Education, Health, Credit: Universal And Lifelong

Education, Health, Credit: Universal And Lifelong

I think that is the ultimate progressive goal. The political, social and technological infrastructure has to evolve to the point that the big three are universal and lifelong.

Education, health, credit.

The three stick to you like umbilical cords. You can't cut loose.

As to how it will be achieved. I think democracy is a precondition. Democracy of state funded parties, transparent book keeping.

Both the private and public sectors will play due roles. The private sector's role will be larger, but the public sector's role will be more instrumental.

And this is a global undertaking.

As to what exactly will be the mix of the public and private sectors, I think it will play out slightly unique for each country. It is not going to be one size fits all. And the mix will stay dynamic. Each successive elected government will tweak it a little.

Governments might experiment with public owned, semi-public owned enterprises.

Whether or not the goal is achieved is the only thing that matters. As to how the goals are achieved is the less important question.

Transparency will also mean that progress or lack thereof will be shared globally and in real time. You will expect and get feedback from a large audience. Expertise will be widely shared.

Actor Jeffrey Wright

I went to a Fort Greene event a few days back inside a church where actor Jeffrey Wright was one of the speakers. It was good to see Hakeem Jeffries there also. He is now an assembly member. He made a powerful contrast between Katrina and California. This guy is promising. He is going places. Jordan Thomas also spoke. It was amazing to see the response he got when he was introduced. You could hear the gasp. He has been putting tremendous effort into the Obama operation in Brooklyn. He is a good guy.




