The transcript of her comments from today’s presentation in Chicago:

“Mr. President-elect, thank you for this honor. If confirmed, I will give this assignment, your administration, and our country my all. I also want to thank my fellow New Yorkers, who have for eight years given me the joy of a job I love, with the opportunity to work on issues I care about deeply, in a State that I cherish. And you’ve also helped prepare me well for this new role. After all, New Yorkers aren’t afraid to speak their minds, and do so in every language.

“Leaving the Senate is very difficult for me. But during the last few weeks, I thought often of our troops, serving bravely under difficult circumstances in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. I thought of those other Americans, in our foreign and civil services, working hard to promote and protect our interests around the world. And I thought of the daunting tasks ahead for our country: an economy that is reeling, a climate that is warming, and as we saw with the horrible events in Mumbai – threats that are relentless. The fate of our nation and the future of our children will be forged in the crucible of these global challenges. America cannot solve these crises without the world, and the world cannot solve them without America.

“By electing Barrack Obama our next President, the American people have demanded not just a new direction at home, but a new effort to renew America’s standing in the world as a force for positive change. We know our security, our values, and our interests cannot be protected and advanced by force alone. Nor indeed by Americans alone. We must pursue vigorous diplomacy using all the tools we can muster, to build a future with more partners and fewer adversaries, more opportunities and fewer dangers, for all who seek freedom, peace, and prosperity.

“America is a place founded on the idea that everyone should have the right to live up to his or her God-given potential. And it is that same ideal that must guide America’s purpose in the world today. And while we are determined to defend our freedoms and liberties at all costs, we also reach out to the world again, seeking common cause and higher ground. And so I believe the best way to continue serving my country, is to join President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden, the leaders here, and the dedicated public servants of the State Department on behalf of our nation at this defining moment.

“President Kennedy once said that, ‘engaging the world to meet the threats we face was the greatest adventure of our century.’ Well Mr. President-elect, I am proud to join you, on what will be a difficult and exciting adventure in this new century. And may God bless you, and all who serve with you, and our great country.”

It is her choice. If I view the glass half empty, it is a loss of a powerful voice in the Senate on a whole host of domestic issues. We lose one of the most able and partisan fighters. If I view the glass half full, there is now the most powerful advocate for women’s rights on an international stage that there has ever been. It is my view that to change the world means empowering women, it means providing the women of the world with more than a cursory education.

Female Literacy Rates

Foreign policy is more than just about treaties. It’s about changing lives. Literacy matters. Female literacy really matters.

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Kudos to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for breaking new ground and taking his annual state of the city address and moving it on-line on both the City’s website and on YouTube. Yup, our fair Mayor is delivering his State of the City address exclusively on the Internet—all 7 1/2 hours of it. The annual speech will be shown in 10 “webisodes”. You will really have to love San Francisco to listen to all of it.

The first round of webisodes, unveiled today, focus on health, education and the environment. Future webisodes will highlight transportation, violence prevention, poverty, the economy, emergency planning and public art.

Introduction

Healthcare

This segment runs 46 minutes. Universal health care is available in this delicious 49 square mile slice of the United States. Granted, it does have its limits such as it is only good within the confines of our fair city. Get sick outside the city limits and you’re not covered. Enrollment fees range from $3 to $201, depending on participants’ incomes. Most, however, pay $35 a month. More at San Francisco Health Plan.

From Time:

It’s part of an unprecedented program called “San Francisco Health Access Plan,” which Newsom hammered out with labor, business, and city leaders. More than 82,000 San Franciscans who lack health insurance and do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid stand to benefit. The majority are employed adults (children already have access to subsidized care); others are unemployed, self-employed, homeless, or have pre-existing conditions like diabetes, AIDS or cancer; some are even undocumented (yes: illegal) workers. Starting in early 2007, every uninsured San Franciscan can seek comprehensive primary care at the city’s public and private clinics and hospitals, including top research facilities like the University of California at San Francisco. Coverage includes lab work, prescriptions, X rays, hospitalization and surgery. Annual funding for the $203 million program will come from re-routed city funds (including $104 million that now goes toward uninsured care via emergency rooms and clinics), business contributions and individual enrollment fees, which will be income-adjusted.

