If Barack wins, Hillary is going to want to be running mate. That is what the Hillary 2008 Campaign Manager has publicly stated. If Hillary wins, Barack must be the running mate.
May the most qualified candidate win. It is amazing to watch the democratic process unfold. Democracy is a beautiful thing.
Obama's positive message is uplifting.
The big states that moved to February 5 did not do so to say let the small states give us a clue. The February 5 states are going to be quite independent.
My suggestion would be to invest heavily also in the February 5 states. Got to build major organization in California. That is 441 delegates.
Counting on momentum only to carry you all the way is not going to fly.
John Kerry's experience was that the Iowa victory meant everything. You win that one and you win all that follow. I don't think that will necessarily repeat.
Momentum + Betting Big On February 5 States
January 14 Iowa 56 Delegates January 19 Nevada 33 Delegates January 22 New Hampshire 30 Delegates January 29 South Carolina 54 Delegates
Total 173 Delegates
""Tsunami Tuesday," "Super Duper Tuesday," "Giga Tuesday," "Mega-Tuesday," "Powerball Primary," and the "Tuesday of Destiny." A total of 1,433 Delegates will be pledged by the results of the February 5th votes."
Alabama 60, Alaska 18, Arizona 67, Arkansas 47, California 441, Colorado 71, Delaware 23, Georgia 104, Idaho 23, Illinois 185, Missouri 88, New Jersey 127, New Mexico 38, New York 280, North Carolina, North Dakota 21, Oklahoma 47, Tennessee 85 and Utah 29.
Hillary is smart, strong, experienced. She is disciplined. She has inherited a political machine from a guy who I call Pele. She is a woman. This is enormous symbolism for women. I mean, I like her myself. I was as fanatically behind her before Obama said he was considering running.
2008 is going to be a great year for the Democrats. That much is clear.
Hillary is a formidable candidate. She would be tough for anyone to beat. She has never lost an election, not since high school. She is methodical, she is thorough. The debates she has performed well in, she dreaded going into them, story has it, but she prepared and prepared and prepared. She role played. She did her homework. She works very hard. So if you want to beat her, you have to work harder.
February 5 Is Key
You don't want to have lost with a ton of money still in the bank. You got to focus like a laser beam on the first four states, true, but you can't afford to ignore the February 5 states. You got to give at least one day a week to the February 5 states while you give the rest of the week to the first four states.
Nevada's Hispanic population and South Carolina's black population mean the first four states are a fair composition. Howard Dean played his cards right.
Debates
They have been key to Hillary's big numbers. It really does boil down to those two seconds. But then Obama is getting better. He won the Iowa debate.
Now they have gone more sophisticated. They have him stuck in the too inexperienced narrative. He has to fight back. He has to turn it into a judgment narrative.
Gender: The Number One Issue
If Barack and Hillary are Coke and Pepsi, women are going to go for Hillary. And I can understand why. Gender has to be addressed.
Castro: Clinton-Obama “Invincible” New York Times Rep. Adam Smith to be Washington state chair for Obama's campaign Seattle Post Intelligencer Clinton, Obama draw blacks, liberals from Edwards The Swamp, IL Edwards On Track in IowaTIME after Edwards' seven-day, 31-stop bus tour of the state, gives Edwards 29% of the vote, five points ahead of Hillary Clinton and seven ahead of Barack Obama ....... With the field limited to the top four candidates, Edwards's lead over Clinton widens, to 32% to 24%. Obama was at 22%, with Bill Richardson at 13%. Iowa polls can be unreliable, since only 5% to 10% of voters go to the caucuses; some other recent surveys have Edwards in a dead heat with Clinton and Obama. The race remains wide open, but Edwards's position remains strong. ...... Strongest Leadership: Clinton holds a commanding lead over Edwards and Obama, 36% - 23% - 20%. ..... Handling of Iraq: Clinton (27%) leads Obama (19%), Edwards (18%) and Richardson (16%). ..... Protecting Against Terrorism: Clinton leads the field by a wide margin, picked by 27%, compared to Edwards, at 19%, Obama at 15%, and Richardson at 14%. Poll: Clinton opens up a 20-point lead over Obama The Union Leader, NH showing her with a 20-point lead over her closest rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. ....... The same poll in July showed the two candidates in a dead heat at 31 percent apiece. ..... On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has opened a lead over former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- 27 to 23 percent ..... The poll done this week of the Democrats shows Clinton favored by 37 percent of the likely primary voters, while Obama has 17 percent and former vice presidential candidate John Edwards has 14 percent ...... ARG polls done in Iowa show Clinton with a 28 to 23 percent lead over Obama, with Edwards at 20 percent, and in North Carolina Clinton has 32 percent, with Edwards at 24 percent and Obama at 21 percent. Romney Leads, Obama Drops in New Hampshire Angus Reid Global Monitor, Canada Hillary Rodham Clinton is first with 37 per cent, followed by Illinois senator Barack Obama with 17 per cent—down 14 points in a month—and former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 14 per cent. ...... Since 1952, 11 Republicans and eight Democrats have won the Granite State contest and later earned their party’s presidential nomination. ...... In 2004, Massachusetts senator John Kerry won the Democratic New Hampshire primary with 38.4 per cent, followed by former Vermont governor Howard Dean with 26.3 per cent, retired general Wesley Clark with 12.4 per cent, and Edwards with 12.1 per cent. Obama Admits Early Election Wins Crucial For Maintaining Minority ... AHN Obama's (D-IL) campaign acknowledged that in order for African-Americans to view him as a viable candidates, the senator must win either the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary. ...... But two recent polls show Obama trailing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in both those predominantly Caucasian states. The switch to a focus on whether Obama can win in predominantly white states comes after months of blacks wondering if Obama, who has a white mother and African father, was "black enough to win." .... "We have to do well in Iowa and New Hampshire, and if we do, we will win South Carolina," Nugen said. "No one in the campaign would disagree with the notion that we have to win a state like New Hampshire to do well with black voters in South Carolina and beyond." ..... A recent Time magazine poll of voters in Iowa found Obama trailing Clinton by two points. While the Iowa numbers are very close, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of political science at Princeton University, explained that blacks don't trust whites to actually vote for a black person when they say will do so. ..... She gave the example of the 1989 Virginia gubernatorial campaign of L. Douglas Wilder, a black candidate who had been leading in the polls by double-digit numbers. However, he barely won, taking victory by fewer than 7,000 votes. ..... All of that means African-American voters will be looking closely at the Iowa and New Hampshire results to gauge if Obama truly is electable.
The implosion of the subprime lending industry is more than a temporary blip in our econ-omic progress. It is a cancer that, given today's integrated financial markets, threatens to spread with devastating impact to housing and to our economy as a whole, unless we act to contain it.
It is also a parable about how an excess of lobbying and influence can defeat common sense rules of the road, placing both consumers and our nation's economic well-being at risk.
This all started as a good idea - helping people buy homes who previously could not afford to. But over time, lenders began pushing low-income buyers into homes they could not possibly afford, abusing the system by lowering their lending standards, making loans that required no money down and offering low, teaser interest rates that explode after the initial grace period. Some borrowers were also lying to get mortgages or engaging in irresponsible speculation.
Nearly everyone - from lenders to investors to borrowers - fooled themselves into thinking that what they were doing was low risk when it in fact involved a lot of risk.
But we also know that Washington played a role. At a time when non-bank lenders were offering new kinds of mortgage, the federal government should have made sure it was all being done on the level. Instead, our government failed to provide the regulatory scrutiny that could have prevented this crisis.
There is a reason why this has happened. Over the past several years, while predatory lenders were driving low-income families into financial ruin, 10 of the country's largest mortgage lenders were spending more than $185m (£92m) lobbying Washington to let them get away with it. So if we really want to make sure this never happens again, we need to end the lobbyist-driven politicsthat made it possible.
Today, as we weigh our options on how best to resolve this crisis, many argue that bailing out the borrowers and investors will just encourage them to engage in more of the same irresponsible practices.
But I think we also have to recognise what will happen if we reward the mortgage industry's lobbying: they will keep using the same kinds of deceptive practices to make a quick buck, no matter what the consequences to home buyers and their communities. Rather than correct what they are doing wrong, these companies will know that if things go badly, they can always lobby Washington to let them off the hook.
The real victims in this crisis are the millions of borrowers who followed the rules, whose only crime was taking out mortgages that lenders told them they could afford. Normally, these borrowers could avoid foreclosure by refinancing their mortgages or selling their homes. The problem today is that they cannot refinance because no one will lend to them, and they cannot sell because the housing market has fallen. With some arguing that the effects of the worst subprime loans will not be felt until 2008 and 2009, this may be just the beginning.
We need to help struggling borrowers to weather this storm. One way to protect innocent homeowners - at least until this crisis passes - is to establish a fund to help people refinance or sell to avoid foreclosure. We can partially pay for this fund by imposing penalties on lenders that acted irresponsibly or committed fraud.
But we have to do more than just deal with the present crisis. If we do not address the root of these problems, it is just a matter of time before we will be dealing with them again.
The rules currently governing mortgages were written in the 20th century to make borrowing easier to understand for borrowers. We need to update these rules for the 21st century and enact the regulatory and disclosure laws that the mortgage industry has been lobbying against.
That is why I have proposed a Home Score system that would create a simplified, standardised metric for home mortgages - rather like the annual percentage rate (APR), the effective interest rate a borrower ends up paying on a loan - allowing prospective homebuyers easily to compare various mortgage products so they can find out whether they can afford to make the payments.
I have also introduced a bill in the US Senate called the Stop Fraud Act that would treat those who commit mortgage fraud as the criminals they are.
Owning a home represents a big part of the American dream and all Americans - no matter what their income level - should have the power to reach for that dream. But that is not going to happen until we stop the unlicensed, unregulated, fly-by-night mortgage brokers who are hoodwinking low-income borrowers into taking on loans they cannot afford.
If we are serious about stopping this crisis and preventing much larger turmoil in US housing markets, Washington needs to stop acting like an industry advocate and start acting like a public advocate.
Americans need to come together to confront the challenge posed by Iran. Yet the Bush administration and an anonymous senator are blocking a bill with bipartisan support that would ratchet up the pressure on the Iranian regime. It's time for this obstructionism to stop.
The decision to wage a misguided war in Iraq has substantially strengthened Iran, which now poses the greatest strategic challenge to U.S. interests in the Middle East in a generation. Iran supports violent groups and sectarian politics in Iraq, fuels terror and extremism across the Middle East and continues to make progress on its nuclear program in defiance of the international community. Meanwhile, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared that Israel must be "wiped off the map."
In response, the Bush administration's policy has been tough talk with little action and even fewer results. While conventional Washington thinking says we can only talk to people who agree with us, I believe that strong countries and strong Presidents shouldn't be afraid to talk directly to our adversaries to tell them where America stands. The Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to Iran has not worked. As President, I will use all elements of American power to pressure the Iranian regime, including the power of tough, smart and principled diplomacy.
For diplomacy to work, we need to dial up our political and economic pressure - not just our tough talk. Iran's troubling behavior depends in large part on access to billions of dollars in oil and gas revenue. That is why I introduced the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act last May, to build on a movement across the country to divest from companies that do significant business with Iran. This would send a clear message about where America stands, increasing Iran's isolation and hitting the Iranian regime where it hurts.
The bill works in three ways. First, it would educate investors and pressure foreign companies to reconsider doing business with Iran by requiring the U.S. government to publish - every six months - a list of companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran's energy sector. Second, it would give explicit congressional authorization to state and local governments to divest the assets of their pension funds and other funds under their control from any company on the list. Third, it would give private fund managers who divest protection from lawsuits, while urging the government's own 401(k) fund to create "terror-free" and "genocide-free" investment options for government employees.
This common-sense approach enjoys broad support. Sam Brownback, a Republican senator and presidential candidate, joined me in introducing this bill. A companion bill passed the House of Representatives 408 to 6. The only obstacle now is a single senator who placed an anonymous "hold" on the bill, blocking it from coming to a vote.
This is exactly the kind of unaccountable obstruction that needs to change in Washington. Instead of having a debate in the open, a Bush administration ally is blocking the bill through a secret Washington maneuver - a maneuver that would be banned if a sweeping bipartisan ethics reform bill that I led the fight to pass is signed into law.
Talking tough and keeping our troops in the middle of Iraq's civil war has only served to strengthen Iran's position. It's time to turn the page on a failed foreign policy. It's time for strong diplomacy backed by common-sense measures that pressure the Iranian regime.
In The News
Potentially Dangerous Chemical Found Inside UN Building WNBC Potentially dangerous chemicals were found in vials in a United Nations Office building and FBI, NYPD and FDNY hazardous materials responded to remove them Thursday. ...... the vials were found at 866 East 48th Street and possibly included one vial of phosgene, a chemical warfare agent. .... the vials are sealed and the public is not at any risk. Officials said the vials were recovered from a former Iraqi chemical weapons facility by UN weapons inspectors back in 1996. ...... "There is no hazard tot he people of New York from this operation." ... the items were sealed and were in plastic bags and a metal box. .... during a routine archives check. ..... shipped more than 10 years ago and that "There is no indication of questionable activity." UN Inspectors Find Chemical in UN OfficeForbes Vials of dangerous nerve gas found at UN building7Online.com Immigration Raid at Ohio Poultry Plant ForbesAbout 160 illegal immigrants were arrested in a raid Tuesday at a poultry processing plant ...... most of the illegal immigrants are believed to be from Mexico, other Latin American countries and Africa .... deportation proceedings will begin immediately in most cases. .... Meat-processing plants around the country have been frequent targets of immigration authorities as they have stepped up efforts to track down undocumented workers. Spitzer Talks of Suing to Expand Health Plan New York TimesNew York would consider suing federal health officials if the state was not granted a waiver to expand its federally subsidized health insurance program for children. ..... “It is not right. It is not fair,” Mr. Spitzer said of the new federal requirements ...... Bush, who has called New York’s and other states’ plans a step toward socialized medicine ..... Under the new rules, states seeking waivers for a higher income ceiling would have to show that they have already enrolled 95 percent of children whose parents make less than twice the poverty level. Currently, no state in the country meets that standard, which Mr. Spitzer said violated federal laws that give governors broad discretion in setting the income eligibility levels in their states. ....... the change would have effectively made health insurance universal for children in New York. .... the one sought by New York would give the state the highest income ceiling in the country .... the new rules include what Mr. Spitzer called “poison pill” requirements that he said would effectively kill New York’s and others states’ plans. .... “If they come back to us and refuse to budge from the positions they’ve taken, then we will sue,” he said. For Obama, Nothing is the Matter with Kansas Washington Post In 2004, 78% percent of White Evangelicals voted for George W. Bush. ....... Obama may be able to do is siphon off scads of “Swing Evangelicals” in battleground states ...... It’s mid-October and the senator is addressing a room full of Kansans in a non-college town. ..... Obama opens his talk by reminding them that he too is from Kansas (being from Kansas: Kansans love that!). He then surprises his listeners by pointedly noting his disagreements with certain secular mantras of his party (Indeed, it suddenly dawns upon the lone, closeted village atheist in the room that when it comes to separation of church and state, Barack Obama is no Michael Dukakis). ....... he fires up his audience with Jimmy Carter like gospel-based oratory, except that it’s interesting and fun to listen to. He speaks out-loud about an awesome God and his awesome God does not appear to be a card-carrying member of the ACLU ...... the Kansans head home in advance of their self-imposed, statewide 7:30 pm curfew ...... pleased to learn that Mr. Obama is a Good Christian Man (because Kansans are fair, big-hearted folks ...... Twenty five percent of his listeners, however, will now consider casting their vote for a Democrat (because Kansans are open-minded folks, after all). The next evening the scene repeats itself in Columbus Ohio. ...... if there is any present Democratic candidate who can manipulate faith-based rhetoric to trigger a political conversion among conservative religious voters it is the talented junior senator from Illinois. Hillary Clinton Expresses Surprise at Big Money Donor's Wanted Status FOX News Castro backs Hillary Clinton NEWS.com.au Obama brings his pen on vacation Boston Globe For the second time in two days, Obama has penned an op-ed in a major publication outlining his views on a pressing issue. ..... in The New York Daily News urging Congress to pass a bill that would increase pressure on the Iranian government. ...... "It's time to turn the page on a failed foreign policy," he writes. "It's time for strong diplomacy backed by common-sense measures that pressure the Iranian regime." ..... in The Financial Times on the mortgage lending crisis, calling for sanctions on unscrupulous lenders. "If we are serious about stopping this crisis and preventing much larger turmoil in US housing markets, Washington needs to stop acting like an industry advocate and start acting like a public advocate Some antics for the web Economist FOR all the tricks that the world wide web can perform, it still resembles a collection of one-trick ponies rather than a concerted cavalry charge. You can book an airline ticket, hire a car at your destination, arrange concert tickets for the evening that you arrive and even get directions from the airport to the concert hall. But you have to do it all yourself, one element at a time. You cannot delegate the process to a website as you might delegate it to your secretary or your long-suffering spouse. ...... The semantic web is so called because it aspires to make the web readable by machines as well as humans, by adding special tags, technically known as metadata, to its pages. .... a trio of new technologies: the Resource Description Framework (RDF), the Web Ontology Language (OWL), and the SPARQL query language. Together, they allow computers to group objects and their features—from prices and measurements to locations and user ratings—into meaningful relationships and hierarchies, by analysing their associated metadata. ........ In the field of travel, attaching metadata to everything makes it possible to link up airline schedules, car rental and hotel bookings. ..... TripIt .... Wesabe refers to as “bank puke”
Virginia Tech Criticized for Actions in Shooting New York Times Two prominent senators call for Craig to resign Kansas City Star Senator claims plea was error, denies being gayConcord Monitor Senator's scandal rocks RepublicansABC Online Blood-red eclipse stops nation Daily Telegraphthe moon was eaten by darkness before emerging a bright red colour. .... If you missed out the next blood moon will be visible about 11.45pm on December 10, 2011. Obama Dominates GOP Rivals in Illinois Angus Reid Global Monitor, Canada In US Race, Obama Leads Giuliani and ThompsonAngus Reid Global Monitor Obama Tops Rudy, ThompsonNew York Press Obama’s Attack Town Hall, DC The God VoteWashington Post “Everybody digs Barack Obama.” .... he does possess qualities that make him uniquely attractive to people with advanced degrees in religious studies and other subjects. Obama can sound awfully professorial, as opposed to wonkish, when discussing issues pertaining to faith. The decade he spent as a lecturer in constitutional law at the University of Chicago has clearly left its mark. When reading or listening to him analyze questions of public policy and religion many scholars undoubtedly experience the pleasure of recognition. They may even conclude--somewhat narcissistically-- that “Senator Obama is one of us!” ....... “a narrative of faith.” ..... As a child, he was schooled in both Catholic and Muslim institutions. Too, there is reason to believe that prior to his later-life baptism he was under-churched or non-churched and may even have flirted with a casual sort of non-belief. All of these experiences tincture his thinking on religion with more sophistication and edge than any other candidate in the race. ....... Obama is a very original and cunning operator. .... Obama can lampoon the faith and values game while playing it with extraordinary skill. ... His quip about the “politician who shows up at a black church around election time and claps (off rhythm) to the gospel choir” is a classic zinger. It is a mustard-filled paint-ball aimed at John Kerry that then ricochets directly into one of Hillary Clinton’s preferred photo-ops.
You should be able to do it through MyBO. There should be a manual that you should be able to read online. And there should be tests you can take and get certified right there at MyBO. And it should show on your profile that you attended the Camp Obama Online.
Why? Because we got to scale this thing. Training thousands is not enough. We got to train tens of thousands all over the country, in small towns, and not just in big cities. We got to totally translate enthusiasm into organization. We got to get sophisticated. Otherwise we stand the risk of squandering the amazing grassroots response Obama 2008 has generated so far. We owe it to our army of small donors and volunteers to go all the way.
This is a movement you are talking about. This is not your traditional presidential campaign. When we say change, we mean it. We mean every letter of it.
We are using online tools better than any campaign. But we can do much better. We need to do much better. The competition is not with the other campaigns. The competition is with our own benchmarks.
The course online has to be evolving and interactive. It should be a tool to be build community online and offline.
We have got to go online, because we have got to mass produce.
In The News
Obama getting tough as going gets rough Chicago Sun-Times his strategy: to introduce himself as a Washington outsider but someone who understood the global stage and who believed in consensus. ..... For months this strategy had little variation. ..... And then the crowds started to dissipate. Obama didn't do as well as his aides had anticipated in the presidential debates and forums. He paused a second or two too long at times. He seemed awkward. He made a few gaffes. A poised Hillary Clinton was often declared the winner. ....... CNN's in early August: Clinton 40 percent, Obama 21 percent. Rasmussen's in late August: Clinton 39 percent, Obama 23 percent. People were getting to know Obama, but they weren't certain about his ability to don the presidential cloak. ...... as he shifts the gears of his strategy, taking bolder attacks against Clinton (note his description of her as "Bush-Cheney lite" on foreign affairs); retreating from many debates and presidential forums; presenting more detailed policies, as in his recent outline about how to resurrect a New Orleans still suffering two years after the debacle of Hurricane Katrina. ...... John Kerry was "at 4 percent in the polls before he won the Iowa caucus," adding, "I am happy to concede these polls in August. I am more interested in January." ....... Obama's tougher strategy may well give him the push needed in the early-voting states.