In The News

West urges Pakistan to lift martial law CNN International declaring an indefinite state of emergency ...... Musharraf did not consult Washington before declaring the state of emergency ....... the Pakistani government has a list of about 1,500 opposition figures, mostly activists and lawyers to be rounded up ....... Chaudhry is one of seven Supreme Court judges placed under house arrest after the court declared Musharraf's state of emergency illegal under the constitution. ........ The head of Pakistan's human rights commission, Asma Jahangir, said she, too, was under house arrest and that Musharraf "has lost his marbles."
Activists detained in Pakistan crackdown Los Angeles Times Musharraf cracked down hard on opponents today, the second day of emergency rule in the country...... scheduled elections could be put off for as long as a year ...... Private news channels remained off the air and were told they would be subject to strict new regulations if and when they resumed broadcasting. ...... "This is not going to end any time soon," he said. "Whether in prison or not, it is as if we are all in jail." ....... Musharraf, whose popularity and prestige have nose-dived this year ........ Musharraf acted to preempt a potential legal ruling invalidating his election to another term ...... "Musharraf's Second Coup" ..... Musharraf has quickly set about remaking the judiciary, only allowing judges who swear allegiance to retain their posts. Five of the 19-member Supreme Court bench have done so; the rest refused. ......... most opposition leaders, at least for the time being, refrained from calling supporters into the streets, apparently fearing a bloodbath. Police used batons to break up one gathering of several dozen protesters not far from the presidential compound. ....... Benazir Bhutto, who returned to the country from a brief visit to Dubai just as the emergency order was taking effect, remained largely out of sight in her residential and office compound in the port city of Karachi.
GOP Race in SC Reflects Larger Contest The Associated Press
Hillary Clinton shakes off shots, still leads poll New York Daily News
Britney Spears reveals her spending habits Times Online
Apps Already Coming for Google's New OpenSocial PC World Beyond the many fun and entertaining social applications we already have seen, we think we'll see a number of social applications emerge in business contexts ........ OpenSocial dispels the common assumption held by some that Facebook has established unquestionable dominance in the social networking world. ..... Ning plans to make OpenSocial applications available to all of its 113,000 social networks
For US and Turkey, different priorities Christian Science Monitor whether the US can keep a lid on the war-related flash points roiling the Middle East. .......relations that for the Bush administration have been going awry since the Iraq war ...... an American failure to control the territory in next-door Iraq, where PKK militants appear to roam free.
Obama onslaught forces Clinton onto back foot Telegraph.co.uk Week of mistakes by the former First Lady has reinvigorated the Democratic race ...... Obama is stepping up pressure on Hillary Clinton's honesty, electability and hawkish foreign policies in a winter assault ....... Clinton was a "divisive lightning rod" and said her status as a former First Lady was irrelevant to her presidential credentials. ....... concluding each speech with his electrifying appeal: "Let's go change the world!" ....... "I fear no man," he told the crowd, pausing before adding: "Or woman." ...... "She authorised war and then recently starting voting on this Iran resolution. The drums of war are beating again. You can't be fooled twice." ......... "We are on the front foot. She is on the back foot. She's given us an opening. It was the first time she was really under pressure and she flubbed it." ......... over the first nine months of his presidential campaign, high excitement gave way to somewhat ponderous performances in debates ....... "someone who doesn't have one position one day and another position the next day" and "someone who will tell you the truth, not someone who will tell you what they think you want to hear". ........ his character and judgment. ...... His rallies have a feel of a religious revival ........ In Manning, South Carolina, one section of his speech was met with cheers and a cry of "Goodbye, Hillary," which elicited laughs and applause. ....... Asked why she preferred him to Mrs Clinton, she said: "I just believe what he's saying." ...... a poll last week showing Mr Obama within two points of Mrs Clinton in Iowa ...... Obama has also narrowed the gap in South Carolina ....... In this part of the world there is a palpable sense that he carries the hopes not just of a party but of a race on his shoulders. ....... Obama spoke 50ft from a memorial for Confederate soldiers who died defending slavery. ....... "I don't need to run for president to get on television," he said. "I've been on Oprah." ..... one voice can change a room. ....... "Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?" he asked the crowd. Not one voice was silent as they loudly shouted their affirmation.
