Wednesday, 23 April 2008

US08: Dear Jeremy Bird (or how to get Hillary in one easy lesson)

A preliminary search did not flag this as a hoax, so...
An American citizen's e-mail he cc'd on to North Coast Voices.
 
Dear Jeremy Bird: (Field Director for Senator Obama's Campaign for President in Pennsylvania)
 
I searched all over the Internet looking for an email address for Senator Obama as a Presidential candidate, but I could not find one. I chose ethics concerning this email because it was the closest topic to what I would like you to pass on to the Senator ASAP. Several months ago, I emailed Mr. Obama and gave him many suggestions concerning his approach and how I thought he should become more aggressive and passionate in his speeches about certain things. He may have received the email because he seemed to become more aggressive, but unfortunately, not more passionate. I listed a number of skeletons in Senator Clinton's closet and backed them up with facts and references. This will be my last email.
I have been a supporter of Senator Obama since he first announced his candidacy. I feel strongly that he has integrity and would by far the best President in the November elections, but I think he is still leaving himself wide open for Hillary Clinton's "throw the kitchen sink at him" as she has done throughout the campaign and which took its toll on him in the Ohio election, like it now will probably take its toll on him in the Pennsylvania primary next week. I tired of the media saying that both candidates are "slinging mud" while Mrs. Clinton has slung 95% of the mud. If she wins Pennsylvania big, it will give her momentum and I can just hearing her saying "I keep getting back up after I get knocked down, while the theme to "Rocky" plays in the background. I watched the debate last night on ABC (April 16th) and I was disgusted for several reasons. The moderators were terrible and brought up long forgotten issues about Mr. Obama and good old Hillary just kept piling on, especially when she spoke about his speech in San Francisco last Friday and she used his most damaging word "clinging" over & over again. At that point Senator Obama should have become passionate and fiery (like Martin Luther King-I suggested this before to Mr. Obama) and said with fire in his voice "O.K. Senator Clinton, enough is enough. You have been beating this same dead horse for six days now. Stop the mud-slinging and the distractions and the dirty politics that has been your strategy for the last 15 months and let's talk about the real issues." I think the audience would have given him a standing ovation and been amazed to see that he does have a backbone and is strong enough to stand up to Senator Clinton, and more importantly take on John McCain, who has so many liabilities, its hard to imagine that he is neck-to-neck with both Clinton and Obama. It is unthinkable that any Republican can win the White House in 2008 (even if former Republican President Regan was healthy and running for President, and he was a great President because he was not afraid to say the things he had to say in simple tough language). As an aside, Bill Clinton's Presidency was a disgrace not only with personal issues, but also with a number of law breaking irregularities. The man should have been impeached and disbarred for committing perjury. I was surprised that Mr. Obama brought up President Clinton's pardon of 2 criminals. It was the only time that he showed any strength all night. In general he was perceived to be a human punching bag who did not know how, or would not counter punch. He is not doing himself any favors.
Please pass along these suggestions to Mr. Obama ASAP if he wants to beat Mrs. Clinton and then Mr. McCain to become our next President. If he does not already know it, and I am sure he does, Senator Clinton, like her husband is unscrupulous, secretive, polarizing and she specializes in dirty politics. What the American people want is an honest person to run this country, and person who can bring about change and follow through on their campaign promises. Also, like in 1979 when the American people lost their pride in America, they desired a strong President (like President Regan who made me and all Americans proud of our country and of him.) Mr. Obama is an eloquent speaker, now he justs needs the passion and fire of Mr. Luther King when he speaks on certain issues, or about Mrs. Clinton. He should not be so quick to gracious when he speaks of her. Our country wants a President who is strong and tough enough to deal with all of the tough issues facing the next President, like the Iraq War, nuclear armament by Iran, ElQuida in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the tension in the Middle East, the constant threats to Israel, our strongest, and probably only ally in that region of the world, the housing and foreclosure crises and the crises in America's economy. I believe that Senator Obama is the person for the job, but he must show much more strength. He doesn't have to play dirty politics, like Mrs. Clinton. He can still be a gentleman and forcefully challenge her, which he has not done. When she says that she has 35 years of experience, he should strongly ask her to do the arithmetic for Americans. She doesn't have anywhere near 35 years experience. When she portrays herself as a common person who knows what the common Americans want. He should challenge her. The Clintons made 109 million dollars last year and their net worth is between 125-150 million dollars. When was the last time her and Bill (millionaires rubbed shoulders with the common people). When she says that she will be strong enough to stand up to rich interest groups, he should challenge her about her last campaign running for