VALUES
The Global Common Good
This week, as the
international community gathered at the UN,
"an alternate
universe...set up shop across
town." The third Clinton
Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting brought together 1,200
people from 72 countries, including 52
current and former heads of state,
to discuss poverty, education, energy and
climate change, and global health. Last year's CGI
meeting inspired 262
commitments from CGI members,
valued at more than $7.3 billion and benefiting over 500 organizations
that helped people in more than 100 countries. This year, donors had
made more than 100 commitments in the first
24 hours of the meeting, with a
total value of more
than $4.75 billion,
according to the Chronicle of
Philanthropy. CGI
also launched MyCommitment.org,
a forum where people around the world can follow the discussions at CGI
and make
their own commitments to action. President Bill
Clinton opened
the
conference by discussing what brought the participants
together: "We
actually believe we can do it. We believe we
can make a difference."
A
GLOBAL MARSHALL PLAN: In two
years, work by the Clinton Foundation has "avoided
or reduced 20,070,524 tons of greenhouse gas emissions."
The work continued this year, with climate change garnering particular
attention. Al Gore called for a global
energy Marshall Plan. Prince Albert II of
Monaco announced his commitment
to work with the United Nations to support a post-Kyoto treaty addressing
global warming and climate change. Treasury Secretary Hank
Paulson admitted that "it
is impossible to solve this without engaging globally." But this
week, as the U.N.
met to discuss a post-Kyoto agreement, President
Bush skipped the
meetings. Instead, he organized
a "major emitters meeting," which
proposes only
voluntary, "aspirational"
emissions goals, and in effect undermining
U.N. attempts at
mandatory carbon caps. Among the many commitments made toward
reducing climate change at this
year's CGI conference, Wal-Mart committed to sell only concentrated
liquid
laundry detergents
at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club by May 2008, saving "more than 400
million gallons of water, more
than
95 million pounds of plastic resin and more than 125 million pounds of
cardboard." Actor Brad Pitt pledged
$5 million to build
green housing for low-income residents in the
Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and eight American utility companies
"committed to investing $1 billion a year over three years to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 5 million tons a year -- the
equivalent, they said, of taking about a million cars off the road."
And Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) announced the development of a 300
megawatt solar power plant that will provide clean electricity to approximately 450,000 homes.
To
see all climate change commitments, click here.
POVERTY WORK
FROM THE TOP DOWN: Center
for American Progress Senior Fellow Gayle
Smith hosted a discussion
between various leaders
of anti-poverty groups.
Participants discussed their work in
encouraging land ownership in Africa, investing $300
million into Liberia's private sector, and connecting
impoverished people with low-cost, high-value technology such as
solar-powered computers. CGI member Zaher Al Munajjed,
chairman of Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited, emphasized
the importance of company policies that encourage charitable giving
among their
employees. "It
is something that should be followed by the CEO, himself.
He should care and follow it like he looks at his profit every
quarter," said Al Munajjed. "It requires the leadership of the top man
[or woman] and if it's not there, it will not work." The XL Results
Foundation committed $1,000,000 to help train and support female
leadership and entrepreneurship in India. To view all poverty
alleviation commitments, click here.
EXPANDING
ACCESS TO EDUCATION: For the first time, this year's CGI added the topic of education to its docket. Actress Angelina Jolie and former Clinton National
Economic
Adviser Gene
Sperling announced the expansion of a partnership that would contribute $150
million in educational efforts to
help teaching Iraqi and
Palestinian refugees, launch Sesame Street
Afghanistan, and expand the Healing Classrooms initiative for
kids in
Afghanistan and Darfur. Valentino
Achak Deng,
whose story of his flight from Sudan as a young man is chronicled in
Dave Eggers' "What is the What," moved the audience with his personal
story. "Today I have come to notice we as the people of the world have
much in common than we even know. And we can only be able to
learn
that if we spread education to everyone in any corner of the world," he
said. To support more children who lack access to
schools, Teach
for All,
a partnership between Teach for America and Teach First, committed
$6,000,000 in the first year to support school development in at least
seven countries in Africa. To view all education commitments, click here.
PREVENTIVE CARE APPROACH TO GLOBAL HEALTH: In
a session
devoted to maternal and infant health, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg committed $1.2 billion from Norway to the cause. Center for
American Progress fellow Thomas
Kalil noted, "I
think that's
even more impressive when you consider that Norway
has a population of 4.7 million. So for
the United States to make a similar commitment would be $60 billion so that’s pretty significant." Former Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN),
who committed to engaging resources to reduce preventable diseases among young
children,
moderated a working group discussion on inexpensive, effective ways to
improve health care across the world. Helen Gayle, the
president
and CEO of CARE, suggested midwife training. "It doesn't cost a
lot to train a skilled birth attendant, $30,
$50 to train somebody who could make a huge difference in impacting the lives of women who now die needlessly due to maternal
mortality, hemorrhage, et cetera." To view all global health
commitments, click here.
RADICAL
RIGHT -- LIMBAUGH SAYS TROOPS WHO OPPOSE THE IRAQ WAR ARE 'PHONY
SOLDIERS': This
week, right wing radio host Rush
Limbaugh referred to American service members who favor withdrawing
from Iraq as "phony
soldiers." While discussing and
disparaging war critics, a caller
to Limbaugh's show, who identified himself as an active-duty soldier,
said that anti-war activists "never talk to real soldiers" to support
their position, to which Limbaugh responded "phony soldiers." In
response, Iraq war vet Jon Soltz wrote that Limbaugh's
comments
are directed at "the
majority of troops on the ground in Iraq" because they
do not back the President's failed
policy. On
Sept. 20, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced a non-binding
resolution that stated that the
Senate would condemn any
effort to attack the honor and integrity" of "all
members
of the United States Armed Forces." Seventy-two
senators voted for that
amendment. Similarly, 341
members
of the House recently passed a companion resolution to that of
Cornyn's. For all the members of Congress who rushed to make political
hay over an empty resolution, the
spotlight is on them. Will they
now enforce their "sense of the
Senate" and condemn Rush Limbaugh?
