Manolo thenked, whose shoes?
Manolo answers, it is the Kelly Clarkson!
Congratulations to the Manolo’s internet friends Klee and Cat! Klee because she wthen the first to answer, and Cat who wthen the second to answer, but because Klee’s correct early answer wthen held in the spam filter until late lthent night, Cat appeared to be the first for most of the day. And, if you are confused by the logic behind this, do not fret, so is the Manolo.
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Joe Miller Tepid Again With Palin Endorsement, Says She's Qualified Constitutionally (VIDEO)
— A day after internal emails leaked showing that Sarah Palin's political team, led by her husband Todd, was furious about Senate candidate Joe Miller's failure to endorse her hypothetical presidential ambitions, Miller was granted a chance to make amends.
But for the second time in a month, Miller offered something that will be interpreted as well short of enthusiasm for the prospect of a Palin run at the White House. Appearing on Fox News, the Tea Party backed candidate declined to answer a yes or no question as to whether Palin is qualified for the office of president. When he relented, it was with noticeable nuance.
"We know what qualified means don't we? We know we have a constitutional requirement for somebody that's going to run for president. Of course, she is qualified."
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Arguing that Palin is constitutionally qualified to hold office is far different from championing her as the best person for the job. And Miller's failure to move closer to the latter (while sticking to the former) reflects a remarkable willingness to not budge from his original position.
Back in mid-September, the Senate candidate was asked, in another interview with Fox, whether Palin was "qualified to be president."
"That's not my role to comment on those candidates," Miller replied.
Todd Palin did not take the non-endorsement well. The first dude fired off an email the next morning to Miller and Palin advisers Tim Crawford and Thomas Van Flein.
"Hold off on any letter for Joe," Todd Palin wrote. "Sarah put her ass on the line for Joe and yet he can't answer a simple question ' is Sarah Palin Qualified to be President'. I DON'T KNOW IF SHE IS.
"Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided.
"Sarah spent all morning working on a Face Book post for Joe, she won't use it, not now.
"Put yourself in her shoe's Joe for one day."
On Wednesday, Miller scoffed at the idea that there was any friction between him and Palin -- whose early endorsement of his candidacy helped propel the upset victory over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
"I'll tell you the exact same thing that I just said this last week while was in D.C., that is, if she puts her name in the hat, and that's totally up to her, there are a number of others that are there as well. Any one of those would make a far better presidential candidate than what we have right now in the Oval Office," Miller said. "But her decision to run is hers alone. It's not our decision as to whether or not she runs. It certainly is a sideline to what's going on right now in Alaska. And we aren't going to fall into the trap again that the media is trying to plan to create this as being some sort of a struggle between the Murkowskis and the Palins."
US Foreign Policy Document: Hillary Clinton Proclaims American Leadership for Decades to Come (8 ...
— Hillary Clintons speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday:
Although many in Washington and around the country are just coming off their summer vacations, events of the past few weeks have kept us busy. We are working to support direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, and next week I will travel to Egypt and Jerusalem for the second round of negotiations. In Iraq, where our combat mission has ended, we are transitioning to a civilian-led partnership. We are stepping up international pressure on Iran to negotiate seriously on its nuclear program. We are working with Pakistan as it recovers from devastating floods and combats violent extremism. And of course the war in Afghanistan is always at the top of the agenda.
None of these challenges exist in isolation. Consider the Middle East peace talks. At one level, they are bilateral negotiations involving two peoples and a relatively small strip of land. But step back and it becomes clear how important the regional dimensions of the peace process are, what a significant role institutions like the Quartet and the Arab League are playing, and how vital American participation really is.
Solving foreign policy problems today requires us to think regionally and globally, to see the intersections and connections linking nations and regions and interests, and to bring people together as only America can.
The world is counting on us. When old adversaries need an honest broker or fundamental freedoms need a champion, people turn to us. When the earth shakes or rivers overflow their banks, when pandemics rage or simmering tensions burst into violence, the world looks to us. I see it on the faces of the people I meet as I travel not just the young people who dream about Americas promise of opportunity and equality, but also seasoned diplomats and political leaders. They see the principled commitment and can-do spirit that comes with American engagement. And they look to America not just to engage, but to lead.
Nothing makes me prouder than to represent this great nation in the far corners of the world. I am the daughter of a man who grew up in the Depression and trained young sailors to fight in the Pacific. I am the mother of a young woman who is part of a generation of Americans who are engaging the world in new and exciting ways. I have seen the promise and progress of America with my own eyes, and today my faith in our people has never been stronger.
I know these are difficult days for many Americans, but difficulty and adversity have never defeated or deflated our country. Throughout our history, Americans have always risen to the challenges we have faced. Thats who we are. Its what we do.
Now, after years of war and uncertainty, people are wondering what the future holds, at home and abroad.
So let me say it clearly: The United States can, must, and will lead in this new century.
Indeed, the complexities and connections of todays world have yielded a new American Moment. A moment when our global leadership is essential, even if we must often lead in new ways. A moment when those things that make us who we are as a nation our openness and innovation, our determination, and devotion to core values have never been needed more.
This is a moment that must be seized through hard work and bold decisions to lay the foundations for lasting American leadership for decades to come.
Now, this is no argument for America to go it alone. Far from it. The world looks to us because America has the reach and resolve to mobilize the shared effort needed to solve problems on a global scale in defense of our own interests, but also as a force for progress. In this we have no rival.
