Barack Obama's first international visit as president will be to Canada
Sat Jan 10, 10:46 PM
By Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama will follow a presidential tradition and head to Canada for his first international venture in a visit that's certain to help define Canada-U.S. relations during his years in the White House.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office said Saturday that the president-elect has accepted his invitation to come to Canada soon after his inauguration.
Four of the last seven U.S. presidents have chosen Canada for their first international visit.
"It's good news, a sign of the importance of this relationship to both countries. We look forward to hosting the new president," Kory Teneycke, Harper's communications director, said from Ottawa.
"The fact remains that our two countries are very important trading partners to one another, that we are friends and allies ... although there are differences, there's a great deal more that we share in common when it comes to perspective and values."
Details were still sketchy about the precise timing of Obama's Canadian visit and what will be discussed.
Obama's transition aides said Saturday that Obama and Harper hadn't talked about the trip directly and Teneycke said it was too soon to say whether the president-elect would address Parliament.
Nonetheless, it's sure to be a trip that will make any other presidential visit in recent memory seem like an exercise in watching paint dry.
Many Canadians were jubilant when Obama won the Nov. 4 election to end eight years of unpopular Republican rule under President George W. Bush, and the one-time Illinois senator enjoyed sky-high approval ratings in Canada during the presidential election campaign.
Busloads of Canadians are travelling to Washington to take part in the inauguration festivities on Jan. 20.
"It's exciting that he's chosen Canada but more importantly it will be a great opportunity for a lot of Canadians to bear witness to this new and different administration from the U.S.," Glyn Lewis, a Canadian who worked for the Obama campaign and is travelling to D.C. for the inauguration, said Saturday from Vancouver.
"I think a lot of Canadians are looking forward to having more cordial relations with the United States."
Up for debate, however, is what kind of personal relationship might develop between Obama and Harper should the prime minister still be in power at the time.
Harper's Conservative government is scheduled to table a budget on Jan. 26 that could still be defeated in a non-confidence vote by a coalition of Liberals, New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois.
Since his historic election, Obama has set aside partisanship and stressed his willingness to consult and work with people from both ends of the political spectrum.
Harper's intense partisanship, on the other hand, has almost cost him his career.
His attempt to ban political parties from receiving public funding set the wheels in motion for a dramatic Parliament Hill crisis that almost toppled his government.
The prime minister's refusal to extend Canada's mission to Afghanistan will likely be a point of contention between the two leaders, since Obama has asked for more help from NATO allies on that front.
One political observer says Harper needs to focus on common ground during Obama's trip to Canada.
The visit offers an "an opportunity to impress upon him the scope for pursuing an agenda that's in our mutual interests," said Michael Hart, a free-trade negotiator and the Simon Reisman chair at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.
He said Harper shouldn't try to build a relationship with Obama based on "irritant resolution" but rather focus on developing "mutual confidence and trust" by working together on issues that include climate change, the global economic crisis and global security issues.
If tensions were to escalate between Obama and Harper, they wouldn't be the first U.S.-Canada leaders to have little affection for one another.
There was no love lost between John F. Kennedy and John Diefenbaker, for example, after Diefenbaker complained that Kennedy was too young and brash to be president.
When JFK opted to travel first to Canada after his inauguration in 1961, he was apparently keen to appear vital and vigorous next to his older colleague.
Too vigorous, it would seem - Kennedy hurt his back during a tree-planting ceremony on Parliament Hill, and was said to have cursed "Dief" in the years to come whenever his back acted up.
He so reviled Diefenbaker, in fact, that he desperately wanted to help Lester B. Pearson defeat him in 1963, but his aides wouldn't allow it.
Relations between Richard Nixon and Pierre Trudeau weren't any friendlier.
Nixon famously called Trudeau an "asshole" after the prime minister got the better of Nixon during an Oval Office meeting, prompting Trudeau to comment: "I've been called worse things by better people."
Ronald Reagan and Brian Mulroney, on the other hand, had a warm relationship based largely on their Irish heritage, even though their friendship annoyed Canadians who felt Mulroney was too subservient to the U.S. president.
Jean Chretien and Bill Clinton also formed a fond friendship and often golfed together.
George W. Bush didn't share Clinton's affection for Chretien, however, and the president opted to head to Mexico instead of Canada for his first international visit in 2001.
Since Canada is America's biggest trading partner, Bush's trip to Mexico was viewed as a snub of sorts in diplomatic circles.
There was an uproar in Canada a few months later when Bush failed to thank Canadians for their help after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Hart said Canadians made too much out of Bush's so-called "slight" in choosing to visit Mexico before Canada.
"He's a Texan. He lives next door to Mexico . . . I think it made sense to him to make a visit there early on. I don't think that the people in the White House spent a lot of time thinking what precedents they're setting."
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
DGBN Philosophy -- On What A U.S. Senator Should Be Like
Every school of philosophy, psychology, or any other school of study eventually creates and develops its own terminology, its own language.
