EFTA02712861.pdf

From: Gregory Brown < Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2014 11:52 PM To: undisclosed-recipients: Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 09/28/2014 Attachments: Untitled attachment 00335.docx; Bill Bojangles Robinson bio.docx; Untitled attachment 00338.docx; Creedence Clearwater Revival bio.docx DEAR FRIEND <=b> Just released U.S. Census Bureau data=reveal 45.3 million people were poor in America in 2013. One in three of t=ose who are poor is a child. Children remain our poorest age group a=d children of color and those under five are the poorest. More =han one in five infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were poor during their=years of greatest brain development and vulnerability. Black ch=ldren saw no decrease and continue to have the highest child poverty rates=in the nation. In 20 states more than 40 percent of Black child=en were poor and nearly one in five Black children were living in extreme =overty with an annual income of less than half of the poverty level or $33=a day for a family of four. Although the percentage of poor chi=dren dropped in 2013 for the first time since 2000, from 21.8 percent (16.= million) in 2012 to 19.9 percent (14.7 million), there were still 1.3 mil=ion more poor children than in 2007 before the recession began. =p class="MsoNormal"> <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:17.1199989318848px;font-family:Geo=gia,serir>it is a moral disgrace that child poverty in the U.S. is higher=than adult poverty, higher than for children in almost all other competito= nations, and higher than our country with the world's largest eco=omy should ever allow. Wealth and income inequality are still a= record high levels and opportunity gaps are widening. What values and pri=rities do these unjust realities reflect? Isn't i= time to reset our moral and economic compass? If we want to build a stron= workforce, military, and economy and ensure the most basic tenets of opportunity for the most vulnerable, we must and can end child poverty now. Poverty hurts children and destroys their dreams, hopes,=and opportunities. Poor children are more likely to go hungry, which is as=ociated with lower reading and math scores, greater physical and mental he=lth problems, higher incidence of emotional and behavioral problems, and a=greater chance of obesity. Poor children are less likely to hav= access to affordable quality health coverage, have more severe health pro=lems, and fare worse than higher income children with the same problems.=C24> A poor child with asthma is more likely to be =eported in poor health, spend more days in bed, and have more hospital epi=odes than a high-income child with asthma. Poor children suffer=a 30 million word interaction gap by age 3 and are EFTA_R1_02132708 EFTA02712861 less likely to enter sc=ool ready to learn and to graduate from high school. One study =ound children who were poor for half of their childhood were nearly 90 per=ent more likely to enter their 20s without completing high school than nev=r poor children. =/p> Child poverty increases the risk of=unemployment and economic hardship in adulthood. Those who experienced pov=rty at any point during their childhood were more than three times as like=y to be poor at age 30 as those who were never poor as children. 40=A0The longer a child is poor, the greater the risk of poverty in adulthood=and experiencing poverty as a child also increases the likelihood of lifel=ng health problems and involvement in the criminal justice system. Child p=verty scars some children for life. Child poverty ha= huge economic costs for the nation. Year after year the lost productivity=and extra health and criminal justice costs associated with it add up to r=ughly half a trillion dollars, or 3.8 percent of our nation's gros= domestic product (GDP). What we can never measure though are the counties= innovations and discoveries and contributions that did not occur for our =ation because children's potentials were stunted by poverty. It does not have to be this way. Child poverty is not an a=t of God. It is the choices of men and women and we can change it. Child p=verty can be ended and prevented if we want to. Pove=ty rates change over time with the economy and with changes in government =olicies. The U.S. has made substantial progress in reducing pov=rty over the past 50 years despite worsening inequality and increased unem=loyment. Child poverty dropped 36 percent between 1967 and 2012=when income from tax credits and in-kind benefits like nutrition and housi=g assistance are counted. Ending child poverty would save lives and money =nd increase productivity. For example, eliminating child povert= between the prenatal years and age 5 would increase lifetime earnings bet=een $53,000 and $100,000 per child, for a total lifetime benefit of $20 to=$36 billion for children born in a given year. When are we goin= to gain enough moral, common and economic sense to treat our children jus=ly and give all of them a level playing field upon which to grow? Children=have only one childhood and it is today. Chilean Nobel laureate=Gabriela Mistral said, "We are guilty of many errors and m=ny faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the =ountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Ri=ht now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, an= his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer Tomorrow.' His name is today." Given that the =5. has been blessed with great wealth and high ideals which we need to li=e up to and given the high costs we incur from child poverty every year, h=w can our country not act to