Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton asks a question of the crowd during a campaign stop at the University of Pittsburgh.
(Keith Srakocic/AP)
Richard Robb of Mayo helped develop this ‘vision dome’ to immerse doctors in a scan, letting them travel through the insides of a heart. (JEFFREY MACMILLAN FOR USN&WR)
The Democratic presidential candidates are challenging each other’s credibility as never before. And the hard-edged tone of the campaign is raising doubts that the two sides will be able to unite for the fall showdown with Republican candidate John McCain, who is running even with both Clinton and Obama in the polls.
Egged on by Obama surrogates, the cable TV networks and the blogosphere have been filled with stories about how Clinton vastly exaggerated the danger she was in during a trip to Bosnia with her daughter, Chelsea, in March 1996. During a speech last week on Iraq, she said, “I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia and…there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn’t go, so send the first lady. That’s where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base.”
Clinton has now admitted that she “misspoke.” But that was only after TV news clips of the incident began running on TV and on the Internet—contradicting her. Further, reporter Ron Fournier of the Associated Press was on the trip and, in a report filed yesterday and entitled “Hillary’s Flight of Fancy,” he says, “Hogwash. The truth is: There was no sniper fire. Nobody ducked for cover.”
[9/11 money on stock exchange- making to secret bank accounts]“the real Issue on 9/11 and terror financial things…
what Clinton understand but can not tell it about.
In a radio interview yesterday on KDKA in Pittsburgh, Clinton said, “I say a lot of things—millions of words a day. So if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement.”
But Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor wasn’t so dismissive. He said the claim was part of “a growing list of instances in which Senator Clinton has exaggerated her role in foreign and domestic policy making.” Clinton critics saw the incident as particularly damaging because it undermines her claim to have hands-on experience to be commander in chief while she says Obama is a naive neophyte on such matters.
Obama strategists add that Clinton has also exaggerated her role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, negotiating “open borders” in the Kosovo region, and on other issues. They say she will do anything and say anything to win.
For their part, Clinton strategists have issued a lengthy bill of particulars challenging Obama’s credibility. “Once again, the Obama campaign is getting caught saying one thing while doing another,” the Clinton campaign said in a news release Tuesday. “They are personally attacking Hillary even though Sen. Obama has been found misspeaking and embellishing facts about himself more than 10 times in recent months.”
Their criticisms range from the serious to the trivial, such as his claiming to be a law professor at the University of Chicago when he was only a senior lecturer, to his exaggerating his role in arranging a Senate compromise on immigration. The Clinton campaign also said, “Obama misspoke about his being conceived because of Selma.” Quoting the New York Times of March 5, 2007, the campaign noted that, “Mr. Obama relayed a story of how his Kenyan father and his Kansan mother fell in love because of the tumult of Selma, but he was born in 1961, four years before the confrontation at Selma took place. When asked later, Mr. Obama clarified himself, saying, ‘I meant the whole civil rights movement.’ “
In another E-mail to reporters this morning, the Clinton campaign said, “In the end, Sen. Obama’s words cannot erase Hillary’s 35-year record of action because when all is said and done, words aren’t action. They are just words.”
) is the twenty-first film in the James Bondseries and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. Based on the 1953novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis and directed by Martin Campbell.It is the third screen adaptation of the Casino Royale novel, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 satirical film. However, the 2006 film is the only EON Productions adaptation of Fleming’s novel. It is a reboot of the Bond franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede any previous film.[3] This not only frees the Bond franchise from more than forty years of continuity, but allows the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond.[4] The film is set at the beginning of James Bond’s career as Agent 007, having earned his licence to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami Airport, Bond falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury agent assigned to provide the money he needs to foil a high-stakes poker tournament organized by Le Chiffre. The 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, will be a direct sequel to Casino Royale and will continue some aspects of the story such as Le Chiffre’s associate, Mr. White, and Lynd’s Algerian boyfriend.
