Chapter 93: April 2007 – August 2007
“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved”
– William Jennings Bryan
BERNIE GOETZ RULES OUT A SECOND WHITE HOUSE BID
…the 2004 Republican nominee for President today announced that he will not run for President after all, having spent the past several months expressing interest in doing so. “I talked it over with my wife and kids,” Goetz explained to the press during the announcement, “And we’ve come to the conclusion that it would be best for our family if I kept my focus on my new career,” referring to his positions on several Colorado think tanks and on the board of directors of several business, most notably a vegan dietary supply store chain based in Boulder.
Early polling for the Republican party’s presidential primaries showed Goetz, who served one term in the US Senate from 1997 to 2003, performing fairly well, often hovering within striking distance of other potential frontrunners polling higher in most primary polls. However, polls of hypothetical matchups of the 2008 general election showed Goetz performing poorly, with nearly all pollsters showing Wellstone defeating Goetz by a large margin…
– The Denver Post, Colorado newspaper, 4/5/2007
BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL DECLINES PRESIDENTIAL BID: “The Department of The Interior Still Needs Me”
– The Denver Post, Colorado newspaper, 4/9/2007
MESA MAYOR RACE: Willie Wong Wins By A Wide Margin
…the city’s mayoral elections are usually held in late March of each Presidential election year, with a runoff, if necessary, being held in early May, and the winner is inaugurated on June 1. However, Mayor Ramsey passed away in early October from injuries he received in an “unexpected hang-gliding incident,” as reported late last year. In accordance with revisions made to Mesa’s city charter in 1985, a special election blanket primary to complete Ramsey’s term was held in late February, with the runoff being held tonight…
– The Arizona Republic, 4/10/2007
Mayors of
MESA (Arizona)
1976-1980: 34) Wayne Casto Pomeroy (R, 1923-2019) – former business owner; previously served on the city council from 1966 to 1974 and as vice mayor from 1972 to 1974; retired to successfully run for a US House seat in 1980
1976 (primary): Phyllis Royer (D), L. Alton Riggs Jr. (I) and S. Michael Scigliano (I)
1976 (runoff): Phyllis Royer (D)
1978 (primary): Wayne E. Phelps (I)
1978 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
1980-1984: 35) Donald William “Don” Strauch Jr. (R, 1926-2021) – former business owner; previously served on the city council from 1972 to 1980; lost re-election; later served in the state House from 1989 to 1999 and in the state senate from 1999 to 2017
1980 (primary): Elma Allen Milano (I)
1980 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
1982 (primary): Kirby Allan (I)
1982 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
1984-1988: 36) Cordon Wesley Driggs (R, 1921-2005) – previously served on the city council from 1976 to 1984; revised several aspects of the city charter; lost re-election after clashing to some members of the city council over tax reform, resulting in “gridlock”; later worked for the US Department of the Interior under President Dinger from 1995 to 2001
1984 (primary): Don Strauch (R) and Warren D. Staffey (I)
1984 (runoff): Don Strauch (R)
1986 (primary): Warren D. Staffey (I)
1986 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
1988-1989: 37) Sumner “Al” Brooks (R, 1928-1989) – former businessperson; previously served on the city council from 1978 to 1986; died in office suddenly and unexpectedly from poor health, exact causes not disclosed
1988 (primary): Cordon Driggs (R) and Keno L. Hawker (R)
1988 (runoff): Cordon Driggs (R)
1989-1989: 38) Betty N. Lewis (I) – city’s first female mayor; ascended to office due to being Vice Mayor; previously served on the city council from 1980 to 1989; due to there being more than 6 months left until the end of Brooks term, as special election was held; retired and later served on the city council again from 1989 to 2002
1989-1990: 39) Ross N. Farnsworth (R) – previously served on the city council from 1984 to 1989; retired, officially to uphold campaign promise but also due to being frustrated with several aspects of the occupation
1989 (special) (primary): Dave Guthrie (I), Helen Stortz (I) and Robert A. Shirley (I)
1989 (special) (runoff): Dave Guthrie (I)
1990-2000: 40) Margaret “Peggy” Rubach (R) – city’s first elected female mayor; political strategist; previously served on the city council from 1984 to 1990; retired to unsuccessfully run for a US House seat in 2002; later worked on several Republican campaigns at the statewide and national level
1990 (primary): Joan Newth (I), L. Harold Wright (I), Jerry Boyd (I) and Frank de Rosa (I)
1990 (runoff): Joan Newth (I)
1992 (primary): Kirby Allan (I) and Bob Foltin (I)
1992 (runoff): Kirby Allan (I)
1994 (primary): William “Willie” Wong (I), Dan Hill (I) and Ilias Kostopoulos (I)
1994 (runoff): William “Willie” Wong (I)
1996 (primary): Wayne J. Brown (I, 1936-2013), Dan Hill (I), Jerry Boyd (I) and Dana B. Harper (I)
1996 (runoff): Wayne J. Brown (I)
1998 (primary): Louis Stradling (R) and Dan Hill (I)
1998 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
2000-2002: 41) Kirby Allan (I, 1928-2011) – born Sidney Allen Pittman; worked as a diverse musician starting in the early 1950s; was a perennial candidate and local activist until winning a seat on the city council and serving there from 1996 to 2000; elected in a major upset; known for a highly controversial move to demonstrate how short the filing deadlines were for the city – in his effort to extend said deadlines, he announced he would run for a second term after all, only to bow out at the last minute; returned to being a musician
2000 (primary): T. Farrell Jensen (I) and Jim Stapley (I)
2000 (runoff): T. Farrell Jensen (I)
2002-2006: 42) Ilias Kostopoulos (I, 1930-2009) – city’s first Greek-American mayor; elected mayor in an upset due to a lack of more established candidates in the race; former electronics businessman and political commentator; anti-corruption and socially conservative; served on Mesa’s city council from 1996 to 1998; previously served on Tempe’s city council from 1976 to 1982; also served as a state senator from 1984 to 1988; moved to Mesa in 1989; fought with city council over filing deadline specifics; re-elected in a race so close it required a recount; lost re-election in a landslide, failing to even make it to the runoff
2002 (primary): Lillian Wilkinson (I)
2002 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
2004 (primary): Teresa Brice-Heames (I) and Michael “Mike” Graves (I)
2004 (runoff): Teresa Brice-Heames (I)
2006-2007: 43) David Sherman Ramsey (I) – previously served on the city council from 2002 to 2006; died in office in an accident
2006 (primary): Manuel Cortez (I), Ilias Kostopoulos (I) and H. M. “Pat” Gilbert (I)
2006 (runoff): Manuel Cortez (I)
2007-2007: 44) Dennis Kavanaugh (I) – ascended to office due to being Vice Mayor; previously served on the city council from 1996 to 2007; known for being bipartisan, supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates and policies; retired; served on the city council again from 2008 to 2018
2007-2012: 45) William “Willie” Wong (I, b. 1948) – city’s first Asian-American mayor; former businessperson; previously served as Vice Mayor from 1988 to 1990, and on the city council from 1986 to 1992 and again from 2000 to 2007; retired to successfully run for a US House seat in 2014, and served from 2015 until retiring in 2021
2007 (special) (primary): Scott Smith (R, b. 1956), H. M. “Pat” Gilbert (I), Keno L. Hawker (R) and Ilias Kostopoulos (I)
2007 (special) (runoff): Scott Smith (R)
2008 (primary): Keno L. Hawker (R) and Danny Ray (I)
2008 (runoff): Keno L. Hawker (R)
2010 (primary): Rex Griswold (I)
2010 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
2012-2020: 46) Claudia Walters (R) – previously served on the city council from 2000 to 2012 and as Vice Mayor 2007 to 2012; retired
2012 (primary): Rex Griswold (I) and Danny Ray (I)
2012 (runoff): Rex Griswold (I)
2014 (primary): Alex Finter (R)
2014 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
2016 (primary): John C. Giles (R, b. 1960) and Courtney Guinn (I)
2016 (runoff): John C. Giles (R)
2018 (primary): Jeremy Whittaker (I)
2018 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
2020-present: 47) Verl Fransworth (I) – former construction contractor and businessperson; currently supports improving the city’s downtown area, passing tax cuts to encourage small business growth, and opposing rising calls for the city to implement ranked-choice voting; incumbent
2020 (primary): Alex Finter (R)
2020 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to the primary winner receiving over 50%+1 of the vote
– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021
…In the face of mounting evidence of wrongdoing, and with the public trial of Ivan Slavkov only raising calls for it, the IOC has at last announced that they have rescinded Cape Town, South Africa’s right to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. To make up for the selection process being sullied by the South African delegation’s acts of bribery, the I.O.C. has also announced that they will hold a special I.O.C. meeting very soon in order to find a replacement city for hosting the 2012 Olympic Games…
– KNN Breaking News, 4/14/2007 broadcast
“Donald.”
“Tommy! There you are, I was about to do the next scene without you.”
“Donald, what is this I hear about you bothering the girls?”
“Girls? Where?! Wait, what are you talking about?”
“I hear you keep walking in on them in the dressing rooms. And that you won’t leave when they ask you to.”
“Yeah, what’s the problem? Don’t like the ladies or something, Tom?”
“Donald, do you want to be the one that starts the Third Ark Wave? Come on! You are tearing me apart, Donald!”
“I didn’t touch any of them, I swear. I only looked. Like window shopping! You can’t be arrested for window shopping, Tommy, not in this country. Maybe in, like, Alaska, but not in the U.S., alright?”
“Just cut it out please. We rescue them in the third act tomorrow. They should look happy to see you. Don’t make their role-job so hard. Especially since we wrap tomorrow.”
