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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Reagan, Thatcher forged a close, lasting bond
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, two self-assured and firm-speaking conservatives, joined forces in the early 1980s and drastically changed the economic and political landscapes in both of their countries.
Their calls for more-austere government and lower taxes still resonate with conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic. And their side-by-side standing up to Soviet communism is credited by those of all political stripes as hastening the end of the Cold War.
Thatcher died Monday in London of a stroke at 87.
The British prime minister and the American president had the kind of personal bond that is extremely rare at such high levels of power.
She was the first and last White House State Dinner guest during Reagan's eight-year presidency. And when he died in 2004, at 93 after suffering for years with Alzheimer's disease, a frail Thatcher attended his state funeral.
"They had similar backgrounds and in some ways could understand what the other was experiencing," said Heather Conley, director of Europe programs for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"And they had unique solidarity. They were tough, they were single-minded in many ways. Some have argued that that lack of complexity was their shortcoming. But in some ways, their focus was their strength," Conley said.
Reagan and Thatcher forged a special friendship "from the very beginning, the first time they met," former first lady Nancy Reagan said Monday.
"I loved it that she and Ronnie were as close as they were," she told Fox News.
Thatcher led Britain's Conservative Party to three election victories, governing from 1979 to 1990. Reagan was president from 1981 to 1989.
Both cut income taxes deeply and reined in national government spending. Both favored privatizing many government functions. Both stood up to organized labor. Both tackled inflation. Both were strong advocates of free markets and increased open international trade.
And both had a lasting ? and controversial ? impact on their own and opposing political parties in their respective nations.
Reagan's supply-side theories that lower taxes can stimulate growth ? like a rising tide that lifts all ships ? was derided as "Reaganomics" by critics and even once called "voodoo economics" by the Republican who went on to serve as his vice president and later as president himself, George H. W. Bush.
Even today, it is hard for American Republicans to support any increase in taxes ? a Reagan legacy that still makes it difficult for Democrats and Republicans to find common ground on tax legislation.
In Britain, Thatcher's policies were dubbed "Economic Thatcherism."
"Using deregulation and privatization, she restored Great Britain, once dismissed as the 'sick man of Europe,' to its position as a world power. Indeed, her policies led the way and inspired other nations ? including those in newly free Eastern Europe ? to adopt similar reforms to boost their economies," Ed Feulner, former president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, wrote Monday in a tribute.
"An intrepid warrior for freedom and human dignity, Prime Minister Thatcher stood with her 'noble friend,' President Ronald Reagan, to confront the Soviet empire when it was at its peak," Feulner added.
Thatcher's efforts in advancing conservative causes and programs in Britain may have strengthened Reagan's hand in selling his conservative agenda at home, and vice versa.
Conservatives at the time viewed the political victories of the two allies as part of a worldwide trend moving in their direction ? a trend that has since run into a lot of bumps in the road.
Today's widely held warm and fuzzy image of the Reagan-Thatcher alliance of three decades ago may have been fortified and blurred somewhat by the passage of time.
"They were actually very similar, but very different from what many people today think they did," said Bruce Bartlett, an economic adviser to Reagan and Bush.
While Thatcher and Reagan were both economic conservatives at heart, "they were also much more pragmatic about what could be done" than many of today's conservatives, Bartlett said. "And they both accepted the legitimacy of the welfare state. They just tried to make it work better and reduce its cost."
While both are known for slashing taxes and cutting spending, Reagan also supported many later tax increases and backed raising the government's borrowing authority many times. Thatcher raised her nation's value-added tax.
The two had vastly different governing styles. Reagan projected radiant optimism and cheerful agreeability. Thatcher, who came to be known as the "Iron Lady," exhibited relentless determination.
And they sometimes disagreed. For instance, Thatcher didn't get the level of support she wanted from Reagan during the Falklands War crisis. And Thatcher was miffed and annoyed by Reagan's 1983 invasion of the tiny Caribbean island nation of Grenada.
