TresSugar

What Is the Clinton Global Initiative?

LibertySugar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:00:39 -0700

This week heads of state, nonprofit leaders, and philanthropists met for the fourth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). By gathering global leaders, the ex-Pres hopes they will devise and implement concrete solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. Since 2005, CGI has committed $30 billion to programs that have impacted 200 million lives in more than 150 countries.

Some of the highlights from this year have included:

Bono spoke out about global priorities: "It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G-8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger."
Wyclef Jean's foundation committed to providing hot school meals for 14,000 poor children, food for 20,000 families a month, thousands of new agriculture jobs, micro-enterprise grants for 165 small businesses, 36,000 farmers with seed, fertilizer, and training, and implementation of a broad communications campaign to engage international and local Haitian musicians in the Together for Haiti Campaign.
Al Gore was joined at the opening session by Clinton, Queen Rania of Jordan, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Bono and E. Neville Isdell, chairman of Coca-Cola Co.'s board. Gore called for civil disobedience against new coal plants.
Lance Armstrong, who is planning to race in next year's Tour de France, pledged $8 million to a global awareness campaign for cancer, including a meeting that would convene in Paris after the tour.

To see more pictures from the event, including shots of Jordan's Queen Rania, the presidential candidates, Drew Barrymore, and Sarah Palin, read more.

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Say What? Bill Clinton Has a Change of Heart

TresSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:00:00 -0700

"I was against the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage nation-wide, and I still think that the American people should be able to play this out in debates. But me, Bill Clinton personally, I changed my position. I am no longer opposed to that. I think if people want to make commitments that last a lifetime, they ought to be able to do it."

- Former President Bill Clinton says he now supports marriage equality. Maybe gay-marriage supporter Brad Pitt chatted with Bill about the subject when they met at the Clinton Global Initiative this week.

Candidates Speak, Debate Unclear: Here's What's Going On

CitizenSugar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:50:46 -0700

Phew. Forty days left you say? OK, here's where we are at the moment with the tangled web of the state of the debate, the economy, McCain's campaign suspension:

Both candidates spoke this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative. McCain appeared live and Obama via satellite. McCain's speech is set to be his last official campaign appearance before returning to Washington to participate in the economic proceedings on the Hill saying, "The debate that matters most right now is taking place in the United States Capitol and I intend to join it."

McCain's speech focused on the economy calling the $700 billion bailout a "staggering amount" and saying "I'm an old Navy pilot and I know when a crisis calls for all hands on deck. I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a solution were at hand, which it clearly is not."
Not everyone appreciates McCain's plan, Letterman included, and Democrats have said the following: “I thought we were trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign,” said Rep. Barney Frank, “This notion of rushing to Washington and grandstanding - it’s silly, it’s impulsive, it’s erratic,” said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, and “With all due respect to my friend John McCain, we’re doing just fine,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

There's so much more. To see Obama's response, and the fate of the debate, read more.

Barack Obama appeared via satellite at the Clinton Global Initiative after lobbing some pointed criticism at McCain's suspension saying, "Part of the president’s job is to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.”
Obama's speech summed up his position on McCain's suspension: "Later today, I’ll be traveling to Washington to offer my help in getting this deal done. Then, I’ll travel to Oxford on Friday for the first of our presidential debates. Our election is in 40 days. Our economy is in crisis, and our nation is fighting two wars abroad. The American people deserve to hear directly from myself and Senator McCain about how we intend to lead our country. The times are too serious to put our campaign on hold, or to ignore the full range of issues that the next president will face."
Both candidates will be meeting with the president later this afternoon, at 4 p.m. EDT, and the fate of the debate could be decided today.

Forty days left! What do you make of all this?

Al Gore Calls For "Civil Disobedience" Against New Coal Plants

CitizenSugar — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:45:35 -0700

At the fourth annual Clinton Global Initiative kicked off yesterday in New York City, Al Gore made a perhaps inconvenient call to action: civil disobedience. Gore, surrounded by Queen Raina, Clinton, and Bono painted a grim planetary picture:

This is a rout. We are losing badly. This is the result of a dysfunctional, insane global system pattern that we have to change.

Then his plan to gain ground on the climate crisis:

If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.

To see what he means, read more.

Currently 28 coal plants are under construction and another 20 more have been approved. The carbon capture he mentioned is a technology that keeps coal plant emissions out of the atmosphere by liquefying them and storing them in underground rock layers, long term. Capture doesn't exist yet in a commercial scale as the cost to implement it increases any project's budget by 50 percent.

