In these troubled economic times, there is one corporation you won’t find declaring bankruptcy or lining up for a bailout in Washington DC: McDonald’s. The Golden Arches have seen a steady stream of customers pass beneath them of late, with same store sales up 8.2 percent in October. The increased business at the fast food restaurant isn’t hard to figure out. The low cost of McDonald’s offerings, particularly its popular “Dollar Menu” have wide appeal amongst consumers during the current recession.

The flock of consumers to Mickey D’s as times get tough highlights the eternal question when it comes to healthy living; “How do you eat well without breaking the bank?” Hanging around Whole Foods one might think that eating natural and organic on a budget is simply a lost cause while browsing through the pricey abundance.

But there are ways to keep your diet healthy on a budget. One is to eat more vegetarian meals. Meat generally costs more money than produce. Mixing some veggie meals into your routine for the week will cut down on your fat and cholesterol intake while saving dollars at the market. Another idea to save on healthy living is to take what we’ll call the Alice Waters approach - that is, Buy Local, Buy Seasonal, Buy from the Source. Hitting a good, reasonably priced farmers market can do wonders toward stretching your budget out toward healthy organic food.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a bit of a shaggy dog story, offered with a light coating of historical license:

I never thought I’d give conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer pride of place in a post election day blog, but if an African-American with an African father can win the presidency by double his opponent’s electoral vote count, anything goes.

The more historically literate among you (including Ivers, who was an assistant to Thomas Edison at the time) may remember that in 1902 Teddy Roosevelt, John McCain’s hero, nominated Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. to the Supreme Court. The press of the era (and remember this was not a time when any idiot could call themselves a journalist; see “Bill O’Reilly” if you’re not sure what I mean) uniformly praised the pick.

Roosevelt had chosen the most brilliant jurist in America. It wasn’t Holmes’ ideology that commended him as a Supreme. It was the marvel of his intellect and his comprehensive knowledge of the law of the land.

Bully for Teddy!

Lap dissolve: it’s thirty years later, election season 1932. The country is in full blown Great Depression mode (as opposed to “Greatest Depression,” which is what we are presently drowning in).

Read the rest of this entry »

The Colony South Hotel & Conference Center in Clinton, Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC, has caused a stir by posting a McCain-Palin campaign sign on its marquee. The political advertisement, which reads “Country First McCain-Palin”, and was reported on today in an article in the Washington Post, has caused a minor furor in the area with local Democratic community leaders calling for a boycott of the business.

Clinton, Maryland, in exceedingly Democratic Prince George’s County (77% Democratic voter registration, one of the highest of any county in the United States) was probably not the wisest place for a business to be making a crossover into politics by supporting a Republican Presidential nominee. One is forced to wonder where is a good place for such expression though. Yard signs and bumper stickers supporting political candidates are one thing and keep the discussion within a more personal realm. But once you start mixing politics into preferably neutral public areas of life like a hotel, restaurant or typical retail establishment, you’re almost guaranteed to unnecessarily alienate a portion of your clientele.

Read the rest of this entry »

If the TakePart.com bloggers had a chance to chat with the candidates tonight, here are our Top 10 questions:

From Andy:

1) What would your strategy be in attempting to halt the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea?

2) What books would you recommend as required reading for all high school seniors, and why?

From Jon:

3) Would you support a measure to limit the length of Federal election campaigns - Presidential, House & Senate - in order to keep holders of elected office doing their jobs working for the people instead of campaigning and fundraising?

4) Once in office, what will you do to change the fact that 500,000+ residents of Washington DC are afforded no voting representation whatsoever in either the House or the Senate?

From Gina:

Read the rest of this entry »

Having recently moved from New York City to Baltimore, I’ve been putting my Top 5 Hypermiling Techniques to use on the regular.   Here’s what I’ve found on these gas saving tips that will keep your money in your wallet and out of the bank accounts of a Supermajor oil company:

1. Always know what your gas mileage is at each visit to the pump. - This one is easy enough.   My mother has actually been keeping records of her gas mileage my entire life, even when gas was under $1.00/gallon, so I guess I’m genetically predisposed.   However, now with Fuelly, an online mileage calculator app and social networking site for hypermilers, keeping tabs on your fuel consumption and comparing it with others has never been easier.

2.  Keep your tires properly inflated. - This one is also pretty easy.   All you need to do is roll on up to that free pump at the gas station (don’t use the ones that charge you, there’s something indecent about paying for air) and pump your tires on up to spec.

3.  Stop driving aggressively. - I’ve been trying on this one, really trying.   And while I don’t drive nearly as wildly as I did as a hell-on-wheels youngster, I still have some work to do to get the aggressive NYC Subway instincts under control when driving a car.   I’ll keep working on it though.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fact: OVER ONE HALF of the solid waste produced in the United States comes from construction and demolition debris. What’s worse is that much of these materials are perfectly usable and as good, or in many cases better, than new materials available on the market today.

Ever drive by a beautiful old Victorian home and wonder how they used to make such fantastic buildings? Those same materials, complete with great style elements of past generations of construction can be a part of your own home by using green architectural salvage services like Community Forklift in the Washington D.C. area. Along with The Loading Dock, a non-profit building materials reuse center in nearby Baltimore, MD, Community Forklift is bringing green alternatives to the enormous waste and consumption rampant in the home building and improvement sectors by offering affordable, re-used materials to the public.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Nicole Hughes:

Should Drive-Thrus Be Banned?

Eco-Moms Mad About “Greenwash” Barbie

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Home Depot Will Recycle Your CLF Bulbs for Free

Department of Energy Predicts 50% Energy Increase By 2030

* * *

Jon Popham:

NYC Waterfalls Installation Starts This Week

Capt. John Smith Is Back…and Running for President

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Yoga Across the Border

Emile Norman: By His Own Design

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Silverdocs 08: A Post-Fest Wrap-Up

Human Rights Watch 08: Letter to Anna

Capt. John Smith, one of the earliest 17th Century English explorers of the New World, is back…and running for President. Well, sort of. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is running a fictional Presidential campaign featuring Capt. Smith to draw awareness to needs of the Chesapeake, and the rivers and streams that feed it, for the upcoming Presidential election.

The original European explorer of the Chesapeake, Capt. Smith found a rich environment filled with fish, oysters, and, of course, Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs in his journeys around America’s largest estuary. In the 400 years since the Bay has lost an enormous amount of its vitality due to pollution from the nearby cities of Baltimore and Washington DC plus the enormous runoff of fertilizer and pesticides from farmlands throughout the Chesapeake’s vast watershed stretching through Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and even southern central New York State. The need for restoration has never been greater in order for future generations to be able to enjoy the abundance the Bay has provided throughout all of modern American history dating back to the founding of Jamestown and the Colony of Virginia.

Read the rest of this entry »

John McCain wants to unleash the power of American innovation to ween the country off oil with an old fashioned, but effective motivator; a cash prize. The presumptive Republican nominee for President proposed awarding a $300 Million prize to the inventor who could come up with a car battery far advanced from the current technology available, in a recent speech at Fresno State University.

While enormous strides have been made in recent years in battery technology, what’s currently available for mass production limits plug in electric cars to about a 250 mile range per charge, and leaves little to no room for trunk storage with the space needed for the Lithium Ion Batteries. The batteries are also costly which prompted Senator McCain to require the winner of his proposed challenge to deliver battery power at 30% of current costs having as he put it, “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.”

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time

* * *
Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

* * *

Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

* * *

Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)