2008: Endorsements, Fund-Raising and Primaries New York Times Obama won the support of L. Douglas Wilder, the mayor of Richmond, Va. and the state’s former governor. Mr. Wilder, who was also the nation’s first elected black governor, predicted that Mr. Obama would do well among Southern voters. ...... McCain’s presidential campaign is eligible to receive public financing Dodd Catches FireYahoo! News Fire Fighters Endorse DoddHartford Courant Senator Craig Insists He Is Not Gay Miami Poetry Review Why Apple Can't Stop iPhone Hackers BusinessWeek17-year-old .. Hotz hacked his iPhone and unlocked it so that it can be used on a variety of cell-phone networks What Will Fix the Mortgage Mess? Corporate E-Mail on the iPhone Lawmakers sound off on Gonzales’ resignation The Citizen's Voice 2 Years After Katrina, Bush Sees Hope in New Orleans New York Times Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast struggling 2 years laterCNN Jailed dictator Noriega a hot potato Melbourne Herald Sun GOP Plans Early-Primary Penalties New York Times Castro: Clinton-Obama ticket a winner Houston Chronicle a "seemingly invincible ticket" of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama would easily land in the White House. ..... mockingly wrote that Obama and Clinton, both Democrats, "feel the sacred duty of demanding 'a democratic government in Cuba.' " ... Castro said Bill Clinton was friendly and intelligent, and that Jimmy Carter was the only U.S. president he has met who "was not an accomplice to terrorism against Cuba." Fidel Castro Death Rumors Give Way to Clinton-Obama SupportNational Ledger Fidel Castro Wants Clinton-Obama White HouseJudicial Watch White House pranksters deck out Karl Rove's car with 'I love Obama ... CBC Nova Scotia Rove's car is easily recognizable because of its "I love Barack Obama" bumper sticker Pranksters Wrap Rove's CarForbes Rove's Ride PimpedThe Gate - National Journal Karl Rove's Car Vandalised at White HouseShortNews.com Obama unveils radical mortgage plan Financial Times Unscrupulous lenders who deceptively sold subprime mortgages to millions of Americans should be fined and the proceeds used to help bail out borrowers facing a wave of foreclosures, according to Barack Obama ..... “Our government failed to provide the regulatory scrutiny that could have prevented this crisis. ..... “While predatory lenders were driving low-income families into financial ruin, 10 of the country’s largest mortgage lenders were spending more than $185m (€136m, £92m) lobbying Washington to let them get away with it,” he wrote, citing figures from the Centre for Responsive Politics. ...... Obama said the government needed to “stop the unlicensed, unregulated, fly-by-night mortgage brokers who are hoodwinking low- income borrowers into loans they can’t afford”. ...... Curtailing undue corporate influence on policymaking in Washington is one of Mr Obama’s signature issues. ...... “There needs to be rationalisation – more centralisation – of how mortgage lending is regulated.” Obama would target sub-prime lendersUnited Press International Google expert says 'TV is dead'Telegraph.co.uk One of the founding fathers of the internet has predicted the end of traditional television. ... television was approaching its "iPod moment" ...... viewers would soon be downloading most of their favourite programmes onto their computers. ..... 85 per cent of all video we watch is pre-recorded ... Cerf, who is now the vice-president of the Google ...... some internet service providers, have warned that the internet will collapse under the strain of millions of people downloading programmes at the same time. ..... Over the next four years, it is thought that the number of videos watched over the internet will quadruple, with people moving from short clips to hour-long programmes. ..... "I want every one of the six billion people on the planet to be able to connect to the internet - I think they will add things to it that will really benefit us." Google: censorship is not up to us Times Online Google CFO to Retire At Age 53ABC News Google CFO OutForbes Original Document: Obama's Field Director On Enthusiasm And ... Atlantic Online crowds of more than 20,000 in Atlanta, GA; 20,000 in Austin, TX and a historic crowd of 10,000 in Iowa City, IA. ...... how are we going to channel this enthusiasm into an organization capable of delivering victories in the early states and the February 5th states? ..... marrying traditional field organizing training with the community organizing tactics Obama learned as a young man on the south side of Chicago. ...... Camp Obama: Turning Enthusiasm into Organization ..... the last three months, the Obama campaign has trained thousands of volunteers and supporters at “Camp Obama” trainings. ..... almost twenty Camp Obama trainings across the country including Burbank, CA; San Francisco, CA; Atlanta, GA; St. Louis, MO; Salt Lake City, UT and New York City, NY. In October, we will hold trainings in Birmingham, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee and will continue the trainings in Chicago. ..... What happens at the trainings? .... a marriage between community organizing and traditional organizing tactics .... a vigorous two to four day program that includes training on setting up and running phone banks, planning and organizing a door-knocking program and role playing common scenarios from the campaign trail including the process of registering voters and speaking with voters about Obama’s leadership on key issues. ...... community organizing tactics—like relationship building and the ability to find common interests in people and employ them ....... building local leaders in the communities and fostering long-term relationships to support our common values ..... mini-campaign offices with these groups—self-sufficient, interdependent teams that take responsibility for all aspects of a campaign within their congressional district. ....... provide supporters and volunteers with the tools to take organizing into their own hands. ...... enthusiasm alone will not win the nomination ...... turning energy into action all the way to the White House. ...... local people are the everyday experts on the issues important to their communities .... equip the everyday experts with the same organizing tools and the roadmap to victory that our paid campaign staffers rely on across the country. ....... Ben Turner, 17, Student, Atlanta "For me, Barack Obama is a symbol of what's to come, of an entire movement. Just like MLK ...... the February 5th states where most candidates are struggling to decide if they should invest resources. ..... investing in everyday people and encouraging them to be our ambassadors, our organizers and our voices in places where we don’t have paid staff or official offices yet. ...... early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina and in February 5th states like California, New Jersey, New York, Georgia and Missouri. ...... a winning campaign will need deep organizations in dozens of states to prevail. .... We will have the largest and most committed grassroots organization in the race, allowing us to build our support, chase absentee ballots, conduct early vote programs and turn out Obama supporters in any state we need to. The Battle for the Democratic Nomination: Hillary Clinton vs ... TransWorldNews (press release), GA Countdown begins for real in America's first billion-dollar ...Times Online In five days most Americans will begin enjoying their long Labor Day weekend - the traditional end of summer - in the usual way: barbecuing, a final trip to the beach and watching sport. ...... two of the whitest and least populated in America ..... Labor Day also marks the traditional start of the presidential primary campaign ... the moment when many voters begin to focus on the candidates and the issues. .... the longest and most expensive campaign in US history - it will be the first $1 billion election ..... “Tsunami Tuesday” ... America is probably only 20 weeks away from knowing who its two main candidates will be. .... The 2008 race is the first since 1928 in which both parties have genuinely open primary contests ..... In four out of five times in the post Second World War era - 1960, 1968, 1976 and 2000 - the party holding the White House for two consecutive terms has failed to win a third. ...... In 2002 party identification split evenly between the two parties. Now only 35 per cent of Americans call themselves Republican - compared with 50 per cent who say that they are Democrat. ...... Mrs Clinton fares the worst. She is in a statistical tie with Mr Giuliani and just ahead of Mr McCain. This is feeding Democratic fears that although she is a prohibitive favourite for her party’s nomination, she will prove too unpopular and polarising to win a general election. She has the highest “negatives” - unfavourable ratings - of any candidate. ...... She has run an utterly disciplined primary campaign. In debates she has been relaxed, confident and clearly the most knowledgeable and experienced. Her “negatives” have also started to inch downwards. She has been a better candidate in the skills of one-to-one retail politics than most predicted. Her closest adviser is America’s shrewdest political tactician: her husband. ......... Nationally her lead over Mr Obama is 16 per cent, 38 per cent to 22. That has edged down from 20 per cent from two weeks ago, and in the early nominating contests of Iowa and New Hampshire it is far closer. Mrs Clinton, Mr Edwards and Mr Obama are in a statistical tie in Iowa. She leads Mr Obama by eight points in New Hampshire. ..... his greatest challenge is to convince enough voters that he has the gravitas to lead America in a time of colossal foreign policy uncertainty. ..... Mrs Clinton’s relentless exploitation of it ... unlike the New York senator, had the judgment to oppose the Iraq war ..... a relatively stable two-horse contest. .... a personal wealth of $250 million ..... He is a hugely successful venture capitalist who rescued the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. He desperately wants to be president. He is the Republican most on the rise. ...... A possible entry by Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, this year will shake up the already volatile Republican race even further. .... US presidential politics is a mercurial and brutal affair where conventional wisdom is often turned on its head. Michael Dukakis warned his party this week how quickly things can change. He should know. In July 1988 the former Democratic nominee held a 17-point lead over George Bush Sr. Three months later he lost in a landslide. Stories and Numbers - a Closer Look at Camp Obama Huffington Post, NYNo one who attends a "Camp Obama" training weekend can deny that something truly beautiful is taking place inside the Barack Obama campaign. ...lead by Harvard Professor Marshall Ganz ..... applying story telling, emotion and faith to politics. .... He was there when Robert Kennedy was shot .... says that for America it's been 40 years in the desert since that time. But he says he's beginning to see an out. ...... Almost every sentence Ganz speaks is at the same time intensely intellectual and intensely emotional. ...... telling our stories to each other ..... learn how to tell our own stories ...... how to "put into words why you're called, and why we've been called, to change the way the world works." ...... recruiting and motivating volunteers and building relationships. ..... emerge being able to tell their "story of self" in less than two minutes ..... I wasn't prepared for anything like who the people in this room turned out to be when they began to tell their stories. ...... two different professors tried to steer her towards a major in education. One told her, "This isn't a field for black girls." ...... Another told her he was sure she was being set up by affirmative action for failure, though actually her scholarship had been awarded for academic performance only. Despite that discouragement, she stuck with it and now does some crazy high tech job for NASA .......... After hearing their stories, I certainly was looking at this group differently than when we first sat down. ...... In just that first morning session, this group of "ordinary campaign volunteers" had been revealed to actually be a group of insanely talented, wise and courageous leaders. Now that that had been established, the real work could start. ...... This potential-revealing process of story telling ... a key tactic of every social movement from the American revolution to the Great Awakenings to the Civil Rights Movement. .... first appeared: as "ordinary volunteers." Because that's how organizers saw them, and how they saw each other, that is how they functioned. ...... the nuts and bolts: training and exercises on how to function as an effective team, skills training for volunteer recruitment and voter contact and review and explanations of field plans for Georgia, South Carolina and the rest of the South. ...... a process of setting goals and making a plan to achieve them ...... While still at the training, thirteen different teams scheduled thirteen different volunteer recruitment meetings back in the districts--and picked up their cell phones to get 284 commitments to attend from friends and neighbors. ..... the closing ceremony ... was incredibly high-energy and emotional. ....... establish parallel teams of five to eight people to be responsible for cities and neighborhoods all the way down to the precinct level. ...... There's no question that Camp Obama is a beautiful thing. ... communities benefit from the leadership development that takes place at Camp Obama. ..... But is there time for this meticulous organization-building to make any kind of difference in the vote in the "Super Duper Tuesday" February 5 nationwide primary? That all depends on the actual numbers of high-functioning teams that Camp Obama graduates are able to create in their districts, and the actual numbers of voters those teams are able to persuade and get to the polls. ..... the vast half of the country that votes on February 5. .... the hard numbers of this great experiment. Obama's campaign gets mobile boost from Bellevue startup Seattle Post Intelligencer allows supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate to receive news and other information on their mobile phones. The service, which also was built by Distributive Networks, includes ringtones with excerpts from Obama's speeches.
Unlike many Democrats, I have not been following the Gonzalez saga in any detail. I don't remember clicking on any headlines while he was being pilloried. I have only read a few stories now that he has resigned.
I like it that Bush put Colin Powell, Condi Rice and Alberto Gonzalez in top positions. Democrats should have done it before him but didn't.
When you come from where Gonzalez came from, it is a big deal to become Attorney General. It is like being President of the United States. You have arrived in the big leagues. I relate to the feeling fundamentally. When I quote my scant conversations with Howard Dean from having met him at events in the city, people in the Nepali community are all ears, and Dean never even appointed me to anything. I am still the same guy, before and after, but I need some big shot white guy to elevate me even with my own people. I am a huge, diehard fan of Howard Dean, don't get me wrong, for me Obama picked up where Dean left, but at some level I find the symbolism of it all a little amusing and offensive. Look at me for me, I seem to want to say.
Bush messed up big time. He lied to a country to take it to a trillion dollar war. That is what impeachment is for. But so far noone has tried to impeach Bush, noone in a position to do so. So Gonzalez was the fall guy. Not even his own conservatives liked him. He was not white. He was incompetent, so to speak. He gets accused of being a crony appointment. When white people nominate white people like that, it is not crony appointment. Give me a break.
Bush messed up. So if Gonzalez worked for Bush, he must have messed up as well.
Gonzalez provided some symbolism for the Hispanics, but what did he actually do for them besides the symbolism?
I am more interested in an elected symbol like Bill Richardson than an appointed one like Gonzalez. Richardson is for real.
Gonzalez has been a victim to the progressive tide sweeping the country. That tide will also sweep about 10 white guys in the Senate next year. I am glad.
Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, we belong in the Democratic Party. That is my message to my fellow Indians. Go Barack. The right wing of the Republican Party has too much history, if you get the gist of what I am getting at.
In The News
Bihar police beating is broadcast BBC News the beating highlights the widespread problem of police brutality in India. .... the paper-thin suspect is seen wearing only tattered trousers. .... His hands are bound behind his back, and he is repeatedly punched in the face and kicked in the stomach, chest and back by a mob on Monday in the eastern city of Bhagalpur. ..... "He was dragged for some time and the police constable stopped his bike only when he lost consciousness ...... the victim, Salim .... in many cases, the victims are low caste and poor. ..... not the first time that police in Bhagalpur have been accused of abuses. .... In 1979 they were accused of blinding 31 alleged criminals by pouring acid into their eyes. .... Bihar is considered to be one of India's most lawless states. Number of Uninsured Americans Hits Record High Washington Post Clinton picks up first big union endorsement Boston Globe Clinton scores transportation union endorsementPolitics on the Hudson Castro Essay Criticizes 2008 Candidates Washington Post Castro accused U.S. presidential candidates of "submission" to his exiled foes in Florida and offered a favorable assessment of only one of the 10 presidents he has known: Jimmy Carter. ...... Castro said that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "feel the sacred duty to demand 'a democratic government in Cuba'" _ something Cuban officials insist already exists. ...... Castro has not been seen in public in the 13 months ....... Castro said Bill Clinton was "really friendly" during a brief encounter at a U.N. summit and said he was "intelligent in demanding that rule of law be followed" in the case of castaway boy Elian Gonzalez ......... Clinton apparently tried to stop flights by exile pilots who had enraged the communist government by repeatedly scattering anti-communist literature over Havana. ...... Cuban jet fighters shot down the civilian planes off the island's coast during a repeat visit in February 1996. Seek cover; Hillary hailstorm aheadUT The Daily Texan The same week thousands stood in the rain to watch Barack Obama speak in Austin last spring, Hillary Clinton made an appearance at a closed-door fundraiser thrown by some of Austin's elite. ....... Hillary Clinton, for all her incredible political gifts, has become Public Enemy No. 2 for a disturbingly large number of Americans. ...... She was for the Iraq war before she was against it. ...... the last 27 years under administrations that contained either a Bush or a Clinton. ..... party-machine-made candidates like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush Indian student found dead in Nepal Hindustan Times Two tablets of an anti-depressant cum sedative drug were found near the body ..... had been depressed following the results of the final year examinations on Monday afternoon, which showed him to have flunked the test. .... it was Sinha's third attempt to pass the examination, having failed twice earlier. Gonzales Kicked On His Way Out The Door U.S. News & World Report "For a man accused of lying to Congress, it was a fitting way to go out." ...... Overwhelmingly, opposition to Gonzales is being cast as deep and bipartisan and even unnamed sources in the Administration are said to be glad the embattled Attorney General decided to leave. ...... The announcement caught his top aides at the Justice Department by surprise ..... Gonzales' departure came "to the relief of many administration officials who have long considered him an embarrassment." ..... no one in the White House asked him to reconsider and change his mind ..... was actually "a firing ...... in one of those Washington, no-fingerprints ways." ..... Bush saying, "It is sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons." ..... would continue their investigations on Gonzales' actions. ...... "ineffectual or counterproductive" in his defense of the Administration's war-time powers. ...... conservatives have "questioned both Gonzales's legal acumen and his ability to manage the sprawling Justice Department." ....... "You can bring your politics to Agriculture. ... You can do that at Interior. But the Justice Department is supposed to be different. ...... One who was a very decent person but seemed incapable of handling the Justice Department. At best he was seen by Republicans as incompetent, he was seen by Democrats as not truthful ...... just how deep the political corruption went during his time at Justice." ....... "for all of his undeniable deficiencies, merely reflected the principles of this administration. His resignation is a necessary but hardly sufficient step in restoring the nation's commitment to the rule of law." ........ "inadequate and inept ..... he "lacked the political skill and leadership ability to survive in a high-profile post." ...... recalling his rise up from poverty ...... "dirt-poor Texas childhood." ..... "I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days." ....... "to the bitter end, Gonzales remained the most self-involved attorney general in modern memory. ..... the grandchild of immigrants .... Solicitor General Paul Clement "will be acting attorney general ...... a solid conservative and "savvy" insider ...... hard-right conservative unwilling to consider the other side." no rakhi in many Bihar homes Economic Times Senate prospects seem brighter for Democrats MSNBC it now looks possible that in next year’s elections the Democrats just might attain the 60 seats they need to foil Republican filibusters ...... there are 22 Republican-held seats to be defended, and six of them appear in jeopardy ..... Senate Democrats have only two seats that appear to be at any risk .... The financial momentum also is with the Democrats. ...... 2002. .. Bush seemed at the peak of his post-9/11 powers and was a big draw on the campaign trail. ...... Idaho — a state which no Democratic presidential candidate has carried in 43 years and no Senate Democratic candidate has won in 33 years ...... the Mountain West, where the Republicans have been dominant for the past 40 years but which is turning more competitive ...... Democrats will keep the focus on the Mountain West next summer by holding their presidential convention in Denver. India aiming for free trade accord with ASEAN by November: official Channel News Asia In Hyderabad, a tale of two citiesRediff In dodgy neighborhood, India easy prey for bombers Reuters India was second only to Iraq in terms of terrorist incidents and deaths between January 2004 and March this year, with 3,674 people killed, more than hotspots like Afghanistan and Colombia. ........ Shahid Bilal of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HuJI), a Bangladeshi group .... Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba works hand-in-glove with HuJI ..... "A huge problem the Indians face is that they don't have a functional relationship with their near neighbors... with the people who can help them ....... vast swathes of the rural hinterland virtually unpoliced. The criminal justice system is overwhelmed and outdated. ..... no central database of militant suspects and little time for the kind of meticulous, post-attack hunt for clues undertaken elsewhere. ...... Foot soldiers in India are given small, specific tasks without necessarily knowing the people they are dealing with, or the grand plot. ....... "Our country is so big, things are happening in such a manner that even if we have the information that something is likely to happen we do not know when and where it is likely to happen." ....... India's 140-million-strong Muslim population is beginning to provide recruits for militant groups, especially after communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which around 2,500 people died. ..... Militants' attacks in recent years have failed in what most presume is their aim -- to destabilize India by fomenting violence between Hindus and Muslims, and to destroy the peace process with Pakistan. 10 die in mosque bombing in IraqLos Angeles Times Germany's Merkel prods China on rights, women Guardian Unlimited Angelina Jolie visits Iraq refugees Reuters US Income and Poverty Rates Improved in 2006 New York Times Google Germany slammed for Neo-Nazi YouTube clips Register Google + CNN = Good for You Motley Fool Google Cuts AdSense Deal with CNN.comWired News Samsung Will Roll Out WiMax In New York For Sprint InformationWeek Samsung has already been rolling out WiMax in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and Providence, R.I. ...... Sprint said it expects mobile Internet services to be available for New York area customers in late 2008. ..... Sprint's New York-area WiMax service will cover New York City; Nassau-Suffolk, Long Island; Jersey City, N.J; and some areas in northern and central New Jersey including the Newark, Bergen-Passaic, Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, and Monmouth-Ocean regions. Google's Secret Society Forbes Orkut.com, with a redesign intended to prettify the site's Spartan look. ...... Orkut now draws 38.2 billion page views a month worldwide, 7.8 billion more than Facebook ...... In Brazil, where Facebook and MySpace are virtually unknown, Orkut has become a smash hit, with 15.6 billion page views monthly ...... 10 billion more monthly page views than Facebook draws from Americans. ...... Orkut's success in Brazil seems largely to be a fluke. The site hasn't made any special appeal to Brazilians, and only began to offer a Portuguese-language option in April of 2005, long after it had become the social network of choice in Brazil. One blogger argues that its name, which was taken from Turkish-born Google engineer Orkut Buyukkokten, is catchy in Portuguese and reminds Brazilians of a popular yogurt drink for kids. ....... Facebook will earn more than $100 million this year ...... "If you've got the ad coverage, an international user is as valuable as anyone ...... brings the percentage of Google's foreign revenue to 60.8%, up from 46.7% last year. ..... MySpace still leads the social networking market by a large margin, and Facebook tripled its audience in the last year .. Orkut grew only 64%. ..... Socialstream, a prototype for a site that allows users to post text and multimedia content to a single page, then syndicate that content to any social network where they have a profile. ........ Combined with Orkut, Socialstream might be just the sort of Googlish innovation that breaks down the "walled-garden" approach to social networking favored by Facebook and MySpace and brings American eyeballs to Orkut. ...... If Google could provide Orkut with a competitive advantage, it could easily build a community from the audience that uses its services like Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google Maps, Google Calendar and its photo-sharing site, Picasa ..... "Until now, Orkut has been an also-ran in the U.S. because it's been neglected by Google," Sterling says. "But with just a few tweaks and redesigns, and in combination with all of Google's services, it has the potential to really differentiate itself from MySpace and Facebook." looking forward to RGV's Aag Rediff US Obesity Rates Continue To Rise, Study Finds Kaiser network.org Britney, Kevin under child abuse investigation? Xinhua the heated child custody battle between Spears and Kevin Federline Fotolog and the French CNet hearty congratulations to Scott Heiferman and Adam Seifer, on selling Fotolog to France's Hi-Media Group for $90 million ....... Launched in May 2002 by Scott Heiferman and Adam Seifer as a small community project of 200 friends, Fotolog today generates more than 3.5 billion page views and receives more than 15 million unique visitors each month. Fotolog ranks among the top 25 in the Alexa list of the world's most trafficked websites (click here for today's ranking) and was recently named Site of the Week by PC Magazine. Marc Andreessen: "Step 1: Go dark and execute... Money talks, hype walks -- when you're hitting your numbers, everyone thinks you're a genius and believes everything you say, no matter how silly. When you're not hitting your numbers, everyone thinks you're a moron and won't believe anything you say, no matter how true. So go dark, focus on the business.... Step 9: In six months, relaunch the company with a single, crisp, coherent message and strategy. Then go dark again and go right back to work." Eleven lessons learned about blogging, so far It is crystal clear to me now that at least in industries where lots of people are online, blogging is the single best way to communicate and interact. ..... Blogging is clearly the second coming of high-quality Internet conversations ..... conversations on the Internet would eventually all revolve around every individual having a blog ....... and the communication would flow through the links. ..... I am also reading both Technorati and Google Blog Search results for my blog, multiple times per day. ...... writing a blog is way easier than writing a magazine article, a published paper, or a book -- but provides many of the same benefits. ..... how much more fun blogging is versus public speaking -- at least for me. ...... I'm not sure I'll ever speak in public again -- I'll be at home instead, blogging in my underwear. ..... a piece of original content that goes viral generates way more page views than a piece of content that does not. ...... we are definitely entering a world in which bloggers are taken super-seriously by political candidates, company PR departments, government officials, and book editors, among many others The truth about venture capitalists, Part 1 The truth about venture capitalists, Part 2 The truth about venture capitalists, Part 3 Analyzing the Facebook Platform, three weeks in Facebook is promising economic freedom -- third-party applications can run ads and sell goods and services to their hearts' content. ..... The leadership that the Facebook team is showing here rivals anything that the large and established software and web companies have done in this decade. Why there's no such thing as Web 2.0
Conductor: Due to a stalled train at Lorimer Street, there is no L service to Manhattan. Hispanic lady: Why would someone stole a train? Where they gonna put it? --M train
Mom: I need a size 'Small.' Little girl, loudly: Mommy, aren't you a Large? --H&M, 51st & 5th
Newspaper guy: Read all about it: girl passing me right now has holes in her jeans.Girl with holy jeans: They're made like that, asshole. --Port Authority
Hipster dude: ... And she ended up renting some movie about Madame Curie. Hipster chick: That's the wax lady, right? Over at Times Square? I didn't know there was a movie about her. Hipster dude: I hate you. --Union Square
Drunk chick: Oh my god, you look like the last tsunami! Guy with really short hair: What? Drunk chick: I said you look like that last tsunami guy in the Tom Cruise movie!Guy with really short hair: You mean The Last Samurai? Drunk chick: Oh, yeah. Him. --Party, 46th & 8th
Tourist #1: Why is New York called 'The Village'? Tourist #2: Huh? Oh, no. Greenwich Village. It's a section of New York. Tourist #1: Why does it need sections? Tourist #2: 'Cause it's huge. It's like the size of Chicago or something. --13th & 4th
Bench chick #1: You know you can get, like, melanoma or skin cancer without suntan lotion. Bench chick #2: So? At least I'll die tan. --NYU
NYU boy, about man with cane and sunglasses: Why do all blind people have to wear sunglasses? NYU girl: Isn't it all part of the persona? NYU boy: What, like they don't want me to see their eyes? NYU girl: I guess. And like how they wear baggy pants and FUBU shit. NYU boy, slowly, after long pause: I said 'blind people.' --F train, 14th St
Teacher: And Montana-- Asian girl, interrupting: --Wait, isn't Montana somewhere near Germany along with Maine? --Bronx Science
"So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised address Saturday.
