Author: Daryl

An Evening with Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas with Daryl DuLong at the University of Rochester

“Who are we? Why have we allowed our rights to be chipped away in the name of fear? When do the Americans get mad?”
—Helen Thomas, March 6, 2007

Helen Thomas, one of my favorite people to listen to and a very well respected member of the White House press corps, visited the University of Rochester this week and offered her take on the current state of politics, her views from working in the White House since the early 1960s, and her opinions of U.S. foreign relations efforts. Afterwards, she did a book signing and photo tour, hence the picture on the right.

In her speech, she stressed that passivity prevents progress, to which the crowd erupted with applause, and drew links between the unpopularity of the War on Terror and how national ambivalence allows the U.S. government’s abuses. She asserted that contemporary society’s passivity, in contrast to that of past eras, has allowed the government to wiretap phones, open people’s mail, subject humans to degrading treatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and revoke habeas corpus.

One of the audience members asked her a question about the role the press plays in questioning the U.S. government’s actions, especially in light of the abuse examples she gave. Ms. Thomas acknowledged that the press was directly responsible for allowing these abuses to remain unchallenged. After 9/11, there existed a press that complied with the government and has not fulfilled its duty to the people: to ask difficult questions of the government’s action.

Her speech did lighten up from time to time, with references to how JFK was the most inspiring President and LBJ was “larger than life”. She also shared stories about her times with Nixon, Reagan, and Bush (41), especially during decidedly tense moments in their presidencies. She also commented on her minor role in the movie “Dave“, saying it was a lot of fun, and it’s impressive she still gets asked about it 14 years after the film was released.

On a somewhat related note, I came across an article this morning talking about Ms. Thomas’ seat position in the White House Briefing Room and whether it will survive the upcoming renovations. I’m glad to hear that she will retain her coveted front-row seat.

Back from Hong Kong

I just returned from a business trip to Hong Kong and have started a photo gallery of the highlights. I worked hard and played hard, and tried to see a lot, as I doubt I’ll be on that side of the world again for a while!

From a sea of 300+ photos on my camera, I’ve tried to pick some of the best. It’s a work in progress, so expect more soon! Let me know your thoughts via the comments feature on this post.

Those High Flood Waters

I was in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago and, after an aerial tour from the plane, I got to see some of the residual damage from Hurricane Katrina up close. The photo below was taken during the taxi ride from my hotel to the airport along route 10.

New Orleans Flood Waters

If you look carefully, you’ll notice a dark yellow line about a third of the way up the concrete wall. That’s the mark where the flood waters remained for several days shortly after the storm – a level that my cab driver guessed was about 4 feet above the pavement.

The whole city was relatively quiet, despite the fact it was a few days before the unofficial start of Mardi Gras. I was strolling down Bourbon St. with plenty of room to move around, even though colleagues had warned me that the crowds there would be crazy and packed. I guess it was just an early time of year to be there, as reports this week mentioned that more than 700,000 had come out to celebrate this past weekend.

New Orleans is a very cool city, with perhaps one of the best cuisines I’ve experienced in the U.S. The French influence on Cajun/southern cooking makes for some really tasty combinations. I had never had authentic gumbo before, and now it’s something I crave. The seafood dishes are fantastic as well.

I’m looking forward to going back at some point, maybe when I can time my arrival a little better.

What’s Your Ecological Footprint?

Ecological Footprint As I stepped outside yesterday into a balmy 59 degrees (one degree shy of a 22 year old record), I couldn’t help but think about the recent barrage of news related to global warming and the ensuing debates. Newsweek, BusinessWeek, the WSJ, etc., have all had feature articles on the subject over the past two weeks.

I believe global warming is real, and have a hard time buying the argument that the recent changes to Earth’s climate are solely due to natural climate shifts that would have happened anyway. Take, for example, the concept of an ecological footprint, a larger form of what is sometimes called a carbon or energy footprint. The best definition, according to Aili McConnon of BusinessWeek is that it’s “how much land and sea we need to generate the resources we consume and to absorb the waste we create.” Using the standard seven compenents – crop land, grazing land, forest, fishing ground, nuclear waste, built-up land, and CO2 emissions – humanity’s global footprint in 1961 was about 4.5 billion global hectares (GH). Latest estimates put that at 14.1 billion GH, and the World Wildlife Fund actually claims it could be more. As you’ll see from the chart in the upper right, almost half of that comes from energy-related activities.

14.1 billion GH may seem like an arbitrary number, but it equates to roughly 2.2 GH, or about four football fields, per person. I’m having a hard time believing I’m using up that much of Earth’s space and resources, but some of the footprint calculators reveal that I may be even fatter than the international average, despite my energy efficient car and relatively small living space.

It is well known that the United States has been slow to move toward alternative fuels due to regulatory, technological, and economic pressures, and even a Democratic Congress may have a hard time accelerating the adoption. So, what can I do about it? As the largest portion of the footprint comes from our daily energy activities, many analysts have advised contributing to energy research in some fashion, whether through buying stock in alternative fuel companies, contributing dollars directly, or buying an alternative fuel vehicle. I wonder what the power of those dollars would be on the aggregate, and if increased cash flow would lead to increased alternative energy options given the other non-cash hurdles (and dis-incentives) in the industry?