By ROGER RAPOPORT

Released on the 60th anniversary weekend of the Chinese Revolution, Michael Moore’s new shockumentary “Capitalism: A Love Story” proves once again how hard it is to be rich in America. Last year, when his net worth finally exceeded that of his old nemesis General Motors, Moore was forced to sit down and have a serious talk with himself. How do you preach about the evils of capitalism when you make roughly $21 million on “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a film trashing George Bush? Any way you look at it, that’s a hefty return on a $6 million investment.

In 2008, serious fans at his film festival in Traverse City, Mich., whined publicly that they couldn’t afford to buy tickets for a Madonna documentary about Malawi children orphaned because of AIDS. And I was disappointed to find that neighbors in my high-unemployment western Michigan hometown of Muskegon needed to drive three hours to Moore’s closest free “Capitalism” screening for the jobless. You just can’t beat the oil companies.

Another potential source of embarrassment comes from people who helped the filmmaker become rich and famous. Take old buddies like Bruce Schermer, the cinematographer who received a whopping $5,000 for shooting 60 percent of Moore’s breakthrough debut, “Roger and Me,” which sold to Warner Brothers for $3 million.

Perhaps these were some of the troubling questions Moore was dealing with in his conversations with priests and bishops who enjoy cameos in “Capitalism.” Although the new documentary’s first weekend in wide release was a small fraction of the opening for Moore’s 2004 “Fahrenheit 9/11,” a $4.8 million start is impressive. As any Hollywood capitalist will tell you, it’s not easy keeping up with serious competition like “Zombieland” ($25 million) and “The Invention of Lying” ($7.3 million).

As Michael Moore’s biographer, I’ve enjoyed the privilege of sorting through some of these contradictions with people like John Pierson, the producer’s rep who made that record-breaking $3 million documentary sale to Warner Brothers and then was asked by Moore to slash his fee 50 percent. (Pierson declined.) I’ve also met many of the beneficiaries of Moore’s largesse, and believe me, he has been very generous to causes he believes in – like the environment and the Traverse City Film Festival near his million-dollar-plus home on the shore of Michigan’s idyllic Torch Lake.

But like Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates, Michael Moore has to deal with the fact that the system that helped make him the world’s most successful documentary filmmaker is also putting a lot of people out of work and forcing them out of their homes in Peoria. To his credit, he has been consistent in his opposition to tax cuts for big business. He refused to apply for generous 40 percent Michigan tax credits for his film at a time when productions with stars like George Clooney, Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood and Drew Barrymore were doing just that.

Yet for some unknown reason Moore continues to pummel his birthplace, Flint, as an economic basket case. He has yet to say a word about the impressive accomplishments of his old friend and colleague, Dan Kildee, who has created a land bank that is becoming a national model. The Flint treasurer has found constructive ways to prevent foreclosure for hundreds of residents, rehabilitated over 1,300 homes and helped convert abandoned downtown properties into major housing units for students at the University of Michigan campus, where Moore dropped out years ago because he couldn’t find parking.

Why is there nothing about this important Flint success story in a film heavily focused on foreclosure? The answer has something to do with Moore’s diminished interest in the town that made him famous. He’s a lot happier living in a popular resort area where plenty of potential donors share his philanthropic vision for the Traverse City Film Festival and the reborn State Theater.

Paying lip service to the problems of the poor by wrapping ceremonial crime scene tape around Wall Street banks is far easier than giving credit to old friends in Flint who are correcting some of the deficiencies in the foreclosure business. Not giving credit where it is well earned perpetuates the central Don Quixote myth of Moore’s career. Only by accepting the defeat of capitalism will his fans have an opportunity to subscribe to his vision of our future.

In his new film, Moore sidesteps the unfortunate possibility that both capitalism and communism could collapse on the same day. Then where would any of us be?

Moore’s greatest frustrations, such as his failure to straighten out the auto industry with “Roger and Me” or curb excesses of the gun lobby with “Bowling For Columbine,” have led him to the conclusion that capitalism can never work for the masses. But as a major beneficiary of the system, he can never be a totally objective messenger any more than Bill Gates can tell us how to make Windows Vista bug-free.

His cry for fans to join him in reforming the system by replacing capitalism with a better alternative sounds good. I know that all 10 of the people in the theater with me on the night I saw “Capitalism” were grateful for the opportunity to pay for his advice. But as any banker will tell you, capitalist snake charmers, for all their faults, have a tricky way of persuading you to stagger back into the ring for one more round with come-ons like bankruptcy.

If Moore’s thesis is right, he needs to begin anew with the notion that any constructive solution is built around practicing what he preaches. Here’s hoping that Moore will turn his own Dog Eat Dog production company into the kind of employee-owned and operated business he showcases in “Capitalism.” That would be a real blockbuster.

