By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 12:30 PM ET  Click here to display printable NCAA Brackets Time is running out to sign up for “No Bracket, No Pay II” — The Recovering Politician’s second annual contest for college hoops forecasting mastery.
Last year was a spectacular success — not only did 75 people compete, but my favorite team, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, won the national championship. Better yet, several months later, “No Budget, No Pay” — the hallmark policy proposal of our co-sponsor, No Labels — passed through Congress and became law. All because of our hoops competition! (OK, maybe the cause and effect was a little tenuous.)
Anyway, you are invited to join us in No Bracket, No Pay II. Simply click here to signup, and fill out your brackets today!
Good luck!
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET My latest athletic injury story….
I strained my calf muscle on Wednesday and had to ice it most of that evening and some the next day.
Here’s how it happened.
 “So, late Wednesday afternoon I left my office and walked down the three stairs out the back door.”
That’s it. That’s the whole story. Nothing else happened. No rugby match. No extreme sports. No cross-fit workout. No heroic game winning score. I injured myself walking down three steps.
But after several days of convalescence I seem to be recovering fully and should be able to ascend and descend stairs again by early next week!!!
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET Part 1 of 4: FINDING A HOME. When we left home we hoped that we’d find the city for us. We’d walk the streets and feel comfortable. We’d savor the foods and feel fine if we got fat there. We’d see the homes and picture ourselves growing old there. It would feel like home. After visiting more than 200 cities, where have we decided to settle? Follow us on the second Wednesday of each month to discover what traveling the world taught us about where we want to call home.
The biggest question of all was what do we need in a home? Do we need the creature comforts of the developed world, or do we want the daily adventure of the developing world?
HE SAID…
Developing vs developed says it all, one is present-tense, happening now, one is past-tense, as in finished. I can’t lie, I love the idea of the developing world, the constant change, the action, the loose liquor laws, but I don’t think it’s for me.
The reason to live in the developing world is simple: it’s where money will be made for my generation. As the economies grow, so will the prosperity, get in early, play your cards right, and wealth will be created.
Vietnam, one of the places growth is happening today.
The downside of the developing world is the lifestyle. Sure I can live great, have a driver to deal with the endless traffic jams, have a housekeeper to clean, and have assorted other staff that I’ll never be certain what they do. Within a walled house everything seems great, but living with the crappy infrastructure, having to send my children to pretentious private schools, and being part of such a vast wealth distribution doesn’t interest me.
Read the rest of…
Matt and Erica Chua: Finding a Home
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Mar 18, 2013 at 9:15 AM ET  Click here to review/purchase The nation’s most exciting new publishing imprint — The Recovering Politician Books — has just released its second title, following the international sensation, Jonathan Miller’s The Liberal Case for Israel:
John Y. Brown, III’s Musings from the Middle.
If the title sounds familiar, well d’uh — it is a collection of essays first published at The Recovering Politician — and some bonus new essays as well by our modern day Will Rogers — former Kentucky Secretary of State John Y. Brown, III. Our readers know that John is often insightful, usually clever, and always hilarious.
I loved the book — giving it three thumbs up.
But don’t trust me: Check out the first review of the book at Amazon.com:
I have not read this book yet but did write it. I don’t proof read so, I really can’t say that I have read it even while writing it. I do, sometimes, go back and read some of the posts in this collection after the get posted on the Recovering Politician blog I write for. So, I guess, in that sense I have read a little of this book.All I can say is that the posts I have read after they got posted, some of them were pretty good. As for the others I didn’t read, I tried to make them worth while but can’t comment any more than that. And I apologize for the spelling and grammatical lapses that come from not proof-reading. If you learn nothing else from this eBook, I hope you at least learn the value of proofing and editing.
And at most, I hope you chuckle a few times and say to yourself, “I can relate,” or “Maybe I’m not so weird after all if this guy thinks that way too,” or maybe “Wow, perhaps both of us –because we think like this –are really weird and everybody else is normal’ (although I hope this last thought doesn’t happen as often as the one I wished before it).
And if you have this last thought a lot more often than the one before it, don’t feel bad. I have a friend here in Louisville (whose name I won’t mention), who has these kind of thoughts too. So, really, there’s more than just two of us. There’s at least three. (His name is John Bell and he’s been a friend since high school. Sorry, John.)
I originally planned to write 5 reviews and give myself 5 stars in each review. Of course, that would require setting up 4 fake accounts and making up 4 fake names. And I’m not sure how to set up fake accounts and making up fake names takes more time than I want to give it. So, I’m just going to give this one real pseudo-review. And give myself 3 1/2 stars. My conscience –coupled with laziness–always seems to undermine my bigger plans.
