RealPolitix.com – The Non-Partisan Blog about Politics and Technology Archive for January 2009

So I’ve been following this for quite a while now, ever since her name appeared in my google alerts – my uncle just sent me this article that’s on CNN today. Apparently, more proof that my Aunt Julia is a bonafied badass. One of the most ridiculously intelligent people I’ve ever met. Very proud of her achievement! Check it out, most of this stuff boggles my mind, but the ramifications of what they did is truly incredible.

By Peter Ornstein

DAVIS, California (CNN) — If every scientist hopes to make at least one important discovery in her career, then University of California-Davis professor Pamela Ronald and her colleagues may have hit the jackpot.

Ronald’s team works with rice, a grain most Americans take for granted, but which is a matter of life and death to much of the world. Thanks to their efforts to breed a new, hardier variety of rice, millions of people may not go hungry.

About half the world’s population eats rice as a staple. Two-thirds of the diet of subsistence farmers in India and Bangladesh is made up entirely of rice. If rice crops suffer, it can mean starvation for millions.

“People [in the United States] think, well, if I don’t have enough rice, I’ll go to the store,” said Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at UC-Davis. “That’s not the situation in these villages. They’re mostly subsistence farmers. They don’t have cars.”

As sea levels rise and world weather patterns worsen, flooding has become a major cause of rice crop loss. Scientists estimate 4 million tons of rice are lost every year because of flooding. That’s enough rice to feed 30 million people.

Rice is grown in flooded fields, usually to kill weeds. But rice plants do not like it when they are submerged in water for long periods, Ronald said.

“They don’t get enough carbon dioxide, they don’t get enough light and their entire metabolic processes are thrown off. The rice plant tries to grow out of the flood, but when it does, it depletes its sugar reserves. It starts to break down its chlorophyll, important for photosynthesis. It grows really quickly, and then when the flood recedes, it just dies. It’s out of gas.”

Normal rice dies after three days of complete flooding. Researchers know of at least one rice variety that can tolerate flooding for longer periods, but conventional breeding failed to create a strain that was acceptable to farmers.

So Ronald and her colleagues — David Mackill, senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Julia Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics at the University of California-Riverside — spent the last decade working to find a rice strain that could survive flooding for longer periods.

Mackill identified a flood-resistant gene 13 years ago in a low-yielding traditional Indian rice variety. He passed along the information to Ronald, who isolated the gene, called Sub1, and introduced it into normal rice varieties, generating rice that could withstand being submerged in water for 17 days.

The team relied on something called precision breeding, the ability to introduce very specific genes into plants without the associated baggage of other genes that might tag along in conventional breeding.

“This can be a problem for farmers,” Ronald said. “The varieties that were developed from conventional breeding were rejected by farmers because they didn’t yield well or taste good.”

Using precision breeding, scientists introduced the Sub1 gene three years ago into test fields in Bangladesh and India. The subsequent rice harvests were a resounding success.

“The results were really terrific,” said Ronald. “The farmers found three- to five-fold increases in yield due to flood tolerance. They can plant the normal way. They can harvest the normal way and it tastes the same. Farmers had more food for their families and they also had additional rice they could sell to bring a little bit of money into the household.”

“The potential for impact is huge,” agreed Mackill in a statement on the IRRI Web site. “In Bangladesh, for example, 20 percent of the rice land is flood prone and the country typically suffers several major floods each year. Submergence-tolerant varieties could make major inroads into Bangladesh’s annual rice shortfall.”

The researchers anticipate that the flood-tolerant rice plants will be available to farmers in Bangladesh and India within two years. Because the plants are the product of precision breeding, rather than genetic modification, they are not subject to the same regulatory testing that can delay release of genetically modified crops.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture conferred one of its highest research awards last December on Ronald, Mackill and Bailey-Serres for their work on submergence-tolerant rice.

But Ronald has no plans to rest on her laurels.

“I feel a great sense of gratitude that I was able to contribute in this way,” she said. “But the farmers have asked us, ‘Can you develop varieties that are drought tolerant, salt tolerant? Can you develop varieties that are insect resistant?’ There are always more things to work on.”

