JENDAYI FRASER NOW FINDS THE NERVE TO ATTACK OBAMA AFRICA POLICY

"Is the cooking pot calling the kettle black?"

By KEVIN J. KELLEY
August 31 2009

A former US Africa policy chief is accusing the Obama administration of not doing enough to advance American military, political and economic interests on the continent.

In commentaries in two major US media outlets, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer charged that Obama’s envoys took the wrong approach when they spoke recently of presenting Kenya and other African countries with a message of “tough love.”

“US policy in Africa is not about love,” Frazer wrote last week in The Wall Street Journal, faulting the signals sent by both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. “It’s about advancing America’s core interests: promoting economic growth and development, combating terrorism and fostering well-governed, stable countries.”

The Bush administration’s senior Africa official went on to urge Obama “to translate the rhetoric of love” into hard-nosed policies.

Frazer’s most provocative suggestion is to move the headquarters of the US Africa Command from Germany to Liberia.

“The command needs to be in the region its operations are charged with shaping,” she argued, citing the Liberia’s offer to host Africom, but did not take note of other African governments’ opposition to a US military command on African soil.

Frazer added that Africom should go beyond its current assessment of conditions in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and begin training DRC troops. She further advised Obama to convene a White House summit of the leaders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC.

“Obama needs to spend more time meeting and engaging African leaders to address the continent’s challenges,” Frazer wrote, adding that Bush had helped end interstate wars in the region by holding individual and trilateral meetings with the leaders of the three countries.

Eritrea should be placed on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, Frazer added, saying such a move would trigger sanctions against Eritrea as a way of helping prevent a reprise of the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.

She reasoned that since Al Qaida’s East Africa cell is based in Somalia and Eritrea is said to be aiding a Somali Islamist force linked to Al Qaida, US economic and political action against Eritrea will prove effective in combating terrorism in the Horn.

The Obama administration should also oppose a Bill in the US Senate that would extend to some Asian countries trade preferences established under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

On National Public Radio, Frazer accused Obama of “talking the talk but not actually doing the work back home”, and him and his cabinet ministers of not seeking to squelch a move in Congress to give “hyper-competitive Cambodia and Bangladesh” the same advantages that Agoa offers to Africa.

Legislation proposed by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein would actually extend Agoa-type benefits to 15 countries in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East. Giving only Bangladesh and Cambodia duty-free access to the US textile market would be sufficient to “wipe out Africa’s textile sector,” Frazer declared.

TIME HAS COME TO REAFFIRM OUR ENDURING SPIRIT

By Barack Hussein Obama
On the ocassion of his inauguration as 44th President
of The United States of America
Washington, DC
Jan. 20, 2009

My fellow citizens,

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY

By JF Kennedy
Washington,DC
January 20, 1061

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom - symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning - signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage - and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

This much we pledge - and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do - for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom - and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge - to convert our good words into good deeds - in a new alliance for progress - to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbours know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support - to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective - to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak - and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.

But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course - both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belabouring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms - and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah - to "undo the heavy burdens -. and to let the oppressed go free."

And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavour, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" - a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility - I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavour will light our country and all who serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

JFK

THE KENNEDY FAMILY FORTUNE THAT HELPED FUEL FAMILY LEGACY AND AGENDA

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer
BOSTON

Sen. Edward Kennedy's family fortune not only fueled his brothers' presidential campaigns and his eight terms in the U.S. Senate, it also helped drive the family's liberal legacy and forge Kennedy's lifelong crusade for universal health care.

Just how wealthy was Kennedy when he died Tuesday at the age of 77 after a yearlong battle with brain cancer?

Untangling a family fortune that reaches back to the early days of the past century is murky business, but the annual federal financial disclosure reports Kennedy was required to file provide at least a' partial glimpse into his personal capital.

As a U.S. senator, Kennedy earned a base salary of $165,200 a year, but that just skimmed the surface of his net worth.

On the most recent report in 2008, which includes his own assets and those of his wife and any dependents, Kennedy listed a string of publicly and non-publicly traded trusts and assets. Under the filing rules, Kennedy was only required to place the value of those assets within a range, rather than give an exact dollar amount.

The report placed the net worth of his publicly traded assets somewhere between a low of $15 million and high of $72.6 million.

Just a year earlier, Kennedy reported somewhat rosier totals that placed his publicly traded assets somewhere between a low of $46.9 million and a high of $157 million.

Kennedy has other sources of income, including $1,995,833 in royalties he received from Grand Central Publishing a division of Hachette Group Book, publishers of his memoir True Compass scheduled for release in mid-September. Part of the proceeds will go to charity, including the John F. Kennedy Library.

Separate from his personal wealth was Kennedy's federal campaign account. As of the end of June, Kennedy reported more than $4.5 million in the account.

The main source of Kennedy's wealth was his father and family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy who amassed a fortune in banking, real estate, liquor, films and Wall Street holdings that eventually grew to an estimated $500 million by the 1980s.

A significant portion of that came from Joseph P. Kennedy's decision to buy Chicago's famed Merchandise Mart in 1945 for $12.5 million. Spanning two city blocks and rising 25 stories, the sprawling limestone and terra-cotta mart is so large it has its own zip code and only lost its title as the world's largest building after the Pentagon was built in the 1940s.

The elder Kennedy helped transformed it into a national center for the home furnishings and design industries.

The family retained ownership of the building until 1998 when it was sold — along with other properties including Chicago's Apparel Center which covers about a million square feet — to Vornado Realty Trust of Saddle Brook, N.J. for $625 million in 1998 to take advantage of the then-booming real estate market.

The deal allowed Kennedy heirs to receive a stake in one of the nation's largest real estate investment trusts.

"One of my cousins reminded me of a quote from my grandfather: 'Only a fool waits for top dollar,'" Christopher Kennedy, the son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy told The Wall Street Journal at the time.

