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From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bce: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 12/29/2013 Date: Sun, 29 Dec 2013 08:37:17 +0000 Attachments: Jon_Stewart_Defends_Duck_Dynasty_Ross_Luippold_Huff_Post_12_20_13.docx; The_U.S._economy_does_better_under_Democratic_presidents_lu2014_is_itjust_luck_Bra d_Plum_er_TWP_December_2,_2013.docx; The President_of_the_Coolishmael Reed NYT_December 18,_2013.docx; Inequality,_Govemment_Is_a_Perp3ot_a:Bystander_Dean:Baker_Huff_Post_12-23- 2013.docx; Yusef_LateeL_Innovative_Jazz_Saxophonist_andflutist,_Dies_at_932eter_Keepnews_N YT December 24,_2013.docx; Jet:Fuel_by_t1;_Acre_Jet_Fuel_By_The_Acre_Todd_Woody_NYT_December_25,_2013.d ocx Inline-Images: image.png; image( I ).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png DEAR FRIEND 2,Inline image 5 As someone who like Ishmael Reed grew up wanting to be cool, I took a special interest in Reed's New York Times piece - The President of the Cool. And again like Reed, I thought of John F. Kennedy as our first Cool President, even though I was unaware that he pardoned the jazz pianist Hampton Hawes who was a bebop pianist with a right-hand technique so brilliant that he was admired by none other than Art Tatum, widely considered the greatest jazz pianist ever. Hawes had been sentenced to lo years in a Fort Worth prison for buying drugs from an undercover agent. "Just after my third Christmas I was watching John Kennedy accept the presidency on the Washington steps," Hawes wrote later. "Something about him, the voice, the eyes, the way he stood bright and coatless and proud in that cold air ... I thought, that's the right cat; looks like he got some soul and might listen." He applied for a pardon, and received one from the president on Aug. 16, 1963. Democrats have more of an affinity for jazz than Republicans. Even Jimmy Carter, not everybody's idea of a hipster, invited Dizzy Gillespie to the White House. But among the Democrats, President Obama is the one who comes closest to the style of bebop called "the Cool." Cool jazz is exemplified by the saxophone of Lester Young and his protégé Stan Getz; the trumpet of Miles Davis (especially on his 1957 album "Birth of the Cool"); the vibraphone of Milt Jackson and the song stylings of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and June Christy. Like the president, cool musicians carried themselves with a regal bearing. Some members of the generation before them had to engage in minstrel-like antics to make a living. Cool musicians demanded respect, and when attacked didn't blowup, but, like the president, responded stoically. One of his favorite words is apersistence,"the attitude of his hero, the saxophonist Sonny Rollins, the greatest surviving bebopper. And again like with Reed, for a while in the mid-2Oth century, the Cool was everywhere. As youngsters in the '5os, my friends and I talked cool, walked cool and dressed cool. For us, if you weren'weren't cool, you were hot, square or corny. We thought that Louis Armstrong was too hot and corny, until we read about his dispute with President Dwight D. Eisenhower over school integration. EFTA00979941  Armstrong had guts. Last month Reed got to see the president of the Cool at the San Francisco Jazz Center, a $64 million building that opened earlier this year. Reed who is in his second term as its poet laureate, and one of his poems, "When I Die I Will Go to Jazz," has been installed on one of the building's walls (in an alley named after Hawes's memoir, "Raise Up OffMe"), so he was invited to attend the event. The pianist who anchored the evening, Herbie Hancock, is cool. He was accompanied by other cool musicians, like the saxophonist Joshua Redman and the bassist Esperanza Spalding, who was so engaged in her instrument that she seemed attached to it. An added attraction were the SFJazz High School All-Stars, a group of white, black and Asian-American students. One of the graduates, the young flutist Elena Pinderhughes, performed with the trio and held her own. Outside, though, it was hot. Demonstrators against everything from military drones to energy pipelines greeted the president's entourage when it arrived. After being introduced, the president just about bounced onto the stage. A few days earlier Reed said that he had heard a commentator say he seemed in the dumps these days, but that afternoon he was fresh, unruffled — in other words, cool. (Maybe it was because our state's health-insurance exchange, Covered California, demonstrates how well the Affordable Care Act works when implemented correctly: Reed's youngest daughter got a silver plan that drastically reduces her monthly premiums within an hour of applying. And my 25 year-old daughter is still covered under my ex's health plan at Stanford University, curiosity of Obamacare.) One hallmark of a cool musician, like Ms. Spalding earlier in the evening, is an intensity and focus that lurks underneath the detached exterior. Reed sensed the same with Mr. Obama that night. He hit repeatedly on his version of the American dream, that if you work hard you can succeed, no matter who you are. His recent speeches have abandoned the "tough love" rhetoric that targeted blacks exclusively; he now includes millions of whites in talking about a "tangle ofpathologies," something the political scientist Andrew Hacker first noticed in his 1992 book "Two Nations." At one point, a member of the audience began heckling Mr. Obama, demanding that he be more aggressive on progressive legislative issues. The president replied, without skipping a beat, "A lot ofpeople have been saying this lately on every problem. Just sign an executive order and we can do everything." The Constitution tells him to do otherwise. Then the president of the Cool left to make a speech in Los Angeles. In 2010 Mr. Obama awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities to Mr. Rollins, the saxophonist. Oftentimes, there is a gulf between the people receiving this medal and the person conferring it. What does a president know about theater, or architecture? Not so that day. When awarding Mr. Rollins the medal, the president said that