As much as I have tried for the most part to keep my language as simple as possible in my exposition of DGB Philosophy, there comes a time when and where 'more technical (detailed, scrupulous) language' may be needed for the sake of precision.
That time and place is now.
We are entering the philosophy of meaning -- or semantics.
My early training in this regard is mainly in General Semantics as created by Alfred Korzybski and developed by many outstanding 'students' of General Semantics including the G.S. theorist and writer who introduced me to General Semantics as a Grade 12 English student through his classic book on this subject matter, 'Language in Thought in Action' -- S.I. Hayakawa.
I didn't know until recently that Hayakawa was a U.S. Senator from California, and having just written an essay on Roland Burris -- and what a U.S. Senator should not be -- I can now easily pay my greatest respect for what a U.S. Senator should be. Ad he was a Republican.
So here is a message for today's ethically battered American Republican Party:
You could/can find no better place to start in your goal to re-create your party as an epistemologically and ethically strong political party -- than the life, history, and General Semantics works of -- S.I.Hayakawa.
Sarah Palin -- or Roland Burris (I think he is a Democrat) -- is not going to take you and/or the American Government and People to such sacred political territory.
-- DGBN, Jan. 10th, 2008
-- David Gordon Bain
-- Democracy Goes Beyond Narcissism
-- Dialectical Gap-Bridging Negotiations...
Are still in process..
........................................................................
S. I. Hayakawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
S. I. Hayakawa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States Senator
from California
In office
January 2, 1977 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by John V. Tunney
Succeeded by Pete Wilson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Born July 18, 1906
Vancouver, British Columbia
Died February 27, 1992 (aged 85)
Greenbrae, California
Political party Republican
Alma mater University of Manitoba
McGill University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Profession English professor
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and political figure. He was an English professor, served as president of San Francisco State University and then a United States Senator from California from 1977 to 1983. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he was educated in the public schools of Calgary, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba; received his undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1927; graduate degrees in English from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1928, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1935.
Contents
1 Academic career
1.1 Student strike at San Francisco State University
2 Political career
Academic career
Professionally, Hayakawa was a psychologist, semanticist, teacher and writer. He was an instructor at the University of Wisconsin from 1936 to 1939 and at the Armour Institute of Technology from 1939 to 1947. Hayakawa was an important semanticist. His first book on the subject, Language in Thought and Action, was published in 1949 as an expansion of the earlier work, Language in Action, written since 1938 and published in 1941 to be a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It is currently in its fifth edition and has greatly helped popularize Alfred Korzybski's general semantics and in effect semantics in general, while semantics or theory of meaning was overwhelmed by mysticism, propagandism and even scientism. In the Preface, he said:
"The original version of this book, Language in Action, published in 1941, was in many respects a response to the dangers of propaganda, especially as exemplified in Adolf Hitler's success in persuading millions to share his maniacal and destructive views. It was the writer's conviction then, as it remains now, that everyone needs to have a habitually critical attitude towards language — his own as well as that of others — both for the sake of his personal well-being and for his adequate functioning as a citizen. Hitler is gone, but if the majority of our fellow-citizens are more susceptible to the slogans of fear and race hatred than to those of peaceful accommodation and mutual respect among human beings, our political liberties remain at the mercy of any eloquent and unscrupulous demagogue."
In addition to such motivation, he acknowledged his debt as follows:
"My deepest debt in this book is to the General Semantics ('non-Aristotelian system') of Alfred Korzybski. I have also drawn heavily upon the works of other contributors to semantic thought: especially C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, Thorstein Veblen, Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield, Karl R. Popper, Thurman Arnold, Jerome Frank, Jean Piaget, Charles Morris, Wendell Johnson, Irving J. Lee, Ernst Cassirer, Anatol Rapoport, Stuart Chase. I am also deeply indebted to the writings of numerous psychologists and psychiatrists with one or another of the dynamic points of view inspired by Sigmund Freud: Karl Menninger, Trigant Burrow, Carl Rogers, Kurt Lewin, N. R. F. Maier, Jurgen Ruesch, Gregory Bateson, Rudolf Dreikurs, Milton Rokeach. I have also found extremely helpful the writings of cultural anthropologists, especially those of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Ruth Benedict, Clyde Kluckhohn, Leslie A. White, Margaret Mead, Weston La Barre."
He was a lecturer at the University of Chicago from 1950 to 1955. During this time he presented a talk at the 1954 Conference of Activity Vector Analysts at Lake George, New York in which he discussed a theory of personality from the semantic point of view. This was later published as The Semantic Barrier. This was a definitive lecture as it discussed the Darwinism of the "survival of self" as contrasted with the "survival of self-concept".
He became an English professor at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University) from 1955 to 1968. In the early 1960s, he helped organize the Anti Digit Dialing League, a group in San Francisco that opposed the introduction of all digit telephone exchange names. Among the students he trained were commune leader Stephen Gaskin and author Gerald Haslam. He became president of San Francisco State College during the turbulent period of 1968 to 1973, becoming president emeritus in 1973 and then wrote a column for the Register & Tribune Syndicate from 1970 to 1976.
