Gender: The Only Thing Hillary Has Going For Her

Yeah, Let's Make History

I think it would be historic for America to get a woman president. But it would be more historic for America to get a black president. A white woman has to be 90 to remember a time when she not vote. A black person - man or woman - only has to be 50.

If this election is about making history, let's nominate and elect Barack.

But Barack is more than Black, he is a package deal. He is also Asian, and Third World. He is African, of course. The dude actually has a grandmother who lives in a hut with no electricity or running water. He has another grandmother who lives in the same apartment where she raised him.

When the white woman could not vote in America, Kenya was a British colony. Much of Asia was colonized. So, yes, let's make history. Let's nominate and elect someone who is linked to former colonies by blood. Let's make history.

Curiously Barack is also white. He is Dick Cheney's cousin. How much whiter than that can you get? That is Wyoming white. They only have white people in that state. I think.

Barack is not a woman, but you can't use that against him. He was raised by a woman. He is outnumbered by women in his family, three to one. But the whole ying yang philosophy is that there is a woman inside every man, and a man inside every woman. When Hillary laughs, that is the man part. When Barack blushes, that is the woman part.

Hillary went to an all white high school. How boring is that? Barack attended school on a few different continents.

The First American President

Barack Exudes Power
Barack's Primary Opponents

America was always meant to be multiracial, the idea it was founded on was not white-specific. It was not meant to be white-specific, although the country even today struggles to live that dream.

It is that multi-racial DNA of America that tells me it will continue to be the leading country also in this century. Japan and China are too one ethnicity. Europe is not open enough to immigrants.

But America always has had only white guy presidents. That leads me to the claim that Barack Obama is going to be America's first president. In a way. I think that would be a great way for America to start this century. By electing Barack.

Symbolism, Substance Of Gender

Does Hillary Have A Gender Card?

I think Hillary's name recognition and the poll numbers that name recognition has given her has prevented her from doing the hard work of substance on gender. She is hung up on the symbolism.

All the big South Asian countries have had women heads of states. But South Asia is so very sexist. The sexism did not budge much, if at all. A woman head of state is not enough for women's liberation. The only way to gender equality is the grassroots way.

The Grassroots Power Woman
Muscular Gender Agenda

I think it is such a waste that a talented, smart, hard working woman like Hillary who is the first serious woman candidate for president is not talking up the substance of gender. What a waste!

John Edwards Is Going To Have To Endorse Barack

Edwards and Barack are so alike in terms of where they stand on the message of change, on ethics reform, on getting money out of politics. Hillary, on the other hand, shamelessly flaunts her ties to lobbyists.

Barack and Edwards might look good together.

After Edwards drops out of the race, I think he will have no option but to endorse Barack. They are carbon copies of each other on the key issues. Edwards is Barack minus the money, the support and the charisma. But the man is right on the issues. And he sure has the fighting spirit.

And what I like particularly is he portrays the new face of the South. He is a white guy who lived segregation in his native South, was repulsed by it, and is, as a result, very progressive on race.

Denis

I think he did well in the Nevada debate. He really got his message across. He did best among the minor candidates.



Debate Watch Party: Venue Change

Real Differences

Put race and gender aside. Put aside the fact that Barack and Hillary are both very smart people. Put aside the fact that both have been raising a lot of money and have real support all across the country.

If you look at their policy positions, there are some very real differences.

Iraq, Iran, Social Security, Ethics Reform. Hillary might change her position on driving licenses for undocumented immigrants, but she does not have the option to change her position on these big issues. She is stuck with where she stands on these big issues.

Hillary's Pro-War, Anti-Immigration Plank
Draw Distinctions, Work The Fundamentals

Hillary's cavalier attitude towards immigration I find personally offensive.

Rudy

This would be the Obama staffer who runs Obama 2008's downtown Manhattan office. Towards the end of the debate he mentioned Barack's sister Maya will be in the office from three to four in the afternoon.

That news was so emotional to me. I mean, heck. I can't even vote. I am not a citizen. My support for Barack is deeply, deeply personal. It is almost not political, although that it is.

