Bad so it is hard to do that. I did try to correlate i think it was a gdp with the degree of smoking it was is essentially zero. The repeople smoke to the richer the country but it was not a causation. Probably rich countries have more pressure on smokers than not. [inaudible] it is not accessible on line but it is a paltry 20. But we had to figure out in there not known for the marketing drive. It says 15 pounds in the zero fat tax. [laughter] a fat tax. Any other questions . The book unlucky strike is available all cited he will be happy to sign them we are even selling this at 15 and. [laughter] so thank you we will see you at the next meeting. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] connect to the condition by cornyn geography to respond to nature and art if there was of a speech i. Org if there is a western character or personality i am a variant of it. If there is a western culture in a small sea i have not escaped its. I may even have contributed to win it in minor ways but culture is up period as. And experiencing most of the 20th century to depict as they move from the earliest of his publications through the last prior to his death in 1993. We are absolutely thrilled to have his papers. We think of him as a native son to Salt Lake City and saw this as his residence of note. Of the collection is a very sizable collection we have some of it here to look at. It details his career and his writings and correspondence and his diaries from early on, certainly his Salt Lake City time and university of utah. You dont find a lot that shows while he is writing. He was us typewriter guy or would be a laptop for computer guy today. Here we have a notebook basically a diary note. He is traveling in the west, and nevada, and it appears has been into new mexico and arizona to spend time in navajo country. Looked at his titles of place, as a lot so the idea of placing and what it means and what characteristics does it hold . It seems to be are enormously important to him. And he was looking at west that was changing to radically from the time of his youth which born in that era of the course still and looking for ways to maintain the concept of the west that was part of his earlier life. We have one of his typewriters. We have three. I dont know how many he wore out in his career but he almost never wrote a first draft and he tied to that which is a little challenging to the darkest because it is hard to figure out which was the originating draft of this work and which was the submitted draft . You can kind of get it and he does a lot of editing by a pencil so you can distinguish that. It is clear he was a very good self editor and could edit his own work and was rigorous about it. And it appears he did it with patients. For instance this is how he would see his manuscript developing as he writes but he has typed it and crossed out and i believe it is recapitulation. These are the galleys and the examples that would be the first full printing of the recapitulation. One of my favorite works because i obeyed his creation the story on is beyond the 100th meridian is about John Wesley Powell is called the second opening of the west. In that work he lays out the carrier has the explore of the west and what he accomplishes. The importance is he says that beyond the 100th meridian scarcity of water will define how those parts of the westar developed. This book is about that area of the of way that powell gets to that conclusion. It is a wonderful work and it is just splendid. A work of history. And some people referred to stegner as a historian. Lydersen the west and of the west and from the west have a very hard time being recognized as part of the American Literary group and he felt that. So angle of repose is a major achievement with its Pulitzer Prize award and trying to counter that. And get recognition for western writers. This is the official letter informing him that he won the Pulitzer Prize. Its dated may 1, 1972. Very brief for such an honor. I take pleasure in confirming the award of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize in fiction to you for angle of repose. In accordance with this action today by columbias that would be the columbia universitys trustees i enclose universitys check for 1000. Congratulations. As we move further away from that period of wally being active as a writer i think he is probably less red, less well understood as a force on and about the west. In a lot of ways i think he is still a very viable and articulate interpreter of the west even though the west has changed a lot since his passing. I think there is a lot to be taken from his writings that educate you on the west and on who we are and what we are in the west. Im happy to sign my book at the end in case i ever amount to anything you can sell it on ebay for twice the price. Testing, testing. Good. Okay welcome to the 30th annual Chicago Tribune printers row lit fest. My name is tom with the festival. I want to give a special thank you to all of our sponsors. The others but will will be sold in the main lobby and 80 signing will take place outside the auditorium. The book signing will immediately follow the program. Todays program will be broadcast live on cspan2ss booktv. If theres time at the end for a q a session with the author and we have left about five minutes we ask that you use the microphone located to your right at the front of the auditorium. If you want to watch this program again our coverage will reair at 11 00 central time on saturday and sunday. Thats tonight and tomorrow. Please keep the spirit of lit fest going all your description should subscriptsubscript ion to the premium book section fiction series a membership program. This year we are also introducing a new digital bookstore throughout tribune books app. Take one of the promo cards you were handed out a map provides you information about the app and access to the special book clubs. Before we begin todays program please silence your cell phones and turn your camera off but feel free to take photos and post to twitter instagram and facebook of course with the printers row. With that being said please welcome john dare and the Chicago Tribunes chief content officer. [applause] good morning fans of books and reading and printers row and everybody who wants a little intellectual stimulation with their sunshine today. Welcome very much. I am john baron at a tour of the Tribune Content Agency which is the companys news service and syndication arm and we are very proud to represent and syndicate cal thomas. He keeps us very very busy. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of papers and web sites run his column making him the most widely syndicated Political Columnist in the country. Cowell obviously has a tremendous reach but hes something of an endurance champ as well. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his column. There are very few in the entire history of journalism who have made such a claim. His works have been known to millions. Through those weekly writings there is broadcast appearances and of course through his books the latest of which is what works and hes going to talk about that obviously today. What i like about cowell is you always know where he stands. He is crystal clear, determined unwavering in his beliefs and with his reporters command of facts and figures he can be awfully persuasive. No matter where you stand its always worthwhile to facing kals direction to hear what he has to say. Joining cowell today is Chicago TribuneEditorial Board member is in the query. We worked for the same bosses a couple of years ago when she was at the daily southtown and i was at the suntimes. She has since gone on to join debbie ebc in the chicago news corporate before joining the tribune a little more than two years ago. Both of them are obviously masters of many media so now lets see how they can handle a conversation. Ladies and gentlemen chrystal mcquery and cal thomas. [applause] thank you all for coming. About six weeks ago i was reading an email in my inbox asking if i would like to interview cal thomas as part of printers row will lit fest. In my 20s i disagreed with him very much but i kept reading and when you read tell you find yourself months and years down the road thinking about something that he wrote. Thats the imprint of a gifted thinker and writer. Without further ado cal your book what works sub two focuses on years of tested programs and that we dont need to reinvent the wheel. We dont need to reinvent ideas for economic stimulation job growth. We know what works but instead we are stuck in groundhog day the movie. We we are in a situation told unfolds over and over. What would you say are a couple of issues or policies that are the most stuck in groundhog day . First let me congratulate you on your maturity. Im reminded by your comments of what mark twain once said. When i was 18 i thought my father was an idiot and when i became 21 i was amazed at how much he had learned in three years of congratulations for that. Right off the top there are so many answers to that question but i think education would probably be at or near the top for me. We spend more on Public Education in the United States now percapita than any other time in our history and yet all of the surveys show we still fall behind much of the rest of the world and important subjects like math and reading and science. I dont care if its a liberal idea or a conservative idea. If it works and if it produces the results that the program claims to want to produce than i would be for it and i would like to get away from this left right republican democrat business and start focusing on what actually has produced results. Theres a verse and ecclesiastics this is nothing new under the sun. Everything you think has been fought before and everything you have done has been done before. Bill murray gives a everyday and repeats the same day over and over again with nothing changing. That is what washington does. We are paying and getting less for our government and its something that is a cycle that we need to break. You talked about on the issue of Education School choice in the book in your columns. We are sitting in the Chicago Public school. Its lovely. They just built a nice addition with this money that this is a selective Enrollment School so on a fraction of the kids who want to go here can actually go here. We have been talking in illinois and chicago about School Choice for years. It doesnt seem to get done. We have a charter or agram but vouchers are so far off of the radar that its almost impossible. How do you get in a democraticallycontrolled city and states School Choice program . First of all i think the evidence of School Choice working is available for all who want to observe. The problem is in this area especially results dont matter because the teachers unions send money to the politicians to keep the status quo. The politicians of course have choice. Most of them are welloff or wellconnected enough that they can send their kids to private school a secular or Religious School where they believe they will get the best education. That is what president obama does. President obama sends his daughters and rightly so because the d. C. Public School System is not very good to sit well friends to the most prestigious private schools in rushing 10. All i am saying is that my liberal and democratic friends who so often talk about fairness and equality ought to offer that same opportunity especially for poor minority students who are trapped in a lot of these failing