What To Tell Friends Who May Still Be Demoralized (Though, With the President Back in Fighting Mode, a Lot of That is Evaporating) September 21, 2011March 25, 2017 Monday and Tuesday, I offered links that should satisfy anyone who doubts the President’s commitment to Israel. (Carolyn: “Thanks for that. I went to a talk with some of the members of the Palestinian delegation to the UN. When they were asked what they thought of the President’s veto, they said they want him to do whatever he has to do to remain in power.” Isn’t that great? To have a firm friend of Israel who also has the respect of the Palestinians? Maybe peace can be achieved one of these days after all.) With the full and final repeal of Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell yesterday, and a long list of other items, even my most skeptical friends are now beginning to accept that the President has delivered impressive progress on equality, with more to come if he gets a second term. Similar lists of accomplishments can be compiled for – among others – women, environmentalists, students, and anyone who’s a member of the middle class. Even so, some of our friends are disappointed. What should we tell them? Tell them: 1. Mitt Romney’s co-chair for Supreme Court picks is Robert Bork. And to get the nomination, Romney would have to make the same deal with religious right Bush did. (Perry, obviously, would be even worse.) So if we lose next year, we’d likely lose one-third of the government for a generation. Wait . . . that may just discourage them more. But it’s really important for everyone to know, because THIS third of our government decides things like Citizens United and Bush v Gore that determine who gets to run the world. And things like women’s reproductive rights and separation of church and state. Had a single vote flipped in the 5-4 Florida recount decision, there would have been no war in Iraq, no trillion-dollar deficits, no near-Depression – and no Roberts or Alito to tilt the Court further right. As discouraging as an 18-month delay in the imposition of tougher ozone regulations is – and it is! – as discouraging as the failure of a showcased solar power start-up is – and it is! (though see below) – they’re not worth losing the Court over because we got too demoralized to fight. 2. If we DON’T become too demoralized to fight, WE’RE GOING TO WIN! For one thing, most voters agree with us. They LIKE Social Security. They DON’T want to pay an extra $6,000 a year under Paul Ryan’s privatized Medicare plan. They AGREE millionaires should lose their Bush tax cuts. They WANT to see investment in infrastructure and cops kept on the streets. For another, the Tea Party is not popular. It may have captured the Republican Party, but it ranks 24th – out of 24 – dead last – behind Jews (#6), gays (#17), atheists (#22), and Sarah Palin (#23). For a third, we know how to do this. The same team that quarterbacked Obama’s improbable nomination in 2008 is back at the helm – and very much aware of the changed realities. While the Republicans are hard at work tearing each other down, we are hard at work laying the groundwork for an enormous effort. I just got back from Chicago where two things were really heartening: I saw some of the plans, which take 2008 to a whole new level; and I sensed the determination – which is fierce. 3. NOW is the time to help. An organizer we hire now – and we’ve already hired hundreds – has time to recruit, train, and inspire TEAM LEADERS who have time to recruit, train, and inspire TEAM MEMBERS, who have time to recruit, train, and inspire VOLUNTEERS (actually, they’re all volunteers, except for that first $35,000 organizer) who have time to knock on tens of thousands of doors, register new voters, assist existing voters overcome newly erected Republican obstacles (like obtaining photo IDs) and, collectively, turn out millions of incremental votes. And remember: those are votes for President but also, once they’re in the booth, for Senate, House, and everything else. These are votes our team would otherwise not get. These are votes we can’t get if we wait until next fall. This work is absolutely the most leveraged way to tip the odds in our favor. We need to fund it. Are we going to be like the Republicans? They just close their eyes to the perils of climate change rather than act to avert it. In our case, the immediate peril is a bad result in 2012. Will our discouraged friends – out of admirable idealism – not act to avert it? And that’s the fourth of the three things we need to tell our discouraged friends: 4. There are two kinds of idealists. As argued here a few days ago, the TRUE idealist is the one who does what he or she has to to advance his or her ideals (perhaps call him or her the “practical idealist”) whereas the TRAGIC idealist is tremendously well motivated but – by refusing to make the hard choices and accept the distasteful compromises – sets his cause back horribly. That’s what Nader did. By ignoring all his friends and advisors – who begged him to tell swing-state voters to vote for Gore – he dealt the world an unintentional but disastrous blow. If that’s idealism, I want no part of it. Those who, out of idealism, fail this year – this month – to throw their full energy and resources into our effort are Karl Rove’s dream idealists. It’s HARD to be enthusiastic when times are so tough. And it’s hard to accept compromise. But it’s somewhat easier if your friends allow themselves to consider the GOOD stuff. This Administration averted a depression, restored America’s standing in the world, launched an educational “race to the top,” doubled fuel-efficiency standards, extended health insurance to 30 million people, preserved the social safety net, seeded potentially game-changing alternative energy start-ups, killed Bin Laden, appointed two progressive Justices, reformed student loans, created a consumer financial protection bureau, regulated tobacco, advanced LGBT equality . . . and on and on. It’s a very long list. It’s also somewhat easier to be enthusiastic if your friends dig down for “the other side of the story.” In the case of the Solyndra solar bankruptcy, for example, there’s a lot the media hasn’t reported. Often what we hear is overly negative — whether it comes from the Tea Party or even, sometimes, from our own team. All that said, it IS hard to be enthusiastic. We should all respect that. But, as I also recently argued here, it’s not as hard as spending a winter, shoeless, at Valley Forge.
