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eDIGEST January 2008

UPCOMING EVENTS

Network San Francisco

Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 6:00 - 8:30 PM

San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center - Green Room

401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California

The 3rd Annual Network San Francisco reception provides students with the opportunity to meet and talk with prospective employers and Goldman School alumni from across the Bay Area. More info

QUICK REFERENCE LIST

In addition to the print media referenced below, broadcast media coverage includes numerous interviews with DEAN NACHT by KRON TV, KGO TV and KTVU, among others.

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

1. “Not too late for some ’07 gems” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 2007); review of book by ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/30/RVCIU0OTQ.DTL&hw=regan+mcmahon&sn=001&sc=1000

2. “City eyes electric, hybrid carts. Berkeley considers moving away from gas-powered vehicles as means to monitor parking ordinances” (Contra Costa Times, December 28, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7828181?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

3. “Grading Disparities Peeve Parents. With No Baseline Among Districts, Some Say Students Suffer” (Washington Post, December 27, 2007); story citing VERONICA SANTELICES (MPP 2001); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/26/AR2007122601791_pf.html

4. “Analysis: Budget faced realism deficit” (Sacramento Bee, December 24, 2007); column citing TIM GAGE (MPP 1978); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/589023.html

5. “Hot Plates and Other Gripes. An Ask Tom compendium” (Washington Post, December 23, 2007); column citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

6. “Prison releases ‘DOA,’ foe says. Dems, Republicans blast governor’s inmate budget cut” (Sacramento Bee, December 22, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/586046.html

7. “Consumers need carbon content labels” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2007); commentary coauthored by TIM GAGE (MPP 1978); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/583314.html

8. “The World Bank Group: Successful Anti-Poverty Policies Are Now Applied In New York City: Rich countries learn from experiences in the South” (M2 Presswire, December 21, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

9. “Tire rating issue’s a retread for state” (Sacramento Bee, December 19, 2007); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004); http://www.sacbee.com/wheels/story/577998.html

10. “Air district to award $3M in grants today. Money to be given to cities, counties, nonprofits to encourage climate change awareness” (San Mateo County Times, December 19, 2007); story citing program developed by CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000), and organization headed by STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_7758252

11. “Health revamp takes a big step. Bill would extend coverage to most of state’s uninsured” (Sacramento Bee, December 18, 2007); story citing ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/575092.html

12. “Aera CEO widely respected, has critics” (Bakersfield Californian, December 16, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/312080.html

13. “Climate Change Compromise Plan Offered in Bali” (Washington Post, December 15, 2007); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121400638_2.html?sid=ST2007121400682

14. “Wind Summit Held” (Salina Journal (KS), December 15, 2007); story citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995); http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/story/Wind_summit_121407

15. “State scores win in fight to curb emissions. Court rules California can regulate mileage standards for autos; EPA waiver pending” (Oakland Tribune, December 13, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_7709397

16. “Physician blames Medi-Cal bureaucracy. Specialist closes shop after relocation, payment hassle” (Modesto Bee, December 13, 2007); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.modbee.com/local/story/150784.html

17. “From bad to worse for deficit. State’s budget shortfall now put at $14 billion; pressure’s on to consider cuts, tax hikes” (Sacramento Bee, December 12, 2007); story citing ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/560995.html

18. “Press Conference on ‘World Fit For Children + 5’; Latest Reports by United Nations Secretary-General, UNICEF” (States News Service, December 11, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

19. “U.S. defense outlays keep growing and growing” (Christian Science Monitor, December 10, 2007); column citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

20. “House Judiciary Antitrust Panel to Examine Minority Media Ownership” (Congressional Documents and Publications, December 10, 2007; event citing testimony by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).

21. “Branching out” (Columbian (Vancouver, WA), December 9, 2007); story citing MARTHA BENNETT (MPP 1993); https://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2007/12/12092007_Branching-Out.cfm

22. “Read the fine print. No, really” (Virginian-Pilot, December 8, 2007); column citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://hamptonroads.com/node/445401

23. “The Communicators: Media Ownership” (CSPAN TV, December 8, 2007); interview with DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); view video at [see “Shaun Sheehan and Derek Turner” program; Derek’s interview begins at 16:39]: http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=COM&ShowVidNum=10&Rot_Cat_CD=COM&Rot_HT=206&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=365&ShowVidDesc=&ArchiveDays=365

24. “Students put science to use. ‘Green Screen’ teaches lessons for real life” (Contra Costa Times, December 7, 2007); story citing study coauthored by DAVID GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1995); http://www.contracostatimes.com/teens/ci_7659905?nclick_check=1

25. “Pearl Harbor remembered” (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA), December 7, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_7665103?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com

26. “EU spent 2.5 billion euros on export subsidies during 2006; Subsidies Reform Still a Game of ‘You First’” (Inter Press Service, December 5, 2007); story citing JACK THURSTON (MPP 1999).

27. “BUDGET BATTLES: Don’t Wait For Next Year” (National Journal, Dec. 4, 2007); commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://nationaljournal.com/collender.htm

28. “Nursing can be hazardous to health” (The Record, December 3, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MjI5MTk5

29. “National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute” (Associated Press, December 3, 2007); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/03/national/w000513S44.DTL&tsp=1

30. “San Rafael Corporate Center completion to start in February” (Marin Independent Journal, December 3, 2007; story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990).

31. “Lawmakers criticize response to oil spill” (Ventura County Star, December 1, 2007); story citing LINDA SHEEHAN (MPP 1990).

32. “Vacancies on water boards filled” (San Diego Union-Tribune, November 30, 2007); story citing LINDA SHEEHAN (MPP 1990).

33. “City’s solar energy plan should be copied by others” (Contra Costa Times, November 30, 2007); editorial citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7599429?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

34. “Hoosic River floodplain in Pownal will be mapped in December” (Bennington Banner (VT), November 29, 2007); story citing KARI DOLAN (MPP 1990).

35. “Smart Bombs: Campaign or Govern?” (Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), November 24, 2007); commentary citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).

36. “Council to consider options for using Carnegie building - Suggestions include moving in planning department or museum” (Alameda Journal, November 20, 2007); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7514184?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

37. “Californians Spend Less on Electricity; Drive Fewer Miles per Capita than Rest of Country” (U.S. Newswire, November 13, 2007); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975).

38. “Auto dealer wants to expand, add Nissan” (Marin Independent Journal, November 12, 2007); story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990).

39. “Walrath: State not acting on new law” (The Sun (Lowell, MA), November 5, 2007); story citing KEVIN BEAGAN (MPP/MPH 1988).

40. “$500,000 school report unreleased - It has been done for months. It calls for a return to local control and says residents see the district as worse off” (Philadelphia Inquirer, October 5, 2007); story citing SCOTT JOFTUS (MPP 1994).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “Tax breaks may not encourage charitable giving” (Ithaca Journal, December 31, 2007); commentary citing ROBERT REICH.

2. “NIGHT & DAY: REICH’S VIEWS EXPOSED” (Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA), December 30, 2007); review citing ROBERT REICH.

3. “Gov.’s just a spectator in Hollywood drama” (Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/newsletter/la-fi-govstrike27dec27,1,2787268.story

4. “Bay Area authors’ books among best” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 23, 2007); year-end review citing books by DAVID KIRP and ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/23/RV61TSIN1.DTL&hw=villalon&sn=002&sc=494

5. “The George Bailey Vote” (Bangor Daily News, December 20, 2007); editorial citing ROBERT REICH.

6. “Over 60 Foreign Policy Experts Announce Endorsement of Barack Obama” (States News Service, December 19, 2007); press release citing MICHAEL NACHT.

7. “No. 1 book, and it offers solutions” (New York Times, December 19, 2007); review citing ROBERT REICH.

8. “Plotting a new course for the US” (The Age [Australia], December 18, 2007); op-ed by MICHAEL NACHT; http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/plotting-a-new-course-for-the-us/2007/12/17/1197740178089.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

9. “Business tactics can’t always apply” (Chicago Tribune, December 16, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH.

10. “Where is the ‘missing link’?” (Cape Cod Times, December 12, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH.

11. “Senate to Vote on Farm Subsidies” (Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio, December 11, 2007); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program

12. “US rebuilding credibility, expert says” (ABC Premium News (Australia), December 10, 2007); interview with MICHAEL NACHT.

13. “Bali needs to know - can China go green?” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 2007); op-ed by VISITING SCHOLAR ROBERT COLLIER; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/09/IN2HTP07B.DTL&hw=Berkeley+University+UC&sn=014&sc=140

14. “Cross Country: Murder City” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], December 8, 2007); column citing study coauthored by STEVEN RAPHAEL; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119707331734217730.html

15. “Solar power: California’s latest gold rush” (Nature 450, 768-769 (2007), December 5, 2007); story citing research by DAN KAMMEN; http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071205/full/450768a.html

16. “Role of Consultants in Executive Pay” (Congressional Quarterly, December 5, 2007); Capitol Hill hearing testimony citing ROBERT REICH.

17. “Hillary’s slip is showing after Barack attacks” (Newsday, December 4, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-ushill045487095dec04,0,1185512.story?coll=ny_home_rail_headlines

18. “Bali Conference on Climate Change” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, December 3, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program

19. “Energy: To catch a wave. Ocean wave energy is trying to break into the renewable-energy market, but many challenges remain” (Nature 450, 156-159 (2007), November 7, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071107/full/450156a.html

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

--Regan McMahon, Chronicle Deputy Book Editor

We can’t let the year run out without mentioning a few special picture books outstanding for their art, originality or local interest….

The clever A Day With No Crayons (Rising Moon; 28 pages; $15.95) by Elizabeth Rusch and illustrated by Chad Cameron follows a little girl named Liza who, after drawing on the wall with her crayons, gets them taken away for the day. Let the punishment fit the crime, her mother must have thought.

From that point on, Liza’s world is rendered in shades of gray, except for the color she discovers in everyday objects: her blue-green toothpaste, brown mud on the basketball court, green on the knees of her grass-stained pants, which become rainbow pants when she crushes dandelions, blackberries and tiger lilies on them. “Liza suddenly saw color everywhere!” And the reader does, too, as the pages transform from black and white to full color. Liza even uses organic and man-made materials as her paints, dragging a muddy stick across the park to make a brown line drawing and scraping a red brick on the sidewalk to draw the outline of a camel caravan. She not only learns her lesson about drawing on the walls, but she also learns she doesn’t need to use crayons to create with color….

