27 Feb 2012, Mon, SoS Clinton and Staff Schedule

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/appt/2012/02/184676.htm
SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
9:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with the assistant secretaries, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

6:30 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

DEPUTY SECRETARY BILL BURNS
10:30 a.m. Deputy Secretary Burns meets with Australian Ambassador Kim Beazley, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

1:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Burns attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

USAID ADMINISTRATOR RAJ SHAH
2:30 p.m. Administrator Shah meets with Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the United Nations World
Food Programme (WFP), at USAID.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:00 p.m. Administrator Shah delivers keynote remarks at the launch of USAID’s new Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, at USAID.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS WENDY SHERMAN
11:00 a.m. Under Secretary Sherman meets with OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ACTING US FOR ARMS CONTROL AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ROSE GOTTEMOELLER
Acting Under Secretary Gottemoeller is on foreign travel to Ramstein Air Base, Geneva, Berlin, Warsaw, and Vilnius from through March 2. On Monday, Acting Under Secretary Gottemoeller delivers remarks on European security issues and the next steps in arms control at a EUCOM conference at Ramstein Air Base.

US FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH, ENERGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT ROBERT HORMATS

10:30 a.m. Under Secretary Hormats meets with U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Donald Gips, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

11:30 a.m. Under Secretary Hormats meets with Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States Mwanaidi Sinare Maajar, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:45 p.m. Under Secretary Hormats delivers remarks at the World Bank East Asia Pacific Region Conference, at the World Bank.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:00 p.m. Under Secretary Hormats attends a Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade Steering Committee Meeting, at the National Association of Manufacturers.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

US FOR CIVILIAN SECURITY, DEMOCRACY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS MARIA OTERO
Under Secretary Otero is on foreign travel to Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Geneva through March 5.

AS FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS ESTHER BRIMMER
Assistant Secretary Brimmer is on foreign travel in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the Human Rights Council 19th Session High-Level Week.

AS FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS KURT CAMPBELL
Assistant Secretary Campbell is on foreign travel to New Zealand and Australia through March 2 to meet with senior officials in the region.

AS FOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND NONPROLIFERATION TOM COUNTRYMAN
7:15 a.m. Assistant Secretary Countryman delivers remarks at the American Society for Microbiology Conference in Washington, DC.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

12:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Countryman delivers remarks at the Nonproliferation Education Policy Center Conference in Washington, DC.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS JOSE FERNANDEZ
Assistant Secretary Fernandez is on foreign travel in Doha, Qatar through February 29 where he will meet with government officials and private sector representatives to discuss the business and investment climate.
(MEDIA AS DETERMINED BY HOST)

ACTING AS FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS MIKE HAMMER
11:00 a.m. Acting Assistant Secretary Hammer participates in a quarterly meeting of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

3:30 p.m. Acting Assistant Secretary Hammer meets with the executive leadership of Univision , at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

ACTING AS FOR WESTERN HEMISPHERE AFFAIRS ROBERTA JACOBSON
4:15 p.m. Acting Assistant Secretary Jacobson attends a meeting at the White House.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY WHITE HOUSE)

ACTING AS FOR POPULATION, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION DAVID ROBINSON
10:00 a.m. Acting Assistant Secretary Robinson meets with UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AS FOR POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS ANDREW SHAPIRO
1:00 p.m. Assistant Secretary Shapiro delivers remarks at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) on U.S. support for international peacekeeping, in Washington, DC.
(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

3:30 p.m. Assistant Secretary Shapiro meets with Australian Deputy Chief of Mission, Graham Fletcher, at the Department of State
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE AND COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM DANIEL BENJAMIN:
11:30 a.m. Ambassador Benjamin meets with Swedish Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR AT LARGE AND U.S. GLOBAL AIDS COORDINATOR GOOSBY
4:30 p.m. Ambassador Goosby participates in a meeting with the Board Chair of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Simon Bland, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

AMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES MELANNE VERVEER
Ambassador Verveer is on domestic travel in New York City, New York through March 2 to co-lead the U.S. Delegation to the 56th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and participate in bilateral meetings and side events in support of women’s rights and empowerment.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY USUN)

SR FOR GLOBAL INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS RETA JO LEWIS
10:00 a.m. Special Representative Lewis meets with Fulton County Chairman (Georgia) John Eaves, at the Department of State.

