Does Hillary Have A Gender Card?

Muscular Gender Agenda

If Hillary wants to bring gender as an issue in this presidential campaign, she should be talking about perhaps waging a war on domestic violence, she should be talking about equal pay, she should perhaps pledge that half her cabinet will be female, she should be talking about day care, about health and education.

The Spectrum On Gender

There is little point in wanting to become the first woman president if you are not going to openly and explicitly talk about gender issues.

Draw Distinctions, Work The Fundamentals
Coke Gatorade, Not Coke Pepsi

The policy differences between Barack and Clinton are too stark. Barack's and Clinton's leadership styles are too different. Drawing out those differences is not being sexist on Barack's part. That is the job and responsibility of someone running for president.

Hillary's Socialized Medicine
Bush Is Anarchy, Hillary Is Monarchy
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Cuba, Bush, Clinton, Somalia, Bush, Obama, Iran
Why Hillary's Iran Vote Is Dangerous
Taking Hillary To Task On Foreign Policy
Hillary's Iran Vote, Not That Different From The Iraq Vote

JFK Killed The Hat, Barack Will Kill The Tie

I can't remember a time when I did not absolutely totally hated the tie.





In The News

Report from the front: Tonight's launch of Open Social Marc Andreessen The total aggregate user base of the Open Social partners is now in excess of 200 million people. ........ But Facebook is part of the web. Think of the web, of the Internet itself, as water. Proprietary platforms based on the web are ice cubes. They can, for a time, suspend themselves above the web at large. But over time, they only ever melt into the water. And maybe they make it better when they do. ........ freedom and openness let people all over the world be fully creative and innovative in every way they want. ..... freedom and openness enable will always swamp anyone's attempt to wall off a proprietary world with tight controls and sharp limitations. ........ In the mid-1990's, people told me all the time, "AOL has all the users; why would you think this web thing is ever going to amount to anything?" And it was true -- AOL did have all the users. In the beginning, AOL had tens of millions of users when the Internet had low single digit millions at best. Everyone was scrambling to do deals with AOL to get access to that huge user base, and every media company we met with (there were no Internet companies yet) laughed at the idea of regular people ever using the web. .......... decentralized, open, free web. ....... It's quite easy to develop for both Open Social and Facebook, and in practice that's what I'll bet most serious app developers will be doing for the next few years, at least. ....... Everyone can just smell the opportunity



Clinton, Obama Spar over Social Security in Ads NPR
Obama's guide to leading a "post-post-9/11" America International Herald Tribune, France "If I am the face of American foreign policy and American power," Barack Obama mused not long ago aboard his campaign plane, "as long as we are also making prudent strategic decisions, handling emergencies, crises and opportunities in the world in an intelligent and sober way. . . ." He stopped. He wanted to make sure he got this just right, and he had got a little caught up in rebutting the claim, which Hillary Clinton has artfully advanced, that he is not prepared to handle emergencies. Obama stopped picking at his grilled salmon in order to stare out at the sky for a few moments. "I think," he said, in that deep and measured voice of his, "that if you can tell people, 'We have a president in the White House who still has a grandmother living in a hut on the shores of Lake Victoria and has a sister who's half-Indonesian, married to a Chinese-Canadian,' then they're going to think that he may have a better sense of what's going on in our lives and in our country. And they'd be right." ........... his life story and the angle of vision it affords him ........ our indifference to the views of others and through the insularity of a president who seems so incurious about the world ..... A President Obama, says Joseph Nye, the Harvard professor who popularized the term "soft power" to describe the capacity to gain support through attraction rather than force, "would do more for America's soft power around the world than anything else we could do." ........ Democratic voters seem to be torn between the hope of reshaping a frightening world and the fear of being terribly vulnerable to that world. ........ must, like "a Swiss Army knife," offer different tools for different situations, rather than only the sharp edge of a blade; must pay close attention to "how others may perceive us differently than we perceive ourselves, no matter how good our intentions"; must recognize that other nations may legitimately care more about their neighbors or their access to resources than about terrorism; and must be "grounded in hope, not fear." ........ A post-post-9/11 strategy must harness the forces of globalization while honestly addressing the growing "perception of unfairness" around the world; must actively promote, not just democracy, but "a world of liberty under law"; and must renew multilateral instruments like the United Nations. ........ In mainstream foreign-policy circles, Barack Obama is seen as the true bearer of this vision. "There are maybe 200 people on the Democratic side who think about foreign policy for a living" ........ "The vast majority have thrown in their lot with Obama." ......... And they are ardent.
Romney, Obama Air New TV Ads in NH The Associated Press

