the commonwealth april-may 2013

CommonwealthTHE MAGAZINE OF THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA APRIL/MAY 2013

The

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SONIA

SOTOMAYORON AND OFFTHE BENCH

Former PresidentJimmy Carter page 55

Actor/DirectorRob Reiner page 13

Annual Economic Forecastwith Romer & Hennessey page 18

Dr. Gloria Duffy:Gun Life page 62

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U Near Krakow, visit the UNESCO-designated Wieliczka Salt Mines, which operated from the 13th century to 2007.

U Discover Budapest during a curator-led tour of the Museum of Fine Arts, a visit to Dohany Synagogue (Europe’s largest), Parliament, and enjoy time on the scenic Danube Bend.

U Dine in a family-run restaurant in Bratislava and explore the city’s Castle area.

U Experience Austria’s Vienna Woods, the Medieval health spa town of Baden, a classical music performance, and the majestic Schönbrunn Palace.

U Visit Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral, Golden Lane, Hradcany Castle and the Jewish museum. Wander through Wenceslas Square, the site of the demonstrations that led to the Velvet Revolution.

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Depart on an odyssey through Central Europe that visits !ve distinctly different nations – Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – with fascinating histories and monumental events of the last century.

Cost: $5,537 – including air from SFO – per person, based on double occupancyCST: 2096889-40 Photos: (top to bottom) The Ridg / Flickr, freefotouk / Flickr, Ryekatcher / Flickr, Guillaume Speurt/ Flickr, Delius / istockphoto

For Information & Reservations: visit commonwealthclub.org/travel call (415) 597-6720 email [email protected]

Polan d, H u ngary, Austria, Slovakia& th e Czech Repu blicPolan d, H u ngary, Austria, Slovakia& th e Czech Repu blic

DiscoveringEastern EuropeDiscoveringEastern Europe

October 5 - 21, 2013

Polan d, H u ngary, Austria, Slovakia& th e Czech Repu blic

DiscoveringEastern Europe

THE COMMO N WE AL TH 3APRIL/MAY 2013

27 PROGRAM INFORMATION

28 EIGHT WEEKS CALENDAREvents from April 1 to June 7, 2013

38 PROGRAM LISTINGS

42 LANGUAGE CLASSES

4 EDITOR’S DESKThat’s the ticket – spring is a season of changes at the Club

5 THE COMMONSShoes as talking points, Carol Turner’s unsettling art, interviewing Obama & more

33 ANNUAL REPORTHighlights of our last fiscal year

62 INSIGHTDr. Gloria C. Duffy President and CEO My Life with Guns

Photo by Ed Ritger

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About Our Cover: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor opened up about how her past led her to her position on the court. Photo by Ed Ritger, statue photo by MWolfMowgli / Flickr.

VOLUME 108, NO. 03 | APRIL/MAY 2013

INSIDE The Commonwealth

FEATURES

EVENTSDEPARTMENTS

ON THE COVER6 SONIA SOTOMAYOR:

THE ROAD TO THE COURTHOUSEU.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor reveals her private past and its role in how she reached the nation’s highest court

8 SAN ANTONIO’S RISING STARDemocratic rising star Julian Castro talks about life and politics

10 HOW GREEN IS THE GREEN GROCER?Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on success, controversy and selling fresh food

13 BORN THAT WAY Actor/director/businessman/

activist Rob Reiner talks film and politics with ABC 7’s Dan Ashley

18 ECON 2013: THE YEAR AHEADEconomists Christina Romer and Keith Hennessey talk about what to expect from the economy in 2013

52 OCCUPY THE MEDIAHow did news organizations perform in the election?

“Our country is now looked upon as the foremost warlike nation on earth, and there is almost a complete dearth now of commitment of America to negotiate differences with others.” – Jimmy Carter

55 THE PERILS OF THE WARRIOR STATE

THE COMMO N WE AL TH4 APRIL/MAY 2013

It is a season of changes here at !e Commonwealth Club, so I’m devoting this issue’s column to bringing you up to date on some of those changes.

!" "#$% &#''()*: Over the past decade, we have had a steady increase in the number of tickets purchased online instead of in-person or on the phone. In just the past five years, we have gone from online ticketing that was admittedly slow to a faster, more feature-filled but somewhat complex ticketing system. Now, we’ve gathered the comments, complaints and suggestions our members and guests have shared with us, and we are rolling out a new, simpler ticketing system starting with our April 2013 programs.

!e Commonwealth Club of California is partnering with Eventbrite.com, a leading online ticketing service, to make this happen. You can still buy tickets online, over the phone, or in person. But now if you buy them online, the transaction will be less confusing and faster. To get your member discount, you’ll just click on the Member ticket option and you will get a box to type in your member ID number.

If you set up a free account with Eventbrite, you won’t even have to enter your credit card information each time you make a purchase. But you don’t need to have an account to use it; Eventbrite is designed to be usable by everybody, and that’s one of the big reasons we chose them to be our online ticketing partner. See page 51 for more.

+,-) "#$ ,-(% that someone “sold out,” it’s a negative comment on the person’s integrity. When you hear that an event you wanted to attend is sold out, it’s a positive indication that a lot of people wanted to attend that same event. It’s only negative if you are un-able to get a ticket to an event after it sold out.

!e year 2013 is o" to a great start at the Club, with many big-name (and fascinating albeit less well-known) speakers coming to our stage. We have seen more of these programs than normal sell out. Rob Reiner, Julian Castro, Jimmy Carter, Alex Kozinksi, Sonia Sotomayor, Al Gore, Bruce Bochy, Alex Filipenko, Climate One’s “Clean Clothes,” Christina Romer and Keith Hennessey, Madeleine Albright, Leonard Susskind, John Mackey and many more sold out

just in the first two months of the year.If you want to ensure you don’t miss a program you want to

attend, I have a couple suggestions. First, of course, subscribe to our weekly email newsletter; you might also want to check our website (commonwealthclub.org) every few days to make sure we haven’t added a late-breaking event with a speaker you want to see.Second, buy your tickets as soon as you know you want to attend a program. Some of our programs do have wait lists once they are sold out, but a wait list is no guarantee of getting into the event.

When a particularly important speaker is scheduled on very short notice at the Club, we sometimes email an alert to subscribers of our email newsletter. Club members can now expect to receive an alert before non-members, giving them the best chance to sample the Club’s best.

()* )#+, ( parting. !is month, we say good-bye to our art direc-tor and resident artist, Steven Fromtling. Steven joined our sta" a little more than four years ago, and in that time he has not only designed every issue of this magazine, he has contributed a zillion paintings, drawings, sculptures and even puppets to this magazine’s pages as well as to a heavy workload of Club posters, newspaper ads, brochures, books and much more.

We’re going to miss him and his work. But this talented artist is now moving on to the next phase of his life and career, and we wish him well – and we look forward to seeing his work in new forums and media.

. /##0 1#%+(%* to seeing you at our April 15 Week to Week political discussion program. Until then, just go with the changes.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION: Oona Marti, Vice President of Development, (415) 597-6714, [email protected] Commonwealth ISSN 00103349 is published bimonthly (6 times a year) by The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-2805. | PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID at San Francisco, CA. Subscription rate $34 per year included in annual membership dues. | POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Commonwealth, The Commonwealth Club of California, 595 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-2805. | Printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Copyright © 2013 The Commonwealth Club of California. Tel: (415) 597-6700 Fax: (415) 597-6729 E-mail: [email protected] | EDITORIAL TRANSCRIPT POLICY: The Commonwealth magazine covers a range of programs in each issue. Program transcripts and question and answer sessions are routinely condensed due to space limitations. Hear full-length recordings online at commonwealthclub.org/archive or contact Club offices to order a compact disc.

That’s the Ticket

EDITOR’S DESK

Photo by Name Surname

FOLLOW US ONLINE facebook.com/thecommonwealthclub twitter.com/cwclub commonwealthclub.org/blog commonwealthclub.org

BUSINESS OFFICES The Commonwealth, 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 | [email protected], MEDIA & EDITORIAL John Zipperer | SENIOR EDITOR Sonya Abrams | ART DIRECTOR Steven FromtlingEDITORIAL INTERNS Amelia Cass, Ellen Cohan | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ed Ritger, Rikki Ward

JOHN ZIPPERER VP, MEDIA & EDITORIAL


S an Francisco has a lot of top-notch restaurants big

and small. One of the best, Boulevard at 1 Mis-sion St., soon will be our new neighbor.

Each issue as we prepare to move into our new headquarters at 110 The Embarcadero, The Commonwealth is introducing one of our new neighbors. This is not only the 110th anniversary of the Club; 2013 is also noteworthy for being the 20th anniversary of Boulevard, Nancy Oakes and Pat Kuleto’s Belle

Epoque-style French restaurant located next to our new home (that’s Boulevard in the photo above, directly to the right of 110 The Embarcadero).

Chef and co-owner Oakes was named best chef in California by the James Beard Foundation in 2010, and Boule-vard has also received the Beard award for best restaurant in the United States.

Controversial former Washing-ton, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee has been con-

fronted by picketers and protests dur-ing her tour for her new book, Radical. So the Club was prepared for possible disruptions when she returned to our stage two years after her last appearance here, when she talked education with her husband, Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and current Sacramento mayor (see photo above).

There were no protestors this time, but there was heckling – and from an unlikely source in the audience.

Rhee told the audience that she teased her husband about professional basketball players: “These guys get paid $12 million a year to dribble a ball around. I see no value that they are adding to society.” That caused the one outburst of heckling during the program, and it was from said husband, who shouted out, “That $12 million helped buy your shoes!”

ABC 7 news anchor and Club Board

of Governors mem-ber Dan Ashley con-ducted a one-on-one interview with Presi-

dent Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., in February, returning to San Francisco just hours before he took to the Club stage to conduct a conversa-tion with former Secre-tary of State Madeleine Albright.

Blind item: One frequent Club speaker had his workday in-terrupted by an un-expected call. “Please hold for the governor,” said the voice, which was followed by Gov-ernor Jerry Brown, who surprised our friend by chatting with him for 40 minutes about California’s future.

#One: Our most-downloaded podcast in years is our conversa-tion with director Rob Reiner. See page 13.

Ceramic faces rep-resenting women

silenced by oppressive so-cieties and regimes. A wall filled with letters from women who have found their voice. A woman hud-dling under a shroud.

Artist Carol Turner’s stirring exhibit “Silence of Women” greets visitors to the Club, inspiring awe and disquiet. As visitors see the long tables of masks, the wall of words, and images on the walls of the Gold Room, they are reminded of the power of art to make the case for change, spe-cifically the creation of a world in which women are not silenced. Turner’s exhibit runs through May 3 at the Club.

COMMONSTHE

Talk of the ClubThe New NeighborsPart II: Boulevard

The SilenceCarol Turner’s art

Updates and check-ins

These Shoes Were Made for TalkingHeckling from the most friendly quarter

Photo by Ed Ritger

Photo by Steven Fromtling

Photos by Steven Fromtling

THE TICKER

Photo by Ed Ritger


the road to the courthouseThe U.S. Supreme Court justice lifts the curtain on her past and how it helped her become who she is today. Excerpt from “Justice Sonia Sotomayor,” January 28, 2013.

SONIA SOTOMAYOR Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court; Author, My Beloved World

#$ %&$'()*+,#&$ -#,. M. ELIZABETH MAGILL Dean and Richard E. Lang Professor of Law, Stanford Law School


the road to the courthouseMAGILL: Did you hesitate about writ-ing such a personal book? What has the response been to writing it this way?SOTOMAYOR: I took a big risk to be as open and candid as I’ve been in this book; [it] made me very vulnerable to people’s criticisms. As you’ll learn in the book, I have a whole slew of insecurities [laughter] and this is just one among many. But I’ve read a lot of memoirs, and at the end of reading them I come away and think to myself sometimes, “Have I learned any-thing new about this person that I didn’t already know from the press?” And regret-tably, the answer is [usually] no, I haven’t.

My life, at least the public part of it, had been so dissected during my con-firmation hearing that I knew I wasn’t adding value anywhere if that’s all I concentrated on. As I got catapulted onto the world’s stage – I can’t even say the country’s stage, but the world’s stage, because so many people across the world look to the Supreme Court as an example to which they are aspiring – I realized that I was on another journey with being a Supreme Court justice, and I should stop and pause to remember what had gotten me there. I wanted to hold on to the Sonia inside of me, and I’ve been laughingly telling people that if I change in any way that they don’t like in the future, I wrote a heavy book so they can hit me over the head with it and point to it and tell me, “Reread this; remember how you got here.”

[Another reason to write the book this way was] the many questions that I was

asked during my first year on the Supreme Court by so many audiences; so many were asking me personal questions, and it was clear that many found at least the facts of my life inspiring. What I wor-ried about, though, was whether I was being idealized, as if I had some magic answers that people didn’t have, or I had something special that they’d like to hear about but they weren’t sure they had. I wanted anyone who read this book, at the end of it, to be able to say, “She’s just

like me. And if she can do it, I can do something, too.”

Now, there aren’t that many spots on the Supreme Court, but the book was about self-discovery, about me taking very small steps in life to better myself, to do things I hadn’t done before, to compete, not with others, but with Sonia. !at journey took me further and further, and I’ve gone a lot further than I ever dreamt about. It’s been a wonderful journey. !e ultimate goal, whether you make it or not, [isn’t important] – not every kid is going to be president of the United States or a

Supreme Court justice – but every kid can find a path and enrich him- or herself by trying. So I think it’s the process. For the lawyers in this room who look at my jurisprudence and try to figure it out, a lot of the academics will tell you, even in my jurisprudence, process is really important.MAGILL: I was wondering if you could talk a little about your mother, your father and your grandmother.SOTOMAYOR: During the confirmation process, people were asking me all sorts of questions about my father and I real-ized that I knew so little about him and his background. It was sort of a wake-up call. I knew what I describe in the book: his alcoholism. I knew his mother and his family because his mother was my closest friend, the love of my life. In fact, during the confirmation process, my mother said at the end of it, “Sonia, they talked a lot about me and even my sister and a lot of your other relatives, but nobody’s talked about your grandmother.... She was the most important person in your life.” So it was time to show grandmother o". But as I started to think about a book, I also real-ized that I hadn’t spent enough time with my aging family. All of my aunts are in their 80s; an uncle who was near 95 died two or three months after I interviewed him; and my mother is 85 and has a fading memory. I understood that I didn’t have time to wait five more years to turn to this book. So I made up time to write it.

I found out a story about my family

Phot

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y Ed

Ritg

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(Continued on page 22)

“A lot of academics

will tell you that even

in my jurisprudence,

process is really important.”


SA

NAN

TONIO

’S

RISING

STAR

Photo by Ed Ritger

I ’m convinced that in this 21st-cen-tury global economy, brainpower is the new currency of success, that human capital is the most important

investment, the most important asset of any community. So after I got elected in 2009, we went to work on something called SA2020, a visioning effort that kicked o" on Saturday, September 25, 2010, with a very simple question: What kind of city do we want to be on Friday, September 25, 2020? And most important was the issue of education.

San Antonio for many years has faced

a dropout rate that is higher than the na-tional average and higher than the Texas average; at least a third of the population there doesn’t graduate from high school. Even as the economy has done very well – San Antonio has been judged one of the [nation’s] most recession-resistant cities – still many people don’t make it through the most basic hurdle of education.

This November we did something that had never been done in San Antonio history. San Antonians voted to tax them-selves – that’s right, I said tax themselves – one eighth of a cent for the purpose of

investing in high-quality, full-day pre-K for four-year-olds in our city over the next eight years.

We need to ensure that folks never get behind in the first place. We need to ensure that from the very beginning of a young child’s life that he or she has the opportunity to succeed because he or she is getting educated well.

For generations our United States of America has been built up with the philosophy that nobody is guaranteed success in life, but everybody ought to be guaranteed a chance to succeed.

The young Democratic mayor and Texas

native offers his vision for the future

of educatio

n and immigratio

n

and predicts that h

is ardently

red state will soon tu

rn blue.

Excerpt from “Ju

lian Castro,

Mayor of San Antonio TX,”

January 7, 2013.

JULIAN CASTRO Mayor

of San Antonio, TX


RISING Question and answer session with

Rose Guilbault, past president, Com-monwealth Club Board of GovernorsGUILBAULT: How would you describe the DREAM Act [Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors], and what is your position on it and its role in the immigration issue? CASTRO: My hope is that Congress will pass the DREAM Act. As you all know, there are different variants to it, but hopefully the DREAM Act will be passed. I’m convinced that the place we need to start with “Dreamers” is [to acknowledge] that they’re morally blame-less. [If you’re a child] you’re not choosing where you’re going to go with your par-ents; it’s not your fault that your parents brought you to the United States. And for a lot of these young people, this is the only country that they’ve ever known as home. Many of them are very sharp. In San Antonio we had two examples of folks who were valedictorians in their high school classes who were “Dreamers.” One of them went to Harvard.

With regard to comprehensive immi-gration reform [I support a plan under which] there will be a path to citizenship if folks pay a fine that acknowledges that they did come in here undocumented, illegally – whatever phrase you want to use – that they learn English; and that they get to the back of the line – because you don’t want people cutting folks in line who have been legally in the process for a while. The legal immigration sys-tem is so broken down and the wait is so long that that’s part of what encourages folks who are on the other side of the border to try and take their chances and come here illegally. You have to respect when folks try and do things by the book the way that they should.

And [the government must] also find a way to ensure that when an employer hires someone, they are hiring some-body who is in the country legally. I think those are the important elements to comprehensive immigration reform.GUILBAULT: Do you think what you’ve done [with preschool education] can be a national model?CASTRO: I hope it is. I hope that it’s at least a model for the state. Pre-K for SA was an effort of educators and the

business community in San Antonio to provide 22,400 four-year-olds with full-day pre-K over the next eight years. It accomplishes that in two ways: by establishing four model centers of pre-K excellence around our city that each educate 500 students, and also by taking a certain amount of dollars and fund-ing public schools, charter schools and private schools that can leverage public funding to increase the number of seats they have in their own existing programs around the city.

It significantly expands pre-K. It does it by paying teachers more – their start-ing salary is going to be $60,000, which for Texas is significant. It has a longer school day that ends at 5:30. It will have robust teacher training for teachers from

pre-K all the way to third grade, so that we enhance the level of teaching not just in [model center] classrooms, but throughout San Antonio classrooms, and we maintain the gains that we make in pre-K.

But more than anything else, what I hope becomes a model for Texas is that Texas is willing to make the investment in pre-K – because right now it only funds half a day’s worth of pre-K for students, and it only funds [that] half a day if you make less than 185 percent of poverty level, which for a family of four is about $42,500, [or if you meet certain] other requirements.GUILBAULT: !ose of us in San Fran-cisco probably view Texas as very conser-vative. Do you feel supported in Texas?CASTRO: Yes. Texas used to be a Demo-cratic state for a long time. Ann Richards was the last [Democratic] governor who was elected, in 1990. !ere’s a new Texas. Demographic changes are moderating Texas significantly. Also, Texas has done

relatively well during this downturn. So we’ve had people move in from other places that are more moderate.

I recognize that we [still] have a very red state there – 29 statewide o/ces with zero Democrats in o/ce. But places like Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas are already going Democratic, and soon I think more of the suburbs will; it will take longer for some of the rural areas, but it’s changing.

Fortunately for Texas, I think that the state is going to turn blue in six to eight years. Partly because of the [partisan] ide-ology and refusal to compromise, [Repub-licans] are losing the business community little by little – they’re not making the investments in roads, in water, in educa-tion, in those things that are so important to being economically competitive in the 21st-century economy. GUILBAULT: How do you think Latino voters are going to influence the future of the United States? What do you think is the most pressing issue for the Latino community today?CASTRO: Education. Even though im-migration reform has received the lion’s share of attention, the fact is that the dropout rate in the Latino community is higher than in just about any community, that the fundamental ability of people to enjoy the fruits of America, to pursue their American dreams, is being hampered because too many of them are going to public schools that are decrepit, that aren’t high quality. !eir dreams are stunted, and oftentimes they don’t have the chance that they should have.

The Latino community is a very diverse community: people who are of Mexican heritage, Guatemalan, Cuban, Honduran. [!e Latino community] is tied together by the Spanish language historically, but it encompasses di"erent views, di"erent life experiences.

San Antonio has a huge Latino popu-lation, very proudly American. It’s a com-munity of faith and it’s a community with a hard work ethic. All of those things, those are the values that have helped make our country great in the first place, and the growth of the Latino community is going to be a replenishment of the values that have always made the United States great.

“Fortunately for Texas, I think that

the state is going to turn blue in six to

eight years.”


The conscious capitalist discusses Whole Foods’ evolution, his controversial health-care comments, and why he’s a market evangelist. Excerpt from Inforum’s “A Whole-istic Approach to Capitalism,” January 22, 2013.

JOHN MACKEY CEO, Co-founder, Whole Foods Market; Co-author, Conscious Capitalism

#$ %&$'()*+,#&$ -#,. RUTH SHAPIRO Principal, Keyi Strategies; Editor, !e Real Problem Solvers: Social Entrepreneurs in America

HOW GREEN IS THE

RUTH SHAPIRO: Tell us about starting Whole Foods in Austin, Texas, and the growth of the company.JOHN MACKEY: We originally had a store called Safer Way, which was a take on Safe-way. We started that in 1978, with $45,000 in capital, which we got from friends and family. We did manage to lose half of that in our very first year. My girlfriend and I were living in the house where the store was. It wasn’t zoned for anyone to live there, but we were poor. We didn’t have a shower or bath, so we actually climbed in the Hobart dishwasher and wet ourselves down.

I had no business background. I never took any business classes in school. I have a very interesting resume: dishwasher, busboy, CEO of Whole Foods Market. We made $5,000 the second year. We decided we knew what we were doing, but we needed a bigger store. So we found a location that went from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet. We opened the first natural foods supermarket in Texas and merged with another store we were competing with and opened that first

store. It was an incredibly successful store from the first moment we opened it.

!en Austin had its worst flood in over 100 years. Our store was under eight feet of water Memorial Day, 1981. When we showed up at the store the day after the flood, it was a total wreck, but we had dozens of customers who had come in to shop and they were helping us clean up the store. !en we had neighbors come in to help us. I got this stakeholder philosophy because all of these di"erent stakeholders pitched in to save Whole Foods Market. Our customers helped us clean up the store. Our team members worked for free while we were trying to get the store rebuilt. Our sup-pliers fronted us new inventory on credit. Our investors put new capital in. !e bank loaned us new money. I thought we were bankrupt and dead, and they didn’t let us die. I really got the stakeholder philosophy at the time that we were really about the stakeholders. We wanted to pay them all back. !at spurred us to do a second store. You can’t have all of your eggs in one grocery

basket that’s subject to having eight feet of water on top of it. So we had a second store. I’ve always paid a lot of attention to flood zones ever since then. We’ve not gone back into a flood zone area.SHAPIRO: Was the higher purpose of Whole Foods part of your business plan and your business vision from the beginning?MACKEY: Just like consciousness evolves over time, purpose evolves over time. Whole Foods’ original purpose was very simple: Let’s sell healthy food to people, let’s earn a living and let’s have some fun doing it. !at was really the original purpose of Whole Foods. Now we have these much more hero-ic purposes, because Whole Foods has scaled up. It has a much bigger impact. We want to heal America. America is sick. We’re 69 percent overweight, 36 percent obese, and 80 percent of the money we spend on health care in America goes to basically lifestyle diseases – heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, auto-immune diseases. !ey’re not going to be cured – we’re not going to have a vaccination for cancer, heart disease ain’t


going to be reversed with a drug. !ese are things we’re doing to ourselves mostly. Not always, there are other factors involved; it can be genetic. But [the diseases mentioned above] correlate very highly with diet and lifestyle, so one of our higher purposes is to help educate people how to eat a healthy diet, how to avoid these diseases, how to be vital and thin and live to be 90 and live to be 100 with clear mind and a vital, healthy body. I think that’s part of Whole Foods’ higher purpose. We also want to change the agricultural system to create a sustain-able agricultural system. [And we want] sustainable seafood, high animal welfare standards, more environmental integrity and also [to be] highly productive and ef-ficient. Now we’ve got our Whole Planet Foundation, we’ve realized that we have a higher purpose to help end poverty on the planet Earth. We’ve a"ected over a million people’s lives in the developing world and helped end poverty. Finally, the fourth higher purpose I’m doing tonight: Trying to spread the vision of conscious capitalism, that business can be more conscious and can help transform the world. SHAPIRO: Why did you write this book [Conscious Capitalism]? MACKEY: !e narrative about business has been captured by the enemies and critics of business. Businesspeople are perceived as selfish, greedy, exploitative; they’re not seen as good. An example: Over 90 percent of the murders you see on television are committed by businesspeople. Look at all the television shows and movies. It’s usually some greedy bastard businessperson. All he cares about is money. After he rips o" his employees and dumps his waste products in the river, then he goes out and shoots people. Business has a very, very bad reputation. We [co-author Raj Sisodia and I] think that business is the greatest creator of value in the world. We wrote this book partly to try to change the narrative about business. Business is fundamentally good, but we can make it a lot better. !is book is about how to make business a lot better. SHAPIRO: Let’s talk about conscious capi-talism. You mentioned that there are higher purposes, one of the core tenets. !ere are three others and I’d like to just have you go through and explain what they are.MACKEY: We do think there are four basic tenets. One is higher purpose, besides just

making money. Secondly, that the business should exist to create value for all of the major stakeholders, and not just the inves-tors. !ird, we need a di"erent type of leader in the conscious business. We need leaders who are really dedicated to the mission of the business, who aren’t in it just to get as many stock options and as big a bonus as is possible. We also need a di"erent kind of culture. !e fourth component is a more empowered, humanistic culture. Organiza-tions need to create cultures where human beings flourish, where they can self-actualize and reach their highest potential. Purpose, stakeholders, leadership, culture: !ey all fit together.SHAPIRO: When you were going into the market, people were buying your stock because they thought they would make money. Was there pushback on these ideas when you went public? MACKEY: I’ll make a couple of comments

on this. First of all, the only time the inves-tors ever push back is if the stock goes down. I always like to joke, when the stock goes up, people think they’re brilliant investors. When the stock goes down, they think the CEO is the village idiot. Whenever we’d see the stock fall o", people would start to criticize – particularly in the early days – and they’d say, “!is would be such a good company, if they just weren’t doing this crazy philosophy.” Of course the stock would go back up and we were golden again.

