Mar
31
Fear Is Nothing to Be Afraid Of
Filed Under Business, News, Politics, World News | Leave a Comment
By: Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.
Viewed: 816 Times
Approximate Word Count: 422
Several years, I was listening to a radio talk show hosted by a psychologist.
A young woman caller said, “I just got accepted to medical school!”
“Congratulations!” said the host. “That’s terrific.”
“And,” the caller admitted, “I’m scared to death.”
“Of course you are!” said the host. “Just don’t be paralyzed.
Keep going. Work in and through the fear.”
I was reminded of that call recently, when someone said, “People who go through transitions are fearful.”
“And well they should be!” I replied. “There’s a lot to be afraid of in a transition.”
“That’s negative!”
“During a transition, you’ve got lots of things going on. And lots of people are standing by, waiting to take your money. You’d do well to be scared.”
“But fear is bad.”
“No. fear can be your friend. Fear is a signal from your intuition that you need to be vigilant.”
“But you can’t make decisions based on fear.”
“No. But if you’re feeling scared, pay attention to what’s going on.
Deal with the fear first.
If you’re trying to decide whether to quit your job, fear can help you make a good plan.
Fear of getting sick can lead to a healthy diet, exercise and insurance.”
“What if you’re paralyzed?”
“When you feel paralyzed by fear, take some action. Any action.
Start moving. See if you feel the fear easing up. You can also work on your anxieties by writing in a journal or talking to someone you trust. As you write or talk, you may feel less scared.”
“What if you don’t?”
“Full scale panic attacks call for professional treatment from a
qualified therapist. If your fear is holding you back from reaching your goals, you need to seek professional help. For instance, if your job calls for driving and you’re afraid to drive on the freeway, you need to talk to a psychologist who deals with phobias.”
“What can a coach do?”
“A career coach or consultant can help you look at the facts in a new way. I can help you decide if your fear is realistic and, if so, how to deal with it. I can remind you that most people entering a transition will be scared.”
“Any warnings?”
“Yes. Don’t let anyone dismiss your fears. Only you can tell if
fear comes from your intuition or if this particular fear is blocking your intuition.”
“So fear is not something to be afraid of.”
“I believe fear is a friend, a message from intuition.”
“Or as Franklin Roosevelt said fifty years ago, in a whole different context, ‘The only thing left to fear is fear itself.’”
“You got it.”
Recommended reading:
Thom Rutledge’s book, Embracing Fear offers a well-written, down-to-earth perspective by a Nashville-based counselor.
Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., helps midcareer professionals take the First Step to their Second Careers. Weekly Your Next Move Ezine: mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com
Mar
26
Breast Cancer Walk
Filed Under Health, News, Politics, Women Health | Leave a Comment
By: Sven Ullmann
Viewed: 837 Times
Approximate Word Count: 535
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Numerous cancer researches have been done to understand the disease better. In women, breast cancer is the second most common cancer next to lung cancer. There are millions of affected women in the world and 200,000 more will be diagnosed with the disease in 2007. Current statistics show that breast cancer claims the life of 1 woman every 13 minutes. It would be really beneficial if there is higher awareness on breast cancer. Knowing about the disease, its causes, symptoms, treatment and management, will greatly help patients and families of these patients understand the disease better.
One of the most effective breast cancer awareness programs is the breast cancer walk. In the United States, there is the Breast Cancer 3-Day benefit. A fund raising program participated by men and women who want to make a difference in the lives of these breast cancer victims. The program involves 3 days or 60 miles of walking and participated by millions of people from all over the nation. It is a chance for the participants to learn about cancer and at the same time help in promoting awareness.
Although it may seem a lot of work, the breast cancer walk is actually fun. Since a breast cancer walk is not a race, participants can actually walk leisurely. It’s the perfect chance to meet people from all walks of life and share experiences. The route is filled with safety and support nets with people standing by to offer food and drinks. There are medical volunteers on stand by for emergency medical attention. At the end of each day, participants get to rest, shower, and eat a scrumptious dinner. Comfortable sleeping bags and tents are supplied for a good night’s rest. All these friendly accomondations can make the Breast Cancer Walk a truely unique experience.
If you want to participate but feel like you are not ready for such physical activity, you should not worry. There are training manuals provided that will put you in perfect shape to walk in no time at all. Training walks will even be organized in your area to practice long-distance walking. Since the Breast Cancer 3-day Series are held in different cities like Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Michigan and Philadelphia, you can practice at the city nearest you.