Full disclosure: I rounded up to 4 stars.
And if you liked the review, you will love the book. Purchase by clicking here for only $4.95, while supplies (electrons) last.
By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Mar 17, 2013 at 2:22 PM ET Click here to display printable NCAA Brackets We are back at it for year two of “No Bracket, No Pay” — The Recovering Politician’s contest for college hoops forecasting mastery.
Last year was a spectacular success — not only did 75 people compete, but my favorite team, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, won the national championship. Better yet, several months later, “No Budget, No Pay” — the hallmark policy proposal of our co-sponsor, No Labels — passed through Congress and became law. All because of our hoops competition! (OK, maybe the cause and effect was a little tenuous.)
Anyway, you are invited to join us in No Bracket, No Pay II. Simply click here to signup, and fill our your brackets before Tuesday.
Good luck!
By Garrett Renfro, RP Staff, on Fri Mar 15, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET The Politics of The Planet
President Obama is expected to unveil his new energy policy today which was first mentioned in The State of the Union last month. The so-called “Energy Security Trust” would use money accrued through royalties received from oil company leases on off shore drilling sites. This revenue, nearly $2 Billion a year, would be used to fund research on alternative forms of energy. Predictably the plan is already getting push-back from Speaker of the House John Boehner who was apparently for this plan before he was against it. A strikingly similar “trust fund” was proposed by the GOP in sec. 321 of their 2009 energy bill which Speaker Boehner introduced and sponsored. Mr. Boehner is not alone in his opposition, Christopher Helman of Forbes explains how the trust could be a back door to a carbon tax and why Congress should nip this policy in the proverbial bud.[Forbes]
In the shadow of the “Energy Security Trust” announcement, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times discusses the impact of budget cuts on the scientific community, particularly alternative energy research. Even before sequestration, the amount of the budget which was devoted to such research was negligible. According to a report cited by Revkin, less than 1% of the federal budget goes toward funding for scientific study.[NYT]
If global warming is caused by fossil fuels, it could be that the proliferation of alternative energy sources may not come soon enough to save the monarch butterfly. Extreme drought and heat on the North American continent has caused the pollinating insect to decline drastically in number. Climate change may only be part of the story, some are concerned that genetically modified crops could be partly to blame for the extreme downturn in population. Many seeds (including corn and soybean) are modified to tolerate herbicides allowing farmers to eradicate weeds which they deem a nuisance but which are essential to survival of the monarch.[NYT]
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET Nothing—no act, no decree, no decisive action— is more powerful or empowering. ….
Than the act of forgiveness.
It allows the forgiver to free both the forgiven and the forgiver (him or herself) from the tension created by the particular matter at hand.
And creates an environment –and begins a habit–for each to forgive themselves more generally.
No single act frees so many from such oppressive misery so swiftly and completely. Nothing is more powerful
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Mar 15, 2013 at 9:15 AM ET From CBS News:
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a co-sponsor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), now supports same-sex marriage, he announced last night.
In an op-ed this morning for the Columbus Dispatch, Portman explained that “I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married.”
Portman told The Cincinnati Enquirer his evolution on the subject began in 2011 when his son, Will, then a freshman at Yale University, told his parents he was gay.
“My son came to Jane, my wife, and I, told us that he was gay, and that it was not a choice, and that it’s just part of who he is, and that’s who he’d been that way for as long as he could remember,” Portman told CNN in an interview.
Click here to read the full article.
I’ve long been an admirer of the Senator, and even as early as March 2012, I recommended that Romney choose him as his Vice Presidential running mate. But this seals the deal — a extraordinarily brave move for a rising star in a party where activists overwhelmingly oppose gay marriage. I hate to use the cliche, but this really is a game changer.
By Julie Rath, on Fri Mar 15, 2013 at 8:30 AM ET Aside from the gorgeous weather, for me a sure sign of Spring is a sudden jonesing for the perfect lightweight men’s jacket. This time around, I’m expanding the search to jackets plural because there are so many fantastic options out there.
Here are a few that I’m especially fond of in varying styles.
 This jacket is the smart result of another high-low partnership, this time between the middle-of-the-road UK department store John Lewis and Joe Casely-Hayford, British designer of luxury menswear brand, Casely-Hayford. I always love a leather jacket, and both the olive color and quilting nicely distinguish this lovely creation from all those black and brown leather bombers out there. ($604)
Read the rest of…
Julie Rath: The Best Part of Spring — Lightweight Jackets
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Mar 14, 2013 at 3:00 PM ET
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