It is possible the fires in Greece were entirely to do with climate conditions. The temperatures were high enough. The woods were dry. It had already been a summer of thousands of small fires.
But speculations run rife.
One, local arsonists did it. Some have even been arrested. Perhaps those with arson criminal records have been rounded up.
Two, criminal gangs are trying to develop forest land for profit. So they had to destroy the forest first.
Three, I have not head the terrorism angle yet. I guess Arabs are not in sight. But some might argue the whole thing looks too coordinated.
Or it is just plain old global warming.
Global warming is a bigger threat than terrorism and nuclear proliferation put together. And the low points are going to be visually spectacular. Katrina, this fire in Greece. There will be more to come.
We are not ready. We are not being far-sighted enough. We have not build the decision making mechanisms that will help us counter the tide of global warming.
Global challenges ask for a world government. Frankly put, that is what it boils down to. But the idea has so far been anathema to the very powers that preach democracy.
In The News 'Half of Greece' on fire as blazes rage NEWS.com.au, Australia "Fires are burning in more than half the country," fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis said. ..... The blaze broke out on Friday afternoon and quickly engulfed villages .... On Saturday, new fronts had emerged as dozens of fresh fires broke out. ..... "So many fires breaking out simultaneously in so many parts of the country cannot be a coincidence," he said in a nationally televised address Saturday. ...... A 65-year-old man was arrested and charged with arson and multiple counts of homicide in a fire that killed six people in Areopolis, a town in the southern Peloponnese. Two youths were arrested on suspicion of arson in the northern city of Kavala. Their parents are also likely to face charges. Arsonists blamed as Greece burns BBC News, UK six planes, two helicopters, 15 fire engines and 45 firemen .... village after village succumbed to the flames ..... At one stage, the flames were racing at more than a mile every few minutes ..... The rapidly advancing fires caught many people unawares. Those who left the decision to flee too late were caught in their houses, cars, or as they stumbled through olive groves. .... Athens itself was shrouded in smoke that obscured the sun as several fires threatened the city's outskirts. ..... The front is 30km (19 miles) long Greeks step up fire investigationAnti-terrorist squads have been questioning some of the 32 suspected arsonists arrested so far, as new fires continue to break out around Greece. ..... Greece has the feel of a country on a war footing. .... the country is awash with theories about who could have set fire to the land. .... fires could have been started as a way of getting around Greek laws forbidding development on areas designated as forest land. ...... 20 water-bombing planes and 19 helicopters. ..... "a tremendous solidarity" between EU member states. ..... Hot dry winds helped to spread the fires to the outskirts of Athens, shrouding the capital in smoke that obscured the sun. Fires roar across Greece...Idaho fire grows...Mine search ... Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND Rewards offered in suspected Greek arson; seven arrested Nation Multimedia, Thailand individuals or members of a criminal ring suspected of setting the fires .... France, Italy, Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Romania, Norway and Slovenia were sending aid. Fires tear through tinder-dry Greece International Herald Tribune, France the fires, Greece's worst in decades .... drought and three consecutive heat waves that sent temperatures soaring above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). More than 3,000 forest fires have razed thousands of wooded hectares since June ...... Prayers were held in churches across the country for the blazes to relent. .... Greece's worst summer of wildfires. .... Among the victims in the area were a pair of French hikers who were trapped in a flaming ravine. Their charred bodies were found locked in an embrace Greece fights fires across the country; Arson suspected in many ... Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND wildfires burning in more than half the country are an "unprecedented disaster" for Greece. .... Crews are battling blazes on 42 major fronts, concentrated in the mountains of southern Greece and on an island north of Athens.
Obama 2008 is going to give birth to the grassroots power woman.
She realizes she has the power.
She joins and/or creates local groups.
She does not shy away from taking leadership positions.
She encourages other women to join.
Most important, she understands and is vocal about the premise that you don't make progress on gender by talking about the weather. You make progress on gender by talking about gender.
She feels it is okay to reach out to women in gender specific ways, both vertically and horizontally. No need to be apologetic.
She takes pride in women who have risen up in leadership positions in the grassroots movement that is Obama 2008.
She realizes it is bottom up, not top down.
She does events and blogs events in settings like big progressive cities so as to reach out to women in more isolated and rural settings. She sends out vibes that way. She purposely brings up for discussion workplace issues and relationship issues in mixed gender settings.
She role plays on workplace issues and relationship issues to educate the larger national audience on what's going on and what to do about what's going on. She videoblogs, photoblogs, textblogs.
In The News
Gonzales: It’s Official New York Times “I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father’s best days.” ....... a decision that took many by surprise because it flew in the face of Mr. Bush’s adamant pronouncements that he would not ask Mr. Gonzales to. ...... it was the “drip, drip, drip” of partisan politics that wore Mr. Gonzales down. Attorney General Gonzales ResignsTheStreet.com
Greece fights fires across the country; Arson suspected in many CCTV, China fires that are sweeping across the country ... Massive fires consuming large areas of southern Greece ..... 42 fires in various parts of the country .... Arson has been blamed in several cases ... The government has declared a nationwide state of emergency. Villagers flee as wildfires blaze across Greece PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) The worst wildfires in living memory ..... four days of raging fires sweeping across the country .... Driven by strong, hot winds and fueled by parched grass and trees, the fires have engulfed villages, forests and farmland, leaving in their wake a blackened landscape dotted with the carcasses of animals. New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control. ...... an explosive mixture of very adverse weather conditions, tinder-dry forests _ to an extent not seen for many years _ combined with the wild winds of the past two weeks. It's a recipe to burn the whole country. ........ From Evros in the north to the Western islands of Corfu and Kefalonia and down to the Peloponnese in the south ..... one tragedy stood out: A woman killed on Friday, her charred body found with her arms around her four children, might have been safe if she had stayed in her home. It was the only house left untouched by the flames in the village of Artemida in the western Peloponnese. ........ a fire raged out of control in Nafpaktos in the south, while another wall of flames crossed over Greece's northern border from Albania ..... Still more fires started on the island of Crete to the south and Evia, north of Athens. ..... Greek authorities have suggested arson caused many of the blazes ...... whether arson attacks could come under Greece's anti-terrorism and organized crime laws ..... one who drowned as he tried to flee the flames. ... The whole village is burning. It's been burning for three days ..... Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic games and one of the most revered ancient sites, barely escaped destruction on Sunday, when a massive firefighting effort saved the 2,800-year-old ruins from flames that were leaping up to 100 meters (300 feet) in the air. ...... Helicopters and aircraft covered the ruins with water and foam. ..... A new front of fire was also reported on the island of Evia, north of Athens. Much of the large island has already been burned. ..... In the 24 hours from 6 a.m. on Sunday until Monday morning, 89 new fires broke out Lexington stop last on Obama itinerary Cincinnati Post two-week cross-country road trip ..... 2,200 in his final stop: Kentucky. .... "I've been on the road 12 days," Obama said during the rally at Lexington's convention center. "I've been running out of clean laundry. I won't give you the details." ....... "I'm not afraid to negotiate with anybody because I know what America stands for," he said. "We don't have to be arrogant to be strong." ..... The senator said he hoped this would be the year Kentucky would end a streak of voting for Republican presidential nominees. "You've got a Bluegrass state, how are you going to have a red state voting?" he said. "It just doesn't work." ...... The rest of his fiery stump speech was traditional Obama - no notes or podium, just wandering the stage with a microphone and delivering popular applause lines to the Democratic faithful. ...... Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said Obama's Kentucky appearance would make no difference next fall. Obama fires up crowd in LexingtonKentucky.com his signature high-octane style ..... Obama had the nearly 2,000 people chanting "fired up" and "ready to go" ....... 12-day U.S. tour through 60 cities ...... he said, "We need to stop using terrorism as a wedge issue." ..... came into last night's event curious and uncommitted. She said she left impressed. ...... Obama talked about the government investing in creation of an electronic record-keeping system. That could save as much as $150 billion, which could be used to lower health care costs. ...... he alluded to his disapproval of the coal mining process of mountaintop removal. .... About 500 more people than expected paid the campaign their $25 to attend. .... Robert Webb, 56, Christian Adair, 34, and Karah Sutton, 19, arrived about 3:30 p.m. for the 5:30 event and were among the first 10 in line. ... After Obama's speech, all three said the performance surpassed expectations. .... "He's idealistic without being unrealistic," said Sutton, summing up her attraction to Obama. .... His style is unlike that of any politician she's heard -- almost like that of a charismatic minister. "Not that it was preachy or religious," she said, "but that it was inspiring." Iraqi prime minister blasts Hillary Clinton Newsday The Buzz: Giuliani staffer blasts Thompson Kansas City Star 23 more die in monsoon floods in India's Bihar state Earthtimes.org Fla. Dems blame GOP for DNC action Washington Times Greek fires blaze for fourth day Reuters French President Calls for Timed Troop Exit From Iraq Voice of America Can Ads on YouTube Boost Google? TheStreet.com By Vishesh Kumar .... video ads could be a major source of revenue for the company a few years out. .... if advertisers begin shifting even a small fraction of their TV ad budgets into online video ads ..... the move could bring Google an additional $120 million Bachchan delights with father's poems IndiaPost.com 'Bachchan Sandhya' at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan, and the occasion, Harivanshrai Bachchan's centenary celebrated by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA, to coincide with the 60th Independence Day of India. ..... Amitabh was joined on the occasion by son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai ..... "He was a very simple man, born in a very poor family, struggled a lot, but remained an extremely disciplined man." The actor narrated several anecdotes from his childhood which reflected the many aspects of his father's writing prowess, strong determination and humanity. Yahoo! Mail! Messenger! News! Text! Whatever! eFluxMedia (press release) the ability to send text messages to mobile phones from inside the Webmail’s interface. ..... Yahoo’s strategy to regain at least a part of its former online audience, from the likes of YouTube, MySpace or Facebook. ..... completed the interoperability pact with Windows Live Messenger ..... Yahoo boasts with more than 254 million Yahoo Mail accounts set up on its servers, compared to Microsoft’s only 224 million Hotmail accounts. .... "Our goal is to make (Yahoo) Mail a more social experience," John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo Mail, said in a phone interview with Reuters. "We really look at ourselves as sitting on top of the largest dormant social network out there." ...... lay the groundwork for adding more social-networking features later this year. ...... “The battle for the inbox” Yahoo! Webmail adds new enhancements, sheds 'beta' tagThe Money Times A button provided at the top of the page gives users the option to choose between sending an e-mail, chatting over IM or sending a text, or SMS, message, for free. ..... "My mother now instant messages through mail to my children. She can send messages to my son while he is at soccer practices; he carries his mobile phone everywhere." ..... Yahoo Mail offers a new intelligent shortcuts feature that enables users to quickly add an address to their contacts list or view it on a map, add an event to the calendar, and even conduct a Web search on certain terms. Several shortcuts are available for things like addresses, places, dates, contact information, etc. that are underlined with blue dots. Users can call up the short-cut action by hovering over and right-clicking those underlined items. ..... The new version of Yahoo Mail that comes out of beta on Monday is the most significant overhaul of the web-based e-mail service since it was launched a decade ago. ..... AOL, the fourth largest e-mail provider that already is offering unlimited storage for free. ..... Earlier this month Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it would raise Hotmail free storage cap from 2 to 5 gigabytes. Likewise, on August, 10, Mountain View-based Google announced a major storage upgrade for its worldwide active Gmail and Picasa users by increasing the storage limit from standard 1GB free storage for Picasa and 2.8GB for Gmail to up to 250GB of storage, which Google will offer for a fee. Yahoo Updates MailPC World
Right now we are not doing a good job of connecting the local groups, the neighborhood groups, and the local people who sign up with the campaign at http://www.barackobama.com and this is no good.
Both those efforts are doing great independent of each other, but if we could create a super synergy between the two, we would grow by leaps and bounds. This is especially true since Barack will now on have to focus on the early states. He no longer can afford to crisscross the country. But the organization has got to grow nationwide whether or not Barack can show in person. How do you do that? You do it the grassroots way.
More and more people are going to start paying attention nationally as the primaries get closer. And more and more people are going to visit http://www.barackobama.com and sign up. And more and more neighborhood groups are going to sprout up like mushrooms all across the country.
But the two can not run like two separate campaigns. We got to tap the power of the grassroots to the fullest.
How do you do that? You allow each neighborhood group to attach itself to a particular zip code, or a few zip codes in each case. Leaders of such groups should be given the option to share their contact information. Say I am the Grand Wizard of Alaska For Obama. (By the way I was very tempted to ask Barack this question last I saw him: "Senator, I have never been to Hawaii or Alaska. Have you ever been to Alaska?") If there are people in Alaska who are going to go to http://www.barackobama.com and sign up there, I want them to receive an email once a month saying the usual stuff, the national stuff, but there should be a part at the bottom that says there is a group called Alaska For Obama, and here is the website of the group, and I am the Grand Wizard, and if anyone wants to get in touch with me, here is my email address. Some wizards might feel comfortable giving out their phone numbers. I wouldn't. I am an email wizard. But each to his her own.
It is not okay, it is not enough to send just one national email to everyone who signed up once every few weeks. Each such email should have two parts, the national part, and the local part. The local part has to be zip code specific.
Because, let's face it, most people, the new people, are going to visithttp://www.barackobama.com and not the local group's website, although they exist, in this day and age of cheap creating and hosting of websites. You can do it for free if you really wanted, at Google Pages. Buy a domain name for $1 a month, create your site at Google Pages, and just forward the domain name to the site, and hola, you got a website.
In big cities, you will have neighborhood groups, and then you will have larger umbrellas, and finally you will have a city committee or something. In small towns you might only have one group for the entire town.
People are not expecting Obama to show up everywhere. They understand he can't make it all places, especially now on. But they do want to be able to reach out to the nearest volunteer leaders from where they live, and the campaign should make that possible.
Granted http://www.barackobama.com is designed for people to create their own profile and then find events locally and show up for them, for the average person that is a few steps too many. It starts feeling techie stuff.
But if they can find contact info for local volunteer leaders straight in their inbox once a month or so, I believe that will really change things. We got to get people talking to each other. We got to localize our volunteers and donors and supporters. Localize, localize, localize.
This will also see a major boost, major growth for the local groups nationwide. That will boost morale for the local leaders all over. That will also encourage creation of many more groups. And that is what we want, that is what we need. It is not enough for Barack to get elected president. That keeps happening once every four years. That is no big deal. What we need is a movement so he can keep his promise of enacting universal health insurance during his first term. A movement is a ton of local groups all over the country.
These are different times. We will not march. But we will have barbecues, and voter registration drives, and house parties. We are going to blanket this country with them.
And the thing is this synergy thing is almost free. It just needs a little bit of tweaking of the mailing list software the campaign has been using. So instead of sending out one mass mail to everyone who signed up, you now send out mail zip code by zip code. The top half is the national message that goes out to everybody, and the bottom half is local message. And if the recipient has no local groups in the zip code, the message urges them to launch one.
If we can do this much, we will be making best possible use of all those people who will visit and sign up at http://www.barackobama.com all over the country as the primary season heats up. After every major positive stride by Barack on the campaign trail, we should see a surge in sign ups, both for the national mailing list and for the local groups. Now this is what I call the good surge.
Selling Books And DVDs
The store at http://www.barackobama.com should also sell the two Obama books and a few DVDs. There is an urgent need for an one hour biographical DVD of Barack for the hard core volunteers to consume and pass around, to show at house parties.
