Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He’s got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia’s leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican-as long as it’s not Kremlin critic John McCain. And Mexico’s president? He doesn’t have much use for any of them. America’s extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians and ordinary people around the globe. With so much at stake in the race for the White House, the world is watching with an intensity that hasn’t been seen since the Clinton era began in 1992. After eight years of President Bush, the latest mantra in U.S. politics-’transformational change’-is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start. ‘They feel there’s a real chance to work with the U.S.,’ said Julianne Smith, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ‘America’s image in the world is really on the line.’ Non-Americans, she said, are looking for someone who can ‘restore faith in the United States.’ Obama, perhaps not surprisingly, is generating most of the buzz abroad. ‘Der schwarze Kennedy,’ some German admirers are calling him: ‘The black JFK.’ ‘He is young, charming […]
The demise of California’s attempt at comprehensive health-care reform this week means that advocates of overhauling the health-care system will turn their focus back to Washington, several experts said yesterday, as an increasingly tough budget climate raises new questions about whether states can go it alone. When the plan championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) went down to defeat in a legislative committee, so did hopes that successful reform in such a populous, influential state would bolster efforts elsewhere to cover more of the nation’s 47 million uninsured. While California is unique in some respects — it has a diverse electorate, a high number of uninsured and a history of occasional budget crises — experts said some of the same economic forces at work there threaten to slow or swamp similar proposals in other states. The slumping economy diminishes states’ tax revenue at the same time that spending demands increase as more people seek help from programs such as Medicaid, which serves the poor. And, unlike the federal government, state governments have to balance their budgets every year. ‘The failure of California’s plan pushes the focus about expanding coverage even […]
Oregon and a handful of other states trying to navigate the choppy seas of comprehensive health care reform felt their sails go slack on Tuesday when a promising bipartisan effort in California unexpectedly sank. The surprising failure of California’s ambitious $14.9 billion plan stunned health care reform advocates throughout the nation and brought into sharp focus the myriad obstacles facing any state hoping to effect more than incremental health care improvements. The highest hurdle, as always, is the staggering amount of money a state needs to extend decent health care to all - or even most - of its citizens. But even if money to pay for such plans were no object, threats to the profits of major stakeholders in the existing system offer incentive enough for ferocious opposition. The heavy hitters in the health care industry have enormous political clout. All eyes were on California’s far-reaching legislative proposal to overhaul a health care system burdened by 5.1 million uninsured residents. But a yearlong effort on the part of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez collapsed when the state Senate Health Committee voted 7-1 to kill the bill. The bill would […]
Nanoptek, a startup based in Maynard, MA, has developed a new way to make hydrogen from water using solar energy. The company says that its process is cheap enough to compete with the cheapest approaches used now, which strip hydrogen from natural gas, and it has the further advantage of releasing no carbon dioxide. Nanoptek, which has been developing the new technology in part with grants from NASA and the Department of Energy (DOE), recently completed its first venture-capital round, raising $4.7 million that it will use to install its first pilot plant. The technology uses titania, a cheap and abundant material, to capture energy from sunlight. The absorbed energy releases electrons, which split water to make hydrogen. Other researchers have used titania to split water in the past, but Nanoptek researchers found a way to modify titania to absorb more sunlight, which makes the process much cheaper and more efficient, says John Guerra, the company’s founder and CEO. Researchers have known since the 1970s that titania can catalyze reactions that split water. But while titania is a good material because it’s cheap and doesn’t degrade in water, it only absorbs ultraviolet light, which represents a small fraction […]
It took a president to get it done.’ With those words, Senator Hillary Clinton cracked open a door and a dust-up blew in. She was referring to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and although she set her remarks in a historical continuum that took in three presidents as well as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., her critics suggested that she had favored President Lyndon B. Johnson’s role over Dr. King’s. But in the several weeks since, history books have been cracked, archives searched. And Americans have been reminded that President Johnson and Dr. King worked in tandem not only on the Civil Rights Act, but on the Voting Rights Act that came the next year. The following transcription is of an excerpt from a telephone call the president made to Dr. King on Jan. 15, 1965, two months before the Selma-to-Montgomery march, seven months before the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. The president made the call from his ranch in Johnson City, Tex. (and Dr. King was unaware of the taping). The two were discussing strategy before the president submitted his proposal to Congress. KC Johnson, a professor of history at Brooklyn […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
