By Mark Nickolas, on Tue Jan 7, 2014 at 3:00 PM ET Click here to learn more and invest now!
With less than 16 hours left, we’re 90% of the way there. But we still need one last push to secure the remaining $1,900 to successfully cross the finish line by 11:59pm ET tonight.
If you haven’t pledged and have considered doing so, I would be so very grateful for you joining us on this journey. And if you are already supporting and can afford to increase your pledge by just a few dollars, it would mean a great deal. We’ve had 60 new backers (and another 15 who increased their pledge) over the past 4 days, but I still have more work to do.
Thank you so much for getting this project in such a strong position in the final day, and I am so excited to begin production on this film. We’re almost at the summit…just one last push!
Best, Mark
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jan 7, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET Never, never, ever, ever no matter what, no matter why, no matter how lucky you are feeling or how good your “excuse” is, never, never, ever, ever go beyond the speed limit.
I won’t try to scare you about potential car accidents that can cause serious, even permanent, bodily injuries –or even death to you or another driver or a bystander. Those kind of scare tactics don’t seem to work well.
So I’m using my personal experience about something very likely to happen to you if you do speed. You could….pay attention now!
Seriously.
Pay attention because this could save your life and even your weekend. If you get caught speeding you could end up spending your entire Friday and Saturday night taking the “I Drive Safely” Traffic School course online. It is educational and a well organized and presented course.
But not the way you want to spend a Friday and Saturday night–especially just before a major holiday. The course improves your driving but not your mood. Take it from me.
 Ho friggin’ ho!
So….I am easing up on the pedal. And suggest any of you who have read my cautionary tale do the same….Trust me. You don’t want to spend an entire weekend before Christmas being taught all the things you know about driving but seem to have trouble remembering when you actually get into a car and start driving.
Now I remember.
By Artur Davis, on Tue Jan 7, 2014 at 10:00 AM ET A year ago, in lieu of resolutions or predictions, I offered a more guarded set of wishes for the new calendar year. Could the track record have been worse? There was the melancholy: Mandela no longer lives; while George H.W. Bush survives, his conciliatory brand of leadership is discredited in his own and seems impossible to revive nationally. There was the embarrassingly off base: describing Virginia’s likely soon to be indicted Bob McDonnell as a politician without a single ethical blemish, and a much too laudatory take on the Washington Redskins’ Robert Griffin III were the low points.
There were rosy hopes that didn’t pan out: some of my favorite center-right thinkers have added a lot of wisdom to the internal Republican debate without influencing it very much; Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed, rather than soaring, is the latest southern black politician whose ambitions suffer the limitations of his party’s “electability” mantra; and Bobby Jindal is a much longer presidential shot now than he appeared 12 months ago.
And there were the parts that really made my label of “wishful thinking” unintended irony. Let’s just say that Phil Robertson isn’t the principled voice of federalism on same sex marriage that I had in mind; that the Heritage Foundation’s assault on food stamps is not quite the anti-poverty agenda I was hoping for; and that education reform continues to lie in the overstocked, undersold column on aisle 32.
 So, in the hopes of doing better, a more guarded set of wishes for 2014:
(1) That a year from now, some Republican has decided to run for President unabashedly as a center-right alternative, with policy ideas and campaign message to match. Whether that individual is Chris Christie, the most successful coalition builder in big league politics today, or Paul Ryan, who should keep channeling his former mentor Jack Kemp’s vision that upward mobility is a legitimate conservative aspiration, or someone to be named later, it would be to the good of Republicans and domestic politics in general if a presidential level Republican owned the notion of a vital center rather than running from it.
(2) That George Packer’s superb “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” follow up its National Book Award with a Pulitzer. One can take issue with Packer for skimping on the fine points of economics, or for staying vague on solutions, but this is the most gripping account that has emerged of what the guts of the country looked like in the depths of the Great Recession. He nails the development of alienation that has eroded normal ideological boundaries. And if Packer’s subtle narrative maneuver of reducing national politics to the margins seemed incomplete to critics, it surely captures how the swamp on the Potomac registered to most rank and file Americans.
Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: Wishful Thinking for the New Year, Part II
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Jan 7, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET Antarctica, the White Continent is like nowhere else. Normally witnessed through a TV screen, in person it dazzles more than can be believed…until seen with one own’s eyes. From crossing the infamous Drake Passage to sighting the vast white plains to exploring the rugged coasts, everyday in Antarctica is unforgettable.
Visiting Antarctica is generally done by ship leaving from Ushuaia, Argentina. Trips range from 10-20 days, departing in December-March, following standard routes (Classic Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and Falklands, Antarctic Circle, Shackleton).
There are roughly 5 companies that run 12 ships regularly during the season, many of which are indistinguishable. National Geographic is renowned for their superb guides and steep prices. G Adventures serves younger backpackers. Oceanwide Expeditions, which we went with, offers unique outdoors experiences and the best blend of expedition and luxury.
All companies offer last-minute discounts if you have a flexible schedule, but expect to pay $5000-10,000 per person depending on the voyage you choose. Everyone we met that went, on every company, said that it was worth every dollar.
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DON’T MISS: Camping on Antarctica. Companies provide gear to keep you warm through the night on the ice…a night you’ll never forget. MUST SEE: Everything. Spend as much time in the observation deck to spot whales, dolphins and incredible landscapes.
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TRIP PLANNING: It takes at least 14 days to visit Antarctica from North America, Europe or Australia as getting to Ushuaia requires at least one full day from major airports. The cruises themselves last 10-20 days depending on journey, but the longer the better. Choose a ship with less than 120 passengers so that everyone can do each landing, larger ships must land in shifts according to current regulations. GETTING AROUND: While much time is spent on the ship, the highlights are from the Zodiacs, the rafts that take small groups up close to wildlife, icebergs and to Antarctica itself.
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COST PER DAY: $500-1500 per person, per day, depending on berth. A double cabin lists for about $900 per person, per day, but last-minute deals (one month in advance) sold double cabins for as low as $500 per day. KEY MONEY-SAVING TIP: Book directly from the cruise company, not through a travel agent. Travel agents commissions will be tacked onto your price and run anywhere from $800 to 20% of your cost. If you learn what deals are being offered by agents contact the cruise company directly and they will often give you a lower price.
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YOU NEED TO KNOW: Seasickness will probably happen on the Drake Crossing…but that’s part of the journey. IF WE KNEW WHAT WE KNOW NOW: We would have booked one year in advance. The prices one year out rival last minute deals, but ensure you can go when you want. HELPFUL LINKS TO LEARN MORE: Oceanwide Expeditions, list of last-minute Antarctica Travel agents (contact for information, but book directly with the company)
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WE WERE THERE FOR: 10 days Classic Antarctic Peninsula OUR HIGHLIGHT: Camping on Antarctica. We really wanted to do the Plancius Basecamp, but it was booked. WE REGRET MISSING: South Georgia Island, the “Galapagos of the Atlantic”.
By RP Nation, on Mon Jan 6, 2014 at 1:30 PM ET At the end of my December 30th post in RP, “Is a “Third-Party Needed?”, I asked the question, Do you know which President was the last successful third-party candidate? I suspect most reader’s had a common thought that this must be a trick question. Surely a third-party candidate could never be successfully elected President. I am equally sure some of you used Google and found the “rest of the story”.
There was a time a respected lawyer, well known in his community, got elected to office at the state level. He was then approached by an existing political part, organized for several years that asked him to run for President. The man never thought about higher office, but after talking with his advisers and family took up the challenge and began campaigning across the country. Wherever he went, the two major parties of the day would just criticize him and his relatively unknown party. After much campaigning, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States as a Republican. Yes, the Republican Party was the third-party during that time period when Whigs and the Democrats were the two major parties who had held the Presidency until then.