2 blasts kill more than 30 in India Los Angeles Times The blasts struck an outdoor laser show and a popular eatery about 7:30 p.m., leaving bodies and pools of blood amid smoking rubble and shattered glass. ..... the second time in about three months that the bustling city, which has become internationally known for its software industry, has been hit by a deadly bombing. In May, about a dozen people were killed in an attack on a mosque where thousands of worshipers had gathered for Friday prayers. Several more people died in subsequent clashes between police and protesters. ..... About 40% of Hyderabad's population is Muslim, compared with 13% of India's population as a whole. The city has a history of religious violence. ...... explosions Saturday went off minutes apart. ..... seats blown to pieces ..... Lumbini Park, a popular leisure spot. ..... three other explosive devices were found across the city, two of them in cinemas, and all were defused...... India, which has seen 300 people killed in major bombings in the last 13 months. ...... In July 2006, a series of coordinated blasts along Mumbai's commuter rail network killed about 200 people ....... Two months later, at least 30 people died in a bombing near a mosque in the western city of Malegaon. ...... in February, more than 60 passengers were killed in a firebombing of a train linking India and Pakistan. Officials suspect that the attackers were trying to spoil slowly improving relations between the rival nations. 42 killed, 50 injured in Hyderabad blasts Times of India, India three months after the Mecca Masjid blasts. ..... The week-end outing at the popular Gokul Chat shop at Kothi locality ..... Five minutes earlier .... another blast in an open air auditorium in Lumbini Park near the state secretariat in the heart of the city when a laser show was underway ..... The bomb was planted underneath a foot-over-bridge with a timer set for 9.30 pm .... The near-simultaneous blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar were triggered by cell-phone timers Terror Bombings Kill Dozens in South India New York Times, United States A pair of synchronized explosions ...... Hyderabad, with a population of about four million, is one of India’s prosperous and fast-growing cities, home to many software and biotechnology companies. .... In July 2006, serial bombings on commuter trains in the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, killed more than 180 people, while in the fall of 2005, synchronized explosions in markets in the capital, New Delhi, killed nearly 60 people during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. Dozens killed by bomb blasts in Indian city Guardian Unlimited, UK Two blasts in Indian southeastern city kill 34 China Daily, China Hyderabad Blasts Kill Dozens Arab News, Saudi Arabia Twin Bombings Kill at Least 34 in India Washington Post, United States Police: Blasts kill dozens in southern India CNN Two Explosions Kill 34 in Southern India Voice of America Terrorist bombs rip India Bangkok Post, Thailand Official: Blasts kill dozens in southern India CNN International Bombs rip through crowded areas News24, South Africa 'Several people' killed in blasts in southern India INQ7.net, Philippines Two blasts in Indian southeastern city kills 28 Xinhua, China Deadly explosions hit Indian city BBC News, UK Obama Names Republicans He'll Work With Guardian Unlimited ``The opportunities are there to create a more effective relationship between parties.'' ..... Among the Republicans he would seek help from are Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana, John Warner of Virginia and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma ...... To rousing applause at the same Little Havana auditorium where Republican Ronald Reagan once campaigned, Obama said: ``Just 90 miles from here there is a country where justice and freedom are out of reach. That's why my policy toward Cuba will be guided by one word: Liberty.'' Obama's right on Cuba Los Angeles Times Clinton, who portrays herself as the experienced foreign policy realist next to Obama's cowboy diplomat, wasted no time in rejecting Obama's proposal ....... It is the height of irony that Americans can freely travel to countries such as Venezuela and Iran, which represent genuine threats to our security and economic interests, but not to Cuba, whose government is a threat only to its own people.The ban has done nothing to weaken Castro Review: Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama Guardian Unlimited At the moment of writing, Obama's chances are probably no worse than John F Kennedy's in 1959. ..... becoming reconciled to his troubled inheritance. Travelling to Kansas, Hawaii and finally Kenya, Obama undertook a journey of heart and mind into a family maelstrom of identity, class and race. ...... the exceptional grace of Obama's prose, its honesty and freshness. ..... political prose that goes back to another master of the American language: Abraham Lincoln Obamas get personal to upset Clinton bandwagon Scotland on Sunday NO MORE Mr Nice Guy. With less than five months to go before Democrats choose their candidate for next year's Presidential elections, Senator Barack Obama is learning that it's time for the gloves to come off if he is to have a realistic chance of toppling and defeating his party's frontrunner for the nomination, Hillary Clinton. ....... Accordingly, the Obama campaign is now sharpening its criticisms of Clinton, hoping that a more aggressive approach will work better ...... Last week, on prime-time TV, Obama took a swipe at his fellow senator's age and judgment, hinting that at 59 - he is 46 - she belonged to a different era with different values to younger Americans. ...... Obama is also starting to suggest that Clinton is a creature of the Washington establishment. Unlike himself, she offers continuity, not change. ...... Fully 48% of Democrats support her candidacy, compared with just 25% who favour Obama. Other polls show Clinton leading in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina ...... The Obama campaign believed that Clinton's lead would be reduced once the freshman Illinois senator became better known. But that has not happened. Even though Obama has raised more money than Clinton, he has not been able to eat into her support. ........ "Everybody knows a lot of 50, 60 and 70-year-olds that don't have good judgment, because they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again," Obama added. ...... Mrs Obama, who is slowly emerging as a campaign star in her own right, complained she had been taken out of context and that the full text of her speech showed she was talking about the Obamas' own family. As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes New York Times just as the speed and scale of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents ...... it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut ..... Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death ..... Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water. ...... Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe ..... industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer sustain marine life. ...... Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China ...... China has entered the most robust stage of its industrial revolution ..... the country’s authoritarian system is addicted to fast growth ..... Officials blame fetid air and water for thousands of episodes of social unrest. Health care costs have climbed sharply. Severe water shortages could turn more farmland into desert. ....... Major initiatives are under way to develop clean energy sources like solar and wind power. ..... Land, water, electricity, oil and bank loans remain relatively inexpensive, even for heavy polluters. ...... Over all, enforcement is often tinged with corruption. This spring, officials in Yunnan Province in southern China beautified Laoshou Mountain, which had been used as a quarry, by spraying green paint over acres of rock. ...... Chinese manufacturers that dump waste into rivers or pump smoke into the sky make the cheap products that fill stores in the United States and Europe. Often, these manufacturers subcontract for foreign companies — or are owned by them. ....... Britain, the United States and Japan polluted their way to prosperity ...... Deng Xiaoping once forced China’s sluggish bureaucracy to fixate on growth. ...... A command-and-control political culture accustomed to issuing thundering directives is now under pressure, even from people in the ruling party, to submit to oversight from the public, for which pollution has become a daily — and increasingly deadly — reality. ........ the world’s largest producer of consumer goods ...... coal, on which China relies for about two-thirds of its energy needs. ...... has abundant supplies of coal and already burns more of it than the United States, Europe and Japan combined ...... Only Cairo, among world capitals, had worse air quality ...... the north, home to about half of China’s population, is an immense, parched region that now threatens to become the world’s biggest desert. ...... Industry and agriculture use nearly all of the flow of the Yellow River, before it reaches the Bohai Sea. ........ one-third of all river water, and vast sections of China’s great lakes, the Tai, Chao and Dianchi, have water rated Grade V, the most degraded level, rendering it unfit for industrial or agricultural use. ....... the environment has become one of the biggest causes of death. ..... how much energy China would need over the ensuing 20 years to achieve the leadership’s goal of quadrupling the size of the economy. ...... “No one really knew what was driving the economy ...... In 1996, China and the United States each accounted for 13 percent of global steel production. By 2005, the United States share had dropped to 8 percent, while China’s share had risen to 35 percent ...... China now makes half of the world’s cement and flat glass, and about a third of its aluminum ...... Each year for the past few years, China has built about 7.5 billion square feet of commercial and residential space, more than the combined floor space of all the malls and strip malls in the United States ...... In 2005 alone, China added 66 gigawatts of electricity to its power grid, about as much power as Britain generates in a year. Last year, it added an additional 102 gigawatts, as much as France. ...... the fast-growth political culture they preside over is too entrenched ...... China cannot go green, in other words, without political change. ...... “comprehensive environmental and economic accounting” — otherwise known as “Green G.D.P.” ...... the temperature in the Great Hall of the People was set at a balmy 79 degrees Fahrenheit to save energy
Senator's call for pullout divides GOP Contra Costa Times German chancellor Merkel heads to China, Japan Times of India Rumor has it Castro is dead — once again Seattle Times 'Castro dead' rumours send Miami wildGuardian Unlimited Chavez denies rumors of Fidel Castro's deathTimes of India The Google Rumor Machine Hindustan Times Inside the Countrywide Lending Spree New York Times potential borrowers were often led to high-cost and sometimes unfavorable loans that resulted in richer commissions for Countrywide’s smooth-talking sales force, outsize fees to company affiliates providing services on the loans, and a roaring stock price that made Countrywide executives among the highest paid in America. ...... Many of these loans had interest rates that recently reset from low teaser levels to double digits ...... a housing crisis of historic proportions. ..... the company has become a $500 billion home loan machine with 62,000 employees, 900 offices and assets of $200 billion. ........ Mr. Mozilo ... reaped $406 million selling Countrywide stock. .... As the subprime mortgage debacle began to unfold this year, Mr. Mozilo’s selling accelerated. ..... In the last 12 months, Countrywide financed almost $500 billion in loans ..... Countrywide has a huge presence in California: 46 percent of the loans it holds on its books were made there ..... Countrywide packages most of its loans into securities pools that it sells to investors. ...... Countrywide serviced 8.2 million loans as of the end of the year; in June the portfolio totaled $1.4 trillion. ..... loans that were worth more than 95 percent of a home’s appraised value and required no documentation of a borrower’s income. ...... The company harvested a steady stream of fees or payments on such loans and busily repackaged them as securities to sell to investors. As long as housing prices kept rising, everyone — borrowers, lenders and investors — appeared to be winners. ....... on subprime loans that imposed heavy burdens on borrowers, like high prepayment penalties that persisted for three years, Countrywide’s margins could reach 15 percent of the loan ....... loans that reset after a short period with a low teaser rate ...... When borrowers tried to reduce their mortgage debt, Countrywide cashed in: prepayment penalties generated significant revenue for the company — $268 million last year, up from $212 million in 2005. When borrowers had difficulty making payments, Countrywide cashed in again: late charges produced even more in 2006 — some $285 million. ....... The monthly payment on the F.H.A. loan would have been $1,829, while Countrywide’s subprime loan generated a $2,387 monthly payment. ...... WORKDAYS at Countrywide’s mortgage lending units centered on an intense telemarketing effort ... chasing down sales leads and hewing to carefully prepared scripts ...... “The Oasis of Rapport is the time spent with the client building rapport and gathering information. At this point in the sales cycle, rates, points, and fees are not discussed. The immediate objective is for the Account Executive to get to know the client and look for points of common interest. Use first names with clients as it facilitates a friendly, helpful tone.” ....... Countrywide was willing to underwrite loans that left little disposable income for borrowers’ food, clothing and other living expenses. .... Countrywide boasts that it is the No. 1 lender to minorities, providing those borrowers with their piece of the American homeownership dream. But it has run into problems with state regulators in New York, who contended that the company overcharged such borrowers for loans. ...... When borrowers close on their loans, they pay fees for flood and tax certifications, appraisals, document preparation, even charges associated with e-mailing documents or using FedEx to send or receive paperwork ...... fees of $100 to e-mail documents Beckham won't travel with Galaxy to ColoradoLos Angeles Times Dell Gets Back to Basics Wall Street Journal The snafus resulted in a restatement of as much as $150 million for the past four fiscal years. ..... declining prices for the PC component called memory
Warner May Back Dems' Bill on Withdrawal Forbes India points to outside groups after deadly bombings Washington Post could have been the work of Islamist militants based in Pakistan or Bangladesh ...... both Islamabad and Dhaka rejected the idea, saying Reddy was jumping to conclusions without evidence. ..... bombs packed with metal pellets exploded within minutes of each other -- one at a food centre and one at an amusement park. ..... many more unexploded bombs had been discovered ... 19 bombs had been found across the city -- at or near cinemas, bus stops and near pedestrian bridges. ..... Two national television news channels said there were seven unexploded bombs but Reddy and some other officials mentioned just one such device, which police had defused. ....... those responsible for Saturday's blasts could have been behind the mosque bombing as well. ...... India has suffered several large-scale bomb attacks in its big cities over the past two years, including in Mumbai and New Delhi. Hundreds have been killed. ..... Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are involved in a cautious peace process, and Islamabad reacted coldly to Reddy's comments. .... "Only Indians have this kind of power that as soon as a blast takes place, they can determine who has done it ....... the toll at 43. Giuliani Aims Attacks at Democrats Washington Post Richardson calls for an end to Democratic primary one-upsmanship Boston Globe NASA Believes It Has Found Reason Foam Fell on Shuttle New York Times Bush pleads for more patience for Iraq war Reuters Obama develops plan for Gulf Coast restoration Boston Globe Obama promises more open policy towards Cuba Times of India As a community organizer, Obama was a pragmatic leader U.S. News & World Report Far from the centers of power and privilege that have spawned so many commanders in chief, it's an unlikely place to incubate a future president. But the seemingly endless clumps of drab brick apartment buildings and patchy lawns on Chicago's South Side are where Sen. Barack Obama learned some of his most enduring lessons about politics, leadership, and the paths to social change. His experiences here, in fact, amount to a Rosetta stone that reveals the essence of the man who has catapulted out of nowhere into contention for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2008. ........ As a community organizer in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project in the mid-1980s, Obama, then 23, quickly emerged as a tireless and pragmatic advocate for the community—traits that characterize the kind of president he says he wants to be. "His work as a community organizer was really a defining moment in his life, not just his career," his wife, Michelle, told U.S. News. It helped him decide "how he would impact the world"—assisting people in defining their mutual interests and working together to improve their lives. ...... "taught me a lot about listening to people as opposed to coming in with a predetermined agenda." ...... Obama's commitment to seeking common ground. ..... After graduating from Columbia University in 1983 with a major in political science, Obama worked as a financial consultant in New York City. But he was bored—and drawn to public service. ...... Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project where 5,300 African-Americans tried to survive amid shuttered steel mills, a nearby landfill, a putrid sewage treatment plant, and a pervasive feeling that the white establishment of Chicago would never give them a fair shake. ...... Jerry Kellman, a social activist who recruited Obama, recalls, "He was very bright, very articulate, very personable, and very idealistic," inspired by civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolence. Kellman offered Obama a job at the annual salary of $10,000, and he threw in $2,000 so Obama could buy a ramshackle car to get around. ....... Obama was a stranger to the area but caught on quickly by showing humility and a strong work ethic. .... Obama insisted on "staying in the background while he empowered us." .... the gentle admonition: "It's your community." ...... the lanky newcomer with the funny name understood that a community organizer is a combination of educator, confessor-priest, social activist, motivational expert, mediator, and campaign leader. To accomplish his mission, Obama spent hours with Altgeld residents one on one, learning their problems and their dreams, and he resisted taking credit for success, preferring to give it to individuals in the community. ....... Obama lived a few miles away in a modest Hyde Park apartment, but he quickly became part of "the Gardens" community. He played pickup basketball. He walked from house to house to discuss what needed fixing. Wearing his trademark outfit of neatly pressed slacks and button-down shirts with no tie, he spent many hours meeting in kitchens, parlors, and churches. ........ Many of the older women took a liking to him. They fed him cookies, invited him for dinner, and introduced him to their friends—and their marriage-minded daughters. "I called him my little skinny boy," says Lloyd. "He was so thin, we wanted to fatten him up, but we couldn't do it." ....... "Barack is not one of those people who fight for the sake of fighting," says Michelle Obama. He's "willing to do it when it's necessary," but he knows "you have to keep the door open" to deal with the other side. ....... Perhaps his most confrontational effort was to pressure city authorities to remove asbestos from the apartments in 1986. When the on-site manager didn't take action, Obama nudged the residents into confronting city housing officials in two angry public meetings downtown. ....... Faced with such frustrations, after three years in Chicago, Obama decided to apply his skills in the wider world. He entered Harvard Law School in 1988, became the first African-American president of Harvard Law Review in 1990, and earned his law degree in 1991. He returned to Chicago to work as a civil rights lawyer and teach at the University of Chicago Law School. He eventually won a seat in the Illinois State Senate and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. ....... "He has a great understanding of people," says Randle, "and he knows how to bring about change through compromise. That's what we need in Washington." Angry Iraqi Leader Lashes Out at Clinton Forbes Iraq's Maliki lashes out at Hillary ClintonReuters Canada Top Democratic Opponents Challenge Clinton Assertion on Terror FOX News Obama and Edwards Step Up Attacks on Front-Runner Clinton Washington Post Edwards declared, "The Lincoln Bedroom is not for rent." ..... the Democratic race has in many ways been static for several months. Obama has outraised Clinton, and the three leading candidates remain close in polls in Iowa, but as they prepare to gear up for an intense period of campaigning after Labor Day, Clinton is in the strongest position. ....... he and his advisers are also developing new language for speeches and policy proposals on health care and other issues he will unveil after Labor Day. ....... Obama and Edwards are portraying Clinton as yesterday's news .... "I believe I can bring the country together in a way she cannot do ...... Clinton and her campaign are remaining aggressive, criticizing Obama for a series of foreign policy statements he has made over the past month, in an effort to portray him as inexperienced. ..... Clinton argues that voters already know everything about her, and with another candidate any negatives "will be fresh information ..... "the people who have been criticizing me over the past two weeks are the people who engineered what is the biggest foreign policy fiasco in a generation." ........ 88 percent of Democrats have "favorable" views of her, and 38 percent "very favorable," both higher numbers than Obama and Edwards scored 19 bombs found after fatal blasts in India International Herald Tribune 'India, China, Japan must hold trilateral strategic dialogue' Economic Times "There is already bilateral strategic dialogue mechanism between China and India and China and Japan. We should try and promote a trilateral strategic dialogue between the three major powers for the benefit of Asia as a whole," Sun said here while commenting on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's just-concluded visit to India. Japan and India have intensified bilateral relations recently causing concerns among scholars who fear the alliance would 'contain' China, Sun said. .... On the emerging quadripartite relations between India, the United States, Japan and Australia, Sun described it as a bad move that would break unity among Asian countries. ..... "It would divide Asia. The so-called alliance is not good for the region," Sun said, adding it would also go against India's growing interests in the East Asia region as countries in the region would not want to take sides. Merkel to press China on human rights MSNBC Misinterpreting the Mideast Los Angeles Times before any lasting on-the-ground movement toward peace can be achieved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, foreign emissaries, as well as some Israelis, will have to shake off some long-disproved tenets of the conventional wisdom about the dispute. ........ There are four main misconceptions that diplomats bring with them to Israel. Primary among them is the idea that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a prerequisite for stability in the Mideast. The truth is that the region is riven by clashes that have nothing to do with Israel. For instance, the Jewish state plays no role in the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, between Persians and Arabs or between Arab nationalists and Arab Islamists. ....... the Mideast's central conflict is not territorial but ideological. And ideology cannot be defeated by concessions. ...... many Palestinians -- Fatah and Hamas, in particular -- and even some Israeli Arabs use "Occupation" to refer to all Israel. ..... Arafat, established a thugocracy that never improved the basic living conditions of his people. Indeed, Palestinian unemployment and poverty are worse today than they were before Arafat and his cronies assumed power in 1994. ...... misconception is the belief that economic development can neutralize extreme nationalism and religious fanaticism, thus clearing the way toward peace and security ...... the Palestinians explain what they did with the $7 billion in international aid they received over the years. ..... they should try to persuade the Palestinian leaders to commit to a long-term strategy premised on educational, political and economic reforms that would lead to the establishment of a civil society that cherishes life, not death; values human rights and freedom; and develops a middle class, not a corrupt, rich elite. ....... To defeat jihadist Islam, the West must overcome the regimes, organizations and ideologies that support and feed it -- and Hamas is foremost among them. Intelligence calls Iraq's government precarious Boston Globe New intel analysis gives gloomy forecast for IraqHouston Chronicle A new assessment of Iraq by U.S. intelligence agencies provides little evidence that the American troop surge has accomplished its goals and predicts that the U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will become "more precarious" in the months ahead. ..... violence remains high, warns U.S. alliances with former Sunni Muslim insurgents could undercut the central government and says political compromises are "unlikely to emerge" in the next 12 months. ...... factions and political players in and outside Iraq already are maneuvering in expectation of a drawdown of U.S. troops — moves that could later heighten sectarian bloodshed. ....... The U.S. has become deeply embroiled in Iraq's civil war ..... "the level of overall violence, including attacks on and casualties among civilians, remains high." ..... the "broadly accepted political compromises required for sustained security, long-term political progress and economic development are unlikely to emerge unless there is a fundamental shift in the factors driving Iraqi political and security developments." What the NIE Really SaysYahoo! News The consensus report of 16 intelligence agencies is full of on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand paragraphs that allow partisans of either side to make their points, if they are willing to quote selectively from the 4-page document. ....... broad and sweeping generalizations backed by little or nothing in the way of facts ....... how long do we have before failure to achieve national reconciliation begins to undermine local, grassroots movements? ....... The grassroots movement has developed rapidly and spontaneously, and it continues to spread rapidly and spontaneously. It has now grown into important movements in almost all of Central Iraq. ...... security will continue to improve in Iraq, and the current trend of the grassroots movement toward reconciliation is both positive and important Google Patches Blogger, Adds Video Support PC World German soccer clubs bitter despite Germany's record sportswear deal International Herald Tribune Germany rejects Nike's €500 million offer to outfit national ...International Herald Tribune Bird flu strikes German poultry farm Food Consumer Total lunar eclipse tomorrow Bangkok Post First Lady Cancels Trip to Australia New York Times India Blames Islamic Militants for Blasts New York Times Cut and run or stay the course? The debate among American generals Independent Vineyard welcomes another Clinton Boston Globe more than 2,100 paid $50 for an event .... "If you ask my grandkids, 'Who's Nana's boyfriend?' " Shaheen said, "they say, 'Bill.' " ..... "I don't think people are as electrified as when Bill was here," said Ken Gilbert, 56, who was wearing a red "Bill Clinton for President" T-shirt, vintage 1992. ..... Everybody wants a bit of the new, and Hillary is not necessarily new." ...... Bookstores sandwiched her autobiography, "Living History," between volumes on local history and Buddhism. Four hours before she was to take the stage, the only bumper sticker on the cars lining the perimeter of the Tabernacle was for Barack Obama. ....... in years past, while Bill Clinton played a prominent role on their vacations, Hillary Clinton largely stayed out of the public eye ..... "Hillary doesn't energize," said Ernest Hardaway II, a retired surgeon from Chicago who is supporting Obama. "She just doesn't do it well. Now Bubba, he does it naturally." ..... you always knew when [Bill Clinton] was jogging and where he was eating. The whole place just shut down. It was a lot more exciting." Obama to set New Orleans recovery plan Chicago Tribune, United States improving the way the U.S. government deals with future natural disasters by cutting the red tape he believes has slowed the rebuilding of Louisiana ....... Obama will propose appointment of a chief coordinating officer to cut through red tape and a chief financial officer charged with cutting waste. Pinning Hopes On Rural Voters Washington Post, United States The Obama Doctrine, Take 2 [hilzoy] Atlantic Online he believes that the risks of "increased bloodshed" would be higher, not lower, if our forces stay in Iraq. .... "He's a sponge," Power says. "He pushes so hard on policy ideas that fifteen minutes after you've started talking, he's sent you back to the drawing board. He doesn't get weighted down by the limits of American power, but he sees you have to grasp those limits in order to transcend them." ........ the most important issues America will confront in the future (terrorism, avian flu, global warming, bioweapons, the disease and nihilism that grow from concentrated poverty) will emanate from neglected and failed states (Afghanistan, the Congo, Sierra Leone) ........ "profound conviction that we are interconnected, that poverty and conflict and health problems and autocracy and environmental degradation in faraway places have the potential to come back and bite us in the behind, and that we ignore such places and such people at our peril." ....... He has secured money to fight avian flu, improve security in the Congo and safeguard Russian nuclear weapons. ....... Al Qaeda's new recruits come from Africa and Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Many come from disaffected communities and disconnected corners of our interconnected world. And it makes you stop and wonder: when those faces look up at an American helicopter, do they feel hope, or do they feel hate? ......... From Africa to central Asia to the Pacific Rim -- nearly 60 countries stand on the brink of conflict or collapse. ....... 1.3 billion Muslims .... too often since 9/11, the extremists have defined us, not the other way around. ..... I will focus our support on helping nations build independent judicial systems, honest police forces, and financial systems that are transparent and accountable. ..... I will make poverty reduction a key part of helping other nations reduce anarchy. ...... I will double our annual investments to meet these challenges to $50 billion by 2012. And I will support a $2 billion Global Education Fund to counter the radical madrasas -- often funded by money from within Saudi Arabia -- that have filled young minds with messages of hate. ....... help rebuild the country, develop lasting political structures, hold accountable destabilizing foreign governments, crack down on corrupt politicians, and professionalize the military. ........ It's hard to describe what it's like to sit and talk to a woman who has witnessed her children being slaughtered, and has been raped, and has seen her husband killed and her village burned. Those stories are all throughout the region as people have fled from these militias that were financed and supported and instigated by the Sudanese government. .......... We are way late in the toughest economic sanctions that we could apply. We have not applied the kind of pressure on China, which is one of Sudan's main patrons, that we should have applied. And there are some unilateral steps that we could take just on the economic front that need to be pursued more vigorously. ..... what we need is a no-fly zone which basically says that if you've got helicopter gunships that are supporting militias in their slaughter, then we are going to shoot those gunships down. And maybe we just shoot one down, or two down, we take out their airfields ....... when we say 'Never Again', we should mean it. And we haven't meant it. ..... farmers in Venezuela and Indonesia welcomed American doctors to their villages and hung pictures of JFK on their living room walls ..... an America that battles immediate evils, promotes an ultimate good, and leads the world once more." Obama struggles to be a new page in the old politics Los Angeles Times, CA Countdown begins for real in America's first billion-dollar ... Times Online, UK Poll: Are Clinton and Giuliani Leading Because of High Name ...Associated Content By this past February, 98% of the Democrats had a definite opinion, pro or con about her ...... she gets the votes of 43% of the voters who say they are familiar with all of the top three. Obama gets 30% of their votes. ...... Giuliani appears to be at a greater risk than Clinton is of losing support as the voters become more and more knowledgeable about the rest of the field.