Student strike at San Francisco State University
During 1968-69, there was a bitter student strike at San Francisco State University that was a major news event at the time and chapter in the radical history of the United States and the Bay Area. The strike was led by the Third World Liberation Front supported by Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers and the counter-cultural community, among others. It demanded an end to racism, creation of a Black Studies Department and an end to the War in Vietnam and the university's complicity with it. Hayakawa became popular with mainstream voters in this period after he pulled the wires out from the speakers on a student van at an outdoor rally, dramatically disrupting it. [1] , [2] , [3]
Political career
1977, Congressional Pictorial DirectoryHe was elected in California as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1976, defeating incumbent Democrat John V. Tunney. Hayakawa served from January 3, 1977 to January 3, 1983. He did not stand for reelection in 1982 and was succeeded by Republican Pete Wilson.
Hayakawa founded the political lobbying organization U.S. English, which is dedicated to making the English language the official language of the United States.
The Senator was a resident of Mill Valley, California until his death in Greenbrae, California, in 1992. He was also a member of the Bohemian Club, the first member of the club of Japanese ancestry. He also had an abiding interest in traditional jazz and wrote extensively on that subject, including several erudite sets of album liner notes. Sometimes in his lectures on semantics, he was joined by the respected traditional jazz pianist, Don Ewell, whom Hayakawa employed to demonstrate various points in which he analyzed semantic and musical principles.
............................................................................
S. I. Hayakawa Quotes
I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose.
S. I. Hayakawa
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.
S. I. Hayakawa
In a real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.
S. I. Hayakawa
In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.
S. I. Hayakawa
In the age of television, image becomes more important than substance.
S. I. Hayakawa
It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.
S. I. Hayakawa
It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves before they die.
S. I. Hayakawa
Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, I have failed three times, and what happens when he says, I am a failure.
S. I. Hayakawa
So I will say it with relish. Give me a hamburger but hold the lawsuit.
S. I. Hayakawa
You guys are both saying the same thing. The only reason you're arguing is because you're using different words.
S. I. Hayakawa
.................................................................
As much as I have tried for the most part to keep my language as simple as possible in my exposition of DGB Philosophy, there comes a time when and where 'more technical (detailed, scrupulous) language' may be needed for the sake of precision.
That time and place is now.
We are entering the philosophy of meaning -- or semantics.
My early training in this regard is mainly in General Semantics as created by Alfred Korzybski and developed by many outstanding 'students' of General Semantics including the G.S. theorist and writer who introduced me to General Semantics as a Grade 12 English student through his classic book on this subject matter, 'Language in Thought in Action' -- S.I. Hayakawa.
I didn't know until recently that Hayakawa was a U.S. Senator from California, and having just written an essay on Roland Burris -- and what a U.S. Senator should not be -- I can now easily pay my greatest respect for what a U.S. Senator should be. Ad he was a Republican.
So here is a message for today's ethically battered American Republican Party:
You could/can find no better place to start in your goal to re-create your party as an epistemologically and ethically strong political party -- than the life, history, and General Semantics works of -- S.I.Hayakawa.
Sarah Palin -- or Roland Burris (I think he is a Democrat) -- is not going to take you and/or the American Government and People to such sacred political territory.
-- DGBN, Jan. 10th, 2008
-- David Gordon Bain
-- Democracy Goes Beyond Narcissism
-- Dialectical Gap-Bridging Negotiations...
Are still in process..
........................................................................
S. I. Hayakawa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
S. I. Hayakawa
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States Senator
from California
In office
January 2, 1977 – January 3, 1983
Preceded by John V. Tunney
Succeeded by Pete Wilson
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Born July 18, 1906
Vancouver, British Columbia
Died February 27, 1992 (aged 85)
Greenbrae, California
Political party Republican
Alma mater University of Manitoba
McGill University
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Profession English professor
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and political figure. He was an English professor, served as president of San Francisco State University and then a United States Senator from California from 1977 to 1983. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he was educated in the public schools of Calgary, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba; received his undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1927; graduate degrees in English from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1928, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1935.
Contents
1 Academic career
1.1 Student strike at San Francisco State University
2 Political career
Academic career
Professionally, Hayakawa was a psychologist, semanticist, teacher and writer. He was an instructor at the University of Wisconsin from 1936 to 1939 and at the Armour Institute of Technology from 1939 to 1947. Hayakawa was an important semanticist. His first book on the subject, Language in Thought and Action, was published in 1949 as an expansion of the earlier work, Language in Action, written since 1938 and published in 1941 to be a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It is currently in its fifth edition and has greatly helped popularize Alfred Korzybski's general semantics and in effect semantics in general, while semantics or theory of meaning was overwhelmed by mysticism, propagandism and even scientism. In the Preface, he said:
"The original version of this book, Language in Action, published in 1941, was in many respects a response to the dangers of propaganda, especially as exemplified in Adolf Hitler's success in persuading millions to share his maniacal and destructive views. It was the writer's conviction then, as it remains now, that everyone needs to have a habitually critical attitude towards language — his own as well as that of others — both for the sake of his personal well-being and for his adequate functioning as a citizen. Hitler is gone, but if the majority of our fellow-citizens are more susceptible to the slogans of fear and race hatred than to those of peaceful accommodation and mutual respect among human beings, our political liberties remain at the mercy of any eloquent and unscrupulous demagogue."
