Hot off the Press: Eat less/Democracy fever 2 edition

A federal inquiry has found that "[t]he 2008 financial crisis was an 'avoidable' disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street": http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/business/economy/26inquiry.html. Who knew, huh? Here's a great graph:

“The greatest tragedy would be to accept the refrain that no one could have seen this coming and thus nothing could have been done,” the panel wrote in the report’s conclusions, which were read by The New York Times. “If we accept this notion, it will happen again.”

Vladimir Nabokov was a rabid lover and studier of butterflies, and his theory about the evolution of a North American species has been vindicated by scientists: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/science/01butterfly.html.

The Hawkeye State's rural road infrastructure is reaching a critical point as it begins to degrade and costs for repairs and replacements have soared: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110126/NEWS10/101260357/Iowa-counties-struggle-to-maintain-their-roads.

Republicans in Iowa's legislature have wasted little time proposing abortion regulation, either to ban them all together or prohibit them after 20 weeks. Not only are they pushing their agenda of lifestyle and personal regulation (despite their incredible distaste for economic and business regulation), some believe they are trying to pick a constitutional fight: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110126/NEWS10/101260351/House-GOP-rift-stalls-effort-to-narrow-Iowa-abortion-laws.

Residents of Memphis will vote whether or not to dissolve the city's public school system so that it will be absorbed by the separate county school system which serves the more affluent suburbs: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/28memphis.html.

A loud and very diverse opposition has grown against the installation of wireless, smart electric meters in Northern California: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/science/earth/31meters.html.

A senator from Wyoming has proposed legislation that would "forbid the use of several landmark federal laws for the purpose of dealing with global warming, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act": http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/wyoming-senator-seeks-to-lasso-e-p-a/. Not cool. It is sickening to think how some people prefer temporary profits over clean air and water.

The government's newest nutrition advice is as follows: eat less: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/business/01food.html. Here's the common sense lead:

As the nation’s obesity crisis continues unabated, federal regulators on Monday issued their bluntest nutrition advice to date: drink water instead of sugary drinks like soda, fill your plate with fruits and vegetables and cut down on processed foods filled with sodium, fat or sugar.