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Global Oregano Oil Market 2019 – AOS Products, CG Herbals, Healing Solutions, Rocky Mountain Oils, Plant Therapy, Aura Cacia, Prime Natural
The report gives the research-based overview of Global Oregano Oil Market 2018 and estimates future industry trends throughout the forecast period from 2018 to 2025. Moreover, the report emphasis on the essential attributes of the market including Price and Gross Margin, Capacity, Production, Revenue, current geographical zones, technology, demand-supply, Consumption, Import, Export, Market Drivers and Opportunities. In this comprehensive report, we have considered the principals and key players in the market, product type, and market end-client applications. This report offers primary and secondary data which is showcased in the form of pie outlines, Professional tables, analytical figures, and reference diagrams. The leading Market Manufacturers along with their key developments is featured within the report.
Top Global Oregano Oil Market Manufacturers: AOS Products, CG Herbals, Healing Solutions, Rocky Mountain Oils, Plant Therapy, Aura Cacia, Prime Natural, Mountain Rose Herbs, Fabulous Frannie, The Plant Guru, Kis Oils, Kis Oils
Global Oregano Oil Market Segmentation, By Type: Organic Oregano Oil, Conventional Oregano Oil
Global Oregano Oil Market Segmentation, By Application: Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, Food and Beverages, Others
Get Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Report@ https://www.innovateinsights.com/report/global-oregano-oil-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions/19524/#requestsample
The scope of the report identifies detailed market outlook with respect to the major attributes influencing the growth of the Oregano Oil market such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. In-depth analysis of the business players has been studied to offers insights into their business overview, products and services, key strategies such as new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, joint ventures, and recent developments associated with the Oregano Oil market.
Have Any Query, Ask Our Experts@ https://www.innovateinsights.com/report/global-oregano-oil-market-2018-by-manufacturers-regions/19524/#buyinginquiry
The Global Oregano Oil Market is projected to grow strongly throughout the forecast period 2018 to 2025. In addition to this, several of the distinguished trends that the market is showing include regulatory restrictions, the rising applications of Oregano Oil in several end-user segments, recent technological developments of the industry along with growth investment opportunities.
There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Oregano Oil market
Chapter 1: Product Definition, Specifications and Classification, Applications of Oregano Oil, Market Segment by Regions;
Chapter 2: Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;
Chapter 3: Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Oregano Oil, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;
Chapter 4: Detailed Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);
Chapter 5 and 6: Regional Industry Analysis that includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, Oregano Oil Segment Market Analysis (by Type);
Chapter 7 and 8: The Oregano Oil Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis;
Chapter 9: Industry Outlook and Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type- Market Product Types, Market Trend by Application- Market Applications
Chapter 10: Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;
Chapter 11: The Consumers Analysis;
Chapter 12: Oregano Oil Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;
Chapter 13, 14 and 15: sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.
Research Objective:
Our board of industry contributors as well as industry analysts across the value chain has taken immense efforts in doing this meticulous analysis and precise work in order to offer the key players with beneficial primary & secondary information regarding the global Oregano Oil market. In addition, the report also features data from our industry skilled professionals that can assist the key players in saving their time from the inside research part. Companies who buy and use this report can identify potential gaps in existing markets, along with empower industry intelligence. Apart from this, the report also provides in-depth analysis on Oregano Oil competitiveness as well as the factors that help the customers as well as the enterprise towards this technique.
Thanks for reading this article; you can also get customized chapter wise section or region wise report version with respect to North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.


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If you want a low cost, easy way to keep GST payments separate from your everyday cash flow, take a look at our GST Payment Account. With no account servicing fees, unlimited free electronic deposits*, and direct payments to the Australian Taxation Office, it can save you time and money.
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Any advice does not take into account your personal needs and financial circumstances and you should consider whether it is appropriate for you.
ANZ recommends you read the Terms and Conditions and the Financial Services Guide (PDF 76kB) before acquiring the product.
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If I could change one thing in the world I would most certainly make people more understanding toward others. I'm shocked by what happened recently in Tennessee.
A shop owner who desperately needed his business property to be zoned as "commercial" killed himself right in front of the City Council who voted against helping him in his time of need.
Immigrants, illegal or not, are people. Although they may come across as leeches to the taxpayers, they, too, are pursuing the American dream.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The Lancaster News, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
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The School of Occupational Therapy annually admits a class of 36-40 students to the professional entry level Doctorate (OTD), who begin study in August each year.
Before you begin the application process, please review the Minimum Application Requirements page to be sure you meet the minimum qualifications to be considered for admission to the OTD program.
Please check the Important Admission Dates page for the early admission deadline, regular admission deadline, and other dates that will help you as you apply for admission.
Application ProcedureThe School of Occupational Therapy receives applications for doctoral program admission and all applicant credentials exclusively through the Occupational Therapy College Application Service (OTCAS), provided by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). This includes results from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The code for the School of Occupational Therapy at Belmont University with the GRE is 1203. More information is available at the GRE website. Full application instructions can be found on the Belmont University school page by clicking the "Participating Programs" link at www.otcas.org.
Interview Invitations
Eligible candidates will be invited for an interview with a faculty member. Opportunities for individual interviews are offered during scheduled dates.
Required After Acceptance
All candidates who submit an enrollment deposit must complete pre-matriculation requirements as directed in the months and weeks leading up to the first day of classes. Failure to complete requirements - such as registration, submission of health records, final official transcripts, and other such items - by communicated deadlines will result in withdrawal from the program. In addition, as an accepted student in the OTD program, you will be required to be certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR for infant, child and adult) and first aid training. You will also be required to submit results of a criminal background check. Background check information will be mailed to you in the summer preceding your first semester.
We encourage you to first check our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you need additional assistance, our admissions coordinator, Sarah Schulte, will be happy to answer questions you may have. You can contact her at the phone number below or by email at email@example.com.


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Marketresearchpro has recently published a report named "Market Trends And Forecast Of Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) Market: 2018-2025" focussing on the Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) market. This report intends to study the developments of the Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) market, including its development status and future trends, along with focus on the top players in the market. To understand all of it, this well-researched report will reveal the market situation in general for you, along with the future forecast of the market.
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This report is exclusive to Marketresearchpro and encompasses in-depth analysis and insights on Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) Market. What you will get by reading the report is not just charts, bars, analytical data but also a better understanding of the market which will in turn help you make decisions in the better interest of your organisation.
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Whether you are a market analyst, an industry expert or some other key person, if you want to understand the Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) market in and out then this report is for you. We will cover every possible prospect and influential detail of the {Market] market, of which the following will be our primary areas of focus:
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|United States, Canada, Mexico, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Rest of Europe, Brazil, Rest of South America, GCC Countries, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Rest of Middle East & Africa
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- Answering queries on the market size of Bio-based Poly Propylene (PP) market by 2025.
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Pear Linux 6, code-named Bartlett, is the latest release of Pear Linux, or Pear OS, a desktop distribution based on Ubuntu Desktop. Unlike its parent distribution, which uses the Unity Desktop, Pear Linux features a custom GNOME Shell called Pear Shell.
Pear Linux 6 is based on Ubuntu 12.04, and features many new and cool features. In fact, the version of Pear Shell that comes with Pear Linux 6 is a near-complete overhaul of the edition in Pear Linux 5. And by my assessment, it is probably the best GNOME Shell adaptation available. It is most definitely better than the stock GNOME Shell.
But do not just take my word for it, let me show you why I came to that conclusion. But before we come to the desktop itself, where all the fun stuff are, let's take a look at the installation process, As stated earlier, Pear Linux 6 is based on Ubuntu 12.04, and uses the same Ubiquity installer, the graphical installation of Ubuntu Desktop.
Because the installer is not the same as the edition available on Ubuntu 12.10, it lacks support for automatic LVM partitioning and disk encryption configuration. Those features will likely make it to the Pear Linux installer in the October release.
Though the installer recommends at least 5.1 GB of available disk space, a new installation of Pear Linux 6 takes up just 3.1 GB of disk space, and the installer create two partitions – one for /, the root file system directory, and the other for Swap, disk space that the system may use as memory.
