As I stood in New York's Mercury Lounge, after walking what felt like the length of Manhattan, my feet ached. When I plonked myself down I realized, to my delight, that I rested next to William B. Johnson. Former bucket drummer to Alicia Keys during "The Diary of Alicia Keys" tour, Wil and I spent the evening comparing the onslaught of bands that addressed the stage. Having intrigued me by claiming to be very good with his hands only seconds after introducing himself, he confidently assured me that whilst his own band Drumadics was very different, he could blow these other kinds of performances out of the water -- or off the stage, as it were.
Subsequently, he invited me to his practice session at The Studio on the West Side of Manhattan to prove his point. The only other musicians I'd met in New York up until now were from Williamsburg. On the whole they were pouty, bar-sitting notebookers (anyone who has been there will know only too well what I'm talking about). Wil, who lives on the Upper East Side, is jocular and affable; he's someone who doesn't seem to take himself too seriously. And for this reason I made the assumption that his band might be just a little better than amateur. How wrong I was.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder has become a household term, especially in the context of combat. Every day, some media outlet in the country talks about the PTSD of our veterans and troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, with the number now estimated to be 95 percent rather than the 20 percent previously reported. But what we aren't talking about as a country is the long-term consequences of that trauma. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have created "Joining Forces" to help the families of our servicemen and women, the program's concerns being "employment, education, wellness and public awareness." Ms. Obama gave as an example of the outcomes she'd like to see: "better career opportunities for veterans and their spouses." Though a good job is essential, the prerequisite to one is a veteran's physical and mental wellness. That wellness is also essential for what I see as any family's most critical concern: their children's prosperity.
Our children's prosperity demands that we talk about their vulnerability to their parents' invisible wounds. In a terrible and cruel irony, when a member of the service returns home from combat, what they most want to achieve -- safety and sustenance for their children -- becomes elusive. The trauma of combat not only persists in tormenting the veteran, but the ghosts it creates haunt the entire household, infecting the children with the veteran's melancholy, depression, anger and unresolved grief.
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On Monday night, California’s former Governor and first lady announced their split after 25 years of marriage. “After a great deal of thought, reflection, discussion and prayer, we came to this decision together,†they said in a joint statement.
We have to say, we didn’t see it coming: Unlike so many political marriages which have been marred by scandal as of late, the union of Schwarzenegger, 63, and Shriver, 55, seemed rock solid. Sure, they were always somewhat of an odd coupleâ€"he the Republican bodybuilder-turned movie star, she the brainy Democrat member of the Kennedy dynastyâ€"but in the quarter-century they spent together, they seem to have weathered it all, from multiple election campaigns to sexual misconduct allegations to state budget crises to parental deaths, all the while raising four kids. This was a pair who earned their frequent power couple designation in spades, not unlike that other longtime political duo who surprised the world with their split last year.
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I just ate the tastiest roast chicken I have eaten in years, perhaps ever. And I've eaten roasted fowl all over the world, from the vaunted Bresse chickens of France to the legendary black-skinned chickens of Hong Kong, even Ethiopian roast chickens (spicy) and Japanese birds marinated in sake. This bird was a two-and-a-half pound chicken which had been raised on a small local family farm just outside of L.A, fed on clover, grubs and seeds, allowed to roam about in its open field, and -- when killed and dressed -- shipped fresh within hours to a new butcher shop in West Hollywood. (No, it's not a premium Jidori chicken from the Mao family downtown, since they don't yet sell retail.) I purchased this bird at Lindy and Grundy, Local Pastured and Organic Meats (801 N. Fairfax Avenue, between Waring and Willoughby, a block north of Melrose, Suite 105, tucked into the corner of the little coffee shop mall (323) 951-0804) They are a few blocks north of Canter's Deli and the epiphanal meat/bacon restaurant, Animal.
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Michelangelo: A Life on Paper, by Leonard Barkan (Princeton University Press, 352 pp. $49.50).
