There is a direct relationship between the fact that Abraham Lincoln had no experience and he went to become the greatest president America ever had, and his record still stands. There is a reason why all the top names in the tech industry today are college dropouts. There is a reason why Bill Gates did not first join IBM and worked his way to the top before launching Microsoft.
For Abraham Lincoln to have worked his way up the system, he would have had to make soul level compromises on the slavery question. He would have to give in to the system. I am so glad Barack Obama has not chaired any Senate Committee, ever. When JFK went to the White House after his election, that was his first time. That was the only way for a Catholic to break the glass ceiling. You come from the outside in because, well, you have been outside the entire time.
But if it is experience you are looking for, as counted in the number of years, Hillary is not that person. How long has she been an elected official? Has she ever held any local or state level office?
And what about life experiences? The reason the US intelligence agencies so miserably failed in the months before 9/11 is because they are peopled by people whose life experiences fall short. They are people too steeped in one worldview, the white American worldview. That makes them unprepared for the other worlds that exist out there. One of those worlds broke the American window on 9/11.
Hillary's mistake on Iraq, her refusal to learn from it, and her repeat mistake on Iran shows it is very hard to get out of that worldview. You are imprisoned by it.
With Barack, you get the best of several worlds, and I don't just mean culturally. You get his life experiences, his experiences as an elected official at the state and national levels, you get the experience of a guy who was the Democratic Party's top campaigner for the 2006 victory, and you get the national experience of a guy who has run a presidential campaign that shows all signs of becoming a classic. The presidential campaign is designed to test if you are ready, and he has been acing the tests.
But, with him, you also get freshness, guts, newness, boldness of vision, boldness, ease and classiness of style. He is no Ronald Reagan, Reagan looked contorted. Barack is so very comfortable in his skin. He will carry more than 35 states next fall.
Lincoln liberated America from slavery. Barack will liberate America from racism. If America wants to benefit from this new, globalized century, it will have to grow like that. FDR gave social security. Barack will give that program a new birth, a new life. He will deliver universal health care, an unkept promise of half a century. He will expand education and credit opportunities. JFK offered charisma, youthfulness, vigour, and a global reach. So will Barack.
I am going to say Barack is an amazing package deal. This is not a presidential election, yo. That happens once every four years. This is different. This is more than even a movement. Whatever this is, this s__t happens once a generation, maybe once every few generations. Barack is more than the best candidate. There is a best candidate every four years. Barack competes with the top five in the league for greatness. He is going to be epoch making.
Barack means deliverance.
In The News
Mississippi Senator Trent Lott Set to Resign By Year's EndFOX News Lucrative opportunities may await LottMSNBC Mississippi is soon to lose a skillful senator. But Washington, D.C., may gain a shrewd lobbyist. ....... a generation of older, pragmatic, deal-making Republicans. ...... five Republican senators had announced they won’t stand for re-election in 2008 ..... He specifically mentioned his age in his retirement announcement in Pascagoula, Miss., on Monday. ...... “If Trent Lott saw happy times ahead for Republicans, he would stick around. He’s a smart guy, so his departure suggests that he sees pain around the corner” ....... giving Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour a chance to install a Republican successor ...... Mississippi is one of the most Republican-voting states in the nation ....... Davis praised Lott’s "calm demeanor in the center of the Washington political hurricanes." ....... has years of lucrative work potentially before him. ...... “That’s what I do — I count votes for a living” ...... Trent Lott is not a rich man ...... he lost his house to Hurricane Katrina ..... The estate tax goes to zero on Jan. 1, 2009 and on Jan. 1, 2010 goes back up to 55 percent. ..... He cited the failure of the Democratic-led Congress to enact a temporary remedy for the Alternative Minimum Tax which will hit many middle-income taxpayers with a big tax increase. Nepal polls by mid-april? Hindustan Times LJP will form the Next Government in Bihar: Paswan Patna Daily Reprogrammed Skin Cells Could Replace Embryonic Stem Cells Medical News Today NFL Star Shot in His Home, Fighting for His Life TMZ.com Australia's New Order TIME The last time Labor partied quite this hard was in 1972, when Gough Whitlam swept it back to power after 23 years in the federal sin bin. ...... few were prepared for the scale of the government's defeat ..... appeared set to become the first Prime Minister since 1929 to be turned out of his own electorate. ...... At 49, Rudd was not only young but inexperienced: he'd been in Parliament for just eight years and shadow Foreign Minister for less than five. He was an active Christian in a resolutely secular party, and said the machinations of Labor's factional power-brokers "revolted" him. Known as Pixie for his fresh looks, and Dr Death for his cold stare of disapproval, Rudd was said to have few friends in Canberra. ....... Prissy, bookish, and married to a multimillionaire businesswoman ...... Advising Rudd to "take the piss" out of himself, his brother Greg reportedly said: "You're just not that sort of personality where people want to spend time with you outside a work issue." But he was a hard worker, and he worked as hard at popularity as on policies. .......... 16th consecutive year of economic expansion, with GDP growing at over 3% a year and exports at 10%. ....... ennui. Many Australians were bored with Howard ....... Many voters, too, bridled at the government's tendency to treat politics as a branch of economics. ...... the polling helped Rudd focus, relentlessly, on offering voters what they yearned for: a government as conservative as Howard's, only with a fresher face and a more inclusive smile. A government that cared, in the financial sense, about public hospitals and schools, and the frustrations of a too-slow Internet connection. A government that would help them atone for their coal-powered prosperity by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. ........ a "reckless spendathon." ...... "The struggle of the working class against the excesses, injustices and inequalities of capitalism" doesn't strike much of a chord in a country where there are more self-employed workers than union members and more than 55% of adults own shares. ....... Is Labor still a party of the left? a TV interviewer asked Rudd. "The economy is basic to everything," he replied. Is Labor a party of the left? "It's all about an education revolution," Rudd said. But is Labor a party of the left? It is, Rudd conceded, "a part of progressive politics." "I'm not interested in arid debates about left, right, center, up, down ......... ability to speak Mandarin ..... Rudd the new leader, who had a MySpace page with thousands of registered friends, vs. Howard the old leader, who was, well, old. ........ Rudd was all over the new media; he talked often of his plan to roll out a national high-speed broadband network. ....... Kids called him the Ruddinator and the Rudd-meister, and mobbed him like a rock star when he visited schools. His support among 18-to-34 year olds (who make up more than 1 in 4 voters) zoomed to 57%. In the campaign's final week Rudd appeared on the comedy chat show Rove, where he said he was sure he would knock Howard down in a bar fight. ....... amending the Constitution to recognize Aboriginal people ...... for the conservatives this election is not just a single defeat; it means a coast-to-coast wipeout ...... Labor now runs not just the federal government but every Australian state and territory. ...... vowed to break with party tradition and appoint all ministers himself rather than have them selected in factional horse-trading ...... It will be more deferential to the U.N., and may also be more alert to the sensitivities of China. A Game of Chicken on Iraq Funding "denial and deception" is a key part of any military campaign ....... the Administration is encouraging the sense of an impending train wreck, shouting early and often that doom is just ahead. ...... Congress has already sent the military $460 billion for its operations in fiscal 2008 ....... Bush is for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ....... seeking $196 billion more..... the betting inside the Pentagon is that the Democrats will fold in the coming weeks ..... Bush's announcement in September that he was beginning a drawdown was "a study in calculated public deception" ...... The pullout of 30,000 troops by next summer will still leave about 140,000 troops in Iraq, the same size force that was there before the 30,000-strong "surge" began earlier this year. "He made clear in that speech that as far as he's concerned," Obey said, "we're going to be there for the next decade." ........ "Because the Pentagon says it, you believe it?" .... "Go back and look — 'Mission accomplished,' al-Qaeda connection, weapons of mass destruction, on and on and on, and you believe the Pentagon?" He calls the Pentagon's alarmist warnings "Rumsfeld-like," which is perhaps the ultimate insult in Washington today. The Last Mideast Peace Conference? a conference that ends all peace? ....... the two-state solution and its hope of peace may die forever. ...... Palestinian leadership has become badly splintered ...... transforming Arab dictatorships into pro-Western democracies will not be simple ....... The Iraqi quagmire has helped Iran rise as a leader of forces opposed to a Pax Americana, with the clout to play a spoiler role in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East. ........ the launching of a serious new round of comprehensive negotiations based on a solid consensus for realistic solutions. ......... accept Jerusalem as two capitals for two states. ...... an increasing consensus about Israel's need to withdraw to the pre-1967 borders ...... Israel will agree to allow a symbolic number of perhaps several thousand Palestinians to return ....... the bulk of refugees will be incorporated into the Palestinian state, or given citizenship in their current countries of residence or in third countries under an international humanitarian program ...... If the sides can agree on that much, what's holding them back? The answer is the rough-and-tumble of Israeli and Palestinian domestic politics ..... a past tendency toward unsuccessful brinksmanship in negotiations. ........ The Clinton administration waited until its final six months in office to tackle the main issues of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The Bush administration ignored mediation altogether for its first six years in office. .......... She has now, quietly and painstakingly, re-launched comprehensive peace negotiations based on past agreements and plans that enjoy a wide consensus. .... "the prolonged experience of deprivation and humiliation can radicalize even normal people." ...... "My fear," she said, "is that if Palestinian reformers cannot deliver on the hope of an independent state, then the moderate center could collapse forever and the next generation of Palestinians could become lost souls of unbridled extremism." What Sharif's Return Means to Pakistan Clinton Critiques Obama PAC Washington Post "response to another false attack from hillary clinton." .... "Whatever happened to the confident front-runner who said she wouldn't attack other Democrats just two weeks ago?" .... "The latest personal attack from Hillary Clinton is a completely false attempt to misrepresent Barack Obama's full disclosure of his campaign finances. Senator Obama's commitment to disclosure is one that Hillary Clinton does not share, and until Senator Clinton is willing to make this commitment - by disclosing her White House records, the list of donors to her husband's presidential library, how much her bundlers raise, and releasing her personal tax returns to the public -- she's not really in a position to point fingers at others." ............. Burton called the PAC and lobbyist donations to Hopefund irrelevant to Obama's campaign pledge. "Apples and oranges" Review: Costly 'Kindle' reader gets a lot of it right Christian Science Monitor this product was not designed by anybody working for Steve Jobs. ....... like the iPod, it could be the tipping point in a whole new way to access a popular medium – in this case, books. ....... Amazon has included free wireless (so no monthly service charges), and not just any middling wireless, but top-quality Sprint EVDO wireless. This means anytime you want to read a new book, you can download one right away. ....... another smart move by Amazon: e-book pricing. The company is offering many top-selling books and new releases for $9.99 each. ........ crushed ink on dead trees ..... just over 10 ounces ...... the revolutionary e-ink technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, which duplicates the look of a book page pretty faithfully. That means no glare. ....... will hold up to 200 books ...... $399. It's too much. ...... wait for the price to drop. ...... a Web browser and the ability to send and receive e-mail (each Kindle comes with a free e-mail account). ....... Give it a year or so, a few tweaks, a lower price, and the Kindle is going to be a machine you are going to want to own. Obama Touts His Time Away From CapitalThe Associated Press Clinton Bores Into Obama pac's Distribution of Money in Primary StatesFOX News Why Oprah Won't Help Obama TIME Will appearing at weekend campaign rallies with Oprah Winfrey help him achieve that goal? ......... will appear with Obama at campaign events in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire on December 8 and 9 ..... campaign cash, celebrity, excitement and big crowds. ....... she is a "transcendent figure" ..... "a newness and freshness" in appealing to the female and older voters ....... Joining Obama will be Bill Clinton's former national security adviser Tony Lake, along with Richard Danzig, Susan Rice, Samantha Power (a TIME contributor), and Sarah Sewall, as well as some prominent New Hampshire retired military officials. It was just this kind of event that Bill Clinton used effectively in his 1992 campaign to convince voters that he was ready to be commander in chief. .......... Obama's brand of experience and his foreign policy vision ....... Obama does not need to be seen as more ready than Clinton, just ready enough to do the job ...... the Clinton campaign plainly intends to do what it can to undermine her rival on this very point between now and January. ....... expect loud, rousing rallies in all three early voting states when Oprah Winfrey comes to town with her friend Barack Obama in early December, with gobs of media attention, raucous crowds, emotion and great pictures Winfrey could help Obama draw women voters from ClintonCNN Obama picked for Oprah's candidate clubGuardian Unlimited turning herself into a billionaire by presiding over confessional television interviews. ........ The first two stops are scheduled for Iowa ..... Winfrey referred to Obama as "my favourite guy" and "my choice" in a television interview last year before he had formally announced he would seek the presidency. ....... "She's a dear friend. I really appreciate that she's willing to take the time out of her busy schedule." ....... volunteers helping with his campaign will get preference for tickets by completing a four-hour shift or attending one of the many local caucus training events being held to prepare them for the state's complex election process. ........ His campaign has lifted off in the past three weeks The latest Clinton-Obama spatMSNBC First it was meeting with unsavory world leaders, Pakistan, and Iran. Then it was immigration and health care. And now the latest spat between Clinton and Obama is over campaign finances. ...... Obama's PAC made $476,500 in donations to candidates and committees in 2007, of which 63% have been made outside of the early states to congressional candidates and committees to help re-elect Democrats. Clinton slips against Republicans, Obama attacks AFP biting political attacks may be harming her 2008 campaign. ...... came as her camp battled in an ugly new spat with her top Democratic rival Barack Obama. ....a sarcastic appraisal of Clinton's claims of top level political experience ... "Senator Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it," Obama said ...... "I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done." ....... "If he is elected, he would have less experience than any American president of the 20th century." .... Clinton trailed Senator John McCain 42 percent to 38 percent, ex mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani by 43 percent to 40 percent and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney 43 to 40 percent. ...... She also lagged behind former Arkansas Republican governor Mike Huckabee by 44 to 39 percent, and former Senator Fred Thompson by 44 to 40 percent. ...... the former first lady still leads most state and national polls. .... The temperature of the Democratic race hit boiling point eight days ago with an innocuous item by a conservative columnist suggesting Clinton had "scandalous" information on Obama. ....... Clinton then mocked his suggestion that his boyhood years living in Indonesia had given him a more nuanced worldview. Obama discusses racial inequitiesChicago Tribune Barack Obama held a rare discussion of racial inequities on the Democratic presidential campaign trail in heavily white Iowa on Sunday ...... conceded some progress had been made on racial issues -- but not enough...... "On every measure, on income, on health care, on incarceration rates, on the criminal justice system, on housing, on life expectancy, on infant mortality, on almost every single indicator, there is still an enormous gap between black and white" ........ urban areas and minority communities often suffer first when problems spread across the nation. "There's an old saying that when America gets a cold, black America gets pneumonia" ........ 93 percent white, although the state capital where Obama spoke is 81 percent white. ...... "I drive the Republicans crazy because they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking and defaming me," she said. "I don't care. I mean, if that's how they want to spend their time and their money, let them do it. Ultimately, I trust the American people." New poll shows Clinton trails top 2008 RepublicansReuters Older white women join Kenya's sex tourists Bethan, 56, lives in southern England on the same street as best friend Allie, 64. They are on their first holiday to Kenya, a country they say is "just full of big young boys who like us older girls". ....... as many as one in five single women visiting from rich countries are in search of sex. ...... the practice of older rich women traveling for sex with young Kenyan men. ....... walked arm-in-arm with young African men ...... six-foot-four 23-year-old from the Maasai tribe ........ She kept one eye on her date -- a 20-year-old playing pool, a red bandana tying back dreadlocks and new-looking sports shoes on his feet. ...... These same beaches have long been notorious for attracting another type of sex tourists -- those who abuse children. ..... As many as 15,000 girls in four coastal districts -- about a third of all 12-18 year-olds girls there -- are involved in casual sex for cash ......... 3,000 more girls and boys are in full-time sex work ..... some paid for the "most horrific and abnormal acts". ....... thousands of elderly white women hoping for romantic, and legal, encounters with much younger Kenyan men. ......... "Old white guys have always come for the younger girls and boys, preying on their poverty ... But these old women followed ... they never push the legal age limits, they seem happy just doing what is sneered at in their countries." ........... the social status and financial power that comes from taking much poorer, younger lovers. ....... a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions ....... Flashing a dazzling smile and built like an Olympic basketball star, the 22-year-old said he has slept with more than 100 white women, most of them 30 years his senior. ........ "I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun." ...... It's not love, obviously. ... It's a social arrangement. Giuliani on Clinton and the gop's 'Very Strong Record of Success'Washington Post Rivals switch roles in IowaUSA Today In a reversal of fortune, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is barnstorming Iowa with a front-runner's swagger while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., scrambles like an underdog. ...... Obama is riding a bit of a wave amid the Midwestern seas of grain. ..... An ebullient Obama — coatless, tieless, tireless — conveys a sense that at least he thinks he could be on his way to being the next president. Clinton, mixing her traditional caution with a new toughness, is clearly set on knocking Obama off his game. ....... Clinton, like all the Democratic contenders, is now devoting the bulk of her time to Iowa. ..... Clinton has abandoned any pretense of remaining above the fray and has engaged Obama nearly every day ....... held her first media availability in two weeks, declaring that she feels "very good" about Iowa but acknowledging that she faces "a much more competitive race here than in other parts of the country." ........ Obama showed his confidence over the weekend, hopping from town to town with promises of "a sense of impatience." He seems to relish beginning sentences, "As president, I will. … " ....... We will not just win an election. We will transform a country. ........ Clinton, seeking to preserve her stature, often keeps her jabs subtle — more pinprick, less knife. ...... she'd ask for every vote, work for every dollar, answer every charge. ....... her perceived inevitability was so ingrained in the nation's political conversation, that it was hard to imagine her back against the wall. ...... the tremendous psychological lift that came from heavy news coverage of an ABC News-Washington Post poll ........ her campaign always knew Iowa would be iffy despite her lofty national polls. ..... "Bill Clinton had never campaigned here, and Iowa is a state that's all about relationships," the adviser said. "Hillary had to start from scratch in building those relationships ...... Both campaigns are now scrambling to build organizations in every precinct and county — even ones that have few Democrats. And any sense that Iowa will be a free-kick, first step toward a unstoppable Clinton nomination seems to be gone. ..... the state is going to have "a caucus, not a coronation." Oh-eight (D): Clinton vs. ObamaMSNBC the report raises questions on the idea of a "mandate" to force folks to get health care, a key part of Clinton's plan and one of the points of dispute between Clinton and Obama on this issue. From the piece: "But the reluctance of so many to enroll, along with the possible exemption of 60,000 residents who cannot afford premiums, has raised questions about whether even a mandate can guarantee truly universal coverage.” ....... the day in 1972 when his wife and daughter were killed by a drunk driver ...... whether running on experience in a change environment is a winning message. ...... Iraq — probably the biggest foreign policy decision of the last seven years, and one on which many in the party wish Mrs. Clinton had adopted Mr. Obama’s position in 2002 ....... the candidate who was scoring highest on the experience front (Bush in '92 and Gore in '00) both lost. ...... “You can’t take it personally” and “I drive the Republicans crazy…I don’t care.” ...... major Clinton bundler Alonzo Cantu, who hails from South Texas. "Cantu offers a simple explanation for what he's doing for Clinton. "To me, there's two things that will keep us from being ignored," he said. "Money and votes. I think we've shown we can raise money. That will get us attention, or at least get us a seat at the table, get us in the room." ........ She could sound like any mainstream Republican on this issue: “‘I believe in comprehensive immigration reform, but it starts with homeland security,’ she said. ‘You cannot move to comprehensive immigration reform until we have tougher, more secure borders.’” ........ He added that he rarely thinks about the four months they spent running together. ....... two events in Iowa, one in South Carolina, and one in New Hampshire. ........ “Dan Barraford planned to vote for Hillary Clinton, until he listened to Barack Obama” ........ a colorful staffer, Rory Steele, who is in charge of Obama's efforts in Western Iowa. ..... Congress has been wimpy when it comes to finding withdrawal solutions In West Iowa, Obama Man Thinks LocallyHe stepped across a few rows of soybeans, climbed up the steps of a red Case combine and squeezed into a seat next to Lyle McIntosh, who was circling a field. ....... think like a local, which in this part of Iowa means only gently pestering people about politics. ........ has worked as a truck driver in the Pacific Northwest and a crab fisherman in Alaska ..... one of the most competitive presidential races that anyone here can recall. ....... 1,781 precinct meetings ...... creating a strong and loyal person-to-person network ...... building — and sustaining — those networks throughout the state’s 99 counties. ....... Obama DVDs he lends to neighbors. ...... getting the office computer printer to work falls on his abilities to beg and barter. ...... neither Mr. Steele, a soft-spoken, bearded man, nor his ever-growing cadre of young staff members spend time tracking daily campaign developments on cable television or the proliferating blogs. They seldom have time to watch the presidential debates. Their lens is purposefully microscopic. ....... precinct captains, the supporters who will organize Obama followers on caucus night ....... ....... On the Fourth of July, he “Snoop Dogg breaks” — brief naps on the sofa near the front doorway of the campaign officevowed to have himself tattooed with the initials of whoever turned in the most signed supporter cards. Delane Adams, a campaign organizer from Chicago, won by submitting 33. ......... “DA 33 July 4.” (“I thought it would have been weird to tattoo “Obama” on my arm,” he said, “but now I have some dude’s initials on me.”) ...... He is intimately familiar with Mr. Obama’s voice, his positions and his biography, yet Mr. Steele has had only a few passing conversations with him. ...... sprawling national headquarters in Chicago, on the 11th floor of a downtown skyscraper, with views of Lake Michigan ........ “We never want to burn those bridges and we never — ever — speak ill of another candidate.” ....... “maven,” which is campaign shorthand for a community leader, party official or, quite simply, someone who can persuade others to join the Obama team. ........ Steele mostly listened and took pages of notes on a yellow legal pad, writing down Mr. Knock’s concern about presidential powers and what he fears are threats to the Constitution and the politicization of the Justice Department. ...... “But I’ve got to figure out how I can step away from Biden. They gave me the cellphone of his national political director and his niece!” ....... his daily report to state headquarters in Des Moines ..... Within a week, a campaign policy aide from the Chicago office was on the phone, answering Mr. Knock’s specific questions. ...... When Mr. Obama went to Creston a month later, Mr. Steele arranged a brief one-on-one meeting between the senator and Mr. Knock, who signed on to the campaign soon after. ..... Jefferson-Jackson dinner ..... who was seated at Mr. Obama’s table? Mr. Knock and his wife, Jan. Later, Ms. Knock told her husband that Mr. Obama had “swept her off her feet” Putin Says US Is Meddling in Russian Election New York Times US dismisses Russian claim of election meddlingReuters Right-wing Hindus urge India to protect Muslim author AFP Gaza fears Israeli push to smash Hamas Independent Lieberman calls Annapolis a "photo-op"Jerusalem Post Live Documents to Challenge Microsoft Office, Google Apps PC Magazine Hotmail Cofounder Challenges Microsoft OfficeSci-Tech Today Google Checkout and paypal Spend Big to Lure Buyers New York Times My face is ugly enough: Amitabh Bachchan Hindustan Times "That's as far as I go. My face is ugly enough. I can't do anything to improve it. Nothing can save it." ..... "From January 2008, I'll be working with Mira, Warner Bros and Johnny Depp on Shantaram." I like Salman very much:Big BSantaBanta.com
Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney take gloves off as NH race heats up New York Daily News Kamalesh Sharma as Commonwealth boss: a vote for IndiaMalaysia Sun Cruise ship passengers flown out of Antarctica Los Angeles Times Russian Police Detain Prominent Opposition Leaders Washington Post Hezbollah raises specter of long Lebanon power void Reuters French president says China must revalue the yuan AFP Online Nicknames Google better than Real? Slashdot "Black Friday" sales rise an unexpected 8.3% BloggingStocks Soccer Roundup S. Africans to Receive World Cup Tickets Free New York Times Teen's Suicide Spurs Anti-Cyberbullying LawCIO Today Bloggers name and shame myspace suicide neighbours Independent In Broadway Dispute, Both Sides Agree: It’s All About Fairness New York Times Firefighters make progress against blaze near Malibu CNN International Sharif makes it back to Pakistan second time lucky Reuters Nepal's Maoists threaten to take up arms again Times of India Syrian Government to Attend Mideast Peace Conference Voice of America Suddenly, Connecticut Is Stem Cell Central New York Times French public transport near normal after strike Reuters Obama closing in on Clinton Chicago Tribune Obama says his health package does moreBoston Globe Obama, Clinton trade snipes from across western IowaChicago Tribune two of the leading candidates campaigned in traditionally Republican western Iowa. ...... Within an hour's drive of each other ..... he mentioned his mother's death from cancer and his daughter's asthma problems. He also offered a colorful riff on drug company advertising. ...... "These questions are not pre-arranged," he said during an evening stop in Harlan. ..... part of his effort to work his way through the state's 99 counties before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. His staff said he has now visited 68 counties. ........ "This is my favorite site since I've been campaigning," Obama said, later confiding to reporters he liked the spot partly because it was indoors on a cold day. Did Obama Inhale? New York Times The Lord at Obama's hypothetical dinner table Los Angeles Times Ron Paul: A big tent, but unlikely betSacramento Bee Obama on Clinton, confidence and health careMSNBC Clinton Unveils Autism PlanThe Associated Press In Iowa, Clinton Is Pressed on Murdoch New York Times Clinton Takes On Student Loan IndustryNew York Times banks and other lenders had “ripped off” students with high interest rates and repayment plans that were onerous ...... I borrowed money from the government at 2% interest ..... “I also want to eliminate the complicated form that families have to fill out. I don’t know how many of you have had to fill out those forms, it takes dozens and dozens of pages.” ...... President Bill Clinton, battled the student loan industry in the 1990s as he championed the Federal Direct Loan Program, which eliminated for-profit lenders as the middlemen for students in that program. ....... Andrew Cuomo, has been waging legal fights against several lenders, accusing them of unscrupulous tactics to bilk students. ....... a “student borrower’s bill of rights.” ..... the right to fair monthly payments that do not exceed a percentage of their incomes, as well as access to fair interest rates and fees ..... It is a multi-billion-dollar industry with powerful allies in Congress, many of them Republicans, thanks in part of campaign contributions over the years. A New Face for Australia TIME Former US President in bid to save Nepal's peace process AFP French transit workers back on job San Francisco Chronicle Kindle; the demise of books; rise of the e-reader YourHub.com Obama closing in on Clinton Chicago Tribune Perceptions are nine-tenths of reality in politics. ...... What's changed? He's gone on the attack. ...... Or, as he puts it, he is drawing sharp contrasts and distinctions between his own positions and those of his leading opponent. ..... Obama has since made a theme of criticizing Clinton as lacking honesty, candor and consistency. Clinton countercharges pointedly that Obama lacks experience. ..... The poll is the first in which Obama has scored a higher percentage than Clinton in Iowa ....... "honesty" versus "experience" Democrats 2008: Hillary 52%, Obama 29%Angus Reid Global Monitor "More than 70 per cent of the likely caucus goers are undecided and that’s when you consider all the attention that’s been paid to so-called top tier candidates. You wonder how that can be and yet people are not satisfied with the top tier, they are shopping." Regardless of Kadima Leader, Likud First in Israel Russians Back Mostly One Party Before Election High Support for Democratic Reforms in Hong Kong Obama Touts Health Care Plan The Associated Press touted his health care expansion package as doing more to cut costs and deal with root problems facing consumers "than any other proposal in this race." ........ "Cost is the number one reason that 47 million Americans do not have health insurance and thousands more are edging toward bankruptcy every day" ..... the reason people don't have health insurance is not because they don't want it, it's because they can't afford it ...... says it failed largely because she was too secretive. ...... "What I am convinced of is if we actually hope to pass universal health care this time around we have to bring Republicans and Democrats together," said Obama. "We have to have an open and transparent process so that the American people participate in the debate and see exactly what we're doing." No to health care mandates, Obama saysDesMoinesRegister.com his plan would lower costs on average by about $2,500 per family, making health care affordable for all without placing demands. ....... some sates with required auto insurance still have a pocket of 15 or more percent that still go without coverage ........ Obama’s plan would require limiting the amount of profit health care businesses could make and prosecuting companies that monopolize the insurance industry. Social Security to Become Key Issue The Associated Press bipartisan commissions to resolve the program's long-term financial problems are in. ........ the Social Security trust funds will begin paying out more money in benefits than they take in from payroll taxes beginning in 2017. By 2041, the funds would run dry, and under current law, an automatic cut in benefits would follow. ........... Among Republicans, higher taxes is a non-starter. ....... the former Arkansas governor favors higher benefits for seniors who delay retirement past 70. ...... He also advocates giving retirees an option of declining their benefits, and instead have Social Security issue a lump sum payment at their death, with the money going to their children or grandchildren. Candidates' Stances on Social SecurityThe Associated Press Blue-collar women see hope in Clinton Boston Globe Clinton Unveils Autism Plan The Associated Press Official: Nepal pushes for SAARC transportation corridors Xinhua Former US Commander Criticizes Bush on Iraq Voice of America As Democrats See Iraq Gains, a Shift in ToneNew York Times Musharraf allows rival to return Guardian Unlimited Vote Is Postponed as Lebanese President Leaves New York Times Attacks on Pakistani Military Kill 15 New York Times Moscow cops suppress democracy march, arrest Kasparov Chicago Tribune jotspot to replace Google Pages soon? ZDNet google bets on open-source software Canada.com Speculation around the potential of the two projects had investors pushing the company's stock to a record high of US$741.79 this month ...... the company hopes the product will drive more traffic to the rest of Google's application offerings. ...... "OpenSocial has nothing to do with making our slice of the pie bigger but making the pie itself bigger." ..... "Google is an advertising company, first and foremost, and one of the things that makes that possible is a fair and free Internet" ...... if Google can manage to work its advertising model into Andriod-run cellphones, the revenue potential is astronomical. Scratched Discs Can Wreck a Rock Band Washington Post Dell Remakes Itself InformationWeek the future of his company lies in reducing IT complexity for customers. "We're simplifying your client infrastructure, we're simplifying your data center ...... launching services to assess complexity and simplify your environment." Dell said he plans to triple the size of the company's services business within three years. ...... Acquisitions are one way he plans to get there. In a turnaround from its historical organic-growth strategy, Dell has acquired five companies in the past four months, topped off with the Nov. 15 agreement to acquire Everdream, a provider of on-demand software services for managing business PCs. ...... Dell tends to commoditize things and lower prices ..... IT buyers for whom simplicity means having fewer technology vendors to manage. That makes Dell like Oracle, where the one-stop-shop philosophy for software has outweighed occasional complaints of service and support hiccups arising from its manic acquisition strategy. AMD v Intel Oil money and hafnium Economist Mubadala Development, an investment arm of oil-rich Abu Dhabi, would pay about $622m for 8.1% of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) ..... it has only two chip fabrication plants, or “fabs”, compared with Intel's 15 ...... Intel can usually introduce new manufacturing processes faster. ...... hafnium, an obscure metal, to insulate the transistors in its chips ..... Intel was able to recover quickly from its missteps because it has deep pockets. After slashing nearly 11,000 jobs in the past 12 months, its profit in the third quarter soared by 43% ....... Mubadala Development will not get a seat on AMD's board. But the deal will prompt worries that if technology spending slows, as many industry-watchers expect it to, America's high-tech industry will suffer, and more resource-rich countries will take the chance to buy their way into it. Cisco launches network on wheels Business Standard The company has decided to take its networking solutions to SMB customers, on a mobile van ..... ‘Network On Wheels’ (NOW), a customised van with a live network environment on board will visit industrial locations across Karnataka, hosting live demonstrations for customers. ...... The NOW van has already covered cities including New Delhi (NCR), Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Karnal, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai Microsoft Blows Zune Supply PC World the last-generation Zune ...... the Zune 80, the Apple competitor's top-of-the-range Zune player ...... 80GB device includes Wi-Fi and an FM radio Nintendo Wii pulls even with Microsoft's Xbox 360 Seattle Post Intelligencer Live Documents enters the Office suite ring ZDNet Sabeer Bhatia was the co-founder of Hotmail, the Web email service Microsoft acquired for $400 million in 1998. Now, Bhatia wants to bite the hand that fed him. He formed a new company, InstaColl, and is joining Zoho, ThinkFree, Google, Yahoo (Zimbra), Adobe and lesser know others in the effort to squish Microsoft Office with a new suite and complementary collaborative component, Live Documents. ....... a set of Flash-based Office 2007-like applications and also embeds collaborative capabilities and adds online/offline synchronization into Microsoft Office documents. ........ “We are just a few years away from the end of the shrink-wrapped software business. By 2010, people will not be buying software. This is a significant challenge to a proportion of Microsoft’s revenues.” ..... The idea of software moving mainly to the cloud and collaboration is a logical outcome based on what is going on today ....... Office 2007 accounts for 17.4 percent of all PC software dollar volume and retail sales the suite are about double the rate of Office 2003 at a similar post-launch stage. ....... Zoho has less than 500,000 users of its array of browser-based applications. Microsoft has hundreds of millions of Office users. ...... the shift from shrink wrapped software to “live” services is not unknown to Microsoft. The company probably has something similar to what Live Documents has developed waiting in the wings for the day, or year, when the balance shifts and Google Apps or another suite becomes more than an ankle biter. ........ Microsoft is developing a Sync Framework for adding synchronization, roaming, and offline capabilities to applications, and using any data type, data store, transfer protocol, or network topology. ...... InstaColl describes its offering as a “software plus services” value proposition, using Microsoft’s way of characterizing its approach to marrying the client and the Web. ...... Live Documents is a full-featured suite of online Office productivity applications offering functionality equivalent to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Built using RIA technologies such as Flash and Flex, Live Documents allow users to view and edit documents within any common browser on any operating system from anywhere. Live Documents uses a Flash-based user interface that offers a richer and responsive user experience that is comparable to native Office software applications. ........... Microsoft Office is a justifiably huge target for competitors, a $16 billion business. Bandwidth, browser technology, development tools, infrastructure costs and user expectations are enabling more sophisticated applications to live on the Net. Google races ahead of Yahoo! and Microsoft ihotdesk - IT News City IBM execs to work 6 days a week Times of India JOHN DVORAK'S SECOND OPINION How Oracle can lose by winning MarketWatch The crux of the case stems from Oracle's ability to track down what seems to have been a spidering operation, where TomorrowNow allegedly sent a crawler into the Oracle support site and downloaded every document it could find. ....... Oracle charges that TomorrowNow, using Honeywell's and other customers' accounts and passwords, went on the support site and downloaded what it could. Oracle also says that this was to be used for providing the exact same support services sold by SAP. ...... Oracle is 100% in the right and SAP is bad. ...... once on the Oracle treadmill, you'll never be able to get off it. ...... pricey support and endless upgrades. To Oracle, support and upgrades add up to $2.1 billion in revenue ...... Because Oracle has created a gravy train for itself with no escape routes for the clients, it will not be able to give up any of the free money. Who would? .... I'm not jazzed about software plans where, like it or not, you are wedded for life. sap's tomorrownow Looking Like Yesterday's ToastSYS-CON Media SAP said late Monday that TomorrowNow CEO Andrew Nelson and several people on his management team "have chosen to resign." ..... unclear whether TomorrowNow's business might be going down the tubes because of the Oracle-fanned bad publicity, whether TN really needed to poach widgetry from Oracle to get on as Oracle contends, or whether SAP is looking for a way to distance itself from the whole nightmare and reduce the possible scope of Oracle's mudslinging. ...... Besides a possible sale, SAP says it is "considering several options for the future of the TomorrowNow business," which it bought in early 2005 to harry its great rival by running off support contracts from Oracle acquisitions PeopleSoft and JD Edwards by promising really cheap prices 50% below Oracle's. ..... Oracle says the idea was to get them to ultimately abandon Oracle applications for SAP's. ..... Back in March when Oracle filed suit TomorrowNow had 37 people working for it. It was started by ex-PeopleSoft folk. ..... SAP and its parts are charged with fraud, copyright infringement, receipt of stolen property, wire fraud, RICO, unfair competition, interference with business relationships, unjust enrichment, conspiracy and aiding and abetting.... SAP said late Monday that TomorrowNow CEO Andrew Nelson and several people on his management team "have chosen to resign." ..... unclear whether TomorrowNow's business might be going down the tubes because of the Oracle-fanned bad publicity, whether TN really needed to poach widgetry from Oracle to get on as Oracle contends, or whether SAP is looking for a way to distance itself from the whole nightmare and reduce the possible scope of Oracle's mudslinging. ...... Besides a possible sale, SAP says it is "considering several options for the future of the TomorrowNow business," which it bought in early 2005 to harry its great rival by running off support contracts from Oracle acquisitions PeopleSoft and JD Edwards by promising really cheap prices 50% below Oracle's. ..... Oracle says the idea was to get them to ultimately abandon Oracle applications for SAP's. ..... Back in March when Oracle filed suit TomorrowNow had 37 people working for it. It was started by ex-PeopleSoft folk. ..... SAP and its parts are charged with fraud, copyright infringement, receipt of stolen property, wire fraud, RICO, unfair competition, interference with business relationships, unjust enrichment, conspiracy and aiding and abetting. Oracle Empowers Business Process Excellence Through Business and ... ZDNet Shoppers pack area stores before sunrise Cincinnati Post the same things that other shoppers were searching for from Connecticut to California. ..... Toys and electronics On Black Friday, Shoppers Display Pragmatic RestraintNew York Times Black Friday — so called because stores traditionally become profitable on that day — was a full-throated celebration of capitalism, generating more than $19 billion in sales in 2006, or nearly 5 percent of all holiday spending. ..... And Wal-Mart extended its Black Friday specials into Saturday, calling it a “48-hour sale.” (In a publicity stunt, the company bragged that it had even petitioned the Royal Observatory in London to create a 48-hour Friday.) Adapting Finance to Islam Wal-Mart loses court papers bid in tax dispute: report Reuters Judge Rejects Wal-Mart Effort To Block Public View of DocumentsWall Street Journal Taiwan Promotes Powerful UMPC for wimax PC World It can store 8G bytes of songs, photos and other data and runs on a Linux OS. ....... MTube, which is made solely from parts manufactured in Taiwan ...... Officials see the technology as a good way to spread broadband Internet access throughout the island, which includes remote mountain villages and sparsely populated outlying islands. ...... and look to Taiwanese companies for parts and contract manufacturing work. ........ The chip giant has already signed a similar agreement with Taiwan and is working with Taiwanese computer parts makers to ready the technology for inclusion in laptop PCs next year. AT&T’s 3G wireless broadband network goes live in Virginia TeleGeography tanzania: wimax network set up AllAfrica.com AT&T launches wireless broadband service in western MassachusettsComputer Business Review Eyes Will Be on Bush At Talks on Mideast Washington Post Australians Vote on 11 Years of Conservative Rule Voice of America Obama's Generation X Factor CBS News old grudges and revenge plots hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago -- played out on the national stage .... the Millennials ..... Obama's own generation, i.e., Generation X, the Lost Generation, whose name has been virtually erased from the national conversation. ...... X-ers -- a sociocultural label typically used to describe those born between 1961 and 1976 ...... "lazy," "passive" and possessing "only a hazy sense of their own identity." ....... lost in translation, their rejection of politics-as-usual mistaken for apathy, their questioning of liberal credo interpreted as "backlash" politics, their anxiety about economic security condemned as materialism and their reluctance to be identified either by labels or with larger institutions dismissed as a lack of commitment. ........ The X-er economic philosophy was better described by Ted Halstead in The Atlantic Monthly as "balanced-budget populism," combining fiscal responsibility with a concern for income inequality. ...... many of the political and cultural orientations of Gen X have been recast as the "new progressive" politics. The scalding contempt for the mainstream press expressed by bloggers was ingrained in the Gen X point of view long before the Iraq War. ........ angry idealism with a studied disdain for ideology and partisanship ...... Clinton was in many ways "our first political love who broke our hearts. We've never been able to trust any politician quite in that same way again." ...... X-ers had never embraced street protests like the boomers. So they turned to the medium most of them knew best: the Internet. ...... the Internet offered something just as valuable in the jittery aftermath of 9/11: community ...... "We didn't like being controlled or defined by an association with these fake communities like nationality, or religion or [corporate] brands." The Internet always carried the potential for connection, but X-ers would use it to create a vast array of political and purely social blogs, networking sites and other forms of community, which we now refer to as Web 2.0. ....... we also understood the technology in a way that baby boomers did not ....... the potential of online activism -- from raising money to organizing meet-ups -- having been present and intimately involved in the development of the web during the dot-com heyday. ...... the revolutionary opportunity to get involved in politics so late in our life, and enter it at a fairly high level ....... from her outsider status in the green movement to her entrepreneurial spirit, community-based focus and emphasis on fiscal responsibility and real-life outcomes. ...... relationships between ideology, identity and activism ...... "see politics as a fluid field of choice rather than a hard-and-fast test" of ideological commitment. ........ "challenging the tired orthodoxies of both the right and the left." ...... progressives intensely focused on outcomes ...... a certain impatience with the "romanticism" of boomer lefties ...... far less inspired by the idea of "saving the world" than fixing the local school system or creating a green transit alternative ..... a specific problem with a concrete solution ...... a roll-up-your-sleeves, nuts-and-bolts politics, built on collaboration ....... collaborative, open, transparent, bottom-up, fair ...... X-er ambition is perfectly embodied by the now infamous anti-Hillary spoof of Apple's "Big Brother" ad, created by 33-year-old Phil de Vellis, who declared it a victory for citizen politics. "The underlying point," he says, "was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power." ....... if a Republican or a conservative or a libertarian or a free-marketer has a better idea, I am happy to steal ideas from anybody, and in that sense I'm agnostic ..... his netroots strategy looks a lot like old-fashioned marketing. "He's skipped right over the blogosphere to the younger social networking sites ...... "Anxious Xers" as the swing voters to watch in 2008. ..... Or X-ers may end up like the Silent Generation, who, sandwiched between the GI Generation and the baby boomers, were simply squished into obscurity. Drudge Report Leaks, Web Media Integral Part of Clinton's ... Wired News Democratic Presidential Campaign Is Boiling Down to a 4-Letter ...ABC News Clinton digs in on toxic toys after China's 'slander' charge AFP Clinton hits China again on toy safetyBoston Globe China objects to 'slander' after Clinton blasts toy exportsAFP Taslima in Delhi, says she'll stay on in India Times of India Exiled ex-leader Sharif ready to return to Pakistan Guardian Unlimited spells a further headache for Pervez Musharraf ...... has his powerbase in Punjab province, Pakistan's most populous. .... Musharraf flew to Saudi Arabia this week to meet King Abdullah, apparently to try to stave off Sharif's return. Pakistan Court Orders Musharraf to Step Down as Military Chief ...Voice of America also declared that the November 3 imposition of a state of emergency and suspension of the constitution were legal. ..... Benazir Bhutto and her opposition Pakistan People's Party are still considering whether to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections. ..... a private television station ordered off the air November 3 has been allowed to resume broadcasting Lebanon's president hands power to armyGuardian Unlimited The US-backed government of Fouad Siniora rejected the declaration. "It is as if the statement was never issued," said Siniora. The constitution says a president cannot call a state of emergency without government approval, but Lahoud and the Hizbullah-led opposition view the cabinet as unconstitutional following the walk out of its Shia ministers last year. ..... the elections, postponed until next Friday Cautious Sarkozy survives round one of fight for change Guardian Unlimited We're the last line of resistance to protect France from neo-liberalism, capitalism and the end of society ....... the pension fight was round one in a bigger battle. He was inspired by Britain's miners' strike, Ken Loach's film on the horrors of privatised British railways, The Full Monty and Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, which contrasts the nightmares of America's healthcare system with the benefits of France's ever present state. Berthomé feared France's social system was going to be dismantled, and pensions were only the start. ........ For the past week millions of French people have been waking at 4am and resorting to increasingly desperate methods of transport, from roller skates to quad bikes, children's scooters to hitch-hiking, to try to get to work despite their crippled buses and trains. ....... 300-mile tailbacks across France as people took to their cars. ..... A surge in bike and scooter accidents hit those braving the roads. Others slept at work. ...... break France's forces for social and economic immobilism. France has often been said to be impossible to modernise, never ready for reform but always ready for a revolution. Before his election Sarkozy promised to "liquidate the legacy" of the May 1968 protests. ....... cost France around €400m a day. ....... Sarkozy has been cautious, quietly offering concessions that unions will find hard to resist ........ Sarkozy averted a battle to the death over pensions knowing that his worst headaches and hardest reforms are yet to come - in health, the labour code and general pensions. ........ Sarkozy wants to fight his battles one by one. France has sluggish economic growth, a huge budget and social security deficit and massive debt that is worrying the EU. At the top of Sarkozy's long list of changes for France is installing a new work ethic where the French work more and for longer. Currently France works on average 617 hours a person a year, compared with 800 hours in Britain. ...... If he can't succeed with this reform he won't be able to do the rest ....... he sees a majority of French people behind him in the polls. When you squeezed onto the few metros and buses, people were not complaining about Sarkozy, they're complaining about the strikers ........ There are more unemployed people in France than trade union members. In an average year the French miss proportionately fewer working days from strikes than Americans do. ...... the popular "street demo" as a counterpoint to France's weak parliament ....... his plans to streamline France's bloated state sector and public administration, the biggest and costliest in Europe. ...... he will be quietly hopeful that by Christmas his first pension reforms are likely to be achieved, opening the way for his tougher social reforms next year. ...... a "hard left that hasn't changed since the middle ages, or the peasants' revolt". IAC/interactivecorp. to spend $100M on new Internet business in ... CNNMoney.com Iran: Allegations About Nuclear Program 'Baseless' Voice of America Man Killed His Family and Himself, Police Say New York Times View from the top: Peter Norvig, Google's director of research New Scientist The Googleplex, as the sprawling campus is known, is the place where the dotcom bubble never burst. ....... Google manages something remarkable when it comes to workplace culture. The firm that famously grew from a garage operation to multinational business has, in the process, managed to hold on to the creative spirit that imbued its early days. ........ I already have the best job in the world at the best company in the world ...... "There are 10,000 people here, but in some ways it feels the same as when I joined and there were 200." ....... how has Google managed to grow so spectacularly yet still retain a freewheeling ethos? ...... an absence of hierarchy is key ...... His staff are organised into groups that focus on specific projects, and often don't even know which vice-president heads the division they work in. The emphasis is on teams to innovate from the bottom up, rather than follow what Norvig calls "Soviet-style" diktats from senior staff. ...... firm's willingness to pursue new ideas also means that many staff are working on original projects rather than fixing bugs in old ones. ...... Google also launched a new facial-recognition system this summer, and recently purchased the Finnish firm Jaiku, which specialises in social networking for mobile phones - a sort of Facebook for cellphones. ...... language translation software as a step towards making every website accessible to all, irrespective of your native tongue. ...... a new directory enquiries system that relies completely on speech recognition software. .... we are growing so fast and are continually having to reinvent ourselves ...... the kind of warm glow from investors that allows senior executives to experiment - a "success buffer" ...... unique workplace culture .... novel hiring strategies ...... Google sometimes posts job adverts that only appear when someone searches for an obscure topic that the firm thinks is interesting. "Translation lookaside buffer" ....... Google also ran billboard ads containing complex mathematical challenges, the solution to which led to a webpage that invited applications ...... Google's policy of only hiring candidates whose ability is above the mean of current employees. ..... model introduces noise into the hiring system to reflect the fact that interviews are imperfect and so some candidates with lower than expected ability may be hired. ....... The Google approach, by contrast, leads quickly towards a situation in which the typical employee is among the best available. ..... Like the structure of the firm itself, Google's hiring strategy benefits from ignoring traditional business categorisations. Unlike most companies, Google's project managers don't hire people for specific roles. Rather, people are hired because they are right for Google as a whole. The final decision rests with the Executive Management Group, comprising chief executive officer Eric Schmidt and other senior staff. Only after a candidate is approved are they assigned to a project best suited to their abilities. ...... The lack of a middle management means projects that ultimately fail can hang around for longer than they might in other firms. It also places a strain on Norvig's people skills. He notes that textbooks advise managers to have direct supervision for no more than seven staff. Norvig has 50. "And I'm just back from vacation, so I probably have more," he adds. "I don't know who they are yet." ....... "It's the scale of problems that you can address. Professors are isolated from each other - they're collegial but competitive. The biggest team you have is yourself and whatever graduate students you have. That's a limitation." In Mangolia, Amitabh Bachchan is the face of Hindi Cinema Hindustan Times Taiwan Promotes Powerful UMPC for wimax PC World Sun Has Set on English Soccer New York Times In international soccer, there will always be an England, but it simply will not be a global power in what is no longer England’s game, but the world’s game. ...... the birthplace of the game. ...... a loss of prestige that has an incalculable value. ...... When will Americans realize that a British accent is no guarantee a coach knows what he’s doing? When will we stop importing British players to M.L.S.? ....... England most certainly gave the game to the world. But the game and the world have changed and England is not the power it once was. Chilean soccer players criticize foreign player quota increase Xinhua Privacy fears over Facebook feature MSNBC
It is not a bad strategy. It is supposed to be a copycat of the Bill Clinton strategy in 1992. Bill Clinton skipped Iowa in 1992 out of what he claimed was respect for the native son Tom Harkin who was also running. The real reason was he was not going to do well there no matter how hard he tried.
He lost New Hampshire also, but claimed victory as "a comeback kid." So an absence in Iowa, and a loss in New Hampshire can also mean victory and momentum if you can spin it like Billie Clinton. Bill Clinton went on to give pretty good eight years.
But two losses in a row will not work for Hillary. An Iowa loss will be the beginning of the end of Hillary 2008. Why?
Bill Clinton had not been leading the national polls for all of 1991. Noone knew the Clinton name. Outside the circle of politial junkies, he was unheard of. His 1988 speech - the same one Obama gave in 2004 - had been a disaster. It was such a disaster, Hillary started introducing him as her "former husband."
Bill Clinton decided very early on to skip Iowa. Whereas Hillary has done the very best she can. She would have run even if Vilsack had not dropped out. Recently she held a job fair in DC to recruit hundreds of new, young staffers to send to Iowa. That was pushing the panic button.
For Bill Clinton an absence in Iowa, and a loss in New Hampshire was still an upswing. For Hillary, a loss in Iowa will be reverse momentum. Her national lead in the polls will disappear overnight. Her loss will be front page news in every newspaper in America. She will be the poster child of electoral loss. Overnight.
If she also loses New Hampshire, that will be the end of Hillary 2008.
If she loses Iowa, she will definitely lose South Carolina. If she loses New Hampshire, that will cost her Nevada.
My man Barack just might pull a double whammy. I am all for it. Go for it, dude.
Tsunami Tuesday
Even if Barack wins all four, Hillary will still be there for the fight on February 5. It is called burning fat, er, money.
Hillary Supports Bush
On Iraq. On Iran. On space flight. No wonder Bush also supports Hillary.
The idea of wanting to send humans to Mars is plain stupid. Think about it. There are other, better ways to imitate JFK. Like universal broadband. Globally universal, I mean. Unmanned vehicles are much better for deep space exploration. Humans will have serious emotional challenges, not to say physiological.
Not Christian
I am not Christian, and I forgive you for being one.
That as a response to religious harassment.