Obama continues to poke fun at Clinton on SNL Baltimore Sun his day-long criticism of Clinton and her former president husband. ....... when near the end, a man walked in wearing an Obama mask. The Illinois Democrat then removed the mask to reveal that he was indeed Obama. .... “Well, you know, Hillary, I have nothing to hide. I enjoy being myself,” Obama said. "I'm not going to change who I am just because it is Halloween." ... "She's a witch,'' the Bill Clinton replied. ....... a subtle swipe at former President Bill Clinton by listing problems that "existed long before George Bush took office."
Obama Tweaks Clintons on 'SNL' The Associated Press Campaigning in South Carolina earlier, Obama accused Hillary Clinton of giving voters "vague, calculated answers to suit the politics of the moment instead of clear, consistent principles about how you would lead America." And he subtly swiped at former President Bill Clinton by listing problems that "existed long before George Bush took office."
Who Was That Masked Man? New York Times Obama, who flew to New York from campaigning in South Carolina, seemed to be reveling in his appearance, which was not publicly announced before the show. ...... why was Mr. Obama the only candidate invited to appear? His aides said they didn’t know, but were happy to accept the offer.
Live From New York... It's Barack Obama! National Review Online
Obama urges voters to 'turn the page' in Washington Boston Globe
Obama Criticizes Clinton's Drive to Win Washington Post
Obama Criticizes Bush, Clinton The Associated Press in the wake of President Bush's "catastrophic failure of leadership" the nation needs a candid leader like himself, not rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's calculated politics. ...... Bush failed with handling of the Iraq war, spread fear and fumbled with Hurricane Katrina ...... independents and Republicans who have never been more disillusioned ....... widened blame for the nation's problems to her husband's and previous administrations. ..... The 2008 election is "a chance to come together and finally solve the challenges that were made worse by George Bush, but that in fact existed long before George Bush took office. Challenges like health care. Challenges like energy. Challenges like education." ......... "She's a skilled politician and she's run so far what Washington would call a textbook campaign," he said. "The problem I have and the disagreement we have is with the textbook itself." .......... you can promise progress for everyday people while striking a bargain with the various special interests that crowd them out ....... Obama said a 2008 Republican opponent "won't be able to say that I was for the war in Iraq before I was against it. They won't be able to say that I supported an extension of the Iraq war into Iran. They won't be able to say that I support Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don't like," Obama said.
Clinton puts her war room on attack Times Online It was Hillary Clinton who invented the war room during her husband’s campaign and she has developed her own fighting machine. ..... “Politics is not a polite sport and if you’re not prepared to rough it you’re going to get rolled over.” ...... Clinton has recruited rapid rebuttal experts ...... Clinton’s team sprang into operation after last week’s Democratic presidential debate in Philadelphia. ...... calculating, secretive and evasive on a range of issues ....... punched the air with a boxing glove to prove her fighting spirit. ..... Clinton’s counterblast was so powerful that some critics believe it amounted to overkill. She was “whiney”, “tinny”, playing the “victim”, a “diva” ...... he was above playing the race card while she whinged about her gender. ....... the war room operates on the principle that no attack, no matter how small, will go unpunished ....... “They take every gnat and smash it with a sledgehammer. It’s mean, but it works.” ........ One poll taken after last week’s debate showed Clinton extending her lead over Obama ....... The war room’s strategy has been carefully thought through. ..... a clear and long-planned strategy to fend off attacks by accusing her male rivals of gathering against her”. ...... intriguing hints about what may be to come. ..... Obama’s alleged ties to shady financiers and friends of the mob in Chicago and other supposed ethical and political lapses. ...... As Clinton herself has said, “When you are attacked, you have to deck your opponent.”