schools whose parents want about the note that the good education is a key to a successful life. I used the analogy im old enough to remember when alabama governor George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door to keep africanamericans out. Now a lot of politicians are standing in the schoolhouse door failed schools trying to keep them in. I think its an immoral movie its an mri would be in something and need to be broken. I think people need to rise up. The catholic archdiocese some years ago took a survey of parents whose children mostly maneri minority parents ask them if you had a choice would you put your child in a Catholic School or Public School and he overwhelming percentage chose the Catholic School. I would say like moses led by people go. You repeated that line when you were on her radio show yesterday and i was hoping you would. I am happy to have groundhog day with you cal. In your book you reference a previous book he wrote blinded by might and i think it was a point that gets lost a lot in the static of washington so im going to read it back to you. In blinded by might in this book im not calling for retreat from the public square. I ask only for a more realistic view of what limited things government can achieve and the Unlimited Power of gods kingdom. Call it a listing in a better army with superior weapons and by the way isnt it inconsistent for conservatives and one brad to criticize the government and then in another to employ it to enact their agenda . I think thats a very important point. What are students some specific policy areas or issues you see shinki and where conservatives decry big governmengovernmen government but then they seek it out . Lets take the last administration. President george w. Bush and not rated one of the biggest Government Programs ever in the Prescription Drug benefit. No child left behind and more money for Public Education. I called his turn to washington as a first resource instead of a the last resort the perversion of it 23rd psalm. The government is my keeper and i shall not want. The health and Human Services department will be comfortingly me with a. C. T. Payments. Jon stossel has a show on Fox News Channel on the weekend. He writes this book why would you turn to government all the time in government can even win wars any more . Government does so few things well that sometimes in cooperation with the private sector but mostly the power of the private sector and the power of the individual ought to be purse supreme and once were. Our constitution is we the people. We have a 17 trilliondollar debt and out of control Government Spending and regulation. We have taxes on success and subsidizing failure and we wonder why we are getting less success and more failure. We used to praise the people who succeeded and became wealthy. Now we emptied them and feel entitled to their income. Its just the most amazing turnaround. I feel like i parachuted onto another planet from the one i was brought up on. Inspiration followed by motivation followed by perspiration will improve and a life. If might not turn out to be a billionaire but you want her not to be dependent on government. You have written many columns on the subject government Government Spending etc. So what would you consider the most outrageous expense that Taxpayers Fund . Oh my. Thats pretty tough. That there should be a multiple choice question with the last line all of the above. Its really hard to say but here is what im calling for. You are probably not old enough to remember this but in the 80s Robert ReaganRonald Reagan appointed a grace commission. Most businesses go through audits and we doubt the waste fraud and abuse and they restructure their business in a way that will make it more functional and profitable but not the federal government. Reagan had a great line. He said the only proof of eternal life in washington is the Government Program and its true. Once you created its almost impossible to the whole idea that washington is capable of doing things better than the individual would be an offense to our founders. It was we the people about liberty and about personal responsibility and accountability. We are spending all of this money on things to fix things that cant be fixed by government and yet people like a colts despite the evidence continued to turn to government despite the results that it can do what we want to do. Its a general answer but there are a lot of things the government ought not to be doing. Why is government and housing . Why is government and education . I got a good education before the department of education. Why do we need the federal government to educate its people . Along those lines we saw proposal from john mccain and other republicans that are supporting it to grow the va system. Part of that plan has included a Voucher Program but what do you see is the best solution for the longterm care of our veterans . Thats right. Often i write a column jointly for usa today and we proposes a couple of weeks ago so im glad senator mccain was reading it. Choice is the best way to go. If they cant see within a reasonable period of time why shouldnt you have a plastic card and take it to your nearby public or private hospital and get their care you need there . Choice works. Choice in Education Choice in medicine. We now have the Obamas Administration trying to take over the health care of the entire United States. All we have to do is look at the nhs in the u. S. The u. K. Or the va. As governmentrun health care here. Thank you very much. I hope we are not evacuating. I guess he didnt get a memo to turn off all the broadcast devices. Maybe it was the voice of god and maybe we should be listening. Maybe it was the app. Ive got mine turned off. The individual in the minds of the