On Yesterday's Historic Israeli Elections

Yesterday, Israelis went to the polls to determine the new makeup of the 19th Israeli Knesset. All 120 seats were up for grabs, and while Israeli pollsters largely predicted that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu's Likud bloc would retain its plurality in the Knesset, that margin would shrink and his current coalition government would see a shakeup. Currently, Netenyahu's coalition is

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Cheaper Natural Gas Contributing To Lower Emissions

Carbon dioxide levels as measured by the EPA have reached a 20 year low across the United States. The decline is due in large part to the fact that utilities across the country have shifted away from coal to cheaper natural gas. Burning natural gas releases less carbon dioxide than coal does at the smokestack, so the fact that coal use has reached lows not seen since World War II is playing a

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On Government Spending, Cost Inefficiencies, and Jobs

I was reading through a bunch of articles on the economy and what might happen if the automatic deficit cuts are applied (that was agreed upon by Congress if they couldn't reach a deal on how to make specified cuts). The focus was on defense spending where a 10% automatic across-the-board cut would be applied. So, for a submarine construction program, they'd have to cut 10% funding. That has the

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The Student Loan Debacle Just Got Even Messier

The fight over interest rates on Stafford loans is a sideshow. The rate was temporarily reduced to 3.4%, and Congress was looking to extend that rate and had to find alternative places to cut funding to offset the federal subsidy.

Never mind that banks themselves are making money hand over fist on student loans - both on origination fees and the interest they charge. The federal government set

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Mitt Romney Takes Idiocy To New Level

At a campaign rally in Las Vegas yesterday, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney proposed a constitutional amendment that would make anyone who does not have a business background as ineligible for the White House as if they had been born in Kenya.“I was speaking with one of these business owners who owns a couple of restaurants in town,” Romney said. “And he said ‘You know I’d like to change

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Rutgers University Faces Bigger Problem Than Merger Talk

While New Jerseyeans are questioning the wisdom of Gov. Chris Christie's proposed merger of Rutgers University with Rowan University and reorganizing the state university and Rutgers trustees are opposed to the merger (with caveats), a far more important question needs to be asked of the university and its priorities.

Is the university truly dedicated to teaching the next generation of students

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Cut the Fat, Cut the Gas Consumption?

In the past few days, there have been a series of reports about the costs of obesity on the American economy. The study attempts to quantify how much obesity costs for health care, transportation, and other factors.Because obesity raises the risk of a host of medical conditions, from heart disease to chronic pain, the obese are absent from work more often than people of healthy weight. The most

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GM Halts Chevy Volt Production Over Excess Capacity

GM has halted production of the Chevy Volt after racking up poor sales thus far. Excess capacity has resulted in the production lines being shut down until sales can clear lots.

It's going to suck for the 1,300 workers who are idled as a result of this action.

GM failed to sell 10,000 cars in its first year on the market as it was expected to do - and has fallen behind the Nissan Leaf, an

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Waste Not; Wanted

Last night, there was yet another new cooking show on television featuring the ubiquitous Bobby Flay and several other celebrity chefs. The premise for this particular program was interesting. It was to take food that would otherwise be discarded and to use it to prepare a catering job for 100 people.

The chefs were seemingly taken aback by the sheer waste of food that would otherwise be edible

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