Voices grow louder in the anti-Clinton chorus ANALYSIS Detroit Free Press The sheen of inevitability that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has cloaked around her presidential candidacy has been suddenly and fiercely challenged. ...... She has greatly helped create the impression of being the one to beat, not only by virtue of polls, but in the way she has campaigned. ....... running a campaign that has all the look and feel of an incumbent president -- down to the Secret Service protection and carefully controlled media access. ....... Most improbably of all, she's portraying herself as the true change agent, despite 16 years in the national spotlight. ..... accused Clinton of using "smoke and mirrors" to duck tough questions ....... The anti-Clinton chorus was sung all week. ........ Former Hewlett-Packard Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina swiped at Clinton's gender appeal when Fiorina introduced Republican Sen. John McCain at an appearance at Coastal Carolina University on Thursday. ...... "I am a woman, and I know what it's like to be in a man's world," Fiorina said. McCain of Arizona, she added, has "greater capabilities, greater character, to lead than does Hillary Clinton." ....... the New York senator had a propensity to parse. ....... a reprisal of a 1990s theme: that an aspirant named Bill Clinton was too slick and too willing to dodge questions to be trusted in perilous times. .... her supporters viewed them as further evidence of her formidableness.
Edwards Says Debate Boosted His Campaign The Associated Press South Carolina ... Edwards with 10 percent of support ... Clinton had 33 percent ... Obama... 23 percent.
Former President to Give Clinton No Pass The Associated Press A Bush or Clinton has been on the ballot in every presidential contest since 1980 ........ The former president also said he's not as sure as he once was that Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination.
Hillary: Campaign 'to get heated up' Newsday "It's going to be exciting. It's going to be a very fast ride. It's never started earlier. It's never been more intense." ...... A Newsweek poll released Saturday shows her favored by 44 percent, compared with 24 percent for Barack Obama and 12 percent for John Edwards.
Giuliani Poised to Launch His Own Version Of The "Southern Strategy" Huffington Post Strategists for Rudy Giuliani are quietly preparing a significantly race-based campaign strategy to strengthen support among socially conservative white voters, in the South as well as in the North. .......... three marriages and a Brooklyn accent ...... reflecting Giuliani's confrontational stance towards black New Yorkers and their white liberal allies, as well as his record of siding decisively with the police against minorities .... fractured the Democratic loyalties of white working class voters in the urban North from 1968 to 2004. ........ Giuliani brought to a halt the black and minority domination of New York city politics. ....... calling Dinkins a "Jesse Jackson Democrat." ....... Rudy stood up to and beat three icons of the black community - Dinkins, Sharpton and Jackson - all figures recognizable to white Republican primary voters. ........ He presided over the clean-up and revitalization of a sex-dominated Times Square, the most notorious red-light district of a city considered a den of sin by the Religious Right. ....... If Giuliani were to lose the first three contests to Romney, his chances of winning the nomination would sharply diminish and perhaps disappear. For that reason, South Carolina is becoming crucial to Giuliani's survival
India Has Muted Reaction to Pakistan Emergency Voice of America
King Tut's Mummy on Public Display for First Time Voice of America
China's 1st lunar probe to reach moon orbit Monday morning Xinhua
US pilot who dropped Hiroshima bomb dies - report Reuters
Bomb found near nuclear plant Boston Globe Authorities said it didn't appear to be an act of terrorism.
US defense secretary to press for military openness in China International Herald Tribune