Dubya’s Random Thoughts A-Flyin’ “A lot of times in politics you have people look you in the eye and tell you what’s not on their mind.” – Sochi, Russia, April 6, 2008 “I want to share with you an interesting program – for two reasons, one, it’s interesting, and two, my wife thought of it – or has actually been involved with it; she didn’t think of it. But she thought of it for this speech.” – Discussing a company that can improve access to clean water in Africa, Washington, DC, Oct. 21, 2008 “I think it was in the Rose Garden where I issued this brilliant statement: If I had a magic wand – but the president doesn’t have a magic wand. You just can’t say, ‘low gas.’” – Washington DC, July 15, 2008 Dubya: His Story “I didn’t grow up in the ocean – as a matter of fact – near the ocean – I grew up in the desert. Therefore, it was a pleasant contrast to see the ocean. And I particularly like it when I’m fishing.” – Washington, DC,   Sept. 26, 2008 “One of the things important about history is to remember the true history.” – Washington, DC, June 6, 2008 “I don’t spend a lot of time really worrying about short-term history. I guess I don’t worry about long-term history, either, since I’m not going to be around to read it.” – Dismissing what history will say about him to Charles Gibson, ABC News, Dec. 1, 2008 “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” – Washington, DC, May 12, 2008 “Welcome to my hanging.” – Said after the unveiling of the presidential portrait at a private club, Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 6, 2008 No doubt, George W. Bush will be missed. Given time, we might even long to hear his trademark, “heh! heh! heh!” But all things must pass. Hence, in the words of President Bush himself, I say, “C’mon, bring it on!” Bring in the custodian with the huge, over-sized, GOP White House pooper-scooper and make room for President-elect Obama. I’d rather be smiling knowing the country is headed in the right direction than laughing incredulously as we hobble along with a bum wheel on a bridge to nowhere with George Bush. So here’s to the dawning of the Obama era. May we have the inner resolve to rebuild America and the world in 2009 and beyond. Yes, we …hell, we’d better; we have no choice!

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys. That could have easily been the take away from Rod Blagojevich’s bizarre presser last Friday when he compared himself to a cowboy about to be lynched for a crime in town despite the fact he was “on the ranch herding cattle and steer.” Yes, Gov. Blagojevich becomes increasingly more insane every time he opens his mouth, but he’s not the first wack job to be impeached as a governor. He is however the first to make the rounds of the national talk shows to demonstrate precisely how addled he has become.

The last governor to be impeached and removed from office was the notorious Evan Mecham of Arizona in 1988. Mecham was a car dealer that had long run for office without much success. Some how his tenacity paid off and in 1986 he shocked the state by winning the Republican primary in an upset and then prevailed in November with 40% of the vote against two candidates that split his opposition. Much was made of Mecham’s outsider status and the fact that many voters in Arizona were new and ignorant about the checkered aspects of his past. It didn’t take long for them to find out. Mecham appointed a cast of characters and crooks to state positions (one was under investigation for murder, another had served in prison for armed robbery, and another owed $25,000 in employee compensation), engaged in all sorts of racist rhetoric, and adopted a persecution complex. The Arizona legislature finally removed him from office for obstruction of justice and misuse of government funds. He would run in 1992 as an independent candidate against John McCain for the senate and received a scant 10% of the vote. Today few have ever heard of him and for that Arizona is thankful.

There have been some governors that were impeached for doing the right thing. Clearly Blagojevich is making that claim now as a champion of the common man. He has even stated that he views himself as a hero from a Frank Capra film ala “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” One impeached governor, William Sulzer, was the model of another classic movie called “The Great McGinty.” Sulzer was a Democratic congressman from New York that was elected governor in 1912 with the help of the corrupt Tammany Hall machine. Once in office Sulzer double-crossed his political bosses and promoted reforms they opposed, chiefly the selection of candidates via a primary. The bosses ordered a political hit and before long Sulzer was impeached and removed from office by the Democratic controlled statehouse in Albany. No movie was ever made about it, but in 1871 North Carolina Democrats also impeached and removed Republican Governor William Holden when he dared to invoke martial law to go after the murderous Ku Klux Klan.