In addition to such motivation, he acknowledged his debt as follows:
"My deepest debt in this book is to the General Semantics ('non-Aristotelian system') of Alfred Korzybski. I have also drawn heavily upon the works of other contributors to semantic thought: especially C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, Thorstein Veblen, Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield, Karl R. Popper, Thurman Arnold, Jerome Frank, Jean Piaget, Charles Morris, Wendell Johnson, Irving J. Lee, Ernst Cassirer, Anatol Rapoport, Stuart Chase. I am also deeply indebted to the writings of numerous psychologists and psychiatrists with one or another of the dynamic points of view inspired by Sigmund Freud: Karl Menninger, Trigant Burrow, Carl Rogers, Kurt Lewin, N. R. F. Maier, Jurgen Ruesch, Gregory Bateson, Rudolf Dreikurs, Milton Rokeach. I have also found extremely helpful the writings of cultural anthropologists, especially those of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Ruth Benedict, Clyde Kluckhohn, Leslie A. White, Margaret Mead, Weston La Barre."
He was a lecturer at the University of Chicago from 1950 to 1955. During this time he presented a talk at the 1954 Conference of Activity Vector Analysts at Lake George, New York in which he discussed a theory of personality from the semantic point of view. This was later published as The Semantic Barrier. This was a definitive lecture as it discussed the Darwinism of the "survival of self" as contrasted with the "survival of self-concept".
He became an English professor at San Francisco State College (now called San Francisco State University) from 1955 to 1968. In the early 1960s, he helped organize the Anti Digit Dialing League, a group in San Francisco that opposed the introduction of all digit telephone exchange names. Among the students he trained were commune leader Stephen Gaskin and author Gerald Haslam. He became president of San Francisco State College during the turbulent period of 1968 to 1973, becoming president emeritus in 1973 and then wrote a column for the Register & Tribune Syndicate from 1970 to 1976.
Student strike at San Francisco State University
During 1968-69, there was a bitter student strike at San Francisco State University that was a major news event at the time and chapter in the radical history of the United States and the Bay Area. The strike was led by the Third World Liberation Front supported by Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers and the counter-cultural community, among others. It demanded an end to racism, creation of a Black Studies Department and an end to the War in Vietnam and the university's complicity with it. Hayakawa became popular with mainstream voters in this period after he pulled the wires out from the speakers on a student van at an outdoor rally, dramatically disrupting it. [1] , [2] , [3]
Political career
1977, Congressional Pictorial DirectoryHe was elected in California as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1976, defeating incumbent Democrat John V. Tunney. Hayakawa served from January 3, 1977 to January 3, 1983. He did not stand for reelection in 1982 and was succeeded by Republican Pete Wilson.
Hayakawa founded the political lobbying organization U.S. English, which is dedicated to making the English language the official language of the United States.
The Senator was a resident of Mill Valley, California until his death in Greenbrae, California, in 1992. He was also a member of the Bohemian Club, the first member of the club of Japanese ancestry. He also had an abiding interest in traditional jazz and wrote extensively on that subject, including several erudite sets of album liner notes. Sometimes in his lectures on semantics, he was joined by the respected traditional jazz pianist, Don Ewell, whom Hayakawa employed to demonstrate various points in which he analyzed semantic and musical principles.
............................................................................
S. I. Hayakawa Quotes
I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose.
S. I. Hayakawa
If you see in any given situation only what everybody else can see, you can be said to be so much a representative of your culture that you are a victim of it.
S. I. Hayakawa
In a real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read. It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.
S. I. Hayakawa
In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read.
S. I. Hayakawa
In the age of television, image becomes more important than substance.
S. I. Hayakawa
It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.
S. I. Hayakawa
It is the individual who knows how little they know about themselves who stands the most reasonable chance of finding out something about themselves before they die.
S. I. Hayakawa
Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, I have failed three times, and what happens when he says, I am a failure.
S. I. Hayakawa
So I will say it with relish. Give me a hamburger but hold the lawsuit.
S. I. Hayakawa
You guys are both saying the same thing. The only reason you're arguing is because you're using different words.
S. I. Hayakawa
.................................................................
Friday, January 09, 2009
World's healthiest countries
World's healthiest countries
by Allison Van Dusen and Ana Patricia Ferrey
Friday, April 18, 2008
There are lots of reasons to envy residents of Northern Europe. Each day they get to take in raw, dramatic landscapes, stunning architecture and world-class shopping.
But, more important, they know a thing or two about health and wellness.
Forbes.com has found that the region is home to some of the world's healthiest countries, including top-ranking Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
Others that fared well include Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Austria and the Netherlands.
