| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Nov | Jan » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
You are currently browsing the ponderingtheessence blog archives for .
Saturday Dec. 31, 2011
Polls suggested large numbers of Republicans could change their minds before America’s first voting in the state-by-state nominating contest to challenge President Barack Obama in next year’s elections.
With the race fluid, all the campaigns are working to ensure their backers vote at Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, where turnout of 120,000 would break the record set in 2008. Volunteer armies already are knocking on countless doors and making countless phone calls to get Iowans to the community meetings where they will take the first step toward picking a president.
Whoever wins will run next November against Obama, who is vulnerable as he seeks a second term, weighed down with voter dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and the stagnant recovery from the recession.
As the state closes in on its caucuses, front runner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is suddenly making a public play to win the state he largely kept at arm’s length since his stinging second-place finish in 2008.
“If you can get out here in this cold and this wind and a little bit of rain coming down, then you can sure get out on Tuesday night and you can sure find a few people to bring with you,” Romney told a crowd on a dreary Friday morning in West Des Moines.
It’s about this time every four years that scores of Christian home-school activists, pastors and other cultural conservatives fan out across the state to corral people to caucus on behalf of their chosen candidate. This year, that coalition is dividing its support among a handful of candidates that include Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
So Romney focussed his fire upon his main rival Friday, casting libertarian Texas Rep. Ron Paul as a fringe candidate who does not represent the mainstream. Romney made the comments in interviews with Fox News Channel and NBC News.
“I don’t think Ron Paul represents the mainstream of Republican thought with regards to issues, particularly in foreign policy,” Romney said.
Recent polls have placed Romney and Paul at the head of the Republican pack. But Romney is viewed by many as too moderate, and Paul has sparked concerns over his isolationist views on foreign policy.
After months of campaigning and millions of dollars in television commercials, the polls depicted a race as unsettled and unpredictable as any in the four decades since Iowa’s caucuses became the kickoff event in presidential campaigns.
A pair of surveys in the last five days suggested upward of a third of all potential caucus-goers had not firmly settled on a candidate of choice.
The same polls made Romney the front-runner, and his decision to leave for a quick trip to New Hampshire and then return to Iowa and stay through caucus night projected optimism.
Paul’s views on Iran have been called into question this week by numerous other contenders, and Gingrich went so far as to say he would not vote for the Texan.
To some extent, Paul stands alone in the field because of his libertarian-leaning views. He does not want the government to have the power to ban abortions, for example, and has called for the legalization of some drugs that are now outlawed.
That has left Santorum, Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann to vie for standing as Romney’s chief opponent in the competition for evangelical voters and other conservatives.
Even before the caucuses, Romney and the rest of the field were looking ahead to New Hampshire’s primary on Jan. 10 and the first two Southern contests later in the month, in South Carolina and Florida.
30th December 2011
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd made increasingly aggressive romantic advances over several years toward an independent contractor who later accused him of sexual harassment, according to claims in a letter from her lawyer obtained by Reuters.
The letter, ordered unsealed and allowed public for the first time since the scandal emerged last year, outlined in intricate detail accusations by TV starlet and HP contractor Jodie Fisher that Mr Hurd had wined and dined her, then allegedly sought sexual favors in return for employment.
But fighting to keep the details of the years’ rendezvous under wraps, Mr Hurd reportedly paid over $1 million in hush money despite losing the legal battle to keep Ms Fisher’s attorney’s claim private, according to sources to the New York Post.
Fisher retained celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who sent the letter in June 2010 accusing Mr Hurd of hiring her with amorous designs.
He tried repeatedly to ‘engage’ her by asking Ms Fisher to his hotel room and kissing her on the lips, according to a copy of the letter provided by a source close to the situation
The letter is at the heart of a scandal that transfixed Silicon Valley in 2010 and culminated in the firing of Hurd, who was popular with investors on Wall Street and is now a president at HP rival Oracle Corp.
Mr Hurd, Oracle and even Ms Fisher herself have said Ms Allred’s letter contained unspecified inaccuracies
Still, its release threatens to revive the scandal as Mr Hurd looks to put the dispute behind him and focus on his new job at Oracle, where one of his key responsibilities is selling high-end computer systems that compete with products from HP.
Mr Hurd was ousted from HP on August 6 after Ms Fisher – who was hired as a hostess for corporate events – accused him of sexual harassment, a claim an internal probe later dismissed.
