Caroline Kennedy's previous foray into public service, an aborted run for US Senate in New York, was awkward. But she has what any good ambassador must have: clout with the president.
By Jennifer Skalka Tulumello,?Correspondent / July 25, 2013
Caroline Kennedy listens during the 2010 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. President Obama said on Wednesday he would name Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy, as ambassador to Japan.
Brian Snyder/Reuters/File
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President Obama nominated Caroline Kennedy Wednesday to be his next ambassador to Japan, a high-profile diplomatic post that would serve as just reward for her loyalty to his presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.
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Ms. Kennedy, a lawyer, author, and mother of three, endorsed Mr. Obama during his contentious 2008 Democratic primary battle against Hillary Rodham Clinton. She and her uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, threw the weight of Camelot?s dynasty behind the young first-term US senator from Illinois. Their approval gave Obama critical establishment validation, and effectively underscored that Obama?s vision for his time stirred similar passions in the electorate as President Kennedy?s candidacy did in 1960.
In a 2008 New York Times opinion article titled??A President Like My Father,? Kennedy wrote that she has never had a president who inspired her the way people say her father inspired them.
?Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things,? she wrote. ?In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama.?
Kennedy has held many private posts ? she is president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and chair of the senior advisory committee of the Institute of Politics at Harvard, among other positions ? but she has been a reluctant participant, at times, in the political sphere.
In 2009, her interest in the open US Senate seat from New York ? made vacant by Ms. Clinton?s decision to accept Obama?s offer to be his secretary of State ? was fleeting. Kennedy seemed awkward and dispassionate, unsure of why or if even she wanted the job and unable to artfully articulate the commitment to public life that runs through her family lineage. She eventually asked the governor to pull her name from consideration.
President Barack Obama, facing renewed battles with congressional Republicans over fiscal policy and the debt ceiling, accused his political opponents of diverting attention from the task of boosting the U.S. economy.
?With an endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals, Washington has taken its eye off the ball,? Obama said Wednesday in an address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. ?I am here to say this needs to stop.?
Following months when the focus has been on the president?s second-term job appointees, his push for a new immigration law, attempts to block his signature health-care law and Republican-led investigations into his administration, Obama is seeking to refocus attention on the economy ? and how his policies have added to job growth and stability.
?Our focus must be on the basic economic issues that the matter most to you, the people we represent,? Obama said in the text of his speech. ?And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes for our middle class could not be higher.?
When lawmakers return from their August recess, they and the president will confront a host of decisions affecting the economy, including determining federal spending levels and the government running up against its US$16.7-trillion debt limit.
Congressional Republicans are staking their ground in fiscal negotiations that once again could pose the threat of default or a government shutdown ? the recurring theme surrounding efforts to reduce the nation?s deficit since 2011.
Confrontation Signalled
House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has signalled he?s ready for a confrontation with the White House and the Democratic-led Senate over the debt ceiling.
?We?re not going to raise the debt ceiling without real cuts in spending,? Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters in Washington Tuesday. Obama has said he will refuse to to accept anything short of a clean debt-limit increase.
The president accused his critics of being short-sighted. He said the U.S. must continue to invest in education, training, infrastructure and research to maintain a competitive edge in the global economy.
?The countries that are passive in the face of a global economy will lose the competition for good jobs and high living standards,? he said.
Obama spent a portion of his speech criticizing Republicans for tying up the debt ceiling debate and budget cuts that have harmed government programs that can spur growth.
Debt Limit
?We?ve seen a sizable group of Republican lawmakers suggest they wouldn?t vote to pay the very bills that Congress rang up, a fiasco that harmed a fragile recovery in 2011, and one we can?t afford to repeat,? he said.
In the last round of debt ceiling debate two years ago, lawmakers and the White House battled for months before Obama signed an increase into law on Aug. 2, 2011, the day the Treasury Department warned that U.S. borrowing authority would expire.
While Standard & Poor?s stripped the U.S. of its AAA top credit rating as a result, investors indicated they weren?t concerned about the government?s debt or its ability to pay its bills. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes on Aug. 5, 2011, when S&P announced the downgrade, was 2.56%. The yield fell as low as 1.39% on July 24, 2012. As of Tuesday, the yield had risen to 2.50% amid speculation the Federal Reserve is closer to winding down its asset-purchase program.
Bernanke Warning
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel last week that another prolonged debate over the debt ceiling could hamper the recovery. He also said continued tight fiscal policy threatens to restrain growth.
Obama said Republicans have been unwilling to negotiate a replacement for the automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration, which he called a ?meat cleaver? to the budget.
Republicans said Obama is offering more of the same prescriptions he proposed since he was first elected. Senator John Cornyn released a statement before Obama arrived in Illinois saying the president got most of his economic package passed in his first term.
?We now know what the results have been,? Cornyn said. ?Add it all up, and we?ve been experiencing the weakest economic recovery in the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression in the 1930?s.?
Boehner Reaction
Boehner, in a House speech, said Obama?s address will accomplish nothing. ?It?s a hollow shell,? he said, ?it?s an Easter egg with no candy in it.?
He called on Obama to speed approval of TransCanada Corp.?s Keystone XL pipeline, delay implementation of the health-care law and ?stop threatening to shut down the government unless we raise taxes.?
It?s a hollow shell, it?s an Easter egg with no candy in it
Obama may be setting the stage for the coming negotiations over the debt ceiling and averting a government shutdown caused by a budget stalemate. The new fiscal year starts Oct. 1 and the debt ceiling by be hit in October or November.
