Theres no barrier. A physician can do this but theres increasing work to make it happen. The natural path of least resistance is to prescribe the preferred drug. These are levers. This is what is been called enlightened paternalism or the structure of incentives make it such that do what the insurers would like to maximize, the rational course of achieving cost savings forever is the equivalent drug is the outcome. As a physician, however, and as a patient one needs needs to remember thethat can be at times and opposition between reason and rationality. One thinks of the movie dr. Strangelove, for example, where dr. Strangelove who at the end of the movie as you know led by peter sellers, as eloquently rational madman who is leading the world of destruction, arrived by set of incredibly rational steps through economic game theory. So this idea that one can create a rational system which at times can produce unreasonable results i think is a dilemma that exist at the heart of modern medicine. As an advocate for patients, when something is being has been vetted by fda and population by being equivalent upon the population of level is not equivalent in ones own bodily experience, one needs to advocate for ones patients that this reasonable instance may not follow the rationality of the entire population spent Johns Hopkins professor of medicine, doctor Jeremy Greene is the author of this book generic the unbranding of modern medicine. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you so much peter. You are watching booktv on cspan2 with top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Booktv television for serious readers. Saturday, january 24 this National Readathon day. As part of a fundraiser for the National Book foundations educational programs, organizers have asked participants to pledge for hours to reading. Throughout the week book tv asks viewers on social media what they were reading. Here are some of the responses. Let us know what youre reading for the National Readathon day on her Facebook Page or underwear using hashtag time to read, and go to Penguin Random house. Com readathon for more information on how to participate. Joining us to our booktv, as recent book is called the republic of imagination. Where did this come from . Guest as soon as i finished my last book my last chapter in reading i kept thinking of the old democracy. That freedom itself is also an ordeal and, in fact, totalitarian societies could be merely comparing the best and worst in societies like ours. As ray bradbury says in a democracy you dont have to burn books to kill a culture. Just get people not to read them. And thats what i said was happening here. So i thought i wouldve book with the question, and a democracy survive without a democratic imagination . You can guess my answer to this but host your subtitle is america in three books. What are those three books . Guest actually it is more than three books because i begin with the wizard of oz which was the first book i heard about so i brought to imagine a map of america for me was kansas. And it is with James Baldwin field is the true progeny of mark twain but it begins with mark twains huckleberry finn, goes into Sinclair Lewis babbitt and then carsons heart is a lonely hunter. Hunter. Host how do they make america . Guest rerating always books i had read some a times before i realized how much american books especially beginning with huck finn company, a selection of americas moral compass. That those orphans restless heroes, most of them are outcast but most of them not searching for materialism or money or success but like huck finn deciding it is better to go to hell than do the right thing you know . I felt America Today needs to be reminded of the fact that it was based on an idea come based on a dream come and you lose that dream. You will never have the other aspects of it which is the material aspects of it. And all of these books are talking about the greatest danger to america is conformity and complacency. Avicel Ideological Division that we are creating today. And it makes me uncomfortable. I know love america enough to make my own slant to start start complaining house of representatives but isnt division and argument, isnt that good for democracy treachery argument and debate is great for democracy. Ideology is very, very fatal to democracy because ideology makes you feel very comfortable. We all belong to the white house, the one that is our site and the rest belong to the black cats come you know . We dont even watch the news channel that disagrees with us. Why the democracy is right on when you confront and challenge and accept that, you should also be challenged. You should also be questioned. In huck finn in each of these Great American novels we have a democracy of voices way or even the villain has a voice, you know . And it goes through understanding and not condemnation. So i think ideology and judo terrorism that is ruling over America Today is very dangerous to the health of our country. Host azar nafisi, how did reading lolita change your life . Guest you know it changed my life in the sense i rather always doubt and question my slow. I never thought that was successful. And honest to god you should listen to my editors. I used to do, this book is not going to sow more than 9000 copies. But the whole point about the success of that book, it made me understand that readers, you should not underestimate