown a correlation between the rise of the Internet and the decline of Americans claiming religious affiliation.

Other factors, such as an increase in higher education, are also implicated, but according to Allen Downey, a computer scientist at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, the increase in Internet usage has a significant correlation.

The MIT Technology Review reports that in 1990, eight per cent of Americans had no religious affiliation. In 2010, that figure stands at 18 per cent, or 25 million people.
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