?The content may be less important than what follows,? Nomura Holdings Inc. said in a note to clients Wednesday.
The Knox College speech was the first of a series that Obama plans to deliver over the next several weeks. He?s scheduled to speak on the same themes later today at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg and again tomorrow in Jacksonville, Florida.
Earlier Address
Obama gave a commencement address at Knox College in 2005, when he was a newly elected U.S. senator, that sought to define his economic vision, focusing on the struggles of middle-income Americans and the role of government in helping them succeed.
The themes of that speech were largely informed by what he saw during his 2004 Senate run, when a local Maytag plant was shut down and workers? jobs were shipped overseas.
?It churned up all the economic anxieties that middle class families were dealing with then and have been dealing with since,? said Robert Gibbs, a former senate aide who became Obama?s first White House Press Secretary.
Obama focused on America?s place as the economy became more globalized and how education, training, health care and changes in technology would play into the future.
The president often instructs his aides to go back and re-read the 24-minute address before significant speeches.
?He understood that this was a truly important speech, a truly important way of walking through the anxiety that people were feeling,? Gibbs said.
Do video games like Pong and Space Invaders belong in Museum of Modern Art? Or does putting a game console from 1972 on a pedestal constitute an Emperor's New Video Game-style overreach? A debate is raging, and MoMA is at the center of it.
On Friday, the museum's architecture and design curator, Paola Antonelli, announced that MoMA had acquired six new games, including Pong (1972) Space Invaders (1978) Asteroids (1979) Tempest (1981) Yar?s Revenge (1982), and Minecraft (2011). They museum also obtained a Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial video game console, which was designed in 1972 by Ralph Baer, "father of the video game."
Regardless of how you feel about video games (or about, say, Rothko), these are undoubtably pieces of creative history. So what's the problem? According to The Guardian's Jonathan Jones, games?video games, chess, Apples 2 Apples, whatever?are not art. "A work of art is one person's reaction to life," Jones wrote in reaction to Antonelli's inclusion of several video games in MoMA's Applied Design show last year. "This is the essential difference between games and art, and it precedes the digital age."
Jones' reaction is valid, but then again, who's to say that Minecraft doesn't represent the perspective of its designer, Markus Persson? Antonelli, on the other hand, defends her decision by arguing that games as vital predecessors to contemporary Interaction Design:
The games are selected as outstanding examples of interaction design?a field that MoMA has already explored and collected extensively, and one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity? the programming language takes the place of the wood or plastics, and the quality of the interaction translates in the digital world what the synthesis of form and function represent in the physical one.
So it seems MoMA isn't as interested in the content of early video games?they're interested in how these games paved the way for a whole universe of human/screen interactions, many of which have come to define the contemporary world (think, for example, of your iPhone).
So what do you think? Are video games worth memorializing in museums, based on the seeds they planted for how we interact with computers today? [MoMA via ArtInfo]
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa gestures during an interview with Reuters in Portoviejo.
By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News
Self-professed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is "under the care of the Russian authorities" and cannot leave Moscow to seek asylum in Ecuador because his U.S. passport was revoked, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Sunday.
Snowden has reportedly been hiding out at Moscow's international airport since requesting political asylum in the South American nation June 24. Snowden flew to Russia from Hong Kong on June 23 but has not been seen since his arrival.
Correa said his government cannot begin reviewing Snowden's request until he has traveled to Ecuador or an Ecuadorean embassy to formally apply.
"This is the decision of Russian authorities. He doesn't have a passport," Correa told The Associated Press during an interview in the coastal city of Puerto Viejo. "At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities."
Russian officials told Reuters that Snowden remains in a transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The U.S. government has charged Snowden, a 30-year-old former employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, with theft of government property and two violations of espionage statutes for purportedly leaking a trove of information about two top-secret government surveillance programs to the British newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post.
Although Correa has previously praised the purported leaker, his comments Sunday suggested that the Ecuadorean government will defer to U.S. officials who seek to extradite and try Snowden.
"If he really could have broken North American laws, I am very respectful of other countries and their laws and I believe that someone who breaks the law must assume his responsibilities," Correa said. "But we also believe in human rights and due process."
Ecuador last year offered a safe haven to WikiLeaks impresario Julian Assange in its London embassy, where he still remains.
Correa's remarks came one day after he discussed Snowden with Vice President Joe Biden on the phone. Biden reportedly asked the South American leader, historically a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy, not to grant asylum to Snowden, according to Reuters.
"I told him that we would analyze his opinion, which is very important to us," Correa told the AP, noting that he had implored the U.S. for the safe return of several Ecuadorians living in the U.S. who face criminal charges in their native country.
"I greatly appreciated the call," he said. "When I received the call from Vice President Biden, which was with great cordiality and a different vision, we really welcomed it a lot."
The call between Biden and Correa ? the highest-level exchange reported between the U.S. and Ecuador since Snowden?s June 24 plea for asylum ? came just two days after President Barack Obama said he was ?not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker? and should not have to speak personally with the leaders of Russia and China to return Snowden to the U.S.
Inside the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport are shops, restaurants and a hotel that could make the possibility of an extended stay for NSA leaker Edward Snowden not so bad. NBC's Ghazi Balkiz reports.
Obama pledged not to engage in ?wheeling and dealing and trading and a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system here in the United States.?
Meanwhile, new allegations stemming from Snowden's purported leaks have raised the ire of European leaders.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Union parliament, expressed outrage over allegations published in the German magazine Der Spiegel that?American allegedly infilitrated computers and installed bugs at EU offices on U.S. soil.
