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Wednesday: 16 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded Campaign for 'Forgotten Refugees' Downplays Palestinian Losses Kafka Has a Rival -- the British Foreign Office Lectures Us On Human Rights Is Iran Policy Still Up for Grabs? More Security, Less Secure Obama Urged to Quickly Engage Iran, Syria The Meaning of Mumbai The Rationale of Terror The Cost of Hegemony Is Beyond Reach Get Out Now, or Get Out Later Tuesday: 18 Iraqis Killed, 49 Wounded Diplomacy, Multilateralism Stressed by Obama Team Monday: 58 Iraqis Killed, 112 Wounded The End of the Affair Huffington Post
GOP Congresswoman Hangs Up On Obama Twice Is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen a little paranoid? Maybe. On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn't believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice. According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her. When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 5:03pm Bushes To Dallas After Term Ends, First Lady Confirms WASHINGTON — In the spirit of a tough economy, holiday decorations from Christmases past are adorning the White House this Christmas. First lady Laura Bush talked to reporters Wednesday about the holiday choices for a "A Red, White and Blue Christmas" during a sneak peek of a decked-out White House, including the official White House Christmas tree _ an 18 1/2-foot Fraser fir from Crumpler, N.C., that brushed the Blue Room ceiling _ and an extensive menu from artisanal cheeses to cheesy stone-ground grits to coconut cake. More than 60,000 visitors are expected to visit the White House for tours, with 25 holiday receptions and seven dinners planned. While the official tree holds 369 decorations from artists around the country, the various fir trees scattered throughout the White House have red and blue ornaments from years past. In the ground floor corridor, the White House brought back miniature reproductions of presidents' homes, including those of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, that appeared in December 2001. "I've gotten letters from people since, really, right after September 11th that suggested we have a red, white and blue Christmas," Laura Bush told reporters gathered in the East Room. "It gave us a chance to reuse a lot of red ornaments, because we had a lot of those, of course. We brought back some other decorations from Christmases past, just like everyone does, goes through their attic and comes up with their old decorations." She also said the lights on the trees in the White House have low-energy LED bulbs, and she encouraged Americans to use them when their holiday lights wear out to save energy. In another example of frugal planning, Laura Bush said the first couple would be spending their Christmas money on Texas real estate for what she referred to as the "afterlife" _ the time when they leave the White House in January after her husband's eight years in office. The couple will be buying a house in Dallas, with plans to spend weekends at their ranch in Crawford. "This year, we're going to be very, very careful at Christmas. I suspect that a lot of other American families will be the same," Laura Bush said. "We're going to try to be with each other, to have what really, really matters at the holidays, which is your family and friends around you, to be thankful for our blessings. ... But also ... we will be moving to Dallas in January. And there might be a new house coming along. So I think that's where we'll spend our Christmas money, right at the real estate time." Sally McDonough, the first lady's press secretary, said the first couple don't have occupancy of the Dallas property yet. A wistful first lady spoke at length about a few of her favorite things in the White House, from a dedicated staff to the historical art and furniture to what awaits the next first family, Barack and Michelle Obama and their two daughters. She recalled a conversation with Hillary Rodham Clinton when the former first lady gave Mrs. Bush a tour of the White House before the Bushes moved in January 2001. Clinton pointed to the window in the first lady's dressing room that provides a view of not only the Rose Garden but the Oval Office, a tip that another first lady, Barbara Bush, had given her. Laura Bush said she mentioned the window to Michelle Obama, and "I told her she could tell that to the next person that followed her. So I think there's a great tradition of transition in the United States." When the Obamas visited in November, shortly after the election, President George W. Bush showed Barack Obama the closets and bathroom, and the two "rushed upstairs to look at the gym," Laura Bush said. Bush bikes nearly every weekend; Obama works out on a daily basis and plays basketball. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, the Bushes will host almost daily parties with some 22,000 holiday cookies, 250 coconut cakes, 600 pounds of asparagus and 700 gallons of eggnog. The menu ranges from lobster salad with fresh cucumber, radishes and chicory, to herb-crusted lamb chops with madeira sauce to a white and green asparagus tier with saffron aioli. Desserts include brioche bread pudding, chocolate gingerbread cake with chocolate glaze and pecan pralines. A replica of the White House's North Portico created with 125 pounds of gingerbread and more than 350 pounds of white chocolate is for looking, not tasting. And in a touch of spring, dozens of red tulips filled gold urns on the mantels. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:57pm Presented By: Defense Supplier Banks On Being Low-Cost Maker Of Satellite Gear Alabama County Passes Annual Obama Holiday MARION, Ala. — In central Alabama's Perry County, government workers already get a day off for President's Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Veterans Day. In 2009, they'll get one more: "Barack Obama Day." The rural county, which overwhelmingly supported Obama in last month's presidential election, has approved the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day." Commissioners passed a measure that would close county offices for the new annual holiday and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid day off. Sponsoring commissioner Albert Turner Jr. said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect's victory as a way to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved. Perry County has 12,000 residents, most of them black. Voters there backed Obama by over 70 percent in a state that gave 60 percent of the overall vote to Republican John McCain based largely on strong support from white voters. At the state level, Alabama observes the standard federal holidays as well as a handful of its own that include Confederate Memorial Day in April and the June birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It observes Martin Luther King's birthday in January but the holiday is twinned with commemoration of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the same day. The Perry County Commission's three black members and one of its two white members voted for the Obama holiday. Commissioner Brett Harrison said Wednesday he voted against the resolution because of the costs to the county, which has a $2.2 million annual payroll and is one of the poorest in the state. He said closing the courthouse would also idle some state employees. "I'm a Democrat, but just in these financial times, it's not using the county's money wisely," Harrison told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday. "The recognition is certainly well-founded." Turner said copies of the resolution, adopted at a Nov. 25 meeting, have been mailed to Obama and his transition team. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:52pm Reid's Top GOP Challenger Indicted Nevada Republicans suffered a serious blow Wednesday when their first announced challenger to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was indicted on four counts of misappropriation and falsification of public records. The charges, handed down by a Clark County grand jury, accuse Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki of committing the crimes when he he was state treasurer. Krolicki's then-chief of staff, Kathryn Besser, was also indicted in the case. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:51pm Oprah To Inauguration, She Tells Access Hollywood Oprah Winfrey is headed to Washington for inauguration, she tells Access Hollywood: The media mogul (and staunch Barack Obama supporter) will be hosting "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from Washington, D.C. during the week of the presidential inauguration, she revealed to Access Hollywood exclusively at an Essence Magazine event in New York on Tuesday night.
She also confirmed to Access that she has rented out the Opera House at the Kennedy Center to film the show. Other celebrities expected to attend inauguration include Bruce Springsteen, Will.i.am, Anne Hathaway, Spike Lee, Tim Robbins, Maggie Gyllenhaal and many other prominent Obama supporters. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:28pm Palin Files Disclosure For 2007 Free Trips, Finally ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin has added to her financial disclosure forms two free trips that she took nearly two years ago but failed to report. Palin, who was Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, made the disclosures last month, but after Election Day when she and McCain lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The trips were first revealed in a story by The Associated Press in October. The free trips were taken in April and May of 2007 and should have been reported within 30 days under state ethics law. The Nov. 17 disclosure forms note that the reports were "not filed timely due to administrative error." Bill McAllister, the governor's spokesman, said this week that the mistakes were made by travel support staff. He said he could not explain the timing of when and how they were caught, but that it was irrelevant because the error was corrected. Palin, who has criticized state lawmakers for gifts they take, is not facing any sanctions for the late filings, according to Linda Perez, state administrative director. Perez said she was alerted to the matter by McCain's presidential campaign before the Oct. 14 AP story. "It wasn't necessarily the governor's oversight, nor was she trying to hide anything," Perez said. "It was a staff oversight." In one of the trips, the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute of North Carolina _ a nonprofit education policy group _ paid the $2,827 cost of Palin's April 2007 flight and hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz., to attend a four-day conference, according to her report. The group has said it also paid for other governors attending the annual event in recent years. In May 2007, Palin