The late John F. Kennedy Jr. also joked about his family's real estate holdings when he visited Chicago in 1996 to mark the launch of George magazine.

"In the 1940s, my family bought the Merchandise Mart. In the 1970s, we bought the Apparel Center. And in the 1960 election, my family bought 20,000 votes," he said, referring to his father's narrow presidential victory.

For Sen. Kennedy, the family fortune only reinforced his determination to expand access to health care.

It was a lesson he learned through his own painful experience.

In a Newsweek column he wrote a month before his death, Kennedy recalled the grueling treatment his son Teddy Jr. had to undergo in 1973 for bone cancer that eventually required the amputation of his right leg.

The experimental clinical trial, which included massive doses of chemotherapy, was free at first, but was deemed a success before some patients had completed their treatments. That forced some families to rely on insurance or pay out of pocket to cover the rest.

While Kennedy had the needed resources, not everyone was so lucky.

"Heartbroken parents pleaded with the doctors: What chance does my child have if I can only afford half of the prescribed treatments? Or two thirds? I've sold everything. I've mortgaged as much as possible," Kennedy wrote. "No parent should suffer that torment. Not in this country."

WE HAVE THE HOPE. NOW WHERE IS THE AUDACITY?

"Kennedy passed the liberal torch to Obama. Let's run with it!"

By Peter Dreier and Marshall Ganz
Sunday, August 30, 2009

On Aug. 25 last year, Sen. Edward Kennedy strode onto the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and announced to a roaring crowd of party faithful the beginning of a new generation in American politics.

"I have come here tonight to stand with you, to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," he said. Comparing Obama to his slain brother, John F. Kennedy, the senator shouted: "This November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. . . . Our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."

Eight months into the Obama administration, as we mourn the senator from Massachusetts, many of us retain the hope, but we are wondering what happened to the audacity that is needed to move the country in a new direction. In recent weeks, many progressives have expressed concern that Obama's bold plan to reform health care may be at risk. A defeat on this key issue could undermine other elements of his agenda. We don't believe that the president has changed his goals, but we wonder whether he underestimated the power necessary to bring about real change.

Throughout the campaign, Obama cautioned that enacting his ambitious plans would take a fight. In a speech in Milwaukee, he said: "I know how hard it will be to bring about change. Exxon Mobil made $11 billion this past quarter. They don't want to give up their profits easily."

He explained what it would take to overcome the power of entrenched interests in order to pass historic legislation. Change comes about, candidate Obama said, by "imagining, and then fighting for, and then working for, what did not seem possible before."

Obama observed: "That is how workers won the right to organize against violence and intimidation. That's how women won the right to vote. That's how young people traveled south to march and to sit in and to be beaten, and some went to jail and some died for freedom's cause."

But in the battle for health-care reform, the president and his allies are ignoring his own warning. The struggle for universal medical insurance -- one that Kennedy began pushing more than 40 years ago, and that looked winnable only a few months ago -- is in trouble.

For months the president insisted that any significant reform of the health-care system include a "public option" -- an expanded version of Medicare that would compete with private insurance companies, pressuring them to reduce costs and providing Americans with greater choice. Republicans have made it clear that they won't support any plan that competes with the insurance industry or challenges its runaway costs and irresponsible practices.

Obama would like, but doesn't need, Republican votes to achieve his goal. But seven conservative Democratic senators -- led by Max Baucus (Mont.) and including Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Kent Conrad (N.D.), Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) -- oppose the public option as well. So by shilling for the insurance industry, they've made it thus far impossible for Obama to take advantage of the Democrats' majority in the Senate.

In the past few weeks, Obama has hinted that he might settle for reform without a public option, thus assuaging the Baucus caucus and the insurance industry but angering many of his progressive supporters.

At the same time, Obama's readiness to compromise hasn't mollified members of the small but vocal right-wing Republican network who, egged on by the conservative echo chamber, have disrupted town hall meetings across the country, warning of "socialized medicine" and other impending catastrophes. This has made it harder for Obama to argue for his proposals and has hurt his standing in public opinion polls.

If the unholy alliance of insurance industry muscle, conservative Democrats' obfuscation and right-wing mob tactics is able to defeat Obama's health-care proposal, it will write the conservative playbook for blocking other key components of the president's agenda -- including action on climate change, immigration reform and updates to the nation's labor laws.
What went wrong?

The White House and its allies forgot that success requires more than proposing legislation, negotiating with Congress and polite lobbying. It demands movement-building of the kind that propelled Obama's long-shot candidacy to an almost landslide victory. And it must be rooted in the moral energy that can transform people's anger, frustrations and hopes into focused public action, creating a sense of urgency equal to the crises facing the country.

Remember that the Obama campaign inspired an unprecedented grass-roots electoral movement, including experienced activists and political neophytes. It deployed 3,000 organizers to recruit thousands of local volunteer leadership teams (1,100 in Ohio alone). They, in turn, mobilized 1.5 million volunteers and 13.5 million contributors. And throughout the campaign, Obama reminded supporters that the real work of making change would only begin on Election Day.

Once in office, the president moved quickly, announcing one ambitious legislative objective after another. But instead of launching a parallel strategy to mobilize supporters, most progressive organizations and Organizing for America -- the group created to organizeObama's former campaign volunteers -- failed to keep up. The president is not solely responsible for his current predicament; many progressives have not acknowledged their role.

Since January, most advocacy groups committed to Obama's reform objectives (labor unions, community organizations, environmentalists and netroots groups such as MoveOn) have pushed the pause button. Organizing for America, for example, encouraged Obama's supporters to work on local community service projects, such as helping homeless shelters and tutoring children. That's fine, but it's not the way to pass reform legislation.

