This is an enhanced version of my earlier post. To be sung to the tune of The “Twelve Days of Christmas“, whose lyrics are modified to apply to Obama's picks for his Cabinet and other key posts. The list is intended to be cumulative (that is, each person is picked only once). At the end I present those left out due to time constraints (Only twelve days!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWDpTKwZO-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUFFGbuiUo
Parody on The Twelve Days of Christmas, as applied to Obama's picks for his Cabinet and other key posts. The list is intended to be cumulative (that is, each person is picked only once). At the end I present those left out due to time constraints (Only twelve days!)
BILL RICHARDSON is the new member of the Obama Cabinet! I won’t try to be objective here, I like Richardson. He is Latino. He was Energy Secretary in Clinton’s Administration, Governor of New Mexico, and an ambassador for the United Nations. He also spoke up when Hillary was attacking Obama regarding his heritage in the 2008 election campaign. I liked him even more for that.
I remember when he sent to talk to North Korea regarding their weapons program, I remember Bush negating those compromises Richardson offered less than one month later. I watched nervously North Korea say that they didn’t care if the United States won’t assist them with oil, food and agricultural pursuits. Apparently they have little off all three there. This was suppose to be the reason that the sobering was going on. Sounded too simple to me but I also remember an ambassador and a policy wonk coming to our Political Science class explaining how many treaties we had with North Korea and how we had pitted the North and South Koreas against one another. We assist the south, have been asked to leave the region, several times but we insist we are a friendly safety valve for the area and South Korea says for ourselves mainly.
Now Hillary being part of the team! I just hope she remembers team does not mean me, does not mean Bill and me, it means TEAM, all of us! Maybe it was strategical to keep Hillary on Obama’s side. That concept of keeping friends close and enemies even closer seem to come to mind. But I must say again, the attacks Hillary put on Obama as elbowing and calculating as they were, I believe also shored up the attempts that would have come his way if the opposition had attacked first.
Depending on which media source you listen or read, some of these attacks were not new to those close to Obama. They had been perculated, slapped on and executed during his meteroric rise in Chicago’s politics which I understand are serious “rough and tumble”, with that street-city slickness. OKAY so Obama has risen above this and added his main public adversary to the “big political dream team”. From my vantage point, that dream team seems very bloated with experience, expertise, ego and ambition. Obama I’ll be lighting candles on your behalf. Now where did I put that incense burner?
Secretary Of State Update (+)
by: Chris Bowers
If Hillary Clinton does not accept the Secretary of State job, then it appears Bill Richardson is next in line:
President-elect Barack Obama has interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson for secretary of state, according to Democratic officials who revealed his secret meetings with both as he weighed the decision on folding former foes into his new administration. Obama met with Richardson late Friday afternoon, a day after conferring one-on-one with Clinton at his Chicago office, said several Democratic officials.
Richardson has already proven his diplomatic mettle in places like Sudan, North Korea and Iraq. Also, it would be great to have a proponent of No Residual Forces in Iraq so high up on the power ladder. So, should Clinton not accept, I think Richardson would be a very good choice......
ENTIRE POST - http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9951
Obama interviews ex-rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Richardson as secretary of state
by NEDRA PICKLER
President-elect Barack Obama has interviewed primary election rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-Israel) and Bill Richardson for secretary of state, according to Democratic officials who revealed his secret meetings with both as he weighed the decision on folding former foes into his new administration. Obama met with Richardson late Friday afternoon, a day after conferring one-on-one with Clinton at his Chicago office, said several Democratic officials.
He plans to meet there Monday with his Republican opponent, John McCain, but advisers to both of the general election rivals say they don't expect Obama to consider McCain for an administration job.........
ARTICLE - http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/11/obama_weighs_clinton_richardso.php
(Commenting on the unsubstantiated rumors of Hillary Clinton in President-elect Obama’s cabinet.)
I don’t really care if he puts her in the cabinet, as long as it’s not in any prominent position, such as Secretary of State.
A list of a few of the reasons why Hillary Clinton should not be Sec. of State:
1. She’s not much of a diplomat, the primary told us that.
2. Her ties to Bill Clinton would weigh her down and along with her the crucial efforts of the Obama administration. Bill might be well liked in some circles “out here”, but he doesn’t command much respect, and that will affected her by proxy.
3. She has no actual experience with foreign policy, at least not on the level that will be required considering the dangers we face.
4. Hillary, like most women in her age group, has a tendency to try too hard. It makes them appear desperate and weak. These are not good qualities in a Secretary of State, a position that is very similar to a soldier in the midst of a battlefield, except you use words and psychological manipulation instead of guns and missiles. Obviously the Sec of State can’t be an actual soldier, if you are no one will trust you not to use guns and missiles…
I kind of like the idea of Bill Richardson as Sec of State, but mainly because of his experience in the UN, brief as it was. In my opinion, anything that pushes President-elect Obama closer to the UN is a move in the right direction.
Choosing John Kerry would be disaster though. The last thing we need is another military man in the US State Department! He has campaigned too convincingly on his war record and it will be very difficult to ignore. The world will not trust a soldier to be a US representative of peace ever again.
But the only American I would really trust handling the deceptive waters of high state diplomacy is James Baker. Unfortunately he is far too Republican for comfort. Anyway, I hope President-elect Obama at least calls him on the phone often.
