In remarks to the Summit of the Americas on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, President Barack Obama proposed a fresh start, including relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama finished up at the Summit of the Americas earlier today on the island of Trinidad and has departed Port of Spain Piarco International Airport en route to Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One.
Earlier this morning, he participated in various summit meetings with the 30-odd heads of state in attendance, then held a news conference at the Hilton Hotel on Trinidad.
Obama noted that he has serious differences with such hemispheric leaders as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban President Raul Chavez (who was not allowed to attend), and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Ortega delivered a 50-minute stemwinder blasting the US for its past of conducting a thinly disguised proxy war in the 1980s against Ortega and the then Sandinista revolutionary movement after it ousted Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Asked to comment about Ortega’s speech, Obama noted only that it was very long. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not comment on the Ortega statement, twice declaring how much she enjoyed the summit’s cultural presentation.
Obama is scheduled to land at Andrews Air Force Base at 3 PM Pacific. There he will embark aboard the Marine One helicopter and return to the White House.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has no public events today.
Schwarzenegger flies to Detroit later in the day. On Monday, he delivers the keynote address to the annual international conference of the society of automotive engineers. At that event, he will call for fundamental changes in automotive technology to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
The California Republican Party executive committee voted on Saturday to oppose all six state budget compromise-related initiatives on the May 19th special elections ballot. This includes not only Prop 1A, which has a new state spending limit, budget rainy day fund, and extension of temporary tax hikes for budget balancing purposes, but also the last three inititiatives, all of which are Republican ideas. Namely, to move tax revenues out of special funds for early childhood development and mental health, as well as a cap on legislative pay during budget deficit years.
The chairman of the state party initiatives committee that urged opposition to all initiatives is a fellow named Mike Spence, head of the far right California Republican Assembly, who had some unintentionally amusing exchanges here on NWN when he alleged that then Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez was “a Marxist.”
Given that it is currently under the sway of a far right faction, the only surprise would have come had the CRP not voted to oppose the initiatives.
** THE STATE OF PLAY OF STATE OF PLAY. State of Play is a political thriller wrapped inside a journalistic thriller that works better as the latter.
It’s a good film with a strong cast that is based on a better BBC miniseries which is better cast than this American remake. Which is not the same as having a better cast.
The big bad here is a Blackwater-like security outfit called Pointcorp. In a sign of how the mighty have fallen, Blackwater already had to change its name to the faintly prepostereous Xe, so bad has its reputation become in the wake of being banned from Iraq. In a further sign, In a further sign, a Blackwater equivalent is the big bad — so far, at least — on this season of the longtime hit thriller series 24.
Which starts to get at a problem with the movie. There’s something very familiar about it, which may be inevitable as the story gets condensed into the customary thriller elements.
In the 2003 British miniseries, the big bad was an energy corporation. Which may actually be more timely than poor old Blackwater at this point, though it probably seemed very timely a few years ago when the American remake was being conceived. …
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is participating in the Summit of the Americas held in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
The time on the island of Trinidad is the same as Eastern Daylight Time.
After introductory remarks, Obama has already attended the first plenary session of the 34-nation summit and done the official picture taking with the other heads of state.
At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama attends the summit’s working lunch.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama attends the summit’s second plenary session.
At 5 PM Pacific, Obama attends the summit’s official dinner and cultural show.
Trinidad was a longtime British colony. It’s southernmost island in the Caribbean Ocean, and is just seven miles off the northeastern coast of Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a one-time paratroop colonel who seized power in a coup, gives President Barack Obama a book about foreign exploitation of Latin America.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a darling of the far left who was notably anti-American during the Bush/Cheney years, exchanged a warm handshake and greeting with Obama yesterday and presented him with a book about Latin America, detailing, among other things, a list of grievances against Yanqui imperialism.
Chavez, a rather dictatorial figure who does nonetheless win elections in Venezuela, is probably an even more problematic character for Obama to deal with than the Castro brothers in Cuba.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses the federal budget and some ideas for new efficiencies in a budget that is nonetheless greatly expanding in the near term.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell hold a press conference on Saturday to announce that California is the first state in the nation to be approved for a share of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund dollars within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The press conference is at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach.
The event will be webcast live at 10 AM at www.gov.ca.gov.
** OBAMA AND MEXICO: MANAGING INCIPIENT CHAOS. Another country, another crisis. President Barack Obama summited yesterday in Mexico City with President Felipe Calderon, pledging to help Mexico’s elected government beat back the challenge of powerful drug cartels that increasingly out-gun Mexican security forces. But Obama’s measures will only manage the incipient chaos, not end it.