In his offer by Oracle, However, he was given a $950,000 salary with an additional $2 million bonus, according to the Post’s sources, which were used to pay off Ms Fisher.
Bait: Detailed by Ms Fisher’s attorney, Mr Hurd grew more and more upset with her rejections until he discontinued hiring her as a hostess for corporate summits which she had described as her dream job
‘It is appalling that you would use HP revenues for the purpose of procuring female companionship and romance under the guise of HP business,’ Ms Allred’s letter read on behalf of Ms Fisher.
‘She continually had to put you off, make excuses, scurry away or simply leave.’
Mr Hurd’s legal team had fought to keep the letter under seal, but a Delaware appeals court ruled this week it should be made public, though some portions would be redacted.
Sources had leaked details of the June letter to Reuters and other media in 2010.
These included a claim that Mr Hurd revealed details about HP’s impending acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp before the deal was announced in 2008. Mr Hurd has also denied that allegation.
Ms Allred declined comment, as did a spokeswoman for HP.
The fresh revelations have re-focused the spotlight on Mr Hurd’s controversial firing, which preceded a period of instability at HP.
Outspoken Oracle CEO Larry Ellison blasted HP’s board for being ‘cowardly’ and promptly hired Mr Hurd, who is married with children.
Former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker replaced Mr Hurd at the helm of the world’s top computer maker, but lasted barely a year before Meg Whitman took up the baton.
The computer services giant missed Wall Street targets for several quarters, killed its much-touted TouchPad tablet, and first considered then backtracked on a plan to hive off its personal computer division, the world’s largest.
The eight-page missive penned by Ms Allred, well known for representing women accusing celebrities such as Tiger Woods and politicians of sexual misconduct, blasts Mr Hurd for reducing Fisher to a ‘nervous wreck’ as he continually sought sex with the former actress during meetings from Madrid to Los Angeles.
It detailed claims that the advances began after Mr Hurd was ‘taken with’ Ms Fisher after spotting her on the short-lived TV series, Age of Love.
At their first two meetings at hotels after Ms Fisher was contracted, Mr Hurd shared personal details about his life and sought the same from her.
According to the letter, matters escalated when Mr Hurd invited Ms Fisher up to his hotel room at the Atlanta Ritz and asked her to stay the night, kindling a one-sided pursuit that would last till 2009 and span cities around the world.
‘This was the beginning of an uncomfortable dance that went on for almost two years,’ Ms Allred wrote. ‘You would relentlessly attempt to cajole her into having sex with you.’
Over the next year or so, Ms Allred’s letter described in detail various instances when Ms Fisher allegedly fended off his advances, though she claimed she had dinner with Mr Hurd several times out of fear for her job.
At one point, the HP CEO stopped at an ATM during a walk and showed Ms Fisher that his checking account balance was over $1 million, which Ms Allred claimed was an attempt to impress her.
Ms Fisher stopped getting contracts for corporate event appearances shortly after a final meeting with Mr Hurd in Idaho, during which Ms Allred said the then-CEO had grabbed and kissed her, but was again spurned.
‘She knew that if she did not have sex with you soon, her job was over, which is exactly what occurred,’ the letter said.
The tech blog AllThingsDigital first reported details of the June 24, 2010, letter.
29 Dec 2011
US presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign chairman has resigned and endorsed rival Ron Paul, six days before Iowa voters begin the nomination process to select the 2012 Republican nominee.
Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator who had served as Bachmann’s state campaign chairman for nearly a year, said he had decided to switch his support to Paul because the campaign had reached “a turning point.”
“When the Republican establishment is going to be coming after Ron Paul, I thought it is my duty to come to his aid,” Mr Sorenson said, announcing his endorsement for the Texas congressman during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
Mr Sorenson said in a statement that Mr Paul was “easily the most conservative” member of the top tier in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in elections in November next year.
“The fact that he doesn’t take this decision lightly tells a great deal about the senator and Ron Paul,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s national campaign chair.
Mr Paul has a strong organisation in the early voting state and is one of the favourites to win the Iowa caucuses vote on January 3.
Bachmann Loses Iowa Campaign Chairman to Paul.
29 Dec 2011
Tom Beaumont, Beth Fouhy and Philip Elliott
Michele Bachmann’s struggling presidential campaign saw her Iowa chairman defect Wednesday to rival Ron Paul’s side, an embarrassing blow that came as some called for her to leave the race to free up her supporters for other candidates.
