The Future of Coal:  A Debate In Every State Due To This Coalition

Inside the war on coal: How Mike Bloomberg, red-state businesses, and a lot of Midwestern lawyers are changing American energy faster than you think," by Mike Grunwald: "The war on coal is not just political rhetoric, or a paranoid fantasy concocted by rapacious polluters. It's real and it's relentless. Over the past five years, it has killed a coal-fired power plant every 10 days. ... Beyond Coal is the most extensive, expensive and effective campaign in the [Sierra] Club's 123-year history, and maybe the history of the environmental movement. ...

"[I]t's helped retire more than one third of America's coal plants since its launch in 2010, one dull hearing at a time. With a vast war chest donated by Michael Bloomberg, unlikely allies from the business world, and a strategy that relies more on economics than ecology, its team of nearly 200 litigators and organizers has won battles in the Midwestern and Appalachian coal belts, in the reddest of red states, in almost every state that burns coal." http://politi.co/1At0lRj

Good Advice For New Graduates & Future Leaders From Robert Draper Commencement Speech-2015

"Hereafter, there's not a whole lot that you're going to be able to control. You can't control how people feel about you; you can't control market forces; you can't control ... how the floodwaters rise and fall in your life. What you do have total control over, 100%, is your own ambition."

"You can do with your ambition whatever you will; but the care and feeding of it is entirely up to you. This is the part of the speech that's very familiar to me, because I have been giving it about once a week, for 30 years, to myself. ... [Y]ou and you alone are the custodian of your own career. It is not just that you can't look to the people who love you and place value in you to tell you what to do next with your life -- it's that oftentimes it's against their best interests, as the people whose job it is to stabilize you, to tell you it's time to shake things up."

Criminal Justice Reform: Urgent. Now. 

among the many things the state legislature should address Is this issue.  The Governor's recommendations are encouraging if the legislature will stay focused and stay at work-in Lansing and working five days a week on public policy proposals and debates.  Paid to be full time.  Voters might start looking more seriously at a part time legislature. 

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/18/governor-snyder-special-message-criminal-justice-reform/27537747/

Poverty and the Public Square

if we are going to make the elimination of poverty we must make it a priority in public policy.  Not huge programs like a "war on poverty" , but attack it piece by piece and prioritize making sure every American understands how poverty impacts and affects every American, not just the victims of poverty. 

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/may/08/child-poverty-case-for-cash-allowances/

Judicial and Correction System Re-Rhink and Reform

The United States has 5% of world's population, but our prison's house 25% of the world's prisoners.  This country has 50% of the world's lawyers.  

This information comes from a column today by Fared Zacharia and a new book by Conrad Black.  This year we have as a nation begun to think about our justice and corrections systems as we watched riots in Ferguson and in Baltimore.  American's have begun to think about how did so many of our young men in inner cities wide up in our judicial system and eventually in our prisons.  

One issue we will discuss in this blog will be what needs to be fixed so we can reduce our prison population but also restore faith in our nation's legal system.  How can we make our cities safe and have effective justice for all our citizens.  

Hello Michigan. Good Bye NH and IA

This development could be good news for Michigan's political leaders and parties.  Also good news for Michigan's economy - more media advertising spending in Michigan.  Might be good for Governor Snyder's presidential campaign plans. 

Politico Magazine: 

" Some party operatives say that 2016 could be the first race in the modern era in which a candidate does not need to win Iowa or New Hampshire to prevail." http://wapo.st/1z8uIeV


Liberal Studies and Technical Education & John Adams

In short, it makes eminent sense to study coding and statistics today, but also history and literature.

John Adams had it right when he wrote to his wife, Abigail, in 1780: “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History and Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.


"Highest Return Now Goes To...

...those who combine soft skills like communicating with technical skills."  This is a good read on importance of liberal arts degree, a degree in the humanities combined with some solid technical skills is the future of educating leaders for our new global economy.  This is from an article in the New York Times today by Nick Krisoff.  http://nyti.ms/1D6fiTW Recently, author Fareed Zakaria (In Defense of a Liberal Education) and Michael Roth (Beyond the University:  Why Liberal Education Matters) published books on this topic.  These two books are worth a read for all those concerned about preparing and educating future global leaders but also for those concerned about how universities are or are not focused enough on global trends and preparation of global leaders.