Forever A Fangirl

What Do They Think Of Us?

It's so interesting to read foreign online news articles written about US politics like this one from  BBC:

Also, look at the picture they ran with the story! LOL!
A very different way of treating public figures there than here.

Hillary Clinton will withdraw from the race to become the Democratic candidate for the US presidency, and back her rival Barack Obama, her campaign says.

On Tuesday, Obama gained enough delegates to win the nomination, after the final votes of the primary season.

Clinton has still not admitted in public that she lost the contest, but on Saturday she will do so "and express her support for Senator Obama".

Obama has already announced a team to help select his running mate.

Reports that Clinton was ready to concede came after she made a conference call to senior Democrats in Congress.

At a Democratic Party event...DC..., Clinton will also "express her support... for party unity", her communications director ...said.

BBC ...Washington says that as Mr Obama was claiming victory, Hillary Clinton stunned even her own supporters with a speech that offered no indication that she was giving up.

There is speculation that the delay in conceding was an attempt to position herself as a possible vice-president, our correspondent adds.

Mr Obama's three-member panel to look for a presidential running mate comprises Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John Kennedy, former deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Jim Johnson.

Mr Johnson performed the same selection task for John Kerry in 2004.

Caroline Kennedy is a surprise probably not only to me. I'm just cringing at the wailing that going to start about her having no qualification Please just click the link to Wikipedia or Google what she's done including running ginormous foundations..and then shut up. Thanks.

It's kind of bittersweet because I wonder if she'd be getting her hands dirty in politics if it were not for her uncle being so sick.

It's being said that Caroline was picked because she's a sympathetic figure who is female and she will be position to give Hilary the axe. Everyone knows Hill does not have a snowball's chance.

Everyone knows that we'll have a person of mixed race become president before we'll let a female.

It's the American way.

Why bother with the charade of pretending otherwise?

If you're getting one, how are you planning on spending your tax refund?

Spouse finally finished our income taxes last night and we get a refund!

Also, he informed me that the silly Economic Stimulus Act 2008 “rebate” which is 5 times the size of the tax refund is going to really help towards vacation. (We try to break even. Using the US government as a no-interest-earning savings account does not compute for us.)  It will pan out that we are going to spend most of our "big American dollars" in my native Canada.

What is that saying, "As Canada goes, so goes the United States."?

I kid, I kid. It used to be the other way around but I think in some key ways the Canada of today is more European-leaning than USA-following. IMO, the "foot down" moment was when Canada would not follow the USA into the Iraq war though they did, like a number of other countries send military support-- and bore the casualties.

I love the States. But not the "rebate."

Note to Bush: These rebates need to go to pay the quadrillion dollar National
Debt you've racked up on the war and other bad choices, dumb-a$$.

Transition/ While we were walking Raven last night spouse reminded that his itty-bitty work bonus is being distributed in a month as well. In order of size we have Geo. Bushes rebate, and both the tax refund and the work "bonus" are about the same–not very big, but together nothing to sneeze at.

I think that like many people, we’ve been spooked by the thought of gasoline prices getting even higher over the summer and how much that may curtail our usual plans. It’s with enormous relief that I can anticipate a slight financial uptick for us and have the ability to start really planning for fun times!

It’s been a long, cold, wet winter and it’s so nice to be able to realistically plan for summer vacation!/edit

We hashed out all the days off tonight. We are less restained so far this year with son only going to summer school for half the summer (driver's ed--another post) and then needing a dermatologist appt/ blood test once a month. And spouse was granted another week's vacation having been with the Company 10 years so yay! for vacation.

So we'll be merrily burning up gasoline going back and forth all summer if all goes as planned.

I''ll also need to get the Interent installed at Maple Lake if I'm staying half the summer in total~ Two long weekends  for putting together/putting away the cottage plus possibly six weeks! This is very exciting stuff.

I'm just going to fret about the Internet*** until then as it's satellite and expensive. Bleh. I'll dive into that later today.

***Long story about begging for Internet in the woods of Ontario at: My other other blog ~ Maple Lake Ontario .

A Woman In The White House

It appears as if one of my blogging buddies has up and quit. She deleted her blog completely--just poof--overnight. I hope she is okay--as well as her son and her 2 four-legged friends. It's very strange when someone disappears online but I guess not so different than when someone gets out of someone else's life completely offline. It's just a weird process. In the case of the now-missing blogger, we'd exchanged private, more-personal-than-on-the-blog messages--so I thought I was a bit closer but...I guess I'll see. I haven't had this situation in a while where a one-time blogging friend just...goes.