"I am shocked. With all respect for the security interests of the United States, this should not develop into paranoia that friends are alienated," Schulz told the German broadcast ZDF.
"I will ask the U.S. ambassador for explanations" of the alleged spying activities, he said.
Schulz's comments were echoed by French foreign minister Laurent Fabius.
"If these facts are confirmed, this will be totally unacceptable," he said in a communique issued Sunday.
When asked about the Der Spiegel report, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said he hadn't seen it and "would not comment on unauthorized disclosures of intelligence programs."
"The intelligence community would be the most appropriate to" comment, Rhodes said Saturday.
"The only thing I would add, though, is that those are some of our closest intelligence partners, so it's worth noting that the Europeans work very closely with us. We have very close intelligence relationships with them."
NBC News' Shawna Thomas, Andy Eckardt, and Nancy Ing contributed to this report. The Associated Press and Reuters also contributed.
Related: EU confronts Washington over reports it spies on European allies
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa gestures during an interview with Reuters in Portoviejo.
By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News
Self-professed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is "under the care of the Russian authorities" and cannot leave Moscow to seek asylum in Ecuador because his U.S. passport was revoked, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Sunday.
Snowden has reportedly been hiding out at Moscow's international airport since requesting political asylum in the South American nation June 24. Snowden flew to Russia from Hong Kong on June 23 but has not been seen since his arrival.
Correa said his government cannot begin reviewing Snowden's request until he has traveled to Ecuador or an Ecuadorean embassy to formally apply.
"This is the decision of Russian authorities. He doesn't have a passport," Correa told The Associated Press during an interview in the coastal city of Puerto Viejo. "At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities."
Russian officials told Reuters that Snowden remains in a transit area at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport.
The U.S. government has charged Snowden, a 30-year-old former employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, with theft of government property and two violations of espionage statutes for purportedly leaking a trove of information about two top-secret government surveillance programs to the British newspaper The Guardian and The Washington Post.
Although Correa has previously praised the purported leaker, his comments Sunday suggested that the Ecuadorean government will defer to U.S. officials who seek to extradite and try Snowden.
"If he really could have broken North American laws, I am very respectful of other countries and their laws and I believe that someone who breaks the law must assume his responsibilities," Correa said. "But we also believe in human rights and due process."
Ecuador last year offered a safe haven to WikiLeaks impresario Julian Assange in its London embassy, where he still remains.
Correa's remarks came one day after he discussed Snowden with Vice President Joe Biden on the phone. Biden reportedly asked the South American leader, historically a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy, not to grant asylum to Snowden, according to Reuters.
"I told him that we would analyze his opinion, which is very important to us," Correa told the AP, noting that he had implored the U.S. for the safe return of several Ecuadorians living in the U.S. who face criminal charges in their native country.
"I greatly appreciated the call," he said. "When I received the call from Vice President Biden, which was with great cordiality and a different vision, we really welcomed it a lot."
The call between Biden and Correa ? the highest-level exchange reported between the U.S. and Ecuador since Snowden?s June 24 plea for asylum ? came just two days after President Barack Obama said he was ?not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker? and should not have to speak personally with the leaders of Russia and China to return Snowden to the U.S.
Inside the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport are shops, restaurants and a hotel that could make the possibility of an extended stay for NSA leaker Edward Snowden not so bad. NBC's Ghazi Balkiz reports.
Obama pledged not to engage in ?wheeling and dealing and trading and a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system here in the United States.?
Meanwhile, new allegations stemming from Snowden's purported leaks have raised the ire of European leaders.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Union parliament, expressed outrage over allegations published in the German magazine Der Spiegel that?American allegedly infilitrated computers and installed bugs at EU offices on U.S. soil.
"I am shocked. With all respect for the security interests of the United States, this should not develop into paranoia that friends are alienated," Schulz told the German broadcast ZDF.
"I will ask the U.S. ambassador for explanations" of the alleged spying activities, he said.
Schulz's comments were echoed by French foreign minister Laurent Fabius.
"If these facts are confirmed, this will be totally unacceptable," he said in a communique issued Sunday.
When asked about the Der Spiegel report, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes said he hadn't seen it and "would not comment on unauthorized disclosures of intelligence programs."
"The intelligence community would be the most appropriate to" comment, Rhodes said Saturday.
"The only thing I would add, though, is that those are some of our closest intelligence partners, so it's worth noting that the Europeans work very closely with us. We have very close intelligence relationships with them."
NBC News' Shawna Thomas, Andy Eckardt, and Nancy Ing contributed to this report. The Associated Press and Reuters also contributed.
Related: EU confronts Washington over reports it spies on European allies
by William Bigelow 30 Jun 2013, 3:16 AM PDT post a comment
We need a solution that strengthens families. We need a solution that expands economic opportunity. And one of the reasons we need improved border security ? that is not mentioned enough ? is to further prevent violence and drug trafficking? and the brutal human trafficking and exploitation of women and girls.
Speaking at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference, Preibus noted, " It?s important that Republicans are taking a lead in this policy discussion ? We?ve completely reshaped our engagement efforts at the RNC to be more community based. We?re hiring from the community so we can get to know the community?the towns, neighborhoods, and churches.?
Although Priebus acknowledged that he doesn?t make policy decisions, he added, "But I join you in hoping the men and women on Capitol Hill get it right."
GOP conservatives have torched the Senate?s immigration reform proposal for its feeble attempt at border security. Priebus also trumpeted the success of governors in Texas, New Mexico and Nevada in reaching out to the Latino community by offering more school choices. He announced earlier this year that the RNC will spend $10 million to reach minority voters.
