April 2009 Archives

Each night of the Global Conference a panel discussion is held during dinner.  The discussions are generally very interesting or entertaining, but last night's was especially so.  The panel discussion last night was an unlikely match of former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, former Bush advisor Ed Gillespie, and...wait for it...GOP Chairman Rush Limbaugh.  Yes, Rush Limbaugh.The discussion went as you would expect.  Ford was articulate, gracious, and very well...

A few final random thoughts about my visit to the Milken Global Conference in Los Angeles:Most interesting - Peter Diamandis, the X Prize Foundation, who introduced the new initiative to reward development of a new healthcare system.Most inspirational - Deepak Chopra, Bill Nelson, and Dean Ornish who talked about alternative medicine, and how the body actually can alter it's own genes by environment, nutrition, and state of mind.Most ironic - Rupert Murdoch of News Corp,...

As you know, I'm in Los Angeles with 3,000 of my closest friends, attending the Milken Global Conference.  I attended sessions yesterday about Green Energy, Volunteerism for those over 50, Healthcare, and Education.  In the Green Energy session, a panel of 5 discussed investment in green energy, how it could grow in the coming years, and some of the challenges.Steve Westly, a venture capitalist, talked about the two segments of green energy: the capital intensive...

Arlen Specter has just announced that he is switching parties and will run as a Democrat in 2010.  In a statement, he said, "Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."It is speculated that Specter...

One of my readers strongly advised me to go to the session with Peter Diamandis.  All I can say is that the recommendation was a great one.  What an amazing guy.  For those who don't know him, Diamandis founded the X Prize Foundation who offered a $10 million award for the first privately owned team to successfully launch a spacecraft into sub-orbital flight.  The real trick was that it had to be done a second...

Here’s a number for the Republican Party to remember for future reference, 21. Twenty-one, that’s the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans according to the latest Washington Post poll, the lowest that figure has been in 26 years. Remember that number at the next meeting of the RNC, when you propose another stupid resolution like the one to brand the opposition as Socialists instead of Democrats. Remember that number before you send Newt...

The Milken Global Conference kicks off today here in Los Angeles.  You probably haven't heard of it before (I hadn't a few years ago).  It is one of the finest gatherings of business people, scientists, researchers, musicians, artists, and interesting people held anywhere today.  The conference was founded by Michael Milken twelve years ago as a part of his philosophy that if you bring really smart people together, you can make things happen.  His focus...

With the latest flu outbreak, the political timing of Congressional Republicans, lead by Chairman Rush Limbaugh, Governor Bobby Jindal, and, of course, "moderate" Senator Susan Collins, have now twice blundered by loudly maligning, then loudly demanding, that provisions of the stimulus package be slashed only to be made to look foolish for those cuts a short time later.During debate, the GOP howled about small provisions in the stimulus package, focusing on relatively small items, but...

Torture is a war crime, I don’t think there’s much debate about that. The Geneva Conventions say so, the United Nations Convention Against Torture says so. What constitutes torture, and whether or not waterboarding qualifies, may be debatable for some, but that’s not the topic for today. In my opinion, recent revelations have uncovered a greater war crimes than torture. That is the Bush administration taking this country into war in Iraq on false and...

I saw this video as part of a story about youTube today on CBS  Sunday Morning.  It is a fascinating mashup of hundreds of paintings over the last 500 years put together by Philip Scott Johnson.  I thought you might also enjoy it on this Sunday morning:...