“We have a
what? I don’t ever go
that urban, Wiseau!”
“We finish filming, big finish. Then we edit and we put it out and became even more rich and famous! Ha. Anyway, how’s your sex life?”
“Really good! Thank you for asking!”
“No mention it, don’t problem! So, promise to stay out of the dressing rooms when they ask?”
“Oh, alright, alright. They aren’t 10s anyway. No big loss.”
– transcript of audio recording of office meeting at Trump Sunrise Tower, Santa Monica, CA; recorded 4/18/2007 and leaked 12/17/2018
“STAY HEALTHY OR TO HELL WITH YA!” MAYOR HAMBURG IMPOSES MORE RULES COMPANIES
…NYC Mayor Peg Hamburg has worked with the city council to form a law that will require companies with employees working in NYC to provide them with parental leave, sick leave, and vacation time, and threatens companies that do not comply with heavy fines. The law is a response to recent investigations into the amount worker abuse and wage theft prevalent throughout the city...
– The Staten Island Advance, conservative NYC newspaper, 4/21/2007
WILLIAM WESTMORELAND IS DEAD AT 93; Played Key Roles In Cuba, Indochina, Libya Wars
Charleston, SC – William Childs Westmoreland, the highly-decorated retired US Army General who oversaw U.S. forces during the early years of the Indochina Wars before serving as the Governor of South Carolina and the US Secretary of Defense during the Libya War, died last night in a retirement home in Charleston, South Carolina, his son, James Ripley Westmoreland, announced ontech early today. The General was suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease; he had turned 93 less than a month ago.
“Westy,” as he was known during his time as a West Point cadet, was born on March 26, 1914 in Saxon, SC. Throughout his life, Westmoreland was driven and combative. In World War II, he led a fast-moving artillery battalion. In Cuba, Westmoreland, at the rank of Major General at the time, co-led the 1962 “push” into the island’s mountainous hinterland by adhering to a controversial “burn the house to get out the rats” approach that including carpet-bombing and, briefly in 1963, a “moderate scorched-earth” policy. When US Secretary of Defense Homer Litzenberg died in June 1963, Westmoreland was considered to be a possible candidate for the position; instead, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, then finally to General in early 1964, one month prior to turning 50.
In 1965, President Sanders sent Westmoreland to Laos, where he directed “search and destroy” missions meant to decimate the Pathet Lao (the Communist guerillas in the Southeast Asian kingdom of Laos). After assisting with Western Division supply chains and mobilization for the 1967 Invasion of Hanoi, which led to rumors of him possibly running for President in 1968 should President Sanders decline to run for a second term, Westmoreland accepted the diplomatic role of US ambassador to Cambodia, a position in which he served from April 1968 to January 1973. In that capacity, he defended the Laotian monarchy and helped to modernize its military and international relations.
Retiring from the US Army in early 1974 at the age of 59 (after serving in it for 38 years, since 1936), Westmoreland eyed the Governorship of South Carolina and won it in that year’s gubernatorial race. After working to improve education standards in the state, Governor Ronald Reagan tapped him to be his running mate in the 1976 Presidential election. This decision resulted in the “legendary” debate between Westmoreland and then-Vice President Mike Gravel, which saw the two diametrically opposed candidates get into a heated discussion over foreign policy goals.
After leaving office in 1979, Westmoreland launched a bid for the Presidency, in which he won no delegates or primary victories in the 1980 GOP primaries, ultimately bowing out and endorsing Jeremiah Denton. Denton returned the favor by appointing him Secretary of Defense in mid-1981. In this position, Westmoreland promoted military intervention in several countries, most notably in Colombia and Libya.
In his memoirs, the General defended his push to retain American forces in Libya after the Libya War ended by noting that the remaining forces “established a record of remarkable achievements: mammoth logistical security buildups, various tactical expedients and innovations, numerous advisory efforts, and successful civic action programs.” Nevertheless, critics allege that the delayed withdrawal unnecessarily cost the US military the lives of hundreds of soldiers killed in post-war skirmishes. After Denton resigned, Westmoreland followed suit in opposition to Kemp’s allegedly “weak” foreign policy agendas.
Westmoreland’s competitiveness continued into his retirement years, as he occasionally appeared on radio and TV news programs to strongly oppose the foreign policies of Presidents Bellamy and Jackson, saying the day after the latter’s 2000 election victory, “I really wanted to see a South Carolinian become President someday; from now on I’ll be more careful what I wish for.”
He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Katherine (Kitsy) Stevens Van Deusen; his two daughters, Margaret Childs and Katherine Stevens; his son James Ripley II; his brother-in-law Col. Frederick Van Deusen; many other relatives; and many friends who will remember him fondly and dearly. Funeral arrangement specifics have yet to be announced.
– The Post and Courier, South Carolina, 4/22/2007
…“Nothing ever ends for anyone.” Harley gave one last speech, straight from the heart. “Death is just the ending of one adventure and the beginning of a new one. People live their lives and then they die, and are replaced by new life, new people, who ultimately die themselves, and it just continues on and on. And whatever problems show up along the way – poverty, war famine, disease – they’re worked on until they’re fixed, until they’re gone and gone forever, no matter how many generations it takes, and when that day comes, well, then another problem, a newer problem or an older problem, shows up and becomes the main problem, to be addressed by the lovers, leaders, believers and dickheads of the world. That’s death for you – it’s a part of all our lives, whether we want to accept it or not. Life and death, for everyone here on this planet, in this universe – it just keeps going in a dance-like cycle. Not for each person, but for all people, life itself never dies. And the endless cycle of death and life following one another throughout time, it makes for an eternity of marvelous wonder and sadness and purely utter beauty.”
He turned his head and looked out the window. “Did you notice how beautiful the sky is today?”
I nodded to my brother, “It’s lovely.”
“Heavenly, in fact.”
The clouds outside the hospice’s windows were a cumulous assortment of pinkish billowy piles, going out far, spreading out into the distance, like a canopy.
Or a shroud.
Venus wept.
– Mildred Sanders Ruggles’ final memoir, The Gift of Every Day, Doubleday, 2010
HARLEY SANDERS HAS DIED
– The New York Times, 4/29/2007
– clickopedia.co.usa
“I’m going to miss ol’ Harley; he was a good man, and so was his father. You know, I actually got to meet both of them long before I entered politics, when I was still in high school, in fact. See, my father, Marion Wellington Webb, was born in 1914 in Alabama – coincidently, where Harley was born just two years earlier – but my dad moved his family to Chicago when I was 9 years old. And my father worked on the train lines for decades, so when Colonel Sanders went campaigning in ’68 on that old train, going across the country like he did, my dad knew where the stops were and so when the President's locomotive rolled into this one station, we were there to greet him. The Colonel shook our hands and thanked us for coming out. It was brief, but it was a magical moment for me. Looking back, I remember seeing Harley there behind his father, on the train, looking at a clipboard and rubbing his cheek with concern. He looked like a man who worked hard, like his father did. My own father became ill with prostate cancer in 1985,
but he
held on long enough
to see my daughter Stephanie graduate from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
[1]. Harley played a vital role in American politics in his own way, and I can only hope that his health was not nearly as bad as more own father’s health was when he passed away all those years ago.”
– former Governor Wellington Marion Webb (D-CO), KXKL Radio Denver, local talk/news program, 4/30/2007 broadcast
...Science has proven that an afterlife exists. Science tells us that all forms of energy are constant – energy cannot just pop into existence and it cannot just pop out of it, either. All energy has to go somewhere, and that includes the energy one gives off when alive. …Another sign that there is still far more about human consciousness that we have yet to fully understand can be seen in one medical anomaly that unfolded a few years back, when a scientist suffered a major health crisis. Said scientist was a neurosurgeon who lapsed into a coma during this illness that struck the cortex of their brain and shut it down, thus creating his comatose state, and since the cortex is the part of the brain that supposedly controls thought and consciousness, his thought process was supposed to be on hiatus. In other words, because of his cortex’s condition, he shouldn’t have experienced anything during the time that he was comatose. However, when the virus was treated, when doctors managed to essentially flush it out, he awoke and said that he had experienced a distinct experience – not some crazy, hazy fever trip, but a clear and lucid experience that felt much more real than a simple dream. Because his cortex was shut down, experiencing anything during the coma should not have been scientifically possible, and yet, it happened
[2].
In my opinion, the most amazing rebuttal to the assumption that science can confirm a lack of an afterlife is that there is no evidence to show how brain cells or the networks connect them to each other even produce thoughts, mind and consciousness!
[3]
Think about that. According to science, we shouldn’t be able to think, because there is no currently-known physical evidence, found inside the human brain, of our ability
to think. I
think further studying of this is needed, don’t you?
[snip]
…In fact, people come from “that after-place” all the time! It is called “the Lazarus syndrome,”
[4] and scientists are baffled and befuddled by it due these peculiar events defying conventional thoughts on the finality of death. In these cases, the person can be “dead” for hours. In one case not too long ago, a woman came back to this plane of existence after being dead for enough hours for her body to begin stiffening as rigor mortis began to set in, only for those physical conditions to subside upon her “return”
[5]. Her mortal husk had begun to rot, only for her to begin living again; in other words, her soul returned – her body’s
energy returned! The ability for the human soul to re-enter the body, for a person’s consciousness/life-force to seemingly expire only for it to “come back,” is a scientifically-documented miracle, and we still can’t figure out why or how it happens – from a scientific perspective, that is...