CONGRESS -- SEN. JIM
BUNNING
REVEALED
AS SENATOR BEHIND SECRET HOLD ON PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS BILL: Last
week, the Progress Report noted that
an anonymous senator had placed a hold on a bill that would
restore public access to Presidential records, which President Bush had
sealed indefinitely with an
executive order in
2001. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was originally
suspected of being the senator behind the secret hold until a member of his staff
contacted the Progress Report to "state for the record
that" Sen. Coburn "is
not holding this bill related to presidential records." With
Coburn out of the running, the mystery of who was attempting to
block public access to Presidential records continued. But now, the
Sunlight Foundation has revealed that the senatorial hand behind the
secret hold is Sen.
Jim Bunning (R-KY). "Senator Jim
Bunning (R-KY)...has an objection
to moving forward with HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments
of 2007. ... whether or not he has had the hold all along,
Senator
Bunning has been forced to take responsibility for the
objection." Tell Bunning to let the bill come to a vote HERE.
ELECTION -- PARTISAN BALLOT
INITIATIVE IN CALIFORNIA 'VIRTUALLY DEAD': The
LA Times
reported yesterday that a controversial ballot initiative strongly
backed by conservatives in
California "to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to
one by congressional district is virtually
dead with the resignation of
key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds." The New York
Times noted
that if the initiative had passed and "California abandons its
winner-take-all rule while red states like Texas do not, it
will be hard for a Democratic nominee to assemble an Electoral College
majority, even if he or she wins a sizable majority of the popular vote.
That appears
to be just what the backers of the California idea have in mind." It
was later revealed that the backers of the initiative had "contributed nearly $4.5
million to the
group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated
but damaging attacks on Kerry
three years ago." News of the
initiative's demise was greeted with optimistic, but cautious comments
from political strategists. "'We want to to make sure this
is not the Freddy Krueger of
initiatives,' said one consultant today, 'that comes back to
life. We'll
continue to monitor it.'"
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The decision by the four
leading frontrunners for the GOP
presidential nomination to skip
last night's debate that
focused on issues related to
people of color elicited outrage from the rest of the field. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee said he was "embarrassed,"
and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) said the absence of the leading
candidates was a "disgrace."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected a U.S. Senate proposal calling
for the partitioning of Iraq.
"Iraqis are eager for Iraq's unity.
... Dividing Iraq is a problem and a decision like that would
be a catastrophe," he said.
One of members of the Jena 6 -- Mychal Bell -- "was released
on bail on Thursday, a week after the case drew thousands of protesters
to the small town in the central part of the state." The Jena district
attorney announced that "he would
not seek to maintain adult charges against the teenager."
An initial
State Department report on a Sept. 16 shootout in Baghdad involving Blackwater USA says the
private security contractors were "ambushed near the traffic circle and
returned fire before fleeing the scene," a
depiction of events that
contradicts Iraqi findings.
Separately, State has confirmed that
Blackwater personnel have been involved
in 56 shootings while guarding
U.S. officials this past year.
The State Department said
yesterday that "the
first American oil contract in Iraq,"
between the Hunt Oil
Company and the Kurdistan Regional Government," is counterproductive towards
the U.S. goal of "strengthening the country's central government."
"Fourteen "high-value"
terrorism suspects who were transferred to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from secret CIA prisons last year have been formally
offered the right to request lawyers,
a move that could allow them
to join other detainees in challenging
their status as enemy
combatants in a U.S. appellate
court."
"It's a lonely
U.S. Senate for Larry Craig,
whose uncertain
status has upset his social and political standing in the clubby
chamber." McClatchy newspapers observed Craig's interactions with his
colleagues: "[He] mostly moved stiffly through their ranks without
engaging much in the easy jocularity and bipartisan banter that go
on throughout the day."
And finally: Scooter Libby's prison
pseudonym lives on. In the
season premiere of NBC's My
Name Is Earl last night, the show opened with Earl talking about his life in prison.
He then mentioned that for the next two years, he'd be known as inmate
28301-016 -- the same number that the Bureau of Prisons issued to "Scooter" Libby.
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With a vote of 67-29, the Senate passed the State Children's Health
Insurance Act last night, securing a
veto-proof majority.
MISSOURI:
A preliminary injunction in federal court means a branch of Planned
Parenthood in Missouri won't have to shut down.
TEXAS:
Taxpayer dollars are reportedly being used for Gov. Rick Perry (R) to
live in a one million dollar home while the governor's mansion is being
renovated.
JUDICIARY: Supreme
Court will be taking on several cases of interest to states during its
new term starting Oct. 1.
THINK
PROGRESS: MSNBC's
Chris Matthews To Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT):
'Do You Find It Difficult To Debate A Woman?'
THE
SWAMP: First Daughter Jenna Bush
on Iraq: "It's complicated."
SADLY
NO!: The
right-wing is promoting its Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week with a
picture of an Iranian woman being buried, but the picture is actually a
still shot from a 1994 Dutch movie.
DOWN
WITH TYRANNY:
Verizon's Executive Vice President Tom Tauke
has a history of activism against pro-choice causes and groups.
Calling the Army broken "is one of the most offensive statements we can
make."
-- Iraq escalation architect Gen. Jack Keane, 7/27/07
VERSUS
Army Chief of Staff George Casey "told the House Armed Services
Committee that the Army is 'out of balance' and 'the current demand for
our forces exceeds the sustainable supply.'"
-- Boston Globe, 9/27/07
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