At the login screen, there is only one option in the Session menu – Pear Linux Shell, and for this particular distribution, it's all you need, considering that there is no other GNOME Shell adaptation that even comes close.
Now to the desktop itself, which is just about as beautiful a desktop interface as I have come across on any distribution that uses the GNOME desktop environment. As stated earlier, it is a major rewrite of the Pear Shell that shipped with Pear Linux 5. The wallpaper (yes, I know, it's just a wallpaper) is cool to the eyes. Compare that to the default on the latest edition of Chakra (see Chakra 2012.08 review). On the desktop, are two icons – Trash and one for a script called Launch Me First, which is supposed to be a post-install script.
Clicking that Launch Me First icon opens this window, which reveals what the script is about to and will do on the system. The problem is I do not see a need for the tasks it is designed to perform. Is "update the repository" the same thing as running sudo apt-get update? If so, why is that even necessary on first-boot? Appstore is the distribution's graphical package manager and there is an icon for it in the dock. So what does "set-up Pear Appstore" actually do? And what temporary files need to be cleaned up in a brand new installation – on first-boot? From what little I know about this script, there's no real need for it. Perhaps an application like Kaptan or Kapudan is what the developer(s) had in mind when they wrote it.
Once the script is done running, you MUST reboot. That is likely to mean that the system will not function properly otherwise, but from the three tasks it is designed to perform, I do not see any reason for a forced-reboot.
Though the dock is at the bottom of the desktop by default, it can be moved, using the point-and-click Pear Dock Config tool, to any of the other three edges of the desktop. It is, however, not a good idea to move it to the top edge, since that will interfere with the panel. This screen shot shows the dock on the right edge of the desktop.
The desktop's Hot Corner is enabled by default, so sliding the cursor into the top-left corner reveals the Mission Control view, which makes it possible to see open application windows on the current workspace or virtual desktop.
Repeat the cursor-sliding action on the bottom-left corner, and the bottom edge of the desktop magically and smoothly slides upwards, revealing the virtual desktop icons. Slide the cursor out, and the desktop returns to normal. I like features that are cleanly implemented, and this one is.
Pear Linux does not have a traditional menu, but features a full-screen, Mac OS X-like menu. It's also just like the K Desktop Environment's Takeoff Launcher and the SimpleWelcome of ROSA Linux and Mandriva. This screen shot shows what it looks like out of the box. It also shows the complete set of graphical applications installed by default. A count of the icons in this screen shot will show that there are 20. That's a total of 20 applications installed by default. No Office suite and games are installed.
One of those 20 installed applications is Firefox (version 16.0.2). And that is the only Web browser installed. However, with the Pear Browser Manager, you can install three other Web browsers available in the repository. The Pear Browser Manager is represented on the dock by that greenish icon. A screen shot of it is shown below.


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An Erie County grand jury has indicted a Buffalo man accused of burglarizing the Delaware Avenue home of County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, according to the Erie County District Attorney's Office.
Avello Pena, 22, of Richmond Avenue, faces second-degree burglary and petit larceny charges for the early morning June 17 break-in of Poloncarz' home.
Pena is accused of breaking into Poloncarz's parked vehicle and taking money and a baseball bat. Then he allegedly entered Poloncarz's residence, armed with the bat, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Police arrested Pena a short time later after a foot chase and struggle. If convicted, Pena could face a prison term of 7 to 15 years if sentenced as a second violent felony offender. His arraignment is scheduled for July 8.


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This weekend, freshly minted adults will have awkward high school reunions all across America. We asked you for your reunion horror stories, and picked four of the best. This one comes from Bobby.
I graduted high school in 1999, so a few years ago we had our 10-year reunion. I had a close group of seven friends in high school and only five of us were able to attend.
One of these friends was my girlfriend in high school and after college we got married (aww, I know high school sweethearts). Anyway, my wife and I would go around meeting people we really didn't like/care for in school and making the "required small talk."
The only kicker was they would ALWAYS ask my wife where we met.
Our response of "high school" would usually be met with a response of embarrassment, followed by profuse apologies to me. Now I know I wasn't one of the popular kids in high school, but I was hardly invisible either. Needless to say I won't be going back to any more reunions to see those assholes again.


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Floss & Tape
Electric Toothbrush
Fresh breath
Teeth Whitening Products
Bulk Buying
GC Tooth Mousse
February 13, 2011
Eating disorders and your oral health
Eating Disorders can have a profound effect on your oral health. Bulimia in particular can have serious ramifications for the long term health of your teeth.
Bulimia involves the purging of food from the stomach after a period of binge eating. After vomiting, the acids from the stomach enter the mouth and seriously effect the enamel on the teeth. The dissolution of the enamel occurs in areas which are hard to see, except by your dentist. Generally from the backs of the upper and lower front teeth and in more severe cases the lower back teeth.
Other oral manifestations are enlargement of the parotid gland, damage to the soft palate and throat, dry mouth and increase in dental decay.
While addressing the dental issues, help must also be sought in addressing the cause of the eating disorder. The butterfly foundation at
has information and links to help in this area.
Preventive treatment options
1. Rinse mouth out with water after a vomiting episode. Do not brush teeth for at least ½ hour to prevent wearing away of the softened tooth surfaces.
2. Use of fluoride mouth rinses and high strength fluoride toothpastes such as neutrafluor 5000 will reduce decay and sensitivity. Special trays can be made to hold fluoride in place.
3. Use of
GC mousse plus
to harden and remineralise the softened surfaces.
Once damage has been done there are many treatment options are available but they can be costly and prevention is much better than the cure.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact me, Dr Caroline Downing at mdt dental Neutral Bay Sydney or at email@example.com
Please spread the word
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Closys Mouthwash
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Red/pink Wobble Tower
Stack the chunky colourful wooden rings on top of each other to achieve a pyramid effect. This classic wooden toy helps your child develop colour recognition, awareness of shape and size. The base is curved so that the tower rocks on its base.
product details
product code: GR11011
- non-toxic dyes used
- 6 pieces
- size: 13cm
- made in Germany
- non-toxic dyes used
delivery and returns
Free shipping on all orders over $150 (excludes oversized items)
For more information about our flat rates and delivery, please see our delivery page.
You are welcome to return online purchases within 30 days, click here to view the full Returns Policy.
natural play
"Logic will get you from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere." - Albert Einstein
Toys for the imagination... imaginative play is a crucial part of early childhood development. Our toys are well made and have some educational or imaginative component, as we believe a few, lasting toys with a multitude of uses and possibilities are much better for a child than a huge, and potentially overwhelming selection of toys.read more


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|Antonio Diaz Diaz
|Disk imaging
ddrescue is a raw disk imaging tool that "copies data from one file or block device to another, trying hard to rescue data in case of read errors." The application is developed as part of the GNU project and has written with UNIX/Linux in mind.
ddrescue and dd_rescue are completely different programs which share no development between them. The two projects are not related in any way except that they both attempt to enhance the standard dd tool and coincidentally chose similar names for their new programs.
From the ddrescue info pages:
GNU ddrescue is a data recovery tool. It copies data from one file or block device (hard disc, cdrom, etc) to another, trying hard to rescue data in case of read errors.
Ddrescue does not truncate the output file if not asked to. So, every time you run it on the same output file, it tries to fill in the gaps.
The basic operation of ddrescue is fully automatic. That is, you don't have to wait for an error, stop the program, read the log, run it in reverse mode, etc.
If you use the logfile feature of ddrescue, the data is rescued very efficiently (only the needed blocks are read). Also you can interrupt the rescue at any time and resume it later at the same point.
Automatic merging of backups: If you have two or more damaged copies of a file, cdrom, etc, and run ddrescue on all of them, one at a time, with the same output file, you will probably obtain a complete and error-free file. This is so because the probability of having damaged areas at the same places on different input files is very low. Using the logfile, only the needed blocks are read from the second and successive copies.
These two examples are taken directly from the ddrescue info pages.