By Doug Oakley, Staff Writer

As part of a continuing effort to make Berkeley clean and green, the city is pondering a switch from gas-powered parking enforcement carts to electric or hybrid models….

The city’s public works department uses some small electric vehicles, and its 180 diesel-engine vehicles run on a mix of 20 percent biofuel. The police department uses a few electric-gas hybrid cars for administrative purposes, and there are a handful of natural gas cars in the city’s fleet, said Cisco DeVries, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates.

In addition, the city has committed, in concept, to buying plug-in hybrid cars … when they become available….

And to make the deal sweet from a buy-local perspective, Wozniak and Bates put at the top of the list of possible models one that comes from a new Berkeley business called Green Motors, which recently set up shop selling electric cars on San Pablo Avenue.

Green Motors sells a Zenn Car that produces no gas emissions and costs $13,000 to $14,000.

DeVries said the city needs to study how electric cars can be converted or specially manufactured for use as parking-enforcement vehicles.

“If it’s a left-hand drive car, how do you get over to the right-hand side to put chalk on tires?” DeVries said. “The other issue is the battery life; we’d have to extend that a little bit. It’s not clear if that is something the manufacturing company could do or if the city would do it.”…

By Jay Mathews, Washington Post Staff Writer

Marcy Newberger grew up in Montgomery County and attended Churchill High School. Then she moved to Fairfax County and had children, who attended McLean High School. Both were fine schools in good systems, with one irritating difference.

Simply put, Fairfax high schools set a higher bar for grades than those in Montgomery. To earn an A in Fairfax, it takes a score of 94 to 100. In Montgomery, it takes a score of 90 or higher. Standards for grading in the two counties, including bonus point calculations, are so out of sync that it appears possible for a Fairfax student to earn a 3.5 grade-point average for the same work that gets a Montgomery student a 4.6 GPA.

Parents nationwide are increasingly frustrated with wild variations in grading systems that, they say, are costing their children thousands of dollars in merit-based scholarships and leaving them disadvantaged in college admissions….

Robert J. Massa, vice president for enrollment at Dickinson College, said his school and others do not depend only on GPAs in awarding merit scholarships. “Parents need to chill out about grades,” he said….

Some scholars and college officials recommend giving more consideration to grades, despite variations. Researchers Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Santelices, in a June report for the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley, concluded that high school grades—like all measures of student achievement—have flaws but are better predictors of performance in college than standardized test scores. The researchers, looking at the academic records of almost 80,000 U.C. students, said grades have another advantage: They are “much less closely correlated with student socioeconomic characteristics than standardized tests.” A college that emphasized grades in admissions would be more likely to find low-income minorities who would do well in college, they said.

“High-school grades provide a fairer, more equitable and ultimately more meaningful basis for admissions decision-making and, despite their reputation for ‘unreliability,’ remain the best available indicator with which to hazard predictions of student success in college,” Geiser and Santelices wrote.

4. “Analysis: Budget faced realism deficit” (Sacramento Bee, December 24, 2007); column citing TIM GAGE (MPP 1978); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/589023.html

By Kevin Yamamura

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election in 2006 by selling himself as a problem solver who boosted California’s economy and resolved the state’s budget problems, all without new taxes….

But less than a year into his second term, the narrative has run dry.

An estimated $14 billion deficit looms, the state’s housing market has become an economic drag and Schwarzenegger can no longer count on a tax windfall to cover the spending increases he has approved since taking office.

Schwarzenegger is proposing an average 10 percent spending cut across the board, while Democratic leaders want a mix of cuts and new taxes. The governor admitted Wednesday, “This state has had problems with the budget ever since I have gotten here,” even suggesting the process is beyond anyone’s control….

Under Schwarzenegger, the state’s overall budget has increased 36 percent above Davis’ most expensive year in 2002-03….

Schwarzenegger in 2005 pursued an initiative to give the Governor’s Office more power to unilaterally cut spending and weaken the Proposition 98 spending guarantee for K-14 schools, which accounts for roughly 43 percent of the general fund budget…. But the governor came under attack from educators, nurses and other groups, and suffered a political setback right before his re-election year….

“Part of why it’s hard to get structural reform is that it challenges the status quo,” said Tim Gage, a former Department of Finance director for Davis. “People are uncertain what the change would bring—or it would disadvantage their interests.”…

5. “Hot Plates and Other Gripes. An Ask Tom compendium” (Washington Post, December 23, 2007); column citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

By Tom Sietsema

… STAN COLLENDER AND HIS WIFE were disappointed to learn, after they arrived for Thanksgiving dinner at 2941 in Falls Church, “that Jonathan Krinn was no longer associated with the restaurant and that his dad, the one who had been doing all the baking of that wonderful bread, had left as well,” Stan wrote. The McLean reader asked, “Shouldn’t a restaurant like 2941, which is known for the work of its celebrity chef, have some responsibility to its patrons to let them know that the chef is no longer there? Broadway shows, with their celebrities, always let it be known when the star has left or is being replaced. If restaurants trade on the celebrity of their chefs, shouldn’t they do the same?”

Mary Alexander, the restaurant’s president, responded that 2941 wasn’t hiding the news of Krinn’s departure in October, or the arrival of interim and permanent chefs…. An olive branch was extended: Alexander invited the Collenders to return to the restaurant as its guests “while Scott is manning the kitchen,” with the hope that the couple “will change their minds about the restaurant.”…

By Andy Furillo

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange). Randall Benton/rbenton@sacbee.com

A Democratic legislative leader and a firebrand Republican promised tough going Friday for a Schwarzenegger administration proposal to cut the state’s prison population by 28,000 over the next two years.

Early releases are “DOA” with Assembly Republicans, said Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana, chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. He said Democrats’ reaction would range from raising questions to outright opposition of the administration’s budget proposal….

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, one of his party’s leaders on criminal justice issues, said the proposal to release the so-called nonviolent, nonserious, non-sex offenders in the final 20 months of their terms would undermine Assembly Bill 900. The $7.9 billion measure was enacted this year to add 53,000 prison and jail beds and more fully establish rehabilitation as the philosophical underpinning of California’s correctional system.

“By letting people out 20 months early, which is supposed to be when they get their re-entry skills, they’re not going to get them at all, so recidivism is going to get worse,” Spitzer said. “This budget plan is a forfeiture of AB 900 principles, which was supposed to change how we treat criminality in California.”…

7. “Consumers need carbon content labels” (Sacramento Bee, December 21, 2007); commentary coauthored by TIM GAGE (MPP 1978); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/583314.html

By Matthew Newman - Special To The Bee

This holiday season, Californians will spend billions on gifts from far-flung parts of the world. Recent scares about high levels of toxic chemicals in children’s toys will lead many to research the safety and origins of the products they buy. But something important will be missing for consumers truly looking to make a sound shopping decision: the carbon content of the products they buy.

The phrase “carbon content” refers to the amount of carbon dioxide released during a product’s production and distribution. For the majority of products, there is simply no way for consumers to know which is the best choice from a global warming standpoint.

Would that toy made in China seem as inexpensive if you knew the locally produced one next to it on the shelf required for production half as much energy?…

The food labeling policies have changed the way we think about food. Americans are eating more organic food and less trans fat—and because of a small label on the back of every package.

Similarly, with a carbon label, we could see the amount of carbon emissions generated to provide us with everything from food to furniture….

California’s policymakers must look for innovative approaches to meeting and exceeding the goals set out in the state’s landmark global warming legislation, Assembly Bill 32. A carbon label for consumer products would be a big step toward achieving those goals.

Matthew Newman and the co-authors of this commentary, Tim Gage and Aaron Leventhal, are the founders of CarbonLabelCA.org, a project aimed at bringing a consumer products carbon label to California. They also all work for the Blue Sky Consulting Group, a public policy and economics consulting firm with offices in Sacramento and Oakland.

WASHINGTON—Government officials, development practitioners, representatives from international organizations and non-governmental organizations gathered at the United Nations headquarters this week concluded that when it comes to long lasting solutions in the fight against poverty, no nation has the monopoly of the best ideas.

Traditionally, the expectation is that developing countries learn from the experiences of rich countries in what works and what does not in the fight against poverty. But this time the knowledge flow has gone the other way around.

‘Opportunity NYC’, a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program recently launched by the government of the City of New York, uses cash incentives to stimulate investments in health, education and employment in targeted poor families. The New York City’s program was launched by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and is the result of extensive collaboration with a similar program in Mexico called ‘Oportunidades’.

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs give cash benefits to poor families for sending their children to school and getting regular health check ups….

The knowledge sharing event ‘Eyes on the South as a Knowledge Hub’ was organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, and the World Bank (*). Keynote speakers … Ann Veneman, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund….

9. “Tire rating issue’s a retread for state” (Sacramento Bee, December 19, 2007); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004); http://www.sacbee.com/wheels/story/577998.html

By Chris Bowman

You don’t have to read all 800-plus pages of the new federal energy bill to learn where the rubber really meets the road. Just zip to Section 111.

There, Congress calls for a consumer awareness program that would add fuel efficiency to the things people can consider in buying new tires….

The federal energy bill now awaiting President Bush’s signature does not set a deadline on rolling out tire fuel-efficiency ratings. California officials, however, expect their ratings to be displayed in retail stores within a year. The state is working with federal transportation officials to ultimately have one rating system for the whole country.

The auto industry has had the inside scoop on tire fuel efficiency for years. Manufacturers choose the tires they install on new cars to help them meet federal fuel efficiency standards, [California Energy Commission] officials say.

When it comes time to replace worn tires, however, the average consumer is in the dark.

The California law goes a step further than the federal energy bill in requiring replacement tires sold in the state to be at least as efficient, on average, as those on new vehicles.

“That way you can guarantee that the market for replacement tires gets more efficient over time,” said Luke Tonachel, a vehicles and fuels analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council….