Roger Rapoport is the author of “Citizen Moore: The Making of An American Iconoclast.”

© 2009 TheSunNews.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thesunnews.com

McClatchy Newspapers

McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT) – In the lowered-expectations world of air travel, some facts of life have changed for the better. Meal cutbacks mean most passengers never hear the most daunting question in the air, “Chicken or beef?”

Minus high-salt meals, flying is definitely safer. And thanks to the miracle of hub travel, fewer flights, more crowded planes and staffing issues, many travelers find a routine trip gives them the opportunity to spend extra hours, even days, killing time at the airport of their choice.

Reduced airline capacity means fewer options, all at the passenger’s expense. My son’s recent trip back from Michigan to St. Louis, a nine-hour drive or train ride, took 36 hours due to the inability of American Airlines to rebook him for an entire day. When he finally did catch a plane to Chicago, a missed connection to St. Louis added another 12 hours to the trip.

My own experience with canceled and seriously delayed flights runs the gamut from AWOL pilots who didn’t want to fly on Christmas Day to carriers that refuse to offer any kind of credit or accommodation for a canceled flight. Your lost time is definitely not their problem.

Unless you happen to own an airline you might wonder what if anything you can do to circumvent just a few of the following common problems:

_You have missed your connecting flight and are unable to make a connection until the following day, meaning your cruise is leaving without you.

_Your airline only operates a single flight a day to your destination and a backup aircraft won’t be available for a day or longer.

_Your carrier is unable or unwilling to let you change a flight unless you buy a new ticket or pay a huge cancellation penalty.

To get around some of these problems, here are a few helpful suggestions that will prepare you for the deregulated caveat emptor world of air travel.

If you are taking any trip under 500 miles consider driving or taking a train or bus. Often this is a better deal in terms of cost and competitive when you factor in time. This way you don’t have to run the risk of huge rebooking fees (I just paid $280 to change a return date on a $490 flight to London and the airline told me I was lucky it wasn’t higher) if your original itinerary changes. This is doubly true if you are flying with someone else.

Before you book, look for a nonstop and try to stay with a single carrier or one that it is part of an inter-airline alliance or partnership. This means they have the ability to get you to your destination on a partner carrier.

Much of the problem with air travel is missed connections. This can be a hang-up with budget carriers like Spirit and Ryanair, which assume no liability for their late arrival if it results in a missed connection on another carrier. Even if you are connecting to one of their own flights, you will have to wait for the next available opportunity, which could mean being stuck for a day or longer if they are running or full or have a light schedule on the route you choose.

If there is no direct air service from your hometown airport to your final destination, consider flying nonstop to or from a convenient hub. It’s often worth the drive. You can also skip the regional airline connection to your final destination by choosing a shuttle, rental car or train.

Take Santa Barbara, for example. If you’re flying from Minneapolis you could head for Los Angeles and then take a ground shuttle to Santa Barbara. This way you can avoid the possibility of commuter flight delays in Los Angeles.

In places like Europe and Japan, where there are efficient rail systems, this alternative can be cheaper and faster when you factor in the reality of bad weather. Also, you may find that the shuttle connection to your spoke city is cheaper than a connecting commuter flight.

Similarly, if you live in a spoke city like New Haven, Conn., or Waco, Texas, it may to worth driving or taking a ground shuttle to a hub to begin your air travel.

Hubs offer plenty of backup flights. If your scheduled flight is seriously delayed or canceled, chances are you can probably easily book a later plane. My son is a good example. Stuck 180 miles away from O’Hare after his 28-minute commuter flight was canceled, he had to wait 24 hours for another connection to Chicago.

Had he simply gone to the O’Hare via train the next morning he could have easily caught one of American’s many flights to St. Louis. Instead he was forced to wait 24 hours for another plane, missed the last connection of the night in Chicago and slept on a cot for four hours, until airport staff put all the bedding away at 4 a.m.

Even if you don’t take this approach, it’s worth choosing your hub carefully. Always pick the hub closest to your final destination. For example, if you’re going to Daytona Beach it’s better to connect through Orlando than Atlanta. That way, if your connection is a problem, it’s easy to rent a car or take a shuttle for a much shorter trip.

No matter how you travel it’s almost always better to take the first flight when planes tend to be on schedule, unless there are serious weather issues like fog.

And no matter when you fly, always arrive at the airport at least two hours early. Cutting it close can be a special problem if you are carrying checked luggage. Some airlines have an earlier check-in deadline for baggage than they do for passengers. I learned this sad fact after arriving at the Los Angeles airport 34 minutes early for a long flight. I was denied boarding because my bag was due 45 minutes ahead of departure. As I result I ended up on a redeye six hours later.