One Obama campaign volunteer from Delaware County, Pa., put it this way soon after the election: "We're all fired up now, and twiddling our thumbs! . . . Here, ALL the leader volunteers are getting bombarded by calls from volunteers essentially asking 'Nowwhatnowwhatnowwhat?' "

Meanwhile, as the president's agenda emerged, his former campaign volunteers and the advocacy groups turned to politics as usual: the insider tactics of e-mails, phone calls and meetings with members of Congress. Some groups -- hoping to go toe-to-toe with the well-funded business-backed opposition -- launched expensive TV and radio ad campaigns in key states to pressure conservative Democrats. Lobbying and advertising are necessary, but they have never been sufficient to defeat powerful corporate interests.

In short, the administration and its allies followed a strategy that blurred their goals, avoided polarization, confused marketing with movement-building and hoped for bipartisan compromise that was never in the cards. This approach replaced an "outsider" mobilizing strategy that not only got Obama into the White House but has also played a key role in every successful reform movement, including abolition, women's suffrage, workers' rights, civil rights and environmental justice.

Grass-roots mobilization raises the stakes, identifies the obstacles to reform and puts the opposition on the defensive. The right-wing fringe understood this simple organizing lesson and seized the momentum. Its leaders used tactics that energized their base, challenged specific elected officials and told a national story, enacted in locality after locality.

It is time for real reformers to take back the momentum.

In the past two weeks, proponents of Obama's health-care reform finally woke up. They showed up in large numbers at town hall meetings sponsored by elected officials across the nation.

The president himself used his bully pulpit with more resolve, attending public events and addressing conference calls with religious groups, unions and others to urge them to mobilize on behalf of reform.
What's needed now is a campaign to shift the ground beneath Congress. First, it must concentrate on winning support for a specific bill that incorporates the key principles Obama has been advocating: universal insurance coverage, no denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, the public option and controls on exorbitant drug and insurance industry costs. The Limbaugh loyalists know what they are against. But Obama and his allies have to be clear about what they are for.

Challenging the right wing's framing of the issue, Organizing for America and the activist groups need to recruit volunteers to reach out to friends, neighbors and especially the "undecided" public with the same urgency, energy and creativity that they showed in the election.

Second, the campaign must focus attention on the insurance companies that are primarily responsible for the health-care mess. This means organizing public events across the country that can articulate Americans' frustrations with the current health insurance system and polarize public opinion against the insurance companies and their allies.

Americans who are paying the price of our failure to act -- people who lost family members because they were denied coverage for preexisting conditions, people who can't afford health insurance and fear that a medical emergency would wipe them out, families who went bankrupt and lost their homes because of out-of-pocket medical expenses, and businesses that suffer because of the high cost of insurance for employees -- need opportunities to publicly confront those responsible for their plight. It is time to put human faces on the crisis by contrasting their stories with the insurance companies' outrageous profits and top executives' exorbitant salaries and bonuses.

This requires "movement" tactics, from leaflets, vigils and newspaper ads to nonviolent civil disobedience -- such as occupying insurance company offices and picketing the homes of insurance executives -- to focus attention on the companies and individuals who are the major obstacles to reform. As long as the real source of the problem remains faceless (or can hide behind seven conservative Democratic senators), the right remains free to demonize "big government" rather than greedy corporations.

Third, the campaign must educate constituents of the Baucus caucus about their senators' political and financial dependence on the insurance industry and other opponents of reform. They need to ask these conservative Democrats: Which side are you on? If they won't support real reform, they should know that a primary challenge is likely.

This strategy could begin to restore the combination of hope and audacity that drives successful reform movements -- and that put Obama in the White House.

Kennedy understood that reforming health care is a moral obligation, and that the responsibility to heal the sick is at the heart of every faith tradition and is required for a civilized society. He was hoping to live long enough to see it happen. Obama and people of conscience cannot allow that victory -- and that tribute to the late senator -- to slip away.

THE KENNEDY CLAN THAT HAD A HOLD ON AMERICA'S LANDSCAPE

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 30, 2009

They buried Ted Kennedy on Saturday in an area of lush grass on the gentle slope beneath the mansion at Arlington National Cemetery. Brothers Bobby and Jack lie nearby. Here in this resting place for thousands of soldiers, astronauts, explorers and statesmen, the Kennedys have come together through triumph and tragedy in what amounts to a family plot, a piece of priceless real estate overlooking the nation's capital.

The Kennedys occupy other turf as well -- sweeping terrain in the national psyche.

The country has seen in the past three days the equivalent of a royal funeral. Saturday's funeral Mass in Boston was attended by four U.S. presidents. The description of the Kennedys as political royalty might as well be a federal regulation.

Younger people might not understand why such a fuss has been made over a man who ran for president 30 years ago. It is hard to explain the Kennedy mystique to anyone who never experienced the tumult of the 1960s.

In the visitors center at Arlington is a blown-up photo from Nov. 25, 1963 -- a bullet point in the history of American grief -- with Jacqueline Kennedy, face twisted in pain, having just received the folded flag that had covered her husband's casket. Next to her is Bobby, stooped in anguish. Teddy appears to be at the margin of the shot, back to the camera. Only a few years later, before he was ready, the youngest son became the only son left.

Edward Kennedy was, as President Obama said with great understatement at the funeral Mass, "heir to a weighty legacy." For the citizens of the country, Kennedy's death concludes a narrative more than half a century in the telling. It's a familiar story by now: Joseph Kennedy Sr. had four sons and dreamed that one would someday be the first Catholic in the White House. That ambition bent American history for decades to come. The saga was often dazzling, and persistently tragic.

Now we know how the story ends. Quietly. Peacefully. The funeral Mass was somber and reverent, but it was preceded Friday night by a sometimes raucous, humorous celebration of the man's life. The last son died at home, among family, after sailing the Nantucket Sound almost to his final moments.

A vivid era in American history is rapidly fading. The Culture Wars that began in the '60s came to define the ideological battles of the next three decades, with Kennedy an all-purpose symbol of the values of the left and Ronald Reagan playing a similar role for the right. The issues defined in that era no longer throw off as many sparks. Obama, who came to power with a boost from the senator, has vowed to leave the divisions of the 1960s behind.

