I think it is bizarre that the media is portraying Obama as elitist and Clinton as the candidate for the working class. I do not see the logic.
Obama
Clinton
Personal Wealth
Made $4 Million From Books
Made $100 Million From Husband's Speeches To Big, Fat Companies
Definition Of Middle Class
Middle Class
People Who Make $250,000 A Year
Where Power Rests
With The People Who Donate $25, $50, $100 A Pluck, Does Not Take Money From Lobbyists
Number One Recipient Of Money From Lobbyists In Either Party
Political Style
New, Positive, Uplifting, Uniting
Slash And Burn, 1990s Style
Obama is more likely to deliver on education and health care. He is more likely to bring the gas price down by ending the gouging going on by the oil companies. He is the one who will tame the mortgage industry now known for predatory lending. Why? Because he will answer to the people and the people alone.
The Responsibility Of The Superdelegates
Not all remaining superdelegates have to fall for my guy, but all must cast their preference one way or the other by the time the final primary/caucus is held. The party must have its nominee by then. Otherwise it will be like gifting all of summer to McCain. Summer is when the flesh pressing happens. Don't deprive the nominee of that.
We give Barack all summer and he will give us a 60 strong majority in the Senate. I think that is a bargain. What do you think?
The superdelegates are political professionals. They don't need more time. They know the candidates better than most of the rest of us. They don't get to have more time. They don't get to wait until the convention.
In The News
In Black Voices, a Range of Views in Police Verdict New York Times Bell's fiancee: 'They killed Sean all over again'CNN GOP Now Sees Obama as Liability for Ticket New York Times Wesley Snipes Gets 3 Years for Not Filing Tax Returns New York Times Obama making plans to attract voters and money for NovemberBoston Globe Yesterday, his campaign announced "Vote for Change," what it described as an unprecedented 50-state voter registration and mobilization drive. The effort will start with at least 83 events across the country on May 10 and has already launched a website. .... Obama has won the overwhelming majority of new voters in primaries and caucuses. ...... setting up a joint fund-raising committee with the Democratic National Committee, an arrangement that allows donors to write one check to be divided between the candidate and the national party ...... The contribution limit is $28,500, compared to $2,300 for the general election for donations directly to a candidate. ........ Obama has picked up 83 percent of the superdelegate endorsements since Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, narrowing Clinton's superdelegate lead to 259-236. ...... Huckabee, popular with social conservatives, has been mentioned as a potential running mate for McCain ....... "black people are incensed" over Clinton's "bizarre" behavior. Obama wins the "World Primary"Seattle Times King of the World ..... people from Pakistan to Venezuela to Iraq are immensely affected by the economic, as well as political, decisions of the president of the United States ..... a recent trip abroad convinced me that, as of this moment, Barack Obama would win a World Primary, hands down. ...... his eight years of personal flaws and policy indecisions ...... the New Frontier candidate of the 21st century. ...... an Obama presidency would offer the idealism of a Woodrow Wilson and the youthful vigor of a John Kennedy — absent the peevish arrogance of George W. Bush or the embarrassing personal peccadilloes of an all-too-human Bill Clinton. ....... Many Africans would of course toast the development to the heavens; many Muslims would find considerable comfort in the election of a Christian who nonetheless has the middle name of Hussein. In Asia, the now-surging continent of ever-increasing optimism, Obama would be hailed as opening a new chapter in a more nuanced, sensitive and cosmopolitan U.S. foreign policy. ....... Obama's election would prove so enormously electric that perhaps as much as 50 percent of global anti-Americanism could dissipate virtually overnight. ...... the Democrats in general (and the Hillary Clinton campaign in particular) would do everyone a favor if they were to unite around the man who lived briefly in Indonesia, much longer than in Hawaii, and who continually gives the world the impression of the United States of America no longer as the same old, tired self. Upcoming Contests to Test Dems’ Working-Class AppealFOXNews New poll shows a dead heat in state between Clinton, Barack ObamaCNN Obama is tied with Clinton at 45 percent, with 10 percent of respondents unsure ...... All polls include interviews conducted after the Pennsylvania primary, which Clinton won Tuesday by about 55 percent to 45 percent. ..... Clinton easily wins among senior citizens and women ...... oughly two-thirds of people in a separate survey done by the Pew Research Center said the race has gone on "too long." ...... the closest race in a generation ...... The May 6 contests have 187 combined delegates at stake. ...... African-Americans, young voters, upscale whites and independent voters. ....... Nancy Pelosi, D-California, made it clear Thursday that she thinks Clinton and Obama shouldn't run on a joint ticket this fall. At Indiana Rally, Clinton Plays Up Midwestern Values CBS News Should Clinton play the gender card?Globe and Mail Clinton Sidesteps Questions About Staying in the RaceWashington Post hinted yesterday that she might reconsider the state of her campaign if she loses in Indiana. ....... Obama holds a double-digit lead in some North Carolina polls ..... About twenty-five percent of the state gets media from Chicago Amid Clinton-Obama struggle, Americans see campaign as too negativeLos Angeles Times Too long? Too long? We're not even three-quarters of the way through this 23-month, $2-billion extravaganza.