I do hope, however, that President-elect Obama keeps Robert Gates as Sec. of Defense. There’s no reason not to (that I can think of), and many, many reasons to keep him. Most importantly, the US will be extremely vulnerable for the first year of Obama’s presidency. The less strain put on the military community the safer we’ll all be. Considering the situation the US military is in at the moment and will continue to be for a foreseeable future, I’d strongly advocate not rocking the boat.
Anyway, that’s my two cents’ worth.
Now I’m off to bed.
The selection of Bill Richardson as Secretary of State is the best choice among the names that are reportedly under consideration.
Gov. Richardson has communicated a world view that is more closely aligned with the voters who elected Barack Obama for Change We Can Believe in.
The world is watching and waiting for a new approach from The UNITED States -- not more Bush/Cheney era rhetoric toward Iran or a resurrection of the Clinton Administration.
You can vote at http://www.ObamasPrayer.com
I believe Barack will win this election by a landslide. However, we must continue to post on blogs and support Barack in our home towns to accomplish that goal.
Clearly, former US diplomats from both parties and from widely varying realms all recognize the paramount need to base US Foreign Policy and the day to day operations of the US State Department on something more evolved that the demands of the American corporate structure and the needs of the Pentagon, Halliburton, Blackwater, and Kellogg, Brown, and Root.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama received the official endorsement of more than 200 former U.S. diplomats in the form of a jointstatement signed before his Friday debate with Republican nominee JohnMcCain.
"We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose," the letter said. "Senator Obama's talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America's security and standing in the world,we must seize it."
The letter was signed by officials from both major political parties, including former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright and Warren Christopher, former National Security Adviser Richard Clarke and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.
"As former diplomats, we believe it is past time that we had a President with the judgment and confidence -- in himself, our diplomatic corps, and our values -- to talk directly to America's adversaries with due preparation but without preconditions," the letter said.
Commentary from Stephen Fox: We absolutely must as a nation move past a total reiteration of the era of the Ugly American, except now it is exponentially worse than the late 1950's when Eugene Burdick first started writing that important book.
Former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Laureate Lech Walesa told this to a group of students, not long ago in Santa Fe:
"You Americans must begin to recognize throughout the entire world that you have lost your Moral Power, and this has disbanded most of your Political Power. You squander what remains of your Economic Power on maintaining your Military Power, which does nothing constructive in the world at large and won't even last very long."
When Obama wins, I know he will have the good sense and foresight, among his first appointments, to ask New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to be the Secretary of State. We will miss him as Governor, but as a former UN Ambassador, it is obvious to me and to most New Mexicans that Bill Richardson has a higher calling and destiny, and is so needed to repair the damage done internationally during the past 8 years.
On October 2nd, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will join Minnesota state Senator Patricia Torres Ray and Minnesota Latinos for Obama for a reception at the Landmark Center in St. Paul.
Governor Richardson will speak to supporters about Senator Obama's plans strengthen families and restore our economy for working Minnesotans. The event, hosted by Minnesota Latino's for Obama, will help build Senator Obama's already strong support in the Latino community.
For more information on attending the event, click here.
If you want to get involved with Latino for Obama events in Minnesota, be sure to sign up and check out the Minnesota Latinos for Obama Resource Center.
You can also text MNLATINO to 62262 and recieve information on Latino events straight to your cell phone!
Biden Has Done More Than Look At Russia Across The Horizon, my FIRST article at Huffington Post, so please do comment: http://tinyurl.com/Bidenvs-Palin or www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-fox/biden-has-done-more-than_b_129382.html
I welcome your insights and ideas, and Huffington Post is a place perhaps millions more people will see them and want to participate in this emerging dialogue about what direction our Nation must move in the next four years, to repair the enormous damage internationally during the past 8 years by Bush/Cheney/Halliburton/Rumsfeld/KelloggBrownand Root/Blackwater, and others!
Obama plans Española visit Thursday; Richardson launches new group while courting Hispanics in battleground states; BATTLEGROUND and FENCESTRADDLER STATES' ELECTORAL VOTES ARE NOT DOOMED TO BE FOR MCCAIN!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stephenfox/gG5qzphttp://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stephenfox/gG5XtP
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
BREAKING NEWS; "Being the 'detective' that I am, I got the message below from the McCain camp today. I can understand why he wants people to vote for him now, by absentee ballot. He doesn't want people to be able to change their minds as they hear the upcoming debates."
JaneAnne<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
BRILLIANT!SO HERE IS THIS AGAIN:
By Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News -
First thoughts: The Electoral Map 50 days out : from MSNBC:
Turn on the Steam in (leaning Obama) IA, MN, NM OR, PA, WA (61 votes) Toss up: CO, MI, NV, NH, OH, VA, WI (78 votes)
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stephenfox/gG5ZBz
A lot of letters to the editor from you, and emailed all over your state might turn the tide, if they were well reasoned and hard hitting, to the point, about why Obama would be best for your state, in the long run! If you speak with the Editorial Page Editor, ask for an op/ed slot, 600-800 words, to really make your point, and don't forget that these are the very editors who are likely to be writing their endorsements in a few short weeks for President, so don't bombard them with blast emails: they won't get printed, and you will just irk the person.
