Griffey Becomes American Public Diplomacy Envoy

Ken Griffey Jr. has joined a new team. He was introduced Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as the newest American Public Diplomacy Envoy. Griffey is set to make his first baseball-related trip for the State Department to Panama in January. He will represent the “values of the United States, not the government of the United States,” Rice said. As an unofficial ambassador, Rice said Griffey will travel overseas to "talk to young people and to spark their interest in America and in our culture."

Griffey said he was eager to get going. He said he didn’t really have to think about it when Secretary Rice called. He loved the idea of reaching out to young children about our culture and also about baseball.

Once ridiculed by baseball's old guard for doing things like wearing his hat backward, blowing bubblegum bubbles and endorsing video games, “The Kid” outgrew all of that to become not only an elder statesman of the sport but of the entire country. Ken Griffey Jr. turns 39 this week. He is sixth on the career home run list with 611. He played for Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox last season, and later filed for free agency. He joined former baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., figure skater Michelle Kwan and actress Fran Drescher as envoys.

49ers Interested in Condi Rice as Team President

The San Francisco 49ers have already made a coaching change this season. Now they apparently have their eyes on an even more high-profile front office move.

The 49ers have expressed interest in Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a possible candidate for team president.
"If she's interested in talking to us, I'm interested in talking to her," one high-ranking 49ers official told NFL.com. Rice has expressed a desire to be an NFL team president as recently as last week, according to the report.
Ms. Rice has already indicated that she will return to Stanford University in January, a school where she served as provost from 1993-99, which would put her in the San Francisco Bay area. She has a long and documented interest in football, and has often been asked football questions during otherwise political interviews.

The Other Presidential Candidate: Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia Ann McKinney is the 2008 Green Party nominee for President of the United States. She served as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993–2003 and 2005–2007. She is the first Black woman to have represented Georgia in the House.

She was born in Atlanta, the daughter of Billy McKinney, one of Atlanta's first Black policemen, and a former Georgia State Representative. McKinney once described how as a young girl she was exposed to the Civil Rights Movement through her father, an activist who regularly participated in demonstrations across the south. As a police officer, McKinney's father would challenge the racially discriminatory policies of the Atlanta Police Department that were in effect at the time by publicly protesting in front of the station, often carrying young McKinney on his shoulders. After years of protesting social injustice in this way, McKinney's father decided it would be a more effective strategy to actually make public policy than to protest it. Ms. McKinney says that it was this early experience that opened her eyes to the power of government and its potential to guarantee social justice through legislation.

Her political career began in 1986 when her father, a representative in the Georgia House of Representatives, submitted her name as a write-in candidate for the Georgia state house. She got about 40% of the popular vote, despite the fact that she lived in Jamaica at the time with then-husband Coy Grandison. In 1988, McKinney ran for the same seat and won, making the McKinneys the first father and daughter to simultaneously serve in the Georgia state house.

In the 1992 election, McKinney was elected in the newly re-created 11th District, and was re-elected in 1994. When her district was redrawn and renumbered McKinney was easily elected from the new 4th District in the 1996 election, and was re-elected twice without much opposition.

McKinney was defeated Denise Majette in the 2002 Democratic primary, in part due to crossover voting in Georgia's open primary election, which permits anyone from any party to vote in any party primary. McKinney protested the result in court, claiming that thousands of Republicans, knowing they had no realistic chance of defeating her in the November general election, had voted in the Democratic primary against McKinney in revenge for her anti-Bush views and her allegations of voter fraud in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election. Another reason for her defeat may have been due to her "controversial profile, which included a suggestion that the U.S. had advance knowledge of the attacks and that President Bush may have been aware of the attack but failed to warn New Yorkers, allegedly due to his father's business interests: "It is known that President Bush's father, through the Carlyle Group, had–at the time of the attacks–joint business interests with the bin Laden construction company and many defense industry holdings, the stocks of which have soared since September 11." Other factors in her defeat were her opposition of aid to Israel and a perceived support of Palestinian and Arab causes and alleged anti-Semitism by her supporters. On the night before the primary election, McKinney's father stated on Atlanta television that "Jews have bought everybody ... J-E-W-S" in the election, referring to Dekalb County's large Jewish community. During the 2000 presidential campaign, McKinney wrote that "Al Gore's Negro tolerance level has never been too high. I've never known him to have more than one black person around him at any given time." The Gore campaign was outraged and responded by pointing out that Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile, was Black.