Still, "she was a great partner with the United States," said former top State Department official Nicholas Burns, including being the one who persuaded Reagan that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was "someone we can do business with."
Apparently her warmth with Reagan didn't fully convey to Bush, Reagan's successor.
While she fully supported Bush on confronting Saddam Hussein after Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, she was a little concerned about his resolve. "So this was the reason I said, 'Look, George, this is no time to go wobbly," she later recalled.
The elder Bush issued a statement Monday declaring: "America has lost one of the staunchest allies we have ever known."
___
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reagan-thatcher-forged-close-lasting-bond-211047117--politics.html
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Monday, April 8, 2013
New 'transient electronics' disappear when no longer needed
Apr. 8, 2013 ? Scientists have described key advances toward practical uses of a new genre of tiny, biocompatible electronic devices that could be implanted into the body to relieve pain or battle infection for a specific period of time, and then dissolve harmlessly.
These "transient electronics," described in New Orleans on April 8 at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, could have other uses, including consumer electronics products with a pre-engineered service life.
John Rogers, Ph.D., who led the research, explained that it arises from a view of electronics fundamentally different from the mindset that has prevailed since the era of electronic "chips," integrated circuits and microprocessors, which dawned almost 50 years ago.
"The goal of the electronics industry has always been to build durable devices that last forever with stable performance," Rogers explained. "But many new opportunities open up once you start thinking about electronics that could disappear in a controlled and programmable way."
Those opportunities, he added, include cell phones and other mobile devices that stop working on a timetable corresponding to the time for upgrading to a new model. Instead of adding to the $50 million of so-called e-waste generated every year, the devices would simply break down. Medical implants that are only needed for a few weeks could just disappear, without requiring an extra surgery to remove them from the body. And no one would have to retrieve dozens of transient water-quality sensors from a river undergoing water quality monitoring. They would dissolve without a trace and without harm to the environment.
Although other researchers have developed so-called bioresorbable medical devices that disappear over time in the body, Rogers' team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the first to produce such broadly applicable technology, which has many more potential uses than other devices. The scientists have designed transient electronics as temperature sensors, solar cells and miniature digital cameras, for instance. Moreover, previous bioresorbable devices were made of different materials that only partially dissolved, leaving behind residues, and they did not perform as well as Rogers' current devices.
The electronics are enclosed in material that dissolves completely after a certain period of time when exposed to water or body fluids, somewhat like dissolvable sutures. By altering the number of layers of the wrapping, scientists can define everything about how the device will dissolve in the body or in the environment, including its overall lifetime, said Rogers. The devices perform just as well as conventional electronics and function normally until the encapsulating layer disappears. Once that happens, it takes about 30 minutes for the electronic connections to dissolve away, and the device stops working. Current versions of the devices remain operable for a few weeks. Rogers' team is researching ways to make devices that last a few years.
In his ACS report, Rogers described key advances in the technology. One advance established for the first time that transient electronic devices, implanted into laboratory mice, actually work in battling infections and do, indeed, dissolve when done. Rogers' team previously only thought that would happen. The devices produced localized heat, which prevented bacterial growth and surgery-related infections from developing in the mice. The findings add to the confidence that similar devices can be designed to reduce pain by stimulating certain nerves or facilitate bone growth or wound healing.
The scientists also reported progress in making the devices with conventional manufacturing processes instead of meticulously building the electronics one-by-one by hand in a laboratory. "It's a step toward producing these devices with the kind of manufacturing processes that are already in wide use for traditional electronics like silicon-based microprocessors and memory technology," said Rogers.
Another advance involved the materials for making and powering the devices without an external electricity source. Rogers said, for instance, that the latest transient electronic devices incorporate zinc oxide, which is "piezoelectric." It means that thin, flexible devices made with zinc oxide could produce electricity when bent or twisted -- perhaps by movement of muscles in the body, pulsation of blood vessels or beating of the heart.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS).