Wise travelers realize anything an airline tells you is subject to change. The only way to know for sure that your supposedly delayed flight is actually held up is to show up at the airline gate well ahead of your scheduled flight time. Miraculously some “delayed” flights actually do take off earlier than forecast because anticipated problems are solved quickly.

When you’re sure that your flight is not going to fly, it’s time to ask the airline agent about your alternatives. If she can’t quickly book you on another plane you have the following options:

Ask the airline if they can book you to another city. Once, when a snowstorm closed all the New York airports, I was able to switch to an alternate Washington, D.C., flight at no extra cost; an easy Amtrak connection put me in New York just a couple of hours late. This was far cheaper than spending an extra night in Detroit at my own expense (airlines don’t pay for weather delays).

Another possibility is a change of airports. While this may require some driving time it allows you to make a same-day connection. I did this on a recent trip because the secondary airport 50 miles away had a flight that allowed me to make my original hub connection. Happily I arrived on schedule. This made far more sense than an alternate airline recommended route that would have put me in New York five hours later.

I am not a big fan of airline clubs mainly because it’s often easy to duplicate or even beat their services at an on-premises airport hotel. But if you travel frequently they do offer one big advantage: In some circumstances they can call a departure gate and find out if there is space left on a supposedly sold-out flight.

This happened to me during another snowstorm when Northwest had canceled all their evening flights to New York. Continental was still operating but when I went to the gate the agent explained their flight was sold out. The club agent was able to find me a seat on the same flight and I arrived on time. Keep in mind that you can buy a one-day club membership _ not a bad idea if you’re flying on a problematic air-travel day and will be at the airport for a long time. Also, club staff can get through to reservations for rebooking when you are stuck on hold.

Once your flight leaves there’s not much you can do about ground delays, air traffic slowdowns or gate delays. But you can anticipate late arrivals that might interfere with connections by always opting for the seat closest to the exit door (which is not always the front door on the plane). It’s also a good idea to board early to store your luggage above your seat or in a forward compartment.

If you’re forced to store your bag in an overhead behind your seat you’ll have to wait until other passengers disembark, which can cost precious time on a short connection. And remember, if you’re on a tight schedule it’s better not to check luggage at all, even it means you have to ship your belongings ahead or do some shopping at your final destination.

When you arrive, ask the agent to give you the gate for your next flight and, if time is tight, ask them to call and try to hold the plane. By all means take advantage of shuttle buses, shuttle rail or shuttle carts that can expedite the trip to your connection.

All of these remedies underscore perhaps the greatest irony of air travel. Flying may be the fastest way to go, but in many situations you can expect delays that will easily disrupt or even destroy your plans. For this reason I suggest the following caveats for people headed for weddings, cruises, major business meetings or any event that is time sensitive.

_Leave at least one day early, two if you really must be there.

_You are often better off booking through a travel agent or direct with an airline. If you go any other way contact the airline directly before you leave home to make sure that your flight arrangements are in order. When in doubt, book on the phone and discuss recommended connecting times based on the experience of the agent, who has a good feel for how long you should allow to get through the Frankfurt airport on a holiday weekend.

_If you have an early flight it makes more sense to spend the night at a hotel near the airport than it does to drive early in the morning.

_In large cities double check the name of the airport on your ticket and be sure you know the terminal number

_Carry minimum luggage.

_Prepay all extras such as luggage fees and print out your boarding pass with a reservation for an aisle seat.

_Go to the bathroom before you get in line at the ticket counter.

_Allow at least an extra hour if you are returning a rental car. Seriously consider the prepaid gas option.

_Don’t schedule any appointments within five hours of your flight unless they are within a couple miles of the airport.

_If the weather looks dodgy plan to be at your flight gate at least an hour and a half before departure.

_Wear sensible running shoes.

And bon voyage.

___

Roger Rapoport, publisher of the “I Should Have Stayed Home” trouble travel series, has edited hundreds of stories from around the world about trips gone awry. E-mail: Roger@rdrbooks.com

___

© 2009, McClatchy-Tribune News Service.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

The global financial crisis hit hard in Mongolia, forcing everyone from goat herders to mineral prospectors to tighten their belts. But the crisis did at least accomplish something pleasantly unexpected: It forced lawmakers to abandon repressive taxation to attract investment.

Ulan Bator didn’t have a choice. The country’s wealth resides in its vast reserves of copper, gold, silver and high-quality coal, among other minerals. In 2006 the local legislature, the Great Hural, enacted a 68% windfall tax on copper exports priced at $2,600 per ton or above and gold exports at $500 per ounce or above. Lawmakers thought the levy would swell public coffers. It had the opposite effect. Mining companies put their operations on hold, gold was smuggled out of the country and foreign investors fled. Not only did tax revenue stop flowing but fewer companies were around to contribute, as the tax burden forced many into a state of semi-hibernation. Then the boom times ended and Mongolia found itself hit by the financial crisis, too.