It’s a good idea to join in on the Breast Cancer Walk. Not only is it great exercise, but it’s also fun and it’s for a great cause.
Since a breast cancer walk is mostly a fund raising program to support breast cancer research, education, treatment and screening, you will be asked to raise a certain amount for the cause. You would be surprised to know that most participants exceed this amount because of the amazing generosity of friends, co-workers and families. Even people you do not know will eagerly support you in your cause.
Proceeds of the breast cancer walk will be distributed to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure movement, which has already generated $1 billion to date for fighting breast cancer, and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, a public charity that is considered to one of the largest independent charitable institutions in the United States.
Article provided by Sven Ullmann, who runs Deserved Health (http://www.deservedhealth.com) – a site dedicated to different health related articles. Read more about the Breast Cancer Walk at http://www.deservedhealth.com/walk-for-a-cause-breast-cancer-awareness/.
Mar
24
Fed, Treasury chief to get grilled on AIG
Filed Under Business, Most Pepular, News, Politics, Top Stories | Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve’s chairman and the secretary of the treasury are making a rare joint appearance at a congressional hearing, ostensibly to take a scolding over the handling of bonuses at AIG, the giant insurance company that has become the symbol of reckless risk-taking on Wall Street.
But after venting their spleen yet again at a House hearing Tuesday, lawmakers also were expected to press Fed boss Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the new risks to taxpayers from their latest effort to save tottering banks and the U.S. economy: a plan to take over up to $1 trillion in dodgy mortgage securities with the help of private investors.
At the same time, Bernanke and Geithner are likely to once again call on Congress to enact legislation that would allow the government to safely dismantle a big financial institution, like American International Group Inc., to minimize any damage to the U.S financial system and the broader economy.
Obama last week said his administration soon will propose new financial industry oversight that includes a “resolution authority” with powers similar to those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which can seize control of banks, take over their bad assets and sell the good ones to competitors.
The proposal would give the treasury secretary the unprecedented power, after consulting with officials at the Fed, to take control of a major financial institution and run it. The treasury chief is an official of the administration, unlike the FDIC, which is an independent regulatory agency.
Mar
16
Pakistan to restore chief justice
Filed Under Health, Most Pepular, National News, News, Pakistani News, Politics | Leave a Comment
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan agreed Monday to reinstate a fired Supreme Court chief justice, a move that will help defuse a political crisis that has sparked street battles and raised fears of instability in the U.S.-allied country at a time of surging Islamist violence.
Opposition leaders and lawyers had vowed to sit-in at the parliament later Monday until Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, known for his independence and willingness to challenge authority, was reinstated. The capital has been barricaded and scores of extra police brought in amid fears of violence.
In a dawn address to the nation that capped a night of high drama, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced Chaudhry would be sworn back in on March 21, the day the current chief justice was due to retire. The speech triggered scenes of jubilation outside Chaudhry’s home in the capital, Islamabad.
Gilani also ordered all lawyers and political activists arrested over the past week to be freed immediately and appealed for political reconciliation in the nuclear-armed country, which is facing a punishing economic crisis as well as rising al-Qaida and Taliban violence.
The concession came as thousands of protesters led by Nawaz Sharif, the head of the largest opposition party and a longtime foe of President Asif Ali Zardari, were traveling to Islamabad to join the planned sit-in. Sharif joined the convoy after ignoring a house arrest order in his hometown of Lahore in Punjab, where his supporters fought running battles with police.
Supporters in Gujranwala mobbed Sharif’s rose-petal covered car following Gilani’s announcement. Sharif said lawyers and other activists had agreed to call off the so-called Long March. He thanked Zardari, Gilani and the Pakistani people.
“From here, God willing, the fate of this nation will change,” Sharif said using a microphone from inside his jeep before heading back to Lahore. “From here, a journey of development will start. From here, a revolution will come.”
Former President Pervez Musharraf fired Chaudhry, 60, in 2007 after he took up cases challenging the leader’s rule, sparking a wave of protests that helped force Musharraf from power in 2008.
Musharraf’s successor, Zardari, pledged to reinstate Chaudhry within 30 days of his party forming a government, but reneged on the promise, apparently fearing the justice might examine a deal that he and his wife, slain politician Benazir Bhutto, struck with Musharraf to grant the pair immunity from prosecution over alleged corruption cases.