them and that they want to know and the only thing that gave me, gave me the opportunity to connect to people i wanted to be connected to. And that is the most important thing and that his readers. You know so that is my take on reading lucky the. Host booktv on cspan cspan to a weve been talking with author azar nafisi, the republic of imagination is her most recent book. Heres a look at some books that are being published this week. Look for these titles in bookstores this coming week, and watch for the authors in the near future on booktv. I had an experience about five years ago that i think really captures the way we are taught to think about fossil fuels. And actually whats wrong with in my view not just the way that the left thinks of fossil fuels but often the right thinks of fossil fuels. Some from southern california. I growth in this area, but the climate out there is just amazing. So i moved there about 10 years ago for and i havent been able to lead. About five lead. About five years ago i was in irvine california Orange County at a Farmers Market for lunch. And as sometimes happens there was a Green Peace Movement outside the Farmers Market. And this girl comes up to me. You know i am now 34 some most than 28 29 at the time, looked fairly young, and said, youre an environmentalist, right . And, dont you want to help us get off our addiction to fossil fuels and transition to clean the noble energy . And im thinking, she really does not know its going to happen in terms of what my view is. And i said well know, actually i really like fossil fuels. I put the false if you industry does is great over all come and i think that the world would be better if we use more fossil fuel. Rethink use of, what is she thinking or what is she going to say . Thats what i was wondering. And the reason why i raised it that way, and that is my view that we should use more fossil fuels, is i wanted to see, i want her to bring up one of the common objections. So, for example catastrophic Climate Change catastrophic pollution, catastrophic resource depletion and i wanted to sure that theres actually a different way of thinking about these things with the fact that something is the challenge doesnt mean its a catastrophe and that if you look at the big picture or the full context, these things in so far as the our challenge is are far far outweighed by the benefits human beings get. But, unfortunately, she didnt ask about any of those things, and she didnt even get mad at me. She did something that at the time took me aback and that was she looked at me almost in awe and i thought what is going to happen . This cant really be all right . I remember i just talking to an alien creature, she said while not, you must make a lot of money. You can watch this and other programs online at booktv. Org. From politics prose bookstore in washington, d. C. , congressman steve israel of new york is next on booktv. He talked about his novel about a pharmaceutical salesman who gets caught up in a top secret government surveillance program. Its about 45 minutes. [inaudible conversations] good evening. Im bradley graham, the coowner of politics and prose along with my wife and i may have had the entire staff, thank you for coming. Thank you for braving the cold and the ice. Just a few quick administrative notes. Now would be a good time to turn off your cell phones or anything that might go beep during the talk. When we get to the q a session we would appreciate it if youd step up to this the microphone if you have a question, because we are recording the event tonight, both for our purposes and also cspan booktv is here. And at the in degree come up with to have your book signed our staff would appreciate it if you would fold up your chairs you are seated in and clean them up against something, something solid somewhere. And now for this evenings feature presentation. It always makes our hosting job here a little easier when on the day the author is due to appear the Washington Post style section decide to run a big, favorable feature about the person in the new book. And that, of course, is what happened today for congressman steve israel. For those of you who havent read the post peace yet spent read the whole thing. [laughter] steve in his first attempt at a novel has written a really, really funny washington parity titled the global war on morris. The story recounts of u. S. Governments giant counterterrorism apparatus kids focus on a hapless long island pharmaceutical salesman named maurice. Morris feldstein anyway morris. What seems to amaze even some of steves closest friends isnt how amusing the book turned out. Its how he found time to write it. For one thing he represents a pretty demanding and far from securely democratic district new yorks third Congressional District which includes a chunk of long island as well as a small portion of queens, also having served in congress for 14 years, hes become a Ranking Member of the House Democratic leadership has twice to the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. But steve does enjoy writing and apparently has developed a knack for doing so on his cell phone which is where he composed a good part of the book. Why a comic novel . As he told the Washington Post, instead of screaming and yelling on the floor of the house when confronted by the insanity of washington, he prefers to deal with it as parity. And we are all the more fortunate as a