Blagojevich seems a good deal like Texas’ James Ferguson in 1917. Ferguson had been reelected as a Democratic governor in 1916 and set about trying to get his opponents punished. When the University of Texas refused to fire some professors that he found objectionable, he vetoed the entire budget for the college. This act of retribution was similar to Blago saying in wiretapped calls that he would put the squeeze on the Chicago Tribune unless they fired columnists that he disliked. The Texas legislature quickly acted and bounced Ferguson from office, though he would later succeed at have his wife elected governor as his puppet.

In 1929 Louisiana’s Governor Huey “Kingfish” Long firmly established himself as America’s worst tyrant. When the legislature took the initial steps to remove him from office for a host of sins, he responded by getting over 1/3 of the senators to sign a document that they would vote to acquit Long no matter what the evidence showed. The impeachment proceedings came to a quick halt and Long responded in victory by stating, “I used to say ‘please’ to get what I want, but now I just dynamite them out of the way!” Long then furthered his reign by using his office to bribe the buyable and persecute those that refused. It is thus not all that surprising that he died later in a hail of gunfire in what many suspect came from the over zealous actions of his paranoid bodyguards. Imagine Blago with the power The Kingfish had. Instead of appearing on “The View” or “Larry King Live”, he’d be ordering his henchmen to “take out the garbage.”

Blagojevich has certainly been a stain on Illinois politics and it will doubtless take a long time to remove it. It can be done however. For example, who knows today that Oklahoma was once the impeachment capital of America? The Sooner state still holds the record for impeaching and removing two governors and they did it all in the 1920s. In 1923 they impeached and removed Democratic governor Jack Walton after he suspended habeas corpus to crack down on the Ku Klux Klan after the bloody race riots in Tulsa. In 1929 the Okie legislature impeached and convicted Gov. Henry Johnston for “incompetence” as he had largely vacated the duties of the office to his personal secretary. Johnston did thwart the first removal attempt in 1927 by calling out the National Guard to block the legislators from entering the capitol. They would then convene at a local hotel and impeach him, but a friendly State Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment was illegal because it had not taken place in the capitol building. By 1929 several of those judges had been voted from office and Johnston was unable to concoct another scheme for survival. It makes one wonder why Blagojevich hasn’t called out the National Guard in a similar manner. What a second, better not give him any ideas.

Sometimes I get lucky. January 15th was one of those times where I lucked out along with my husband in receiving an invitation to the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. Let me take you on my awesome adventure!

The invitations were received on the 15th, Thursday afternoon. Tickets were in the orange section, about a third of the way from the Capitol, front and center. The invitation packet included: Guidelines For The Inauguration Ceremonies, Inauguration Invitation, Inauguration Program, Portraits of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and Inauguration Ticket.

The Night Before the Inauguration: Went to bed early, but who could sleep worrying about possibly oversleeping and missing the bus the next morning? I mean, besides my husband.

Morning of the Inauguration: Woke up at 1:30 a.m. We finally left to catch the bus at around 4:15, and waited for the bus for 1 and 1/2 hours. (Bus was supposed to come at 4:00!) It was still dark and around 25º. It was also breezy so the temperature was probably in single digits. It was so cold I thought I might fall over the bench in a fetal position.

Metro Station/Pentagon: Caught this metrorail. Note how crowded it is inside the train; people squeezed in to clear the doors. A fellow on board said it reminded him of being in Beijing.

Arrived 7:36 a.m. at Metro Station/Capitol Southeast: Got off metrorail to be part of this crowd. Metro should be commended for a job well done. A woman over the PA system gave the drill, “Keep it moving, keep it moving, keep it moving, walk through the gate.”Crowd was in an upbeat mood and laughed. People began repeating the drill as well.

Being slightly under five feet tall, here is my perspective being in the crowd. It was worse inside the train – my face was up against my husband’s back.