The way I put it is, I lost something in 1989. I stand to regain that through Barack's elevation to the White House. That personal.

It was Maya who gave voice to why I like Barack so much. And I am quite a wordy person myself. But it was Maya who finally gave me these four words. I was not able to get to them myself on my own. I am going to meet her and I am going to thank her for those four words.

Barack, "He Walks Between Worlds"

My Political Instincts

I pride myself in my political instincts. My support for Barack is deeply personal. But my political instincts tell me Barack has the potential to become the greatest president America ever had. Now that is not personal. That is me being as objective as I can be. That is me staking my political reputation on the statement.

Barack's Primary Opponents

Barack sure is ready for America. Is America ready for Barack?

Americans stand to do themselves a huge favor by putting this dude into the White House.

Barack will bring together the best qualities of three presidents, Lincoln, FDR and JFK. He will liberate America from racism like Lincoln liberated America from slavery. He will bring universal health care and give a new life to Social Security. That is FDR. And he will bring JFK's charisma, youthfulness and "viguh" to the office as well as his ability to reach all corners of the earth.

Does Hillary Have A Gender Card?

Muscular Gender Agenda

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

The Spectrum On Gender

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

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

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

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

JFK Killed The Hat, Barack Will Kill The Tie

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





In The News

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



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

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

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

Elephant In The Room: Gender

The number one issue in this election right now is not Iraq, it is not health care. It is gender. Hillary leads among women 2-1. Obama is going to have to compete on gender. How do you do that? You take it head on.

Obama took Hillary head on on Iraq and she has faltered. Hillary voted for the war. Now she is saying Bush and his associates told her they were going to use the vote to send in UN inspectors, not to wage war. Now that is what I call a serious lapse of judgment. Hillary must be faulted for believing Bush and his associates. How do you know Bush is lying? His lips are moving.

Obama took Hillary head on on health care and she faltered. She says she needs eight years. Obama says four. Eight is not going to fly. That is too long of a wait. If you can't do it in four, you can't do it in eight. And if you can do it in eight, you can do it in four. It is not about having more time. It is about having the guts to take on the skewed forces at work in the sector.

Obama took Hillary head on on foreign policy and she faltered.

Pakistan Is Getting Interesting And Obama Might Have Shaken Things
Let Me Get This Straight
Engaging Third World Dictators
What Obama Said On Pakistan

Hillary can be taken and had head on also on gender. If she can be engaged in a policy debate on gender, she is going to come across as yet another Indira Gandhi, yet another Benazir Bhutto, strong, smart women who do good work more or less in an executive position, but who don't budge the gender compass much.

Obama 2008's pitch has to be this: if you want symbolic progress on gender, you go with Hillary, if you want substantive progress on gender, you come with me.

And my message is not to the candidate and his professional staff, although that it is. My message is primarily to the grassroots volunteers. This has to be bottom up. This is the only way to bring about positive change on gender as on much everything else.

The Grassroots Power Woman

Gender has to be talked about. Workplace issues and relationship issues have to be talked about. The grassroots power women of Obama 2008 are the ones who will take gender dynamic to a whole new level. It will not be Hillary.

Obama 2008 has to be ready to give everything to women including the vice presidency to Hillary.