Cyberdude: OpenSocial, a masterstroke by Google Hindustan Times maybe even deciding the future of the world wide web ...... Facebook, termed as the next big thing on the internet ...... Google's masterstroke has got practically anybody who matters on the internet under its influence. ...... social networks are getting social with each other ...... OpenSocial is built upon Google Gadget technology, so you can build a great, viral social app with little to no serving costs. With the Google Gadget Editor and a simple key/value API, you can build a complete social app with no server at all. ........ Google's gadget caching technology can ease your bandwidth demands should your app suddenly become a worldwide success. ....... iLike can now enable artists to reach an additional 200 million music enthusiasts ...... "Building upon the 15 million music fans we already reach through other channels, the OpenSocial platform helps us pursue our vision of becoming the broadest artist-fan communication platform on the web, without having to write custom software for multiple websites." ........ Google dominates our online experience and Microsoft has so far ruled our offline/desktop experience. As connectivity gets pervasive the offline-online lines are fading and creating tension between the companies. ....... Google has now struck back in a way so hard by getting almost anybody who matters under its influence that Facebook billed as the next big thing on the internet suddenly seems dwarfed. .... OpenSocial has the potential of getting innovation onto a level unparalleled ever before in recent history. ..... Google's popularity has been built on its openness, wisdom and innovation of masses. It's nice to see Google back in form, again.
Why Google Turned Into a Social Butterfly New York Times you could leave the island compound of a social networking site and take your network of friends, and friends of friends, anywhere on the Web? ....... social networking will become ubiquitous. ..... “Social Will Be Everywhere” ...... the Google search crawler is not allowed to land on most social networking islands and gather data about what island residents are saying and doing. ....... Google’s use nonproprietary programming languages. ........ Bebo, the No. 1 networking site in Britain .... If Facebook chooses to remain a holdout, it will not be as the head of a countercoalition but as a cranky recluse. ...... a day when all sites on the Web are equipped to utilize one’s social network ...... So far, every time the Web has matched up against a proprietary alternative, the Web has prevailed. ........ “Trust builds up over a very long time,” he said, “and can be lost very quickly.”
Sprint Considering Changing Course on WiMAX eWeek Sprint Nextel's $5 billion WiMax plans appear to be in flux. ....... "We will have 100 million covered by the end of 2008 and be in 35 markets," Sprint Chief Technology Officer Barry West proclaimed in August at NXTcomm. "We're soft launching in Washington and Chicago in December and launching commercially in April of 2008."
Africa: Wifi/Wimax to Ease Internet Access AllAfrica.com the capital Freetown can now boast of being the third city in the world to have a city-wide unrestricted wifi/wimax network after Philadelphia in the USA and Taipei in Taiwan. ....... "with the right support FGC Wireless as of now can boast of enough capacity to surpass any like minded company for the advancement of an Internet Service Provision in the world."
Marathoner Dies in Olympic Trials New York Times
Excess Body Fat Causes Cancer Kansas City infoZine
Ex-Astronaut Wins Ruling in Attack New York Times
'American Gangster': Mystery Man, By Kurt Loder MTV.com Harlem drug kingpin Frank Lucas, is so deeply embalmed in dignity ..... in 1968, Lucas is a driver for Harlem mob boss Bumpy Johnson (Clarence Williams). After Johnson dies of heart attack in an appliance store, where he'd been railing about U.S. retailers buying direct from overseas suppliers and cutting out hard-working American middlemen, Lucas decides to introduce that practice into the drug trade ....... The New York Mafia, which has run the drug-distribution business up till now, isn't pleased. ..... Lucas, with his reverence for family and his penchant for sudden, bloody violence, could be a character out of the "Godfather" movies. ........ an innovative businessman with an unbending code of honor. ....... sleek tailored suits ...... telling one gaudily-attired player, "That's a costume with a big sign on it, says 'Arrest me'" ....... he may preside over big, warm family dinners ...... the sympathetic Puerto Rican beauty queen (Lymari Nadal) who becomes his wife. ....... has captured the urban landscape