Zardari’s broken promise and his government’s repression of the protesters will likely leave him in a politically weakened position. Sharif has projected an image of strength and stands to gain from leading a successful movement against the president, who has been the focus of popular anger.
Lawyers and civil rights activists have remained committed to the cause of Chaudhry’s reinstatement, believing it was a vital first step in getting an independent judiciary in Pakistan. The court system has often been abused by past rulers to cement their grip on power.
“This is a victory for the people of this country,” lawyer leader Baz Mohammad Kakar said after Gilani’s announcement. “Chaudhry is the first chief justice in the history of Pakistan who has proved himself to be a judge for the people, as a chief justice for the people.”
The lawyer’s movement got a boost last month when Sharif threw his full weight behind it after he and his brother, Shahbaz, were banned from elected office by the Supreme Court. Zardari then dismissed the government led by Shahbaz in the Punjab province, the wealthiest in Pakistan and a vital prize for politicians.
Gilani repeated a pledge made Saturday to appeal that verdict to the Supreme Court.
In recent days, U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, had spoken to Zardari and Sharif, urging them to reach a deal. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement welcoming the move Monday.
“This is a statesmanlike decision taken to defuse a serious confrontation, and the apparent removal of this long-standing national issue is a substantial step towards national reconciliation,” the statement said. “Now is the time for all Pakistanis and their political representatives to work together, with the support of their friends and allies, to peacefully strengthen their democracy and ensure a positive dialogue as they move forward to deal with the many issues confronting them.”
Washington and other Western capitals had been concerned the crisis was distracting Pakistan from its fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants operating along the Afghan border.
Before dawn on Sunday, hundreds of police surrounded Sharif’s residence in Lahore, carrying an order for his house arrest. Sharif denounced the order as illegal and later left the house in a convoy of vehicles as police stood by. It was unclear why they relented, but Lahore is Sharif’s political stronghold.
Some of the protesters defied police barricades to gather near the city’s main courts complex and pelt riot police with rocks. One mob smashed the windows of buses parked along the route of Sharif’s convoy, while another broke into the main Post Office building, trashing furniture and then clambering onto the roof to hurl rocks at police below.
Police responded with tear gas, and beat several protesters with batons. Associated Press reporters saw several injured officers being helped away. A handful of protesters were detained and bundled into police vans.
Later, the crowd swelled to several thousands and police again pulled back. Many were black-suited lawyers, but most appeared to be supporters of Sharif, equipped with party flags and chanting “Go Zardari go!”
For days, the government has been seeking to squelch the protest movement.
Authorities have put the army on alert and temporarily detained hundreds of activists nationwide to prevent them traveling to Lahore or Islamabad. But its resolve appeared to waver Sunday amid signs of internal party dissent. A day earlier, a prominent minister quit Zardari’s Cabinet, apparently over attempts to censor critical media coverage.
The Sharifs and 16 other protest leaders were initially ordered under house arrest, said Rao Iftikhar, a senior government official. Later, he said authorities reached an “understanding” with Sharif that he would address the protesters in Lahore and then return home – an arrangement that authorities failed to enforce.
Sharif accuses Zardari of being behind the Supreme Court ruling last month that disqualified put Sharif and his brother from elected office over convictions dating back to Musharraf’s rule.
Mar
15
Pakistan police battle protesters as crisis grows
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LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistan’s opposition leader defied house arrest on Sunday to join anti-government protests that quickly descended into violence and chaos, with running battles between stone-throwing protesters and police.
The power struggle between Pakistan’s president and the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif threatens to paralyze the government and, alarmingly for the U.S., distract the nuclear-armed country from its fight against Taliban militants operating along the Afghan border.
Hundreds of police surrounded the Lahore residence of Sharif, a former prime minister, before dawn on Sunday and detained him along with scores of his supporters, a party spokesman said.
Officers in the eastern Pakistani city showed party officials an order placing Sharif and his politician brother Shahbaz under house arrest for three days, spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed said.
Sharif denounced the order as illegal and later left the house in a convoy of vehicles packed with chanting, flag-waving supporters, headed for a downtown rally that had already turned violent.
Mobs accompanying the swelling convoy smashed the windows of buses parked along the route. Others torched tires, sending plumes of black smoke into the blue sky over a usually bustling boulevard littered with stones and empty tear gas shells.
“These are the decisive moments,” Sharif told supporters before he climbed into his car. “I tell every Pakistani youth that this is not the time to stay home; Pakistan is calling you to come and save me.”