end child poverty now? <=pan style="font-size:12ptline-height:17.1199989318848px;font-family:Geonia,serir> =p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:3pt;text-ali=n:center;border:none;padding:0in">Bill R=binson 2 EFTA_R1_02132709 EFTA02712862  While researching a piece on So You Think You Can Dance ear=ier this month, one of the pioneers in American dance is the incomparable Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1878 — November 25, 1949) who was an American tap dancer and actor, the best known and most highly paid Afric=n American entertainer in the first half of the twentieth century. His =ong career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology, starting in the age of minstrel shows, moving to vaudeville, Broadway, the recording industry, Hollywood radio, an= television. According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific. He brought it up on its to=s, dancing upright and swinging," giving tap a "...h=therto-unknown lightness and presence." His signature routine was the stair dance, in which Robinson would tap up and down a set of stairs in=a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent. Robinson is also credited with having introduced a new word, copacetic, into popular culture= via his repeated use of it in vaudeville and radio appearances. <= class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Bill B=jangles Robinson and Shirley Temple from "The little Colonel" (1935): http://youtu.be/AjCFYpWDmfM <http://youtu.be/AjCFY=WDmfM> Bill Boja=gles Robinson teaches Shirley Temple http://youtu.be/QqCX=N2V_jU A popular figu=e in both the black and white entertainment worlds of his era, he is best known today for his dancing with Shirley Temp=e in a series of films during the 1930s, and for starring in the musical Stor=y Weather (1943), loosely based on Robinson's own life, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Robinson used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barr=ers, becoming: .r.C2* one of the first minstrel and vaudeville performers to appear without the use of blackface makeup <= style="margin-left:0.75in">* Q=AO one of the earliest African American performers to go solo, overcoming vaudeville's two colored rule <= style="margin-left:0.75in">* 4>=A0 a headliner in the first African-American Broadway show, Blackbirds of 1928 A, • v =A0 the first African American to appear in a Hollywood film in an interracial dance team (with Temple in The Little Colonel), =C2* the first African American to headline a mixed-race Broadway production During his lifetime and afterwards, Robinson also came u=der heavy criticism for his participation in and tacit acceptance of racial stereotypes of the era, with critics calling him an Uncle Tom figure. Robin=on deeply resented such criticism, and his biographers suggested that critics =ere at best incomplete in making such a characterization, especially given his efforts to overcome the racial prejudice of his era. In his public life Robinson led efforts to: 3 EFTA_R1_02132710 EFTA02712863  persuade the Dallas police department to hire its first African American policemen =C2* lobby President Roosevelt during World War II for more equitable treatment of African American soldiers =p>• =C2* stage the first integrated public event in Miami, a fundraiser which, with the permission of the mayor, was attended b= both black and white city residents =font color="#000000">Despite being the highest-paid black performer of t=e era, Robinson died penniless in 1949, and his funeral was paid for by longtime friend Ed Sullivan. Robinson is remembered for the support he gave to=fellow performers, including Fred Astaire, Lena Home, Jesse Owens, and the Nichol=s brothers. Both Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ann Miller credit him as a teacher and mentor, and Miller credits him with havi=g "changed the course of my life." Gregory Hines pr=duced and starred in a biographical movie about Robinson for which he won the NAACP Best actor Award.4>=A0 In 1989, the U.S. Congress designated May 25, Robinson's birthday, as National Tap Dance Day. Robinson was born in Richmond, Virginia an= raised in its Jackson Ward neighborhood. His parents were Maxwell, a machine-shop worker,=and Maria Robinson, a choir singer. His grandmother raised him after both parents died in 1885 when he was 7 years =Id — his father from chronic heart disease and his mother from natural causes. Details of Robinson's early life are known only through legend, much of it perpetuated by Robinson himself. =e claimed he was christened "Luther" — a name he did not like. He suggested to his younger brother Bill that they should exchange names. Eventual=y, the exchange between the names of both brothers was made. The brother subsequently adopted the name of "Percy" and under that name achieved recognition as a musician. Although Robinson was successful desp=te the obstacle of racism one of his favorite anecdotes was that one day he seated himself in = restaurant and a customer objected to his presence. When the manager sugges=ed that it might be better if Robinson leave, he smiled and asked, "Ha=e you got a ten dollar bill?" Politely asking to borrow the=manager's note for a moment, Robinson added six $10 bills from his own wallet and mixed th=m up, then extended the seven bills together, adding, "Here, let'= see you pick out the colored one". The restaurant manager =erved Robinson without further delay. Despite earning and spending a fortune, his memories of surviving the streets as a child never left him, prompting many acts of generosity. In 1933, while in his hometown of Richmond, he saw two children caught between the heat of traffi= to retrieve their ball. There was no stoplight at the intersection: Robinson w=nt to the city and provided the money to have one installed. In 1973, a =tatue of "Bojangles", sculpted by Jack Witt, at the intersection of Adams and West Leigh Streets.