NEW YORK — The fashion world on Wednesday announced one more tribute to the late designer Alexander McQueen. McQueen, who died in an apparent suicide in London last month, will receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s special board of directors honor at the industry’s annual celebrity-studded gala this summer. Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs and last year’s pick for up-and-coming talent, Alexander Wang, will compete in the womenswear category, considered the big competitive prize of the night. The emerging-talent nominees in womenswear this year are Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung and Jason Wu. In menswear, Tom Ford, making a return to fashion, will compete in the main category with Michael Bastian and Rag & Bone’s David Neville and Marcus Wainwright. Richard Chai, Patrik Ervell and Simon Spurr were selected for the Swarovski rising-star award. Perennial accessories designer of the year nominee Jacobs is up against Alexis Bittar and Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. The designers, editors, retailers and stylists who pick nominees named Eddie Borgo, Dana Lorenz and Wang as the ones to watch in accessories. All emerging-talent winners will receive financial support from Swarovski, the Austrian crystal company. Michael Kors will get the lifetime achievement award, and model-turned-entrepreneur Iman is the year’s fashion icon. The gala will be held in New York on June 7. More on Fashion

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CFDA Will Honor Alexander McQueen

First Lady Michelle Obama donned a green top earlier in the day, so why would she stop her sartorial celebration of St. Patrick’s Day before the day was through. Below, she appears with Mary Cowen, wife of Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland’s listen as US President Barack Obama speaks during a St. Patrick’s Day reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, March 17, 2010. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) More on Michelle Obama

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Michelle Obama Parties At WH St. Patrick’s Day Reception (PHOTO)

As you may imagine, technology is a very big deal at ShoWest, the trade show of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) in Las Vegas this week. Above is one example of what’s to come soon — an e-ticket that can be delivered right to your smartphone. You can also look for really comfy theater seats, Dolby 3D (beautiful picture), a touch-screen dispenser which can dispense 17 flavors of Coca-Cola and some other terrific new concession items. Of course, we’ve yet to see the highly healthy snacks proposed on the opening day. But, maybe, real soon. The big event of the the day was a screening of one of Columbia’s big summer pictures, The Karate Kid , starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan (left). This is a departure from the first three films (1984, ‘86 and 89. It takes place in China and is not a remake of the previous versions. For the audience in attendance today, the big news was the star of the movie is Jaden Smith, 11 year-old son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Jaden was named as the recipient of the ShoWest Star of Tomorrow Award. Thus, before the film, his dad, with his mom standing by silently, came on stage to say a few words. Will Smith, of course, got a huge reception and then his son was given the award. Jaden took the mic, acknowledged the enthusiastic reception and said, “My dad wrote me a speech with a whole lot of funny things in it, but I’m 11 and I’m nervous, so thank you!” He quickly, and to more applause, walked off the stage. The film is very good. We cannot give any plot points but it is absorbing and satisfying. The day was capped by another film, the Lionsgate April 15 release Kick-Ass. Again, can’t review it until next month, but I will say it is a strange combination of funny and violent….and the audience seemed to enjoy it immensely. Also on Day 3, the trailer for the August Lionsgate film,

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Ellen Sterling: ShoWest Day 3: A Bit of This, A Bit of That