In a lot of ways the investor stakeholders are the easiest ones to deal with. !ink about all the stakeholders. All the stakeholders want more. Customers want lower prices; they think it’s too expensive; they want higher quality; they want better service. Team members, they want higher pay, better benefits, better working conditions; they want to get promoted. Suppliers want you to sell all their products on the shelves,

not just a few, and they want to get fewer discounts. Investors are the easiest ones. !ey just want the stock price to go up. If you do that, they’ll pretty much leave you alone. In my own experience, the customers are actually the most di/cult stakeholders. !ey’ll give you contradictory advice. One will tell you the very thing they dislike about you, and somebody else will say, “Don’t ever change that.” SHAPIRO: You’ve gotten a lot of attention about your views on health care. You do have strong feelings about the A"ordable Health Care Act that was enacted in the last Congress, otherwise known as Obamacare. MACKEY: I’m not going to spend much time on it, because when I’ve been travel-ling around trying to promote my book, all anybody wants to talk about is health care. Conscious capitalism is totally not political at all. I feel like people are beginning to associate things I’ve said about health care with conscious capitalism, when they’re totally not related.

!e main thing is I am passionate about capitalism. [Capitalism] has lifted human-ity out of poverty; hundreds of millions of people are leaving poverty every decade, primarily due to countries like China and India turning toward more free-market philosophies and economics. Two hundred years ago, 85 percent of the people alive lived on less than one dollar a day. Today that’s 16 percent. Two hundred years ago over 90 percent of the people alive were illiterate. !e average lifespan was under 30. Today it’s 68 across the world, 78 in the United States and 80 in Japan. We’ve seen great progress, and I think it’s primarily due to capitalism. I’m a great enthusiast for capitalism. Our health-care system hasn’t really been free-enterprise capitalism for over 50 years. We’ve moved to a more and more regulated system.

Nobody knows what anything costs in our health-care system. !ere is no real price competition. It’s crony capitalism at best. It’s a cartelized system and now it’s going toward a more and more government-controlled system. I believe in free-enterprise capital-ism, I believe that’s what our health-care sys-tem will be based on. Yes, with a safety net, of course. We don’t want to throw anybody under a bus. We don’t want to throw cancer patients out on the street. We need to take care of everybody, but we can do that with

“I am passionate about capitalism.

It has lifted hundreds of

millions of people [out of]

poverty every decade.”


a vital, vibrant free-enterprise capitalistic system. I think that would create greater innovations. It would drive costs down, as it does in every other area. Computers have gotten cheaper, iPhones get cheaper; believe it or not, health care could get cheaper if we really let the free market and free enterprise work. We’re not doing that. We haven’t done it in a long time. As a result we’ve gotten a more and more bureaucratized, government-controlled system, which is not delivering the results that we want from it.

Whole Foods, for example, has a great health-care system for our team members. Our team members really like it, and it’s going to be radically changed [under Obam-acare]. I’m not happy about that. I don’t want to see that system destroyed because the government tells us that it’s no longer acceptable, that we have to do this and this and this. !at’s why I’ve spoken up and [said] that’s not what conscious capitalism

is about, and this shouldn’t be put together. I’ve used some language about it that I

regret. I’ve apologized 15 times last week in New York on national television. I will once again apologize. It was a bad choice of words, it’s got a lot of bad associations with it and I apologize to this audience as well. I don’t think that’s in the best interest of our team members, I don’t think it’s in the best interest of our society, so I’ve spoken up about health care. I can tell you, it’s a thank-less task. and all these people hate my guts. I don’t really want to talk about health care anymore, because I’m tired of being hated by everybody. AUDIENCE MEMBER: What are the policies that will support conscious capital-ism businesses?MACKEY: Other than with the environ-ment, I don’t think you need any govern-ment policies. If anything, it’s harder to be an entrepreneur today than when I got start-

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ed – just a lot more regulations. !e Small Business Administration has documented that business spends about $1.75 trillion a year fulfilling regulation requirements.

Of course, I’m not saying we shouldn’t have any regulations. I’m not talking about anarchism. We also need to develop some type of system where the old, bad regula-tions which aren’t working; we can get rid of them. !ey just stay there, they continue to be burdensome for business and it becomes more and more di"cult to do business.

[The] environment is clearly an area where we need government regulations, because there is the tragedy of the commons. You’re going to have externalities that are produced, and you don’t want the good guys to be punished and the bad guys to reap a windfall. To me, that’s a clear area where we need good government regulations.SHAPIRO: I’d add pharmaceutical as an-other industry where you need regulation.MACKEY: Yeah, but that’s a great example of what I would call crony capitalism. It costs a billion dollars to bring a drug to market. No start up, no entrepreneurial company can even play. Nobody is allowed to innovate; no one is allowed to compete. Of course we need some type of regulation on it, but the way it’s been rigged – the pharmaceutical industry is a great example of what you would call regulatory capture, where the people that are regulating it end up working for the pharmaceutical indus-try and the people in the pharmaceutical industry end up being the regulators. And still bad things happen. SHAPIRO: Would it be right to say then that it’s not so much regulations as an impediment to monopolistic behavior that you [object to?]MACKEY: It’s the old problem of who guards the guardians. Who regulates the regulators?

We all know we need regulations, but people make this mistake in believing that business needs to be regulated but that somehow or another there is never failure at government level. !at there’s market failure, but there’s never government failure. To me we have market failure and we have govern-ment failure and we don’t have good ways always to correct government failure.

This program was made possible by the generous support of Silicon Valley Bank.


T h e O s c a r- n o m i n a t e d director and actor shares his Hollywood stories and explains his decision to take a stand in the battle over Prop. 8 and other issues. Excerpt from “When Harry Met Sal: Rob Reiner on Marriage Equality, Political Activism, and a Life in Hollywood,” February 1, 2013.

ROB REINER Film Director, !is Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, !e Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., A Few Good Men, Ghosts of Mississippi, !e Bucket List; Actor; Screenwriter; Producer; Executive, Castle Rock Entertainment; Political Activist

#$ %&$'()*+,#&$ -#,. DAN ASHLEY News Anchor, ABC 7 TV; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors

DAN ASHLEY: Was your father [Carl Reiner] supportive as you first got into show business?ROB REINER: He always was. He was very proud of me when I did “All in the Family.” I remember when I was 19 years old, in sum-mer theater I directed a production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit.” Richard Dreyfuss was in it and a few other people that I knew. My father came to the show and he looked me in the eye and he said, “!at was good. No B.S.” And I knew at that point he was saying I was going to be OK. ASHLEY: !at must have been a very proud moment for you.REINER: Oh my god! It was incredible, because I did look up to him; he was like a god to me. He had done “!e Dick van Dyke Show” and was on “The Show of Shows.” He was my idol. So when he said that to me, it meant a lot. When I was a little boy, my father was on television before we owned a television [laughter]. We got a television when I was about four or five years

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old so we could watch him. I remember one time going down to “!e Show of Shows” and there was the writer’s room – we’re talk-ing about Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Sid Caesar and my dad. I remember when I was about five or six years old waiting for him to come out of the writer’s room and all I can remember was them screaming – crazy screaming at each other because they were fighting for their jokes. I said, “!at’s comedy? !ey’re making comedy in there? It sounds like they’re killing each other in there.”

But some of the funniest stu" in the world came out of there. If you think about the second half of the 20th century, everything you laughed at came out of that room: all of Woody Allen’s work; all of Neil Simon’s work; Joe Stein, who wrote “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Enter Laughing”; Larry Gelbart, who wrote “M*A*S*H” and Tootsie; Aaron Ru-ben, who created “!e Andy Gri/th Show” and “Gomer Pyle”; my dad; Mel Brooks; Mike Stewart, who wrote Hello, Dolly!

!ey called it the golden age of television because it was. Television was a brand-new

medium and you had to have some money to own a television set, quite frankly, so the fare was more highbrow. It was an extension of theater; it was an extension of revues and satire and a very upscale type of theater that was put on television. And then television became a mass medium, and you saw all kinds of dumbing down of things. I attest that right now we’re in our second golden age of television because of cable TV – “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” and “Homeland,” brilliant shows that are done with great writ-ing and great acting.ASHLEY: I often tell people who ask me about television that yes, there is a lot of junk on television now, but there’s also more quality on television than there’s probably ever been.REINER: Yes, I think there is. If you look at AMC and HBO and Netflix, Apple TV – all these di"erent ways of accessing these niche shows – they [o"er] really smart shows, nothing that would have been put on the networks. We were lucky to get “All in the Family” on, which was a fairly elevated type of show at the time that it was on, this urban

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comedy that dealt with issues; a rare thing at that time.ASHLEY: Let’s talk about “All in the Fam-ily” for a minute. Did you find that people then or even now understand that it wasn’t celebrating bigotry, it was ridiculing it?REINER: We shone a light on the ignorance of a bigot. We didn’t just go outside the box or go to the edge of the envelope; we destroyed the envelope. We broke the box. CBS had a disclaimer on before we came on that essentially said, We don’t have anything to do with this show. You want to watch it, it’s up to you, because we don’t know what the heck this is.

We were able to succeed in large part because, aside from the fact that it was funny and we dealt with issues, these were real people that people could identify with. People saw themselves either in Archie or Mike. We presented two points of view. Nor-man Lear talked about how his favorite play growing up was “Major Barbara” by George Bernard Shaw. George Bernard Shaw was a liberal, but if you didn’t know he was a liberal and you went to see that play, both the hawk

1. ABC 7 anchor Dan Ashley (left) and Rob Reiner. 2. Rob Reiner had the audience laughing from his first comments. 3. Reiner and Ashley’s discussion ranged from politics to TV to family. 4. Reiner said celebrities need to be more informed about issues they tout. 5. Reiner attracted a sold-out audience.

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point of view and the dove point of view were presented with equal eloquence, with equal intelligence. It was left to the audience to make their minds up. !at was Norman’s feeling: Let’s just throw this out there and get a dialogue started.

At the time there were no VCRs, no DVR, no TiVo, nothing. So if you wanted to watch the show, you had to watch it when it was on. !at meant that you were having a shared experience with everybody else who was watching it at that time. We, at the time, were a country of about 200 million people, and anywhere between 30 and 45 million people at one time were watching that show. Now we’re in a country of more than 300 million, and if you have a show that does 10 or 15 million viewers, that’s a major hit right now. And [most people] are not watch-ing it at the same time as everyone else. But Saturday night, if you watched [“All in the Family” in the 1970s] that meant Monday people were talking about whatever it was we talked about. And that shared experience, I think, was a very good thing for our country.

I’ve often said that I feel that with the Internet, with 24-hours-a-day cable news service, we have the potential for being less instead of more informed. When TV news became a profit center, it changed everything. It was a big deal when Walter Cronkite was on CBS and the broadcast went from 15 minutes to a half-hour – that was a big deal. It meant that CBS was throwing away a half-hour of revenue; you didn’t make money on news. All they did was report the news. !ere was no commentary. !en “60 Minutes” came along – a brilliant show – and they started making money. All of a sudden in the late ’60s or early ’70s they realized, “Uh-oh, we can make money o" the news.” !en you had big corporations taking over the TV news outlets and it all became about profit centers and the bottom line. I think it’s made us less informed. It’s hard to find really accurate reporting.ASHLEY: Do you still like acting now that you’re really a director full time?REINER: I love to act. It’s fun and it’s not as hard. Directing is a lot of responsibility. I actually enjoy directing more, but acting is fun. It’s like a lark. I remember years ago, Ron Howard was making a movie called Ed TV and he called me up and said, “!ere’s a part in here if you want to act in it.” And I said, “OK, I’ll do it.” And he said, “Let me

send you the script and see if you want to do it.” And I said, “You don’t have to send me a script; if it stinks, it’s not my fault.”

So I look at it that way. I’m fine. I’ll do whatever they want me to do. And I don’t say anything to the director, because I know that as a director I don’t want actors giving me grief. I’ve got too many problems – just do your job. I did a Woody Allen film years ago called Bullets over Broadway. I show up there and I look around. It’s an outdoor scene – John Cusack and Alan Arkin – and it’s at night. I looked at it and said [to myself ], “!ere must be some kind of film stock that I’m not aware of, because it’s too dark. It’ll never show up.” But I’m not going to say anything because it’s Woody Allen, it’s [cin-ematographer] Carlo Di Palma! We do the scene. !ey call me the next day [to tell me,] “We watched the dailies. It’s a radio show. It’s totally black.” So I probably should have

spoken up then, but I didn’t. ASHLEY: How do you pick a project when you choose a film to direct?REINER: !is Is Spinal Tap and !e Princess Bride were satires and I kind of like satire and that was a di"erent kind of thing – and !e Princess Bride was my favorite book as a kid. But normally what I’ll do is I’ll look for: Where is my way into this story? Is there a character that I can identify with, that I can tell the story through? Like in Stand by Me, or A Few Good Men, and of course When Harry Met Sally… was born out of my inability to make a go of it with women during the time when I had been single for 10 years. !at was totally autobiographical. I was making a mess of it and I couldn’t figure anything out and I said, “!is would be a good movie; let’s make a movie.” So I usually try to find my way into it in terms of one of the characters. ASHLEY: Is it a great joy to direct, or is it stressful? Or both?REINER: It’s both. What I’ve always said is

a director is not great at anything, but you’ve got to be good at a lot of little things. !e writers are better writers, the actors can act better, the cameramen can shoot better, the musicians can make better music, and the designer can design better. But if you have a little knowledge in a lot of areas – I have one of those brains – it all kind of comes together. I get to use all of the parts of me and I don’t have to be good at anything.ASHLEY: If you could have played the leading role in any of your movies that you directed, which one would it have been and why?REINER: It probably would have been When Harry Met Sally… because it was the closest to me. You know, my mother is in the deli, there [in the well-known scene]. !e woman who says “I’ll have what she’s having,” that’s my mother. We had this scene and Meg Ryan was a little nervous about doing it because she had to fake an orgasm in front of the crew there and all the extras and everybody. So she did it the first couple of times and it wasn’t so good, and she was kind of weak and kind of half-hearted. I said, “Meg, let me just show you what I want.” I sat down at the table opposite Billy and I’m going “Yes! Yes!” I’m acting out the whole thing, and Billy [Crystal] said it was like being on a date with Sebastian Cabot. But I realize that I’m having an orgasm in front of my mother, and I thought, Oh my god! But it worked out fine. ASHLEY: Let’s talk about some of the causes that you care about. Probably at the top of the list: Proposition 8, the ban on gay mar-riage. How did you get involved in that? And what are your thoughts about where that issue is going?REINER: Civil rights were discussed at my table as a kid growing up. People of my generation ask, Do you remember where you were when Kennedy was assassinated? We all do remember. I remember where I was when Medgar Evers was assassinated; I made a movie about the re-prosecution of Medgar Evers. He was the first major civil rights leader that got assassinated, in 1963. !e idea of civil rights and the idea of all of us being equal was something that was always talked about in my household.

So then, flash forward, I’m making a movie, !e American President, and a young man named Chad Gri/n, who was 19 years old at the time, was working for Dee Dee Meyers, who was the head of communica-

“When Harry Met Sally was born out of my

inability to make a go of

it with women when I had

been single.”


tion for President Clinton at the time, and he was assigned to me to help me research the film. I went to the White House, and Chad Gri/n showed me around, and I became friends with him. He ended up running my foundation for early childhood education. I make this joke: I knew Chad was gay before he knew it. He came from Arkansas, a very conservative state, and had suppressed all

those feelings for a very long time. I feel like a father to him and I’m very close to this guy. Now he’s the head of the Human Rights Campaign; he’s a big deal now. I’m so proud every time I see him on television. But [back in the day] I asked him to run my organiza-tion and after a while he came to me and said, “Rob, I have to tell you something: I’m gay.” And I said, “What else is new?” We knew.

One of the reasons we took on Proposition 8 – aside from the obvious reasons of marriage equality, [a belief that] we should all be treated equal under the law, and [the fact that] it was a bad initiative and the courts have already overturned it and we hope the Supreme Court will uphold those rulings – it was partly an education process. We discover as we go along that, first of all, there’s not one person in this audience or anywhere who doesn’t have a gay person in their family, or a gay friend, or a gay person that they work with in their workplace. Nobody. So the normalizing of things, the be-ing able to teach, being able to show people that everybody is equal, that nobody should be thought of as di"erent: !at is one of the reasons we took on Prop. 8.

And we did the play “8,” a dramatization of what went on inside the courtroom here in San Francisco, at the district trial. We put that on because we wanted to show people what actually went on in that courtroom and to normalize it, and so we find that as we move along the wind is at our back, it is like we are hitting critical mass: You’re seeing more and more states adopting [marriage equality]; now Great Britain [is in the process

argument. So we feel confident. Now, how broadly will the Supreme Court rule? We don’t know. We’ll have to see.ASHLEY: !e fight that you’ve been leading against Prop. 8, has it come at any personal cost in term of friendships?REINER: Not to me. And you know some-thing, I don’t care. If somebody wants to not like me because I want everybody to have equality then they should go someplace else. !at is not what America’s about.ASHLEY: One of the other issues that you care about is climate change. Are you working on a project involving climate change?REINER: Climate change is the big-ticket item. We’ve got basically two things to think about in a global way. I think very big: !ere’s the planet and then there’s the people living on the planet. Basically that’s it.

So what can we do to make life better for the people living on the planet? My take was, if we gave every young child a good start in life, made sure that they had good, nurturing parental experiences early on in life, if they had health care, if they had education, they would have the opportunity to have happy, productive, fruitful lives. !e idea with early childhood is if we give people what they need we will produce non-toxic adults. !ey will not harm society; they will not act out against their neighbor; they won’t rape; they won’t steal; they won’t kill.

!en there’s the planet that we live on. Do we have a non-toxic planet? !at is the other issue, and I’ve always said that if you don’t have a healthy planet, nothing else means anything. It doesn’t matter. None of it mat-ters – Social Security, gun control, – whatever it is, none of it matters if you don’t have a sustainable planet.

So [let’s talk about] climate change: I think there are seven people in this country who don’t believe in the science – they talk a lot, too! !e jury of scientists is in on this. But how to do something about this is complicated. It’s a very tough problem, because you have entrenched interests that are screaming and yelling and with a lot of money. If you have a lot of money, you can get the seven people to say what they want to say and the media will give them as much time as the 97 percent [who believe climate change is happening.] But I believe that there is an enormous green economy that’s the next big boom.ASHLEY: You are very well informed on these

of legalizing gay marriage] and you’re seeing more countries [follow suit]. It will happen. It is supposed to happen.

We can’t imagine that there was a time when women couldn’t vote; we can’t imag-ine that there was a time when black people couldn’t vote; we can’t imagine that there was a time when black people couldn’t marry white people; and there will be a time years from now when we’ll say, Gay marriage? What was that fuss all about? It’s going to take time, and we’re moving in the right direction, but it is about a fundamental right. We can-not look at our fellow citizens – I could not look at Chad Gri/n, who is someone that I love – and say, You are lesser than me; you deserve less than me; you are a second-class citizen. You can’t do that. You can’t feel com-fortable about yourself knowing that there are millions of people in this country who are not considered equal under the law. ASHLEY: Are you optimistic about what the Supreme Court will do?REINER: I am optimistic. Obviously you never know when a case is in front of the Supreme Court. But if they are going to rule – and this is what they do – based on the law – we had a trial here in San Francisco with many weeks of evidence. We brought on 17 witnesses, they brought on two and one of their witnesses, who was an expert against the idea of gay marriage, has done a 180. His name is David Blankenhorn and he’s now said it’s absolutely something that should be done.

If you look at it from a legal standpoint there is really nothing to argue. You can argue from a moral standpoint; you can say, morally, “I don’t like the idea of gay mar-riage” because your church teaches you a certain thing. !at’s fine. We’re not forcing any church to perform ceremonies; we’re not asking anyone to go outside their religious beliefs. But marriage is not a religious right. It is a civil right that is provided by the gov-ernment. A church does not have the right to marry someone except that it is given the right by the government. !e government issues marriage licenses. !e government decides who gets married and who doesn’t.

In 1967 [interracial marriage was illegal in some states]. !ere was a Supreme Court case, Loving vs. Virginia, that challenged that, and the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 [that interracial couples had a right to marry]. !ey have ruled now 14 times about the fundamental right to marriage. From a legal standpoint there is no

“There will be a time years

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on immigration reform right now. I believe they may even get done, because you’ve got political interests on the Right to get that done. What can we do on gun safety? I’m not sure. It seems like [legislation requiring] universal background checks should pass. Even NRA members are [about] 80 percent in favor of that. But the big-ticket items are going to come down to climate change. I hope something starts emerging on that.ASHLEY: Are movies that call attention to issues – even though they’re dramatizations – do they serve to educate, or are they just entertainment and they come and go?REINER: Mostly they should be just enter-tainment, but they do help. !ey’re certainly not going to change something overnight, but they become part of the dialogue. People go to movies; people watch television; it becomes part of the discussion. !ere were major prison reforms made after the movie I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang came out – actual prison reforms occurred because of that movie. So the movie in and of itself is not going to miraculously change anything, but it certainly adds to the dialogue.ASHLEY: I want to ask you about your concerns about the state of education in California and the country.REINER: You talk about California because California educates one out of every eight children in America and California before Proposition 13 had the best education system in the country. We now have, if not the worst, close to the worst in the country. So if we are able to fix the education system in Califor-nia that will go a long way toward making a healthy education system in America. It’s a very complicated thing because Prop. 13 is the third rail of California politics, and money alone is not going to solve the prob-lem. We have to see reform and money come together; you can’t have just reform. You need reform and resources. !ere are ways to do it. !ere are certain models for what constitutes a good education system. I would submit that you have quality early-childhood preschool education for every child. That’s my big fight, because by third grade, when you’re eight years old, you should be reading. You learn to read so that you can read to learn, and if you’re not reading by the third grade you’re o" the rails. !e reason you see the 50 percent dropout rate at college is because the kids are not keeping up. But kids who have had access to high-quality preschool are kids

issues, and you use your celebrity for great pur-pose. Sometimes you talk about the electorate not necessarily always being as informed as we might be. How do you feel about celebrities who lend their names to causes [about which they] may not be so well informed?REINER: I don’t think that’s a good idea. [Laughter] It does happen because you have this confluence between Washington and Hollywood. !ey’ve often said that Wash-ington is Hollywood for ugly people. But the truth of the matter is Washington uses Hollywood a lot of times because a celebrity can bring attention to a particular issue, and if it’s an issue that they’re trying to push they can use a celebrity. Celebrities like to use Washing-ton because it gives them some more gravitas, or more seriousness, or substantive thoughts about things. But what I’ve discovered is that if you steep yourself in an issue, if you really do understand the ins and outs and can get down in the weeds on a particular issue, you can actually really move the ball forward. You can not only draw attention to something, but you can also move the ball forward.

I look at someone like Michael J. Fox, who really understands the science of Parkin-son’s and stem cell research. !en celebrity can be used for good. But if a celebrity just wants to be seen and wants to dance around, then he makes a fool of himself and ulti-mately hurts whatever particular issue he’s trying to push. It’s a double-edged sword, and I always counsel celebrities, if you’re going to get into something, really do your homework and really understand what it is you’re trying to do. Become an expert.ASHLEY: You campaigned for President Obama. What do you hope he accomplishes in the next four years that he did not accom-plish in the past four years?REINER: He did a lot. A lot of liberals were unhappy because he maybe didn’t exhibit the kind of fire and passion that he did on the stump, but he’s a cool customer and if you look at what he did, he did save an auto industry, he did kill bin Laden, he did pass universal health care; there were some major accomplishments done in a kind of quiet way. !ere are obviously huge, big-ticket items still out there. We still have to get our fiscal house in order – that’s going to take some doing. He’s certainly not going to be able to do it during his term, but he can put it on a path toward some kind of sustainability down the road. Secondly, they’re fighting

who are not dropping out of school. You have to start at the beginning.ASHLEY: Is humor inherently liberal?REINER: No. I don’t think it’s inherently liberal, but you find more liberal people who are funnier. Look at “South Park.” !ose guys, Parker and Stone, they’re equal-op-portunity satirists. !ey skew the Right and the Left. So it doesn’t have to be liberal, but I find, generally speaking, liberals are funnier, because liberal means open-minded. Conser-vative means conserving, keeping things as they are. Liberal means opening yourself up to all the di"erent possibilities. When you do that there’s more of an opportunity to find what’s dopey about the world.ASHLEY: The Princess Bride was such a charming movie, and you are very proud of that movie because it endures.REINER: Last year we had the 25th an-niversary. We had a celebration at Lincoln Center and what a thrill to know that a movie you made [remains so popular]. People quote “As you wish” and “My name is Inigo Montoya…” A guy was on a plane the other day. He had an Inigo Montoya T-shirt on and people didn’t want that guy on the plane. !ey made him cover it up because it said “…You killed my father. Prepare to die.” !ey got nervous.