Example 1: Rescue an ext2 partition in /dev/hda2 to /dev/hdb2
ddrescue -r3 /dev/hda2 /dev/hdb2 logfile
e2fsck -v -f /dev/hdb2
mount -t ext2 -o ro /dev/hdb2 /mnt
Example 2: Rescue a CD-ROM in /dev/cdrom
ddrescue -b 2048 /dev/cdrom cdimage logfile
write cdimage to a blank CD-ROM
As of release 1.4-rc1, it can be compiled directly inCygwin OOTB. This makes it usable natively on Windows systems.


text: Powerful automation systems are necessary as early as the first phase of wood processing in order to guarantee an efficient workflow throughout. High-performance controllers are also frequently needed to make complex calculations and process data from many external sensors. It is necessary for the automation system to provide precise closed-loop control functionality in many different areas (e.g. pressure, temperature or moisture). The combination of PC-based hardware architecture and HMI systems, the integration of all control algorithms in software and the presence of remote I/O from B&R are optimal solutions that can meet these challenges.


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Guitar Pro 6.1.9 r11686 Multilangual Mac OS X
- 30-10-2015, 04:52 Author: Admin
- Category: software / software_type / multimedia
Guitar Pro 6.1.9 r11686 Multilangual | MacOSX | 71.6 MB
Guitar Pro is a complex software designed to edit tablatures for bass, guitar, and other fretted instruments from 4 to 8 strings. Guitar Pro's great ease of use and the success of its specific file format have made it a software used by guitarists worldwide.
Guitar Pro now includes editing support for many other instruments like the piano or the drums, a realistic audio engine, and interactive tools to support every musician's practice. Guitar Pro provides you with all the tools you need to create and edit scores, right at hand. Quickly and easily capture the notes with the keyboard and its many shortcuts, with the mouse, or yet again with a MIDI instrument.
- Tablature editor for fretted instruments, from 4 to 8 strings
- Natively Windows / Mac / Linux compatible.
- Additional support for percussion and piano tracks
- Editing, display, and printing in tablature, standard notation, and rhythmic "slash" notation
- Multitrack scores
- 6 retractable panels, or "Universes": Edition, Instrument, RSE, Mastering, Chords, Lyrics.
- Multiple Document Interface
- Full-screen mode
- Complete stylesheet, to let you customize your scores (symbols, fonts, proportions, etc.)
- Possibility to switch from jazz to classical style in one click
- Advanced notation for the guitar: tablature for up to 8 strings, accented notes, left-hand tapping, rasgueado, arpeggio, rythmic "slash" notation (above and/or within the tablature), extended barre, partial capo
- Numerous effects (bend, slide, vibrato, grace notes, harmonics, etc.)
- Total support of chord diagrams (librairy + automatic recognition)
- Advanced standard notation: Grand Staff for piano, concert or transposition tone, G-, F-, and C-clefs, opening/closing repeat signs, free-time measures, multirests, fermata
- Fully customizable n-tuplets
- Double signs and ornaments: Simple and double simile bars, double dotting, double flat and double sharp, mordents and turns, two types of grace notes, etc.
- Percussion wizard
- Lyrics support
- Timer
- Note-capturing via a MIDI instrument
- Note duration wizard
- Capturing via multiple selection
- Repeat signs, and multiple coda signs
- Key signature wizard
- Extended copy/past (special paste from track to track, in multiple selection)
- Chord library for faster writing of chord into the score
- Simplified grace-note editing
- Intuitive editing of accidentals
- 1- to 4-voice editing, and multivoice editing
- Clickable score elements (tempo, clef …)
- Advanced automation wizard (temo, volme, panoramic)
- Unlimited Undo/Redo
- Professional-quality printing
- Multitrack printing
- Choice between tablature, standard notation, and "slash" notation
- 100% customizable printing (size, fonts, proportions, area, elements, etc.)
- Print preview
- Score MIDI playback, with guitar effects (bend, etc.)
- Tuning library and possibility to tune each string independently
- Tempo selection
- Several dozens of instrument available with RSE
- Customizable effect chain (amps, stompboxes, racks) for each track
- Global mastering (compressor, reverb, equalization)
- 5-band semi-parametric equalizer for each track
- Choice of playing style (slap, picking, …)
- Humanization of playback (accentuation, autobrush, …)
- Selection of the instrument, volume, pan, chorus and reverb for each track
- 12-stringed guitar simulation
- Triplet feel playback
- Possibility to insert changes events (tempo, volume, instrument, etc.)
- Real-time Mixing with Soundboard
- Multitrack Import and Export with ASCII, MIDI formats, including quantization (0/1 formats)
- Optimized fingering for the MIDI importation
- MusicXML, WAV (audio), PDF, PNG (image) Export
- Transposition of part of a score via multiple selection
- Digital Tuner
- Guitar and bass virtual Fretboards
- Virtual Keyboard
- Scale analysis over multiple selection
- Speed Trainer (to practice part of a score in accelerating loops)
- Automatic bar-length wizard
- Automatic fingering wizard for optimal finger positioning
- Possibility to swap voices, to copy-paste from one voice to another
Guitar Pro 6.1.9 r11686
- Added: Chinese simplified translation
- Fixed: Crashes at startup for Mac computers with no serial number
- Fixed: Character issues while importing Guitar Pro files in Chinese
System requirements: Mac OS X (10.4 and higher)
Home Page - http://www.guitar-pro.com
No mirrors please


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This web page provides information on public water access sites in Maryland. Sites listed include boat ramps and soft launches (specifically for non-motorized vessels). Detailed information on each site is organized by jurisdiction. In Maryland, non-motorized vessels may launch from boat ramps but are encouraged to use separate soft launch areas if one is provided at the same site.
The majority of public water access sites in Maryland are managed and maintained by the local jurisdictions in which they are located. Fees, permits and regulations vary by jurisdiction so it is highly recommended that you contact the managing entity to clarify requirements before you go. Phone numbers for site managers are listed in the site details.
Click on a jurisdiction on the map below to display the location of access sites in that area. Then click on a specific site to view the detailed information for that facility such as contact information, directions, and hours of operation, parking, and other services.
If you are not able to see the map, use the listing below the map, or please view Access for All for a list of facilities and programs that are accessible to visitors with disabilities.
This map is also available in GIS format but it loads slowly. Click here to view the GIS Version of this map or Text Version.
The information on this site changes frequently. Input and comments are welcome and can be submitted by e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com or sent to:
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Public Access, Water Trails and Recreation Planning Program
580 Taylor Avenue, E-2
Annapolis, MD 21401
580 Taylor Ave, Annapolis MD 21401


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A Great Lakes Colleges Association Recognized Program
Subjects: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Media Arts, and Writing and Publishing.
Prerequisities: 2.7 GPA, junior-level standing, demonstrated maturity. Placement with a sponsoring artist to be arranged by a New York faculty advisor.
Length: Fall semester, spring semester, or 4 week Summer Visual Arts Intensive (4 credits = 1 unit).
Credit: 4.0 units (16 semester hours): 2.0 unit seminars, 2.0 units internship, credit/no credit only.
Faculty: Each student is assigned an academic advisor from their area of study. This faculty member teaches an area study and works closely with the student and their apprenticeship sponsor.
Housing: In the New York Arts Program's Chelsea Residence
Cost: Albion College tuition and room charges cover program tuition, fees and room. Students receive $25 per week for transportation and cultural events, paid out twice during the semester provided students' accounts are current.
Costs Not Covered by Albion: $150 for housing deposit, travel to New York City for the required interview and for the program, food, local transportation, miscellaneous personal expenses, incidentals, and entertainment.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Bille K. Wickre, 517-629-0249,
Comments: The New York Arts program is made up of 4 components: Internships, Seminars, Tutorial & Independent Study and Journals. Students will be required to work in internships usually 30 hours a week forming the major part of the program; take a six-week seminar with their Faculty Advisors on various topics; pursue a clearly defined self-directed study project designed in conjunction with and supervised by his or her faculty advisor; and keep a journal of their experiences, observations and critical reflections. A personal interview in New York is required of all applicants to determine potential ability to work with any given sponsor. Students should allow 3 working days in New York for these interviews. Albion allows only 4 total units of internship toward graduation requirements; the Registrar can help you determine if you will exceed this amount.