[snip]
…There is no darkness at the end of this road; anyone who says otherwise is ignoring the scientific evidence, either out of ignorance or due to malicious intent, to sell misery to already-troubled masses. The evidence suggests that, awaiting each and every one of us, there is something rather than nothing; never let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Something awaits us all. Remember it – a great something awaits us all...
– Mildred Sanders Ruggles’ final memoir, The Gift of Every Day, Doubleday, 2010
“WATCH: Former CDC Head Makes A FOOL Out of House Committee Chairman”
Description: former Center of Disease Control Director Jeff Koplan calmly answers dumb questions asked by House Republicans at a “Special Review” Board
– video uploaded to OurVids.co.can, a video-sharing netsite, on 5/1/2007
“I have to say that I am very disappointed in my fellow Republicans over in the House. Speaker McMaster’s refusal to work with the President to find common ground and compromise is not in good form. His latest counterproductive action, the promoting of the House Judiciary Committee’s efforts to hold up or deny President Jackson’s court appointments, amounts to administrative sabotage. Additionally, while McMaster’s criticism of the President’s handling of the SARS pandemic – handling that has been applauded on the world stage – are unprofessional, his attacks on the President’s son are nothing more than cheap, petty and shallow insults unbecoming of whoever has the privilege of holding the position of Speaker of the House.”
– US Senator William F. “Bill” Weld (R-MA), The Boston Globe, 5/2/2007 op-ed
…Twelve years ago, the sprawling desert metropolis of Blumshtot did not exist. Yiddish for “Flower City,” the artificial urban center is the home of over 20,000 Israelites, all courtesy to several years of concentrated terraformation efforts and land reclamation projects across Israel’s southern desert territory. Located half-way between Mitzpe Ramon and Tskim-Paran, life in Blumshtot is described by the US Ambassador to Israel as “very similar to life in Phoenix, Arizona – air conditioning is worth more than gold.” The community is overall homogenously Jewish, with the primary jobs revolving around the industries of construction, solar power, and water...
[snip]
…Blumshtot Is one of several Israel communities built in the country’s southern deserts since the early 1990s
[6], each experiencing successes and failures in the addressing of the many issues involved in terraforming a desert.
Fortunately, Israel’s stable government incentivizes wealthier farmers across the nation who are using solar pumps (water pumped with solar energy) to sell the excess power back to the national grid, giving farmers more income, the state gaining electricity reserves, and curbing over-irrigation of crops, all while reducing carbon emissions and providing jobs and electricity for the “colonies” of Israel’s southern desert…
– National Geographic, May 2007 issue
…We can now confirm that DRC President Bemba has indeed been overthrown in a stunning assault on the capital by united rebel forces. Bemba’s plane was captured before it could get off of the runway and Bemba is expected to stand trial for ethnic cleansing and other abuses of power…
– Foreign correspondent, KNN Breaking News, 5/7/2007 broadcast
…The biggest problem facing the new leadership, though, was themselves. Each faction wanted majority control, and while the reforms made to the national legislature were progressive for what they were, Nkunda and Wamba each believed themselves to be worthy of the Presidency immediately – that each had fought for it, each deserved it, and that the rebuilding of the nation had to come before they could hold an election to resolve the dispute. As a result, Post-Bemba DRC appeared to be already on shaky ground, emboldening the remaining Loyalists. Fortunately, a temporary compromise leader was ultimately discovered. Moise Katumbi of Katanga had overseen refugee programs and was known more for aiding the displaced in his province thin for engaging in armed conflict with fellow Anti-Bembans. Needing a leader that would be acceptable to all factions, which were already beginning to rattle their sabers against one another, Katumbi agreed to serve as President until the country was stable enough to host free and fair elections….
– John J. Polonko Jr.’s All’s Fair: What War Makes Necessary, Hachette Book Group USA, 2017 edition
“…as you can see by the enthusiastic crowd behind me, people in this part of town are in a very festive mood as they celebrate their preferred candidate’s victory tonight… [snip] …This is also the city’s first election to use ranked-choice voting…”
– KDFW-TV, local news coverage, 5/12/2007 broadcast
Mayors of
ARLINGTON (Texas)
1997-2003: Elzie Odom (I, b. 1929) – city’s first African-American mayor; former community activist and former postal worker; previously served on the city council from 1989 to 1997
1997: Tony Vann (I) and Craig Smith (I)
1999: Jerry Pikulinski (I)
2001: Lico Reyes (I), Don Higginbotham (I), Terry L. Harris (I) and Dimitra F. S. “Dee” Turner (I)
2003-2017: Dr. Robert Nance Cluck (R, b. 1939) – former OB-GYN physician and hospital administrator; retired
2003: Sheri Capehart (I)
2005: Jerry Pikulinski (I) and Stephen White (I)
2007: Chris Harris (R, 1948-2015) and Stephen Joe Lagwund White (I)
2009: Aaron Bickle (I), Lane M. Weston (I), Carl Oehler (I) and Carl Scrivner (I)
2011: David Allan Sampson (R, b. 1957)
2013: Jerry Pikulinski (I) and Didmus B. Banda (I)
2015: Corbett “Corby” Davidson (I, b. 1969)
2017-present: Diane Patrick (R, b. 1946) – previously served on the state Board of Education from 1992 to 1996 and in the state House from 2007 to 2015; incumbent
2017: Ruby Faye Woolridge (D), William Wade “Bill” Zedler (R, b. 1943) and Mark McGregor Shelton (R, b. 1956)
2019: Tony Dale Tinderholt (R, b. 1970), Ashton Stauffer (I) and Chris “Dobi” Dobson (I)
2021: Michael Glaspie Sr. (I), Marvin Sutton (R), Jim Ross (R), Dewayne T. Washington (I) and Cirilo “C. J.” Ocampo Jr. (I)
– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021
DEMOCRAT WINS WICHITA MAYOR RACE
…after defying polling in a stunning political upset in both tonight’s runoff and in the May 1 blanket primary, the African-American moderate will take office on June 1…
– The Lawrence Journal-World, Kansas newspaper, 5/15/2007
Mayors of
WICHITA (Kansas)
1960-1961: 65) Levi Budd Rymph (I, 1901-1987) – former businessman; limited to a single, one-year term; the mayoral seat is officially non-partisan; later served in the state senate as a Republican
1961-1962: 66) Herbert Piper Lindsley (I, 1913-1991) – former insurance businessperson, former school board member, and former city commissioner
1962-1963: 67) Carl A. Bell, Jr. (I, 1922-2009) – opposed rising calls for the mayor’s seat to be popularly elected, believing it would lead to a rise in corruption
1963-1964: 68) Frank Russell Jump (I, 1895-2000) – former business owner and former city commissioner; praised for cooling racial tensions that were on the rise when he entered office; previously served as mayor from 1952 to 1953; city’s longest-lived mayor
1964-1965: 69) Vincent L. Bogart (I) – former attorney
1965-1966: 70) William D. Tarrant (I, 1929-1998) – previously served as a city commissioner from 1963 to 1967; later worked as a professor of journalism and as a columnist
1966-1967: 71) John S. Stevens (I) – former city council member
1967-1968: 72) Clarence Eldert Vollmer (I, 1897-1983) – previously worked in construction
1968-1969: 73) William D. Anderson Jr. (I, 1927-2019) – previously worked at a printing company; served on the city commission from 1965 to 1967; supported tax reform but failed to effectively implement long-lasting changes due to short time in office
1969-1970: 74) Donald Kirk “Don” Enoch (I, 1916-2010) – former businessman; previously served as a City Commissioner from 1967 to 1969 and again from 1970 to 1971; co-established the city’s Wichita River Festival, which had evolved from the 1969 waterfront celebrations of Wichita’s centennial
1970-1971: 75) A. Price Woodard Jr. (I, 1919-1986) – city’s first African-American mayor
1971-1972: 76) Jack H. Greene (I) – supported efforts to expand mayoral term limits from one year to either two years or four years
1972-1973: 77) Connie Ames Peters Kennard (I) – city’s first female mayor; previously served on the city commission from 1970 to 1972
1973-1974: 78) Glenn J. "Jack" Shanahan (I, 1923-2015) – previously worked for a law firm; previously served as the Chair of the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority from 1967 to 1971 and on the city commission from 1971 to 1973 and again from 1974 to 1979; took a neutral stance on the 1973 city referendum to amend the power of city mayor and have it be a popularly elected position, which passed
1974-1975: 79) Garry L. Porter (I) – was the city’s last mayor to be elected by the city council (last “partially ceremonial” mayor); oversaw the city’s first mayoral election (two-tier blanket primary system)
1975-1979: 80) David Hamilton Koch (R, 1940-2019) – city’s first popularly elected mayor; wealthy businessman; founded the Wichita office of his brother Charles’ company, Koch Industries; accused by political opponents of having “bought” the election due to using his personal wealth to self-fund the race and outspent to runoff opponent 5-to-1; failed to override and legally challenge a veto-proof city council motion to “cap” spending on all city-wide elections in 1978; cut taxes and repealed victimless crime laws; lost re-election amid a noticeable decline in the quality of the city’s services; became president of Koch Engineering in 1979 and co-owner of Koch Industries in 1983; later spent over $100 million in a failed bid to oppose the re-election of President Jesse Jackson; lost millions in the Unlucky Recession of 2013
1975 (primary): Connie Ames Peters Kennard (I), William D. Anderson Jr. (R) and Antonio F. "Tony" Casado (I)
1975 (runoff): Connie Ames Peters Kennard (I)
1979-1987: 81) Robert G. “Bob” Knight (R, b. 1941) – former investment banker; previously served on the city council from 1975 to 1979; backed populist policies; notably clashed on occasion with US Senator Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole (R-KS) over the extent of federal farm aid despite endorsing Dole’s 1980, 1988, and 1992 Presidential campaigns; term-limited