For the United States, global leadership is both a responsibility and an unparalleled opportunity.
A New Global Architecture
When I came to the Council on Foreign Relations a little over a year ago to discuss the Obama Administrations vision of American leadership in a changing world, I called for a new global architecture that could help nations come together as partners to solve shared problems. Today Id like to expand on this idea, but especially to explain how we are putting it into practice.
Architecture is the art and science of designing structures that serve our common purposes, built to last and withstand stress. Thats what we seek to build a network of alliances and partnerships, regional organizations and global institutions, that is durable and dynamic enough to help us meet todays challenges and adapt to threats that we cannot even conceive of, just as our parents never dreamt of melting glaciers or dirty bombs.
We know this can be done, because President Obamas predecessors in the White House and mine in the State Department did it before. After the Second World War, the nation that had built the transcontinental railroad, the assembly line and the skyscraper turned its attention to constructing the pillars of global cooperation. The third World War that so many feared never came. And many millions of people were lifted out of poverty and exercised their human rights for the first time. Those were the benefits of a global architecture forged over many years by American leaders from both political parties.
But this architecture served a different time and a different world. As President Obama has said, today it is buckling under the weight of new threats. The major powers are at peace, but new actors good and bad are increasingly shaping international affairs. The challenges we face are more complex than ever, and so are the responses needed to meet them.
That is why we are building a global architecture that reflects and harnesses the realities of the 21st century.
We know that alliances, partnerships and institutions cannot solve problems by themselves. People and nations solve problems. But an architecture can make it easier to act effectively by supporting the coalition-forging and compromise-building that is the daily fare of diplomacy. It can make it easier to identify common interests and convert them to common action. And it can help integrate emerging powers into an international community with clear obligations and expectations.
We have no illusions that our goals can be achieved overnight, or that countries will suddenly cease to have divergent interests. We know that the test of our leadership is how we manage those differences and how we galvanize nations and peoples around their commonalities even when they have diverse histories, unequal resources, and competing world-views. And we know that our approach to solving problems must vary from issue to issue and partner to partner. American leadership must be as dynamic as the challenges we face.
But there are two constants of our leadership, which lie at the heart of the Presidents National Security Strategy released in May, and run through everything we do:
First, national renewal aimed at strengthening the sources of American power, especially our economic might and moral authority. This is about more than ensuring we have the resources we need to conduct foreign policy, although that is important. When I was a young girl, I was stirred by President Eisenhowers assertion that education would help us win the Cold War. That we needed to invest in our people and their talents. He was right. Americas greatness has always flowed in large part from the dynamism of our economy and the creativity of our country. Today, more than ever, our ability to exercise global leadership depends on building a strong foundation at home. Thats why rising debt and crumbling infrastructure pose very real long-term national security threats. President Obama understands this you can see it in the new economic initiatives he announced this week and in his relentless focus on turning our economy around.
The second constant is international diplomacy aimed at rallying nations to solve common problems and achieve shared aspirations. As Dean Acheson put it in 1951, the ability to evoke support from others is quite as important as the capacity to compel. To this end we have repaired old alliances and forged new partnerships. We have strengthened institutions that provide incentives for cooperation, disincentives for sitting on the sidelines, and defenses against those who would undermine global progress. And we have championed the values that are at the core of the American character.
Now there should be no mistake: this Administration is also committed to maintaining the greatest military in the history of the world and, if needed, to vigorously defending our friends and ourselves.
After more than a year and a half, we have begun to see the dividends of our strategy. We are advancing Americas interests and making progress on some of our most pressing challenges. Today we can say with confidence that this model of American leadership works, and that it offers our best hope in a dangerous world.
Id like to outline several steps we are taking to implement this strategy.
Our Closest Allies
First, we have turned to our closest allies, the nations that share our most fundamental values and interests and our commitment to solving common problems. From Europe and North America to East Asia and the Pacific, we are renewing and deepening the alliances that are the cornerstone of global security and prosperity.
Let me say a few words about Europe in particular. In November, I was privileged to help mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which closed the door on Europes broken past. And this summer in Poland, we marked the 10th anniversary of the Community of Democracies, which looked ahead to a bright future. At both events, I was reminded how far we have come together. What strength we draw from the common wellspring of our values and aspirations. The bonds between Europe and America were forged through war and watchful peace, but they are rooted in our shared commitment to freedom, democracy and human dignity.
Today we are working with our allies there on nearly every global challenge. President Obama and I have reached out to strengthen both our bilateral and multilateral ties in Europe.
The post-Lisbon EU [European Union] is developing an expanded global role, and our relationship is growing and changing as a result. There will be complications as we adjust to influential new players such as the EU Parliament, but these are debates among friends that will always be secondary to the fundamental interests and values we share. And there is no doubt that a stronger EU is good for America and good for the world.
NATO remains the worlds most successful alliance. And together with our allies, including new NATO members in Central and Eastern Europe, we are crafting a new Strategic Concept that will help it meet not only traditional threats but also emerging challenges such as cyber security and nuclear proliferation. Just yesterday, President Obama and I discussed these issues with NATO Secretary General Rasmussen. After the United States was attacked on 9/11, our allies invoked Article V of the NATO charter for the first time. They joined us in the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. And after President Obama refocused the mission in Afghanistan, they contributed thousands of new troops and significant technical assistance. We honor the sacrifices our allies continue to make, and recognize that we are always strongest when we work together.