Hours after appearing with Bachmann at an event, state Sen. Kent Sorenson gave his endorsement to the Texas congressman at a Des Moines rally. Sorenson said he resigned from Bachmann’s campaign to back Paul, whom he called the most conservative of the top-tier candidates.
Bachmann said Sorenson made the jump after “he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign.”
“Kent said to me yesterday that ‘everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn’t I,’” Bachmann said in a written statement. “Then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions.”
Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton said the campaign was not paying Sorenson and that he was puzzled why Bachmann would make such a claim against an elected official popular with Iowa conservatives.
“We’ve always known Michele to be an honorable person. She should stop slandering an honorable Iowa state senator,” Benton said.
Benton said Paul campaign officials had been begun speaking to Sorenson “in earnest” in the last few days, and that he had informed the campaign Wednesday he was ready to sign on.
Sorenson announced the switch during a Paul veterans rally in Des Moines. He didn’t immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press to address Bachmann’s charges that the move was financially based.
“The fact is, there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group,” Sorenson said in a statement. “The truth is, it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign.”
Susan Geddes, a veteran operative in conservative GOP political circles who managed Sorenson’s 2008 and 2010 legislative races, said Sorenson had told her several times, as recently as last month, that the Paul campaign had offered him money to leave Bachmann’s campaign for the Texas congressman’s.
Geddes said Sorenson had damaged his political future in Iowa by abandoning Bachmann’s campaign less than a week before the caucuses.
“He just committed political suicide,” she said.
Bachmann has been on a frantic 99-county push across Iowa in an effort to recover from the slide that followed her Iowa straw poll victory in August. Paul was a close second in that contest.
Earlier in the day, two influential pastors said they wanted either her or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to drop out of the running to keep evangelical voters from splitting their support. Bachmann insisted she would see the Iowa caucus campaign through.
Sorenson, who has strong ties to Iowa’s tea party, was one of Bachmann’s earliest public supporters and joined her for an afternoon stop at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Indianola. Standing by her side, he declined to speak to the crowd there, citing numbness from dental work.
All day, Bachmann bashed Paul as “dangerous” for having a hands-off foreign policy. It was part of a double-barreled attack on the two Texans in the race. She went after Gov. Rick Perry for “27 years as a political insider.”
The aggressive tone underscored Bachmann’s role as a chaser in the final week of campaigning. She has bet heavily on Iowa, where she was born.
Bachmann came hardest at Perry, who this week began a television ad lumping Bachmann with other Washington figures seeking the GOP nomination in his attempt to come off as the outsider in the race.
“Just because he’s held office outside of Washington, D.C., does not mean he is not a political insider. It’s what you do in your office that matters,” she said outside a small-town cafe. “There aren’t very many politicians who have spent more time paying off political donors than Gov. Rick Perry has.”
Perry has served Texas as a legislator, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor and governor.
Bachmann also said Perry has engaged in “crony capitalism” by helping donors with Texas government contracts or giving them political appointments. And she called Perry a double-dipper for collecting his gubernatorial salary and state pension at the same time.
Campaigning in Indianola on Wednesday, Perry scored what appeared to be a double hit of his own. Although he didn’t name his targets, he took aim at lawmakers who sound off in Washington without much influence on policy — a rap sometimes attached to Bachmann and Paul.
“Some campaigns are about their voting record, on bills that never make it to the president’s desk. I’m campaigning on ideas that I’ve signed into law,” Perry said.
As for Paul, Bachmann criticized him as misguided about foreign threats to U.S. interests.
“Ron Paul would be a dangerous president,” Perry said. “He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I won’t. He would wait until one of our cities is wiped off of the map until he reacted. I won’t wait.”
On Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told CNN that he would find it personally difficult to vote for Paul if the Texas congressman were to become the party’s choice to go up against President Barack Obama next fall. Bachmann refused to go that far, dodging two direct questions about her willingness to back Paul later on.
“He won’t win the nomination,” she said.
At stop after stop, Bachmann cast herself as America’s “Iron Lady,” the nickname assigned to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Bachmann sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which she said gives her a firm grip on world affairs.
State Sen. Brad Zaun, who had been Bachmann’s Iowa co-chairman, was named full chairman after Sorenson’s resignation.