his music had "helped inspire me, or get me through a tough day, or take risks that I might not otherwise have taken." Reed I can dig it — an expression that is now considered corny. In many ways, President Obama reminds me of Walt "Clyde" Fraser who in the 1970s was the Prince of Cool on the basketball courts In the NBA. No matter how impossible the shot, he would execute them with the cool of someone who didn't have a worry in the world. Critics often charge the President of being too detached. Too professorial? Too smart? Too cold? Too cool? Well I like smart cool Presidents who treat citizens as thinking adults when explaining the intricacies of contradicting government policies, such as the fact that some health insurance policies won't qualify under the new Affordable Healthcare Act because in essence they are junk insurance, often covering much less than promised. Obviously the President has made mistakes and I disagree with him on a number of issues, but on balance he has done a pretty good job. He has gotten us out of EFTA00979942 Iraq militarily. Seriously reduced our military commitment in Afghanistan. Kept us out of wars in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran and elsewhere. Definitely dialed down the rhetoric with Iran, Russia, China, North Korea and Cuba. Instituted economic policies that has led to the financial markets fully recovering to new all-time highs with the stock market up 20% in the last year and doubled to what it was when President Obama took office in January 2009, as well as sparked the recovery in the housing markets as November had the largest new-home starts (464,000, 16.6% higher than a year ago) in more than ten years. Slowly reduced unemployment, against the objections of Conservatives who pushed austerity instead of job programs. Push a progressive social agenda for equal rights. And his crowning accomplishment is overhauling America's dysfunctional and unsustainable healthcare system, which now provides an increased safety net for tens of millions of Americans who were uninsured. And yes unemployment has only come down to 7%, but Republicans forget that Ronald Reagan got reelected in 1984 when unemployment was 7%, under a campaign banner proclaiming, "Morning in America." And President Obama has done this with few if any histrionics. Boy do I like our Cool President. And as I like to say to his critics; are we better off now than we were five years ago? For a guy who The Washington Post described as having a bad year, I can only imagine where the country would be today if he had a great year. But maybe he did. Think about it, the economy grew by a surprising 4.1%, in the third quarter of 2013, with unemployment going down in 45 states. And despite the disastrous start of the Affordable Care Act website, state exchanges are doing great and as a result of the fixes on the National Website, people are signing up in droves but more importantly and often overlooked, healthcare cost grew by less than 2% last year and more people have access than ever before, due to the fact that people with pre-existing conditions (like myself) can now get health insurance, and people like my daughter who is 25 can still be covered under her mother's health insurance. I like our cool President and now I know that he (like me) likes jazz too. In the 196os in New York, I use to hang out with Ishmael Reed in Max's Kansas City (at the time the coolest counter-culture bar in the world) and to sit in our booth (The Black Booth) you had to be Cool, looking back I think the President would have made the cut gilnline image 4 Rarely do I agree with Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin but in the current hoopla caused by the recent comments in GQ Magazine from an interview with the patriarch of the A&E cable television blockbuster, (which is the #1 show on the network) Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, who made insensitive and definitely not "politically correct comments"on homosexuality, race and religion, I see this is as non-issue. This is a reality show and Phil Robinson is a "good-old-boy" from the Louisiana bayous. It should be expected that he reflects ideas that are relics of the Old South, when homosexuality was associated with depraved sin and Blacks were happy singing in the fields. "And why shouldn't they be because they were given jobs and their own waterfountains." Obviously this is an example of profound ignorance which as I understand is a guaranteed right in the Constitution under Free Speech. Hey.... Rush Limbaugh, Ted Nugent, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity basically say the same things all the time and it is accepted as part of their shtick. We can't get upset because someone offends our sensibilities, as this happens all of the time in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic pluralistic society. And I am not upset with Paula Deen either, because I am sure that she grew up in a household where the "N" word was liberally used. As long as she doesn't use it in my presence, I don't have a problem with her. And if she uses it to address or demean her employees they should sue. Robinson is a pop phenomenon whose cable reality television show is centered on a family of hillbillies duck hunting in the back waters. Robertson's supporters do have a point here... And let's be honest, how ignorant can't you be and still keep your reality television show. EFTA00979943 Of course Robertson is a fool. Of course is ignorant. And of course he is totally ill-informed, but many other people are too. As long as what is said is not venomous or with malice and hatred, people shouldn't be castigated for expressing their personal views. I tried watching the show one evening but couldn't make it passed the first eight or ten minutes, yet A&E says it has an audience of nine million loyal viewers, so what do I know. Needless to say, it is going to stay on television, especially since the next season is already in the can. Finally, I agree with Conan O'Brien who lamented to A&E executives, "I am shocked that an old bearded duck hunter who lives with his kinfolks in the Louisiana bayous did not have progressive views on gay people." Web Link: http://www.huffinatonpost.com/2m3/12/2o/jon-stewart-defends-duck-dimasty n tiag_co.html? utm hp ref=mostpopular Please also feel free to take a look at Jon Steward's take last week on The Daily Show on the issue on the above web link, as well as Ross Luippold's accompanying article in The Huffington Post attached. And if you believe in free speech like I do, the Duck Dynasty issue is a non-issue because Mr. Robertson should be free to express whatever personal views that he has. As for Palin, Jindal, Cruz, Coulter and other Conservatives, I wonder what their First Amendment position was when the Dixie Chicks got into similar trouble for espousing their personal liberal views. As many of you know I am a fan of Chris Matthews and a frequent viewer of his show Hardball on MSNBC and on my birthday, December 12, 2013 Chris gave a great summary of the show that I would like to share. MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with again, what I've been hearing out there on the to-week book tour for "Tip and The Gipper: When Politics Worked," my story of political coming of age. I hear this from audience after audience, I hear it from applause, the loud deep clap of approval when I say this one line about the condition of our democracy in this country, this endless obstructionism, this constant tilt towards shutdown, the war whooping for doing nothing, this inability to act on your words, deliver what you promise. Quote, "This country doesn't need more Democrats, it doesn't need more Republicans, it needs more grown-ups." Everyone knows what that means, including the main body of progressive who is come out to hear me. Progressives know that they have the biggest stake in government, delivering on their promise. When there's a screw-up, it helps the other side, the people who campaigned against public action. It always hurts those who like me want to believe, believe that we as a society cannot just promise a better country, but deliver on it. I've said it before, because it's true. We used to be able to get things done. My book is all about how we did it, viewed by me, back then from the inside. As Jack Kennedy said at American University in the year he died, the problems of man are man-made. They can be solved by man and man can be as big as he wants. In the past, he has solved the seemingly unsolvable. And I believe he can do again. And so do I, and so do you. EFTA00979944  Online image 6 In the spirit of COOL and JAZZ, I would like to pay homage to legendary Yusef Lateef, Innovative Jazz Saxophonist and Flutist who died this past week at the age of 93, as he inspired me to pick up the Flute and allowed me (with my limited chops) to sit in with him, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman, Sam Rivers, Rashied Ali and others who were experimenting pass the boundaries of music during the 1960s and 197os. In addition to being a consummate musician, Yusef Lateef was a man's man, who thirst for knowledge and meaning led him to earning a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1975 (his dissertation: "An Overview of Western and Islamic Education') and later taught there and elsewhere in New England. Mr. Lateef started out as a tenor saxophonist with a big tone and a bluesy style, not significantly more or less talented than numerous other saxophonists in the crowded jazz scene of the 194os. He served a conventional jazz apprenticeship, working in the bands of Lucky Millinder, Dizzy Gillespie and others. But by the time he made his first records as a leader, in 1957, he had begun establishing a reputation as a decidedly unconventional musician. He began expanding his instrumental palette by doubling on flute, by no means a common jazz instrument in those years. He later added oboe, bassoon and non-Western wind instruments like the shehnai and arghul. "My attempts to experiment with new instruments grew out of the monotony of hearing the same old sounds played by the same old horns," he once told DownBeat magazine. "When I looked into those other cultures, I found that good instruments existed there." Those experiments led to an embrace of new influences. At a time when jazz musicians in the United States rarely sought inspiration any farther geographically than Latin America, Mr. Lateef looked well beyond the Western Hemisphere. Anticipating the cross-cultural fusions of later decades, he flavored his music with scales, drones and percussion effects borrowed from Asia and the Middle East. He played world music before world music had a name. In later years he incorporated elements of contemporary concert music and composed symphonic and chamber works. African influences became more noticeable in his music when he spent four years studying and teaching in Nigeria in the early 1980s. Mr. Lateef professed to find the word "jazz" limiting and degrading; he preferred "autophysiopsychic music," a term he invented. He further distanced himself from the jazz mainstream in 198o when he declared that he would no longer perform any place where alcohol was served. `Too much blood, sweat and tears have been spilled creating this music to play it where people are smoking, drinking and talking," he explained to The Boston Globe in 1999. Still, with its emphasis on melodic improvisation and rhythmic immediacy, his music was always recognizably jazz at its core. And as far afield as his music might roam, his repertoire usually included at least a few Tin Pan Alley standards and, especially, plenty of blues. He was born on Oct. 9, 1920, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Many sources give his birth name as William Evans, the name under which he performed and recorded before converting to Islam in the late 194os (he belonged to the reformist Ahmadiyya Muslim Community) and changing his name to Yusef Abdul Lateef. But according to Mr. Lateefs website, he was born William Emanuel Huddleston. When he was 5 his family moved to Detroit, where he went on to study saxophone at Miller High School. After spending most of the 1940s on the road as a sideman with various big bands, he returned to Detroit in 1950 to care for his ailing wife and ended up staying for a decade. EFTA00979945 While in Detroit he became