Hillary and Barack are both at 70 plus million dollars each with Barack edging her out by a few million dollars. Hillary has made it absolutely clear, Hsu or no Hsu, that she is going to take insider money. Yes, she will take money from lobbyists, from special interests.
In so doing, she propagates two myths.
One, the lobbyists represent real people. An oil company lobbyist might represent the oil company, but that oil company hires "real people." That is her circuitous argument. Why did we not think of this before we made the McCain-Feingold mistake a few years ago?
Two, she takes money from them, but she is not beholden to them.
Both the myths fly in the face of reality.
If corporations felt that their interests and the interests of the American people at large were in complete sync, they would not hire lobbyists in the first place. They would let the public servants responding to voters do the good work of policy making.
Corporations giving money out to politicians are not in the charity business. They have very specific agendas. You don't have to go any further than Hillary's health care plan to see how corporate lobbying money influences agenda.
Hillary's health care plan is a sellout to the insurance industry. One, those with existing coverage get to continue that way: the status quo remains. Then she figures out ways to give those insurance companies more customers by making it illegal to not have insurance. And if you can't afford it, the government will help you pay for it. In essence, she wants the insurance companies to have more of public and private money.
How is that any different from Dick Cheney's oil pals increasing gas prices?
On Iraq Hillary's judgment lapse was to go with the establishment. On health care she is giving a repeat performance.
Tackling health care necessarily requires changing the way the insurance companies do business. If the sector were driven by market forces, it would be at the cutting edge of adopting information technology. It is not. There is no talk in Hillary's plan as to how she will do that injecting so as to bring the costs down across the board. She hopes costs will come down. Well.
Like someone said, there are only two groups of Americans that need to worry about Hillary's health care plan: the healthy and the sick.
In The News
Musharraf Wins Vote in Pakistan; Court to Weigh Bid New York Times The lawyers movement, which has opposed General Musharraf’s eight years of military rule on constitutional grounds, and all the main opposition parties, are backing the legal challenges. ....... Musharraf for his promotion of women. ...... and attacking an armored police vehicle with sticks after it ran over the feet of two senior lawyers. ........ Some 80 members of opposition parties resigned their parliament seats ... but Ms. Bhutto’s party, which has been negotiating a power sharing deal with General Musharraf, chose only to abstain from the vote, preventing an attempt to declare the vote invalid. ....... Coming just a day after successfully negotiating an amnesty bill with the government that will allow Ms. Bhutto to return to Pakistan later this month to contest parliamentary elections, her party’s protest appeared as a token protest. Pakistan's Musharraf Sweeps ElectionWashington Post has promised to give up his powerful army post if he wins the election and restore civilian rule. ...... The Supreme Court may be reluctant to overturn Musharraf's victory in the ballot. ...... On Friday, he signed into law an amnesty quashing corruption charges against her and other politicians. New term for Musharraf — almostLos Angeles Times Kim Jong-il: Internet Expert DailyTech “I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired.” ...... North Korea explicitly prohibits its 23 million citizens from accessing the Internet and mobile phones outside of government research groups. South Korea, by comparison, is one of the world's most digitally connected countries. ....... Satellite photographs of North Korea at night reveal very few lights, indicating the country does not have a very high capacity for electricity, let alone computers or Internet. ...... What is known, is that Kim and the ruling party has a definitive taste for all things Western. Kim's son, Jong-nam, was arrested and expelled from Japan while trying to enter Disney Land in 2001. Late last year, the U.S. imposed a ban on all luxuries originating from the U.S. destined for North Korea, including the Great Leader's beloved iPods. Brown calls for more EU sanctions on Myanmar Reuters "And we have very grave concerns about hundreds, possibly thousands, of monks, nuns and others who have simply disappeared." Are Clinton, Obama, Edwards All The Same? CBS News she is militaristic and ultranationalistic; she would carry on Bush's policy of a long-term occupation of Iraq, define foreign policy around the "war on terror," support the hard-liners in Israel and promote the centrist-Democratic, left-smashing ideology of the DLC. ......... the strong, experienced woman; the black (but not too black) inspirer of hope; the hands-on economic populist crusader. ........ her health care plan .. a gift to the insurance industry. ....... my colleague Laura Flanders wrote that an Obama campaign rally in New York City was buzzing with progressive energy .......... followed Edwards in supporting the global abolition of nuclear weapons (a position originally put forward by Ronald Reagan, and now by Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn and George Shultz .............. nearly three in ten Americans are poor or near-poor ..... Clinton is notoriously unapologetic about receiving large donations from wealthy interests. ........ Obama, not antipoverty Edwards, has the progressive halo ......... there are still nearly four endless months to slog through ....... the disaster that is the war on drugs .... call for free college education Obama's Judgment CBS News the latest shot in Obama's continuing campaign to highlight judgment as his key virtue ....... judgment and temperament are the most important qualities I look for. UN chief 'disappointed' by Nepal elections delay AFP Arroyo back Saturday night from India Inquirer.net President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was to return to Manila Saturday night after obtaining about US$2 billion in new investments from Indian companies. ....... a two-nation swing that also took her to China. China and India are among the fastest-growing economies in the world. ....... a new middle class of half a billion people, [India's] internal market demand and domestic consumption ....... the $1.6 billion new investment of Ispat Industries Ltd ...... Global Steel of Mittal ...... She later told reporters that steel magnate Lakshmi N. Mittal personally called her up to confirm the new investment. ....... the importation of cheaper medicines, expansion of business process outsourcing and call centers in the Philippines, deals on renewable energy and health care, and cooperation in fighting terrorism. ....... the President visited Mumbai, India's business hub, where she invited Indian pharmaceutical companies to set up plants in the Philippines to help cut the price of medicines by half. Philippines, India agree to cooperate on trade, terrorismAFP Shiite power brokers agree to end bloodshed in Iraq International Herald Tribune Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council ......... al-Sadr announced a "freeze" of his militia activities for up to six months to allow for its restructuring. Tiny start-up rival to Google? San Jose Mercury News the nightmare of any Silicon Valley CEO: The thought that a smart kid in a messy garage in Silicon Valley is right now developing technology that will make his company's products obsolete. ....... the firm's promising new search technology ...... contrary to stereotype, the extremely powerful software code was actually developed by a 54-year-old German mathematician working in a spick-and-span office near the University of Munich. ........ Thomas Nitsche's program matches Web pages with relevant advertising. ...... While Google looks at the words on a Web page, Proximic looks for patterns of characters. That means Proximic's approach is completely language-independent, so it works as well with German and Chinese as it does with English. ........ this makes Proximic ideal for the random spew of user-generated content posted daily on blogs and social-networking sites around the Web, material that often gets the better of Google's algorithms. ......... has the potential of being a game changer ...... Proximic raised $4.5 million in its first round of founding ....... he has tested Proximic and Google AdSense and that Proximic had so far come out ahead. "The matching seems to be of a very high quality" ....... A world microcomputer chess champion in 1984, Nitsche drew on that experience during the five years he spent writing Proximic's matching engine. In programming a computer to play chess, Nitsche also learned, by necessity, to write very efficient programs. The computers he was using had only about 5 kilobytes of memory. He said Proximic's core technology amounts to less than one megabyte of software code. ........ Nitsche and Pieper first met in 2001, at a party thrown by Pieper's sister, Loretta Wurtenberger, founder of Webmiles, a travel-loyalty program that was acquired by Bertelsmann. ......... At the time of the party, Nitsche was developing big trading systems for banks. Pieper had a start-up that focused on electronic data interchange. Pieper chatted with Nitsche about a technical problem he was having. Nitsche proposed a solution. "The next day we went off and started a company," Pieper said. ....... Polished and debonair, Pieper embraced the business side while Nitsche, straight-spoken and tweed-wearing, reveled in the abstract math. Uncomfortable in English, Nitsche frequently lets Pieper do the talking. ...... Nitsche worked alone the first few years in Bauhaus-style offices furnished through purchases on eBay. "It was a very hard time," he recalled. Pieper would join Nitsche nights and weekends, helping to hash out core algorithms. ........ Proximic, with its slender string of code and 14 employees, does not imagine itself slaying the Google Goliath. But he is hoping to do business with a number of Google competitors, and he promises Proximic will be making some major announcements soon Pipex cries Freedom4 WiMax VNUNet.com Freedom4 has been given a national licence to deploy WiMax services in the 3.6GHz band, and will work with businesses and local authorities to build the necessary infrastructure to provide broadband wireless internet access across the UK. ....... symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 8Mbps ....... Over half of those customers who took part in the trials saw the most benefit in the and ease of connectionfast speed, while 20 per cent were most impressed by the fully wireless nature of WiMax. WiMax threatens to disrupt 4G strategies mobile operators and other service providers are planning mobile WiMax networks all over the world, mainly in the 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz bands. ........ forecasts "substantial numbers" of WiMax subscribers worldwide, more than 95 million using customer premises equipment devices by 2012, and almost 200 million using mobile devices, with some overlap between the two. ....... major semiconductor and equipment makers, with the exception of Qualcomm and Ericsson, are staking out their positions for this emerging sector, while operator enthusiasm, led by Sprint and Clearwire in the US, is rising sharply. Mobile broadband users to pass 1bn by 2012 say analysts $400bn ..... driven by demand from North America, Western Europe and to a lesser extent by the Far East and China. .... the uptake of mobile broadband will hinge heavily on the availability of suitable devices, be they handsets, laptops, datacards, or other types of device such as media players and handheld gaming consoles. ......... Evolution-Data Optimised (EV-DO) technology, which is a standard for the wireless transmission of data using radio signals, will be the next most prolific technology driven by extensive penetration of the Americas and Far East. Mobile broadband facing a revolution Only a third of the world's population is connected to a cellular network ........ mobile WiMax will initially target the ultra mobile PC or tablet markets rather than the mobile smartphone market. ....... xMax will potentially enable service providers to promote unlimited local and long distant voice calls as well as unlimited text messages at very low monthly prices. Global demand for mobile data services soars Global mobile data revenues from services other than SMS exceeded $10bn in the first quarter of 2007 ....... Worldwide SMS traffic was up year-on-year by around 50 per cent to more than 620 billion messages in the first quarter of 2007. Mainstream global mobile video 'years away' mobile handsets are only one way to receive mobile video services, and that PCs, portable media players, navigation systems and other devices are all in the mix. ........ broadcast, premium and pay-per-view TV, as well as on-demand video. Chinese telecoms operators gear up for 3Gdifferent billing models, such as traffic-based, monthly and content-based billing, to cover voice, short message and Wap services. Mobile email will eventually kill SMS say analystsa fifth of all email will be wireless by 2010 ......... expects wireless email to reach commodity status by 2012. ..... around 114 million text messages are currently sent every day ..... "By 2012, wireless email products will be fully interoperable, commoditised and have standard features. They will be shipping in larger volumes at greatly reduced prices." ...... A longer term trend that will accompany wireless email adoption is convergence, as users choosea single tool to help simplify communication. ..... hiding technology complexity from users and allowing them to focus on messaging content. ......... provide real-time communications for their expanding mobile workforce. Cisco identifies mobile working psyche Many businesses are in danger of bungling mobile working initiatives through poor management, a failure to communicate adequately and the recruitment of " inappropriate personalities" ........ Mobile workers will account for a quarter of the world's working population by 2009 ....... the dominant personality characteristics of effective mobile workers and the cultural influences on mobile working. ...... "Managers must not fall into the trap of treating mobile workers in the same way as office-based employees. ....... the best mobile workers as self-motivated, resilient, extrovert and independent ........ Stimulation Seeker: extroverted, motivated by contact with people ... Tough Survivors:emotionally stable, low levels of neuroticism, resilient under pressure ... Curious Explorers:creative, open to new ideas, enjoys variety of experience ... Independent Decision Makers:maintains independent mindset, appreciates being trusted to work without supervision ... Disciplined Achievers: conscientious and self-motivated ...... Trust and communication are vital to ensuring that mobile teams remain motivated and productive ....... emphasise deliverables rather than activities ........... offer a range of options to workers based on a wide variety of factors, rather than a blanket approach that may suit only a small percentage. Cisco wants peace with Microsoft Cisco chief John Chambers believes that a clash with Microsoft may be inevitable ...... both companies are expanding into each other's turf ...... companies often have a poor track record in combined cooperation and competition. ...... Microsoft is currently pushing into the unified communications market, where Cisco has been playing for a long time with its IP telephones. Unified communications allow users to route messages across several technologies such as instant messaging, telephone and email. Cisco Reinvents The Corporate Incubatorinnovate the innovation process ....... creating start-up-like innovation inside a billion dollar corporation. ....... created an emerging technology business group last year that looks for new ideas that have the potential to turn into a $1bn market within five years. Its target is to yield 20 new ventures by 2012. ......... Nearly 18 months after the initial launch, an internal Cisco wiki has already yielded 400 ideas for new businesses. ......... Company incubators have a poor track record in delivering actual business results ..... Innovators and entrepreneurs tend to suffocate when they work for large corporations, and executives often prove less supportive when incubators start creating products that threaten the firm's core business and profit margins. .......... core business of routing and switching ....... a compromise between the uncertainty and excitement of a start-up and the security of a large corporation. Cisco sets course for Data Centre 3.0 has started to unify its network application services into a new enterprise data centre platform, promising increased server utilisation. ....... Cisco considers the mainframe era as data centre 1.0, and the current client-server model as data centre 2.0. Data centre 3.0 combines the company's ideas for using the network to manage data with the rise of virtualisation technology. ......... "moving from a box mentality to an architecture mentality". ........ able to identify when a service or application suffers from peak demand and dynamically add additional server resources. ...... installation of the operating system, middleware and applications. .... several other products under the Data Centre 3.0 banner, including the Transted Wan optimisation software, which encrypts key data on the network to ensure integrity, and an XML gateway for securing web services. ..... Data Centre 3.0 will lay the foundation for new services and technology that will drive a new wave of business efficiencies and revenue growth. ........ By enabling collaboration across departments and between companies, these innovations will dwarf the economic growth achieved during the first wave of internet adoption during the 1990s ...... the increased communications as the true web 2.0 ...... "The next wave of productivity is not about personalisation, it is about collaboration" ....... "Collaboration is nothing more than working together towards a common set of goals. Web 2.0 enables communication." Cisco to step up telepresence push a $299,000 advanced video conferencing system that uses three high definition televisions and requires a 10Mbps connection. ......... Analysts have cited the $299,000 price tag as an obstacle to wide adoption. But Chambers claimed that savings in travel expenses mean that the systems offer a return on investment in less than a year. "Price is not an issue. This is about process change" One mobile phone is never enough more people choosing to own a second or third subscription. ...... the price per minute for traditional mobile voice services declines. Vodafone joins the WiMAX forum other key industry bodies such as the GSMA, 3GPP and the Next Generation Mobile Network initiative ...... "The prospects for WiMAX to play an important role in the future development of mobile are better in those parts of the world where large numbers of people do not yet have access to telecoms or the internet" ...... joining the WiMAX Forum just seems like an obviously sensible thing for Vodafone to do ....... The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led non-profit organisation that now comprises more than 470 companies including 141 operators worldwide, and although mobile WiMAX is less mature than 3G LTE at present, it is being strongly touted as the future of wireless data transmission due to its faster speeds and longer range. Korea to open up telecoms markets so-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which rent bandwidth on mobile infrastructure to run their own distinct mobile voice and date networks. ....... Korea's government has hitherto tended to stage-manage competition in the country's telecoms markets. $4,000 phone bill for porn leads to suicideA Korean teenager committed suicide after running up a $4,000 bill viewing pornography on his mobile phone ...... the mobile-crazy nation. ...... The country has 40.2 million mobile phone subscribers out of a population of almost 49 million. Mobile porn set to explode over next five years Korea becoming a nation of phone junkies Addicted teens suffer stress and hallucinations ....... they sometimes imagine hearing them ringing when they are not. ...... Forty per cent send over 1,000 text messages every month ....... a fifth refused to be parted from their phones even while bathing. ..... Almost 80 per cent of the country's 48 million people have mobile phones ...... Among teenagers, owning a mobile phone is seen as essential to having a normal social life Chinese teens go crackers over web porn South Korean hackers declare war on US Fixed voice disappearing rapidly in EU says analyst fixed voice is going to suffer not the slow and lingering decline many have predicted, but a rather rapid one ........ 90 per cent of all voice minutes in Finland will originate on mobile phones by 2008 Mobile payments to generate $22bn by 2011 Firms prepare for mobile VoIP Seven out of 10 global businesses expect to be using VoIP regularly on mobile devices over the next two years Wi-Fi world record set at 304km The link extended from Sardinia to central Italy and achieved data rates of about 5Mbps. ....... "After successfully interconnecting the whole Italian country with analogue FM repeaters, we would like to realise a new wide-band digital network to connect all Italian ham radio users to each other and to other services such as Echolink, ATV and Dstar" Wireless standards battle looming Video networking drives 802.11n adoption Early Adoption Of Mobile WiMax Gets Underway InformationWeek Razzolink's main target has been rural subscribers who can't get or don't want DSL or cable. ....... setting up a new customer is as simple as delivering a modem and "flipping up the antenna." On rare occasions, an antenna is placed on a subscriber's roof. ...... "over-the-air software upgrade" ..... Navini has supplied its Ripwave MX product line to 70 networks on six continents. The largest is Unwired Australia, a 70,000-subscriber deployment in Sydney and Melbourne. Bachchan to endorse Dabur's Chyawan JrBusiness of Cinema A Big Loss at Merrill Stirs Unease New York Times leaner and more disciplined. ...... would write down $5 billion primarily in its fixed-income sector: subprime loans, complex debt instruments and leveraged, or risky, loans. ......... The size of the write-down was second only to one for $5.9 billion taken by Citigroup, which is three and a half times the size of Merrill. ....... “While market conditions were extremely difficult and the degree of sustained dislocation unprecedented, we are disappointed in our performance in structured finance and mortgages” ........ UBS has announced a $3.4 billion write-down, and Deutsche Bank, $3.1 billion. ........ expected JPMorgan Chase to write down about $2 billion, and the Bank of America Corporation about $1 billion. ....... Investors reacted by pushing up the stock, relieved that Merrill had provided information about its problems and a belief that the worst was over. Shares rose $1.89, to $76.67. .......... When Wall Street started making big returns on everything from proprietary trading to new and creative ways of reselling the home mortgages, Merrill charged in headfirst. End Of An African Nightmare what until recently was a horrible war zone, but is now a place of hope .......... Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected head of state in Africa ...... the 14-year civil war had killed 270,000 people – an astonishing one out of every twelve Liberians – and forced another 250,000 to become refugees. ...... The economy had completely collapsed, with GDP falling by more than 90 percent between 1989 and 1996, one of the largest collapses ever recorded anywhere in the world. ....... United Nations peacekeepers put an end to the conflict in 2003. Taylor first went into exile in Nigeria and is now in The Hague facing war crimes charges ........ rebuilding institutions, restoring basic services, reviving the economy and beginning to heal the deep wounds of war. ...... the resolution of its massive foreign debt. ....... electricity and water are being restored (there was no piped water or electricity except generators anywhere in the country for 14 years) ......... there are a small number of people that profited handsomely from the conflict and seem prepared to do anything to regain power. ...... 14,000 U.N. peacekeepers ...... The major creditors all have pledged to forgive Liberia’s debts, but the process is stuck at the IMF, where the Board has been debating for a full year how to share the costs of the write-off. ........ I hate to be a sexist, but maybe we ought to put more women in charge in tough places around the world. Vatican buys soccer club News24 Study of US child health takes big step forwardReuters They Call Him the Fixer in a World That’sa MessNew York Times create a singularly contemporary screen identity as a man of unquiet conscience. ....... that rarefied gray zone where the barely legal meets the almost criminal and takes lunch at the private club ...... A Lady Macbeth in pumps and discreet pearls, Karen has pledged her troth to her corporate masters instead of a murderous husband. She’s a cliché — brittle, sexless, friendless, cheerless and all the rest — but what makes her work is her unnerving banality, visible in the blank canvas of a face that looks untouched by gentleness or empathy. This is a pitiful creature, as unloved by her writer-director creator as by the genius actress who plays her. .......... the legal thriller ...... an unexpectedly tender moment when Michael stares into a new morning in a country field without uttering a single word .......... the film feels truest when Michael is grappling with his contradictions. ........ a grimmer, compromised version of Erin Brockovich ...... a different country, one in which the media fail, capitalism kills and heroes stumble ....... We need George Clooney, just as we needed Warren Beatty — seducer of heavy hearts and troubled minds, the beautiful bearer of our very bad tidings. Video: New York City For Barack Obama 7
"Chavez, look at how they captured Saddam. He should have died fighting. If they invade Cuba, I'm going first, and you will see what you do. You're also on the list. But in any case we cannot be captured in a hole."
Fidel Castro
Eliot Spitzer is substance, he is guts. Noone in his or her right mind thinks Spitzer is not going national at some point. He has the option to turn New York state into the progressive engine for the entire country. The fights he will pick and win in New York he will carry on to the national stage.
Two are obvious: campaign finance, and gay marriage. I think he should work on campaign finance first. Gay marriage perhaps should be for his second term. And on both there will have to be gradual progress. With campaign finance, the goal is to have publicly financed elections, and total transparency on expenses by candidates. And it will likely be achieved in two to three steps. This is the issue that Spitzer can use to wrest the Senate from the Republicans. But campaign finance reform is about more than money. It is to do with broader electoral reform.
Democracy is one person, one vote. Campaign finance reform and electoral reform are about moving as close as possible to that ideal.
Before I read up on the topic, let me go ahead and start from scratch and build a model.
On the judiciary: I like Spitzer's idea of no longer electing judges. Instead having a meritocratic bureaucracy that populates the judiciary. The taxpayers pay your salary, and you deliver. Justice should be like garbage pickup: it should be just there.
A directly elected Governor. If no one candidate gets at least 50% of the votes, there is a second round. Publicly financed election. An independent candidate may spend his or her own money, but the amount may not exceed that of the the publicly financed candidate who spends the most money.
Legislature. 150 constituencies of roughly equal population for the lower house. Proportional elections for the 50 members of the upper house. You vote for a party. A party that gets 2% of the votes gets one seat. Elections for both houses on the same day, two separate ballots. Parties are state funded. How many votes you earn determines how much money you get from the state. Parties are not allowed any other source of funding.
This will provide for a healthy breakup of the two party system, and will allow for "startup" parties with new ideas to shape up. The 50% rule will also ensure the Governor has a clear mandate of the people.
If you are going to have publicly financed elections and parties, suddenly the idea of democracy and transparency inside party structures takes center stage. There is a huge need for reform there, or Bloomberg might have been the Democratic candidate for Mayor when he first ran. Again the solution is one person, one vote.