Andrew Salmon
28 Dec 2011
Kim Jong-il’s funeral was a tightly-choreographed affair, but the television footage will be analysed by Pyongyang-watchers for information about the workings of the secretive regime. Here are five things we have learned:
1) This is a royal dynasty
North Korea is commonly described as a “Stalinist” or “communist.” It is neither, having officially dropped communism from its constitution in 2009. Moreover, Pyongyang has lost control of its economy: in the countryside, survival markets are replacing the failed state distribution system. “It is a very special dictatorial, totalitarian dynasty, and the second emperor just died,” said Kim Tae-woo, president of Seoul’s Korea Institute of National Unification.Kim Jong-il – with his secretive habits, gourmet tastes, concubines, disregard for the peasantry and penchant for clapping and waving – certainly had a royal air. Now, as power passes to the third generation, nobody is raising issues over his son’s succession. “He is being no more questioned than Prince William is being questioned,” said Mike Breen, a biographer of Kim Jong-il.
2) Kim Jong-un is anointed prince
Were there doubts before, there are none now. In the imperial-style procession through Pyongyang, the young Kim led the cortege and donated the largest wreath. A giant bouquet of flowers, complete with a ribbon emblazoned with his name, adorned a prominent vehicle. His elder half-brothers – Macau-based Kim Jong-nam and Pyongyang-based Kim Jong-chol were nowhere to be seen.
3) Jang Song-thaek is regent
Jang, who is married to Kim Jong-il’s sister, is a powerful figure who has twice been purged, but returned to prominence as a key player following Kim’s 2008 stroke. South Korean pundits beliece that Jang and his wife – herself a party figure – will guide the inexperienced Kim Junior through his early days in power. Jang’s appearance at the hearse behind Kim Jong-un confirmed his prominent status.
4) This remains a ‘Military First’ state
In common with such Asian despots as Genghis Khan and Hirohito, the Kims prioritised the sword over the pen. Kim Il-sung was a guerrilla fighter and Red Army major; Kim Jong-il formulated the “Songeun” (“Military First”) policy that grants the army a privileged position; and the elevation of Kim Jong-un (last year) and Jang Song-thaek (last week) to four-star general status – despite both men’s apparent lack of soldiering experience – strongly identifies both as warriors. So expect no significant policy shifts in the near future.
5) Perhaps the Kims do have the mandate of heaven?
Following Kim’s death, North Korean media reported strange phenomena, ranging from tremors at the sacred Mt Paekdu and unexplained flashes in the sky to weeping owls over Kim’s bier. The snow that laid a sombre stage for the funeral indicates, as one mourner sobbed, that “the heavens were weeping.”
Paolo Bandini and Steve Busfield
Tuesday 27 December 2011
Drew Brees breaks Dan Marino’s record; Indianapolis Colts don’t #SuckforLuck; and who will reach the playoffs?
One of the great NFL landmarks has finally fallen: Drew Brees took the single season passing record set by Dan Marino in 1984. Both the original and the new record were set on Monday Night Football, with Brees moving past 5,084 yards with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles. And with a game to spare.
Brees, 32, came close to setting the single-season passing yardage mark in 2008 but finished 15 yards short.
Dan Marino said: “Congrats to @drewbrees. Great job by such a special player.” After beating the Atlanta Falcons as well as Marino’s mark, a humble Brees gave credit to his teammates for the record.
All of a sudden, the teams who have sucked hardest all season long, positioning themselves for a shot at the No1 pick in next year’s draft – and hence at Stanford’s Andrew Luck – seem to have come alive. At 0-13, the Indianapolis Colts had a two-game lead in the ‘race’ to finish 2011 with the NFL’s worst record, but that was before two wins in as many weeks: both of them against playoff contenders.
Then, on Christmas Eve, Minnesota – having been brought back into contention at 2-12 – killed off their hopes for good with a hard-fought win over Washington. With Adrian Peterson leaving that game with a cruciate ligament injury so severe that many analysts are already questioning whether he can ever be the same again, this might go down as the most pyrrhic victory in Vikings history.
Of course, as has been covered in this blog before, no NFL team ever truly sets out to lose, but it is certainly true that at a certain point of such a miserable season, many fans do begin to root against their own side. Luck will hardly be the only blue-chip prospect available next April – indeed, the draft class of 2012 looks especially deep at quarterback – but there is no doubting that the holder of that top pick is either going to get an exceptional talent, or some incredible trade opportunities.