Susan Childrey
Program Coordinator
305 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
Telephone: 212-563-0255
Fax: 212-563-0256
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Web: http://www.nyartsprogram.org/


text: Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) [cite this] More images » Life in Brief: Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, spent his childhood roaming the woods and studying his books on a remote plantation in the Virginia Piedmont. Thanks to the prosperity of his father, Jefferson had an excellent educatio… more life in brief » Essays about Thomas Jefferson Life in Brief Life in Brief: Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, spent his childhood roaming the woods and studying his books on a remote plantation in the Virginia Piedmont. Thanks to the prosperity of his father, Jefferson had an excellent education. After years in boarding school, where he excell… Life Before the Presidency Life Before the Presidency: Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell plantation in western Virginia. His first childhood memory, at age three, was of the fifty-mile horseback ride he took with his father's slave into the Virginia wilderness. This journey was undertaken with his family as they moved to a… Campaigns and Elections Campaigns and Elections: The Campaign and Election of 1796: From 1794 to 1797, Thomas Jefferson operated as the informal leader of what would become the nation's first opposition political party, the Democratic-Republicans. This party vocally challenged Hamilton's political views. When Washington declined to ru…Domestic Affairs Domestic Affairs: In Thomas Jefferson's mind, the first order of business for him as President was the establishment of a "wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another" but which would otherwise leave them alone to regulate their own affairs. He wanted a government that…Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs: Although Thomas Jefferson came to power determined to limit the reach of the federal government, foreign affairs dominated his presidency and pushed him toward Federalist policies that greatly contrasted with his political philosophy. The first foreign episode involved Jefferson's war with the B…Life After the Presidency Life After the Presidency: With the inauguration of his handpicked successor, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson retired to his Virginia plantation home, Monticello. The former President was happy to be free from executive duties and eager to satisfy his boundless curiosity for life. In retirement, Jefferson pursued science and …Family Life Family Life: The simplicity of Thomas Jefferson's first inauguration set the social tone of his administration. He thereafter reduced the number of presidential balls, state dinners, and formal parties while greatly expanding private dinners, evening discussions, and gatherings of guests for readings in phil…The American Franchise The American Franchise: Although the so-called Revolution of 1800 saw no revolutionary changes in the American political scene, it was the dawning of a new age. The willingness of the Federalists to peacefully hand over power and to accept political defeat was extraordinary in a world controlled by kings and military l…Impact and Legacy Impact and Legacy: Thomas Jefferson's presidency initiated the quarter-century rule of the "Virginia Dynasty" (1801-1825), including the presidencies of loyal Jeffersonians James Madison (1809-1817) and James Monroe (1817-1825). As the center of political gravity shifted southward with t… About His Administration First Lady Martha Jefferson Randolph, Maria Jefferson Eppes, Dolley Madison Vice President George Clinton (1805-1809) Aaron Burr (1801-1805) Secretary of State James Madison (1801–1809) Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney (1807–1809) John Breckinridge (1805–1806) Levi Lincoln (1801–1804) Postmaster General Gideon Granger (1801–1809) Joseph Habersham (1801) Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1801–1809) Samuel Dexter (1801) Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith (1805–1809) Jacob Crowninshield (1805) Robert Smith (1801–1805) Benjamin Stoddert (1801) Secretary of War Henry Dearborn (1801–1809) Facts about Thomas Jefferson Term: 3rd President of the United States (1801 – 1809) Born: April 13, 1743, Shadwell plantation, Goochland County, Virginia Political Party: Democratic-Republican Died: July 04, 1826 Nickname: "Man of the People," "Sage of Monticello" Education: College of William and Mary (graduated 1762) Religion: No formal affiliation Marriage: January 1, 1772, to Martha Wayles Skelton (1748–1782) Children: Martha (1772–1836), Jane Randolph (1774–1775), infant son (1777), Mary (1778–1804), Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781), Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1785) Career: Lawyer, Planter Buried: Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia WritingsWritings (10 vols., 1892–99), ed. by Paul L. Ford; The Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1950– ), ed. by Julian P. Boyd; Notes on the State of Virginia 1781 (1955), ed. by William Peden; Autobiography (1959), ed. by Dumas Malone Thomas Jefferson Image Gallery More images » Citation Information Consulting Editor Peter Onuf Professor Onuf is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia. His writings include: Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood (University Press of Virginia, 2001) Statehood and Union: A History of the Northwest Ordinance (Indiana University Press, 1987) Origins of the Federal Republic: Jurisdictional Controversies in the United States, 1775–1787 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983) James Madison » « John Adams American President has changed! Click here to take a short survey and tell us what you think!


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Earlier this week, David Remnick interviewed Senator Barack Obama at the American Magazine Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Here is a transcript of their conversation. For an audio recording (46 minutes), click here to listen or right-click to download.
DAVID REMNICK: Please welcome Barack Obama....
BARACK OBAMA: Thank you.
You have this new book.
I do.
Yes. On page 100—
I read the book!
I appreciate that.
You're talking about your earliest days in the Senate, and you go to see Robert Byrd. And Robert Byrd gives you the time of day, and he wants to give you his best advice—he's been in the Senate for approximately two hundred and forty years. And he says the following: "We spoke about the Senate's past, the presidents he had known and the bills he had managed. He told me I would do well in the Senate but that I shouldn't be in too much of a rush—so many senators today became fixated on the White House, not understanding that in the constitutional design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and soul of the Republic." Are you going to follow his advice?
You just got the award for the most creative lead-in on a question I've been getting. First of all, visiting with Robert Byrd is a ritual that every senator has to go through. And it's an amazing scene, going into his office and seeing all the history on display. And I think that what he's absolutely right about is that we tend to think about politics in terms of individual ambition, and most of us who get there—I write in the book that, no matter what people say, there's some level of megalomania involved in getting to the United States Senate.
Which you plead guilty to.
Absolutely. Because you start off presuming that somehow you can represent your state better than anybody there, and put yourself through and your family through all kinds of misery to get there. So I think his advice more broadly is advice I try to take to heart, and that is to make sure that, whatever it is that I do, that I'm not solely driven by what's inside me, and what I'm driven by, but also by what the country needs, and what institutions need, and you have to be respectful of those institutions.
What about the specific advice?
Well, the specific advice I'm going to take under advisement. As I indicated, I haven't had much time to absorb much advice over the last—
But you've changed on this. In 2004, you went on Russert's show and said, No way, I'm going to fill out my term. Yesterday, not so much.
Well, look, it's been a busy two years. It does give you some sense of the sort of comical aspects of this, that Russert's original interview was literally a week after I'd been elected to the Senate, and I was already fielding questions about higher office. And at that time it was absolutely true that I thought, Well, that doesn't make any sense—I haven't been sworn in yet. Now, there's some, I think, who would argue that it still might not make sense after having only served two years in the U.S. Senate. And that's something that I very much appreciate. I understand it.
Let's say that you're considering it, which is basically what you said yesterday, that you're considering it now. What is the thought process of considering? What are the factors, yea and nay? Is this moment, 2008, a unique political moment that you worry may not come up again? Take the Colin Powell experience, for example. There was that moment in time where, if he had jumped in, it's quite likely he would have gone very far—maybe not to the end, but—and that moment then passed.
Well, I think there are a couple of things. We are at an interesting moment in our political history, because I think that we have gone through a cycle, of maybe fifteen years, twenty years, in which—as I write about in the book—it feels as if many of the battles of the sixties have been refought, over and over again, and the cast of characters who were involved have taken a lot of the frameworks of the sixties—what it means to be a conservative, what it means to be a liberal—and just gone at it. And the country's been very polarized and very divided as a consequence. And you do get a sense that there's this hunger for a different kind of politics, one that hopefully is, from my perspective, at least, is strongly progressive, and recognizes the need for government to play a role in broadening opportunity for people, but that scrambles some of the old categories, and is less embedded in some of these old battles. And that, I think, is an enormous opportunity. I think that is an enormous opportunity particularly for Democrats.