In The News

Senator Craig plans to resign on Saturday International Herald Tribune
Virginian Often Opposed Own Party Washington Post
Senator Warner Will Not Seek Re-election New York Times
Iowa Permits Same-Sex Marriage, for 4 Hours, Anyway New York Times
Gonzales' testimony undergoing scrutiny Los Angeles Times
US dog left £6m trust fund The Press Association
Obama wows his supporters Malaysia Star TINA Turner’s Simply The Best was played to the hilt at the New York Marriott ballroom that evening in Brooklyn, New York City. ...... The VIP guest was at least an hour late .... At 6.36pm, the people roared. Cameras flashed. The rock star of politics, Barack Obama, emerged on stage where a banner was hung, proclaiming “Brooklyn for Barack.” ...... that much written about baritone voice of his ..... a speech that got him flashing brightly on the political radar of Americans. ...... the reason I am hopeful is that I have seen what can happen when people get together. ...... “The question is not whether I am ready, but are you ready?” he asked. ..... “He’s fantastic. He’s genuine,” Williams gushed.
Obama campaign descends on London for fundraising drive Guardian Unlimited when his campaign arrives London in October hoping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from wealthy Democrats in the capital. ..... Obama will not be there in person, he will be represented by his wife, Michelle. ..... In six months he has raised more than $58m (£29m), compared with Hillary Clinton's $52m. .... She is beginning to develop a presence of her own on the campaign trail that will help to chip away at the advantage Mrs Clinton has in the form of her spouse, the former president. ...... anyone managing to draw together contributions from a group of 10 or more eligible donors totalling at least $23,000 - a process known as bundling - will be invited to a special VIP pre-reception. ..... With wealthy American bankers increasingly spending time in London - the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, for instance, spends six months of the year in the City ..... The Democrats will be holding a primary election in Porchester Hall, west London, on February 5, the same date as a swath of states. Supporters unable to reach London will be able to vote on the internet.
Unions Back Clinton, Edwards, Huckabee Guardian Unlimited
The Edwards-Clinton Mutual Sustainability Pact Atlantic Online
Hillary a disaster for Dems The Flat Hat, VA
Do We Still Need the South? TPMCafe, NY
Edwards has lead in Time's new poll DesMoinesRegister.com, IA 32 percent of the new poll's participants chose Edwards as the one for whom they would caucus, compared with 24 percent for Clinton, 22 percent for Obama and 13 percent for Richardson. .... When asked which of the four "will take on special interests in Washington," 35 percent chose Obama, 25 percent chose Edwards, 19 percent chose Clinton and 7 percent chose Richardson.
Poll: Clinton Leads Democratic Field; GOP Side More Muddied Fox 28, IN