The First Jewish President And A Stronger Military September 20, 2011March 25, 2017 [HOUSEKEEPING NOTE] Some of you get this page emailed to you at 6am every morning. There’s a button at the very bottom of this page that allows you to sign up for that. (It’s a little clunky, but generally seems to work.) Once in a while – like yesterday – I will resend the column as I realize I’ve botched something, or could improve or update something. So if you find two, let alone three, such emails in your inbox, please just read the most recent one. ISRAEL – II Jewish Americans have many reasons to vote Democratic, the most important being tikkun olam – a commitment to ‘heal the world.’ But add to that Obama’s terrific support for Israel, bullet-pointed yesterday. Now comes the cover of New York Magazine showing the President wearing a yarmulke with the cover line: ‘The First Jewish President.’ Here is the very favorable story. In small part: . . . Again and again, when Israel has been embroiled in international dustups-over its attack last year on a flotilla filled with activists headed from Turkey to Gaza, to cite but one example-the White House has had Israel’s back. The security relationship between the countries, on everything from intelligence sharing to missile-defense development to access to top-shelf weapons, has never been more robust. And when the Cairo embassy was seized and Netanyahu called to ask for Obama’s help with rescuing the last six Israelis trapped inside the building, the president not only picked up the phone but leaned hard on the Egyptians to free those within. “It was a decisive moment,” Netanyahu recalled after the six had been freed. “Fateful, I would even say.” All of which raises an interesting, perplexing, and suddenly quite pressing question: How, exactly, did Obama come to be portrayed, and perceived by many American Jews, as the most ardently anti-Israel president since Jimmy Carter? . . . OPEN SERVICE It’s official: Today marks the end of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” The law is repealed. From this day forward, gay and lesbian Soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations and politics reflect the repeal guidance issued by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter. For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our Soldiers are the most agile, adaptable and capable warriors in history — and we are ready for this change … ☞ The Washington Post reports: “. . . [E]ven when repeal seemed within reach, success was anything but assured. It only came after a nearly pitch-perfect effort by Obama and the military leadership to create the political conditions necessary to bring about repeal, as well as well as some very shrewd public and private gamesmanship by Senate leaders that left GOP moderates with little choice but to do the right thing. It will be endlessly debated whether Obama and Dems did this in response to outside pressure, but the fact is, they did it.”