The casting for the movie involved a widespread search for a new actor to portray James Bond, and significant controversy over Daniel Craig when he was eventually selected. Some Pierce Brosnan fans threatened to boycott the film in protest.[5] Despite this, the film, and Daniel Craig’s performance in particular, earned critical acclaim. Casino Royale was produced by EON Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, marking the first official Bond film to be co-produced by the latter studio, which had produced and originally distributed the 1967 non-canonical film version. Casino Royale is the highest grossing James Bond film to date,[6] the 38th highest-grossing film of all time,[7] and the 6th highest grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom.[8]
In Prague, James Bond corners and kills corrupt MI6 section chief Dryden and his underworld contact, earning his double-0 status. Meanwhile in Uganda, a Mr. White arranges a meeting between a banker, Le Chiffre, and the leader of a guerrilla group seeking a safe haven for his funds. Le Chiffre assures the leader that there is “no risk in the portfolio”, but his investments actually involve considerable risk: he short sells successful companies and then engineers terrorist attacks to sink their stock values.
In his first mission as Agent 007, Bond goes to Madagascar in pursuit of an international bomb-maker named Mollaka. After a free running[9] chase across the city to the Nambutu embassy, Bond kills his target and blows up a part of the embassy to enable his escape. He obtains Mollaka’s mobile phone and discovers that it has received an SMS from Alex Dimitrios, an associate of Le Chiffre in the Bahamas. Bond travels there, wins his Aston Martin DB5, and seduces Dimitrios’ wife, Solange, who reveals that her husband is flying to Miami on business. Bond follows him to Miami, where he kills Dimitrios before noticing Le Chiffre’s henchman, Carlos, leaving for the Miami Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre’s plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner, leaving the banker with a major financial loss, since he had shorted and bought put options on Skyfleet stock which expired worthless.
Now under pressure to recoup his clients’ money, Le Chiffre sets up a high-stakes Texas hold ‘em tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Hoping that a defeat would force Le Chiffre to aid the British government in exchange for protection from his creditors, MI6 enters Bond into the tournament. He meets up with Mathis, his ally in Montenegro, and Vesper Lynd, a treasury agent, who is assigned to look after his handling of the government’s $10 million buy-in. As the tournament progresses, Bond loses his initial stake and becomes enraged when Vesper refuses to authorize him to buy back in because she considers his play reckless.
Bond (right) and Le Chiffre (left) play poker at the Casino Royale.
Distraught over his failure, Bond prepares to assassinate Le Chiffre when he is intercepted by CIA officer Felix Leiter, also playing in the tournament. Leiter offers to supply Bond with the funds to re-enter the tournament in exchange for allowing the CIA custody of Le Chiffre. Back in the game, Bond rapidly recoups his losses when Le Chiffre and his associates attempt to poison him, an attempt Bond narrowly survives before winning the tournament. Following her celebratory dinner with Bond, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre, who uses her to lure Bond into a near-fatal car chase and ultimate capture. Le Chiffre tortures Bond for the access code to the game’s winnings and when it becomes clear that Bond will not yield, Le Chiffre prepares to castrate him. Mr. White enters and executes Le Chiffre and his associates for their failure. Bond and Vesper are left untouched.
Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and orders Mathis, whom Le Chiffre identified as a double agent working for him, arrested. Bond admits his love for Vesper and vows to quit the service before it strips him of his humanity. Accordingly, he posts his resignation to M and goes on a romantic holiday in Venice with Vesper. However, Bond soon learns that his poker winnings were never deposited into the Treasury’s account. Realizing that Vesper has stolen them, he pursues her and members of the organization she is working for into a building under renovation. After killing the henchmen in the building, Bond finds Vesper imprisoned in an elevator. Apologizing to him tearfully, she locks herself inside and the elevator plunges underwater. Bond dives in and attempts to rescue her, but she resists him and drowns. Mr. White, watching from a balcony, walks away with the money.