re-election as Senator for New York which was largely financed by millions of dollars in contributions by special interest groups such as the insurance and drug industry, part of which she then used to fund her Presidential campaign, or he should ask her about the approximately 100 million dollars that her and her husband had invested in Wal-Mart stock (which she accumulated as a Wal-Mart Board member), oil company stock, insurance company stock, drug industry stock, etc., that was held in a blind trust so their names could not be associated with their investments and which they divested themselves of shortly before she announces her run for Presidency. The next time she talks about how she is promising millions of new jobs for Americans and how a person can go to Hillary.com (she mentioned her website so much last night it made me nauseous), he should remind her of the promise she made to the people of upstate New York during his last campaign of 50,000 new jobs, with the net result of a loss of 20,000 jobs in that region. The people of upstate New York still have not forgiven her for that, especially when she was questioned about that unfulfilled promise, she flippantly and with that raucous laugh that she has (which she always uses when she lying) answered "Oh, I guess I was a little over-exuberant." It exactly the ways she reacts about her lie about sniper fire. The next time she says that she honest and her life is an open book, he should ask her why her husband, former President Bill Clinton still refuses to this day to release the names and the contribution amounts that he took in during his last campaign for President, or why of the 2 million pages of her daily journal as the First Lady, only a fraction of them were released (1,100 pages) and why in those 1,100 pages released there were numerous deletions. The next time she uses her extensive experience, he should again remind her of her vote for our entry into the IRAQ War, and suggest that they compare apples to apples, and even use John McCain in the comparison. This long 15 month campaign that the 3 of them have been involved with is by far the most complex process that any of the 3 of them were in charge of. Senator Obama has unequivocally done the most outstanding job of the three. He has run the most efficient campaign of all 3. There has been no in-fighting like in Mrs. Clinton's camp, he has raised by far the most in campaign contributions (none from special interest groups), Mrs. Clinton had to loan her campaign fund 5 million dollars from her own personal assets because her campaign funds had run dry, and the amount of money that Senator McCain has raised is unbelievably low. Mrs. Clinton says when she's President she is going to empower her staff, while according at the same time, hew own campaign staff says that she does not provide any leadership, nor does she empower them, rather she has abdicated her authority and left them to their own designs.
Senator Obama needs to create more space between himself and Mrs. Clinton in terms of delegates and the number of votes, so that the Democratic leadership will step in by June 3rd to drop out of the race because she is only being divisive and giving Senator a huge head start in the race for the Presidency.
Please pass along these suggestions to Senator Obama because no American wants to see Mrs. Clinton close the gap between them (even though it is almost mathematically impossible for her to catch him) and then leave the Super Delegates (whose votes should never have been part of any Presidential process) choose the candidate. That is damm near un-American. Tell Mr. Obama her can still be a gentlemen and be forceful and strong and use passionate and fiery language at the same time. America wants change, but it is also looking for a strong tough person to run this country. Assure Senator Obama that he will not be playing dirty politics or using smear tackics. Rather, he will be forcefully holding Senator Clinton "accountable for the truth" in what she is saying and in what she claims she has done. Also I just finished reading an article in the April 21, 2008 edition of US News and World Reports entitled "Obama's Finishing School" which was excellent and provided details about Mr. Obama's role as a community organizer, community leader and his many achievements during his early years in politics. I was extremely surprised, but Senator Obama should provide these details when dealing his experience issue that Senator Clinton keeps harping on. I am sure that most Obama supporters do not know these details. He has got to do a better job and provide these details to the American people each opportunity the he gets. If he does, he will attract even more voters to his side. Also, please ask Mr. Obama to start wearing the Presidential Flag pin. That has been a thorn in his side for 15 months and besides he should be proud to wear the American flag. And lastly, please ask Mr. Obama not to be so gracious, forgiving ("I'm sure she didn't mean that') and so quick to compliment her and her qualifications. When he does that, he portrays himself as a lap dog. I was very sorry to hear that he has decided not to participate in the April 19th debate in North Carolina against Mrs. Clinton, especially when he is the one who suggested it and she reluctantly agreed. It makes him look like he is afraid to debate her again because he did not handle himself well last night in the Philadelphia debate. Besides, it would have given him a chance to lick his wounds and then show Americans that he can be tough and can confront her. Again, please pass along these suggestions to Senator Obama and tell him I am in his corner and I will pray for him. Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Kroner
 