Which has actually long been typical of America’s policies with regard to Mexico.
In his 1981 book “The Nine Nations of North America,” author Joel Garreau referred to the Border Patrol as “a regulatory agency.” In the sense that it was not set up to halt illegal immigration from Mexico but to manage it. To make it difficult enough to prevent an open border scenario, but not so difficult as to prevent American businesses from benefiting from the efficiencies of an influx of cheap labor, even as American social institutions struggled to provide services. …
** EARL GREY, ANYONE? A CALIFORNIA CAPITOL TEA PARTY. Before a crowd that organizers claimed was 15,000 to 20,000, but these experienced ex-advance man’s eyes saw as about 3,000, a parade of right-wing personalities used tax day to decry taxation, government, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and President Barack Obama with a rally outside California’s state Capitol in Sacramento.
The event, like other so-called tea parties around the country, was heavily promoted by the Fox News channel, right-wing talk radio hosts, and the right-wing blogosphere. …
If you are wondering what Fox News is doing organizing anti-administration rallies around the country, its obvious strategy is to aggregate all the already existing opponents of Obama into one audience. …
American freighter captain Richard Phillips, rescued last Sunday from Somali pirates by U.S. Navy Seals, arrived home yesterday in Vermont.
** OBAMA’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT: OF PIRATES AND MISSILES. Barack Obama’s management of two flashpoint crises — both relatively minor but caught up in the now typical hysteria of our media culture — gives us some good clues about his crisis management style.
The just concluded hostage crisis off the coast of Somalia and the launch early this month of a new North Korean missile showed Obama in “no drama” mode, determined to avoid distraction and continue with his core messaging strategy.
Obama actually took a lower profile public role with the more consequential of the two crises, the Somali pirate hostage crisis, than he did with the North Korean missile launch. But he seems to have spent more time behind the scenes on the crisis on which he spent the least amount of time before the cameras. …
** OBAMA’S NEW GEOPOLITICS: 10 KEY TAKEAWAYS. President Barack Obama’s just concluded big international tour is part of a major reshuffling in geopolitics. Here are 10 key takeaways from happenings in and around his trip. … From my April 9th column.
** TURKEY: NOT THE USUAL GEOPOLITICAL SANDWICH. … From April 6th column.
** RE-SETTING THE GEOPOLITICAL TABLE: HOW OBAMA’S BIG TRIP IS GOING. … From my April 3rd column.
** AFGHANISTAN: THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM? … From my March 30th column.
** PRIME TIME O: HOW THE OMNIPRESENT PRESIDENT IS DOING. … From my March 25th column.
** OBAMA’S RUGGED WEEK. … From my March 23rd column.
** OBAMA’S CALIFORNIA: THE ARNOLD ALLIANCE AND MORE. … From my March 20th column.
** CNBC CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM ITS HOUSE, AND OTHER FIN DE SIECLE FOLLIES. …From my March 16th column.
** OUR MAN IN KABUL: BACKBITING ON THE EVE OF THE NEW OBAMA STRATEGY FOR AFGHANISTAN. … From my March 13th column.
** OBAMA’S DARING TOUR D’HORIZON: THE NEW PRESIDENT ENGAGES MULTIPLE CRISES AND PROBES FOR OPPORTUNITY. … From my March 11th column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial.
Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil closed at $50.33 per barrel on Friday. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $16 a barrel since enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, on anticipation of increased economic activity down the line, and on increased implementation of already agreed upon OPEC production cutbacks to support the price.
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| Comments (26) |
Good talk by Obama in Trinidad, time for a new start.
Hugo Chavez is pretty portly for a guy who jumped out of airplanes for a living.
I like seeing the captain back home.
I don’t like Obama’s budget talks. He always forgets to mention he’s raising the deficit.
Barack has to spend more to revitalize the economy and change it for the long haul.
It really is.
Jonas Blane Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Good talk by Obama in Trinidad, time for a new start.