A core principle of all our alliances is shared responsibility each nation stepping up to do its part. American leadership does not mean we do everything ourselves. We contribute our share, often the largest share, but we also have high expectations of the governments and peoples we work with.
Investing in Developing Partners
Helping other nations develop the capacity to solve their own problems and participate in solving shared problems has long been a hallmark of American leadership. Our contributions to the reconstruction of Europe, to the transformation of Japan and Germany from aggressors into allies, to the growth of South Korea into a vibrant democracy contributing to global progress, these are some of our proudest achievements.
In this interconnected age, Americas security and prosperity depends more than ever on the ability of others around the world to take responsibility for defusing threats and meeting challenges within their own countries and regions.
That is why the second step in our strategy for global leadership is to help build the capacity of developing partners. To help countries obtain the tools and support they need to solve their own problems and help solve our common problems. To help people lift themselves, their families, and their societies out of poverty, away from extremism, and toward sustainable progress. The Obama Administration views development as a strategic, economic, and moral imperative as central to advancing American interests as diplomacy and defense.
Our approach is not development for developments sake; it is an integrated strategy for solving problems. Look at the work to build institutions and spur economic development in the Palestinian territories. The United States invests hundreds of millions of dollars to build Palestinian capacity because we know that progress on the ground will improve security, help lay the foundation for a future Palestinian state, and create more favorable conditions for negotiations. Think about our efforts to empower women and girls around the world. This is the right thing to do, of course, but it is also rooted in the understanding that when women are accorded rights and afforded opportunities, they drive social and economic progress that benefits us all. Similarly, our investments in places such as Bangladesh and Ghana are bets on a future where more and more countries will be capable of contributing to solving problems in their regions and beyond.
Engaging Emerging Centers of Influence
We must also take into account those countries that are growing rapidly and already playing more influential roles in their regions and in global affairs, such as China and India, Turkey, Mexico and Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, as well as Russia, as it redefines its own role in the world.
Our third major step has been to deepen engagement with these emerging centers of influence. We and our allies indeed people everywhere have a stake in their playing constructive regional and global roles. Being a 21st century power means accepting a share of the burden of solving common problems. It also means abiding by a set of rules of the road, everything from intellectual property rights to fundamental freedoms. So through expanded bilateral consultation and within the context of regional and global institutions, we look to these nations to assume greater responsibility.
The emerging powers represent a spectrum of interests and values. India, for instance, is the worlds largest democracy, a country with which the United States shares fundamental values and a broad range of national interests. That convergence of values and interests has helped us to lay the foundation of an indispensable partnership. President Obama will use his visit in November to take our relationship to the next level.
With Russia, we took office amid talk of cooling relations and a return to Cold War suspicion. This invigorated spy novelists and arm chair strategists. But anyone serious about solving global problems such as nuclear proliferation knew that without Russia and the United States working together, little would be achieved. So we refocused the relationship on mutual respect, interest and responsibility. The results speak for themselves: a historic new arms reduction treaty, which the Senate must pass this fall; cooperation along with China in the UN Security Council on tough new sanctions against Iran and North Korea; a transit agreement to support our effort in Afghanistan; a new Bilateral Presidential Commission and civil society exchange that are forging closer people-to-people ties. And, as we were reminded this summer, the spy novelists still have plenty to write about.
Working with these emerging powers is not always smooth or easy. Disagreements over policies and priorities are inevitable. On certain issues, such as human rights with China or Russian occupation of Georgia, we simply do not see eye to eye and the United States will not hesitate to speak out and stand our ground. When these nations do not accept the responsibility that accrues with their expanding influence, we will use all the tools at our disposal to encourage them to change course while we will press ahead with other partners.
But we know that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to solve many of the worlds biggest problems without the cooperation of these nations. So our goal is to establish long-lasting positive and productive relationships that can survive the times when we do not agree and enable us to continue working together on shared challenges.
A central element of our approach is to engage directly with the people of these nations and indeed with foreign publics around the world. Technology and the spread of democracy have empowered people around the world to speak up and demand a say in their own future. Public opinions and passions matter, even in authoritarian states. So in nearly every country I visit, I dont just meet with government officials. In Russia, I did an interview on one of the few independent radio stations. In Saudi Arabia, I held a town hall at a womens college. And in Pakistan, I answered questions from every journalist, student and business leader we could find.
Strengthening Regional Architecture
While we expand our relations with emerging centers of influence and developing nations, we are also working to engage them in effective regional frameworks and global institutions that encourage constructive contributions.
Few, if any, of todays challenges can be understood or solved without working through a regional context. Think about the complex regional dynamics surrounding the fight against violent extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan or the process of reintegrating Iraq into its neighborhood.
Nor can we expect regional dynamics to remain static. Countries like China and Brazil have their own notions about what regional institutions should look like, and they are busy pursuing those ideas. Our friends and allies depend on us to remain robustly engaged and to help chart the way forward.
So the fourth key step in our strategy has been to reinvigorate Americas commitment to be an active transatlantic, Pacific and hemispheric leader. In a series of speeches and through ongoing consultations and discussions with partners from Europe to the Americas to the Asia-Pacific, we have laid out core principles for regional cooperation and worked to strengthen institutions that can adapt to new circumstances.
Lets examine the Asia-Pacific region. When we took office, there was a perception fair or not that America was absent. So the Obama Administration made it clear from the beginning that the United States was back. We reaffirmed our bonds with close allies like South Korea, Japan and Australia. We also deepened our regional engagement with China, and with India, which we see as a vital Asian democracy.