I love that people come up to me and say, “My wedding ring says ‘As you wish’ inside it” or kids who saw the movie when they were 7, 8, 9, 10 years old and they’re grown up now and they have little kids, they’re introducing the kids to the movie. It makes me feel great.

I have one great story about it: Years ago we went to a restaurant, a very good Italian place. [We’d heard] John Gotti goes there every !ursday night. Sure enough, John Gotti walks into the restaurant with about six wise guys. !ey sit down at a table and I look over there and I see him and he sees me and we kind of recognize each other. I don’t want to seem like I recognize him too much. We finish our meal and go outside and there’s a big limo parked out there and a guy in front of the limo who looks like Luca Brasi from !e Godfather, and he looks at me and goes, “You killed my father. Prepare to die.” [Laughter and applause] I got so scared. He says, “I love that movie: !e Princess Bride.”

This program was made possible by the generous support of Adobe Systems Incorporated.


The election settled some important questions that could have been a drag on the economy. But the business performance of the country in 2013 will be heavily dependent upon details. Excerpt from “Bank of America / Walter E. Hoadley Annual Economic Forecast,” January 25, 2013.

KEITH HENNESSEY Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; Director, National Economic Council Under President George W. Bush; Member, Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

CHRISTINA ROMER Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley; Immediate Past Chair, President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers

!" #$"%&'()*!$" +!*, ANNA MOK Vice Chair, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors; Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP

ECON 2013: THE YEAR AHEAD

ANNA MOK: Clearly there are a lot of questions on how President Obama is doing and what the ad-ministration is going to do given what’s happened in the recent election, so Dr. Romer, can you share some views, given that you’ve worked for the president in your previous role. How is the administration doing relative to the economy?

CHRISTINA ROMER: Certainly what is true is that the American economy has been through a very

rough five years, and President Obama has been president for four of those.

It was certainly a bap-tism by

fire in terms of what he faced coming in. I think the administration has taken some incredibly important economic policies, everything from the Recovery Act – which I think played a key role in helping us to turn the corner – to health-care reform, which I think is going to be very important going forward for the health of the economy, to fi-nancial regulatory reform – all those things. He has accomplished a great deal.

Unfortunately, there is still a whole lot more to do. I think the big issue looming – well, there are so many big issues, everything from immigration reform to gun control. From his inaugural address we got a sense of the things he wants to tackle, but the one he is not going to be able to avoid is the fiscal situation. We have a lot of forcing events that have to happen, between the debt ceil-ing and what are we going to do with the

sequester, the money that the government is spending that is supposed to be cut. -ose are issues that he’s going to have to face.

I think much more important is the very large, long-run budget deficit that I think all of us want

our policymakers to come together and figure out how we’re going


ECON 2013: THE YEAR AHEADto deal with it. !at unfortunately is going to have to be front and center in the next year, coming up with a solution to that. I sure hope it is. KEITH HENNESSEY: !e first thing to remind ourselves of is that the impact of a president on the short-term macro-economy is almost always exaggerated. !e president can have a big impact on the economy in the medium term and the long run, largely through influencing Congress. While the Fed has got a dial they can turn to have a much bigger short-term e"ect, we im-mediately look to the White House and we say, “What are you going to do about

the economy right now?” Dr. Romer and I would have to go on TV at various points in time and talk about the jobs report and what was going to happen over the course of the next month. !e thing that is so frustrat-ing is that you know, in fact, not much that you’re doing actually has a direct linkage to what’s going to happen over the course of the next month.

It is interesting how the debate has shifted. Four years ago, if you were talking about the economy, it was entirely about the short-term situation. Now the economy is still weak. It is g row-ing slowly, but it is still a h e c k of a lot healthier than it w a s four years a g o ,

and yet none of the discussion now is about the short-term macro-economy picture. It’s entirely about the medium-term fiscal pic-ture. Unfortunately, I don’t see us making any significant progress on that, frankly, any time in at least the next two years. !ey’re at a stalemate. It’s going to sort of be ugly arguments with little progress over the next couple years. ROMER: !e focus has not all changed to the medium-term deficit. In fact, the reason it’s front and center is precisely because it has to be part of the discussion of [whether] you do anything more on jobs. I do think the president cares deeply about the fact that we still have an unemployment rate just slightly below 8 percent, that is an unbelievable tragedy.

Realistically, if you’re going to do more infrastructure spending, if you’re going to make the kind of investments we need to make in education, that might put people back to work now and make people more productive in the future. !e only way you ever get Congress to go along with you is if you also say, “Let’s make this part of the package to deal with all those other long-run fiscal things.” In my view, dealing with the medium-term fiscal situation in some sense is making space to do the things you need to do now to get more short-term recovery. HENNESSEY: If you’re pulling on the fiscal policy lever, and you’re trying to have a short-term impact, you’ve got to pull pretty hard. In 2008 President Bush proposed, and Congress quickly enacted, what we then called the Fiscal Stimulus Bill. On the right of the aisle it was not forbidden to call it that, it was a bipartisan bill, it is amazing that we had bipartisanship at that time, but it was $150 billion pushed out over

about an 18-month period. We figured that was probably at least the smallest size you needed to be to move the needle on GDP.

The Obama folks came in; they did something significantly bigger, and they did that in part because the macro picture was far worse. !e additional infrastructure spending and increased government spend-ing that’s being talked about right now is too small and too slow. If you buy into the idea that more government spending is going to give a short-term GDP kick, then they’re not doing enough of it.

I’m skeptical about that. I wouldn’t be doing that set of policies. But if you actually want to do the short-term kick, you’ve got to do something – I don’t want to say an order of

“Dealing with the medium-term fiscal

situation is making space to

do the things you need to

do now.” – Romer


magnitude – but several times larger. Saying we’re going to increase highway spending by another $100 billion in the next few years isn’t going to give you the short-term kick. I also think it’s infeasible to imagine that with a Republican House, you’re actually going to get significantly increased government spending in any context, but I think those are two separate questions. It’s legislatively infeasible, and even if it were legislatively feasible, I don’t think it’s big enough to move the GDP needle enough to make a significant impact. MOK: What would move the needle?HENNESSEY: I don’t think there is much in terms of government actions. I won’t surprise folks here: I am concerned about the drags that continue to be imposed on the private sector. I think that some of the uncertainty that we had, regulatory uncertainty, has been eliminated with the re-pelection of President Obama. !ere is now not a question as to whether or not the A"ordable Care Act is going to move for-ward. We know it’s going to move forward. We know there is not going to be an e"ort to repeal it. Now you’re just left with the regulatory uncertainty about how quickly other states are going to implement the exchanges, what [are the federal health-care agencies] going to do on the details of that?

!ere is now no question that Dodd-Frank is not only the law but will stay in place for at least another couple years. So at least that dimension of policy uncertainty has been eliminated. But still the question of how are all the regulatory agencies going to

do their work is going to create uncertainty and cause a drag.

I am more skeptical about the govern-ment’s ability to goose GDP in the short-run. I tend to think that there are often negative consequences to doing so. I am very concerned about the medium- or what we used to call the long-term fiscal problem and what we now call the medium-term fiscal problem.ROMER: I care about both of them. I think any policy maker has to care about both the short-run and how much are people su"ering today and the long-run. I actually think they’re often interrelated. So one of the things we’ve worried so much about is if unemployment stays high for a very long period of time, that tends to hurt unem-ployment into the future because people lose their attachment to the labor force, their job skills.

One of the places that we have the big-gest agreement is about the long-run budget deficit and how we have to really take serious measures to get that under control. I think that’s important, not just for the long run, but for today. It does increase confidence today, it does open up space today to do some good investments today.

!e other thing, in terms of what can government do, I think we shouldn’t leave out the Federal Reserve. You said the Federal Reserve had a dial. !ey absolutely do. One of the most positive developments, I think, over the last say four or five months is that the Fed has sort of woken up again. !ey were very active during the crisis. !ey kind

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of dialed back for a few years there and, starting in September, I think started to say, “Ok we’re going to do more and try to be more helpful.” MOK: Talking about some of the short-term decisions, and we talked a little about the fiscal cli", so are we going to pay our bills this year given some of the debates that have been going on and given your view about nothing can really happen in the next two years?HENNESSEY: Define “pay our bills.” MOK: Will the federal government be able to honor our debt this summer?HENNESSEY: I think so. !e most likely scenario is that a few months from now, Congress repeats what it just did. Which is, there is a lot of hu/ng and pu/ng, and I think they do another extension. I don’t think it’s a long-term, a one-year or two-year extension. I think it’s a six-month or a nine-month extension. I think the fiscal conservatives try to get some kind of con-cession on spending in exchange for that. !at’s not ideal, but I think that is the most likely scenario.

I had an op-ed in the [Wall Street] Journal urging Republican members to vote for an increase in the debt limit, but at the same time to be demanding that the budget process move forward and that you start to get some spending. As much as there is an increased liquidity risk from the short-term debt limit extensions, we also have a tremendous solvency risk as a fiscal matter if you don’t have a forcing event. Right now, given the polarization of Washington, by far the most likely scenario is that nothing happens for four years on the medium-term deficit picture. If that’s the case, you’ve got to decide, are you willing to live with that?

I’m sure there are factions within the Greek government that would love noth-ing more than for the Germans to just give them enough liquidity to just go for five years and never check up on them. But in fact, a creditor doesn’t do that. Or if you’re a creditor of a firm that’s gone bankrupt or going bankrupt, if you come in with late money, you say, “You know what? I’m going to give you money to keep you going for


known as Too Big to Fail institutions, and we have created basically a structure around them that is like the structure that we had with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where no one is willing to acknowledge that there is an implicit government guarantee back-ing. We are all hoping that these institutions won’t fail through some combination of competent management and government supervision.

I don’t think that you actually have that combination. !en what you’re left rely-

ing upon is the capital liquidity cushions to hope that, when one of these managers fouls up and when the regulators, not if, but when the regulators don’t catch it in time that there will be enough of a cushion that you won’t need to come in and do another bailout.

!e thing that I found most significant about this is one of the Federal Reserve gov-ernors, Dan Terulo, who is the lead governor at the Fed for implementing the systemic risk provisions of Dodd-Frank, gave a speech back in October and said basically, “We don’t know how to measure it and we don’t know how to do this. Congress, you guys are going to have to do it again.”

For the lead Fed governor, appointed by President Obama, who worked for President Clinton, to say, “We don’t know how to measure systemic risk and we don’t know how to address it,” when that was the core function of Dodd-Frank, I think the law has been a failure at addressing the underlying cause of the financial crisis.

“I just don’t have the faith in government that they’re going to

actually see [bank failure]

coming.” – Hennessey

the next quarter or two and I want regular check-ins, and I want you to set metrics and I want to see what you’re doing.” I look on the debt limit as the only tool that the conservatives have right now to try to create that accountability, because otherwise we’d just keep spending. MOK: What’s your outlook on the e"ective-ness of being able to institute Dodd-Frank as parts of it go into law?ROMER: I think it is an important step forward. !is is one of those cases that, having lived through a financial crisis that was caused in part by financial innovation getting ahead of our regulatory structure, you sort of have no choice but come through it and say, “We have to fix our regulatory structure.” I think, as it’s well known, the biggest part of Dodd-Frank is actually not all the new regulations and things, it’s largely higher capital requirements for banks, higher liquidity requirements for all financial institutions, and I think that makes sense. Again, it’s a market approach, on some level, to regulation. !e best way to make sure that firms don’t take risks that we don’t want them to take, or are potentially very damaging to the economy, is to say, “You have to have skin in the game.” Right?

So, higher reserves, and you have to have plenty of liquidity to help make it through it. !at side of it is going to be very good and we’re going to be phasing it in. I do worry – a lot of Dodd-Frank was left to be filled in. All the rule making is an arduous process, it’s a slow process, it does create di/culties for businesses.

One of the things you do worry is [regu-latory rule making] also is a time when rules can get weakened or, you know, the basic principles are there, but the devil is in the details. I think we need to watch that, and I am somewhat concerned that maybe we’re not going to be doing enough as we actually write those rules. HENNESSEY: Dodd-Frank. Small topic. [Laughter.] Increased capital liquidity standards: good. Completely ignoring two of the largest financial institutions that are still SIFIs [systemically important financial institutions] and still causing problems and

have cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. !at’s just a big gaping hole.

But I think the other thing is that the approach behind Dodd-Frank was: higher capital liquidity, rearrange the org chart. !ere used to be a group called the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, which was the Treasury secretary and the head of all the regulatory agencies. !at group has – they’ve now added a couple di"erent people to it and they call it the Systemic Risk Council. But it’s pretty much the same people. !ey have slightly di"er-ent tasks. I don’t see that kind of org chart saying, “OK, you smart group of people, you’re now responsible for predicting and addressing, preventing systemic risk.” I don’t see that’s going to do it.

But my biggest concern with Dodd-Frank – there is a paper by Andy Haldane from the Bank of England, a paper called “!e Dog and the Frisbee,” which I would highly recommend; it’s about too-big-to-fail institutions. It’s basically pointing to the approach that was taken in Dodd-Frank, which was higher capital liquidity, which is good, but which is also saying, “Look, the problem of the 2008 financial crisis” – this is the hypothesis – “is that the regulators and supervisors didn’t have enough information, they didn’t have enough authority to do something about it, and then even when they did, they didn’t do something about it.” So all we need to do is give the regulators and the supervisors more information, more power and tell them to be more aggressive.

According to this hypothesis, that plus increased capital liquidity means that we don’t have to worry about too-big-to-fail institutions existing, because they’ll never fail because the government o/cials will be able to step in when an incompetent man-ager starts screwing things up, and even if they don’t there will be enough of a capital cushion to deal with it.

I just don’t have the faith in government that they’re going to actually be able to see it coming and they’ll be able to prevent it. So the question is, we now have something like 24, I think about two dozen, SIFIs, formally

This program was made possible by the generous support of Bank of America.


ally shaped us in ways that we might not always understand unless we ask. And the asking is really just asking, “Tell me your story, and then tell me why the story hap-pened, put it in context, and tell me how you felt at the time.” !at can be the most revealing of all information – how did they feel? MAGILL: Why do you think you were able to get to the bench and become a Supreme Court justice?SOTOMAYOR: I don’t think any child has an opportunity to succeed unless they find someone in their life who unconditionally loves them and makes them feel secure about that love. Given my childhood experiences at home, it wasn’t coming immediately from my mother or my father, but I had a grandmother who gave it to me. Now, I’m very cognizant that there are some kids who don’t have any of that. What I try to talk to them about in the book is not waiting for that person to appear in your life, but hav-ing the courage to look around you, to find someone you admire whose ways of doing things you really want to learn from, and go up to that person and tell them, “I need to learn what you do so well.” Or it can be as simple as taking your high school essay when you’re applying to college and asking a teacher to review it – I wrote mine with-out even thinking that it was a possibility, and it’s true, you might find some teachers who are not helpful, but most of them are. Or you can go to your church or whatever place you worship in and look around; you can go to your community center; or you can look in your extended group of family and friends. !ere is always someone in

that is so precious to me. I found a [version of my] father I never

knew and a romance between my mother and my father that I’d never heard. You have no idea how special

that is for someone who had lived her whole life thinking of her parents as unhappy; it sort of

gave me a thrill to know I had been wrong. I tell every

audience I talk to: If you are lucky enough to have a living parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who knows about your

family’s background, explore it while you have a chance. Don’t wait.

Don’t do what I did, which was to live a very busy life and forget

that my story wasn’t the center of the universe.

It is important for all of us to ap-

preciate where w e c o m e

from and how that

history h a s

r e -

“Please go away to college. No matter

how afraid you are of leaving home,

pick yourself up and go;

have the experience.”

Sonia Sotomayor(Continued from page 7)


who believed you were wrongly benefiting from a/rmative action. Do you feel com-fortable reflecting on these experiences and how they’ve shaped your view of a/rmative action?SOTOMAYOR: A/rmative action back [when I went to college], and today, [was and] is a double-edged sword. It’s the subject of much continuing conversation in our society and I won’t talk [in depth] about it today, because everybody knows we have a case pending and that case will be judged on its own merits. We’ve had lots of Supreme Court cases since I got into college and law school, and the conversation in society has changed. But at that time – and people forget – the civil rights movement had just really started. Princeton had only admitted women for two years before I got there. !e number of minorities [at these colleges] was so small that you could probably count them on two hands, before places like Princeton and Yale began to think more deeply about the structure of their selection processes, [taking into account an] understanding that people are di"erent than their backgrounds and that not everyone experiences the privi-lege of living in a way to master the criteria that others are taught to seek early in life.

I was one of those kids; I was pretty smart; I was near the top of my class, but I worked weekends; I worked during the summers; I was in student government; I was on the debate club. I was a highly energetic person – I hardly slept back then. I did a lot of things while still keeping up really good grades. !at must have showed somebody that there was promise in me. I probably didn’t have anywhere near the

your life whom you can admire, and it takes you being brave to say, “I need help” or “I don’t know.”

!e second thing [that helped me] is a characteristic that kids are told is very bad: being stubborn. My mom says it was my brother, but I remember it being me: When I was a baby, when I didn’t want to eat, I would hold my breath and bunch up my cheeks and Mom would [force me to open my mouth] and stu" the spoon in. To this day, that’s why I have this yo-yo weight problem. But she’s taken responsibility. It’s just that I like food. I showed that stubborn-ness even as a kid.

I talk in the book about defending my brother on the playground. What I don’t talk too much about, but it was true, [is though] I may have beaten up some people, I got beaten up a lot, because I would never cry uncle. It’s the same thing that I’ve never done when I’ve met a challenge in school or on a job. I’ve talked about my insecurities, and they run deep, but I’ve learned to not give up, just to get up and, even when I fail, to lick my wounds and to have friends around me who help me do that. After they think I’ve wallowed in self-pity long enough, [these friends] kick my behind and tell me to go try again. I tell kids that all the time: Find the friends who do that. Find the friends who never tell you that you can’t do it, but who point you in the right direction, hold you when you fail, and push you when you need the push. !ose are hard friends to value sometimes, but they are the best of friends. I was lucky to have a lot of them in my life. MAGILL: Can we talk a little about your

time at Princeton? Did it feel to you like you’d landed on Mars a little bit? How did you make your way there?SOTOMAYOR: I was way out there. I truly was an alien. It was so foreign to me – ev-erything. !at first week was a shock to me. [!ere were] kids from all over the world, kids with di"erent accents, like the Alabama accent, like a classmate who sat next to me as we were registering for classes, and two of my friends were walking toward us and speaking Spanish, and she gushed in saying, “Isn’t Princeton wonderful – there are such wonderful mixed and strange people here!” I remember looking at her and listening to her accent and thinking to myself, “Here I thought you were the strange one.” I was a kid from the South Bronx, essentially the projects. [Mine] was a relatively insular world; it was a slice of New York.

[Princeton] was my first time meeting people from other parts of the country and with other experiences. It’s very hard to feel a part of something that’s so alien to you. It takes a while to grow comfortable enough within yourself to appreciate that you might be di"erent, but it’s OK because your dif-ference enriches you in a di"erent way, just like [other people] are enriched in the way they chose or the life they led. But that takes a whole lot for a kid who feels inadequate to come to. So part of [my message] is to encourage kids, as I do for all of my cousins: Please go away to college. No matter how afraid you are of leaving home, pick yourself up and go; have the experience. MAGILL: In the book you recount several instances when you experienced what I perceive to be overt hostility from those So

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the best job you’ve ever had, including the job you have now?SOTOMAYOR: Being a justice. If you love law as much as I do, not only for how it works and organizes the social structures of our so-ciety – it’s not the only mechanism that does that; we have many, but the law is an integral part of us getting along as a community – you’re given the job of a lifetime when you’re a justice. You’re permitted to address the most important legal questions of the country, and sometimes the world, and in doing so you make a di"erence in people’s lives. I can’t think of a better job for someone who loves the law as much as I do.

But I can’t think of any job I haven’t loved. I’ve tried in every work setting to figure out what it is I needed to learn, even if I got a little bored with the work I was doing, or it wasn’t quite what I wanted to do long term. I did move on, for example, from the DA’s o/ce, but it was an exciting time in my life, and I value it highly for all the things it taught me. I even liked private practice, believe it or not – young lawyers are taught that that’s not satisfying – I found it satisfying. I met some wonderful people and I learned areas of the law I might never have been exposed to otherwise. Even from the worst job you can learn something. You don’t want to stay in it too long, but you can mark your time by trying to figure out some of the good it can give you.MAGILL: !is is not a question about the substance of what the court does, it’s just a question about whether you’ll reflect on your first day on the bench of the Supreme Court, or your first conference with the

top SAT scores, but schools don’t pick on numbers mostly, thank God. But I was given the chance to get to the start of the race, and it changed my life. I didn’t know a race was being run before I got there.

Part of [the goal of ] this book was to make the many people who have been ac-cused of getting in because of some special favor not to feel ashamed, but to look at whatever they’ve accomplished once they got in the door and get strength from that, which is what I’ve done. Yes, I needed help, but once I got there, I worked at it and I proved myself worthy. You don’t have to graduate the way I did at Princeton, at the top of my class; just being an average

student at a place like Princeton is a pretty impressive place to get. Sometimes we just forget that, that “making it” means working really hard to take the gifts you’re given and make them count for something for yourself and for others. !at’s what I’ve tried to do.MAGILL: When I was clerking, William Rehnquist, who was chief justice at the time, said that the best job he ever had was being head of the O/ce of Legal Counsel. What’s

justices when you decided cases. What was going though your mind, what were you feeling?SOTOMAYOR: !e first case that I sat on was Citizens United. Talk about being thrown in! Needless to say, if I’d been scared before, I was terrified by then. I knew the world was waiting and watching for my first question. What I figured was, “Was I prepared for the case like I prepare for every-thing?” I threw myself in, drowned myself in my work. I thought about questions I should ask and then I finally decided that I couldn’t anticipate what my first question would be, because I didn’t know what the flow of the conversation would be. So I would just wait. After it got out, I thanked God because it took the pressure o" of me and I could just be, or start becoming, a justice.

[From] the conferences the first year, the most overriding memory is constantly feeling like I’d walked into a conversation – because I had. We’d be discussing a case and one of my colleagues would mention a case that I had not read for the issue before us because I didn’t anticipate that it might be relevant – “Just as I told you guys in this case…” and he or she would go o" on a tangent that made no sense to me, until one of my colleagues would lean over and say, “Sonia, he’s got a bug about that issue and he brings it into everything. Don’t worry.” Or they’d pick up in the middle of a conversation that started on the case before and hadn’t finished. So feeling like I was walking into a conversa-tion was very disorienting most of the year. !e only gratification I got was the next year

“I was given the chance to

get to the start of the race, and it changed

my life. I didn’t know a race

was being run before.”

Left to right: Judge Sonia Sotomayor with her mother and father; Sotomayor as a young girl; Sotomayor’s 1976 Princeton yearbook photo; Sotomayor meets with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden prior to an announcement in the East Room, May 26, 2009; Sotomayor on stage at the Herbst Theatre with M. Elizabeth Magill; Sotomayor signing books for two young fans after the Club event. Photos (left to right) courtesy WhiteHouse.gov / Wikimedia

Commons; WhiteHouse.gov / Wikimedia Commons; WhiteHouse.gov / Wikimedia Commons; Pete Souza / Wikimedia Commons; Ed Ritger; Ed Ritger; Senate building photo courtesy Joeseph A / Flickr


where in the road of my treatment I was told that I couldn’t be, like Nancy Drew, a detec-tive. I was heartbroken as only a dramatic child could be, because I didn’t know what I could do. !en I watched “Perry Mason,” and for those of you who are old enough to remember “Perry Mason’s” script, in the in first half [of an episode] he investigated the crime, and in the second half he was in the courtroom proving his client not guilty. Now that’s never happened in my career; no lawyer has ever broken down the guilty party in a courtroom, though some have proven their client was not guilty, through a verdict. But that investigative aspect of Perry Mason led me in a very unsophisticated way to understand that I could still be a detective by being a lawyer. !at belief then morphed into a greater understanding of what law-yering meant and figuring out that I had actually stumbled onto my perfect career.MAGILL: What is the typical workday like in the life of a Supreme Court justice?SOTOMAYOR: For most of you, pretty boring. We only give parties an hour of argument, and we’re only hearing about 60 to 80 cases a year, so that’s only 60 or 80 hours of time that we’re in the courtroom. !at’s two weeks of work, essentially. !e rest of the time we’re researching, writing and editing all day long our own opinions and the opinions of our colleagues; we’re talking among ourselves in memos trying to convince each other of what is the right an-swer. It is a job that is, in some ways, purely desk-bound, so you have to be someone like me who has remained like I was a child: high-energy. I was called an aji, which to my family meant a hot pepper [laughter], because I never stopped jumping up and down. I still do that.

when Elena Kagan became a justice and she leaned over and asked me what they were talking about and I had the answer. MAGILL: You are the only member of the court who’s been a trial judge. Do you think that makes a di"erence?SOTOMAYOR: Yes. I think its greatest impact may be in the cert process. I’m very sensitive to us taking cases with what we call vehicle problems, issues that might preclude us from reaching the question we really want to answer. So with almost every case that’s listed for discussion, I look for that first, in a way that some of my colleagues may or may not. I also think it’s made a di"erence some-times in the cases we don’t take; my being able to explain to the others why a particular issue may seem important in that one case but leaving it in the discretion of the judges below is [also] important, by explaining the variety of situations that surround that issue where one answer might not be satisfying.

