Bono about (RED)WIRE

U2 - I Believe In Father Christmas [U2's contribution to (RED)WIRE]

Not So Easy on His Knees: Balancing Faith with Celebrity

Not So Easy on His Knees: Balancing Faith with Celebrity, Part I

Part II

Part III

Editor’s Note: Here, we continue to publish the work of Dr. Laurie Britt-Smith and her exploration of Bono’s rock-n-roll rhetoric. In this installment, she begins an exploration of the tension between faith and celebrity grounded in the concept of a Discourse community.

Previous articles:

Community, Rock, & Rhetoric

Is Bono A Prophet

And A Rock Star Shall Lead Them

Some Carbon Candor: A climate guru rebukes his mates on cap and trade.

Liberal interest groups, think tanks, lobbyists, bloggers and other nuisances are inundating the incoming Obama Administration with advice, but James Hansen recently managed to say something interesting. Namely, the famous NASA scientist had the nerve to expose some of the global-warming fantasies widespread among children and politicians.

No, the spiritual leader of the climate-change movement hasn't recanted. Global warming threatens "not simply the Earth, but the fate of all its species, including humanity," he writes in his manifesto, which is tame by Mr. Hansen's normal rhetorical standards. (He likes to compare carbon to the Holocaust: "those coal trains will be death trains -- no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria.")

But Mr. Hansen also had the honesty to follow his convictions to their logical conclusion, while reproaching his followers -- President-elect Obama among them -- for not doing the same. To wit, Mr. Hansen endorses a straight carbon tax as the only "honest, clear and effective" way to reduce emissions, with the revenues rebated in their entirety to consumers on a per-capita basis. "Not one dime should go to Washington for politicians to pick winners," he writes.

The risks of fossil fuels remain speculative, but if they really are the apocalypse of Mr. Hansen's prophecies, then the cleanest remedy is a tax. That would raise energy and all other prices as the incentive for new technologies and investments. But a tax would be neutral, eliminating the market distortions caused by subsidies and regulation, and the proceeds could be used to offset other taxes. The transition to a world in which growth is not tied to carbon would still be long and extremely expensive, but a tax would be the least painful way to get there.

"A tax should be called a tax," Mr. Hansen writes. "The public can understand this and will accept a tax if it is clearly explained and if 100 percent of the money is returned." Clearly the man is not standing for elective office.

Beltway sachems prefer posturing that disguises the cost of rising energy prices, such as cap and trade. This "subterfuge," as Mr. Hansen terms it, shifts the direct burden onto businesses, which then pass it along to consumers. Congress may flatter itself that it is saving mankind, but what the Members really want is a cap-and-trade windfall that they can redistribute in the green pork of Mr. Obama's "new energy economy," whatever that means.

Unrealistically, Mr. Hansen also favors a complete phase-out of coal-fired electric power, arguing that it be replaced by advanced nuclear, which could be capable of recycling radioactive waste within a decade. He adds: "It is essential that hardened 'environmentalists' not be allowed to delay the R&D on 4th generation nuclear power." We'd like to see him debate Al Gore on that one.

Mr. Hansen can usually find a journalistic stenographer for his pronouncements. This one evaporated without a trace. Perhaps it's because the Obama transition is drowning in position papers. Or perhaps his candor is merely too embarrassing.

Barack's Windfall Reversal: Here comes the 'change' part of his Administration.

One of Barack Obama's emerging political qualities is how casually he has been dumping the ballast of his campaign promises. The latest lousy policy to go over the side is a windfall profits tax on U.S. oil companies.

Throughout his run for President, Mr. Obama argued the industry deserved special taxation on its "excess" earnings. He planned to use the proceeds to fund an "emergency" round of $1,000 rebate checks for families. "It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits when ordinary Americans are going into debt trying to pay rising energy costs," he said. The sentiment featured in campaign ads and attacks on John McCain.

Mr. Obama never did offer a good or even particular reason for the oil majors to face this Carter-era inspiration -- apart from appeasing the populist furies. And he couldn't, either, given that multiple other industries profit more both in absolute terms and in returns on equity or sales. Nor could he account for the fact the tax confiscation would merely be passed along to the public in forgone investment in new exploration and production (and thus higher prices at the pump) or lower dividends.

Now with the election safely over, a transition spokesman explained this week that the drop in oil prices to $50 a barrel has made the windfall tax a dead letter. Left unexplained was why the oil companies suddenly decided to stop profiteering, or manipulating commodity prices, or whatever it was they were supposedly doing. But be thankful for small mercies. It is reassuring that Mr. Obama's calls to arbitrarily soak an unpopular business were merely rooted in political expediency, not some economic philosophy.