Gunderson Bee!  Where are you?!

Here's what my Vox blog  looks like as of today (posterity). Changing backgrounds changes everything. :)

I love the blue skulls-- and that there are lots of colours and other designs! Now Vox, share with TypePad like a good sibling!

EDIT/ TypePad closed down Vox.

 

(Below) As an aging feminist, I can relate. We'd really like to see a woman in the White House in. our. lifetimes.

                     

Gore Wins!...Peace Prize for Climate Change Work

I was wondering what this would mean to the presidential election months ago--when to me it seemed a no-brainer that Gore would win a Nobel Peace Prize. It  now seems mute that he's denied planning a run for Presidency when  Obama said so outright--and then did a 180 and Hillary just wouldn't ever say and no one minds that they waited to tell us 'cos they're the two front runners.

Could Gore win it again and this time keep the mantle of Presidency of this great country? Stay tuned.--C.

Gore Shares Peace Prize for Climate Change Work By WALTER GIBBS and SARAH LYALL

Extra Extra!

Show us where you go to read the latest headlines.

Googleipage1

These would have to be what I'd call "the latest" headlines. I also get summaries of the NY Times in email form as well as Reuters in the am and pm. In reality however, I often delete Reuters emails before reading them because the news stories get picked up on the iGoogle page and by the time I get around to reading my email the emailed news is old. I tend to read the NY Times email more often than Reuters because I like some of it's columnists and many of it's feature stories, especially those on the arts.

Nothing beats iGoogle in terms of ease of use and customization--for my PC needs at least.

Googlei2

The Power of the Internet

(Via Reuters)

"These polls seem to suggest the public has decided to just 'throw the bums out,'" said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

"These are huge, huge, numbers and they are very bad for Republicans," she said. "There is not a shred of good news in these polls for Republicans."

more here

(I'm) Still waiting to exhale...

And What Did YOU Do Today to Save The World?

Clinton raises $7.3 bln to help tackle world woes
Fri Sep 22, 2006 03:53 PM ET 

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton wrapped up his second annual brainstorming summit on Friday with commitments worth $7.3 billion to combat illness, poverty, religious and ethnic conflict and climate change.

The 215 commitments secured during the three-day Clinton Global Initiative in New York were headlined by British billionaire Richard Branson's pledge on Thursday to spend an estimated $3 billion over 10 years fighting global warming.

While the 2006 initiative secured less than the 300 or so commitments made during the inaugural event last year, the value of this year's pledges almost tripled the $2.5 billion achieved in 2005.

"What Richard Branson did here is wonderful, but you don't need $3 billion to replicate it," Clinton told the summit, adding the aim of the initiative was simply to "create a piece of common ground in a highly contentious world."

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. also reminded people that commitments to tackle the world's woes did not need to involve a big monetary donation.

"We can do many, many things -- they're not multibillion dollar things -- but maybe they're more valuable," Murdoch said at the event.

Among the pledges made was a commitment to create a green fund expected to raise up to $1 billion and to be managed by former World Bank President James Wolfensohn to support investments in renewable energy.

Microfinance nonprofit Opportunity International pledged to provide $500 million in loans, savings, insurance, and training to help 50 million people work their way out of poverty around the world.

The world's biggest diamond producer, De Beers, pledged $2 million to help improve the lives of diamond miners in Tanzania, frequently exploited by middlemen and rogue traders.

Merck & Co. Inc. committed $75 million in a partnership with the government of Nicaragua to vaccinate every child born in Nicaragua over the next three years against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhea among children.

The initiative grew out of Clinton's frustration as president from 1993 to 2001 at attending conferences on important world issues that were all talk and no action.

Among those helping generate ideas and money at the summit were billionaire businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and 50 current and former heads of state, along with entertainer Barbra Streisand.

In a recorded message shown at the initiative, former South African President Nelson Mandela commended the 1,000 people attending the summit for accepting Clinton's call to action.

"This initiative is a global movement where every word spoken, every partnership discovered and every promise made can have a direct impact on the lives of millions of people across our planet for generations to come," Mandela said.

Clooney & Obama, National Press Club, Washington, April 27, 2006

I suppose there are worse things Clooney could do with his fame and fortune.