Editorial page editors are listed in EDITOR AND PUBLISHER in your library, and indirectly through
usnpl.com : unitedstatesnewspaperlist
And no doubt, as Dr. Howard Dean III pointed out in Santa Fe about a month ago, nothing works better than going door to door, and personally talking at length with your neighbors, colleagues, and family, to answer any questions they might have regarding Obama's strengths and McCain's failures.
You may find the earlier articles in my blog (there are 109 of them) to be helpful as all have been filed with strategy and tactical considerations in mind, above all.
Truly,
Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun NewsFounder, New Millennium Fine Artstephen@santafefineart.com
MSNBC:
The Palin bounce has erased Obama's lead in the national polls, and it has now cut into his electoral-vote advantage, according to NBC’s latest map. Obama holds a 233-227 edge here, down from his 228-200 advantage from last week.
The biggest changes: We moved Florida -- with its 27 electoral votes -- from Toss-up to Lean McCain, and New Mexico from Toss-up to Lean Obama. We also shifted Oregon and Washington from Likely Obama to Lean Obama, as well as Alaska, Georgia, North Dakota and South Dakota from Lean McCain to Likely McCain.
The good news for McCain is that the map looks better for him than at any point so far in this race, and many of those red states that looked like opportunities for Obama (AK, GA, IN) look to be longer shots for him. The bad news for McCain is that given the wave his campaign has been riding from the Palin bounce, is this as good as it gets?
If he isn’t leading in some states now, he might not ever lead in them. Bottom line: You'll know the map is starting to move in one direction or the other if either Pennsylvania or Florida moves back into Toss-up before Election Day.
VIDEO: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd discusses the Sarah Palin affect on the NBC electoral vote map.
Likely Obama: CA, CT, DE, DC, HI, IL, ME, MD, MA, NJ, NY, RI, VT (172 electoral votes)
Lean Obama: IA, MN, NM OR, PA, WA (61 votes)
Toss-up: CO, MI, NV, NH, OH, VA, WI (78 votes)
Lean McCain: FL, IN, MO, MT, NC (67 votes)
Likely McCain: AL, AK, AZ, AR, GA, ID, KS, KY, LA, MS, NE, ND, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, WV, WY (160 votes)
__________________________________________________________________________
Obama plans Española visit; Richardson launches new group while courting Hispanics in battleground states
Photo: Santa Fe County Commissioner Virginia Vigil screams ‘Obamanos!’ on Monday during the opening of a new Barack Obama campaign office on Santa Fe’s south side. Gov. Bill Richardson used the opening as an opportunity to launch a group called Hispanics for Obama and announce an upcoming visit by the Democratic presidential candidate to Española.More on this siteAdvertisement
Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
9/15/2008 - 9/16/08
Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday launched a group called Hispanics for Obama , and announced that the Democratic presidential candidate himself will appear Thursday in Española.
Barack Obama is relying on Richardson to help court Hispanics in battleground states including New Mexico, which narrowly went for Republican George W. Bush four years ago and where John McCain also has visited several times this year.
In informal remarks to dozens of local Democrats at the opening of a new south-side Santa Fe campaign office, Richardson began with a hearty "Buenos tardes." He laughed and made joking asides to enthusiastic audience members as he happily played the role of Obama cheerleader.
"As the Hispanic vote goes nationally, so goes the presidency," Richardson said. He got loud cheers by predicting big margins for the Illinois senator among Hispanic voters in New Mexico as well as in Colorado and Nevada.
"And we want that number to be close to 65 or 70 percent," he said of New Mexico's Hispanic vote for Obama.
It was a chance for locals to see Richardson do what he's been doing increasingly on the national level.
During the weekend, he attended several Obama events in Las Vegas, Nev. He met Saturday with Hispanic leaders there, spoke to Obama volunteers at a North Las Vegas campaign office, had a town hall at the College of Southern Nevada, attended a soccer tournament sponsored by Spanish-language television network Telemundo and spoke at a dinner for Las Vegas Democrats.
(The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that boxing fan Richardson also attended a title fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Joel Casamayor.)
Also on Saturday, Richardson, in his role as Obama surrogate, taped an interview on MSNBC. On Sunday, he appeared on Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer, opposite Republican Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
During last month's Democratic National Convention in Denver, Richardson told The New Mexican that the Obama campaign mainly wanted him to campaign in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, three swing states with significant Hispanic populations.
But Obama apparently isn't limiting Richardson to those Western states. The New York Times last week listed Richardson among surrogates including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Caroline Kennedy who were scheduled to appear at high-dollar fundraisers this month in New York.
A spokeswoman for the Governor's Office said Monday that travel expenses for such out-of-state trips are paid by the Obama campaign. He normally travels with a state police officer, a state Public Safety Department spokesman said. Although the officer's salary is paid by the state, the spokesman said, travel expenses are covered by the campaign.
Some at Monday's event in Santa Fe seemed to want to use Richardson to pass advice to Obama.
"Governor, tell him to toughen up those ads," one man said as Richardson left the building.
Hispanics for Obama is a statewide group, Richardson said after the event. It will hold policy forums involving Hispanic leaders around New Mexico.
Although Hispanic voters traditionally have favored Democrats, the percentages targeted by Richardson are hardly guaranteed. In 2004, President Bush attracted about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.