=was established in a small park at the intersection. Bojangles co-founded the =ew York Black Yankees baseball team in Harlem in 1936 with financier James "Soldier Boy" Semler. The team was a successful member of the Negro National League until it disbanded in 1948, after Major League Baseball was desegregated. In 1989, a joint U.S. Senate/House resolution declared "National Tap Dance Day&qu=t; to be May 25, the anniversary of Bill Robinson's birth. Robinson was in=ucted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt=Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson like to say that he could run bac=ward faster than most men could go forward. Whether or not this is true is unimportant because the both raise the bar and broke do=n the racial barriers making the world the better place which is all that we should ever ask. 4 EFTA_R1_02132711 EFTA02712864 </=iv> =/b> <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&a=p;ik=875c48a476&view=att&th=1489e92bdb3f6c70&attid=0.0=1&disp=e mb&realattid=ii_1487bb3693cea8bb&zw> </=> The world should be ashamed that there are more than Si million fellow human beings who have been forcibly displaced from t=eir homes by conflict and human rights abuse. It is the highest number re=orded since the refugee crisis following World War II. As we are now approaching mid-September 2014, we do not know exactly how many men, wo=en and children have been forced to flee their homes. What we do know is that =he number is dramatically higher than at the start of the year. There ha= been a relentless upward trend in enforced displacement the last ten years. In 2013, as many as 33.3 mi=lion people were displaced within their own country, up from 28.8 million the previous year..C2* Globally, the number of refugees who had crossed an international border rose from 16.4 to 17.9 million. The p=evious post-war peak was reached in 1995, when the wars in the Balkans and genocide in Rwanda and Eastern Congo caused millions to flee. Relief worker experienced in the field of humanitarian relief and human rights working in major wars =nd disaster zones say that they have never seen so many crises at the same tim=. News of civilians massacred, entire city neighborhoods enveloped in flames and hundreds of thousands of people displ=ced have come to us from Syria, Iraq and Gaza, from the Central African Republi=, South Sudan, Ukraine, Nigeria and Yemen. Aid workers and journalists have b=en caught and killed in the crossfire together with the civilian population.</=pan> The total collapse in stability and state structures =ave come faster than most expected. Less than a decade ago more than a million Iraqi refugees fled that country'= civil war and poured into Syria. At that time, Syria was viewed as a stable country to reside in. Today, Syria tops =he list of displacements. The neighboring countries of Lebanon, Turk=y, Jordan and Northern Iraq have taken the primary responsibility of giving mo=e than three million Syrian refugees access to their territories. Despite the fact=that the largest humanitarian crisis in decades is unfolding right outside the European continent, the willingness =o take and distribute responsibility among the European countries is lacking.=C2* While Sweden since September 2013 has given asylum to large numbers of Syrians who have managed to get to the country a=d given them and their families' permanent residence, most other European countries have done their utmost to avoid giving a safe haven to desperate Syrians. 5 EFTA_R1_02132712 EFTA02712865 The refugees and=humanitarian crises of the Middle East, Afghanistan and Colombia are well known to most. But it came as a sur=rise even to the experts of international relations that Nigeria now constitutes one of the epicente=s of displacement. As many as 3.3 million people are internally displaced in Nigeria, the third highest worldwide.Q=A0 The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a research institution part of my organization, the Norwegian Refugee Council= was this year for the first time able to present figures from Nigeria confi=med even by the government. The people fled their homes in Nigeria because of con=lict, violence and neglect that have been built up over a number of years. =he neglect is shared by both the national government and the international community. Nobody really cared enoug= to focus on what happened in North-Eastern Nigeria where Boko Haram and other armed actors c=uld do seemingly whatever they wanted to defenseless civilians. Too often it is=not objective needs that determine who gets our attention and who does not. But=a selective humanism is not human, and we should give the same minimum amount=of attention, assistance and action to all refugees, wherever they are../p> More than one th=rd of the world's internally displaced -- about 12.5 million refugees -- are located in sub-Saharan Africa. Th= Central African Republic is one of the examples of the humanitarian and political crisis that long-term neglect ca= lead to. The U.N. and humanitarian partners have only managed to cover part of the resources needed for life- saving relief in the country. It is a recipe for cementing the emergency situation into a permanent crisis.Q=A0 This again reinforces the neglect, because a protracted crisis gets even less attention and resources than an exploding emergency. This is the sad reality of the Horn of Africa and in the Democra=ic Republic of Congo, where millions of displaced people are trapped in abject poverty. Aid workers say that the situation is not hopeless.