Priebus concluded that he wasn?t trying to convert the Latinos attending. He said, ?But I hope that it?s clear that we do want to earn your trust and your vote?and that we can find common ground.?
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Develop national sales strategies and sales pipeline to grow the Auto wholesale and Allstate Products through contracting of new partners. Responsible for achieving operating plan targets for new sales revenue for the division.
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PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador -- Edward Snowden is "under the care of the Russian authorities" and can't leave Moscow's international airport without their consent, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told The Associated Press Sunday in an interview telegraphing the slim and diminishing possibility that the National Security Agency leaker will end up in Ecuador.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has distanced himself from the case since Snowden arrived in Russia last week. But Correa portrayed Russia as entirely the masters of Snowden's fate.
Putin insists the 30-year-old former NSA contractor remains in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and that as long as he has not legally entered Russia, he is out of the Kremlin's control.
However, the Kremlin also said Sunday that it will take public opinion and the views of human rights activists into account when considering Snowden's case, a move that could lay the groundwork for him to seek asylum in Russia.
"This is the decision of Russian authorities," Correa told the AP during a visit to this Pacific coast city. "He doesn't have a passport. I don't know the Russian laws, I don't know if he can leave the airport, but I understand that he can't. At this moment he's under the care of the Russian authorities. If he arrives at an Ecuadorean Embassy we'll analyze his request for asylum."
Last week, several members of Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights spoke out in support of Snowden, saying he deserved to receive political asylum in the country of his choice and should not be handed over to the United States. And a handful of protesters picketed outside the Moscow airport in what appeared to be an orchestrated demonstration on Friday, holding signs reading "Edward, Russia is your second motherland" and "Russia is behind Snowden."
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Ekho Moskvy radio that while Snowden is not Russia's concern, the Kremlin is aware of the viewpoints of Russian experts and representatives of human rights organizations.
"Public opinion on the subject is very rich," Peskov said in the radio interview. "We are aware of this and are taking it into account."
Correa said he had no idea Snowden's intended destination was Ecuador when he fled Hong Kong for Russia last week. He said the Ecuadorean consul in London committed "a serious error" by not consulting officials in Ecuador's capital when the consul issued a letter of safe passage for Snowden. He said the consul would be punished, although he didn't specify how.
Analysts familiar with the workings of the Ecuadorean government said Correa's claims that the decision was entirely Russia's appeared to be at least partly disingenuous. They said they believed Correa's administration at first intended to host Snowden, then started back-tracking this week when the possible consequences became clearer.
"I think the government started to realize the dimensions of what it was getting itself into, how it was managing things and the consequences that this could bring," said Santiago Basabe, an analyst and professor of political sciences at the Latin American School of Social Sciences in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. "So it started pulling back, and they'll never tell us why, but I think the alarm bells started to go off from people very close to the government, maybe Ecuador's ambassador in Washington warned them about the consequences of asylum for Snowden."
Gonzalo Solano contributed from Quito, Ecuador. Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.
HAVANA (Reuters) - One hundred state-run produce markets and 26 other establishments were scheduled to become private cooperatives on Monday as Communist-run Cuba continues to shed secondary economic activity in favor of individual initiative and markets.
The cooperatives will be the first outside of agriculture since all businesses were nationalized in 1968.
The government says many more establishments will follow, beginning in 2014, as an alternative to small and medium-sized state businesses in retail and food services, transportation, light manufacturing and construction, among other sectors.
The produce markets were supplied exclusively by the state, which also set prices and wages.
As cooperatives they will now purchase produce from any source and set their own prices, with the exception of a few state supplied staples, for example rice, chick peas and potatoes in Havana.
At one of the dozens of Havana markets set to become cooperatives this week, the mood was festive on Saturday as workers painted the dark and dingy premises, fixed broken bins and in general spruced up the place on their last day as state employees.
"We were given the choice of working as a cooperative member or being laid off," Antonio Rivera, a worker turned member, said.
"I think we will be better off so I joined," he said.
On Sunday the 100 markets took inventory and made other preparations, before their adventure into the country's growing "non-state" sector began.
President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel in 2008, has already taken steps to deregulate small private businesses in the retail sector, lease small state shops and taxis to individual employees and fallow state lands to would-be small farmers in search of improved production and efficiency.
According to the government, more than 430,000 people now work in the non-state sector which consists of private entrepreneurs, their employees and individuals who own or lease taxis and the like.
The figure does not include some 2,000 agricultural cooperatives and 400,000 small farmers.
MARKET ECONOMICS HAILED
The new cooperative markets average 15 or fewer members and will lease their premises from the state.
They will function independently of state entities and businesses, set prices in cases where they are not fixed by the state, operate on a democratic basis, divide profit as they see fit and receive better tax treatment than individually owned businesses, according to a decree law published in December.
The law allows for an unlimited number of members and use of contracted employees on a three-month basis.
The newly elected administrator of one market said that for weeks they had been making contact with farm cooperatives in preparation for Monday, and could also buy from individual farmers and state farms and wholesale markets.
"I'm sure the public will benefit. The produce will be of better quality, there will be better service and people will go where the prices are the lowest," he said, asking his name not be used because he feared he would get into trouble for talking to a foreign journalist.
"There will be more competition and the winners will be those who do the best job," he said, adding, "everything will depend on us and we will have to look for merchandise wherever because if we don't we will not make anything."
Consumers appeared to support the measure, though some fretted over a possible increase in prices.
"They should have done this long ago," Soledad Martinez said as she shopped at the market on Saturday.