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the United States faces serious questions about the future of its economy and jobs market. Where will the good jobs of the future come from, how do we prepare the American workforce, and what is our strategy to maintain economic leadership in an increasingly competitive world? A growing consensus suggests that clean tech will be one of our generation’s largest growth sectors. The global clean-tech market is expected to surpass $1 trillion in value within the next few years, and a perfect storm of factors – from the inevitability of a carbon-constrained world, to skyrocketing global energy demand, to long-term oil price hikes – will drive global demand for clean-energy technologies. That is why the national debate about global clean-tech competitiveness is so important, sparked by the rapid entry of China and other nations. My colleagues and I recently contributed to the discussion with ” Rising Tigers, Sleeping Giant ,” a large report providing the first comprehensive analysis of competitive positions among the U.S. and key Asian challengers. In order to compete, we found, “U.S. energy policy must include large, direct and coordinated investments in clean-technology R&D, manufacturing, deployment, and infrastructure.” But even if the United States adopts a real industrial policy for clean energy, there is little evidence that our workforce is skilled enough to compete. Unfortunately, according to the Department of Energy , “The U.S. ranks behind other major nations in making the transitions required to educate students for emerging energy trades, research efforts and other professions to support the future energy technology mix.” A competitive energy workforce requires much more than technicians and building retrofitters. Scientists, engineers, high-tech entrepreneurs, and advanced manufacturers will play a critical role, just as they have in strategic sectors like infotech, aerospace, and biotech. The federal government has started to address the need for green technician and efficiency retrofit training, such as with the Green Jobs Act, but it has not implemented an education strategy to keep the U.S. at the leading edge of energy science, technology, and entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, the majority of our colleges and universities lack degree programs focused on energy, and the U.S. power engineering education system is on the decline. Over the next five years, 45 percent of electric utility engineers will be eligible for retirement, along with 40 percent of key power engineering faculty at U.S. universities, according to a report by IEEE . “Engineering workforce shortages are already occurring,” the report concludes. “We need more electrical engineers to solve industry challenges, and to build the 21st century electric power grid… Meeting these needs requires long-term investment now.” Meanwhile, other countries are producing a substantially larger portion of scientists, engineers, and researchers that will benefit their clean-tech industries. Science and engineering make up only about one-third of U.S. bachelor’s degrees, compared to 63 percent in Japan, 53 percent in China and 51 percent in Singapore, and the number of Chinese researchers is now on par with the United States (though some have pointed out that the quality of these graduates and researchers is not always comparable). “Over time,” stated a recent report by the National Science Board , “the United States has fallen from one of the top countries in terms of its ratio of natural science and engineering degrees to the college-age population to near the bottom of the 23 countries for which data are available.” The energy workforce deficit and STEM education gap will substantially limit the nation’s ability to lead the clean-tech industry and accelerate clean energy development. As Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman put it , “If you had to explain America’s economic success with one word, that word would be ‘education.’” In order to succeed in the clean-tech industry, the U.S. must develop an energy education strategy to develop tens of thousands of advanced energy scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, as well as technicians. Recognizing these trends, several experts have called for federal programs to develop our advanced energy workforce. In April 2009, President Obama took up these recommendations by announcing the first nationwide initiative to inspire and train young Americans “to tackle the single most important challenge of their generation — the need to develop cheap, abundant, clean energy and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.” The proposal, called RE-ENERGYSE (Regaining our Energy Science and Engineering Edge), is part of the administration’s 2011 budget request, which will be considered by Congress in the months ahead. With oversight from the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, it would educate thousands of clean-energy scientists and engineers, beginning with $74 million for energy-related programs at universities, community and technical colleges and K-12 schools, with the largest component focusing on higher education. RE-ENERGYSE is an important step toward creating a competitive U.S. clean-energy workforce – that is why thousands of students and dozens of professional associations want it to succeed , and that is why Congress should fund it at the full budget request. Beyond RE-ENERGYSE, the federal government should work to expand these programs into a clean-energy education strategy on par with the National Defense Education Act of 1958, which helped reposition the U.S. in the space race and achieve revolutions in information technology. The global clean-energy race represents one of the greatest challenges for American leadership in a generation, and now is a critical moment. If we do not immediately implement a national strategy for energy leadership – including smart investments to educate the energy generation – we will miss a historic economic opportunity. American students are willing to rise to this national challenge, and we need the support of our government to succeed. Originally published by Clean Edge More on Energy

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Teryn Norris: Racing for Clean-Tech Jobs: Why America Needs an Energy Education Strategy