1979 (primary): Robert C. Brown (I) and Sheldon Kamen (I)
1979 (runoff): Robert C. Brown (I)
1983 (primary): Margalee Wright (I)
1983 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to Knight receiving over 50% in the first round
1987-1995: 82) Elma Broadfoot (R) – previously served on the city council; city’s first popularly-elected female mayor; term-limited
1987 (primary): Antonio F. “Tony” Casado (I) and Sheldon Kamen (I)
1987 (runoff): Tony Casado (I)
1991 (primary): William J. Maley (R), Sheldon Kamen (I) and Frank M. Ojile (I)
1991 (runoff): William J. Maley (R)
1995-2003: 83) Robert G. “Bob” Knight (R, b. 1941) – served on the city council again, from 1987 to 1995; term-limited; unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 2002 and again in 2006
1995 (primary): Jonathan Wells (D, 1928-2012) and Keith W. Koby (R)
1995 (runoff): Jonathan Wells (D)
1999 (primary): Carl Kramer (Liberty, b. 1960)
1999 (runoff): not held; unnecessary due to Knight receiving over 50% in the first round
2003-2007: 84) C. Howard Wilkins Jr. (R, 1938-2016) – former businessman and political fundraiser; managed several Pizza Hut franchises across Appalachia during the 1960s and 1970s before entering politics in the 1980s; served as the US Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1993 to 1997; lost re-election
2003 (primary): Carlos Mayans (R, b. 1948) and Mario Goico (R, b. 1945)
2003 (runoff): Carlos Mayans (R)
2007-2015 M. Lee Pelton (D, b. 1950) – city’s first popularly elected African-American mayor; former academic; previously worked as President of Willamette University from 1998 to 2005; term-limited; unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 2018; President and CEO of the Boston Foundation since 2021
2007 (primary): C. Howard Wilkins Jr. (R), Mario Goico (R), Carl Brewer (D, b. 1957), Jane Knight (I) and Joan Cole (I)
2007 (runoff): C. Howard Wilkins Jr. (R)
2011 (primary): Bob Knight (R), Mark S. Gietzen (R) and Joan Cole (I)
2011 (runoff): Bob Knight (R)
2015-present Sheila Colleen Bair (R, b. 1954) – former head counsel of the staff of US Senator Robert Joseph “Bob” Dole (R-KS); previously served as Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1993 to 1995, as the US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury of Financial Institutions from 1995 to 2001, and in the state senate from 2005 to 2015; received praise for her actions during the Unlucky Recession of 2013; incumbent
2015 (primary): Jennifer Winn (D), Marjorie Hitchcock (I) and Darrel E. Leffew (I) and Paul Rhodes (I)
2015 (runoff): Jennifer Winn (D)
2019 (primary): Amy Lyon (D), Mark S. Gietzen (R) and Samuel M. Williams (R)
2019 (runoff): Amy Lyon (D)
– clickopedia.co.usa, c. 7/4/2021
FORMER PRESIDENT DINGER PRAISES PRESIDENT JACKSON’S NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT ACTIONS
…Dinger dismantled 1,500 nuclear weapons during his five years and eight months in office. The former Commander-in-Chief is urging the President and state legislatures to create and then ratify an international treaty that would prohibit all signatories from possessing nuclear weapons, saying in the radio interview “these weapons are too destructive to serve any purpose in any war. We saw how many innocent women and children were unnecessarily killed in Japan by just two of the earliest versions of them, so we cannot feign ignorance on this.” In the interview, the former Commander-in-Chief also expressed being “disappointed” by the lack of pro-nuclear disarmament rhetoric in the recent GOP Presidential primary debate…
– The Chicago Tribune, 5/17/2007
…McCartney’s 2007 album was dubbed “Paul McCartney Goes Too Far!” In John and Paul’s decades-long turbulent relationship, repeatedly alternating between camaraderie and fighting, none of their collaborative albums were quite like this one. Lennon and Paul spent over two years on its content, with Ringo contributing in much smaller doses. Hosting a wide selection of genres, this album had tributes to the Ambient Rock and Razor Rock styles of the 1960s and 1970s as well as the British Boy Band sounds of the 1990s. This album proved to be a financial hit, with the one song from it, “Good To Know,” becoming a particularly popular in the states with its catchy tune and simple lyrics...
– Pat Sheffield’s Dreams, Reality, and Music: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole Entire World, Tumbleweed Publications, 2020 edition
Unfortunately, House Speaker McMaster’s calls for anti-corruption investigations into the Jackson White House received fodder a few months later. On May 18, 2007, the President’s official Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, Nativo Lopez, had to step down over an ethics scandal. Nativo Lopez, the only member of Jackson’s White House to be member of the regional La Rasa Unica party, was immigrant rights advocate, Latin American immigrant community service organizer, and former National President of the Mexican American Political Association. From his post of CDPA, he favored and encouraged the use of bilingual petitions, ballots, street signs, and other materials across the US.
In May 2007, the LAPD charged Lopez with two felonious counts of voter fraud. During the 2004 general election, Lopez was living in Orange County, LA, California, but cast his ballot for president from the polling place near his MAPA regional office headquarters in the neighboring LA County; additionally, Lopez had in late September cast a Presidential ballot via mail while living in New York until moving beck to LA in late October.
It did not matter to McMaster that Lopez claimed he mistakenly voted twice due to exhaustion from the campaign causing him to completely forget that he had already voted before. The scandal had broken out, and McMaster, smelling blood in the water, saw it as the perfect opportunity to misuse the House judiciary committee by launching another in indigestion into the Jackson White House. The scandal seemed to vindicate McMaster’s belief that the White House harbored scandals, and this image was a crisis for Jackson’s image consultants…
– Nancy Skelton and Bob Faw’s Thunder In America: A Chronology of The Jesse Jackson White House, Texas Monthly Press, 2016
“NOBODY’S WATCHING” CONCLUDES AFTER TWO LACKLUSTER SEASONS
…written by Bill Lawrence and Garrett Donovan, the dramedy series was about making a TV series. The “show-within-a-show” framing device was complicated, and audience found the pilot episode confusing, resulting in the show’s premise being “cleaned up” in a “second pilot” that suggested that the first pilot was, essentially, “just a dream.” However, Lawrence and Donovan introduced more complicated plot ideas into the second season, again causing viewers, unable to keep track of its plots and characters, to tune out...
– tvguide.co.usa, 5/21/2007
STILL SHOCKED BY SON’S DEATH, JON HUNTSMAN SR. RULES OUT WHITE HOUSE BID
– The Desert News, Utah newspaper, 5/24/2007
WEST WING CONCLUDES GRACEFULLY
After eight seasons of watching President Jolene Davenport and her inner circle tackle a host of dramatic conflicts and at-times comic misadventures with depth and mirth, fans of Aaron Sorkin’s celebrated political series must have felt sadness but satisfaction at the show’s succinct finale yesterday evening. …Passionate about the series since it began airing in September 1999, Sorkin wrote every episode of Seasons 1-through-7. Sorkin left the show upon Davenport leaving office at the end of season seven in April 2006, believing the series had reached its natural conclusion. However, the network decided to renew
The West Wing for another season in May 2006, and brought in a new writing and directing team, and a cast shake-up, to take the show “in a new direction for the new administration.” Unfortunately for the more diehard fans of the series, the eighth season just didn’t have that unique style and charm that poured out from Sorkin’s scripts. Not even the exceptional acting of Richard Schiff, portraying the new main character and new US President (Chief-of-Staff–turned–Davenport’s-second-VP, Harold “Harry” R. Goldsmith, clearly modeled off VP Wellstone), could prevent the noticeable drop in ratings over the past year. With the network agreeing to not renew
The West Wing for a ninth season, the series finale concluded on the anniversary of the first year of President Goldsmith, with only a hint of more drama being in store for the President and his inner circle...
– usarightnow.co.usa/pop-culture, 5/27/2007 e-article
ARNOLD SMASH! “THE HULK” DOMINATES BOX OFFICE DESITE LUKEWARM CRITIC RESPONSES
…The latest comic book character to make it onto the big screen has won over moviegoers with its impressive special effects and action-packed fight, chase, and punch sequences, even if the character development is lacking, the plot is simple, and the dialogue, though stuffed with witty Arnold-esque phrases, is relatively rudimentary. “The Hulk,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the hero, has remained strong at the box office since its Memorial Day premier two days ago…
– Variety, TV/film review section, 5/29/2007
…Both crew and passengers of “commercial” (privately-owned) aircraft were called “aviators” in early years of air travel. For outer space, people who are willing to pay to travel to space are either called “passengers” or “space tourists,” or, if involved in projects on board in any way, “civilian astronaut.” Part of the allure of commercial space flight, a phenomenon that is beginning to gain the attention of wealthy donors and of very wealthy members of the elite, is being able to call oneself an astronaut, not a passenger. Perhaps these astronomical terms will evolve as humankind shifts from landmark endeavors, like one year in space or a large trip to Mars, to more regular, more common, more readily available/fiscally affordable forms of space travel. A compromise for the names for the time being, however, is currently being suggested: “astronauts” for passengers, and “
professional astronauts” for crewmembers…
– scientificamerican.co.usa, 6/2/2017 e-article
MOTHER-POST by @ProudNewJerseyMan: Anyone Else Spotting Self-Driving Trucks On The Roads?
