Q & A: Where Are All the Squirrels in Central Park?
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Home improvement is not only used to update your home, but is an important part of maintaining its functionality. This article shows ways to make minor maintenance type improvements to your home that will increase the cost of your energy use.
You can waste a lot of energy dollars if your home is leaking air. Whether cold air is coming inside during winter, or warm air is entering during the summer, your heating and cooling system will need to work overtime to compensate for it. Test the seals around your windows and doors by passing a lighted candle around the door and window frames. If the candle flickers, there is air entering your home at that point. Use caulk or weather stripping to seal the cracks and make sure your home is weather tight.
Using ceiling fans in rooms with higher ceilings can prevent the heat in a room from staying near the ceiling. It is always good to keep the air in a room circulating to prevent it from feeling stagnant. When it is warm outside, using a ceiling fan will help your home feel cooler and you will not need to use air conditioning as much.
Just owning a home requires that a homeowner has some basic maintenance ability, and often updates do not require much more knowledge than you probably already have. If there is a project you really want and need to do, research what is required before you decide to do it.
Haste makes waste, so do not try to squeeze the work into a weekend when you really need a week. If you rush while you are working, you may have to start the project all over again. Painting is one job you want to do with patience so your finished work looks professional.
Any home can benefit from more storage. Look in your closets; you can probably get more use out of your closet space if you install some closet organizers. You can find kits at your local home improvement center, and you can customize these kits with storage modules.
Bathrooms are also good places to make improvements. If you have tile in the bathroom and it is getting increasingly hard to clean the old grout, you may want to upgrade the tile around the tub area with a one-piece marble surround. The one piece surround is easier to clean, and you will not have to scrub grout anymore.
Successfully finishing your own home improvement project can be a very rewarding experience, so plan carefully and proceed with caution. If you choose an easy project to begin with, you can build your level of expertise and add value to your home. Use the information in this article to help develop your home improvement skills.
Want to start your home improvement today? Then you have to learn more about wood lathe tools or read more about easy woodworking projects today.
-->Source: http://babelondon.com/home-improvement-ideas-for-anyone/
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Rovio, the developer behind the massively successful Angry Birds franchise, has provided a sneak peak at the next installment in the epic battle between fowl and pork, and it looks like they're getting ready to turn the tables because -- Something PIG is coming!
What does this mean? Did the birds steal some little piglets in retaliation? Do you simply get to play as the bad guys? This time, do the pigs get to fire back?
What would you like to see from the Angry Birds Bad Pigs next?
Source: badpiggies.com
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ulhuDOAtK-I/story01.htm
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The BBC will finally release an update to its UK only BBC iPlayer app that will bring downloads to your iPhone and iPad. The current version of iPlayer will only allow you to stream content to your device which has always been very limiting, especially if you are travelling. The news comes from The Guardian and the update should go live sometime today.
From Tuesday, licence-fee payers will be able to download BBC programmes from the iPlayer video-on-demand service and watch them offline on Apple's iPhone and iPad at no extra cost, including while abroad. The development marks a significant shift for BBC iPlayer, which has previously only allowed viewers to stream programmes to tablets and mobile devices with broadband connections or download them to watch on a desktop computer.
Daniel Danker, the BBC's general manager of on-demand programmes, said: "This fundamentally changes one of the most annoying restrictions about viewing programmes. It means audiences are liberated from the constraints and it fundamentally changes what it means to go on holiday. "He added: "With mobile downloads, you can now load up your mobile phone or tablet with hours and hours of BBC programmes, then watch them on the road, on the tube, on a plane, without worrying about having an internet connection or running up a mobile data bill."
Once you have downloaded a TV episode, you will have a total of thirty days to enjoy it, after that it will become unwatchable on your device. If you start watching a program, you will then only have a further seven days to finish watching it. Strange restrictions I know but it must have something to do with media copyright etc.
The download service which is believed to launch later today, will start off as a Wi-Fi only service. The BBC will hopefully expand this to work over 3G too although with today?s restrictive low quantity mobile data plans it may not be a much desired feature anyway. The BBC iPlayer service is free in the UK for all BBC Television licence payers and the download service will also be offered as a completely free service too.
I am extremely happy that the BBC has decided to introduce downloads to its iPhone and iPad apps. Being on a slow connection, streaming was never a great option for me, now I can download the programmes I want to see and watch them whenever I have time without the buffering and stuttering. If you are a BBC iPlayer user, are you happy about the new download functionality?