The Asia-Pacific has few robust institutions to foster effective cooperation, build trust, and reduce the friction of competition. So with our partners, we began working to build a more coherent regional architecture that will strengthen both economic and political ties.
On the economic front, we have expanded our relationship with APEC, which includes four of Americas top trading partners and receives 60 percent of our exports. As President Obama has said, to realize the benefits from greater economic integration, we must implement policies that promote balanced and sustainable growth. To this end, we are working to ratify a free trade agreement with South Korea and pursuing a regional agreement with the nations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, efforts that will create new opportunities for American companies and support new jobs at home.
On the political front, we are engaging with the East Asia Summit, encouraging its development into a foundational security and political institution for the region, capable of resolving disputes and preventing them before they arise. I will be representing the United States at this years EAS in Hanoi, leading up to presidential participation in 2011.
In Southeast Asia, ASEAN is home to nearly 600 million people and more U.S. business investment than China. We have bolstered our relationship by signing the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, announcing our intention to open a mission and name an ambassador to ASEAN in Jakarta, and holding annual U.S.-ASEAN Summits.
As the Asia-Pacific region continues to grow in importance and influence, developing these regional institutions and establishing new habits of cooperation will be vital to stability and prosperity.
Global Institutions for the 21st Century
Effective institutions are just as crucial at a global level, where the challenges are even more complex and the partners even more diverse.
So our fifth step has been to reengage with global institutions and begin modernizing them to meet the evolving challenges of the 21st century. We need institutions that are flexible, inclusive, and complementary, instead of competing with one another for jurisdiction. Institutions that encourage nations to play productive roles, that marshal common efforts, and enforce the system of rights and responsibilities that binds us all.
The United Nations remains the single most important global institution and we are constantly reminded of its value: The Security Council enacting sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Peacekeepers patrolling the streets of Monrovia and Port-au-Prince. Aid workers assisting flood victims in Pakistan and displaced people in Darfur. And, most recently, the UN General Assembly establishing a new entity -UN Women-which will promote gender equality, expand opportunity for women and girls, and tackle the violence and discrimination they face.
But we are also constantly reminded of its limitations. It is difficult for the UNs 192 Member States, with their diverse perspectives and interests, to achieve consensus on institutional reform, especially reforming the Security Council itself. The United States believes that the Council must be able to react to and reflect todays world. We favor Security Council reform that enhances the UNs overall performance, effectiveness and efficiency to meet the challenges of the new century. We equally and strongly support operational reforms that enable UN field missions to deploy more rapidly, with adequate numbers of well-equipped and well-trained troops and police they often lack, and with the quality of leadership and civilian expertise they require. And we will continue to embrace and advocate management reforms that lead to efficiencies and savings and that prevent waste, fraud and abuse.
The UN was never intended to tackle every challenge, nor should it. So when appropriate, we are working with our partners to establish new venues and organizations to focus on specific problems. To respond to the global financial crisis, we elevated the G-20. We also convened the first-ever Nuclear Security Summit. New or old, the effectiveness of institutions depends on the commitment of their members. President Obama has reaffirmed our commitment and we have encouraged other nations to do the same.
Our efforts on climate change offer a good example of how we are working through multiple venues and mechanisms to advance our goals. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process allows all of us developed and developing, north and south, east and west to work within a single venue to meet this shared challenge. But we also launched the Major Economies Forum to focus on the biggest emitters. And when negotiations in Copenhagen reached an impasse, President Obama led our team into a meeting of key leaders that included China, India, South Africa, and Brazil working with them and our colleagues from Europe and elsewhere to fashion a deal that, while far from perfect, saved the summit from failure and represents progress we can build on in the future. For the first time, all major economies made national commitments to curb carbon emissions and report with transparency on their mitigation efforts.
An Architecture of Values
As we strengthen and modernize regional and global institutions, the United States is also working to cement democracy, human rights, and the rule of law into their foundations. To construct an architecture of values that spans the globe and includes every man, woman and child. An architecture that can not only counter repression and resist pressure on human rights, but also extend those fundamental freedoms to places where they have been too long denied.
This is our sixth major step. We are upholding and defending the universal values that are enshrined in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Today these principles are under threat. In too many places, new democracies are struggling to grow strong roots. Authoritarian regimes are cracking down on civil society and pluralism. Some leaders see democracy as an inconvenience that gets in the way of the efficient exercise of national power.
This world-view must be confronted and challenged. Democracy needs defending. The struggle to make human rights a human reality needs champions.
This work starts at home, where we have rejected the false choice between our security and our ideals. It continues around the world, where human rights are always on our diplomatic and development agendas, even with nations on whose cooperation we depend for a wide range of issues, such as Egypt, China and Russia. We are also committed to defending these values on the digital frontiers of the 21st century. And in Krakow this summer, I announced the creation of a new fund to support civil society and embattled NGOs around the world. This will continue to be a focus of U.S. foreign policy going forward.
Iran Sanctions: Our Strategy in Action
Now, how do all of these steps deepening relations with allies and emerging powers, strengthening institutions and shared values how do they work together to advance our interests? One need only look at our diplomatic effort to stop Irans provocative nuclear activities and its serial non-compliance with all of its international obligations. There is a still a lot of work to be done, but how we are approaching the Iranian challenge is an example of American leadership in action.
First, we began by making the United States a full partner and active participant in international diplomatic efforts regarding Iran. Through our continued willingness to engage Iran directly, we have re-energized the conversation with our allies and are removing easy excuses for lack of progress.