So in a moment of clarity, the legislature scrapped the tax late last month. Money is now pouring into the country. Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines and Australia-based Rio Tinto are expected to ink soon a major deal to exploit the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine. In the deal as currently structured, the government would receive a $250 million advance against any future royalties and taxes. The next project in the pipeline is Tavan Tolgoi, said to be the world’s largest undeveloped coal deposit, with 6.5 billion tons of coal. Several mining companies have submitted bids, including a consortium of Russian energy companies, Shenhua and Peabody Energy.

But Mongolia can’t rest on its laurels. There is much more the government can do to attract investment, starting with a badly needed upgrade to the country’s sagging, Soviet-era domestic infrastructure. To date most governments have preferred to spend money on populist handouts rather than on productivity-
enhancing public works.

Ulan Bator also needs to get tough on corruption and law enforcement. Transparency International ranks the country 99th out of 179 countries and officials are on the take at every level of society, particularly mid-level bureaucrats. Some improvements have been made, such as the creation of an anticorruption task force, but laws still need beefing up to put white-collar criminals behind bars. Finally, Mongolia needs to modernize its educational system to provide training in business, construction and mining engineering. Mongolians need their own operational and financial expertise to properly support the supply chain around mines.

Underlying all of this is the assumption that Mongolia will continue to be an open market and friendly to investors from anywhere in the world. Scrapping the windfall profits tax is a good start. Now the real effort begins to build the country, and build it responsibly.

Mr. Kohn is the author of “Dateline Mongolia: An American Journalist in Mongolia” (RDR Books, 2006).
(McClatchy-Tribune News Service)

Of the more than 14,000 letters Charles Darwin wrote during his lifetime, perhaps the most memorable was addressed to his wife, Emma Wedgwood. The naturalist requested that in the event of his death, she use an enclosed 400-pound check to pay for the editing and publication of a 240-page book on natural selection.

“If as I believe,” he wrote in 1842, “my theory in time be accepted even by one competent judge, it will be a considerable step in science.”

One of the many treasures on display at the newly refurbished Darwin family home, in the Kent village of Downe, the letter is one more reason that a visit to the naturalist’s home is a highlight of any visit to Britain.

You can join the 150th anniversary celebration of the publication of On the Origin of Species at the Down House exhibition. Here you’ll learn how his home office nurtured Darwin’s revolutionary ideas.

At a time when only 53 percent of Americans and 48 percent of the British accept Darwin’s theory of evolution, the Georgian home where he wrote this classic offers an inside look at the sometimes maddening world of science, where it remains possible for a college dropout to change the world.

Not content to rest on the success of The Voyage of the Beagle, a travel narrative of his five-year journey around the globe, Darwin quietly husbanded his scientific depth charge for more than 15 years. Convinced that publishing On the Origin of Species was like “confessing to a murder,” Darwin decided to finish it only after he realized that another scientist, Albert Wallace, was advocating the same theory. That gave Darwin the push he needed to complete the book and publish it quickly in 1859.

Today even the most ardent opponent of Darwin’s theory, the foundation of modern biology, is likely to be disarmed by a tour of Down House.

“You cannot deny what Darwin did,” says curator Annie Kemkaran-Smith. People come here every day to look at Darwin’s study, the kitchen where he boiled pigeons with the help of his butler, the garden where he worked with pots of worms, and the study where his children helped him analyze specimens gathered on his Beagle circumnavigation of the Earth.

Like Lincoln, born on the same day as Darwin in February 1809, the naturalist’s legacy continues to shape our world. Darwin’s self-described “ugly” country house, where he lived with Emma and their children, is the unlikeliest of scientific laboratories. At the center is his study, where he deconstructed the biblical view that the Earth was created in one week and built his thesis that all species are interrelated and that humans descended from apes.

Even critics who question Darwin’s legacy or have second thoughts about the origin of species should visit Down House. Here it is possible to follow the journey of a lifetime that led this scientist to lay the foundation for contemporary molecular biology and botany, zoology, genetics, sociobiology and, of course, evolution.

A lapsed divinity student who stopped attending church after the tragic death of his eldest daughter, Darwin was not content to merely challenge Britain’s theocracy and scientific orthodoxy.

“Darwin knew a lot of people would find it hard to accept his theory,” says Kemkaran-Smith as visitors explore the new exhibitions, including treasures such as Darwin’s notebooks, the only 43 surviving pages from Darwin’s manuscript of On the Origin of Species, Emma’s wedding ring and a copy of Das Kapital personally inscribed by Karl Marx.