So there are various ways in which being a trial judge does help and a"ect the process, including being a proponent of cases that answer legal issues that might only be of interest to the judges below, and I think that I’m a champion of some of those in terms of hearing them so that we can try to give some answers. Occasionally I’m told we’ll just complicate things more, and you do learn that after a while. But whether [my trial judge experience] makes a di"erence in how you answer an opinion, I’m not sure yet. !at’s a much more complicated question, because so many of our cases are not really centered on the trial experience. !ey are pure questions of law. MAGILL: Why did you want to be a lawyer?SOTOMAYOR: I was diagnosed with juve-nile diabetes at seven and a half, and some-

Many of us stay connected to the world because we teach, because we speak to groups. We have hundreds of thousands of people who come to the court, and the justices regularly meet with groups as young as second grade. I’ve talked to second graders

– they force me to go back to presidential his-tory because I get more questions about the president than I do about me or my job, but that they’ve heard about the Supreme Court in the second grade is a step further than [where I was at that age], because I didn’t really know it existed until much later in life. But we do stay engaged with the world because the world looks to us as beacons in many ways and we get visitors from around the world constantly. !at’s how we stay involved in the world, but our work is contemplative and it’s work where you’re really thinking

“The first case that I sat

on was Citizens United.

Talk about being thrown in! I was

terrified by then.”


important to me. So other works have been throughout my life. Like when I went to see a Shakespeare play, I finally understood the beauty of plays and understood that when I read them I had to imagine them. It was after seeing that play that I went back and read all of Shakespeare’s stories. Because looking at the play gave me an

ah-ha moment. Just reading is important – and the openness to be challenged to read something di"erent and to think about it. !at’s what’s important about reading.MAGILL: What has been the greatest chal-lenge of being on the court, and why?SOTOMAYOR: Having been a judge for 17 years before I became a justice, it’s not that you become used to making decisions, but you do understand your role and you understand that you have to make decisions because parties need answers. And because you’re not part of a court of final resort, you always take a little comfort in thinking that if you really get it wrong, there’s a court above you that can fix what you’ve done wrong. Coming to the Supreme Court and realizing that there was no court above me added a burden I had not fully anticipated: the importance of my coming to my right

about the answers you’re rendering. MAGILL: How much did you hesitate about writing about witchcraft?SOTOMAYOR: A lot. I had a couple of friends who said to keep out those scenes, but when you read the book you under-stand how important it was to my grand-mother and how much it was a part of my family life. I intended to make this an hon-est book, and I think I did. It was a part of my life and so I described it – a slice of my life. Puerto Ricans – as have people from all the Caribbean cultures – have managed to integrate very successfully their belief in brujería, which is witchcraft, and their faith in the Catholic Church. I haven’t had to do that, because my mother wouldn’t let my grandmother take me over, but it was a part of my life. Yes, I did hesitate, but I’m gratified that it hasn’t been made a big deal of in the press, because I think people understood what my purpose was in writ-ing it. It was to underscore that everybody has a crazy uncle out there or something their family does that they think should be kept secret, and part of the book’s message is that sometimes you can see it for what it is, which is a little bit of fun. MAGILL: What works of literature have been influential for you both during your childhood and your adult life?SOTOMAYOR: !e most important time for me in terms of book reading was after my first year of college, after finding out that I didn’t know what Alice in Wonderland was, it was the first book I picked up that summer to read. I then followed it by read-ing most of the classics that my roommate helped to identify for me. !at opened up a world of writing that I had not much familiarity with. But I never mention one book [as most influential], because books will affect each person differently. The beauty of books is that they create what I call the “ah-ha moments”; the moments when a light bulb goes on inside your head and in which you think about something in a di"erent way. [For example when I read] Lord of the Flies in high school, it opened up a totally di"erent view of the world and of people and about their nature, and it helped cement why I would later find law so important. Because the fact that the young’uns in that book couldn’t do it without having inculcated a greater understanding of community was really

answer. Understanding that others might have di"erent views of what the answer should be doesn’t take away from the deep sense of obligation that I have to make sure I’ve not overlooked any argument, that I’ve thought about each case from every angle that I humanly can. I try my hardest to make my vote the answer I think is right, understanding always that even if I think the answer is right, there’s a losing party in every case decided by the Supreme Court. I never loose sight of that either, because it keeps you humble; you’re not God, be-cause hopefully God is more merciful than sometimes you can be as a judge. But, more important, no matter how good an answer you think you’ve given, someone’s going to feel there’s an injustice.MAGILL: What role did your Catholic education play in your development and your success, and how do you feel about the clos-ing of so many Catholic schools in New York?SOTOMAYOR: My grammar school is clos-ing, and I cried when I heard that. Discipline was the number one priority of my grammar school education; probably it was the number one priority for most of the people here who were raised in the faith as children. But the current Catholic schools have evolved just as has the society, but I think with a more nurturing face than when I was a kid. More important for many of the neighborhoods that I was from, the current neighborhood of the place I live, it was the only alternative for safety for many of the kids in poor neighbor-hoods. Now the schools are closing, because their communities can’t a"ord to keep them open. It’s heartbreaking.

I very much believe in God. I may not go to church regularly – I still go sometimes – but I think its most lasting influence was in helping me understand that as a human being, I made a choice and the choice was whether I would be a good and giving person, or whether I would be selfish, self-absorbed and maybe evil.

We each make that choice; the church led me to understand what the beauty was in the former choice. So in many ways the person I am is a product of what I was taught by my religion. It’s not that you can’t find that path in other ways, and a lot of people do because a lot of people weren’t exposed to religion as children and they find it in other ways, but that was the way that helped me.

“Just reading is important –

and the openness to be challenged

to read something and to

think about it.”

Photo by Ed Ritger


ProgramsFor up-to-date information on programs, and to subscribe to our weekly newsletter, go to commonwealthclub.org

OVERVIEW

The Commonwealth Club organizes more than 450 events every year – on politics, the arts, media, literature, business and sports. Programs are held throughout the Bay Area.

STANDARD PROGRAMSTypically one hour long, these speeches cover a variety of topics and are followed by a question and answer session. Most evening programs include a networking reception with wine.

PROGRAM SERIESCLIMATE ONE programs are a conversation about America’s energy, economy and environment. To understand any of them, it helps to understand them all.

GOOD LIT features both established literary luminaries and up-and-coming writers in conversation. Includes Food Lit.

INFORUM is for and by people in their 20s to mid-30s, though events are open to people of all ages.

MEMBER–LED FORUMS (MLF)Volunteer-driven programs focus on particular fields. Most evening programs include a wine networking reception.

MEMBERLED FORUMS CHAIRDr. Carol Fleming carol.fleming@speechtraining com

FORUM CHAIRS

ARTS Anne W. Smith [email protected] Curtis [email protected] AFFAIRS Cynthia Miyashita [email protected] GOURMET Cathy Curtis ccurtis873@gmail SF BOOK DISCUSSION Barbara Massey [email protected] & LEADERSHIP Kevin O’Malley [email protected] & NATURAL RESOURCES Ann Clark [email protected] John Milford [email protected]

HEALTH & MEDICINEWilliam B. Grant [email protected] [email protected] C. Hammond [email protected] RELATIONS Norma Walden [email protected] Stephen Seewer [email protected] Chang [email protected] EASTCelia Menczel [email protected] Patrick O’Reilly [email protected] & TECHNOLOGY Chisako Ress [email protected]

Prepayment is required. Unless otherwise indicated, all Club programs – including “Members Free” events – require tickets. Programs often sell out, so we strongly encourage you to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are available at will call. Due to heavy call volume, we urge you to purchase tickets online at commonwealthclub.org; or call (415) 597-6705. Please note: All ticket sales are final. Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior to any program. If a program is sold out and your tickets are not claimed at our box office by the program start time, they will be released to our stand-by list. Select events include premium seating; premium refers to the first several rows of seating.

Subscribe to our free podcasting service to automatically download a new program recording to your personal computer each week: commonwealthclub.org/podcast.

Watch Club programs on KRCB TV 22 on Comcast & DirecTV the last Sunday of each month at 11 a.m. Select Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley programs air on CreaTV in San Jose (Channel 30). View hundreds of streaming videos of Club programs at fora.tv and youtube.com/commonwealthclub

TICKETS

To request an assistive listening device, please e-mail Ricardo Esway at [email protected] or call (415) 869-5911 seven working days before the event.

HARD OF HEARING?

RADIO, VIDEO AND PODCASTS

Hear Club programs on about 200 public and commercial radio stations throughout the United States. For the latest schedule, visit commonwealthclub.org/broadcast. In the San Francisco Bay Area, tune in to: KQED (88.5 FM) Fridays at 8 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 a.m. KRCB Radio (91 FM in Rohnert Park) Thursdays at 7 p.m.KALW (91.7 FM) Inforum programs on select Tuesdays at 7 p.m. KOIT (96.5 FM and 1260 AM) Sundays at 6 a.m. KLIV (1590 AM) Thursdays at 7 p.m. KSAN (107.7 FM) Sundays at 5 a.m. KNBR (680 and 1050 AM) Sundays at 5 a.m. KFOG (104.5 and 97.7 FM) Sundays at 5 a.m.


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Eight Weeks CalendarApril 01 – May 26

5:30 p.m. HHhH by Laurent Binet FM6:00 p.m. Magic Theatre Virgin Play Read-ing: “Madame Ho” FE (suggested donation)

5:30 p.m. Middle East Discussion Group FE

6:00 p.m. The Measure of Civilization5:00 p.m. Fracked Nation and Fracking California

6:00 p.m. Latinas in Business: Inspirational Strategies for Success

6:00 p.m. The Politics of Public Pensions6:00 p.m. Val Nasr

6:00 p.m. Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man FM

6:00 p.m. Service Unquestioned: The Soldiers and Their Families, a Talk by Susan Weiss FM

2:00 p.m. Nob Hill Walking Tour6:00 p.m. New Century Urban Development: Economics and Environment6:30 p.m. A Guide to Angel Investing

6:00 p.m. The Business of Saving lives: Innovation, Implementation and Scale-up

5:30 p.m. Humanities West Book Discussion: Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher, by Daniel Stolzenberg FM

12:00 p.m. Week to Week FM

6:00 p.m. Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill FM

6:00 p.m. Kenneth Feinberg: The Master of Disasters – Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes

7:00 p.m. Jason Lanier

6:30 p.m. What’s Eating Mary Roach?

6:00 p.m. Elder Financial Abuse: The Silent Crime 6:00 p.m. Daniel Dennett

5:15 p.m. “Someday” Never Comes: Conquer Life’s Challenges with the Spirit of Adventure FM

5:30 p.m. Middle East Discussion Group FE5:15 p.m. The Vintage Years FM

6:00 p.m. Microchips in Electronics: Can They Continue to Do More for and with Less?6:30 p.m. Little Miss Sunshine Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton

5:30 p.m. Around the World in 65 Days!

6:00 p.m. Mark Mazzetti: Inside the CIA and America’s Covert Operations6:00 p.m. Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Michelangelo of the Baroque

6:30 p.m. The End of Intelligence with Peter Coyote5:30 p.m. Greening the World Through Sports

HighlightsU Meet a local shaman, a language ex-

pert, an architectural historian, and a writer and explorer in Yunnan.

U Experience sacred sites of Bud-dhism, like the Jokhang temple and the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

U Speak with a professor and a local craftsmen in Tibet.

U Watch the debates at the majestic Sera Monastery in Lhasa.

U Learn about the nomadic way of life; try yak butter tea during a home visit; and meet with con-temporary artists in Lhasa.

U Experience the dramatic land-scapes – Tiger Leaping Gorge, the Tibetan plateau, and the lakes of the Himalayas.

U Visit the Shanghai Museum; take the high-speed Maglev train; and take an architectural tour of the Bund with a prominent historian.

Witness the human kaleidoscope of ethnic minorities in China’s rugged far west Yunnan province, before our journey to Tibet, a legendary land shrouded in an air of mystique to this day.

Exploring Tibetan PathsYunnan and Tibet September14-28, 2013

ItineraryFriday, September 13Travelers depart on independent !ights to Shanghai.

Saturday, September 14SHANGHAIIndependent arrivals into Shanghai. "is evening gather for a tour orienta-tion followed by a free evening. Once a #shing village, the destiny and for-tunes of Shanghai changed forever when the British opened their #rst concession here in 1842, followed by the French and Japanese. By the 30’s, Shanghai had achieved international status and became known as the “Paris of the East.”Langham Xintiandi Shanghai

Sunday, September 15SHANGHAIExplore the Shanghai Museum with ex-pert Liang Wei, and marvel at the bronze, ceramic, calligraphy, painting, and sculp-ture collections. At the Huangpu River waterfront enjoy lunch at M on the Bund, followed by a walking tour with architectural expert Peter Hibbard. Our welcome dinner is at Xintiandi, a retail area with shops housed in old shi-kumen buildings restored to their origi-nal appearance.Langham Xintiandi Shanghai (B,L,D)

Monday, September 16SHANGHAI / LIJIANGStroll through Yu Garden, the most celebrated classical Chinese garden in Shanghai, before !ying to China’s stunning, rugged west. "e town of Lijiang sits in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, at an alti-tude of 7,874 feet. Wander across the quaint bridges and narrow canals of the town, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the historic capital of the Naxi people. Its key position on the Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan Trail made it a cultural and commercial hub for the exchange of goods and ideas be-tween southwestern China and Tibet, Burma, and India. "e region is home to several ethnic minorities besides

the Naxi, all with languages, religions and cultures that are quite distinct. Crown Plaza Lijiang (B,L)

Tuesday, September 17LIJIANGTravel by four-wheel drive vehicles through Wenhai Valley to a remote Yi village. Meet with the shaman, or Bimo, to hear his perspectives on local life, the challenges posed by develop-ment and his animist faith. Continue to Puji village for a hike to Puji Temple, one of #ve existing monasteries in Li-jiang. Meet with a monk for a short meditation session. Visit the home of Guo Dalie a specialist on the Naxi cul-ture and Dongba language. Dinner in a local home includes Naxi music and traditional cuisine.Crown Plaza Lijiang (B,L,D)

Wednesday, September 18LIJIANG / ZHONGDIANExplore Lijiang’s morning market before our drive to Zhongdian. En route visit an elementary school near Lashi Lake, the primary water source for the large downstream population of Lijiang. Criti-cal to the biological diversity of the region, Lashi Lake is home to two ethnic minority groups and the endangered black-necked crane. Continue to Tiger Leaping Gorge – one of the world’s deepest canyons through which the mighty Yangtze !ows. A 45-minute walk to a viewpoint a$ords fantastic views of the gorge.Songtsam Retreat Hotel (B,L)

Thursday, September 19ZHONGDIANExperience Songzanlin Monastery, one of the largest Tibetan monasteries in Yunnan. "e snow covered peaks, combined with the chanting and incense from the Tibetan monasteries, bring to life the “Shangri-La” described in Hil-ton‘s Lost Horizon. Sit down with one of the resident lamas to learn about the history and workings of the monastery. A%er lunch, share tea with author and explorer Je! Fuchs who will introduce us to the Ancient Tea & Horse Caravan Road that once passed through here.Songtsam Retreat Hotel (B,L,D)

For additional information or to make a reservation, contact Commonwealth Club Travel

Online: commonwealthclub.org/travel Telephone: (415) 597-6720 Email: [email protected]

What to Expect To enjoy this program, travelers must be in good health and able to walk 1-2 miles a day. Stairs at monasteries and temples usually do not have hand rails and involve several !ights. Drives are 3-5 hours between cities, usually on well-maintained, paved roads. As we are at high altitudes and in remote lo-cations where good medical care isn’t always available, travelers will need to have a doctor complete a medical form and purchase basic medical evacua-tion insurance. At high altitudes, the sun’s rays are much stronger, while temperatures usually drop signi#cant-ly at night. We stay in boutique hotels in major cities, or the best 3 or 4-star local hotels.

T!ip Details Dates: September 14-28, 2013

Group Size: Pricing is based on a minimum of 10 travelers and a maxi-mum of 20

Cost: $6,795 double occupancy; $1,465 single room supplement

Included: Activities and entrance fees as speci#ed; group arrival and departure transfers; in-country trans-portation; economy class airfare from Shanghai to Lijiang, Zhongdian to Lha-sa, and Lhasa to Shanghai; accommo-dations as speci#ed (or similar); meals (B,L,D) per itinerary; bottled water on the bus; beer and wine at the welcome and farewell dinners; guest speakers; WildChina tour leader; local guides; Commonwealth Club rep with 15 or more participants; gratuities to local guides, drivers and for all group activi-ties; pre-departure materials.

Not included: International air to Shanghai; Chinese visa; alcoholic bever-ages except at welcome and farewell din-ners; travel insurance (recommended, in-formation will be sent upon registration); tour director gratuity; items of a purely personal nature.

Friday, September 20ZHONGDIANExplore Napa Lake and the Lake Marsh-lands, which serve as the wintering grounds for the black-necked crane, a species revered by the locals. In Gonjo artisan village, attend a handicra% work-shop on the painting of traditional lac-quer wooden boxes. Join a family for an authentic Tibetan dinner in their home. Expect yak to feature on the menu, as well as singing and dancing.Songtsam Retreat Hotel (B,L,D)

Saturday, September 21ZHONGDIAN / LHASAEarly morning !ight to Lhasa, one of the world’s highest cities with an elevation of approximately 11,860 feet. "is capital has been the center of Tibet’s political, religious, economic and cultural activities ever since the Fi%h Dalai Lama moved the capital here in 1642. Relax or take an optional visit to Barkhor Street – a bus-tling market with countless local vendors who line the narrow lanes of old Lhasa. Hear from a professor who gives a brief lecture on Tibetan culture. Sheraton Four Points Lhasa (B,L,D)

Sunday, September 22LHASAExperience the Potala Palace. First built in 631 A.D. by King Songtsen Gampo to celebrate his marriage to Princess Wencheng, the palace was reconstructed and expanded at the end of the 17th cen-tury by the #%h Dalai Lama. For the next 300 years it served as the winter residence of each Dalai Lama and the religious and political center of Tibet. Continue to Jokhang Temple. Built in the 7th cen-tury by Gampo, it is considered by many

Tibetans to be the most sacred temple and is home to the Jowo Shakyamuni, a scripture done by the Buddha at age twelve. ("ose interested, may join the early morning pilgrims in the traditional kora at Jokhang.) Meet with members of the Choephel Artists’ Guild, a co-op of Tibetan and Chinese painters, who are re-de#ning tradition and modernity to cre-ate a progressive Tibetan voice.Sheraton Four Points Lhasa (B,L,D)

Monday, September 23LHASAExplore o$ the beaten path Pabongka Monastery, then take a short (30-minute) hike to the Chupsang Nunnery, part of Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Finally visit Sera Monastery, which today re-mains one of Tibet’s three best university monasteries where over 500 monks study and practice this highly animated method of debating in the monastery courtyard. Sheraton Four Points Lhasa (B,L,D)

Tuesday, September 24LHASA / GYANTSEDepart for Gyantse and experience the beautiful dramatic Tibetan landscape. En route stop at Samding Monastery, the seat of Samding Dorjee Phakmo, the highest re-incarnation of the female in Ti-betan Buddhism, and Ralung Monastery, the seat of Dukpa Kagyupa order – one of the most sacred and oldest monasteries in Tibet. Arrive to Gyantse for dinner.Yeti Hotel (B,L,D)

Wednesday, September 25GYANTSEVist Palchoe Monastery, known also as Pelkor Chode, with its unique blend of Han, Tibetan, and Nepali architectural

styles. "e impressive entrance hall boasts 48 pillars, with frightening murals depict-ing death. On the grounds is Kubum: a three-dimensional mandala (series of circles within a square) that represents the Buddhist cosmos. Doubling also as a stupa, the Kubum houses relics and stat-ues of Buddhist deities. Yeti Hotel (B,L,D)

Thursday, September 26GYANTSE / LHASADepart Gyantse for our drive across the Tibetan plateau with dramatic views of the Himalayas. Visit a local family in Pedi Village and enjoy a picnic lunch in a vil-lage near Yamdrok Lake. "e villagers are nomads and farmers; they subsist by grow-ing barley, potatoes, radish, and rearing yaks, sheep, goats, cows, and horses. Re-turn to Lhasa for farewell dinner at a local Tibetan restaurant.Sheraton Four Points Lhasa (B,L,D)

Friday, September 27LHASA / SHANGHAI Visit the Dropenling Handicra" Devel-opment Center, a workshop and gallery. Established by "e Tibet Poverty Allevia-tion Fund, Dropenling seeks to provide economic incentives to preserve tradi-tional Tibetan cra%s and culture. See ar-tisans creating statues and thangkas. A%er lunch, #y to Shanghai for a free evening and dinner on your own.Langham Xintiandi Shanghai (B,L)

Saturday, September 28SHANGHAIA%er breakfast, take the fastest train in the world, the Maglev, to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, for !ights home.(B)

CST: 2096889-40 Photos: cover: (top to bottom, left to right) Pet_r / Flickr; lacitadelle / Flickr; Jowo Sakyamuni / Flickr; gill_penny / Flickr; inside: (left to right) guochai / Flickr; Cloudywind / Flickr; RobertF / Flickr; lylrvincent / Flickr; back: guochai / Flickr

NAME 1

NAME 2

ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP

HOME PHONE CELL E-MAIL ADDRESS

SINGLE TRAVELERS ONLY: If this is a reservation for one person, please indicate: ___ I plan to share accommodations with _____________________________________OR ___ I wish to have single accommodations.OR ___ I’d like to know about possible roommates. I am a ___ smoker / ___ nonsmoker.

PAYMENT:Here is my deposit of $______ ($1,000 per person) for ___ place(s). ___ Enclosed is my check (make payable to Commonwealth Club). OR ___ Charge my deposit to my ___ Visa ___ MasterCard

CARD# EXPIRES AUTHORIZED CARDHOLDER SIGNATURE DATE Mail completed form to: Commonwealth Club Travel, 595 Market St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, or fax to (415) 597-6729. For questions or to reserve by phone call (415) 597-6720.

___ I/We have read the Terms and Conditions for this program and agree to them.

SIGNATURE

Yunnan and TibetReservation Form September14-28, 2013

Phone: (415) 597-6720Fax: (415) 597-6729

CommonwealthClub Travel

Terms and Conditions: "e Commonwealth Club (CWC) has contracted Wild-China (WCT), to organize this tour.

Reservations: A $1,000 per person deposit, along with a completed and signed Reservation Form, will reserve a place for participants on this program. "e balance of the trip is due 90 days prior to departure and must be paid by check. Cancellation and Refund Policy: Noti#cation of cancellation must be received in writing. At the time we receive your writ-ten cancellation, the following penalties will apply:

Tour can also be cancelled due to low enrollment. Neither CWC nor WCT accepts liability for cancellation penalties re-lated to domestic or international airline tickets purchased in conjunction with the tour. Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance: We strongly advise that all travelers purchase trip cancellation and interruption insurance as coverage against a covered un-

foreseen emergency that may force you to cancel or leave trip while it is in progress. A basic medical evacuation policy is required. A brochure describing coverage will be sent to you upon receipt of your reservation. Medical Information: Participation in this program re-quires that you be in good health. It is essential that persons with any medical problems and related dietary restrictions make them known to us well before departure. A medical form must be completed in order to participate. Itinerary Changes & Trip Delay: Itinerary is based on information available at the time of printing and is subject to change. We reserve the right to change a program’s dates, sta$, itineraries, or accommodations as conditions warrant. If a trip must be delayed, or the itinerary changed, due to bad weather, road conditions, transportation delays, airline schedules, government intervention, sickness or other con-tingency for which CWC or WCT or its agents cannot make provision, the cost of delays or changes is not included. Limitations of Liability: CWC and WCT its Owners, Agents, and Employees act only as the agent for any trans-portation carrier, hotel, ground operator, or other suppliers of services connected with this program (“other providers”), and the other providers are solely responsible and liable for

providing their respective services. CWC and WCT shall not be held liable for (A) any damage to, or loss of, property or injury to, or death of, persons occasioned directly or indirectly by an act or omission of any other provider, including but not limited to any defect in any aircra%, or vehicle operated or pro-vided by such other provider, and (B) any loss or damage due to delay, cancellation, or disruption in any manner caused by the laws, regulations, acts or failures to act, demands, orders, or interpositions of any government or any subdivision or agent thereof, or by acts of God, strikes, #re, !ood, war, rebel-lion, terrorism, insurrection, sickness, quarantine, epidemics, the%, or any other cause(s) beyond their control. "e partici-pant waives any claim against CWC/WCT for any such loss, damage, injury, or death. By registering for the trip, the par-ticipant certi#es that he/she does not have any mental, physi-cal, or other condition or disability that would create a hazard for him/herself or other participants. CWC/WCT shall not be liable for any air carrier’s cancellation penalty incurred by the purchase of a nonrefundable ticket to or from the departure city. Baggage and personal e$ects are at all times the sole re-sponsibility of the traveler. Reasonable changes in the itinerary may be made where deemed advisable for the comfort and well-being of the passengers.


Dear Club Members and Friends,

In the past year, we have hosted another full complement of wonderful speakers ranging from politicians Michele Bachmann and Nancy Pelosi to prestigious members of the media such as Tom Brokaw and Jim Lehrer.

!e Commonwealth Club is a Bay Area community organization with a broad reach throughout the nation and the world, on hundreds of radio stations and the Internet. !e Club provides local, intimate conversations around important topics, and the reach to engage a national audience. We are truly an organization that serves the broad public interest. We are energized by all who are involved with the Club, whether you attend our events, listen to the programs on the radio or online, or are members and donors helping to ensure the Club’s financial vitality.