New analysis published this week in PLoS Medicine provides a powerful reminder of the unique and supremely important role that donors play in the process of accelerating vaccine access for developing countries: providing predictable financing for vaccine purchase. This analysis could not have come at a more important time for international vaccine donors who will be meeting next week to discuss how to fill a projected $4 billion financing shortfall. In the analysis, Jessica Shearer and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University examine national decisions to introduce Hib conjugate vaccines. They use information from 147 countries over a 17 year time period – 1990 to 2007 – to identify factors that are associated with accelerating (or decelerating) policy decisions to adopt this life-saving vaccine. The findings point to an important role for donors. Not surprisingly, the study finds that higher prices are an obstacle to vaccine uptake and that GAVI Alliance support has helped to accelerate policy decisions to use the vaccine in low-income countries. Perhaps most importantly, however, the study shows that it is the financial predictability that the GAVI Alliance provides to developing countries that is the real accelerator. “While high vaccine prices hinder adoption, the absence of long-term, stable financing policies at the global level had an even more detrimental effect,” said Jessica Shearer, lead author of the study. In short, when the GAVI Alliance has struggled to provide clear, unambiguous policies on the terms of the financing it will give to countries, the result is that countries have failed to adopt vaccines. Given the fact that price is a significant challenge for these countries, and that GAVI financing (when the policies are set and clear) overcomes these obstacles, this is not a surprising finding. Of course, developing countries have many legitimate and pressing problems that impact their ability to implement vaccines. There are inadequate human resources (the ‘brain drain’ to the North), shortcomings in transportation and delivery systems, and a lack of effective disease surveillance programs. All of these are important issues and ones that donors can contribute to solving – but none are uniquely within the control of donors to solve. Already there are troubling signs that the donors have failed to see the impact of their unique role. At the last GAVI Board meeting in November 2009, they decided to “pause” the process of review and application of new applications for Hib, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines. This decision sent a chilling effect throughout the interconnected system of WHO , UNICEF , and developing country governments that make GAVI successful and have diminished the momentum that was built in developing countries over the past few years. Next week GAVI’s donors will sit together in the Netherlands and consider new pledges to support GAVI’s work. Many will no doubt be looking to the Gates Foundation , which recently announced $10 billion in funding for vaccine research, development, and delivery over the next 10 years to fix this problem. But in this case, Bill Gates is just not rich enough to fill this gap on his own. Other donors must step up and help to fill the breach as well. When they meet, I hope that they take stock of the findings from the new research as a powerful reminder that the ability to provide predictable financing to procure new, life-saving vaccines is the one unique donor role in the complex vaccine process. The new study shows with research what we’ve always believed based on experience: when donors fail to provide the needed financing, it leads to predictable delays in the use of new, life-saving vaccines and the unnecessary loss of millions of children’s lives. More on Bill Gates

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Dr. Orin Levine: Bill Gates Can’t Do it Alone