DIRECTOR OF POLICY PLANNING JAKE SULLIVAN
Director Sullivan speaks to students at the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston, Massachusetts.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

PRESS BRIEFING SCHEDULE
12:30 p..m. Daily Press Briefing with Spokesperson Victoria Nuland

27 Feb 2012, Mon, Pres and VP Schedules

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule
9:30 am
The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

10:00 am
The President meets with senior advisors
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:20 am
The President and the Vice President deliver remarks to the National Governors Association; the First Lady and Dr. Biden also deliver remarks
State Dining Room
Pooled Press

3:15 pm
The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

4:30 pm
The President attends a campaign event
The Jefferson Hotel
Closed Press

http://www.whitehouse.gov/schedule/vice-president
9:30 am
The President and the Vice President receive the Presidential Daily Briefing
Oval Office
Closed Press

11:20 am
The President and the Vice President deliver remarks to the National Governors Association; the First Lady and Dr. Biden also deliver remarks
State Dining Room
Pooled Press

3:15 pm
The President and the Vice President meet with Secretary Geithner
Oval Office
Closed Press

11-year old girls fight - over a boy!

I know this happens...although I thought they held off until they were 13 or so. This is just so sad. At age 11 girls should be thinking of their careers...they shouldn't even be thinking of boys in a sexual way... or if they are...it should be - "OH, he's going to date her! Well then fine, I'll go find someone else." But to fight over him, physically fight - as if who he wanted didn't matter - that's just sick and sad and is evidence of the sexualization of our culture which makes girls think that fighting each other over who a boy gets to love...is causing havoc with our young people.

I mean... wasn't it boys who used to fight over a girl? When did girls deciding who got to date a boy by physical force start?

(And please note I don't think not dating boys until you're 16 or so, and keeping your virginity until you're over 20 and with a good job and preferably married is a religious or even moral issue - just an issue of common sense.)

From ABC News: 11-Year-Old Girl Dies After Fight With Classmate Over Boy
Health officials and police in Long Beach, Calif., are trying to determine how an 11-year-old girl died after getting into a fight with another girl over a boy.

Joanna Ramos, a fifth grader at Willard Elementary School, died Friday night in the hospital after complaining of a headache.

"She was so nice to me; she was like a sister to me," said classmate Stephanie Soltero, crying. "They were fighting over a boy, just for a boy. It's just stupid."

The two girls and seven onlookers went to an alley off campus after school on Friday, where they had planned to fight, according to Deputy Chief Robert Luna of the Long Beach Police Department. No weapons were used and no one was knocked to the ground.

Police are waiting for autopsy results to determine Ramos' cause of death.

Ramos' classmate said she was complaining about a pain in her head during an after-school program.

"She was crying and saying her head was hurting. She said to the supervisor, the principal on call, she told them that my head was hurting and then she called the parents and the parents took her to the hospital," classmate Justin Robert King Jr. said.

Ramos was unconscious and not breathing when family members took her to the hospital at about 5:50 p.m., according to police. She was rushed into surgery but pronounced dead three hours later.

"There are times when words do not convey a sense of sadness and loss that we feel. This was one of those times. Our hearts go out to the families affected by this tragic event yesterday. It resulted in the death of an 11-year-old girl from Long Beach. It's hard to understand how this can happen. If you're like me, you're also thinking of your own children, perhaps your daughter or your granddaughter, and you get a sense of how precious life really is," Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said Saturday.

Outside Willard Elementary School, friends left balloons, candles, stuffed animals, flowers and letters to Ramos.

Poll Reporting Skews Results Big Time

Rush commented on a news article that had the headline "Santorum Winnng More Report From Republican Women.