Tisdale's biggest rebound comes after loss of leg to cancer

ESPN

Tisdale says his experiences on the basketball court helped him face the challenges of cancer.

ESPN

Tisdale has become a quick learner on his Sooners-style prothesis.

ESPN

"If you see me smile, you see the genuine love. That's me."

Citi’s ThankYou Network, Amazon.com Join Forces

Today, Citi’s ThankYou Rewards Network, a world-class loyalty program, unveiled a new rewards experience that allows its members to redeem ThankYou Points for products fulfilled through Amazon.com. Now, Members can enjoy using their points to shop the millions of items Citi has made available to them from Amazon.com, the online retailer that features earth’s biggest selection.

ThankYou Network’s enhanced rewards collection fulfilled through Amazon.com offers an incredible selection of merchandise backed by superb services and a new expedited shipping option, just in time for the holiday season. Members will now have even more redemption options in addition to the great deal of other useful rewards, such as travel and gift cards, they have long enjoyed.

“Providing rewards fulfilled through an industry leader such as Amazon.com reinforces Citi’s commitment to offering world-class rewards to our ThankYou Members,” said Nancy Gordon, executive vice-president of ThankYou Network. “Our goal is to create unique experiences for our customers. Providing ThankYou Members with the opportunity to use the points they’ve earned to shop for millions of goods through this amazing new channel makes that goal a reality.”

“We are pleased that Citi has chosen to make Amazon.com’s broad product selection and fast delivery capabilities available to ThankYou Rewards Network Members,” said Steven Shure, vice president of traffic at Amazon.com. “This integration will provide a dramatically different level of rewards selection and delivery capabilities.”

ThankYou Network’s newly expanded rewards inventory comes with a sophisticated new online interface inspired by best-in-class websites that empowers members to swiftly search and browse rewards by point range, category, and specific products. The expanded range of categories includes everything from books, music and DVDs to the latest in electronics, home goods, sports equipment, and more.

Since its inception in 2004, ThankYou Network has reinforced Citi’s focus on developing and nurturing long-term relationships with its customers. At launch, ThankYou Network represented a groundbreaking way to show appreciation to Members using select Citi credit card and retail banking products.

Over the years, the rewards program has grown to 13 million Members and has added other sponsors such as Citi Smith Barney and Expedia. Members can now earn points by making purchases with their Smith Barney Financial Management Account cards and by booking qualified travel on Expedia. They can also earn even more points by shopping through ThankYou Network’s Online Shopping Mall at thankyou.com, which features more than 300 brand-name online and in-store retailers.

To learn more about ThankYou Network, visit www.thankyou.com.

A Time for Thanksgiving: Obama's debt of gratitude to George W. Bush.

As the transition progresses and Barack Obama's inauguration draws closer, it's a good moment to mull the gifts George W. Bush has left for the incoming president. Bush has made the world a better place, and if Obama wants to do the same, he will take the good things Bush has done and move forward with them.

Early indicators are in fact positive. In foreign policy, possibly embarrassed by the eagerness with which the world's most vile regimes have welcomed his election, Obama is backing off his many promises to sit down with dictators. His antiwar base is already outraged that he may not make closing the hated "Crusader gulag" at Guantánamo Bay his first act of national liberation from the Bush era. He is even reportedly considering allowing the CIA some leeway in interrogation techniques.

In the critical field of war and foreign policy, there are quite a few things for which President-elect Obama can thank George Bush.

First and foremost, Saddam Hussein-a state sponsor of terrorism, a producer of weapons of mass destruction, a warmonger, and a genocidal maniac-is gone. The threat he posed was a nagging concern to Bill Clinton, but Clinton, lacking the political will or perhaps a good excuse, was content to consider Saddam trapped in a box. George W. Bush didn't have that luxury. After the September 11 attacks the stakes were raised and Bush understood the world could not tolerate the presence of someone like Saddam, who defied all international challenges and was actively subverting the restraints upon him.

For the last five years, Saddam has been viewed, in retrospect, as having been harmless, but that is only because he was deposed and captured by forces acting on George Bush's orders, then tried and hanged by the Iraqi people. The Baathist regime is no more.

Thank you, George W. Bush.

That difficult task, which required the terrible resolve to send men to their deaths and also required several painful readjustments of strategy and tactics, was done in time so that Obama should be able to fulfill his campaign promise of getting out of Iraq and ramping up in Afghanistan.