By Denis Cuff, Staff Writer

Hoping to spur local action to combat global warming, the Bay Area’s air pollution district is poised today to become the first in the nation to approve grants to cities, counties and local groups to reduce greenhouse gases.

In all, 53 grants of up to $75,000 will be awarded—totaling $3 million. Money will be used for projects ranging from installing solar panels on Contra Costa homes, planting shade trees to cool West Oakland homes, creating a municipal energy office in San Mateo County and developing climate action plans in Hayward and Fremont to reduce auto and energy use….

In Berkeley, the city would use its $75,000 grant to start a program [brainchild of Mayor Bates’ chief of staff, Cisco DeVries] offering low-interest loans to install solar power in homes and businesses….

The projects recommended for grants would reduce at least 350,000 tons of greenhouse gases within five years, air district engineers estimated. Some projects won’t cut pollution directly, but will yield big reductions over time by changing policies, officials said.

The Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition [headed by Stuart Cohen] would spend $75,000 to develop a rating system to evaluate how well building plans promote public transit use….

By Aurelio Rojas

If legislation approved by the state Assembly Monday becomes law, it would be the largest overhaul of a health care system ever undertaken by a state. The legislation also would require insurance companies to offer coverage to Californians with pre-existing medical conditions….

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the $14.4 billion health care plan. But Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, wants to determine its impact on the state’s mounting budget deficit before deciding whether to put it to a vote of the Senate next year….

Schwarzenegger and [Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian] Núñez have tried to distance the legislation from the state’s projected $14 billion deficit, asserting that it will be self-funding….

Perata sent a letter to Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill Monday asking her to assess the plan’s impact on the state deficit.

Hill’s report won’t be available until mid-January, at the earliest, because Perata wants it to take into account the governor’s proposed 2008-09 budget….

12. “Aera CEO widely respected, has critics” (Bakersfield Californian, December 16, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/312080.html

By Vanessa Gregory, Californian staff writer

…Over the past decade, [Gene] Voiland kept Aera [Energy] viable in a bitterly competitive and economically volatile industry. Outside of the office, he earned a golden reputation for working with local charities and schools to help kids succeed.

Voiland seems to know survival calls for politics as well.

Last year, campaign filings show, Aera gave more than $32 million to fight state Proposition 87, a measure that would have funded the study of alternative energy sources by taxing oil producers.

“It would have put a tax on us which would have discouraged producing in California,” Voiland said. “And our policy as a country is, we want to produce as much domestic oil as we can.”…

In the end, Aera and other Proposition 87 opponents won a slim victory, with 55 percent of state voters opposing the measure.

Roland Hwang, a vehicles policy director with the San Francisco offices of the Natural Resources Defense Council, argued that producers in California already pay low taxes compared with major oil-producing states such as Texas and Alaska.

Eventually, California needs to seek alternative energy sources, Hwang said.

“All Californians would appreciate (oil companies) moving towards a more cooperative place at the table,” he said….

By Juliet Eilperin; Washington Post Staff Writer

Organizers of the international climate conference here presented an open-ended compromise proposal to delegates from 190 nations early Saturday in hopes of bridging disagreements over how to begin negotiating a new treaty to combat global warming….

The compromise was unveiled after nearly all-night negotiations over the stubborn differences between the United States and much of the world and between industrialized and developing nations….

For the past week, the United States and the European Union had faced off over whether industrialized countries should pledge to cut their emissions 25 to 40 percent by 2020, with European leaders threatening to boycott the parallel climate negotiations that President Bush launched in Washington unless the United States acquiesced.

In order to break the impasse, the document referred to that goal, which is outlined in this year’s reports by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, only in a footnote that speaks to the “urgency” of addressing climate change….

Officials said the forest package would ensure that the future climate agreement to be negotiated by 2009 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions that arise from the burning and logging of forests worldwide.

Ned Helme, president of the D.C.-based Center for Clean Air Policy, said Norway’s recent commitment to allocate $500 million a year toward protecting forests helped ease developing countries’ concern that these projects would be used as “carbon credits” by industrialized nations hoping to avoid cutting their own emissions.

“That’s real money,” Helme said. “It makes it possible to solve this.”

14. “Wind Summit Held” (Salina Journal (KS), December 15, 2007); story citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995); http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/story/Wind_summit_121407

By Duane Schrag; Salina Journal

LAWRENCE -- Wind generators have been the Rodney Dangerfields of the electricity market. They’re unreliable, traditional utilities say. And expensive.

So when Rob Gramlich, policy director of the American Wind Energy Association, got up to address the fifth Kansas Electric Transmission Summit on Friday, he seemed to be suppressing a smile. A previous presenter had just dropped a couple pretty stunning figures: about 13,000 megawatts of wind projects have been queued up for study, and the total could reach 40,000 to 60,000 megawatts in the near future.

To put that in perspective: total peak demand in the heat of summer is only a little over 40,000 megawatts.

“The interconnection queue gives us a ticket to these discussions,” Gramlich said. “We didn’t mean to scare you with all those megawatts.”

The message that emerged from the all-day conference was that growth of breathtaking proportions is expected in wind farms—”growing exponentially” was the term used frequently—and the current electric grid will have to be made much more robust if that power is to be delivered to homes….

By Matt Nauman and Frank Davies, MediaNews Staff

In a major environmental victory for California and 16 other states, a federal court in Fresno on Wednesday upheld a bid to slash auto emissions to combat global warming, a move fiercely opposed by automakers and the Bush administration….

Wednesday’s ruling that California has the authority to impose greenhouse-gas-emission-related mileage standards on cars and trucks—a plan that would cut emissions from vehicles 30 percent by 2016—increases pressure on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to give the state a waiver to do that….

[U.S. District Court Judge Anthony] Ishii’s ruling and a similar decision by a federal judge in Vermont three months ago stem from a major Supreme Court ruling in April that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions under the Clean Air Act—and can grant waivers to California to enforce its own regulations.

“As the Supreme Court’s decision ... makes clear, the EPA’s congressionally established purpose is to protect the public’s health and welfare, a task EPA can and must undertake independent of (the Department of Transportation’s) duty to set mileage standards,” Ishii wrote.

But White House officials, under pressure from the auto companies, have insisted that the DOT should have the sole responsibility to deal with fuel economy. That would block EPA authority—and by extension, California’s — to enforce tougher tailpipe emissions limits….

“The next step here is for the EPA to get out of the way,” said Roland Hwang, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s San Francisco-based vehicle policy director. “We will repeat our message: It’s time for the auto companies to send their lawyers home and put their engineers to work.”…

“There are a lot of politics swirling around right now in Washington,” said Hwang. “Everything is coming to a head, but it’s very uncertain what’s going to happen.”…

By Ken Carlson

One would think it would be simple to move a medical practice from one office to another a few blocks away.

But Dr. William Poirier of Oakdale said he ran into bureaucratic hassles with the state Medi-Cal system and the federal Medicare program, and now low-income patients in the county have access to one fewer ear, nose and throat specialist.

For seven months, Medi-Cal and Medicare didn’t pay him for seeing patients at the new office because of delays in processing the required applications for a change of location, he said….

Toby Douglas, deputy director of the Department of Health Care Services, said the agency has cut the turnaround time for approving a change of location to 40 days, even though legally the agency has six months.

As a measure to prevent fraud, the state requires physicians who participate in Medi-Cal to submit a complete application package when they move…. As of July 1, doctors in good standing will be able to submit a shorter form with a 90-day review time when they change locations in the same county.

Douglas said physicians can submit reimbursement claims during the review process and payments are not supposed to stop. The agency didn’t have a record of Poirier submitting a change of address within 35 days of the move, as required, he said.

Raul Ramirez, chief of provider enrollment for Medi-Cal, said the department received a change of address application from Poirier on Sept. 12 and an analysis seeking additional information was sent to his office by Oct. 18.

When the doctor didn’t provide all the requested information in his response Nov. 20, he said, enrollment personnel called the office in late November to try to fill in the remaining gaps.

“We are working as much as we can to increase the number of providers in the program,” Douglas said. “But we balance that with ensuring that providers follow the rules to ensure the integrity of the program.”…

By Kevin Yamamura

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s finance officials are estimating a California budget deficit next year of $14 billion, significantly larger than the $9.8 billion gap previously forecast by a state budget analyst, according to two sources who have spoken to the governor….

Schwarzenegger last month ordered all departments to prepare spending plans for the fiscal year that begins next June 30 that are 10 percent below what they had anticipated. The governor and some GOP lawmakers also have suggested more immediate midyear cuts in spending.

Schwarzenegger is meeting with legislative leaders to brief them on the budget problem after Department of Finance officials revised their estimates Monday. State officials based their calculations on new economic and revenue indicators that took into account the sluggish housing market, drops in property tax revenues and increased expenditures from Southern California wildfires, among other factors, according to spokesman H.D. Palmer.

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill last month estimated the budget gap at $9.8 billion over the next 18 months, larger than the $6.1 billion Schwarzenegger’s office originally projected. She traced the problem to growing state expenditures and an economy reeling from problems in the housing market….

NEW YORK -- Senior United Nations officials today spotlighted the great strides made towards meeting pledges on child education and some areas of health care, including “remarkable progress” in reducing under-five mortality, which had fallen below 10 million for the first time in 2006….

Joined by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro and Ann Veneman, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), [General Assembly President Srgjan] Kerim said that, with some 140 Member States signed up to address the plenary, the commemorative meeting—”A World Fit for Children + 5”—had drawn a “more than impressive” level of participation…. The decisions taken at the Assembly’s 2002 special session to bolster worldwide action to improve children’s lives “cut to the heart” of the Organization’s work and were closely tied to the priorities set for the sixty-second session: responding to climate change, financing for development, and achieving the Millennium Goals….

Ms. Veneman said more than 90 children and young people, from 51 countries and ranging in age from 11 to 17 years old, were participating in a parallel Youth Forum…. On the final day of the commemorative meeting, the youth representatives would present their own outcome document to the Assembly….