“A rare example of someone who could think things through and make connections that other people didn’t see, Darwin was never trying to challenge people’s faith,” says Kemkaran-Smith.

Down House remains today what it was 150 years ago: a place that encourages independent thinking, a beacon for free inquiry and an inspiration for anyone who has the courage to challenge orthodoxy.

[Last modified: Jun 25, 2009 07:04 PM]

(McClatchy-Tribune News Service)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shortly after 10 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1865, one of America’s most admired actors, John Wilkes Booth, shot and mortally wounded his most illustrious fan, President Abraham Lincoln. Nine hours later, at 7:22 a.m., Lincoln died across the street from Ford’s Theater at the home of merchant William Petersen. A nation wept, and Vice President Andrew Johnson, himself one of the missed targets of a vast conspiracy, became the 17th president of the United States.

Today more than a million visitors a year come to what is perhaps the most visited assassination site in the world and to the small room across the street where the spirit of Abraham Lincoln began its return flight home. The opening in July of a museum at America’s most famous theater completes a $50 million restoration of this national landmark, which continues to stage musicals and dramas while answering many important questions about the most infamous crime of the 19th century.

The museum, which opened July 15, puts the finishing touches on a 40-year-long project to re-create the terrorist crime scene and to restore live theater in the venue. Lincoln knew and admired Booth’s considerable stage talents, while unaware that the actor was secretly leading a conspiracy designed to decimate the executive branch by killing the president along with Johnson, Secretary of State William H. Seward and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Seward was badly injured but recovered from his attack. Grant and Johnson were not hurt.

Booth was shot and killed 12 days later. The murderer had written shortly before the assassination that “the world may censure me for what I am about to do but I am sure that posterity will justify me.”

Thanks to the new museum, it’s possible to more fully understand Booth’s deranged view of Lincoln. Here visitors can see the assassin’s derringer, knife, diary and compass, as well as the weapons and belongings of his co-conspirators. Also exhibited are the clothing and boots Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theater on the night he died.

The collection, which also features Ford’s Theater playbills, focuses on Lincoln’s presidential life in Washington.

“We didn’t want to exclusively focus on one night in Abraham Lincoln’s existence,” says Paul Tetreault, director of the Ford’s Theater Society. “The museum takes you through the four years in his presidency and tells what really made Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln.”

Among the important highlights scheduled for display this summer is a quilt created for an auction at a fundraiser for Union soldiers, signed by Lincoln, his entire cabinet and several Northern generals. Another best bet is a video featuring presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton reading the Gettysburg Address.

Ford’s Theater, originally a church, closed after the assassination and became a government office building until structural failure killed 22 employees in 1893. Rebuilt and later turned into a warehouse, the site became a museum during the Great Depression and finally, in 1968, was reopened as a national historic site and theater.

While the theater stages a range of plays, operas and musicals, it honors Lincoln’s memory by not reviving Our American Cousin, the play he watched that night with his wife, Mary. Visitors who plan ahead can catch one-act plays focusing on the assassination and Civil War generals Robert E. Lee and Grant. Ford’s Theater also stages musicals such as Little Shop of Horrors and new works such as Black Pearl Sings, a tribute to songs rooted in the African tradition.

Nearly every visitor joins ranger-led interpretive talks at the rebuilt theater. Across the street, the Petersen House, where Lincoln died in a room not much bigger than the log cabin where his life began, is an increasingly popular site for visitors, who often have the same kind of emotional reaction they might experience at a funeral parlor.

Lincoln’s love of theater made him vulnerable to the crazed assassins’ conspiracy.

“People think it was the first time he came to the theater in his presidency. Actually he came to the theater all the time,” says director Tetreault. “… It gave him relief and allowed him to do his job even better. It was also a natural place for him to be off guard.”

Despite the popularity of Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House, some visitors are not entirely comfortable with the idea of staging plays, including comedies, in the space where Lincoln was shot.

“I think,” Tetreault says, “if you had a chance to meet Lincoln in the beyond and ask him if he thought this theater should be enshrined as a memorial where people could think about that night or make it a living, breathing theater and a tribute to the arts, the answer would be clear. It is a tribute, not to that singular act that happened here 144 years ago, but to Lincoln’s love for the performing arts and his love for the theater.”

Roger Rapoport,

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

When you go

Lincoln sites

• Ford’s Theater, at 514 10th St. NW in Washington, D.C., is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The Petersen House, across the street, is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily (except for Dec. 25).

• Although tickets are available on a walk-up basis at the theater, they do sell out. Order advance tickets through Ticketmaster. Advance reservations are recommended. Tickets are free, but there is a fee for advance purchase.