South Carolina rejects Colbert candidacy Los Angeles Times
Obama Says US Must Try Talking to Iran The Associated Press
What's new: Obama's 'new Iran approach;' PACs aren't so giving USA Today
Obama for 'creative diplomacy' to bring Iran on board Hindu
The Early Word: Obama’s Iran Resolution New York Times
The Clinton gospel Boston Globe the way Clinton's campaign acts, you could be forgiven for thinking she was an absolute monarch, and not merely the Democratic front-runner. ...... Tsongas, who liked Clinton, thought he and the Arkansan had an informal agreement not to go after each other. But as the campaign moved south, Clinton's camp launched a sharp attack. Why after one candidates' forum, Clinton himself appeared in the press room and deftly sliced and diced the policy plans of his absent rival. ...... So far, that's really all Obama and Edwards have done: draw distinctions. ..... Clinton's spinmeisters are trying to make her rivals look disreputable for doing something that's absolutely in-bounds. .... "It gets tiresome after a while," says Paul Pezzella, a Massachusetts political operative who is a veteran of four presidential campaigns - and a Clinton supporter. "Campaigns are all about drawing distinctions. That's completely legitimate." ...... that stratagem contradicts a central part of Clinton's own message: The notion that she is a battle-tested veteran ready for anything the Republicans can throw at her. If so, she should prove it by engaging with her rivals and defending her positions - not by having her campaign protest each and every time another Democrat says something critical about her.
Clinton Climate Initiative Names UTC Power as a Supplier Partner CNNMoney.com
Clinton, Wal-Mart Push 'Green' Cities The Associated Press
Clinton group, Wal-Mart aim to lower 'green' costs Los Angeles Times
Thousands gather for 2007 World Toilet Summit in India Melbourne Herald Sun
India's untouchable waste collectors BBC News
Peeing in public in booming India Radio Netherlands
Political Leader of Tamil Tigers Reported Killed New York Times a 6 a.m. aerial strike on their headquarters in the north ..... The senior rebel leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, is rarely seen. Mr. Tamilselvan was the official who met with peace envoys and talked to journalists, and his death leaves the group with no obvious public face.
China to build new series of rocket launchers Reuters
Militants in Pakistan Display 'Captured Soldiers' Voice of America
Google's Mobile Plans To Be Revealed Monday InformationWeek Whether Google will move along an evolutionary or revolutionary path is completely unknown, but the result will probably shake up the industry either way.
Google’s OpenSocial: Strategy, money and the art of war, err APIs ZDNet Google rolled out its OpenSocial initiative–along with nearly every big social networking player not named Facebook–and the response was fairly overwhelming. .... The big plus: Developers only have to learn one API. ...... I’m more of a business strategy, art of war, follow the money type of guy. ..... where things go from here is going to be worth watching. ...... so the web as a whole can become more social ...... AOL-Facebook analogies as Marc Andreessen notes are off the mark. ....... Google is using the surround tactic to rattle Facebook. The big question is where Facebook goes from here. ...... these APIs somehow sprinkling Google ads around.... A decade ago, the approach to thwart an upstart was to bundle, give product away for free and use your girth to squash a smaller rival. Think Microsoft meets Netscape. Today, it’s a different game. Open protocols rule. ...... Under the guise of being open you can line up every competitor of a rival and still potentially squash the upstart. You think MySpace is really doing OpenSocial for the greater good? Of course not, MySpace is scared to death of Facebook’s growth rates. ....... Users are still on Facebook. .... Just wait til profiles and identities are portable (it’ll happen). ...... Will OpenSocial herald an era of open APIs in enterprise applications? ...... it’s impossible to control information. ..... Google assumes its partners will use AdSense. This sets up an interesting battle of the social ad networks in the future. Facebook/Microsoft vs. Google/everyone not Facebook.
Sprint Nextel Weighs Changes to WiMax Plan Wall Street Journal WiMax will allow customers to get wireless Internet connections through laptops and cellphones at speeds on par with landline speeds. ....... a rollout that would reach 100 million U.S. consumers by the end of next year. But the two parties never signed a definitive agreement. ....... Sprint is on track for "soft launches" of the high-speed WiMax service in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore in coming months. ...... Sprint posted poor third-quarter results yesterday, including a net loss of 60,000 customers and a 77% drop in net income from the year-ago period. ...... Google's goal of opening up phones to more third-party application development "is very consistent with the way Sprint has always operated."
Can Sprint be saved? ZDNet The company reported third quarter net income of $64 million, or 2 cents a share, compared to $279 million, or 9 cents a share a year ago. ....... There’s no guarantee that the new CEO will see WiMax as a wireless utopia. ....... Given the networks at AT&T and Verizon aren’t going to crumble, Sprint needs to at least attempt a leapfrog. WiMax could be that leapfrog move. ...... Sprint better move heaven and earth to partner with Google on its mobile plans. ....... Sprint’s acquisition of Nextel seemed like an OK deal at the time. But the company got more complicated with two networks and two customer bases. And probably two IT infrastructures that may only be halfway integrated. ..... Take Sprint back to basics. The problem with this obvious fix is that it will take years to remedy. ..... What’s Sprint’s calling card? Is it data, voice, cool phones or some other niche. Sprint doesn’t seem to know. It better find out. If not the new CEOs job description will be to stop the bleeding and dress the pig up for a sale.