For its part, she said, UNICEF had released its sixth progress report, which was an excellent reference tool showing where achievements had be made and where greater efforts were needed. It also showed how data could be used to highlight initiatives that had delivered results. The international community must maintain a “collective sense of urgency” about achieving the Millennium Development Goals. “We are hopeful that this special session and the side events that are around it will serve to renew that sense of urgency.”

Earlier, Mr. Kerim opened the press conference on a sombre note, condemning today’s deadly bomb attacks in Algiers and reiterating that terrorism was unacceptable “by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes”…. Ms. Veneman expressed “shock and outrage”, noting that UNICEF had an office in Algiers about a mile from the site of the blast….

19. “U.S. defense outlays keep growing and growing” (Christian Science Monitor, December 10, 2007); column citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

By David R. Francis, columnist

Washington’s congressional budget planners had a new, costly curve thrown at them two weeks ago when the Bush administration formally committed the United States to a long-term military presence in Iraq to protect the government in Baghdad from internal coup plots and foreign enemies….

If so, it would cost $7 billion to $10 billion a year, according to a “back of the envelope” calculation by Gordon Adams, a military expert and international relations professor at American University in Washington….

For fiscal 2008, President Bush has asked for $196 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone. Such outlays make it “much more difficult” to provide funds for programs aimed primarily at helping American civilians, says Stan Collender, a Washington budget expert with Qorvis Communications.

Right now, many Washington budget-watchers see the bickering between a Democratic majority in Congress and a Republican White House over spending bills as more of a political squabble than a fight over the merits of the outlays. Democrats are trying to enlarge domestic programs, telling voters they have a heart. Republicans are attempting to prove they are fiscally responsible and properly tough. “It’s macho politics,” says Mr. Collender.

The latest tussle concerns a fiscal 2008 appropriations bill for three departments: Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services. The difference between Congress and the White House on this is $21 billion…. That’s about 5 percent of all domestic appropriations, 1.8 percent of all federal discretionary spending ($1.14 trillion, a sum that includes defense spending), and far less than 1 percent of the $2.9 trillion total budget proposed by Mr. Bush….

So far, Collender says, the White House shows no signs of willingness to compromise with the Democrats on the spending bill. Rather, it is signaling its intention to veto the measure.

In the first six years of the Bush presidency, when Republicans controlled Congress, the president didn’t veto a single appropriations bill. Now he is wielding that constitutional weapon repeatedly. Collender, whose writings suggest a Democratic sympathy, comments: “To say he is being disingenuous is giving him too much credit.”…

Collender suspects that no complete budget deal for fiscal 2008 will be reached. So Congress will need to pass a “continuing resolution” for unresolved appropriations bills, using past spending levels as their base. Further, he forecasts that the Bush 2009 fiscal budget, due to be sent to Capitol Hill by Feb. 4, will be extremely tight. And in an election year, the highly partisan politics of the budget debate will be “that much more intense because every vote will be a potential campaign issue.”

Perhaps half seriously, he suggests that Congress just pass a continuing resolution for fiscal year 2009 early next year “and get it over with.”…

20. “House Judiciary Antitrust Panel to Examine Minority Media Ownership” (Congressional Documents and Publications, December 10, 2007; event citing testimony by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).

(Washington, DC)- The House Judiciary Task Force on Antitrust and Competition Policy will hold a hearing titled, “Media Consolidation: Impact on Minority Ownership and Localism.”… Members will look at the impact of media consolidation on minority ownership and participation, the preservation of local voices in the media, and maintaining diversity and a variety of viewpoints in the media.

Witnesses:

· Dan Rather, Anchor and Managing Editor of “Dan Rather Reports”, HDTV

· Adam Thierer, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Digital Media Freedom, Progress and Freedom Foundation

· S. Derek Turner, Director of Research, Free Press ….

21. “Branching out” (Columbian (Vancouver, WA), December 9, 2007); story citing MARTHA BENNETT (MPP 1993); https://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2007/12/12092007_Branching-Out.cfm

By Kathie Durbin; Columbian staff writer

Jason Spadaro, president of SDS Lumber Co., stands on the site behind Underwood Mountain where his company proposes to erect up to 44 wind turbines just outside the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. (BEN CAMPBELL/The Columbian)

UNDERWOOD—From a remote ridge at 2,200 feet elevation behind Underwood Mountain, Jason Spadaro surveys a clear-cut landscape. The wind is blowing, hard. Bonneville Power Administration transmission towers march across the slopes.

Connecting the dots, Spadaro imagines a day when dozens of giant wind turbines planted on these ridges will harness the gusts that blow through the Columbia River Gorge.

Spadaro is the top executive of both SDS Lumber Co. and Broughton Lumber Co. The two companies, mainstays of the gorge timber economy for decades, now are proposing to combine their lands and build a 44-turbine wind project here.

“To my knowledge, we will be the first company in the country to do wind projects on commercial forest land,” said Spadaro. Despite some local opposition, they hope to apply for county permits to build the project by year’s end.

Four miles away near the Columbia River, the rusting buildings of the old Broughton mill site spread over 60 acres just across Highway 14 from a world-class windsurfing site.

Broughton Lumber wants to invest $70 million to turn this industrial eyesore into a 245-unit destination resort. Broughton Landing would be the largest rural development ever allowed in the scenic area.

But public comment is running five-to-one against the project, and action by the Columbia River Gorge Commission on the project has been delayed several times….

Martha Bennett, former executive director of the gorge commission, calls Spadaro a realist.

“He has been very pragmatic,” she said. “He hasn’t been dogmatic, unlike some of the property rights advocates. I think Jason understood that what he wants to build there benefits from being in the scenic area.”

Though Spadaro initially believed the scenic area act would preclude building the resort and that it might have to be legislated by Congress, Bennett helped persuade him to give the gorge commission process a chance.

“He eventually agreed to attempt a plan amendment, and then if he felt he had given it a good faith effort he could go to Congress,” she said….

22. “Read the fine print. No, really” (Virginian-Pilot, December 8, 2007); column citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://hamptonroads.com/node/445401

By Nancy Young, The Virginian-Pilot

…Insurance companies have to offer me a policy and at a reasonable price, right?

Um, no. You’re generally more protected if you’re part of your employer’s group plan….

However, if you’re on your own looking to buy an individual insurance policy, most insurance companies can deny you coverage—or charge you much higher premiums—based on your health….

When it comes to regulation of health insurance companies, “Virginia is one of the least protective states in the nation,” said Karen Pollitz, research professor at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute….

I just changed jobs. Can I be denied coverage because I have a pre-existing condition?

…To avoid interruption of coverage of your pre-existing condition, [Sharon Poulos of Optima Health Insurance] recommends getting what’s called a certificate of creditable coverage—proving that you had group coverage—from your former employer to give to your new one.

And be aware that your definition of pre-existing condition and the insurance company’s might be very different. If you’re buying an individual policy, it can deny you altogether or exclude that condition or even related body parts like, say, your respiratory system. “Medical underwriters will pick up on lots of health issues,” Pollitz said. “I’ve seen people turned down for acne.”

Host: And we are continuing our conversation about media ownership with Derek Turner of Free Press. For those who don’t know, what is Free Press?

Turner: Free Press is a national non-profit organization that was started to involve the public in media policy debates. From the time you get up to the time you go to bed, people’s lives are consumed with media; however, most of them don’t know how these policies are made by Washington. It’s our job to advocate for and involve the public.

Q: What do you think is chief among the facts people should know [about the FCC chairman’s proposal to relax rules against media cross-ownership]?

Turner: I think the most important thing is that Kevin Martin has painted this as being a modest compromise, that he’s only wanting to get rid of cross ownership in the top 20 markets. However, if you actually read the rule and look at the FCC’s history of how it’s granted waivers, we strongly think the rule is will give cross-ownership in everyone.

Q: So why do you make that case?

Turner: Well, we make that case because the rule that he has promulgated is based on four standards. One, that the combination will do more news. Two, that they will have editorial independence. Three, that they disclose their financial situation, and somehow paint a situation of distress. And four, that the FCC will take a look at market concentration. However, all those are very vaguely defined as stated. The first three are merely promises and the fourth has no way to be enforced.

Q: Why do you say that?

Turner: It’s essentially a waiver standard and something they have to pass. If you look at how the FCC has enforced licenses, it’s almost impossible to take the license away [once granted].

Q: So, among the four standards, you’re saying none of them have teeth to them according to the report?

Turner: That’s correct. And I’d like to point to the fact that the Tribune company—which just got a waiver, a temporary waiver in several of its markets and a permanent waiver in Chicago—they got that permanent waiver under the current waiver standard which is much more severe and much more strict, which basically is that the paper is about to go under. We see the FCC is already inclined to grant the permanent waiver under the much more strict standard and we think under the lax standard, far more waivers will be granted.

Q: There was a hearing this week on this topic. What did you make of the results of the hearing, especially the attitude among the various representatives at the hearing about these type of rules? Do they want to see them enforced?

Turner: We believe there’s bipartisan consensus that media market concentration beyond a certain point is it’s a bad thing. Both Republicans and Democrats clearly feel that having one company monopolize a local media market is not good for democracy. I think at the hearing you heard the strong feeling about minority ownership, which we think Kevin Martin has papered over and not adequately addressed. They are very concerned with what this rule change will do to minority ownership….

By Jessica Meyers - Correspondent

When a cargo ship spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay last month, wildlife biologists foresaw environmental disaster. Economists predicted financial havoc.

But Lana Husser saw opportunity.

Husser, a former Richmond High School science teacher, leads a group of 20 students who produce an environmentally focused television show that broadcasts on local public access stations throughout Contra Costa and Alameda counties….

By transforming real-life scenarios such as the oil spill into practical lessons, Husser is among a growing number of educators who hope to change what many feel is a curriculum heavy on math and English but light on science.

Making the subject relevant to students is critical in reviving science education, said Craig Strang, associate director of UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, which conducted a study [coauthored by David Goldstein] last year examining the state of science education in Bay Area elementary schools. The results, which came out [last month] with the assistance of the nonprofit research agency West Ed, found that 80 percent of elementary school teachers spent 60 minutes or less per week on science. Sixteen percent spent no time at all.