I commute to work on The Turnpike, so long-haul tractor trailers are a common sight. The other day I was in a traffic jam and noticed this larger transport truck next to me had a guy in the passenger seat looking at his lar phone and nobody behind the wheel! Naturally, I freaked out before thinking that maybe he was in the cabin part in the back, or had simply stepped out, and I couldn’t see him, but then I saw a label on the door saying it was an “auto-auto,” an autonomous vehicle – a self-driving truck!
When did these things show up? How are they street legal? What is going on?!
>REPLY 1:
They’ve been around for only a few years, mostly in California, though. They’re not street legal, not yet anyway. What you probably saw was one being street-tested with some kind of permission, to see how well it performs in congested traffic.
>REPLY 2:
I live near Silicon Valley, and yeah, they’re real, and they are way more commonly found out here. Strange it was on a highway – they’re usually driven around side streets and in parking lots around here.
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2:
I want to say that robot cars are cool, but the high number of antennas, cameras and sensors sticking out from them look ridiculous! If one of them isn’t called “the porcupine,” like the robot version of a dodge ram, I’ll be very disappointed!
>REPLY 2 to REPLY 2:
Robot trucks? But I’m still waiting on flying cars!
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2 to REPLY 2:
We already have those – they’re called airplanes!
>REPLY 3:
I’ve heard of these things, but I’ve never actually seen one. Apparently, we’ve reached that level of technology where car companies are beginning to experiment with self-driving, or at least partially-autonomous vehicles. Cool thing to spot on the road, dude!
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 3:
The Future Is Now!
>REPLY 4:
What in the heck is a lar phone?
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 4:
Uh, hello? It’s short for cellular phone – cellu
lar phone, get it? Get with the times, old man!
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 4:
I’m 32
>REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 1 to REPLY 4:
And to a highschooler, that’s old!
– euphoria.co.usa, a public pop-culture news-sharing and chat-forum-hosting netsite, 6/4/2007 posting
…The thwarting of political opponents from coalition-building during his national legislative years was one thing, but his crackdowns as President were another matter. In the U.T., the Law on Political Parties ensures the right to hold meetings, distribute publications and hold primary elections and conventions for all registered parties with at least 1 registered member living in each seat district of the National Gathering. One of the first major reform efforts undertaken by Karimov was to have all political parties based entirely or almost entirely on ethnic, religious, military or subversive ideas/ideologies prohibited, essentially cracking down on single-issue political organizations.
Meanwhile, with the assistance of his allies in the N.G., Karimov passed the Campaign Finance Reform Law, a law that did little financial reform and instead buried the lead deeper than a pirate buries treasure – the law made it so that in future elections, unmarked ballots would be automatically voted “yes” votes for the incumbent, and anti-incumbent votes would be considered void if they were not fully filled in or imperfect in other ways. This clear attempt to rig the country’s elections in favor of his incumbent allies was merely a precursor to his administration’s efforts to crack down on individual rights and religious freedoms in a crisis threatened the unity of the country.
[snip]
Karimov’s influence over the National Tethering was attributed to his years of gathering “dirt and dues” on his fellow national legislators, calling in favors and blackmailing district seat holders in an upending of the National Gathering.
It did not help that Karimov was still quite popular in his home nation-state of Uzbekistan, at least at the start of his Presidency. Because of this, his support was fairly lopsided when compared to how United Turkistan’s population was distributed:
Turkmenistan – pop: 6,031,000 (9.3%) = 94 seats in the National Gathering
Kyrgyzstan – pop: 6,548,000 (10.1%) = 101 seats in the National Gathering
Uzbekistan – pop: 33,456,000 (51.6%) = 516 seats in the National Gathering
Kazakhstan – pop: 18,777,000 (29.0%) = 290 seats in the National Gathering
The country’s total population was 64,812,000, with the National Gathering consisting of 1001 Members. This meant that there was 1 NGMs for every 64,747 citizens. Uzbekistan hosting a majority of the country’s populace was the reason behind the constitution requiring that 2/3rds of all NGM support was needed to pass anything in the NG, practically without exception. This meant that most of the aforementioned NGMs that were intimidated by Karimov into allying with him were from the three other nation-states…
[snip]
Karimov’s foreign policy was aloof. More “shut in” and “inwardly focused,” Karimov rarely took foreign trips or hosted foreign officials visiting the UT. Karimov only cautiously maintained relations with Russia and Iran in order to maintain oil and gas supply deals; however, he remained wary of Russia due to their “colonialistic past” and of Iran due to that nation being an alleged puppet of the US, and thus a part of “the American agenda,” an intermittent term of Karimov’s that had a very vague definition.
– Ke Wang’s Turkestanis Unite!: The Rise And Execution of An Idea, Cambridge University Press, 2013
SCIENTISTS MAKE BREAKTHROUGH WITH ISFV RESEARCH; Patient Achieving Remission After Stem Cell Transplant Could Be Key To Cure
…researchers may have come one step closer to finding a cure for the Immunity Systems Failure Virus that has haunted the BLUTAGO community since the 1980s. An ISFV-positive patient in Italy has been essentially “cleared” of the virus after years of treatment for both this disease and for lymphoma…
– Associated Press, 6/18/2007
SID BASS BEGINS TENURE AS DISNEY CEO WITH OLIVE BRANCHES AND EYES ON INTERNATIONAL MARKETS
…After the lengthy administration of Franklin Wells (who served from 1984 to 1999) and the externally prosperous but internally tumultuous reign of Jeff Katzenberg (who had been serving since 1999), Sid Bass is looking to appeal to both stockholders and Disney Animation Artists by greenlighting projects based on folk stories that are lesser-known in the US but could be highly profitable in both domestic and foreign markets…
– thehollywoodreporter.co.usa, 6/23/2007 e-article
THE ULTIMATE FROZEN CHICKEN? A Look Into The Inner Workings of The World’s Loneliest Fast Food Outlet
…As I scout on ahead to the only spot of human civilization for 1.9 miles, I finally see the lights emanating from behind a large hill. The beacon’s beams are not steady, for the freezing blasts of icy wind interrupt the flow of light and energy to make ribbons of yellow, gold, red and white dance across the dark azure sky. I crest the hill and smile at the welcoming sight. I’m certain that if it weren’t for the fact that my nose is frozen, I would be smelling in the wafting aroma of a fresh batch of wings.
This is McMurdo Station, a US research station on the shore of McMurdo Sound. It is the largest community on the continent, capable of supporting over 1,100 residents. location of the sole outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken in all of Antarctica.
In June 2005, KFC’s parent company, Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc., managed to successfully franchise KFC to the scientist cafeteria at this American scientific research base in Antarctica, making KFC the first franchise to open an outlet on every single continent – and, quite possibly, the sole outlet to ever do so, as there is a vague but growing movement to have business ventures banned from Antarctica.
This remote branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken opened two years ago, on June 30, 2007, but it is not open as often as other locations. In fact, due to the local climate conditions and the limited number of possible customers – anyone working at the base – this is the one KFC outlet where they serve Sunday dinner only three days a week most of the year. During the warmest months (January and December), the cafeteria’s outlet is open five days a week, and during the coldest months of the year (June and July), the custom pressure-fryer is only used on Sunday.
I meet Henry Siwiak as he exits the Chapel of the Snows, an interfaith church holding regular services year-round as the second southernmost religious building on this planet. It is a Sunday in July, and the temperature outside is staying steady at negative 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Born in Krakow, Poland in 1955, Siwiak moved to the US at the end of the Cold War, working various jobs to support his family while slowly learning the English language. It is his pursuit of the paycheck to do right by his family that has led to him frying chicken in Antarctica.
“I have had worse jobs,” he shrugs as best he can in his thick layers of clothing. At the moment, though, his main complaint is not the distance between himself and his wife and children, or the freezing cold, but instead the limitations of international preservation law. “I’m a good hunter, but I can’t hunt a thing.”
Indeed, the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 dictates that
nothing originating from the continent can be consumed—so no fishing, no hunting for seals or any other wildlife, and no foraging—not that anything can grow in such extreme conditions. This, combined with the fact that shipping to such a remote area can be incredibly challenging, means that McMurdo’s inhabitants, who total about one thousand in summer, and 150 in winter (and who must pass stringent physical, dental, and psychological evaluations), rely fully on deliveries and are limited in what they can eat. Once a year during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer season—usually around the last two weeks in January—a vessel from Port Hueneme, CA, delivers enough food for the entire year, consisting of both dried and frozen food.
“The ships come in. Hundreds of pounds each crate. All food. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of fool. All frozen. They give the food, they take away trash and broken things. Broken equipment. Junk. Junk and garbage.”
“So how does KFC serve fresh chicken?” I ask Siwiak as we enter the cafeteria and approach the pressure fryer station. Siwiak and five other workers are on KFC’s payroll. Their salaries match those of the company’s workers employed at any food court in the US, dollar to dollar.
“Not always fresh. But always cooked very good. Finger Lickin’ Good, yes?”
KFC-Antarctica can only sell fresh chicken during the warmer months of the year because fresh food is
a luxurious commodity in Antarctica. “During the summer, we receive fresh food called ‘freshies’ on planes from Christchurch, New Zealand, with dairy, fresh fruit and vegetables, and eggs. If the weather is good and the planes come on time, we’ll usually receive an order once a week, though sometimes it will be delayed or cancelled. During December and January, we usually don’t get fresh food unless there’s a little extra room on the plane—and of course, in the food budget as well,” explains the General Manager of the outlet.
Because the station is always stocked with sufficient food supplies, whether fresh or not, any passengers or needs related to science and research take precedence over food when there’s any extra room on the planes carrying shipments to the station.
[snip]
Antarctica’s environment i
s extremely sensitive, so disposal of waste is carefully regulated as well. “There’s a matrix we must follow when disposing of trash, which is vital to keeping everything in check,” the General Manager explains.