"Now there will be a greater variety and we will be treated better. I just hope prices decrease a bit and do not go up," she said.
Cuban authorities began discussing three years ago how to transform bankrupt small and medium-sized state businesses - plagued by pilfering, embezzlement and general inefficiency - into cooperatives.
The Communist Party adopted a sweeping five-year plan to "update" the economy in 2011, which included moving more than 20 percent of the state labor force of 5 million people into a new "non-state" sector of private and cooperative businesses.`
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, takes a picture of the crowd as his wife Amy Wakeland waves after he was sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles in front of city hall, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, takes a picture of the crowd as his wife Amy Wakeland waves after he was sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles in front of city hall, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Eric Garcetti, right, waves with his wife Amy Wakeland as they are introduced before he is sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles in front of city hall, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
New Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, talks with outgoing mayor Antonio Villaraigosa after his inauguration in front of city hall after being sworn in, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks in front of city hall after being sworn in, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks in front of city hall after being sworn in, Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Eric Garcetti celebrated the start of his first term as mayor Sunday with a promise to do the basic things right while getting Los Angeles' economy rolling again.
The 42-year-old Ivy Leaguer, a veteran city councilman and son of a former prosecutor, took a ceremonial oath of office on the City Hall steps as part of inaugural festivities featuring Jimmy Kimmel and the musician Moby.
Officially, he takes over the job leading a sprawling city of nearly 4 million people on Monday.
"These times demand a back-to-basics mayor focused above all else on our economy and jobs," Garcetti said in a speech punctuated by optimism and recognition of a tough job ahead.
"We have to accept that the days of seemingly spontaneous growth in huge mega-industries are gone, maybe for good," he said.
He replaces fellow Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, 60, who exits after two uneven terms during which he expanded rail lines in a city notoriously choked by cars and pushed to improve a school district over which the mayor has no direct control.
Garcetti sketched an agenda that included cultivating ideas with business executives and universities, stopping the flight of Hollywood productions and reducing red tape and business taxes long seen as discouraging job growth.
"You'll have a local government that's off your back and on your side," he promised.
The new mayor takes charge of a city with problems all too familiar: knotted freeways, an unemployment rate hovering around double digits, many struggling schools, battered roadways.
The lingering homeless problem was on display just steps from the podium, where park benches were occupied by sleeping bodies.
Garcetti has long said he will focus on the economy "like a laser beam" and try to recover jobs lost in the recession. His goals range from getting all city workers to contribute to costly health care to dealing with long-standing gripes about potholes and cracked sidewalks.
In a historical footnote, Garcetti becomes the city's first elected Jewish mayor. His background reflects the city's diversity: he often refers to his Italian and Mexican roots, and talked in the speech about family members fleeing persecution in Poland and Russia to come to the U.S.
Garcetti has a temperate, wonky style ? he was a Rhodes Scholar, after attending Columbia University ? that will be a change from Villaraigosa, who was known for his outsized personality and ability to make headlines about his nightlife and dating.
It was Kimmel who brought the laughs, at one point blaming Villaraigosa's administration for the unusually hot weather.
It also will be a generational change. Garcetti is just a few years older than Villaraigosa's eldest daughter.
Garcetti was elected with a yawn from most residents ? not even one in four voters cast a ballot in his May runoff against Controller Wendy Greuel. Los Angeles is known for mostly ignoring the scrum of local politics.
That means he takes office with many residents having no idea who he is.
Garcetti was able to defeat Greuel, a fellow Democrat, by depicting her as a pawn of utility union bosses in a city long friendly to labor, an outcome expected to echo beyond California as unions nationwide face threats to their clout.
The budget remains a central issue, though he didn't address it directly. He promised to make government "leaner and more efficient," including using more technology.
Bankrupt Stockton and other California cities are in worse shape, but spending in Los Angeles is projected to outpace revenue for years and rising pension and retiree health care bills threaten money that could otherwise go to libraries, tree-trimming and street repairs.
He's also facing a new round of labor contract talks.
"I will make my share of mistakes in this job," he said at one point.
NREL drives toward the future with fuel cell EVsPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Glickson david.glickson@nrel.gov 303-275-4097 DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Efforts currently underway at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are contributing to rapid progress in the research, development and testing of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
Building from more than 10 years of support from the Department's Fuel Cell Technologies Office on these topics, NREL has received four Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles Advanced (FCHV-adv) on loan from Toyota. These vehicles will help NREL enhance its research capabilities related to hydrogen fueling infrastructure, renewable hydrogen production, and vehicle performance.
Zero-Emission Fuel Cell Vehicles are Rapidly Evolving
The Toyota vehicle represents another step toward the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Hydrogen fuel is most often produced using domestic resources and can also be produced using clean renewable energy technologies. When hydrogen is used to power an FCEV, the vehicle has zero tail pipe emissions.
The fuel cells in the Highlander FCHV-adv are representative of the FCEV designs being demonstrated today by automobile companies around the world, making this design an excellent platform for NREL's research activities. Toyota also plans to introduce an FCEV sedan to the U.S. commercial market in 2015.
The zero-emission FCHV-adv, based on a mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) platform, has an expected driving range of 325 miles and a fuel economy estimated at 60 miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGE). GGE is a method for measuring the fuel economy of alternative fuels compared to gasoline and represents the amount of an alternative fuel equal to the energy in one liquid gallon of gasoline.
The vehicle is powered by a fuel cell system with light weight, high-pressure hydrogen tanks, an electric motor, a nickel hydride battery, and a power-control unit that determines the split of power from the battery or fuel cell stack to power the vehicle.