result. So ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming congressman steve israel. [applause] thank you all very much. Lets hear it for brad and entire staff of politics and prose. You know theres this theory around the country that good old independent bookstores are a thing of the past the cucumber of politics and prose and you realize theyre not the thing of the past. So thank you to politics and prose. As a good congressman [applause] representing new yorks third Congressional District i should also put in a plug for the book review. Our local independent bookstore i was there monday night. I love independent bookstores and i am honored that you allow me to come and visit with you. Isnt feldstein or feldstein . Use a feldstein, i see feldstein. However, you want to interpret it is good old morris. The book is about morris, in what i thought what we do is come in five minutes, sharing with you what inspired the book and then do three short five minute readings to give you some context to introduce you to some characters, and then we will open it up to whatever you want. Well have a conversation. Happy to answer any questions that you have. I have many old friends and new friends here tonight. My oldest friends know that when i was growing up in new york americas first suburb i wanted to do three things with my life. Three things. Number one, i wanted to be a congressman. Number two, i wanted to be an author. Number three, i wanted to play centerfield for the new york mets last. [laughter] since i was horrible at baseball i was able to focus on serving in congress and writing this book. So those two passions of mine converged. Let me tell you what inspired the book and how it was written. I was elected in 2000 and one of the first major issues that i had to confront after 9 11 was the bush administrations argument that we needed to take military action in iraq. So here i was a new member of congress who, in to the point, my idea of a top secret meeting with a major official was sitting down with the highway superintendent in huntington new york to discuss paving strategies. And now im in these meetings, brad, with the president of the United States, george bush, and the Vice President of the United States, and colin powell and condi rice and donald rumsfeld. And listening to the arguments as to why we need to go to war in iraq. Now, when you are a new member of congress you are everything is done on the basis of seniority. We all know that. When you speak is determined by your seniority. What committees you sit on determined by seniority. Even where you sit is determined by seniority. So at these meetings because i was the lowest on the totem pole, the most Junior Member of congress i was usually seated all the way at the end of the table as far from the president as i could get to it was kind of like my house on major holidays. I was always seated at the junior do with the kids while all the adults had their meals. But that seeding gave me a birdseye view of what was happening in these meetings. I was able to observe president bush and observe Vice President cheney, the body language the texture, the tone of these meetings. And, obviously, these were classified meetings, most of them. Obviously, i could write down what was said but i would leave those meetings having heard some of the most shall we say unusual arguments, some bordering on the absurd some heavily serious. I would leave these meetings and immediately go for my blackberry at the time and begin just writing my impressions of the meeting and writing certain things that hurt without disclosing anything bad. I could not and would not disclose. I have this concept i said my gosh, this does come it would make the most unbelievable book excelled except nobody would believe what was said. But i had this concept about a book for these meetings except i had no story. Until august 2006. I was a member of the House Armed Services committee and i was sitting on the dais, and that a particular hearing in august 2006, a Major General came to address the Armed Services committee in open session. And during that hearing the general had to apologize for something that went wrong in u. S. Surveillance, potential terrorists. Our surveillance strategies and systems and technologies picked up a tip that a group of people in florida were planning a violent attack on the United States. And so we began listening to these people and watching these people. These people turned out to be a group of elderly quakers. [laughter] and they werent planning and overthrow of the United States government. They were planning to put a pink tshirt and get signs and parade in front of a military base protesting the war in iraq. And the general said essentially essentially oops which i thought was a military acronym, what agency is that . We screwed up. Thats what it stood for. Thats when morris felt right that day because it occurred to me sitting on the dais, if it happened to this group of elderly quakers, its got to be happening to other people. This was before the disclosure of the nsa. Surveillance system. Is for anybody what was going on. And so that day Morris Feldstein was border this hapless guy in great neck new york whose entire philosophy of life is dont make waves. Hes the only guy i know who when he gets on a plane he would never put his recliner but because that would make waves for the person in back of him. He doesnt return just