Wall Street Journal

Michael Cohen's book in the Wall Street Journal | 'Live From the Campaign Trail' Review - 'Vintage Talk from the Stump'

Communications — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:18:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...The great American campaign speech is obviously hard to pull off and, for the readers among us, now hard to find. Students no longer stand before classrooms and recite the hallowed words of past office-holders and -seekers, and the small volumes of political speeches that once lined every American library – I cadged some splendid ones when Dartmouth's Baker Library disposed of its collection 35 years ago – are a thing of the past.

Thus the offerings in Michael A. Cohen's Live From the Campaign Trail meet a need. They also help to define a genre worth paying attention to, since politicians speak differently from the stump than they do from their desks in the Senate or from the Inaugural podium. Campaign rhetoric in its more memorable forms, as Mario Cuomo once noted, is more poetry than prose, aiming at the heart instead of the head... LINK

Daniel Levy in Wall Street Journal | 'Syria Seeks U.S. Role in Talks'

Communications — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:
"It's not unusual for an American administration to avoid urging reluctant parties into peace negotiations," said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator based at Washington's New America Foundation. "But it's unprecedented for the U.S. not to get behind and encourage a peace negotiation once it's been launched." LINK

Wireless Future Program event with Larry Page on WSJ.com | 'Google Co-Founder Makes Pitch for Unused Airwaves Access'

Communications — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:01:00 -0400

New America in the News:

[Google] Co-Founder Larry Page this week made an unprecedented appeal to policy makers for access to unused television airwaves.

Page made his first trip to Washington, D.C., Wednesday and Thursday to meet with members of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission.

Speaking at a public event Thursday, Page said the unused airwaves, dubbed "white space," would hasten the goal of blanketing the country with Internet access.*

Page said current "WiFi" wireless technology that allows Internet connections in many urban areas is less useful in rural parts of the country because its range is limited. Using TV white spaces, "You can really get a lot more range," he said.

"I like to think of it as WiFi on steroids," Page said... LINK (subscription required)

*New America hosted the public event with Larry Page. Further infomation and the event video: http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/google_unwired

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Event Covered By the Wall Street Journal | 'Vital Signs in Health-Care Debate'

Communications — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:45:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Full article

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s April 29 event that highlighted the presidential candidates' domestic policy plans appeared in David Wessel’s column in The Wall Street Journal (5/1/08). New America's Health Policy Program Director is quoted in the article.

. . Mr. Nichols says that Sen. McCain's plan to allow people in one state to buy individual insurance in another -- essentially deregulating this part of the insurance market -- amounts to "ideology trumping policy." Rational insurers will attract the healthy with low premiums and boost premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. "Fifty to 75 million Americans will discover what 'actuarially fair' really means," he says. (Sharply higher premiums.) The result, he predicts, will be a rush to Medicare-for-all that Republicans will hate. . .

Len Nichols in Wall Street Journal | 'Vital Signs in Health-Care Debate'

Communications — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Full article

. . . Mr. Nichols says that Sen. McCain's plan to allow people in one state to buy individual insurance in another -- essentially deregulating this part of the insurance market -- amounts to "ideology trumping policy." Rational insurers will attract the healthy with low premiums and boost premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. "Fifty to 75 million Americans will discover what 'actuarially fair' really means," he says. (Sharply higher premiums.) The result, he predicts, will be a rush to Medicare-for-all that Republicans will hate. . .