Richardson said the campaign's goal is to register 12,000 new Hispanic voters as part of a statewide effort to boost total voter registration by 30,000 during the next 30 days.
Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.
IF YOU GO
What: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama visits Española
When: Rally starts at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the Española Plaza
Tickets: Free, available starting today at two Obama campaign offices in Santa Fe, 720 St. Michael's Drive 2-N and 3494 Zafarano Drive Suite B, as well as at campaign offices in Las Vegas, Taos, Española, Los Alamos and Raton.
IF YOU GO What: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama visits Española When: Rally starts at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at the Española Plaza Tickets: Free, available starting today at two Obama campaign offices in Santa Fe, 720 St. Michael's Drive 2-N and 3494 Zafarano Drive Suite B, as well as at campaign offices in Las Vegas, Taos, Española, Los Alamos and Raton.
I have been writing some halacious (and I believe quite excellent) articles on the ABSOLUTE NECESSITY FOR AND LONG RANGE BENEFITS FOR AMERICA'S HEALTH, FOR DR. HOWARD DEAN III, M.D., to be considered an "early" member of Obama's Cabinet, if that wouldn't be too big a step down for one of his genius level intelligence, I say as Secretary of Health, or better yet, FDA Commissioner, to take federal regulatory power out of the hands and make it begin again to actually protect consumers.....
FDA Commissioner should be a Cabinet Level position, anyway...it oversees a full 25% of the entire US Economy , the segment based on Food or Drugs).
The 6 decades-long subservience to corporate demand and corporate profits, the influence of corporate lobbyists to destroy true consumer protection legislation at all levels, the international implications, especially Economic, of a total regulatory failure in the United States Food and Drug Administration: all of this needs to come to a rapid, almost immediate end, with a very strong consumer protection-oriented FDA Commissioner who is not going to open the Revolving Door at the FDA to corporations regulated by the FDA, and not going to constantly capitulated to the whims an profits of Big Pharma and Big Junk Food, dba Grocery Manufacturers of America, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Wrigley's Gum, Ajinomoto of Japan (the world's largest manufacturer of both Aspartame and of Monosodium Glutamate, and everybody's fist choice for monster corporation: Monsanto, etc.
I see no better choice than nor anyone else I would trust more to do that job than Howard Dean!
[Here is one of my first articles on this subject: http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Medical-Corner-of-the-by-Stephen-Fox-080824-149.html] (I also want to see New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as Secretary of State and California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown, as Attorney General) I frequently hear that such discussions, if they came from Obama, would be deemed "presumptuous" and "arrogant", some say by the press and others say from the Neocon Right Wingers. However, if he were to speak to that issue in the context of what he would like to achieve as President in the various key realms, Environment, Education, International, Defense, etc., and at the same time, mention some names of who the USA MIGHT see in charge of which Cabinet level positions: With some more obligatory brainstorming, THIS SEEMS LIKE A DYNAMITE CAMPAIGN TACTIC AND WAY TO SECURE FENCESITTERS AND UNDECIDED, especially in Battleground states.... Too bad if the Neocons label it "arrogant" or "presumptuous." I could care less what they think. This is not some mere campaign ploy, but a plan that would illuminate ALL Americans as to what his administration might achieve. In such a comparison with McCain, I am sure Obama would come out clearly on top.
Prediction: McCain will use the Bush 2004 Debate Tactic of Deriding Obama's Ostensible "Lack of Experience." Cheney used that as well in the VP Debates. You know McCain will hammer that, but describing Cabinet picks during the debates will blow McCain and his leaky boat right out of the tub! The Republicans will, in their fuzzy demented way, will remember how well this worked in 2004!I see clearly that if Obama would try this on a trial basis, here and there, before the first debate, ultimately he would be doing it for the right reasons, so that the American public might better comprehend his highest goals domestically and internationally, and it would open the door to perceptions of his candidacy, raising it above the National Enquirer propensities of the Republican Team in this election.
Obama should immediately ask Dwight Eisenhower's Granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, to appear at campaign major events in the Battleground states, for in the Senate Races, and in the Presidential Race. I am sure she would accept.
I have heard from at least 50 people in Florida that they are praying and begging for former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, to come to Florida, to dispell the vicious rumors the R's have spread throughout the elderly mostly Jewish community, that Obama is some kind of secret Muslim Terrorist. I am serious about such reports coming from South Florida, and I thus encourage Obama and Biden to invite Ed Koch to spend a month in Florida on their behalf, and to ask Susan Eisenhower to appear in older Rust Belt and Bible Belt rallies, where older fence sitters and undecideds will hear her grandfather, the last Real Republican, with great benefit for the Electoral Vote Tally. Respectfully offered, Stephen Fox Founder, New Millennium Fine Art a Santa Fe Gallery since 1980 stephen@santafefineart.com
[PHILADELPHIA - Republican presidential candidate John McCaincut short his first public appearance without running-mate Sarah Palin after chanting supporters of Democratic rival Barack Obama interrupted his speech.
After lunching with a roundtable of women at Philadelphia's Down Home Diner, McCain shook hands with supporters and strode up to a podium to deliver astatement. But as he spoke, chants of "Obama, Obama, Obama" filled the room.
Reporters craned forward trying to hear the Arizona senator. Unfortunately for McCain -- and possibly overlooked by aides who planned the event -- a section of the diner opened up to a market where a crowd had gathered behind a cordon.