Gore summed up his case against coal like this: “Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes - it does not exist.” Are you with Gore? Is it time for civil disobedience - or is calling for it an irresponsible act?

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The Way We Became the G-8 Bunch: The Summit Episode

CitizenSugar — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:00:33 -0700

The G-8 Summit gets underway in Hakkaido, Japan today; a three-day meeting of the leaders of the eight countries invited, plus a representative of the European Union.
Grown from the concept of a forum of the major industrialized democracies after the 1973 oil crisis, more have been invited until 1997 when the last member, Russia, was invited at the initiative of then US President Bill Clinton.

The guest list is at the edge of controversy this year, as major climate issues are at hand, and two of the worst polluters (China and India) aren't invited. Here's who is (top to bottom, left to right):

Marcia Brady: United Kingdom, Gordon Brown
Jan Brady: United States, George W Bush
Cindy Brady: Germany, Angela Merkel
Carol Brady: Canada, Stephen Harper
Ann B. Davis as Alice: European Union, Jose Manuel Barroso
Mike Brady: Japan, Yasuo Fukada
Greg Brady (Johnny Bravo): France Nicolas Sarkozy
Peter Brady: Russia, Dmitry Medvedev
Bobby Brady: Italy, Silvio Berlusconi

What's going to happen in this very special episode of the G-8 bunch? Well, no one's going to find a Tiki idol or Vincent Price in a cave, but some other important stuff instead. To find out, read more.

Soaring food and energy costs will be at the top of the list, especially after oil prices rose to $145 a barrel last week. Global climate change is on the table too, following last year's agreement to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

G-8 action on the world's food situation will be broached, probably by Germany's Angela Merkel who wrote a recent editorial in which she said, "The aggravation of the global food situation is increasing hunger in the world and threatens the political stability of many developing countries. At the summit, a comprehensive package of measures to secure global food supplies should be adopted." And aid to Africa is up there too, with seven heads of African nations invited to the opening ceremonies of the summit.

Anti-globalization, global warming, and poverty activists were on hand for the arrivals of the leaders amid heavy security. Banners reading, "Down with imperialism" among other slogans were displayed.

G-8 Summit 2008: It may be no trip to the Grand Canyon or race through a theme park, but it's worth a watch.

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To Bill or Not to Bill: Are Hillary's Surrogates Helping?

CitizenSugar — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:50:00 -0700

Bill Clinton was in New Orleans over the weekend where he met up for a ground breaking with fellow Katrina activist Brad Pitt, and delivered a speech about the Clinton Global Initiative. Bill grabbed the opportunity to reinforce Hillary's campaign policy on rebuilding New Orleans. Bill called for the need for a full-time Katrina coordinator and said, ""All of this would be better done if there were a federal coordinator. . . and a sustained effort to make sure that government agencies are operating functionally." Bill's appearance made for at least one Hillary surrogate who was on message this weekend.

The pesky reality is that presidential candidates aren't humanly capable of being everywhere at once. Campaigning for years (or so it seems. . .) in a country this big, a candidate will have to outsource a little of the pomp and circumstance once in a while. Ah, the surrogate. Someone who can step in and deliver a message on behalf of the candidate, rally the supporters, and represent the brand. Chelsea's done it, Michelle Obama, even the recent controversial statements by Geraldine Ferraro, all took turns at carrying messages to varying degrees of success.

Bill Clinton might be the most sweet-and-sour bearer of this task. To see what he's been up to, and who he told to "chill out," read more. Bill is beloved but can occasionally let his passion run away with his tongue. He famously stirred things up perhaps for the worse with his Obama "fairy tale" remarks earlier this year. Of course that's the added bonus: besides clearing the candidate's schedule of a few rubber-chicken-dinner fundraisers: the surrogates can say things that the candidate can't - or wants out there without having the dirty hands that go along with it.

He's going to be on Good Morning America this morning, where previews of his exclusive interview have him saying of the tight race between Barack and Hillary, "The voters get to decide. I think we should just celebrate this. If we just chill out here and let all the voters have their say, my gut is it's gonna come out all right." If Bill keeps his surrogacy to positive messages, the voters might just agree.

What do you think? Is Bill a good surrogate, or are his remarks leading Hillary's campaign astray?

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France Wants Lance to Prove He Was Clean - Should He?