=C24, With resources from the U.S., the E.U., Scandinavians and other good donors, emergency relief has in recent years become more effective and cost-efficient even in the most extreme of circumstances.Q=A0 Mortality rate in emergencies are down and nutrition, sanitation and education better, compared to what they were a de=ade or two ago. This progress is now under threat. The extreme number and scale of humanitarian crises are placing unprecedented demands on the international =id system, and humanitarian resources and capacity are becoming dangerously ov=rstretched. We need to rethink our priorities and approach. Aid workers say that more than anything, we can and w= must enable more people to get out of their hopelessness. Too many people =teeing conflicts or natural disasters become trapped in protracted crises. We may save lives and =ncrease handouts, but we fail to provide durable solutions. We need political leaders that are able to create stable societies where human rights and the rule of law can enable economic growth and employment for th= displaced children we now give school. Relief and development actors need t= work more hand in hand. 6 EFTA_R1_02132713 EFTA02712866 We cannot keep returning again and again with emergen=y aid. Millions of Afghan refugees have been in exile for more than three decades. The enormous sums spent on security, development and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan have so far given no hope to the grandchildren born to those wh= fled in the 1970s and 80s and who are still living in camps. In Gaza,=schools will have to be rebuilt for the third time after the third war in six years. This failure of loca=, regional and international political and diplomatic work costs too much suffering and to= many resources. Aid workers say that we must break the vicious cycle. The average refugee crisis lasts more than a decade and that few refugees find = durable solution. We need to find ways to meet today's emergency needs and build hope of a better future for r=fugee youth. Otherwise, they may determine that their only way out is to join the ranks of the extremists. And w= will continue to set new horrific records. We have to stop allowing our electi=e representatives to mislead and as President Obama would describe, "say stupid thing=" whichever political party or for whatever reason. Case in point is Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), above in a campaign ad for his race for the Senate — =E2414>When President Obama hijacked the farm bill, turned it into a food stamp bill, with billions more in spending, I voted no. Career politicians =ove attaching bad ideas to good ones. Then the bad ideas become law —and you pay for it." Cot=on, who is in a tight race against incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor (0), has come under fire in the state for being t=e only Arkansas lawmaker, Republican or Democrat, to vote against the final version of farm bill. So he explained his vote as a matter of principle, blaming President Obama for "=ijacking" it and turning it "into a food stamp bill= with billions more in spending." Web Link: http://youtu.be/q47stRkYoO8 First of all, it is a bit of risky gambit, Cotton Q=804k who has served one term in the House after a military career — seems to als= be labeling even his fellow GOP legislators as "career politicians." Cotton office's explanation offered by Cotton spokesman David Ray: The House of Representat=ves passed two bills — a farm-only farm bill and a food stamp- only bill= both of which Cotton supported. But then he said that Obama threatened to veto the food stamp bill unless it was .=9Cloaded up with food stamps." Not only that, but Ray said that the level of food stamps has exploded under Obama.<=span> Except that there is just one problem with this story. Food stamps=(now formally called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) have been part of the farm bill for decades. It is a perfect marriage of convenience between urban lawmakers (who cared about the food stamps) and r=ral lawmakers (who cared about the farm bill), who working together could ensur= that the benefits important to their constituents were regularly enacted in=o law. The practice actually dates back to the Great Depression, when the first farm bill was passed and surplus crops=and other food products were distributed to people who needed assistance. In th= current era, food stamps has been paired with every farm bill since 1973, according to the Congressional Research Service. 7 EFTA_R1_02132714 EFTA02712867 The truth is that it is such a tradition that Obama did=not really have to threaten a veto, as the Democratic-controlled Senate made it clear =t would not accept separating food stamps from farm programs. That's =hy the House ultimately accepted and passed a combined bill earlier this year.Q=A0 Then look at the dictionary definition of hijacking: "to steal or rob...to subject to extortion or swindling." Is that what Obama did when he said that Congress should continue to do what it did=in the past? Or was breaking up the farm bill the more radical step? The=most problematic aspect of Cotton's ad is that he suggests that attaching food stamps to the farm bill was a new idea=— something that he was fighting against. But that's invented history. This "bad idea" has been in place since before Cotton, 37, was born. Some fact on the farm side: 21 million Americans produce, process and sell food and fiber. U.S. f=rms