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Recruiting engineered cells to work for warfighters
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Public release date: 8-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
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onrcsc@onr.navy.mil
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Office of Naval Research
Collaborative initiative part of ONR's ongoing work in field of synthetic biology
ARLINGTON, Va.The Office of Naval Research (ONR) today launched a collaborative initiative with university researchers focused on synthetic, or engineered, cellspart of a larger effort to use the smallest units of life to help Sailors and Marines execute their missions.
ONR currently has multiple ongoing projects in the field of synthetic biology, which offers new tools and methods for creating new organisms with specific functions, such as threat monitoring.
Even the simplest cells can have complex functions, such as being able to move in a particular direction or glow in the dark. The idea is to make these capabilities useful to humans by directing their natural functions and adding non-natural functions to a cell's repertoire.
In one instance, ONR is examining synthetic cell circuitsgenetic programs designed by scientists either to make a cell perform a certain task or change the way a cell would normally do the task. For example, plants have been engineered to turn white when they detect trinitrotoluene (TNT) as a visual cue to their handlers.
"We're developing better ways to program cells to detect things we're interested inlike explosivesand then communicate that they've found that chemical to a device like a robot," said Dr. Linda Chrisey, ONR program officer for naval biosciences and bio-centric technology. "For example, you could grow these special cells on a silicon chip that's part of a robot. When the cells detect something and respond, they would communicate this information to the 'mother ship'the autonomous robot system."
One of ONR's biggest successes to date was a TNT-detecting plant. This "plant sentinel" transitioned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Department of Homeland Security in 2010. A small company was founded to modify this plant for other applications, such as chemical warfare detection and crop security.
"The grand plan is to try and take advantage of the natural capabilities of microbes to collect chemical and physical signal information of different types and process this information," Chrisey said. "We already make a lot of medicines and industrial products using cells and engineered cells. Synthetic biology is going to smarten that process up, make it less susceptible to failure and save money by allowing us greater control of the engineered cells."
Another initiative is looking at microbes that use carbon dioxide and electrical current for their metabolism and programming them to make liquid fuels. "Eventually, in a remote location, with just a vial of these organisms and materials that most people consider to be waste products, Sailors or Marines could potentially make organic compoundssuch as fuel, medicine or polymerson demand, even under austere conditions," Chrisey said.
In the long term, synthetic circuits offer possibilities for enabling new methods for manufacturing. These new processes can be used: to make certain products, such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals; as medical devices and therapies for infection control, regenerating tissues and disease treatment; as environmental sensors and pollution treatments; and for micro-robotic systems.
The Multidisciplinary University Initiative (MURI) launched today, "Next-generation genetic devices: Model-guided Discovery and Optimization of Cell-Based Sensors," is aimed at applying tools from synthetic biology to construct high-performance and robust genetic sensors that respond to non-natural signals, such as non-visible wavelengths of light (ultraviolet and infrared) and magnetic fields. This program is expected to contribute to the development of "smart" hybrid biological-robotic systems that will detect threats in the environment. The universities involved are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Penn State, Rice University, Rutgers University, California Institute of Technology and University of Minnesota.
MURI efforts involve teams of researchers investigating high-priority topics and opportunities that involve more than one technical area. This multidisciplinary approach often stimulates innovations, accelerates research progress and expedites transition of results into naval applications.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 8-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Peter Vietti
onrcsc@onr.navy.mil
703-588-2167
Office of Naval Research
Collaborative initiative part of ONR's ongoing work in field of synthetic biology
ARLINGTON, Va.The Office of Naval Research (ONR) today launched a collaborative initiative with university researchers focused on synthetic, or engineered, cellspart of a larger effort to use the smallest units of life to help Sailors and Marines execute their missions.
ONR currently has multiple ongoing projects in the field of synthetic biology, which offers new tools and methods for creating new organisms with specific functions, such as threat monitoring.
Even the simplest cells can have complex functions, such as being able to move in a particular direction or glow in the dark. The idea is to make these capabilities useful to humans by directing their natural functions and adding non-natural functions to a cell's repertoire.