Sprint considers shift in Wimax strategy CNet News.com Blog For the third quarter of 2007, the company said it lost 337,000 subscribers to its postpaid monthly service. ..... The new network, which is set for a soft launch in Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., within the next few months, will cost the company $5 billion.
Best Buy follows Wal-Mart with $100 HD DVD player TG Daily
Letterman sides with Hollywood writers as strike looms Times Online
Jerry Seinfeld to Hollywood:'You can't buy me off' Reuters the annual income of the stand-up comedian and creator of the 1990s smash hit television show "Seinfeld" at $60 million, among the highest on TV. ...... This was nine years after his show left the air and was based largely on payments for reruns and other products from the program. ..... The "they" that Seinfeld referred to are Hollywood executives who would salivate at any hint ....... Spielberg called his friend Jeffrey Katzenberg -- now the head of the DreamWorks Animation movie studio -- and faster than one can say "punch line," a movie deal was born. ...... and discovers people are stealing honey for their own consumption. ..... Seinfeld has made his living telling funny stories about ironies and inconsistencies in people's everyday lives, and similarly "Bee Movie" pokes fun at human foibles. ........ one key lesson was not to question his instinct about a good joke. .... But about not rehashing his old TV show, Seinfeld is dead serious. And that you can take to the bank.
Brilliant Washington powers 'Gangster CNN International an entrepreneurial self-starter in the black economy ...... , he studies status and power at the elbow of Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams III), an old-school inner-city crime lord who hands out turkeys on Thanksgiving. ...... watchful, attentive henchman ..... When he needs to underline the new order, he does so promptly and with the minimum of fuss: He shoots his loudest rival in the head right out in the middle of the street. Then he goes back and finishes his lunch. ....... it's not the ruthlessness that distinguishes Lucas from every other Scarface on the block. It's his business smarts. Boys are coming back from Vietnam high on the local smack. ....... By eliminating the middleman, he's able to undercut the competition by 200 percent, and with a superior product. In any other field, he'd be gracing the cover of Forbes. ....... he marries a beauty queen and brings his momma (Ruby Dee) and his brothers over to share his suburban mansion - ....... the black-and-white mirror images of the dedicated cop and the consummate operator drawing ever nearer. .... in a gangster movie, it's the bad guy you come to see -- and here Denzel kills. ..... Whether it's fastidiously demonstrating the correct way to remove bloodstains from an alpaca rug ("Don't rub. Blot") or patiently explaining the concept of trademark infringement to a rival dealer (Cuba Gooding Jr. as flamboyant Nicky Barnes), every move he makes speaks to an essentially African-American pride and passion, the contained fury of an invisible man striving to get out from under.
'American Gangster': A Direct Hit Washington Post In "American Gangster," time doesn't fly, it explodes. ..... a beneath-the-radar Harlem heroin impresario who puts together an astonishing organization before anyone notices ........ an almost subliminal feel for myth. ..... "Either you're somebody or you ain't nobody" ....... the criminal Yoda of the rough terrain above 125th Street ...... he listened hard and well. ..... When his turn came, he insisted that his organization's minions be low-key, steely-eyed, well-dressed, un-flamboyant. ........ confident that his sedate coat and tie would shield him from the attention of police investigators ....... His junk is better and cheaper than anything on the streets and soon enough, by the physics of the market, he controls the streets. ...... Richie is famously honest, and in Newark he marks himself off from all cops for all time by the simple act of turning in a million bucks he recovered from the back of a mob Cadillac. Big mistake, Richie: No cop in the Newark of the early '60s would work with a guy they knew was tainted by the disease of honesty. So when Richie calls for backup, guess who shows up: nobody. Like Serpico, he goes through the doors alone. ..... But first he has to get a serious enemy out of the way: the New York City Police Department. ....... parallel cutting and equal screen time as well as the charisma of the stars, aren't even aware of each other until the movie's second half, and never eyeball each other until the last 20 minutes. ........ Washington seems to have a secret mechanism by which he turns his face off; it goes from a vibrant, expressive projection of humanity and empathy to a stone-killer executioner's mask so fast it's scary. ...... the charisma of the man who triumphs over the system. ..... When the inside is so corrupt, you must turn to outsiders. ....... lived high while they bottomed out in the gutter and were found in the thousands with needle tracks, scabs and hepatitis B in cold Harlem alleyways?