AFGHANISTAN WILD WOOD FLOWER
Sitting on those stack of seeds
Now, in Afghanistan they got what is there form of the wild wood flower, now the wild wood flower grows wild in some forms around the globe, and for a county boy it can allow the boy to take a trip without even leaving the farm, and there is a country song to that effect. Now, in the song it all comes down to the government sending in there anti-wild wood flower people and them cutting, slashing and burning all the wild wood flowers that the country boys had grown, well the boys were just sitting there watching until the anti-wild wood flower group, had finished with their work and gotten into their vehicles and were driving off as the boys wave sitting there on a stack of seed of wild wood flowers. So, what has this got to do with Afghanistan, everything in the world, as long as there is a demand for the wild wood flower and taking trips without moving one inch, the wild wood flowers are not going away.
Never Inhaled
Now, the (AIE) American Israeli Empire Secretary of State Diane Hillary Rodham-Clinton has called a narco-state, and she would know as Bill and her brother-in-law were heavily involved in the trade themselves in Arkansas, something about smoking and not inhaling, and never having had sex with that woman. And, you all wonder why the war on drugs coming out of Mexico into the Empire failed. It comes down to don’t throw stone if you live in a glass house, the whole idea that your going to have them boys in Afghanistan all growing corn to eat and sell, when they can just as well grow wild wood flowers and take trips anything they like, plus sell what they do not use to a market with a large demand, and then buy corn to eat, put an addition onto the house, buy some goats, a horse, and a new dress for the wife, lets see grow corn or a real cash crop, give me them wild wood flower seeds.
Prohibition-era Afghanistan
Now, the Imperial Media Messiah President of the Empire compared (Mexicos drug problem to Prohibition-era America. Describing the current unrest in Mexico, Obama said Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s anti-drug work is comparable to when Eliot Ness took on Al Capone back during Prohibition. Oftentimes that causes even more violence. And we’re seeing that flare up.) Well, lets take another look at this statement first of all it was Canada that sent a lot of the good stuff over the boarder, and it was a Kennedy, old Joe who was making a good profit supplying a large demand market, so if were comparing apples and oranges, King David H. Betray Us, Petraeus the Butcher of Islam would have to be Eliot Ness, and Osama Bin Laden is Al Capone, Afghanistan is now Mexico, and were in the middle of Prohibition. Well friends we all know how Prohibition turned out, and the Empire lost its own war on drugs but is now going to solve the problem generated in Afghanistan, this is going to be good.
Sticking to the Story
The war in Afghanistan is about The Central Asian Pipeline: from Turkmenistan which is rich in hydrocarbons and the building of the “Central Asian Pipeline” system transporting (NG) across Afghanistan to the ports of Pakistan, Karachi, and round the globe in (LG) Liquid Gas from, to waiting markets, with a branch line to supply the needs of India, and that is the story were sticking to.
Just read on-line that the CA Republican Party voted today to oppose all the May ballot measures. Save me comments…sure you can figure them out.
Boy, there;s a surprise.
CB,
Yes, I was stunned…stunned, I tell you. Had to pick myself up off the floor and have a drink…okay, maybe a couple drinks…you do understand, don’t you?
The CRP drives most of California to drink.
What is with this endless bullshit?
TRIATHLON Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
AFGHANISTAN WILD WOOD FLOWER
Sitting on those stack of seeds
# Capitol Boy Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
The CRP drives most of California to drink.
—-
Damn it! The wouldn’t pick me up so I had to take a cab!!!!!!
—-
Full agreement with your comments in #12. Tend to think that enough is enough.
New video today?
Rumor is flying around that Jonny Flash is going to make a run for Chair of the CRP at their convention this summer. That should pretty put a stake through the heart of the organization if that happens.
LONDON CALLING
221B Baker Street
Even the occupant of (221B) Baker Street, London, the United Kingdom, on a (7%) solution with ingredients provided from the field of Afghanistan, would know that the (Grand Game II) is Afoot. With Afghanistan only one part of the Islamic Crescent War, The Pipeline Wars, The War on Terror, the War on Islam, its all the same it’s the (Grand Game II), and all of the elements have to be viewed as parts of the (Grand Game II), Puzzle, or Theaters within the Greek Theater, one revolving out of sight as one comes into view. The (Grand Game II) is Afoot.
The Glue
On August 20th, 2009, those in power within the (AIE) American Israeli Empire will purchase the elections that to be held in London, The United Kingdom, and The Common Wealth of Nations, this is the only way in which the (Grand Game II) will be able to continue with any sense that some how it is a legal war, with Britain placing its support and integrity behind the effort. The Glue that hold the whole thing together, but it requires to parts the Government (The Resin) and the Public (The Catalyst), the Resin will be purchased, the question will be if the Catalyst will form up behind it and provide the necessary support.