He talks about it like this poll means something, like it's valid, like it's interesting.

Rick Santorum Winning More Support from Republican Women." Washington Post. We are talking about contraception because the mainstream news media controls the conversation. We're talking about it because Obama wants it discussed, and the media won't let it die no matter what the Republicans do. Amy Gardner at the Washington Post: "Over the past several weeks, Republicans have watched squeamishly as presidential contender Rick Santorum has waded into multiple controversies that risk alienating half the 2012 electorate: women.

"But in fact, Santorum has grown more popular among women while talking about his opposition to abortion, his disapproval of birth control and his view that the federal government shouldn’t pay for prenatal screenings. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows not only that Santorum is doing better among GOP women than he was a few weeks ago, but also that he is less unpopular ... among Democratic and independent women than his Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich." He is less unpopular than those two among Democrat and independent women. How is this possible?

And unfortunately, while people who read Rush's transcripts can see the supporting link to the article - his listeners can't. So his listeners think that this little news article is true.

But if you actually read the article with its very deceiving headline, you find out that of the 1012 women that were talked to... 135 of them were Republican.

135!

And from this incredible drop-in-the-ocean amount of Republican women.. it's being reported as fact that Santorum's popularity with Republican women is on the rise?

That is ridiculous.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rick-santorum-winning-more-support-from-republican-women/2012/02/22/gIQAPDJjWR_story.html

Do The Taliban See any Kind of A Double Standard Here?

Christians in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East aren't treated very well - the Bible is burned with impunity.

But let some Americans burn a Koran - and oh, my!

And of course President Obama has apologized to Afghanistan with a typical result - they don't want his apology, they want the folks who burned the Koran put on trial and doubtless executed by being stoned with rocks.

Here's an idea - put a Koran burner and a Bible burner on trial at the same time and sentence them both to death. Tell Afghanistan that anyone who burns a Bible must die also.

Let's see what they say then.

Ah, religion...

Condoms, Tubes Tied, or Vasectomy

A doctor called up Rush on Friday and said this:

CALLER: Hi. Yeah, I don't have a lot of time, I realize that. I want to get right to my point. I'm a vascular specialist who sees a lot of blood clots in the lung, in the leg, sometimes in the arteries, but a lot in the veins, and probably one out of every three blood clots that I see in women is from the use of contraception.

Well- I'm thinking what he means by "contraception" is birth control pills - pills that change a woman's hormones and make her gain weight and so on.

Which is why condoms are the way to go. And even if birth control pills or diaphrams (which have their own health issues) are used, a condom should be used anyway to guard against sexually transmitted diseases!

And since condoms are going to be used anyway, why not just use them instead of the hormone-changing pills?

24 Feb, 2012, Rush Limbaugh headlines

I'm a day late with these - sorry about that!

--We Need a Pond Scum Czar
--Safe Talk: Contraception, Abortion and Infanticide Discussion Halted
--Greenberg Warns: The Big Lie Isn't Working
--Despite Democrat/Media Onslaught on Contraception, Santorum's Numbers Improve with Women?
--We Fear for Our Country, Governor Bush
--Act of Valor: Man, It's Great
--Obama Thinks America Has Never Worked
--Geithner: Rich Should Pay More for "Privilege of Being an American"
--Did Romney Lie at the Debate?
--Seminar Caller for Romney
--Media Ignorant About Obama's Infanticide Votes in the Illinois State Senate
--Newt, Rudy Rip the Bamster
--Open Line Friday Question: What Was Your First Home Computer?
--Why Not Have a Limbaugh Debate?
--Mitt: My Wife Drives a "Couple of Cadillacs"
--Blood Clots and The Pill
Stack of Stuff
--Spending Cuts Better Than Higher Taxes
--"Lunch-In" Protests Crackdown on Homemade Lunches
--Michelle Obama's Pitch: Share the Wealth
--Obama Confident He's Got 5 More Years in Office
--Taliban's Response to Obama's Apology: "Kill Them, Beat Them, Take Them as Prisoners"