Bond, feeling betrayed, learns that Vesper had a French-Algerian boyfriend who was kidnapped and held for ransom by the organization behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White. Bond learns that she agreed to deliver the ransom money (his winnings) only if they would consent to leave Bond alive as well as her boyfriend. He discovers White’s name and number in Vesper’s mobile phone. White, arriving at a palatial estate near Lake Como, receives a phone call and is shot in the leg. Bond appears, gun in hand, and says, “The name’s Bond, James Bond.”
Daniel Craig as James Bond: A British agent who, after being assigned 00-status, is sent on a mission to arrest a bomb maker in Madagascar, where he stumbles upon Le Chiffre’s terrorist cell and is then sent to defeat him in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale.
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd: An agent for HM Treasury assigned to supervise Bond and finance his poker table exploits. She is actually affiliated to global terrorists and thought to be based on SOE agent Krystyna Skarbek.[10]
Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: A banker serving the world’s terrorists. He is a mathematical genius and chess expert, and uses these skills when playing poker.
Judi Dench as M: The strict head of MI6. Though she feels she has promoted Bond too soon and expresses abhorrence of his rash actions, she acts as an important maternal figure in his life.
Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter: A quiet CIA operative participating in the poker tournament while assisting Bond. This is the first official Bond film in which Leiter is played by a black actor.[11]
Caterina Murino as Solange Dimitrios: Dimitrios’s wife, whom Bond seduces. She is killed by Le Chiffre for unintentionally revealing one of his plans to Bond.
Two major exclusions from the film are the characters of Q and Miss Moneypenny. Their exclusion makes Casino Royale the second film in the series without Q (Live and Let Die being the first), and the first without Moneypenny. In October 2005, producer Michael G. Wilson stated that the characters were not in the movie because they were not in the book, though Moneypenny was mentioned by Bond in the novel. The decision to leave Moneypenny’s character out from the film coincided with the announcement by actress Samantha Bond, who had portrayed the character in the previous four films, that she would not be reprising the role.[12]
With all the rumors floating around on web sites out there you´d think there was an international collusion by governments in Europe and the United States dispersing polymer mixtures into clouds to modify weather conditions for military communications purposes, secret projects for deflecting the sun´s rays to prevent global warming, and final preparations for the New World Order. Yes,see clooney in Batman-Scientology film and more,Star Trek-Wars bullhorn shit.Sounds fantastic. But maybe that´s the endgame of the power elite and their terror fake f@cking regimes. To get people used to these activities until the day it no longer is a test.”This is you have your problem.”Al Gore,Merkel,Bush,Kissinger,Obama,Clinton,Scientists,Politicans,…for a big judgement day or you go back and make it better.
The evidence shown in countless photographs of chemtrails different to contrails show grid patterns but what does that prove if you can actually take an actual sample of these supposed trails? Hardly a man of theology, I still know that evidence is crucial before making a specific claim about something. I´ve seen contrails all my life forming grids and most of them look suspiciously like, well, jet contrails. I couldn´t be less surprised that these trails actually cross each other every day considering the amount of congested air traffic between ten and thirty-five thousand feet running in all directions across our planet.
Nevertheless, in the light of current events in the last seven years, I have this urge to put on my tin foil hat and try to empathize with the “evidence” found on certain web sites like Chemtrails911.com where you are shown photographs of contrails, of one sort or other, altered by wind conditions.
Not Chemtrails!!!I am denying these are may be not chemtrails, that planes are not spraying barium salt[in prison agaist life in tea], polymer fibers, aluminum oxide and other chemicals into the atmosphere. Solely the presentation of photographs and other anecdotal evidence is not enough.As in someone reporting:“Hello, We SAW all kinds of chemtrails all over in the skies where we live TODAY AT 12 NOON IN MORTON MISSISSIPPI, but it was so strange this morning at 4.30 am when I took the dog out because she needed to go potty and I stood outside waiting on her that I felt that there was a canopy all over our area and I was feeling the particles hitting my face I thought it was fog but it was not because it felt weird.” The E. Family, Morton MS” -January 18, 2008 7:31 PM
Like salt you feel like water in your cruel face.