A large contingent of Obama supporters showed up, mixed with some who had bumper stickers reading "Democrats for McCain".
"It's time to leave the talk behind and start shaking up Washington and fixing our economy, taking care of the problems facing our families. We'regoing to give a tax cut to every family with a child," he said.
His words were barely audible.
McCain's supporters shouted "John McCain", "John McCain," "John McCain". The duelling chants nearly drowned out the presidential hopeful's voice.
"Pennsylvania is a battleground state as we can tell," McCain said.
Meanwhile Palin, the Alaska governor, was on a flight back to her state.]
U.S. Representative Tom Udall, D-N.M., released the following statement today in solemn remembrance of the tragedies of September 11, 2001:
"September 11 is a day that invokes immense sadness in all of us. Today, we remember the pain that we felt seven years ago.
But Americans learned something about ourselves on September 11, 2001, and what we learned should make us all proud.
We learned that, in America, when we find ourselves face-to-face with tragedy, we know a simple truth: we are our brothers' keepers; we are our sisters' keepers.
We know that an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
That if one American dies needlessly, we are all diminished by that loss. As we mark this somber day, let us take comfort in that lesson: whatever our enemies do to us, Americans will stick together. And we will not be defeated."
_______________________________
My own recollection/observation was after 9/11 when the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar al Saud, donated a check for many millions of dollars to the 9/11 victims fund, as I recall $10 million, and accompanying the check was a letter in which he made many points, and among them was the question of the United States' need to figure out what it might have done to cause this ghastly disaster and act of Terrorism.
That was too much for Rudy Giuliani, who immediately returned the check to Bandar, objecting very vociferously to Bandar's his commentary.
When I read about this in the New York Times, I immediately recognized this as Giuliani's error, but we all throughout life recognize this uniquely human trait of not being able to accept responsibility (or even a hint of a discussion of responsibility) by someone who is in some kind of serious trouble. It is just too much for them to deal with.....
The Saudi passport of Saeed Alghamdi, said to be discovered in the wreckage of Flight 93.
Steel beams from the WTC were already being removed and recycled on September 20, 2001. [Source: Associated Press]
A chunk of hot metal being removed from the North Tower rubble about eight weeks after 9/11. [Source: Frank Silecchia]
From left to right: Dick Cheney, Prince Bandar, Condoleezza Rice, and George W. Bush, on the Truman Balcony of the White House on September 13, 2001. [Source: White House]
Bandar certainly should have had some keen insights into these matters; from Wikipedia, in italics:
[Prince Bandar has formed close relationships with several American presidents, notably George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, who gave him the affectionate and controversial nickname "Bandar Bush". His friendship with Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne Cheney, extends to the years before Cheney took office as the United States Vice President. Prince Bandar invited the Cheney family to his daughter's wedding in the 1990s, but they did not attend.
The close relationship with the Bush family is also described in Craig Unger's book House of Bush, House of Saud and is highlighted in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11....
Prince Bandar has endured controversy over allegations in the book Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward that President George W. Bush informed him of the decision to invade Iraq ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Also, the book alleged a deal had been worked out to reduce oil prices just ahead of the November 2004 election. Bandar publicly endorsed President Bush.
On June 26, 2005, Prince Bandar reportedly submitted his resignation as ambassador to the United States for "personal reasons".[4][5] Bandar's return to Saudi Arabia was announced weeks prior to the death of King Fahd upon which Bandar's father, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz became the nation's Crown Prince. It has been rumoured that Bandar's return was timed in order to secure a position in the new government.[6] In October 2005 he became the kingdom's national security chief.]
Wat happened? According to another source; "Saudi princesses are no less benevolent than their husbands, brothers and cousins. Ambassador-Prince Bandar's own wife Princess Haifa, daughter of the late King Feisal, received a letter from an unknown woman telling of problems with medical bills. The Princess-Ambassadress dashed her off a check in six figures -- and the money by some strange route ended up among the resources of the perpetrators of the September 11 atrocities. The revelation so upset Her Royal Highness that various sympathetic Washington ladies rushed their condolences and sympathy to her -- including Mrs. George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Colin Powell. "
I am not a 9/11 conspiracy kind of guy/paranoid, not at all. I concluded long ago that even talking about such was a waste of time, my time at least....
However, having said that, since September 11, 2001, I do believe we have a lot of evidence of how our hostility about Islam now has alienated most of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, about 60 nations; it is obvious that the Chinese have run rings around us in terms of investment and economic policy throughout most of the world, particularly in Africa; it is screamingly obvious that American excursions into Iraq along with most of the US wars since 1945 have been in essence imperialistic in nature, and as such have earned us increasing hostility; one British tourist visiting Santa Fe compared the British in Ireland to the Americans in Iraq and in Afghanistan.
"If you kill their mothers and children and cousins and brothers over several years, pretty soon the entire nation becomes terrorists."
I do believe that the core of this Modern History was all essentially delineated by Marx, Engels, and especially by Hegel, in his discussions of Dialectical Materialism.
All those ISM's and the thesis/antithesis/synthesis processes make perfect sense to me in explaining the History of Economic Systems; it is clear to me that when Big Pharma and Big Junk Food corporations and their hired guns/lobbyists effectively take over the regulatory processes of a nation, like they have done with the FDA, that we are doomed in health, in history, in medical and consumer credibility, and in Economic well-being.