In one instance, ONR is examining synthetic cell circuitsgenetic programs designed by scientists either to make a cell perform a certain task or change the way a cell would normally do the task. For example, plants have been engineered to turn white when they detect trinitrotoluene (TNT) as a visual cue to their handlers.
"We're developing better ways to program cells to detect things we're interested inlike explosivesand then communicate that they've found that chemical to a device like a robot," said Dr. Linda Chrisey, ONR program officer for naval biosciences and bio-centric technology. "For example, you could grow these special cells on a silicon chip that's part of a robot. When the cells detect something and respond, they would communicate this information to the 'mother ship'the autonomous robot system."
One of ONR's biggest successes to date was a TNT-detecting plant. This "plant sentinel" transitioned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Department of Homeland Security in 2010. A small company was founded to modify this plant for other applications, such as chemical warfare detection and crop security.
"The grand plan is to try and take advantage of the natural capabilities of microbes to collect chemical and physical signal information of different types and process this information," Chrisey said. "We already make a lot of medicines and industrial products using cells and engineered cells. Synthetic biology is going to smarten that process up, make it less susceptible to failure and save money by allowing us greater control of the engineered cells."
Another initiative is looking at microbes that use carbon dioxide and electrical current for their metabolism and programming them to make liquid fuels. "Eventually, in a remote location, with just a vial of these organisms and materials that most people consider to be waste products, Sailors or Marines could potentially make organic compoundssuch as fuel, medicine or polymerson demand, even under austere conditions," Chrisey said.
In the long term, synthetic circuits offer possibilities for enabling new methods for manufacturing. These new processes can be used: to make certain products, such as biofuels, pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals; as medical devices and therapies for infection control, regenerating tissues and disease treatment; as environmental sensors and pollution treatments; and for micro-robotic systems.
The Multidisciplinary University Initiative (MURI) launched today, "Next-generation genetic devices: Model-guided Discovery and Optimization of Cell-Based Sensors," is aimed at applying tools from synthetic biology to construct high-performance and robust genetic sensors that respond to non-natural signals, such as non-visible wavelengths of light (ultraviolet and infrared) and magnetic fields. This program is expected to contribute to the development of "smart" hybrid biological-robotic systems that will detect threats in the environment. The universities involved are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Penn State, Rice University, Rutgers University, California Institute of Technology and University of Minnesota.
MURI efforts involve teams of researchers investigating high-priority topics and opportunities that involve more than one technical area. This multidisciplinary approach often stimulates innovations, accelerates research progress and expedites transition of results into naval applications.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/oonr-rec040813.php
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Louisiana Gov. Jindal's popularity slumps after bold tax plan
By Stephanie Grace
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, one of the nation's most prominent Republicans and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has fallen out of favor with local voters, and his bold plan to scrap the state income tax is running into trouble.
Jindal was re-elected to a second term with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll, worse than Democratic President Barack Obama in one of the most conservative states.
The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials for a possible White House run than tending to local matters.
As the Louisiana Legislature prepares to kick off its two-month session on Monday, Jindal's signature proposal to eliminate the state income tax is facing resistance.
His detailed plan would do away with all state personal and corporate income taxes. It also calls for a 56-percent increase in the state sales tax, a much higher cigarette tax, and the elimination of some tax loopholes to make up the $3 billion shortfall from scrapping the income taxes.
To allay fears that the plan would hurt the poor, Jindal has proposed a rebate for low-income residents and some retirees.
The governor says the change would attract business by making Louisiana competitive with states such as oil-rich neighbor Texas, which has no income tax.
In speeches across the state, he has cast it as a way to simplify the system, make it fairer, and give people more control over their own money.
Eliminating income taxes would also be an attention-getting accomplishment for a Republican governor with national aspirations.
"A lot of the pressure seems to be coming from national groups. It's hard to find a constituency in Louisiana that was demanding an end to the income tax," said Jan Moller, director of the nonprofit Louisiana Budget Project, which advocates for raising revenue to provide more services.