Second, we have sought to frame this issue within the global non-proliferation regime in which the rules of the road are clearly defined for all parties. To lead by example, we have renewed our own disarmament efforts. Our deepened support for global institutions such as the IAEA underscores the authority of the international system of rights and responsibilities. Iran, on the other hand, continues to single itself out through its own actions. Its intransigence represents a challenge to the rules to which all countries must adhere.
Third, we continue to strengthen relationships with those countries whose help we need if diplomacy is to be successful. Through classic shoe-leather diplomacy, we have built a broad consensus that will welcome Iran back into the community of nations if it meets its obligations and likewise will hold Iran accountable to its obligations if it continues its defiance.
This spring, the UN Security Council passed the strongest and most comprehensive set of sanctions ever on Iran. The European Union has followed up with robust implementation of that resolution. Many other nations are implementing their own additional measures, including Australia, Canada, Norway and most recently Japan. We believe Iran is only just beginning to feel the full impact of sanctions. Beyond what governments are doing, the international financial and commercial sectors are also starting to recognize the risks of doing business with Iran.
Sanctions and pressure are not ends in themselves. They are the building blocks of leverage for a negotiated solution, to which we and our partners remain committed. The choice for Irans leaders is clear, even if they attempt to obfuscate and avoid it: Meet the responsibilities incumbent upon all nations and enjoy the benefits of integration into the international community, or continue to flout your obligations and accept increasing isolation and costs. Iran now must decide for itself.
Conclusion
Our task going forward is to take all that I have discussed today and make it lasting.
To help achieve this goal, America needs the tools and capacity to do the work Ive described. So we are strengthening every aspect of our civilian power. Congress already has appropriated funds for more than 1,100 new Foreign and Civil service officers. USAID has begun a series of reforms that will reestablish it as the worlds premier development agency. Across the board, we need to rethink, reform, and recalibrate. And in a time of tight budgets, we must ensure our resources are spent wisely. That is why I launched the first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, or QDDR, a wholesale review of State and USAID to recommend how we can better equip, fund, and organize ourselves to meet the worlds challenges in the years ahead. I will be talking much more about this in the coming weeks and months as this review is completed.
We recognize the scope of the efforts we have undertaken. And looking at our agenda, reasonable observers may question how we can handle so many problems at once. The first answer is that, as Ive described today, we are not trying to do it alone. One of the central purposes of the strategy were pursuing is to build relationships and institutions that encourage others to step up.
But I would also ask: Which of our great challenges today can be placed on the back burner? Are we going to tell our grandchildren that we failed to stop climate change because our plate was just too full? Or nuclear proliferation? That we gave up on democracy and human rights? That is not what Americans do.
Now, all of this requires what we call strategic patience. Long after our troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, our diplomatic and development assistance and support for the Afghan security forces will continue. Ridding the world of nuclear dangers, turning back climate change, ending poverty, hunger and disease this is the work not of a year, or a presidency, or even a lifetime. This is the work of generations.
America is up to the job. We will seize this new moment of opportunity this new American Moment. We are a nation that has always believed we have the power to shape our own destiny, to cut a new and better path. This administration will do everything we can to exercise the best traditions of American leadership at home and abroad to build a more peaceful and prosperous future for our children and children everywhere.
HUFFPOST HILL - JULY 7TH, 2010
— We pity the motion to recommit-loving snoozers who think recess is boring, especially when there's a slew of outside-the-beltway news keeping us entertained. We continue to drink from the well of Alvin Greene, whose economic platform involves giving Barbie and Ken a run for their money. Speaking of outside-the-box policy ideas, the Louisiana legislature's plan to pray against the oil spill is being supplemented by a Bobby Jindal proposal to allow churchgoers to arm themselves. Join us in giving our newest polling experts from Pollster.com a big, within the margin of error, welcome. This is HUFFPOST HILL for July 7th, 2010:
EXCLUSIVE: BILL CLINTON COMMITS NEXT THREE YEARS TO HAITI - Esquire's upcoming cover story, an in-depth profile of Bill Clinton, hits the web tomorrow and features the ex-POTUS laying out his plans for the future. "I don't want to be naive. It's going to be a stretch. It'll be hard, but I'm excited about it. Enough so that after a couple of heart incidents and being sixty-three years old, I am prepared to spend three years on it. They want the right things for their country." He talks about changing the dialogue about Haiti away from "rebuilt." "Now I say built," he says.
OECD BLASTS U.S. FOR UNEMPLOYMENT - Shahien Nasiripour: "An international economic organization criticized the U.S. Congress on Wednesday for allowing extended unemployment benefits to lapse, a move that thus far has cut off more than two million Americans from critical cash during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In its report on the world's employment outlook, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development noted that a 'particularly worrisome feature' of America's deep recession is the high number of workers who have been unemployed for more than six months. Nearly half of the unemployed fall into this category, while more than one in four has been unemployed for longer than a year, the Paris-based OECD noted in its report."
Arthur Delaney explores the plight of the long term unemployed and the lawmakers who think they're lazy: http://huff.to/a5hjT2
HUFFPOST HIRING - Were looking four a copy editor for or DC office. Candidate must be able to edit alot of copy, have a working knowlidge of national politics, Send resume and references to nico@huffingtonpost.com. (Seriously. We're really hiring.)