I have written a lot of articles on related subjects, particularly Consumer Protection, Aspartame, and Donald Rumsfeld's having forced through the FDA the approval for Aspartame/Methanol/Formaldehyde, so he could make $12-20 million personal profit, the health of hundreds of millions of people be damned....
I won't regale you with this on this solemn occasion, but allow me to recall a lecture in Santa Fe a few years ago by former President of Poland and Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa to the effect that the USA has lost its moral stature in toto as well as most of its political power, squandered its economic power in order to preserve and just barely maintain its military power, which was no replacement for moral, political, or economic power. That was quite brilliant, truly.
Similarly, DNC Chairman and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean III, M.D., was recently in Santa Fe to fire up the troops, and one thing in particular stuck with me, when he said no nation could bring peace in any conflict unless it had the moral authority to sit at the negotiating table.
We don't have that power and that moral authority throughout most of the world right now, thanks to the past 8 years of Bush/Cheney/Neocon/Blackwater/Halliburton/Kellogg Brown, and Root mode of economics and government economic policies.
I really don't believe that in general Economics nor specifically that Macro Economic insights from government economic advisors, for example, hardly qualifies as rocket science.
It is more akin to the old irrigation system of colonial New Mexico, in which the farmer who controlled the flow of the irrigation ditch, or ACEQUIA MADRE ("MOTHER DITCH" in Spanish) determined which field the water would flow into. He was called the Majordomo, and in that society, was much more important than any Mayor, or "ALCALDE" in Spanish.
That is what has happened during the past 8 years. The White House and other government masters of the flow of monies have purposefully turned the irrigation ditch waters into such things as Military, Defense Contractors, Weapons, Hardware, Security, etc.
What was in that other field, the one that got neglected and deprived of water?
Just about everything else: Education, Inner Cities, Highway maintenance and construction, Infrastructure, huge realms of Scientific and Medical Research like Stem Cell Research, etc. You name it: our American Economy is in terrible shape, and with the way our international respect has deteriorated, squarely because of Bush and Cheney, it might get a lot worse....the signs are everywhere; they are well known and they are easily recognized: endemic mortage failures, high gas prices, a deflated stock market, high unemployment, failed schools especially in the Inner City, store closings, et. alia.
Much of this election hinges on our ability to change all of that, to put America back on a sane and internationally effective tack, and that is at a minimum, just to ensure our survival as a nation.
That is why I want to see Dr. Dean be the Obama Cabinet Secretary for Health or as FDA Commissioner, and that is why I want to see NM Governor Bill Richardson as the next Secretary of State. I think also that Jerry Brown of California would make a great consumer protection-oriented United States Attorney General, one who would also reconstruct all of our civil liberties.
Such speculations are of course something else entirely, but I am certain that Obama should discuss such things seriously and frequently, ignoring the advice of some who say that that would be ridiculed by the right wing as "presumptuous" or as "arrogant," so that the American people can gain some glimmer of an insight into what he really would like to achieve as President, in terms of names, both possible and real and well known names.
Will Obama win?
To get to that victory, I work day and night as a member of 328 Obama groups, coordinating correspondence, and urging people to not just "preach to the choir," as that is how Democrats usually lose elections, but to get out there and go door to door to tell folks how much is really at stake in this election, plus my special focus: Letters to the Editor, Opinion/Editorials, and so on, all over the United States, wherever they could be published.
Surprising how few people comprehend this in only a few states, and in not many of the so-called BATTLEGROUND STATES, for Obama and for US Senate candidates, as described in my blog about a week ago in the letter from Senator Charles Schumer.
I am going to take a break from all of this furious emailing, so you won't hear from me for a while.
I will conclude with a few paragraphs written today, not by me, but an astute observer and friend of mine,who wishes to remain anonymous, about 50 years old, a realtor, former actress, and thinker:
Recently, I was on a flight to Texas and sat next to a very personable and fairly astute guy. We began talking politics and went back and forth about the issues. He was really impressed by my research and said so.
Then he leaned over to me and whispered conspiratorially, "I concede all the points but Obama is a Muslim, you know."
And when I calmly explained that that particular lie fed on our basest fears, he held up Reverend Wright as proof. This scene has been repeated numerous times with different characters but the underlying emotional message is clear and powerful. Their winning on a gut level. They are afraid and the facts don't matter.
Obama is perceived as "the other."
The Republicans have clearly defined him emotionally and he must wrest these irrational pictures away from them and supplant them with powerful and soothing reassurance.
Obama may loose this election if he does not connect on a visceral level soon. He must capture the emotional narrative and stop trying to be only reasonable. People do not reason their way into the voting booth. They move from the gut.
He has much "low-hanging fruit" to choose from. Sarah Palin is a right-wing fundamentalist wack-job. She is an extremist and Americans of all stripes are uncomfortable with extremism. John McCain has abandoned every "maverick" position he's ever held.
It's all on video, from her prayers to the oil pipeline god to the massively naked ambition which has led him to do a 180 on every major political stance of his past. Use Their Own Words To Out This Outrageous Hypocricy. Draw passionate simple pictures once again and reframe this narrative, from the gut. It's the only way. "
______________________________________
Obama has to win!