Jindal, who is Indian-American and chairs the Republican Governors Association, has been outspoken in the debate about how to broaden the appeal of the party after last November's painful election losses.
He made national headlines earlier this year by calling on Republicans to "stop being the stupid party," - a reference to some 2012 candidates self-destructing with comments about women and rape.
HIGH PROFILE
Jindal, 41, appears regularly on national television shows and at events where presidential hopefuls test their appeal such as the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.
Jindal was a leading campaign surrogate for losing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year. He gave the Republican response to Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress in 2009, but his performance received poor reviews.
His tax proposal has won plaudits from national conservatives such as Grover Norquist, the guru of anti-tax reformers who asks politicians to pledge never to raise taxes.
However, local skeptics have raised concerns that the sales tax increase would disproportionately hit poor residents, increase costs for businesses, hurt New Orleans' tourism industry and make it harder for local taxes to be imposed.
The increase would require a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the Legislature, which have Republican majorities.
But the same poll that showed Jindal's slumping popularity, conducted by Southern Media & Opinion Research, found 63 percent opposed the tax plan.
The poll of 600 likely Louisiana voters was taken March 18-20 and has a 4 percentage-point margin of error.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, normally an ally of the Republican governor, has opposed the tax plan. Republican House Speaker Chuck Kleckley has warned that the changes might increase the tax burden on businesses.
Republican House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Joel Robideaux, author of bills that make up the governor's package, said he will not schedule votes until an independent analysis of the plan is completed.
But Jindal may yet get his way. Louisiana governors historically have done well in bending the Legislature to their wills.
"If the governor is pushing something," Robideaux said in the capital of Baton Rouge recently, "it's never dead on arrival."
(Reporting by Stephanie Grace; Editing by Greg McCune and Xavier Briand)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/louisiana-governor-jindals-popularity-slumps-bold-tax-plan-120445133.html
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EU's Ashton seeks consensus in Egypt on economy and reform
By Paul Taylor
CAIRO (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief met Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Sunday to encourage the country's feuding political leaders to seek a national consensus in tackling mounting economic and political problems.
"This is a critical time for Egypt's transition. The country is facing huge economic and political challenges," Catherine Ashton said in a statement before the talks.
Her visit comes as Egypt is in the midst of long-delayed negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on a $4.8 billion loan needed to cope with a growing economic crisis.
Foreign currency reserves have dwindled to less than three months' imports, the Egyptian pound has lost nearly 10 percent against the dollar this year and there are warnings of power cuts and fuel shortages this summer.
"More than ever, Europe - as a partner and neighbor - has to support Egypt in its move towards deep and inclusive democracy. I will work hard in Cairo to engage with all parties to help build confidence and find common ground on both political and economic issues," Ashton said.
She was due to meet six main opposition leaders later but EU diplomats said the prospect of a dialogue between the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and its liberal and leftist opponents had dimmed after recent political violence.
The opposition accuses Mursi of seeking to monopolize power and muzzle independent media and civil society using the public prosecutor, the security forces and a controversial draft law to regulate non-government organizations.
Mursi's supporters say the opposition is trying to undermine his legitimacy and encouraging violence by refusing dialogue, threatening to boycott forthcoming parliamentary elections and broadcasting hostile propaganda.
The United States, which gives Egypt about $1.5 billion in annual aid, directed its sharpest criticism so far at the Islamist-led authorities last week, citing a "disturbing trend of growing restrictions on freedom of expression".
The European Parliament, in a non-binding resolution, urged the EU in March "not to grant any budgetary support to the Egyptian authorities if no major progress is made regarding respect for human rights and freedoms, democratic governance and the rule of law".
EU officials have said that if Egypt reaches a deal with the IMF, it can expect an additional $500 million in financial support from the EU and a similar amount from the United States.
(Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Andrew Roche)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eus-ashton-seeks-consensus-egypt-economy-reform-122524614--sector.html
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