Maher

Was on Bill Maher show Friday night. Feels strange even to write that--in keeping with the very surreal experience it was. Its too late now, but in a later post, I hope to write the things I WOULD have said if I had been thinking clearly and managed to get the floor for more than 15 seconds at a time. Here is a link to one of 6 video segments of the show. http://youtube.com/results?search_query=bill+maher+2%2F15%2F08&search_type=

Two wrongs make people sick

The New York Times yesterday had a front page story about how the Chinese government had failed to inspect a plant that was making a component of tained Heprin, a blood thinner, that had been imported to the US. The company was registered as a "chemical" company and not a "drug" company and so fell through the regulatory cracks.

Three Americans are now dead and hundreds sickened as a result of the bungling.

But, turns out, our FDA is also to blame. They are supposed to be inspecting foreign drug manufacturing facilities every 2 years. How often have they actually been doing it? Every 12 years. They never inspected the plant and at the current rate, it will take some 50 years for them to inspect the plants in China they are required to under their regulations.

Who will be held accountable? Last July, in the wake of that toothpaste and toy scandal, China EXECUTED the guy who was in charge of the FDA equivalent. The manager of one of the Chinese toy manufacturers hanged himself. The officials in charge this time have to be quaking in their loafers.

In contrast, I would venture a guess that no one at FDA will lose their job over this. Let's just say that Michael Brown has started his own firm doing disaster consulting.

We have got to step up our regulation of imports. It is foolish to rely on China which established a legal system less than 30 years ago.

Dubai or Bust

Just back from a trip to Dubai and Qatar -- and it was truly eye-opening. Since my last visit in the late 1990s, both have transformed from sleepy desert outposts to thriving metropolises -- with skylines reminiscent of Shanghai (think Jetsons). The Dubai airport was a madhouse - like JFK Airport on a bad day - full of the typical global mix of travelers.

Thanks to $100/barrel oil, these countries are now thriving financially -- with the 3rd largest natural gas reserves in the world, per capita GDP in Qatar is nearly $60,000. If you graduate high school, you are given a house. Now that's an incentive to get an education!

Imagine what the U.S. could do if it got its financial house in order, broke our addiction to oil and started incentivizing education -- free math and science degrees; housing for teachers. It is the way the U.S. can continue to thrive well into the future.

National Guard Down

I find this terrifying. As described on ThinkProgress: "A new report by the Commission of the National Guard and Reserves "determined that 88 percent" of National Guard units are not prepared for a catastrophic attack on the country. The 400-page report "concludes that the nation 'does not have sufficient trained, ready forces available' to respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear weapons incident, 'an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk.'"

TiVo

I think the most exciting moment of the book tour so far was seeing my name and Mona's in the TiVo programming list.

Iran sanctions and NYT mag cover

Last week, China and Russia agreed at the UN to new sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program. Of course, they were not the tough sanctions the US would have preferred. But they are playing on our side, if not according to our playbook.

In terms of the NYT magazine cover story last Sunday, we will do a fuller response, but, for now, suffice to say that we dont see the world like Khanna does. His central idea of a "global, multicivilizational, multipolar battle" does not ultimately hold up. What is the battle over? And what about the common, and dire, threats that big powers face in climate change, disease, terrorism and proliferation? Those surely make cooperation in many spheres possible. Or, more exactly, essential.

Starting out--china incentives on climate crisis

Today I read an AP story about how rising sea levels are making the clean water challenge for China, which is already immense, even harder. In Shanghai, salt water is leeching into the acquifer. The BBC had this yesterday "China is facing its worst drought in a decade, with water in parts of the Yangtze River at the lowest level in 142 years." Ships are running aground. Clear incentives to tackle global warming if the US leads. It's mostly our carbon out there.