Source: The Guardian
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Yw-fthBZMOw/story01.htm
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Before fitness training, one must give importance to doing warm-up or stretching exercises to prevent accidents or to enhance the output during the training.
There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines when doing fitness exercises. Here are some of them.
1. To increase your flexibility and to avoid injuries, stretch before and after workout. Almost everyone knows that stretching before workout prevents injuries during the exercises, but only few people know that stretching after workout, when muscles are still warm, can increase flexibility.
2. Hold your stretching position for more than 60 seconds to increase flexibility. While holding your position for 20 seconds is enough for warm ups, holding each position for at least 60 seconds will develop the body?s flexibility.
3. Do not go into a stretching position then immediately return to the relaxed position, and do it repeatedly. This is more appropriately termed as bouncing while in a position.
When stretching, hold that position for several seconds, and then slowly relax. You may do this exercise repeatedly this way. Bouncing or forcing yourself into a position during stretching can strain or damage some joints or muscles.
4. Work slowly in increments instead of immediately proceeding to doing the hardest exercise or position.
5. Make sure that you have stretched or warmed up all muscle groups. For some people, even if they have strong bodies, they tend to neglect the neck when working out of stretching.
Stretching the neck muscles can be as simple as placing the palm of one?s hand against the front of the head and pushing it. Then, do the same to the sides and the back of the head.
6. Stretch regularly to continually increase your range of movements and your level of flexibility and strength.
7. Workout considering only your capabilities and not of others. Do not force yourself to do exercises that you are not yet capable of just because there are people who can do it. Increase your limits slowly.
Listen to your body. There are days when your body may be too tired that you may have to consider reducing your range of motion.
8. Learn to rest. Rest in between sets and stations to make sure that the body has enough time to recover its energy. Also, it is advisable that you don?t work the same muscle groups consecutively for two days. The muscles grow during the period when you rest and not when you are working out.
9. Do aerobic exercises to strengthen your heart. Aerobic exercises are those physical activities that much oxygen for fuel. This includes cardiovascular exercises such as skipping rope, running or swimming.
10. Music may help you when you want to train for longer periods or to increase your intensity. You can use mp3 players, CD players or lightweight am radio receivers for this. Just make sure that you brought your headset with you so you wouldn?t disturb people who don?t prefer music while exercises.
Apart from preventing injuries and increasing one?s limit, it is also said that stretching is good for a tired body and also for a stressed mind and spirit.
Source: http://revistawomenshealth.com/exercises-10-stretching.html
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CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - A top California Democratic Party official on Monday compared Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan to Nazi Germany's infamous propagandist Joseph Goebbels, drawing rebukes from both parties the day before the Democratic Party's nominating convention formally begins.
In a story reported Monday by the San Francisco Chronicle, California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton was quoted as comparing distortions Ryan made in campaign speeches to lies used by Goebbels, a fierce anti-Semite and one of Adolf Hitler's closest cohorts.
"They lie and they don't care if people think they lie," Burton reportedly said, referring to Republicans broadly, at a breakfast on Monday with Charlotte delegates.
Ryan told "a bold-faced lie and he doesn't care that it was a lie. That was Goebbels, the big lie," Burton told reporters from the Chronicle and CBS News.
Republicans pounced on Burton's remarks.
"President Obama promised to lift up American politics. Unfortunately, some of his supporters, by employing rhetoric that has no place in our political system, are bringing it down to the gutter," said former Minnesota congressman Norm Coleman, who works on Jewish voter outreach for the Romney campaign.
"All people of good will should repudiate such disgraceful words," Coleman said in statement.
Burton's analogy drew fire from an Obama campaign spokesman after an opening press conference for the Democratic National Convention, in which Democrats will formally adopt their policy platform and nominate President Barack Obama to run for a second term and fend off the challenge from Mitt Romney in November's election.
"That obviously doesn't reflect the views of the campaign," said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. "That doesn't have any place in the political discourse in Charlotte."
Democrats have cried foul over comments Ryan made recently, including those in his speech at the Republican National Convention last week, suggesting that Obama's signature healthcare overhaul guts billions from the government healthcare program for the elderly, known as Medicare.
The plan aims for cost savings by lowering reimbursements to hospitals and insurers and eliminating waste, Democrats say, quick to point out that these savings have been included in Ryan's own budget proposals.