This is London Calling
This is Edward R. Morrow, and this is London Calling, that loud thud and explosion you just hear was a (V-2) Buzz Bomb exploding within yet another London neighborhood, and you can hear the air raid sirens blaring behind me as rescue personnel area heading to the scene, that loud roar just hear was one of our boys in a Spitfire (RAF) Royal Air Force Fighter, going after a Jerry bomber. But, this time it is not going to be that there is (Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off), this time it could be this is your reporter Jack (Face of Bose) Harkness, reporting from an area just outside London, were the emergency personnel are advising us we can only stay a short period of time as the radiation levels are increasing, we are being advised to relocate to a position up wind of the what seems to have been a thermo-nuclear device having detonated in the heart of London in the middle of its busiest times of the day, we are sorry we have to go, but will return to our broadcast once in a safer location. The British Troops sent to Afghanistan will be placed into hardened locations and surrounded by Empire Troops they will be a hardened target, but that can not be said about London, which will be the soft target, the Empire is oceans away, London is a tunnel away. Who’s device, what mega-tonnage, When will it happen, Were London, Why Pipelines, (The Grand Game II) is Afoot.
I’m not sure how that would work. How would it work?
># elroy el Says:
April 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am edit
Rumor is flying around that Jonny Flash is going to make a run for Chair of the CRP at their convention this summer. That should pretty put a stake through the heart of the organization if that happens.
No.
># Jonas Blane Says:
April 19th, 2009 at 7:50 am edit
New video today?
Hah.
>Sacramento Solon Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 6:36 pm edit
# Capitol Boy Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
The CRP drives most of California to drink.
—-
Damn it! The wouldn’t pick me up so I had to take a cab!!!!!!
A stunning development, to be sure.
># Sacramento Solon Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 4:50 pm edit
Just read on-line that the CA Republican Party voted today to oppose all the May ballot measures. Save me comments…sure you can figure them out.
He does, at that.
># Jonas Blane Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 9:03 am edit
I don’t like Obama’s budget talks. He always forgets to mention he’s raising the deficit.
It’s a very heartening story, that could easily have gone disastrously sideways …
># Jonas Blane Says:
April 18th, 2009 at 8:58 am edit
I like seeing the captain back home.
>>”Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a darling of the far left who was notably anti-American during the Bush/Cheney years, …”
I don’t believe Chavez was ever anti-American. He was certainly anti-Bush/Cheney, like many Americans were and still are. And like many Americans he likened Bush to Satan. In fact Bush was far worse than that mythical character and did more damage to freedom, democracy, and America itself than Chavez (or Satan’s underlings Robertson, Foulwell, and Dobson) could ever hope to do, if he ever wanted to. And, unlike Bush, Chavez actually tried to do something for poor people in his country, and even extended a helping hand to Americans facing obscenely high oil prices when he offered cheaper oil to New Englanders a few winters ago. And I doubt that too many on the “far left” embrace Chavez. He’s seen as an authoritarian by many who consider themselves democratic socialists and as an opportunistic politician by many. Nonetheless, he obviously is not now nor ever has been an enemy of the USA. You can see it in his genuine thrill and pride being able to shake hands with the USA’s first Black prez.
What new video today?
A bunch of stuff …
Oh, Paul, considering that you believe Bush is WORSE THAN THE DEVIL, I’m not sure we can accept your assessment of what is anti-American or far left.
I’ve seen too many lefties roll into the embrace of Brother Hugo to think otherwise.
># Paul Burton Says:
April 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm edit
>>”Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a darling of the far left who was notably anti-American during the Bush/Cheney years, …”
I don’t believe Chavez was ever anti-American. He was certainly anti-Bush/Cheney, like many Americans were and still are. And like many Americans he likened Bush to Satan. In fact Bush was far worse than that mythical character and did more damage to freedom, democracy, and America itself than Chavez (or Satan’s underlings Robertson, Foulwell, and Dobson) could ever hope to do, if he ever wanted to. And, unlike Bush, Chavez actually tried to do something for poor people in his country, and even extended a helping hand to Americans facing obscenely high oil prices when he offered cheaper oil to New Englanders a few winters ago. And I doubt that too many on the “far left” embrace Chavez. He’s seen as an authoritarian by many who consider themselves democratic socialists and as an opportunistic politician by many. Nonetheless, he obviously is not now nor ever has been an enemy of the USA. You can see it in his genuine thrill and pride being able to shake hands with the USA’s first Black prez.