In The News
Serial blasts again, this time across UP Times of India, India Revenge? UP courts in terror crosshairs Times of India, India Terror strikes UP; 13 killed in six blasts Business Standard, India UP police release sketches of three suspects Times of India, India Blasts at Indian Courthouses Kill 13 The Associated Press A series of three near-simultaneous explosions shook north India on Friday afternoon, with blasts going off in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad Terror strikes UP; 14 killed, over 60 hurt in 6 blasts Hindu, India Co-ordinated blasts in 3 UP cities kill 13 Rediff, India Nitish condemns UP blasts Hindu, India Blasts in Lucknow, Varanasi, Faizabad NDTV.com, India UP blasts: Mayawati blames central intelligence agencies Hindu, India huji behind multiple blasts in UP? Times of India, India Banned Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islamia (HuJI) is believed to be behind the serial blasts that rocked the Uttar Pradesh ... a revenge by the banned outfit for the assault on its members including the recent incident when lawyers manhandled three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants arrested in Lucknow last week. .... Jaish could have sought the help of HuJI as both the outfits followed the Deoband sect of Islam. ... HuJI, which is being mainly run from Bangaldesh, has managed to establish cells in the Uttar Pradesh and that the outfit was responsible for previous major terror attacks. .... All three court premises in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi, targeted on Friday by the militants, had seen an incident of manhandling of militants or activists of anti-Ram temple in Ayodhya by lawyers. .... Last week three JeM militants were roughed up by lawyers and the bar association refused to take up their cases. ..... Faizabad court premises was witness to an altercation between activists of a Babri Masjid organisation and lawyers. The local bar association had banned its advocates from taking up their case. .... The court premises in Varanasi was witness last year to beating of a Waliullah Khan, the main accused in the Sankat Mochan temple explosions. ... an outfit by the name of Al-Hind Mujahideen had claimed responsibility about the attacks and sent emails to some media houses. Child sex tourism prevalent in India: Renuka Chowdhuryin the name of pilgrim, heritage and coastal tourism, sexual exploitation of children is quite widespread. .... a lot of reports of human trafficking have come in from Maharastra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa. ..... children without family ties and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Millionaire list: Small towns overtake metros UP blasts: Bihar put on high alert Times of India, India Lucknow on alert, police leaves cancelled NDTV.com, India Eight killed, 35 injured in UP serial blasts Sify, India Security tightened in Maharashtra NDTV.com, India
US Citizen Diplomats Offer Fresh Insights on Mideast Peace Process Voice of America US push on Palestinians has Iran motiveReuters The Road to AnnapolisCouncil on Foreign Relations 36 Maoists arrested in Nepal Times of India for their involvement in vandalism and trying to enforce an illegal strike in the country's southern Rautahat district. The Real Rudy New York Times moments when an inner light turns on and he turns downright idealistic .... the single most important reason for American greatness, namely, the renewal, reformation and reawakening that’s provided by the continuous flow of immigrants ...... continued the fear-mongering and discrimination of the nativist movements of the 1920s and the Know-Nothing movement of the 19th century ..... Lincoln for having the courage to take on the anti-immigrant forces. ...... “The reality is, people will always get in.” .... ‘Executive Order 124.’ ” This order protected undocumented immigrants from being reported when they used city services. ....... They must feel safe sending their children to school. They should feel safe reporting crime to the police. “Similarly, illegal and undocumented immigrants should be able to seek medical help without the threat of being reported. When these people are sick, they are just as sick and just as contagious as citizens.” ....... separate the criminal illegals from the hard-working ones. ...... “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city.” .... This is why Giuliani won 43 percent of the Hispanic vote in the mayoral race of 1997. This is why his candidacy once had the potential to renovate the G.O.P. ...... competing to drive away Hispanic votes and make the party unelectable in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Florida and the nation at large. ...... Giuliani could have opened the party to the armies of dynamism — the sort of hard-working strivers who live in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx .... Someday Rudy Giuliani will look back on this moment and wonder why he didn’t run as himself. Careers Give India’s Women New Independence Not long ago, an Indian woman, even a working Indian woman, would almost always have moved from her parents’ house to her husband’s. ...... college-educated professionals exploring jobs that simply did not exist a generation ago. ...... Bangalore, also known as Bengaluru, the capital of India’s technology and back-office business, is the epicenter of these changes. ...... with more than half of its 4.3 million residents under the age of 30 ...... Coffee bars are packed in the evenings. ...... On the refrigerator, she had pasted a snarky yellow note to herself: “Lose Weight, You Fat Pig.” .... Both women were trying to stave off their mothers’ intervention in the marriage department ........ the overseas Indians for whom her mother has an affinity. ..... young people, men and women both, still cling to ideas of virginity before marriage, and fairly large numbers say they prefer to marry within their own caste and community ......... freedom has brought new choices, new problems and ... new guilt. ........ finding a match will be difficult for a woman like her, a student of philosophy, who thinks for herself, lives apart from her parents and likes classic rock. ..... A bigger fear, she confesses, is not being married at all. ........ The mean age of marriage inched to 18.3 in 2001 from 17.7 years in 1991 ...... and as late as 22.6 years for the college-educated. ........ jobs that would rarely be filled by women, whether gas station attendants or cafe baristas, magazine editors or software programmers. ...... Every now and then, a high-profile crime against a woman prompts new hand-wringing and outcry over women working at night. But the young working woman living on her own is now firmly part of the urban mainstream. ...... when accommodations were limited to a room in the home of a nosy landlord who would cluck her teeth if a boyfriend spent the night ...... to be able to interact in public space and be in the same world as men ....... recalls being told that women were not welcome in executive positions because they inevitably married and quit ...... Instead, she would work and rent a place here. “People will talk,” was her parents’ first reaction. ....... Then they threw what she called “emotional tantrums.” Then they asked her to meet prospective husbands. ...... empty liquor bottles lined up smartly on a ledge, which made her mother gasp on her first visit. Ms. Cariappa said she assured her they had not all been consumed in one go. ........ One of her roommates carries a long dog chain, which she once had to use to repel a man. The Journey Home Making a New Life in the Old Country She was 41, she hadn’t had a serious relationship in years and she had no desire to be what she calls the spinster at the table. ..... the business part was hardly creative, and a lot of being an agent is being mother, shrink, confessor; she’d be on the phone for hours, going through their divorces. ...... She has a good-looking boyfriend who makes his own olive oil and lies with her under the cherry trees. Cousins and great-aunts and -uncles, who did not know of her existence for most of their lives, treat her as if she’s always been a cherished member of the family; touching her, patting her hair. ...... Elderly widows wear black and the agricultural tradition is strong. ...... the area’s ancient culture .... on Good Friday, villagers carry a statue of Christ up the hill on their knees .... her grandfather, who returned every year to Calitri with clothing and money for the family that remained. ...... She was never, however, able to create a family of her own. She was romantically involved for several years with a photographer — “not a healthy relationship” ....... Los Angeles can be a tough place for a woman in her 40s. .... she had not had a serious boyfriend for five years. ..... It’s the first time any of the Paolantonios who have emigrated to America have returned to Calitri since World War II. Things start going crazy. Vito closes the shop and takes her from cousin to excited cousin. ...... “Everybody I meet immediately offers me coffee — I’m thinking I’m gonna die of coffee poisoning,” Ms. Paolantonio says. “Nobody speaks English. I speak very little Italian. Then I enter this smoke-filled room, I get to Zio Franco, my cousin, a very distinguished man with a mustache. He says, very slowly, in English, ‘Your grandfather was a very great man.’ I just collapsed emotionally. After lunch, I go for a nap and I totally cried myself to sleep because I am so overwhelmed.” ......... a tragic story .. but it is finally knowledge. ..... her boyfriend, Giuseppe Zarrilli. He is 35, 13 years younger than she, and works the family farm ....... “You feel like you are completely supported without a word; that his manliness is holding me up. I say to my friends, this guy is the real deal, not like a guy from Milan, a guy with cologne. This is a chop-your-own-wood kind of guy.” ........ a feeling of love, like the unconditional love of a parent or a grandparent ..... me trying to find this woman who was completely forgotten, locked inside my father’s heart ...... “I think sometimes they see things in me I don’t maybe see myself,” she says. “This older woman who is trying to be independent, but is a little lonely and is involved with a man and maybe it will work out and maybe it won’t. But whatever it is, they support me.” ...... “In Los Angeles, everything you do, you do alone and in your car, ” Ms. Paolantonio says. “Here I don’t leave the house without somebody saying, ‘Where are you going?’ I went outside the other day, a neighbor, this ancient woman dressed completely in black, comes out. She usually takes half an hour to kiss me a thousand times. I don’t understand a word she’s saying. She’s cooing at me, like a little dove, cooing.” ...... She’s written a memoir of her Calitri journey that she hopes to publish French transport strike ends CNN International Dems Have Four-Letter Focus: IOWA The Associated Press The campaign's first voting state has become so vital that all the Democrats are focused on it. ....... Iowa, which she has called her "toughest state." A loss there could make her look vulnerable and create a competitive race for the 2,104 delegates ...... the state's 1,784 precinct caucuses. The campaign is building a "buddy system" to match experienced caucus participants with the novices, and is offering transportation and child care. ....... The Obama campaign has a similar strategy with young voters, connecting them with veteran caucus goers. ....... bringing out the reliable caucus goers, particularly in rural areas. He's the only Democratic candidate to have visited all 99 Iowa counties ...... Bill Richardson and Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd are all banking on a surprise showing in Iowa. ....... Dodd has temporarily moved his family to Iowa to demonstrate his commitment to the state ...... Her strategy here is to build a New Hampshire firewall that would withstand an unpredictable outcome in Iowa. ..... Clinton has traveled to each of New Hampshire's 10 counties and has secured the backing of most of the Democratic establishment. The campaign has made more than 250,000 phone calls to voters. ...... His campaign stages house-to-house canvassing and phone banks every night and weekend, with 800 people knocking on doors one weekend in November. "When people begin to decide, we're going to be at their doors," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. ...... The Clinton and Obama campaigns have been working with experienced Iowa caucus organizers, developing a precinct-by-precinct system similar to Iowa's. ..... 60,000-member Culinary Union, which represents most employees on the Las Vegas strip. ...... blacks make up about 50 percent of Democratic primary voters in the state. ..... Obama has been advertising on three dozen black radio stations across the state — the most recent spot features him talking about growing up without his father. ..... The candidates have not been holding campaign events in Florid, but still have been aggressively raising money there. ....... Clinton is expected to cruise in her home state of New York and neighboring New Jersey. Besides the large delegate states, Obama's campaign is focusing on caucus states like Colorado and Minnesota where local organizations are necessary for victory. Amazon's Kindle device out of stock CNET News.com Michelle Obama urges black women to support her husband Kansas City Star Obama's first SC adMSNBC Obama to Air Ads in South CarolinaThe Associated Press The Early Word: Second Is the New First Place?New York Times This is why Barack Obama recently asked a Dodd supporter in Iowa if he could please be her second choice. “Senator Obama was extremely gracious,” Democratic activist Karen Thalacker told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I told him, ‘Absolutely.’ ” ....... one Democrat could emerge from the pack to be the “un-Hillary” ..... how they balance rich local delicacies with proper nutrition. ..... John Kerry (dismissed as effete when he ordered a Philly cheese steak with Swiss in 2004) or Gerald R. Ford (on a 1976 swing through Texas, he bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on). ...... “There are few things more personal than eating,” he said, “and if you reject someone’s food, you kind of reject them.” ..... “Whenever you talk about it, you relive it. It doesn’t matter whether it was a day ago, a month ago or, in my case now, 34 years ago.” ...... the psychological mechanism known as inoculation ...... Obama, however, wants to delay plans for building the new Constellation spacecraft for five years and give those funds to education initiatives. ....... he’s always “viewed Iowa as being a place where they pick corn and New Hampshire being a place where we pick presidents” Iowa a 'four-letter word,' Republican race still 'fluid' Baltimore Sun What's new: Joking about corn is no joke to Iowans; health care as ...USA Today Romney told reporters. 'As you know, I've spent more time in Iowa than anyone else running for president and probably more time in Iowa than any other state. ...... the Democratic push for universal health care has achieved such critical mass that Republican White House candidates are touting their own reform plans, which rely more on free-market dynamics ...... Edwards 2.0, an edgy populist mounting an insurgent campaign against Clinton ..... By the end of the day Jan. 3, Edwards either will have won Iowa and vaulted into serious contention to win the nomination, or he will disappear. ..... "Running for president is like entering a competitive eating contest and a beauty pageant all at once. Candidates are expected to eat local specialties often and with gusto, yet still look attractive and fit. ....... when it comes to President Bush's ambitious initiative to send humans back to the moon and on to Mars, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is all but alone in staking out a formal position -- and it's one that lends support to key aspects of the president's effort." ...... together with a pledge to join her on the campaign trail. Clinton leads senators seeking presidency in use of earmarksGreen Bay Press Gazette Democrats no slouches on congressional porkSeattle Post Intelligencer Nepal should be declared republic through CA polls: Carter Zee News The Early Word: It’s All About Iowa New York Times Reports: Blasts Shake North IndiaThe Associated Press Antarctic Cruise Ship Hits Ice, Passengers Evacuated (Update5)Bloomberg India moves Nasreen out of Kolkata Gulf Daily News Pakistan decries its suspension from Commonwealth Christian Science Monitor IAC Looks to Expand Web Presence in China Wall Street Journal Google Wins Again eWeek E*Trade's Takeover Talk Forbes Interpol uncovers $680 mln illegal Asia soccer bets Guardian Unlimited Film highlights how soccer was more than just a game on Robben Island International Herald Tribune Looking for a simple way to improve your health? Consider the ... New York Times Theatergoers Rejoice at Return of the Grinch New York Times Commonwealth suspends PakistanInternational Herald Tribune In a strategy shift, Clinton begins counterpunching Los Angeles Times Dems Bill on Iraq Wouldn't End War The Associated Press Nuclear Agency Wants More From Iran New York Times Muck flies in 2008 US election AFP Democrats 2008: Hillary 38%, Obama 27%Angus Reid Global Monitor down eight points since October. Nevada Caucus 2008 (D): Hillary 45%, Obama 20% SC Primary 2008 (D): Hillary 43%, Obama 33% The politics of dope: Obama comes clean The Union Leader Clinton Hits Rough Patch Wall Street Journal Clinton views her campaign as a template for her possible presidency ....... four more Democratic debates in December .... a loss, or even a close call, makes her vulnerable in the states that follow. ...... her success this year in methodically building her lead over rival Democrats with tireless stumping and discipline. She gained ground by taking rough edges off her imperious image, and promoting her experience and competence ......... Republicans, who report their first uptick in donations to party headquarters in many months, thanks to a recent stream of "stop-Hillary" fund-raising emails. ...... the two most-contentious debates in the long series ..... must show she can fight her own battles, too shrill an attack could erode Sen. Clinton's hard-won gains at softening her image. ...... she has never found it easy to give simple answers to questions ..... I've always made an argument in paragraphs. I need to learn to speak in sound bites. ..... her lack of details on plans for Social Security, global warming and other problems awaiting the next president reflect a wariness of taking stands -- on taxes, for instance -- that could give Republicans ammunition in 2008. ....... She followed the model that got her elected twice in New York, trying to meet as many people as possible, even in Republican-leaning areas, to dispel many voters' ice-queen image of her. ....... Chief strategist and pollster Mark Penn ...... "She was dead set against apologizing. Dead set against it" ...... a discipline rivaling that of George W. Bush's campaigns ...... 'But they've got to like you' ..... Clinton was routinely scheduled for two hours at each stop -- one hour for her speech and voters' questions, another to chat, sign autographs and smile for photographs as long as any voter remained. ....... a new and final phase: the time for sustained attacks on the front-runner. ...... Republicans will pound Democrats on the immigration issue in the general election because the Republican party's traditional strong suit -- the national-security card -- has been neutralized by President Bush's handling of the Iraq war. ......... the unprecedented number of televised debates proved to be a huge help, even rival campaigns acknowledge, as she consistently got high marks. While few voters watch the debates, many hear the reviews for days afterward. Clinton wins surprise support from former French first lady Reuters China furious at Dalai Lama plan to name successor Independent China accuses Dalai Lama of violating Buddhist traditionsAFP head off plans by China's ruling Communist Party to select the new Dalai Lama. ...... recently announced that Tibetan living Buddhas needed permission from the government, officially atheist, to be reincarnated. Philippines hunkers down as Typhoon Mitag nears Reuters Google opens Maps for editing Register Amitabh honoured by London Mayor Zee News Strong HP results raises bar for Dell Reuters I'm Not There: Deconstructing Dylan TIME visionary artist struggles successfully to realize his particular vision, gets famous, gets laid, gets in trouble with the whole celebrity thing, tries to escape the demands of his exigent fans (wow, do they hate it when he turns from the acoustic to the electric guitar at the movie's version of the Newport Jazz Festival shocker), ends up sort of beloved, sort of intact, but sort of unfulfilled, too. ........ we don't really care very much about his need to find his own bliss. ...... the messiness of this life and, as its title implies, its lack of a thumping conclusion Australia's Next Prime Minister? Rudd, the top student of his high school ..... in 2003, he visited a strip club in Manhattan with New York Post editor Col Allan ..... YouTube footage showing Rudd tasting his own earwax during a parliamentary debate in 2001 (he claims he was scratching his chin!) ...... Australia's $1 trillion economy ...... Iraq (a phased pull out of Australia's 1,400 troops) ..... climate change (ratifying the Kyoto Protocol), education (more laptops in high schools) and communications (faster Internet access) How India Views Pakistan's Turmoil New Delhi's relations with Islamabad have lately been better than ever. ...... "The army is the only political party worth its name in Pakistan" ..... President Bush reiterated Tuesday that he has found Musharraf "to be a man of his word" — nonetheless insists that elections be held under the rule of law and not under emergency rule. ..... Musharraf may be trying to bring Nawaz Sharif over to his side ...... keeping channels of communication open to as many of the main players as possible.