Pakistan Prepares for Former Prime Ministers’ Return New York Times a Supreme Court ruling that threw open the coming parliamentary campaign to all political players. ...... Mr. Sharif’s pending return led another opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to reschedule her own return ahead of his ..... the overwhelming desire in Pakistan was for democracy and a free choice in elections this fall. ..... the president should sit down with the leaders of the main political parties — which could be as few as five people — and agree on a caretaker government to prepare for parliamentary elections. ..... free and fair elections are the best option for calming the public mood and stemming a drift toward extremism ..... eight years on, the biggest political players challenging General Musharraf are the same as a decade ago: Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Sharif. ....... Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Sharif remain the most popular political leaders by far, and whether or not they are personally tainted, their parties are pragmatic, centrist groupings that are the West’s most natural allies ........ the participation of Mr. Sharif and Ms. Bhutto would draw voters away from the religious parties ....... Mr. Sharif could be expected to campaign on an anti-American, anti-Musharraf platform, and would draw those who would otherwise be attracted to the religious parties, but as one of the country’s richest industrialists, he would lead a government that was pro-business and open to the United States, India and the global economy ...... Mr. Iqbal, the associate of Mr. Sharif, said that the war on terror demands a political solution, and that only a return to democratic rule can make that possible. “There has to be a competing alternate political platform,” he said. “You can only get that through the democratic process.”
Don't quote me on this yet, but I think Barack Obama's recent remarks against Musharraf might have played a small role in this tremendously positive development in Pakistan. Benazir will be back. A strong, smart woman with a clear sense for social justice, a clear commitment to the poor and their upliftment might soon be Prime Minister of Pakistan. In a matter of months.
And Barack is not even president yet. He did not even send in the military to spread democracy in Pakistan. He did not send any money. All he did was as a would be president, he took a clear stand against a Third World dictator. And that dictator is about to be pushed out the door. That is what I am talking about.
The difference between Barack and Bush is with Barack you get Benazir.
A dictator - any dictator - can not be a US ally on the war on terrorism. That applies to Musharraf, that applies to the Saudi king, to Mubarak, that applies to all unelected Arab leaders. If noone elected you, count your days. Count your years. You will be shown the door.
Barack's public berating of Musharraf emboldened the Supreme Court of Pakistan. And the Supreme Court is now making it possible for Pakistan's last two democratically elected Prime Ministers to come back home from exile.
This is what a would be American president with brains can do. This is not the power of the US military. This is not the power of the US dollar. This is the power of the American presidency, the American democracy. Someone elected by the American people can bring about a positive change like this one just by making the right noise. Imagine how much more Barack can do as a president breathing down the necks of small game Third World dictators on world TV. Face to face. Pushing his finger into their chests. Staring them down. Publicly berating them for their lousy human rights records. Publicly saying hello to their dissident opponents who might be working to launch democracy movements.
I have long maintained the only true way to win the War On Terrorism is by ensuring a total spread of democracy in all Arab countries. And Pakistan is well positioned to help with that. Pakistan is huge. It is not as big as India, but it is huge. It is bigger than Britain and France put together. Pakistani democracy is Muslims voting. You want Pakistan to infect all Arab countries.
One Billion Muslims, 10,000 Al Qaeda
There are more than a billion Muslims on the planet. Only 10,000 of them are Al Qaeda. Bush has killed more than 150,000 innocent people in Iraq. If it is wrong for the Al Qaeda to kill 3,000 innocent Americans, it is wrong for America to kill 150,000 innocent Iraqis. The Iraqi people or their leadership had nothing to do with 9/11. The war on Iraq has been a criminal act.
Don't Insult The Intelligence Of The Arab Street
It is not possible for you to be best friends with Musharraf, and the Saudi king, and Mubarak and still have the Arab street believe you are out for democracy.
Presidential Primary Reform MyDD :: Primary Reform and the California Plan ..... This system features a schedule consisting of ten two-week intervals, during which randomly selected states may hold their primaries. This 20-week schedule is the approximate length of the traditional primary season....... In the first interval, a randomly determined combination of states with a combined total of eight congressional districts would hold their primaries, caucuses or convention. This is approximately equal to the total number of congressional district in Iowa (5) and New Hampshire (2), thus preserving door-to-door "retail politicking." ...... Any state or combination of states amounting to a total of eight congressional districts could be in the first round of primaries and caucuses. This could include such ethnically diverse jurisdictions as American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona, and Maryland....... The widest possible political debate would be fostered by this system
In The News
Dem Rivals Rap Clinton on Terror Comment Washington Post her comment that a terror attack before the election would help the Republicans. .... I think I am better able to handle things I have no control over .... Bill Richardson said in a statement, "We shouldn't be thinking about terrorism in terms of its domestic political consequences, we should be protecting the country from terrorists." ...... Clinton campaign spokeswoman Kathleen Strand said Friday night, "Senator Clinton was making clear that she has the strength and experience to keep the country safe." Clinton: Best to Deal With Terror AttacksNew York Times Clinton: Terrorist attack would help GOPCNN Controversy Continues Over US Troop Levels in Iraq Voice of America Democrats set to crack down on Florida bid for early primary Chicago Tribuneonly a few select states are allowed to hold their events before early February ... States that don't follow the rules could lose some or all of their delegates ..... Florida Democrats ... Jan. 29 .... Leading Democrats in that state on Thursday suggested that the sanctions might violate state or federal law, making it plain that they don't plan to accept a knuckle-rapping without a fight. ..... All over the country, states are eyeing the primary calendar and wondering why their voters shouldn't also have a stronger voice in deciding who the Democratic and Republican candidates are. .... Just this week, state lawmakers in Michigan began the process of moving their primary date to the middle of January. ..... "It's like we're operating in a banana republic," said David Plouffe .... we don't know which states, which dates, what rules." ..... Unsure of which order the primaries and caucuses will take place, the presidential campaigns aren't sure how to allocate their resources—or even where to send their candidate on a given day. Brzezinski Grants Obama the "Upper Hand" Washington Post Zbigniew Brzezinski. The 79-year-old former national security adviser announced today on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" that he was supporting the junior senator from Illinois for president. .... Obama "recognizes that the challenge is a new face, a new sense of direction, a new definition of America's role in the world" ..... rejected the notion that Hillary Clinton is more experienced in foreign affairs than Obama. "Being a former first lady doesn't prepare you to be president .... "What's the hang-up about negotiating with the Syrians or with the Iranians?" Brzezinski said. "What it in effect means" is "that you only talk to people who agree with you." .... "There is a need for a fundamental rethinking of how we conduct world affairs. And Obama seems to me to have both the guts and the intelligence to address that issue and to change the nature of America's relationship with the world." ...... Obama already had the support of former Clinton national security adviser Anthony Lake. Brzezinski Offers Support for ObamaNew York Times Brzezinksi Tells Bloomberg TV: Obama Would Be a Better PresidentEarthtimes.org Edwards denies slam on 'insiders' is directed at Clinton CNN Nepal Rules Out Maoist-UML Unification Prospects Himalayan Times Hanoi fires salvo at Bush's comments MSNBC an assertion many Vietnamese see as a gross oversimplification of the region's complex and tragic history ...... Vietnam was "an unjustified and a wrong war in the first place so to start analysing things only from the withdrawal of US troops is really puzzling", she said. "The root of the problem is not the withdrawal, it's the very fact of starting up the war in the first place." ...... As Asia's second-fastest growing economy, Vietnam is today a powerful magnet for foreign investment, with the US its largest single trading partner and a focus for growing bilateral co-operation. ...... Ms Ninh believes the US has failed to learn the lessons of Vietnam. .... "I think the US has no choice [in Iraq] but to withdraw – what good can itdo by staying longer?" she said. US Bomb Kills 3 British Soldiers in Afghanistan New York Times Pushing for a New Leader in Iraq ABC News President Bush's former envoy to Iraq, Ambassador Robert Blackwill, is running a major behind-the-scenes lobbying push for former Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi — who seeks to remove and replace current Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. ...... Allawi, who lived in exile for decades in London, was essentially appointed interim prime minister by the Bush administration, though he was defeated in the 2005 Iraqi elections. ...... Allawi was, until recently, funded by the CIA .... an open question in this tale of Beltway intrigue what Allawi is getting for that money Bank of China Reports Heavy Exposure to Subprime CrisisNew York Times holds almost $9.7 billion of securities backed by U.S. subprime loans, the most of any Asian company. ....... The collapse in securities backed by subprime mortgages has caused losses at lenders around the world ..... Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (OOTC:IDCBF) , the world's largest bank by market value ..... Defaults on home loans to people with poor credit soared this year, prompting a sell-off of debt-backed securities that spread to wider credit markets and wiped more than $5.5 trillion off the value of equities worldwide. ...... collateralized debt obligations backed by loans to borrowers with poor credit histories. ..... Banks from Germany to Japan have been touched by the subprime meltdown. Germany's government had to bail out Dusseldorf-based IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG because of potential subprime-linked losses of as much as 3.5 billion euros ($4.7 billion). China Gets Internet Companies to Sign 'Self-Discipline' AgreementVoice of America At least 20 leading blog service providers in China, including U.S.-based Internet giants Yahoo and MSN, have signed an agreement that will help the government censor and identify bloggers. ...... "encourages" blog service providers to list contact information and register users under their real names before letting them post blogs. ..... The companies are also asked to delete "illegal and bad information in a timely manner," and to "protect the interests of the State and Party." .... The companies argue that they must comply with Chinese laws to continue operating there. Press Watchdog Blasts China's Blogging Policy PC World Microsoft Agrees to Strict Blogging Rules in ChinaIT Business Edge Ruling expected today on Noriega's futureCNN International Is The Google Phone Ready To Launch In India In Two Weeks? InformationWeek Talks are believed to be taking place with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively India's first and third largest mobile telephony operators, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam. ...... Google plans to invest $7-8 billion for its global telephony foray. ..... The prospect of Google owning spectrum and offering cell phones is too tempting to pass up. ...... assuming the device is sold for a relatively low-cost, it could give Google a means to spreading smartphone-like functionality in developing markets -- all powered by Google's software and services ...... Think of the Google Phone as the cell phone equivalent of the Trojan Horse (the ancient Greek myth, not the virus). Google Phone: Revolutionary Or Evolutionary?InformationWeek In 2005, Google acquired both Android, a mobile technology startup, and Dodgeball, a mobile social networking service. ..... Reqwireless, a mobile e-mail and browser developer, and Skia, a developer of mobile-friendly graphics software ..... possible that Google could help handset makers deliver mobile phones that surpass the iPhone in terms of design aesthetics, user interface, and ease of use, it seems more likely that the Gphone will be noteworthy not as spiffy hardware but as a utilitarian device designed to lower or eliminate mobile phone bills by subsidizing network operators' costs with revenue sharing from Google's online services. ....... If Google emerges with spectrum rights, that's when the fun begins. Will mobile WiMax transform wireless working? ZDNet UK mobile WiMax has variously been pitched as a potential usurper of 4G — the successor to curren-day 3G cellular networks — and as a rival to Wi-Fi wireless technology, into which operators have sunk a lot of money already. ...... Where mobile WiMax is expected to garner particular interest, however, is in developing countries that currently have only a limited wired infrastructure in place. This is because the costs involved in installing WiMax stations to complement existing cellular towers are likely to be lower than introducing fixed pipes from scratch, particularly in areas of low population density where the terrain is flat. ........ touting mobile WiMax as a means of increasing bandwidth for data-intensive applications such as multimedia ..... Sprint Nextel announced in 2006 that it would spend $3bn (£1.5bn) on building a US-based WiMax network operating at 2.5GHz, which would start roll out by the end of this year and provide services to at least 100 million people by the end of 2008. ..... telcos such as BT or Colt will look at mobile WiMax as a means of providing customers with mobile access "under their own steam without having to do deals with mobile operators" ...... Google may also try and get a slice of the action to obtain a fresh channel for providing content ...... as we move to a more converged fixed and mobile world ..... WiMax tends not to work indoors as well as rival technologies such as Wi-Fi, because its radio waves are at higher frequency and so tend to be absorbed by walls, people and the like more easily. ...... there is no uniform globally licensed spectrum for WiMax, whereas there is one for 3G networks. This means that roaming either now or in the future will be impossible ....... although UK operators may go for the 2.6GHz frequency band next year, the US has already opted for 2.5GHz today, and some countries in Asia such as Indian and Vietnam are expected to plump for 3.3GHz in the future. ...... a technology looking for a market" ..... WiMax .. has been pitched variously by vendors over the past few years as a rival to fixed broadband technologies such as cable and DSL, an alternative to Wi-Fi public hotspots, and a high-bandwidth backhaul for internet or cellular phone traffic from remote areas to an internet or T1/E1 data network backbone...... really it's just an alternative pipe .... "There may be a way of using pico and femtocells to reduce this ..... "I can see it emerging as a mechanism for connecting wireless laptops and other data devices at speeds that are higher than current Wi-Fi networks and over ranges that are more comparable with cellular ....... not so much hotspots, as hot zones .... deliver wireless campuses is somewhat more unclear, but in the end this all boils down, not so much to the technology, but to commercial models, and it's still just too early to say how it will pan out The Road To WiMAXBusinessWeek a telephone company executive told him it would cost $1,100 per home just to replace landscaping and sidewalks if the industry installed fiber-optic cabling and brought superfast broadband Internet access to every single-family home in America. .... create a nationwide hot spot with superfast phone and Web-surfing capability ..... what was in 2002 an obscure wireless broadband technology only a few hundred engineers had heard of ..... he has rounded up a remarkable coalition of chip, PC, consumer electronics, networking, and software companies in an effort to radically reshape the future of broadband with what's now called WiMAX. ....... Intel faced withering criticism from tech analysts when it first cast its lot with WiMAX .... dozens of wireless telecom operators around the globe have also placed bets on WiMAX and plan to spend $13 billion over the next few years to build 300 such networks ....... Already the first transmitters are appearing on light poles and towers in Chicago and Washington, test markets expected to begin service early next year. Major rollouts are planned everywhere from Pakistan to Australia to China by 2009. ...... WiMAX will be poised to deliver video entertainment and voice telephone services that will compete with traditional telecom and cable-television services. It also will extend the range of wireless e-mail and Web-surfing services in mobile computers. Beginning next year, stores will stock new laptop computers equipped with Intel's WiMAX-capable chips, code-named Echo Peak. ....... Intel's role as head WiMAX cheerleader ..... high-profile schemes for blanketing whole cities with cheap or free Wi-Fi networks aren't working out. ..... WiMAX provides superfast connections for up to 30 miles. You could stroll from your house conducting a conference call, pause to exchange hefty data files, and later dial in to your TiVo to download an episode of CSI. WiMAX avoids digital traffic jams by using licensed radio waves that guarantee each customer a certain level of service. ..... grew out of work in the 1990s by engineers at dozens of companies. ..... Intel .. Sprint .. Nokia ... Samsung .. The interests of these four companies resulted in a pooling of patents and money to create the WiMAX phenomenon. ..... Maloney had his revelation about the potential of wireless broadband in 2002 ..... Martin Cooper, considered the father of the cell phone .... Intel and allies could create a standard technology for long-range wireless transmissions, much as Intel and Microsoft (MSFT ) had created the so-called Wintel standard for the personal computer. ...... Intel would build tiny radios into laptops that could connect easily to a worldwide WiMAX network. ..... a mammoth WiMAX ecosystem by investing more than $1 billion in carriers and other companies. .....In developing countries, WiMAX seemed like a sure winner... a cheap, powerful wireless infrastructure was just what they needed ..... Maloney later obtained key technology by purchasing a company called Iospan Wireless from Stanford University engineering professor Arogyaswami Paulraj. ..... the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers (IEEE). ...... "a classically disruptive technology." ..... On Aug. 9, Vodafone Group PLC (VOD ), the world's largest wireless company, signed up. Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin had warned in a speech in February that WiMAX and other new technologies threatened "to eat our lunch." ..... the IEEE .... its chairman, Jerry Upton, who was a paid Qualcomm consultant. ..... Clearwire, the biggest holder worldwide of spectrum that could be used for WiMAX. ..... Qualcomm Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Jha ...... an industry that sees big ideas come and go with dizzying speed Should CIOs Take Google Seriously? InformationWeek young people are enamored of the potential of online services, like those from Amazon.com, Salesforce.com, or Google, which recently introduced its Google Apps Premier Edition, a set of software-as-a-service offerings that includes e-mail, calendar, word processing, and spreadsheet capabilities, among others. ..... the next-generation communication and collaboration tools they need to manage electronic communications, share and publish information, and stay connected while on the go ..... the potential efficiencies and cost savings implicit in the software-as-a-service model. 'Hi, I am Amitabh' Times of India Amitabh has an unmistakable charisma ... the impact hits you when you see others around you reacting ..... At the recently concluded Filmfare awards (south), even though he entered with Abhishek and Aishwarya, the Big B was the cynosure of all eyes. Amitabh comes across as a witty, articulate, courteous , protocol-conscious , charming man, but he can also be edgy and excessively protective of his private space. .... a very hungry Amitabh. He ate as we spoke. ..... I am at an age when roles don't come by easily. I don't get lead roles, only character roles. It's nice when some people want to experiment, with movies like Nishabd. It gives me the opportunity to test myself. Gabbar's impression is insurmountable ; but I am not pressured. ....... Perhaps, it's not the dialogue, but the visual, the moment, the music that's become more important. ..... And if I may say a little immodestly, I pioneered some of these concerts that have taken a huge form from the time I went out in 1981-82 . I've been on stage and performed live, which no one does now. It's all pre-recorded with lovely costumes but I used to sing live, enact scenes from my films. ...... I think far too much emphasis is being laid on age - why are you working so much, how are you working?- If my body is responding to what is being asked of it, then what's the problem? ...... Is that a problem? .... One is my screen image and the other is me. I come from a middle-class home and success does not change values. ... I am fortunate that my children have imbibed those values well. David Beckham urged to slow down by Galaxy Telegraph.co.uk LA Galaxy chief executive Alexei Lalas is pondering the wisdom of the 32-year-old continuing to make himself available for England's friendly fixtures. ..... Beckham is expected to rack up a nearly staggering 78,000 air miles over the next three months to honour his club and country commitments .... Despite flying back to Los Angeles in time to play a full 90 minutes against Chivas, Beckham could not prevent Galaxy from falling to a 3-0 defeat against their local rivals. He was also involved in an ugly spat with Jesse Marsch following a late challenge by the Chivas midfielder. ..... With Beckham clearly struggling to overcome the ankle injury that has dogged him since his move to California, Galaxy coach Frank Yallop was forced to admit that the former Manchester United midfielder should not have been selected. .... "At the end, he looked a bit hobbled and he should have been rested." Bollywood Bachchan says wife Aishwarya comes first Washington Post Rai, 33, and Bachchan, 31, have worked together in at least five films. Rai was crowned Miss World in 1994. Amitabh Bachchan is going bald for his Hollywood movie… India Target Amitabh Bachchan will be seen in a bald look in Hollywood movie Shantaram . .... The film's shooting is likely to begin before this yearend. It will be shot in Australia , India and China .... Johnny Depp is playing a lead role in the movie, and Amitabh Bachchan plays underworld don Kadar bhai . Meera Nair wanted Kadar bhai to look nasty, that's why he wanted him in a bald look ..... The movie is based on the book written by an Aussie with the same title 'Shantaram' which is an autobiographical account of an escaped Australian convict who travels through continents and ends up in Mumbai's underworld. BofA throws Countrywide $2-billion lifelineLos Angeles Times expected the housing downturn to lead the U.S. economy into recession. ..... cash-starved sub-prime mortgage lenders across Southern California announced more than 4,000 layoffs nationwide. ..... BofA, the sixth-largest U.S. home lender in 2006, recognizes that "once the dust settles the survivors [in the mortgage industry] will have much less competition and will thrive" ...... the credit crunch ravaging the mortgage industry ..... a wave of defaults on sub-prime mortgages -- loans made to people with poor credit ..... Since the start of the year, more than 40,000 workers have lost their jobs at mortgage lending institutions Dell laptops not in the pink after all Register Dell makes headway in server market Register Nicole Richie jailed - for all of 82 minutes Guardian Unlimited
Edwards takes shots at Clinton 'nostalgia' Chicago Tribune casting the 2008 election as "a choice between looking back and looking forward" and warning that "those wedded to the policies of the '70s, '80s, or '90s are wedded to the past." ..... not-so-subtle swipes at the "third way" politics of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. .... railed against "a vision for the future that is rooted in nostalgia." ..... "The trouble with nostalgia is that you tend to remember what you liked and forget what you didn't," Edwards said, according to a copy of the speech provided by his campaign. "It's not just that the answers of the past aren't up to the job today, it's that the system that produced them was corrupt -- and still is." ...... We cannot triangulate our way to real change; we cannot compromise our way to real change .... several recent surveys show him slipping ..... he's struggling to match Obama and Clinton in fundraising. ..... "Angry attacks on other Democrats won't improve Sen. Edwards' flagging campaign," Baker said in an e-mail statement. "Sen. Clinton has been fighting for America's families for 35 years and has the experience to lead on day one."