The Democratic Party is taking the lead on campaign finance reform in the state, but if it is serious about going all the way, it is going to have to work hard to also reform itself on the inside. You are looking at a scenario where the only money the party gets is from the state based on how many votes it earns. It will help to have all decision making made transparent, but that will not be enough. There are structural challenges.
This is a tough issue. But it is popular. And if played well, this is the issue that will cost the Republicans the Senate. This issue will also put Spitzer in a position to work for reform inside the Democratic Party in New York City, and he stands to score major points on that one against his inevitable opponent in 2010: Bloomberg. Let Bloomberg be the symbol for big money in elections, at the state and national levels. He cuts it both ways. You can't compete against Bloomberg unless you can raise a lot of money. On the other hand, Bloomberg's behavior of using his own money shows he himself is opposed to the idea of raising money to contest elections. So you can hit him from two sides at once.
It is good news that Bloomberg will be who Spitzer will be up against in 2010. In 2006 Spitzer did not have much in the name of an opponent. Bloomberg will not be easy to beat. And so in a sense Bloomberg will be Spitzer's first primary opponent onto the national stage. The whole country will be watching as Spitzer battles Bloomberg, and that will be good news. Spitzer will acquire a national stature that he does not quite have it right now: Arnold does, Spitzer does not yet.
Campaign finance reform will have to percolate also to the local levels. Giving the same amount of money to all candidates does not quite make sense. The process in the city and state is complex, but as long as basic principles can be agreed on, beyond that it extrapolation. One person one vote democracy, transparency, state funded parties and elections.
It goes beyond candidates, and parties. You also have to regulate interest groups. While you want to encourage people to get organized and involved, if those outside groups end up having outsize influence, the purpose of campaign finance will be compromised. Perhaps all such interest groups should also be subject to finance reform measures. Make their book keeping transparent, put limits on how much they can raise from whom, on when and how they can spend.
Then Spitzer will be in some shape to tackle gay marriage perhaps during his second term. But he does not have to wait to further civil rights issues for gays. There are a lot of incremental steps that can be taken. Those small step will warm up the electorate for the big one.
Right now it is looking like Hillary-Obama-Spitzer for the national scene. We take over the White House for a generation. They got the Supreme Court.
Campaign finance reform and electoral reform in New York has major national implications. Imagine directly electing the president. Imagine adding DC to Virgina or Maryland. Imagine electing the 100 members of the US Senate through proportional elections. Ralph Nader should have been Senator. He was never cut to be president.
Gay marriage and immigration are the civil rights issues for today. 50 years from now people will look back and wonder the way we look back and wonder about segregationists today. How could they!
Senate criticized for not acting on campaign reform legislation Elmira Star-Gazette, NY The issue has been a point of contention for months, with Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the Democrat-dominated Assembly calling for sweeping reforms while the GOP-led Senate has not moved on any legislation, saying it's not a priority. ....... The reforms that Spitzer and government watchdog groups are seeking often have little or no effect on incumbency or the diversity of candidates ...... Spitzer's proposal, which would greatly reduce contribution limits, ban donations from corporations and limited-liability companies, and require more disclosure from candidates ........ campaign finance is at the top of the governor's agenda ...... The ultimate goal, they said, is to have full public financing of elections. ...... In January, Spitzer announced he would impose limits of $10,000 on individual contributions to his own campaign, far below the legal limit of $50,000. ...... the U.S. Supreme Court in 1979 ..... campaign finance laws only violate free speech if they place spending caps on candidates without providing public financing. Senate GOP ignores Spitzer timetable on campaign reform Auburn Citizen, NY Senate GOP ignores Spitzer timetable on campaign reform WCAX, VT Senate GOP ignores Spitzer timetable on campaign reform Staten Island Advance, NY GOP, groups spar over campaign finance Auburn Citizen, NY the League of Women Voters, which has pushed campaign finance reform as the key to reforming Albany ..... Bruno has questioned the need for reform and noted that Spitzer can rely on his personal wealth and power as elected incumbent governor to raise campaign funds. ..... The Senate Republicans' meeting announcement put Spitzer on notice that the conference is either planning to - or threatening to - block Spitzer's campaign finance reform. ...... Spitzer and lawmakers have held public leaders meetings in an attempt to avoid Albany's notorious late-budget negotiations in which disparate issues are settled in one big deal, then rushed to a vote in the closing hours of the session with little debate or public review. Campaign finance reform on the agenda in Albany News 10 Now, NY State Senate GOP, Groups Spar Over Campaign Finance 13WHAM-TV, NY Civic groups blast Senate