The baby boomers who pledged to bring about the Revolution now worry that health-care reform could undermine their Medicare. The space program is out of money. No one worries that Afghanistan will turn into another Vietnam; they worry it'll be another Iraq. The Beatles have become an interactive computer game. In Upstate New York, there was just a Woodstock anniversary -- the 40th -- but hardly anyone bothered to show up. Another page turned.

Kennedy's death was surely, as every pundit and headline writer has noted in recent days, the end of an era. But the events of the past few days have reminded the country that the icon was also a man, never ordinary to be sure, but with joy and suffering like any other mortal. For the Kennedy family, the farewell was intensely personal and prayerful.

The emotional pivot of Saturday's Mass came when Teddy Jr. delivered his eulogy. He spoke of trying, as a 12-year-old who'd just lost a leg to cancer, to climb a snow-covered hill so he could go sledding with his father. It was slick. He fell down. Cried. "I can't do this. I'll never be able to climb up that hill." His father picked him up in his arms and said: "I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do. We're going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day."

As much as the Kennedy saga has been lived in public, we learned things Saturday. Had we known that Ted dressed as Santa at Christmas? That he was a Civil War battlefield buff? That he'd been recruited out of college by the Green Bay Packers, as Teddy Jr. informed us?"He was not perfect. Far from it. But my father believed in redemption," his namesake said.

For the U.S. Senate, Kennedy's death means a dramatic drop in star power for a chamber that no longer is prowled by senators who cast a broad national profile and are brand names for their ideologies. The Senate today is largely populated by men and women who can walk the length of Pennsylvania Avenue without anyone doing a double take.

Kennedy relished his outsized role. He jumped with both feet into any battle, never reluctant to punctuate a bellowed point with a loud thump of the lectern. Obama told a classic anecdote Saturday about the senator: "A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, 'What did Webster do?' "

For conservatives, Kennedy's death removes from the field a favorite boogeyman. During Republican primaries, all a candidate had to do to impugn an opponent's credentials was to insinuate some commonality with Ted Kennedy. Some of that enmity might eventually die out of its own accord, as there can be little satisfaction in raging against the departed. Even before now, the ritualized attacks on Kennedy had an obsolescent element -- bitter stuff boiled down after too long on the hot plate.

The weight of the past grows lighter by the day. Go back to that Kennedy family plot, as it were, at Arlington: The quotes from President Kennedy, chiseled on a sweeping wall beneath the eternal flame, are those of a cold warrior, warning of the threats to freedom from a never-quite-defined enemy.

The quotes from Robert F. Kennedy are chiseled on a more modest wall along a fountain. One is from the night that the senator went into the inner city in Indianapolis and told a largely black audience that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. In a brave and moving speech, he said that his brother, like King, had been killed by a white man. Kennedy had quoted Aeschylus: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

In the hot sun of Arlington on Saturday afternoon, Kay Wilson, 57, a teacher from Dumfries, recalled how her father taught her as a child all about the Kennedys. "We were almost obsessed," she said. She hopes the Kennedy mystique has not evaporated over the years. "I hope that feeling is still alive. That the mystique is still here. Because it was such an important part of my upbringing."

Over at the Capitol, among thousands waiting for the Kennedy motorcade to pay a final visit to where the senator worked for 47 years, Barbara Keeling, 66, said what so many others have the past few days: "It seems like the end of something."

But what?

"The politicians we grew up with."

Teddy's sister Eunice died just two weeks earlier. There is now only one child surviving of Joe and Rose Kennedy's nine children -- Jean, looking fit and strong as she said goodbye Saturday to her brother.

But then there are all those other Kennedys who filed into the church Saturday. Just as the Kennedys famously had a "compound" at Hyannis Port, they also have the ultimate clan, and for some time to come they will remain the first family of American politics. The youngest of them took turns, with great poise, at the lectern. It will shock no one if the names of some of those young Kennedys one day pop up on a ballot.

They will tell stories about the Ted Kennedy they knew. The historians will chew on his record. And at Arlington, on that green hill with the exquisite view of the capital, the man's resting place will speak loudly for years to come. Visitors will know that these Kennedys really mattered to us.

But as they pass into history, it will be harder and harder to remember just how much they charmed us, how much they inspired us and how much they broke our hearts.

KENNEDY BURIAL AT ARLINGTON, A KIND AND TENDER HERO THAT AMERICANS LOVED

By Dan Balz, Keith B. Richburg and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 30, 2009

On the day he was carried to his final resting place, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was remembered Saturday as a legislator of almost unequalled prowess, a political force who left a lasting imprint on the country and a husband, father and patriarch whose private acts of love and devotion helped his star-crossed family endure tragedy and misfortune.

President Obama led the mourners at a solemn Roman Catholic Mass attended by 1,500 people, including three former presidents, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, where the Kennedy family dynasty was born. A steady rain fell, adding an elegiac touch to a day already drenched in sorrow.

After a last flight to Washington, the Massachusetts senator who served for 47 years was laid to rest in gathering darkness near his two slain brothers, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, on sloping ground at Arlington National Cemetery.

Before the burial ceremony, the hearse carrying Kennedy stopped at the plaza on the East Front of the Capitol. There former Kennedy staffers, lawmakers, other congressional aides and members of the public were gathered to pay their respects.

As the crowd broke into applause, Kennedy's widow, Vicki, emerged, offering embraces. After a short prayer service and the singing of "America the Beautiful," the motorcade proceeded along Constitution Avenue to the cemetery.

Kennedy (D-Mass.) died Tuesday night after being diagnosed with brain cancer more than a year ago. His death produced an outpouring of emotion and tributes from around the world that was captured eloquently on Saturday.