Michelle Obama, Indebted to Clinton, Campaigns as an Everywoman Bloomberg Michelle Obama's juggling of professional life, motherhood and the duties of political spouse make her something of a modern-day everywoman. ....... When her husband was elected to the Senate in 2004, she kept her job in Chicago as an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center. ...... By contrast, Obama has mostly stayed under the radar, only rarely generating headlines, with the exception of a reference she made to her husband's ``stinky'' morning breath and an interview on CBS News's ``60 Minutes'' in which she said that as a black man, ``Barack can get shot going to the gas station.'' ......... She and her husband discuss the issues, then ``I go to my job and I make decisions on my job and those are my decisions, and he goes to his job and he makes the decisions,'' she said. ``Now, I would like to think that he has the good sense to understand that I am usually correct.''

Draw Distinctions, Work The Fundamentals

Draw Distinctions

Coke Gatorade, Not Coke Pepsi

The distinctions between Barack and Clinton on all the major issues are stark. Iraq, Iran, Health Care, Social Security, Ethics Reform. They are like night and day.

Barack wants to end the Iraq War. Hillary does not really. She wants to retain an unspecified number of troops.

Barack wants to fully engage Iran. Hillary wants to stop the talk and possibly invade Iran.

Hillary thinks the problem with health care is that the insurance companies are not making enough money. She is going to make it illegal for people to not have insurance. And she wants eight years to achieve that goal. Barack will deliver universal health care in four years without doing that illegal thing. Cutting costs across the board is a big part of it.

Barack has pledged to tax income also after 200,000 so as to solve the Social Security insolvency for good. Hillary does not like the idea.

Hillary is on the right to the Republicans when it comes to taking money from lobbyists. Barack wants major ethics reform.

And on and on and on.

It is Barack's job to make sure the American people get to know the distinctions exist.

Work The Fundamentals

Hillary 2008 is not going to implode. It is because Hillary is good at working the fundamentals. Money, message, organization. Obama 2008 is also good. It is going to keep at it. You have to balance Hillary out in this department. She should not feel to have an advantage.

Saudi Arabia, Iran

Eisenhower, Kennedy, Cuba, Bush, Clinton, Somalia, Bush, Obama, Iran
Why Hillary's Iran Vote Is Dangerous

Those two are competing powers in the region. They have supported opposing sides in Iraq's civil war. But Saudi Arabia is strongly opposed to US air strikes against Iran. Does that tell you something about how bad the neocon plans really are?