• Information on tours, plays and musicals staged at Ford’s Theater is available at www.fordstheatre.org.

Tours

• Depending on the date, visitors can include a ranger presentation and occasionally one-act plays about the assassination and Lincoln’s presidency. Because this is a working theater, tours can be closed for a rehearsal. Reconfirm your reservation by visiting the theater Web site or calling ahead.

• In addition to the regular tours, two highly recommended “History on Foot” walking tours are available by reservation. You can revisit assassination conspiracy sites or walk with a docent portraying a free black woman from the period.

Further reading

• Lincoln by David Herbert Donald (Simon & Schuster, $20)

• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster)

This story appeared in the Dallas Morning News.

(McClatchy-Tribune News Service)

A generous offer to move 2,000 inmates from jam-packed California jails to
prisons here and across the state in the town of Standish was turned down
last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s secretary of corrections and
rehabilitation, Matthew Cate.

This is bad news for Michigan, where Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been
trying to save the jobs of at least half of the 1,000 corrections officers
scheduled for layoffs this fall as her state continues shutting down
prisons it no longer needs.

It’s also not very good news for California, where a riot at the
California Institution for Men last week, court orders, overcrowding and
possible budget cuts raise questions about how to reduce recidivism,
officially at 59 percent but closer to 70 percent, according to some
critics.

Schwarzenegger had a compelling reason to accept Michigan’s offer. A
federal judicial panel has ordered California to slash its inmate
population by 40,000 within two years to relieve overcrowding.
In his letter to Michigan officials, Schwarzenegger’s corrections
secretary said that moving prisoners from jam-packed cafeterias and
hallway cages to Michigan jails wouldn’t save taxpayers any money. The
Muskegon prison would accommodate only California’s least-dangerous
inmates.

The Standish prison was dismissed because it did not cover the cost of
driving inmates 150 miles for the medical and mental health staffing
required under a federal court order.

California’s decision paid little attention to Granholm’s promise to help
Schwarzenegger lower recidivism. Despite record-breaking unemployment,
crime is down in Michigan, and so is the prison population, which has
fallen from 51,500 to 47,000 since 2006.

During the first half of 2008, crime in Michigan’s big cities was down 17
percent. At the same time, recidivism, which has been running about 48
percent in Michigan, is down to 33 percent for thousands of inmates being
released through the innovative Michigan Prisoner ReEntry Initiative. The
program, which is being expanded to cover all prisoners prior to parole,
has caught the eye of corrections officials around the country. Some
officials are flying in to study why it works.

While California corrections officials argue that it’s hard to compare
Michigan prisoners with hard-core inmates at places like Chino, new
prisoner-release programs appear to offer an interesting alternative for
California.

Granholm’s offer to Schwarzenegger suggested that the state’s 3-year-old
Prisoner ReEntry Initiative would help California reduce its inmate
population and cut down on crime. Despite a very tough economy, the
Michigan crime rate has fallen in part because parolees are committing
fewer crimes.

For once, it appears that something is going right with crime in Michigan.
While the California analysis shows that moving prisoners to Michigan
would not save any money, it does not factor in the hidden costs of
programs that fail to keep a majority of parolees from returning to
prison.

Although paroling inmates early might sound risky, it appears to be
working thanks to job training, psychological counseling, medical care,
housing, employment and transportation programs that are central to the
state’s re-entry program.

While similar programs are used in California and other states, the
results in communities like Muskegon are clearly of national interest.
Michigan prisons are closing and officers are being laid off because the
corrections system appears to be working.

Since Michigan’s program began in 2006, only 11.4 percent of the 933
inmates released in the Muskegon area have gone back behind bars. Less
than half of those criminals committed a crime. The rest were sent back
for technical parole violations.

While Michigan corrections officials expect that impressive figure will
drift up as more parolees are rearrested over time, they contend that the
Prisoner ReEntry Initiative can hold down crime. The state is trying to
avoid locking up criminals until they max out and become exempt from the
parole system.

Ernie Stacey, a social worker who coordinates the Prisoner ReEntry Initiative in Muskegon, says that by letting prisoners out before their maximum sentence date, they remain under the control of parole officers who can track them with sophisticated GPS devices and show up unannounced to ensure that they are not doing crystal meth, getting drunk, buying guns
or holding up convenience stores.

Clearly, shifting more resources into prerelease programs, something that
could be hard to do if the corrections budget is cut again by the
California Legislature, makes economic sense. Every released prisoner who
does not bounce back into the system is a victory. Even in hard times,
many well-mentored Michigan parolees are finding and keeping jobs.

At his office in a park setting near the Muskegon prison, Stacey, who runs the local re-entry program, says, “Thanks to new technology, we have the capacity to do a better job of supervising them. Five years ago, this might not have been possible.