Musharraf imposes emergency rule in Pakistan (Roundup) Monsters and Critics.com troops and police surrounded the Supreme Court and deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations. Private news channels went off air. ...... The Saturday's presidential order prohibits the top court from giving a judgement against him. .... 'No judgement, decree, writ, order or process whatsoever shall be made or issued by any court or tribunal against the President or the Prime Minister or any authority designated by the President' ....... the government was putting pressure on Chaudhry and other judges of the apex court to take a fresh oath under Saturday's presidential order, but at least six of them had so far refused from doing so. ..... Chaudhry was removed from his post and another judge, Abdul Hamid Dougar was appointed as the top judge. .... Anticipating the imposition of state of emergency, Bhutto left the country for Dubai
Clinton takes on gender issue Chicago Tribune Democratic and Republican opponents blistered her for parsing her words, engaging in secrecy and blaming the male candidates for the controversy........ "I anticipate it's going to get even hotter. And if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and I'm very much at home in the kitchen." ........ at Wellesley College on Thursday, she said the school had prepared her for "the all-boys-club of presidential politics." ....... (Little more than a week ago, she curiously noted that winning the Iowa caucuses might prove difficult for her because the Hawkeye State had never elected a woman governor or senator.) ...... her remarks on gender seemed to open up a new vein of attack. ..... Clinton deflecting the question about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, as well as seeming to say one thing and then another on the Iraq war. ........ "Most people in New Hampshire were watching the replay of the Red Sox victory parade in Boston, not watching the presidential debate," said Kathy Sullivan, Clinton's state co-chairwoman. ....... "I don't think she needs 'the boys are being mean to me' story line. I think she needs to put her head down and keep plugging." ...... capable of dealing with nuance and complexity. ...... some of the challenges facing our country and some of the difficult issues we have to grapple with are not so easily answered within a 15-second hand raise or sound bite."
Indian Government Shuns Dalai Lama Voice of America the Tibetan spiritual leader decried China's "cultural genocide" of his Buddhist homeland ........ the president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany and the prime minister of Canada. ..... a former prime minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, did attend.
Obama: A Clinton-led ticket at best "barely" wins Baltimore Sun destined to largely repeat the disappointing Democratic performances of 2000 and 2004 and could aspire only to eke out a victory. ....... Obama questioned the front-runner’s ability to convert broad public discontent with the Bush Administration into a decisive Democratic victory ..... portrayed Clinton’s campaign so far as one based on obfuscation and avoidance of clear political stands. .... Obama accused Clinton of playing from a worn campaign "textbook" that "encourages vague, calculated answers to suit the politics of the moment, instead of clear, consistent principles about how you would lead America."
Obama accuses Clinton of hiding behind gender Reuters Clinton is widely viewed as a tough figure in national politics. ...... "So it doesn't make sense for her, after having run that way for eight months, the first time that people start challenging her point of view, that suddenly she backs off and says: 'Don't pick on me,'" he said. "That is not, obviously, how we would expect her to operate if she were president," he said. ........ "the Politics of Parsing," accusing Clinton of "double-talk" on issues such as Iraq, Social Security and illegal immigration. ..... "We still don't know the answer. That's the politics of parsing," the video said.
The Obama-sphere Slate Clinton's commanding lead in the polls remained unthreatened following her worst debate performance ...... the LGBT community had to learn not to be "hermetically sealed" from the faith community ...... "At its best, the Obama candidacy is about ending a war—not so much the war in Iraq, which now has a momentum that will propel the occupation into the next decade—but the war within America that has prevailed since Vietnam and that shows dangerous signs of intensifying, a nonviolent civil war that has crippled America at the very time the world needs it most. It is a war about war—and about culture and about religion and about race. And in that war, Obama—and Obama alone—offers the possibility of a truce." ........ Donald Rumsfeld's more memorable "snowflake" memos. ..... secretary dispatched to his staff at a rate of about 30-60 a day. ...... Rummy saying that Muslims avoid "physical labor," the need to elevate "the threat," and to link Iraq and Iran. ....... You can almost imagine Rummy's underlings not even bothering to read his memos and just tossing them straight in the trash. ...... "What's perhaps the most telling thread running through these memos is that Rumsfeld's primary mission was to basically scare the crap out of the country. That way the Bush administration could do whatever they wanted in terms of war and conquest." ...... Rumsfeld comes off as defensive, self-centered, manipulative, deceitful, anti-democratic, and closed minded. He seems more concerned about selling policy to the public than actually getting it right. His substantive assessments are simplistic."
Obama mocks Clinton for playing gender card Los Angeles Times she cried "Don't pick on me" after being attacked by her foes on legitimate policy issues ...... the first time that the undercurrent of identity politics has become an issue of open contention between the two trailblazing candidates. ....... Clinton, who says she wasn't at her best during the debate, seemed to both oppose and support New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. ........ "I got a lot of questions that night, a lot more than anybody else," she explained to a New Hampshire newspaper on Friday. "I'd be the first to tell you that I wasn't as effective in answering the driver's license question as I should have been." ....... Later, she stepped back from her "boys club" remark, saying, "I don't think they're piling on because I'm a woman. I think they're piling on because I'm winning."
Scorched by rivals, Hillary Clinton says bring on the heat New York Daily News Clinton, momentarily sliding the gender card back in the deck ...... a debate in which foes charged she waffled and stumbled, said she wasn't deterred by criticisms of being too "nuanced" - read: too evasive. ....... John Edwards, scoffed Friday: "I have a really simple rule: If you get asked a yes or no question, you don't give a yes and no answer." ........ questions on Gov. Spitzer's plan to let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses - the debate issue that caused her the most heartburn. ...... Again, Clinton took no clear stand for or against Spitzer's plan. She added, though, that when Spitzer "was with Michael Chertoff over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security said, 'Well, we're not for it, but we're not against it.'" Chertoff actually said he opposed licensing illegals but could not stop states from doing so.
Clinton: They are piling on because I am winning Boston Globe there were pictures in front of her of when she filed for her husband in 1991 and 1995. "Oh my look how my hair styles have changed," she said.
Video: Clinton takes on Russert, says letter was no cover-up Seattle Post Intelligencer
Bill Clinton rejects archive delay accusations Reuters Bill Clinton on Friday called accusations that he and his wife Sen. Hillary Clinton are delaying the release of records from his administration as "breathtakingly misleading."