Illinois' favourite Senator, Democrat  Barack Obama, looks a little gun-shy.

I've heard he's not yet really comfortable as the county's possible first Black Prez. It'll be interesting.

He's a very talented man, the Junior Senator from Illinois is, with many people's hopes already pinned on him. Kind of a lot to shoulder. We'll see how he manages in the next half-dozen-to-dozen years. He's about as decent a guy as I've seen Illinois produce (hey, Lincoln lived here for a while).

Academy Award winning actor George Clooney, left, and Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., take part in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Thursday, April 27,2006 to bring awareness to the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. (AP Photo/Mannie Garcia)

George Clooney Urges Help for Darfur

By Associated Press

Thu Apr 27, 2:19 PM

WASHINGTON - Actor George Clooney is making a plea for international help in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Clooney visited the region recently and says one girl there asked him when he was going to come back and stop the violence. He told her, "Soon," and she laughed and said, "That's what you always say."

Clooney says he had befriended the girl when she checked on him because he was sick after eating goat.

Clooney made his comments at the National Press Club in Washington. He says the best action he can take to help Sudan is to draw attention to the situation. He says he tries to "use the credit card that you get for being famous in the right instances whenever you can."

Bono Tells Canada To Stop Being Stingy

St. Paul (Paul Hewson, a/k/a Bono) is at it again.
Who do you think is going to save the world first--him or Angelina Jolie?

Irish rockstar Bono addresses a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Friday, Nov. 25, 2005 prior to U2's sold-out show at the Corel Centre. While in Ottawa Bono met with political leaders and addressed world poverty.(AP Photo/Fred Chartrand, CP)

Bono Urges Canada to Increase Foreign Aid

By Associated Press

OTTAWA - Irish rocker Bono says Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's inability to further increase foreign aid mystifies him, especially when he's facing an election in a country that clearly favors more foreign aid.

"I'm mystified, actually, by the man," the U2 lead singer said at a news conference Friday. "I like him very much, personally.

"I just think that it's a huge opportunity that he's missing out on. This is important to the Canadian people. I think the prime minister will find out if he walks away from the opportunity to (boost foreign aid) he will hear about it in the election. I am absolutely sure of that."

Bono said he was heartened by polls suggesting most Canadians support a boost to foreign aid. He wants Canada to increase foreign contributions to 0.7 percent of its gross domestic product.

That would more than triple the $2.5 billion Canada spends on foreign aid each year.

Speaking in support of the Make Poverty History project, Bono said Canada could easily increase Third World aid because it's the only major industrialized country in a surplus position.

Bono was in Ottawa for a U2 concert but spent the day meeting with politicians.

Why Dioxin?

To follow up on this post.

Facinating historical summary of  how and why we poision, which draws ties to the whys and wherefores of the Russian leader's recent poisoning.

LINK

 

What if the intention was not to kill Mr. Yushchenko but to injure him in ways that mimic a fall from grace, like superimposing the ruined face of an alcoholic onto a once handsome man? This is a glimpse, I suspect, into the secret world of chemical warfare, the successor to the old poisoners' guild, and even, perhaps, a peep behind the shreds of the Iron Curtain. Steady doses of dioxin cause cancer and premature aging.

This is precisely what I wondered aloud to my spouse in discussing the poisoning. I remarked on the astonishingly change in Mr. Yushenko's appearance from appearing dashingly telegenic to having the face  of  a stereotypical old Russian drunk.

December 19, 2004

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Murder He Ate

By GAIL BELL

 Forresters Beach,

Australia

WHEN Viktor Yushchenko sat down on Sept. 5 to his bowl of soup at the summer house of the deputy chief of the Ukrainian government's intelligence unit (the successor to the old Soviet K.G.B.), he may well have been supping with the devil.

For weeks afterward he suffered a bizarre cascade of symptoms - prostration, crippling abdominal pains, a swollen liver and disfiguring lesions on his upper body and face-all indicative of a violent internal process that was variously described as an infection (possibly viral, and probably herpes) and gluttony (overindulgence in exotic foods). Mr. Yushchenko gradually recovered enough health to return to his campaign for the presidency of Ukraine, but the man who donned the orange scarf and stepped back up to the microphone had taken on the appearance of a scarred and bloated roué.