Sen. John Warner Will Not Seek Re-election in '08 MyFox Kansas City
Democratic Donor Turns Himself In New York Times
Nepal's government agrees to peace deal with ethnic rights group ... International Herald Tribune The Madhesi group's leader, Upendra Yadav, celebrated the deal, saying the Madhesi people "who had been oppressed for centuries will go to the November polls and shape our future ourselves."
A Front-Runner or The Wes Clark of 2008? Washington Post the chaotic calendar and geography of the nominating contest. ..... a delegate-bonanza for Giuliani on Feb. 5, when New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are among the states in play. .... Thompson's home state of Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma. ..... the region that has become the GOP's foundation. .... summertime speculation. ... It was almost exactly four years ago that Democrats were buzzing about the imminent entry of one Wes Clark. Once in, he fizzled instantly. ...... the staff turmoil that has afflicted the organization. .... the arrival of veteran Bill Lacy as campaign manager has helped to settle things. ..... an era of round-the-clock news cycles, metrics, micro-targeting, blogs and other new media. .... the verdict would be clear by the end of September.
RJD, SP slam law & order in UP, Bihar Economic Times
Obama's California man outlines anti-Hillary strategy Sacramento Bee
Obama wants another 'boom' event in Atlanta Atlanta Journal Constitution metro Atlanta over the next two weeks. ..... The largest event looks to belong to Barack Obama. ..... another huge rally in downtown Atlanta ... Sept. 20 ... $25. ..... In April, on the Georgia Tech campus, Obama drew 20,000. This September event is less about show and more about serious network-building. .... most of those donations will be accompanied by an e-mail address and phone number. ..... A standard, $1,000-a-head event follows.
Late Show with Hillary Clinton Washington Post One big laugh line: Bill Clinton had looked into the vice presidency ....... 10. Bring stability and long term security to "The View." 9. Each year on my birthday, every American gets a cupcake. 8. You'll have the option of rolling dice against the IRS for double-or-nothing on your taxes. 7. Having trouble getting a flight and Air Force One is available -- it's yours. 6. My vice president will never shoot anybody in the face. 5. Turn Gitmo into a Dairy Queen as soon as possible. 4. For over a century there have been only two Dakotas -- I plan to double that. 3. We will finally have a president who doesn't mind pulling over and asking for directions. 2. I will appoint a committee to find out what the heck is happening on "Lost." 1. Am I right, ladies?One more pantsuit joke and Letterman disappears. ...... January 2000 .... 10. I lost a bet with Tipper. 9. I did think this was a show where you answer a couple of easy questions and you win a million dollars. 8. If Dan Quayle did it, how hard could it be? 7. I was already in town to interview for the Jets' head coach position. 6. Four words: severe lapse of judgment. 5. I needed an excuse to get out of dinner with Donald Trump. 4. When they threw in a "Late Show" tote bag, I said, "Gas up the Taurus, Bill, we're goin' to Dave's." 3. I have not been in the Ed Sullivan Theater since I was dating Ringo. 2. Um, to tell you the truth, Dave, I thought Johnny hosted this show. 1. If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere.
Edwards' Wife Talks of Clinton 'Hatred' Forbes "I don't know where it comes from. I don't begin to understand it. But you can't pretend it doesn't exist, and it will energize the Republican base. Their nominee won't energize them, Bush won't, but Hillary as the nominee will. It's hard for John to talk about, but it's the reality." ...... She has suggested that Obama and his campaign plagiarized material from Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign and criticized Obama for opposing the Iraq war but voting for the funding, saying that he's been "behaving in a holier-than-thou way." ..... Last year, Mrs. Edwards apologized to Clinton after saying her choices in life have made her happier than the New York senator.
Bihar JD (U) dissidents elect new chief Hindu
First Iowa gay marriage shows 'love and justice' Chicago Tribune
Rove chokes up on final day at White House CNN
Singh Says US Nuclear Accord Is Vital for India (Update3) Bloomberg
Bush: China growth provides "good opportunity" for US China Daily
Google Begins Hosting News on Its Site Forbes material produced by The Associated Press and three other news services ..... It could diminish Internet traffic to newspaper and broadcast companies' Web sites where those stories and photos are also found - a development that could reduce those companies' revenue from online advertising. ..... the AP, a 161-year-old cooperative owned by news organizations. .... Google doesn't have any immediate plans to run ads alongside the news stories or photographs hosted on its site, but company officials aren't ruling out the possibility in the future. .... Internet's most powerful company. .... In the first half of this year, the 9-year-old company earned $1.9 billion on revenue of $7.5 billion. ..... In July, Google News attracted 9.6 million visitors, trailing Yahoo News (33.8 million visitors), MSNBC (24.5 million), AOL News (23.9 million) and CNN (22.5 million) ...... Referrals from Google News accounted for 2.2 percent of the traffic at newspaper Web sites during the week ending Aug. 25 ...... "This may result in certain publishers losing traffic for their news wire stories, but it will allow more room for their original content ..... "AP relies on its commercial agreements to help pay the enormous costs of covering breaking news around the world, ranging from deadly hurricanes and tsunamis to conflicts like the war in Iraq
Premiere of RGV Ki Aag in Mumbai Times of India When Amitabh walked in, the paparazzi and the fans went into an understandable frenzy, to which Mr Bachchan simply said, “Tum log na!”

The Grassroots Power Woman

Bidya Bhandari: Power Woman
Power Woman Protest

• The Second Pillar : Sexual Equality
• The Laws That Push The Women Down
• The Political Battles

20 Million Single Moms: Will Obama Go For Them?
Michelle Obama Is Just Fabulous
Domestic Violence, Equal Pay
Wife Won't Do, Got To Court Women With Policy And Outreach
Muscular Gender Agenda
(1) Equal Pay
(2) War On Domestic Violence
(3) Cabinet Half Female
(4) Universal Health
(5) Lifelong Education
The Spectrum Concept: Wide Applications
The Spectrum On Gender
The Spectrum/Dialogue Concept Is Key To Power

Obama 2008 is going to give birth to the grassroots power woman.

1. She realizes she has the power.
   
2. She joins and/or creates local groups.
   
3. She does not shy away from taking leadership positions.
4. She encourages other women to join.
   
5. Most important, she understands and is vocal about the premise that you don't make progress on gender by talking about the weather. You make progress on gender by talking about gender.
   