McKinney was re-elected to the House in November 2004. In Congress, she advocated unsealing records pertaining to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and continued to criticize the Bush Administration over the 9/11 attacks. She supported anti-war legislation and introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She was defeated by Hank Johnson in the 2006 Democratic primary, after finding herself in the national spotlight again over the March 29, 2006 Capitol Hill Police Incident. She left the Democratic Party in September 2007.

Members of the U.S. Green Party had attempted to recruit McKinney for their ticket in both 2000 and 2004. In 2004, attempts were made to convince McKinney to run on the Green Party ballot line for president and on December 11, 2007, McKinney announced her candidacy for the Green Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 presidential election.

Rice Meets With Libyan Leader

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Friday with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, marking the first trip to that country by a U.S. secretary of state in more than 50 years. The first thing he asked was for the latest news on the hurricanes plaguing U.S. coasts in recent weeks.

Upon her arrival, Rice met with the Libyan foreign minister and then toured the new U.S. Embassy. Afterward she said, "We are working on a trade and investment agreement, a framework, which will allow the improvement of the climate for investment, which I know very many American firms wish to do. She called the meeting a "good start" toward establishing a "positive relationship" with Libya.

Rice and Gadhafi met in a reception room at the Libyan Leader’s compound. Gadhafi was wearing a white robe and a black fez but not his trademark dark sunglasses. He shook the hands of the male members of Rice's staff but not Rice, instead offering the traditional greeting of his hand over his heart for her. Muslim men are prohibited from shaking hands with women to whom they are not related.

After their meeting, Rice joined Gadhafi, who once called her "Leeza ... my darling Black African woman," in a traditional Muslim evening meal breaking the fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Last year in an interview with Al-Jazeera, Gadhafi suggested Rice ran the Arab world with which he has sometimes had harsh differences. "I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders," he said. "I love her very much ... because she's a Black woman of African origin." The two are expected to meet in the leader's Bedouin tent he favors for high-profile meetings.

Rice's visit marks a 180-degree turn in relations between Washington and Tripoli, which for more than three decades have been marked by personal animosity and insults, Libyan terror attacks and U.S. airstrikes. Libya's transformation from being dubbed a "state sponsor of terrorism" to a member of the U.N. Security Council represents a rare foreign policy success for the Bush administration in its last months in office.

Rice acknowledged that Libya is a place that is changing. The United States restored relations with Tripoli in 2005, after Gadhafi's decision to abandon his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, renounce terrorism and compensate victims of the 1986 La Belle disco bombing in Berlin and the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. It also dropped Libya from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, the only country except for Iraq to have been removed. Since then, several U.S. officials have visited Tripoli and Rice has met several times with her Libyan counterpart. The United States opened its embassy in Tripoli in 2006.

The U.S. has praised Libya's cooperation in fighting terrorism in North Africa, where al Qaeda has been gaining a foothold. U.S. officials also say Gadhafi has prevented Libyan and other foreign fighters from traveling to Iraq to join insurgent movements. At the United Nations, Libya has also voted with the U.S, to crack down on Iran's nuclear program and has sought to play a helpful role in the crisis in Darfur.
Yet relations between the two countries face strains over Libya's poor human rights record and final settlement of claims from the La Belle and Lockerbie bombings.