accepted lodging for herself and her three daughters at Mt. Chilkoot Lodge in the Southeast Alaska town of Skagway. The lodging, valued at $300, was paid for by the owners, including Palin friend and former deputy campaign treasurer Kathy Hosford. The reports were among recent disclosures released to the AP after a public records request. Among other gifts Palin reported last month is a June 30 flight valued at $1,187.50 that was paid by the North Slope Borough for Palin and her 7-year-old daughter, Piper, to attend various functions, including a whaling festival in the town of Barrow. Palin and husband Todd also received travel, food and lodging valued at $4,620.12 to attend a Republican Governors Association event in Texas, in April _ gifts that were not reported until August, according to disclosure forms. Palin and the other governors attending the event also received $1,000 Rocky Carroll cowboy boots. ___ On the Net: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: http://gov.state.ak.us/ by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:18pm Eliot Spitzer To Write Column For Slate Media Mob has learned that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer will write a new column for Slate beginning tomorrow. The column will appear every other week and it'll be about government, regulation and finance. "He's going to be doing a regular thing," said Jacob Weisberg, the editor-in-chief of the Slate Group. "It'll be heavily about the financial crisis and fixing financial markets and the economy generally." The column will be titled: The Best Policy. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 4:08pm Mike Bonifer: How a Team of Rivals Collaborates A lot has been made of Team Obama's casting of the key roles in the new administration. There is astonishment aplenty out there that he's put together a team of such strong personalities and former rivals. This is so different, after all, from the Bush doctrine of punishing one's rivals, often preemptively. William Gates, a Bush-Cheney appointee at Defense, stays. Clinton is in. Hillary, that is. Bill wants in. How can the Clintons be managed? the pundits wonder. Rahm Emanuel's feisty 'Ari Gold' style contrasts so completely with Obama's friendly cool. How's all that going to work out? How can people who naturally have their own agendas and their own strong and well-argued points of view achieve the consensus needed to move forward on new policy? The principles of improvisation devised in the 1930s, in the same Hyde Park neighborhood where the Obamas live until January 21 of next year, provide the key. Those principles were principally shaped by a couple of teachers, Viola Spolin and Neva Boyd, whose objective was to help young people on Chicago's Southside who came from vastly different cultural backgrounds communicate with one another in ways that transcended their languages and their cultures. If you think about it, it's not unlike the challenges faced by Obama, or any chief executive of any large organization today: Whether it is terrorism, the economy or innovation, how can groups of madly independent souls, especially the Gen-Ex and Gen-Why players, connect, communicate and pull together toward common goals? Improvisation is essentially a process that allows players who represent different points of view to work toward a shared objective. When improvisation is applied to comedy--not Spolin and Boyd's intention for the form, by the way, that was Spolin's son, Paul Sills' idea--the different points of view are positioned as amusing conflicts. An agorophobe has a claustrophobic roommate. Overprotective parent and risk-taking child. For more sober scenarios like those addressed by the founding teachers and by Obama's team today, the same techniques apply. By creating a focus for a scene, what Spolin called 'the game,' that is independent of subjective points of view, improvisers engender what Spolin called 'The Group Mind'. The Group Mind allows for different points of view, but always in service of a greater good, i.e. the successful conduct of the game. The group's focus on the game creates a kind of subconscious web of connectivity between members of the group. This web weaves different world views into unified action. It's how athletes who won't even talk to each other on the sidelines can perform beautifully together in a game. The focus on the game creates the connection. For Obama's team of rivals, the 'game' might be something like, 'Void Al Qaeda' or 'Bring Innovation to Detroit.' It's important to note, as Obama did this week in explaining his casting choices, that 'group think' is not the same as the Group Mind. Group think is what got Detroit in trouble in the first place, and what got the U.S. into Iraq. Group think leads to rubber-stamping, playing politics, hidden agendas, competition over ideology, ass-kissing, going with prevailing tide of opinion, and worst of all, ego-driven behaviors--all of which an improviser like Obama resists fiercely, because the group mind offers no learning, no new ideas. The Group Mind, by contrast: ...allows for wildly different opinions, characters and contributions to a scene. The connectedness of the Group Mind has nothing to do with commonality of ideas. By honoring the unique contributions of all its members, the team seeks singularity as a group. The improvisational team allows for no end of diversity and individuality. The Group Mind honors our uniqueness. - GameChangers--Improvisation