6. She feels it is okay to reach out to women in gender specific ways, both vertically and horizontally. No need to be apologetic.
   
7. She takes pride in women who have risen up in leadership positions in the grassroots movement that is Obama 2008.
8. She realizes it is bottom up, not top down.
   
9. She does events and blogs events in settings like big progressive cities so as to reach out to women in more isolated and rural settings. She sends out vibes that way. She purposely brings up for discussion workplace issues and relationship issues in mixed gender settings.
   
10. She role plays on workplace issues and relationship issues to educate the larger national audience on what's going on and what to do about what's going on. She videoblogs, photoblogs, textblogs.

In The News

Gonzales: It’s Official New York Times “I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father’s best days.” ....... a decision that took many by surprise because it flew in the face of Mr. Bush’s adamant pronouncements that he would not ask Mr. Gonzales to. ...... it was the “drip, drip, drip” of partisan politics that wore Mr. Gonzales down.
Attorney General Gonzales ResignsTheStreet.com

Greece fights fires across the country; Arson suspected in many CCTV, China fires that are sweeping across the country ... Massive fires consuming large areas of southern Greece ..... 42 fires in various parts of the country .... Arson has been blamed in several cases ... The government has declared a nationwide state of emergency.
Villagers flee as wildfires blaze across Greece PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) The worst wildfires in living memory ..... four days of raging fires sweeping across the country .... Driven by strong, hot winds and fueled by parched grass and trees, the fires have engulfed villages, forests and farmland, leaving in their wake a blackened landscape dotted with the carcasses of animals. New blazes broke out faster than others could be brought under control. ...... an explosive mixture of very adverse weather conditions, tinder-dry forests _ to an extent not seen for many years _ combined with the wild winds of the past two weeks. It's a recipe to burn the whole country. ........ From Evros in the north to the Western islands of Corfu and Kefalonia and down to the Peloponnese in the south ..... one tragedy stood out: A woman killed on Friday, her charred body found with her arms around her four children, might have been safe if she had stayed in her home. It was the only house left untouched by the flames in the village of Artemida in the western Peloponnese. ........ a fire raged out of control in Nafpaktos in the south, while another wall of flames crossed over Greece's northern border from Albania ..... Still more fires started on the island of Crete to the south and Evia, north of Athens. ..... Greek authorities have suggested arson caused many of the blazes ...... whether arson attacks could come under Greece's anti-terrorism and organized crime laws ..... one who drowned as he tried to flee the flames. ... The whole village is burning. It's been burning for three days ..... Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic games and one of the most revered ancient sites, barely escaped destruction on Sunday, when a massive firefighting effort saved the 2,800-year-old ruins from flames that were leaping up to 100 meters (300 feet) in the air. ...... Helicopters and aircraft covered the ruins with water and foam. ..... A new front of fire was also reported on the island of Evia, north of Athens. Much of the large island has already been burned. ..... In the 24 hours from 6 a.m. on Sunday until Monday morning, 89 new fires broke out

Lexington stop last on Obama itinerary Cincinnati Post two-week cross-country road trip ..... 2,200 in his final stop: Kentucky. .... "I've been on the road 12 days," Obama said during the rally at Lexington's convention center. "I've been running out of clean laundry. I won't give you the details." ....... "I'm not afraid to negotiate with anybody because I know what America stands for," he said. "We don't have to be arrogant to be strong." ..... The senator said he hoped this would be the year Kentucky would end a streak of voting for Republican presidential nominees. "You've got a Bluegrass state, how are you going to have a red state voting?" he said. "It just doesn't work." ...... The rest of his fiery stump speech was traditional Obama - no notes or podium, just wandering the stage with a microphone and delivering popular applause lines to the Democratic faithful. ...... Republican National Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson said Obama's Kentucky appearance would make no difference next fall.
Obama fires up crowd in Lexington Kentucky.com his signature high-octane style ..... Obama had the nearly 2,000 people chanting "fired up" and "ready to go" ....... 12-day U.S. tour through 60 cities ...... he said, "We need to stop using terrorism as a wedge issue." ..... came into last night's event curious and uncommitted. She said she left impressed. ...... Obama talked about the government investing in creation of an electronic record-keeping system. That could save as much as $150 billion, which could be used to lower health care costs. ...... he alluded to his disapproval of the coal mining process of mountaintop removal. .... About 500 more people than expected paid the campaign their $25 to attend. .... Robert Webb, 56, Christian Adair, 34, and Karah Sutton, 19, arrived about 3:30 p.m. for the 5:30 event and were among the first 10 in line. ... After Obama's speech, all three said the performance surpassed expectations. .... "He's idealistic without being unrealistic," said Sutton, summing up her attraction to Obama. .... His style is unlike that of any politician she's heard -- almost like that of a charismatic minister. "Not that it was preachy or religious," she said, "but that it was inspiring."