——
 Written with national Presidential elections in mind, there have been many different kinds of challenges to dominance of the two major parties, yet we have had the same two-party duopoly in power for 150 years as both Republicans and Democrats have proved their staying power. During this time period the duopoly has had landslide victories, demoralizing defeats, cliffhanger wins and losses, major splinter movements, and the realignment of their electoral support base. Yet they have endured Presidential campaigns and stayed in power.
The reasons for dismal third-party success is not always the same. The reasons may change over time and usually, no one factor limits the development of a third-party. It is often, several factors working in combination.
Read the rest of…
Gary Yarus: Roadblocks to Third-Party Success – Part I
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jan 6, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET I made a new friend today. An unknown number from Atlanta called and I excitedly answered to see who could be on the other end of the line. It was Portfolio Recoveries calling me today–not a long lost friend, as I had hoped– although they did act like they knew me well. In fact, they insisted I owed over them $9000 on two credit cards.
They offered no information about purchases or any other helpful details. And were just terrible at making pleasant small talk. They just kept asking me angrily “How are you going to pay for this?” and “You need to set up a payment plan– now!”
I insisted that they I have never owned either card and had no idea what they were talking about.
I must have been doing well with my answers because the angry person who called me told me she was going to let me speak to her manager.
I am guessing not everybody they call gets to do that.
The manager was clearly the manager. I could tell because he read from the exact same script but sounded both angrier yet also more sane than the first person I spoke to.
No disrespect to her but she just isn’t management material —yet. At least in the debt collection biz. Time will tell. She may make it there one day. But for now she is well placed as just the “initial contact” person.
I told her and “the manager” that I had to go but would call them back tonight.
They thought I was saying I would “call them back” like some people say but never do, for example, with a one night stand. I could tell they didn’t believe me–and couldn’t blame them. They were acting like a stalker girlfriend in high school calling me constantly, not wanting me to ever hang up the phone with them, probing into my personal financial business and God knows what else. I wanted to tell them I wasn’t currently involved with any other debt collection agencies but instead simply reassured them I wouldn’t leave them feeling like all we had was a single casual conversation by saying “I promise I will call you back tonight. Really. I swear.” I didn’t want them to think I was one of “those guys” who says he will call but never does.
So I did. At around 9:15pm
I got a new person this time. A sort of new friend who seemed really excited to hear from me—and, frankly, amazed I actually called back. It made me feel good inside.
We chatted for a while exchanging pleasantries and then after about seven and a half seconds she was back on the “How are you going to settle this debt?” topic…which I didn’t care much for and more and, frankly, was bored with from my earlier conversation that afternoon on this same topic.
So I said “Look, I am a lawyer.” That had no relevance to our conversation but I rarely ever get to say that to people and this seemed like a good opening to mention it. I wanted them to know that even though she was dealing with a clueless person who they claimed owed a debt they were trying to collect–that I did happen to have a law degree. My hope was that she would think I could use some sort of legal Jiu Jitsu to talk my way out of the supposed debt they were collecting and just give up after hearing my status as a “lawyer.” But, as it turns out, telling her she was unbowed. And after I told her I was a lawyer I couldn’t think of anything about that to elaborate on about staring down debt collection agencies. ” I thought about telling here a second time I was a lawyer just for the effect but figured it might come off as overkill.
There was an awkward pause after the lawyer comment and I filled up the silence by repeating again that I swore I really knew nothing about the two debts she was referring to. I even said, “I swear to God, I don’t know anything about these two credit cards.” I tried to make my swearing comment sound like legal jargon but it sounded more like a teenager who had been caught red-handed and was trying unsuccessfully to talk his way out of something.