LaBolt did not comment on whether Burton should step down from his position in California, a liberal stronghold and a huge source of campaign cash for Obama.
The Nazis have no place in current political debates, said Matthew Brooks, Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
"Apparently the offense such remarks cause to Holocaust survivors and their families are of less concern to him than the prospect of partisan gain," Brooks said in a statement.
Burton has been known to make unfiltered comments on a range of topics.
He recently suggested Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey who has for years battled a weight problem, spend less time concerned about California and more time concerned about his health.
"Christie's time would be better spent taking up first lady Michelle Obama's White House Fitness Challenge than bashing our great state," Burton said in a statement on the California Democratic Party's website.
Burton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting By Eric Johnson; Editing by Alden Bentley)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-california-democrat-likens-ryan-nazi-propagandist-214252693.html
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Contact: Caitlin McNamee-Lamb
caitlin.mcnamee-lamb@sickkids.ca
416-813-7654
JAMA and Archives Journals
CHICAGO Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears associated with an increased risk for adolescent obesity, and is possibly related to subtle structural variations in the brain that create a preference for eating fatty foods, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.
"Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking is a well-established risk factor for obesity, but the underlying mechanisms are not known," the authors write as background information. "Preference for fatty foods, regulated in part by the brain reward system, may contribute to the development of obesity."
Amirreza Haghighi, M.D., of the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, and colleagues, studied 378 adolescents age 13 to 19 years who were recruited through high schools in one region of Quebec, Canada, as part of the ongoing Saguenay Youth Study. Participants were grouped as exposed to maternal smoking (n=180) or nonexposed to maternal smoking (n=198) and participants in each group were matched at recruitment by maternal education and participant's school attendance to minimize confounding influence of socioeconomic status (SES), and did not differ by sex, age, puberty stage or height.
The authors defined exposed as having a mother who smoked more than one cigarette a day during the second trimester of pregnancy, and nonexposed as having a mother who did not smoke one year before (and throughout) the pregnancy.
Exposed versus nonexposed participants weighed less at birth and were breastfed for shorter periods of time. At the time of analysis, exposed participants had a marginally higher body weight and BMI, and a significantly higher total body fat compared with nonexposed participants. These differences persisted after adjustment for age, sex, and height (when appropriate), and were still significant when adjusting for additional variables frequently associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy (i.e., lower birth weight, shorter duration [or lack of] breastfeeding, and lower SES).
Exposed versus nonexposed participants also exhibited a significantly lower volume of the amygdala (part of the brain that plays a role in processing emotions and storing memories), and the authors found that, consistent with its possible role in limiting fat intake, amygdala volume correlated inversely with fat intake.
"Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking may promote obesity by enhancing dietary preference for fat, and this effect may be mediated in part through subtle structural variations in the amygdala," the authors conclude.
###
(Arch Gen Psychiatry. Published online September 3, 2012. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.1101. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Editor's Note: The Saguenay Youth Study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. One author is a James McGill professor of biostatistics at McGill University. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
To contact corresponding author Zdenka Pausova, M.D., call Caitlin McNamee-Lamb at 416-813-7654, ext. 1436 or email caitlin.mcnamee-lamb@sickkids.ca.
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Caitlin McNamee-Lamb
caitlin.mcnamee-lamb@sickkids.ca
416-813-7654
JAMA and Archives Journals
CHICAGO Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears associated with an increased risk for adolescent obesity, and is possibly related to subtle structural variations in the brain that create a preference for eating fatty foods, according to a report published Online First by Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA Network publication.
"Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking is a well-established risk factor for obesity, but the underlying mechanisms are not known," the authors write as background information. "Preference for fatty foods, regulated in part by the brain reward system, may contribute to the development of obesity."
Amirreza Haghighi, M.D., of the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, and colleagues, studied 378 adolescents age 13 to 19 years who were recruited through high schools in one region of Quebec, Canada, as part of the ongoing Saguenay Youth Study. Participants were grouped as exposed to maternal smoking (n=180) or nonexposed to maternal smoking (n=198) and participants in each group were matched at recruitment by maternal education and participant's school attendance to minimize confounding influence of socioeconomic status (SES), and did not differ by sex, age, puberty stage or height.
The authors defined exposed as having a mother who smoked more than one cigarette a day during the second trimester of pregnancy, and nonexposed as having a mother who did not smoke one year before (and throughout) the pregnancy.