the he lets his wife returns things at the store because entire life is spent on two things three things. Sitting in his royal lounge at 8000 in the basement, watching the new york mets, or watching Turner Classic Movies in black and white because thats when movies really meant something. Thats Morris Feldstein. And i begin writing the story of this poor guy, you know, was not, i knew nothing about the older the quakers, a jewish guy named steve a show but i knew Morris Feldstein. That was the story. Thats how the story was ignited. And then the story come when you read the book, if you read the book youll notice its in chronological order. The actual dates of when things happen. Why . Because these things actually happen. To our moments and events in the book that were real, that happened, that i integrate into book. And so i didnt write about events in this book. Events wrote the book for me. So, for example, on august 20, we learn that another potential terrorist was stopped at an airport because hes on the do not fly list and his name with senator ted kennedy from massachusetts. Do you remember this . Ted kennedy was on the do not fly list. And so theres a chapter about that in the book i worked back in. On september 21, 2004, just about one month later we learned that the entire National Security and Homeland Security establishment of the United States government was dealing with an incoming threat to our survival and security and our way of life. It was a plane heading towards the border of this country carrying a potential terrorist named yusuf islam who we also know as cat stevens who in my view, you become his worst crime was actually composing the song i love my dog but didnt go beyond that. And were accurate thinking about scrambling fighters, intercepting that plane and diverting that plane to avoid it was bangor, maine. Now, that was worked into the book i worked that in as well and the book is a chronology that documents the excesses that we all witnessed but at the same time and i dont want to get too serious about this, but at the same time trying to make a point, and the point is this. We wrestled with the debate between privacy and security constantly. What i would like to do is share with you three brief selections that will introduce you to some of the earth and some other contacts. Im going to introduce you to good old Morris Feldstein and then im going to introduce you to somebody else you may have heard a named Vice President richard cheney. And then im going to introduce you to the most nefarious character in this book and his neighbors nick. I want to read this. I want you to remember i wrote back before even a living member of congress with security clearance that there is such a thing as an nsa surveillance system. So we begin with Morris Feldstein. This will take me about three minutes this election. Before he began, we have to have a pop quiz on yiddish. You didnt interview crazier politics prose. But how many people know what sirius is . While. It is what sean boehner had yesterday at the swearingin win 22 of its members or whatever the number is tried to bail out on him. You qb john boehner. Trouble orwell or aggravation. The book gives without word sirius. Sirius ahead. That is what Morris Feldstein, a man who spent his entire life avoiding anxiety or danger sat in his dining room. He was to come how chicken from the mantra or may take out. His wife had just asking this question. Do you plan on watching the mets tonight . He mumbled, i was planning to enlist you want to watch something else. They are playing the braves. Now considers his response detecting the ability. It is hoping the only sound in the dining room with the account how sloshing between his cheeks. He hope to accept this answer with a silent affirmation rather than clocking overtime against her teeth come in the drum in a fiery red fingernails against the table. God had implanted what morris called killed types deep within her. The sound of sirius let a well of a tornado warning. Back on itself before breaking away phone. That gives you a sense of poor morris, the guy who never did anything wrong in his idea of a major problem is the new picture for the new york mets and wolf blitzer. Thats the difference between none. Now let me can see you a little bit with morris and his dilemma. Of course morris never gets to watch them as because were not is in charge of the house. Because rhonda uses guilt as her wet big. And so morris finds himself later round in the taste of copout chicken filling his mouth, watching cnn. More sad viewing cnn with interest. It was 2004 but it couldve been any year since the war and terror was proclaimed. The same rolling crescendo of music. The unmistakable voice of james searls is heralding to who may have forgotten this is cnn. And then wolf blitzer broke todays news. This is all true on august but a mixture of great day. Sunday, august 1, 2004. Look it up. Wolf blitzer broke todays news. The attorney general of the United States announcing the discovery of a terrorist plot that revealed critical intelligence in the war on terror and after that pronouncement reported that Administration Sources have told cnn the department of Homeland Security may raise the threat alert tomorrow to unnamed Financial Institutions in washington and new york. The sources say reports with a possible al qaeda attack seen in the story closely to report on as it unfolds right here