And there the matter stayed, until Mr. Yushchenko's protestations that he'd been poisoned were finally investigated outside his own country, by a team in a

Vienna clinic headed by Dr. Michael Zimpfer. When Dr. Zimpfer's findings were made public on Dec. 11, the world sat up and took notice.

The headlines gave us two vital pieces of information: poison, which we all understood, and dioxin. Dioxin? It sounded like some sort of chemical; it even sounded vaguely familiar, like something you'd buy at the plant nursery. As the days passed we read everything we would ever need to know about the properties of dioxin, without discovering the answers to the deeper, more troubling questions of who administered it, and why. Not, why try to hurt Mr. Yushchenko, but why use dioxin to do it?

It is curious and unsettling in 2004 to be reading about the attempted assassination by poison of a prominent political figure. Murder by poison has largely been relegated to the history pages, principally because science has overtaken the great advantage that the poisoner of old had over his pursuers: the ability to hide his work beneath the normal calamities that afflict human life.

Death by degrees of pain and wasting could (particularly in the 19th century) be laid at the door of organic disease, and there were few if any tests for the suspicion of poison. In the 21st century the game is desperately hard to play, unless, as in Mr. Yushchenko's case, you apply the first rule of the old poisoners' handbook. Choose a substance that nobody can identify. Find an obscure environmental pollutant that infects the air around smelting and recycling plants and concentrate it into a small vial.

Poisoning is not an amateur's game. There is art and a good deal of cunning to perfect before one can claim admission to the guild. Graduates of the old poisoning schools grappled with the same compounding problems as modern chemists and apprentice chefs in five-star hotels. Will the powder mix with the liquid? Will the oil separate into a greasy film? Have I cloaked the telltale smell under enough aromatic spices? And what about the taste?

Our senses are not trained to discriminate what is hidden under camouflage. Studying the contents of your plate looking for odd colors has never been a reliable gauge of what is normal. Arsenic, for instance, is red, yellow, green or white depending on its chemical bedfellow. And what of poison's smell? Prussic acid smells like almonds, hemlock smells like a family of mice, oleander like chocolate, and arsenic in cocoa like supper on a cold night: there are no reliable pocket guides to assist the novice. To his wife, dioxin smelled like "some kind of medicine" on Mr. Yushchenko's lips.

Poisoning is an up close and personal crime. The victim is deceived into swallowing a toxic dose concealed in a benign carrier like food or drink, thereby betraying one of the foundations of all social dealings between fellow humans, the assumption of benign intent. In Ukraine, the rules of hospitality demand that the guest eat and drink heartily at the host's table, even when he suspects the host of ill intent.

As a matter of course in an earlier century, Mr. Yushchenko might have taken his own poison-taster to the dinner party at the dacha. Poison-tasters trained their wizard eyes on every stage of meal preparation, following each dish from kitchen to table to mouth - sometimes adding a little theater to their performance by the application of crystals and feathers, but, in essence, using the highest acuity of their native senses.

I have in my own collection a poisoner's ring, which is hinged on one side and has a hollow compartment concealed under a large amethyst. With practice I have perfected a party trick of dropping a small piece of fizzing vitamin tablet into my dining partner's wine glass. It is surprisingly easy to distract someone long enough to flip the hinge, let the sliver fall and watch until the bubbles subside. How simple was it, one wonders, to slip dioxin, which is easily absorbed in fat, into the jug of cream destined for Mr. Yushchenko's soup, or, stealing from a later chapter of the poisoner's handbook, to coat his spoon, or plate, with an invisible layer of chemical?

A chemist at University College,

London, wondered why a peculiar substance like dioxin was chosen in the first place. "If you really want to kill someone you use cyanide or ricin or strychnine," wrote Dr. Andrea Sella in The New Scientist.com, "If you use something weird I guess it's just that much harder to find."

Ukraine Parliament Says Disputed Poll Invalid

Mr Yushchenko says poison caused
a sudden change in his appearance

This story is too wildly labyrinthine for me to fully analyze atm, but I can't help but be reminded of Lech Walesa from Poland and his rise with the support of the working class, from factory foreman to a internationally respected representative of the citizens of Poland.