ALL YOUR POLLS ARE BELONG TO US - Yes, it's true: HuffPost has acquired Pollster.com to improve our ongoing political coverage. Pollster.com's Mark Blumenthal on the move: "I will have much more to add later, but for now let me just say how excited we are to join forces with Huffington Post, as the change will ultimately super-charge everything we do. If you are a fan of Pollster.com, I assure you that what you like will stay the same, including our mission, editorial voice and commitment to providing a forum for better understanding poll results, survey methods and the polling controversies of the day. What will improve will be the overall quality of our site, the power of our interactive charting tools and even greater efforts to promote transparency and disclosure of polling methods." http://bit.ly/cMZ4gc
DEMOCRATS AT ODDS OVER CMS NOMINATION - Last night the White House announced it will elevate, in a recess appointment, Dr. Donald Berwick to lead the agency charged with overseeing Medicare and Medicaid. Today, the president's party can't get its story straight.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus bristled at the appointment: "Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power and protects Montanans and all Americans by ensuring that crucial questions are asked of the nominee -- and answered," he said in a statement. The Dems' top two Reps. on Ways and Means, Sandy Levin and Pete Stark, disagreed. "A recess appointment of Dr. Berwick is necessary as Senate Republicans continue putting partisan politics ahead of the country's needs," the two said in a joint statement.
Kos: "Max Baucus proves, yet again, that he's a major obstacle to any improvement in our nation's health care system." http://bit.ly/az9fOb
GOP TO UNVEIL JOBS AGENDA THIS FALL - The Hill: "Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) has been charged with putting together the section on jobs, which Republicans see as a unifying policy position for a conference that unanimously rejected President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus package last year...Republicans hope to rally around a new document modeled after the 1994 GOP 'Contract With America,' which helped the party regain control of the House for the first time in 40 years...Over the recess, Republicans have been asked to hold town halls to collect information and ideas from their constituents that could be incorporated into the new document." Polling consistently shows voters want more spending on job creation. We're guessing that's not what Roskam has in mind. http://bit.ly/cL1GWY
Contractors With America: The GOP will also be looking to industry groups for policy suggestions. Jackie Kucinich in Roll Call: "House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) have invited senior Republican lobbyists and top officials from several large trade groups to the Capitol next week to provide their suggestions for a new GOP agenda...An e-mail invitation sent to more than 20 trade representatives and obtained by Roll Call summoned guests to Boehner's second-floor office on July 16 'to discuss House Republican efforts to produce a new policy agenda with a small group of trade association leaders.'" http://bit.ly/dhdBvh
TOMORROW'S PAPERS TODAY - Washington Post: E.J. Dionne Jr. defends Michael Steele on Afghanistan and criticizes Democrats who went after him for being unpatriotic. This is dangerous stuff in a democracy, Dionne writes. It's also dangerous stuff from a party that rightly insisted only a few years ago that it could oppose an administration's foreign policy on thoroughly patriotic grounds (http://wapo.st/cU3YbX) -- AND -- David S. Broder contends that for all the publicity that goes to earmarks and other spending gimmicks, the House's passage of a one-year budget resolution rather than the normal five-year blueprint was a far worse dereliction of duty. And the cynicism of the maneuver just made it worse, he says.
MCCAIN OPPOSES KAGAN, SUN TO RISE IN EAST TOMORROW, POPE STILL CATHOLIC - In a move that might finalize J.D. "Huckster" Hayworth's return to the infomercial racket, John McCain is opposing Elena Kagan's nomination. "In 1987, I had my first opportunity to provide 'advice and consent' on a Supreme Court nominee. At that time, I stated that the qualifications essential for evaluating a nominee for the bench included 'integrity, character, legal competence and ability, experience, and philosophy and judicial temperament.' On that test, Elena Kagan fails," he wrote in a USA Today op-ed out this afternoon. Ouch! http://bit.ly/cixkEZ
WHITE HOUSE STANDS BY DOJ SUIT AGAINST ARIZONA - At his daily briefing today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reiterated the Obama administration's opposition to Arizona's "Oh-hey-while-we-have-you-for-that-broken-turn-signal" law. "The President believes that we filed a strong case based on the fact that you can't have 50 states making a patchwork of immigration decisions," Gibbs said, adding: "The President wasn't elected to do what was popular; he was elected to do what's right." Greg Sargent in Plum Line: http://bit.ly/9b0cRI
"The president believes [LeBron James] would look quite good in a Bulls uniform." - Robert Gibbs.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has canceled a meeting of U.S. and Mexican border governors scheduled for later this year. The six Mexican governors refused to attend in the wake of Arizona's immigration law. http://bit.ly/dooyfU
And here we thought crude oil was the scariest thing rushing towards the Florida border: Florida's legislature is considering a measure similar to Arizona's immigration law. St. Petersburg Times: "Under the proposed law, criminal suspects and traffic law violators would need to show proof of legal residency if questioned. Insufficient documentation could result in a trip to a local federal detention center...Opponents, however, maintain that an Arizona-style solution to Florida's sprawling illegal population will do more harm than good. They raise the specter of tourism boycotts and say the state's many Latin American business partners could interpret the law as an unfriendly, or, worse, racist gesture. They also argue that overwhelmed police might have less time to pursue violent suspects and that undocumented workers could move further into secret underworlds of illegal employment." http://bit.ly/cYYDmY
Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
CBO SAYS CLIMATE BILL WILL REDUCE DEFICIT - We're not exactly sure where Joe Lieberman was with all the CBO talk when he was opposing the public option but then again Aetna doesn't care quite as much about pollution, now do they? From Lieberman and John Kerry's statement after the CBO released its findings on their bill: "Today, the Congressional Budget Office has sent Congress a powerful message: our comprehensive energy and climate bill will slash America's deficit by over $19 billion [over ten years] ," said Sens. Kerry and Lieberman. "There is no more room for excuses - this must be our year to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation and begin to send a price signal on carbon. Many of our colleagues have said they flatly oppose anything that adds a penny to the deficit, so we hope they look anew at this initiative which reduces it." Senatus: http://bit.ly/cYDR6l