“Food waste must be double-bagged and can’t be mixed with any other garbage. We have some items that are strictly for landfill—they can’t be recycled and there must not be any food in them. So much importation means that we must monitor if any insects or other outside species arrive in the food that could contaminate the environment as well. If we do find anything, the environmental department is called so they can log this information and appropriately dispose of it.” [7] KFC the company has continuously emphasized this aspect in press release after press release, with the company’s CEO defending the outlet’s existence in interviews and the company even managing to get celebrity actors such as Leo DiCaprio to be in commercials meant to placate eco-activists and end their criticisms.
But with such a small number of customers each fiscal quarter, are the environmentally conscious opponents right – should this franchise remain in operation?
“This job is good for my family,” says Siwiek. “My children are going to college because of KFC. I have a job. I make food money being here. Nobody else wanted this job. You want this job? No. That’s why they pay me a lot. And it good food. I make it great. And everything done right. All clean, everyone careful.” He then asks, in a very wise manner, “So what is the problem?”
Above: me (foreground, bottom left-hand corner) at McMurdo Base
– National Geographic, June 2009 issue
IOC Session No. 119
Date: July 6, 2007
Location: Copenhagen
Subject 1 of 1: Bidding For Hosting The 8/29/2012-9/9/2012 (or XIV) Summer Olympics
A “special” session was held after the South African delegation at the 117th IOC Session was found to have bribed their way into getting Cape Town the 2012 Olympic Games, prompting their hosting duties to be rescinded and the games left without a host country. This session thus found a replacement host country.
Voting Results:
Tehran, Iran – 57 (Round 1) – 67 (Round 2)
N.Y.C., U.S. – 34 (Round 1) – 36 (Round 2)
Sydney, Australia – 10 (Round 1)
Nairobi, Kenya – 2 (Round 1)
End Result: Tehran won on the second round
– aldaver.co.usa/votes.html
LIST OF PRIME MINISTERS OF ITALY
[snip]
1960-1963: ((32)) Amintore Fanfani (Christian Democracy) – supported the US side of the Cuba War in spite of continuous youth protests
1963-1963: 37) Giovanni Leone (CD) – the 1963 general election saw Palmiro Togliatti (Communist) and Pietro Nenni (Socialist) perform better than expected
1963-1965: 38) Aldo Moro (CD) – his poor handling of domestic issues, especially the Salad Oil Recession, led to him losing support within the party
1965-1969: (37)) Giovanni Leone (CD) – lost dominant party support
1969-1975: 39) Benigno Zaccagnini (CD) – assassinated by a far-right activist for compromising with the Socialist party on welfare reform legislation
1975-1978: (38)) Aldo Moro (CD) – the party lost control as the country re-entered recession weeks before the 1978 general election
1978-1985: 40) Francesco De Martino (United Socialist) – deficit spending on social welfare programs and public works projects ended two decades of unrest
1985-1987: (38)) Aldo Moro (CD) – lost re-election as several CD party members fell to the Second Ark Wave of sexual pestering scandals
1987-1991: (40)) Francesco De Martino (US) – retired due to declining health
1991-1992: 41) Ottaviano Del Turco (US) – failed to keep the Socialist parties allied
1992-1992: 42) Pierre Carniti (Independent) – essentially, a “caretaker” PM
1992-1999: 43) Arnaldo Forlani (CD) – party lost in the 1999 general election
1999-2004: 44) Gianfranco Fini (Conservative National Alliance) – party lost in the (December) 2004 general election
2004-2005: 45) Gianni De Michelis (New Socialist Alliance, but officially Independent) – served for just six months; party lost in the 2005 general election
2005-present: (44)) Gianfranco Fini (CNA) – the incumbent
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa, c. July 2007
FREDDIE MERCURY: A lot of people think I’m this pompous snob because I don’t do interviews that often, but, the thing is, I just don’t like talking to people I don’t really know.
[8]
INTERVIEWER: And for that reason, I’m very thankful for this little sit-down.
MERCURY: You’re welcome, then.
INTERVIEWER: Heh, now, um, first off, you both look great.
EMINEM: Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself.
MERCURY: Don’t be blind, Em, she’s beautiful.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, you. Heh-heh! Um, now, uh, about this album you worked on with Eminem.
EMINEM: Ah, yeah, The Collab – “Problems For Your Answers.” That was a big project, wasn’t it?
MERCURY: I thought she was supposed to ask something like that.
INTERVIEWER: (slight chuckle) Well, actually, I was going to ask about the inspiration behind it.
MERCURY: Well, I don’t like to stay in one place for too long, I like to try new things. I love the challenge of trying out new kinds of music, of new genres
[8]. Like “Hot Space” and “Night Flight,” those were new things.
EMINEM: You like to keep it fresh.
MERCURY: Fresh? I guess, but I’m not a bloody fridge.
EMINEM: I mean you keep it real.
MERCURY: Well I can’t ‘keep it fake.’ That’s not even possible when you do what you love. And, dearie, to answer your question, what I love to do is try new things, so when Eminem suggested we try to make a song together I rose to the challenge. Because this man, boy, does he love his lyrics. So many rhymes, it’s very impressive.
INTERVIEWER: But I wasn’t just one song in the end.
EMINEM: No, the original collaboration piece, uh, “Gospel For Ascension In Nevada,” that was a big song, and the first draft of the lyrics, it was this monstrosity, like three Bohemian Rhapsodies, so we sliced it up and expanded those parts into all these other songs. “Tidal Love,” “Briefly God, “Dream of Timing,” those three all came out of “PFYA.”
MERCURY: “Living For My Doorway Nerves” and "Monteverdi's Output" were more of my own at the start of things, though.
EMINEM: Yeah, and “Flamboyant Beef” was, like, I want to say, uh –
MERCURY: 50/50?
EMINEM: Yeah, exactly. But “Fade Your Dark Craft” was my idea at, like, the beginning.
MERCURY: Oh, definitely. That one’s somewhat similar, just a tad, um, to “Sing for the Moment.” One of your best songs, by the way, chap.
EMINEM: I know it is.
INTERVIEWER: Well many have compared “Briefly God” to Queen’s more gospel-influenced songs.
MERCURY: I don’t know, I think it’s more upbeat, a different tempo.
EMINEM: But it is dramatic. It’s kind of got some inspiration clearly pulled from Innuendo and Stan, too.
MERCURY: If you really think so, sure.
INTERVIEWER: And the rest of Queen were not involved in the project because…
MERCURY: Now they seemed curious at first, but when I asked them if they wanted to join in, they said to me, basically, “This is your thing,” mine and his. But a part of me – the part of me that’s usually right – that part of me thinks they just didn’t think they could keep up with us. We were working like mad men, caught up in the moment, which turned out to be most of the summer, in fact.
[snip]
MERCURY: I’ve gotten very mature from then. I look back at times on my younger self and my younger work and I think, “Good God, how could I have done that?” You know, everyone grows out of their younger self. And you’ll grow out of your current you. You evolve.
[8]
EMINEM: Like a Pokémon.
MERCURY: Now that is a good whatever-it-is. What, a game, a show? That whole experience of it!
INTERVIEWER: Oh! Are you a fan of Pokémon?
MERCURY: I’m poke-curious.
[snip]
INTERVIEWER: Now, another thing I want to ask: Freddie, I think everyone knows by now that you usually don’t spend much time, uh, hanging out with the other members of Queen.
MERCURY: That’s right, I socialize with them now and again, but our differences outside of music, uh, they’re too different. I like opera, they don’t.
[8] Basically, I like them and they like me, but only in small does. They can’t take all of me for too long. Too much of a good thing, I guess.
INTERVIEWER: Yes, but Eminem, have you hung out with Queen outside the recording booth, and with Freddie, too, same thing?
EMINEM: Uh, yes and no. I mean, the rest of Queen and I, we’re not having sleepovers.
MERCURY: (sarcastic) What, not yet?
EMINEM: Eh-heh, but yeah, they’re great and all, and I’ve hung out with them, yeah, from time to time. But with Freddie, not so much. I don’t like opera as much as he does.
MERCURY: And he has some interests I don’t find all that great. But, eh. That’s his bag.
[8] To each his own, and, uh, that stuff’s his own, I suppose.
[snip]
INTERVIEWER: What did you think of The Scene That Celebrates Itself?
EMINEM: That bygone era from the 1990s. It was great for artists trying to make it big, but only if you could get into the scene. Great for those already established, you know, being able to take a break from the rivals and competition and instead focus way more on the music.
MERCURY: I remember reading once about something in American history called The Era of Good Feelings. It was something like that, but for bands, especially UK-based groups. The truth is, dear, that every artist steals from other artists whether they know it or not. Of course, they don’t go around listening to hours of other people’s music, plucking out bits they like, of course not, but similar songs tend to happen naturally.
[8] And that era was just everyone allowing each other to rip each other off, and, uh, but it – that, uh, that sort of collaboration was, I think, a very good thing while it lasted.
– Tumbleweed TV, 7/12/2007 interview [9]
…And in multinational news, the International Olympics Committee has awarded the growing city of Erzurum, the coldest city in the nation of Turkey, with the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics…
– The Overmyer Network, 7/15/2007 broadcast
…A supermajority is needed in both chambers of congress to override a President’s veto on a bill as well. Because the GOP had a majority, but not a supermajority, in the House and was not control of the Senate chamber, House Speaker McMaster and House Committee Chairs responded to the Senate and the President by trying to hold up as much Democrat-led legislation as possible until the other side of the aisle agreed to conservative bill, or negotiated a compromise bill. This tactic did not always work. For example, in July 2007, just before the House summer recess, McMaster’s allies held up a Democrat-authored bill to expand key aspects of the 1990 UHC bill. In exchange for allowing a watered-down version of the bill to pass, Republicans wanted the Senate to hold additional hearings and investigations into the government’s handling of the SARS pandemic. The Democratic party refused, and the bill died in committee...