For now, the Colts remain in the driving seat, continuing to hold the tie-breaker over the NFL’s only other two-win team: St Louis. But should they win against a bad Jacksonville in week 17, and the Rams lose against the NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers, it’s safe to assume there won’t be too many fans celebrating in Indianapolis. PB
He might have been a Heisman winner, he might have just led Auburn to a BCS title, yet Cam Newton still had plenty of doubters when he was selected by the Carolina Panthers with the first overall pick in this year’s draft. He had played only a single season of major college football as a starter – transferring to Auburn from Blinn (Texas) Junior College – and had done so in a spread offence quite unlike the systems used in the pros. His accuracy was questioned, but most of all so was his focus after he told Sports Illustrated: “I see myself not only as a football player, but an entertainer and icon.”
Well guess what: Newton is all of those things. On Sunday he broke Peyton Manning’s record for most passing yards in a season by a rookie quarterback, and he did it in style too – connecting with Brandon LaFell at one point on a 91-yard touchdown pass that was the longest in Panthers history, and running one in himself from 49 yards out. It might not have been enough for the Panthers to contend this year, but they have certainly been fun to watch. Next season they will aspire to do both. PB
Victory over the Arizona Cardinals secured a winning season for Cincinnati – just their third in 21 years – and also put them back on course for a wildcard berth, as the Jets lost out to the Giants. And yet it was seen live by just 41,273 fans – Paul Brown stadium sitting more than a third empty – as it often has this season.
Afterwards the players called on fans to turn out in better numbers for their New Year’s day appointment with the Baltimore Ravens, though there could be no better sales pitch than Jerome Simpson’s second quarter touchdown. Taking Dalton’s pass at the 18 on an underneath crossing route, Simpson raced down the touchline to the endzone, only to find his path blocked by a Cardinals defender. So he somersaulted over him.
Playoff picture
AFC
The gag going round before the Broncos’ game against the Bills on Christmas Eve was that Tim Tebow couldn’t possibly lose on the day before His birthday. But lose he did – meaning that Denver must either beat Kansas City in week 17, or hope that Oakland lose at home to San Diego. That would be the same Kansas City team, of course, that is now being quarterbacked by Kyle Orton: the man who lost his job to Tebow earlier in the year. The NFL couldn’t have scripted things any better if they had tried.
As for Cincinnati, they essentially need to beat Baltimore. In theory they could still get in with a loss, but in practice they would require each of the Raiders, Jets and Titans to lose – as all would beat them on a tie-breaker by virtue of their superior conference records.
Qualified: Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Texans
Control their own destiny: Broncos, Bengals
Need others to slip: Raiders, Titans, Jets
NFC
And so the Giants and Cowboys will meet again with all to play for. New York’s win in Dallas a couple of weeks agokept the Giants in the playoff picture. Now they will play again on the last day of the regular season, this time in New Jersey, with the winner advancing, the loser missing out.
The Falcons’ thumping at the hands of Brees and the Saints on the last Monday Night Football of the season means that they may find themselves as the number six seed, and possibly facing another trip to…New Orleans.
Qualified: Packers, 49ers, Saints, Lions, Falcons
Control their own destiny: Giants, Cowboys
Monday Dec. 26, 2011
The Obama administration is considering whether to allow Yemen’s outgoing president into the United States for medical treatment, as fresh violence and political tensions flare in the strategically important Middle East nation.
A senior administration official said President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s office requested that he be allowed to receive specialized treatment in the U.S. for injuries sustained in a June attack on his compound. The request was being considered, and would only be approved for medical reasons, the official said.
Until now, the White House had not commented on Saleh’s assertion Saturday that he would be leaving Yemen and travelling to the U.S. Saleh insisted he was going in order to help calm tensions in his country, not for medical treatment.
The official, who requested anonymity because of a lack of authorization to speak publicly, did not say when the Obama administration would decide on Saleh’s request. But the official said Saleh’s office indicated that he would leave Yemen soon and spend time elsewhere abroad before he hoped to come to the U.S.
Demonstrators began protesting against Saleh and calling for his ouster in February. The Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead, and stoking fears of instability in a nation already grappling with burgeoning extremism.
Last month, Saleh agreed to a U.S.- and Saudi-backed deal to hand power over to his vice-president and commit to stepping down completely in exchange for immunity. The deal further angered Saleh’s opponents, who demanded he be tried for his attacks on protesters.