Unconvinced of my innocence, she asked me again how I was going to “take care of this” and and after a pause asked me again. I said somewhat exasperated, “Uh. Well….I guess I’ll take care of it by not paying for it since its not my debt. I think that’s going to be how I’m going to handle it.” And I added, “And I would also ask that you all stop calling me. (At this point I could have been more polite and said, “Please don’t call me anymore about debt collection but if you want to just talk about personal things, sports, the weather and whatnot then that would be fine. But I didn’t. Frankly, I was starting to suspect we didn’t have that much in common anyway and I just wanted to get the false debt claim against me resolved.)
I said “There are a lot of John Browns out there, you know? Is there any chance you could have the wrong one?”
I asked for the address and birth date they had on file for “me.” I had never heard of the address she gave and; and as for the birth date, it turns out the John Brown they were looking for is 61 years old.
I assured her that wasn’t me and that I had never lived or had an office at the address she gave me—- and that no one had ever thought I looked a day over 50 before and I suggested she try harder next time to call and harass the right John Brown.
She finally agreed and conceded reluctantly, “It does appear we have the wrong John Brown –this time.” Maybe in a few years I will be the John Brown they are after—maybe when I’m 61–but I was the wrong John Brown this time.
I asked if she was going to offer me an apology for the heavy handed tactics, harassing calls, and offensive insinuations that I was lying.
She said she would have to check with her manager but didn’t offer one herself.
At first I thought that was a bit rude not to apologize but, on the other hand, I admired their commitment to protocol and procedure and the need to run it higher up into management chain before anyone could officially say, “Sorry we got insulted, offended and harassed the wrong person.” There is something about that discipline in any organization that you have to respect.
She told me she hoped that I had a nice evening and I wished her a nice evening as well. Both of us were sincere but I think mine was a little less formulaic and more genuine in my well wishes for the evening. And we hung up.
She seemed like a nice lady. She really did. And said earlier she would write me (by sending a certified letter to me about my debt —or something like that.) But I didn’t tell her I would call her back. I could have said that I would call her back to make it easier on both of us as we said goodbye, but I didn’t. Because I knew I wouldn’t likely call her again. She’s just not my type. Of debt collector, that is. And, besides, I’m just not that type of guy either.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jan 6, 2014 at 10:00 AM ET  Click here to review and purchase Congratulations to RP writer Josh Bowen for being named on of the world’s top 10 fitness trainers by Life Fitness magazine.
And as if that weren’t enough, congratulations to Josh again for the recent publication of his new fitness book 12 Steps to Fitness Freedom.
I haven’t read it yet, obviously. But need to. And will. Very soon.
Initially, I was going to try to write a humorous cop out for my good friend Jonathan Miller crushing me in our friendly fitness competition we begin this time last year. But I’m taking a different tack.
Since our fitness challenge, Jonathan has stayed the course, worked closely with Josh, worked out regularly and dieted reasonably and the results? He has patiently progressed physically and seen his overall health improve. Nothing that would boggle the mind or make the TV nightly news broadcast— but something significant; something noteworthy and something worth doing.
The tale of the tape? A loss of 4 pounds in weight and of about two inches in the waist and hips; and a gain of about two inches in the chest and shoulders and an increase of an inch in both upper arms. And Jonathan looks, feels and, most important, “is” healthier.
It took time, commitment, sacrifice and work. Not a tremendous amount but regularly. Monthly. Weekly. Even daily. But he did it. And Jonathan believes it was worth it. And I, in retrospect, have to agree.
Kudos, my friend. You won by default against me. But you won fair and square competing head-on with yourself. Which is, I have decided, the only real competition in every diet/fitness challenge.
That part of ourselves that can somehow keep our eye on the small-sounding prize of a loss of 4 pounds, 2 inches of fat reduced in areas we don’t want fat and 2 inches of new muscle in places where we want muscle has to “beat” the greedier part of ourselves that wants the apple fritter now; the soda pop we think we are thirsty for now; the part of ourselves that wants to stay seated instead of standing and wants to lie down instead of sitting. In short, the “Harder ‘NO’” has to repeatedly beat out the “Easier ‘YES’” –and not for a sure-fire immediate gratification. No, siree. But for sticking with the longer term plan that will show small but real improvements—in the future.