[The comparison to Harriet Miers is an obvious but original thought, but it seems Art Levine at the Huffington Post, also conceived of it, a bit earlier than I did, so hats off to Art Levine: here is his article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/sarah-palin-the-new-harri_b_122582.html]
#1: Palin opposes a woman's right to choose what to do with her own body, opposing the right to an abortion even for rape victims.
#2: Palin believes that Creationism should be taught in public schools, which runs both counter to well-settled evolutionary science, and to the Constitutional separation of church and state.
#3: Palin is a global warming denier, who (as with her views on evolution) has expressed skepticism about the well-settled science.
#4: Palin opposes listing polar bears as an endangered species, because it means oil and gas companies might have to be just a little bit careful out there.
#5: Palin is rabidly dedicated to drilling in the Artic wildlife refuge, known as ANWR.
#6: Palin is in the midst of a growing ethics scandal, involving the alleged abuse of her gubernatorial power to punish a State Trooper who is her sister's ex-husband, firing a State Commissioner who refused to go along.
#7: Palin called Hillary Clinton a "whiner", even as she cynically tries to woo Clinton voters to the McCain ticket.
#8: Palin has very little experience for the Vice Presidential job, serving less than two years so far of her first term as Governor of a state with fewer residents than Fort Worth, Texas. (Previously, she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, pop. 8,500.) This a photo of Wasilla, Alaska.
http://mudflats.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/wasilla.jpg
#9: Palin has no foreign policy experience at all, so little in fact that her supporters are reduced to citing Alaska's proximity to Russia.
#10: Palin is virtually untested, unvetted and unknown to Americans, a fact which throws into relief the hypocrisy of the many unfair criticisms leveled at Barack Obama during this campaign.
BONUS REASON, #11: Palin only recently said that she doesn't even know what the job entails, saying on the CNBC show Kudlow and Co
So, Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton chose Espanola for their northern New Mexico fundraiser, rather than coming to San Miguel County.
I guess that's understandable. Espanola could draw from Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, and Taos counties -- home of more than 220,000 people. People from those counties would be less likely to travel to Las Vegas for a rally than to Espanola. That leaves Las Vegas with a much smaller population to draw from -- San Miguel and Mora counties for sure, Guadalupe and Harding, perhaps. More dollars to fish for along the big river.
Democrat canditates do find the Pecos and the Gallinas good places to fish for votes, however. San Miguel county tallied the 25th heaviest vote for Al Gore among the 3,000 plus counties in the nation! We gave him nearly 75% of our votes in an election he won statwide by less than 400 votes. John Kerry got 72% of our vote, even as he lost the state by about 6,000 votes. We're pretty reliable here in San Miguel County, and we can make a statewide difference in a close race.
Plus, we are voting in greater numbers. Just over 9,000 San Miguel county residents voted in the Gore-Bush election. More than 12,000 voted in Kerry Bush four years later.
If Obama can't squeeze us into his schedule before the election, maybe he could get one of our old friends -- Gore or Kerry -- to come stir us up!
The Medical Corner of the News: Howard Dean, M.D. as Secretary of Health or FDA Commissioner?
[this article was originally published at my blog on mybarackobama.com; details are at: http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=57470&ret=AccountDtl.aspx]Howard Branch Dean III, M.D., may have higher goals than being Health Secretary or FDA Commissioner in the Obama Administration. He is, after all, the brains behind the 50 state coordinated strategy which might actually bring back a 60 vote filibuster proof majority to the Democrats in the Senate, and where do you go from there, having done that? He might be too smart to be in such a job, so that would be up to him, of course, and to President Obama.But just for a minute, remembering the speeches we have heard and the letters we have read from Dr. Dean: imagine having a populist consumer protectionist physician of Dr. Dean's calibre (there are no others) at the helm of the FDA, the single most important Federal Agency, since it directly oversees 25% of the American economy, instead of the glut of corporate serving lackeys we have had in the past 8 to 16 years.Just like I want to see a major internationalist like William Blaine Richardson III as Secretary of State, and the recent placement of his speech at the Democratic Convention proves others are thinking along the same lines; similarly, I want to see a massive overhaul of the American regulatory system in terms of food additives, chemicals, preservatives, sweeteners, etc., as I am sure they killing millions, and not just in the USA.Further. we need an Attorney General with the positive record and proven stance in protecting consumers rather than corporate bottom lines would be California Jerry Brown, and an Attorney General who will work to restore American Constitutional freedoms and 850 years old measures like Habeas Corpus, instead of tearing them down, and routing them whenever it seemed to suit their fancy or their deluded view of terrorism and national emergencies that they themselves caused, whether directly or indirectly.I am in the process of determing what Dr. Dean has to say about this, and who the FDA Commissioner is going to be is mighty important to the American people, whether they realize it yet or not; hopefully, it wouldn't be a step down for him to go in to the FDA in January, and start to correct many or all of the ghastly mistakes by the FDA, particulalry the Bush Commissioner, Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach, in the latter's penchant for coming up with corporate-pleasantries as policy. If it doesn't appeal to Dr. Dean to do this, who would he in turn recommend?The FDA is a state of abject failure, and a large part of the failure stems from the cozy relations it has with Big Pharma, which unforatunately spills over into the far larger field of Big Grocery, with ghastly consequences for us every time we sit down to eat, or everytime we go to a regular commercial grocery store, to dodge the carcinogens and neurotoxins in the food additives.The fundamental perspective has to be overhauled in the next FDA: it is there for the consumers, not for the coporations. There are not many people I would trust to put in charge of overseeing and regulating 25% of the US economy, but I do trust Dr. Howard Dean to do that in an intelligent, agressive, and creative manner, just like he has run the Democratic party over the past few years.IN FACT, HE WOULD BE BRILLIANT.______________________THE ENTIRE INTERFACE BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND STEM CELL TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH IS ABOUT TO CHANGE, FOR THE BETTER....