"We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office," Obama told the friends, dignitaries and Kennedy family members seated in the majestic basilica in Boston. "We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy, not for the sake of ambition or vanity, not for wealth or power, but only for the people and the country he loved."

The president's remarks were largely shorn of political overtones, as he concentrated on the example Kennedy set for fellow politicians and ordinary citizens alike through his public and private works. "The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became," he said.

Obama spoke of Kennedy's resilience in the face of "events that would have broken a lesser man," recalling that he was the youngest of nine children but became a rock to his family. Summoning the spirit he attributed to Kennedy in times of difficulty, Obama said, "We carry on."

Obama's closest reference to the contemporary political climate as Washington prepares for a fall struggle over health care came when he said of Kennedy: "He was the product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect -- a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots."

Before Obama's eulogy, Edward M. Kennedy Jr. and Patrick J. Kennedy offered poignant memories of their father that brought both tears and laughter from the audience.

Ted Kennedy Jr., who lost a leg to cancer when he was 12, recalled his father's strength and inspiration as he struggled with his physical handicap. His voice choked with emotion, he remembered a sledding expedition on a snowy day not long after his leg was amputated. After he had fallen, his father helped him climb an icy hill when he doubted his own physical capacity to do so.
"We're going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day," the younger Kennedy said his father told him. He added: "You see, my father taught me that even our most profound losses are survivable, and that it is what we do with that loss, our ability to transform it into a positive event, that is one of my father's greatest lessons."

Ted Kennedy Jr., 47, a lawyer and investment banker who lives in Connecticut, quickly turned the congregation's tears to laughter when he recalled his father's adventuresome spirit and his determination that his children share it. "Our family vacations left us all injured and exhausted," he said.

Patrick Kennedy, 42, an eight-term House member from Rhode Island, remembered how his father would sit by his bedside, applying a cold, wet towel to his forehead to provide relief from the pain of headaches induced by asthma medication. "He remained to me a magical figure," he said.

Earlier, the Rev. Mark R. Hession, who was friend and family priest to Edward and Vicki Kennedy on Cape Cod, delivered the homily. He connected the senator's commitment to social justice and the needs of the poor to Kennedy's experience as part of "a vibrant and caring family" whose narrative "is woven throughout the history of the nation for the past half-century."

Hession noted that the choice of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for Kennedy's funeral Mass reflected the intersection between the senator's public and private lives. Kennedy came to the church regularly to pray for the recovery of his daughter Kara as she fought her own battle against cancer several years ago. But its location, in a neighborhood where immigrants and minorities struggle to provide their families a better life, symbolized the work of Kennedy's political life.

The day's formal ceremonies began at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, where the senator's body had lain in repose on Thursday and Friday, viewed by an estimated 50,000 people.

The library was the site Friday of an exuberant three-hour service of music, storytelling, tears and laughter. Kennedy's colleagues, friends and family members shared personal memories of a larger-than-life figure who overcame personal failings, turned his life around and ended up with a reputation as one of the finest legislators in the nation's history.

Saturday morning, Obama paid a short private visit to Vicki Kennedy. He walked across the street from his hotel to offer condolences to the widow of the man whose endorsement provided a critical boost to his candidacy during the 2008 Democratic nomination battle against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At the library, Vicki Kennedy greeted a delegation of senators and House members. Throughout the day, she was praised as her husband's friend and partner, whose love and devotion helped Kennedy turn his life around and make his final years some of his best.

When it was time to leave the library, Kennedy's flag-draped casket was covered with plastic to protect against the rain. It was carried by a military honor guard walking in deliberate steps to a hearse for the drive to the basilica.

Inside the church, a remarkable collection of people gathered. They included former president Bill Clinton and Hillary ; former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura; former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn; and Vice President Biden and his wife Jill.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, sat in the front row with the Bidens; the former presidents and their wives were a row behind them. Obama and Bill Clinton, tense adversaries during the Democratic primaries, chatted amiably as they waited for the service to begin.Other mourners included former vice president Al Gore, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, a former Kennedy aide.

Two Republican friends of Kennedy's, Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, sat side by side. They had spoken of their friendship with Kennedy at Friday's memorial.

Outside on the steps, huddled under large black umbrellas, stood the honorary pallbearers. They included Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), who, like Obama, owed his nomination for president in part to Kennedy's endorsement. Kerry had become devoted to Kennedy over the years.

Bells began to toll at 10:45 a.m. as the motorcade arrived and, a few minutes later, Kennedy's casket was taken from the hearse. Vicki Kennedy and other family members stood vigil, water rolling off their umbrellas, as the casket was carried up the steep steps into the church. The procession included priests wearing white vestments and Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, distinctive in scarlet.

The responsorial psalm, Psalm 72, was read by Kara Kennedy, and it offered testimony to Kennedy's lifelong commitment to the poor and dispossessed: "For he shall rescue the poor man when he cries out and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor; the lives of the poor he shall save."

The Mass included music from cellist Yo-Yo Ma, tenor Placido Domingo, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who gave a haunting rendition of "Ave Maria."

The rain turned hard as the service ended and the carefully choreographed ceremonies fell significantly behind schedule. Kennedy's body, accompanied by family members and others, was taken to Hanscom Air Force Base for the flight to Andrews Air Force Base.

By the time the funeral procession reached Arlington National Cemetery, the sun had set and the gravesite was shrouded in darkness. It sits 100 feet away from Robert F. Kennedy's in an arc that includes the gravesite and eternal flame for John F. Kennedy.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a friend of Kennedy's, presided and read from a letter the senator had written to Pope Benedict XVI, which Obama had delivered to the pontiff in Rome. In the letter, Kennedy wrote he had been "an imperfect human being but with the help of my faith I have tried to right my path."

His grandchildren spoke lovingly of their relationship with him and a military rifle squad fired off three volleys. In his prayer, McCarrick asked God to bring Kennedy "to everlasting peace and rest."