Sounds sincere and convincing enough for me, but not enough to hold our government accountable for illegal weather manipulation if that is the case. I want to know what he or she did about it that day. Did they dial 800-232-4636 for the Center for Disease Control? Benzene, metals, and any other unidentified chemicals fall under the CDC´s Chemical Emergency category.Did the particles dissolve or remain on the skin? If they remained, was it collected and sealed in some type of container for further analysis? Probably not, but this is what the people who are looking for chemtrail evidence should be prepared to do if they can.In a letter found on the Will Thomas site (http://www.willthomasonline.net/willthomasonline/MD_Slams_Chemtrails.html) there is a letter by Dr. J. Michael Pece whose own hair analysis indicated high Barium levels after the appearance of chemtrails. What are “high” levels? Also-the ppm scala is to high in your genetic particals.After scrolling further down the Chemtrails911.com webpage, finally, there is something a little closer to “evidence” offered that is much more convincing. After looking at the video I started to think that maybe there is much to be found about chemtrails on the other side of the Atlantic.
Video of German news broadcast:
This is an English subtitled video of a German evening news program called Guten Abendwhere it shows cloud patterns superimposed on a weather map of The Netherlands and Germany. What was not explained; the clouds were yellowish, something I´d never noticed before on weather forecasts here in Europe. Was this the actual color of the 350 kilometer cloud mass over Holland or something that happens when meteorological radar patterns are transposed/superimposed over maps for the daily weather report? I called up the RTL news station in The Netherlands, and they said they had no idea of why the clouds showed up yellow on the German network and suggested it could be a color channel imcompatibility.
Nonetheless, at this point, I became intrigued with the video of the newscast. Shots of fighter jets in the sky. The German army admits it has war exercises over the border with The Netherlands. Karsten Brandt, a meteorologist for Guten Abend news, provides this explanation:“We can state with 97% certainty that we have on our hands chemical trails comprised by fine dust containing polymers and metals used to disrupt radar signals. This is their main purpose, but I was surprised that this artificial cloud was so widespread. The radar images are stunning considering they needed tons of dispersed elements. Although the Federal army only claims that small amounts of material were propagated. The military heads claim that the substances used were not harmful.”
Substances not harmful? Naturally this is the kind of response I would expected from any government. They are not going to say, sure, this is really bad stuff that will mess with your autoimmune system and cause a myriad of cancers. They are not going go out of their way to prove it´s harmless to human beings. See politics know about the poison stuff on things like fluoride in water at a ppm status.Maybe this is why the German government refuses to give further explanations to its population. [look Operation Antaris Website in Google]Now doesn´t that sound familiar. In Germany and in the US (U.S. Code, Title 50, Chapter 32, Section 1520a ), weather manipulation is supposed to be illegal[also for going to jail in all their lifetime}, even if it is disguised as a military exercise-Haarp,also . On the other hand, the traces of benzene found in vapors that ordinary civilian jet aircraft disperse all over the world can also be considered chemical trails. Somewhere there is written what is an acceptable level of how much bad stuff can be spewed into the earth´s atmosphere. Somewhere, someone has claimed planes in the U.S. are spraying cocktails of barium salt, polymer fibers, and aluminum oxide. The problem for this claim is always the same. Exactly where is this “official” information coming from? A very specific source of information-Or look Google and Windows Life or IDs on government politic persons,global tax,deutsche bank,carbon tax,bilderberger and SB-Scientology/Bilderberger.Yet, we know from experience, anything is possible from governments that love to intrude into every orifice of our lives. So I´m back to my bad instincts about governments, to the point where I cannot prove some things one way or the other without being privy to some inner circle. Where there´s no real evidence to present to authorities and no one to contact who will give me a straight answer, either because the answer is classified or the Flappers, the mouthpieces for our government, have no idea themselves and ignorantly disseminate standard boilerplate explanations the public is supposed to buy.