Warren Buffett Is A Smarter Businessman Than Mitch McConnell And Has Created More Jobs September 19, 2011March 25, 2017 EVERYTHING IN THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT IS PAID FOR We should pass this bill right away. As President Clinton noted on “Meet the Press” yesterday, economists say it will add 1.3% to 2% to what our GDP otherwise would have been, reduce unemployment by 1% or more from where it otherwise would have been, and put more than a million people back to work. Mitch McConnell, on the same program, naturally dismissed all this out of hand. And John Boehner was shown saying we should work in a bipartisan way – none of this “my way or the highway” stuff – and that tax hikes of any kind were off the table. (It would be his way or the highway on that.) They are just certain that the tax rates on the rich that we’ve had for the last several years – which have been accompanied by massive job losses – are the way to go. They are certain that the Clinton tax hikes – which were accompanied by 23 million net jobs created – proved themselves a mistake. It’s concerning that so many people fail to see that this is nuts. Concerning that Bush could have told the American people that “by far the vast majority” of the benefits from his tax cuts would go “to people at the bottom of the economic ladder” – without widespread outrage at the grotesque dishonesty. What no one said on “Meet the Press” – and what I’ve not heard said anywhere – is that the “Warren Buffett millionaire’s tax” being proposed is NOT “more taxes,” it’s shifting tax CUTS from those who least need them to those who most do. From those least likely to spend the cuts (and stimulate the economy) to those most likely to. It’s funding payroll tax CUTS for the middle class by hiking taxes on millionaires so that they pay closer to the 28% they paid under Ronald Reagan instead of the 15% that Bush told us would create jobs – but didn’t. And by the way? If we do get an overall tax increase (with more coming in from millionaires and billionaires than going out in cuts to the middle class) . . . and if we use that additional revenue to fund a more aggressive private-sector job-creating infrastructure program in the short-run and deficit reduction in the long-run . . . that would be good. Reagan raised taxes on the middle class (specifically, the payroll tax) and slashed taxes on millionaires; Obama proposes to shift that back a bit. (And not to impose the hike on millionaires until 2013.) GOLD Daniel: “I’m cheaper than you. I hold my gold via iShares IAU (.25% expense ratio) vs GLD (.40% expense ratio) which is annually about $2.65/oz less expensive.” SOLYNDRA Guess what? Turns out that the half-billion-dollar bankruptcy of Obama Administration solar showcase Solyndra was not quite as portrayed in the press. This piece exposes what it calls the “Five Biggest Right-Wing Lies About Solyndra.” First, that the biggest Solyndra investor was an Obama contributor who stood to profit – he was not and did not. Click to read the other four. To which I would just add: look, in any new industry – be it the Internet or, once upon a time, the auto industry – lots of new ventures fail. That doesn’t mean, with so much at stake as we compete with China and others for a share of the world market in alternative energy, we shouldn’t take some risks. And when you take risks, some fail. Even so, the author of “the five biggest lies” argues this money was not wasted. Click the link. ISRAEL – AGAIN Joe P.: “Obama is going to lose my vote on the issue of ISRAEL. He’s been terrible.” ☞ No, he has been terrific. Virtually the only people questioning Obama’s Pro-Israel record are the Republicans. The top Israeli military leaders, and the left and the right of the Israeli government, have praised Obama. Even AIPAC and a Hasidic newspaper have issued statements in support of the President. Israeli President Shimon Peres: “I want to take advantage of this opportunity to express my appreciation to President Obama and say in a clear voice – President Obama is a friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel and there is no doubt in this matter. Michael Oren – Israeli Ambassador to the US: “I think we are closer today in our two positions than we have been probably any time before… We agree on the principles of moving forward. The Obama administration is committed to a two state solution based on direct negotiations and dealing with all the core issue. That is precisely the Israeli position—we see totally eye to eye on that.” – Michael Oren, September 16 on CNN’s The Situation Room New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Bloomberg was asked at a press conference Thursday whether he has any reservations about the President’s Middle East policies. The mayor described himself as strongly connected to Israel, and added: “I think there’s nothing the President’s done or said that gives me pause to think he doesn’t understand and feel the same way.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “I would like to express my gratitude to the President of the United States, Barack Obama [with respect to the Egyptian attack on the Israeli embassy]. I asked for his help. This was a decisive and fateful moment. He said, “I will do everything I can.” And so he did. He used every considerable means and influence of the United States to help us. We owe him a special measure of gratitude. This attests to the strong alliance between Israel and the United States. This alliance between Israel and the United States is especially important in these times of political storms and upheavals in the Middle East.” Former Director of the Mossad Efraim Halevy: “I believe the leadership that the President of the United States showed on that night [of the Cairo embassy rescue] was a leadership of historic dimensions. It was he who took the ultimate decision that night which prevented what could have been a sad outcome – instead of six men coming home, the arrival in Israel of six body bags. And I want to say to you very openly and very clearly that had there been six body bags, there would have been a much different Israel today than we have been used to seeing over recent years. This would not have been one more incident, one more operation, one event. And the man who brought this about was one man and that was President Barrack Hussein Obama. And I believe it is our duty as Israelis, as citizens of the free world, to say, not simply thank you President Obama, but also we respect you for the way and the manner in which you took this decision.” – September 13 Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (formerly Ariel Sharon’s top foreign policy advisor): “I can tell you in a very categoric way, and I believe also an authoritative way, that we have not had a better friend than President Obama.” – September 9 Defense Minister Ehud Barak Corrects Fox News Host on Obama’s Support for Israel: “No. Our countries are good friends. And I’m the minister of defense, I can tell you that I can hardly remember – I was in uniform for decades – I can hardly remember a better period of support, American support and backing and cooperation and similar strategic understanding of events around us than what we have right now.” ☞ Okay? Can we stop bashing the Administration for being bad on Israel? Can we stop bashing it for investing in solar energy? Can we stop bashing it for being unable to get Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to do almost any of the things that cry out to be done to spur the growth in jobs and rejuvenate our infrastructure?