!ank you for all you do to make the Club a flourishing civic treasure by contributing your thoughts, your time, your talents and your dollars to make it all happen. We hope you enjoy this snapshot of one year in the life of the Club.

Warm regards,

Dr. Gloria C. Du"y Maryles CastoPresident and CEO Chair, Board of Governors

OUR ANNUAL ACHIEVEMENTS

ANNUAL REPORT THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB

FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 – 2012

Commonwealth Unbound, the expanded digital edition of !e Commonwealth magazine.

topics, with speakers ranging from Michele Bachmann to Paul Krugman, Nancy Pelosi to John Stossel.

as the new permanent home for the Club (with purchase completed in October 2012, our 12-13 fiscal year).

featuring a variety of viewpoints on news and politics.

sell-out crowds. For example, General Colin Powell, Chris Matthews, Tom Brokaw and Jim Lehrer.

generations, presented its largest event ever with 1,200 in attendance to hear Rachel Maddow.

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson discontinued funding of the Heartland Institute, an organization that disputes the validity of climate science.


“We can encourage volunteerism and community service without doing it through government. This is the purpose in our country of churches and voluntary organizations – and this vast network, as Herbert Hoover called it, of mediating institutions, community organiza-tions that make up the fabric of our culture.”–Margaret Hoover Contributor, Fox News; Author, American Individualism; July 26, 2011

“I’ve even had members of Congress say to me, ‘You know, it was your speech that convinced me to vote for the [Iraq War] resolution.’ I say, ‘Sorry, sir, you voted for it four months before my speech. Nice try.’”–Colin Powell Former U.S. Secretary of State; Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Author, It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership; June 7, 2012

“Our great strengths as a country remain our open-ness to ideas and talent, our capacity to innovate, our excellence in higher education, a willingness to invest public resources strategically in scientific research and discovery, and the political will to confront challenges with wisdom and force.”–Timothy Geithner U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, April 26, 2012

“During the dark days of our industry, during the 2006–2009 period, when a lot of our competitors – not just the domestic but overseas as well – were cutting back on R&D, cutting back on product [development] programs, we actually accelerated ours. There’s no point in going through a very painful restructuring if you come out at the end of the tunnel and the cupboard’s bare.”–William Clay Ford Jr. Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Co.; October 27, 2011

“We have started to think about the military as being kind of superhuman, having any capability that we want to give to them. When you end up devoting that much of your budget to a resource like that for decades, they probably should be superhuman by now.”–Rachel Maddow MSNBC Host; Author, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power; April 12, 2012

“If you were listing the 1,000 adjectives for Steve [Jobs], ‘nice’ would not be one of them. ‘Kindness’ would not be up there. He actually seemed to live as if the normal rules didn’t apply to him.”–Walter Isaacson CEO, the Aspen Institute; Former Chairman and CEO, CNN; Author, Steve Jobs; December 14, 2011

THE QUOTABLE COMMONWEALTH


THE CLUB BY THE NUMBERS

LEADERSHIP OF THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB

2012 Revenue

2012 Expenses

COMMONWEALTH CLUB OFFICERSBoard Chair Maryles CastoVice Chair Anna W.M. MokSecretary William F. AdamsTreasurer Lee J. DutraPresident and CEO Dr. Gloria C. Du!y

BOARD OF GOVERNORSDan AshleyMassey J. Bambara Dr. Mary G. F. Bitterman** Hon. Shirley Temple Black*John L. BolandJ. Dennis Bonney*Michael R. Bracco Helen A. BurtJohn Busterud*Michael CarrHon. Ming Chin*Dennis A. Collins

Mary B. Cranston**Dr. Kerry P. CurtisDr. Jaleh DaieMs. Alecia DeCoudreauxEvelyn S. Dilsaver Joseph I. Epstein*Je!rey A. FarberJohn R. FarmerDr. Joseph R. Fink*Carol A. Fleming, Ph.D.Leslie Saul GarvinWilliam German*Dr. Charles GeschkeRose Guilbault**

Jacquelyn HadleyEdie G. HeilmanHon. James C. HormelMary HussClaude B. Hutchison Jr.*Dr. Julius Krevans*John LeckroneDr. Mary MarcyDon J. McGrathFrank C. MeerkampRichard Otter*Joseph Perrelli*Hon. Barbara PivnickaHon. Richard Pivnicka

Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J.Dr. Mohammad H. QayoumiToni Rembe*Victor A. Revenko*Skip Rhodes*Dr. Condoleezza RiceBrian D. RileyRichard A. RubinRenée Rubin*Robert Saldich**George M. ScaliseLata Krishnan ShahConnie Shapiro*Charlotte Mailliard Shultz

George D. Smith, Jr.James StrotherHon. Tad Taube Charles TraversDaniel J. Warmenhoven Nelson Weller*Judith Wilbur* Dr. Colleen B. WilcoxDennis Wu*Russell M. YarrowJed York

* Past President ** Past Chair

ADVISORY BOARDKarin Helene BauerHon. William BradleyDennise M. CarterRolando EsteverenaSteven FalkAmy GershoniHeather M. KitchenAmy McCombsHon. William J. PerryRay Taliaferro Nancy Thompson

1. Rachel Maddow

2. Andy Cohen

3. Paul Krugman

4. Christina Romer & Michael Boskin

5. Tom Brokaw

6. Walter Isaacson

7. Timothy Geithner

8. General Colin Powell

9. Robert Reich

10. Nancy Pelosi

THE TOP 10 PROGRAMS OF 11/12

REVENUE FY 12 FY 11

Contributions $3,925,173 59% $2,252,637 41%

Membership Dues $889,185 13% $895,493 16%

Program Revenue $675,846 10% $642,066 12%

Special Event Revenue (Net)

$630,066 9% $594,058 11%

Misc. Income $296,893 4% $199,049 4%

Donated Materials and Services

$158,711 2% $380,898 7%

Gain/Loss on Investments

$133,498 2% $477,204 9%

Total $6,709,372 100% $5,441,405 100%

EXPENSES FY 12 FY 11

Program Services $3,818,381 92% $3,827,887 92%

Management and General

$338,904 8% $349,827 8%

Total $4,157,285 100% $4,177,714 100%


Thank you to our generous supporters who made donations to the Club during our fiscal year, July 2011 through June 2012

Every effort has been made to list donors accurately. If your name or your organization’s name has been listed improperly in any way, or if you believe that a gift is missing from this list, please

contact Oona Marti, vice president of development and membership, at (415) 597-6714 or [email protected]. Tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to The Commonwealth

Club of California at 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, or you can make a secure donation online at commonwealthclub.org/donate. Thank you to all of our supporters.

11/12 DONOR HONOR ROLL

INDIVIDUALS$1,000,000 & AboveWilliam K. Bowes, Jr.

$250,000 to $499,999AnonymousNan & Chuck Geschke

$50,000 to $99,999J. Dennis Bonney*Evelyn S. & John DilsaverLee & Melissa DutraAnna W. M. MokSkip & Frankie Rhodes*Charles & Elizabeth Travers*

$25,000 to $49,999Phyllis & Bill DraperJohn A. Gunn &

Cynthia Fry GunnArthur & Toni Rembe RockGeorge & Dot ScaliseLata Krishnan Shah & Ajay Shah!e Honorable &

Mrs. George P. Shultz*James Strother & Denise MollenJane H. & Nelson S. Weller*

$10,000 to $24,999Mary G. F. Bitterman in

memory of Je" BittermanM. BrownAnne W. & John A. BusterudConway Family FoundationLauren & Alan DachsHon. Judith Epstein &

Joseph Epstein*Mona Geller*Edie G. Heilman &

Richard WeissHon. James C. Hormel &

Michael P. NguyenDr. Stephen JuelsgaardCecilia & David S. Lee in

memory of Je" BittermanDr. Condoleezza RiceL. Jay Tenenbaum Estate

$5,000 to $9,999William F. Adams &

Julie A. LundgrenNancy Hellman Bechtle &

Joachim BechtleMary G. F. BittermanJohn L. Boland &

James K. CarrollHelen A. BurtMichael E. & Christine CarrDavid A. CoulterDr. Kerry P. & Lynn CurtisAurora Equity/Dr. Jaleh DaieCharles & Leslie GarvinMarcia & John D. GoldmanMichael A. & Rocio HaasJohn LeckroneQueence LiDon J. McGrathHon. Richard Pivnicka &

Hon. Barbara PivnickaM.R. RangaswamiFred A. & Karen M. RodriguezDr. Colleen B. WilcoxWendy & Mason Willrich*

$2,500 to $4,999Anonymous (3)Helen & A. W. ClausenMary B. CranstonTawna & John FarmerJeanne U. P. & Frank M. FischerSean A. JohnstonFrank C. Meerkamp &

Jacqueline AndersonBerniece Patterson*

Janet & Norman C. Pease in honor of Skip Rhodes

Brian D. & Jennifer RileyRoselyne Chroman Swig*Danielle B. & Jed York

$1,000 to $2,499Anonymous (4)Kate M. Rowe ArcherSpaulding & Dan P. AshleyBarbara J. & Massey J. BambaraKatharine BeckwithNancy BlairTom & Larel C. BondiMarilyn & Allan Brown*Julia Carpenter & Paul MartiDennise M. & Peter S. CarterAlec Y. C. ChangDiane & J. Robert

Coleman, Jr.*Susan & Jack CortisDona L. CrawfordSteven DinkelspielRandi & Bob Fisher in honor of

Nancy Hellman BechtleDr. Carol A. FlemingMilo S. Gates &

Robin Quist-Gates*Mark GorenbergRose & Richard GuilbaultJacquelyn HadleyJane F. & Glenn L. HickersonHeather & Bill HilliardGerry HinkleyRobert E. Hopper*Leslie & George HumePatti & Larry KenyonPhillip A. Lamoreaux*Judy A. & Don C. LangleyJohn W. Leach, Sr.Gary E. Malazian Ph.D.Brad MarshlandCindy Testa McCullagh &

Sam McCullaghNion T. McEvoyPeter McKee SmaleGlen & Ellen McLaughlin*Lenny & Chrsitine MendoncaRoxie MoradianTimothy M. MullerJill L. NashJanet & George Pasha III*!e Honorable William Perry

& Lee PerryKevin M. PursgloveMohammad H. Qayoumi Ph.DJudy L. & David L. RedoClinton T. & Janet ReillyVictor & Maggee Revenko*R. Henry & Jean R. RichardsPaul SackTrudy & Charles SalterPhilip SchleinChara Schreyer &

Gordon FreundDeborah G. Seymour*Mrs. John Robert Shuman in

memory of John ShumanLucretia & John SiasPat & Mike SplinterNancy !ompson & Andy KerrGail L. & Robert R. WalkerDaniel G. & Marie D. WelchDiane B. Wilsey*Mrs. Milton Wilson Jr.Weldon S. & Ruth I. WoodMarcia & Paul Wythes*

$500 to $999Anonymous (5)Dr. Pamela S. Arbuckle-Alston

& Roderick AlstonTerry L. Atkinson & Kathy TaylorMenghis Bairu M.D.

Lydia I. Beebe & Chuck E. Doyle

Dr. Jody E. Beecher & Mr. Vijendra P. Sahi

Matthew A. BennettTom & Maureen BirdzellHarry Blount CFAMichael J. Boskin Ph.D &

Chris BoskinMarilyn M. BrennanBrookes H. & Owen BrownDr. Michael Browne & Ms.

Ellen Wimsatt BrowneProf. Patricia A. Bu0erCharles R. & Barbara Bureker*Jeanne J. & Bill CahillMartin N. CepkauskasAlan CollenetteMollie & Dennis CollinsDona CrowderJohn Cullison & Diana KissilWilliam F. DagleyCaroline DamskyMrs. Robert DanforthMaryon Davies LewisEmilia De Luz & Adam FrancisEric Delbalso &

Molly M. WhitlockAaron J. DeYonkerLenin E. DibbleDr. Bethami A. DobkinDr. Joseph J. &

Mrs. Dale E. DominguezPenny Eardley & Ward BuelowSharon & Stephen D. EdelmanStan & Kathleen EmersonRolando EsteverenaDr. Diana & Dr. Louis EverstineDr. Charles W. FarrarSam D. FleischmanIrene & Jerry FrancoSakie T. & Glen S. Fukushima!omas J. GilliganRichard A. & Joanne M. GoodrichArthur Graham*Andrew & Bettyanne GreenSusan HallidayMary Liz & Richard M. HarrisGary K. HartPamela HawleyCherie HayostekStephen T. HearstAriane & Costolino HoganMary E. HussMr. Clay Ide & Mr. David ShawKatharine H. Johnson*Heather M. KitchenDr. Pam M. KleinRobert Knourek!e Honorable Kwang Ho Lee

& Mr. Sungwook HongFred M. Levin & Nancy

Livingston in honor of James Hormel

Robert C. Livsey, Esq.Hazel Y. LouieBrian MaddenOona L. Marti &

Sarah E. DiegnanShirley C. & Duncan L. Matteson*Fred MattesonAmy S. McCombsDr. William C. McIvorBarbara McMillin &

Richard B. SmithPaul MeeganGeorge A. Miller & Janet

McKinleyPhyllis Moldaw in honor of

Nancy Hellman BechtleF. Lee Moulton &

David G. FinkProfessor Eva M. Nash-

Isaac, Ph.D.

Ruediger Naumann-EtienneErik W. NewtonCatherine ParkRodney R. & Cathleen PeckJoseph F. & Ann Marie

McBirney Perrelli*Wade PittsJohn A. PloumitsakosCarolyn S. &

Grant M. PomerantzWrich Printz, Jr.Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J.Harriet Meyer Quarre*Michelle QuinlanRay L. RabyDamon Raike*Debra Raine & Tom BurgessHelen H. Raiser in honor of

Nancy Hellman Bechtle!e Honorable &

Mrs. William K. ReillyGenelle Relfe in honor of Nancy

Hellman BechtleJohn P. Riley &

Barbara M. TalbottVicki SerianniMargo D. & Ezekiel L. SmithAlpay T. Soyoguz &

Flynn WatersKatherine A. Strehl &

Bill DempseyAnnemarie & Jim TannerMax and Phyllis !elen*John !omasBart Van VoorhisRonald C. & Anita WornickQian WuDavid Zebker

$100 to $499Anonymous!omas C. & Laurie K. Adams*Patricia W. AndersonRoderick V. AsmundsonLydia AvakMark BaldassareSara S. & David F. BaldwinMayrene & James L. BatesIgor R. Blake*Timothy D. BollingGene D. & Marah L. BrehautNathan Brookwood & Pat

HendricksJosephine H. BrownbackMary M. BuxtonMichael R. CabakJames M. CantyGrant F. ChappellWim Coekaerts & Victoria

AndersonJames G. & Phyllis S. CoulterHelen J. DanhaklRanae DeSantisDr. George J. Elbaum &

Mimi JensenTricia M. EmersonNormita & Robert FennGeorgianna H. &

!omas J. FerrariElizabeth H. Ferree &

John S. EatonClaudia FlorsheimMichael S. FreedGilbert H. GatesStanlee R. GattiHon Mai & Joseph W. GoodmanJames K. Goodwine, Jr.Janet P. GreenbaumNick Grey & Valeri SelivanovMargot S. Guis, M.D. &

Reardon C. WestBernard P. HaganTodd HansenWilliam H. Harmon, Jr.

Andrew HenggelerPatricia A. & Brian H. HermanCarol L. & Todd HighBeth Harris HoenningerAmy J. HoganTom Huening in honor of

Maryles CastoProverb G. Jacobs, Jr. &

Mimi Johnson JacobsMargot K. & Howard A. JacobsCynthia S. JamplisCarla JavitsBrenda D. Je"ersSusan & Michael JordanDonald & Roslyn KahnSeymour F. KaufmanEdmond A. &

Margaret J. KavounasHubert & Chantal KellerDavid M. KennedyGretchen B. Kimball*William & Marion KleineckeBryan & Lyn LawtonSkeets C. LeachAntonio L. & Kimberly F. LedingGeorge LeeDonald S. LeslieFeysan J. LoddeRichard LompaDennis J. LooDexter LowryJohn R. MaerzkeBilly ManningCarolyn A. MartiniR. Brian MatzaD’Anne & Bruce L. McFarlaneMarcela MedinaCarol L. MeyerJennifer L. & Mark E. MichelJames D. Milliken in memory of

Patrick J. MillikenDr. Stephen &

Mrs. Mary MizrochCol. Sidney F. MobellRichard MorrisonEllen M. & Walter S. Newman*!e Honorable Leslie C. NicholsValerie & Benjamin NygaardGregory OsorioC. Leanne PalmerLisle W. & Roslyn PayneMatthew PerkinsMary PolandPamela RaftonMarilyn K. & Dan Y. Rosenberg*Dr. Bernard Ross*J. D. RowellDeborah R. Salkind!eodore SavetnickSusan F. SawyerLeland SaylorMonica SemblerCharu SharmaBarclay & Sharon SimpsonSher G. SinghLucy SnyderReginald & Marianne Steer*Kelly & David StoneSuzanne ShawMary & Kenneth C. TietzEvelyn TregoningRobert F. & Judith P. WardDeborah E. WeisingerJudd Williams &

Anne BonaparteCharles B. WoodStephen E. Wright &

Lori EickmannSusan ZetzerWalter G. Zimmerman, Jr.

CORPORATIONS$100,000 & AboveBank of America Merrill Lynch

Stephen Bechtel Fund!e Bernard Osher FoundationChevron CorporationClimateWorks FoundationKoret FoundationTaube Foundation for Jewish

Life and Culture

$50,000 to $99,999AAA Northern California,

Nevada & Utah Insurance Exchange

!e Travers Family FoundationWells Fargo

$25,000 to $49,999Bank of the WestCharles Schwab & Co., Inc.Deloitte & Touche LLPErnst & Young LLPGeneral Motors!e Wallace Alexander

Gerbode FoundationKrishnan-Shah FoundationLevi Strauss & Co.Pacific Gas and Electric CompanyRichard & Rhoda Goldman FundVisa Inc.

$10,000 to $24,999AccentureAdobe Systems IncorporatedAsset Management Company!e California Wellness

FoundationEdelmanOnyx PharmaceuticalsPillsbury Winthrop Shaw

Pittman LLP!e Safeway Foundationsalesforce.comSan Francisco 49ersSilicon Valley Bank

$5,000 to $9,999BlackRockBlu Skye Ventures, Inc.Blue Shield of CaliforniaBNY Mellon Wealth

ManagementBooz Allen Hamilton Inc.Brunswick Group LLC!e Frank H. and

Eva B. Buck FoundationCasto, !e Travel CompanyDean & Margaret Lesher

FoundationHellman Family FoundationHill + Knowlton StrategiesKPMG LLPNational Semiconductor

Corporation!e Presidio TrustSalesforce.com FoundationSand Hill Group, LLCSierra Steel TradingTexas Instruments IncorporatedUSF !e School of ManagementWarburg Pincus LLC

$2,500 to $4,999Business WireDodge & CoxDPK ConsultingFleishman-HillardGrant Humanitarian

FoundationPaul Hastings, Janofsky &

WalkerSan Francisco Business TimesTetra Tech, Inc.United WayYammer

$1,000 to $2,499Fortune, Inc.G2 Insurance ServicesLawrence Livermore

National LaboratoryLevi Strauss FoundationMcKinsey & Company, Inc.Morgan StanleyTower Foundation of San Jose

State University

$500 to $999Consulate General of CanadaConsulate General of the

Republic of KoreaEnvironmental Defense FundSan Francisco Chamber

of Commerce!e Shenson Foundation

$100 to $499MatriX MaterialsOrange France Telecom GroupSan Francisco Giants

In KindAddison Penzak Jewish Community

Center of Silicon ValleyAdobe Systems IncorporatedAnchor Distilling CompanyBabeland Bar Agricole Barrel Room Campbell Heritage !eatreComcast Local EditionDistillery 209 Essential Spirits J. Lohr Vineyards & WinesLamoreaux Capital ManagementMark Gorenberg Markkula Center for Applied EthicsMedia Advisory UploadMontalvo Arts CenterOld World Spirits Osocalis Distillery Pat & Mike SplinterPrana Lounge San Francisco Business TimesSan Jose State UniversitySanta Clara UniversitySFVodka Silicon Valley BankSt. George Spirits Temple Bar !e Enchanted Garden Florist!e Right Blend Winery!e Slanted Door !e Tech Museum of InnovationTIBCO Software Inc.WMS media, Inc.

Matching GiftAdobe Systems IncorporatedBank of America FoundationChevron CorporationForest Laboratories, Inc.GartnerGE FoundationGenentech GivingstationGoogle Matching Gifts ProgramLevi Strauss FoundationMicrosoft Matching Gifts Program!e Clorox Company!e Frank H. and Eva B. Buck

Foundation!e Prudential Foundation

Matching Gifts

* Golden Gavel Members – Club members for 30 years and more.


Legend FM

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Thu Fri S at

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056:00 p.m. Carol Turner Meet-the-Artist Reception FE6:30 p.m. Silencing Women Is a Full-Time Job

12:00 p.m. Kehinde Wiley, the World Stage: Israel FM12:00 p.m. Petropoly FM

6:00 p.m. David A. Stockman6:00 p.m. ‘Til Faith Do Us Part

2:00 p.m. Chinatown Walking Tour6:00 p.m. Women and Under-represented Students of Color in STEM Education

12:00 p.m. The Arab Spring 2013 FM

12:00 p.m. The Exploratorium: A Learning Laboratory for the 21st Century FM12:00 p.m. Laurel Bellows FM

6:00 p.m. India’s Girls: The Endangered Gender

6:00 p.m. John Gray6:15 p.m. Science & Technology Planning Meeting FE

2:00 p.m. Russian Hill Walking Tour

2:00 p.m. San Francisco Architecture Walking Tour

12:00 p.m. What We Need to Build a Better Future, Orion Magazine and 30 Writers FM


HHhH by Laurent Binet

The most dangerous man in Hitler’s cabinet, Reinhard Heydrich, was known as the “Butcher of Prague,” feared by all and loathed by most. Heydrich seemed indestructible – until two men, a Slovak and a Czech recruited by the British se-cret service, killed him in broad daylight on a bustling street in Prague, and thus changed the course of history. Binet’s story is a vivid and highly interesting approach to the historical novel. Engag-ing, personal and suspenseful, Binet weaves the various threads of his story into a seamless and engrossing tale. As a reminder, this is a book discussion; the author will not be present.

MLF: SF BOOK DISCUSSION

Location: SF Club Office

Time: 5:30 p.m. programCost: $5 standard, MEMBERS FREEProgram Organizer: Barbara Massey

Fracked Nation

T.J. Glauthier, Former Deputy U.S. Secretary of Energy; Former Board Member, Union DrillingMark Zoback, Professor, Stanford University School of Earth SciencesKassie Siegel, Sr. Counsel, Climate Law Institute; Director, Center for Biological Diversity!e fracking bonanza has led to concern about the oversight of hydraulic fracturing practices. Some states have reacted by banning fracking altogether until further research is done. Others are working to create regulations as fracking continues apace. Will fracking bolster U.S. com-petitiveness? What are the environmental impacts? How is fracking challenging the status quo?

Fracking California

Bill Allayaud, California Director of Governmental Affairs, Environmental Working GroupSteve Craig, Former Director, Ventana Conservation & Land Trust; Olive Rancher, Monterey CountyMark Nechodom, Director, California’s Department of Conservation!e federal government has started auctioning o" leases on public lands with fracking access to the Monterey Shale oil reserves. Energy suppliers and proponents say fracking will provide more a"ordable energy. Agricultural interests are concerned about water supply and contamination. Will the new California fracking regulations make fracking safer and remove the mystery from the practice?

Location Time: 5-6 p.m. first program, 6:30-7:30 p.m. second program

Cost: $55 standard, $35 members, $7 students. Includes both programs.

The Measure of Civilization

Ian Morris, Jean and Rebecca Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History, Stanford University; Author, The Measure of Civilization

Using a groundbreaking numerical index that compares societies in di"erent times and places, Morris breaks social develop-ment into four traits – energy capture per capita, organization, information technol-ogy and war-making capacity – and uses archaeological, historical and modern government data to quantify patterns. His conclusions about when and why the West came to dominate are influencing the ongoing scholarly debate.

MLF: HUMANITIES


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception,

6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing

Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students

Program Organizer: George Hammond

T U E 0 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 0 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M O N 0 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

April 01–08


Magic Theatre Virgin Play Reading: “Madame Ho”

Eugenie Chan, Resident Playwright, New Dramatists; Artistic Associate, Cutting Ball Theater; Playwright, “Madame Ho”

Come hear the very first reading of a new play and meet playwright Chan, who will hold a conversation after the reading. “Ma-dame Ho” tells the story of a formidable woman in the Barbary Coast, a real-life 19th-century brothel madam, Chinese immigrant, wife and mother. !e play explores the epic history of the Chinese-American West through a shape-shifting tale of one woman’s struggle to forge a life for herself and her daughter.


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. programCost: FREE, $12 donation suggested

Also know: Underwritten by The Bernard

Osher Foundation

Silence of Women: An Art Installation by Carole Turner

!e “Silence of Women” is both an installation and exhibition, originally conceived in reaction to the Taliban’s oppression of women in Afghanistan. Long tables hold the ceramic faces of these silenced women, while on the wall, letters from those who have found their voices speak to us of their wisdom. !is graphic exhi-bition challenges the global problem of oppression and asks us to consider how di"erent the world could be if women everywhere were allowed a voice. !e artwork will be in the Club o/ce from February 12 until May 3.