In The News

Google Gadgets Go Into The Wild InternetNews.com Google's announcement of OpenSocial Wednesday night marks something of a turning point for the technology darling. ..... OpenSocial will speed innovation and bring more social features to more places across the Web ..... we hope OpenSocial will become a standard set of technologies for making the Web social ..... the "social graph" concept that illustrates how individuals are connected to others across Web-based applications and discrete social networks like Orkut or Friendster. ...... Ning, Orkut, Hi5, LinkedIn, iLike, Flixster, and Slide ..... "People are getting sick of registering and re-declaring their friends on every site," and "developing 'social applications' is too much work." ...... a social graph comprising data from five community sites ...... established a Google Group for technical discussions. ...... geo-spatial mark-up language, KML 2.2 ...... Orkut, its social networking site, had 24.1 million users worldwide in June .... 114.1 million for MySpace ..... Google Gadget Ads ..... the clash between the company's old-school PR tactics and the more open attitudes of Silicon Valley startups.

SC Democrats Say No to Colbert New York Times
Poll gives Hillary Clinton big lead over Giuliani Telegraph.co.uk
Details of Spears' custody fight emerge USA Today
MySpace Joins Google Alliance to Counter Facebook New York Times The addition of MySpace, the world’s largest social network with 110 million active members, and Bebo, the No. 1 site in Britain with 39 million active users, could also put pressure on Facebook to drop its own standard and join the alliance, called OpenSocial. ....... “It will have access to 200 million users ...... The open standards could create a boom of innovation around social networks ........ Friendster, Hi5, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning and the blogging network SixApart, as well as the software makers Oracle and SalesForce.com. ........ Creators of several of the most popular programs on Facebook, including Slide, RockYou, iLike and Flixster, have announced their intention to write programs conforming to the OpenSocial standards.
Iran letter sparks new fight between Clinton, Obama Reuters Clinton signed a letter to President George W. Bush on Thursday warning he has no authority from Congress for an attack on Iran ...... joined 29 other senators in signing a letter expressing concern about "provocative statements and actions" toward Iran by the Bush administration. ....... Obama instead introduced a binding Senate measure nullifying the earlier resolution. His campaign accused Clinton of using the letter to adjust her stance on Iran. .......... "While she's trying her best to change her position on yet another critical issue facing our country, Senator Obama knows that it takes legislation, not letters, to undo the vote that she cast" ........ dubbed the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and imposed sanctions on its Qods force. ........ Obama said in an interview with The New York Times that if elected president he would "engage in aggressive personal diplomacy" with Iran, offering it economic inducements and a possible promise not to seek "regime change" if Tehran stopped meddling in Iraq and cooperated on terrorism and nuclear issues. ..... "changes in behavior" by Iran could possibly be rewarded with membership in the World Trade Organization.
Obama to Introduce Measure on Iran ABC News His resolution says any offensive military action against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress, and seeks to clarify that nothing approved so far provides that authority.
A New Democratic Split Over Iran Washington Post
Iraq Asks for Iran’s Help in Calming Kurdish Crisis New York Times
Obama Envisions New Iran Approach New York Times forging a new relationship with Iran would be a major element of a broad effort to stabilize Iraq as he executed a speedy timetable for the withdrawal of American combat troops. ............. Obama said that Iran had been “acting irresponsibly” by supporting Shiite militant groups in Iraq. He also emphasized that Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program and its support for “terrorist activities” were serious concerns. ....... Iran’s support for militant groups in Iraq reflected its anxiety over the Bush administration’s policies in the region, including talk of a possible American military strike on Iranian nuclear installations. .......... he would sit down for diplomatic meetings with countries like Iran, North Korea and Syria with no preconditions. .......... criticized Mrs. Clinton for an approach to Iran they call too hawkish ........ a yellow legal pad on the table in front of him, which listed points where he believed he and Mrs. Clinton differ on how to go forward in Iraq. .......... “She missed the strategic interests that should have dictated whether we went to Iraq in the first place or not.” ........ the mission of his residual force would be more limited than that posited by Mrs. Clinton. ....... the residual force would not have the mission of deterring Iranian involvement in Iraq. ...... the trainers are not constantly embedded in combat operations.” ...... said he hoped to withdraw all American combat forces within 16 months of taking office, his plan states that American and allied troops should be prepared to return to Iraq and protect civilians if there were genocidal attacks. ......... defense secretary or to important national security positions, Mr. Obama said he would consider “the best person, regardless of party.”
Clinton Signs Letter on Iran New York Times
Obama Takes Questions From 5-Year-Old The Associated Press Obama said. "If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?" ..... Hadassah, a correspondent for brandnewz.com, said after the interview that Obama "had great answers. And I had a great time meeting him."
Union in Clinton's Corner--And Ready For a Fight Washington Post