for Business in the Networked WorldThis is how a team of rivals collaborates. And it's why we should all be bullish on improvisation. by Mike Bonifer 3 Dec 2008 at 4:02pm Lance Simmens: No Rear-View Mirrors: Managing the Economic Crisis The President-elect has so far shown an uncanny ability to bring all parties to the table as he carefully fills in the outlines of his broad policy agenda. Allies, adversaries, and agnostics all seem to be willing to follow his leadership as he aggressively seeks to quell the roiling seas and extinguish the burning fires that await his presidency. Beyond his Cabinet assemblage, he has now ventured into the thicket of bailout politics with a vigor and sophistication not seen in many years. Managing inclusion can be a tricky business, but it is crucial in times of crisis, and we are in a bona fide crisis with an economy spiraling deeper and deeper into the abyss, the recent events in Mumbai reminding us of just how precarious and dangerous a place the world actually is, a worsening situation in Afghanistan, and the continuing quagmire in Iraq. With little time for recriminations against the woefully inept Administration about to mercifully leave office, Obama is showing that his focus and concern is on moving forward, not looking backward. And oh how easy is would be to just look back and start casting blame. The only real lament seems to be that given the constitutional constraints of only allowing one president at a time it is a shame that we have to wait until January 20 to actually start putting new policies and programs into place. His latest mastery of difficulties involves ensuring that the Nation's states and localities play a pivotal role in putting together a economic recovery program that will maximize the creation of jobs, repair a crumbling infrastructure, and minimize the burdens and hardships on individuals hardest hit by the now official recession. Our federalist system is dependent upon a working relationship between the central government and state and local jurisdictions. Intergovernmental cooperation is a prerequisite for effective, efficient, and equitable governance. States and cities, counties and boroughs, townships and towns of all sizes and composition, both rural and urban, are disproportionately adversely affected by economic downturns. Their collective ability to manage budgets as the economy worsens is constrained by balanced budget requirements and often by state-imposed limits to raise revenues. One of the unique aspects to the current reaction to our worsening economic troubles seems to be a national will, and a bipartisan one at that, to adopt a Keynesian approach to spending our way out of this mess. John Maynard Keynes believed that it was okay for the government to borrow money to lift the economy out of recession. Of course, the implicit agreement is that you pay it back once the economy recovers, and that will be a massive undertaking to be sure. Deficits do matter and balanced budgets in times of prosperity are fiscally prudent and responsible. However, borrowing can also be prudent and responsible, assuming one has the will and the ability to repay the loans. At this point we have little choice.
State and local officials are keenly aware of the needs and capabilities of their respective jurisdictions. They will be called upon to actively implement whatever recovery plan is put into place, thus they have a right and a need to be involved in its construction. Obama sees this and is acting upon his best instincts for brining all working partners into the fold. This is not just smart politics, it is smart policy. He realizes he needs broad support for the tough decisions and hard choices that need to be made, and he is going about securing that support. There is evidence of a pattern here: the need to engage partners, the need to garner the greatest degree of consensus possible, utilization of diplomatic skills to attack problems, and a vision and steadfast dedication to implement it. In a weaker moment I could go on to say that has been missing for a long time, but that would be looking backward, and the mantra henceforth will be forward-looking and visionary. But if only January 20 were tomorrow... by Lance Simmens 3 Dec 2008 at 3:41pm John Tepper Marlin: Should Localities Post Their Budgets? This past weekend I was on the East End of Long Island and got into an intense conversation with Charlot Taylor about local budgets. She said there were problems getting information. This naturally upsets her. She told me she has written a letter to President-Elect Barack Obama about the lack of transparency of some local governments. She asked: "Shouldn't governments at all levels post their budgets and financial statements on the Internet?" Yes, I think they should, and many of them do. I checked out the story with the East Hampton local school board. It gets credit for using green principles to expand its high school square footage by 60 percent. But the cost figures range from $58 million to $79 million. A local newspaper reported that the superintendent declined to say how much it would be or how it would be spent. The same district two years ago reportedlyfailed to comply with a freedom of information law request about its budget. When I went to the East Hampton Union Free School District website and the only button promising data -- marked eSchoolData -- requires a password. A password? Most states (41 out of 51 counting D.C.) are facing