Newsom considers San Francisco’s historic undertaking a “moral obligation,” one that other city, state and federal officials have shirked. “We are implementing this. We’re not waiting around,” he told TIME. “It’s no longer good enough to explain away our problem and to point fingers.” Around 41 million Americans are uninsured. They inevitably wind up seeking medical attention from overburdened emergency rooms. The political dialogue must change, Newsom insists. “If it’s not going to happen through national leadership or statewide leadership,” he says, “then it has to happen on a local level.”

A “moral obligation.” That sounds about right. Why is that so hard for some to accept?

Education

Environment

The Mayor is termed out in 2011 but is expected to make a run at the Governorship of California in 2010. It’s not clear what his chances are given how closely he is associated with the gay marriage issue. Still in San Francisco, the Mayor remains immensely popular though by San Francisco standards he is a centrist in this liberal city.

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On the heels of a general election last month that proved less than decisive, the left-leaning Liberal and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois have entered into a political alliance aimed at ending Prime Minister Harper’s tenure. It would be the first time since 1926 that a Canadian government changed hands without an election. The alliance between the Liberal and New Democratic parties would lead a rare coalition government in Ottawa.The two parties have agreed to form a coalition until June 30, 2011. The Bloc Québécois would not join the coalition but agreed to support it at least until the middle of 2010. At the moment Harper heads a minority government having fallen short in his bid to win a majority. The full terms of the accords reached are below the fold.

From the New York Times:

With the announcement of a formal alliance among opposition parties, Canada moved closer Monday to removing its Conservative government without holding an election.

If the pact — signed by the Liberal and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois — is successful at dislodging the Conservatives, it will be the first time since 1926 that the federal government has changed hands without a vote.

Coalition governments are rare in Canada, and the opposition plan still faces constitutional and political uncertainties.

Adding to the political turmoil is speculation about how Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose government is outnumbered by the opposition in Parliament, will respond. Over the weekend, the Conservatives tried to stifle the movement against them by withdrawing some economic proposals, including an end to public financing of political parties, that angered the opposition parties and prompted the negotiations that led to their alliance.

There is speculation that Mr. Harper, having failed to fend off the opposition through concessions, may end the current session of Parliament to at least postpone his government’s removal.

Before anything can happen, however, the opposition must defeat the remnants of the government’s economic plan that set off the turmoil. Because Mr. Harper declared the plan a confidence measure, its defeat would also bring down his government. That vote is expected to be held next Monday.

“Mr. Harper, like him or not, has shown himself to be a particularly bold leader,” said Scott Reid, a prominent Liberal who was director of communications for Paul Martin, a former Liberal prime minister. “One’s strength can sometimes also be one’s weakness.”

The center-left Liberals and the New Democrats, who are backed by labor, have agreed to form a coalition until June 30, 2011. The Bloc Québécois, which wants to separate Quebec from Canada, would not join the coalition but agreed to support it at least until the middle of 2010.

Under the plan, Stéphane Dion, the Liberal leader, would become prime minister. Because Mr. Dion resigned following his party’s poor showing in October’s election, he would turn over the prime minister’s office to whomever the Liberals chose as leader at a convention in May.

The New Democrats, who have never held power at the federal level, would be given 6 posts in a 25-member coalition cabinet, although the key position of finance minister would be reserved for a Liberal. If the confidence measure is struck down, Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who represents Queen Elizabeth II as the nation’s head of state, will find herself drawn into the debate.

Mr. Harper has said that following a defeat, he would ask her to dissolve Parliament and call an election, despite the proximity of the last vote. The new coalition, however, wrote Ms. Jean on Monday to indicate that it was prepared to take power if the government fell. Most constitutional scholars believe that the governor general will give the opposition that opportunity.

The three opposition parties began negotiating to oust Harper last week after the Conservatives released a financial plan the opposition criticized for not including measures to stimulate the weakening Canadian economy that has fallen as worldwide demand for Canada’s natural resources falters. Suddenly Ottawa is rather interesting.

The terms of the accord reached between the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois are below the fold: (more…)

“The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”

The war on terror in the Commonwealth of Kentucky has one mighty helper, God Almighty. It’s God who keeps Kentucky safe and secure and it’s official state policy that it is so.

From the Lexington Herald Leader:

Under state law, God is Kentucky’s first line of defense against terrorism.

The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as “stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth.”

Specifically, Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God’s benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”

State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, tucked the God provision into Homeland Security legislation as a floor amendment that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved two years ago.