Richburg reported from Boston. Staff writer Michael D. Shear contributed to this report.

WTO DOHA NEGOTIATIONS: DO DEVELOPED COUNTRIES WANT TO HAVE THEIR CAKE AND EAT IT?

By Michelle Pressend -
Policy, Advocacy, and Research Coordinator,Biowatch,
Trade Strategy Group
Economic Justice Network
Cape Town
26 August 2009

Since the last World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting took place in Hong Kong in 2005, the WTO Doha negotiations have remained at an impasse. Attempts to revive negotiations last year during the July 2008 mini Ministerial meeting failed.

In principle what the Doha Declaration agreed to in 2001 was meant to foster ‘development’ in developing countries and address the adverse impact of trade liberalization and deregulation.

Since then, Doha negotiations have been dragging on for almost a decade with developing nations rightly remaining cautious about concluding a ‘bad deal’. Negotiations continue to be unbalanced with developing countries still being offered a raw deal.

The stalemate is largely over developed countries’ reluctance to make considerable reductions in their trade distorting agricultural subsidies and unbalanced proposals for further reductions in industrial tariffs.

Developed countries are only prepared to make meagre concessions to reduce their trade distorting subsidies. However, developing countries are being asked to make trade-offs to gain market access for their agricultural goods in exchange for opening up access to their industrial and service sectors.

In a sense developed countries want to "have their cake and eat it."

“An outcome that differentially hurts developing countries or benefits developed countries more should be seen as failing the Doha development promise of enhanced market access for developing countries,” argues Rashid S. Kaubab, author of the book Benchmarking Development for Hong Kong and Beyond: Strengthening Africa in World Trade.

From 30 November to 2 December 2009, after a spate of failed attempts to revive the WTO Doha Negotiations, a WTO Ministerial conference will take place in Geneva. It's a much-anticipated event given American President Barack Obama’s enthusiastic endorsement of the G20 statement in April this year, calling for a conclusion of the Doha talks.

To create new impetus for the WTO Doha negotiations, a mini Ministerial meeting is planned to take place from 3-4 September 2009 in Delhi, India. According to sources, the meeting is not meant to have real negotiations and will simply be a general meeting where statements are made.

South Africa is one of 36 countries invited to the meeting either as coordinators or representatives of various WTO groups. Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Nigeria and Burkina Faso constitute the balance of invited African countries.

Pascal Lamy, the WTO Director General, has been meeting various governments to encourage the conclusion of these negotiations. He is confidant that all the recent discussions point towards the conclusion of the Doha Round in 2010.

Lamy recently visited South Africa, which is in a very precarious situation with regard to further industrial tariff cuts. In the WTO, South Africa is classified as a developed country and further tariff cuts under the proposed WTO formula will not only have implications for our industrial sector and further job losses, but also affect the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which consists of small and vulnerable economies.

Lamy's key message is concern about signs of protectionism during this global economic crisis. In a recent report to the WTO Trade Negotiations committee at a meeting of ministers and heads of states and governments, he stressed: "(i) We need to keep trade open and resist protectionist measures. (ii) The best way to keep trade open is to keep opening trade, hence the need to conclude the Doha Round as soon as possible."

The alarming aspect about urgency to conclude the Doha round is the lack of recognition that the very rules and policies espoused by the WTO are at the core of the global economic and planetary ecological crisis, i.e. to prioritise growth based on standard economic models.

This entails integration into the global economy based on neo-liberal policies that enforce global privatisation, deregulation, trade liberalization and the opening of financial markets and institutions with the aim of preventing regulated capital flows and generally promoting more market driven economies that continue to have a devastating impact on jobs, poor peoples quality of life and the planet's resources.

Developing countries are faced with a number of challenges to meet their development needs. These include growing their economies, addressing high levels of poverty, ensuring job creation, expanding their manufacturing bases and managing their resources.

The question is, in the context of the global economic and planetary crisis, will the WTO negotiations seek the opportunity to question unbalanced trade rules or continue negotiations within the current economic paradigm that essentially perpetuates underdevelopment in developing countries?

The current state of play amongst the WTO members - more so from developing countries - is that unless agreement is reached on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA), no negotiations will take place on other issues such as services, trade in environmental goods/services, trade facilitation and geographical indicators, amongst other issues.

The stalemate in the negotiations questions the legitimacy of the WTO to promote fair and balanced multilateral trades rules that will addresses the past and current inequities, which developing countries are faced with.

On agriculture, points of contestation are the elimination and/or reduction of trade distorting subsidies and substantial market access opportunities for developing countries’ agricultural goods.

Developing countries that belong to the G20 and also happen to be big industrial agricultural producers have formed a coalition. These countries have a proactive interest in greater market access in the developed world.

South Africa is part of the G20, but South Africa, like many industrialized developing nations has huge inequities in the productive capacity of agricultural goods. Countries like South Africa have to address land access and redistribution as well as provide productive support for small-scale and subsistence farmers before throwing their lot in with the globalised industrial agricultural sector.

Within the WTO's Group of 33 (G33) countries, there are also countries that have huge peasant, family, subsistence and small-scale farming communities. Vitally, these countries are calling for special safeguard measures to protect their small-scale and emerging farmers from the adverse effects of trade liberalization. India, for example, belongs to both the G33 and G20.

So while the G20 is calling for greater market access, it will mostly benefit large-scale agriculture farmers and businesses, if at all.

Furthermore, the WTO perpetuates the current permissive industrial agricultural production and trade system in genetically modified organisms and agrofuels (biofuels) that contribute significantly to climate change.

On NAMA, developing countries want guaranteed policy space. In other words, the right to develop policy through experimentation, in addition to the flexibility to design industrial, trade, technology and social policies unique to their respective situations.

The challenge for developing countries is how they use the policy space if they get it.

Certain economic instruments are necessary, such as the flexibility to raise or drop industrial tariffs when necessary, particularly to protect industries and jobs from import surges as well as to allow subsidies to support infant industries and build domestic capacities and assets.