American officials are deeply concerned that the months of turmoil in Yemen have led to a security breakdown. The dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken advantage of the vacuum to expend its presence in southern Yemen.
Pressure has been mounting in recent weeks for Saleh to leave Yemen altogether. Opponents say he has continued to wield influence through his loyalists and relatives still in positions of power, hampering the transition ahead of presidential elections set for Feb. 21. Many feared he would find a way to continue his rule.
Activists said troops commanded by Saleh’s relatives attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa Saturday, killing at least nine people. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated the following day, protesting the deaths and demanding the resignation of Vice-President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi for failing to bring the killers to justice.
The White House said President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, called Hadi on Sunday and emphasized the need for Yemeni security forces to show “maximum restraint” when dealing with demonstrations. Hadi told Brennan that he had launched an investigation into the recent deaths and injuries and would do his utmost to prevent further bloodshed, the White House said.
The White House said Brennan and Hadi agreed on the importance of continuing with the agreed-upon path of political transition in Yemen in order to ensure that the February elections take place.
Obama was being briefed on developments in Yemen while in Hawaii for his Christmas vacation.
The U.S. has experience with letting unpopular foreign leaders into this country for medical treatment.
More than three decades ago, President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment in October 1979, eight months after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led a revolution that ousted the shah and created the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students occupied the U.S. embassy in Iran. Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter’s refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.
25 December 2011
The Queen has used her annual Christmas Day broadcast to speak of courage and hope in adversity.
The message was recorded before her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was treated in hospital for a blocked coronary artery.
Prince Philip is still in hospital, and has missed a church service attended by the rest of the Royal Family.
The Queen also spoke of “the importance of family”, and called the Commonwealth a family “in the truest sense”.
In her message, recorded on 9 December, the Queen said the Royal Family had been inspired by the courage shown in Britain, the Commonwealth and around the world.
‘Source of courage’
She noted the resilience of communities in New Zealand after earthquakes, Australia after flooding and Wales after the mining disaster at Gleision Colliery.
The Royal Family including, for the first time, the Duchess of Cambridge, greeted well-wishers outside church
“We’ve seen that it’s in hardship that we often find strength from our families; it’s in adversity that new friendships are sometimes formed; and it’s in a crisis that communities break down barriers and bind together to help one another,” she said.
“Families, friends and communities often find a source of courage rising up from within.
“Indeed, sadly, it seems that it is tragedy that often draws out the most and the best from the human spirit.”
The Queen, who is a great-grandmother, also talked about the Commonwealth’s “family”, with its “shared beliefs” and “mutual values”.
She also reflected on her own family, in a year in which her grandson Prince William got married and Prince Philip turned 90.
Prayers said
The prince had a coronary stent fitted after suffering chest pains on Friday. He spent Christmas Eve – and so far Christmas Day – at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire.
Earlier, prayers were said for the prince during the Royal Family’s traditional Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church on the family’s Sandringham estate.
Afterwards, the royals – including, for the first time, the Duchess of Cambridge – greeted well-wishers. The Queen attended the service, along with the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, and the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips with her husband Mike Tindall, whom she married earlier this year.
Family members are going to visit the duke, who is said to be eager to leave hospital, late.
The Christmas address is written by the Queen herself – one of the rare occasions where she does not turn to the government for advice.
The broadcast, in which the Queen wore glasses and a strawberry red dress by Angela Kelly, was filmed in Buckingham Palace’s 1844 room.
Pupils from St Joseph’s Catholic Infants’ School in Camberwell, south London, are seen performing a scene from a nativity play.
It concludes on the palace forecourt with the Band of the Irish Guards playing the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem.
December 24, 2011
North Korean media has hailed the youngest son of late leader Kim Jong-Il as “supreme commander” of the powerful military, in the latest sign that the untested successor is cementing his hold on power.
“We will uphold Comrade Kim Jong-Un as our supreme commander and general and we will bring the Songun (military-first) revolution to a completion,” the ruling communist party’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial on Saturday.
It is the first time that one of the North’s mouthpieces has used the title supreme commander – a post previously held by his father – for the new leader, already a four-star general though still in his late 20s.
“This shows that Jong-Un now has a firm grip on the military and the North is heralding this to the outside world,” professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk University in Seoul told AFP.
“It also suggests that the North will continue with its Songun policy at least in the foreseeable future.”