It's a way of saying that you need somebody younger than a baby boomer.
No, because it could be attitudinal as well, but the point, though, is that I think the country wants something different. Now, you asked about the process I go through. I go through a couple of things. Number one, do I have a message that's useful to that moment? I like to think I have a message that's useful to that moment. I like to think that I can contribute to that, otherwise I wouldn't have written this book. Then, there's the question of whether I am the right messenger for whatever message that is. And that's not clear as well, because, like anybody in politics, I've got strengths and I've got weaknesses, both politically and substantively. And then there's a third question, which I mentioned, I think, maybe on an earlier interview this week, which is that the bargain you strike with the American people when you run is to basically say, "You put me in this office, and I am giving over to you my entire life. But not just mine—also my family's life."
Are they ready for that?
Well, it's not clear that they are ready for it, or that I even want to put them in a position where they've got to make that decision.
If I can mention another passage in the book, there's a great scene, extraordinarily honest, where you decide to tell your wife that you are going to run for office, obviously after long consideration, an idea that she was not too crazy about at all, and you describe, with great subtlety, how in the morning you were only getting a peck on the cheek, at best—which, by the way, was a brilliant piece of writing, because I think all married couples knew what that meant. I've got to say that if you run for President you're going to be the first priest who ever made it to the White House, unless her attitude has changed markedly.
No. . . . Look, one of the wonderful things about my wife, and I write about this in the book—I value this enormously—is, she cares more about whether I'm a good father and a good husband than she does about whether I'm a U.S. senator. As she likes to say, she would be my No. 1 political supporter—she'd make calls and raise money, etc.—if I were her neighbor. She would be leading the bandwagon for me to run for President if I was married to somebody else.
But you're not making an announcement at the present time.
Good, good.
But those are all factors that you've got to walk through, and, as I said on Russert yesterday, look, this is serious business. And I will say—I've got to be careful here to make sure my publishers don't get mad, because all this stuff is converging precisely at the time when I'm bringing a book out, and obviously publicity is good—that I have always been suspicious of our celebrity culture. And now I find myself in this odd position where I am a part of it, and to some degree a beneficiary of it. We cycle through the new and the novel, and stack story after story on top of individuals, until we lose track of who we're talking about. And if you get absorbed in that you lose track of who you're talking about.
I think you told somebody that you were in danger of becoming more overexposed than Paris Hilton.
I did! And that, I think, is something that you have to battle against. On the one hand, I'm a public figure, and I wouldn't have gone into public life if I wasn't interested in shaping the debate and moving it forward.
John Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected to the Presidency. He had three terms in the House and then a full term in the Senate. What constitutes being ready for that office? We're now in the second term of a President who had a couple of terms as governor of Texas, and who was also described on the cover of Rolling Stone in a piece by Sean Wilentz, the American historian, as the worst President we've ever had in American history. Is that, by the way, is that an assessment you share?
You know—[to the audience] see that little segue there, "by the way," just as an aside. You know, I'm not a historian, so— There's a hotel, I think it's the Capitol Hilton, in Washington; and downstairs, where there are a lot of banquet halls, there's a whole row of all the presidents. You walk by the forty-three that have been there and you realize there are only about ten who you have any idea what they did. So this answers both questions. I don't know exactly what makes somebody ready to be President. It's not clear that J.F.K. was "ready" to be President, it's not clear that Harry Truman, when he was elevated, was "ready," and yet, somehow, some people respond and some people don't. My instinct is that people who are ready are folks who go into it understanding the gravity of their work, and are able to combine vision and judgment. Having knowledge is important. I'm one of those folks—I wouldn't probably fit in with the Administration—who actually thinks that being informed is a good basis for policy. That was a little—
No, that was good!
That was sort of a cheap shot. But the interesting thing, when you are in Washington, what struck me was how many really smart, capable people are around you all the time, offering you great ideas on every problem under the sun.
But you're the mediating intelligence as the President.
That's exactly right. That's what I meant in terms of combining vision and judgment. I think what—and this, I don't think this is just true of the President; I think this is true of leadership generally. I suspect that for those who are publishing and editors who are doing a good job leading their institutions, your job is to figure out—sifting through all that knowledge, synthesizing it, and then making some judgments about why we do this instead of that to get to this place and to be able to focus, in the case of the President, the country's attention on how to get there.
Part of what makes experience, and part of what makes maybe somebody road-tested is the amount of trials that you've been through in politics. In elected politics, by your own admission, you've been pretty lucky.
More than pretty lucky. Very lucky.
Real lucky. And, in terms of government, you've been in the Senate for a few years. What has been the toughest thing you've had to face as a senator?
As a U.S. senator?
Well, as a U.S. senator, being in the minority is always tough. Keep in mind, though, that I was in the [Illinois] state senate for seven years before I was in the U.S. Senate. And, to some degree, the experiences in the state legislature are identical to Congress, except that there are a lot of reporters around in Washington and there are virtually none in the state capitol. But the pattern of legislative activity is very similar, and the political dynamic was similar, because when I first arrived at the state legislature, we had an old guy who was the senate president, named "Pate" Philip. And he was not a neoconservative but the original paleoconservative. He was a big, hulking guy. He looked like John Murtha, but had very different politics, and would chomp on cigars and make politically incorrect statements, and he had adopted Newt Gingrich's—
Not just Contract with America; he had adopted Newt Gingrich's rules for running the House. As a consequence, you couldn't even amend a bill without his approval. So I went for the first six years, maybe passing ten bills, maybe five of them substantive, and was extraordinarily frustrated. We attained the majority the seventh year and I passed twenty-six bills in a row. In one year. Reformed the death penalty in Illinois, expanded health care for kids, set up a state earned-income tax credit. It wasn't that I was smarter in year seven than I was in year six, or more experienced; it was that we had power. And so the frustration, or the difficulty, that I feel in the U.S. Senate is very similar. You can have the best agenda in the world, but if you don't control the gavel you cannot move an agenda forward. And, when you do control the gavel, not only can you move an agenda forward but you can actually [move them]. I constantly see opportunities for collaboration across ideological lines to get stuff done. But you have to be the one who's dictating how the compromises work. If it's somebody who's not interested in compromising who's in charge, you can come up with all sorts of good ideas, and they'll stiff you. If you're the person who somebody else has to come to, you can actually engage, and that's how, for example, we got the death-penalty reform. We set up the first videotaping of interrogations and confessions on capital cases. We were in the majority at that point, but I still reached out to all the law-enforcement folks, and we just sat down in a room. And that is, by the way, the most gratifying feeling in politics, for me: when you hit that sweet spot where everybody concludes that the law that we've just passed works and is going to make things better, and everybody across party lines has to confess that we're probably better off with this thing than not.
Where do you find yourself having the biggest differences with Hillary Clinton, politically?
You know, I think very highly of Hillary. The more I get to know her, the more I admire her. I think she's the most disciplined—one of the most disciplined people—I've ever met. She's one of the toughest. She's got an extraordinary intelligence. And she is, she's somebody who's in this stuff for the right reasons. She's passionate about moving the country forward on issues like health care and children. So it's not clear to me what differences we've had since I've been in the Senate. I think what people might point to is our different assessments of the war in Iraq, although I'm always careful to say that I was not in the Senate, so perhaps the reason I thought it was such a bad idea was that I didn't have the benefit of U.S. intelligence. And, for those who did, it might have led to a different set of choices. So that might be something that sort of is obvious. But, again, we were in different circumstances at that time: I was running for the U.S. Senate, she had to take a vote, and casting votes is always a difficult test.
How would one run against Hillary Clinton, in that sense?
Oh, I don't know.
You never gave it any thought?
I haven't.
You sure?
Let's go back to my President Bush question. Obviously, you want to answer it in quite the—
[to the audience] He's a troublemaker, you notice? He sounds so much nicer in his columns.
Yeah. Sorry to disabuse you of that.