Exposed versus nonexposed participants weighed less at birth and were breastfed for shorter periods of time. At the time of analysis, exposed participants had a marginally higher body weight and BMI, and a significantly higher total body fat compared with nonexposed participants. These differences persisted after adjustment for age, sex, and height (when appropriate), and were still significant when adjusting for additional variables frequently associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy (i.e., lower birth weight, shorter duration [or lack of] breastfeeding, and lower SES).
Exposed versus nonexposed participants also exhibited a significantly lower volume of the amygdala (part of the brain that plays a role in processing emotions and storing memories), and the authors found that, consistent with its possible role in limiting fat intake, amygdala volume correlated inversely with fat intake.
"Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking may promote obesity by enhancing dietary preference for fat, and this effect may be mediated in part through subtle structural variations in the amygdala," the authors conclude.
###
(Arch Gen Psychiatry. Published online September 3, 2012. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.1101. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Editor's Note: The Saguenay Youth Study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. One author is a James McGill professor of biostatistics at McGill University. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
To contact corresponding author Zdenka Pausova, M.D., call Caitlin McNamee-Lamb at 416-813-7654, ext. 1436 or email caitlin.mcnamee-lamb@sickkids.ca.
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/jaaj-pms083012.php
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CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - The big protests that were planned outside the Republican National Convention last week in Tampa, Florida, never really materialized, doused in part by a tropical storm. But activists say they expect a stronger showing this week, when Democrats gather for their nominating convention in Charlotte.
If Sunday's march in Charlotte was any gauge, those predictions might fizzle. Police said about 800 to 1,000 demonstrators paraded through the city, far less than the thousands some had predicted would gather to protest everything from big banks to the deportation of immigrants.
The 80-plus groups that make up the Coalition to March on Wall Street South held a 3-mile (5-km) march on Sunday aimed at putting a spotlight on Charlotte as the United States' second-largest financial center, behind New York.
Activists stopped in front of the headquarters of Bank of America and utility Duke Energy to speak out against what they see as a range of injustices, including foreclosures and high student loan debt.
Organizers had expected several thousand people to participate, including some coalition members who were involved in much smaller protests last week in Tampa, during the convention where Republicans nominated Mitt Romney for president.
On Sunday, demonstrators carrying signs and bottled water gathered on a hot, humid day as organizers said they were not disappointed by the smaller-than-expected crowd.
"We are happy with the turnout," said Bryan Perlmutter, 21, a North Carolina college student who has helped organize the event. "We are here to raise up the demands of the people."
Captain Jeff Estes of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said the event went smoothly, with only one arrest as the march was winding down.
"This is the Constitution in practice," he said. "People were out here exercising their free speech."
During one stretch of the march, a famous bystander grabbed as much attention as the protesters. Walking back to his hotel from preaching at a church, civil rights advocate Reverend Jesse Jackson stopped for photos with spectators and to talk with reporters.
The protest organizers are seeking to distinguish their efforts from those of the anarchist movement, which in recent years has destroyed property and tried to disrupt activities at major political and government events.
The FBI warned of possible action by anarchists in Tampa last week, but the protests there were small, peaceful and overwhelmed by the thousands of security officers.
The demonstration in Charlotte on Sunday was intended to be nonviolent and family friendly, said Ben Carroll, a volunteer organizer.
Representatives of Bank of America and Wells Fargo, which has its eastern hub in the city, say the banks have plans in place to minimize disruptions to their operations during the Democratic convention, which is expected to draw about 35,000 people to North Carolina's largest city.
Both banks are closing some branches for the week near the convention sites in Charlotte, and employees will work from alternate bank locations or from home.
Bank of America has 15,000 employees in the Charlotte area, and Wells Fargo about 20,500.
BEEFED-UP SECURITY
Unlike Tampa, Charlotte officials have to contend with the sitting president coming to town, as well as key convention events being held at two venues instead of one.
The convention starts on Tuesday at Time Warner Cable Arena, which seats about 20,000. On Thursday, when President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak, the convention will move outdoors, to the nearly 74,000-seat Bank of America Stadium about a mile away.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will nearly double the size of its force of 1,760 officers by bringing in law enforcement from other jurisdictions to help with security during the convention, Mayor Anthony Foxx said.
Several hundred members of the state's National Guard will support the security effort, and about 2,000 more will be available to assist with security if necessary, said Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Robert Carver.