Oi, Rudders! About that 2020 summit - told you so

It's not considered good form to say I told you so.
But if anyone deserved to have it said to him today it's our own PM.
The Australian has just published the inevitable this morning.
 
"THE unity and goodwill that radiated from Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit last weekend have evaporated, with some participants saying they cannot recognise the "big ideas" attributed to them while others claim they were "systematically silenced".---
Special fury has been reserved for World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello, who co-chaired the Strengthening Communities stream with federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek.
Several delegates claim Mr Costello smuggled his personal agenda into the final document, which claims participants discussed "the damage inflicted on communities by problem gambling and binge drinking" and supported "reducing the number of poker machines or tighter regulation of alcohol".
"I didn't hear the words 'gambling' or 'poker machine' at any stage of my time there," Chris Riley, from the community organisation Youth Off the Streets, said yesterday.
"I don't know how that got in. I'm really concerned about leadership in this field. Tim Costello's got his own agenda, and it's just not appropriate." ----
A spokesman for Mr Rudd said last night the final text of the summit's initial report was "finalised by agreement between the co-chairs of the individual streams". "The co-chairs agreed on the text based on all of the discussions and submissions made in and to the 2020 Summit," he said."

Tuesday, 22 April 2008

Earth Day, 22 April 2008


The Earth formed simultaneously with the other Solar System planets and the central Sun. Accretion of planetesimals produced a large body which assumed a spherical shape. Probably cool at the outset, this proto-Earth rapidly heated up, formed its metallic core within 100 million years, and was subjected to continuous impact bombardment by asteroids, comets, and meteorites. It may have had a molten exterior which quickly cooled to a crust. Very early in earth history, its Moon was produced from a glancing collision with another planetlike body. A second period of bombardment helped destroy the early crust. By about 3.8 billion years ago, rocks formed crusts of more silicic rocks embedded in a basaltic crustal layer that extended worldwide. Oceans were produced early, weathering attacked the crustal rocks to produce the first sedimentary rocks, and protocontinents began to form (from metamorphosis and melting of accumulated debris). These continental nuclei probably were moved about by processes akin to convection-driven plate tectonics. An early atmosphere consisted largely of nitrogen, with some carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, and water. Those ingredients may have been converted to organic molecules which in turn organized into primitive one-celled bacteria about 3.85 b.y. ago. In time, living plant organisms developed the capability to photosynthesize solar energy, releasing oxygen as an end product, which gas gradually built up to present day levels, evolving more advanced life forms.
It's a small, small world...

Joshua Gans remains a 2020 optimist

Few second thoughts and a distinct after-glow for Professor Joshua Gans, as he briefly summarises his impressions of The Big Weekend and participation in Rudd's 2020 summit.
But then Joshua appears to be a fully-employed (probably tenured), professional male under 50 years of age and, so hasn't lived through as many societal and political cycles as most on the NSW North (Graying) Coast.

The fruits of our labour are now on the 2020 website in the
Initial Report produced at lightning speed. How could this be done? Well, by not really incorporating the final consensus of ideas (at least from our group). For instance, the goal of raising R&D enough to maintain international competitiveness was supposed to be something more specific such as raising private and public R&D to at least double its current level by 2020. And on the ideas our push for a revamp of the maths and science curriculum right from early learning was meant to be encompassed as an idea to hold a national level review of curriculum but got left as having one national curriculum (a very different and hardly consensus possibility that was never discussed). And then there was stuff that came out of nowhere such as "Innovation Australia" that we all did agree to strike in favour of promoting a National Innovation Agenda through COAG (thank you, John Brumby) and also exploring the ideas of having PhD Centres of Excellence along the German model (thank you, Bryan Gaensler). But I am going to leave to a future post how I think a consensus view of the Productivity Stream would look.

