Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (325730)	9/24/2009 4:29:13 AM
From: KLP	5 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793843

Some remarks from Condi Rice this week...Afghanistan and Mexico...Condi Rice: U.S. must calm Mexican border to inhibit terrorism Former Secretary of State is keynote speaker at Convention Center security conference. Wednesday, September 23, 2009 By ERIC CARPENTER THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ocregister.com ANAHEIM Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that the United States must remain vigilant in the fight in Afghanistan and help calm the drug battles along the Mexican border to help prevent the type of failed states that lead to more terrorism. Rice delivered the keynote address to a crowd of more than 2,500 police and security professionals gathered in Anaheim for the 55th annual American Society for Industrial Security International Seminar, billed as the largest security expo in the world. "Nothing has ever been the same since 9-11," she said. Unless the U.S. leads the charge to stabilize Afghanistan and other volatile regions, "you can be assured you'll have (terrorist) attacks from there again," Rice said. "This is a long war, not a short one." She emphasized that unpopular decisions may need to be made in order to bring about lasting peace. "If you govern for today's headlines, you will not have history's judgment on your side," she said. Rice, the first black woman to serve as Secretary of State, served in that position from 2005 to January of this year, and previously served as National Security Advisor – including service during the 9-11 terrorism attacks. In March, she returned to teaching political science and Stanford University, but maintains an active speaking schedule. (She is scheduled to be back in Anaheim for the Produce Marketing Association's convention in two weeks.) Rice said she's enjoying a break from international politics: "Not only can I sleep, but I can get up and read the newspaper and not need to do anything about what's in it," she joked. Rice spoke for about 30 minutes, then spent an additional 20 minutes answering pre-submitted questions from the audience on subjects ranging from international politics to her mentors and her proudest accomplishments. The biggest disappoint of her time as Secretary of State, she said, is that she was unable to make more progress toward a two-state solution in the Middle East. Asked what she is most proud of, she said: "I am most grateful – not most proud – that there was not another attack under our watch. And that we were able to defend this country in a way that allowed people to go back to their lives after 9-11." Rice told the police officers and security professionals gathered at the conference that they are vital to maintaining safety every day at a local level. While the government can worry about securing ocean ports and fighting the Taliban, she said, they are the people looking out for backpacks filled with explosive or suspicious cyber activity, making them "essential to the overall war on terror." "For that, I thank you," she said. Among her mentors, she included her parents for teaching her while growing up in a racially segregated Alabama that "a girl like me may not be able to have a hamburger at Woolworth's, but she can be president of the United States if she wants." (Rumors have swirled about whether Rice will run for president. She made no announcement.) And she credited President George H.W. Bush, for whom she served as a Soviet expert on the National Security Council, as a mentor. He taught her to "think about power wisely and with humility," she said. Rice also urged everyday Americans to continue believing in the "national myth" that America is a place where any dream can be accomplished, to educate themselves and work toward achieving those dreams. "We are admired for our national myth," Rice said. "A myth is not untrue, it's just oversized … And our national myth is the log-cabin myth, that it doesn't matter where you came from, it's where you are going." Rice said she's a living example of that because of her paternal grandfather. A share-cropper in Alabama, he decided to pursue a college education but found out he couldn't afford a second year. When he asked about how others afforded it, he learned that he could get a scholarship if he became a Presbyterian minister. "Our family has been Presbyterian and college-educated ever since," she said. Contact the writer: 714-704-3769 or ecarpenter@ocregister.com

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (325730)	9/26/2009 9:34:13 AM
From: KLP	1 Recommendation Respond to of 793843

Czar Wars investors.com Posted 09/25/2009 07:16 PM ET Politics: In yet another vote against transparency, the Senate killed an amendment imposing legislative oversight on unconfirmed White House officials. Shouldn't we know who they are and what they're doing? Green czar Van Jones is gone, forced to leave the administration after Fox News and the conservative blogosphere revealed his past as a self-avowed communist. Jones had issues that some argue should have been discussed in confirmation hearings that never occurred before he assumed his position. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would have liked to have learned of Jones' communist links and more before this man, who believes that white America deliberately pours its pollution into minority communities and who seeks redistribution of wealth in the name of environmental justice, assumed a position of some power. So Collins on Thursday submitted an amendment to an Interior Department bill that would withhold funding for the creation of any new, unconfirmed czar positions until the administration allows nominees to be questioned by Congress. Once confirmed, all czars would be required to produce every two years a detailed "public, written report" of their actions and involvement in the creation of policy, rules and regulations. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois was not amused by the threat of sunlight, calling it an attack by "czar watchers." He noted that George W. Bush and other presidents had czars, too, and used a legislative move to kill the measure in committee. In unprecedented fashion, these unaccountable czars have been given enormous power to steer policy in directions that the American people did not vote for. They threaten our basic freedoms. Case in point: Diversity czar Mark Lloyd admires Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez and his pursuit of a Marxist redistributive agenda. Lloyd has praised Chavez's "incredible revolution" and the way he has taken "very seriously the media in his country" by imposing limits on cable TV and revoking the licenses of more than 200 radio stations that insufficiently toed the party line. Lloyd says that "unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays and other people in those positions, we will not change the problem. But we're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power." Lloyd would impose the Fairness Doctrine by stealth, using concepts such as "ownership diversity" and "localism" to destroy talk radio and cable news, which he sees as obstructions to the radical agenda he supports. Americans elect presidents and congressmen to represent them, not czars to run their lives. Presidential appointees should be required to come before the Senate. The people have a right to know.