“No Child Left Behind has put a disproportionate emphasis on reading and math,” said Strang. “Science has basically left the curriculum at the elementary level. Now we are seeing students coming into high school with a lot less knowledge of science.”…

By Liset Marquez, Staff Writer

NORCO - Silence filled the conference room at the Naval Surface Warfare Center slightly after 9:55 a.m. Friday morning.

It marked the day 66 years ago, to the minute, that Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Over 2,350 American lives were lost on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan launched a coordinated, surprise attack on the U.S. military base in Hawaii, catching the nation unprepared and drawing it into World War II.

As the nation remembered the solemn moment in American history, Norco paid tribute to Pearl Harbor survivors at the site of the Naval Hospital that treated the wounded.

“There are men and women all over the country serving to protect us. You obviously came before that and set that path for them,” said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange….

“We want to make sure that the Naval Hospital is preserved in its perpetuity,” Spitzer said. “That’s Norco’s commitment to you for your sacrifice.”…

By David Cronin

New figures suggest that despite recognising how its policies can harm small-scale farmers in developing countries, who are unable to compete with lavishly-supported imports from the richer world, the EU spent 2.5 billion euros (3.7 billion dollars) on export subsidies during 2006.

That represents a sharp reduction from the almost 10 billion euros allocated to export subsidies in 1988. Yet Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU’s agriculture commissioner, says that scrapping them entirely will depend on whether other rich countries—in particular the United States—take similar steps….

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris calculated that farmers in rich countries received 279 billion dollars in subsidies. That sum is the equivalent of 60 percent of the combined gross domestic product of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa….

In Ghana, imports of tomato paste—largely from a coterie of European countries [where it is subsidized at a rate of 65%]—rose from 3,269 tonnes in 1998 to almost 25,000 tonnes in 2003. Over the same period, domestic production stagnated and in some cases fell. Similar problems have been reported in Burkina Faso.

Jack Thurston, an agricultural reform advocate who runs the website farmsubsidy.org, says that the EU appears to be on target to eliminate its export subsidies. “There is definitely a downward trend,” he told IPS. “And on the rate of decline we have seen, they are going to go down further.”

Yet progress is not as impressive in dealing with other forms of support—such as the EU’s “single farm payment”—that have a bearing on developing countries.

Changes to agriculture policy approved by EU governments in 2003 pivoted to a considerable degree around a concept known as “decoupling”. This meant that the amount of payments a farmer received is no longer linked to the amount of food produced.

Despite this innovation, the EU is still “shoveling a lot of money into the farm sector”, Thurston argued. He predicts that the number of challenges mounted by developing countries in the World Trade Organisation against EU farm policies could climb.

“Countries like Brazil are having a hard look at the EU’s single farm payment to see if it is really decoupled,” he said. “There may well be cases brought against the EU.

27. “BUDGET BATTLES: Don’t Wait For Next Year” (National Journal, Dec. 4, 2007); commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://nationaljournal.com/collender.htm

By Stan Collender, NationalJournal.com

… Since it began, the Bush administration’s position has been that the budget isn’t a problem. For years, whenever he talked about the deficit, former Treasury Secretary John Snow used the phrase “it’s manageable” as a virtual mantra.

What became increasingly clear is that Snow and other administration officials were referring to the politics rather than the economics of the budget. In effect, Snow and his colleagues were saying that the budget was an economic issue that wouldn’t be a problem until after George W. Bush left office and, therefore, they didn’t have to deal with it….

So far, no one who has tried—including Comptroller General David Walker, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, and the Concord Coalition—has successfully made the case that the budget needs to be dealt with now and that some of the current economic problems are a result of the Bush fiscal policy.

As a result, even with concern about the nation’s finances growing and the likelihood that the economy will be a prominent campaign issue, the White House is still far more likely to stay away from the budget than to try and broker a deal, participate in a summit or otherwise become engaged.

Because of this, I expect the Bush FY09 budget, which is supposed to be sent to Capitol Hill by Feb. 4, to be the most extreme of any this administration has submitted to Congress, with more unrealistic spending changes then anything previously proposed by the White House. As a result, it won’t provide any real guidance for the House and Senate as the FY09 budget debate begins. Congress will be behind schedule before it even begins….

--Stan Collender is a NationalJournal.com contributing editor and managing director at Qorvis Communications in Washington, D.C. A frequent speaker on the budget and the economy to audiences across the country, he is also author of “The Guide to the Federal Budget” and writes the new blog, Capital Gains and Games. His e-mail address is secollender@nationaljournal.com.

By Harvy Lipman, Staff Writer

More than half of New Jersey’s hospital nurses have suffered injuries from lifting or moving patients in the past five years, according to a survey being released today by the state’s biggest nurses union.

Nearly two-thirds said they had also been exposed to so-called “superbugs” like MRSA, the staphylococcus bacteria that is resistant to the strongest antibiotics. And a third said they have been exposed to violence in their workplaces.

As a result, the survey found, almost 60 percent of nurses have considered leaving the profession due to the hazards they face while caring for their patients.

The Health Professionals and Allied Employees union, which represents 12,000 health-care workers, released the report as the state Legislature is expected to take up two bills this week that would require hospitals to establish programs on violence prevention and the safe handling of patients who need to be moved….

Assemblyman Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said hospitals also would benefit from lower worker’s compensation costs.

“Most of these devices are relatively inexpensive,” he said. “They range from what you might describe as a super air mattress that you put under the patient and inflate, to devices where the patient is put in a sling and raised from a gurney to the bed. The problem is that the hospitals don’t need to buy just one of these devices; they need to buy several for each unit.”

With the state’s hospitals facing a fiscal crisis … the legislative leadership is hesitant to enact any measures that puts additional financial pressure on them, Gordon added.

However, the state association has endorsed both bills….

[Randy Minniear, assistant vice president for legislation and policy at the New Jersey Hospital Association] said earlier concerns about the costs of implementing some changes and how long hospitals would have to do so have been addressed with changes in the bills….

By Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer

(12-03) 09:47 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It’s expanding by about $1.4 billion a day—or nearly $1 million a minute….

It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.

Even if you’ve escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That’s because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.

And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt—now at relatively low interest rates—rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain.

So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind….

Some economists liken the government’s plight to consumers who spent like there was no tomorrow—only to find themselves maxed out on credit cards and having a hard time keeping up with rising interest payments.

“The government is in the same predicament as the average homeowner who took out an adjustable mortgage,” said Stanley Collender, a former congressional budget analyst and now managing director at Qorvis Communications, a business consulting firm….

For now, large U.S. trade deficits with much of the rest of the world work in favor of continued foreign investment in Treasuries and dollar-denominated securities. After all, the vast sums Americans pay—in dollars —for imported goods has to go somewhere. But that dynamic could change.

“The first day the Chinese or the Japanese or the Saudis say, ‘we’ve bought enough of your paper,’ then the debt—whatever level it is at that point—becomes unmanageable,” said Collender….

30. “San Rafael Corporate Center completion to start in February” (Marin Independent Journal, December 3, 2007; story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990).

By Jennifer Upshaw

Work will begin in early February to complete the San Rafael Corporate Center.

Seagate Properties, owner of Montecito Shopping Center, bought the property earlier this year from Hines, a privately owned, international real estate corporation based in Houston that co-owned the center.

The new San Rafael-based owner has pledged to finish the 10-year-old project on 15 acres at the southeast edge of downtown.

Plans include adding three more buildings with 240,000 square feet of office space to the existing two-building center. Two parking structures … also are planned….

“We did an extensive [planning] process culminating in 1997 with approvals including an (environmental review) and this is the completion of this project,” Economic Development Director Nancy Mackle said. “I am delighted. We are very excited to see the building completed.”…

31. “Lawmakers criticize response to oil spill” (Ventura County Star, December 1, 2007); story citing LINDA SHEEHAN (MPP 1990).

By Don Thompson - The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO - State lawmakers on Friday sharply criticized the slow response to the oil spill that soiled San Francisco Bay with 58,000 gallons of fuel earlier this month, saying they are frustrated by the lack of answers about what went wrong….

Senators were angered at the lack of ready answers from the state’s Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response, which is a unit of the California Department of Fish and Game, and from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Mark Newton, of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, testified that the state’s spill response office has 18 staff vacancies, 14 of them in the spill readiness area, despite a nearly $18 million surplus in the office’s administrative fund.

Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California CoastKeeper Alliance and a member of the spill response office’s advisory committee, said low salaries means it takes a year or more to fill some vacancies….

32. “Vacancies on water boards filled” (San Diego Union-Tribune, November 30, 2007); story citing LINDA SHEEHAN (MPP 1990).

By Mike Lee and Michael Gardner; COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger avoided a regulatory meltdown this week by filling critical posts on regional boards that protect water quality from San Diego to the north coast’s Redwood Empire.

Four of California’s nine water quality control boards were two days away from losing so many leaders through expired terms that they could no longer take votes on crucial issues such as a major cleanup mandate for San Diego Bay, fines for sewage spills and stormwater permits.

The governor’s 11th-hour nominations, made Wednesday, enable most of the boards to continue business. But the close call has some environmental advocates and politicians concerned about the oversight of water quality issues in California….

“These are stopgap appointments,” said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance based in Fremont. “They do not solve the ongoing problem.”…

Until Wednesday, roughly a third of the 81 regional board positions statewide were unfilled…. The board overseeing the Bay Area canceled its December meeting because it anticipated the lack of a quorum. The agency had to ax the session even though it’s handling a major oil spill….

By Vindu Goel

EVERY ONCE in a while, somebody in government comes up with an idea so brilliant that everyone else ought to copy it.

Cisco DeVries, chief of staff to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and a former official in the Clinton administration, dreamed up one of those just-gotta-steal-it notions.

DeVries crafted a plan, just approved in concept by the City Council, to help Berkeley homeowners and businesses pay for solar electric systems, solar water heaters and other energy-efficiency improvements through a customized, voluntary surcharge on their property taxes.

Essentially, the city would use its access to cheap bond financing to offer residents low-cost home-improvement loans, repaid over 20 years by whoever owns the property. Homeowners paying the typical $15,000 for a solar-power system after federal and state rebates would owe an extra $100 to $115 a month in taxes, much of which would be offset by savings on their monthly electric bill.