Israel September 16, 2011March 25, 2017 SNOLLYGOSTERS This slide show from the new book, Slinging Mud, is actually a little tame – the slides on Bush 43 and Obama seem only barely related to either man. But the Lincoln and Roosevelt slides remind us that even presidents now generally considered “great” are not always portrayed that way at the time. “Ignoramus Abe,” and all that. “ATTACK WATCH” Speaking of which, attackwatch has recently launched to push back when the President is unfairly attacked. You can sign up for rapid-response emails and/or drill down on specific topics. Like Israel. A major reason we lost the special election to fill Congressman Anthony Weiner’s seat in Brooklyn Tuesday – a heavily orthodox Jewish district last in Republican hands nearly a century ago – was that the voters had been urged, by Ed Koch and others, “to send a message to the President” to be more supportive of Israel. Except that the truth is the President has been terrific on Israel. (And he was born in America, and he doesn’t pal around with terrorists, and Al Gore never said he invented the Internet, and Iraq did not attack us on 9/11, and the Clintons didn’t murder Vince Foster, and “by far the vast majority” of President Bush’s tax cuts did not go to people “at the bottom end of the economic ladder” it went to people at the top.) Having a site like this site could be helpful. GOLD George E.: “On TV and radio I run across a good number of commercials by companies wanting to help protect me from the coming economic collapse by offering to sell gold (or silver, or other precious metals) in exchange for my soon-to-be worthless money. However, if these companies truly believe that an economic Armageddon is about to occur, why are they so eager to sell their gold at this time?” ☞ It’s not THEIR gold. They buy as much as they need in the open market to meet the demand they generate from the ads, taking a profit on each ounce. Similarly, supermarket owners are not selling THEIR food (or they would starve to death). They are buying extra food and selling it for more than they paid. The gold I reluctantly hold (as a hedge, hoping things go well and my gold fares poorly) I hold not in the form of the actual metal but as electronic entries on a brokerage statement – GLD. That won’t do much good in the event total chaos returns us to a candle-lit barter society. For that I have a solar flashlight and cases of tuna. VVUS UPDATE Guru: “They announced that the FDA said it could refile Qnexa as an obesity treatment for men and for women not of child-bearing age (i.e. post menopausal). The FDA also said they would convene an advisory panel meeting in 1Q 2012. Separately, VVUS is awaiting the results of a large retrospective study to see if one of the two ingredients in Qnexa (topiramate) causes an increase in fetal abnormalities. So far, several large studies show that, statistically, it does not. The VVUS study will be the largest. If it turns out that the VVUS study shows topiramate DOES cause fetal abnormalities, then VVUS had planned to file Qnexa for use in men and post-menopausal women, so today’s announcement accelerates this Plan B. I would expect approval for that more limited market to send the shares to 12 or higher. Analysts at Leerink Swann Research have a target, as you see, of 11-13, in line with my estimate. But if they got approval for pre-menopausal women as well, the prospects could be significantly better.” ☞ I’m holding mine, with money I can truly afford to lose.