Kurds in Turkey Who Backed Erdogan Now Fear Civil War (Update1) Bloomberg
Turkey closes airspace to N.Iraq flights - NTV Reuters
I was persecuted, Sobhraj tells Nepal judges Sify
Candidates Biden, Giuliani trade insults Newsday Wednesday, Giuliani hit back, essentially calling Biden a cheat. .... the former New York mayor had only one sentence: "a noun and a verb and 9/11." He later added, "He is genuinely not qualified to be president." ...... Giuliani returned the favor, saying, "Joe was reading that comment. You've gotta ask him, who wrote it for him?" ..... While running for president in 1987, Biden was caught on video delivering a speech that borrowed lines from British politician Neil Kinnock.
Clinton's rivals see an opening Los Angeles Times her evasiveness on several key issues. ....... a candidate unwilling to commit to concrete plans. ...... On at least five issues raised in the debate, Clinton replied in ways that left it unclear what she meant or what action she might take. ........ "She was being attacked all night for taking different positions in front of different audiences," Giuliani said in a radio interview. "And then, by the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience. It was pretty amazing. I mean, in politics I've never quite seen that before." ......... The response from the Clinton campaign included a somewhat lighthearted touch -- it posted a video on YouTube with footage of her debate rivals repeatedly invoking her name, set to Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." The montage ends with a clip of Clinton saying during the debate: "I seem to be the topic of great conversation and great consternation. . . ." ....... Social Security, whose long-term viability is a source of worry for many Americans. ...... The topic that caused her biggest political headache was the proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. ..... Clinton was asked about the controversial plan by Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) to overhaul the tax code. Rangel, a Clinton supporter, has suggested repealing the Alternative Minimum Tax, a burden to some middle-class families, and imposing a 4% surtax on wealthier households. .... Clinton praised Rangel's "goal," said she did not have all the specifics of the plan and added that she did not like some of the details. ...... On Iraq, she said she was for ending the war, but also said an unspecified number of troops may be left in place for an ongoing mission of battling Al Qaeda fighters in that country. ...... In the last half-hour she probably didn't do so well. ...... 2.5 million viewers ..... a forum featuring the Democrats in September on the same cable network had an audience of fewer than 1.5 million viewers
Germany's Merkel hails India AFP She also pointed to India's need for nuclear energy as another business opening, should New Delhi manage to implement a deal with the United States that would bring the country into the global loop of nuclear commerce. ..... Bilateral trade has doubled in the past three years to 10 billion euros ...... India is currently the biggest arms buyer among emerging nations. ...... the country is not ready to compromise economic growth by accepting binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
The climatic imperialism Economic Times Climate change, as an issue, is most likely to become the next outsourcing backlash, the next big WTO type North-South divide, and eventually the next big anti-globalisation weapon that rich countries can point at developing ones. ...... Give up cheap flights, give up the 30 layers of plastic packaging on a biscuit, the wasteful luxury that development brings? Voluntarily return to a poorer way of life? ....... Since nobody can make the US budge, or China, they're gonna point fingers at you ..... across Europe, climate change is much less of a concern than globalisation. ...... we want the rich countries to pay for cleaning up the mess they've made, and we'll try not to make the same mess as we grow. ........ in India, we already recycle everything, thrice over. .... Indians are way more concerned about climate change than Europeans ..... and our politicians just blather on about the nuclear deal, which might have helped us off this precipice.
Everybody vs. Hillary New York Times
Hello, India? I Need Help With My Math
Life’s Work: The Feminine Critique
In Rape Case, a French Youth Takes On Dubai The rape of a 15-year-old French boy in a remote patch of desert outside of Dubai has raised questions about how the country’s legal system treats foreigners. ....... an acquaintance, a 17-year-old native-born student at the American school, who said he and his cousin could drop Alex off at home. ...... three Emirati men in the car, including a pair of former convicts ages 35 and 18 ...... they stripped off his pants and one by one sodomized him in the back seat of the car .... dumped Alex across from one of Dubai’s luxury hotel towers. ...... criminal legal system remains a perilous gantlet when it comes to homosexuality and protection of foreigners. ....... authorities not only discouraged Alex from pressing charges ..... they raised the possibility of charging him with criminal homosexual activity, and neglected for weeks to inform him or his parents that one of his attackers had tested H.I.V. positive while in prison four years earlier. ........ Dubai still lives in the Middle Ages ....... sperm from all three were found in Alex ...... questions about unequal treatment of foreigners here that have long been quietly raised among the expatriate majority ..... taboos surrounding H.I.V. and homosexuality ....... (Under Emirates law, foreigners with H.I.V., or those convicted of homosexual activity, are deported.) ....... Dubai’s economic miracle — decades of double-digit growth ...... inexplicable and at times hostile official behavior described by Alex and his parents. ...... the moral, pseudoscientific and political prejudices ........ the 36-year-old assailant was H.I.V. positive ....... So far the teenager has not tested positive for H.I.V. ........ A doctor examined Alex the night of the rape, taking swabs of DNA for traces of the rapists’ sperm. He did not take blood tests or examine Alex with a speculum. Then he cleared the room and told Alex: “I know you’re a homosexual. You can admit it to me. I can tell.” ........ The doctor, an Egyptian, wrote in his legal report that he had found no evidence of forced penetration ....... suffering unsettling flashbacks. ....... “the most modern legal system among the Arab countries ...... In business and finance, the nation has worked hard to earn a reputation for impartial and speedy justice. But the criminal justice system has struggled, balancing a penal code rooted in conservative Arab and Islamic local culture, applied to an overwhelming non-Arab population of foreign residents. ......... boycottdubai.com, a Web site started by Alex’s mother. ...... I’m doing this for all the other poor kids who got raped and couldn’t do anything about it
Maureen Dowd: Hillary la Française, Cherchez la Femme?
Obama's jabs at Hillary just bounce off Chicago Sun-Times
AP Interview: Obama Criticizes Clinton The Associated Press Obama said Wednesday that rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's less-than-straightforward answers in a Democratic debate raise questions about her ability to assume the presidency. ....... we need a president who is going to be open and forthright ...... Clinton left us wondering where she stood on every single hard question from Iran to Social Security to drivers' licenses for undocumented workers ....... she is running on her record as first lady as much as on her record as a senator ..... "The politics of hope does not mean hoping that your opponents aren't going to point out the differences between you and them," Obama said. ..... He pledged to continue to draw clear differences between himself and Clinton.
Obama, Edwards hammer Hillary on Iran, doubletalk Times of India
NH service workers union backs Edwards over Obama Boston Globe
Anatomy of an endorsement MSNBC
The backstory of the NH SEIU endorsement of Edwards Boston Globe a week after the executive board voted in favor of Barack Obama. ....... the SEIU decision was far from unanimous and far from uncomplicated. ..... the final count was 7-5 in favor of endorsing Obama. ...... after that vote New Hampshire SEIU President Gary Smith called Obama. Obama was on the phone as he walked off a stage on the Boston Common where he just received the endorsement of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Obama believed he won the endorsement of the union.