MLF: THE ARTS


Time: Regular Club business hoursCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Lynn Curtis

F E B R U A R Y 1 2 M AY 0 3


Silencing Women Is a Full-Time Job

Joni Seager, Global Studies Depart-ment Chair, Bentley University; Author, The Atlas of Women in the World

A large portion of resistance to women’s rights and autonomy is rooted in e"orts to silence them – sometimes symboli-cally, sometimes literally. An expert on global women’s issues, Seager will provide an international survey of women’s rights and the devices, contrivances, laws and strictures she says are deployed to silence them. In conjunction with the art exhibit by Carol Turner, Seager will also discuss women’s resistance e"orts.

MLF: THE ARTS


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students

Program Organizer: Lynn Curtis

What’s Next in Higher Education?

Sebastian Thrun, Co-founder and CEO, Udacity

MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – promise to revolutionize higher education. Last year !run kicked o" MOOC-mania and made history by o"ering his Stanford Artificial Intelli-gence class to an unprecedented 160,000 students and sparked a discussion about the future of education. Can MOOCS be the solution to a"ordable and acces-sible college? What impact will they have on traditional colleges? Hear what’s next for higher education.

Location: Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian

Way, Palo Alto

Time: 6:30 p.m. check-in, 7 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 stu-

dents (with valid ID)

Carol Turner’s “Silence of Women” Meet-the-Artist Reception

Carol Turner’s provoca-tive exhibition challenges us to become more aware of the worldwide status of women. Long tables lined with women’s faces, cast in clay by the artist, span the length of the Club lobby. !is reception is an opportunity to meet with the artist and learn more about her work. Fol-lowing the reception is a related talk by educator and author Joni Seager. (Note separate listing and registration).

MLF: THE ARTS


Time: 4-6 p.m. receptionCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Kehinde Wiley, the World Stage: Israel

Karen Tsujimoto, Curator, the Contem-porary Jewish Museum; Former Senior Curator, the Oakland MuseumGina Baleria, Lecturer, Broadcast and Communication Arts, SFSU

Tsujimoto will discuss Kehinde Wiley’s stunning exhibit – at the Contempo-rary Jewish Museum through May 27 – which includes large-scale paintings of hip men of color rendered in the self-confident poses typical of classical European portraiture. !e World Stage: Israel is part of the artist’s bold series exploring the Black diaspora.

MLF: MIDDLE EAST/THE ARTS


Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, students free

Program Organizer: Celia Menczel

Also know: In association with the Contem-

porary Jewish Museum

Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man

Natalie Cleaver, Lecturer, Department of Italian Studies, UC Berkeley

Monday Night Philosophy goes looking for the roots of the Renaissance in the writ-ings of Pico della Mirandola. In 1486, Pico became famous for proposing to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy and magic against all comers. To support his theses he wrote the Oration on the Dignity of Man, which has been called the “Manifesto of the Renaissance.”

MLF: HUMANITIES


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE,

$7 students (with valid ID)


Petropoly

Gal Luft, Co-director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security; Co-author, Petropoly

America’s energy paradigm is caught between the slogans of “drill-baby-drill” and “oil is evil.” Natural gas might pro-vide lower carbon power, but in the rush to switch will regulation and safety be neglected? What role will EVs, Ethanol and other alternative fuels play in wean-ing the United States o" foreign oil? Can emissions reductions be met along the way? Join a conversation on energy markets and security.


Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE,


T H U 0 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 0 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

F R I 0 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o F R I 0 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o M O N 0 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T U E 0 2 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y


April 09–22

Nob Hill Walking Tour

Nob Hill became an exclusive enclave of rich and famous West Coasters who built large mansions in the neighborhood. Resi-dents included prominent tycoons such as Leland Stanford and other members of the Big Four. Tour highlights include the history of four landmark hotels: !e Fairmont, Mark Hopkins, Stanford Court and the Huntington. Visit the city’s larg-est house of worship, Grace Cathedral, and discover architectural tidbits and anecdotes about the railroad barons and silver kings. Enjoy a true San Francisco experience of elegance, urbanity, scandals and fabulous views.

Location: In front of the Fairmont Hotel’s

Caffe Centro. 801 Powell St. (at California St.)

Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–4:30 p.m. tourCost: $45 standard, $35 membersAlso know: Limited to 20. Must preregister.

Tour operates rain or shine.

A Guide to Getting Angel Investing

Naval Ravikant, Co-founder, AngelListBill Clerico, CEO and Co-founder, WePayDave McClure, Founder, 500 StartupsElad Gil, Serial Entrepreneur; Advisor; InvestorMichael Copeland, Senior Editor, Wired - Moderator

!e Bay Area is a modern mecca for innovators and tech go-getters – all of whom are looking for a way to fund their newest concept. Amidst more common means of financial backing (via VC firms, bootstrapping and the newly trendy crowd funding), angel investment has quickly earned a reputation as the most elusive and sought-after source of capital. Budding entrepreneurs are wondering: What makes my startup an attractive investment? How do I secure the support of these angels? How do I maximize my pitch? An intersection of incubation and venture capitalism, angel investing brings a di"erent set of opportunities for getting your idea o" the ground and maximizing returns. Join us and learn what angels and successful startup founders have to say about getting the investments you need to succeed.


Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program, 7:30 p.m. networking reception

Cost: Regular: $25 standard, $15 members. Premium (includes reserved seating and premium

reception with the speakers; limited to 65 guests): $55 standard, $40 members

New Century Urban Development: Economics and the Environment

Claude Gruen, Ph.D., Principal Econo-mist, Gruen Gruen + Associates, San FranciscoGabriel Metcalf, Executive Director, SPUR – Moderator

Join a discussion of the critically impor-tant changes to federal, state and local policies that could provide better and less expensive urban housing, desirable neighborhoods and thriving workplaces for the future of urban areas and envi-ronments.

MLF: ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing


Program Organizer: Ann Clark

‘Til Faith Do Us Part

Naomi Schaefer Riley, Author, ‘Til Faith Do Us Part

In the last decade, 45 percent of all mar-riages in the U.S. were between people of different faiths, which may signal increasing social tolerance. But as couples age, major life challenges often inspire a return to faith, sometimes overwhelming earlier beliefs that love conquers all. And then there’s the children to raise. Draw-ing on in-depth interviews with couples, clergy and counselors, Riley shows why fundamental spiritual and practical issues might divide interfaith couples.

MLF: HUMANITIES





David A. Stockman

Former U.S. Congress-man; Author, The Great Deformation

Stockman, one of the architects of the Reagan Revolution, says that crony capitalism has made fools of us all, trans-forming Republican treasury secretaries into big-government interventionists and populist Democratic presidents into industry-wrecking internationalists. Stockman will discuss where he believes capitalism went wrong in this country and how it might be restored.




Cost: $20 standard, $12 members,


Also know: Part of the American Values Se-

ries. Underwritten by The Koret Foundation

and Taube Family Foundation

T U E 0 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 0 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T U E 0 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 1 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 1 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o


Kenneth Feinberg: Master of Disasters – Unconventional Responses to Unique Catastrophes

Attorney; Author, What Is Life Worth?

Prominent alternative dispute mediator and attorney Feinberg has negotiated settlements in some of the most challenging and emotional crises of our times. He was dubbed “!e Pay Czar” for his hands-on work in the federal bailout program TARP and has taken on similar tasks for the Sep-tember 11th Compensation Fund and the BP Deepwater Horizon Disaster Victim Compensation Fund. He is currently work-ing out settlements in Aurora, Colorado, for the victims of the mass shooting there.


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students

What’s Eating Mary Roach?

Mary Roach, Author, Gulp, Sti!, Bonk and Pack-ing for Mars

Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before you liter-ally burst? Can constipation really kill you? !e ever-curious Mary Roach is set to find out. With the help of mad scientists, nuns, exorcists and Eskimos, she examines the weird questions about our insides that we never think – or are too afraid – to ask.


Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program,

7:30 p.m. reception and book signing

Cost: Regular: $20 standard, $12 members,

$7 students (with valid ID); Premium (includes

book, reserved seating and premium recep-

tion with speakers; limited to 65 guests): $50

standard, $35 members

“Someday” Never Comes: Conquer Life’s Challenges with the Spirit of Adventure

Rick Deutsch, “Mr. Half Dome”; Author, One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome; Motivational Speaker

While working in IT, Deutsch developed a new passion: hiking to the top of 8,842-ft. granite rock Half Dome, the Yosemite National Park landmark and one of the most recognized mountains on earth. He has completed the hike an amazing 35 times. Using his Yosemite Half Dome hiking expertise as a metaphor for life, Deutsch will help you find the passion to get to the top of your mountain.

MLF: GROWNUPS


Time: 4:45 p.m. networking, 5:15 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students

Program Organizer: John Milford

Also know: In assn. with San Francisco Village

India’s Girls: The Endangered Gender

Nyna Pais Caputi, Producer and Direc-tor, Petals in the Dust: The Endangered Indian Girls

Caputi describes how the age-old pref-erence for sons in India, fueled by technological advances and a growing materialism, is leading to increased in-cidents of discrimination, violence and the eradication of millions of girls in that country. In regions where the sex ratios are skewed, female tra/cking and bride buying run rampant. Caputi will address the reasons behind this phenomenon, the implications for India’s population and possible solutions.

MLF: ASIA PACIFIC AFFAIRS


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. program


Program Organizer: Cynthia Miyashita

T U E 1 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o


The Arab Spring 2013

Joel Brinkley, Professor of Journalism, Stanford University; Former Jerusalem Bureau Chief, The New York Times Laila El Sissi, Memoirist; BusinesswomanJohn Diaz, Editorial Page Editor, San Francisco Chronicle – ModeratorAdditional panelist TBA

Our distinguished panel will discuss the state of the Arab Spring 2013. Is the troubled region mired in an Arab winter, or is it struggling forward? Brinkley will present an overview. El Sissi will discuss her recent trip to Egypt, and a third panelist will bring expertise to bear on a discussion of Tunisia.

MLF: MIDDLE EAST



students free


W E D 1 7 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 1 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

F R I 1 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o M O N 1 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Week to Week

Larry Gerston, Professor, SJSU; Political Analyst, NBC 11Carla Marinucci, Senior Political Writer, San Francisco ChronicleDebra J. Saunders, Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle; “Token Conservative” Blogger, SFGate.comJohn Zipperer, Vice President, Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club of Californa – Host

Join our panelists for informative and fun commentary on political and other major news, plus an in-depth look at one topic in the news, audience discussion of the week’s events, and our first competi-tive news quiz!


Time: 5:45 p.m. wine and snacks reception,

6:30 p.m. programCost: $15 standard, $5 members, $7 students


April 23–30

Mark Mazzetti: Inside the CIA and America’s Covert Operations

Mark Mazzetti, National Security Reporter, The New York Times

According to Mazzetti, the CIA, cre-ated as a Cold War espionage service, is now a paramilitary agency ordered by the White House to kill o" the nation’s enemies: from the sustained bombing campaign in the mountains of Pakistan and the deserts of Yemen and North Africa to the simmering clan wars in Somalia. Mazzetti will share what he has learned by following and reporting on these secret wars over the past decade.


Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing


Microchips in Electronics: Can They Continue to Do More for and with Less?

Chenming Hu, Distinguished Professor of Microelectronics, UC Berkeley

Mounting evidence shows that rapid growth in the cost and power of inte-grated circuits will plateau. When and why might it happen, and what are tech-nologists doing about it? Hu has been called a “microelectronics visionary” by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers for “achievements critical to producing smaller yet more reliable and higher-performance integrated circuits.”

MLF: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY



Program Organizer: Daniel Trachewsky

Gian Lorenzo Bernini – Michelangelo of the Baroque

Michael Stehr, Artist; Owner, Sistine Chapel Decorative Art

Stehr will discuss how Gian Lorenzo Ber-nini used his immense talents as an archi-tect, painter and sculptor to define the unique visual style of the Baroque Age. Bernini, and his collaborators and rivals, accomplished their makeover of Rome by successfully pursuing the patronage of Popes, who dipped into the wealth of the resurgent Counter-Reformation Church to restore the monumental grandeur of the Eternal City.

MLF: HUMANITIES




Also know: In association with Humanities

West and The Leonardo da Vinci Society

Russian Hill Walking Tour

Join a more active Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure! Russian Hill is a magical area with secret gardens and amazing views. Join Rick Evans for a two-hour hike up hills and staircases and learn about the history of this neighborhood. See where great artists and architects lived and worked, and walk down residential streets where some of the most historically signifi-cant houses in the Bay Area are located.

Location: Meet in front of Swensen’s Ice Cream

Store located at 1999 Hyde Street at Union. Tour

ends about six blocks from the Swensen’s Ice

Cream Shop, at the corner of Vallejo and Jones.

Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2– 4 p.m. tourCost: $45 standard, $35 membersAlso know: Steep hills and staircases, parking

difficult. Limited to 20. Must pre-register. Tour

operates rain or shine.

W E D 2 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o



Little Miss Sunshine Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton

Jonathan Dayton, Director; ProducerValerie Faris, Director; Producer; Writer

Husband-and-wife team Dayton and Faris made their directorial debut with Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine, in which a dysfunctional family embarks on a road trip in a VW microbus. Dayton and Faris re-emerged in 2012 with Ruby Sparks, which Dayton calls a romantic tragic comedy. !e couple returns to the Bay Area for a conversation about their much anticipated future projects.

Location: Lafayette Library, 3491 Mt. Dia-

blo Blvd., Lafayette

Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. programCost: $22 standard, $12 members, $7 students

T U E 2 3 | E a s t B a y

FOREIGNLANGUAGEGROUPSFree for members Location: SF Club Office

FRENCH, Intermediate Class Thursdays, noon Pierrette Spetz, Graziella Danieli, [email protected]

FRENCH, Advanced Conversation Tuesdays, noon Gary Lawrence, (925) 932-2458

GERMAN, Int./Adv. Conversation Wednesdays, noon Sara Shahin, (415) 314-6482

ITALIAN, Intermediate Class Mondays, noon Ebe Fiori Sapone, (415) 564-6789

SPANISH, Advanced Conversation (fluent only) Fridays, noon Luis Salvago-Toledo, [email protected]


What We Need to Build a Better Future, Orion Magazine and 30 Writers

Rubén Martínez, Author, Desert America; Professor of Literature and Writing, Loyola Marymount UniversityRiane Eisler, Author, The Chalice, The Blade and The Real Worth of Nations; President, Center for Partnership StudiesCraig Childs, Author, Apocalyptic PlanetH. Emerson Blake, Editor-in-Chief, Orion Magazine

!e acclaimed Orion Magazine put some of America’s best thinkers to work on the question of what humanity needs to cultivate in order to improve its future. !e re-sult is a new book, !irty-Year Plan: !irty Writers on What We Need to Build a Better Future. One writer, Richard Louv, responded, “We need a new nature movement, one that includes but goes beyond traditional environmentalism and sustainability, one that paints a portrait of a compelling, inspiring society that is better than the one we presently live in.” Join us to hear from three thinkers who are part of this project, and share with us your own vision of the future.



Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon program, 1 p.m. book signing

Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students


Water, Food and Energy

Marvin Odum, President, Shell Oil Company

!e nexus of food, water and energy is an increasing concern as business and gov-ernment leaders confront growing global population and burgeoning consumer classes in China and other developing countries. Feeding and hydrating 7 billion people at adequate levels is a challenge that will be heightened by growing energy demand and climate-driven droughts and floods. How can innovation, technology and policy work together toward a clean and prosperous economy? Peer into the future with a top executive at the world’s largest company, one known for its sce-nario planning.


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking, 6 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students

Latinas in Business: Inspirational Strategies for Success

Sandra Hernandez, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, The San Francisco FoundationAida Alvarez, Former Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Member of President Clinton’s CabinetNoni Allwood, Vice President and Senior Fellow, Center for Talent InnovationRose Castillo Guilbault, President, Community Safety Foundation; Author, The Latina’s Guide to Success in the WorkplaceLyanne Melendez, Reporter, ABC 7 Television, San Francisco – Moderator

By 2050, one in four American workers is projected to be Latina. Yet members of this group are currently among the lowest-paid employees with some of the fewest opportunities in the workplace. Several of our speakers say that Hispanic women need to challenge the inequities in their cultural ideology that hamper workplace success. Come hear inspirational strategies for achievement that apply to Latinas and all women.


Time: 5:15 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing

Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

M O N 2 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 3 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

F R I 2 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Middle East Discussion Group

Make your voice heard in an enriching, provocative and fun discussion with fel-low Club members as you weigh in on events shaping the face of the Middle East. Each month, the Middle East Member-Led Forum hosts an informal roundtable discussion on a topic fre-quently suggested by recent headlines. After a brief introduction, the floor will be open for discussion. All interested members are encouraged to attend. !ere will also be a brief planning session.

MLF: MIDDLE EAST


Time: 5:30 p.m. programCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Celia Menczel



The Politics of Public Pensions

Sarah Anzia, Assistant Professor, Gold-man School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Public pensions in the U.S. are under-funded by roughly $3 trillion. For de-cades, government o/cials have promised increasingly generous pension benefits to public employees and yet have failed to deliver. How did this happen, and what roles do public-sector unions and Democratic and Republican politicians play? What is the likelihood of real re-form? Anzia (together with Terry Moe) researched state governments’ decisions on public pensions from 1999 to 2011.

MLF: HUMANITIES




Vali Nasr

Dean, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University, Author, The Dispensable Nation

Former State Department advisor for Afghanistan and Pakistan and best-selling author Nasr delivers a sharp indictment of America’s flawed foreign policy and outlines a new relationship with the Muslim world. Drawing on his in-depth knowledge of the Middle East and first-hand experience in diplomacy, Nasr o"ers a powerful reassessment of American for-eign policy that directs the country away from its failing relationships toward more productive, and less costly, partnerships.


Time: 5:30 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. program,

7 p.m. book signing


Service Unquestioned: The Soldiers and Their Families, a Talk by Susan Weiss

Susan Weiss, Photographer

In conjunction with her current exhibi-tion, “Service Unquestioned,” Weiss will speak about her 16-month project documenting the military community of Ft. Stewart, Georgia. !e stories the families share are unique to them, but the concerns they talk about are those faced by the military throughout the country: births, deaths, parenting and the e"ects of multiple deployments.

MLF: THE ARTS


Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREEProgram Organizer: Lynn Curtis

Mark Bittman

New York Times Food Columnist; Author, VB6

In conversation with Chef Joey Altman

Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, with 1 million copies in print, is a mainstay of the modern kitchen. In his latest book, he makes the case that a partially vegan diet can dramatically improve your health. Come hear from one of America’s most widely read and entertaining food personalities.

Location: Fairmont Hotel, Gold Room, 950 Mason St.


7 p.m. book signing

Cost: $25 standard, $15 members. Premium

(Includes copy of book VB6 and seating in

first rows) $55 standard, $40 members.


Osher Foundation

Mark Bittman

New York Times Food Columnist; Author, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 p.m. to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good


Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, with 1 million copies in print, is a mainstay of the modern kitchen. In his latest book, he makes the case that a partially vegan diet can dramatically improve your health. Come hear from one of America’s most widely read and entertaining food personalities.

Location: See club website for details


8 p.m. book signing

Cost: See club website for details


Osher Foundation

W E D 0 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o W E D 0 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M O N 0 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o M O N 0 6 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y T U E 0 7 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M AY 0 6 J U LY 2 5

Service Unquestioned: The Soldiers and Their Families. Susan Weiss, photography

Susan Weiss’ photographs present candid portraits of soldiers and their families from Ft. Stewart, GA, as they prepared, deployed and managed their lives during 14 months of deployment. !e soldiers departed in October 2009 to Iraq and Afghanistan while the families remained at the Army base. !e series of photo-graphs and essays by participants tells the story of events and emotions that took place during that time period.

MLF: THE ARTS


Time: Regular Club business hoursCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Lynn Curtis

May 01–10


The Business of Saving Lives: Innovation, Implementation and Scale-up

Jane Chen, Co-founder and CEO, Em-brace Innovations; Fellow, TED; Fellow, Echoing Green

Chen and her team wanted to save prema-ture and low-birth-weight babies living in the developing world without access to in-cubators. From the design of the life-saving technology to its adoption, Chen explains how the Embrace Infant Warmer is helping babies and mothers in countries including India, China, Somalia, Zambia, Uganda, Mexico, Guatemala and soon Afghanistan.

MLFS: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/

HEALTH & MEDICINE



Program Organizer: Karen Keefer

Also know: In assn. with NorCal Peace Corps Assn.

Humanities West Book Discussion: Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher, by Daniel Stolzenberg

Long before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the 17th-century Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher embarked on his famously quixotic e"ort to unlock the se-crets of antiquity by cracking the code of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Join us to discuss Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher, by Daniel Stolzenberg. !e discussion will be led by Lynn Harris.

MLF: HUMANITIES


Time: 5:30 p.m. programCost: $5 standard, MEMBERS FREEProgram Organizer: George Hammond

Also know: In association with Humanities

West

Women and Under-represented Students of Color in STEM Education

Maynard Holliday, 2012 President’s Volunteer Service Award win-ner; Volunteer of the Year, Citizen Schools; Researcher, Sandia National LaboratoriesSue Rosser, Provost, San Francisco State University; Author, Breaking into the Lab: Engi-neering Progress for Women in ScienceJarvis Sulcer, Ph.D., Executive Director, Level Playing Field InstituteKatherine Nielsen, Co-director, Science & Health Education Partnership (UCSF); Co-author, Girls in Science: A Framework for Action – Moderator

!e global competitiveness of the United States and of California has been attributed, in part, to our aptitude in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). But we are losing this lead. Despite the high demand and compensation in many STEM fields, there is a scarcity of women and under-representation of students of color entering STEM fields. !is panel will discuss the present state of the biases and barriers that may create this gap, as well as the needs and means to improve equity.



Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Program Organizer: Richard Karnesky and Chisako Ress

Also know: In association with Level Playing Field Institute

Laurel Bellows

American Bar Association President; Author, The Fight for Liberty, Equality and Justice

Nationwide, our courts are withering – starved for adequate funding. Mean-while, there are more than 100,000 people in the United States who are forced to provide sex and labor services for their captors’ profits. And according to some estimates, women continue to earn just 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. Come listen to one of the nation’s top legal voices, ABA President Bellows, speak about these issues and possible solutions.



$7 students

T U E 0 7 | S a n F r a n c i s c o W E D 0 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T H U 0 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o F R I 1 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

T H U 0 9 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Chinatown Walking Tour

Enjoy a Commonwealth Club Neighbor-hood Adventure. Join Rick Evans for a memorable midday walk and discover the history and mysteries of Chinatown. Explore colorful alleys and side streets. Visit a Taoist temple, an herbal store, the site of the first public school in the state, and the famous Fortune Cookie Factory. !ere is a short break for a tea sample during the tour.

Location: Meet at corner of Grant and Bush,

in front of Starbucks, near Chinatown Gate

Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–5 p.m. tourCost: $45 standard, $35 membersAlso know: Temple visit requires walking up

three flights of stairs. Limited to 12 people.

Participants must pre-register. Tour operates

rain or shine.


The Exploratorium: A Learning Laboratory for the 21st Century

Marc L’Italien, Design Principal, EHDDShawn Lani, Senior Artist, the ExploratoriumSydnie Kohara, Emmy Award-Winning Broadcast Journalist – Moderator

Site, science and architecture converge to expand our notions of place, learning and landscape. !e Exploratorium, the world-renowned museum of science and learning laboratory, founded and based in San Francisco, opens in April at its new location along the Embarcadero waterfront. Architect L’Italien and artist Lani will discuss how this new nine-acre campus itself is becoming part of a vital instrument in an endlessly evolving learning experiment about time, place, nature and space. Join us for a fascinat-ing discussion of the new Exploratorium.



Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students (with valid ID)


Jaron Lanier

Founder, VPL Research; Au-thor, You Are Not a Gadget and Who Owns the Future?

Virtual reality visionary and Internet pioneer Lanier provides insight into what the new information economy could look like. Lanier’s expertise in computer science, music and digital media helped him develop a profound understanding of technology and its impact on society. But the rise of digital networks has not only forced our economy into recession but also put strains on the middle class, he says.

Location: Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian

Way, Palo Alto


8 p.m. book signing

Cost: General: $20 standard, $12 members,

$7 students. Premium (priority seating and

copy of book) $40 standard, $40 members.

Elder Financial Abuse: The Silent Crime

George Gascón, San Francisco District AttorneyHubert Horatio “Skip” Humphrey III, Assistant Director, the Consumer Financial Protection BureauShay Matthews, Assistant District Attorney, San Francisco District Attorney’s OfficeHelen Karr, Elder Abuse Special Assistant, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office

You’ve heard it before: An unsuspecting elder puts his or her trust in a caregiver, only to discover that person has stolen their life savings. Elder financial abuse is often referred to as a “silent crime.” It cuts across social status, gender, race and ethnicity. In many cases, a victim might not know someone is stealing from them, or be so embarrassed that they stay silent. Perpetrators are usually loved ones, family members and caregivers putting the victim in a vulnerable position of being reliant on their abuser for help. San Francisco is home to an increasing aged population, making it ripe for elder financial crimes to occur. Our panel of speakers, including District Attorney Gascón, will discuss current prosecutorial successes in curbing scams, real estate fraud and financial abuse targeting seniors. !ey will also provide useful tips on how to prevent and where to report elder financial abuse.