John Edwards needs to calm down. He is not going to be the nominee, he is not going to be president. But if he behaves, he can get a cabinet position in an Obama administration.
Bill Clinton is still relevant. And Hillary could be a Senator for decades. That is called being relevant.
It is called making medical advances. 30 years from now Bill Clinton will still be offering his insight into contemporary politics then. He will still be called on by reporters to give his take on people running for president.
Bill Clinton is relevant and healthy and dynamic. Look at the globe trotting he does. I think he works harder now than when he was president. If he retired, noone explained to him the concept.
His work in Africa has been amazing. His personal friendship with Mandela is vastly inspiring. The African American median income went up when he was president. Black America loves him and for good reason. This white boy from Arkansas works as if he is trying to make amends for all the racial sins of his South, past and present.
The truth is a little more basic than that. This guy is a born politician. He just likes meeting people. All sorts of people. If you are a Homo Sapien, he wants to look you in the eye.
Bill Clinton's policies are relevant. He balanced the budget. The next president is going to have to. Some president is going to have to reintroduce the information age and the dot com boom. You can not let go of the wisdom of the earned income tax credit like Edwards seems to have let go. Maybe President Obama will be loved again like President Clinton was by the masses in the poor countries. That loveydobey thing is still relevant.
Of course Bill Clinton was and is for publicly financed elections, but while he waited for that to happen, he went ahead and tried and raised more money than the Republicans. What would Jesus do?
Bill Clinton continues to be an inspiration to progressives in America and to progressives around the world.
Barack is 2008. Edwards is 2004. Hillary is 1990s. McCain is 1970s.
Barack has been an elected official longer than Hillary. He is the one who is experienced.
Barack is fresh.
Barack has low negatives.
Barack raised more money than Hillary starting from the very first quarter. That showed people who were paying attention liked him more.
Barack had twice as many contributors than Hillary starting from the very first quarter.
Barack is the grassroots candidate. That makes him more of a Democrat.
Barack has the youth excited.
He reminds people of Bobby Kennedy.
Barack has not had Clinton's name recognition. And so he has lagged in national polls. But he is looking great in the early state polls where voters are actually paying attention.
Most Americans a few months into 1992 thought Bill Clinton had a rich father. It did not matter the guy did not even have a father. People will get to know Barack alright.
Only 10% of Americans know today who they will vote for in 2008.
Only a few months back, more than half of America had never heard of Barack. That might be hard for the hard core to believe, but that is true.
Barack is young and dynamic.
He has not been in Washington so long that he no longer makes sense.
He is capable of creating a majority like Reagan in 1984, LBJ in 1964. I guess it happens once every 20 years or so, and now is the time.
His father was from Africa.
His mother was from Kansas.
He grew up in Hawaii. That is exotic.
He also grew up in Indonesia. That is super exotic. To me.
With Barack, you get universal health insurance before his first term is over. With Hillary you get that by the end of her second term. That is her way of saying she will not have a second term, and you will not have health insurance.
Barack is a big deal in Chicago.
Barack stood against the dumb invasion of Iraq from the very outset.
Barack will refocus the efforts to go get Bin Laden. He will also elbow out Musharraf who, by the way, is a dictator, kind of like Saddam. But he never said he will invade Pakistan. It is not Barack, it is Bush who invades.
He will take the black people to the promised land.
He is white, he is black, he is biracial, he is African, he is Midwest, he is Third World. That is what I call a package deal.
He got the smarts.
He went to Columbia, he went to Harvard.
He smoked pot. Is that cool or what? Hillary never did.
They love him on the South Side of Chicago.
He has had the same barber for 20 years. That is really something.
He is a great basketball player. Only a few days back, he hit a three pointer, and he was not even warmed up, was dressed like a lawyer, and it was on camera.
He will get out of Iraq the smart way. You end up with no American troops inside Iraq and a stable, democratic Iraq.
With him in the White House, America gets back onto the global map. How would you like to get popular?
Finally the 21st Century that was supposed to have arrived in 2000 will arrive.
He will slash the deficits.
He will slash the tax cuts to the super rich.
He will go after the debt over time.
He will fix schools.
He will be good for broadband.
New industries will get created.
We already went to the moon. Now we go to Africa.
The gender dynamic in the country goes up one notch. Michelle will make sure that happens. It is called leading by example.
How would you like to see two cute kids on the White House lawn? When was the last time that happened?
Fox News poll gives Giuliani & Clinton solid leads USA Today Rudy Giuliani leads his nearest Republican rival (Fred Thompson) by 15 percentage points and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the second-place Democrat (Sen. Barack Obama) by 13 points in the latest national poll done for Fox News Channel by Opinion Dynamics Corp. ..... margins of error of +/- 5 percentage points FOX News Poll: New Yorkers Clinton, Giuliani Top 2008 Choices ... FOX News The new poll shows that Clinton holds a double-digit lead over Barack Obama, topping him by 13 percentage points — 38 percent to 25 percent — among Democrats. That’s down slightly from a 16-point edge in July. John Edwards is third and is now in single digits with 8 percent. .... the number of undecided Democratic voters is 15 percent today — double the number that said they were unsure two months ago (7 percent, June 26-27). ...... "By next month the window for dark horses to enter either race will pretty much close unless a top candidate takes a huge fall." ...... While Gingrich has yet to make a formal announcement about his candidacy, he was recently spending time in Iowa during the straw poll process. ..... Nearly one in four Republicans (23 percent) say they don’t know which candidate they would vote for if the primary were held today. .... a 60 percent majority disapproves of the job Congress is doing and 56 percent disapprove of President Bush’s job performance ..... one of five people (24 percent) say they approve of the job Congress is doing, including 26 percent of Democrats and 23 percent of Republicans. ..... Approval of Congress was 29 percent in November 2006, right before the mid-term elections. .... A 63 percent majority of Republicans approves of Bush, as do 21 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats. ...... By more than two-to-one (57 percent to 24 percent) the public supports passage of an Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights that would require airlines to provide passengers with things like fresh water and clean bathrooms, as well as possibly the right to exit the airplane when there are flight delays. Barack Obama's Republican edge Salon Iowa Caucus: Wooing One Voter at a TimeForbes If Hillary Rodham Clinton wins Iowa's presidential caucuses, it won't be because of endorsements or poll numbers. ..... She's very strong, she's very smart and I'm glad she's a woman ...... In Iowa, it's all about getting people to the caucuses on a cold night this winter. .... Democratic candidates have mounted vast organizational efforts across Iowa, deploying hundreds of staff and volunteers to feed, court and cajole finicky caucus-goers months before a vote is cast. ....... Angelique Pirozzi, who runs Clinton's Iowa field program. "It's fundamentally a program of relationships." ...... 19 field offices and hiring more than 100 staffers .... Supporters are being recruited to chair each of the state's 99 counties and 1,784 precincts. ..... Identifying supporters and persuading them to caucus for a candidate remains a slow and meticulous process for all the campaigns. Democratic campaigns also focus much of their efforts in rural Republican-leaning counties, where even a handful of supporters showing up on caucus night can yield delegates for a candidate. ...... In Primghar, just nine voters showed up for what was billed as the Clinton campaign's O'Brien County kickoff meeting. ..... The group was treated to pizza.. Attendees listened and asked questions, but by the end most remained uncommitted. ..... "I'll speak personally to people. I'm not a great phone person," McCarty replied. ...... equally slow going for Clinton's rivals .... "old-fashioned Iowa campaigning" - including canvassing, phone banks and organizational meetings - to identify supporters .... campaign has mailed out thousands of DVDs .... "We always sign up a lot of people after they see him." ..... Obama has perhaps the largest field operation in Iowa, with 29 offices across the state and more scheduled to open soon. But Steve Hildebrand, Obama's top field organizer, acknowledged that the Illinois senator remains "the new kid on the block." ..... "A lot of Iowa voters still don't know much about Barack .... the campaign has run television commercials outlining Obama's biography and has mailed a biographical DVD to thousands of past caucus-goers. ...... Obama finished a five-day bus tour of the state last week during which he met with voters in a variety of small and medium-size settings. .... intimate gatherings Iowa caucus-goers have come to expect. ..... just 10 percent of Democratic caucus-goers in 2004 were under 35. ..... the campaign expected to see a number of Republicans and independents show up on caucus night, in order to re-register as Democrats to support Obama. Edwards Talks Tough at Clinton, Obama Forbes Edwards kicks off 'real change' themeBoston Globe Why the world according to Obama is a cause for concern Times Online Edwards takes shots at Clinton 'nostalgia' Chicago Tribune Report: Clinton battles 'negative' feelingsNewsday Clinton bridles at the notion that she's a polarizing candidate, but the poll of 3,000 registered voters by the Pew Research Center released Thursday did little to counter that perception. ...... Edwards opened a fresh attack on Clinton yesterday, urging New Hampshire voters to reject "nostalgia" for Bill Clinton's presidency. ..... The problem with nostalgia is what we tend to do is, you only remember what you liked and forget the parts that you didn't like ..... Obama.. has been targeting the New York senator more directly in recent days. Quality Care in Clinton Health Plan Washington Post The wait will soon be over. While Sen. Hillary Clinton today only unveiled her plans to improve the quality of health care, aides said next month she'll actually introduce her proposals to expand health insurance to all Americans. ...... Clinton defended her gradual approach to laying out her vision on health care. She's made the process a three-part series: a speech in May on reducing costs, her address today on quality of care, and then finishing up next month with a plan for the 45 million Americans who currently don't have health insurance. "My order here is deliberate," she said. "In order to forge a consensus on universal health care, we need to assure people that they will get the quality they expect at a cost they can afford." ...... finding ways to more accurately measure hospital and doctor performance ..... increasing funding to help the retention of nurses, many of whom leave their jobs within the first few years .... 1994, when she headed a White House task force on the issue whose plan a Democratic-controlled Congress rejected ...... In contrast, Sen. Barack Obama has suggested the way to reform health care is through the ability to build a consensus on the issue, and the Illinois Senator argues he will do that better than Clinton. Obama competitive with Clinton among party's highly educated The Swamp, IL Obama's Foreign Policy Reset TIME called the Bush approach to Cuba "blundering" .... his departure by no means guarantees the arrival of freedom on the island." ..... The new approach on Cuba is designed to show that Obama is both innovative and sound; in other words, someone who is experienced but not so experienced that he is stuck in the old way of thinking. "Barack is trying to send a signal of change in foreign policy," one of Obama's foreign policy advisers said. "New century. New challenges, new opportunities, new thinking ....... "Barack's judgment on the war has been good. New thinking without judgment just leads to mistakes." .... Obama seems to see an opening here others don't: he appears to be making, with this proposal, a pitch for younger voters and newly arrived Cuban immigrants Cuba's foreign minister applauds Obama stance on sanctionsReuters Reach out to CubaOrlando Sentinel Obama echoes US sentimentUSA Today Cuba's foreign minister .... Felipe Perez Roque said Obama's "declarations express a sentiment shared by the majority of people in the United States, that the draconian measures adopted by the government of President Bush violated the constitutional rights of North Americans and constitute an anachronism and barbaric act." The Science of The Daily ShowWashington Post The two talked in earnest about press coverage of the campaign, controversy between candidates that's cooked up "to sell papers" and the story line that places Obama and Clinton at opposite ends of the experience spectrum. There were some jokes --one kind of garbled one at Mike Gravel's expense -- and some meta humor about invading Grenada -- for practice! -- where Obama fumbled the pronunciation of the country. ..... spawned a genre of academic literature on how fake news impacts perceptions of real newsmakers. .... "When candidates appear on those shows they increase their likability, even to partisans on the other side." .... Obama has also said that if he's the nominee youth voter turnout will increase by 25-30 percent. Obama And The Black Vote Atlantic Online Obama meets NY Jewish leaders Jewish Telegraphic Agency, NY Googling for campaign contributions CNNMoney.com Fundraising in VacationlandWashington Post PRO-CON: Is Obama's Cuba policy reasonable? YES Kansas City Star PRO-CON: IS OBAMA’S CUBA POLICY REASONABLE? NOKansas City Star Edwards fires veiled shot at Clinton: 'Wedded to the past' Chicago Tribune Foreign policy hubbub doesn’t ding Obama in poll Reuters Clinton renews push on health care Chicago Tribune Quality Care in Clinton Health PlanWashington Post Clinton offers more on health careMSNBC Bush ally breaks ranks with call for troop pullout Times Online Warner Says US Should Start Withdrawing Iraq Force (Update2)Bloomberg Key Republican Senator Calls on Bush to Begin Troop Withdrawal ...Voice of America Iraqi Government Still Shaky, Says New US Intelligence Estimate Voice of America NIE: Iraq 'Unable to Govern' Itself EffectivelyWashington Post Giuliani says he can carry California San Diego Union Tribune Policeman drowns girls in Bihar for stealing firewood Reuters India Space program lunacy Los Angeles Times Obama Gets Direct: Why Vote For Me? Guardian Unlimited ``This last question I will prompt myself, and that's, 'Why you instead of Hillary?''' Obama said during a supporter's house party this week. ``That's in the back of minds of a lot of people.'' ..... That direct approach was part of a new Obama campaign style during his visit to the nation's first primary state, where he has stalled in the polls behind Hillary Rodham Clinton. ..... even though he stands for unity and the end of personal attack politics, he will swiftly and strongly defend himself from his critics. ....... his race would be an asset because it would increase black voter turnout enough to give a Democratic victory in reliably Republican Southern states. .... young voter participation would leap. ``I think I can bring cool back to the federal government .... if I beat the Clintons, folks aren't going to ask whether I'm tough enough ..... he would surround himself with competent people with integrity and independence - like Abraham Lincoln ...... Lincoln also was a former Illinois legislator who faced great skepticism about his experience ..... getting those who know a lot about Clinton to learn more about Obama. .... In New Hampshire, the campaign has set up book clubs to read Obama's autobiographies and three-on-three basketball tournaments - the candidate's favorite sport. He is meeting personally with voters who have yet to make up their minds. Edwards aims tough talk at Clinton and ObamaWLOS The Complicated Legacy of Bill Clinton ABC News McCain tangles with Clinton over surge Bizjournals.com Pure Horserace: Edwards On The Offensive CBS News Japan calls on India to join Asian 'arc of freedom' INQ7.net Rising telecom star India Nokia’s 2nd largest mkt Indian Express Toyota mulls small car for India Hindu in two years, and to build a second factory in the country ..... Toyota Chairman, Fujio Cho, told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of an India-Japan business leadership forum .... India, Asia's fourth biggest automobile market, is dominated by Suzuki Motor Corp. Pakistan’s exiled leaders to return Times Online “It is the beginning of the end of Musharraf,” said Mr Sharif ...... Mr Sharif is likely to be joined quickly by Benazir Bhutto, another former Prime Minister in exile. The pair have buried their political differences to lead efforts to unseat the general. ..... Outside the court hundreds of supporters of Mr Sharif’s secular, conservative Pakistan Muslim League danced as they celebrated. “Go Musharraf, go!”, and “Musharraf is a dog” they chanted. One slaughtered six goats in celebration in front of the white marble court complex, leaving the road smeared in blood. .... The presence in Pakistan of Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto will hamper General Musharraf’s efforts to win another five-year term from parliament next month. ...... Mr Justice Chaudhry, who recently defeated General Musharraf’s attempts to remove him from office, warned the Government not to hamper or obstruct Mr Sharif’s return. Analysts suggest that the Supreme Court could use its independence to block General Musharraf’s efforts to win a new term. ........ A legal battle is looming about whether the coming election is legal. The constitution bars the holding of dual offices and the Supreme Court is set to take up a constitutional petition challenging his candidacy while he remains chief of army staff. ....... “It is a victory for democracy and defeat for military rule,” he declared at a press conference in London, where he has been living for the past year. He ruled out any negotiations with General Musharraf, saying that his return would bring an end to the military-led Government. ......... there were already clear signs of General Musharraf losing his credibility. ..... The worsening law and order situation and rise in Islamic militancy in borderland and North West Frontier Province has further eroded his authority. ...... General Musharraf was on the verge of declaring state of emergency last week before being stopped by the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and opposition within his own civilian allies. ....... Most analysts agree that there has been a dramatic shift in popular opinion against the nation’s military. This is likely to step up pressure on the Army, not just General Musharraf, to get out of politics and shift political power to a civilian government. ...... Her husband, Asif Zardari, has been tried 18 times on criminal and corruption charges but has never been proved guilty ..... Ms Bhutto was convicted for failing to appear before the Supreme Court in 1999. The verdict was overturned and tapes since uncovered revealed that Sharif had pressured the court for a conviction Councilman wants peeping to be a misdemeanor New York Daily News Just Looking Could Be Costly Under Proposed Voyeurism LawNew York Times For Google, Not Even The Sky is Off Limits InternetNews.com Study: Low-Priced Google Office Suite not Enterprise Ready PC World Bachchan`s agent threatens libel Zee News Amitabh Bachchan is not playing Gabbar: RGV CNN-IBN 'Eye-dentity' crisis for Big B in Sholay remake Times of India It was a complicated procedure to fit him with those lenses, given his age. .... The colour of the lens in the right eye is blue, while the left one is brown. ..... it was Bachchan’s family eye surgeon Dr Himanshu Mehta who got the soft lenses made especially for the Bollywood superstar. ..... Bachchan tried out lenses of various hues for which he had over 50 sittings with Dr Mehta and finally settled for the brown and blue coloured ones ..... Amitabh Bachchan would usually arrive in the morning at the clinic and put on the lenses with the help of Dr. Mehta before leaving for shooting Ramu’s film. .... taking into consideration Bachchan’s age, making him wear the soft lenses was a lengthy process and required a lot of skill. As one ages, it is not only the eyesight, but also the organs connected with the eyes that tend to become weak. It becomes difficult for the eye to hold the lenses for a longer period of time then. It was only super willpower and a drive for perfection that made Amitabh Bachchan sport those lenses for hours Jogging is beneficial, soccer more so Science Daily Soccer Burns More Fat Than JoggingScience Daily Oil Rises With Global Equities Wall Street Journal Palestinian soccer team banned in Britain CBC News Server market: Sun outruns Dell Heise Online It's black to basics for off-colour Dell Independent Dell: Fancy laptop colors are harder than they lookZDNet Elderly Staying Sexually Active Washington Post States Decry Children's Insurance Policy Guardian Unlimited FDA proposes sunscreen rule, cancer warning Reuters Microsoft Says Xbox 360 Wheel Overheats Forbes
This is not exactly a guy known for his smarts. And now he has decided he wants to do some out of the box thinking and overturn history on Vietnam. If you think you know what happened back then, look again. That is what he is saying.