HAWAII'S GOVERNOR VETOS CIVIL RIGHTS BILL - Politico: "Hawaii Republican Gov. Linda Lingle on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have provided gay civil union couples with the same benefits married couples receive. Lingle's announcement ended months of speculation over her decision on the bill, which was approved by the state legislature in April. Lingle's veto came on the final day on which she could either sign or veto the bill...'Although the legislature passed bills they believe are important, I have the final responsibility to ensure that any new law is constitutional, fiscally responsible and in the best interest of the state,' the governor added." http://politi.co/dpGZuH
BP is getting preferential treatment over Lindsay Lohan, says the lawyer suing BP. Lucia Graves: "'You have an individual like Lindsay Lohan, who violates their probation and their probation gets revoked and they go to jail. BP violates their probation and nothing happens,' David Perry told ABC News. It's not a good lesson to teach our children.' In 2005 Perry sued BP over another fatal explosion, this one at an oil refinery in Texas City. Upon be found guilty of a felony, the oil giant was sentenced to a three-year probationary period, which they've ignored. Corporations have won the right to be treated as citizens, but that only extends to the privileges of citizenship and not the responsibilities."
BP has spent at least $5.6 million on its post-spill print ad campaign. "Just how much? Greenpeace kept track of BP's ads throughout June and came up with a rundown of how much they likely cost. The company ran 12 ads in the Times, 15 in the Washington Post, and 11 in USA Today." MoJo: http://bit.ly/cx2ukx
@GlennThrush: Obama will go to Gulf again in next few weeks--first lady and biden to go sooner, gibbs says.
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a monkey in a dress spinning around in a chair... there's music, too: http://bit.ly/cbjb1F
IT IS STILL VERY, VERY HOT OUTSIDE - "At the National Zoo in Washington, pandas and other animals get homemade frozen fruit popsicles to help stay cool. Zoo spokeswoman Karin Korpowski-Gallo said most animals also have access to air-conditioned indoor enclosures. The others have shady spots where they can rest. Amanda Bania, the zoo's great ape keeper, said apes in captivity are accustomed to having access to air conditioning -- even species that hail from the tropics. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for Washington until 11 p.m. Temperatures are expected to teeter around 100 degrees." AP: http://bit.ly/cYAfPj
@kendramarr: Great marketing -- Dr. Pepper giving out free cold beverages outside Farragut North all week #heatwave
ALVIN GREENE SEES YOUR SO-CALLED STIMULUS AND RAISES YOU ALVIN GREENE DOLLS - In an interview with the Guardian, upstart South Carolina Senate candidate Alvin Greene (D-Those Secret Levels In Super Mario World Where All The Koopa Troopas Are Blue And Yellow) says he's going to stimulate the economy by jump-starting the Alvin Greene figurines industry: "Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays," Greene said. "Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That's something that would create jobs. So you see I think out of the box like that. It's not something a typical person would bring up. That's something that could happen, that makes sense. It's not a joke." http://bit.ly/cxFYf2
Our favorite thing about this Sharron Angle spot isn't that the group behind the ad misspelled her name (despite it featuring campaign signs properly spelling "Sharron") or that it distorts Angle's views on Social Security, what really tickles us is the photo of Harry Reid at the end in which he appears to be wearing a giant hat. TPM: http://bit.ly/cX1Mpy
Big Pharma's up in the air in Nevada, backing Harry Reid. The drugmakers remember who their friends were during the health care debate. http://bit.ly/dihV8r
DAVID VITTER FACING CRITICISM FOR SHELTERING ABUSIVE AIDE - David Vitter, who already has a rocky history on women's human rights issues after being caught up in a prostituion scandal, continued to employ a staffer for two years after he pleaded guilty to stabbing an ex-girlfriend. He's been laying low, but popped up today to deny that the staffer handled women's issues -- a denial that is false. ABC: "Beth Meeks, the [Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence's] executive director, said in an interview that she had been in Washington in June just before news of the incident went public and that Vitter had assigned Furer to meet with her to discuss the senator's views on domestic violence legislation." http://bit.ly/dCOHXu
Harry Reid isn't the only Senate leader with approval problems back home. A new PPP poll finds Mitch McConnell's popularity among Kentuckians is falling. Politics Daily's Bruce Drake highlights the poll: "Forty-eight percent turn thumbs-down on McConnell's performance while 34 percent give it a positive vote, with 19 percent undecided. Forty-nine percent don't want to see him continue as GOP Senate leader in the next Congress while 38 percent do, with 13 percent undecided. But voters are evenly split on whether his leadership tole benefits the state, with 44 percent saying that it does while 43 percent disagree, with 14 percent undecided." http://bit.ly/c4bvcY
BOBBY JINDAL SIGNS BILL ALLOWING GUNS IN CHURCH - Give us this, our daily Beretta 391 gas-operated semi-automatic shotguns. Jason Linkins: "Governor Bobby Jindal has recently signed into law a measure that would allow you to at least feel comforted by the presence of your gun, in the house of the Lord... The Times-Picayune notes that the same law permitting houses of worship to gun up also allows them 'hire off-duty police or security guards to protect congregants,' which, on balance, would seem to be the saner option." http://huff.to/a8Sdig
Rush Limbaugh said on his July 2 radio show that he believes Obama tanked the economy on purpose, both as 'payback' for 230 years of racial oppression and because Obama simply doesn't like America. Now there's a reelection strategy! Limbaugh's new favorite Huffin and Puffington reporter Laura Bassett: http://huff.to/93WZva
CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, Octavia Nasr, has resigned following her tweet praising a prominent Hezbollah leader who died. We blame Journolist. Village Voice: http://bit.ly/aUaFI7
JEREMY THE INTERN'S WEATHER REPORT - Tonight: Hot and humid. It will not be pleasant, especially in the District or other urban areas. If you've never heard of the "heat island," here is the quick explanation: concrete and buildings absorb heat all day. The streets, sidewalks and houses are not quick to release the heat, meaning that it will remain hotter in the denser areas. Tomorrow: Sweet relief? I doubt it. Although the forecast calls for isolated thunderstorms, the important note is "isolated." If some areas get rain and others don't, it won't help overall. Bring an umbrella, but don't expect to need a jacket. Thanks, JB!