 Jonathan and Josh — before and after My experience is that the immediate gratification course is more fun but doesn’t work out as well in the long run. So for this new approach I’m adopting, I am going to have to give up a lot of little immediate gratifications. I’m just going to say it. This part sucks. It does. Big time. Wow! Ouch!!!! Hate it.
But the downside of going from immediate gratification to immediate gratification is you feel like a pinball between flippers. It’s an empty uncertain feeling until the next “hit” when you “score” some more points. I’m going to turn off the pinball machine for a while, I suppose, and plug in a device that keeps a real and boring score, like a health/fitness measuring device. There’s not the same loud bells and fun whistles but there’s also not the empty feeling between being flung from bumper to bumper. Less noise; less careening in the dark. And I will have to move beyond the pinball machine. Move a muscle, change a thought. But maybe the air is cleaner and smells better outside the arcade. And I will also have time to read Josh Bowen’s new book, 12 Steps to Fitness Freedom.
It doesn’t sound sexy or very fun, I know. But despite how counter-intuitive it all is, I am curious to find out if a year from now I report back that I like it a little better than the old way. Something tells me I will. Even if there’s no one for me to beat –except myself.
By Saul Kaplan, on Mon Jan 6, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET It is too easy and wrong to think that innovators are egocentric, always admiring themselves and their accomplishments in the mirror. They are confident but not self absorbed and impervious to outside input. If anything innovators are vulnerable, self aware, and open to diverse and critical input to improve their ideas and concepts. The view they see while looking into a mirror is more like the wavy one in the circus fun house that reflects a distorted view. A view that always causes a gasp and accentuates flaws that need serious work and improvement. Innovators know they must improve in order to find better ways to deliver value and solve real world problems.
Innovators spend very little time looking in the rear view mirror. They tend to be forward thinking and looking. It is important to learn from the past but innovators are never bogged down in it or constrained by the way things have always worked. Innovators tend to be market makers rather than share takers. Understanding how a market has worked in the past is helpful but innovators like to tinker across markets to envision and create an entirely new market model or system.
Looking in the rear view mirror magnifies the view from behind making objects seem closer than they really are. This distorted view puts too much emphasis on the past and is troubling to an innovator trying to create the future. While situational awareness is important innovation is about creating new and better ways to deliver value. It is about moving forward and away from intransigent models and systems that only appear larger in the rear view mirror than they really are. Fixating on the past looming large in the mirror is not helpful other than to motivate the innovator to enable change faster.
The side view mirror offers a different but equally distorting view. You know the mirror that has etched on it the words ” objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. Its convex shape is designed to provide a wide-angle view. Innovators love wide-angle lenses that provide a larger perspective and world-view. But the side view mirror makes images appear further away than they really are. If anything innovators are guilty of the opposite. Seeing innovation so clearly that they see it happening sooner than it is likely to.
 Innovators are optimistic by nature and in my experience not the best at predicting market timing. They are great at seeing opportunities and passionately working toward making them a reality but tend to think they will come to fruition sooner than they actually do. How many innovators drove by a Blockbuster video store shaking their head saying all of this video content will be distributed digitally making the bricks and mortar stores obsolete. They were right of course it is just taking longer to happen. That is usually the case with innovation. Innovators think their innovations are closer than they appear in the side view mirror.
OK, enough with the mirrors. Innovators, mirrors, and admiring the past are not compatible. Let’s look forward. Innovators are trying to create the future and agree with Gibson when he said the future is already here it is just unevenly distributed. Standing in the future and building a path to it is the innovator’s opportunity. Eyes forward, let’s create the future together.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jan 3, 2014 at 3:00 PM ET I am proud to announce the latest entry in the growing library of The Recovering Politician Books: Josh Bowen’s “Twelve Steps to Fitness Freedom.” A longtime Friend of RP and contributor to The Recovering Politician, Josh was recently named by Life Fitness one of the top ten personal trainers to watch in the world.