First it was that Saddam has to be punished for 9/11. And that is no exaggeration. Cheney still maintained that lie in a fairly recent speech. 40% of Republicans believe that. The truth is Saddam was not behind 9/11, it was Bin Laden, they don't even look alike.
Then it was that Saddam might not attack directly but he might provide WMDs to Bin Laden. Bin Laden and Saddam were enemies like Bin Laden and dictator Musharraf are enemies today. Saddam was an ugly Arab. Bin Laden is an ugly Arab. But that doest not mean they were friends. The fact is they were enemies. And not only they were enemies, it turned out Saddam had no WMDs to share even if he wanted to. Cheney cooked the intelligence to make it look like Saddam did have WMDs.
When that did not fly and it was proven on the ground that there were no WMDs, they shifted the goal post again. Now it was about spreading democracy. If it costs half a trillion dollars to spread democracy into a country of 27 million, I wonder where America will be after it is done spreading democracy into China. Will it borrow even that much more money from China? To liberate a billion people you will need 20 trillion dollars that you don't have.
The democracy thing did not fly either. I can't think of one democracy anywhere that has a civil war. They might talk of democracy, but what they really pumped into Iraq was statelessness. Instead of democracy, there was intense sectarian violence.
So they shifted again. Forget democracy, we came in here to calm down the sectarian violence. Mind you, that sectarian violence did not exist before they got there. They put the house on fire, and now they were going to firefight.
Then they shifted the goal post again. You are worried about sectarian violence? Wait until there is a full fledged civil war. We need a surge to make sure there is no civil war. So you are supposed to go along with them as they do the surge thing.
And now W is waving the ultimate flag. If you don't go along with his plan for a surge now, and American troops in large numbers in Iraq for as far as the eyes can see, you are going to have blood on your hands. You are going to see a regional genocide. Remember Vietnam?
This is not blackmail, because it is not a black guy doing it. This is whitemail. This is emotional whitemail.
Dumbo, the mistake was made during step one. The mistake was made when you decided war was the first option. And mistake is being made now in not realizing there is no military solution to Iraq, there is only a political solution.
A smart withdrawal coupled by a super intense diplomatic and political effort will lead to stabilization, not just in Iraq, but in the region, with positive repurcussions for the cause of a Palestinian state - yet another Arab democracy - and democracy and human rights in the region.
Report Cites Grave Concerns on Iraq’s Government New York Times deep doubts that the government of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, can overcome sectarian differences ....... any military gains would be ephemeral if Iraqi politicians were not able to bridge sectarian divides ..... what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working, but we can’t let up, or it’ll get worse ...... On Wednesday, as a second Democratic senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, called for Mr. Maliki to quit, he lashed out at American lawmakers who have questioned his competence. ....... an intense White House initiative to shape the debate on Capitol Hill in September ...... a new interest group, Freedom’s Watch, led by allies of the Bush administration — including Sheldon G. Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who ranks sixth on Forbes Magazine’s lists of the world’s billionaires — began a monthlong, $15 million campaign intended to support the president’s policy. ....... the war in Vietnam, asserting that the American pullout there 32 years ago led to tens of thousands of deaths in that country and Cambodia ....... Bush was doing something few major politicians of either party have done in a generation: rearguing a conflict that ended more than three decades ago but has remained an emotional touch point. ...... “Invoking the tragedy of Vietnam to defend the failed policy in Iraq is as irresponsible as it is ignorant of the realities of both of those wars,” Mr. Kerry said. ...... two World War II veterans, John Rocca and Anthony Cellucci, said they had qualms about Mr. Bush’s speech. They said they agreed with Mr. Obama’s call for United States troops to refocus their efforts to find Osama bin Laden and his deputies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. News Analysis: Historians Question Bush’s Reading of Lessons of Vietnam War for Iraq (August 23, 2007) The American withdrawal from Vietnam is widely remembered as an ignominious end to a misguided war — but one with few negative repercussions for the United States and its allies. ....... the Khmer Rouge would never have come to power in the absence of the war in Vietnam .... Bush did not offer a judgment on what, if anything, might have brought victory in Vietnam or whether the war itself was a mistake. ..... “If one is really concerned about the Iraqi people, and the fate that may be awaiting them as this war winds down, then we ought to get serious about opening our doors, and to welcoming to the United States those Iraqis who have supported us and have put themselves and their families in danger.” ..... some members of Congress and human rights groups have urged the Bush administration to drop the limits on Iraqi refugees admitted to the United States. ..... Germany and Japan were homogenous nation-states with clear national identities and no internal feuding among factions or sects, in stark contrast to Iraq today. .... The comparison of Iraq to Germany and Japan “is fanciful” .... “The occupation of Germany and Japan lasted for years — and not a single American solider was killed by insurgents.” ..... the essential elements that brought victory in World War II — a total commitment by the American people and the government, and a staggering economic commitment to rebuild defeated adversaries — do not exist for the Iraq war. The wars in Korea and Vietnam also involved considerable national sacrifice, including tax increases and conscription. Transcript of President Bush’s Speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention (August 22, 2007) The Lede: Bush’s Iraq-Vietnam Parallel (August 22, 2007) “What is Bush suggesting? That we didn’t fight hard enough, stay long enough? ..... “We’ve been in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. It’s a disaster .... the disaster is the consequence of going in, not getting out.” .... the mayhem of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime “was a consequence of our having gone into Cambodia and destabilized that country.” ....... “Vietnam was not a bunch of sectarian groups fighting each other,” as in Iraq. In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge toppled a U.S.-backed government. ...... The support for the war of course has diminished to almost a disappearing point. Video: Speech Excerpt Behavior: To Reap Psychotherapy’s Benefits, Get a Good Fit since psychiatric disorders fluctuate spontaneously with time, like most illnesses, many patients would get better even if they got no treatment at all. ...... Many patients have problems with relationships in the first place; they can find it difficult to extricate themselves from bad or ineffective therapy. ..... the obvious financial incentive to hold on to a patient. Many Found Sexually Active Into the 70s Most Americans remain sexually active into their 60s, and nearly half continue to have sex regularly into their early 70s ..... many older people also report struggling with sexual problems, like reduced desire and erectile difficulties .... women were significantly less likely than men to report being sexually active from age 57 on .... Women were more often without a partner .... more likely to say they no longer derived much pleasure from sex. .... for many people sexual activity does not diminish much at all ..... 84 percent of men from 57 to 64 reported having had some sexual contact with another person in the last year, compared with 62 percent of women in the same age group. Those figures dwindled to 38 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in people 75 and older. ...... among those adults who were sexually active, about two-thirds had sex at least twice a month into their 70s, and more than half continued at that pace into their 80s. ...... Nearly half of those who were sexually active reported at least one sexual problem, with 43 percent of women reporting diminished desire, and 39 percent vaginal dryness, and with 37 percent of men reporting erectile difficulties. ...... only about a third of the men and just a fifth of the women in the study had discussed sex with a doctor since age 50. Six Killers | Diabetes: Looking Past Blood Sugar to Survive With Diabetes heart disease, which eventually kills nearly everyone with diabetes. .... Blood sugar control is important in diabetes, specialists say. It can help prevent dreaded complications like blindness, amputations and kidney failure. But controlling blood sugar is not enough. ..... Nearly 73,000 Americans die from diabetes annually, more than from any disease except heart disease, cancer, stroke and pulmonary disease. ...... largely because of a misunderstanding of the proper treatment, most patients are not doing even close to what they should to protect themselves ..... just 7 percent are getting all the treatments they need. ...... people are not aware of their risks and what could be done about them .... Most people who have diabetes are treated by primary care doctors who had just a few hours of instruction on diabetes, while they were in medical school. Then the doctors typically spend just 10 minutes with diabetes patients, far too little for such a complex disease ...... the impression that diabetes is a matter of an out-of-control diet and sedentary lifestyle and the most important way to deal with it is to lose weight. .... most of the time it progresses as years go by, no matter what patients do. ..... like 90 percent of diabetes patients, has Type 2 diabetes, the form that usually arises in adulthood when the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas cannot keep up with the body’s demand for the hormone ...... misconceptions about diabetes. ....... A main artery to his heart was 90 percent blocked. .... thought his biggest risk from diabetes was blindness or amputations. He never thought about heart disease and had no idea how important it was to control cholesterol levels and blood pressure. ...... only 18 percent of people with diabetes believed that they were at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. ...... it’s not the diabetes that kills you, it’s the diabetes causing cardiovascular disease that kills you ...... you can decrease that risk substantially ...... The science is clear on the huge benefits for people with diabetes of lowering cholesterol and controlling blood pressure. ...... levels of LDL cholesterol, the form that increases heart disease risk, should be below 100 milligrams per deciliter and, if possible, 70 to 80. ...... diabetes patients with LDL cholesterol levels of 100 to 139 often are told that their levels — ideal for a healthy person without diabetes — are terrific. ........ “Many practicing doctors just don’t know that an LDL cholesterol number that is normal for someone without diabetes is not normal for someone with diabetes” ...... Only 5 percent to 10 percent of obese people have diabetes, and many with diabetes are not obese. ...... Type 2 diabetes is genetically determined — if one identical twin has it, the other has an 80 percent chance of having it too. ........ most who lose weight are not cured of the disease ...... the metabolic process of weight loss lessens diabetes. Once weight is lost, he added, and people stabilize at a lower weight, their diabetes may remain. ...... new diabetes regimen: a statin to drive his cholesterol level very low, two drugs to lower his blood pressure, an aspirin, insulin and two drugs to reduce his blood sugar levels. That new list of drugs was what he should have been taking all along. ..... A quarter to a third of all heart attack patients have diabetes, even though diabetes patients constitute just 9.3 percent of the population. Another 25 percent of heart attack patients are verging on diabetes with abnormally high blood sugar levels. ........ should be stringently controlling their cholesterol and blood pressure. ..... There is something about diabetes itself, researchers say, that leads to high levels of LDL cholesterol and a form of LDL cholesterol particles that is particularly dangerous. Diabetes also leads to increased levels of triglycerides, which are fats in the blood that increase heart disease risk, and in diabetes is linked to high blood pressure. ........ LDL levels of 70 to 80 are even better for people with diabetes who already have overt heart disease. ...... achieving the recommended cholesterol levels usually means taking a statin ..... lowering cholesterol with statins, Dr. Hirsch and others said, is much simpler than anything else diabetes patients are asked to do. And, he added, the drugs are among the best studied and the safest on the market. ..... If he had to rate the different regimens for a typical middle-age person with Type 2 diabetes, the first priority would be to take a statin and lower the LDL cholesterol level. ..... if everyone did these things — taking a statin, taking a blood pressure medication, and maybe taking an aspirin — you would reduce the heart attack rate by half ..... the start of a journey that diabetes specialists say ends up fundamentally changing a person’s world ...... as happens with most diabetes patients eventually, he feels he is reaching a point where he just cannot continue to do all that he should to protect his health. ....... it runs in his family. ..... medications to control blood sugar that make patients gain weight. ..... On his first visit, Dr. Hirsch gave him a fistful of prescriptions, including a statin, blood pressure medications and one for the drug Mr. Umbarger dreaded — insulin. He also told Mr. Umbarger to have regular checks for eye, nerve and kidney damage. And he has to watch what he eats and count carbohydrates. ....... The problem for him, as for most diabetes patients eventually, is the blood sugar monitoring. He is supposed to prick his finger six or more times a day to measure his glucose levels and adjust his insulin dose accordingly. ...... “Pricking your finger, seeing that number day after day, it wears on you,” Mr. Umbarger said. “It’s like a ball and chain.” ....... no matter what they do, most people with Type 2 diabetes get worse as the years go by. Patients make less and less insulin and their cells become less and less able to use the insulin they do produce. ....... “That is why it is not uncommon to start initially with diet therapy, then after a few years we need to add a drug that improves insulin sensitivity,” Dr. Kahn said. “Then when that drug isn’t enough, we add a second drug that improves insulin sensitivity by a different mechanism. Then we add a drug that stimulates that pancreas to make more insulin.” ..... “We already have the miracle pills” — statins and blood pressure medications, he said. And they are available for pennies a day, as generics. Arab media condemn Bush flip-flop on Iraq prime ministerInternational Herald Tribune Iraq PM rejects US criticismThe Australian Nepal says takes over ownership of king's palaces San Diego Union Tribune Pakistani supreme court approves exiled former PM's return Xinhua the exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could return to the country and to take part in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. ..... Earlier this month, President General Pervez Musharraf said that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should not return home until after the forthcoming general elections in the country Pak. govt. to respect court verdict allowing Sharif to returnHindu Pakistan’s exiled former PM cleared to returnFinancial Times Edwards Turns Campaign Message to Change ABC News Edwards Goes After Clinton, Obama Guardian Unlimited The Pragmatic Obama Washington Post, United States He's Shaping the Debate on Foreign Policy .... he's not a left-wing devil. .... When a local reporter asks him if he's surprised by the "warm response" he got, Obama displays the almost eerie self-confidence that has marked his rise as a candidate. ....... indisputable star power. ..... the high-voltage connection he can establish with people. ..... persona is closer to a rock star than a typical politician. ..... dozens of African Americans here crowd around him with obvious pride and passion. ..... Obama is now attempting to translate this charisma into a serious political movement -- one that would allow him not simply to win the Democratic nomination but also to govern effectively as president. He is emphasizing defense and foreign policy, where voters have often not trusted Democrats to protect the country. ........ he's putting more substance into his pitch than candidates often do. ....... over the past month, Obama has been shaping the foreign policy debate for the Democrats -- and getting the best of the arguments. ........ Obama's postulate that "strong countries and strong presidents meet and talk with our adversaries." ........ he expects there will still be U.S. troops in Iraq when the next president takes office ....... "For getting out in an orderly way, withdrawing one to two brigades a month is realistic," he said. With 20 combat brigades in Iraq ....... Obama says he would support keeping U.S. forces in and around Iraq for protection of U.S. personnel there, for counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda, for protecting Iraq's borders and perhaps for continued training of Iraq's military if that country's political situation permits. He also said U.S. troops should be available to help stop any future "bloodbath" in Iraq, but only as part of a wider international effort. .......... Obama said he would talk to Iranian leaders about stabilizing Iraq ..... he would make suspension of nuclear enrichment by Iran a topic for discussions rather than a condition for talks ....... Obama is deftly managing to outflank his Democratic rivals on both the left and right on key foreign policy issues. .... "He is totally pragmatic. He asks what would work and what wouldn't." Online "friends" could be pivotal in 2008 US race Washington Post, United States start hanging out on Facebook ..... social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace as tools to win over young voters who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaigning. ..... Obama is the clear favorite so far -- the Illinois Democrat even gained the support on Facebook, however briefly, of Giuliani's Harvard-bound daughter, Caroline. ...... Obama has drawn nearly twice as many online "friends" who link to his profile than any other candidate, and many of them have become volunteers for the campaign. .... The Obama campaign has also built its own social-networking site, my.barackobama.com, which it credits for boosting fund-raising and attendance at rallies. ...... "Barack Obama is not going to lose a single voter from here on out. People are with him through the end of this thing" ...... 1996, when Republican candidate Bob Dole gave out the wrong address for his Web site during a debate ....... McCain pioneered online fund-raising in the 2000 race, and in 2004 Howard Dean rode the blogosphere to the front of the Democratic field ....... Facebook had 52 million unique visitors in June, while MySpace had 114 million. ...... Democrats outnumber Republicans 5-to-1 on Facebook and 3-to-1 on MySpace ...... Obama has drawn 299,000 supporters on the two networks ...... Giuliani has drawn only 7,400 supporters on MySpace. ...... midterm elections. .... "We were shocked, to be honest," Cutler said. "We didn't know if all these people on Facebook would show up." Obama invades 'Daily Show' for a few laughs Chicago Sun-Times, United States greeted by a studio audience chanting, "Barack, Barack" ..... Asked by host Jon Stewart if he should consider running a smaller country before taking over as commander in chief, the Illinois Democrat responded, "What I did think about, though, was invading a smaller country." ..... Obama said, "I think having Oprah's support is wonderful," but in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, "people just want to talk to you. They want to lift the hood, they want to kick the tires . . ." Australia’s Obama-Like Timetable Korea Times, South Korea John Howard .... reported to be losing patience with the current Iraq government and mulling over options for an Australian troop withdrawal. ..... The Australian people have soured on the war effort, to which their country has committed a troop contribution of about 1,500. ...... Australians will choose their next government later this year. .... prime minister since 1996, has seen his opinion ratings deteriorate and faces the prospect of leading his Liberal Party to defeat. ...... Howard is looking for a way out that avoids the appearance either of defeat or of a timetable. ...... the Australian leader, it seems, thinks timetables for withdrawal are sort of unwise and unmanly. .....Just a few months ago Howard, in a utterly gratuitous commentary on the U.S. presidential debate, lambasted Illinois Sen. Barack Obama ...... those running Obama's presidential campaign might well be justified now in throwing the Howard's angry words right back in the Aussie's face. ..... as if in response to the snap of the president's fingers, three prime ministers were in short order at Bush's feet: Blair of Great Britain, Koizumi of Japan and, of course, Howard of Australia. ....... Might not it have been better for the United States to have had real friends courageous enough to challenge the administration's thinking, instead of pimping it to their domestic publics and around the world? ...... the United States has lost more than 3,600 soldiers in Iraq _ and more than 27,000 have been significantly injured. The British have had 168 killed ... the Aussies have lost two soldiers. ...... this unnecessary war. .... if it turns out Afghanistan (which was a necessary war) is to be lost because of the diversion of too many resources to Iraq. ......With miscalculating, fawning friends like Howard _ and Blair and Koizumi _ Bush, in the end, really didn't need enemies, did he? Hedge-Fund Con Men at Heart of Credit CrisisThe recent market meltdown had much less to do with bad subprime loans than advertised. It was caused more fundamentally by excesses at hedge and private equity funds. Those contraptions, invented by the sinfully wealthy barons of Wall Street, have lied to themselves and their investors about the efficacy of their schemes. Now they are quiet in their sins as bad home loans take the rap for a global meltdown that the U.S. housing market is not large enough to cause. ...... when hedge funds multiply, they essentially bet against one another and require one another to validate their bets ....... akin to a Las Vegas bookie taking only bets on the Washington Redskins and none on their opponents, while financing the book on money borrowed from a New York bank .... a modern-day run on the bank, where the banks become the depositors and the hedge and equity funds are the banks. ...... Roosevelt did more than provide liquidity, he closed the banks in 1933 so that depositors could not withdraw their savings and stopped the banks from foreclosing on farm and home loans until sanity resumed. ..... the ECB and Fed need to reassure markets through steady, calm action and not behave as the ECB did, like a frightened child.