I’ve never been a particularly patient person. I came from a family of slow-moving people who seemed to think that life was something that just unfolded on its own terms and our job was merely to roll with the punches. Even as a kid, I hated that philosophy and became determined to force a little excitement into my life. I suppose that willfulness is what initially attracted me to show business. From where I was sitting (far, far from the action) I got the impression entertainment was a fast-moving lifestyle where talented people (like myself!) bounced from one glamorous project to the next. In my early years, I tried hard to be patient. It was kind of fun to fantasize about my big break. However, my willingness to wait for fame and fortune was firmly rooted in the idea that I wouldn’t be waiting for long. Once the powers-that-be got wind of what brilliant dynamo I was, my dance card would be filled until death. It wasn’t until I was well into my 30’s that I became aware of “The Waiting Room” – the rarely talked-about place where we creative types spend quite a lot of our time. Recently, I was asked to teach a workshop at AFTRA on the fine art of auditioning. As I looked out at the crowd, I saw a remarkable cross-section of faces; young, old, optimistic, beaten-down; plus a few folks who appeared to have been recently lobotomized. In an effort to address the often anxiety-producing subject of auditioning, I jauntily reminded the crowd that auditions were actually just an opportunity to act — something we all liked to do! When that didn’t get quite response I’d hoped for, I stuck my neck out a little further and tried to point out why it was important to seize any opportunity to act — even if it was only for a few minutes in a casting director’s office — Because most of our careers are not spent acting. They are spent trying to act; hoping to act; waiting to act. I got a few nods from the crowd, but mostly what I saw were glossy stares. Apparently, nobody likes to hear the truth. Not even at a free AFTRA seminar. Downtime is the toughest part of working in the entertainment business. It can eat away at our confidence; make us feel unwanted, unloved, untalented and unworthy. And sometimes it can lead to some really bad behavior. The healthiest members of our community learn to make peace with The Waiting Room. No matter what we do with our time, some part of us continues to hover impatiently; hoping for our name to be called; our script to be read; our project to be greenlit. Oddly enough, even if you are employed with some consistency, it doesn’t mean the “waiting” is over. Throughout my 20’s I worked quite a bit as an actor. I was what was known as a “juvenile character type.” I know this because that was what the label said on the filing cabinet where my agent stored my photos. Three or four times a year, I’d cram my laundry into a duffle bag and hop a train to some grimy east coast city where I’d spend a couple of months doing a low-paying theatre gig. The jobs were fun, but not exactly inspiring. I began to wonder how exactly some big deal New York director was going to pluck me from a production of “You Can’t Take It With You” in Buffalo and put me on Broadway. Then one day, my phone rang. A young star had dropped out of an off-Broadway festival of one-act comedies and a “juvenile character type” was quickly needed to replace him. The part fit me like a glove. The festival wound up being reviewed in the New York Times and the critic assigned to it was kind enough to call me “funny and engaging.” Adding to the excitement, the review featured a picture of me in which I actually looked “funny and engaging.” I thought my ship had come in! And in a certain sense it did. Little did I know however, that I was about to be sent back to The Waiting Room – where I paced the floor for another two years before the next decent role came my way. When I relocated to Hollywood to become a screenwriter, I again thought the wait was over. A wacky script I’d written called “Sacred Estates” was blasting down doors for me all over town. It seemed like all of Hollywood was shouting en masse “Where the hell have you been?!” It was hugely exciting! Finally, I was in the enviable position of creating jobs instead of waiting for them! At last, the chains were off my ankles. I was going to make movies! Since that time, I’ve written a great many screenplays and been paid well for my time. To date, only one of those scripts has ever been made. I have one project that I sold on a pitch in 2002. In the last eight years, there have been four directors and two movie stars attached. It has gone into turn-around three times and has been announced in the trades at least twice as being “in production.” At one point, an actual production office existed with people sitting at desks – that is before the studio pulled the plug at the last second. Two years ago, I was summoned back to rewrite it as a musical, because musicals were back “in.” For a while, things were looking good. Then as I watched the dreary box office numbers roll in for Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the musical “Nine,” I began to wonder if my project was again headed back to The Waiting Room. Creative people were born to create. Not fulfilling that instinct can be deadly. I constantly badger my students to stay engaged in some form of creative expression at all costs. And I try to practice what I preach. The last thing you want is to be slumped in your chair, sodden with self-pity when the door opens and your name is called. We are gamblers. And gamblers live on faith. A few weeks ago, I asked my new manager if he thought that particular, now 8 year-old movie would ever see the light of day. My manager is a smart guy; a true Hollywood veteran with an almost legendary reputation of moving scripts and writers through the studio maze. “Yes,” he answered, “I think it will eventually get made.” “Why?” I asked. “Because it’s too good an idea. And too many people have almost made it.” Bewildered, I asked what, if anything, I could do to further its cause. “Nothing,” he answered. “You just have to wait and see what happens.” Copyright 2010 Quitcher-Bitchyn Entertainment, Inc. David Dean Bottrell is an actor (“Boston Legal”) and screenwriter (“Kingdom Come”) who writes a weekly blog about being strangely middle-class in Hollywood at www.partsandlabor.tv Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/QuitcherBitchyn