Meanwhile, taxpayers who don’t borrow anything wouldn’t pay a dime. All administrative costs would be borne by participants.

“It’s not rocket science,” said DeVries, who came up with the notion after a couple of intense weeks of brainstorming at the beginning of the year. “I was pretty convinced that someone would have thought of this before. We do this for underground utility districts.”…

In one stroke, the plan would remove the biggest barrier to installing solar—coming up with the upfront cash. It would cut participants’ energy costs and make their homes and buildings more valuable. If adopted widely, it would significantly reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to global warming….

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is so impressed that it’s expected to give Berkeley $160,000 to figure out the legal and financial details, with the goal of helping cities around the country copy the idea…

34. “Hoosic River floodplain in Pownal will be mapped in December” (Bennington Banner (VT), November 29, 2007); story citing KARI DOLAN (MPP 1990).

By Andy McKeever, Staff Writer

POWNAL—Floods have threatened people and property in town for many years and detailed floodplain information was lacking, but it won’t be for long. On Tuesday night, staff from the state Department of Environmental Conservation visited the town to discuss recent information and plans for floodplains….

Each year, according to Kari Dolan, fluvial erosion hazard program coordinator, over $15 million of damage is caused nationally by flooding. This is because development was too close to waterways, she said.

“We find ourselves caught in this cycle and we need to find out how to break it,” said Dolan. “We think we’re safe and then we encroach on the banks, setting us up for devastation.”

Towns have dredged, bermed and armored the banks, redirecting the water away from its floodplain, she said. Then developments have crept onto floodplains and for various reasons, the water floods. To stop the cycle, she said, towns should start to avoid this kind of development.

Fluvial geomorphology, she said, finds out where hazardous places are and where the river or waterway should be allowed to flow. “We use science to gather this information,” said Dolan.

Phase one maps where the river would be likely to go, and phase two analyzes how the river currently fits into that map. From there, a belt width is determined that shows where the river could move to in the future and its floodplains.

These maps, she said, are given to towns to help officials plan developments away from the dangerous areas. The maps help officials determine who should get flood insurance, plan evacuations in case of emergencies, budget funds to change or improve culvert and bridges, identify current problems and create restoration projects to avoid future floods. The Hoosic River, she said, will be mapped in December….

35. “Smart Bombs: Campaign or Govern?” (Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), November 24, 2007); commentary citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).

By Gary Crooks; Spokane; The Spokesman-Review

… Easy for them to say. Karen Pollitz, a Georgetown University health care research professor, asked 22 companies if they would cover a hypothetical breast cancer survivor five years after she was successfully treated.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Eleven companies said they would deny coverage, and six said they would issue a policy at standard rates. One company said it would charge double the usual premium. Another said it would issue a policy but exclude future cancer treatment. Three insurers did not respond.”

None of the Republican presidential candidates has a credible solution for that in their health care reform plans. Even the purportedly potent elixir of patient choice combined with private markets is powerless to defeat insurance companies when they invoke “pre-existing conditions.”

The kicker is that three of those candidates—Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson—are cancer survivors. Then again, they didn’t have to think of the unthinkable. The government covered their care.

By Alan Lopez, Staff Writer

Two ideas for the reuse of the historic Carnegie building on Santa Clara Avenue will go for consideration before the City Council tonight.

One is to move the city’s planning department in the building. The other option being proposed is to accommodate the Alameda Museum. Both would require an estimated $4.5 million to accomplish….

“The Alameda Museum would need to raise a whole lot of money to move into that building,” deputy city manager Lisa Goldman said. “The city would need to figure out how we would fully fund it. We have money set aside, but state law says it can only be spent for planning and building activities.”…

Whether or not the museum moves into the Carnegie, the building will include some cultural use in the future. Part of the planning department’s proposal is to dedicate 75 percent of the main level to rotating exhibits of local art, historic exhibits, displays about green building and the preservation of Alameda architectural heritage….

Under that use, the city estimates that the Carnegie could be open to the public as much as 67 hours a week.

“We would need to build an elevator, to access the upper floors because the building was built before the Americans with Disabilities Act,” Goldman said. “And we would have to put in additional restrooms. Under either option those improvements would have to be made.”…

The council also will consider authorizing City Manager Debra Kurita to seek debt financing—ways to borrow money to pay for the balance of the project.

Goldman said that could come in the form of state loans or grants.

“If the council says ‘Yes, we want you to go forward with the community arts/planning and building center, we would look further into those options,” she said.

37. “Californians Spend Less on Electricity; Drive Fewer Miles per Capita than Rest of Country” (U.S. Newswire, November 13, 2007); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975).

PALO ALTO, Calif. –The “California Green Innovation Index” (http://www.next10.org) is an initiative of Next 10, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, founded and funded by venture capitalist F. Noel Perry. Designed to track key economic, energy and environmental indicators, the Index provides critical data on the impact of innovation on the state’s economic and environmental health as California moves to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels as mandated by the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32)….

Chief among Index findings:

· As a result of the first wave of green innovation, which began in the 1970s… California is more energy efficient and emits fewer greenhouse gas emissions per capita than the United States as a whole. However, California also emits fewer GHG emissions per capita than Germany, the United Kingdom or Japan….

· Green innovation, combined with other factors, allow Californians to spend less on electricity and have more to spend on other parts of the economy than the rest of the nation….

· Since 1990, green business establishments in the state have grown by84 percent and employment has doubled. Growth in green establishments has been strongest in solar energy generation….

While many of the Index findings illustrate the opportunities innovation can bring to the state, the Index also underscores the challenges that lie ahead….

“The Index data makes it clear that California will need to move farther faster if it is to successfully meet the targets set by AB 32,” said Doug Henton of Collaborative Economics, a Silicon Valley-based firm that prepared the Index for Next 10, “But the data also indicates we may be at an inflection point between the first wave and a new wave of green innovation.”

California Air Resources Board (CARB) chair Mary Nichols commented, “I am very encouraged that the California Green Innovation Index will be a powerful tool to track the valuable lessons learned as California makes history meeting the mandate of AB 32.”…

… The Index was produced in partnership with Collaborative Economics, a Mountain View, California-based research and consulting organization that works with senior executives from business, foundations, government, education and community sectors to identify economic, environmental and social trends and promote regional innovation. For over a decade, Collaborative Economics has prepared the annual Index of Silicon Valley for Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.

38. “Auto dealer wants to expand, add Nissan” (Marin Independent Journal, November 12, 2007); story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990).

By Jennifer Upshaw

Sonnen Motorcars—home to Audi and Volkswagen—is looking to add a third brand to the mix.

The San Rafael-based auto dealership is slated to go before the city Planning Commission Nov. 13 with expansion plans that include Nissan’s reappearance in Marin.

“We are pleased to see the return of Nissan and pleased to see Audi and Volkswagen each have more room to show,” Economic Development Director Nancy Mackle said. “To me, it’s an excellent part of the revitalization of the West Francisco area.”…

The city has long encouraged car dealers to make their home on Francisco Boulevard, an area with strict traffic restrictions for new development.

New-car dealers bring in several million dollars a year in sales tax revenue. In 2006, the city took in $2.9 million in new auto dealer sales tax revenue….

39. “Walrath: State not acting on new law” (The Sun (Lowell, MA), November 5, 2007); story citing KEVIN BEAGAN (MPP/MPH 1988).

By Hillary Chabot

BOSTON—One of the chief authors of the state’s historic health-insurance reform is scolding Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration for dragging its feet on implementing parts of the law.

The Division of Insurance, currently overseen by Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes, did not fully staff a bureau meant to educate the public about the cost of the broad legislation, said Rep. Patricia Walrath….

The bill, signed into law in April 2006, requires all state residents to have health insurance by Dec. 31. They face a $219 charge on their state tax returns next year if they haven’t signed up, and the penalties will increase the year after that.

The law established a health-care access bureau under the Division of Insurance. The bureau was to have a deputy commissioner, a finance expert, an actuary and a research analyst to oversee health insurance for small groups and individuals….

The Division of Insurance appointed Kevin Beagan, also the director of the state rating bureau, as deputy commissioner. The law requires staff members to devote full time their duties to the office, even though Beagan holds two positions….

By Susan Snyder and Marcia Gelbart; Inquirer Staff Writers

A 35-member task force appointed by Mayor Street a year ago to examine Philadelphia School District operations and governance recommended that the district be returned to local control by July 2010, but only if conditions are met.

Its report also cites a public opinion poll it commissioned, in which nearly half the respondents said they thought the district was worse off than it was five years earlier. Only one-fifth saw it as better.

Philadelphians, however, would have been hard-pressed to discover those facts—or anything else about the study, for which they paid $500,000.

The report has not been officially released. On July 19, however, an executive summary was quietly posted on Street’s page on the city’s Web site.

The quiet surrounding the report has stumped even the consultant whose firm was hired to assist the task force with the study and completed it last winter.

When Street announced the formation of the task force, city officials said its work would be completed in 3½ months. That would have been in mid-January.

“It’s surprising to us, and frankly a little frustrating as well,” said Scott Joftus, president of Cross & Joftus L.L.C. in Bethesda, Md. “I’ve called several times, and the explanation has always been that it’s going to be released soon. That has been going on since February.”…

The report also warns that the district’s improvements were doomed to “hit the wall” unless the district finds a way to focus on improving instruction. It says the district needs to improve “the effectiveness” of teachers and principals working in the neediest schools, as well as teacher training.

It calls for the creation of a “city-school safety and climate commission” to ensure collaboration on making schools safer.

The district also should “make more transparent” its process for awarding contracts for services and improve its budgeting process, including contracting for an external audit of district finances, the report states.

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “Tax breaks may not encourage charitable giving” (Ithaca Journal, December 31, 2007); commentary citing ROBERT REICH.

By Daniel Grant

Everyone agrees that it’s good to donate to charity. Less certain is whether the United States government should allow tax deductions for charitable giving. The answer may seem like a no-brainer, but consider this: They don’t necessarily encourage giving, and they don’t always help the poor.