MLF: GROWNUPS


Time: 4:45 p.m. networking reception, 5:15 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Also know: In association with San Francisco Village



T U E 1 4 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y W E D 1 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o


Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill

Michael Shelden, Author, Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill

Monday Night Philosophy welcomes back acclaimed biographer Shelden to focus on the years between 1901 and 1915, which forged Winston Churchill’s character. At 40 Churchill was considered washed up, even though he had already built a modern navy and learned how to outwit more experienced rivals. Hear Shelden’s persuasive portrait of a dashing young suitor who pursued three great beauties of British society with his witty repartee, political flair and poetic letters.

MLF: HUMANITIES




Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students


May 10–21


Science & Technology Planning Meeting

Join fellow Club members with similar interests to brainstorm upcoming Sci-ence & Technology programs. All Com-monwealth Club members are welcome. We explore visions for the future through science and technology. Discuss current issues and share your insights with fel-low Club members to shape and plan programs for the months ahead.



Time: 6:15 p.m. planning meetingCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Chisako Ress

Daniel Dennett

Co-director, Center for Cognitive Studies; Profes-sor of Philosophy, Tufts University; Author, Intu-ition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Dennett o"ers aspiring thinkers his personal trove of mind-stretching thought experiments. Over a sto-ried career he has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. Dennett will share the “imagi-nation extenders and focus-holders” that he and others have developed for addressing life’s most fundamental questions, cognitive tools purpose-built for the most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind and free will.



7 p.m. book signing


John Gray

Ph.D.; Author, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus and Co-author, Work with Me: The Blind Spots Between Men and Women in Business

Gray will discuss the “gender blind spots” that cause misunderstandings, miscommunications, mistrust, resent-ment and frustrations in the workplace. He’ll explain how biology and social influences can direct how people com-municate, solve problems, make deci-sions, resolve conflict, lead others and deal with stress, enabling them to achieve greater success and satisfaction in their professional and personal lives.





Middle East Discussion Group

Make your voice heard in an enriching, provocative and fun discussion with fellow Club members as you weigh in on events shaping the face of the Middle East. Each month, the Middle East Member-Led Forum hosts an informal roundtable discussion on a topic frequently suggested by recent headlines. After a brief introduction, the floor will be open for discussion. All interested members are encouraged to attend. !ere will also be a brief plan-ning session.

MLF: MIDDLE EAST


Time: 5:30 p.m. programCost: FREEProgram Organizer: Celia Menczel

The Vintage Years

Francine Toder, Ph.D., California-Li-censed Psychologist; Author, The Vintage Years: Finding Your Inner Artist (Writer, Musician, Visual Artist) after Sixty

Every day for the next 18 years, 10,000 baby boomers will reach age 65. Toder describes the latest neuroscience findings while also opening a window into the lives of more than 20 late-blooming artists who first took up the violin, memoir writing or other artistic pursuits after turning 60. !ough some were motivated by curios-ity, others desired to realize a previously unmet dream. !eir stories inspire and support Toder’s findings.

MLF: GROWNUPS


Time: 4:45 p.m. networking, 5:15 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students



W E D 1 5 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 1 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T H U 1 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

M O N 2 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o M O N 2 0 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 2 1 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

Around the World in 65 Days!

Karen Keefer, Volunteer; Activist; Traveler

Saving frequent flier miles since 1984, Keefer used them all on business class fare to go around the world – adding 12 more countries to the 60 she had already visited. Her personalized route took her to Indochina, Indonesia, Australia, five Southern African countries and Poland. She will share her photos and engross-ing stories with the Club – pointing out highlights, surprises, frightening episodes, learning experiences and happy times.

MLF: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS



Program Organizer: Norma Walden

Also know: In association with the NorCal

Peace Corps Association


The End of Intelligence with Peter Coyote

Actor; Narrator; Author, Sleeping Where I Fall; Zen Buddhist Priest

Bay Area actor, writer and film narrator Coyote is also a countercultural visionary whose ordination as a Zen Buddhist priest has led him to an examination of the limits of human intelligence. !ough our ap-plied intelligence has resulted in incredible innovations (tools, technology, science), Coyote is concerned with the unintended consequences of advancement: violence, war and destruction. Coyote discusses the power of intelligence to address social ills.

Location: Lafayette Library, 3491 Mt. Diablo

Blvd., Lafayette

Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6:30 p.m. program


Greening the World Through Sports

Dr. Allan Hershkowitz, Director, Sports Greening Project, Natural Resources Defense CouncilAdditional panelists TBA

Greening sports facilities and engaging professional teams, leagues and athletes in environmentally conscious programs aims to raise consciousness among hundreds of millions of fans about energy e/ciency, healthy food, recycling and other environmental concerns. !rough his work with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Hershkowitz is the environmental advisor to numerous leagues, teams and stadiums – including Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and the U.S. Tennis Association. Distinguished panelists from national sports organizations and teams will join Hersh-kowitz in talking about greening the world through sports.



Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)


The Honorable Willie Brown Jr.: Annual Club Lecture

Former Mayor, San Fran-cisco; Former Speaker, California State Assembly

Former San Francisco Mayor Brown will give his annual lecture on national and regional political trends. A two-term mayor of San Francisco, legendary speaker of the California State Assembly, and widely regarded as one of the most influential African-American politicians of the late 20th century, Brown has been at the center of California politics, gov-ernment and civic life for an astonishing four decades.

MEMBERS-ONLY +1 paying guestLocation: SF Club Office

Time: 5:15 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. programCost: General: $25 standard, $15 members, $7

students. Premium: $45 standard, $30 members

Club Volunteer Orientation

!e Club can’t function without the dedication of its great volunteers. Help us keep public discussion alive. Event volunteers assist with greeting, ticketing, receptions, ushering, question cards and timing programs for radio broadcast. To reserve a space at this volunteer orientation, please e-mail [email protected]. Volunteering is reserved for Club members only. Please include your name, phone number and membership ID number in your e-mail.


Time: 6 p.m. orientationCost: FREE

T U E 2 1 | E a s t B a y W E D 2 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

W E D 2 2 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 2 8 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

San Francisco Architecture Walking Tour

Explore San Francisco’s Financial District with historian Rick Evans. Hear about the famous architects who influenced the rebuilding of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Discover hard-to-find rooftop gardens, Art Deco lobbies, unique open spaces and historic landmarks. !is is a tour for locals, with hidden gems you can only find on foot! For those interested in socializing afterward, we will conclude the tour at a local watering hole.

Location: Lobby of Galleria Park Hotel,

191 Sutter St.

Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2–4:30 p.m. tourCost: $40 standard, $30 membersAlso know: Tour operates rain or shine.

Limited to 20 people. Participants must pre-

register. The tour covers less than one mile of

walking in the Financial District. Involves stairs.

T H U 2 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

May 21 – June 04


Bella Figura

Jojo Capece, Author

San Francisco author Capece’s latest novel, set in Capri, focuses on Esmeralda Pembrook’s life, which erupts, revealing prejudices of class, religion, age, gender, race and nationality. Tolerance and the capacity to endure bring a surprising finale to Capece’s novel of love, greed and intrigue. Capece will describe her fascination with all things Italian, including Berlusconi, the recently retired Pope, Verdi’s music in the 200th year of his birth, the Italian Year of Culture in San Francisco and Caravaggio’s master-piece making an appearance in our city.

MLF: HUMANITIES





A #Nofilter Conversation with the Founders of Instagram

Kevin Systrom, Co-founder, InstagramMike Krieger, Co-founder, Instagram

From the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to Sunday eggs benedict in the Mission, Instagram is documenting the world around us. Since its release in October 2010, this digital filter app is reported to have surpassed 100 million registered users, with peak uploads at more than 200 photographs per second – launching co-founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom to nearly insta-fame. And their eye-catching com-munications platform has not left the limelight. Despite media feeding frenzys over Instagram’s $1 billion acquisition by Facebook and a controversial policy change an-nouncement in December 2012, heightened scrutiny doesn’t seem to be keeping users at bay. Join @mikeyk and @kevin for a conversation with #nofilter at the Castro !eatre.

Location: Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St.

Time: 6 p.m. check-in, 6 p.m. premium ticket reception, 7 p.m. program Cost: General: $25 standard, $15 members. Preferred (priority seating): $45 standard, $30 mem-bers. Premium (priority seating and VIP reception with Systrom and Krieger – limited number

available): $80 standard, $65 members

David M. Kennedy

Donald J. McLachlan Professor of His-tory, Emeritus, Stanford University; Edi-tor, The Modern American Military

!e advent of the all-volunteer force and the evolving nature of modern warfare have transformed our military, chang-ing it in serious if subtle ways that few Americans are aware of, says Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Kennedy. He looks at issues such as who serves and why and the impact of non-uniformed “contractors” in war zone.



Cost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7

students (with valid ID)

The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life

Marci Alboher, Author, The Encore Career Handbook

Alboher will give a comprehensive, nuts-and-bolts guide to finding passion, purpose and a paycheck in the second half of life. She will discuss how to plan the transition; how much you need to make; the pros and cons of going back to school; when to volunteer and when to intern; how to network e"ectively and harness the power of social media; and she’ll present an Encore Hot List of 35 viable careers.

MLF: GROWNUPS


Time: 4:45 p.m. networking, 5:15 p.m. programCost: $20 standard, $8 membersProgram Organizer: John Milford



M O N 0 3 | S a n F r a n c i s c o T U E 0 4 | S a n F r a n c i s c o

George Packer

Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Author, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

Packer argues that seismic economic shifts during a single generation have created a country of winners and losers, leaving the social contract in pieces and setting citizens adrift to find new paths forward. He will present the story of this America over the past three decades, which he sees as a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer relevant.



Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 stu-

dents (with valid ID)



Temple Grandin

Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University; Co-author, The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum

!e number of children and adults diag-nosed with autism has skyrocketed over the past 10 years, with a recent CDC report estimating that 1 out of 88 U.S. children are on the autism spectrum. Grandin will share her own experiences and discuss how we can better understand and diagnose autism. From advances in neuroimaging to cutting-edge genetic research, find out what unique and revolutionary treatments might soon be available.

Location: TBA


8 p.m. book signing

Cost: General: $20 standard, $12 members,

$7 students. Premium: $40 standard, $40 members (priority seating and copy of book)

82nd Annual California Book Awards

Since 1931, the California Book Awards have honored literary excellence among authors in the Golden State. At our special awards ceremony, we will bestow gold and silver medals in several categories, including: fiction, nonfiction, first fiction, poetry, young adult, juvenile, Californiana and contribution to publishing. Hear from some literary giants and amazing writers. See you at the ceremony!


Time: 5:15 p.m. check-in/pre-program reception, 6 p.m. awards ceremony, 7:15 p.m. book signing

and reception

Cost: $20 standard, $15 membersAlso know: Part of the Good Lit Series, underwritten by The Bernard Osher Foundation. Special

thanks to Dr. Martha Cox and the late Ambassador Bill Lane for their generous endowment, allow-

ing the California Book Awards to take place. Sponsored by Bank of the West.

Afghanistan

Tamim Ansary, Director, SF Writers WorkshopAtta Arghandiwal, Banking Consul-tant

Ansary, author of Games Without Rules: !e Often Interrupted History of Af-ghanistan, and Arghandiwal, author of Lost Decency: !e Untold Afghan Story, moved to the West from Afghanistan as young men. Afghandiwal was born into a military family and Ansary into an academic family. !ey will discuss the past, present and future of their troubled homeland.

MLF: MIDDLE EAST


Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in, noon programCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, students free


T U E 0 4 | S i l i c o n V a l l e y T H U 0 6 | S a n F r a n c i s c o


Please visit commonwealthclub.org to sign up for these and other just-added programs.

APRIL 4: Grover Norquist (part of the Travers Ethics Series)Founder, Americans for Tax Reform

APRIL 8: Two Among the Righteous Few: Courage in the HolocaustMarty Brounstein, Author, Two Among the Righteous Few

APRIL 17: Global Meltdown: Christiana Figueres

APRIL 19: Managing CrisesLanny Davis, Former Counsel to Bill Clinton

APRIL 19: Kenneth TaylorCanadian Ambassador to Iran, 1977-80 (as portrayed in Argo)

APRIL 23: Zero Waste SF

MAY 13: Barney Frank, Former Member of Congress (D-MA)

MAY 16: Bet the Farm: How Food Stopped Being FoodFrederick Kaufman, Journalist; Professor; Author

MAY 17: Week to Week

L AT E B R E A K I N G E V E N T S !

June 04–07


New !cketin" Syste# – Hurra$!We are pleased to announce that The Commonwealth Club is moving to a new ticketing system as of April 1 of this year. We know that many of you have experienced issues with accessing your ticketing account on the old system, and we made this change as a direct result of your feedback.

The new system just requires you to enter your membership ID during the checkout process – that’s it! We will also be requiring that all members bring their membership cards to events to verify membership when checking in.

If you are a Leadership Circle member, you’ll get detailed instructions on how to use the new system from Director of Membership Mike Fischer. You can also call or email him directly at (415) 597-6735 or [email protected].

As a reminder, you can always find your membership ID on the back of this magazine or on your membership card. If you can’t find your membership card and would like a replacement, please call our membership line at (415) 597-6708 or go to commonwealthclub.org/membershipcard to order a new card.

We are certain that the new system will be much much easier to use and hope that you are as excited about this change as are we!


Bay Area news leaders report on how the media performed in its role of educating the voters. Excerpt from “A Consumer’s Guide to Media: Finding Truth in an Election Year,” October 30, 2012.

LOWELL BERGMAN Logan Distinguished Professor in Investigative Reporting, UC Berkeley; Producer/Correspondent, PBS documentary series “Frontline”; Former Producer, “60 Minutes”

PHIL MATIER Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle; Commentator, KCBS Radio and CBS 5 Television

SCOTT LETTIERI Reporter, KGO Radio

CARLY SCHWARTZ Founding Editor, Hu/ngton Post San Francisco

SALLY LEHRMAN Knight Ridder/San Jose Mercury News Endowed Chair for Journalism in the Public Interest and Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Scholar, Santa Clara University – Moderator

Phot

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SALLY LEHRMAN: Do people expect a political bias from news media these days? If they don’t, should they?CARLY SCHWARTZ: It’s true that journal-ism is a supply and demand economy. People aren’t going to come to stories that are just a list of the facts. !ey can read an encyclopedia for that. Our role as journalists is to make things exciting and to make people want to know what’s going on, while making sure that every fact is accurate. It’s unrealistic to assume human beings don’t have inherent bias. While it’s very important to explore every perspec-tive, I think that the nature of news today is one that we want to bring people to and get

them excited about. I think presenting facts in a certain way kind of speaks to that.LEHRMAN: Scott, you’re from kind of a more traditional outlet. Should people expect a political bias nowadays?SCOTT LETTIERI: !e line between pro-paganda and news has really gotten smaller. A lot of it has to do with the consolidation of the media. !ere are six or seven media groups that own the message. !e company that I worked for, Cumulus, owns 527 radio stations. When they came in, they fired half the sta". It’s all bottom-line driven. A lot of folks in the last 30 or 40 years since things have changed don’t know the difference

between news and propaganda. I’m a purist. I like to stay objective for the most part. I know that I’m going to bring in a lot of my own experience and a lot of my own life. I try to get both sides. I try to be truly fair. It’s a matter of educating people, letting them know the di"erence between point of view and what is real journalism. LEHRMAN: Instead of bias, should we be expecting objectivity?LOWELL BERGMAN: The notion of objectivity in modern American journalism, which is unusual – it doesn’t exist in Europe – comes from technology. When the telegraph was started and there was one telegraph line, the idea was that every newspaper along the way could get information and they wanted people to buy it. !e Associated Press, when it was formed, started a new style in journal-ism, which was a style that anyone could publish. !at’s the objectivity standard that started us thinking that we could actually get down the middle and present a story so that anyone could accept it. What we call the legacy media – !e New York Times and other organizations like that – have developed a standard [for how stories are covered;] you may say they have a liberal bias, for instance, but they [also] report against their story. !ey will report information that’s not supportive of, say, their editorial point of view.

b e c o m i n g b e t t e r c o n s u m e r s o f n e w s


What has happened today is what’s hap-pened in broadcast media over the last 20 years. It no longer has the controls that were once built into it. It’s more or less become free market, particularly on cable. !e result is that anything goes. !ere is no way to fact check that kind of journalism. LEHRMAN: Phil, you now work in print and broadcast, and you are expected to be a commentator. How do you divine this line between bias and truth or objectivity?PHIL MATIER: Objectivity in journalism is this elusive thing that, as Lowell aptly pointed out, came with the AP and flourished in America for a few years in the ’60s and into the ’70s and then sort of evaporated with the advent of cable news. Let’s be honest about it. Truth, or objectivity, is common agreed-to facts. !e idea of a paper years ago was that you put the facts out and everybody could read it and somehow agree: !is shooting oc-curred that night with this amount of people.

Originally newspapers of the United States made their money on shipping news. !ey announced what came into port and what left. From the minute somebody started making money back in Boston, it moved political. It was biased for years. It was showmanship for years. I work in the Hearst Corporation, the Hearst newspapers; before the media moguls of today, that was the newspaper mogul. People talk about the bias now. When William Randolph Hearst sent Frederic Remington to Cuba to draw the war and Frederic said, “!ere will be no war,” Hearst said, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” It’s not like there was this sudden turn. If anything there was an era in there where the journalists tried to get into what we call common agreed-to-truths and this objectivity. It fell apart in Vietnam and everything else.LEHRMAN: With your own experience as a journalist, how do you discern truth and can you think of a moment where you were unsure of what truth was for the purposes of reporting? How did you navigate that? LETTIERI: I never let truth get in the way of a good story. [Laughter.] It’s slippery. It’s hard to tell the truth. You try to bombard yourself with so much information that hopefully you will have an epiphany. Knowing the truth is instinctual on a lot of levels, I think. But you also have to do your homework. You have to get in there in the trenches, dig and talk to a lot of people and do a lot of research. !at’s

also a responsibility of the citizenry to not just to watch TV and try and get your truth from that, or one radio broadcast. You have to read magazines, listen to NPR, watch PBS and maybe tune in to Fox News, just to get the other side, and the truth lies somewhere in there and it comes out eventually.BERGMAN: !ere’s a competing ethic in the news business, which is not to get it first but to get it right. !at’s the part of the news business that gets beaten down because usually it means either lower ratings or [is] less sensational, etc. It also generally means the development of information that isn’t immediately apparent to you. If we’re going to talk about truth – the word truth – truth is not what’s immediately apparent to you; it’s what’s behind it. !e degree to which we can [look for] that in the news media, I think that’s how we justify our public role and a lot of the Supreme Court and other decisions that give us special privileges. !e commercial side of the news business is just interested, as many people believe, in selling newspapers and getting viewers. How do you do that? You do that with sex, death and violence. It’s an old formula.LEHRMAN: How do we know when to report something and when do we hold it back, either because we’re not sure it’s true or for some other reason? Let me ask you, Lowell Bergman, was there a moment in your career [when] it was very di/cult to report what you had discovered to be true?BERGMAN: !e most important example was back in 1977. A group of us who used to work at Rolling Stone magazine here in San Francisco – when it moved to New York we were all fired. So [we had to ask,] “What are we going to do? Where are we going to work?” We set up something called the Cen-ter for Investigative Reporting, which still exists and is actually bigger than ever. Initially our funding was primarily from what I would call liberal-left people, nonprofit funding.

One of the stories that we came across initially was a murder case involving the head of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton. We had to make a decision about whether or not to both possibly alienate our donors and also [publish a story at odds with] our own backgrounds and political sympathies. Were we going to do the story? !e story as it developed and as we looked into it showed that Black Panther Party had become basically a criminal gang and [that Newton]

had been involved in this murder. He wasn’t convicted of it in the end, but he was involved in the murder. We had a sort of, if you will, “come to Jesus” moment [when we decided to publish the story]. It was a great lesson for me, because the story got national play and it was very successful. We got a lot of complaints from certain people in various political groups. [But] in fact, it established our credibility. !is is more about what I think a lot of us would like journalism to be and why I’m proud of that story; the idea is that we do have to report against ourselves. We may be wrong. We may believe the wrong things. !at’s the di/cult time to do stories.

!e other experiences I’ve had have really been around what a news organization will or will not do. !at’s another story. !at’s not about what I may want to publish, but what can I actually report on. !en, after a while learning that there are some areas where you can’t report on certain things. Self-censorship is another issue in terms of how all of us

experience the world of journalism. LEHRMAN: [In] an age of sensationalism, how are we to make decisions about things like elections?BERGMAN: Let’s see. Two-thirds of the people who are eligible to vote are registered. A smaller percentage of them vote. What are

“How do we know when

to report something and

when do we hold it back?” – Lehrman


elections in this country, and how do you expect people to make decisions?

Personally, I see the decline in the public education system in the United States since Proposition 13 means that you don’t have an informed electorate. You talk to the judiciary here in San Francisco and you ask them about the kinds of questions they get asked by reporters, they often say the reporters don’t understand what’s going on. It’s a choice that

the voters have made in California to defund the public education system, and this is what you get as a result. !ere was, in the wake of World War II, aside from the GI Bill, a popular feeling that the people in the United States should become more well-educated. We built the greatest college and university systems in the world and we had great school systems. We don’t have that anymore, par-ticularly in the public realm, and so what do you expect the electorate to decide? If they don’t have the ability or the tools to discern what is true and what is not on a basic level, then I think we’re just complaining about something that is a fact.LEHRMAN: At the same time it doesn’t sound like we’re helping a whole lot by just going to the lowest common denominator. Out here it sounds like the media has dete-riorated to entertainment.MATIER: We’ve always been entertainment. Back when I was a much younger reporter I was on the night desk one day. We screwed up the horoscope. We got more calls than you would ever imagine. It taught me a big lesson about the readership: You screwed up the horoscope, they were after you.

We’ve always had the sensational trials. We’ve always had the mudslinging. Look at the past presidential elections. Everyone says it always gets boiled down to a slogan. Well, what was “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too”? It’s a part of America. It’s not necessarily pretty. Given a choice between watching a presidential debate and a chipmunk waterski,

chances are more people are going to [watch] the chipmunk waterski. It’s shorter, it’s more entertaining, and you don’t feel like you got your mental pocket picked. We go for that. We always have. What’s di/cult now is that, in conjunction with this, we’re being asked to decide on bigger questions than we used to. [On the November ballot] there’s, what, 10 propositions [on subjects ranging] from the death penalty to school taxes to labeling of food. All these things are being thrust at you and you’re supposed to be informed on it. It’s tough. You’re just being hit with these ads, and these ads are “true.” If you take these ads apart, each little fact might be true. !ey just leave out all the others. SCHWARTZ: It’s also a matter of, how do you inform the public if the public doesn’t want to hear it? We have a joke at the Hu"-ington Post: you come for the cute puppy slideshows, and you’ll stay for the tax policy. We call those the “eat your veggies” pieces.

I used to get in big trouble when I was a front-page editor. I would delete five out of the six Donald Trump hair stories on the front page. Our clicks would go down, sure, but I like to believe, and maybe I’m an idealist, but just maybe one or two of those readers that came for that one Don-ald Trump piece that was up stayed to read about the debt ceiling.

“The decline of the public

education system means

you don’t have an informed

electorate.” – Bergman

This program was made possible by the generous support of the Travers Family Foundation.

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PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER Former U.S. President; Founder, !e Carter Center; Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize

The former president and peace campaigner highlights the costs to the U.S. and the world of a focus on arms. Excerpt from “President Jimmy Carter: Challenges of a Superpower,” February 24, 2013.


most a comple t e dearth now of

commitment of America to negoti-

a t e differences with others. It’s not just Democrats or Republicans or a particular president; it’s a consciousness or attitude of Americans like you and me.

I’m not a pacifist. My career was as a naval o/cer. When I was six years old, all I want-ed to do was to be a naval o/cer. I [later] went to Annapolis, and I served on two battleships and three submarines. I was willing to give my life if necessary to pro-tect the interests of my country. As a matter of fact, since the Civil War era, the only president who had more military service than I have was Eisenhower. I’m not against protecting us; I believe in a strong defense and I worked for that when I was president.

But we need to be working for peace for others as well as ourselves. !e Mideast has a typical need for peace. !is is the first time in more than 50 years that the United States has not been trying to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors.

Let’s look at human rights. America was a nation that was the foremost committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was passed with Eleanor Roosevelt’s leadership when the United Nations was first formed. Many times during the interim period, we’ve been the champion of human rights. !at’s no longer the case.

Look up the U n i v e r s a l Declaration of H u m a n

The American heritage is that at times of challenge we have historically risen to greatness. We realize that in a democracy like ours, that change

from challenge to greatness is a matter of re-sponsibility for individual citizens, and that’s what I am: just a private citizen like you.

What are the goals of a great nation? I would say they’re the same as the goals of a great person. !ey’re the goals that have been established most clearly in the religions that we might adopt as our

own – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Bud-dhism and so forth – and they’re all the same. !ere’s really no incompatibility between a desire on the part of a human being to be a superb human being in the eyes of whatever god we worship and [a desire] for a nation to say, I want to be a superb nation; I want to be a genuine superpower in all the meanings of the word.

So what are those characteristics? I would say it would be a commitment to peace, a commitment to justice, a commitment to

freedom and democracy, a commit-ment to human rights, to protect-

ing the environment that we’ve inherited, to sharing our wealth with others. I think those are the hallmarks of a superpower.

Let’s look at America for a moment. Let’s talk about peace first of all. Since World War II we’ve been almost constantly at war – in Ko-rea, in Vietnam, Cambo-dia, El Salvador, Nicaragua,

Grenada, Libya, Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Afghani-stan. I don’t know about the future. Iran? Syria? Mali?