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David Dean Bottrell: The Waiting Room

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Women around the world are at a crossroads today. At no point in recent memory have more women simultaneously occupied the halls of power and been left stranded on the street. In this context, the Commission on the Status of Women met last week at the United Nations to review its landmark 1995 Beijing action document that made important headway on focusing the attention and resources of the world on the advancement of women. The time is right to continue pushing boldly forward with a new, comprehensive agenda for women and girls around the globe. As the Commission meets, more than 1.5 billion young people, the largest youth generation in history, still struggle to find a way forward in the world. Half of them are girls and young women, and approximately 600 million of those girls live in developing countries. They are, on par, less educated, less healthy, and less free than their male peers. In many places, girls and young women do not enjoy the basic rights and protections of citizenship — including the right to own land, attend school, access healthcare services, stop unwanted sexual advances, and obtain justice for sexual assault and abuse. The numbers are heartbreaking. Nearly half of all sexual assaults worldwide are committed against girls 15 and younger. Roughly 82 million girls between the ages of 10 and 17 will be married before their 18th birthday. A quarter to a half of girls in developing countries will become mothers before they turn 18. And young women constitute 75 percent of those 15-to-24 infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, women are rising to the top in international politics. Hillary Clinton, as First Lady, led the U.S. delegation to Beijing in 1995 and ignited the crowd with a monumental speech. At that point, no woman had ever served as U.S. Secretary of State. In the last 15 years, three of the four people to occupy that position have been women, including Hillary Clinton, who is now one of the most powerful leaders in the world. This kind of change has occurred almost everywhere. In 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected Africa’s first female head of state in Liberia. And, in Latin America, long a bastion of traditional thought about gender roles, three women now serve as head of state and nearly 20 percent of parliamentary seats across the region are occupied by women. Dilma Rousseff has been chosen by President Lula’s party in Brazil to run as his replacement. If she wins, Latin America will have more female heads of government than Europe. There is still a long way to go to reach full gender equality, but this groundswell is both a signal of the power of a broader movement to bring equality to women and girls, and an opportunity to create real change for the 600 million adolescent girls living in the developing world. It’s a unique opportunity at an unprecedented time, and, as such, the Commission should press an agenda with an approach that speaks to all the challenges that young girls and women face. If we fail to address the health concerns of women and girls or the educational concerns or the safety concerns, we threaten to undermine all progress in other areas. The only way forward is all in. The United Nations Adolescent Girls Task Force has put forward such an agenda, which reflects the many challenges facing adolescent girls. The task force has committed to educate adolescent girls, improve the health of adolescent girls — including their reproductive health, keep adolescent girls free from violence, promote economic and social development, and better monitor the progress of adolescent girls so that evidence-based policies can be developed “to advance their well-being and realize their human rights.” It is admittedly an ambitious agenda, but there is trust in the Commission on the Status of Women to do great things. In 1995, they put to bed the antiquated idea that it was acceptable to discuss women’s rights as separate from human rights. This week, let’s dismiss the idea that we can do anything short of fully investing in the future of young girls. As Hillary Clinton said at the meeting in Beijing in 1995, these are more than mere meetings, they are rare conversations that “compel governments and peoples everywhere to-listen, look, and face the world’s most pressing problems.” A legion of female leaders and hundreds of millions of young women and girls, all of them at the crossroads, are watching. More on Women's Rights

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Kathy Bushkin Calvin: Women at a Crossroads