Where Do the Candidates Stand on Social Security? NPR Iraq, Iran, free trade, illegal immigrants — and Social Security, which is emerging as a hot issue among both Democrats and Republicans. ...... Obama says he would impose the tax on all incomes over $200,000, a move that could significantly improve Social Security's financial picture. ....... anything could be considered when we get to a bipartisan commission," Clinton said. "But personally I am not going to be advocating any specific fix until I am seriously approaching fiscal responsibility." ....... avoid generational warfare and big tax hikes or benefit cuts in the future
Clinton Regroups As Rivals Pounce Washington Post After a rare night of fumbles by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination rushed to maximize the damage yesterday, even as her advisers argued that the "piling on" engaged in by an all-male field of opponents will ultimately drive more female voters into her camp. ...... not her finest ..... the debate marked a turning point and would open a newly aggressive phase in the race. ..... Clinton's performance played into a pre-existing caricature: that she is both secretive and calculating ..... Edwards challenged Clinton most forcefully on what he called "double talk" in her rhetoric, after weeks on the campaign trail questioning her integrity. ....... Clinton advisers privately criticized her opponents and the debate's moderators. ....... it was six guys against her ..... Clinton appeared to equivocate ..... Yesterday, her campaign issued a terse statement intended to clear up her position, although it, too, was vaguely worded. ..... Campaign advisers, pressed to explain her view more clearly, said that she ultimately supports the driver's-license proposal. ....... Her rivals clearly remained delighted by the turn of events. Edwards .... promised to "keep pounding the drum ...... the entrenched special interests in Washington, represented by Clinton ...... "Some of you may have seen last night's debate," he said. "Six guys against Hillary. I'd call that a fair fight."
Democrats’ Debate: A Focus on Clinton New York Times “In 7th Round, a Pitched Debate: Clinton Hears It From Her Rivals” ....... Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment,” which says Republicans should not speak ill of fellow Republicans, should be applied to the Democrats as well. ...... All made impressive statements, coming across as thoughtful, intelligent individuals committed to keeping the United States the superpower it has always been. ...... all the candidates in the Democratic debate were fact-based and articulate, exhibiting leadership. ...... Mrs. Clinton was tougher and more credible on Iraq and Iran than any of the men on stage. She’d be just as much a cowboy toward Iran as President Bush is. ....... Not one male president seeking power gets called power hungry, and that is what you have to be to want to run for president. How come it is O.K. for a man but not a woman? The pressure we women have to live up to from all sides. Crazy! Mad crazy!
Union Gives Endorsement to Clinton New York Times
Clinton Wins Endorsement of Public Employees Union (Update2) Bloomberg
Clinton, Edwards pick up Big Labor support CNN
Opponents pounce on Clinton's wavering over driver's licenses San Diego Union Tribune
Clinton foes pounce on her support of license plan Newsday
Clinton backs NY driver's license plan for illegal immigrants Boston Globe
Bush confidant quits administration Los Angeles Times
Google's Growing Grasp Forbes
Google Goes OpenSocial to Trump Facebook eWeek a set of application programming interfaces that will allow programmers to write social applications that will work on LinkedIn, Friendster and other social networking sites. ....... OpenSocial is designed to help programmers build applications that reach more of the 400 million users of social networks than they would under the original open developer model ...... an answer to the launch of Facebook's highly successful developer platform, on top of which 7,000 applications have been built ..... Google is going the extra mile by enabling programmers to write applications for multiple social networks under three APIs, which will offer access to a user's profile and their friends, and the ability to let their friends know that activities have taken place. ....... to run on any Web site enabled by OpenSocial. ..... In addition to Google's own Orkut social site, roughly a dozen partners have signed up for OpenSocial, including LinkedIn, hi5.com, iLike, Friendster and Ning. All told, the sites comprise over 100 million users, or roughly double the Facebook user base. ........ Google has also lured SAAS (software as a service) provider Salesforce.com and business software giant Oracle to the OpenSocial fold. ...... business is by nature a social practice, predicated on relationships. Salesforce.com wants its developers to be able to build "social extensions" to Salesforce.com ...... The launch of OpenSocial fans the flames between Google and Facebook, which look like real rivals with each passing day. Google's move comes a week after Microsoft announced that it won an extension as the exclusive ad provider for Facebook, in which the Redmond, Wash., software giant also took a $240 million stake. ....... "I don't think its zero sum at this point, since the market is growing so quickly." ..... OpenSocial may be the harbinger of standards for social networking sites.
Google shares pass the $700 mark BBC News
In Search of a Google-Verizon Deal BusinessWeek ambition to become as major a broker of ads on mobile devices as it is on computers ..... Google typically keeps the lion's share of the advertising revenue generated when customers click on the ads ..... so-called white-label deals in which the brands of partners are hidden from the consumer's view
Apple's Leopard Hits the Spot The art of writing software involves a lot of borrowing from the work of others. Everyone does it ...... Apple's claim to have the best consumer computer. ...... While Windows and Linux encourage the use of folders and directories to tuck information out of sight, Mac users tend to store more and more stuff—programs, documents, videos—right on their desktops, until the screen calls to mind a teenage boy's bedroom. Leopard gently nudges you to keep the mess under control. Another borrowing from Windows Vista is the extensive use of detailed graphical icons to tell you what's in a file. And Apple adds Quick Look, a nearly instant full-size preview of the contents for most file types. ....... the equivalent of the Windows Start menu. ...... Apple's "my way or the highway" approach to how things should be done. ..... Ken Bereskin, senior director of OS X product marketing, says Mac's "robust system reliability" makes something like System Restore unnecessary
Why Delta Should Buy Northwest From route networks and planes to workers and investors, the third- and fifth-biggest U.S. airlines face compelling reasons to merge. ....... At Northwest, half of the 20 largest institutional shareholders are hedge funds or private equity firms, with a nearly 31% stake in the airline. ........ "six major domestic network carriers are too many." ...... Asia, a prized growth destination where all the major airlines have been scrambling to expand. ...... a consensual merger with a rational mix of routes, employees, and resources .... meld pilot seniority lists
Heads up: Google in talks with wireless phone companies Kansas City Star
Google shares coast past $700 International Herald Tribune
3 ex-NJ police say 'American Gangster' rewrites history New York Daily News years of selling $1 million-a-day worth of heroin - much of it smuggled into New York in the coffins of Vietnam soldiers. ........ "We spent nearly two years risking our lives on that case, and then we see a guy who had no interest before we made the arrests take the credit. We're angry." ...... Their work led to a 1975 raid after a delivery of 10 kilos of heroin. More than 30 members of Lucas' team were arrested, a bust that ended Lucas' reign. ..... Lucas, who spent time on the New York movie set last year, said his conviction came not from information gathered in the 1975 raid, but from investigations that followed it. ...... "I'm not going to credit them with getting me," said Lucas, who became an informant under Roberts' prodding. ..... "Those three cops couldn't catch a cold."
Jerry Seinfeld Buzzes His Way to the Big Screen ABC News