For me, the best experiences of the Summit were interacting with people outside of my own stream. I had breakfast with one of Australia's foremost climate change scientists, talked about governance with some folk, engaged in my usual arguments with Telstra on broadband, and discussed how we could make our health system work better with some doctors. It make me want to take part in what was going on in other streams but then again I had a job to do where I was.

And I wont lie to you, it was really great to be roaming Parliament House when so many famous faces were around. There is something unique about debating about where we were going to sit to eat our boxed lunch and decide the floor would do because Lachlan Murdoch was already down there. Mandawuy Yunupingu, the lead singer of Yothu Yindi, sat down next to me during one session. But, of course, rather than ask him about his ideas all I could think to do was revert to being star struck and tell him how I had imported his band's CDs to the US when I was studying because I missed Australian music. I got to see who I was taller than and fatter than. I caught a glimpse of Cate and the baby and decided not to bound over a bunch of chairs to introduce myself to the Prime Minister. And I was around when Hugh Jackman told the Summit of his 7 year old son's idea: "to speed up archaeological digs before they build all over them and it is too late." (On that score, thank goodness they invited the entertainers, it really livened up one of the main sessions).

In the end, for me I will get just what I expected, a bunch of new connections and hopefully friends who share a common interest in wanting to make things better. I think the Government will get some more ideas, but importantly, will be held to account by those who spent considerable energy in trying to make things better. In the relative disorganisation of the Summit agenda and process, they have formed a coalition of the "best, brightest and now restless" who will not want to let things just be. It will be up to them how they engage with that coalition.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Joshua, and I wish you well.
I'll even forgive the fact that you saw nothing wrong with being blatantly used in a government attempt to form an elitist consensus with which to beat the electorate over the head - economists were never known for an understanding of the ordinary citizen.

It could only be the NSW North Coast Nationals

When a flyer arrives in the mail announcing that May 2008 is 'Report all Clarence Crime' Month and implying that 'car hoon' is an offence found in the Crimes Act, then it immediately becomes clear that this political blurb is from the North Coast Nationals.
In this case, Nationals MP for Clarence Steve Cansdell.
Now this so-called report all crime month does not appear to be part of the CVC 2008-2010 Crime Prevention Plan, so I have to assume this little beat up is pure Cansdell.
Perhaps he doesn't find local crime statistics between 2003-2007 give him enough scope and he hopes to find some anecdotal information with which to run a scare campaign or two in order to unsettle local communities and score against Country Labor.

Post-2020 media moments which would annoy

Now that Australia is in the post-2020 phase of a hopefully dying media cycle, here are one or two media moments I would prefer not to see.
 
An obviously overweight and out of condition Kevin Rudd announcing a 'healthy living' tax on meat pies or exhorting us all to run up the office firestairs to keep trim.
 
Rudd continuing to talk up a distracting and disruptive republic debate, while there is so much hard work and pain still ahead for us all if we are to implement meaningful responses to the environmental and social impacts of climate change.
 
Rudd, any Federal minister, Nelson or any Opposition MP ever fronting the cameras again and mentioning the phrases best and brightest, national consensus, think big or Australia 2020.

You are entering Dairy Farmers country, Wave (goodbye) to a cow today

Is nothing sacred! Another quiet little achiever looks set to pass from Aussie hands.
It is becoming harder and harder to Buy Australian.
 
"NATIONAL Foods, the Japanese company behind the Pura, Yoplait and King Island Dairy brands, has applied for regulatory approval to acquire NSW co-operative milk processor Dairy Farmers.
The application for clearance from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is the first official confirmation of NatFoods' interest in Dairy Farmers, which has demanded all potential bidders submit to strict confidentiality agreements.
Dairy Farmers, which is owned by about 2000 primary producers, yesterday described NatFoods as "the first of a number of parties interested in acquiring or merging with the business" to have commenced the official approval process.
The ACCC has called for submissions from interested parties by May 2.
It proposes to announce its decision by June 12."