I took the train to the venue. I walked back home after the event. I did sit-ups before I headed that way. Bruno told me I looked all fired up. If you did sit-ups, you would also look all fired up.
This was going to be my second time seeing Obama in person.
There was a very long line outside the Marriott. I kept walking, and walking, and walking. Finally when I reached the end of the line, I said, I kept telling myself, if you keep walking, you will get there.
Annerenda I last met at the Union Square voter registration that Jeff had organized. When I saw her walk to the end of the line, I pulled her to come stand with me. She cut line, you could say.
Carlos walked by. Andrew walked by. I tried to pull Andrew. He showed me his big volunteer badge. Andrew is one of the top three or so people on Brooklyn For Barack, the organization. He was like an official. A volunteer. He was not trying to get in line.
After the event was over I learned from Carrington that not everybody was able to get in. Apparently the event got oversold. Obama greeted them outside. That was nice of him. Carrington is one of the top three people on Queens For Obama. I guess he gets to see my video of the event. My video is like the Bourne movies. Half the time the camera is shaking.
Carlos is easily one of the most visibly dynamic members of the five families, my name for the top 20 or so people who seem to be taking the lead in the four boroughs. He is Cuban. The recent debate on Cuba reminds me of him when I am following it. (Hillary On Cuba And Bush On Tax Cuts)
Jordan is Marlon Brando. He has this gravitas about him. He also has the Christopher Columbus air about him. Jordan Thomas. He is the one who launched Brooklyn For Barack. He is the one who introduced Barack at the first event that I got to see him in person. (I Touched Obama: Babel, Barack)
"Man, I have always wanted to shake your hand. Here, let me shake your hand," I teased him after the event was over and most people were gone. These guys put in a whole bunch of work into the Obama effort. It is like a part time job. Only you don't get paid.
When I walked out of the building, there were the key people waiting outside. Kirstine was one. I met her Sunday the yard sale Daniel and Allison did in Kensington. We both were there at the earliest Obama meetings in the city. She works at a place in Long Island that has six Nobel Prize winners.
"We are all waiting for Jordan. Where is Jordan?"
Oops. I was just talking to him. He is up there in the lobby. She walked back into the building to go up to the lobby.
I am a free agent. I am not a member of the five families. I have to stay unstructured. (NYC, Obama, Structure, Me)
I do put in the hours too. But those are unstructured hours. I put a lot of hours just to maintain this blog, my primary contribution to Obama 2008.
Before checking in, I saw Jeff. I gave him a cheery greeting. Then I was sent to the far end of the check in table, because I had not printed my ticket. Saving trees, one ticket at a time. But my name was on the list. You show your ID and you are in.
And I walk in and there is Jeff again. He is the gatekeeper.
"What's going on, man? I keep seeing you."
He promptly closed both his eyes. I can't see you, so that must mean you can't see me.
Molly whizzed by. Molly does not want to be videoblogged. Since all my editing happens while filming, I made sure I did not get her on camera. Once I got pretty close, like two feet to her right.
The guy who introduced Obama today was a Jamaican American who had made a $25 contribution. He worked as a gatekeeper somewhere, one of the gatekeepers at the venue told me. "Now he is a hero, he is in the newspapers."
My favorite part of the speech was the story he told at the end. I was too busy filming for posterity to really, truly experience the speech for myself. The first time I got to shake his hand, there were at least two people between us, and the paparazzi were swarming all around. Paparazzi with TV cameras.
Then I went to the other end, the end he had already worked. Astonishingly he came back to that end and shook some more hands. I managed to touch his hand. Our eyes met once. I gave him a huge, fired up smile. He smiled back and looked to the floor.
The bodyguards were really impressive, the "secret people." Obama is into his speech, the crowd is into his speech. But these "secret people" are totally tuned out. They are doing their job. They are scanning the horizon. They looked so thorough.
Alexis and Jonta were there. Those are two top people in Queens.
One guy from Long Island approached me. "Hey, I remember seeing you at the very fist Obama event in the city," he said to me.
"Man, that looks so good on me for you to say that. Will you please say that again for the camera?" I said.
It was time to break down the railings around the stage towards the end. Beatina tricked me into holding two of them at once. That immobilizes you. You can only handle one at a time. You put the railing onto the cart one at a time.
The guy who introduced Barack got interviewed by a whole bunch of TV people. One TV reporter also got me.
"Why do you like Barack Obama?"
"Oh, he is Third World, and I am Third World, that's why."
Obama on Daily Show: "Judgment" is everything Chicago Tribune, United States "everybody knows a lot of 50-, 60- and 70-year-olds that don't have good judgment, because they keep on making the same mistakes over and over again." ...... his wife's usual stump speech -- which, to be fair, focuses very heavily on stories of her own family and her personal attempts to maintain a health family life. In Brooklyn, Cheers for Obama New York Times, United States Obama came into the heart of Hillary country Wednesday night for a fundraiser organized by the group Brooklyn for Barack. ...... wide-ranging 40-minute speech ..... the audience, which packed the reserved room at New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, as well as another room where the rally was simulcast. ...... “What a speaker,” said Barbara Barran,59. “This is like John Kennedy, and for those of us of that vintage, he’s that inspirational.” .... “He was a breath of fresh air” said Charles Barron, a New York City councilman, who represents parts of East New York. “But I wish he would bring it to the neighborhoods, not just the Marriott.” Brooklyn Celebrity SightingNational Review Online Obama hosts second Brooklyn fundraiserCrain's New York Business US presidential hopeful Obama attends fund-raisers in New York People's Daily Online, China GENERATION NOBAMA: Wildly Overbooked Campaign Event Leaves Barack ...Huffington Post upwards of five hundred people were lined up on the sidewalk .... Jenny Yeager, the New York Finance Director for Obama'08, and she informed us that the hotel had closed the room because it had reached fire-code capacity. ..... People had brought their aunts and uncles with them unannounced, local politicians may have invited their friends along, event locales sometimes used larger stages than planned ..... the crowd waiting outside was at least a quarter of the capacity of the main room ...... campaign spokesman Bill Burton .... "Due to the overwhelming grassroots support for Senator Obama, we simply couldn't accommodate everyone interested in attending" ...... Strangely, despite the large crowd and the long-ish wait, no one seemed terribly upset. ..... Obama is not dating material. He's a presidential candidate, and an admittedly once-in-a-generation one at that. ...... at the beginning of Sunday's Debate when George "Let's Start A Catfight" Stephanopoulos led with the question, "Is Barack Obama ready to be president, experienced enough to be president?" and then let all the other candidates have a go at the junior Senator from Illinois. Obama Stumps On Clinton's Home TurfNY1 Obama Opportunity in Brooklyn Is Seen New York Sun, NY Barack Obama: Obama Welcomes Support of Key Elected Officials ... All American Patriots (press release), Sweden Lining Up in Brooklyn For Obama Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY Obama appears on US comedy show ITN, UK Absent Wife The Talk Of Sen. Obama's NYC Stop WCBS-TV New York, NY On Wednesday Sen. Barack Obama once again invaded Sen. Hillary Clinton's turf. The Illinois senator is campaigning in New York City as the political world buzzes over comments made by his wife. Appearing at a West Side union hall, Obama's first words concerned his wife. ......... "She has been making that speech constantly about the decision we made to make sure that our family was strong," Barack Obama said, "because if our family wasn't that strong then we couldn't be a strong leader in the White House." ......... "In America a lot of wives have been kind of, uh, reserved since the 90s and it's nice to see someone else who's dynamic come out there and be bold and outspoken on the campaign trail" ...... Barack Obama was scheduled to hold another event Wednesday night at the Marriott in Brooklyn. Obama campaigns on Hillary's turf Newsday, NY Obama gets Stewart treatment tonight Boston Globe, United States Lining Up in Brooklyn For Obama Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY Obama Stumps On Clinton's Home TurfNY1 Obama campaigns on Hillary's turf Newsday, NY Obama steps on Hillary's turfamNewYork rallying volunteers at an auditorium near Times Square, sharing laughs during an afternoon taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," then pumping hands with zealous supporters at a $25 per-person fundraiser in Brooklyn. ....... "What's up, Brooklyn?" a visibly confident Obama asked a roaring audience at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. Many attendees had waited in chilly drizzle to hear the one-time Brooklynite speak. Obama briefly lived in Park Slope while at Columbia University. ........ a packed ballroom of about 1,200 people. ...... New York is considered a key fundraising state because of its concentrations of deep-pocketed residents, as are California, Texas, Florida and Illinois. ....... Obama's first public appearance Wednesday came at the Elliott Godoff Auditorium at Seventh Avenue and West 43rd Street, where he acknowledged the endorsement of several local politicians, including Suffolk County legislators Jon Cooper, Elie Mystal and Vivian Viloria-Fisher, and members of the New York City Council and the New York State legislature. .......... Moments before the TV taping with Stewart, a favorite source of current events among younger voters whose enthusiasm is helping to fuel Obama's campaign, Obama spoke before volunteers who participated in a three-day grassroots training session. Barack Obama in Brooklyn Wednesday 1010 Wins, NY Barack Obama brings his presidential campaign to Brooklyn Wednesday. It's the second time in four weeks that the junior senator from Illinois is in Brooklyn. He will hold a fundraiser at the Brooklyn Marriott on Wedneday evening. The unofficial kick-off took place on July 24 at the home of Brooklyn Heights doyenne Nina Collins, where people paid $1,000 to meet Obama. Obama lived in Brooklyn, briefly, in the 1980s. ..... organized by Brooklyn for Barack .... Through June 30, Clinton raised $424,000 in the borough to Obama's $231,000.
Will Obama's Stance on Cuba Hurt Him? TIME Conventional political wisdom in the bellwether state of Florida has always focused on Cuban-Americans .... Cross them, says the presidential candidate handbook, and say adios to the Sunshine State's 27 electoral votes. ...... Obama knows a new conventional wisdom may well be taking shape in the state — one that could actually make his declarations this week an asset ...... "It's almost as if you have to decide ahead of time when a relative is going to die ...... by playing that safe card in Florida, Clinton may have allowed herself to be "outmaneuvered by Obama on this one ...... more than 55% of Cuban-Americans in Miami favor unrestricted travel to Cuba. ...... Unlike their elders, the younger generation believes that the 45-year-old economic embargo against Cuba has utterly failed to dislodge its communist leader. ........ The exiles have traditionally voted Republican ever since they abandoned President John F. Kennedy because of his botched direction of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. ...... the rules in Florida are really ready to be broken. Obama Denies Wife Took Swipe At Clinton Guardian Unlimited, UK Obama is outflanking rivals on the left and right Daily Star - Lebanon, Lebanon New Google Sky tool turns computer into virtual telescopeSan Jose Mercury News The tool provides information about various celestial bodies, from stars to planets, and includes imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources. It also allows users to take virtual tours through galaxies, including the Milky Way. .... see planets in motion and witness a supernova explosion. ... Google, the leading Internet search engine, already provides surface images of Mars and the Moon through its Web site, along with animated and satellite-based maps of Earth. ...... Google Sky was developed at the company's Pittsburgh engineering office. Google Earth Gets Cosmic Addition Space.com Google turns its attention to the starsTimes Online Google launches first advertising on YouTubeTelegraph.co.uk Video website YouTube is to feature advertising for the first time ... has allowed 20 companies to run trial adverts on 200 videos over the last few weeks. ..... from today it is opening up the advertising model to anyone, and will allow companies to place ads on the videos of a small number of the one thousand of its content providers, or partners. ....... YouTube claims the new advertising method is five to ten times more effective than any other display advertising. .... video abandonment skyrockets as pre-roll adverts get longer in length ...... animated semi-transparent banners, or "overlays", that run along the bottom of the screen about 15 seconds into the video. ...... They stay there for 10 seconds, allowing viewers to click on the overlay, which launches a deeper interactive video advert, while the main video is temporarily paused. Or viewers can ignore the overlay, and it will disappear. ...... Google acquired YouTube last year despite the site having no proven revenue model. Google will carpet YouTube with 'overlay' ads Register Google Market Share Larger than Thought PC Magazine Dell: Fancy laptop colors are harder than they look ZDNet Dell Product Delays a Portent?eWeek Change course or cook the books? Dell chose latter Houston Chronicle Dell surprises with server growth ZDNet UK Iraq PM bristles as tensions grow with US Reuters Canada Iraq Prime Minister Rebuffs US CriticismNPR no one has a right to put timetables on his democratically elected government. ..... at the end of a three-day visit to Syria. .... "Those who make such statements are bothered by our visit to Syria. We will pay no attention. We care for our people and our constitution and can find friends elsewhere," al-Maliki said. ....... the political situation in Iraq remains fractured, with wide distrust between Shiite and Sunni factions and no progress by al-Maliki's government on key issues. ...... Ousting al-Maliki would require a majority vote in the 275-member Iraqi parliament. As long as the Kurdish parties and the main Shiite bloc stand beside al-Maliki, his opponents lack the votes to do that. After Rove’s exit An ebbing Bush presidency Monday Morning Report details CIA's failures ahead of 9/11Baltimore Sun The CIA had no documented game plan to fight al-Qaida and failed to marshal its resources fully to counter the threat in the years leading up to the 2001 terrorist attacks ...... a "persistent strain in relations" between the CIA and the National Security Agency that continued into 2001 and had "a negative impact" on the intelligence agencies' collective effort to fight al-Qaida. ..... Many of the problems stemmed from a failure to follow up on al-Qaida-related issues ...... communication has improved but continues to be an obstacle. .... Poor cooperation between agencies led to a failure to place two Sept. 11 hijackers - Nawaf al-Hamzi and Khalid al-Midhar - on watch lists, even though 50 to 60 people read one or more CIA cables on their travels. There was a "systemic breakdown" in communication, including with the FBI and the NSA. ....... the bin Laden Unit overworked, poorly trained and understaffed. ..... Tenet said he had a "robust plan" to counter al-Qaida, as demonstrated by a proposal for invading Afghanistan that he sent to President Bush four days after the Sept. 11 attacks ...... 20 systemic problems Obama: Troop surge may work Chicago Sun-Times No military solution for Iraq: Obama NDTV.com Clinton's success so far can't be debated Newsday Clinton's brain trust spent the days before her April 26 debate debut prepping her on policy, role playing her rivals during practice sessions, and fretting. ...... Some members of Clinton's team didn't think she could match the loquacious Sen. Barack Obamaat the lectern. Others, such as Clinton's longtime adviser Mandy Grunwald, didn't know how she would hold up as the main target in an eight-candidate melee. Adding to the anxiety were polls showing Obama within 5 percentage points nationally. ..... No candidate has benefited as much from primary debates since Ronald Reagan in 1980 .... She was very reluctant to engage in these debates ..... She has had more gravitas than other people on the stage and she seems completely unrattled ..... Clinton's most famous debate moment in 2000 was a flinch - after Rick Lazio made his ill-advised trip to her podium. ..... Preparation has been a key. Clinton often stages elaborate multiplayer practices in Washington or on the road, with a rotating cast of aides, friends and consultants. No one actor has adopted the role of Obama, but Democratic Leadership Council president Bruce Reed does a dead-on Edwards. ...... Clinton's debate consigliere is Robert Barnett, a former high school debate champ-turned-corporate lawyer who has served as a Democratic verbal coach for 30 years. ...... On the stump, critics say she's stiff, cold, wonky and schoolmarmish. Yet in the presence of her opponents, those same attributes come across as dignity, composure, intelligence and maturity. ........ Obama's camp marks that exchange as the start of his comeback. .... At Sunday's Iowa debate, many in the audience thought she seemed testy, an impression supported by pollster Frank Luntz, who said Obama won among his focus groups. ...."Obama is finally learning to master the 50-second answer," said Luntz. "That's bad for her because when he's good, he's better than she is." If president, Obama will lift Cuba sanctions Xinhua, China The Miami-Dade Democratic Party is in favor of lifting the restrictions last week. Obama will speak at a fund-raiser for the chapter Saturday at the Miami-Dade Auditorium, the same Little Havana site where Ronald Reagan won over many in the Cuban community more than 20 years ago. Joe Garcia, the group's chairman, praised Obama's proposal. "It shows courage, and it shows commitment to move beyond the status-quo politics of rhetoric, which is all the Cuban-American community has received from any party for the last half century," said Garcia, a former head of the Cuban-American Foundation. None of the other top presidential candidates have sought to ease the restrictions. It's all about priorities for Michelle Obama Los Angeles Times, CA So Michelle Obama -- still in maternity clothes -- strapped her newborn daughter, Sasha, in the stroller and headed out to meet Michael E. Riordan, president and chief executive of the University of Chicago Medical Center. .... Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 43, is not your mother's political spouse....... reaches out to and embodies a new generation of American women -- those much-studied multitaskers who hope to change the workplace but, in the process, inspire headlines like "Damned or Doomed," "Opt Out or Pushed Out," "One Sick Child Away From Being Fired." ...... 'I'm a professional, and here's my infant.' " ...... she never leaves home without two BlackBerrys, one for the job and one for the campaign. ....... as a mother, wife, professional, campaign wife, whatever it is that's on my plate, I'm drowning. And nobody's talking about these issues. In my adult lifetime, I felt duped ...... "People told me, 'You can do it all. Just stay the course, get your education and you can raise a child, stay thin, be in shape, love your man, look good and raise healthy children.' That was a lie." ....... needs universal healthcare, access to child care and better schools ..... she, herself, is looking "for someone -- not just a woman -- but someone who understands my struggles." ...... she had heard someone say what she has silently believed for many years: "We can't do it all." ....... for African American women .. who often "have to be the mother and father and the breadwinner. There's so much pressure. ...... women belong to his chief rival, and the two split the African American vote pretty much down the middle. ......... Obama has a lock on Democrats with an idealistic strain ..... pragmatic voters who worry about tangibles like paying the bills right now are solidly in Clinton's camp. ........ vice president for community and external affairs, a position heavy on strategy and persuasion ....... Obama set off a cybersquall of second guessing when she announced that she would work only 20% of the time and she would play her continued employment by ear as the campaign heats up. ....... "Damn it all, Michelle Obama has quit her $215,000 dream job and demoted herself to queen," ranted an article in Salon.com, whose author described herself as "in a feminist fury." ........ political spouse is probably one of America's toughest unpaid jobs ...... Obama's mother still lives in the small brick apartment where her children grew up -- a one-bedroom unit whose living room was trisected by fake wood paneling into bedrooms for Michelle and her brother, Craig Robinson, and a separate space for homework. ....... Obama followed Robinson to Princeton -- a place that "made me far more aware of my 'blackness' than ever before," she wrote in her undergraduate thesis ......... "No matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus." ...... the university in the early 1980s as the kind of place where white students passed by black classmates without a shred of recognition. ...... "They didn't mean to be rude," she said. "Because they didn't even think they might know a black person, they'd just walk by. All of those things reminded you every single second that you're black, you're black, you're black." ...... Just as the issue of race was inescapable at Princeton, it is an integral part of campaign 2008. .... Race "resonates all through the comments about education," she said in an interview. "It resonates throughout the comments about my upbringing, my childhood, my access to college. It is there. Because it is me." ........ The Obamas live in a $1.65-million brick mansion with big white columns, multiple chimneys and Secret Service agents parked at the curb in Chicago's storied Hyde Park neighborhood. ..... she limits political travel to two days a week and doesn't stay overnight unless the girls come along. She tries to return home in time to kiss them good night, but it's a struggle. ....... "He's a wonderful man, he's a gifted man," she said at an April event, "but in the end, he's just a man." Lately, however, she sounds much more reverent. He is, she said at a Harlem event, "the answer" for America. ...... "Take care of my daughters, to make sure they're OK being in the White House." ..... I don't worry about a career. That will always be there. What I am worried about are my girls Clinton Takes the Bait on Cuba Yahoo! News Obama expresses sentiments of majority of Americans on Cuba ... International Herald Tribune, France Bush 'Amused' By 'North American Union' Fears CNSNews.com, VA Obama Sees a ‘Complete Failure’ in IraqNew York Times “No military surge, no matter how brilliantly performed, can succeed without political reconciliation and a surge of diplomacy in Iraq and the region,” Mr. Obama said. “Iraq’s leaders are not reconciling. They are not achieving political benchmarks.” ......... “What I had been clear about, I think, even before the surge started was that if we put an additional 20,000 or 30,000 American troops in Baghdad that it’s going to have an impact,” Mr. Obama said. “They are doing an outstanding job in carrying out their military operations. The question has always been, What then?” ........ “Whatever disagreements we have on policy, there will be no daylight between us when it comes to honoring the men and women who serve and keeping faith with our veterans,” Mr. Obama said. Democrats' Purity PrimaryWashington Post Fundraising in VacationlandWashington Post Obama, Durbin push to get suspect back Chicago Sun-Times, United States Labor unrealistic on Iraq, says HowardSydney Morning Herald US would need old allies under new leadershipSydney Morning Herald
Video: Speech Excerpt