a popular and respected fixture on the local nightclub scene and a mentor to younger musicians. He also resumed his studies, taking courses in flute and composition at Wayne State University and later studying oboe as well. In the later part of the decade he began traveling regularly from Detroit to the East Coast with his working band to record for the Savoy and Prestige labels. By 1960 he had settled in New York, where he worked with Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley and the Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji before forming his own quartet in 1964. He was soon a bona fide jazz star, with successful albums on the Impulse and Atlantic labels and a busy touring schedule. But he also remained a student, and he eventually became a teacher as well. He received a bachelor's and a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and taught both there and at Borough of Manhattan Community College in the 197os. He earned a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1975 (his dissertation: "An Overview of Western and Islamic Education") and later taught there and elsewhere in New England. The more he studied, the more ambitious Mr. Lateef grew as a composer. He recorded his seven- movement "Symphonic Blues Suite" in 1970 and his "African-American Epic Suite," a four-part work for quintet and orchestra, two decades later. His album "Yusef Lateefs Little Symphony,"on which he played all the instruments via overdubbing, won a Grammy Award in 1988, though not in any of the jazz or classical categories; it was named best New Age performance. Mr. Lateef said at the time that, while he was grateful for the award, he didn't know what New Age music was probably to him because all music that explored boundaries was Jazz.... In 2010 he was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Lateef is survived by his wife, Ayesha; a son, Yusef; a granddaughter; and several great-grandchildren. His first wife, Tahira, died before him, as did a son and a daughter. His creative output was not limited to music. He painted, wrote poetry and published several books of fiction. He also ran his own record company, YAL, which he established in 1992. He remained musically active until a few months before his death. In April he appeared at Roulette in Brooklyn in a program titled "YusefLateeji Celebrating 75 Years ofMusic," performing with the percussionist Adam Rudolph and presenting the premieres of two works, one for string quartet and the other for piano. Yusef Lateef made the flute COOL. He explored music in the way that very few others, as he pushed the established boundaries in all directions. I remember him offering to help me get me into Amherst so that I could continue my education but by then I had set a new course for myself in film and television. I am smiling now as I write this piece because I was touched by Jazz Master Yusef Lateef, who for a few years was a mentor and a friend. THIS WEEK's READINGS Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments By Paul Clash* Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu 1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America's long-term fiscal problems. EFTA00979946 z. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs. 3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re- regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide "living wills" to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers' money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies. 4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011. 5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of loi,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,00o, with z3,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year. 6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered. 7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than loot000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases. 8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country's largest banks via "stress tests" of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their "toxic" assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government. 9. Repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell": Ended 199os-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time. to. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi's forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 2o, 2011. No American lives were lost. Told Mubarak to Go: On February I, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator's position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11. sz. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain "enhanced" interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques. 13. Improved America's Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of "soft power") during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable EFTA00979947 opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent. 14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student than Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students. 15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform. 16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025. 17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies. IS. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the reePcsion and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 37, 2030; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes. 19. Began Asia "Pivot": In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior. 2o. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 30 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans. 21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran's nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran's petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran's banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran. 22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation's oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $n billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $14o billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what's been called Obama's "stealth climate policy." 