budget gaps and so are localities. Many are desperate for money because of declines in tax revenues, increased needs and losses in pension funds. Taxpayers are entitled to know what's happening. It's a civil right. The President-elect and the Congress are talking with governors about hundreds of billions of dollars in handouts as part of a stimulus-recovery package. In return for this money, shouldn't the President and Congress require that all state and local recipients abide by a bill of rights for taxpayers? It might include (1) transparency in reporting via internet access to budgets and financial statements, (2) open access to the data with no passwords required, (3) an effort to ensure comparability of data over time and with other jurisdictions, and (4) timely posting. The President-elect is a transparency fan -- one of the four lead co-sponsors (along with Sen. John McCain) of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. This Act requires full disclosure to the public of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in FY 2007. This is accomplished via the website USAspending.gov, which is managed by OMB Watch. Charlot is right. In return for federal grants, states and localities should post full financial data online, with no password required. If you agree, post a comment below or write to Charlot at cloverdune@aol.com. by John Tepper Marlin 3 Dec 2008 at 3:38pm Steve Clemons: To All Those Waiting for the Obama Team Phone Call This blog post has not been written by Steven Clemons or any member of Huffington Post or The Washington Note team. It is written by someone who really does deserve a very top spot in Obama Land but is sitting pensively waiting for a call while trying to pretend he/she is not. Waiting for the Call. . . I can't tell you who I am. Like you, I'm hoping to get a political appointment in the Obama administration. I'm trying to project the aloof and elite appearance of a soon-to-be-announced Schedule C. But the truth is, I'm just like you. I toiled in the opposition for 8 years. I supported Barack Obama. And I'm now officially desperate to get a plum job in the administration. So, like you, I wait for that long-lost important contact make "the call" and offer me the job of my dreams. But until then, I wait in a state of suspended ambition. I too have the dreams featuring, in no apparent order, Vice President-elect Joe Biden, Secretary of State-designate Hilary Clinton and, yes, even the man himself, President-elect Obama. Sometimes in these dreams they offer me a job, and sometimes they say they can't offer me a job because they can't find my resume amidst the other 300,000 on www.change.gov. I wake in a cold sweat. Like you, I keep a secret "A list" of positions I would kill for, including all manner of ambassador slots, sub-secretary-ships and senior director positions. I have my secret "B list" of fall back positions I would also kill for, including senior advisor, special assistant, and even the Deputy Assistant Secretary-ship. Of course, I tell almost no one about these lists. If people saw the B list, that might reduce my chances of getting an A list job. And if they saw the A list, people might think I was too arrogant, too demanding, and too self-delusional to serve in the administration. It takes a lot of skill to project A-list, aspire to B-list, and secretly wonder if you're on any list at all. Like you, I have started to act like a person in the know. I never mention except to my closest friends that no one from the transition team has called me. When anyone mentions the transition in conversation, I nod silently and knowingly. I start every sentence about politics by saying "I am not officially part of the transition but..." I have avoided my usual press calls, fearful that the wrong quote will kill my chances at any position on the A or B lists, and hopeful that people remember my past appearances on CNN. I read the lists of names on the transition teams, making mental notes of people I know well, people I pretend to know well, and the dreaded category of people I wish I had made the effort to know well before they were on the transition team. I check to make sure I have all of their e-mail addresses and send them a note congratulating them and offering to do anything I can to help. A good day for me is when I resist the urge to e-mail the same 5 people I do know on the transition team again, congratulating them and offering to do anything I can to help. Like you, I am getting phone calls from people even less connected and in the know than I am. I try to offer them advice, without being too obvious about my lack of connections and without being too obvious when I discourage them from going after any of the positions I want. "Perhaps the Hill would be a good place to look" I tell them. "There are sure to be lots of good jobs there (that I don't want)." Like you, I am convinced that everyone I know in Washington is in the know about the transition and is being considered for some great job I would be great at. I am shocked when I find out that they too are not getting any phone calls and are as filled with angst and self-doubt as I am. Why aren't we getting the call? Why did I do all of that volunteer work on the campaign? What did I do wrong? How can they treat me this way? Most importantly, don't they know who I am? (Literally?) Of course, it should come as no surprise that there are many people in the same boat. We moved to Washington to serve our