It will be possible for Obama to draw down the U.S. troop presence in Iraq without a precipitous, premature withdrawal that could plunge the region into genocidal chaos and leave Iran the de facto regional power. Iraq is peaceful enough now that a policy fudge by Obama there-unlike on the Guantánamo issue-is something his liberal backers are unlikely to hold against him.

With minor policy adjustments that no one will notice, much less begrudge, he can stay past his 16-month deadline and continue to build Iraq as a beacon of democracy and a U.S. ally in the Middle East. Iraq's cabinet has approved a deal asking U.S. forces to stay until 2012, and Iraq's free parliament has been debating the matter in a highly spirited fashion-including fisticuffs-not unlike the early congressional proceedings of another nascent democracy.

Thank you, George W. Bush.

In the 1990s, anyone who told you Iraq would be a functioning, U.S.-allied democracy within a few short years would have been laughed out of the room. It has come at tremendous cost in both American and Iraqi lives. It is reasonable to assume, however, given the massive ethnic blood toll Saddam inflicted to maintain his regime, that establishing a Western-leaning Iraqi democracy has been accomplished with only a fraction of the violence that would have taken place absent U.S. intervention. Iran, while it meddles and wields deadly influence, has been kept at arm's length in the process, when Iran and Syria might both have been expected to descend on a post-Saddam Iraq. This highly dangerous region is stable-and has hope of remaining so.

The very concept of democracy in the region received a major boost when Arabs saw millions of Iraqis voting while under threat of death. This evolution is playing out in fits and starts in Lebanon and even the Palestinian territories, where voters have learned that the democratic process only begins with a vote. When Hamas chose to reward its backers with a bloodbath and international isolation, George Bush used that opportunity to draw an unprecedented gathering for former adversaries together to talk peace. Meanwhile, the very delicate Pakistan has advanced, with U.S. support, from military rule to elected civilian rule and remains an ally, if a problematic one, in America's war on Islamic extremism.

Thank you, George W. Bush.

George Bush has put a bow on his gift. The U.S. military's leading counterinsurgency warrior-philosopher, General David Petraeus, who resolved the initial mistakes of the Iraq occupation, now commands U.S. forces in the entire region, including Afghanistan. As some of the same voices that despaired in Iraq, declaring quagmires and demanding precipitous withdrawal, turn their despair to Afghanistan, Obama goes into battle without having to search for his Grant. He's already been found.

Thank you, George W. Bush.

The nuclear arms race in the Middle East was checked after 2003 when Iraq was cut out of it, Libya surrendered, and Iran momentarily halted its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran is back in the game, and apparently Syria as well, but Europe and the U.N. have come into line with George Bush on Iran, recognizing that ultimately someone must be willing to use force when all else fails. Bush has demonstrated to Obama that it is possible to negotiate from a position of strength with the international blessing that Obama craves.

Iran is perhaps the greatest challenge Obama will face. It requires him to be willing to take action on his own and not simply manage what was initiated by Bush. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Islamic Republic of Iran is one that threatens to upset the pro-democracy, pro-American balance of power Bush has painstakingly created.

There is one thing Bush did not do for Obama, a key bit of unfinished business in a midwar transition. Bush failed to increase the number of U.S. ground forces in the immediate post-9/11 period when Congress would have signed a blank check. As a result, Obama will become commander in chief of an overstressed military at a time when there is still more fighting to be done. To establish himself as a wartime president and show that he is serious about America's obligations and vital interests in the world, Obama, among his first acts as president, must make an effort to increase the size of the Army and the Marine Corps.

George W. Bush did not solve all the problems of the world's most troubled and dangerous region. But, for all his shortcomings, he has moved them forward and established the United States as the dominant agent for change in the Middle East. Consider the mess Obama would be inheriting in the region if the Bush administration had just sat on its thumbs-Ahmadinejad's Iran with an even further advanced nuclear arms program, an aging Saddam installing one of his psychopathic sons in power or Iraq being torn apart in a genocidal nightmare. Imagine all the regimes of the region, unchastened and unimpressed by the U.S. exercise of power, looking for any weakness or advantage to exploit and quite possibly finding it in al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Bush has set conditions that could allow Obama, if he abandons the desire to be liked as the underlying principle of his foreign policy and sticks to the path the Bush administration has laid out, to preside over the greatest blossoming of liberal democracy and stability the Middle East has ever seen, and in all likelihood, to get the credit for it.

For all of this, Barack Obama owes George W. Bush a tremendous debt of gratitude.

Jules Crittenden is an editor at the Boston Herald and blogs at JulesCrittenden.com.