You get the point. Our country is now looked upon as the foremost warlike nation

on earth, and there is

a l -


Rights on your computer and you’ll find 30 paragraphs. Our sta" at the Carter Center has determined that we’re now violating 10 of those 30 paragraphs. We’ve now disavowed the application of the Geneva controls on treatment of prisoners at war. And you know there’s been a lot of altercation back and forth lately about the use of drones to assas-sinate Americans within foreign countries and not excluding in the United States. We have 166 people at Guantanamo now. Half of them have never been tried at all; they’ve never been accused of a crime. All of them at Guantanamo are faced with the prospect of serving the rest of their lives in prison.

Our president has announced that we have the right to send people to prison for

life without a trial, without legal counsel and without any specific charge against them. !is is a policy toward human

rights that is usually accepted, es-pecially since 9/11, when the re-

straints on human rights and commitments to human

rights were very firm and un-equivocal in

the United States.

We’re the only industrialized nation on

earth that still has a death penalty. In fact, 90 percent of

all the executions in the world are in four countries: Saudi Arabia, China, Iran and the United States. We have the highest prison population, by far, in the world. When I left o/ce in 1980, we had a very low prison population; for every one person in prison then, we now have seven and a half in prison. Almost all of the people in prison are poor or minorities or mentally retarded. !e largest mental institution in the United States is the prison in Los Angeles.

Let’s look at justice or equity. Since I left o/ce in 1980, the income for the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled, and the income for the top one-hundredth of a per-cent has quintupled, because of our political system permitting the more powerful people, the richer people, to prevail in changing

income tax laws and so forth. High school [graduation] rates in America stopped climb-ing last year for the first time since 1890. And the portion of family income for tuition in either public or private institutions has in-creased from 4 percent of average income to 10 percent of a family’s income. Americans in poverty have increased 31 percent just in the last five years.

You know the state of our democratic process now. When I ran for o/ce as a gov-ernor against incumbent Gerald Ford, for the general election, do you know how much money we raised? Zero. When I ran four years later against Governor Ronald Reagan, we raised zero. We just used a two-dollar per person check-o" [on the federal income tax system]. Now there’s a massive infusion of money into the primary and general election system, unrestricted by the stupid decision of a U.S. Supreme Court. [Applause] Most of that money is spent on negative commercials to destroy the reputation of your opponent, and that has divided Americans into red and blue states. It also has divided candidates against one another so that when they finally get to Washington, there is no compatibility detectable now between Democratic and Republican senators or members of Congress or between a House that’s Republican and a Democratic president. !e blame is both ways. We haven’t had a federal budget now in five years. About 40 percent of everything we spend in the federal government now has to be borrowed, and there’s no concerted e"ort to address the roughly trillion-dollar deficit each year.

[Let’s look at] the environment. Up until [the presidency of] George Bush Sr., America was in the forefront of nations on earth promoting a good environment and dealing with global warming. We’re now one of the laggard countries. !e Europeans and many others are moving ahead of us.

Well, I’m not criticizing my country, which I think is the best nation on earth, and I’m very proud to have served as its leader; but I’m pointing out that in this time of assessment, particularly for my 23 children and grandchildren, and for the students that I’ve taught now for 31 years and for other young people, at least we need to look at what are the possibilities for improving.

[!e Carter Center] deals with these same principles that I just outlined. We try to go Pr

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to countries and promote peace [in places] the United States is alienated from. We go to Cuba regularly; we go to North Korea regu-larly; we have full-time o/ces in Jerusalem and Ramallah, and also in Gaza City.

We try to promote freedom and democ-racy when countries are facing a challenge in their government. We just finished our 93rd troubled election in Sierra Leone. As the Arab Spring, or Arab Awakening, took place, the Carter Center has been there. We’ve been in Egypt for two years as Egypt struggles to form a new government.

We also work on health care and on shar-ing what we have with poor people. One of the basic principles of the Carter Center is to fill vacuums in the world. Our budget, which started out just trying to promote peace between countries, shifted toward treating five neglected tropical diseases. One of these is a disease called river blindness. I just came back from Mexico this week, because we have almost completely eliminated river blindness from Latin American countries.

So this is the kind of thing that a small NGO will do. I didn’t come here to brag about what we’re doing, but I came to point out that these apparently intransigent problems that our country faces, that every individual faces, that I face, are not insoluble if we set our goals high and are determined to work in harmony with each other, no matter what our social status or our political a/liation may be.

I believe that all of us would agree that the United States of America should be a cham-pion of peace. We should be a champion of justice. We should be a champion of human rights. We should be a champion of the

by creating nuclear capability. Now they probably have the capability of five or six plutonium bombs – they just exploded an-other one this month. We don’t know if it was purified uranium, which takes a lot longer, or just the plutonium made out of spent fuel. I think that the North Koreans are going to have enough judgment not to be suicidal. !ey know if they ever use a nuclear weapon against South Korea or anywhere else, that the United States will wipe them o" the map.

!e same thing exists in Iran. My hope is that we can prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon – and I’m not sure at this point, and no one else is either, that Iran’s leaders have decided to go with a nuclear bomb capability. But even if Iran should develop two or three nuclear weapons, then they know that if they should challenge Israel, for instance, with one of their nuclear weapons, Israel has [about] 200 nuclear weapons of a very advanced nature. I’m not sure the Iranians are suicidal enough to want to have their own country wiped o" the map by challenging Israel. So my own preference is that we negotiate with Iran and negotiate with North Korea as well. RHODES: What prevents real progress in the Israel-Arab conflict? And why does the United States have no clout when it comes to influencing Israeli settlement policies? CARTER: !is is the first time since Israel has been a nation that the United States has, you might say, zero influence in Jerusalem or among the Palestinians. I’m very aggrieved about that and hope that this upcoming visit by John Kerry, the secretary of state, to Israel, followed up by the first visit of President Obama to Israel, will be meaningful.

environment. We should be a champion of alleviating su"ering among other people on earth. !is is what I think are the challenges of a superpower.

Question and answer session with Skip Rhodes, member of The Commonwealth Club Board of Governors

RHODES: How do the Iranian and North Korean nuclear situations [compare]?

CARTER: !ere’s a very close parallelism between Iran and North Korea. I’ve been going to North Korea quite regularly since 1994, when we were on the verge of a war between North and South Korea; and I went over and negotiated with Kim il Sung and then president Clinton followed up and had an agreement in all issues, including no nuclear program in North Korea; that was consummated in Geneva a little bit later on.

Unfortunately, when George W. Bush became president, he threw that agreement in the waste basket. At that time North Korea, which is very paranoid and very isolated and very dominated by dictatorship, decided that they would go all out to defend themselves

“I’m not sure the Iranians

are suicidal enough to

want to have their country

wiped off the map by challenging Israel.”


been possible, and I don’t think the Israelis are going to do it unless the United States plays a very strong role. RHODES: With the help of the Carter Center and the passage of time, much has improved abroad. What can the Carter Center do to improve U.S. policies here in the United States?CARTER: !e Carter Center takes an ide-alistic, you might want to call it naïve, ap-proach to human rights. We have come out

publicly against the unlimited use of drones to assassinate people without trial and with-out any judicial oversight. We faced the same basic problem when I was president and we passed what’s called FISA, which established a group of senior judges who could act very expeditiously if the CIA or any other intel-ligence agency wanted to tap your telephone. If the executive branch wanted to tap your telephone, they had to go to this FISA court, who would then decide yes or no.

I think that’s something that President Obama might want to decide in the future is either a blue ribbon commission – maybe not having to be judges, that is in a judicial system, but having some way to monitor

After he was first elected president, Presi-dent Obama went to Cairo and called for zero increase in Israeli settlements in Palestine, and later he also [stated] that the ’67 borders around Israel, modified by good-faith talks, would be the prevailing premise for peace. !at is generally called a two-state solution, with Israel living within its borders, modi-fied slightly, and with the Palestinians living within their borders in the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem, side by side with mutual respect and in peace. !at’s what everybody hopes for.

My own belief is that Prime Minister Netanyahu, for the first time, has decided on a one-state solution, because under his administration Israel had been madly build-ing settlements in East Jerusalem and also on the West Bank – nobody wants Gaza – and this means that it’s becoming decreasingly likely that you could have a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.

I’m very discouraged about that, and the only thing that can be done about it is for the United States to play a major role. If President Obama will go back to the two premises that he had earlier – no more Israeli settlements in Palestine, and the ’67 borders would prevail between the two, modified to accommodate the large settlements right outside of Jerusa-lem – then that would be the best solution.

I think the Arab world will accept this. On two or three occasions, already, every Arab country – and every Muslim country – even including Iran, has agreed that that is a premise that they will accept and that they will recognize Israel as equal to older Arab countries with trade, commerce and diplomatic relations. But so far that has not

to make sure this is not abused, because we’ve now killed four Americans overseas. One of them was a member of al-Qaeda. He wasn’t threatening immediate attacks on the United States, but long-term [attacks]. His 16-year-old son was also killed and two other Americans. I would like to see some very tight restraints that America’s private citizens – like you and me – and Congress could understand; this is a procedure that’s being used, and if an American is assassinated by a drone, that has been the control of it.

We are very much against the death pen-alty. As a matter of principle I would like to see the death penalty eliminated. As a mat-ter of fact, when I happened to be governor and happened to be president, nobody was executed, because the Supreme Court at that time had put a hold on all capital punishment [executions]. I wrote an op-ed piece that was in the Los Angeles Times when you were getting ready to vote recently on whether or not California would continue with the death penalty. I was against it. You voted to keep it. One of the things I pointed out was that you have executed 13 people in the last 15 or 20 years. !e average cost per person executed by California has been $307 mil-lion. !at’s how much you spend every time you execute a person.

My own belief is that the threat of the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime.

!e Carter Center works with human rights organizations all over the world. We work with Amnesty International, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the whole gamut of them. Every year we have what we call a Defenders Conference, where we bring in human rights defenders,

“We are very much against

the death penalty. As a

matter of principle I would

like to see the death penalty eliminated.”


to the Carter Center to consider a key issue. !e issue will be women’s rights. We’re go-ing to Cairo, Egypt. It will be in June. And we’ll have human rights heroes come from 45 countries, plus religious leaders who will come to Cairo to meet with us. We’ve got support, not just from President Morsi, but also the Grand Imam of al-Azhar. Al-Azhar is the university in Cairo that has 120,000 students. He’s the president of the university. He’s also the number one Sunni Muslim on Earth. He’s the one that gives the philosophy or the interpretation of the scriptures for the Sunni Muslims. He’s helping us with our conference, because he wants to see religion stop being a cause of abuse of women.

!ere’s no doubt in my mind that this is the case. I was a Southern Baptist until 2000 when my wife and I withdrew in pro-test when the Southern Baptists derogated women to subordinate positions. A woman now in the Southern Baptist convention, for instance, can’t be a preacher, she can’t be a deacon; if she’s in a Southern Baptist seminary, she can’t even teach male students.

relationship was only with Taiwan. I decided I would normalize relations with China. We were able to do that, and it was announced the 15th day of December 1978. It took ef-fect the first day of 1979.

Since then I’ve gone to China quite often. !e Chinese government trusts me and the Carter Center in an extraordinary way. For instance, they have authorized the Carter Center with a contract with the government to monitor all the 650,000 villages in China and they’re purely democratic elections. Everybody in those little villages is auto-matically registered to vote when they reach the age of 18. !ey have a secret ballot. !e candidates can run for o/ce whether they are communist or not, and most of them are not members of the Communist Party. !ey can run for re-election after three years and that sort of thing. !e Carter Center has monitored that for 15 years.

We’re also helping the Chinese now with their relationship with African countries, and we’re also helping the Chinese implement a freedom-of-information law to let the people

As you know, the Catholic Church does not let women be priests. !e Islamic world also derogates women in some cases. In Saudi Arabia a woman can’t drive a car. When men are inclined to abuse women, the best excuse they can make is, “If God doesn’t consider woman to be equal to man, why should I treat my wife as my equal? Why should I treat my women employees as equal to a male employee if God thinks that women are inferior?” RHODES: Mr. President, you recently met with the new Chinese leader. !is questioner wants to know your impression of him and which direction he will lead China to and can you tell us how you look at the relationship between the U.S. and China, especially from the economy and human rights perspectives. CARTER: I first visited China in 1949. I was on a submarine and this was the last few weeks before the nationalist Chinese left the mainland and the communists took over. I’ve had a very high interest in China ever since. When I became president, we had been alien-ated 35 years from China and our diplomatic

“I worked out an agreement between the

CIA and the Canadians that the American

hostages would escape using Canadian

passports. The entire Canadian parliament

had to go into secret session

... to issue the six false passports.”


principles of peace and justice and democracy and freedom and environment and that sort of thing. !at’s what I think we should do to compete with them successfully. !ere is no way that China is ever going to threaten the United States militarily. I don’t think they’re ever going to threaten the United States politically either, unless they change and make the democracy that exists in little villages prevail in their big cities and counties and provinces. !e little villages are not part of the Communist Party system. !ey are completely separate. !e Communist Party starts at what they call townships, which is big cities, and then goes to counties and provinces. I think eventually China is going to continue to move more toward democracy. I hope that Xi Jinping will bring that about.

!ere has been a setback recently under Hu Jintao, but I believe that in the future we’re going to see more freedom go to China. When I normalized diplomatic relations with China they had no freedom of religion; it was against the law to own a Bible. Now the largest Bible-producing company on Earth is in China, and the fastest growing Christian country on Earth is China. RHODES: !ere has been a bit of contro-versy relating to the movie Argo over the role played by Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor and his embassy sta" versus that played by the CIA in shepherding six CIA agents to freedom during the ’79 hostage crisis. Can you shed some light on these events? Are there any events that weren’t captured in the movie that you could share with us?CARTER: I was president when the hos-tages were taken in Iran, as most of you old enough would remember. I was informed immediately that six of our hostages were not taken in the compound by the Iranians. !ey escaped, they went to two or three other places; for instance, the British and some others wouldn’t take them in, so they finally ended up in the Canadian embassy in the (deputy chief of mission’s) o/ce, where they were taken in.

!e Canadians were in great potential trouble then, because all of their diplomats could also have been taken hostage if they had been caught protecting Americans. Ken Taylor was the ambassador there, and Flora MacDonald was the foreign minister for Canada. I was faced with a very di/cult position, too, because I wanted to keep it absolutely secret. I finally worked out an

of China know what their government is doing. !e Chinese government, by the way, calls on us to do this. Xi Jinping has been a friend of mine for many years. I’ve met four di"erent times with Xi Jinping since I knew he was going to be the next leader of China. He will be ordained next month when the national people’s conference convenes. I’ve also met with Li Keqiang, who will be the vice premier of China beginning next month, so I know the Chinese leaders very well.

When I was there in December, they were very deeply concerned about the attitude of the United States toward them, with the new move by President Obama to the Pacific, and with the stationing of 2,500 Marines in Australia and things like that. Also, they had a windmill project in Oregon, and President Obama declared that the windmill project of China would be a threat to our security. Some of the rhetoric you heard from Gov-ernor Romney and also, to a lesser degree, from President Obama in the last election, the Chinese monitor every one of those words and they try to interpret what these candidates mean and their attitude toward China. China is very concerned about the at-titude of America toward them in the future. I think we’re competitive in many ways. !e Chinese are very influential in all of Africa, all of Latin America, I think forming contracts for politics and for economic benefit.

I think in the future China wants to stay peaceful. I mentioned a list of wars we’ve been in since World War II a while ago. It’s a long list, and I didn’t name them all.

When I normalized relationships with Deng Xiaoping, the next morning when he met with me he said he had a secret message that he had to give me, that China was go-ing to invade Vietnam. I said, “Don’t do it, because you and I just formed a peace agree-ment for the first time, and the first thing you do is invade another country. It shows that you’re not peaceful.” !en he said, “We’ll be there just to punish Vietnam, because we have to do that as a matter of honor.” I said, “If you will, do me a favor: Don’t stay very long.” And he said, “OK.” So they were only in Vietnam for two weeks, and then they withdrew. !at was in 1979. !e Chinese have not been at war since 1979. !ey’re worried about this.

I think the best way for us to compete with China and win, if we want to have a victor or a loser, is for us to adhere to the

agreement between the CIA and the Ca-nadians that the American hostages would escape using Canadian passports. But you can imagine the di/culty, legally speaking, for the Canadian parliament to issue false passports. !e entire parliament had to go into secret session, the only time they’ve ever done that in history, and they did. !ey voted to issue the six false passports and they kept it secret. !e false passports went over there and the hostages were permitted to leave.

!e movie role played by the American hero, he was only there a day and a half; Ken Taylor and them were there through the whole thing. When the Americans escaped, contrary to the very vivid end of the movie, which brought me to the edge of my seat as well when I watched it, where this pickup truck outran a jet airplane taking o" – I’m not criticizing Hollywood, but nobody ever knew that the six Americans had been in the Canadian embassy until they were safe in Switzerland.

My judgment is that 90 percent of the credit for that heroic and brilliant move should have been with the Canadians. !e movie ignores practically any contribution by the Canadians. Aside from that, it’s a vivid, wonderful film. Not precisely factual, but I hope it gets the Best Picture Award. [Editor’s note: Argo did win the Best Picture Academy Award just hours after Carter spoke to !e Commonwealth Club.]

On a di"erent basis, we had CIA agents going into Iran fairly often. At one time four CIA agents went in, and there was a very close relationship between Iran and Germany. Most of the Iranian leaders were educated in Germany, so we ordinarily used German passports. [One time,] these four Americans were leaving Iran and went through Customs. As they went through, one of them showed [the agent] his passport. He said, “OK, go ahead.” He walked about 20 feet and then the customs agent said, “Wait, come back. I’ve been a customs agent here for 20 years. I’ve never before seen a German passport with an initial on it. !ey always spell out the full name. Here your name is ‘Ira H. Schuchter.’” He said, “I don’t understand it.” So the CIA agent thought very rapidly and he said, “I have to confess. When I was born, my parents gave me the middle name of ‘Hitler.’ I have special permission to use the initial.” So he said, “Go on through.”

!at hasn’t been told publicly, by the way.


In the 1960s, our family bought a cattle ranch in a remote area of Oregon. !e ranch manager and other locals had guns, so pretty soon my father started buying guns, and then he introduced my

10-year-old brother to them. !e function of guns on our ranch was dubious. We had rattle-

snakes, but a gun is not the most e"ective way to deal with a rattler. Occasionally a coyote would corner one of our cows while calving and try to grab it, but the ranch manager could take care of that. Cougars haunted our blu"s, but they never came close enough to humans to be a danger. Guns were mainly used for target practice, some deer hunting and shooting at the “sage rats,” little rodents that dug burrows in our fields that could trip up the horses and cattle.

I could have carried a gun while I rode range in the summers, but I never did and the need for a gun never arose on my rides after stray cattle or to find breaks in the fence. I found shooting at cans and bottles, or “plinking,” to be exceedingly boring. I was not interested in killing small furry animals.

As a backdrop to my views on our current national debate over gun control, I will describe a few of the gun incidents that have happened in my own family and among close friends. One could refer to these as “stupid tricks with guns,” if some of them were not so tragic. My dad’s business partner went out deer hunting with his brother. His wife decided to sneak out to where they were and “surprise” them. You can guess what comes next. !ey mistook her for a deer and shot her through the thigh. She recovered.

My brother, still a kid and seemingly unaware that real bullets could kill, shot at some motorcyclists crossing our ranch. !e sheri" had a stern talk with him. Another time, my mom went out to call my brother in to dinner from target shooting. He handed her his 22 pistol in its holster, the gun slipped out butt first, the safety was o", it hit the ground, fired and lodged a hollow-point bullet behind my brother’s kneecap. He recovered, following surgery.

My father su"ered from major depression, and when he first came into psychiatric care, all of his firearms were taken away from him, and he was prohibited from owning guns. He was able to purchase more guns through sources that did not require background checks or registration. He eventually turned one of these guns on himself.

He did not recover.I could continue with other personal stories, and if you generalize

them to the broader U.S. population, you have many of the reasons behind the epidemic of school shootings and other gun violence both accidental and intentional that we are now experiencing. Where does this lead me, on the major issues in our current national debate on gun control? I do not mind a registered gun in the hands of a trained hunter or sport marksman. I don’t mind shopkeepers or homeowners having firearms to protect themselves, if the owner’s background has been properly checked, if the gun is registered and secured, and if the owner is trained in its use. Alarm systems and other precautions are much more e"ective for security than guns.

But the national gun situation has gotten way out of control. !ree hundred million firearms are in private hands among Americans, quite a few of whom are mentally unstable, some of whom are careless, and some of whom are malevolent. Some states allow the open carry of firearms – which is absurd in the year 2013. !e ATF is a toothless agency. Gun lobby pressure for years prohibited the Centers for Disease

Control from doing research on gun violence as a public health problem.!e pressure brought by the NRA to prevent regulation of guns

and bring about the absurd public policies just mentioned represents to a large degree the economic interests of the gun and ammunition manufacturers, a multi-billion dollar annual business in the United States. !e NRA’s suggestions that the problem of school violence be addressed by bringing armed guards to school campuses or arming teachers is a further attempt to drum up business for the gun companies.

What do we need to do? Automatic weapons must be banned. Guns must be registered. Ammunition sales must be limited. !ere must be background checks, so mentally ill people have a harder time obtaining guns. !e “gun show loophole” for unlicensed sales of firearms must be closed. !is is a source of a vast number of unregistered firearms being sold by unlicensed dealers who keep no records (and generally pay no taxes on the sales).

!e details of how we do these things are up to our political leaders, or if they are not e"ective, to activists working through the insurance or investment industries. But it is absolutely clear that they need to be done.

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InSightWITH DR. GLORIA C. DUFFYPresident & CEO, The Commonwealth Club

My Life with Guns

“The gun situation

has gotten way out of control.”

For Information & Reservations: visit commonwealthclub.org/travel call (415) 597-6720 email [email protected]

Home to the ancient Indus

Valley civilization and a region

of historic trade routes and vast

empires, the Indian subcontinent

has been identified with its

commercial and cultural

wealth throughout history. Four

of the world’s major religions –

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and

Sikhism – originated here, and

the art, architecture and culture

continue to beckon curious

travelers. India is also the world’s

most populous democracy

and a leader in technology

development. It offers remarkable

perspectives on where the

modern world intersects with life

as it has been lived for centuries.

with Diwali: The Festival of LightsOctober 23 – November 8, 2013

JOURNEY To NORTHERN INDIA

Delhi t Agra t Jaipur t Jodhpur t Udaipur t Varanasi

Explore the colonial capital of New Delhi and enjoy a pedi-cab (rickshaw) ride in Old Delhi.

Discover the mesmerizing Taj Mahal and take in the grandeur of the forts and palaces of Rajasthan.

Visit colorful bazaars in the “Pink City” of Jaipur and see the “Blue City” of Jodhpur, which sits on the edge of the Thar desert.

Experience Diwali, the Festival of Lights, in Udaipur.

Admire the ornate Jain temple at Ranakpur and marvel the Crystal Gallery at City Palace in Udaipur.

Take in India’s colorful visual and performing arts, and experience a Bollywood movie.

Learn from our lectures and discussions with local experts on topics pertaining to population control, current events and the media.

Join an optional post-tour extension to the Pushkar Camel Fair.

Cost: From $4,995 per person, double occupancy, based on 15 people minimumCST# 2096889-40 Photos (clockwise) by nicocrisafulli / Flickr, n/a, San Sharma / Flickr, Birger Hoppe / Flickr, n/a

PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID IN

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

The Commonwealth Club of California595 Market Street, 2nd FloorSan Francisco, CA 94105

Purchase event tickets at

commonwealthclub.org

or call (415) 597-6705

or (800) 847-7730

To subscribe to our free weekly

events email newsletter, go to

commonwealthclub.org and click on

“MY CLUB ACCOUNT” in the menu at

the bottom of the page.

Willie Brown The Founders of Instagram

David Stockman

Former Mayor, San Francisco; Former Speaker, California State Assembly

Former U.S. Congressman; Author, The Great Deforma-tion: How Crony Capitalism Corrupts Free Markets and Democracy

New York Times Food Col-umnist; Author, VB8: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 p.m. to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health ... for Good

for event details, see page 44




From the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to your Sunday brunch in the Mission, Instagram is documenting the world around us. Since its release in October 2010, this digital filter app is reported to have surpassed 100 million registered users. Join @mikeyk and @kevin for a #nofil-ter conversation at the Castro !eatre.

Former San Francisco Mayor Brown will give his annual lecture on national and regional political trends. A two-term mayor of San Francisco, legendary speaker of the California State As-sembly, and widely considered one of the most influential African-American politicians of the late 20th century, Brown has been at the center of Cali-fornia politics, government and civic life for an astonishing four decades.

One of the architects of the Reagan Revolution says that crony capitalism has made fools of us all, transforming Republican treasury secretaries into big-government interventionists and populist Democratic presidents into industry-wrecking internationalists. Stockman will discuss where he believes capitalism went wrong in this country and how it might be restored.


Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, with 1 million copies in print, is a mainstay of the modern kitchen. Now he makes the case that a partially vegan diet can dramatically improve your health. Come hear from one of America’s most widely read and entertaining food personalities.

PROGRAMS YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS

May 30

May 6/7

May 22

April 11Mark Bittman

KEVIN SYSTROM Co-founder, Instagram

MIKE KRIEGER Co-founder, Instagram

the commonwealth april-may 2013

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