– researcher Brenda J. Hargis’ Emboldening: The Jesse Jackson Presidency, Sunrise Publications, 2017
MULTINATIONAL EFFORT LEADS TO WATER SANITATION TECH BREAKTHROUGH
…A team of scientists, researchers and analysts working in four countries – Israel, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and the UK – have announced the successful testing of a “humidifier pump” the team believes could be “a game-changer in the fight against” water scarcity. Aiming to utilize the latest in water sanitation and humidification technology, the experimental pump has demonstrated the ability to absorb and sanitize water vapor in trials held in southern Egypt. The team hopes to use such pumps to sanitize contaminated bodies of water in the near future...
…As nearly 1 billion people live in areas of water scarcity, solutions span across the subjects of policy, technology, and necessary behavioral changes. Together with UK scientists, developers in Israel and the rising tech hub of Guinea-Bissau also field-tested in Egypt experimental “coffee filter”-like eco-paper that can be used to purify drinking water, reducing 99.9% of bacteria. “Any tools meant to sanitize water need to be affordable and useable in the affected areas,” says one team member... Improving education concerning how to keep water sources sanitary is currently the primary focus of humanitarian organizations worried about water scarcity, as enhancing air humidifiers are thought to currently be impractical for “parched” (low humidity) parts of the world. Others, however, are hopeful that new water well technology will improve the global situation. “The real ironic thing of it,” says one UK researcher, “is that in Sub-Saharan Africa, groundwater is typically 20 meters below the surface. It’s right there! But, because of poor infrastructure and unstable governments, access to it is very limited.”…
– scientificamerican.co.usa, 7/19/2007 e-news article
…With endorsements ranging from popular celebrities like Donovan Bailey to popular politicians like Deputy Prime Minister Gerard Michael Kennedy, the “stay” vote is currently ahead by 10% in most polls. With just over a month left before the people of Quebec vote on a sovereignty referendum…again.
Despite one being held eight years ago, the closeness of the 1999 Quebec Independence Referendum led to accusations of voter fraud that have only grown in recent years, fueled by the rhetoric of controversial individuals such as former Quebec Parti leader Lucien Bouchard, former PM Paul Hellyer, and many of their supporters. As a result, McTeer reluctantly approved of another vote to be held. However, if the current polls are anything to go by, than this upcoming referendum’s margin of victory for the “stay” vote will be even wider than it was in 1999 (which was 52.7% “no,” 47.3% “yes”)...
– The Vancouver Sun, Canadian newspaper, 7/21/2007
KFC BLOWS AWAY EARNINGS EXPECTATIONS FOR 2ND FISCAL QUARTER: Consumers Buy Up Limited-Time-Only Triple-Decker Chicken Sandwiches
– Business Weekly, late July 2007 issue
GOP HOUSE COMMITTEE’S RESEARCHERS DISCOVER U.S.’S SARS DEATH COUNT WAS POSSIBLY AN “OVERESTIMATE”
…Investigations to see if the Jackson administration downplayed the number of Americans killed by SARS at the start of the decade has led to an unexpected backfiring. The “independent” researchers the GOP selected for the investigations today announced their claim that the total number of American lives lost in the pandemic may have erroneously included elderly patients who passed away at the time with SARS-like symptoms but did not actually have the virus. This would mean that the US’s medical personnel and leaders did an even better performance than we thought they had done already…
– tumbleweed.co.usa, 8/7/2007 news e-article
The Forever War “mega-film” greenlit
…the epic is set to be three hours long and directed by Ridley Scott…
– The Hollywood Reporter, 8/8/2007
CORRESPODENT: …Even typically apolitical people are getting involved in this referendum, especially on the “stay” side. Behind me is the Oswego Music Hall in Ontario, where Sir Gordon Lightfoot is currently performing the song “Nous Vivons Ensemble” after having spent years learning French during the 1990s ahead of the 1999 referendum.
[cut to interior of the music hall]
LIGHTFOOT (singing):
We’ve got to stay together, we’ve got to find each other now, that is how, we can learn all about the other man’s song [10]…
– CBC Television, Canadian TV news network, 8/11/2007 broadcast
8.0 EARTHQUAKE RATTLES PERU; Hundreds Dead, Thousands Injured!
– The New York Times, 8/15/2007
…help poured in from the national governments, neighboring and far-way nations (especially the United States), all levels of the Peruvian private and public sectors, international NGOs, UN agencies, and international charities. The Peruvian military distributed aid, cleared debris in search of survivors, evacuated the wounded, and helped establish emergency shelters for those left temporarily homeless. However, the initial response lacked proper coordination and proved to be chaotic until Peru’s President took command of the situation, working with the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team to provide technical assistance and advice to on-the-ground relief workers…
– clickopedia.co.usa
…For instance, when Peru was struck by a powerful earthquake on June 15, the House opposed the amount of relief Jackson initially wanted to send. Leaders of the House Budget Committees pointed to the fact that, during the past 20 months, America’s national surplus had diminished greatly since its high mark in early 2006. As a result, Jackson had to work quickly to shore up support for the earthquake funding, calling on liberal and moderates to pressure McMaster into compromising on a reduced level of funds. The argument lead to the US sending Peru charitable donations until the 21st, when the federal government finally contributed to the relief efforts…
– author A’Lelia Bundles’ Consequential: The Presidency of Jesse Jackson, Random House, 2015
QUEBEC VOTES TO STAY IN THE DOMINION, 58.4%-to-41.6%
…the substantial margin of victory for the “stay” vote is being described as a “crushing blow” for Lucien Bouchard, who was allegedly eyeing becoming the first head-of-state of an independent Quebec…
– The Globe And Mail, Canadian newspaper, 8/25/2007
…At the beginning of Harley Brown’s term, many worried that a Governor with ties to biker gangs would lead to an increase in crime. To their surprise and relief, Brown routinely met with both biker leaders and law enforcers to discuss and implement strategies to curb crime rates in rural counties and urban centers. In his first year, Governor Brown managed to reform Idaho’s Department of Health and Welfare, albeit only slightly, as reforms were continually opposed by state congress and the department itself. Due to this gridlock, Brown decided against running for President in 2008, despite publicly expressing interest in doing repeatedly since his election in 2006…
– Bill O’Reilly’s Ascension from the Asphalt: The Harley Brown Story, Borders Books, 2011
“A HYPOCRIT OF THE HIGHEST ORDER”: P.R.C. Ex-Pat Claims Bo Xilai Is Corrupt – And He May Have Proof!
– The Los Angeles Times, 8/30/2007
GREATLY OBSTINATE PARTY: With “Goetzite” Candidates Leading The Pack, Have Republicans Already Forgotten 2004?
…the landslide defeat of Senator Bernie Goetz has not discouraged several divisive populists from expressing interesting in running for President next year… young supporters of Bo Gritz, a freshman US Senator from Idaho, are eerily similar to Bernie Goetz’s “Bernie Bros,” from their near-identical demographics (low-income, non-college-educated, rural communities) to their negative presence on various netsites. Colonel James “Bo” Gritz, whose last name rhymes with “rights,” is a former Green Beret Commander who is one of several anti-establishment candidates hoping to win over Goetz’s base of supporters.
Above: US Senator Bo Gritz in 1999, burning a flag of the UN while promoting his book “Profiles In Conspiracy: From FDR to Bellamy”
Another one of such candidates is US Congressman Tommy Tancredo of Colorado, who has already been endorsed by white supremacist Don Black, activist and mental health law critic Byron Looper, and distinguished economist and banking millionaire R. Severin Fuld.
However, on the other side of the GOP political spectrum, increasingly away from the Country Conservative types, are the Colonel Conservative, Libertarian, and Moderate factions of the party, with nearly-all declared or potential candidates from said factions calling for a move away from Goetz’s negative lines of attack…
…With such a wide range of opposing thoughts and candidates
[11], the Republican Party is in for a tense but interesting pre-primary campaign season in the weeks and months ahead…
– Newsweek, late August 2005 issue
SOURCE(S)/NOTE(S):
[1] The italicized part(s) is/are from his OTL autobiography
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Wellington_Webb/nYw_NaCgJuMC?hl=en&gbpv=0
[2] Based on a 2008 case from OTL!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Alexander_(author)
[3] OTL!:
https://qz.com/866352/scientists-say-your-mind-isnt-confined-to-your-brain-or-even-your-body/
[4] This is an OTL phenomenon!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_syndrome
[5] Based on an OTL case!:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ne...ck-to-life-after-being-dead-for-17-hours.html
[6] I mentioned this in the August 1992 chapter, so this is like an update of that.
[7] Italicized segments are pulled from here:
https://table.skift.com/2017/11/28/...ke-to-run-a-kitchen-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/
[8] Freddie Mercury really did say something similar to this in a 1994 interview with Lisa Robinson in 1984, found on youtube
[9] Credit is due to
@Igeo654 for suggesting this bit
[10] OTL song: youtube.com/watch?v=OBujb_4bYP4
[11] Speaking of which, ahead of the 2008 Republican primaries, I made a preference poll for y’all: https://www.strawpoll.me/22453062
And here’s a quick breakdown of the 20 candidates (both declared and undeclared) found on the poll:
US Sen.