on cnn. It was also increased by radical cleric in iraq whose name couldnt pronounce and president bush is expected to urge congress to create two new intelligence agencies with acronyms would never remember because evidently the current alphabet soup of federal agencies listen up to the task of protecting the homeland. Whatever is a recap of the day wolf purser promised to be right back after some commercials about depression medications. Not a word about the mets are there new pitcher, kris benson who just arrived in a dubious trade. Then it got worse. During the commercial, infinite better than a baseball game . Morris couldnt understand why anyone would fight himself by watching the news for the worst thing that happened in the mets game was their relief pitching. Yes said morris. Now lets shift ahead and i want to introduce you to dick cheney as ive been introduced to him. We all know Vice President cheney here dishonors recently as a few weeks ago after the Senate Committee released favoretta torture. Just when you thought it was safe, hes back saying i was so good i do it all over again. Thats how much i enjoy torture. Cant wait to do that again. And so i pay my own picture of dick cheney. I have a character in the book named prewitt. Root is the conscience of responsibility in the bush administration. Hes the Legal Advisor to secretary ridge mr. Tischs Legal Adviser to Homeland Security, secretary tom ridge. He is the liaison between rich and cheney. If you read former Homeland Security secretary tom ridges book, which i picked out on the he acknowledges there was pressure on him at times to raise alerts and didnt always feel the fact american when he was asked to do. John prewitt arrives as soon as they begin slinking open sweden and open. Felt the usual pain in his stomach inside. He was about to me with Vice President cheney who would feel similar pain in his chest. That was a bond between these two men. It hurt them to see each other. [laughter] prewitt arrives in the white house i describe what its like. I have the privilege of entering the white house frequently. I describe what is high and the scenes and now prewitt arrives in the Vice President s office. The office was mahler and more functional. Genies guess that closed the door. The last they saw the better. They faced each other in a large blue taurean chair was reserved for the Vice President. Cheney favorite photograph from the 2000 election was prominently displayed on the mahogany table. There is president bush wrapping his arm around his running mate. That was the afternoon out of the Vice President ial Search Committee announced the search was over in a town remember that . He went to find the Vice President ial candidate. And he kind of looked down and said why not me. Cheney looked up from the stack of papers on his desk and nudged his eyeglasses of the bridge of his nose. What you have for me this morning . Nothing since the last time u. S. Sir. He seemed to dip and then click back to its usual place. This is all based on fact. The florida threat . That one. Circumpolar check it out. Turns out a bunch of quakers planning a war protest. So says cheney. Sarah, quakers elderly quakers. Nonviolennonviolen ce, that sort of thing. They are planning a peaceful protest against the war in iraq cheney says. Protesting quakers. Its not a contradiction of terms . Does not seem suspicious to you . Put more people are not. Sir the group of religious pacifists planning a peaceful protest. We can spy on religious cheney gave him the death glare of both the perspiration freezedried along his mouth while he was still grinding, he knew that the Vice President s pacemaker had to be shifting gears as well. [laughter] the final reading before we take whatever questions you have concerns the supercomputer named nick. Now you remember that great computer in 2001 space odyssey while they had how can i have nick. Nick is this computer. Again, before we even knew about the fact the nsa had software and algorithmalgorithm s and technology that were listening in on phone calls and reading certain element of our emails. I had the supercomputer named nick, which at the time as a fantasy of mine. Im an old star trek key. This is kind of my nerdy star trek key computer i thought would be cool. Little did i know that i actually revealed critical because there was that thing called a surveillance system. So i have been seen in this will be my final reading were Scooter Libby and karl rove are driving to the National Security agency in fort mate, maryland. I will just read the opening two sentences and then skip over to neck. Scooter libby, remember while remember what theyve done is come as a remember the trajectory and fate. This is tuesday, august 3rd 2004. Would fabricate and obfuscate and offer halftruths and untruths. Even go to jail though he knew the prospects of such a thing as cheney would always have his back. Scooter libby was in prison. Sitting in the rear car with karl rove for a long drive, whining to the maryland suburbs. They fight against the heat outside and just asked her what seemed like. An undisclosed location. I know that, but where. If i told you where, it would you disclose location. You can tell me. Im chief of staff to the Vice President and i can tell you. I told you before, senior riser of the president out rings technically was the big debate in the administration and the structure the cheney bill who ill bring