Don't we already know a lot about Michelangelo? Most of us are aware of his awe-inspiring achievements in sculpture, painting and architecture, but perhaps not that he was a prodigious poet who strove to find in words a vehicle for connecting ever more closely with the divine. We know that, as a young man in Florence at the end of the 15th century, he already displayed prodigious talent. While still in his 20s, he completed two of the most remarkable sculptures in the Western canon: the David and the St. Peter's Pieta. Art historians and popular audiences alike have marveled at the sculptor's extraordinary technical skill and been moved by the subtlety and grandeur of his translations of Biblical moments into material form. His large public projects, like the design for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica and the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, cemented his fame as an artist-hero. He was celebrated in his own time, and he has remained in the popular imagination ever since. In America, the older generation will remember Charlton Heston's portrayal of the artist's fierce struggles for perfection, while the younger generation turns up the volume as the Counting Crows sing "When I Dream of Michelangelo." The sculptor's contemporaries simply called him il Divino.
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Joe Nocera gets most of the story right in his discussion of the Financial Crisis Inquiry's Commission's (FCIC) report today. There was gross negligence, greed, and outright fraud, but none of this would have lead to catastrophic consequences if we didn't have a housing bubble. (For that matter, having a housing bubble driven economy virtually guaranteed catastrophic consequences, even without the financial abuses. Spain, which had a well-regulated banking system and no financial crisis, keeps reminding us of this fact, with its 20.6 percent unemployment. The commission was off on the wrong foot from the outset in looking at the "financial crisis." The real crisis is an economic crisis caused by the collapse of an asset bubble which had been the engine of growth in the economy.)
Nocera blames the mass delusion that house prices could rise endlessly with no foundation in the fundamentals of the housing market. This is absolutely right, but there is a key point missing. We have regulators, most importantly central bankers like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, who are not supposed to succumb to mass delusions. They are supposed to make their assessments of the economy based on a measured analysis not the hysterical rantings of the deluded masses.
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Luis Quismorio refuses to believe that eating healthy, organic food is reserved for the wealthy. He and business partners Anthony Bermudez and Ruben Perez started Figueroa Produce in Highland Park almost three years ago with a mission to provide high-quality food at low prices, in a family-friendly environment. Located in a strip mall next to a 99¢ store, Figueroa Produce stands out as a healthful alternative to the numerous fast food chains and discount stores in the area. According to the Los Angeles Times neighborhood maps, 45% of Highland Park's residents are immigrants, rates of single parenthood are high compared to both Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, and the median household income is low ($45,478) compared to the county.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Quismorio spoke passionately about issues of equal access to nutrition for working class people. For him, working at Figueroa Produce is a vocation: "It's a great feeling to know that we're providing fairly priced, organic, and healthy foods so that it's reachable to all income levels." The founders' commitment to family values also means that the store "doesn't sell anything we wouldn't feed our own families," including alcohol and tobacco products. And almost three years later, the founders are gearing up to launch a second store in Eagle Rock called "Organics."
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Hey, St. Anthony's is best known for their food services in the Tenderloin in San Francisco, and also for their computer lab, but last week, I helped them announce that homeless vets really need socks:
This year, St. Anthony's and the VA will reach out to homeless and low-income veterans, and others, to help connect them to services and to hand out socks and small gifts of appreciation. (Socks are a near currency among the homeless population who rarely get to rest for long enough periods in safe enough areas to take off their shoes.)
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It is imperative that creative approaches to education are supported as domestic and international programs undergo improvement. Limiting creativity in education through the arts, culture, and foreign language initiatives hinders the development of each student as a contributing member of global society. Successful education programs can guide the growth of our children as individuals, improve the development of families for future generations, and impact the evolution of entire societies. It is essential that we prepare our children for a global and interconnected world and that the ability to communicate across diverse worlds enables them to promote peace worldwide.