YOUR Local Bridge September 15, 2011March 25, 2017 BRIDGES More than 150,000 of our bridges need work. Story here. Are the ones you drive across safe? Click here to find out. (And here to see the breakdown by state.) A PLAN TO RENEW OUR INFRASTRUCTURE Thanks to Stephen Pizzo for those links. And for this one to a 2008 Popular Mechanics plan for upgrading our infrastructure across the board –the power grid, levees, bridges, and the rest. To someone who understands no mechanics (me), the illustrations are fascinating and inspiring. We should do this stuff! And, yes, public works – done by private companies – are paid for with tax money. So instead of building a 240-foot yacht, if you make $100 million a year, you might only get to build a 160-foot yacht (think what you’ll save on fuel and how many more marinas you’ll be able to slip into) – but you would also be helping to finance the renewal of the country that made your income possible in the first place. Of course, it’s not just yacht-owners who will need to chip in. Once the recession ends – perhaps even before – almost all of us blessed with six-, let alone seven-figure, incomes will likely face somewhat higher taxes to help fund America’s resurgence. Compared to the sacrifices our grandparents and their grandparents made, of course, it’s nothing. And compared with the hardships faced daily by those getting by on $20,000 or $40,000 a year, it’s also nothing. But it will still pinch. The trick will be to find ways to be happy anyway. Surely, some people were happy from 1940 to 1986 when the top federal bracket ranged from 90% to 50%. No? And those poor bastards didn’t have the nearly-free astonishments that we’ll still have even if our taxes do go back up to Clinton levels. For starters, we’ll still have virtually unlimited, virtually free, virtually instant entertainment right in our shirt packet. How can that not be fun? The massive investment we should make in infrastructure will put construction workers back to work and get the economy moving again. HOW THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT WOULD AFFECT YOUR STATE Click here. We need to pass this right away.
Patriots Pay Taxes September 14, 2011March 25, 2017 3rd ESTIMATED QUARTERLY TAX DUE The “greatest generation” paid a top rate of 90% in federal income tax (36% on long-term capital gains). Most people, not being rich, paid nowhere near that top rate, of course, and no one is suggesting anything like that rate today – nor should they. But we had World War II to fight back then, and then to pay off over the ensuing 35 years as we got our war debt back down to a reasonable levels. Which reasonable level Reagan, Bush, and Bush blew back out of the water with massive tax giveaways mostly to the wealthy. Enjoy the patriotic feeling it’s still possible to have when you pay your estimated tax tomorrow. America is a wonderful country; the obsession some rich people have with not paying taxes is certainly misguided (it’s destroying their country) and arguably selfish or even shameful. I do not myself argue that it’s shameful because I think those folks have persuaded themselves it’s good economics – that they are the job creators, etc. It’s only truly shameful if they realize how selfish they’re being. Though – deep down – can they really not? Can one of my Republican classmates who threw himself a multi-million dollar birthday party really believe his talents are so extraordinary that, when he makes $500 million, it’s because he “created so much value?” Steve Jobs has created tremendous value. But this guy? He makes deals, some of which work out, some of which don’t. Or what about the folks who take huge risks trading financial futures with other people’s money. How have they “created enormous value” when their bets turn out right? Why do so many of them feel they are the ones with the raw deal, having to pay a chunk of their seven-, eight-, or nine-figure incomes in taxes, when their nannies and hedge-trimmers and cleaning ladies pay little or no income tax? Anyway, don’t forget to mail in your third quarterly 2011 estimated income tax tomorrow if you’ve had appreciable income on which tax has not been withheld. THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT Here’s the bill, summarized for easy digestion. It will be a badly needed boost.
Pep September 13, 2011March 25, 2017 If you’re an early bird, or even a normal bird, you may have missed the updates yesterday, so here it is again: SHOULD MATH BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? I assume this clip from the Miss America try-outs is a spoof. How can it not be? It’s hysterical. I love the girl from Vermont the most. But a quick search on Snopes turned up only this related item (wherein the Alabama legislature supposedly passes a law to round Pi down from 3.1415 to “3” to be more in line with Biblical teachings). In case it’s not a spoof, please don’t tell me – I would have to kill myself. [UPDATE: Peter Kronenberg: “It IS a spoof – on a real video where they asked Miss America contestants if they thought evolution should be taught in schools. The point being that it would be ridiculous to ask if we should teach math in schools, as if some people don’t believe in math.”] [Update: Chuck McLean: “Here is the earliest version I can find, from 2005: A good bit different.” And not attributed to John Cleese. So perhaps stolen from him? And then tweaked over the years, by him or some who couldn’t resist a little enhancement as they passed it on?] PEP TALK “By the way,” Chuck continues, “I should thank you for the little pep talks you have been giving us. I went into quite a snit fit around the time of the debt ceiling debacle and determined that I was through with Obama and maybe even politics. You talked me off the ledge, and I am now ready to do whatever I can to help the President get re-elected.” I stoop to posting this (self-congratulation not being among Dale Carnegie’s top ten methods) first to suggest this as a model others might relate to – Chuck is safely back in off the ledge, climb back in with him! – and second to suggest that if you start giving friends pep talks, you might well be rewarded with notes like this, too. Not to mention the crucial help that your doing so will be to the outcome 419 days from now, on which SO much hangs in the balance. I say again: can you imagine how much better off our country and the world would likely have been if a few of the 97,488 Nader voters in Florida had seen the bigger picture, had been true idealists, and had voted for Gore? And, for that matter, inspired those of like mind in swing states to do likewise? ITMN Guru: “They are launching in Germany on Sep 15. The price is fully paid by the government. Nothing to the patient. The price is slightly above what analysts have been estimating (so they will raise price target today), though within the range of other drugs for similar diseases. Should be no issue with reimbursement. Other launches will occur this year and next year. Company will have big presence at European respiratory conference Sep 24. In a neutral market – which of course we may not have – ITMN should go higher. Price target is 45-55 over the next year.”