to. Now they arrived at the ms say. All the president s men it is going down produces a father. The elevator takes them deeper and deeper and deeper into the earth and the elevator door opens. They were in one of those underground, undisclosed undercover outposts of a project called continuity of government. Here is where the Vice President would be ways to insure the survival of the government at the white house fell under attack. On the other hand his boss the president would stay at home at the white house under attack. It is a small suite with all the essential standard bunkers, sleeping quarters, Emergency Communications equipment. Knowing him come i need to spend weeks or months writing a survival of the United States. Cheney added a few comforts. The entire works of russian and a list of major Republican National committee donors who would be prioritized in a certain rescue operations as the nation emerge from its apocalypse. Through narrow corridor that led to another sign that said restricted one. This is what the Vice President wanted you to see. He fished there is pocket for a plastic card which he waved in front of the door to the sound of soft buzzing. He entered a massive room, brilliantly lit and rigidly airconditioned. Chain kids encased in glass and metal. Blubbery block walls were dimpling, technicians dressed in uniforms strolled casually down narrow alleys, stopping occasionally to inspect a cube is a price check in at the supermarket. Rove didnt think he was in a topsecret undisclosed relation in 2004, but on the mothership is an alien fleet. What is this the asked . At the Vice President s reorganization of the intelligence community, his famous nick Network Information collection integration synthesize and deployment system. Right there it deep in the bowels of the nsa where no one would notice. Nick noticed everyones business. So clandestine that even president bush can keep on it. Unless you have the fortitude and the magnifying glass to find a threepoint italicized entry within the supporting projection of the department of agriculture and the deputy Secretary Office of the assistant deputy secretary for school lunch programs, division of compliance and education and outreach miscellaneous. The leadership of congress is vaguely informed about that just enough of a ghost that they would feel as if they were in the know without knowing anything at all. The last thing the country needed was a pesky federal judge deciding the constitutional right to privacy was more important than the nations need for security. Nick was one of the most potent offenses in the antiterrorist arsenal. Program to follow tens of millions of lives in real time assessing patterns of behavior and predicting threats to the nation. Nick was the ultimate employer with insatiable curiosity and a ravenous appetite for data. He would hunt it, sniff it swirl it around and digested and if you left a bad taste created the slightest irritation from indigestion or queasiness, you would spit it right out an alert to dozens of Law Enforcement agencies. This i think captures the mood that america was in 2004. Nick performed investigative triage in a country on threat overload. Everyone is either suspicious rss fax, pager or a democrat. America was a population of hipsters, snitches and informants. The vision that force for democracy defeated and the blackness of space that landed a man on the moon was now reduced to peeking through window shades and checking our shoulders. If you think about it that was where we were in 2004. Ill make a final point and then well open it up to your questions. Brad was kind enough to talk about todays profile in the style section of the Washington Post and i am upset with them for only reading a part of it. When i wrote this book it was partly a release release, partly the reflection. I had no idea. First of all i didnt think it would be published. It was published because of a fortuitous circumstance. I literally stumbled into a literary agency. Even when my agent to get, i said theres no way this is going to get published in the Simon Schuster published it. Even when Simon Schuster accepted it Simon Schuster accepted that and the House Ethics Committee per day i said to myself wow, mom will buy it and a few other people will buy and its done quite well. Rob reiner, who made one of the greatest movies ever made for me spinal tap my sense of humor. Read the book and has an interest in developing it as a television miniseries. How cool is this . I get to meet with the president in the white house, get to find air force one meet with kings and queens and prime ministers and defense ministers. It was pretty cool. We were talking about the creative process. For television, we may have to change a little bit. What if we do this . What if we do that . Finally i said excuse me you are rob reiner im okay with whatever you want to do. You figure what to do this but for television. Some having conversation. The Washington Post book review several weeks ago gave it a favorable review. I was very gratified be in the same review. Carl hyacinth was one of the great thrills for me. I hesitate to say this an independent bookstore because my loyalties are to independent bookstores. But i will tell you there is a fairly popular, without mentioning names, theres an online seller that ranks sales in several weeks ago several days ago
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