LibertySugar — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:00:16 -0700

Lance Armstrong announced that he's coming back to the Tour de France next year, and he plans on mixing in some charity work on behalf of the Clinton Global Initiative while he's in Paris. Well France's anti-doping chief wants to add something else to Lance's agenda: clearing his name.

Here's the challenge: Lance should agree to retesting his 1999 urine samples, in order to disprove reports that they contained traces of banned endurance enhancers.

A positive test from 1999, the year Lance won his first of seven titles, couldn't result in disciplinary action as too much time has passed. The urine samples are currently kept frozen in a French lab.

Should Lance take France up on its challenge?

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McCain Suspends Campaign, to Delay Debate Over Crisis

LibertySugar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:12:12 -0700

John McCain suspended his campaign today, asking his staff to work with Barack Obama to help solve the economic crisis. He also asked the debate commission to postpone Friday's first presidential debate.

A stop at Bill Clinton's Global Initiative on Thursday will be McCain's only campaign event. McCain is also asking President Bush to hold a leadership meeting, which would be attended by McCain and Obama.

Are you happy to see McCain suspend campaigning and debating while the financial crisis is sorted out, or do campaign stops help Americans understand how the candidates want to address the problems now and in the future?

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2-For-1 Deal - Obama, Clinton Double-Header on the Economy

CitizenSugar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:39:03 -0700

It's a cavalcade of speechifying this morning! Obama! Clinton! Bush on the war! Here's the update:

Hillary just started her economic speech in North Carolina with a laugh saying, "If you want to go forward you put it in D, if you want to backward you put it in R."

She then went on to make her speech local, by drawing in the challenges and innovation of the Wright brothers (different Wright this time!) at Kitty Hawk.

Hillary focused on the workforce end of the economy, proposing a $12.5 billion, five-year initiative to rebuild the middle class by helping laid-off workers and boosting job training. The program includes about $2 billion a year for worker retraining and $500 million a year in grants for on-the-job training. To see good excerpts of both, as well as full coverage of Obama's speech from earlier this morning, read more.

Hillary said,

We are competing in a new global economy, but our policies to equip American worker for the twenty-first century are stuck back in the twentieth. When it comes to retraining assistance, our government is more focused on how you lost your job than how you can find a new one. And while we have been rightly focused on trying to help people who are out of work, there’s been too little thought and effort to help people gain new skills while they still have their existing jobs – so they can move up or move on to higher-wage positions.

She also took aim at McCain's plan:

Sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and it’s an economic crisis. And we need a president who is ready and willing to answer that call. But I read Senator McCain's plan which does virtually nothing to ease the credit crisis or the housing crisis. The phone is ringing and he would just let it ring and ring.

Her speech was markedly different than Obama's even though they were on the same subject. She spoke quietly and aimed her populist-seeming remarks from the ground up, while it seems Obama took the opposite strategy.

Here's Obama's take. His speech started with a gulp of realization, "now, as most experts agree, our economy is in a recession. "

Obama then laid out economic policy mostly geared toward the upper reaches of the financial world, including six steps to reform the regulatory system.

You can find the full text of Obama's speech here. Here are a couple of passages that struck me.

Today, those consequences are clear. I see them in every corner of our great country, as families face foreclosure and rising costs. I seem them in towns across America, where a credit crisis threatens the ability of students to get loans, and states can't finance infrastructure projects. I see them here in Manhattan, where one of our biggest investment banks had to be bailed out, and the Fed opened its discount window to a host of new institutions with unprecedented implications we have yet to appreciate. When all is said and done, losses will be in the many hundreds of billions. What was bad for Main Street was bad for Wall Street. Pain trickled up.

And:

Senator McCain argues that government should do nothing to protect borrowers and lenders who've made bad decisions, or taken on excessive risk. On this point, I agree. But the Dodd-Frank package is not a bailout for lenders or investors who gambled recklessly, as they will take losses. It is not a windfall for borrowers, as they will have to share any capital gain. Instead, it offers a responsible and fair way to help bring an end to the foreclosure crisis. It asks both sides to sacrifice, while preventing a long-term collapse that could have enormous ramifications for the most responsible lenders and borrowers, as well as the American people as a whole. That is what Senator McCain ignores.

Do you think he effectively answered McCain's statement against the "irresponsible" from two days ago? Are you confident Obama's call for sacrifices on all sides of the crisis will help heal the economy? Which speech spoke more to you? Hillary's job training, or Obama's regulations? Are either of these the answer?

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