The Bush administration has expressed their wishes to move forward with a new relationship with Libya. The deal paves the way for greater access by American companies to Libya's booming economy, in particular its vast oil reserves, the ninth largest in the world. European companies have had much greater access to Libya's energy sector, but Libyan officials say the improved relations with the United States will result in more deals with American oil companies, including exploring vast areas of the country that remain untapped. The country's growing banking, infrastructure and telecommunications sectors also offer enormous opportunities for American investors.

Secretary of State Rice will travel throughout North Africa after leaving Tripoli, stopping in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. But it is the visit to Libya that the State Department recognizes will be the most talked about.

What the Palin Pick Says About McCain

The selection of a running mate is one of the most important, most defining decisions a presidential nominee can make. Senator John McCain’s pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin says a lot about his decision making, and some of it is downright questionable.

We knew McCain is a politician who enjoys winging it, and likes to go with his gut. But it is incredible that someone who has repeatedly emphasized experience in this campaign named an inexperienced governor he, or anyone else barely knows to be his No. 2. This is what I believe the pick tells us about Senator McCain:

He’s desperate. Let’s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests, especially after what happened at the Democratic National Convention. The truth is McCain is tied or trailing in every swing state that matters — and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana that the Republicans usually win pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election — and are very sick of the Bu$h years. McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike.

McCain’s pick shows he is not pretending. Politicians, even loose canons like McCain, play it safe when they think they are winning, or see an easy path to winning. They roll the dice only when they know that the risks of traditionalism are greater than the risks of boldness. President Bu$h has turned the Republican brand into a mess. McCain is concluding that it won’t work to duplicate the George W. Bu$h and Karl Rove electoral formula, based around fear of threat to national security.

The Republicans are dying in dire need of a change from their normal old White men. She is a fresh new face, but she still follows the same party line. The McCain campaign hopes she will prompt voters to give him a second look, especially women who have watched Democrats reject Hillary Clinton for Barack Obama.

The risks of a backlash from choosing someone so unknown and so untested are obvious. In one swift stroke, Senator McCain demolished what had been one of his main arguments against Senator Obama.


McCain is willing to gamble — big time. This is not the pick of a self-confident candidate. It is the political equivalent of a trick play or, as some Democrats called it, a Hail Mary pass in football. McCain talks constantly about experience, and then goes and selects a person he hardly knows, who hardly knows foreign policy and who can hardly be seen as instantly ready for the presidency.

He is smart enough to know it could work, at least politically. Many Republicans see this pick as a brilliant stroke because it will be difficult for Democrats to run hard against a woman in the wake of the Hillary Clinton drama. But this is not only aimed at them; it is directed at the huge bloc of independent women, especially those who do not see abortion as a make-or-break issue. However, in my opinion, it is the same old Republican like of respect for the mental capacity of anyone who is not a White “old money” male. They break out token “Black” every election time in hopes of putting doubt in the minds of Black folks who have not keeping an eye open. Now they break out their “woman”, thinking women will vote for her without knowing anything about her. Total disrespect for the ability of women to think.

McCain is worried about the political implications of his age. Like a driver overcorrecting out of a swerve, he chooses someone who is two years younger than the youthful Obama, and 28 years younger than he is. (He turned 72 Friday.) The father-daughter comparison was inevitable when they appeared next to each other. And why did he have to stand beside her when she was speaking – did he plan to jump in if she made a mistake? Hummmmmm…

He’s not worried about the actual implications of his age. He thinks he’s in good health, and Palin wouldn’t be performing the only constitutional duty of a vice president, which is standing by in case a president dies or becomes incapacitated. If he was really concerned about an inexperienced person sitting in the Oval Office we would be talking about vice presidential nominee Mitt Romney or Tom Ridge or Condoleezza Rice. There is no credible way that McCain could say that he picked Palin, who was only elected governor in 2006 and whose most extended public service was as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population 8,471), because she was ready to be president on Day One.