While I have the opportunity to work out with him twice a week, you can now glean all of his wisdom in less than 200 pages. If you are like me and have made a New Year’s resolution to get it better shape, there is no better way to fulfill it than to follow Josh’s advice.
Here is an excerpt from my Foreword.
 Click here to review and purchase I can imagine one of your first questions when reviewing this book jacket was: “What in the %$#&*$ is a ‘recovering politician’ doing publishing a book about fitness and physical well-being?”
Well, from a thematic standpoint, Josh Bowen’s ‘Twelve Steps To Fitness Freedom’ fits well into the mission of our Web site, TheRecoveringPolitician.com: As our former politician contributors proceed on their own post-politics second acts, we aim to empower all of our readers to launch their own second acts, with the whole toolkit of good health, high quality of life, and overall happiness. It’s no wonder, then, that Josh Bowen’s Thursday columns at our Web site are among the most viewed by our readership.
But from a more prosaic perspective, this particular recovering politician would have never made it into his second act if it were not for Josh Bowen. When we first met about a decade ago, I had an upper back pain problem that nothing could resolve – I tried massage, reiki, energy healing, chiropractic treatment, acupuncture, you name it. So when I walked in my local gym and met a buff, tattooed physical trainer, you can imagine that I was initially skeptical. But after several months of strength training, Josh’s instruction was invaluable, and I have never since suffered that pain.
Fast-forward several years, and this middle-aged mess developed a new lower back disc issue. But of course that wasn’t all; my 40s had been plagued with all of the typical issues of my age group: low energy, less stamina, and that infamous flat tire of belly fat. A decade wiser, Josh prescribed a holistic program for me, including diet, supplements, and of course, his carefully monitored strength-training program.
 Through his wealth of experiences travelling the country training physical trainers, and his voracious reading of all of the latest scientific and physiological studies, Josh Bowen is as good as it gets in helping his clients reach their fitness, health and wellness goals. I know I couldn’t have done it without him, and I expect that you will find invaluable advice in the pages that follow.
Josh Bowen’s careful instruction and deep personal concern for his clients has worked for me. And I bet this book will work for you as well. So that’s why this recovering politician has published this important book. Proudly. Enjoy.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Jan 3, 2014 at 1:30 PM ET  Josh and me Before (2013) and After (2014). H/t Bradley Cooper
Last year at this time, this Web site launched an epic competition when I challenged John Y. Brown, III to a fitness competition.
Check out this post which chronicles the first few weeks of the competition, our bravado proclamations of early victory, the steady fitness leadership of personal trainer (and Friend of RP contributor) Josh Bowen, and how the RP Nation became bitterly divided into #TeamRP and #TeamJYB3.
My personal goals? First and foremost, to crush my bitter frenemy, John Y. Brown, III.
As a sidelight, I was under doctor’s orders to lose a little weight. And I hoped to get in better shape so that I could start feeling good again — 2012 had been a lousy year health wise.
 It was an incredible journey. I have never felt better. My fitness results were not too shabby (see the chart at right).
10% of it was due to my hard work. 60% is the responsibility of the guidance of Josh — who not coincidentally was named by Life Fitness in 2013 one of the Top Ten Personal Trainers to Watch around the globe. And 30%, of course, was due to steroids. (Seriously.)
Most importantly, I crushed John Y. Although I invited him to train with Josh or one of his partners, John decided to go it alone. And the results? Well, I will let him share them with you in his next post.
Let’s just say that while I am no Bradley Cooper, John Y. makes me feel like him every day.
(And if you don’t understand the Bradley Cooper homage at the picture on top of this post, you need to see more David O. Russell/J-Law movies. Chop. Chop.)
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