NREL to Explore Wide Research Platform
A man stands in front of the open hood of the vehicle. A group is gathered around him looking at the components of the vehicle under the hood. Enlarge image
Refuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies Laboratory Program Manager Keith Wipke, (in red) explains what's under the hood of the Toyota Highlander fuel cell hybrid vehicle at the NREL Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Ride and Drive Event. These vehicles will help the lab enhance its research capabilities related to hydrogen infrastructure, renewable hydrogen production, and vehicle performance.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
The four FCEVs, on a two-year loan from Toyota as part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NREL, will be put through a wide platform of testing and analysis at the lab. The vehicles were originally deployed in California in 2009 and have been redeployed to NREL as part of this CRADA.
"We're looking at the whole system from renewable hydrogen production and vehicle fueling equipment to the impact of driving patterns and behavior on vehicle performance," said Keith Wipke, NREL Laboratory Program Manager for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies. "Because the vehicles will be four or five years old by the time our loan period ends, we will be able to observe extended durability and reliability, which are critical to the commercial success of these types of vehicles."
Testing will include observing how the vehicles interact with fueling infrastructure and fueling stations that operate at different pressures. While most hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas, at NREL, the vehicles will be fueled with renewable hydrogen made from wind and solar energy as part of the Wind-to-Hydrogen project at the lab's National Wind Technology Center. This project uses wind turbines and solar arrays to power electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
"These vehicles are emission free, but in most scenarios you still have emissions during the hydrogen production," Wipke said. "If you can make the hydrogen using renewable resources you have the potential for this to be a truly zero-emission fuel source. We're pleased to have the opportunity to further investigate this potential."
Other tests will investigate how drivers interact with the vehicles and influence performance over the test period. Researchers will look at the effects of environment and driving patterns on the vehicles' energy storage and propulsion systems, and demonstrate the vehicles operational capability in real-world activities.
On behalf of the Energy Department, NREL is also planning public outreach and education efforts to better prepare the market for the deployment of these types of vehicles. NREL will offer first-hand exposure to hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle technologies to a variety of audiences, including the general public, academia, and the automotive industry.
Getting Ready for Our Transportation Future
A white Toyota sport utility vehicle is parked in a parking lot. Two people are standing in the parking lot looking at the vehicle. Enlarge image
NREL employees investigate a Toyota Highlander fuel cell hybrid vehicle at the lab's Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Ride and Drive Event.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
FCEVs use hydrogen, stored in high-pressure tanks made of carbon fiber resin, which is fed to the fuel cell stack where it combines with oxygen from the air. The electricity produced by this chemical reaction is used to power the electric motor and charge the battery.
"For someone like myself who is not an electrochemist, it's truly a fascinating technology," Wipke said. "Hydrogen atoms interact with a membrane coated with small amounts of platinum, which splits the hydrogen into protons and electrons. The protons pass through the membrane, and the electrons go around a different path and do the useful electrical work. Eventually, they meet on the other side with oxygen from the air, and form water, which along with a little heat is the only byproduct of the process."
Fuel cell technologies and the use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel are becoming more visible as automotive manufacturers move these concepts closer to market.
But while these fuel cell technologies are proven and effective, there are still challenges in deploying them, particularly in terms of reducing cost and increasing durability. NREL's long-term durability testing for FCEVs will provide important data toward solutions to these two interrelated challenges.
Another significant issue with deploying these technologies is the need to develop infrastructure around hydrogen production, delivery, and fueling stations.
"We need a lot of infrastructure in place for FCEVs to have widespread consumer acceptance," Wipke said. "Most hydrogen fueling stations use delivered hydrogen instead of on-site production. That is the most economical pathway right now, but with our capabilities here at NREL we are able to fully explore the opportunities for on-site production."
Despite the challenges, Wipke sees a strong future for the FCEV technology.
"Most automakers are committing to get to market with these vehicles before this decade is out. That is encouraging," Wipke said. "The biggest reasons that they are so excited about this option for the future is that range and refueling time are not a concern compared to other new transportation technologies. This makes it a potentially very consumer-friendly transportation technology, one that will function much like what drivers use today."
"It's an exciting opportunity to help move these technologies forward, and we're pleased to have an important role here at NREL."
###
Learn more about NREL's hydrogen research.
David Glickson
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NREL drives toward the future with fuel cell EVsPublic release date: 25-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Glickson david.glickson@nrel.gov 303-275-4097 DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Efforts currently underway at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are contributing to rapid progress in the research, development and testing of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
Building from more than 10 years of support from the Department's Fuel Cell Technologies Office on these topics, NREL has received four Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicles Advanced (FCHV-adv) on loan from Toyota. These vehicles will help NREL enhance its research capabilities related to hydrogen fueling infrastructure, renewable hydrogen production, and vehicle performance.
Zero-Emission Fuel Cell Vehicles are Rapidly Evolving
The Toyota vehicle represents another step toward the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Hydrogen fuel is most often produced using domestic resources and can also be produced using clean renewable energy technologies. When hydrogen is used to power an FCEV, the vehicle has zero tail pipe emissions.
The fuel cells in the Highlander FCHV-adv are representative of the FCEV designs being demonstrated today by automobile companies around the world, making this design an excellent platform for NREL's research activities. Toyota also plans to introduce an FCEV sedan to the U.S. commercial market in 2015.