7:40 am: Going up the escalator to the upper floor.

Entrance of another longer escalator.

7:49 am: Going up the escalator to the ground level outside. Light at the end of tunnel!

7:51 am: Off the escalator to enter C Street; the southeast side of the Capitol.

8:07 am: Standing in meandering line at a nearby park to get to the entrance of the Capitol.

8:53 am: Nanook of the North. Okay, thought I looked fine until this picture was taken. Need to replace the mirror at home. Was holding hand warmers in clasped hands and was still cold!

9:05 am: Picture taken of the crowd below as I stood in line at the park above. Tents are security checkpoints to get into Capitol. Music began playing at the Capitol.

9:24 am: Long lines to the latrines. Husband was in one of them. Afterward he confirmed that yes, it was gross.

9:55 am: Seated and view of the Capitol.

10:09 am: Photo taken from seat.

10:31 am: View further back from seats. Washington Monument far off in the background. People standing on the mall in front of the monument were given flags and were waving them. Spectacular sight; area appeared glistening from the Capitol!

Closer view of Capitol.

12:07 pm: Obama being sworn into office. Michelle at his side.

12:09 pm: Obama gives speech.

12:27 pm: Marines line the rows as program ends and people begin to leave.

As we were leaving the Capitol grounds, former President Bush appeared on the Jumbotron leaving the White House as well. President Obama and First Lady Michelle were saying their goodbyes to the former president and Mrs. Bush as they boarded the presidential helicopter. The Obamas waved goodbye as the helicopter took off in the Jumbotron. Then as if in a 3-D movie, the helicopter appeared over the Capitol building and flew over the crowd. Everyone looked up, stunned that the former President Bush was flying directly overhead in close proximity. The crowd cheered and waved goodbye. Or maybe they were jeering and waving him off — because oddly enough, there was also much laughter.

For more about the Presidential Inauguration, go to new WhiteHouse.gov.

What a historic day, you can watch live coverage of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama below:

VIDEOS from CNN:

What an exciting day! We appreciate all of the kind words. There were three interviews, two on CNN.com, and one on CNN. We will be posting them as they become available.

Tom Serres CNN.com Interview

View Video on CNN.com

Tom Serres Full CNN Interview

Also, thanks to @jacobmullins of BizSpark for posting a Qik capture of the CNN interview (and commentary :)), it’s embded below as well.

Tom Serres CNN Interview from Qik

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UPDATE:

Below is the revised schedule:

2:10pm EST – CNN (Cable) to rebroadcast of Tom’s CNN.com LIVE interview

3:10pm EST – Second CNN.com LIVE Interview with Tom

3:30pm EST – First CNN (Cable) interview with Tom

In case you missed it, we’ll try and post these videos soon.

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Original Post:

We are very excited to share that Tom Serres, Piryx CEO, will be on CNN Domestic, CNN International, and CNN.com tomorrow, Jan 19th.

He will be speaking about use of technology in political campaigns, the Obama administration, and the government at large. Below is the schedule:

12:30pm EST: CNN.com LIVE

3:30pm EST: CNN Domestic and CNN International Cable News

Make sure to log on and tune in, and spread the word! Keep your eye on Piryx.com and RealPolitix.com for updates. Thank you as always for your support.

Hey Folks! We’re so excited about this Tuesday! Make sure to check out The TechCrunch Guide To The Inauguration.

Below is some information from Lynn Bender of GeekAustin about Tuesday’s plans:

As I said in the past. This is not a partisan affair. All you folks who used Twitter, Meetup, Facebook, Myspace, and similar tools to mobilize and communicate with your fellow voters, and to help educate your candidates, this party is for you.

Here’s the news. We open the doors at 6:00PM for drinks and conversation, but have a variety of stuff — and a few surprises — going on throughout the night. This is going to be like three parties in one. You can RSVP here.