Rao Iftikhar, a senior government official, said authorities reconsidered the restrictions on Sharif to allow him to address the rally and return home afterward.
Washington worries that the crisis will further destabilize the shaky the year-old government and prevent it from being an effective ally in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.
Suspected militants attacked a transport terminal in northwestern Pakistan used to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan before dawn on Sunday and torched dozens of containers and military vehicles, police said.
Lawyers and opposition party supporters had planned to gather near Lahore’s main court complex before heading toward Islamabad to stage a mass sit-in front of Parliament, in defiance of a government ban.
To thwart them, authorities parked trucks across major roads on the edge of the city, and riot police took up positions outside the railway station and government buildings.
Still, several thousands flag-waving demonstrators pushed past police barricades to reach the courts.
Protesters pelted some of the hundreds of riot police ringing the area with rocks, triggering running clashes. An Associated Press reporter saw one officer led away with a head wound.
Police repeatedly fired tear gas, scattering the crowd, and beat several stragglers with batons, only for the demonstrators to return with fresh supplies of sticks and stones.
Shahbaz Sharif and a host of other protest leaders went underground to dodge their own detention orders. Iftikhar said they had been issued for the head of Pakistan’s main Islamist party and cricketer star-turned-politician Imran Khan.
Television images showed police commandos wearing flak jackets and armed with assault rifles apparently searching for Shahbaz in Rawalpindi, just south of the capital.
The political turmoil began last month when the Supreme Court disqualified the Sharif brothers from elected office, over convictions dating back to an earlier chapter in Pakistan’s turbulent political history.
Zardari compounded the crisis by dismissing the Sharifs’ administration in Punjab, Pakistan’s biggest and richest province, of which Lahore is the capital.
The brothers then threw their support behind plans by lawyers to stage an indefinite sit-in in Islamabad – a move officials say would bring the government to a standstill and present a target to terrorists.
On Saturday, after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to both Zardari and Nawaz Sharif by telephone, the government announced it would appeal the Supreme Court ruling in the coming days.
Sharif’s party welcomed the move but stuck by its demand for a shake-up of the judiciary.
Zardari refuses to reinstate a group of independent-minded judges fired by Musharraf.
Many observers suspect Zardari fears the judges could challenge a pact signed by Musharraf that quashed long-standing corruption charges against him and his wife, slain former leader Benazir Bhutto.
Skeptics suspect Sharif of hoping to force early elections, from which he and Islamist parties would likely profit.
Mar
11
Top US, China diplomats work to smooth relations
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WASHINGTON – The top U.S. and Chinese diplomats have work to do to keep a confrontation between American and Chinese naval vessels from damaging a relationship that President Barack Obama deems crucial to confronting the world’s toughest crises.
Even if diplomatic efforts by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi are successful in toning down the dispute – the two were scheduled to meet Wednesday in Washington – they may ease anger only temporarily over a larger military disagreement.
Beijing has long complained about U.S. surveillance operations around China’s borders. Without better communications between the two militaries as they operate in the South China Sea, the possibility for future conflict will remain.
Clinton and Yang “can have a productive exchange to keep this bounded, but the real bureaucracies that need to be there aren’t going to be at the meeting,” said Jonathan Pollack, professor of Asian studies at the U.S. Naval War College.
He suggested that without stronger military-to-military links, the potential for “something ugly” happening “should not be minimized.”
China says a U.S. Navy mapping ship confronted by Chinese vessels Sunday was operating illegally in China’s exclusive economic zone. The United States says Chinese ships surrounded and harassed the Navy vessel in international waters in the South China Sea.
U.S. defense officials said Tuesday that the Navy ship was looking for threats such as submarines, presumably Chinese. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the ship’s exact capabilities are sensitive. Other U.S. officials have said publicly that the United States will continue to patrol in the South China Sea despite Chinese objections.
Also Tuesday, U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair told lawmakers that the incident was the most serious episode between the two nations since 2001, when China forced the landing of a U.S. spy plane and seized the crew. Blair said the confrontation indicated that China is willing to flex its military might.
The Clinton-Yang meeting Wednesday was meant originally to build on good will from Clinton’s visit to China last month. Yang also was scheduled to meet with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and with White House officials, the State Department said.
Clinton, during her China trip, impressed Beijing officials by listening to China’s concerns, pledging not to let human rights differences interfere with attempts to cooperate on broader issues, and generally working to lay a foundation for a positive relationship between the two powers.