GOP on reform WSTM-TV, NY Senate GOP, good-government groups spar over campaign finance WSTM-TV, NY Senate GOP, good-government groups spar over campaign finance Staten Island Advance, NY The Empire Zone As Legislative Session Wanes, So Does Leaders ... New York Times, United States Republicans block needed legislation Auburn Citizen, NY Open government, Albany style Ithaca Journal, NY power producers say that the current process is so complicated that it all but prevents construction of new plants, even as the margin between available power and demand continues to shrink. ...... Both Gov. George Pataki, first elected in 1994, and Spitzer, who took office this year, vowed to change the closed-door system. ..... Spitzer .... hammered out deals on the state's $120.9 billion budget almost exclusively in private sessions with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan. Nepal Welcomes Former US President Jimmy Carter Student Operated Press LA Outrage Grows Over Paris Hilton ABC News Norma Lune, who arrived about 6 a.m. to make sure she could visit her son in jail, rolled her eyes at the gathering throng. "No one here is paying attention to my son," she said. ...... "This might be my big break," the 23-year-old bail bond company employee said, showing off a photo he had taken of Paris' sister, Nicky, when she visited Sunday. ..... "I'm going to start carrying this camera around everywhere. You never know when she might come out." ...... Sonenshein said he expected to see a slew of new lawsuits from inmates claiming they weren't treated as well as Hilton. ..... The Hiltons were allowed to see their daughter when the jail's visitor center was closed for lunch — a fact that rankled some less-than-famous visitors. Similar complaints were lodged Sunday, when Paris' sister, Nicky, waited a scant 15 minutes to see Paris, bypassing most of the long visitors line. ...... A few chased the Mercedes down the block. ..... "Y'all make me not want to be rich anymore," Deseree Diehl, who was watching from the sidewalk, said to no one in particular. A radio reporter turned to a cameraman and asked, "So, are you ashamed of yourself yet?" ...... As for Johnny Garcia, the amateur paparazzo, he jumped into a tree to get a clear shot of the Hiltons. He came away with a photo of the back of their heads, surrounded by cameras. "That looks like it could be them, right?" he asked, smiling. Steven Speilberg Drops Obama for Hillary NewsMax.com "Jaws,""E.T. The Extraterrestrial,""Jurassic Park,""Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." Spielberg Backs ClintonLos Angeles Times after an initial interest in Barack Obama, is officially in the Hillary Clinton camp. ..... Endorsements are one of those rituals in the campaign process with a debatable impact. They don't hurt, and in some cases a celebrity's embrace may win a candidate a second look from some members of the public. But lots of politicians boasting impressive supporter lists have gone down to defeat.
Sweet column: Clinton said it means "nothing" if Obama outraises ... Chicago Sun-Times she — or former President Clinton — has booked at least 26 fund-raising events between May 31 and June 30, the end of the second fund-raising quarter. ..... the prospect chief rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will beat Clinton in second quarter fund-raising .... Obama’s fund-raising team booked at least 23 events between May 22 and June 29. ..... Obama’s camp has been down-playing fund-raising expectations, giving out a lowball $20 million estimate. The haul likely will be at least $25 million between April 1 and June 30. .... Clinton is on track to raise about $20 million. ...... Longtime Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe hosts a barbecue with both Clintons July 1 — the start of the third quarter — at his home in McLean, Va.
Remnants of Famous Samarra Shiite Shrine DestroyedWashington Post Rudy Giuliani unveils his “12 Commitments to the American People” Blogger News Network Bush presses GOP on immigration bill Boston GlobeBush was warmly received at a luncheon meeting -- his first with Senate Republicans in five years .... For most of his presidency, with the GOP controlling both chambers of Congress, Bush barely had to ask to get his way on domestic and foreign policy bills, relying on a disciplined GOP leadership to grant his wish list of tax cuts, Iraq war funding, and an education overhaul. ...... "He needs to back off," said Senator Jeff Sessions , Republican of Alabama and a fierce opponent of the bill .... Leaders in both parties contend they have a majority willing to pass the measure, but Senate rules require 60 votes to close debate and hold a final vote on the bill. Clinton leads in NH Portsmouth Herald News Poll update: Clinton maintains lead in Democratic raceBlogger News Network Clinton owes poll wins to womenFort Wayne Journal Gazette Poll Shows Fred Thompson Gaining on Giuliani, Obama Catching Clinton LifeNews.com Thompson compiled a 100% pro-life voting record in Congress and has said twice in recent months that he favors overturning Roe v. Wade. ..... Giuliani with 32 percent, Thompson higher at 28 percent, McCain with 17 percent and Romney with 14 percent. ..... Romney is shown with leads or ranked in second in numerous polls in Iowa and New Hampshire .... Clinton holds a 33-22 percent lead over ... Obama ..... Though he is behind Clinton among Democrats, the poll finds he’s the strongest general election candidate as the only one in his party to beat Giuliani, McCain and Romney. Clinton runs behind each of the three marquee Republicans. Poll: Obama, Thompson gain ground on Clinton, GiulianiThe News Journal