A growing chorus of voices has been complaining about tax-deductible gifts that appear to benefit the giver. A hefty donation to Symphony Hall, for example, gets the donor noticed as civic-minded and cultured, but the benefit to society is far more difficult to pin down. In too many instances, critics say, giving acts to preserve the status quo rather than to benefit society and help those most in need….

Robert Reich, secretary of Labor under President Clinton, called in a Los Angeles Times essay in October for a two-tiered deduction for charitable gifts. It would allow a full deduction for contributions that help the truly needy and a half-deduction for gifts to not-for-profit “culture palaces: to the operas, art museums, symphonies and theaters where the wealthy spend much of their leisure time.”…

2. “NIGHT & DAY: REICH’S VIEWS EXPOSED” (Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA), December 30, 2007); review citing ROBERT REICH.

--Meg McConahey

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich—a frequent pundit on TV talk shows—lampoons both politics and the media in his 2005 play “Public Exposure: An Indecent Political Farce,’’ which has its West Coast premiere Friday at the 6th Street Playhouse. What happens when a duplicitous Limbaugh-esque TV windbag decides to run for president? The play peeks beneath the facade—and a few other things. Warning: Don’t bring the kids. The show has nudity.

Now a business [public policy] prof at UC Berkeley, one only wonders if the onetime F.O.B. will next take on the Ivory Tower….

By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Here’s one role Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the veteran movie-biz insider, isn’t likely to be playing: peacemaker in the 8-week-old strike by Hollywood writers….

A politician looking for guidance on whether to get involved needn’t look back far.

In January 1995, Bill Clinton thrust the power of the presidency and his outsize personality into an effort to mediate a long and bitter Major League Baseball strike.

But Clinton failed to broker a deal between club owners and players.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea to get involved,” said Robert B. Reich, Clinton’s Labor secretary during the strike and now a UC Berkeley professor. When the nation’s “coaxer-in-chief” can’t move two entrenched parties, “the lesson is that politicians get into high-visibility labor disputes at their own peril.”…

--Oscar Villalon, Chronicle Book Editor

…[H]ere are what I consider to be the top books—fiction and nonfiction—of 2007….

Essay/Criticism

The Politics of Heaven: America in Fearful Times (Norton) by Earl Shorris; Room for Doubt (Pantheon) by Wendy Lesser; The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics (Harvard University Press) by David L. Kirp; Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics (UC Press) by Rebecca Solnit; Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life (Knopf) by Robert B. Reich; Under the Dragon: California’s New Culture (Heyday) by Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg; Edmund Wilson: Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1920s & ‘30s and Literary Essays and Reviews of the 1930s & ‘40s, (Library of America) edited by Lewis M. Dabney.

5. “The George Bailey Vote” (Bangor Daily News, December 20, 2007); editorial citing ROBERT REICH.

…[Frank] Capra’s films often expressed a populist philosophy, suggesting with his characters that easing the plight of “the people,” as opposed to the financially and academically elite, was vitally important to America’s well-being. George Bailey, who struggles to keep his building and loan business afloat in “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and the idealistic Jefferson Smith, appointed as a U.S. senator as a political ploy in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” … are two of Mr. Capra’s most endearing and memorable characters. One wonders who among the current presidential candidates would get their votes.

…Democrat John Edwards has talked about helping the poor; Republican Rudy Giuliani wants to make the Bush tax cuts, which largely benefited the top 10 percent of earners, permanent. What about the sweet spot of the population bell curve, the people who work, own homes, don’t receive government assistance, but struggle to pay bills?

Excluding the top income tier, earnings adjusted for inflation have steadily eroded for the vast majority of American households since 1970. Men in their 30s today who are the primary household wage earners are making less money, adjusted for inflation, than their fathers did while they were in their 30s. Robert Reich , labor secretary under President Clinton, has observed that when middle income family buying power began declining in the 1970s, women went to work to supplement family finances. When that failed to keep pace, couples began borrowing against the equity in their homes. The net result is a negative savings rate for the first time in U.S. history….

6. “Over 60 Foreign Policy Experts Announce Endorsement of Barack Obama” (States News Service, December 19, 2007); press release citing MICHAEL NACHT.

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The following information was released by Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Over sixty foreign policy experts, with experience ranging from the State Department and the Pentagon, to the White House and the U.S. Congress, today announced their endorsement of Senator Barack Obama.

The group, which includes individuals who have served under every President since John F. Kennedy, said that Obama has the judgment to lead America at this pivotal moment in history, and the ability to take on unconventional threats and restore America’s security and standing in the world….

Their endorsement came as Obama held a Foreign Policy Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, where he and several of his top foreign policy advisors engaged in an open dialogue with Iowa residents on the challenges America faces and how Obama would address them as President. At the event, Obama discussed his specific plans to end the war in Iraq, renew American diplomacy, pursue aggressive diplomacy with Iran, fight terrorism and extremism, and lead the world against the threats of the 21st century….

National Security Experts Endorsing Obama Today: [partial list]

Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser under President Carter

Dr. Joseph Cirincione, Author and Nonproliferation Expert

Senator Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader

Mr. Larry Korb, Assistant Secretary of Defense

Mr. Anthony Lake, former National Security Adviser to President Bill Clinton

Dr. Michael McFaul, Professor, Political Science, Stanford University

General Tony McPeak, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force

The Honorable Abner Mikva, former White House Counsel under President Clinton; Chief Judge, DC Court of Appeals, Member of Congress (D-Ill)

Professor Michael Nacht, Dean, School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley….

7. “No. 1 book, and it offers solutions” (New York Times, December 19, 2007); review citing ROBERT REICH.

By David Leonhardt

[In 1967, Jack Wennberg, a young medical researcher at Johns Hopkins] … had been chosen to run a new center based at the University of Vermont that would examine medical care in the state. With a colleague, he traveled around Vermont, visiting its 16 hospitals and collecting data on how often they did various procedures….

But here was the stunner: Vermonters who lived in towns with more aggressive care weren’t healthier. They were just getting more health care.

Dr. Wennberg’s story forms the backbone of “Overtreated,” by Shannon Brownlee, which is my choice for the economics book of the year. This was another very good year for economics books. Alan Greenspan wrote a best-selling memoir that was really two books, one an autobiography, the other an exposition on the virtues of the free market. Robert H. Frank and Robert Reich wrote thoughtful books about reversing the excesses of that free market…

By Michael Nacht

Illustration: Dyson

SEEMINGLY without notice, President George Bush is revising American foreign policy. The enormous damage done to United States national interests and its image in the world from 2001 to 2006 that led to “containment” of the US by others is beginning to be reversed. The challenge for the new administration, starting in 2009, is to deepen, broaden and accelerate this pace of change to remove the condition of self-containment.

By design and ad hoc action, American foreign policy under Bush until recently reinforced the nationalistic and jingoistic instincts of the American psyche but had little appeal elsewhere. “My way or the highway” symbolised an arrogant dogmatism in Washington that refused to acknowledge the wisdom of anyone or any institution, at home or abroad, that did not fit the ideological premises of the President, his Vice-President and Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defence, and a few key advisers….

Bush has had the luxury of stable relationships with Russia and China, enabling a focus on Islam, terrorism and oil. The next president may not be so fortunate. Steps must be taken so the US is no longer contained by its own misguided actions and statements. It must systematically build support at home and abroad, and listen far more than speak.

Professor Michael Nacht is the dean and professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California Berkeley. He recently visited Australia as a guest speaker for the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

[This op-ed also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/failures-abroad-force-change-of-heart-in-us/2007/12/16/1197740085835.html“>Sydney Morning Herald</a>]

9. “Business tactics can’t always apply” (Chicago Tribune, December 16, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH.

By Greg Burns

Harry Kraemer Jr. describes himself as “probably one of the only CEOs who thinks government shouldn’t be run like a business,” but he has plenty of company in the academic world.

Apart from obvious differences such as the profit motive and the prominence of shareholders instead of voters, scholars cite more subtle distinctions that strain the comparison, too.

“The problem is that government doesn’t have one simple objective the way business does,” said Robert Reich, former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton and author of a book, “Supercapitalism,” that urges Americans to rebalance the roles of business and government.

“Government is run for many different stakeholders,” he said. “Outcomes have to be brokered. Means are not all that clear even when objectives are agreed upon.”

Given examples such as Enron Corp. and the private-contractor scandals in Iraq, Reich added, “I’d be careful before we say businesses are run better.”…

10. “Where is the ‘missing link’?” (Cape Cod Times, December 12, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH.

--Sean Gonsalves - Cape Cod Times news editor and columnist

A new front in the “Culture War” has opened up in Woods Hole with a lawsuit being filed against a biologist at the oceanographic institution by a researcher, alleging his civil rights were violated because he was fired for his belief in creationism ….

I don’t know what strategy our Woods Hole creationist is employing, but I do know that in the “culture wars,” … the teaching of evolution is considered nothing less than a satanic assault on God….

The evolution vs. creationism debate may be an unavoidable political fight but much more revealing is what many evolution-believing secular conservatives and evolution-denying religious conservatives have in common: a belief in social Darwinism.

The origin of “survival of the fittest” can be traced to British philosopher Herbert Spencer, who tried to justify racism and imperialism with his pseudo-science 50 years after Darwin published “The Origin of the Species.”

Spencer bastardized Darwin’s theory and attempted to apply his misunderstanding of evolution to politics and economics. Thus began a political tradition in this country in which public policy is seen as a vehicle to prevent the weak from being “parasites” on the “fit.”

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich marvels at how “the modern conservative movement has embraced social Darwinism with no less fervor than it has condemned Darwinism.”…

11. “Senate to Vote on Farm Subsidies” (Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio, December 11, 2007); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program

The Senate votes Tuesday on amendments to a new farm bill, which includes billions of dollars in subsidies for farmers and will set the country’s agriculture policy for the next five years. Robert Reich, former labor secretary, and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) discuss why the federal government subsidizes farming.

Guests:

· George Naylor, Iowa farmer; president of the National Family Farm Coalition

· Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary; professor of public policy, University of California, Berkeley

· Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee

12. “US rebuilding credibility, expert says” (ABC Premium News (Australia), December 10, 2007); interview with MICHAEL NACHT.

This time next year, a newly elected US President will be going through the transition period and preparing to take up residence in the White House.