An indication of the sensitivity involved in the complex relationship arose Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising that resulted in the flight into India by the Dalai Lama, living god to Tibet’s Buddhists, and 80,000 followers.
Robert Wood, acting spokesman at the State Department, issued a statement Tuesday night noting the anniversary and treading softly on differences it shows between the United States and China.
“The United States respects the territorial integrity of the People’s Republic of China and considers Tibet to be part of China,” Wood’s statement said. “At the same time, we are deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Tibetan areas.”
The weekend naval incident comes as the Obama administration tries to get Chinese help on a host of foreign policy matters, including efforts to confront Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs.
Last year, China canceled or suspended nearly a dozen military exchanges with the United States, infuriated by a $6.5 billion U.S. arms sale to Taiwan.
Talks resumed when Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for East Asia David Sedney met late last month in Beijing with high-level People’s Liberation Army officials.
Sedney said after he returned to Washington that a changing Chinese military is increasingly interested in cooperating with the United States. He also noted U.S. worries about China’s huge amounts of opaque defense spending, a weapons buildup across from Taiwan and arms sales to Iran.
Bonnie Glaser, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said the immediate goal for Clinton and Yang is to underscore the importance of the relationship and ease tensions before Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao meet in early April.
Sunday’s incident, she said, is part of “an ongoing push and pull between the Chinese and the U.S.” over American surveillance.
Both sides need to find a solution that allows them to “have rules of the road, safe means of operations that are agreed upon so that we don’t end up with an accident that gets escalated,” Glaser said. “These things can often be difficult to defuse.”
Jan
25
Obama breaks from Bush, avoids divisive stands
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WASHINGTON – Barack Obama opened his presidency by breaking sharply from George W. Bush’s unpopular administration, but he mostly avoided divisive partisan and ideological stands. He focused instead on fixing the economy, repairing a battered world image and cleaning up government.
“What an opportunity we have to change this country,” the Democrat told his senior staff after his inauguration. “The American people are really counting on us now. Let’s make sure we take advantage of it.”
In the highly scripted first days of his administration, Obama overturned a slew of Bush policies with great fanfare. He largely avoided cultural issues; the exception was reversing one abortion-related policy, a predictable move done in a very low-profile way.
The flurry of activity was intended to show that Obama was making good on his promise to bring change. Yet domestic and international challenges continue to pile up, and it’s doubtful that life will be dramatically different for much of the ailing country anytime soon.
Obama’s biggest agenda items – stabilizing the economy and ending the Iraq war – are complex tasks with results not expected soon. Even as Obama made broad pronouncements and signed a stream of executive orders to usher in a new governing era, his actions leave unanswered or unresolved questions, including how he will close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for suspected terrorists.
In other cases, Obama set out new policy, only to signal it could be applied selectively.
He decreed that interrogators must follow techniques outlined in the Army Field Manual when questioning terrorism suspects, even as he ordered a review that could allow CIA interrogators to use other methods for high-value targets. Also, while a new White House rule limits staffers’ previous lobbying activities, exceptions were made for at least two senior administration officials.
“It’s always a delicate task to maintain your coalition and try to expand it,” said George Edwards, a Texas A&M University political science professor. “He’s making the moves in the right direction to please his supporters on signature issues. At the same time, he has not elicited immediate outrage from Republicans because he’s gone out of his way to reach out to them.”
Certainly, some Republicans are griping about Obama’s economic stimulus plan and closing Guantanamo. But their protests are somewhat muted, perhaps because little of what Obama has done thus far is a surprise. He had prepared the country and Congress for such steps during the campaign and transition. He also has emphasized a pragmatic, bipartisan approach, and enjoys broad public support.
Most of what he tackled came in areas where there is agreement across the political spectrum for a new direction, although the country is divided over shuttering Guantanamo. Obama long has emphasized solutions over partisanship, and he doesn’t seem eager to address issues – at least for now – that create great ideological divides.
That is a sharp contrast with Democrat Bill Clinton, who set the tone for an ideological presidency when he tried to overturn the ban on gays in the military. It pleased liberals, enraged conservatives and angered both the military and Congress, neither of which was consulted.
So far, Obama’s only real brush with issues that stoke partisan passions came when he revoked a ban on federal funding for international groups that provide or promote abortions. He did that quietly by issuing a memorandum late Friday afternoon. The move was expected; the issue has vacillated between Republican and Democratic presidents.