"Historically, these countries had an ethic of having more of a nationalized health care system," says Kate Schecter, a program officer for the American International Health.
"Everyone," Kates says, "needs to be aware that how we provide health care to people in a country is a critical issue."
by Allison Van Dusen and Ana Patricia Ferrey
Friday, April 18, 2008
There are lots of reasons to envy residents of Northern Europe. Each day they get to take in raw, dramatic landscapes, stunning architecture and world-class shopping.
But, more important, they know a thing or two about health and wellness.
Forbes.com has found that the region is home to some of the world's healthiest countries, including top-ranking Iceland, Sweden and Finland.
Others that fared well include Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Austria and the Netherlands.
"Historically, these countries had an ethic of having more of a nationalized health care system," says Kate Schecter, a program officer for the American International Health.
"Everyone," Kates says, "needs to be aware that how we provide health care to people in a country is a critical issue."
Hypocrisy, Thy Name is....Blagojevich...Burris...
Impeachment in The United States...from Wikipedia
Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges is separate from the act of impeachment itself: impeachment is analogous to indictment in regular court proceedings, trial by the other house is analogous to the trial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial.
At the federal level, Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that "The President, Vice President, and all other civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate.
Impeachment can also occur at the state level; state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors, according to their respective state constitutions.
..................................................................
Let's see...You have an impeached, tainted Governor of Illinois...That would be Gov. Rod Blagojevich...who appointed, while in the process of impeachment, a new African-American Illinois Senator in place of President-Elect Obama's vacated Senate position...That would be the 'scrupulous' Roland Burris...
...................................................................
Definitions of scrupulous on the Web:
having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled; "less scrupulous producers sent bundles that were deceptive in appearance"
conscientious: characterized by extreme care and great effort; "conscientious application to the work at hand"; "painstaking research"; "scrupulous attention to details"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Exactly and carefully conducted; Having scruples or compunctions
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulous
scrupulously - with extreme conscientiousness; "he came religiously every morning at 8 o'clock"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
scrupulousness - conformity to high standards of ethics or excellence
scrupulousness - meticulousness: strict attention to minute details
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Scrupulosity is obsessive concern with one's personal sins, including "sinful" acts or thoughts usually considered minor or trivial within their religious tradition. The term is derived from the Latin scrupulus, a sharp stone, implying a stabbing pain on the conscience.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrupulosity
scrupulousness - The property of being scrupulous; The result or product of being scrupulous
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulousness
scrupulously - In a careful manner, with scruple; done with careful attention to detail
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulously
diligent, thorough and attentive to detail
.....................................................................
Perhaps I am being 'overly scrupulous' by including all these partly similar, partly different definitions of 'scrupulous' when the only one we really need is the first one....
.............................................................
having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong;
....................................................................
So Roland Burris is on record as saying that Blagojevich's behavior is 'apalling' (I think that was the word that he used...)
However, obviously Burris does not believe that Blagojevich's appointment choice of Senator was/is 'appalling' because Burris feels strongly that he is 'legally entitled' to this Illinois Senator position. He felt strong enough about this 'entitlement' that he was willing to walk into The U.S. Senate when he knew that most of the Senators there did not think he was entitled to the position because he was appointed by a 'tainted, uncredible -- if not incredible -- soon-to-be-impeached Governor of Illinois, the aforementioned unscrupulous Rod Blagojevich.
Are you following all of this?
And then you have a number of African-American political commentators on CNN who somehow believe that Rodney Burris is, indeed, entitled to the Illinois Senator position because there are, as of right now, absolutely no African-American Senators in the U.S. Senate...
Are you still following?
Which seems to suggest that it wouldn't matter if Blagojevich himself were going to the American Senate -- just as long as he was 'African-American'.
With all due respect, the 'race' issue has nothing to do with the Blagojevich-Burris issue. Not to mention, regarding the CNN commentators, hopefully we have not regressed back to the whole 'affirmative action' idea of the 1990s -- complete with 'preferential treatment', 'special rights', 'reverse discrimination', 'political correctness' to suppress any type of democratic talk about 'reverse-inequalities' -- and 'tokenism'.
I would like to think that the African-American political commentators on CNN got to where they are now career-wise by the 'strength and the merit' of their 'intellect, their education, their logic, their analytic abilities, and their ability to think quickly on their feet' -- not because they were/are 'token' African-Americans. Please! Let's not go there -- or go back there. I certainly did not support and promote Obama in my blogs here because he was a 'token' African-American. I supported and promoted him because I believe -- and still believe -- in the superiority and the sincerity of his rhetoric and his belief in 'multi-cultural integrationism'; not where the Republicans went in their election campaign with their 'two colored and inferred/implied ethnic-relgious-racial deivisionism'.
I don't care what color an American Senator is -- again, black, brown, white, yellow, or blue, it doesn't matter to me -- but I still believe in the 'merit' system. The American people -- whatever color, sex, and/or ethnic group they may be -- do not need 'token' Senators. They need scrupulous Senators. And neither Blagojevich -- nor his tainted appointee, Roland Burris -- qualify as scrupulous.