Nor can McCain argue that he was looking for someone he could trust as a close adviser. Most people know the staff at the local Starbucks better than McCain knows Palin. They met for the first time last February at a National Governors Association meeting in Washington. Then, they spoke again, by phone, on Sunday while she was at the Alaska state fair and he was at home in Arizona. Man, this guy just might be worst than Bu$h.

McCain has made a mockery out of his campaign's longtime contention that Barack Obama is too dangerously inexperienced to be commander in chief. Now, the Democratic ticket boasts 40 years of national experience (four years for Obama and 36 years for Joseph Biden), while the Republican ticket has 26 (McCain’s four years in the House and 22 in the Senate.) The McCain campaign has made a bet that the American voter is dumb and gullible and that most voters don’t really care about the national experience or credentials of a vice president, and that Palin’s cheerful personality and gender matters more.

He’s worried about the Republican conservative base. If he had room to maneuver, there were lots of people McCain could have selected who would have represented a break from Washington politics as usual. Senator Joe Lieberman comes to mind (and it certainly came to McCain’s throughout the process). He had no such room. Republican power brokers were furious over feelers about the possibility of choosing a supporter of abortion rights, including the possibility that he would reach out to his friend Lieberman. It is no secret McCain wanted to shake things up in this race — and he realized he was limited to a shake-up conservatives could support. Palin is a committed opponent of abortion who was previously scheduled to keynote the Republican National Coalition for Life's "Life of the Party" event in the Twin Cities this week. I care about unborn babies also, but what gets me about the Republicans is that they seem to care more about unborn babies that they care they care for live people who are having difficulties every day.

His team did manage to play to the media’s love of drama, fanning speculation about his possible choices and maximizing coverage of the decision and take the spotlight off Senator Obama who seemed to be like a snow ball rolling down a hill getting larger and larger. At the end of the day, McCain is still McCain. People may find him a refreshing maverick, or an erratic egotist. In either event, he marches to his own beat. Some like spontaneity, with a touch of impulsiveness, but whether it’s a good calling card for a potential president will depend on the reaction in coming days. Do we really want another one of those in the White House?

“Kip” Ward leads New U.S. Africa Command

General William E. "Kip" Ward, the U.S. Army’s only Black four-star general is Commander, U.S. Africa Command, and the first officer to hold this position. General Ward previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command. General Ward was commissioned into the infantry in 1971. He holds a M.A. in Political Science from Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. in Political Science from Morgan State University. His military education includes the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced courses, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and U.S. Army War College. His military service includes overseas tours in Korea, Egypt, Somalia, Bosnia, Israel, two tours in Germany, and a wide variety of assignments in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. He assumed his current assignment on October 1, 2007.

Prior to assuming his current position, he was the Deputy Commanding General/Chief of Staff, US Army Europe and Seventh Army. While in this capacity he was selected by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to serve as the United States Security Coordinator, Israel - Palestinian Authority where he served from March 2005 through December 2005.

The newly formed U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) is the acknowledgment of the emerging strategic importance of Africa, and recognition that peace and stability on the continent impacts not only Africans, but the interests of the U.S. and international community as well. The creation of AFRICOM enabled the Department of Defense (DoD) to better focus its resources to support and enhance existing U.S. initiatives that help African nations, the African Union, and the regional economic communities succeed. The creation of AFRICOM does not mean the U.S. military will take a leading role in African security matters, nor will it establish large U.S. troop bases. Rather, Africa Command is a headquarters staff whose mission entails coordinating the kind of support that will enable African governments and existing regional organizations, such as the African Standby Force, to have greater capacity to provide security and respond in times of need. AFRICOM builds on the many African-U.S. security cooperation activities already underway, yet will be able to better coordinate DoD support with other U.S. government departments and agencies to make those activities even more effective. I would just like to know why is the U.S. Africa Command headquartered in Germany? If you want to help put some bodies on the ground with money in their pockets.