Jobs September 12, 2011March 25, 2017 SHOULD MATH BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS? I assume this clip from the Miss America try-outs is a spoof. How can it not be? It’s hysterical. I love the girl from Vermont the most. But a quick search on Snopes turned up only this related item (wherein the Alabama legislature supposedly passes a law to round Pi down from 3.1415 to “3” to be more in line with Biblical teachings). In case it’s not a spoof, please don’t tell me – I would have to kill myself. [UPDATE: Peter Kronenberg: “It IS a spoof – on a real video where they asked Miss America contestants if they thought evolution should be taught in schools. The point being that it would be ridiculous to ask if we should teach math in schools, as if some people don’t believe in math.”] POLITICALLY INCORRECT . . . . . . and a possible copyright violation. But if you’re of no particular ethnic background or not easily offended; and if you’re not going to tell John Cleese this has been flying around the Internet; and since – touch wood – yesterday went off uneventfully and at least for now we can laugh nervously . . . well . . . here: ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2011 EUROPE BY JOHN CLEESE The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “Run” to “Hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender.” The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France ‘s white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country’s military capability. The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada. The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout Loudly and Excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing.” Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides.” The Germans have increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbor” and “Lose.” Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels . The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be all right, Mate.” Two more escalation levels remain: “Crikey! I think we’ll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend!” and “The Barbie is canceled.” So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level. — John Cleese – British writer, actor and tall person JOBS I like to think everyone in America watched or read the President’s “American Jobs Act” address to the joint session of Congress. Here are the video and transcript of the speech he made the next day, in Richmond.
The Speech – And the Opposition September 9, 2011March 25, 2017 THE SPEECH Hope restored. Read it here or, better still, watch. THE OPPOSITION If you didn’t have time Wednesday, I urge you to read this now . . . the story of a long-time, high-ranking REPUBLICAN Congressional staffer, who levels a devastating indictment: Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult. MY FRIEND PATTY HAS WRITTEN A NEW LITTLE NOVEL And they made a charming little movie to promote it. Three minutes. STARTING A NEW BUSINESS – II And now WickedStart is the subject of a New York Times follow-up. (Reminder: I have a sliver of this. But since it’s free, and the Times seems to think it’s useful, I don’t feel too guilty plugging it.) ARE YOU THESE TWO THINGS? 1. A fantasy football or fantasy baseball enthusiast? 2. Rich? (Rich-ish?) Just in case you are, could you Me-Mail me? DVAX / TTNP UPDATE Guru: “It’s amazing how much better mousetraps DVAX (and TTNP) really are. Market just doesn’t care. The market WILL care when TTNP is sold (highly probable, though no guarantee) and when DVAX is launched (next year). DVAX has data to be released September 17 at the ICAAC meeting and then in October, highly likely that the CDC will recommend universal hep B vaccine for diabetics and DVAX is the hands down winner over the existing vaccine. Not in any way equivocal. This vaccine truly is the better mousetrap!” EMIS UPDATE Guru: “They are presenting data on osteoarthritis trial September 17. Title of talk suggests they saw significant improvement in pain and function and increase in cartilage. Provides support for osteoporosis trial. That trial’s last patient was done in late June or early July. Thus it is likely Novartis has at least a preliminary idea of the results. I’m hearing the official final data will be out in November. Always a lot of uncertainty in biotech but I remain positive.” DNDN UPDATE Guru: “DNDN had a conference call today. August sales were $22 million up from $19 million in July. Average reimbursement time is 30 days. One doc was reimbursed in 8 days. Issue is not price or patients with the right diagnosis: it is only reimbursement. As soon as each doc sees he is getting timely reimbursement he has lots of patients to put on. They have reduced head count by 25 percent. They are break-even at $500 million a year and they have enough cash to get there. Bottom line: worst is behind them stock is going up.”
