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Autos show-Protests at odds with each other and amongst themselves

Ben Klayman

Jan 12, 2010 00:15 UTC

(Written by Correspondent Nick Carey)

Two protests outside the conference center in downtown Detroit where the auto show is being held provided an odd image.

This was not merely because the two protests — one by workers protesting for more help for workers amid the bailout of the U.S. financial sector, the other ostensibly by “tea party” activists — were rather small, barely a few dozen altogether. Though it must be said that seeing protesters outnumbered by journalists, and there are hordes of us here, is always a surreal experience.

But the oddity of the occasion manifested itself in two ways. First, the two groups of protesters were separated from each other by a one-lane road and a few from each side — and there were maybe a dozen or so more of the workers than the “tea party” people — stood at their respective street corners and stared each other down. Both groups were confined to a small patch of concrete that for 90 minutes they could call their own.

 Some waved banners and chanted their slogans, but for the most part everyone was civil. Perhaps that was because the workers and the main part of the tea partiers were there to protest more or less against the same thing: bailouts. The workers were against bailouts for Wall Street bankers, while the tea partiers were against bailouts, period. So there was little for them to shout about, or maybe it was just too cold to argue.

Food safety worries? Join the club

Are you worried about the rash of high-profile and often deadly tainted-food scandals involving everything from peanut butter and chili peppers to spinach and baby formula?

You are not alone.

“When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week,” U.S. President Barack Obama said recently, referring to a salmonella outbreak that has made 683 people in 46 states sick, killed as many as nine and forced the recall of more than 3,000 products. 

Could Honest Tea be the next Jelly Belly?

When Ronald Reagan, an avid lover of jelly beans, was sworn in as president of the United States in 1981, over three tons of Jelly Belly candies were consumed during the festivities. Likewise in 2009, after Barack Obama assumed the position, his preferred bottled beverage, Honest Tea, seems to be getting a boost.

The 44th president is an open fan of Honest Teas, and even stocked his favorite flavors — Green Dragon Tea and Black Forest Berry — in the White House refrigerator, said the company’s co-founder and CEO Seth Goldman.