I thought that much of the last American election was built around Obama's assertion that he would reduce if not eliminate corruption, lobbyism, kickbacks, etc. from The White House and The Senate. What, now Obama is going to stand helplessly by -- even when he has publicly stated that Burris should not be going to The American Senate -- while the man is 'accepted' into the Senate for and by other political and legal means and reasons? What is this? More tainted, corrupted supposed democracy?
If you believe that a Governor's behavior is 'corrupt' and 'appalling' but you suddenly 'repent' -- have a 'change of heart' -- and 'respect' the Governor's behavior if he comes out of nowhere and chooses you to be the next Illinois Senator, especially when you have been shown to have a history of 'losing elections' -- well, I would call that behavior rather 'hypocritical'...Wouldn't you?
If a Governor's behavior is stated to be so 'corrupt', 'appalling', 'repugnant'...by verbal report, witnesses, and/or whatevever other allegedly strong evidence that there seems to be readily available to impeach Blagojevich (already been done) and send him to a Senate trial that will probably 'evict him' from his Governor's position -- wouldn't that seem to make all of Governor Blagojevich's behavior after the start of this process -- including his appointment of Burris as the new 'pseudo' - Illinois Senator -- wouldn't that put this decision, this appointment, into the 'highly tainted and suspect, not to mention uncredible and incredible' category?
What's wrong with this political soap opera?
Well, let's start with this...
In most sports leagues, a player who has committed an 'appalling behavior' is immediately 'suspended from action indefinitely'...until at least a hearing with the league Commissioner...at which point a 'further suspension' is usually handed down for either a short, or long, or permanent duration, depending on the nature of the infraction.
This is not including whatever 'team discipline' is imposed on the offending player.
The NHL -- and The Dallas Stars -- did a much faster and more efficient job of getting rid of Sean Avery (hopefully permanently) than the American political and legal system seems to be able to get rid of the blatant, open corruption -- and the men and/or women -- seen and heard by The American people as being responsible for it, and/or tainted by it.
I think this whole incident is showing both The American Government and The American People loud and clear that it is time to re-work the whole 'impeachment' process -- meaning both 'speed it up please, speed it up' -- and/or more importantly -- include the action of 'suspension of all Governor duties indefinitely' (meaning til the end of the impeachment trial).
Then we wouldn't all be looking at, and experiencing, this political and legal soap opera-fiasco -- this embarrasment and mockery -- of the American Political and Judicial System.
Furthermore, we wouldn't have to listen to either Blagojevich or Burris preaching 'scruples' from their respective hypocritical political platforms -- unless, that is, either of them wants to actually try to run for another election.
It might actually be fun to see them both use their own private 'campaign money' from their own private bank accounts.
Somehow I don't think they would be able to get too many more 'public donors'.
But they could try.
It's the American Democratic Way -- good, bad, and ugly.
The 'impeachment process' and perhaps even 'Governors apointing Senators' needs fixing.
-- dgbn, January 9th, 2008.
David Gordon Bain
Impeachment in the United States is an expressed power of the legislature which allows for formal charges to be brought against a civil officer of government for conduct committed in office. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges is separate from the act of impeachment itself: impeachment is analogous to indictment in regular court proceedings, trial by the other house is analogous to the trial before judge and jury in regular courts. Typically, the lower house of the legislature will impeach the official and the upper house will conduct the trial.
At the federal level, Article Two of the United States Constitution (Section 4) states that "The President, Vice President, and all other civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors." The House of Representatives has the sole power of impeaching, while the United States Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments. The removal of impeached officials is automatic upon conviction in the Senate.
Impeachment can also occur at the state level; state legislatures can impeach state officials, including governors, according to their respective state constitutions.
..................................................................
Let's see...You have an impeached, tainted Governor of Illinois...That would be Gov. Rod Blagojevich...who appointed, while in the process of impeachment, a new African-American Illinois Senator in place of President-Elect Obama's vacated Senate position...That would be the 'scrupulous' Roland Burris...
...................................................................
Definitions of scrupulous on the Web:
having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong; principled; "less scrupulous producers sent bundles that were deceptive in appearance"
conscientious: characterized by extreme care and great effort; "conscientious application to the work at hand"; "painstaking research"; "scrupulous attention to details"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Exactly and carefully conducted; Having scruples or compunctions
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulous
scrupulously - with extreme conscientiousness; "he came religiously every morning at 8 o'clock"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
scrupulousness - conformity to high standards of ethics or excellence
scrupulousness - meticulousness: strict attention to minute details
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Scrupulosity is obsessive concern with one's personal sins, including "sinful" acts or thoughts usually considered minor or trivial within their religious tradition. The term is derived from the Latin scrupulus, a sharp stone, implying a stabbing pain on the conscience.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrupulosity
scrupulousness - The property of being scrupulous; The result or product of being scrupulous
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulousness
scrupulously - In a careful manner, with scruple; done with careful attention to detail
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scrupulously
diligent, thorough and attentive to detail
.....................................................................