Obama was sworn in Tuesday with huge support – 68 percent in a Gallup poll released Saturday – and incredible optimism from the public; Bush left Washington with record-low job approval ratings.
A picture of poise, Obama didn’t get rattled when Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office, an exercise repeated a day later to ensure constitutionality. He breezed through his speech – which repudiated Bush’s tenure though never personally attacked him – without a misstep. Even with the weight of the country’s troubles now on his shoulders, he was relaxed as he twirled his wife, Michelle, at celebratory balls.
“I don’t sweat,” Obama said on the eve of his inauguration – a comment meant literally, and, perhaps, figuratively.
Maybe not. But he has yet to face a crisis head-on as the country’s leader, and it’s only then that his confidence truly will be tested.
Still, Obama clearly has made the transition to governing.
“It’s as if Superman stepped out of a phone booth and became Clark Kent,” said Fred Greenstein, a Princeton University professor emeritus of politics. “He’s beginning to put aside the rhetoric in favor of listing the policies and doing the checklist. He’s not going out of his way to show a lot of flash. It’s much more lets-get-down-to-work.”
Jan
22
Obama freezes salaries of some White House aides
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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s first public act in office Wednesday was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country’s economic turmoil.
Announcing the moves while attending a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to swear in his staff, Obama said the steps “represent a clean break from business as usual.”
The pay freeze, first reported by The Associated Press, would hold salaries at their current levels for the roughly 100 White House employees who make over $100,000 a year. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse.
Those affected by the freeze include the high-profile jobs of White House chief of staff, national security adviser and press secretary. Other aides who work in relative anonymity also would fit into that cap if Obama follows a structure similar to the one George W. Bush set up.
Obama’s new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.
The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional “previous relationships” clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.
The new rules also require that anyone who leaves his administration is not allowed to try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week.
Obama called the rules tighter “than under any other administration in history.” They followed pledges during his campaign to be strict about the influence of lobbyist in his White House.
“The new rules on lobbying alone, no matter how tough, are not enough to fix a broken system in Washington,” he said. “That’s why I’m also setting rules that govern not just lobbyists but all those who have been selected to serve in my administration.”
In an attempt to deliver on pledges of a transparent government, Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public – not to look for reasons to legally withhold it – an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation.
Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should, Obama said. Reporters and public-interest groups often make use of the law to explore how and why government decisions were made; they are often stymied as agencies claim legal exemptions to the law.
“For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said.
He said the orders he was issuing Wednesday will not “make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be” nor go as far as he would like.
“But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country,” Obama said. “And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come.”
Jan
20
Obama takes office, saying choose ‘hope over fear’
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WASHINGTON – Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama grasped the reins of power as America’s first black president on Tuesday, saying the nation must choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
In frigid temperatures, an exuberant crowd of more than a million packed the National Mall and parade route to celebrate Obama’s inauguration in a high-noon ceremony. They filled the National Mall, stretching from the inaugural platform at the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.
With 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars lost in the stock market’s tumble, Obama emphasized that his biggest challenge is to repair the tattered economy left behind by outgoing President George W. Bush.
“Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed,” Obama said in an undisguised shot at Bush administration policies. “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America.”
The dawn of the new Democratic era – with Obama allies in charge of both houses of Congress – ends eight years of Republican control of the White House by Bush, who leaves Washington as one of the nation’s most unpopular and divisive presidents, the architect of two unfinished wars and the man in charge at a time of economic calamity that swept away many Americans’ jobs, savings and homes.
Obama’s election was cheered around the world as a sign that America will be more embracing, more open to change. “To the Muslim world,” Obama said, “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
Still, he bluntly warned, “To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”
“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
Two years after beginning his improbable quest as a little-known, first-term Illinois senator with a foreign-sounding name, Obama moved into the Oval Office as the nation’s fourth youngest president, at 47, and the first African-American, a barrier-breaking achievement believed impossible by generations of minorities.
He said it was a moment to recall “that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”
Obama called for a political truce in Washington to end “the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
He said that all Americans have roles in rebuilding the nation by renewing the traditions of hard work, honesty and fair play, tolerance, loyalty and patriotism.
“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”
With the economy in a long and deepening recession, Obama said it was time for swift and bold action to create new jobs and lay a foundation for growth. Congressional Democrats have readied an $825 billion stimulus plan of tax cuts and spending for roads, bridges, schools, electric grids and other projects.
“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works,” the new president said.