Charlotte received a $50 million federal grant to help cover security costs. Also assisting police is a new local law that allows the city manager to declare a large-scale gathering an "extraordinary event" and lets law enforcement set up security boundaries and limit what can be brought into the event zone.
The ordinance includes a long list of items that are prohibited, including hammers, paint guns, water guns, gas masks worn with the intent to obstruct police and backpacks used to conceal weapons.
Not everyone carrying a backpack will be automatically searched, but officers will stop people who appear to be up to trouble, said police department attorney Mark Newbold.
"We did not suspend the Fourth Amendment," Newbold said, referring to the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches. "I think a good, lively demonstration is great. We're just hoping it doesn't get out of hand."
'FREE SPEECH' ZONES CRITICIZED
Charlotte set up a designated parade route and speakers platform as "free speech" areas for activists to express their opinions during the Democratic convention. The city hosted a lottery to assign time slots for speaking and marches.
The range of protest issues is broad, with activists expected to travel from across North Carolina and other states to push for fewer restrictions on marijuana, separation of church and state, marriage and religious liberties and causes affecting senior citizens and immigrants.
Protesters have criticized the speakers' platform, which is about six-tenths of a mile from Time Warner Cable Arena, as being too far from the main convention activities to be effective. Organizer Carroll described the designated parade route as "a tour of parking lots and abandoned lots."
"It will make it difficult or impossible for bankers or any (Democratic) delegates to actually hear the complaints," he said.
Tampa officials quickly learned that protesters were loath to stay within the city-established spots but tended to comply with police orders as long as they got time to make their case in front of television cameras before being asked to move along.
The strategy proved effective: Tampa authorities said on Friday they arrested only two protesters during the Republican convention. One man had an 18-inch (45-cm) machete strapped to his leg, and the other violated the city's event ordinance by refusing to remove a bandanna that concealed his face, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's advice for Charlotte officials? Be flexible.
"You really have to be fluid and nimble," he said. "If you take a rigid approach to this, that's when you're going to have a problem."
(Additional reporting by Rick Rothacker and Saundra Amrhein; editing by David Lindsey, Mohammad Zargham and Cynthia Osterman)
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COMMENTARY | CHARLOTTE, N.C.?Back in the '70s, before the NBA's Charlotte Hornets and the NFL's Carolina Panthers came along, before Bank of America became the most beloved corporation in America, my hometown was known for three things: 'Racin, 'Rasslin and Religion. Back then, NASCAR and pro wrestling were held in tiny towns and venues, and evangelicals still held their revivals in huge circus tents on the outskirts of town instead of megachurches.
ESPN, Ted Turner and the PTL Club changed all that.
The Washington Post once called Charlotte "the city that never wakes."
But really, we are the city that loves business. Don't be fooled by the buckle of the Bible belt stuff. It's a smokescreen. Business, not religion, is the god here. Trust me. We took our entertainment, the three Rs, and turned them into gold. And then we started buying banks and didn't stop until we had gotten two of the biggest in America, too big to fail.
That's what they were protesting in Charlotte this weekend?the city's banking practices.
Now, with Charlotte's crowning moment, the Democratic National Convention, only a day away, what Barack Obama needs to understand is that Charlotte is first and foremost a corporate town, a Wall Street Journal town, a commerce town. More than any other town in America that I know of, Charlotte's yardstick is money. There is no state government here, no big-name university, no labor unions?the normal tripod of liberal politics. In picking Charlotte, Obama chose the town most likely to rebel at any thought of government regulation.
Casino capitalists
Truth be known, per capita, Charlotte's Wild West?a.k.a. California?banking practices did more to wreck the global economy than any city in the world. Sigh. So proud. Yet most bankers don't want regulations like Glass Steagall put back in place. Just ask 'em. Secretly, bankers like their odds in the current system of casino capitalism.
If they win, they keep the profits.
If they lose, taxpayers bail them out again.
(Yes Matt Damon. Inside Job II is here for the making.)
Sure, Charlotte has a Democratic mayor and a Democratic city council and a Democratic county commission. But the business people in this town are the ruling class, and they tell the political class how it's going to be. All the bank leaders, mostly Democrats, voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and most are supporting Mitt Romney this time. Why? Here's a hint: Business Week reviewed Peter Applebome's 1996 book Dixie Rising thusly: "With an astute eye and painterly writing, Applebome takes us to such places as ultraconservative Cobb County, Ga., dollar-hungry Charlotte, N.C ..."