I hear the beginning of “good news” rumblings on the job front. I hope that means that in the near future, many people who are out of work will be interviewing to get back to work and get back on their feet. An interview is a terrible thing to waste and as they say, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” To help you make the best first impression, check out and heed this advice and excerpted piece from Harvey Mackay’s brand new book (and hands down the best one I have ever read on job searching), Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You : Timing and Advance Planning 1. Scheduling–Try for the time of day you shine best. 2. Get a good night’s rest the day before. 3. Try to work out in the morning. It will help improve your alertness and relax you. 4. Create a contact sheet for each company with names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses. 5. If a recruiter is involved, have a pre-meeting huddle about positioning for the interview. 6. Review your own videos of your simulated interviews. 7. If any forms are needed, complete them neatly in advance. Apparel and Appearance 8. Shine shoes, check fingernails. 9. Get a haircut and styling, comb. 10. Choose a suit with shirt and tie or blouse. 11. Coordinate accessories (including watch, umbrella if necessary, etc.). Reading and Research 12. Read recent articles on the prospective company. 13. Research company Web site for their latest news and press releases. 14. Know the company’s most recent annual and quarterly sales and profits. 15. Google people you’ll be meeting for background on them. 16. Know how to pronounce names of people you will meet. 17. If possible, learn the names of the receptionist and administrative assistants. 18. If this is a second interview, review notes of past meetings. 19. Scroll through the day’s business news so you have something to talk about. 20. Create a list of good questions you will ask the interviewer. 21. Check e-mails just before leaving for any last-minute rescheduling. Take Withs 22. Portable phone (turn off before interview) 23. Portfolio or business case 24. Resume copies (at least two) 25. Business cards 26. Blank paper or notebook and pens 27. Breath mints or spray 28. Your personal calendar if a follow-up meeting is discussed Getting There 29. Plan on being punctual and intend to arrive several minutes early. 30. Check weather report in case you need to plan on extra time. 31. Google map and either pre-drive or investigate road congestion. 32. Investigate parking practices. 33. Identify the correct building entrance. 34. Anticipate going through security and having to wear a visitor badge. If Meeting Over a Meal 35. Eat something like a power bar or piece of fruit beforehand. 36. If possible, know the menu in advance. Just Before Showtime 37. Do a once-over in the mirror for hair and clothing. 38. Pay attention to your posture. 39. Have a reasonable idea of appropriate, positive opening comments. 40. Put on a warm, relaxed smile. 41. Prepare for a dry, firm handshake. Plan Follow-up Pre-Interview 42. Anticipate beforehand how and where you will debrief yourself. 43. Have stationery and postage ready for handwritten thank-you notes. 44. If a recruiter is involved, know how to reach this person after the interview for a debriefing. More on The Balanced Life

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Mark Goulston, M.D.: Just Listen — A Job Interview is a Terrible Thing to Waste

WASHINGTON — Gilbert Arenas says he deserves to be punished for bringing guns to the locker room. The suspended Washington Wizards guard told Esquire magazine that he wasn’t using “longevity thinking” when he took out four guns in what he says was an attempt to play a prank on teammate Javaris Crittenton in December. Arenas pleaded guilty to a felony gun charge in January and will be sentenced next week. He has been suspended until the end of the season by the NBA. In the Esquire interview, which hits newsstands next week and was obtained by The Associated Press in advance, Arenas says he has “messed up” the legacy of Wizards owner Abe Pollin, who died in November. “I have a painting of him in my garage. I just walk by it with my head down,” Arenas said. “I called Mrs. Pollin and said, ‘If Abe was still with us, I would’ve had to talk to him, so I’m gonna give you the same respect. I want to say sorry to you. I deserve to be punished. I’ll do everything it takes to get back your husband’s respect.’” Arenas has kept a low profile since his guilty plea. He told the AP this month that he would have “no problems” playing for the Wizards again and that he’s not nervous about his sentencing date as long as the judge “goes off the actual real story” of what happened. Last week, he submitted paperwork to change his jersey from No. 0 to No. 6 next season. Arenas told Esquire that he used to have as many as 500 firearms in his home, having bought many of them from an elderly man’s World War I collection. He says he put all but four of them in storage when he started having children. Arenas also said that he and Crittenton returned to good terms almost immediately after their confrontation, which stemmed from a card game on the team plane. Crittenton also displayed a gun during the spat and was sentenced to unsupervised probation for a misdemeanor gun charge. “He goes into the Jacuzzi,” Arenas told the magazine. “You know what? I gotta warm my knee up anyway. I go in and sit with him. We’re just sitting in there talking. We didn’t have no problem. It was just some fun that got out of control.” Arenas also gave his perspective on another fallen star, Tiger Woods, separating the golfer’s infidelity from the sport. “Say it’s all true,” Arenas said. “At the end of the day, that’s not the reason I love Tiger. I got three Tiger Woods games for my Xbox just in case one gets scratched. On the cover, it doesn’t have him walking next to his wife. It just has Tiger Woods, hitting shots.” More on NBA