A mighty chorus of cheers erupted as Obama stepped to the inaugural platform, a midday sun warming the crowd that had waited for hours in the cold. There were some boos when Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney came onto the platform.
In his remarks, Obama took stock of the nation’s sobering problems.
“That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood,” he said.
“Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age,” Obama said. “Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”
It was the first change of administrations since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Crowds filled the Mall for a distant glimpse of the proceedings or just, in the words of many, simply “to be here.” Washington’s subway system was jammed and two downtown stations were closed when a woman was struck by a subway train.
Bush – following tradition – left a note for Obama in the top drawer of his desk in the Oval Office.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said the theme of the message – which Bush wrote on Monday – was similar to what he has said since election night: that Obama is about to begin a “fabulous new chapter” in the United States, and that he wishes him well.
The unfinished business of the Bush administration thrusts an enormous burden onto the new administration, though polls show Americans are confident Obama is on track to succeed. He has cautioned that improvements will take time and that things will get worse before they get better.
Culminating four days of celebration, the nation’s 56th inauguration day began for Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden with a traditional morning worship service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House. Bells pealed from the historic church’s tower as Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived five minutes behind schedule.
The festivities won’t end until well after midnight, with dancing and partying at 10 inaugural balls.
By custom, Obama and his wife, and Biden and his wife, Jill, went directly from church to the White House for coffee with Bush and his wife, Laura. Michelle Obama brought a gift for the outgoing first lady in a white box decorated with a red ribbon.
Shortly before 11 a.m., Obama and Bush climbed into a heavily armored Cadillac limousine to share a ride to the Capitol for the transfer of power, an event flashed around the world in television and radio broadcasts, podcasts and Internet streaming. On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back, leaving him in a wheelchair for the inauguration.
Just after noon, Obama stepped forward on the West Front of the Capitol to lay his left hand on the same Bible that President Abraham Lincoln used at his first inauguration in 1861. The 35-word oath of office, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, has been uttered by every president since George Washington. Obama was one of 22 Democratic senators to vote against Roberts’ confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2005.
The son of a white, Kansas-born mother and a black, Kenya-born father, Obama decided to use his full name in the swearing-in ceremony.
To the dismay of liberals, Obama invited conservative evangelical pastor Rick Warren – an opponent of gay rights – to give the inaugural invocation.
About a dozen members of Obama’s Cabinet and top appointees were ready for Senate confirmation Tuesday, provided no objections were raised. But Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas indicated he would block a move to immediately confirm Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Still, she is expected to be approved in a roll call vote Wednesday.
More than 10,000 people from all 50 states – including bands and military units – were assembled to follow Obama and Biden from the Capitol on the 1.5-mile inaugural parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue, concluding at a bulletproof reviewing stand in front of the White House. Security was unprecedented. Most bridges into Washington and about 3.5 square miles of downtown were closed.
Among the VIPs at the Capitol was pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the hero of last week’s US Airways crash into the Hudson River.
Obama’s inauguration represents a time of renewal and optimism for a nation gripped by fear and anxiety. Stark numbers tell the story of an economic debacle unrivaled since the 1930s:
_Eleven million people have lost their jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, a 16-year high.
_One in 10 U.S. homeowners is delinquent on mortgage payments or in arrears.
_The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 33.8 percent in 2008, the worst decline since 1931, and stocks lost $10 trillion in value between October 2007 and November 2008.
Obama and congressional Democrats are working on an $825 billion economic recovery bill that would provide an enormous infusion of public spending and tax cuts. Obama also will have at his disposal the remaining $350 billion in the federal financial bailout fund. His goal is to save or create 3 million jobs and put banks back in the job of lending to customers.
In an appeal for bipartisanship, Obama honored defeated Republican presidential rival John McCain at a dinner Monday night. “There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain,” Obama said.
Young and untested, Obama is a man of enormous confidence and electrifying oratorical skills. Hopes for Obama are extremely high, suggesting that Americans are willing to give him a long honeymoon to strengthen the economy and lift the financial gloom.
On Wednesday, his first working day in office, Obama is expected to redeem his campaign promise to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq under a 16-month timetable. Aides said he would summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Oval Office and order that the pullout commence.
Dec
19
Mark Felt, Watergate’s `Deep Throat,’ dies at 95
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SAN FRANCISCO – W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as “Deep Throat” 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president, has died. He was 95.
Felt died Thursday in Santa Rosa after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O’Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt’s secret.
