June 6 & 20

July 5* & 18

Aug 8 & 22

Sept 5 & 19 

Oct 3 & 17

Nov 8* & 21 

Dec 5 & 19

*Please note that any meeting scheduled on a holiday or election day will be postponed until the next day.

The Council meetings will be held at the James R. Strickland Courtroom, Superior Court in Jacksonville, N.C. at 7pm.

Agendas are available here. Minutes are available here.

pleonasm: the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea.

[Dictionary.com Word of the Day]

Wow…This is a big surprise.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Independent investigators have cleared Lance Armstrong of doping during the 1999 Tour de France and found the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) behaved in ways “completely inconsistent” with testing regulations.

[Reuters: US News]

Tony Fleming brings us this moment of brilliance from Harper’s and the LAT. Bill Clinton could be exactly what the U.N. needs… 

Last January, Harper’s Magazine took a serious look at Bill Clinton as a candidate for UNSG. This morning, the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times added an amusing twist to the possibility that poses a challenge to domestic politics… and maybe to domestic bliss too! 

“The best thing Hillary Rodham Clinton could do for humanity is not run for president. Nothing against her personally, mind you; it’s just that her aspirations could get in the way of her husband’s worthier ones.”

The editors note Bill’s currency among Africans, Europeans and Arabs as well as with many Americans. They suggest also that Bill ”could bridge the growing divide between Washington and much of the world” and help his fellow citizens understand the UN’s mission. “Americans are largely disengaged with the [United Nations]’s actions,” they note. “Bill Clinton at the helm would change that overnight.”

But this won’t happen, say the editors, as long as Hillary continues to be a highly probable candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2008. Even if the practice of denying the office to P5 nationals were overlooked, having a Clinton both at Turtle Bay and in the White House may be too much for the rest of the world.

And the Times’ editors know which they’d prefer.

“If the Security Council members were truly inspired to pick the right man for the job, and if Hillary Clinton’s candidacy were the only obstacle standing between her husband and global leadership (granted, a big if), we’d like to think she’d do the right thing and put her presidential aspirations on hold. The world needs Bill more than the U.S. needs Hillary.”

And the rest of us thought the gives-and-takes in our marriages were challenging!

Related…

[UNSG.org]

 Brought to you by www.QuotationsPage.com.

“Let not the sands of time get in your lunch.”

National Lampoon

[Quotes of the Day]

America is in some big trouble. While crucial issues cry out for leadership, Washington’s parties and politicians are polarized and paralyzed.

But help is on the way if we the people do our thing again.

The founding fathers were great, but their descendents haven’t been too shabby either. In fact, the genius of America is that each generation has redefined freedom in its own terms for its own times.

[Unity '08 blogs]

Added on edit: Charging Rino, Donklephant and the Moderate Voice all have posts on Unity.

Newsweek as this article for some detailed background.

 Interesting movements that Steve Clemons has picked up on…Mr. Zoellick is taking his ball and going home just because he wasn’t picked for the ‘cool team’…

It truly scares me to think that after Ambassador Bolton’s failures at the U.N., that he’d be nominated (and worse, confirmed!) for Deputy Secretary of State.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick didn’t want to “manage” the State Department in the same manner that his predecessor Richard Armitage did. Zoellick wanted to carve out portfolios that he would manage, and left the meat-and-potato operations of…

[The Washington Note]

This is why the Democrats fail.

 Senator Reid is missing the key point to this…It’s not whether or not his decisions and efforts were influenced by the free tickets, it’s the appearance of impropriety. Appearance is always more important than substance in politics and the Democratic Leader should’ve known this…

Senate Democratic Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) accepted free ringside tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to three professional boxing matches while that state agency was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing.

[washingtonpost.com - A Section]

The White House shake-up continues…Of course, Secretary Snow’s departure has been expected for what seems like years! 

Mr. Paulson has the Wall Street cred that the administration feels Treasury needs right now…Snow and his predecessor, O’Neil, are both academics, economists, and weren’t highly experienced in the mindsets of traders.

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Paulson works, if he has any real authority (Snow and O’Neil were both White House policy wonks and really didn’t work without close supervision).

Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson is set to be named the new U.S. Treasury Secretary, according to an administration source.

[CNN.com]

equable: equal and uniform; also, not easily disturbed.

[Dictionary.com Word of the Day]