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Gilbert Arenas’ Esquire Interview: ‘I Deserve To Be Punished’

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The Ninth Circuit did a good thing by upholding the propriety of reciting the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. And before everyone starts screaming, let me explain both why I make that claim and why the upside for those who value religious freedom is actually far greater than immediately presumed. My conclusion is NOT based on the fact that there is a God, even though I believe that to be true. Nor is it based on a lack of concern for the atheists, agnostics, polytheists, pagans or any other students who may be uncomfortable saying those two words and equally uncomfortable having to opt out of saying them. In fact, my concern for those students is the source of any hesitation I have about my conclusion. But in the end, the needs of those relatively few students are outweighed by the public good served when we preserve the 1954 revision of the Pledge which includes the words “under God”. Without creating what Tocqueville called a “tyranny of the majority”, I think we can recognize the broadly religious views central to many of our nation’s founders and of the fact that an overwhelming percentage of Americans today continue to affirm their belief in some higher power. And that is what the words “under God” affirm. In the words of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the daily schoolroom recitation is not a prayer, but “a recognition of our founders’ political philosophy that a power greater than the government gives the people their inalienable rights. Thus, the pledge is an endorsement of our form of government, not of religion or any particular sect.” In fact, were we not to preserve the words “under God,” we would foster a tyranny of the minority. And although that tyranny may be born of sensitivity to a minority, it is an unacceptable tyranny all the same. Additionally, the court’s understanding of the use of “under God” offers an approach to the “establishment clause” which would help end the ugly legal warfare between totalitarian religionists and fanatical secularists. Instead of reinforcing the notion that either the very mention of God in school is constitutionally forbidden, or that mentioning God entitles schools to endorse any kind of religion, the court opened the door to mentioning God as a linguistic device which reflects the most commonly held political beliefs and aspirations of most Americans. Why should we find that problematic? Finally, to describe our nation, with all of its diversity, as being unified “under God” is a perfect response to those who are most certain about who God is and what it means to be in relationship with Him, Her or It. Imagine the impact upon those who function with that kind of theological certainty when confronted daily by people of every possible world view, all of them pledging to the reality of standing, as one, “under God.” Used that way, there is no Christian God, no Jewish God, no Muslim God, etc. There need not be any God at all for one to meaningfully speak of God in that way. In effect, reciting the Pledge this way serves as a profound public education project whose end result would be to break down many of the ugliest forms of religious bigotry and spiritual hubris which threaten our public culture. For this last reason alone, we should welcome the Ninth Circuit’s decision. Those most delighted by it may get more than what they bargained for. But hey, that’s how we know that God, whether real or imagined, has a wicked sense of humor and wonderful sense of irony. Thank you, Ninth Circuit. More on Religion

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Brad Hirschfield: Celebrating "Under God" Whether There is a God or Not

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