The current WTO negotiations curtail these instruments and subject countries to binding commitments. At the same time, past and current industrial development is having a significant impact on the physical environment, the use of natural resources and the socio-economic rights of workers.

At the same time, developed countries' demands are accommodated to protect their sensitive sectors. In the December 2008 WTO NAMA text an "anti-concentration" clause, proposed by developed countries, was included.

Martin Khor former Director of Third World Network explains that the clause "is designed to prevent developing countries from excluding an entire sector, or close to an entire sector from full formula tariff cuts."

Current trade policies and agreements do not serve people's development rights and needs as well as national development aims -- especially the goals of poverty eradication, job creation and socio-economic and environmental justice. Such instruments and policies should not just be questioned, but challenged.

THE APRM AT CROSSROADS: CAN ADEDEJI DELIVER AN OBJECTIVE ETHIOPIAN REPORT?

By Jerry Okungu
Rumbek, South Sudan
August 26, 2009

The African Peer Review Mechanism is facing a litmus test. The grapevine among the donor community across the continent is something to worry about. Apparently they have consulted widely and come to a consensus that the once lauded African success story may be gradually facing its demise.

Talking to one prominent donor and an APRM expert in the UN circles, he had this to say:

“There are currently no champions and as long as there are no sincere champions; the likes of Meles will use it to their own advantage. Although grassroots are excited, the top leadership does not care about it. Meanwhile corrupt bureaucrats at the Secretariat, will always grow fat on ignorant "leaders" and donor largesse. This is exactly what is happening.

Ross Herbert, a South African researcher has always posed this question: "who is policing whom within the APRM set up?"

The UN official continues: “The panel members who are supposed to be the moral arbiters are not doing that and the leaders, who don't care anyway, are looking the other way except what APRM can do for their insecure regimes. And donors, wanting quick returns for their money are looking for something else, as NEPAD and APRM appear to be folding up. It is the same old story. Academics, Africans, are also standing on the sidelines doing nothing.”

These sentiments got a boost from another academic researcher based in South Africa who has done extensive work on NEPAD and APRM in the last five years. He too had this to say:

“There does not seem to be a great deal of interest in the subject continentally. Donors, who might ask pointed questions, seem concerned not to look pushy, although in my conversations with them, I think they show that they have drawn fairly negative conclusions about what the fates of Nepad and APRM say about commitment to reform.
“With Mbeki and Obasanjo gone, there are no powerful patrons to ask questions about APRM. Within SA there is a unit within the department of foreign affairs that would like to see APRM strengthened but they strictly avoid the implications of how SA conducted its APRM and don’t engage with how or if it is following through on its APRM commitments.

“Here the APRM review touched on all the key issues but no one wants to take forward reforms under an APRM umbrella. Each issue, whether company law, human rights, aids or crime, has its own players and dynamics. It is not that APRM was ineffective; just that it is a relatively small thing in the national consciousness and has no real power to accelerate reforms in any of those areas.

“As for the secretariat itself and the panel, there is an effort to hire consultants to propose better ways of managing the process but this remit does not include governing the panel or secretariat. It seems there are no real interested parties putting pressure on now that Mbeki and Obasanjo are gone.”

Several worrying developments point to this direction. First, since one Dr. Bernard Kouassi left the secretariat almost two years ago, no substantive replacement has been recruited despite the fact that the post was advertised long before his departure.

Second, the number of eminent persons has been dwindling with time with no immediate replacement such that today, the only active and available persons are Professor Adedeji who also doubles as the chairman. He got his term renewed under questionable circumstances. Some pundits allude his unprecedented second term as chairman of the Panel of Eminent Persons to his closeness with Melles Zenawi during his years at the ECA in Addis Ababa.

The other members are Dr. Graca Machel of Mozambique and a new comer, Mrs. Domitila Mutantaganzwa from Rwanda who is believed to be Bethuel Kiplagat’s replacement. There is also Prof. Mohammad Barbes, from Algeria, who owes his re-nomination to the panel from his country’s President, Abdoulaziz Boutefleka, one of the founding fathers of NEPAD.

As it is now, the panel is three members short of the initial seven members appointed by HSIC in 2003. To complicate matters, there is no word on when and how the vacancies on the panel will be filled.

Adedeji is said to have circulated a document during the last NEPAD Steering Committee meeting in Sirte, Libya, which proposes a full panel of nine members with only five of them nominated by each of the sub-regional groupings of the AU while the other four are head-hunted, presumably by Adedeji himself.

As an inter-governmental body, the notion of head hunting close to 50% of panel members runs contrary to all principles of collective self-monitoring that underlie the APRM process.

However, the biggest challenge facing the APRM is the apparent lack of direction from the APRM Forum as used to be under Olusegun Obasanjo. It is what seems to be compounding its problems. For this reason many qualified and experienced officers have either left for greener pastures or have been forced out by Prof Adedeji who is more comfortable dealing with cronies at the Secretariat than harnessing the expertise he found there.

The crux of the matter is, soon after Kouassi left as the Executive Director of the Secretariat, Adedeji who was the serving chairman of eminent persons quickly assumed the ED position even though the panel had appointed an Ethiopian due to his seniority status to act in the interim.

It may be remembered that a few months ago, Prof Adedeji decided to reorganize the entire secretariat. He hired a consultant who together with him came up with a new organogram that also created several new posts with the APRM. Following this new reorganization, Adedeji terminated the contracts of all existing staff and went ahead to advertise the jobs in some West African publications published in London. He also posted the same ad on the APRM website.

It is still not clear whether the AU Structures Committee of the Permanent Representative Council (PRC) made of African Ambassadors accredited to the AU have even deliberated or approved Adedeji’s organogram. Neither has the AU Chairperson, Jean Pean, who is expected to oversee the new APRM structure directly, approved it. According to close sources, he is either too busy or is disinterested and afraid to offend his host-government of Ethiopia.