The GeekAustin Inaugural Tweetup – with Omar Gallaga and Tom Serres

Twitter played a big part in this campaign. So for all of Austin’s twitterati, we’ll be having a party within a party — or rather, a party on top of a party — up on the newly-enclosed roof at UP. The GeekAustin Inaugural Tweetup will be co-hosted from DC, by Tom Serres (tomserres) of Piryx, and from Austin, by Omar Gallaga (omarg). In the last year, with his coverage of SXSWi and his segment All Tech Considered, Omar has become a great ambassador for Austin’s tech/media community. These guys were my first choice, and I’m happy that they both accepted. Although not necessary, there is a separate RSVP page for the Tweetup.

Get Shot in the BoomBoom Room! – with Dubnautica and Michael Cummings

Speaking at SXSW and don’t have a good picture to send?. Start 2009 with a new headshot — courtesy of Piryx. Crack event/portrait photographer Michael Cummings, of The Creative Space, will be offering free head-shots in the BoomBoom Room. Normally, you would pay for a sitting with Michael, but your friends at Piryx are picking up the tab. To help set the mood, GeekAustin fave Dubnautica will be laying down the soundtrack. If you see Naveed, tell him thanks and buy him a drink.

Le Ren and Panjoma – 8:30PM in the main room

If La Femme Nikita were a love story, Le Ren would be the soundtrack. DETROIT-born and built on love in 1996, sophisticated shoegazers Le Ren were formed when Nardo rocked the 4-track with tones that filled the sky with stars. Le Ren is on a mission! Find out what it is. Nardo tells me that Le Ren will be going on at 8:30PM. This is going to be a rare performance, so if you come early, plan on staying around to check them out.

Following Le Ren, will be Panjoma (myspace), who will fill the room with delightful beats and crunches. You can read about Panjoma in the Austinist — or you can come to the party and check them out. Psst – it’s ok to dance.

Geekaustin 2009 E-nauguration Party
co-hosted by Piryx and the Austin Electronic Music Grid.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 6:00pm – ??
Location: Union Park Austin – 612 W. 6th St.
Valet parking will be available.
RSVP at Facebook

Dubya’s Domestic Mixed-Up Relations “The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there’s a lot of prayer – prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I’m one of them.” – Baton Rouge, LA, Sept. 3, 2008 “And I unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as president.” – Discussing flooding in the Midwest, Washington, DC June 17, 2008 “First of all, I don’t see America having problems.” – Interview with Bob Costas at the 2008 Olympics, Beijing, China, Aug. 10, 2008 “And so the fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there’s jobs at the machine-making place.” – Mesa, AZ, May 27, 2008 Dubya’s Failed Thoughts On The Economy “The economy is growing, productivity is high, trade is up, people are working. It’s not as good as we’d like, but – and to the extent that we find weakness, we’ll move.” – Washington, DC, July 15, 2008 “There’s no question about it. Wall Street got drunk – that’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras – it got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.” – Speaking at a private fundraiser, Houston, Texas, July 18, 2008 “Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted.” – Washington, DC, Sept. 19, 2008 “This thaw – took a while to thaw, it’s going to take a while to unthaw.” – On liquidity in the markets, Alexandria, LA, Oct. 20, 2008 “Let’s make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times in our economy.” – Washington, DC, June 2, 2008 “We got plenty of money in Washington. What we need is more priority.” – Washington, DC, June 2, 2008 “I’m sorry it’s happening, of course.” Further, “Obviously I don’t like the idea of people losing jobs, or being worried about their 401(k)s. On the other hand, the American people got to know that we will safeguard the system. I mean, we’re in. And if we need to be in more, we will.” – Interview with Charles Gibson, ABC News, Dec. 1, 2008, in response to the global financial crisis that has cost jobs and affected retirement accounts, also how the recession will be eased if necessary with more government intervention. Watch for Part III of 2009 Bushisms: Random Thoughts and His Story

Forty-six men have held the office of the Vice President of the United States. On January 20th Joe Biden will become the 47th, but already his outsized ego wants you to know that, “I’m the most experienced Vice President since anybody.” The only thing larger than that display of pomposity is Biden’s ignorance about the office. Luckily for him the media didn’t widely report his remarks, which may already show how irrelevant the man has become. Let’s hope it stays that way.