and ranches spent $329 billion to produce $388 billion in goods in 2012.America exported $136 billion in farm goods in 2011, with a $37 billion trade surplus. Americans spend 10% of the=r incomes on food — the lowest of any country. Spending on farm policy including crop insurance was down 20% over the past five years. The world population will grow from 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050. Farmers will need to double food production by 2050 to keep pace. To do the job, there are only 210,000 full-time U.S. farms, which produce 80% of =ur food and fiber.For every $1 spent on food, farmers receive less than 12 cen=s for the raw products. Cotton=E2.4$ ad highlights the fact that food stamp spending in the bill amounted to $740 billion over 10 years. But the final farm b=ll contained a relatively modest $8 billion cut (over 10 years) in food stamps — though that =as less than the $39 billion reduction contained in the first bill passed by the Ho=se. Moreover, it is worth noting that the increase in food stamp spending started in part because of changes in the f=od stamp program under President George W. Bush, when Congress overrode his ve=o of the 2008 farm bill. That law boosted the purchasing power of food stamps by indexing key elements to inflation.<=span> Currently there are more than=47 million Americans up from 33 million five years ago. This number is now more than 20% of America's households. For fiscal year 2013, the SNAP program cost $79,641,880,000, which is a 164% increase over the past decade= When adjusted for inflation, the cost of the SNAP program was $30,153,090,0=0 in fiscal year 2003. During the last five years, the SNAP program grew by 36.8%, from $58,223,790,000 in 2009 to $79,641,880,000 in 2013. Most importantly it is estimated that 47% of all Food Stamp beneficiaries are children under the age of 18. The Washington Post P=nocchio Test Cotton would be on more solid groun= if he had looked into the camera and said that, despite a tradition of merging food stamps in the farm bill, he was tired of the politics as usual and took a firm stand agai=st the longstanding practice. Instead, he uses President Obama as a straw man, suggesting the president purposely pushed Congress in a different direction= By creating a fantasy version of history, Cotton certainly sounds like a career politician. Because of both 8 EFTA_R1_02132715 EFTA02712868 the=facts and Cotton's self-righteous tone The Washington Post award him a solid Four out of FOUR othe=wise a BIG LIE And this type of my behavior is my =ant of the week FOUR Pinocchios WEEK's READINGS Beyond ISIS and Ukraine: What Else Happened This Summer 5 overlooked sto=ies that could reshape world affairs <=r> Syria, Ukraine, Ga=a, Iraq, ISIS, Ebola—the list of this past summer's disasters is long. But buried among the tragic headlines and breaking news are other events that attracted less attention but could be just as consequential for global affa=rs. Here are five to watch. 1) The fall of oil prices. Over the summer oil prices dropped to the lowest level in a year. The f=uctuation alone is nothing special. What is remarkable, however, is that this drop occurred amid severe sanctions against Russia and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine—in other wor=s, at a time when crude-oil prices should be soaring. What's going on? The =nergy revolution taking place in the United States has reached sufficient scale w=ere it is beginning to alter international dynamics. The U.S. has overtaken Sau=i Arabia and Russia to become the world's main oil-producing nation. =n August, U.S. monthly oil production was at its highest level since 1986. Meanwhile,=the anemic global economy is not generating as much demand for energy as it did during the booming years that preceded the Great Recession that started in 2008. The combination of greater supply and weaker demand is pulling prices down and having a much larger effect than the upward push created by the current geopolitical instability. This summer we witnessed a clear manifestation of an incipient and potentially transformative energy order.<=span> 9 EFTA_R1_02132716 EFTA02712869 2) The wor=t American drought in more than a century. The western United States, Mexico, and Central America have gone three years with very little rainfall, and the situation grew dire this summer. Sixty percent of Califor=ia is now experiencing "exceptional drought," the most extreme=category according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The volume of water lost by lack of rain and s=ow could cover the entire area stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Paci=ic Coast with four inches of water. California's three largest reservo=rs are at roughly 30-percent capacity and a new study from the University of Californ=a, Davis estimates that the current drought will cost the state $2.2 billion i= damages and 17,000 jobs. The west's severe drought wasn't t=is summer's only climatic surprise. "2014 has not been typical," reports the=National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Never before have such large areas=of the country experienced such radically different temperature extremes as they h=ve so far this year. (The map below shows just how divergent temperature patte=ns were across the contiguous United States between January and July 2014.) January - July 2014 Minimum Temperature Rankings Minimum=temperature rankings for January-July, 2014. Red is record warmest, dark b=ue record coolest. <1=> The summer brought ex=reme climatic events in other countries as well: India and Pakistan, for instance, were ravaged by the heaviest torrential rains in half a century, which left at least 420 people dead and forced 47,000 to evacuate their homes. 