By the way, this may very well be the most awesome thing ever. http://bit.ly/bHFNRa EXTREEEMMMMEEEE, JB!
COMFORT FOOD
- Double rainbow, the song. http://bit.ly/9HpzwA
- Will it blend? Vuvuzela edition. http://bit.ly/baSjOM
- Inspired by "Back to the Future II," shoes that lace themselves. http://bit.ly/a5dshe
- A Gameboy skin for your iPhone. http://bit.ly/aaXUgf
- Talking Jersey Shore action figures. http://bit.ly/aMpDTe
- The craziest upside-down houses from around the world. http://huff.to/dqALWY
- 25 videos of people almost getting hit by vehicles. http://bit.ly/dgY2Gl
- Tee hee hee. http://bit.ly/bb2GXF
- Dolly Parton: "I was horny and young once like Miley Cyrus!" http://bit.ly/c2ctd6
TWITTERAMA
@KenTremendous: What does Michael Steele have to do or say to get fired? He's officially the Isiah Thomas of politics.
@daveweigel: It just now occurred to me that the only South Africans happy about the World Cup finale are Afrikaners. #boervengence
@chefjoseandres: If Spain wins today octopus is out of all my menus!
@pourmecoffee: HuffPo bought Pollster.com. Not sure how, but know they will somehow present data in slideshow format with cleavage.
@ttagaris With everyone scooping up polling experts, when does The Onion retain Research 2000?
@fivethirtyeight: Can the NBA signing period possibly match the excitement of the polling aggregator acquiring period? Methinks not.
@delrayser: John McCain: "Oppose the danged Kagan!"
@jbinckes: Saw some ladies carrying an umbrella in the strong heat and pounding sun. They took my advice and got shade. Nice tweet, JB!
THE TUBE
TONIGHT: Trent Franks and HuffPost Hill's most floppy-haired contributor (and that's saying something) appeared on Ratigan (guest host: Cenk Uygur). Brian Bilbray and Xavier Becerra were on Hardball. Rachel Maddow, broadcasting again from Afghanistan, speaks with Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall and Saad Mohseni, creator of Tolo TV in Afghanistan. TOMORROW: Ed Rendell and Mel Martinez stop by Morning Joe and Daily Rundown, respectively.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
Tory Newmyer heading from Roll Call to Fortune. Going away at Johnny's Half Shell tonight.
7:00 pm: Woody Allen in space: The filmmaker's 1973 classic "Sleeper," about life 200 years in the future, is screened at NoMa Summer Screen [L Street NE between 2nd and 3rd Streets].
7:30 pm: The Reduced Shakespeare Company fuses every Hollywood cliche imaginable into one 100-minute production. "Taxi Driving Miss Daisy" and "My Big Fat Fair Lady" are just some of the send-ups featured. The Chicago Tribune called it "stellar shtick" [Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street NW].
9:00 pm: Hipster favorite and Stephen Colbert least-favorite Bear Hands come to D.C. [U Street Music Hall, 1115 U Street NW].
TOMORROW
6:00 pm: The Corcoran hosts a reception to promote its "Sensory Overload Exhibition," which features works of art that stimulate two or more of the senses [Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th Street NW].
7:00 pm: The AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring screens "Clue," the 1985 film about the board game of the same name [AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring].
8:45 pm: The Capitol Riverfront Outdoor Underdog Film Festival rolls on with a screening of "Legally Blonde" [Canal Park, 200 M St SE].
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Nico Pitney (nico@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
What is the weather like in Europe in September?
— Question by misskiwiprincess4lyf: What is the weather like in Europe in September?
Im visiting Europe in september for a school international arts and history trip. so i was wondering what the weather was like in: Barcelona, Paris and Rome. i am visiting during the first half of september. Also what sort of clothes should i take? THank you for any answers.
Best answer:
Answer by I_LOVE_CHOCOLATEthe weather is just regular september weatherit can probably rain a lot and it wouldnt be very hot outside but not too cold either hope i helped u im actually from europe
Add your own answer in the comments!
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September Lament