Perhaps I am being 'overly scrupulous' by including all these partly similar, partly different definitions of 'scrupulous' when the only one we really need is the first one....
.............................................................
having scruples; arising from a sense of right and wrong;
....................................................................
So Roland Burris is on record as saying that Blagojevich's behavior is 'apalling' (I think that was the word that he used...)
However, obviously Burris does not believe that Blagojevich's appointment choice of Senator was/is 'appalling' because Burris feels strongly that he is 'legally entitled' to this Illinois Senator position. He felt strong enough about this 'entitlement' that he was willing to walk into The U.S. Senate when he knew that most of the Senators there did not think he was entitled to the position because he was appointed by a 'tainted, uncredible -- if not incredible -- soon-to-be-impeached Governor of Illinois, the aforementioned unscrupulous Rod Blagojevich.
Are you following all of this?
And then you have a number of African-American political commentators on CNN who somehow believe that Rodney Burris is, indeed, entitled to the Illinois Senator position because there are, as of right now, absolutely no African-American Senators in the U.S. Senate...
Are you still following?
Which seems to suggest that it wouldn't matter if Blagojevich himself were going to the American Senate -- just as long as he was 'African-American'.
With all due respect, the 'race' issue has nothing to do with the Blagojevich-Burris issue. Not to mention, regarding the CNN commentators, hopefully we have not regressed back to the whole 'affirmative action' idea of the 1990s -- complete with 'preferential treatment', 'special rights', 'reverse discrimination', 'political correctness' to suppress any type of democratic talk about 'reverse-inequalities' -- and 'tokenism'.
I would like to think that the African-American political commentators on CNN got to where they are now career-wise by the 'strength and the merit' of their 'intellect, their education, their logic, their analytic abilities, and their ability to think quickly on their feet' -- not because they were/are 'token' African-Americans. Please! Let's not go there -- or go back there. I certainly did not support and promote Obama in my blogs here because he was a 'token' African-American. I supported and promoted him because I believe -- and still believe -- in the superiority and the sincerity of his rhetoric and his belief in 'multi-cultural integrationism'; not where the Republicans went in their election campaign with their 'two colored and inferred/implied ethnic-relgious-racial deivisionism'.
I don't care what color an American Senator is -- again, black, brown, white, yellow, or blue, it doesn't matter to me -- but I still believe in the 'merit' system. The American people -- whatever color, sex, and/or ethnic group they may be -- do not need 'token' Senators. They need scrupulous Senators. And neither Blagojevich -- nor his tainted appointee, Roland Burris -- qualify as scrupulous.
I thought that much of the last American election was built around Obama's assertion that he would reduce if not eliminate corruption, lobbyism, kickbacks, etc. from The White House and The Senate. What, now Obama is going to stand helplessly by -- even when he has publicly stated that Burris should not be going to The American Senate -- while the man is 'accepted' into the Senate for and by other political and legal means and reasons? What is this? More tainted, corrupted supposed democracy?
If you believe that a Governor's behavior is 'corrupt' and 'appalling' but you suddenly 'repent' -- have a 'change of heart' -- and 'respect' the Governor's behavior if he comes out of nowhere and chooses you to be the next Illinois Senator, especially when you have been shown to have a history of 'losing elections' -- well, I would call that behavior rather 'hypocritical'...Wouldn't you?
If a Governor's behavior is stated to be so 'corrupt', 'appalling', 'repugnant'...by verbal report, witnesses, and/or whatevever other allegedly strong evidence that there seems to be readily available to impeach Blagojevich (already been done) and send him to a Senate trial that will probably 'evict him' from his Governor's position -- wouldn't that seem to make all of Governor Blagojevich's behavior after the start of this process -- including his appointment of Burris as the new 'pseudo' - Illinois Senator -- wouldn't that put this decision, this appointment, into the 'highly tainted and suspect, not to mention uncredible and incredible' category?
What's wrong with this political soap opera?
Well, let's start with this...
In most sports leagues, a player who has committed an 'appalling behavior' is immediately 'suspended from action indefinitely'...until at least a hearing with the league Commissioner...at which point a 'further suspension' is usually handed down for either a short, or long, or permanent duration, depending on the nature of the infraction.
This is not including whatever 'team discipline' is imposed on the offending player.
The NHL -- and The Dallas Stars -- did a much faster and more efficient job of getting rid of Sean Avery (hopefully permanently) than the American political and legal system seems to be able to get rid of the blatant, open corruption -- and the men and/or women -- seen and heard by The American people as being responsible for it, and/or tainted by it.
I think this whole incident is showing both The American Government and The American People loud and clear that it is time to re-work the whole 'impeachment' process -- meaning both 'speed it up please, speed it up' -- and/or more importantly -- include the action of 'suspension of all Governor duties indefinitely' (meaning til the end of the impeachment trial).