3) The slowdown of Europe's eco=omy. This summer confirmed that the sluggish recovery of Europe's economies has stalled. During the first half o= the year, we learned that economic activity had stagnated in France and declined in Germany and Italy. There have been some bright spots: The Spanish economy i= growing and the European Central Bank is adopting a policy that its chief, Mario Draghi, has dubbed "Whatever It Takes"—meanin= that he is willing to use all the monetary tools at his disposal to stimulate eurozone economies. But=he cannot accomplish this goal by himself, and monetary policy alone won4>=99t revive Europe's faltering economies. Structural reforms and fiscal policie= that energize consumers and investors are needed, much talked about, and, so far= not adopted. Meanwhile, the all- important German economy is sputtering and analysts are divided about which large European economy—France or I=aly—is more likely to implode first. This summer, the specter of deflation also arose i= Europe, as a chronic fall in prices mixed dangerously with high levels of d=bt. Deflation is a difficult trap to escape: Japan has been struggling to break free from it for more than two decades. The summer of 2014 could be remembe=ed as the time when deflation first gripped Europe. 10 EFTA_R1_02132717 EFTA02712870 4) The rise of Federica Mogherini. In November, Mogherini will replace Catherine Ashton as the European Union's high representative for foreign affa=rs and security policy, the continent's top foreign-policy job. In that po=ition, the 41-year old Mogherini, who was appointed in August, will negotiate the peri=ous situations in Russia, Ukraine, Iran, North Africa, the Middle East, and Chi=a. She will also preside over the Foreign Affairs Council, which is comprised =f Europe's 27 foreign ministers, and direct the European External Act=on Service, a fiendishly complicated bureaucracy of 3,500 diplomats scattered throughou= the world. And what is Mogherini's main qualification? Six months a= Italy's foreign minister. Most experts agree that she is woefully unprepared for su=h an important post. For example, Paola Subacchi of London's Chatham =ouse writes: <=span> No one doubts that Mogherini will try her best to learn the nitty-gritty of her new job, but it will be =ike learning to fly by piloting a jumbo jet. Most of the time, an inexperienced pilot can avoid serious problems by relying on her more experienced crew an= various technologies. But in the event of severe turbulence, only a pilot w=th sufficient skill and practice will be able to maintain control of the aircr=ft and keep the passengers calm. So it is disturbing, to say th= least, that with Ukraine at war with Russia, and the Middle East in a spira=ing crisis of fanaticism, Europe's leaders did not seek a candidate wit= a proven ability to forge an effective foreign policy from different—and oft=n opposite —positions. EU foreign policy is now being piloted by an ap=rentice. Most observers also agree that by tapping Mogherini for this role, Europe has sent a clear message that it's not really interest=d in having a common foreign policy and instead prefers a weak official who will let ea=h foreign minister pursue his or her country's own agenda. European l=aders, it seems, do not take seriously the idea that their continent's weight=in the world depends on the ability of its member nations to act together.<=p> 5) =he other airplane accident. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 =asn't this summer's only geopolitically significant aviation tragedy. On Augus= 13, the Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos was flying in a private jet when it crashed in poor weather conditions as it was landing at an airport =ear Sao Paulo. Up until then, the reelection of President Dilma Rousseff i= October elections seemed a near certainty that would guarantee four more years in office for the political elite that has governed Brazil since 2003. But the polls have tightened since Marina Silva, who had been Campos's vice-presidential candidate, replaced him in the race. She now has a real chance of beating Dilma. If that happens, it could bring about many changes=in Brazil, including the reflexive solidarity that its leaders have offered La=in American governments with awful human-rights records. Democracy may have a better chance in countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, where for the past decade human rights, freedom of expression, and politica= liberties have been severely and systematically curtailed with the silent a=quiescence of the region's largest country. 11 EFTA_R1_02132718 EFTA02712871 As I mentioned last week in my Weekl= Readings, both my parents contracted cancer with it killing my dad in his early fifties. I curr=ntly have several friends fighting the dreaded disease today but the difference today than when my parents contrac=ed cancer in the 1960s is that it is no longer a death sentence as there are a number of cutting edge treatments that are allowing patients to beat this killer and enabling them to live productive lives for decades. Last w=ek I did a piece on the new immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab) which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved several weeks ago to t=eat patients who had advanced melanoma that had spread throughout their bodies,=signaling a paradigm shift in the way the deadly skin cancer is treated. And this week I would li=e to talk about Proton Therapy or Proton Beam Therapy, which is a medical procedure, a type of particle therapy =hat uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often in the treatment of cancer. Proton therapy's chief advantage over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that it c=n more precisely localize the radiation dose. It is a precise form of radiotherapy used to treat a number of rare and difficult-to-reach cancers. Conventional forms of radiotherapy use X-rays to kill cancer cells, but these are a blun= tool. X-rays carry energy in the form of an electromagnetic wave. As they pass through the body, X-rays damage tumor cells and healthy cells in their path until all their energy has been dissipated. Web link: ht=p://iuhealthprotontherapy.org/how-proton-therapy-works/index.html <http://iuhealth=rotontherapy.org/how-proton-therapy-works/index.html> A newer approach is to use beams of energetic protons. These act in much the same way as X-ray therapy but are less damaging because the protons stop moving once they have hit their target. A proton beam go=s into the patient, gets to the end of its range, and then deposits all its energy. Proton treatm=nt is not widely available. Most people who have received this type of radiation therapy since its introduction in the 1950s have been treated in research centers. The equipm=nt required for proton-beam treatment is massive and expensive. Particle accelerators don't come cheap. A synchrotron, the machine that=speeds up the protons before they enter the body, typically requires its own build=ng and costs about $100 million. And the treatment itself can cost up to three times more than conventional radiatio= therapy. (Although it's considered a mainstream cancer treatment, not all insurance companies cover it.)<=p> Conditions that may be appropriate for proton therapy include: 4>=A0 Brain tumors and inoperable brain lesions. Q=AO Pediatric tumors (to reduce the risk of secondary malignanc=es and to avoid the irradiation of growth plates). 4>=A0 Tumors near the eye. 4>=A0 Tumors next to the spinal cord or brain stem. 4>=A0 Prostate cancer (to spare the rectum and bladder).</=> Q=A0 Treatment of recurrent tumors that may have previously rece=ved radiation treatment. 12 EFTA_R1_02132719 EFTA02712872 Currently, there are proton-therapy centers in a number of industrialized countries includin= Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, but only a few of those ar= located in a hospital. The others are all specialized treatment centers that only d= proton therapy, and they have to pick and choose among prospective patients based on need. In general, children are top candidates, because X-ray radia=ion treatment can be so damaging to a body that's still growing; and childr=n and adults with inoperable tumors in the brain or on the spinal cord are good candidates. More and more proton-therapy centers are springing up, though -= the United States and elsewhere. Pencil beam scanning a=lows a more precise dose of radiation by "painting" the tumor with protons, which limits radiation to surrounding healthy organs. Pencil =eam scanning uses a beam that is much smaller than that used for traditional pr=ton treatments. The experience at Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, which pioneered pencil beam scanning, ha= shown that pencil beam scanning is an advance over traditional radiotherapy=(which uses photons) because its beam is targeted only to the tumor. It can therefore be used at higher therapeutic doses and with fewer side effects to surrounding healthy tissue..=A0 As of August 2013, 43 particle therapy facilities worldwide represented a total of 121 treatment rooms available to patients. Of these, 28% are located in the US, 23% are located in Japan, and more than 96,537 patients had been treated. A conservative estimate is that about 137,000 new cancer patients each year in the United States could bene=it from proton therapy. Current capacity is 11,270 patients a year. One hindrance to universal use of the proton in cance= treatment is the size and cost of the cyclotron or synchrotron equipment necessary. Several industrial teams are working on development of comparatively small accelerator systems to delive= the proton therapy to patients. Among the technologies being investigated are superconducting synchrocyclotrons (=lso known as FM Cyclotrons), ultra-compact synchrotrons, dielectric wall accelerators, and linear particle accelerators. Advances in medical imaging technology that will improve the delivery of proton beam therapy in the treatment of cancer was announced this week at a major medical conference in the UK could make proton beam therapy even more=of a viable treatment for many more cancer sufferers than ever. Builders race to develop sky-high condo buildings New York builders are de=eloping condo towers as tall as the Empire State Building -- and one that will be j=st one foot shy of the new One World Trade Center. Completed t=is year, New York City's One57 reaches 1,005 feet, making it New York's tallest residential building. </=pan>But it will soon be unseated. Within the next two yea=s, both 432 Park Avenue and 111 West 57th St. are expected to soar past One57. <=span>Then comes the 2018 opening of 225 West 57th St., also known as the Nordstrom Tower. Slated to reach 1,775 feet (includi=g its spire), it will be just one foot shy of the new One World Trade Center.