But he or she will be doing so at a time when the reputation of the United States in the wider world is at its lowest since the Vietnam War.

What can a new administration do to rebuild that reputation?

Michael Nacht is Dean and Professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy in the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Nacht, who addressed the Sydney University US Studies Centre summit in Sydney today, believes the process has already begun.

He thinks the pre-emptive diplomacy that set in after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2007 is already history.

He draws on the example of the current situation between the United States and Iran. The US claimed Iraq was developing nuclear weapons, but that was contradicted by a recent intelligence report.

“I don’t think pre-emption was the whole story of 2001 to 2006 but it certainly was an essential feature,” he said.

“I think especially now that the national intelligence estimate has come out on Iran that says that they’ve frozen their nuclear development program, I think it is increasingly unlikely there will be military action taken that you might call pre-emptive action.”

US President George W Bush responded to the news that Iran was not making nuclear weapons by saying that the country was still dangerous.

Professor Nacht says he was surprised by the report and Mr Bush’s response.

“I’m actually very curious as to what the real origins [of the report] are,” he said.

“There are various theories. One is that it is CIA blowback against the administration. One is that Bush become convinced that he could not act militarily so he wanted to change the assessment so he can’t act.

“I’m not sure if either of those are right. Maybe it is just an honest new assessment but it is just going to be very difficult to generate the support [to take military action against Iran].”…

--Robert Collier

As international diplomats gather in Bali to try to begin negotiating a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, their toughest challenge is how to deal with China’s fast rise as the world’s leading source of greenhouse gases.

… The Bush administration refuses to consider such a pact unless China also does so and China says wealthy nations must go first. Not widely understood, however, are two underlying elements behind this conflict—the degree to which China has become the central battlefront of global warming, and the reasons why China’s government cannot make any concessions to U.S. demands.

According to several international studies in recent months, China’s emissions have not only surged past the U.S. level, but also are growing at a rate that far outstrips wealthy nations’ capacity to decrease theirs….

Yet Beijing’s leaders are not being stubborn or in denial….The crucial sticking point is that Beijing’s top leadership seems largely incapable of complying with any significant cutback commitments.

Amid China’s explosive economic growth of recent years, the Communist government has lost so much political and regulatory power that it has been unable to force provincial and municipal authorities to obey environmental laws. Despite its image abroad as an all-powerful dictatorship, the government desperately needs real regulatory clout….

What’s urgently needed to help China go green is a crash program of technical aid, modeled on California’s 20-year record of quietly helping Chinese officials learn from the state’s own success in setting standards on air quality and energy efficiency that are tighter than those required under federal law….

Robert Collier is a visiting scholar at the [Goldman School’s] Center for Environmental Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He is writing a book about China and global warming for University of California Press.

By Henry Payne [Mr. Payne is a writer and editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News.]

Detroit—This past summer, comedian Bill Cosby came to Motor City and invited 700 men to an east side church. His aim? To combat violent crime by encouraging more parental involvement. “We’ve got to get these parents to get fired up,” he told a reporter….

Last month, Congressional Quarterly released a report detailing the central problem Mr. Cosby is trying to address: violence. Detroit isn’t just another violent city. According to the CQ report, which analyzed statistics compiled by the FBI, it is now America’s most dangerous city. Its murder rate of 47 per 100,000 residents is well above Chicago and New York....

According to academic research, over 50% of black men in Detroit are high-school dropouts. In 2004, 72% of those dropouts were jobless. By their mid-30s, 60% have done prison time. Among black dropouts in their late 20s, according to a University of California, Berkeley study [co-authored by Steven Raphael], more are in prison (34%) than are working (30%)....

[The study cited is: “How Do Crime and Incarceration Affect the Employment Prospects of Less Educated Black Men?” by Steven Raphael, Harry Holzer and Michael Stoll, in Black Males Left Behind (Urban Institute Press, 2006.]

--Declan Butler

Californian investments in solar power, such as that produced at Dagget in the Mojave Desert, are leading the market in renewable energy worldwide. G. Steinmetz/Corbis

Californian investments in solar power, such as that produced at Dagget in the Mojave Desert, are leading the market in renewable energy worldwide.

Silicon Valley is greening. Investors are flocking to low-carbon (clean) energy technologies, fuelling a boom in the sector, with investments set to overtake those in Internet start-ups….

The increases significantly buck a trend—total public and private spending on energy research in the United States and elsewhere has been dropping steadily since the 1970s. In an analysis of energy-research spending published in January (G. F. Nemet and D. M. Kammen Energy Policy 35, 746–755; 2007), the authors estimate that the US invests $1 billion less in energy R&D than it did a decade ago, and that this now represents just 2% of all federal R&D, compared with 10% in the 1980s. By contrast, spending on defence and health has been increasing by 10–15% annually during that period.

The private sector’s share of the shrinking energy-research pie has also dwindled, and now makes up just a quarter of investments, compared with a half in the 1980s. The surge in new investment in energy by venture capitalists, established energy firms such as General Electric and new entrants such as Google is therefore “extremely important”, says Gregory Nemet of the University of Wisconsin-Madison [and alumnus of Dan Kammen’s Energy & Resources Group]. “It’s difficult to envision successfully addressing concerns about energy independence and climate change without fully engaging the capabilities, resources and human ingenuity that these entities can apply,” he says.

But he cautions that the growth in green investment needs to be seen in perspective. For example, the entire US venture-capital investment in clean tech in 2006—at $1.8 billion—was exactly the same as that spent on R&D by the biotech company Genentech. “The magnitudes of the challenges of energy independence and climate change are so large that we are still orders of magnitude away from devoting the societal resources we need to deal with them,” Nemet says….

16. “Role of Consultants in Executive Pay” (Congressional Quarterly, December 5, 2007); Capitol Hill hearing testimony citing ROBERT REICH.

Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform

Statement of Houman B. Shadab, Senior Research Fellow, Regulatory Studies Program, Mercatus Center at George Mason University:

It is undisputable that the compensation earned by executives of public companies has risen in recent decades, in both absolute terms and relative to the compensation of others. What is disputed among academic researchers is the precise source of increased executive compensation and its impact on shareholder welfare….

In fact, there have undoubtedly been cases where executives negotiated compensation which benefited themselves at the expense of investors. However, as a law and economics scholar, I must look for theories of executive compensation that best explain what is generally true as a rule, not just stories that explain a few outlying cases….

And there are in fact explanations other than managerial self-dealing for the increases in absolute and relative executive compensation. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich noted, although CEO compensation does not reflect social or moral worth, increase in CEO pay is best explained by “boards of directors choos[ing] their CEOs from a relatively small pool of proven executive talent” and that today, “[u]nder supercompetitive capitalism, boards are willing to pay more for CEOs because their rivals are paying more and the cost of making a bad decision is so much greater than it was decades ago when competition for investors and customers was far less intense and shareholders were far more placid.”…

By Glenn Thrush

(Eric Thayer, Getty Images / December 3, 2007)

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa—Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed Barack Obama yesterday for dodging key abortion, gun and Iran votes—as a USA Today/Gallup poll showed her national support slipping significantly.

On a three-city swing through northern and western Iowa, the former first lady launched a new attack on Obama’s legislative record starting with his days as an Illinois state senator in the 1990s….

On Sunday, she ridiculed Obama’s political courage and personal character. A day later, she hammered away at his experience using her harshest language to date.

“You decide which makes more sense: entrusting our country to someone who is ready on day one ... or to put America in the hands of someone with little national or international experience who started running for president when he arrived in the United States Senate,” she said during an appearance at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa….

Not everyone approved.

Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s former labor secretary and a classmate of both at Yale Law School, said Clinton’s attacks are both inaccurate and counterproductive.

“I just don’t get it,” Reich wrote on his blog. “If there’s anyone in the race whose history shows unique courage and character, it’s Barack Obama. HRC’s campaign, by contrast, is singularly lacking in conviction about anything. Her pollster, Mark Penn, has advised her to take no bold positions.”…

18. “Bali Conference on Climate Change” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, December 3, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program

The United Nations Climate Change Conference starts today in Bali, Indonesia with more than 15,000 attendees from 180 countries expected. We look at the United States’ role at the conference, and the prospects for a global agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Guests:

· Dan Kammen, director of the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley; member of the UN’s IPCC Panel which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

· Elizabeth Kolbert, staff writer for The New Yorker

· Victor Menotti, program director for the International Forum on Globalization

--Ewen Callaway

Sea snake: Pelamis has been testing its 750-kilowatt wave machine in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. Pelamis Wave Power

Sea snake: Pelamis has been testing its 750-kilowatt wave machine in the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

…Wave energy is applicable only in a few regions of the world, and uses technologies that, for the most part, remain unproven. But given the scale of the energy challenge facing the world, supporters say that wave energy could supply enough electricity to make it part of a green-energy portfolio. The European Ocean Energy Association in Brussels, for instance, estimates that the global resource for wave energy lies between 1 and 10 terawatts; the world currently produces about 13 terawatts from all sources. Others see a more realistic number of 0.2 terawatts, or less, coming from wave energy; that’s still three times the current installed capacity for wind power worldwide….

Like other renewable energies, wave power works better in some locations than others. It takes more than just a shore to harness the power of waves. Because of the planet’s prevailing winds, the best spots are on the west coast of continents in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, or on the east coast in the Southern Hemisphere….

In such places, wave energy could provide an alternative source of renewable energy to the usual standbys of wind and solar. Given recent government mandates to increase the power generated from renewable-energy sources—the European Union is aiming for 20% from renewables, and California 33%, by 2020—wave power could be another much-needed option. The targets are aggressive enough that all options could be needed, says Dan Kammen, director of a renewable-energy laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley….

FACULTY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & EVENTS

Dec. 10-11 Dan Kammen moderated a talk at the World Affairs Council, “Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Vijay Vaitheeswaran; broadcast on the program “It’s Your World” on KQED-FM and distributed on National Public Radio. Audio archive at http://wacsf.vportal.net/ .

VIDEOS & WEBCASTS

To view a complete list of GSPP videos, visit our Events Archive at: /news-events/archive.html

Recent events viewable on UC Webcast: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/archive.php?select2=36

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