“The state discovered that getting tough on prisoners, holding them until
the end of their sentences and then releasing them with bus fare, didn’t
work very well,” Stacey says.

“Through vocational training, mentoring, mental health services, anger
management and substance-abuse programs, we are doing a better job of
preparing inmates for reentry.

“We want to let them out on parole before their maximum sentence because
at that point they are no longer under our control. We can’t follow up.
They have no further obligation to the Department of Corrections.

“But when we parole these prisoners, that means some of them are on an
electronic tether, and they face the possibility of being arrested for
technical violations like drinking in a bar or being found at or near the
home of an ex-spouse where there is a history of domestic violence. It’s a
strong deterrent because they know that a parole violation is a crime that
will send them back to jail.

“Local police officers even come in and talk with these guys and explain
what they can and can’t do, how to stay out of trouble and, in a
worst-case scenario, how to call a police officer for emergency help if
something is going wrong in their life.”

While California mandates a minimum three-year parole for all released
prisoners, it appears that Michigan’s approach is achieving better
results. This could be one of the reasons that both Pennsylvania and the
Obama administration are taking a look at Michigan’s prisons as a
potential new home for their inmates.

The Standish maximum-security prison rejected last week by California has
just been short-listed as a potential new home for high-risk detainees to
be shifted out of Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. Granholm says she would
prefer to do business with Schwarzenegger.

The welcome mat is still out for Californians who want to make themselves
at home in Michigan’s relatively roomy jail cells.

Roger Rapoport, the author of “California Dreaming, The Political Odyssey
of Pat and Jerry Brown” and “Citizen Moore,” writes about politics in
Michigan and California. Contact us at forum@sfchronicle.com. ———————————————————————-
Copyright 2009 SF Chronicle

Actual traffic surveillance camera from France

Due in large part to reduced congestion and safer vehicles, traffic fatalities in America were down 8 percent during the first ten months of 2008.
This is good news—but not good enough. Highway accidents remain the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 2 and 34. And for the friends and families of the 39,800 American victims who died in car crashes last year, it’s obvious that we have a long road ahead of us. 
How does it feel to know that thousands of traffic deaths could have been easily prevented? When you consider how hard doctors, hospitals, emergency crews and first responders work to save a single crash victim, it makes sense to take advantage of lessons learned elsewhere, particularly when those successes will also efficiently remove dangerous drivers, particularly drunks and repeat offenders, from our highways.
Consider France, a country formerly known as one of the most dangerous places in the world for motorists. In 2007, 4,620 people died on French motorways, down 43 percent from 8,162 deaths in 2001, the year before France initiated an aggressive campaign to reduce speeding.
This program, which President Jacques Chirac launched on Bastille Day 2002, quickly installed thousands of fixed and mobile cameras to ticket speeders electronically. It also put teeth in a point system that takes away licenses from multiple offenders. Because it is so much easier to catch these reckless drivers, they can no longer escape detection and remain on the road by avoiding heavily patrolled roads.  The cameras catch them when police can’t.
At a time when job creation is our highest priority, it makes sense for America to emulate the French success. A similar success story here would create demand for more speed detection systems across the country. While some cities such as Washington D.C. use photo enforcement, this live saving technology is far from realizing its potential in America.
Improved traffic enforcement thanks to speed cameras would reduce accidents, which are a financial burden on taxpayers paying for police, fire and ambulance services. Ticket revenue would support badly needed public services. Insurance rates would come down because there would be fewer accidents.
Equally important, the successful French experience shows that nationally tens of thousands of lives would be saved, and hundreds of thousands of drivers would be spared vehicle accidents, injuries and property damage.
May I suggest that we begin with letters urging our legislators to immediately implement the French speed camera enforcement system on our streets and highways.
For those concerned about high accident locations, here’s the good news: placement of these cameras at similar dangerous intersections in France has reduced fatalities as much as 50 percent and accidents as much as 85 percent.
Equally compelling is the fact that the accident rate continues to go down. Today France is the only country in the European Union that has reduced traffic fatalities on all types of roads by 6 to 11 percent over the past 50 years.  One reason is that photo enforcement catches multiple offenders and, with the help of a point system, takes their licenses away.
Since the summer of 2004, more than 11,000 lives have been saved on French highways. An additional 130,000 have escaped injury. If this approach can work in France, it can work in America.

If you’re a Grand Rapids resident, Steve Vander Ark, author of The Lexicon, will be speaking and signing books at Schuler Books & Music on 28th Street on February 12th @ 7:00 p.m.

The Lexicon is a foray – you could even say a headlong dive – into the world of Harry Potter.  Roger Rapoport published a book length version of Vander Ark’s wildly popular website, bringing his insights into the tangible, book loving world.  It has been born.  And now it’s your turn to bring it home and take care of it, nurture it, and it doesn’t even require water or clothing.  Maybe only shelter.  What are you waiting for?