Following years of work in the international fashion industry as a model, stylist, and businesswoman, I accepted a position in a government fellowship in education in an inner city district. Over several years, I have been fortunate to learn about the complex field and the government initiatives in place for children and families in the United States through work as an educator and social entrepreneur in Long Branch, New Jersey. Given the recent education reform movement in the United States, news issues of tolerance between East and West, and constant stream of news on conflicts worldwide; I feel lucky to have my own hands on experiences to share from the field in the United States education system alongside the unparalleled global exposure one gains from work as an international fashion model.
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The saddest thing about living in LA is how quickly you become immune to the freakshow parading around Robertson, encapsulated on The Hills, immortalized in weekly glossies. I'll defend it when I get back to the UK. "No, not everyone's had plastic surgery," "It's really quite a normal place to live," "of course people have a sense of humor," "there are many angelenos who aren't obsessed with fame." But cliches become so for a reason, and after 24 hours back home, I realize that it is possible to have a conversation with someone whose face moves when you talk to them, and that this same conversation might exclude movies, celebrities, television, awards ceremonies, wealth or plastic surgery. And then you kind of think to yourself, 'Oh fuck.'
And it's about this time -- when you're too small for European sizes, and the fact you've had juvederm and botox is met with horrified silence at the dinner table, and it's deemed a clinical illness that you do yoga five times a week and you don't drink and your ex is a millionaire former crack addict -- that you realize there is actually something quite wrong with LA, and while we're all sniggering at it, regarding ourselves immune, we've caught the same damn disease as everyone else in this tinpot tinseltown.
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Via Curbed LA: Designer-developer Billy Lehman and wife Dana Goodyear (a poet and New Yorker writer) are selling their mid-century modern compound above Chateau Marmont for $4.495 million, down from $4.95 million when they first listed the home in May. Lehman created the compound by combining and restoring two two-bedroom homes and added a second story, balcony, and pool. You can hop from one structure to another via a redwood staircase, and walk around and enjoy the several outdoor "rooms" Lehman created.
In addition to the clean white post-and-beams and indoor-outdoor flow, we're loving the power couple's artwork, too. Check out the middle finger statue in slide #6 by LA artist Liz Craft, a Takashi Murakami piece in slide #7, and Andy Warhol's "Muhammad Ali" in slide #8. Curbed LA has the scoop on the skins: "according to this article on the house in C magazine (link goes to a pdf), the zebra pelt seen in the photos is real. Not pictured: the Impala head in the master bedroom."
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Three months ago I did not have a Twitter account, and though I'd reluctantly established a Facebook fan page, I'd put next to nothing on it. But I had a book coming out in May, and the world of publicity has changed radically since I last published a novel, in 2005. So I joined Twitter, set up a Goodreads author page, and posted my new author photo and links to my prepublication reviews on Facebook. Then I wasn't sure what to do, except check my pitiful Twitter follower numbers and feel sad when the total dropped from nine back to five.
Today, three months later, I'm about to close an online contest that involved forty-seven other writers and more than 1200 entries via Facebook, Twitter, and a mailing list. What happened? Well, for one, I went on a traditional book tour, and walking into stores every day wondering whether anyone would be there made me feel not just anxious but powerless. For another, I realized how many newspapers that reviewed my last book no longer had book pages. And, perhaps most importantly, I slowly began to see the vigor and vitality of the online community of readers, writers, and reviewers, particularly on Twitter. On Twitter, you can exchange erudite, funny, snarky, emotional thoughts on literature all day long. It's like going to a writers' conference without the booze and ill-considered affairs.
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Recently, a reporter asked me, "Is it true that we only use 10 percent of our brain?" As a neurologist, I reassured her that this idea is patently false. It's unclear how this myth came to be so widely propagated. Most often, its origin is attributed to William James, a Harvard psychologist, philosopher and physician. In "The Energies of Men," a musing on psychology, published in 1907, James wrote, "We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources."