Rocky Barack Obama Won In Philly

Look at that first video at the top. My guy won. What can I say!

I Am So Proud Of The Democratic Field



In The News

Lowry: Obama's losing run could make for a winning book Salt Lake Tribune The insular, self-obsessed campaign of her chief rival is one of the reasons Hillary Clinton has had as good a 90-day run as anyone in presidential politics in recent memory. She still has a race on her hands in Iowa, but she leads there after trailing most of the year, and more than doubles Obama's support in national polls, where he has slipped as low as 17 percent. ......... Obama discoursing on his favorite campaign topic: the ethics and processes of his own campaign. ...... Maybe he'll yet revive. No path to the nomination is ever as smooth as Hillary Clinton's looks to be right now. But Obama likely will go the way of that other earnest liberal, Bill Bradley, who high-mindedly let himself be run over by Al Gore in 2000. Oh, well. It'll be a great book.

Obama, Edwards go after Clinton during debate CNN the Democratic presidential debate Tuesday at times took on the feel of a heavyweight fight. ...... Clinton has solidified her status as front-runner ...... Clinton defended her "record of 35 years fighting for women and children and people who feel invisible and left out in this country." ........ "Part of the reason that Republicans, I think, are obsessed with you, Hillary, is because that's a fight they're very comfortable having," Obama said. ........ "Change is just a word if you don't have the strength and experience to actually make it happen," she said. ........ we would bring out combat troops, but we would pursue a mission against al Qaeda in Iraq, if they remained a threat." ....... Dennis Kucinich ...... "More people in this country have seen UFOs than I think approve of George Bush's presidency," he said.
War on king boomerangs on Nepal government, Maoists Hindustan Times if defeated, they would start a new "people's revolt" that, though peaceful, would have a crippling effect. ...... a defeat could snap their alliance with the ruling parties, which had ended the civil war. ...... the delay in holding the polls has stoked fresh public resentment against the parties, who have a nearly two decade-old record of corruption and incompetence, and made people begin to forget the atrocities of the royal regime.
Democratic Presidential Debate Targets Clinton NPR Clinton has changed her position on issues such as trade, the definition of torture and the Iraq war. ....... Clinton, standing between Obama and Edwards, largely shrugged off the remarks and defended her positions. ...... Edwards jumped on the same vote, suggesting that if the president were to invade Iran, Clinton may offer the same explanation she gave for authorizing force in Iraq. ...... "Are we going to hear, 'If I only I had known then what I know now?'" he asked. ......... Few of the punches landed on the front-runner, however, until co-moderator Tim Russert of NBC brought up a decision by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to offer a type of driver's license to illegal residents. Clinton offered up a confusing answer that suggested she reluctantly supported the measure. ......... "Unless I missed something, Sen. Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago, and I think this is a real issue for the country," Edwards said.
DEM DEBATE: Edwards, Not Obama, Hits Clinton Hardest, Smartest Yahoo! News It was supposed to be the night Barack Obama took Hillary Clinton down. ...... his support for "big meaningful change." ....... Clinton had flip-flopped on trade, torture and Iraq -- moving in each case from bad positions to better ones ...... delivered a classic debate one-liner: "I don't think the Republicans got the message that I'm voting and sounding like them." Touche! ........ Where Obama was unfocused and ineffectual, John Edwards landed plenty of blows. ........ "What you didn't learn by 2002, you should have learned by now" ..... Edwards was identifying himself "as the clear, sharp alternative ....... "This is wedging going on. (Edwards) might be elbowing Obama out of the way on this issue. (Obama's), albeit reasonable, but tepid answer on this, just wasn't grabbing the spotlight." ....... Edwards hit hard, and effectively, on every front. After detailing the front-runner's contributions from defense contractors and other corporate interests, he said. "If people want the status quo, Senator Clinton's your candidate." ....... That's tough talk. Blunt talk. The sort of talk that Barack Obama seemed to suggest that he was going to deliver Tuesday night. But it came from John Edwards, who ended the night as the candidate who had done the best job of defining himself as the alternative to Hillary Clinton.
Clinton Fends Off Debate Attacks on Iran and Iraq (Update1) Bloomberg She stuck to her campaign lines, focusing on President George W. Bush or saying her positions were being misrepresented. ....... The assaults came with almost every question. ...... ``If you believe that combat troops should remain stationed in Iraq, and if you believe there should be no actual timetable for withdrawal, then Senator Clinton is your candidate,'' he said. ....... Clinton responded to the attacks on her foreign policy stances by saying that she supports ending the war in Iraq and would only leave enough troops there for missions to fight al- Qaeda. ``I don't know how you pursue al-Qaeda without engaging them in combat,'' she said. ......... Her vote on the Revolutionary Guard Corps was designed to strengthen the ``carrots and sticks'' for U.S. negotiators to engage in diplomacy with Iran, she said. ``The Republicans are waving their sabers and talking about going after Iran,'' she said. ``I want to prevent a rush to war.'' ......... Clinton said she has been consistent that the way to fix Social Security is to pursue ``fiscal responsibility.'' She said what she discussed with the voter is one of the possibilities that ``everybody knows'' and said, ``I do not advocate it.'' ........ Clinton has raised more money from ``Washington lobbyists,'' and the health-care, insurance and defense industries than any other candidate. ......... ``I'm going to take $10 billion away from a lot of these industries,'' she said. ....... ``Save the ammunition for the Republicans,'' said Richardson, 59. ``We need to stay positive.'' ..... Clinton's most uncomfortable moment in the debate, broadcast by MSNBC, may have come on a non-federal issue, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to make driver's licenses available to illegal immigrants. She said Spitzer is ``trying to fill the vacuum'' left by the Bush administration's failure to enact its immigration overhaul plan. .......... ``I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do'' it, she said. Questioned further by the moderator, Clinton said the plan ``makes a lot of sense.'' ....... Obama pounced as well, saying he was ``confused'' by Clinton's answer. ``I can't tell whether she was for it or against it.''
Clinton foes score new YouTube hit Boston Globe a stinging 13-minute video by a bitter Clinton foe ....... more than 1.4 million hits on Google Video ...... Paul is a Hollywood entrepreneur, former partner of Spider-Man creator Stan Lee, and a convicted felon who has sued the Clintons in connection with a celebrity-packed fund-raiser he helped organize for her 2000 Senate race. A California appeals court earlier this month ruled that Clinton should be dismissed from the suit. ......... His effort is getting help from two producers who set up the website for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ....... "Peter Paul is a professional liar who has four separate criminal convictions, two for fraud. His video repackages a series of seven-year-old false claims about Senator Clinton that have already been rejected by the California state courts, the Justice Department, the Federal Election Commission, and the Senate Ethics Committee," the Clinton campaign said in a statement.
Fund-Raiser Reappears as Critic New York Times The video has registered at least 350,000 hits on YouTube and 1.5 million on Google Video. ...... Mr. Paul has a criminal past that includes a guilty plea for cocaine possession and trying to defraud the Cuban government of millions of dollars in 1979.

Uganda: The Clintons Might Go Back to White House AllAfrica.com I think Hillary Clinton, who turned 60 the other day, is going to become the first female president of the United States of America instead of Barack Obama becoming the first black president. ......... Foremost, Clinton brings to the presidential race something I call the fun-factor. She may have her moments of doubts, insecurity or whatever, but for the most part, she exudes fun. She seems to relish being in the crowd, pumping hands or supporters, smiling broadly, kissing babies, and just having a great old time on the campaign trail. She is smooth like silk, purring along like a well-oiled Cadillac. ........ Now, contrast that with my candidate of choice, Barack Obama for whom I say silent prayers every night, and who currently trails Clinton by at least 30 percentage points in the popular polls. Smart like a whip, personable, positive and likeable, Obama has become too serious for his own good. He looks too solemn, too earnest, too keen, and too uptight that he makes the folks who flock to hear him speak a bit too nervous. ....... The problem for Obama is that America is not a very serious nation. .... Americans love serious ideas, but do not want to think too much, they love to be taken seriously, but they do not want to take themselves too seriously. ..... Clinton, meanwhile, talks about serious issues, but coats them well in bite-size one-liners ...... Obama will say exactly the same thing except he sounds like a Harvard professor pontificating on some point of law. That's the difference, where Clinton is zippy like a butterfly, Obama plods along like a pugilist looking for a knock-out punch. ........ Retired, relaxed and rich, the former leader is soaring now, a study in motion as he works the crowd on his wife's behalf. ....... Indeed, had Al Gore allowed Clinton to campaign on his behalf when he ran against George Bush back in 2000, he would have won the election. ....... the factor of "better the devil you know" ..... they do not have to think too hard to send Hillary to the White House-Obama makes them think too hard

Obama Campaigns In Conservative Virginia CBS News, NY
Obama Rally in South Carolina New York Times, United States The Obama campaign, by contrast, held a sign-waving rally at the state Capitol building with about 50 supporters. They were backed up by a high school marching band, trumpets blaring and drums beating.