Maybe you’re  waiting to know more about this Vander Ark fellow.  What’s he all about?  I mean, what is he trying to say?

The American Library Association has answers for you.  It’s free.

God bless them.

If you are interested in Mr. Vander Ark’s American and British tour schedule, just text RDR signup to 95495.

-The editorial staff at RDR Books

Questions?  Comments?  E-mail Roger Rapoport at Roger@rdrbooks.com

Discussed: Books in competition with other forms of media, creative writing classes, and what makes a strong novel.

The New York Times has called The Digested Read “The best book-related feature in any of this planet’s English Language Newspapers.”

The Digested Read is John Crace’s gift to the modern reader enabling, in five hundred words or less, a “digested” synopsis of contemporary books in several different genres. In his own words: “The basic premise for The Digested Read is that it should be the book that has created the most media noise that week. Unfortunately publishing is an industry like any other and books are published on their perceived ability to make money. It goes without saying that authors with big reputations tend to sell more, even though their books often fail to match their reputation.”

I can tell you, as an American reader, I thumbed right to the section of his book titled Americana, and was summarily unhappy with the result. Many of the writers I admired had been torn to shreds. So let’s just say I started forming an unfavorable opinion of the guy. I will also tell you, however, that after talking with him I began to understand the approach he had to both his column and reading books, disarming any negative feelings I’d had of his abilities as a reviewer. He chatted with me from his office at The Guardian in London.

RDR BOOKS: What led you to the approach/form that you have for your column (aside from the obvious length of a newspaper column)? Does it have anything to do with the dwindling attention span/competition with other forms of media on the modern reader? Or did this just happen to be what worked best for you?

JOHN CRACE: I think books can sustain themselves. Within the self-limiting genre of a newspaper column, if you’re going to digest something as a reader than you’ve got to kind of keep it short really. I don’t think there’s any point of trying to digest it in 5,000 words. [The reader] would sort of lose the point and immediacy. It is part review but it’s also part entertainment as well. They are meant to be accurate, but they’re meant to be kind of funny, too. I mean, I guess, it’s always quite difficult because with the classics it’s slightly different because a lot of people will know them. People may not have read or have a good idea about [a contemporary book I'm reviewing], but the point is to keep them interested, get enough information across, and give them something to nourish them and entertain them at the same time.

RDR BOOKS: You’ve reviewed the works of some of my favorite writers and artists – Dave Eggers, Bill Bryson, Nick Hornby, & Bob Dylan to name a few – all of whom weren’t spared your acerbic wit, but it does seem like you’re less harsh on some than others. To you, what makes a great novel or book? What are some contemporary examples on either side of the Atlantic that have strong potential?

JOHN CRACE: For me, it’s really important that a book has a strong narrative arc and good characters. Books have to have a good idea, and have to be saying something at the same time. I don’t have the time for high-concept, postmodernist type books. Great fiction focuses on major themes of broad general interest and always requires an author who is passionate about his subject.

RDR BOOKS: To what extent do you think literature can compete with television and other forms of media? Why do you think, with a dwindling readership, that short stories aren’t more popular? What do you make of this?

JOHN CRACE: I don’t know. I think it’s really hard to write consistently good short stories. In recent years Will Self (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Self) has written some really good short stories, but four out of ten will be duff. I’ve never attempted to write a short story. Publishers don’t want them because they can’t sell them. People don’t write them because publishers don’t want to publish them anyway.

RDR BOOKS: What do you think of the countless M.F.A. programs cropping up across the United States or of creative writing classes in general? Do you think they have the danger of producing, essentially, the same kind of writer?

JOHN CRACE: I don’t think you can teach creativity. You can teach people technique and how to be more skillful writers, but I think that the creative bit is misleading, or a kind of misnomer. I can tell a mile off by someone that has done a creative writing course – utterly sterile and utterly formulaic – very competent, overwritten, and over-analyzed.

RDR BOOKS: You’ve written books yourself (“Baby Alarm” & “The Second Half”), which The Guardian describes as “semi-fictional memoirs” – where do they come from? What inspires your own writing?

JOHN CRACE: Other people, talking with other people, you think about things, or I’ll have general ideas that I’m kind of kicking around. I’m not one of these people that can start writing and see where it’s going to go. I generally like to have a fairly clear idea of where I’m going. That’s not to say I have everything nailed down before I begin, but I’d like to have a certain amount worked out in my head – plot, characters, ideas that will sustain me — rather than just start with a very loose character and see what happens.

The Digested Read is published by RDR Books in America. You can find it here.

-Christopher Carver, Editor