country, and now is our time. And while some of our transition angst is driven by ego, the overriding impulse is a desire to serve our country at a time of great challenges . . . . oh wait, that's my phone. Gotta run. -- Anonymous Anonymous is a highly accomplished policy veteran in Washington who is clearly on the edge while waiting for that call. . . by Steve Clemons 3 Dec 2008 at 3:28pm Former California Assembly Speaker's Son A Murder Suspect SAN DIEGO — The 19-year-old son of former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is among four men charged in the October stabbing death of a college student, prosecutors said Wednesday. Esteban Nunez and the others were arrested Tuesday in Sacramento, a day after formal charges were filed in San Diego. Each is charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism, said Paul Levikow, a spokesman for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. Levikow said the office would have no further comment until an arraignment set for Thursday. The suspects face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of murder. Fabian Nunez, 41, was among California's most powerful state politicians before he stepped down as Assembly speaker this year because of term limits. He released a statement Wednesday saying he had faith in the justice system. "This is a very difficult and painful experience for every family involved. Maria and I love our children very much," he said. "We are confident our son Esteban will be cleared of the charges he is facing." He previously referred media inquiries to Carlsbad defense attorney C. Bradley Patton, who did not return a telephone call. Esteban Nunez was arrested as he left his father's Sacramento home, while the others were arrested elsewhere in the Sacramento area. Police were taking the suspects to San Diego on Wednesday. It was not publicly known that Esteban Nunez was a suspect until his arrest, though San Diego police detectives had searched the Northern California homes of all four suspects about a week after the Oct. 4 stabbing. Ryan Jett, Leshanor Thomas and Rafael Garcia, all 19, face the same charges as Esteban Nunez, police said. Prosecutors said they did not know whether those three defendants had hired attorneys. The felony complaint filed in San Diego County Superior Court said the defendants stabbed four men, killing one of them, 22-year-old Luis Santos. San Diego Police Capt. Jim Collins said Santos and his friends had just left a fraternity party near San Diego State University about 2 a.m. Oct. 4 when they encountered Esteban Nunez and the other three on the street. He said Nunez and his friends had not been at the party and did not know the victims. "They were walking down the street, there was a verbal exchange. It escalated into a physical altercation and eventually into the stabbing," Collins told reporters during a Wednesday news conference. Santos, a student at San Diego Mesa College, died at the scene. Esteban Nunez listed himself as a business student at California State University, Los Angeles on his online profiles for social networks Facebook and MySpace. He also had posted photos of himself, including one in which Nunez wore a black bandanna over his mouth with a friend while a girl held up a bottle of liquor. Collins said there may be a "gang nexus" but declined to elaborate on any possible gang connection or other circumstances of the stabbing. Collins also would not comment on the role each of the suspects is believed to have played in the attack. "We're not going to go into the details of each one of them, but they all acted in concert," Collins said. Police had not recovered any weapons, and it was unclear how many knives were used. Witnesses came forward almost immediately after the stabbing, allowing police to trace the suspects to Sacramento, Collins said. He said Esteban Nunez and his friends knew people in San Diego and went there to party. "I'm glad they arrested the people involved in my son's murder," Santos' father, Fred Santos, told the Union-Tribune from his home in the San Francisco Bay area city of Concord. "Who these people are, who their parents are, doesn't make the pain less or more. It changes nothing. Nothing can bring my son back." A woman who answered the phone at the family home Wednesday and identified herself as Santos' grandmother said she did not want to comment. Collins said the case had not been handled differently because of Fabian Nunez's political prominence. An assemblyman for six years and speaker since 2004, Nunez was the longest-serving speaker in California's era of term limits. Born in San Diego, the 10th of 12 children of an immigrant gardener and maid, he split his childhood between Tijuana and a San Diego neighborhood filled with junkyards and liquor stores. The former amateur boxer graduated from Pitzer College in Claremont and worked his way through the political ranks of the Los Angeles labor movement before being elected in 2002 to the Legislature. The Los Angeles Democrat cultivated a close relationship with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that resulted in landmark changes in the state's global warming and labor laws. Nunez was unsuccessful in a bid to extend his own tenure in office. In February, voters rejected a ballot initiative designed by Democrats to change the state's term-limits law. Nunez has said he has no immediate plans to run for a future office. On Monday, he began a job at Mercury Public Affairs, a