Bob Barr of Georgia, age 60 – A supporter of small government, low taxes and individual freedom “within reason,” this libertarian-leaning conservative was a US Congressman from 1995 to 2003 and was elected to the Senate in 2002 despite opposing Jackson’s federal bailout measures that same year. He is one of many candidates who believe that the presumed 2008 Democratic nominee, Paul Wellstone, is vulnerable, after eight straight years of Democratic rule.
Fmr US Sen.
Mario Biaggi of New York, age 91 – Some may consider it “sad” that the former frontrunner for the 1972 Democratic Presidential nomination has become a perennial candidate, but Biaggi sees himself in a different light, as the last true “law and order” politician in the US. Opposed to police precinct reform, the former Governor and former US Senator defiantly promises “I will keep on running until I win, dead or alive!” To sweeten the pot and win over voters concerned about his advanced age, he has announced that he wants his running mate to be his “co-president” in the White House. We’ll see if he gets any takers.
Pr.
Mike Bickle of Missouri, age 53 – An Evangelical Christian pastor who founded the International House of Prayer in 1999 and has served as its leader ever since then, Bickle believes he can “best Jackson at his own game” and win over religious voters away from the Reverend President. Politically, he is even further to the right on both fiscal and social matter than is Meredith.
US Sen.
Herman Cain of Georgia, age 53 – An experienced and accomplished fiscally-conservative businessman who served as the CEO of Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc. from early 2001 to late 2003 before being elected to the US Senate in 2004, Cain’s recent recovery from a severe health crisis would be a major talking point in the pre-primary season. The conservative African-American has stated that “after surviving Stage IV colon cancer, surviving a crowded primary will be easy,” touting his medical recovery in 2006, which was aided by an early diagnosis thanks to the benefits of being an incumbent US Senator. The chemotherapy lead to him developing a low voting attendance record despite remote-voting for Senators being allowed ever since the measure was allowed amid the SARS pandemic of 2002; this could also be a major talking point, along with his potentially-controversial 9-9-9 tax proposal.
US Rep.
Billy J. Creech of North Carolina, age 65 – A US Congressman since 2003, a former state representative, and a former businessman, Creech opposes “the nanny state” and believes the federal government should “stay out of the worker-management relationship,” calling for tax breaks for small business owners and for “caps” on immigration. However, he supports raising farmer subsidies. He considers himself to be a “dark horse” candidate in this race who will catch on because "we need a fresh face in this race."
US Sen.
Jim Edgar of Illinois, age 62 – A leading technocratic moderate centrist in a party still reeling from the 2004 defeat of a populist nominee, Edgar’s campaign’s central theme is restoring dignity to both the party and the White House. Considered one of the best Governors that the people of Illinois have had in decades, he is focusing less on social issues and more on fiscal issues such as pension funds, adjusting UHC costs to make the system more manageable, banking reform, insurance reform, and the “proper” distribution of taxes.
Fmr Gov.
Jim Gilmore of Virginia, age 59 – Serving in office from 1998 to 2002, Gilmore plans to campaign on his record in office and “fill the Sensible Conservative void” in the party. A standard conservative on fiscal and social issues, he believes that mounting a grassroots campaign and exceeding expectations in the debates will improve his polling and fundraising numbers.
US Sen.
James “Bo” Gritz of Idaho, age 70 – The isolationist and populist freshman US Senator is quite known for his attention-grabbing antics, whether it be a mock filibuster speech outside the US Capitol Building or feud with a celebrity on a technet forum. Utilizing public access stations and radio programs not affected by FCC changes to get out his campaign platform planks (which include opposing “the sinister plans of the EU,” calling for “investigations into SARS virus origin alternative theories,” and restarting the War on Recreadrugs, among other policies), Gritz (whose name rhymes with the Bill of Rights), is popular among former Goetz backers. Before entering the Senate, he was a state senator and then a US Congressman, and before that, served in the US Army Special Forces, fighting in wars in Indochina and Africa before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Gov.
Antoinette “Toni” Jennings of Florida, age 59 – During her tenure as Governor, she has established term limits, supported NASA, and improved the state’s education quality. She rose to national prominence for her handling of Katrina and other hurricanes. She is running on a moderate, non-offensive business-friendly platform focused on improving education, restructuring tax law to benefit small and “growing” businesses, and continuing Jackson’s GCD policies while reversing his actions of several welfare programs.
Fmr Gov.
Gary Earl Johnson of New Mexico, age 60 – The Mayor of Albuquerque from 1993 to 2001 and Governor from 2003 to 2007, Johnson is a former businessman best known legalizing pot at the local and then level, climbing Mount Everest in 2001, earning the nickname “Governor Veto” in his dedication to the philosophy of “minimum government, maximum freedom,” and being a critic of Bernie Goetz. Johnson’s libertarian campaign is focused on school voucher reform to improve education, and replacing the income tax and the IRS with a “FairTax,” a single consumption tax on retail sales.
Fmr US Amb.
Alan Lee Keyes of Potomac, age 68 – The former diplomat who served in the past four Republican administrations has been serving as the Dean of The Columbus School of Law, the law school of the private Catholic University of America, located in
Washington, D.C. Potomac, since late 2004. While’s never served an elected position, his wide range of administrative experience, his celebrated debate skills, and his “strong record” of taking conservative religion-based stances on social issues makes him believe that he can win over the GOP in the upcoming debates and primaries.
US Rep.
Scott McCallum of Wisconsin, age 68 – A life-long politician and the current House Majority Whip, the moderate McCollum has serving in the House since 1985, and in that time has worked to pass laws defending private prisons, sunsetting outdated laws, adjusting income taxes for inflation, protecting the environment, and, most notable, supplying stimulus packages to disadvantaged Americans during the 2001-2004 global SARS pandemic. Nevertheless, he is mounting a pro-business campaign in support of a strong national defense and deregulation to promote technological entrepreneurship in the United States.
Fmr VP
James H. Meredith of Mississippi, age 75 – Running once again, the former VP and former US Senator is running on a platform nearly identical to his 2004 platform, from his defending of the Constitution to his calls for investments into economic development and minority empowerment without raising taxes or infringing upon state and individual rights. This time, though, he’s mounting a more aggressive campaign to compete in a potentially-crowded field.
Gov.
George Speaker Mickelson of South Dakota, age 67 – In office since 2003, Mickelson, a former US Congressman and former State Attorney General, has improved his state’s infrastructure and scholarship systems, raised the state’s minimum wage, and resolved South Dakota’s water sanitation issues. He’s running for President over agricultural concerns, promising jobs by improving the FJG program, and defending private prisons and police precincts, albeit “within reason,” stating that police should be well-funded but also should not use such funds to be “this militarized entity that does more harm than good.”
US Sen.
Hillary Diane Rodham-Clinton of Tennessee, age 61 – A “Colonel Conservative” and former Governor, her pro-education and pro-stimulus checks record, anti-corruption bona fides and past pro-labor rhetoric all put her on the edge of being labelled a “moderate,” hence her recent pivot to the right via coming to the defense of police but not private prisons. Her candidacy, however, would mean having to give up running for a second Senatorial term in 2008, and with freshman US Congressman Dave Ramsey eyeing her seat, she is currently at a crossroads of sorts.
Gov.
Ronna Eileen Romney of Michigan, age 65 – The sister-in-law of former Michigan Senator Mitt Romney, Ronna began her career as a campaign manager serving as Michigan’s Republican Party Chair and then Financial Committee Chair. After hosting a popular radio talk show for several years, she was elected Governor in 2002, and has since had a “mixed” tenure, failing to bring back as many jobs as she promised but succeeding in keeping several businesses from leaving. Despite this, her deep pockets and impressive war chest and political connections could make her a very formidable candidate.
US Sen.
Olympia Jean Snowe of Maine, age 61 – The influential and “bipartisan” Greek-American legislator is a moderate centrist who has been attacked more than once by members of her own party for being too much of a “LID,” or “Liberal in Disguise.” Despite these criticisms, she believes that she can be a unifying candidate for the GOP, a party that she says “needs to heed the warning of 2004 and shift to the center and away from the far-right in order to stay competitive at the national level.” Snowe has already been endorsed by Bill Weld, who has opted to run for re-election to the US Senate instead of mounting a second White House bid of his own.
Gov.
Lynn Curtis Swann of Pennsylvania, age 56 – The African-American former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and broadcaster, who served as the Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports from 1998 to 2001, successfully mounted a gubernatorial bid in 2002. He is running on his record as Governor – addressing mass transit and housing issues, and reforming property tax and environmentalism policies – but is shying away from his earlier support for police procedure reform.
US Rep.
Tommy Tancredo of Colorado, age 63 – This life-long politician is giving up his House seat of ten years to mount a populist and constitutionalist campaign that is heavily anti-immigration in theme and tone, touting his decades long opposition to bilingual education, his support for strong national borders, and his being the first member of Congress to call for a complete border shutdown at the start of the SARS pandemic.
Gov.
J. C. Watts Jr. of Oklahoma, age 51 – A Baptist minister and former quarterback for the Ottawa Rough Riders, this conservative African-American was inspired by Jesse Jackson to successfully run for Governor in 2002, having already served as a US Congressman from 1995 to 2003. He supports fracking and domestic oil production but has allowed solar and wind power projects in the states; despite being an interventionist and supporting Jackson’s intervention in the DRC, he’s been endorsed by the likes of Ron Paul and Bob Inglis. He is running as a younger, less controversial alternative to James H. Meredith.
Please vote!
The next chapter’s E.T.A.: November 26!
Wnglish? what is Wnglish?
Noted. Thanks for spotting that spelling error. I just went back and fixed it.