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Section D (Off Duty): a lot of interesting stories; maybe later
Section C (Review):
- Book review: the hunt for Herman Melville, by Herschel Parker; Herman Melville: A Biography, two volumes; published in 1996 and 2002;
Biography didn't really recover from the opprobrium directed at Boswell and Froude until the mid-20th century, when a sequence of great works put it on new footing: Leon Edel on Henry James (1953-72), Richard Ellmann on James Joyce (1959), Richard Sewall on Emily Dickinson (1974) and Joseph Frank on Dostoevsky (1976-2002). Then came Richard Holmes, with his biographies of Shelley (1974) and Coleridge (1989, 1998), and Norman Sherry, with his multi-volume Graham Greene (1989- 2004), who made of the biographer a heroic figure, an intellectual daredevil assiduously tracking his subject's "footsteps"—to cite the title of Mr. Holmes's classic account of his arduous travels as a "romantic biographer."
I've read most of those; I particularly enjoy any biography by Leon Edel; my favorite of those mentioned: Norman Sherry on Graham Greene.
- First lady of the OK Corral; Wyatt Earp's fourth wife. Lady at the OK Corral, by Ann Kirschner.
Section B (Business & Finance): NothingOne autumn day in 2004, the wildlife photographer Bryant Austin found himself floating in the South Pacific between a humpback whale and her calf. As the child brushed past him, its folds and fins filling his vision, and the mother roughly bumped him aside, he was filled with awe. 'Beautiful Whale' (Abrams, 122 pages, $50) documents Mr. Austin's attempt to create an immensely detailed print of a full-size whale, to capture in pixels the size and serenity he had witnessed in the water. Humpbacks grow as long as 60 feet and can weigh 40 tons—even that playful calf weighed nearly 5,000 pounds.
Section A:
- Throwing Portugal under the bus. Portugal rattles as US military pares back. Although never permanently stationed on this island, I "visited" while in the USA. I'm surprised the US has maintained military ops at this island this long. But someday some president will be relieved we still have what we have there. Look for Russia to make a deal with Portugal on using the base in the Azores if the US leaves completely.
When euro-zone countries were slashing budgets last year, U.S. President Barack Obama urged them to tackle their currency crisis by focusing more on growth. But it is Mr. Obama's own belt-tightening plan for the Pentagon that is about to put a Portuguese community in the middle of the Atlantic deeper into economic trouble.
By summer of next year, most of the 1,380 Americans living in Praia da Vitória, on an island in the Azores, will head home as part of a plan to cut U.S. expenses there by $35 million a year. Left behind will be 160 U.S. Air Force personnel, a reduced Portuguese support staff and hundreds of unemployed in a town of 22,000 that for more than six decades has helped maintain U.S. operations and homes at Lajes Field.
Word of the U.S. plans have rattled relations with Portugal, left the remote island's residents fearful over their prospects and even set off rumors that the base would be taken over by a rising global power. "We are talking about a devastating impact," said Roberto Monteiro, Praia da Vitória's mayor.
State and local governments owe $7.3 trillion in promises they've made that were never approved by taxpayers.
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Illinois officials with making misleading statements to bond investors about the state's pension system. The agency detailed a long list of deceptive practices including failure to tell investors that the system was so underfunded that it risked bankruptcy.
Illinois taxpayers, as well as the holders of its debt, will ultimately bear the burden of the officials' misdeeds. But there is nothing unique about the Prairie State. For years, elected officials in states and municipalities across the country have been imprudently piling up obligations that are imposing serious strains on budgets, prompting higher taxes and cutbacks in services.
You can bet cities are going to find a way to shift their local government obligations onto ObamaCare.In January, city officials in Sacramento, California's capital, reported the results of a study they had commissioned on all the debt that the municipality had incurred. At a City Council meeting that the Sacramento Bee reported as "sobering," the city manager explained that Sacramento had racked up some $2 billion in obligations (mostly pensions and retiree health care). All this for a municipality of 477,000 residents with an annual general fund budget of just $366 million.
- California's coming green-outs: the wind and solar mandate means future power shortages.
Utilities have been in such a rush to bring new wind and solar projects online that they've been locking in long-term rates with developers that are often two to four times higher than what they pay for nonrenewables.
The Division of Ratepayer Advocates reported in 2011 that the California Public Utilities Commission has "approved nearly every renewable contract filed by the utilities, even when they rate poorly on least-cost, best-fit criteria."
Note: California residents and businesses already pay rates that are 25% to 60% higher than the national average. Excessive energy costs have helped to obliterate the state's manufacturing base. Hence, the obsession to chase green jobs.
- And that's just a start. An incredible bit of reporting disguised as an op-ed. This is really cool. Investors could do well.
The upshot is that millions of Californians could soon experience power outages. As the state derives more of its electricity from renewables, it needs more "peak" gas-fired plants that can ramp up to meet demand when the sun isn't shining and wind isn't blowing—namely during dawn and dusk.
Otherwise, rolling blackouts could ensue.
Nobody knows exactly how much flexible power is needed to ensure a reliable electric supply. The California Independent System Operator's best guesstimate is about 3,100 megawatts by 2017—and more thereafter as more wind and solar come online.
However, energy companies don't want to build new generators or refurbish older ones unless they're guaranteed a return on their investments—especially since peak plants are about 25% more expensive to operate and build than conventional turbines. Utilities also don't want to pay for back-up power they don't know they'll need.
- Op-ed: the liberal medicare advantage revolt. Democrats suddenly object to cuts i private insurance for seniors. I noted earlier that we will see the perfect storm in the 2014 mid-term elections. Vast majority of Congressional seats at risk are currently held by Democrats; in 2014 the voters will finally do what Ms Pelosi suggested: they will read the ObamaCare bill. They won't like what they see.
A big political story this year is likely to be Democrats turning on their White House minders as the harmful and unpopular parts of the Affordable Care Act ramp up. On the heels of the recent 79-20 Senate uprising against the 2.3% medical device tax, now comes the surge of Democrats pleading on behalf of Medicare Advantage.
Liberals have claimed for years to hate this program, but by now Advantage provides private insurance coverage to more than one of four seniors. And those seniors like it.
However, the ObamaCare true believers who run the Health and Human Services Department don't answer to voters, and they have written draft regulations that cut Medicare Advantage even more deeply than Congress mandated in the Affordable Care Act. Those cuts will bite hardest in states like Oregon (where 42% of Medicare beneficiaries use Advantage), or Florida (37%), New York (33%), California (37%) and Arizona (38%).