North Korea on Monday described the untested Jong-Un as the “great successor” after announcing the death of his father at age 69.
The latest acclamation was particularly significant because it had come on the 20th anniversary of the declaration of Kim Jong-Il as supreme commander, said professor Yang Moo-Jin at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies.
“The editorial is aimed at preparing the people for Jong-Un becoming the supreme commander of the military and also announcing it to the outside world,” he told AFP.
“Legal and official steps will follow sooner or later for his takeover from his deceased father as the supreme commander.”
The latest dynastic ruler remains a figure of mystery to the outside world, which is seeking clues to future policy in the nuclear-armed nation.
Analysts expect little political upheaval following the death, at least for now, since regime members have an interest in preserving the status quo.
The son was appointed to senior military and party posts in September 2010, paving the way for a third-generation hereditary succession after the late Kim succeeded his own father Kim Il-Sung in the 1990s.
The country’s regular armed forces total 1.19 million and the regime has a policy prioritising the military’s needs over those of civilians.
Kim Jong-Un issued his first military order just before his father’s death was announced on Monday, in what was seen as an indication that he already controls the armed forces, South Korean media reported on Wednesday.
In its editorial, the Rodong Sinmun urged Jong-Un to “heed the call from the people to you as the supreme commander and lead Kim Il-Sung’s Korea to an eternal victory.”
Right now we have a big debt talk going on in Washington D.C. about the debt ceiling which stands at $14.3 trillion. And to make matters worse, the Democrats and President Barack Obama want to raise it to who knows what!?!
What we have before us is a Senate and House of Representatives full of Republicans and Democrats that’s so out of control that they have put our country in such a state of peril. The sad thing about it is they don’t give a damn about what is happening. All they care about is getting re-elected.
It is now 200+ years since we went to war with the King of England
because of his insane rule over man. After winning, the United States became the first Country on earth that was Free because of our founding fathers’ writing of our Constitution. (But They Forgot The One Thing That Would Stop The Rule Of Man…)
THE PRIME LAW. NO INITIATORY FORCE.
Our Federal Government House and Senate are filled with Democrats & Republicans who think that they can write any law that they want that only applies to you and me (BUT NOT TO THEM). They also believe that they; the elite; and only they, have the right to give themselves a raise whenever they want to, and whatever medical, dental, and pension they want.
This insane rule over man by our Federal Government, and our State, County’s, City’s, and Town’s has become so bad that we as Americans: Our Freedom is GONE!!!
Our founding fathers did not write our Constitution so that it could be RAPED and PLUNDERED the way that it has been in the last 200+ years. All of us as Americans did not expect that our elected officials who are to serve us have taken the role of being some kind of an elite class who can write any rule or law that they want to impose and that we must live by.
If Americans have any hope of overcoming what has happened to our Country, then we have to look at something different. Instead of us giving our money to the two parties that we now have, and that we all know lie to us all the time, just to rule over us, and to get reelected, we need something different.
I am a very concerned American Citizen who loves the United States of America. I find it very hard to live in this country where it is just fine for our elected officials to out and out lie to us and think nothing of it. It does not matter what country you live in. It is not right for your government officials to LIE about anything.
No matter what Country you may live in, if it would help you to read this you can go to the Language Translator at the top of the page, click on any flag and you will get a drop down box, then click on the Language that you want.
It is because I am a very concerned American Citizen that I have been following the developing Twelve Visions Party for the last 30 years. It is now time for ALL Americans; no matter what party you like… it is your duty to be informed. You can go to Google and type in the Democrats Party Platform and then the Republicans Party Platform and compare them. Now type in TVP 2012 platform and compare the three and see what the difference is. You will be astonished and shocked!
Here are two very concerned U.S. citizens who are not career politicians. They are representing and running for the Twelve Visions Party. Jill Reed is running for President, and Tom Cary for Vice President. Above all else, these two people abhor lies.
As of the writing of this, there is about 11 months for all people to become aware and to be informed. The Democrats & Republicans have a big head start on fund raising: about $130 million. But guess what: Everyone throughout the world can help the Twelve Visions Party raise $200 million.
Please read about the Twelve Visions Party, educate yourself with knowledge about what our current government is destroying, and the promise of what the Twelve Visions Party could offer to revive America!
To contribute to Jill Reed’s Presidential Campaign
please send your check to:
Write-In-Reed
216 Lemmon Drive #215
Reno, NV 89506