Then we wouldn't all be looking at, and experiencing, this political and legal soap opera-fiasco -- this embarrasment and mockery -- of the American Political and Judicial System.
Furthermore, we wouldn't have to listen to either Blagojevich or Burris preaching 'scruples' from their respective hypocritical political platforms -- unless, that is, either of them wants to actually try to run for another election.
It might actually be fun to see them both use their own private 'campaign money' from their own private bank accounts.
Somehow I don't think they would be able to get too many more 'public donors'.
But they could try.
It's the American Democratic Way -- good, bad, and ugly.
The 'impeachment process' and perhaps even 'Governors apointing Senators' needs fixing.
-- dgbn, January 9th, 2008.
David Gordon Bain
Palin says she's been exploited by Couric and Fey
6
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says CBS News anchor Katie Couric and comic actress Tina Fey have been "exploiting" her.
Palin also is questioning whether Caroline Kennedy is getting better treatment from the news media in her quest for a Senate seat than Palin herself received as Republican John McCain's running mate.
Palin reflected on her campaign for national office in an interview this week with conservative radio talk-show host and filmmaker John Ziegler.
Clips are posted on YouTube.
Palin gave Couric a rare interview at the beginning of her campaign, and Fey frequently impersonated Palin on "Saturday Night Live."
Palin says she thinks there may be a "class issue" involved in the press coverage of Kennedy and her own bid for office.
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says CBS News anchor Katie Couric and comic actress Tina Fey have been "exploiting" her.
Palin also is questioning whether Caroline Kennedy is getting better treatment from the news media in her quest for a Senate seat than Palin herself received as Republican John McCain's running mate.
Palin reflected on her campaign for national office in an interview this week with conservative radio talk-show host and filmmaker John Ziegler.
Clips are posted on YouTube.
Palin gave Couric a rare interview at the beginning of her campaign, and Fey frequently impersonated Palin on "Saturday Night Live."
Palin says she thinks there may be a "class issue" involved in the press coverage of Kennedy and her own bid for office.
Ill. Court says Burris doesn't need 2nd signature
The Illinois Supreme Court says Secretary of State Jesse White doesn't need to sign Roland Burris' appointment to the U.S. Senate to make it valid.
The ruling says no Illinois official has to do anything further to validate the appointment made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Burris was refused President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat this week in part because Senate Democratic leaders said his paperwork was incomplete without White's signature.
The state Supreme Court says nothing in state law requires White to sign the appointment.
White has said he wouldn't certify any Blagojevich appointment in the wake of the governor's federal corruption arrest unless the court forced him to.
Blagojevich was impeached Friday.
The ruling says no Illinois official has to do anything further to validate the appointment made by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Burris was refused President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat this week in part because Senate Democratic leaders said his paperwork was incomplete without White's signature.
The state Supreme Court says nothing in state law requires White to sign the appointment.
White has said he wouldn't certify any Blagojevich appointment in the wake of the governor's federal corruption arrest unless the court forced him to.
Blagojevich was impeached Friday.
Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Bravo! Bravo! -- dgb, Jan. 9th, 2008.
.......................................................
Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills, Associated Press Writer – 28 mins ago Play Video CBS 2 Chicago – Blagojevich Closer To Impeachment
… SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets up a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.
Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges that include allegations he schemed to profit from his power to name Obama's replacement in the Senate. The criminal complaint included an FBI agent's sworn affidavit describing wiretaps that caught Blagojevich allegedly talking about what he could get for the seat, how to pressure people into making campaign contributions and more.
That arrest triggered impeachment hearings by a special House committee.
The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn't needed and couldn't be brought into the country.
"The citizens of this state must have confidence that their governor will faithfully serve the people and put their interests before his own," the committee's report said. "It is with profound regret that the committee finds that our current governor has not done so."
Blagojevich has denied the criminal charges. He criticized the House impeachment process as biased and said a Senate trial would produce a different result.
But he didn't testify before the House impeachment committee and hasn't offered an explanation for the federal charges.
"His silence in this great matter is deafening," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat.
.......................................................
Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Digg Facebook Newsvine del.icio.us Reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! Bookmarks Print By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer Christopher Wills, Associated Press Writer – 28 mins ago Play Video CBS 2 Chicago – Blagojevich Closer To Impeachment
… SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets up a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.
Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges that include allegations he schemed to profit from his power to name Obama's replacement in the Senate. The criminal complaint included an FBI agent's sworn affidavit describing wiretaps that caught Blagojevich allegedly talking about what he could get for the seat, how to pressure people into making campaign contributions and more.
That arrest triggered impeachment hearings by a special House committee.
The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn't needed and couldn't be brought into the country.
"The citizens of this state must have confidence that their governor will faithfully serve the people and put their interests before his own," the committee's report said. "It is with profound regret that the committee finds that our current governor has not done so."
Blagojevich has denied the criminal charges. He criticized the House impeachment process as biased and said a Senate trial would produce a different result.
But he didn't testify before the House impeachment committee and hasn't offered an explanation for the federal charges.
"His silence in this great matter is deafening," said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat.
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