[to the audience] He turns out to be kind of a prickly guy.
You said prickly. Some people on the left, and as you put it in the blogosphere, have been pretty tough on you about being maybe too mild about the Bush Administration. I guess what I'd like to hear, and what other people would like to hear, is a kind of sustained critique yea or nay for the Bush Administration.
Nay. But maybe a little more sustained than that. And has the Bush Administration done anything good, in your view?
Let's start with what they've done well. Something that I have tried to give them credit for publicly—and I think says something about how they think about their base, and how that shapes their politics—is actually on AIDS in Africa, and around the world. They have followed through on that investment. I just came back from Africa in August, and there's still some ideological issues in terms of condom use, and abstinence, and all that stuff, but, in terms of investing, in a serious way, to try to make a difference in Africa, where—
On the ground—
—on the ground, and there's no obvious political payoff for that. And that speaks to the passion of the evangelical community on this issue, which I think has influenced the Administration and the President, and I think that's something that deserves a lot of credit. And it points to an opportunity over the long term to engage the evangelical community—not, you know, the hard Christian right but people like Rick Warren, or T. D. Jakes, these kinds of guys, who I think are very sincere about what they believe is their Christian mandate to help the poor. So that's something I think they've done well. I would say that my overarching critique is that this has been probably the most ideologically driven Administration in my memory. And I'm trying to cast back—I don't know how far I'd have to go back to find one, a combination of a House, Senate, and White House, that has been so obstinate in resisting facts, dissenting opinions, compromise. Everything is based on a set of preconceived notions that ignore whatever reality and information comes at them.
But does this seem like a—I don't mean to harp on this, but this seems like an Administration that you disagree with, or that you look at as a disaster.
Well, I think that this Administration has done great damage to this country.
Specifically where? Where are, say, the three areas that are the worst?
Foreign policy, I think, is the most obvious. I think the war in Iraq has been—was flawed not just in execution but in conception, and has done enormous damage to our standing around the world. I think it has weakened us in our capacity to deal with terrorism. It has—we have used so much political capital there that we have not been effective on issues like Iran, North Korea, Darfur. We have no chits to use up. It has gutted our military. It's going to probably take the same amount of time that it took for the military to recover from Vietnam. That's how long it's going to take for us to be able to recover when it comes to Iraq. And the tone of unilateralism—which, by the way, I think is reversible, just not while this Administration is in office—but that tone has created an atmosphere around the world that is impeding us on a whole host of issues.
Even in Africa, ironically.
Absolutely. So that, I think, would be the most obvious damage. I would say, domestically, our national debt and budget constrain us in ways that are going to be very far-reaching, and long-lasting. And I think whoever is elected in 2008 is going to be cleaning up the fiscal mess that was created as a consequence of the President's tax cuts. And the third point I guess I would make, and this cuts across issues—it's true with health care, it's true with energy, it's true with education—is the incapacity to take serious action around a set of issues that, if we don't deal with now, will leave us in either an uncompetitive position, in the case of energy, an environmental point of no return. It's the fact that we didn't get started on a whole host of issues that we shouldn't be starting right now, because it takes long lead times to change the schools, or it takes long lead times to develop alternative energy sources. I think those are years of missed opportunity that make it harder for us to deal with them in the future.
Senator, one of the most interesting aspects of this book, and it also elides to the previous book, too, is your attitude about religion and your discussion about religion, and, I don't know how many people have had a chance to read the book quite yet, but it is very frank in the sense that you were brought up in a distinctly secular home, and that you have great doubts, even now, about belief in God. I wouldn't ask you something so blunt as "Do you believe in God, do you not believe in God"; I'll leave that for other venues. But your attitude toward evangelicals is to bring them in and not face them in a kind of oppositional way. And yet you feel compelled to talk about yourself and your personal life in religious terms. I wonder if you found that hard to write about, or if you found it necessary to write about, in order to go up to the next level in American politics.
Not that your belief is necessary but that, rather, the discussion of it is necessary.
No, no, no, I understand. You know, I felt it was necessary in part because of—again, I think this is the historical moment we're in—we have come to define religion in absolutist, fundamentalist terms. So to be a believer is to be a fundamentalist in some fashion. And I guess what I was trying to describe is a faith that admits doubt, and uncertainty, and mystery. Because, ultimately, I think that's how most people understand their faith. In fact, it's not faith if you're absolutely certain. There's a leap that we all take, and, when you admit that doubt publicly, it's a form of testimony. Then what I think it does is it allows both the secular and the religious to find some sort of common space where we say to each other, Well, I may not believe exactly what you do, what you believe, but I share an experience in wondering what does my life mean, or I understand the desire for a connection to something larger than myself. And that, I think, is in the best of the United States religious tradition.
How old were you when you came to the church?
I was, I must have been twenty-seven? Twenty-eight? And, as I said in the book, look, there are still passages that I read in the Bible, that I say, Well, this doesn't make any sense.
Do you think that'll be a problematic confession when it reaches—if it ever does reach—the national political stage?
No. One of the things that I argue in the book is that—
Forgive me, but I think you have a sentence in the book where you say that there are more people that believe in angels than in—
Darwinian evolution. And, take it as you will, that seems to suggest that that would be problematic to—
Well, I think that if people want to know my opinion I will tell them, I think, evolution is more grounded, in my experience, at least, than angels. I don't know, but—I mean, I can't be positive. I don't think that will offend the majority of Americans. I think that—
What about confessing to drug use? You talk about marijuana and cocaine.
Oh, look, you know, when I was a kid, I inhaled. Frequently. That was the point.
It was, wasn't it?
You know, it's, it's not something I make light of. It's something that I wrote actually about in my first book, and it was reflective of the struggles and confusion of a teen-age boy. And in that sense, I think, the vast majority of Americans understand that teen-age boys are frequently confused.
It's all flashing in front of me. The Chicago Tribune had a series of articles about, a couple of months ago, about Dennis Hastert and a certain transportation bill, and a guy who came into the House worth a few hundred thousand dollars is going to leave the House worth, I don't know, five, six million dollars, as a result of this transportation bill that made land that he owns alongside Illinois highways immensely more valuable, which you voted for and worked on.
Didn't know about the land at the time, but—
How do you feel about the Hastert piece of it?
You know, I think that it is critical to figure out at all times how to guard against appearances of impropriety. I don't know the details of what transpired with respect to the Speaker. I have tried to be scrupulous in terms of my own behavior, but, look, there are times where, you know, I can get caught up in the relationships that you have—you know, you have a supporter who is a longtime friend who suddenly they get into trouble, and you're caught off guard. What I'm most concerned about is the structural or systematic institutional problems that I write about—not so much the rank corruption, you know, the Duke Cunninghams, or the Bob Neys; but more the steady and pervasive influence that money has in Washington. And contributions are just a part of it. As I remind people, the biggest advantage that big money has in Washington is a host of full-time lobbyists who can track that one bill that, for their client, means a billion-dollar tax break, but that nobody else even knows is there.
Did you feel it weighing on your shoulders from the moment you entered the Senate?
What I feel is that the budget process in particular is so undisciplined, and so opaque, that it is very difficult for any senator to know what you're voting on when it comes to budgetary matters at any given time. You've got this big monster bill. And those who control that process are able to slip in and massage and work on whatever they want. So I worked with an unlikely partner, Republican Tom Coburn, to set up a Google for government, that requires all federal spending over twenty-five thousand dollars to be on the Internet. Even making that a more effective database, it can be helpful to the reporters of some of the magazines in this room, and yet it is still not how you would want a budget to work. And it provides enormous opportunities for mischief.
I've got one more question, and then we're going to have some questions from the audience. Being a politician is a crazy way to live.
It is ridiculous.
You split your time between home and the fleshpots of Washington, you have to raise money all the time, shake hands, people tell you stuff, they ask rude stuff on platforms. You could be changing the world in many different ways. Do you ever have doubts about yourself as a pol? One of the distinguishing features of this book is that you allow doubt into the picture. Most politicians chase that away as a first gesture. Do you ever think this really is a nutty way to do business?