One wonders if Biden has ever heard of the names of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Calhoun, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and George H.W. Bush. All had life experiences and accomplishments far grander than Biden’s upon assuming the office of Vice President. The position has been often maligned and sadly the average American might at first glance let Biden’s audacious arrogance pass due to a disturbing unfamiliarity with history. It was the 32nd Vice President, John Nance Garner, who once famously said that the office was, “Not worth a warm bucket of (expletive deleted).” This was coming from a man that had previously wielded power as the Speaker of the House. The closest Biden has gotten to true power has been pontificating in committee rooms and on the floor of the senate for over half of his life. This is not mere hyperbole. Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29, took office at 30, and is now 66 years old. He must surely know, after his disastrous runs for the presidency in 1988 and 2008, that he will have little chance to become president baring a tragedy. With that in mind, he is now determined instead to tell everyone how great he will be in the number two slot.

In a display of brazenness, Biden did not resign immediately from the Senate upon being elected Vice President. He instead took the oath to begin his seventh six-year term in office when Congress reconvened earlier this month. This forced his handpicked successor, who was chosen because he will not run for reelection in 2010 but rather will step aside for Biden’s son Beau, to now move into the office several weeks late. And for what reason? Biden’s ego of course. He stated that he wanted to say he’d served seven terms in the Senate. Never mind that all previous Vice Presidents that served in the senate, such as Gore, Quayle, and Mondale, immediately resigned their seats and began focusing on becoming Vice President. They obviously must not have possessed the “confidence” that Biden has in his own abilities.

There have been some truly honorable and heroic men that have served as Vice President whom history has forgotten. One of which was Henry Wilson. Wilson was an orphan that lived a childhood of true poverty and destitution. As a young man he began to work in a shoe shop as a cobbler and ultimately educated himself and eventually entered politics. As a senator he was known for his intelligence, his diligence, and his devotion to end slavery. When he became President Grant’s Vice President in 1873 he was heralded as the simple “Cobbler from Natick, Mass.” The small humble 10 foot by 10 foot shoe shop in which he once worked is now a lonely landmark.

Charles Dawes was our 30th V.P. and gained fame for earning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on WW I reparations. During the war he had served in the Army and was famous for telling a congressional committee that was looking into military finances afterwards that, “Hell and Maria, we weren’t trying to keep a set of books over there, we were trying to win a war!” His statement sat well with patriotic Americans and from then on he was known as “Hell and Maria” Dawes. He was also a self taught piantist and composer and his well know tune of “Melody in A Major” became a posthumous number one hit in 1958 when lyrics were added and it was retitled “It’s All in the Game.”

Charles Curtis was America’s first Native American Indian to rise to high prominence in office. As a child he was raised by his maternal grandparents on the Kaw Reservation in Kansas. He worked his way through college and became a successful laywer. Once elected to congress he proved to be very popular and he served as Senate Minorty Whip from 1915-1924 and Senate Majority Leader from 1925-1929 where upon he was elected to the Vice Presidency. He died at the age of 76 in 1936 and has been largely forgotten.

There have been two Vice Presidents, Aaron Burr and John Breckinridge, that were later indicted for treason and one, Spiro Agnew, that was forced to resign from office in disgrace. While Biden has not done anything to lump his name in with those scoundrels, he still has a long way to go to rise to the level of Wilson, Dawes, and Curtis. In fact, its doubtful he even knows who those three great Americans were, though he seemingly expects us to know that he’s the greatest of all time. If Biden would spend some more time reading about the history of his new office and less time bloviating on his grandeur he may find some much needed humility.

Hey Folks! The Piryx January Newsletter hit the inboxes today. We know it’s been too long since our last newsletter, but as you can imagine we’ve been keeping really busy. There is a lot of great news to share, so make sure to take a look. Thank you as always for your support!

If you missed it, you can see the newsletter here. Make sure to sign up to subscribe. There are more amazing things on the horizon and as always subscribers get the first scoop! You can also use the form to let us know if you would like to Blog or Develop with us.