As amended, Homeland Security’s religious duties now come before all else, including its distribution of millions of dollars in federal grants and its analysis of possible threats.

The time and energy spent crediting God are appropriate, said Riner, D-Louisville, in an interview this week.

“This is recognition that government alone cannot guarantee the perfect safety of the people of Kentucky,” Riner said. “Government itself, apart from God, cannot close the security gap. The job is too big for government.”

Nonetheless, it is government that operates the Office of Homeland Security in Frankfort, with a budget this year of about $28 million, mostly federal funds. And some administrations are more religious than others.

Under previous Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a lay Baptist preacher, Homeland Security interpreted the law at face value, prominently crediting God in its annual reports to state leaders and posting the required plaque.

Under Gov. Steve Beshear, officials this week said they didn’t know about the plaque until the Herald-Leader called to ask whether it’s still there. (They checked; it is.) The 2008 Homeland Security report, issued a month ago, did not credit God, but it did complain about a decline in federal funding from Washington.

Thomas Preston, Beshear’s Homeland Security chief, said he isn’t interested in stepping into a religious debate, and he hasn’t given this part of his duties much thought.

“I will not try to supplant almighty God,” Preston said. “All I do is try to obey the dictates of the Kentucky General Assembly. I really don’t know what their motivation was for this. They obviously felt strongly about it.”

There is no reference to God in Homeland Security’s current mission statement or on its Web site, which displeases Riner.

“We certainly expect it to be there, of course,” Riner said.

But state Sen. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said Homeland Security should worry about public safety threats instead of preaching religious homilies.

“It’s very sad to me that we do this sort of thing,” said Stein, a frequent critic of efforts to mix religion and government. “It takes away from the seriousness of the public discussion over security, and it clearly hurts the credibility of this office if it’s supposed to be depending on God, first and foremost.”

You can’t make this stuff up. It clearly hurts the credibility of this office? Frankly, it makes the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky look pathetic and laughable.

Let Mr. Riner know how you feel: Tom Riner 1143 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40204

The saddest part of all is that Mr. Riner is a Democrat proving that stupidity knows no political party. Whenever delusional madness like this pops up, I take great pleasure in telling people if the United States so favored by God then why does the United States have a significant disproportionate share of the number of worldwide tornadoes? The US holds but 4% of the world’s population and 5% of its total land mass and yet 35% of all tornadoes strike the US. It seems God also likes to strike at the US. And oddly enough it is the American Bible Belt that gets most if not all of US tornadoes. That should tell you something.

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Studies worldwide have shown that playing chess has benefits, especially for young children. Inspired by this knowledge, a growing number of teachers in the US are trying to incorporate chess into their students’ lives. VOA correspondent Julie Taboh has more.

Frankly anything that trains the American mind is a welcomed addition. At my Thanksgiving dinner celebration, Governor Sarah Palin was a topic of discussion. As it might be expected at an all gay and lesbian Thanksgiving celebration, Governor Palin wasn’t spoken of in the highest terms. Not to say that I don’t appreciate her zeal in attacking corruption in Alaska but it also clear she’s “not the sharpest tool in the shed.” That led me to reflect and add that Governor Palin is the expected and desired product of Reagan’s America. She’s the end product of this dumbing down of America. Sarah Palin isn’t an accident. She was created by design (unintelligent design if you will) and that fact alone should frighten you.

Time to buy a chess board.

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My views on Pakistan are clear. It is a failed state and it requires an international concert to rescue the country before that failure becomes truly catastrophic. India is angry and rightly so but it is important now more than ever to urge India to show patience and restraint. And it is incumbent upon the rest of the world community to take Pakistani authorities to task over their failure to rein in extremist elements that freely operate throughout the country. This is not about Kashmir nor is this about the treatment of India’s 130 million Muslims. This is Islamic terror bent on establishing an Islamic Caliphate in Central Asia. This is about the 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan that operate outside the jurisdiction of the Pakistani state. These madrassas have become the training ground for global jihad preaching a virulent form of Islam. This no longer threatens just India or Pakistan but the entire world.

In this segment from World Focus, Thomas Sanderson, the deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, assesses the accuracy of the accusation and comments on Pakistan’s commitment to anti-terrorism. Mr. Sanderson explains why these attacks are being described as inspirational for other terrorist groups and asserts that this type of terror is combated with intelligence.

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