Despite the tremendous advances in neuroscience, it's hard to believe that this belief persists. Scientists estimate that the human brain is composed of 100 billion neurons, with about 100 trillion synapses. It is the most complicated structure in the entire universe! And when you think about it (pun intended), this is not surprising, given the astounding number of tasks and feats our brain performs on a daily basis. Every thought, emotion and mood is generated by our brain. It interprets each sensation and controls every movement. Our brain orchestrates every organ throughout our body via chemical messengers in the blood, called hormones, and through the nerves that extend from the brain and spinal cord. It bestows consciousness and allows us to learn and remember. In fact, there is nothing that we do that is not ultimately overseen by our brain. Even when we sleep, our brain is incredibly active.
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This week, USA Today continues "Testing the System," a multi-part series exploring the extent and causes of cheating -- by teachers, principals and schools -- on standardized tests. While cheating happens in every field and system, today's polarized debates around education reform can easily turn this type of series into a hammer of blame -- toward teachers, standardized tests and even publicly-funded education -- for whoever partisans of either side want to demonize. Instead, it's important to remember that as is true for many issues, this is one where multiple things can be true -- all at the same time.
1. Cheating is Wrong. Period. -- Cheating is not new and there have always been stakes in education, mostly for students. And, despite the high stakes, such as failing a grade or not getting a diploma, it's always been wrong for a ninth grade student to cheat on his final exam, for a senior to plagiarize his term paper, or for educators to adjust the grades of a star football player. Likewise, despite high-stakes financial pressures, it's always been just as wrong for schools to manipulate attendance records for extra funding. Yet, we don't blame cheating on classroom exams, term papers, academic standards or financial rules. We hold the cheaters responsible.
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Millennials can't catch a break. They are criticized for not paying their dues (leaving a job that doesn't fulfill them), yet advised to find their "passion" (leaving to find a job that fulfills them). Before the recession it was career "suicide" to stay in a job too long, so flipping jobs was by choice. Now, with the job market yet to fully recover and unemployment for 20-somethings still outpacing that of the general population, it's by default. Today's millennial goes through an average of seven job changes in their 20s, and according to Pew Research, six in 10 have already changed careers at least once. But what happens when you haven't built up any experience that prepares you for the next level?
While interviewing 40-something women across the country about their 40:20 Vision hindsight on career, I ran across more than a few who learned the hard way that switching careers too fast in your 20s can leave you in the slow lane in your 30s and 40s. Their career roulette may have been motivated by different reasons, but the result is the same, and it provides valuable insight on the risks of jumping jobs too often for 20-somethings today:
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With the romantic hype of Valentine's Day, it is easy to get caught up in judgment about our own "love life" as we call it. Do I have someone to send me flowers and cards of adoration? Will someone be taking me out for a romantic evening? If not, we often see ourselves falling short -- judging ourselves as undesirable, not good enough or a failure for not having a partner. "Poor me" we say.
While romantic love can be intoxicating and ever so delicious, there is a deeper kind of love that bars no participants. It is the generosity of heart that smiles at a stranger as a way of saying "I see you." It is the kind of love that doesn't keep score in a relationship, but rather allows us to embrace ourselves and our partner through the trials and triumphs of life. It is the kind of love that might say, "I love you and I am not liking your behavior." It is the kind of love that is given first to ourselves through loving care of our body, mind and soul, with the overflow generously and unconditionally given to others. It is the kind of love that celebrates our oneness and honors our differences as we share our common humanity while each marching to the beat of our own particular drum -- or flute or saxophone.
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Just a few days before stepping down as CEO of NBC Universal after nearly 25 years with the company, Jeff Zucker responded to questions at the NATPE Conference posed by his brother-in-law, Michael Nathanson of Nomura Securities. Although he cautiously avoided comments on controversial topics such as the resignation (?) of MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, Zucker's valedictory observations are relevant and important.
"Content is what matters," emphasized Zucker. "Investing in great content wherever it is, is important." Backing it up, Zucker pointed to USA Network, which will have 12 original series next season, up from three a few years ago. More original content is slated for every NBCU owned network, and while he acknowledged the primetime challenges to NBC-TV, he stressed that "content is not just entertainment, but also live news and sports." Retransmission consent value generated by network owned and affiliated stations from cable operators is based more on news and sports programming that's viewed live and that has no back-end online exploitation, he argued. "Broadcast audiences are much larger [than cable] and we should be at the top of the retrans rate card," he said. "There's no more important brand in our entire culture than the NFL."