The zero-emission FCHV-adv, based on a mid-size sport utility vehicle (SUV) platform, has an expected driving range of 325 miles and a fuel economy estimated at 60 miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent (GGE). GGE is a method for measuring the fuel economy of alternative fuels compared to gasoline and represents the amount of an alternative fuel equal to the energy in one liquid gallon of gasoline.
The vehicle is powered by a fuel cell system with light weight, high-pressure hydrogen tanks, an electric motor, a nickel hydride battery, and a power-control unit that determines the split of power from the battery or fuel cell stack to power the vehicle.
NREL to Explore Wide Research Platform
A man stands in front of the open hood of the vehicle. A group is gathered around him looking at the components of the vehicle under the hood. Enlarge image
Refuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies Laboratory Program Manager Keith Wipke, (in red) explains what's under the hood of the Toyota Highlander fuel cell hybrid vehicle at the NREL Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Ride and Drive Event. These vehicles will help the lab enhance its research capabilities related to hydrogen infrastructure, renewable hydrogen production, and vehicle performance.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
The four FCEVs, on a two-year loan from Toyota as part of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NREL, will be put through a wide platform of testing and analysis at the lab. The vehicles were originally deployed in California in 2009 and have been redeployed to NREL as part of this CRADA.
"We're looking at the whole system from renewable hydrogen production and vehicle fueling equipment to the impact of driving patterns and behavior on vehicle performance," said Keith Wipke, NREL Laboratory Program Manager for Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies. "Because the vehicles will be four or five years old by the time our loan period ends, we will be able to observe extended durability and reliability, which are critical to the commercial success of these types of vehicles."
Testing will include observing how the vehicles interact with fueling infrastructure and fueling stations that operate at different pressures. While most hydrogen is currently produced from natural gas, at NREL, the vehicles will be fueled with renewable hydrogen made from wind and solar energy as part of the Wind-to-Hydrogen project at the lab's National Wind Technology Center. This project uses wind turbines and solar arrays to power electrolyzers that split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
"These vehicles are emission free, but in most scenarios you still have emissions during the hydrogen production," Wipke said. "If you can make the hydrogen using renewable resources you have the potential for this to be a truly zero-emission fuel source. We're pleased to have the opportunity to further investigate this potential."
Other tests will investigate how drivers interact with the vehicles and influence performance over the test period. Researchers will look at the effects of environment and driving patterns on the vehicles' energy storage and propulsion systems, and demonstrate the vehicles operational capability in real-world activities.
On behalf of the Energy Department, NREL is also planning public outreach and education efforts to better prepare the market for the deployment of these types of vehicles. NREL will offer first-hand exposure to hydrogen and fuel cell vehicle technologies to a variety of audiences, including the general public, academia, and the automotive industry.
Getting Ready for Our Transportation Future
A white Toyota sport utility vehicle is parked in a parking lot. Two people are standing in the parking lot looking at the vehicle. Enlarge image
NREL employees investigate a Toyota Highlander fuel cell hybrid vehicle at the lab's Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Ride and Drive Event.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
FCEVs use hydrogen, stored in high-pressure tanks made of carbon fiber resin, which is fed to the fuel cell stack where it combines with oxygen from the air. The electricity produced by this chemical reaction is used to power the electric motor and charge the battery.
"For someone like myself who is not an electrochemist, it's truly a fascinating technology," Wipke said. "Hydrogen atoms interact with a membrane coated with small amounts of platinum, which splits the hydrogen into protons and electrons. The protons pass through the membrane, and the electrons go around a different path and do the useful electrical work. Eventually, they meet on the other side with oxygen from the air, and form water, which along with a little heat is the only byproduct of the process."
Fuel cell technologies and the use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel are becoming more visible as automotive manufacturers move these concepts closer to market.
But while these fuel cell technologies are proven and effective, there are still challenges in deploying them, particularly in terms of reducing cost and increasing durability. NREL's long-term durability testing for FCEVs will provide important data toward solutions to these two interrelated challenges.
Another significant issue with deploying these technologies is the need to develop infrastructure around hydrogen production, delivery, and fueling stations.
"We need a lot of infrastructure in place for FCEVs to have widespread consumer acceptance," Wipke said. "Most hydrogen fueling stations use delivered hydrogen instead of on-site production. That is the most economical pathway right now, but with our capabilities here at NREL we are able to fully explore the opportunities for on-site production."
Despite the challenges, Wipke sees a strong future for the FCEV technology.
"Most automakers are committing to get to market with these vehicles before this decade is out. That is encouraging," Wipke said. "The biggest reasons that they are so excited about this option for the future is that range and refueling time are not a concern compared to other new transportation technologies. This makes it a potentially very consumer-friendly transportation technology, one that will function much like what drivers use today."
"It's an exciting opportunity to help move these technologies forward, and we're pleased to have an important role here at NREL."
###
Learn more about NREL's hydrogen research.
David Glickson
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Especially with the upcoming demise of Google Reader, RSS alternatives abound. But how do you pick the one that's right for you from all the riff raff? Well, if you're someone who's feed tends to stick to the more image oriented, Highly Visual 2.0 may be exactly what you're looking for?at least in a mobile reader, that is.
What does it do?
Lets you browse your feed with a heavy focus on the images. Or rather?the entire focus is on the images. Zip through the articles in your feeds' by browsing rows of pictures alone. You can choose for Highly Visual to auto-populate a topic on its own, or you can create your a customized feed all your own. Click on the image to see the full post, and share the article on a variety of social media should the feeling strike.
Why do we like it?
With so many new readers coming out, they're all starting to look more or less the same. Highly Visual, though separates itself from the pack with a major focus on images. This is perfect for someone heavy into photography or wants to add some Pinterest appeal(?) to their RSS. Of course, if you use readers to, you know, read articles, this probably isn't going to be fore you.