Every day.
Every day.
Every day. And I don't mean that as a joke. I mean, once a day I say to myself, It's not clear that my family wouldn't be happier, and I wouldn't be accomplishing just as much outside of politics, and it would cause less stress and less strain. What keeps me in it so far has been an abiding faith in democracy. And I don't mean that in a corny way. I have town-hall meetings, and I write about that in the book. And attendance varies, and this is all across the state of Illinois, which is a wonderful microcosm of the country, because it's urban and rural, and North and South. Some of the town-hall meetings will have a hundred, two hundred people. Sometimes we have two thousand. And you walk in and you get a mike and you just start opening yourself up to questions. And you hear these incredible stories that people tell, about single moms who are trying to get health care for their kids, or a veteran who is struggling with disability payments. You get unlikely comments. You go to a little farm community, and somebody's concerned about Darfur, or you go to—I write about going to a South Side church with a whole black inner-city congregation and somebody asks you about farm policy, and what you realize is that, in fits and starts, and very imperfectly, when the country is engaged we really do have the best form of government yet conceived. And the idea of being a part of that, and helping that along, is very attractive to me. When I'm in that moment, interacting with constituents, and when I feel like I'm learning or teaching, it's like being in a big classroom. I was a constitutional-law professor for ten years, and that's how it feels. It's just being in a big classroom, and every once in a while a light bulb goes off.
Will you feel that way when—right now, you are hitting a peak of the curve. You're on the cover of Time, you're doing a publicity tour for a book, you've mainly gotten adulation and good reviews. You haven't had a bad play yet on Forty-second Street. Are you going to be able to withstand the other part of the curve, that comes to every politician and every public figure.
Well, keep in mind, I lost a congressional race.
To Bobby Rush.
And none of you knew about it. But I was completely mortified and humiliated, and felt terrible. The biggest problem in politics, is the fear of loss. It's a very public thing, which most people don't have to go through. Obviously, the flip side of publicity and hype is when you fall, folks are right there, snapping away. And so that is something naturally you worry about, but my hope is that I've been in this long enough and through this process enough that I take the good with the bad and don't read the good press clippings or the bad press clippings.
Some questions. Yes? [question inaudible] To make it a lot shorter: Is the White House a house worth inheriting, considering the shape that this gentleman obviously thinks it's in.
It's a legitimate question, because I think the next President is going to have a lot of problems to clean up and not a lot of resources to work with. So whoever is elected is going to have to have a conversation with the American people about what our challenges are, what steps we can take, how long it's going to take, and ask that they join, that they take ownership in this project. You know—I was just mentioning town-hall meetings—one of the things that invariably come up when I'm in town-hall meetings is, I'll have ten or fifteen questions, mostly relating to "We need more money for health care," or "Why did the prescription-drug bill have a doughnut hole in it," or "The roads need to be built," etc., and then somebody in the audience will say, "And when are we going to get rid of that death tax?" And it's a terrific—I have a friend who teaches and talks about teachable moments. And it's a great teachable moment, where you say to them, You know, I hope at some point I need to wiggle my way out of the inheritance tax, since, by 2009, seven million dollars will be exempted for a couple passing on to their kids. But, I said, completely eliminating it will cost a trillion dollars. Now, we have three options to achieve that. We can borrow a trillion dollars from China, which is what we've been doing; we can tax the 99.5 per cent of the population an extra trillion dollars to make up for the tax cut for the top .5 per cent; or we can cut a trillion dollars' worth of programs. And here's what that would involve, because we'd have to put Medicaid benefits, and Medicare benefits, and student-loan programs, and so forth. So who are we? What are our values? Is that something that's a priority to us? And, invariably, if you have the capacity to have that conversation, people make the right choice. They say, All right. That doesn't make sense. And maybe there's a way we can exempt small businesses, and family farms so they can get passed on. But, no, we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't make that choice. That's the power of the Presidency that I don't see used enough. The capacity to explain to the American people in very prosaic, straightforward terms: here are the choices we have. The biggest problem we have in our politics, and our campaigns press this upon candidates, is to lie about the choices that have to be made. And to obfuscate and to fudge. And so by the time the person arrives there people are already set up for disappointment. And my wife—you know, I love talking to her. She takes pride in considering herself like the Everyperson—who happens to have gone to Princeton and Harvard Law School. But, to her credit, I mean, she grew up on the South Side of Chicago, working-class family, and that's why she's so suspicious of this hype surrounding me now, and she's absolutely right, because she says, you know, people don't want hard choices. Everybody's all happy and feel-good, until you actually say to them, Well, you know what? Actually, if we have a real energy plan it's going to cost something. There's not a magic energy store where we can buy a new gadget; we're going to have to invest and make some tough decisions. But I do think the American people respond better to that conversation than we give them credit for, and it's not tried often enough.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Let us say in the next election the Democrats win both the House and the Senate. In 2008, whether you run for President or not, what would you say were the three most important priorities that the new President, with a Democratic Congress, should present to the American people as the things that need to get done?
Well, it is hard to anticipate at this point where we're going to be in Iraq. But first priority would be to stabilize and extricate ourselves from the morass that we're in right now. I've called for a phased withdrawal; I hope that the Baker-Hamilton commission helps to move us in that direction. I think not only do we have to engage the Iraqis but also the regional powers, including Iran and Syria, in a conversation about stabilizing the area, and force them to recognize that they've got a self-interest. If we're not there, they've got a big self-interest in making sure that country does not utterly collapse. More broadly, and this I think would be one of the most important things a new President can do, is to essentially figure out what is the updated version of the post-World War II order that was structured by Truman and Acheson, and Marshall and Kennan—what does that look like? What is our national-security strategy? Because we've never gone through that process. In the nineties, the basic feeling was, you know, as long as McDonald's are opening up all over the world everything's going to be O.K. And then we had 9/11, and immediately launched into a unilateral, sabre-rattling approach to foreign policy. But what we've never really done is thought strategically about how, in an age of asymmetrical warfare, with countries like China and Russia that are no longer direct enemies, but are clearly competitors, and huge chunks of the world that are essentially collapsing and ungoverned—what does that mean for us? And what does that mean for our military? So that would be point No. 1. On the domestic front, I would say that it is time for the Democrats to get over what happened in '94, and to move on an aggressive plan for health-care reform in this country. And I personally think universal health care remains a vital goal for us to meet. And I think for us to shy away from it robs the Democrats of any claim of dealing with one of the most pressing issues—not just for individual families but also for our economy and our competitiveness. And the third, which I've already, I think, hinted at, is energy. I believe Al Gore—and the other, you know, ten thousand scientists out there. I know there are those two holdouts in the White House. From a national-security posture, there's not a better thing we could do—for example, dealing with proliferation issues in Iran—than to drive the price of oil down to twenty-five bucks a barrel. It's the single biggest thing we could do to effectuate change and cut the legs out of some of the fundamentalist impulses in the Middle East. And so why we're not pursuing that in a very aggressive way baffles me. And I think the country's ready for it. I mentioned that, travelling around the country, what I've been struck by is the degree to which, despite gas prices going down, the issue of energy policy is still registering very high among voters. They recognize that the current path we're on is unsustainable.
REMNICK: Senator, on behalf of everybody here, I want to thank you for your time.


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I got the chance to travel from Houston to Seymour, TX and explore the Texas Redbeds in search of fossils with David and the HMNS Paleo Program. HMNS staff and volunteers have been making these trips for four years now. They have found several excellent specimens and brought them here to prepare for our new and improved Paleontology Hall. I'd had some experience looking at the bones and things that the crew had been bringing back to the Museum but this was my first experience actually in the field – and I was pretty excited!
|Drawing of a Diplocaulus
The first morning we arrived at the site and looked around at a few different locations before settling down in the "pit" to dig. I got to spend a little time training my eyes to see fossilized bone, teeth, cartilage and coprolites among the rocks at the "spoil pile" which is a great experience because the ratio of fossils to rocks on the surface is such that you have a pretty good chance of closing your eyes and picking up a fossil! Then we moved over to learn the digging technique where fossils were a bit more hidden in the pit; it took a few minutes to get the hang of how to hold the tools and make sure that you are using enough force to move the dirt but not so much that you break a hidden bone. All and all it was really enjoyable first day at the site.