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This week a machine captured our attention as it battled for supremacy against two human competitors. Watson, the IBM computer, prevailed over Jeopardy's finest, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Jennings was quick to explain that "there's no shame in losing to silicon," he wrote on Slate. Watson and its similar prototypes will move on from here to big projects like improving health care delivery and smartphone technology. Scientists and technicians clearly proved something this week about ingenuity, progress, and communication. What's the big takeaway from this three-day experiment?
See the differences between man and machine: It was Watson's "human attributes that make him so compelling," says Joanna Weiss in The Boston Globe. But ultimately it behaved how you'd expect: heartlessly. The experiment showed "just how hard it would be to mimic the complexity of people," despite how actively we try to "turn our computers into friends." As the other contestants surrounded the machine at game's end to add some levity, "Watson was unfazed. He didn't get the joke, even though he took it like a man."
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Former White House Secretary Desiree Rogers has always been a friend of fashion. She hit Fall/Winter Fashion Week in February 2009, sitting next to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at Carolina Herrera and Donna Karan. And she met up with Anna Wintour again in June for the Oscar de la Renta resort show. This season, we've already spotted her at Calvin Klein for Fashion's Night Out and at Thakoon and DVF on Sunday. So what's Desiree doing in town?
"[My] major goal is to take a look at the trends and just see everything obviously and really to just kind of get to know the scene a little bit better," she told WWD. "We really are enlarging our space in Ebony in the fashion and beauty segments, so we really want to be current, we want to have the best stuff, we want to be a little edgy, so I've got to be here to see everything and meet everybody."
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The GOP establishment's support for Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle has begun to dwindle since the controversial Tea Party-backed candidate began campaigning on an unconventional set of values and policies. Perhaps more damaging than Angle's lack of support from many within the Nevada GOP has been the fact that many of the state's most influential Republicans have endorsed her opponent, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Last week, Dawn Gibbons, former First Lady of Nevada, said that she would support Reid because of Angle's "extreme" stances on education. Gibbons was not the first to flee the rank-and-file, however. Other Republicans have cited Harry Reid's ability to bring funding to the state, as well as his leadership role which would be lost should a freshman Senator take his place. Reid lists over 130 Republican supporters on his website.
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There were 45 thousand references on the Google and AOL search engines to the Reverend Al Sharpton's Reclaim the Dream" March in Washington DC the day after he staged it. There were more than 32 million entries on the Google and AOL search engines referencing Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally the day after he staged it. Beck's name has soared so high there was even preposterous talk of a Beck-Palin presidential ticket in 2012.
This is heady stuff for a PT Barnum, carnival barker talk show huckster. But Beck didn't climb to his Olympian media and public perch solely on Fox Network hype, personal shuck, corporate money, and the conservative's new found love affair with him. Beck got a huge rocket launch to that perch by the steady drum beat of Beck bashing by liberals, Democrats and the Left. He shrewdly figured out that the best way to get your name out there, and then quickly grow it is to do and say something, anything, that's so outrageous that you'll infuriate the critics. They have been more than willing to aid and abet Beck's rise to the top by keeping up the attack. The restore honor rally was the best and most dramatic example of how a huckster can turn jeers into ratings, and con tens of thousands to trek to DC to hear his patchwork Elmer Gantry message of God and redemption.
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Instead of asking whether or not Representative Anthony Weiner should resign, it is more useful to ask if he should stay in congress. The arguments for Weiner to resign are reasonably clear, including points based on morality, that his behavior is simply too sleazy and disturbing, legality, that the communications he had with young women, particularly if they are minors, constitute a form of harassment, practicality, that he will have a hard time focusing on the work of being in congress if his time is taken up with the fallout from the scandal, and politics, that his continued presence in congress weakens the Democrats chance of winning back the House of Representatives in November. These are all strong points, but could be outweighed if there was a compelling reason for Weiner to stay in congress.