But as a mobile app, it could still be a nice way to swipe through and get a very quick, if not entirely thorough view of what's going on in the world. Highly Visual has been around for a bit, sure but Version 2 has seen the grid rebuilt from the ground up, giving you a fun, beautiful, and slightly different break from your normal news consumption.
Demi Lovato didn’t attend a judge’s photoshoot for “X Factor” after the passing of her biological father Patrick. Lovato’s older sister Dallas tweeted, “Rest in peace daddy I love you…”. Patrick, who had been estranged from his daughters for over a decade, had battled cancer the past few years. Demi Lovato touched on her troubled ...
To what extent is education corrupted when it becomes intertwined with profit-making businesses?
This question becomes increasingly relevant as corporations move into key roles at American universities. In late June of this year, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo steamrolled a bill through the state legislature to establish tax-free havens for businesses on the campuses of the State University of New York (the largest public university in the United States) and on those of some private colleges. This legislation, he promised, would "transform SUNY campuses and university communities." Faculty, he said, should "get interested and participate in entrepreneurial activities." Indeed, "you'd be a better academic if you were actually entrepreneurial."
What can happen when education is run like a business is shown in a new, hilarious satire by Joel Shatzky: Option Three (Blue Thread Communications). Shatzky, a novelist and playwright who taught dramatic literature at SUNY/Cortland for 37 years, provides an unnerving, madcap, depiction of the corporatization of the university -- in this case, a university very much like SUNY.
The story begins when the novel's hero, Acting Visiting Assistant Professor L. Circassian, receives two letters from the administration: the first laying him off and the second taking him back on as an adjunct, with a 35 percent pay cut. Queried by a confused Circassian, Dean Lean explains that there are three options: "Option One is that you are an invaluable member of the faculty that has to be let go; Option Two is that you are a superfluous member of the faculty that can't be let go. Is that clear so far?" When Circassian replies that it is not, the dean continues: "Option Three was devised several months ago by Central Administration and what it means is that we don't have the funds to keep you but we can't let you go because you are too valuable." Circassian remonstrates that he can't survive on the reduced salary, especially as he can barely exist on the one he already receives, whereupon the dean retorts: "Of course, we understand that. That's why this is called `Option Three'; it's a combination of two unacceptable solutions to a problem."
This is only the beginning of the nightmarish, downward spiral of Circassian's life and that of the other faculty at this fanciful institution of higher education. Governor Putski (a nice mixture of former New York State Governor George Pataki and Cuomo, with a name suggesting the Yiddish word for a portion of the male anatomy), egged on by Operation Change (a conspiracy of the wealthy much like Change New York), repeatedly slashes funding for the state university, thereby giving campus administrators the green light they desire to proceed with its evisceration.
Circassian, much like Yossarian in Joseph Heller's Catch-22, looks on in amazement as irrationality proceeds unchecked by reason. Rival corporations buy up departments and compete for students, debasing teaching and knowledge. Finally, with the campus swept by chaos and madness, the administration announces that 95 percent of the teaching will be done by automated programs (holograms), with the 5 percent of the faculty remaining assigned to teach those students who have elected to have "live" instructors.
Circassian somehow survives all of this, although not before being kidnapped and brought, bound and hooded, to the office of Amber Slaughter, the head of Operation Change. In their ensuing conversation, Circassian seeks to defend the public university as a place of educational opportunity for all. But the wealthy Slaughter coolly rejects that notion, retorting that "democracy sucks." He explains the he and other members of his class have no desire to educate what he calls "the rabble."
And so Circassian and the reader ultimately learn what the privatization of public education is all about.
Despite this harsh premise, Option Three is a very funny book, enlivened by new and very creative words ("yibbled," "blicking," "charfled," "traffled," and many others) and ideas. Readers will certainly enjoy the novel's playful tone. When the English Department's corporate manager develops a course entitled "Shakespeare for People Who Hate Shakespeare," he suggests a revised version of Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy to "make the product more marketable." It runs:
Should I live or should I die? That's the riddle: tell me why. Must I live with aggravation, Or die if that's my inclination. Yes, die and take an endless snooze, That's the nobler way to choose. But in death could I have a dream, Perhaps that way's a bit extreme. Still, who'd dare take all the crap, That bitter life drops in your lap. Live long enough, you'll get the shaft, `Til all that's left to do is laugh; But here's Ophelia, nymph is she, By her my sins remembered be.
Although the book focuses on the unraveling of university life, it even has a relatively happy ending.
But what is happening to higher education today, as it undergoes a corporate makeover, is considerably less amusing. The sharply reduced government funding for public universities, the replacement of full-time faculty with low-wage, rootless adjuncts, the rapid development of mass, online courses for academic credit, and the increasingly pervasive corporate presence on campus all indicate more concern for the business-defined bottom line than for intellectual growth. Future satirists of university life will be hard-pressed to stay ahead of the emerging reality.
Lawrence Wittner (http://lawrenceswittner.com) is Professor of History emeritus at SUNY/Albany. His latest book is "What's Going On at UAardvark?" (Solidarity Press), a satirical novel about corporate takeover and rebellion at an American university.
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Demi Lovato didn’t attend a judge’s photoshoot for “X Factor” after the passing of her biological father Patrick. Lovato’s older sister Dallas tweeted, “Rest in peace daddy I love you…”. Patrick, who had been estranged from his daughters for over a decade, had battled cancer the past few years. Demi Lovato touched on her troubled ...