23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (20o9), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees. 24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if EFTA00979948 that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tim & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 3.8o days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it. 23. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court:Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively. 26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration's budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America. 27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,55o strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other. 28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion. 29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than Loot) miles of rivers. 30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled "light" cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events. 31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 3o percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country's single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come. 32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfromioo tot to 18 tot. 33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era "Star Wars" missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea- based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea. 34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare. EFTA00979949 35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars's potential to support life. 36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels. 37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014. 38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued "gainful employment" regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren't paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans. 39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students. 40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin. 41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word "scandal" (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post. 42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the axon ValdezAlaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion. 43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: "The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory," reports Governing magazine. 44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families. 45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children's Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax EFTA00979950 increase on tobacco products. 46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production. 47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas. 48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Mt, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past. 49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011. so. Killed the F-22: In z00% ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion. Since April when this list was published, the President's Administration has negotiated a settlement with Syria that resulted in the Assad regime getting rid of their chemical weapons stockpile, entered into positive negotiations with the new President in Iran that could led to the stalling if not stopping their quest to become a nuclear power and fostered new negotiations in the Middle East to help resolve the Palestinian/Israeli hostilities. On the domestic front, violent crime is down, financial markets are at an all-time high, residential real estate has rebounded, unemployment is slowly going down, the country's GDP had its second best quarter in ten years and his signature achievement, The Affordable Healthcare Act, looks like not only it will survive but may become as successful as other entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Obviously, there is allot more to be done and power kegs like Syria, Southern Sudan, potential terrorist attacks and natural disasters (like Sandy and Katrina) could present other challenges. But given the current state of partisan politics, Congressional accomplishments pale in comparison to those of the Presidents, so do those of Governors who would like to replace him. Not bad for a President who not only is successful but is also Cool I was truly surprised when I recently ran across this article in The Washington Post by Brad Plumer - The U.S. economy does better under Democratic presidents — is it just luck? To be honest, although as a Progressive Liberal Democrat who believes in Keynesian economics, I am not sure why other than the fact that unabated open markets leads to individual greed at the cost of the collective interest of everyone, but based on Plumer's article here are the facts. Since World War II, there's been a strikingly consistent pattern in American politics: The economy does much better when a Democrat is in the White House. More specifically, since 1947, the U.S. economy has grown at an average real rate of 4.35 percent under Democratic presidents and just 2.54 percent under Republicans: R,Inline image 1 EFTA00979951 Why the big gap? One possible explanation is that Democratic policies are better for economic growth. Another is that Republican policies are better for growth — but there's a time lag, so Democrats tend to benefit. Alternatively, perhaps Democrats simply have better economic luck. That third theory is one favored by economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson in their new working paper, "Presidents and the Economy: A Forensic Investigation". They argue that random economic fluctuations best explain the differences in growth between 1947 and 2013, and not which party happens to hold the White House. "Democrats would no doubt like to attribute the large D-R growth gap to better macroeconomic policies, but the data do not support such a claim," the authors write. (Blinder worked as an adviser in the Clinton White House, Watson is an econometrician not affiliated with either party.) Instead, the two economists offer three big reasons for the partisan gap in growth