Several different rationales have been presented for why Weiner should remain in congress. The first is that Weiner is a strong and courageous voice for progressive causes and that should he leave congress, the Democrats would love this important voice and his constituents would lose an able and diligent representative. The first half of this assertion is true. Weiner has been outspoken on issues such as health care and in attacking Republicans for being captured by various corporate interests. He also has fought hard for the interests of the Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods which he represents.
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Last week saw two conflicting doctrines emerge: The first with President Barack Obama's speech concerning the role of his country in the Arab popular uprising demanding change, and the second with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's speech concerning the role of the Syrian regime vis-Ã -vis the popular uprising demanding reform in Syria. While the Obama doctrine is currently the focal point of a debate taking place among its proponents, opponents and critics -- on both sides of the political spectrum -- the Assad doctrine reveals two possibilities, albeit which both have a single outcome: that the space afforded for the debate is of a military and security nature, as Assad came to the conclusion that the demonstrations held by the Syrian people, are part of a conspiracy. For him, 'preventing strife is a national, moral and religious duty, and all those who contribute to preventing it, but fail to do so, are part thereof.' The possibilities revealed, meanwhile, are either that the powers that be, whether they are economic in nature or are part of the intelligence community and the military, have opposed any move towards reforms and forced Assad to chose between postponing them or
repressing the protests; or that Assad himself has chosen to pursue the 'doctrine' of triumphalism, by purporting that 'crises are positive situations, if we manage to control them and emerge from them victorious.'
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Dear Chris,
I really did not want to write this open letter, and would have preferred to speak to you in person, in private. Indeed, ever since the domestic violence incident with Rihanna two years ago, there have been attempts, by some of the women currently or formerly in your circle -- women who love and care deeply about you -- to bring you and I together, as they felt my own life story, my own life experiences, might be of some help in your journey. For whatever reason, that never happened. By pure coincidence, I wound up in a Harlem recording studio with you about three months ago, as I was meeting up with R&B singer Olivia and her manager. You were hosting a listening session for your album in progress, and the room was filled with gushing supporters, with a very large security guard outside the studio door. I was allowed in, as I assume you knew my name and my long relationship to the music industry. I greeted you and said I would love to have a talk with you, but I am not even sure you heard a single word I said above the loud music. I gave your security person my card when I left and asked him to ask you to phone me, but you never did, for whatever reason. And that is fine.
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UPDATED -- A huge part of the Los Angeles marathon are the stories behind why people are running. Early morning reports have centered around the ex-sumo wrestler Kelly Gneiting, who at 405 pounds is running to show that "big people can do the unimaginable." Then there's the "McRunner," who has been keeping a blog about training for the race while only eating from McDonalds.
At the Huffington Post, we've been running a week-long series called "Why I'm Running," featuring blog posts from marathoners running to raise money for one of LA Marathon's many official charities. Ivan Mendoza is running to raise money for cancer research and is inspired by his girlfriend, who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Teacher Molly Rearick is running in memory of one of her students. And Adam Selkowitz is running to show that lupus isn't going to defeat him. Read more runners' stories here.
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The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions has several goals but a friend asked me what was the primary purpose. After thinking about this a bit, I would put it like this: the most desired outcome or effect of this book is a reduction of the tension and hostility between science and religion. There is a real sense in which I wish (perhaps unrealistically) that this book would be so successful that no more books on this topic would have to be written.
The most discouraging aspect of the discussion in this book is that it is, for the most part, between fellow Christians -- a sort of civil war pitting brother against brother, sister against sister. If Christians of all stripes were united against poverty or sickness, that would be a glorious war, as they set aside their differences to do battle with a genuine enemy. But there is something sad when Christians at Answers in Genesis, at Al Mohler's seminary, at the Discovery Institute and even at BioLogos attack each other over the topic of origins. And although nobody loses their lives in this war, there are real casualties, like Bruce Waltke, who lost his job last year for suggesting that evangelicals needed to take evolution seriously, or the faculty members at Calvin College on the hot seat for their publications about Adam.