The shadowy central figure in one of the most gripping political dramas of the 20th century, Felt insisted his alter ego be kept secret when he leaked damaging information about President Richard Nixon and his aides to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.
While some – including Nixon and his aides – speculated that Felt was the source who connected the White House to the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, he steadfastly denied the accusations until finally coming forward in May 2005.
“I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat,” Felt told O’Connor for the Vanity Fair article, creating a whirlwind of media attention.
Weakened by a stroke, the man who had kept his secret for decades wasn’t doing much talking – he merely waved to the media from the front door of his daughter’s Santa Rosa home.
Critics, including those who went to prison for the Watergate scandal, called him a traitor for betraying the commander in chief. Supporters hailed him as a hero for blowing the whistle on a corrupt administration trying to cover up attempts to sabotage opponents.
Felt grappled with his place in history, arguing with his children over whether to reveal his identity or to take his secret to the grave, O’Connor said. He agonized about what revealing his identity would do to his reputation. Would he be seen as a turncoat or a man of honor?
“People will debate for a long time whether I did the right thing by helping Woodward,” Felt wrote in his 2006 memoir, “A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, `Deep Throat’ and the Struggle for Honor in Washington.” “The bottom line is that we did get the whole truth out, and isn’t that what the FBI is supposed to do?”
Ultimately, his daughter, Joan, persuaded him to go public; after all, Woodward was sure to profit by revealing the secret after Felt died. “We could make at least enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I’ve run up for the kids’ education,” she told her father, according to the Vanity Fair article. “Let’s do it for the family.”
The revelation capped a Washington whodunnit that spanned more than three decades and seven presidents. It was the biggest mystery of Watergate, the subject of the best-selling book and hit movie “All the President’s Men,” which inspired a generation of college students to pursue journalism.
It was by chance that Felt came to play a pivotal role in the drama.
Back in 1970, Woodward struck up a conversation with Felt while both were waiting in a White House hallway. Felt apparently took a liking to the young Woodward, then a Navy courier, and Woodward kept the relationship going, treating Felt as a mentor as he tried to figure out the ways of Washington.
Later, while Woodward and partner Carl Bernstein relied on various unnamed sources in reporting on Watergate, the man their editor dubbed “Deep Throat” helped to keep them on track and confirm vital information. The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its Watergate coverage.
Within days of the burglary at Watergate that launched the Post’s investigative series, Woodward phoned Felt.
“He reminded me how he disliked phone calls at the office but said that the Watergate burglary case was going to `heat up’ for reasons he could not explain,” Woodward wrote after Felt was named. “He then hung up abruptly.”
Felt helped Woodward link former CIA man Howard Hunt to the break-in. He said the reporter could accurately write that Hunt, whose name was found in the address book of one of the burglars, was a suspect. But Felt told him off the record, insisting that their relationship and Felt’s identity remain secret.
Worried that phones were being tapped, Felt arranged clandestine meetings worthy of a spy novel. Woodward would move a flower pot with a red flag on his balcony if he needed to meet Felt. The G-man would scrawl a time to meet on page 20 of Woodward’s copy of The New York Times and they would rendezvous in a suburban Virginia parking garage in the dead of night.
In the movie, the enduring image of Deep Throat – a name borrowed from a 1972 porn movie – is of a testy, chain-smoking Hal Holbrook telling Woodward, played by Robert Redford, to “follow the money.”
In a memoir published in April 2006, Felt said he saw himself as a “Lone Ranger” who could help derail a White House cover-up.
Felt wrote that he was upset by the slow pace of the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in and believed the press could pressure the administration to cooperate.
“From the start, it was clear that senior administration officials were up to their necks in this mess, and that they would stop at nothing to sabotage our investigation,” Felt wrote in his memoir.
Some critics said Felt, a J. Edgar Hoover loyalist, was bitter at being passed over when Nixon appointed an FBI outsider and confidante, L. Patrick Gray, to lead the FBI after Hoover’s death. Gray was later implicated in Watergate abuses.
“We had no idea of his motivations, and even now some of his motivations are unclear,” Bernstein said.
Felt wrote that he wasn’t motivated by anger. “It is true that I would have welcomed an appointment as FBI director when Hoover died. It is not true that I was jealous of Gray,” he wrote.
Felt was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, and worked for an Idaho senator during graduate school. After law school at George Washington University he spent a year at the Federal Trade Commission. Felt joined the FBI in 1942 and worked as a Nazi hunter during World War II.