rates: oil shocks, productivity growth and consumer confidence. These factors, they say, can explain at least half of the gap. Here's a breakdown: 1) Oil shocks: Republicans have had worse luck with oil shocks, or spikes in the price of crude oil that tend to cramp consumer spending and limit growth. Blinder and Watson draw on University of California, San Diego economist James Hamilton's work on how oil spikes hurt the economy and suggest that these shocks explain between one-eighth and one-fourth of the difference in partisan growth rates. They do note, however, that this isn't entirely independent of policy, as the invasions of Iraq under Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush appeared to have driven up the worldwide price of oil. (The latter, the authors say, was "the biggest oil shock in the sample," with a bigger economic impact than either of the OPEC-driven shocks under Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter.) 2) Productivity shocks: Total factor productivity has tended to grow faster under Democratic presidents than Republican ones. The big story here was a surge in productivity during the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson administrations, combined with a sharp slowdown during President Ronald Reagan's first term. "As with oil shocks, we consider [productivity shocks] as mainly reflecting luck," the authors write. "But, of course, we cannot rule out that they have a policy component as well." 3) Consumer confidence: Consumer confidence tends to leap during the first year of Democratic presidencies. Is this a coincidence? The authors say it's possible that the election of a Democratic president somehow boosts confidence, which in turn boosts spending. But it's surprisingly difficult to tease out why this might be. "Much of the D-R growth gap in the United States comesfrom business fixed investment and spending on consumer durables," the economists write. "And it comes mostly in thefirst year of a presidential term. Yet the superior growth record under Democrats is not forecastable by standard techniques, which means it cannot be attributed to superior initial conditions." All told, the economists suggest that the three factors above account for 46 percent to 62 percent of the gap. That means we still don't have a full answer. Other (rejected) theories: The authors also consider — and rule out — a number of other possible explanations: -- Deficits. There doesn't seem to be a huge difference in fiscal policies between the two parties since 1947. The structural federal budget deficit has been 1.5 percent under Democratic presidents and 2.2 percent under Republicans — "farfrom statistically significant," the economists write. EFTA00979952 -- Military spending. The authors do find a big difference in military spending — real defense spending grew 5.9 percent under Democrats and just o.8 percent under Republicans. But they don't think this is enough to drive the difference in growth rates: "On average, federal defense spending accounts for just 8% of GDP over the postwar period. It would be hard for a tail that small to wag such a big dog." -- Congress. Party control of Congress doesn't seem to have much impact on the economy one way or the other. -- Federal Reserve. Fed chairmen appointed by Democrats tend to outperform Fed chiefs appointed by Republicans. But this doesn't necessarily benefit Democratic presidents. Indeed, the Federal Reserve, on average, tends to lower interest rates during Republican administrations and hike them during Democratic administrations. (This might simply be a response to the fact that the economy does better under Democrats, however.) -- Inherited economies. The authors don't give much credence to the idea that Democratic presidents inherit stronger economies. In fact, the opposite may be true: "Democrats inherit growth rates of1.896from thefinal year of the previous term, while Republicans inherit a growth rate of 4.196." Yet Democratic presidents have still done better, on average, in their first terms since 1947. -- Global patterns. There doesn't seem to be any worldwide pattern here. Canada shows the same partisan gap in growth rates as the United States, with the economy growing faster under Liberal governments than during Conservative governments. But there's no such pattern found in France or Germany. Obviously, this paper is hardly the last word on the subject. As Blinder and Watson note, they can only explain from 46 percent to 62 percent of the difference in growth rates — there's a lot more work to be done in figuring out the rest of the answer. "The rest remains, for now, a mystery." Further reading: Princeton political scientist Larry Bartels has also shown that income inequality tends to rise under Republican presidents and fall under Democratic presidents . Blinder and Watson mention this fact in their paper, but they don't examine whether this might relate at all to the partisan gap in growth rates. 8'/2 Things That Went Right in 2013 _Hine image 3 By Peter ('o): Bloomberg Business‘N erk EFTA00979953 It was a year of cronuts and pretzel buns, green eggs and ham, of Syria and Mali and the East China Sea, of Edward Snowden and Pope Francis, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. Jeff Bezos showed off a package-delivering drone. Twitter tweeted its own IPO announcement. Stocks went up, housing revived, unemployment fell, and banks got fined. American Airlines and US Airways merged, and a solar-powered airplane hopscotched across the U.S. We can't discern much of a pattern here. But in the spirit of the holidays, here's a look on the bright side—a list of the things that went right in 2013, sometimes unexpectedly. It is short, admittedly, but sweet. May 2014 be better yet. 1. Peace Breaks Out in M. The biggest welcome surprise of 2013 was the uneasy yearend cease-fire in Congress, which was impossible to predict a year ago when the U.S. edged to the brink of a fiscal cliff. Heck, it seemed too much to hope for as recently as October, when a partial government shutdown and brush with default led China's Global Times to write a gleeful editorial headlined, "U.S. fiscal failure warrants a de- Americanized world." House