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NEW YORK -- Since last October, when President Barack Obama visited the set of "The Daily Show," the majority of political guests on the show have been conservatives.
Though he leans left, host Jon Stewart has coaxed plenty of Republicans -- including potential 2012 contenders Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich, Tea Party leader Dick Armey and even longtime punching bags like former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former RNC chair Michael Steele -- to appear on his show and engage in lively debate with one of the most well-respected interviewers on television. But a few high-profile conservatives looking to expand their base and move new books keep declining the show's invitations, despite the fact that Stewart is typically gracious with right-wing guests (after his recent appearance, one of the toughest interviews he endured on his book tour, Rumsfeld tweeted: "Just wrapped up one of the most thoughtful interviews of book tour with @thedailyshow."
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The president gets it. It is refreshing to see. Although I was Secretary of the U.S. Air Force under the Bush administration, Obama and I see eye-to-eye. As a very early, and sometimes lonely advocate for alternative fuels for the military and the rest of America, I am emboldened by his portfolio approach to the future of energy.
President Obama's insistence for the creation and use of new energy sources in America is about creating a better future and owning the world leadership we have taken for granted for decades. It is not about 'conserving by wearing sweaters'; it is recognition that innovation and initiative must replace the 'woe is me' atmosphere of peak oil prospects, blown-out wells, and natural gas pipelines. President Obama correctly emphasized a portfolio approach. We need new sources of energy electricity, but more importantly we need technologies that tackle petroleum and liquid transportation fuels. He called for a galvanized, focused, and ambitious America to secure our energy future -- calling it this generation's Sputnik moment. He couldn't be more right. In 1957, the Sputnik call-to-arms sparked an instant and close partnership between the U.S. government and private industry. Working together, NASA, Grumman, Boeing, and others put a man on the moon. We need that same partnership ethic today if we are to secure true energy independence and our position at the lead of energy innovation.
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The Fed's lucky streak of deceiving bond investors with low interest rates may be drawing to a close. Nevertheless, the extended period of low borrowing costs has bred a new breed of bulls - not even bulls, more like ostriches - which bury their heads in the sand of declining debt service ratios so they don't have to face intractable levels of US government debt and the potential for an interest rate surge. If these ostriches were to actually look at the numbers, they would realize that the US is simply living on borrowed time.
The government of the United States is the holder of the world's reserve currency and, as such, has enjoyed the benefits of low interest rates despite its inflationary practices. The recycling of our trade deficit has hidden what would otherwise be much higher borrowing costs and a much lower purchasing power for the dollar. That condition has prompted pundits like Paul Krugman to claim, "...many economists, myself included, warned from the beginning that the plan [Obama's stimulus program] was grossly inadequate. Put it this way: A policy under which government employment actually fell, under which government spending on goods and services grew more slowly than during the Bush years hardly constitutes a test of Keynesian economics." Mr. Krugman (a Nobel Prize winner in economics) actually laments that government spending and debt accumulation isn't growing fast enough!
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Several months ago, as I was riding on the New York City subway, I glanced up at the usual band of advertising that ran over the windows and noticed something unusual: a small square poster that contained the logo of the New York Public Library, along with the following quote: "If we had keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heartbeat, and we should die of the roar which lies on the other side of silence." From Middlemarch, by George Eliot.
I had not read Middlemarch (or any George Eliot, for that matter) and didn't know the context, but I was immediately drawn in to this beautiful sentence, with its description of the dulled state in which most of us live and the yearning to peel back this dullness in order to experience the powerful presence of life itself. This quote struck me because I, like countless others, had briefly and partially heard this "roar", had seen the place on the "other side of silence", and had felt a kind of dying. These encounters showed me that there is a purposeful presence that underlies all creation, and that there is a oneness to everything. The experience of this presence is often called "mysticism," and Eliot's sentence is an astonishing evocation of the mystic's journey.
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