=/span> "It's happening all over. I describe this as luxury real estate becoming the new global currency," said rea= estate appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel. 13 EFTA_R1_02132720 EFTA02712873 Any city where space is limited -- Hong Kong, London, Chicago, San Francisco and, of course, New York -- condo buildings are clim=ing ever higher, said Brian O'Looney, an architect with Torti Gallas and Pa=tners in Maryland. And because available lots tend to be small, the buildings are also getting increasingly skinnier.t>=A0 The 111 West 57th building, for example, will only be 60 feet wide at its base. Demand for these sky-high residences is mostly coming from international buyers an= corporate bigwigs -- Chinese businessmen, hedge fund managers, Russian oil billionaires -- looking for a place to invest and bragging rights.</=> New York builders are developing condo towers as tall=as the Empire State Building -- and one that will be just one foot shy of the new =ne World Trade Center. "The taller it is, the more prestigious i= is. People want trophy homes," said Eric Trump, executive vice president for Donald's=Trump's Trump Organization. Trump should know. In 2001, his father's company developed one of the first ultra-high con=o buildings, Trump World Tower, on Manhattan's East Side. The building to=ped out at 861 feet and the man who personifies "trophy" anything. These days, new materials and techniques enable devel=pers to go even higher without residents getting seasick on windy nights, said Timothy Johnson, an architect with NBBJ in New York and Chairman of the Cou=cil on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. But before developers can even break ground, they are shelling out big bucks fo= these projects. Not only are city lots expensive, but they must navigate a minefield of regulations and community opposition. Once they get past those hurdles, they pay handsomely for skilled, experienced trade union labor. Pe= square foot, construction costs for high-rise buildings are more than twice that of shorter buildings, said O'Looney. "These developers have to build at the very top of the luxury market," said Miller. 4),=AO"That's the only way the math works." One57 is still under construction, but this rendering shows what it will look like from Central Park. The floors on the upper levels produce much of the developers' profits. People are willing to pay big bucks for the views, according to Johnson. At the building= near New York City's Central Park, for example, higher condos can cost 1% to 2% more per floor and there=039;s a big jump, roughly 20%, for unobstructed park views, said Miller. Two =enthouses at One57 have sold for a whopping $90 million each. One at 432 Park is said to be priced at $9= million, one of the most expensive apartments ever sold. "We make tall buildings to be singular . . . to be noticed . . . to be seen as special," said John Torti, president of Torti Gallas and Partners. "This is true for those who build them, design them, and live in them." I truly understand the appeal of the unobstructed view and even being in a tr=phy building but l<=pan style="line- height:107%"> wonder about living on the 80<=font>th floor of a building in a city where the fire department's equipment does not r=ach above the 25th floor. I also wonder about living in a building that is essentially vacant, as most of the apartments are owned by foreigners who have multiple residences and often w=ll spend less than a month each year in their apartment in these buildings.Q=A0 Still our trophy buildings are soaring to unimaginable heights twenty years ago as prices for residences in these buildings soar through the stratosphere. =br> 14 EFTA_R1_02132721 EFTA02712874 *•**•44,i v>, Buy It In Bulk: Butter And Nuts Butter can be pricey (and m=ny cookie recipes require at least a stick), but Collin Morgan, blogger at the coupon and savings site Hip2Save.com, says it's deeply discounted when you buy large quantities=at warehouse clubs. You can get 4 pounds of unsalted butter at Costco for $10.49, which comes out to $2.62 a pound, whi=e a supermarket charges about $4.99 for a pound. The same goes for nuts, mos= of which can last in the freezer for one to two years. A 2-pound bag of walnuts is about $12 at Sam&=39;s Club, or $.38 per ounce, while at a supermarket you'll pay closer to $.=0 per ounce. Bonus: Both nuts and butter are perishable, but freeze wonderfully, so you can buy now and bake later.40=A0 The one baking item you don't want to buy in bulk, however, is a spice, such as cinnamon or nutmeg. Unless you're go=ng in with a friend and splitting that 10-ounce jar, it'll probably lose its =lavor before you finish using it. Buy It In Bulk: Gift Cards Whether you're giving t=em as presents or keeping them for yourself, gift cards are a better deal when you buy more of them. The='re available for anything from movies (we found 10 tickets to any AMC theater for $85), to restaurants (five $20 gift cards to Peet's Coffee for $80), to music and app downloads (a 4-pack o= $25 iTunes gift cards for $95). And while we're on the subject of giving, i= you're still sending old-fashioned greeting cards (yay for tradition!), many Etsy sellers offer bulk discounts, such as this one which offers any six designs=in her collection for $20. Less Is More: Salad Dressing The golden rule of buying i= bulk is computing the cost per unit (just make sure you know what you're comparing). And when it comes=to salad dressing, mayonnaise and other condiments, doing a calculation is sma=t, but there's more to consider. Morgan has calculated the price per ounce on salad dressings at warehouse clubs and supermarkets, and found that if the supermarket is having a sale, she can actually get it for less (and don't fear generic brands: Some che=s actually prefer them). Even more important, though, is that it can=be near impossible to finish that gallon jug of Caesar salad dressing before i=s expiration date passes. 15 EFTA_R1_02132722