Two Types of Idealists Which Are You? September 8, 2011March 25, 2017 3 GUITARS AND A TRACTOR PLAY ‘SWEET GEORGIA BROWN’ Where else do you get stuff like this? (Thanks, Stewart.) TRACTOR TRAILER FUN These eight photos are too terrific not to ogle. (Thanks, Murray.) IDEALISTS I’ve been engaging in an email thread with some very thoughtful high-end environmental activists/funders. They are rightly distressed over the peril to our planet (a concern Gore totally got that Bush ignored), and rightly distressed over compromises we’re having to make (be they to spare jobs at a time of economic crisis or to bridge the gap until negawatts and alternative energy can replace noxious energy sources). One of them was so discouraged he concluded a list of grievances by saying “I may not even vote for the first time in a dozen elections.” I so respect where he was coming from, I wrote back, but – not vote? I so disagreed with his assessment. “Here is a piece from Sunday’s Times” (I continued) “that concludes: ‘Liberal critics of Obama, just like conservative critics of Republican presidents, generally want both maximal partisan conflict and maximal legislative achievement. In the real world, those two things are often at odds.’” My own view is that the TRUE idealist is the one who does what he or she has to to advance his or her ideals (perhaps call him or her the “practical idealist”) whereas the TRAGIC idealist is tremendously well motivated but, by refusing to make the hard choices and accept the distasteful compromises, may actually set his or her cause back horribly. That’s what Nader did. By ignoring all his friends and advisors – who begged him to tell voters in Texas and Massachusetts to vote for him but swing state voters to vote for Gore – he dealt the world an (unintentional!) blow of truly disastrous proportions. If that’s idealism, I want no part of it. Those who, out of idealism, will stay home next year, or who this year fail to throw their full energy and resources into trying to register and turn out the huge vote needed to hold the White House and Senate, take back the House, and avoid losing the Court for the rest of our lives – they are Karl Rove’s dream idealists. People used to accuse President Clinton of having “no moral compass” – I saw that all the time. I spectacularly disagreed with that. Rather, I liked the metaphor (not original with me) of a sailor who knew EXACTLY where he wanted to go, wanted desperately to make the world better, but who, facing headwinds, had to tack to get there. And while President Clinton didn’t get everything we all wanted, he sure moved the ball down the field. (And continues to with his Clinton Global Initiative.) President Obama is the same way. Take an issue I know very well – LGBT rights. Not remotely as important as the habitability of the planet, but illustrative of what I’m trying to say. To this day, quite a few of the most passionate LGBT activists consider Obama’s performance in this area to have been disappointing. But here is a to-me-breathtaking list of 66 things he’s done that McCain never would have done and Perry or whoever will try to undo. Whatever led the Natural Resources Defense Council to proclaim that the Obama Administration did “more in its first few months to protect our air, water and communities than we’ve seen in the last decade” should count for something. The doubled CAFE standard recently negotiated should count for something. The ozone standards that will be imposed in 2013 if we reelect him but that will not if we don’t should count for something. And on and on. Not to mention taxing the affluent to provide affordable health care to 30 million uninsured of whom an estimated 45,000 die each year for lack of coverage . . . or the more stringent tobacco regulation . . . or eliminating the co-pay on birth control and lifting Bush’s “global gag order” (given the impact of population on the environment). SURE it’s upsetting we didn’t get the public option – let alone a sensible single-payer system – but why not channel our frustration where it belongs: the Republicans who wouldn’t allow it? I am emphatically NOT saying anyone is wrong forcefully to advocate for the environment. It’s obvious that nothing is more important. Nor is anyone wrong loudly to lament the compromises. We need to sound the alarm! But at the same time, the practical idealist – the true idealist – will join me in contributing everything she or he can in terms of energy and enthusiasm and resources to see that the Bush / Koch / Scalia / Exxon / Rove / Perry / Romney / Ryan / Limbaugh / Bachmann / Palin team are not given control of the White House, Congress, and – most durably, should Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire – the already-largely-corporate-captured Supreme Court. Tomorrow: Letter From a Marine to the President