Over the next two days after Dr. Bakker arrived we visited several other sites on the property and I got a chance to work on excavating a dimetrodon spine, map some dig sites (here's a fun school dig site mapping activity), learn about other findings like the diplocaulus or "boomerang head" skull we're looking at in the photo above. I enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside the experts and learn about all of the preparation work that is required for each and every specimen that will be in the new Paleontology hall (coming soon!) here at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I can't wait to see everything on display in the new wing of the Museum – it's going to be so exciting!
For more information about what fossils are found at the dig site in Seymour check out some of the entries on the Prehistoric CSI blog, you can also find some really awesome illustrations on that site to bring the animals to life!


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30 in 30: Blue Jackets buzzing with optimismby John Kreiser
For a team that has made the Stanley Cup Playoffs just once since entering the NHL in 2000, there's an awful lot of optimism surrounding the Columbus Blue Jackets as they prepare for their first season in the new Metropolitan Division of the realigned Eastern Conference.
It's amazing what a fast finish can do.
The Blue Jackets came up just short of the playoffs last season. They tied the Minnesota Wild for eighth place in the Western Conference, but lost on a tiebreaker (Columbus had 19 non-shootout victories, three fewer than Minnesota). Most of their 55 points came during the last two months of the 48-game schedule -- Columbus went 20-5-3 after February after a 4-12-4 start.
"There's lots of excitement here," coach Todd Richards told NHL.com. "There's lots of anticipation of the season. There's a real buzz. Everyone wants to talk hockey now, where in the past it wasn't that way. A lot of it has to do with the way we finished the season, plus the draft -- we had three first-round picks -- and free agency, where we got Nathan Horton and re-signing [goaltender Sergei] Bobrovsky and [center Artem] Anisimov. There are a lot of positive things that have happened, and there's a real, genuine excitement here."
The biggest reason for the turnaround and the optimism surrounding the team was the performance of Bobrovsky, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers last summer. The 24-year-old Russian got his chance after Steve Mason continued to struggle, and played well enough to earn the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender, finishing with a 21-11-6 record, a 2.00 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. He was at his best in the final weeks of the season, going 8-1-0 in his final nine starts, while allowing 15 goals.
Winning the Vezina obviously was a big achievement for Bobrovsky, but Richards feels it also was a big deal for the organization.
"For our franchise, whenever you have someone win one of the major awards, that's a real accomplishment," he said. "Sergei had a great year. He was great himself, but what I think gets lost in the mix is how the guys played in front of him. He made some highlight-reel saves, and I think through the course of the season most goalies do that. He was real solid for us, but I think the guys in front of him played a good game."
The Blue Jackets signed Bobrovsky to a two-year contract this summer, and he'll have to prove he can carry the load for a full 82-game season; the only backup goaltender in the organization with any NHL experience is 30-year-old journeyman Curtis McElhinney, who spent last season playing for the Blue Jackets' American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Falcons. He is 19-26-4 with a 3.10 GAA in 69 NHL games with four teams.
"It was real important for us as a franchise that we brought him back," Richards said of Bobrovsky. "It was big news for our franchise and big news for our city that we were bringing back last year's No. 1 goaltender."
Center Brandon Dubinsky, starting his second season in Columbus, has no doubt that Bobrovsky can match his breakout season.
"I don't think he's one of those one-off guys," Dubinsky told NHL.com. "He has a great work ethic. I don't think there's a guy in the League that I've played with or seen who works as hard as he does. He has that quality that [Rangers goaltender Henrik] Lundqvist has, that focus. He has what it takes to be an elite goaltender; tack on his work ethic on top of that and the sky's the limit for him.
"Start with a guy like that and you can build a team around it."
The Bobrovsky signing was one of two major moves for the Blue Jackets this summer. The other was bringing in veteran forward Nathan Horton, a Stanley Cup winner with the Boston Bruins in 2011. Horton was second on the team during 2013 postseason with 19 points and led all players with a plus-20 rating, signed a seven-year, $37.1 million contract with the Blue Jackets on July 5. He won't be ready for the start of the season after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, but he and late-season acquisition Marian Gaborik will give the Blue Jackets a 1-2 punch on right wing.
Horton said one reason he came to the Blue Jackets -- a team not previously regarded as a likely destination for top free agents -- was the perception that the team is moving forward under president of hockey operations John Davidson, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and Richards.
"I want to bring what I can to the team," Horton said after signing. "I think that scoring goals, battling, bringing pucks to the net like a power forward does, that's what I want to do. But again, I'll do anything it takes, wherever I'm slotted and wherever the coach wants me to be, that's where I'll play and I'll be happy to do it because I want to get back and be in the playoffs, obviously, and everyone else does.
"I think we've got the team to do it. I think that's why we're so excited here. There's a buzz going around and I've felt it since I got here."
To Richards, the fact that a player like Horton would come to Columbus indicates the franchise is on the way up.
"I think it is a sign that we're on the upswing," he said. "Prior to this year, if you talked about Columbus, it wasn't a place players would really gravitate to.
"He could have gone anywhere in the NHL for the most part, and he chose to come here."
The Blue Jackets hope that Gaborik's every-other-year trend carries through to 2013-14. In each of the past six seasons beginning with an odd number, he's scored 40 goals and finished with at least 76 points and a plus-15 rating. Gaborik had three goals and eight points in 12 games after coming from the New York Rangers at the NHL Trade Deadline, but he's scored 30 or more goals seven times and gives the Blue Jackets the kind of home-run hitter they lost when Rick Nash was dealt to the Rangers last summer.
Gaborik is one of five ex-Rangers on the roster. Defenseman Tim Erixon and centers Anisimov and Dubinsky arrived last summer in the trade that sent Nash, the franchise's all-time scoring leader, to New York. Veteran defenseman Fedor Tyutin has spent the past five seasons with the Blue Jackets.
Additions: RW Nathan Horton, RW Jack Skille, G Curtis McElhinney
Subtractions: C Colton Gillies; C Nick Drazenovic
UFAs: C Vinny Prospal; D Adrian Aucoin
Promotion candidates: D Ryan Murray, C Boone Jenner, D Cody Goloubef
Tyutin and Jack Johnson, a February 2012 acquisition from the Los Angeles Kings, formed a solid pairing down the stretch on a defense that could get a boost from the arrival of Ryan Murray, the second player taken in the 2012 NHL Draft. A shoulder injury that required surgery derailed his hopes of making the team as an 18-year-old, but he says he's completely healthy now and eager to show what he can do.
"I'm feeling really good," he told NHL.com. "The shoulder feels great. I got the opportunity [last spring] to do some rehab and watch a bunch of games and be around the guys. I learned a lot watching how they prepare and treat their job -- how serious they are and how hard they work."
"That's my goal," he said of cracking the top six in Columbus this season. "I have my work cut out for me, but that's definitely my goal."
The Blue Jackets will need big seasons from Gaborik and Horton after finishing 24th in offense last season. Mark Letestu led the Blue Jackets with 13 goals, and Anisimov was the only other full-time Blue Jacket still on the roster to reach double figures.
Richards said he feels the additions of Gaborik and Horton should give the Blue Jackets enough of a boost to push them into the top eight in the East.
"We've added two guys who are proven scorers at this level," he said.
The late-season surge has enthused the Blue Jackets' fan base, which never has seen their team win a playoff game. Richards said he can feel the excitement as well, but one of his jobs is to make sure expectations aren't too large for a team whose only playoff appearance was 2009.
"With all of the great stuff that happened, there are higher expectations now," he said. "There are a lot of positive things, but now people are expecting more. Our fan base is expecting more. Hockey people have been talking us up a lot, and there are a lot of good things in Columbus, but now they're expecting more.
"We have to take another step. We took two steps forward last year; we can't take a step back."
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