______________________Japanese scientists have devised a method of creating stem cells from wisdom teeth which would otherwise have been discarded, allowing them to find cures to diseases without the controversy implicit in using embryos. "This will prove to be a major breakthrough," said Dr Hajime Ogushi, from his Osaka laboratory of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.His team extracted dental pulp from wisdom teeth removed from a 10-year-old girl three years ago and had been stored in a freezer, and from that pulp, stem cells with the ability to develop into replacement human organs or nerves can be grown. Research on stem cells taken from human foetuses has resulted in criticism from the Catholic Church, for destroying human life. The research seeks cures to a range of illnesses, including diabetes and cancer."These teeth were extracted three years ago and would have simply been thrown in the rubbish," said. Dr Ogushi. "Skin or bone marrow for this sort of research is quite difficult to obtain but this sort of operation is routine and very straightforward."The cells were extracted from the wisdom teeth and encouraged to develop for a period of 35 days. Tests then confirmed they were stem cells.Dr Oguchi said it was also simple to store the cells; he therefor plans to develop a tissue bank - as long as the funding is forthcoming, estimating that will take a decade to achieve, and give future scientists a range of genetic codes that can be matched to a patient to minimise the risk oftransplanted organs of tissue being rejected. Dr Ogushi said that people who have their wisdom teeth removed as youngsters could have them frozen and use them later in life for treatment.Embryome Sciences develops new medical products using embryonic stem cell technology and is a subsidiary of BioTime Inc., reported on 21 August that the company has licensed a portfolio of patents and patent applications from Advanced Cell Technology Inc with respect to induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cell differentiation technology.
The company is applying the license for the commercialisation of products in human therapeutic and diagnostic product markets. The technology covers methods for the transformation of cells of the human body, such as skin cells, into an embryonic and pluripotent state.Embryome Sciences Inc believes that the licensed technologies could be advantageous in the development of human stem cell products for use in medicine and are, therefore, important advancements in the field. In addition, Embryome Sciences Inc is presently marketing cell growth media, called ESpan, in collaboration with Lifeline. ESpan is designed for the culturing of human embryonic progenitor cells using ACTCellerate technology and other sub licensed technologies.Red Blood Cells Providing New Incentives for Advanced Cell TechnologyCould red blood cells be mass-produced? Advanced Cell Technology (ACTC) is a Los Angeles, California-based company devoted to turning human embryonic stem cells into therapies. On 19 August, the journal Blood published a paper reporting the efficient production of red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells.Lead author was Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer at ACT (his co-authors are from the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota). Up to 100 billion cells had been generated from a single plate of stem cells. The cells produced had oxygen-carrying abilities and physiological responses comparable to those of the cells from blood banks used in transfusions.Advanced Cell Technology has 3 major products in the FDA Clinical Trials Pipleline: one to do with retinal repair, another with myoblast repair, after a heart attack, and the other is a hepatic (liver) repair stem cell product; this latest development puts a very obvious fourth feather in their hat....The paper "clearly shows that stem cells could serve as an unlimited source of blood for transfusion in the future," Lanza says. "The potential here could be enormous.""This is a major advance because it shows for the first time that these cells can be expanded; they can create [red] blood cells and they can carry oxygen," says Anthony Atala, the director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. "Blood therapies and blood replacement agents are an area of large need."While the company searches for a big deal to stabilize it financially, Lanza says, "We are still going paycheck to paycheck." That's a familiar feeling for veterans of the 14-year-old company, he notes. "It's probably the fifth or sixth time we've had the phones turned off. When you get in trouble, that's your first warning." Lanza appeared with Barbara Walters on her show on April 1 to discuss in great deal the future and prospects of the specific stem cell research he directs at Advanced Cell Technology.Although ACTC has in the FDA Clinical Trials pipeline stem cell products in three key ares (retinal respair, hepatic repair, and myoblast [after-heart attack] repair, Advanced Cell Technology has been living precariously on signing smaller licensing deals.
On 21 August, the life-sciences research company Embryome Sciences, a subsidiary of BioTime, announced a licensing agreement with ACT. Embryome, based in Alameda, California, has licensed a portfolio of patents related to virus-free induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cell differentiation technology.Moving ACT's red blood cell method to the clinic, there are also questions about the commercial prospects for a product that would have to compete with freely donated blood."It's certainly a very exciting result from a scientific perspective," says Cathy Prescott, the director of Biolatris, a biotechnology and health-care consulting company in Cambridge, UK.
Thanks to the Telegraph, the London newspaper; to Medical News today (UK), and Dr. Catherine Paddock, to Embryome Press release, and to Meredith Wadman's article in Naturenews.