The only two individuals who apparently have given their blessings to this new structure are Adedeji and his boss, Prime Minister Meles.

However, information coming from the Secretariat indicates that when other eminent persons got wind of what was going on, the recruitment drive was put on hold pending further consultations. What is not clear is the fate of the old employees whose contracts will be terminated at the end of September by Adedeji.

As these problems continue to dog the secretariat, the Ethiopian review is going full steam. What makes the Ethiopian review a test case is that for the first time in the history of the APRM, a country whose leader is the chairman of the APRM will be reviewed by the chairman of the Panel of Eminent Persons appointed by the same leader. Obasanjo, who also served as Chairman of the APRM Forum never had his country reviewed before leaving office and kept stalling the review apparently due to his third-term bid in 2007.

In a strange move early this year, Melles Zenawi renewed Adedeji’s chairmanship after it expired.. Now Adedeji has allocated himself the role of team leader for the Ethiopian country review by removing then Panel Member Ambassador Kiplagat, who was originally assigned Ethiopia. If this is not conflict of interest then we may never know what is.

Whether we like it or not, Adedeji owes Melles Zenawi big. Technically Zenawi is his immediate boss and supervisor.

Since 2005, Meles has been under the international donor community watch list following human rights abuses during that year’s elections. Many Ethiopian watchers believe that he needs Adedeji to give him a passing grade as he goes into an election next April.

When the report is tabled, Adedeji will find it a challenge to present an honest and credible report about his boss to the African Heads of State and Government whose chair will be the same Zenawi.

Both Adedeji and Zenawi will find it very difficult to be detached from the report while forum members, if they are sharp shooters like Abdulahi Wade or Paul Kagame, may have problems believing the authenticity of the Ethiopian report.

This is why if Zenawi and Adedeji are truly interested in preserving the credibility of the APRM, another eminent person such as Graca Machel should be appointed to lead the review team in Ethiopia because as of now, Adedeji at age 80 who recently suffered a mild stroke is physically unfit to endure an assessment schedule in the rough terrain of a huge country like Ethiopia while in a wheelchair. It is not too late to salvage the situation.

This brings me to my next point.

A few weeks ago, the newly constituted Kenya APRM Governing Council had a retreat at the Kenyan coast to chat the way forward. This came soon after the planned visit by Graca Machel to launch the second round of the Kenya review was abruptly postponed indefinitely by the government of Kenya.

It is true Kenya is due for review after it successfully completed the first round in June 2006 in Banjul the Gambia. However, another Kenyan review at this point in time may be ill-advised and serve no useful purpose. Not because of the resources needed but rather the relevance and necessity of the exercise at this point in time.

The reasons for this are many and varied. Top among them are the overarching issues that Graca Machel raised in Banjul in June 2006. She listed rampant corruption, ethnicity, landlessness, a failed judicial system, political violence, poverty, inequality, Youth joblessness, insecurity, police brutality, extrajudicial killings, press freedom and credible electoral system among others as issued that the Kenya government needed to address urgently to avoid social unrest.

Kenyan observers believe that had Kibaki heeded the APRM warnings in Banjul and took genuine steps to reform the Judiciary and the Electoral Commission of Kenya; Kenyans would not have gone to war in 2007. Had the sensitive land issue in Rift Valley been addressed soon after Banjul, the Kalenjins would not have taken their bows and arrows to drive away “foreigners” from the midst.

During the 2007 elections, corruption put democracy on sale. The most moneyed, the most corrupt and the most violent of the warlords carried the day. Everything and everybody was up for sale from the election commissioners to the priests, journalists, civil servants, the police, the justice department and returning officers in the field.

Because of this mess, Chairman Kivuitu lost control to his juniors. Politicians became warlords and dictated who to elect to parliament. Elections were rigged by all political parties right from the nomination stage. The most violent politicians were nominated by their parties. All these problems could have been avoided had we reformed the ECK and the Judiciary.

Because we have not put our house in order, it may be pointless and a waste of time and resources to embark on another futile exercise.

However, a more plausible reason against the second review is the fact that since the beginning of 2008, Kenya has conducted the Kriegler and Waki Commissions whose reports are currently under implementation. These two commissions dealt at length and in detail with our electoral challenges and impunity in Kenyan politics that has become our way of life.

As I write this article, there is a bill in Parliament trying to establish a local tribunal to try perpetrators of the 2007 post election violence that left 1500 Kenyans dead. The political arena is too charged to allow for another APRM.

The other mitigating factor against a Kenyan review is that at the moment the Kenya Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission has just been launched. This commission will interrogate past injustices and crimes that have taken place in Kenya since 1963.

Central to this commission will be land problems, political murders, inequality and ethnicity, powers of the president, corruption in public service, a failed judiciary, police brutality, state terrorism and the rot in our political system.

It will be so comprehensive that to conduct another parallel public dialogue will be to duplicate efforts. This Commission is led by Bethuel Kiplagat, the immediate former Panel member of the APRM.

The comprehensive Kenya Constitution Review is currently putting the final touches in its draft report. If all goes well, Kenyans may vote for a new constitution in a referendum next year. Common sense would therefore inform someone that this is not the time to conduct a second APRM in Kenya even if the AU timetable says it is due.

As I write this article, Kenya has just launched two important strategic plans; Vision 2030 and the Prime Minister’s Strategic Plan. Both plans are under the Prime Minister ‘s office where the Planning Ministry is based. Incidentally the Planning Minister is also the man in charge of APRM in Kenya and as things stand, it will be a miracle if he pays attention to another review because it definitely will not be his priority.

Under the circumstances, the APRM Continental Secretariat may find it sensible to focus on countries like Angola, Egypt Malawi, Tanzania, Sudan and Zambia that are yet to go through the first round as Kenya puts its house in order.