New York-based political consulting firm whose Sacramento office is headed by Steve Schmidt, who managed Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign in 2006 and was chief strategist for John McCain's failed presidential campaign. ___ Associated Press Writer Juliet Williams in Sacramento contributed to this report. by The Huffington Post News Team 3 Dec 2008 at 3:26pm Andrea Friedman: Looking to Rwanda for Lessons on Gender Equality Out of the devastation of violent conflict comes the opportunity to do things differently. Women in conflict are breaking new ground and demanding their countries build a new inclusive kind of democracy. This posting is the first in a series on how women are redefining democracy and governance around the globe. It discusses gender-based quotas and the successes of women in Rwanda, which in 2008 became the first country with a majority of women in the legislature. In modern violent conflicts the victims are 90% civilian, mainly women and children (a century ago that number was 10%). Rape and sexual violence have become an increasingly popular method of warfare, reaching new levels of brutality. Women constitute an average of 18% of legislatures and parliaments worldwide. In short, when violence breaks out, women are substantially less likely to have started or to carry out the conflict and substantially more likely to suffer at the hands of those who did. Conflicts leave governing bodies weakened or in shambles and those who are left must rebuild. Yet too often the same people are put right back into power and too often the violence repeats itself. A movement has begun to undermine this cycle of devastation. Women who have been denied some of their most basic rights are using these transitions, when the governance system is in flux and the world is more likely to be paying attention, to demand that their voices are heard. Security Council Resolution 1325 has increased their leverage. The resolution, adopted unanimously in October 2000, mandates that women be included in all aspects of conflict prevention, reconciliation and post-conflict reconstruction. Change is at hand -- and the women of Rwanda are leading the way. Efforts to build democracies that include groups historically excluded from decision-making are making progress and gender based quotas are part of the reason. Although controversial in some countries, quotas have increasingly been put in place over the past two decades through constitutions, legislatures and political parties, both through law and voluntarily. Implementation is mixed, but today over half of all countries have some type of quota to reserve positions for women in decision-making bodies. Some quotas are gender-neutral, covering women and men. (Other common quotas include for ethnic groups and youth). Quotas can jump start the democratic process and in some situations are a necessary, temporary first step to level the field. Rwanda is primarily known as the site of a horrific genocide during which approximately 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were brutally murdered in only 100 days. It is now the first country to have a majority of women in the legislature at 56%, up from a high of 18% before the conflict. Women also hold one-third of the cabinet level posts. This dramatic result came about because well-organized women crossed party lines to advocate for change, and President Paul Kagame and his party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, supported that effort. The 2003 Rwandan Constitution included a quota providing for 30% reserved seats for women in all decision making bodies. In 2008 women filled the 30% quota and then gained another 26% of the seats in the legislature via the political party ballot, for a total of 56%. The process and quota system is discussed in detail in a 2004 paper for International IDEA by Elizabeth Powley, who was in Rwanda tracking these advances for the Initiative for Inclusive Security. According to Powley, of the 24 women who held the reserved quota seats from 2003 to 2008, only a small number ran for those seats again. Some choose not to continue in politics. Most chose to run on political party ballots in the 2008 election, competing with the men--and many were successful, which is what catapulted the percentage of women to 56%. The reserved seats had served as an incubator for women who might otherwise have been excluded from the process, giving them the experience and confidence to run in the general election. Even though Rwanda still faces many barriers to democratic governance and gender equality, there are already indications that the women led legislature is making an impact. For example, according to a recent report, the parliamentary women's caucus (the Forum des Femmes Rwandaises Parlementaires or FFRP) led a successful effort to pass ground-breaking legislation on gender-based violence in part by involving and garnering support from their male colleagues. Democracy is an ever-changing and imperfect experiment. We need to learn from the women of Rwanda and the men who supported them. Using quotas to support gender equality not only enables more representative leadership in struggling nations, but it fosters change - a change that may lead to more effective leadership and increase the chances for sustainable peace. And that is good for democracy. by Andrea Friedman 3 Dec 2008 at 3:18pm Presented By: AlterNet
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