Iraqi prime minister blasts Hillary Clinton Newsday
The Buzz: Giuliani staffer blasts Thompson Kansas City Star
23 more die in monsoon floods in India's Bihar state Earthtimes.org
Fla. Dems blame GOP for DNC action Washington Times
Greek fires blaze for fourth day Reuters
French President Calls for Timed Troop Exit From Iraq Voice of America
Can Ads on YouTube Boost Google? TheStreet.com By Vishesh Kumar .... video ads could be a major source of revenue for the company a few years out. .... if advertisers begin shifting even a small fraction of their TV ad budgets into online video ads ..... the move could bring Google an additional $120 million
Bachchan delights with father's poems IndiaPost.com 'Bachchan Sandhya' at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in Manhattan, and the occasion, Harivanshrai Bachchan's centenary celebrated by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA, to coincide with the 60th Independence Day of India. ..... Amitabh was joined on the occasion by son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai ..... "He was a very simple man, born in a very poor family, struggled a lot, but remained an extremely disciplined man." The actor narrated several anecdotes from his childhood which reflected the many aspects of his father's writing prowess, strong determination and humanity.
Yahoo! Mail! Messenger! News! Text! Whatever! eFluxMedia (press release) the ability to send text messages to mobile phones from inside the Webmail’s interface. ..... Yahoo’s strategy to regain at least a part of its former online audience, from the likes of YouTube, MySpace or Facebook. ..... completed the interoperability pact with Windows Live Messenger ..... Yahoo boasts with more than 254 million Yahoo Mail accounts set up on its servers, compared to Microsoft’s only 224 million Hotmail accounts. .... "Our goal is to make (Yahoo) Mail a more social experience," John Kremer, vice president of Yahoo Mail, said in a phone interview with Reuters. "We really look at ourselves as sitting on top of the largest dormant social network out there." ...... lay the groundwork for adding more social-networking features later this year. ...... “The battle for the inbox”
Yahoo! Webmail adds new enhancements, sheds 'beta' tag The Money Times A button provided at the top of the page gives users the option to choose between sending an e-mail, chatting over IM or sending a text, or SMS, message, for free. ..... "My mother now instant messages through mail to my children. She can send messages to my son while he is at soccer practices; he carries his mobile phone everywhere." ..... Yahoo Mail offers a new intelligent shortcuts feature that enables users to quickly add an address to their contacts list or view it on a map, add an event to the calendar, and even conduct a Web search on certain terms. Several shortcuts are available for things like addresses, places, dates, contact information, etc. that are underlined with blue dots. Users can call up the short-cut action by hovering over and right-clicking those underlined items. ..... The new version of Yahoo Mail that comes out of beta on Monday is the most significant overhaul of the web-based e-mail service since it was launched a decade ago. ..... AOL, the fourth largest e-mail provider that already is offering unlimited storage for free. ..... Earlier this month Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it would raise Hotmail free storage cap from 2 to 5 gigabytes. Likewise, on August, 10, Mountain View-based Google announced a major storage upgrade for its worldwide active Gmail and Picasa users by increasing the storage limit from standard 1GB free storage for Picasa and 2.8GB for Gmail to up to 250GB of storage, which Google will offer for a fee.
Yahoo Updates Mail PC World