When a friend came to work for Bank of America some 20 years ago, fresh out of college, his uncle told him, "You're moving to the city with no soul." I was downtown last weekend having wine at Wooden, and we were looking down Tryon Street, a.k.a. Wall Street South. From the sidewalk, it's a stunning scene: Platinum skyscrapers. Rococo arts museums. Swank condos. All surrounded by tree-lined sidewalks, five-star Michelin restaurants and surface parking lots full of BMWs.
Banktown's DNA
With prosperity came some soul. The bankers lured Johnson & Wales main campus here, and the Queen City has become a great restaurant town. But the DNA is business. Bank of America built out North Tryon, and Wachovia built out South Tryon. As fellow taxpayers who helped bail out Bank of America, we'd like to thank y'all. Everything is new here, kind of an homage to the denizens of khaki-wearing young Republicans who come from Wharton and UVA and Duke to make their millions in finance. Little girls here don't dream of marrying a doctor; they dream of a banker, a trader or a corporate raider.
Just like mommy.
At lunchtime, uptown Charlotte looks like a Delta Kappa Episolon fraternity reunion from Chapel Hill as well-heeled 30-somethings in khakis, Ferragamos and Polos wander back into the bank boxes for more hours staring at screens. Richard Rohr, the brilliant Catholic priest who visited here last year, once made the observation of bankers: "They make nothing. No thing." They shuffle paper around all day, or they make trades with a touch of a button but they make no thing.
His point was it is a disconnect from the soul.
There have always been very close ties between capitalism and religion here. Back in 1933, in the American Mercury, Charlottean W. J. Cash wrote a story about Charlotte titled Close View of a Calvinist Lahsa.
"One takes what the pastor of the First Presbyterian is thinking, or takes what the Duke Power Company is thinking, and one arrives at the editorial page of The Charlotte Observer?the very living mirror of the Charlotte mind and a catechism for all true believers. 'The Bible,' it appears, 'is the best textbook of biology.' ? The cotton mill barons, it seems, are Little Flowers, and the Duke Power Company, a sort of orphan asylum for small, wet kittens."
Substitute "cotton mill barons" for bankers, "depression" for recession, and you have Charlotte 2012.
It's also human nature. If you're around people who are millionaires all day long, they are your peers. You want to live like they do. If you missed the first wave of risk-free alpha, you can be sure our would-be Rockefellers have their bets down before the next too-big-to-fail crisis comes along.
Supply-side Jesus
Charlotte native Billy Graham got his big push in 1949, when at a tent revival in Los Angeles, newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst heard him preaching a pro-capitalism message. The Rupert Murdoch of his day, Hearst sent his editors a two-word telegram?for you kids that would be like Twitter?telling them to "Puff Graham." Hearst helped make the Charlotte native a Christian star, pastor to presidents. By default , evangelical Christianity and unbridled capitalism became America's twin religions.
Former Charlotte Observer cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Doug Marlette once told me about an article in Charlotte magazine, "In Charlotte, everything is done under the guise of Christianity. But it is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is the cult of mammon. Charlotte is about money and moi.
"Me-first Christianity. It is the cult of narcissism. Everybody laughed at Jim and Tammy Bakker, but they were the prophets of what Charlotte is becoming today."
If religion and business are right out of the Republican platform, why did Charlotte not get the GOP?
From my sources, the GOP told Charlotte don't bother; we're not interested in North Carolina's 15 electoral votes. We're going after Florida and its 29 electoral votes. Great move, except, why the Ayn Rand acolyte from Wisconsin and not Marco Rubio? Whatever. We in Charlotte hope ya'll enjoyed the Grand Old Party?and by grand old party, I mean St. Pete, shuffleboard and Dirty Harry's moving soliloquy against aging.
Regardless, I think you can pretty much rest assured Charlotte's bankers are back in the GOP fold. When Obama said the private sector was doing fine, he got castigated. When Mitt Romney said big business was doing fine, partially because of sheltering money off-shore, he might as well have been speaking for himself. He is big business, and he is doing fine because he's sheltering money in the Caymans.
Welcome to Charlotte, Democrats!
Don't be fooled by religion. It doesn't matter if Romney is a Mormon; the evangelicals who blast you for not being a Christian don't care. It's a smoke-and-mirrors game. Mitt could be an agnostic Martian and people would vote for him if they think he will help the economy. The bottom line here, Mr. Obama, is the bottom line. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/charlotte-america-capitalism-real-religion-032700516.html
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