It gives me hope that if the people really feel a wrong needs to be righted, if they persevere as if they've got nothing to lose (when in fact, persevering could cost them their lives), they may be able to make it happen. Why do these folks seem more courageous than the current crop of us Americans that seem to be trying to change the status quo ( money/power=control of the populace) but are we really trying as hard as these people? Do we want widespread corruption to cease-- enough to take to the streets and stay there until our voices are heard? Or shall we just squawk for a while then trudge back, chins hung low, grudgingly accepting that we've been screwed again? Where is our Viktor Yushchenko?

Ukraine Parliament Says Disputed Poll Invalid

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=World&cat=Ukraine

By Yuri Kulikov

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's parliament, in a vote providing a moral boost for opposition supporters massed in the capital, said on Saturday the disputed presidential poll handing victory to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich was invalid.

Parliament has no legal authority to annul the election results, but with vast crowds backing liberal challenger Viktor Yushchenko's call for a new vote, the declaration carries political weight.

The declaration was issued two days ahead of a Supreme Court case examining Yushchenko's complaints of poll irregularities and as the European Union  said it wanted to see new elections.

The chamber passed by a large majority a resolution proclaiming the Nov. 21 poll was invalid, subject to many irregularities and failing to reflect voters' intentions.

But at the end of a highly charged emergency session, it failed to pass a motion on staging a rerun of the vote.

"You now have the time to work through the resolution and prepare the documents necessary to develop it," parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said in closing the session.

Yanukovich called a news conference after the debate. But his press secretary later said he was detained at a meeting and would not be appearing at his largely deserted headquarters.

Yushchenko aides said their candidate had no plans to address crowds in Kiev's main square -- as he has daily since last Sunday's election.

After talks between the two rivals on Friday, overseen by mediators from Russia and the European Union, Yushchenko told supporters he wanted a new poll on Dec. 12.

In eastern Ukraine, the prime minister's power base, similarly large crowds have backed Yanukovich as president.

The disputed election has raised tensions between the West and Russia, which fears losing its hold over Ukraine, and exposed old fault lines dividing the country into east and west.

During its four-hour debate, parliament also expressed no confidence in the Central Election Commission and called on outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to appoint new members.

SUPREME COURT TO RULE

On Monday, the Supreme Court will examine Yushchenko's complaints of widespread poll irregularities.

"People will not leave the street until a new commission names a new date for elections," said deputy Ivan Zayets, a Yushchenko ally. "These decisions do not solve the problem. They only point in the correct direction for an ultimate resolution."

As the session opened, 100,000 Yushchenko supporters massed outside parliament chanted their candidate's name and the European Union pressed for a new vote.

"We think the best, the ideal, outcome would be elections," Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, speaking on behalf of the EU as its president, told reporters in The Hague.

"If we are heading for elections, it should happen rather soon, before the end of the year."

Speaker Lytvyn took a swipe at outgoing President Leonid Kuchma's scandal-plagued 10 years in office, saying authorities were to blame for the loss of public faith in institutions.

"The outcome is the direct embodiment of public policy undertaken in recent years ... We did not take the people into account, we did not listen to the people."

Members of nearly all political stripes wanted quick action.

"We must put an end to this comedy with a court decision," said Socialist Oleksander Moroz, a close ally of Yushchenko.

But many members placed conditions on any proposal to stage a new election, among them longstanding proposals to overhaul Ukraine's political system, mainly by taking political power away from the president and handing it to parliament.

On the streets, passions remained high.

Heeding Yushchenko's call to stay in the streets until they secured victory, thousands of supporters wearing scarves, hats and ribbons in his campaign's orange colors braved snow and wind to man blockades around government buildings.

Yanukovich supporters were seen boarding trains to return to the prime minister's Donbass stronghold in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. Mass rallies took place in eastern Donetsk region.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Russia had to accept the will of the electorate in Ukraine.

"Neither Russia nor anyone else has anything to fear about a democracy in Ukraine based on the rule of the law," Fischer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Yanukovich twice. Russia has since backed off, urging Ukrainians to settle their differences through the courts.

Profile: Viktor Yushchenko

Yushchenko turned from a quiet banker into a street hero

Once a cautious and loyal technocrat, Viktor Yushchenko is now leader of Ukraine's powerful opposition that is demanding radical political change.

Trained as an accountant, Mr Yushchenko drew Western admiration after leading some of Ukraine's bravest reform efforts in President Leonid Kuchma's quarrelsome governments.

The 50-year-old former reformist prime minister broke ranks with Mr Kuchma to form his Our Ukraine opposition bloc.