Yet “chemtrails” is a term that is used by our government in House Bills. As in H. R. 2977, under the Space Preservation Act of 2001, (http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/hr2977.html) mentions, under Definitions, (1)B(ii) this very term along with others, like high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems, plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons; laser weapons systems; strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons.
The entire list of exotic weapons was omitted from later versions of the bill yet it´s pretty clear the “chemtrails” term did exist.
For others, the chemtrail issue is another blown up a dumb theory while parent,friends and other asses say this issue.
Odd grids and parallel-line patterns are easily explained as contrails blown around by the wind. This is from a scientist, Patrick Minnis, of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. But if you believe chemtrails are out there, your first thought might be: is Minnis one of the many scientists in on the conspiracy, or, at best, not part of the inner circle? What would his answer be to “black beams”? Bad photography? Adobe Photoshop?
What to believe.
“That is not to say that there could not be an occasional, purposeful experimental release of, say, high altitude barium for standard wind tracking experiments.” Another physicist, M. Kim Johnson, in a letter put out by the New Mexico Attorney General, who makes this statement mainly to address the photographs of contrails as credible evidence, which they are not, and goes on extensively on their causes. There is no argument form me on causes but he is still side-stepping, even after he has admitted the government does release barium into the atmosphere.
Like the German government, he downplays it because barium is only used in small amounts. What does “small” amounts mean? Do you measure it in ounces or tons? He may be a physicist but how well is he informed on biochemical technologies? About the vast amount of research already done by private companies contracted by governments for military defense? It has to be tested somewhere. <But a big issue to control all of our life in every part and commercial economy–SB!
There are dozens, maybe hundreds of web sites on chemtrails. But imagines are not enough pin the government down with. We need to have a lot more than that. Like who´s behind it. To be an impartial witness to anything you must only report on what can be backed up by solid evidence.
So based on this, there isn´t enough evidence for me to believe completely in all the chemtrail theories nor the government´s version and the scientists who try to debunk those theories. Information from the German news station provides the best “evidence” so far but I could not get a copy of that analysis from Guten Abend.
And the big Layer in –\Germany— is Prof.Martin Claussen from Hamburg and you know the stuff of terror from hamburg and 9/11—SB Corruption for jail.
It’s not the first time that the discount supermarket chain Lidl has been accused of maltreating its employees. But observing them on the toilet? Listening in on their private phone calls? An explosive report published this week by a German newsmagazine has triggered an investigation into the retailer.
Lidl is a super cheap alternative to the standard supermarket. But critics claim its ethical standards seem to be equally cheap.
The European discount supermarket chain Lidl sells itself with the slogan “Where quality is cheaper.” And when it comes to its employee practices, it certainly appears to be cheap, if new allegations turn out to be true.According to a report by the German weekly magazine Stern, Lidl has been spying for months on employees in several of its outlets. The company has allegedly been hiring detectives to investigate workers, both on the job, on the toilet and on cigarette and coffee breaks.
The explosive report triggered a government probe into the allegations on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg described the claims as “unparalleled,” telling SPIEGEL ONLINE: “The supervisory authority has launched an investigation into possible violations of privacy protection rules.” The ministry has jurisdiction because Lidl’s corporate headquarters are located in the city of Neckarsulm in the state. The spokesperson said investigations could take several weeks and wanted to make no predictions about their possible outcome or consequences.
The bulk of the reports cited by Stern come from Lidl outlets in the state of Lower Saxony, plus individual ones from Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein. The observation practices were routine, the report alleges: A detective would install between five and 10 miniature cameras in the store, telling the manager it was an anti-theft measure, and then used the technology to observe employees’ behavior.
Stern claims to have obtained hundreds of pages of transcripts that document the movements and conversations of employees. “Wednesday, 4:45 p.m.: Although Ms. N. has not accomplished much in the food and reduced wares department, she takes her break right on time. She sits together with Ms. L.; they talk about their wages, bonuses and paid overtime. Ms. N. hopes that her pay has been transferred already because she desperately needs money for this evening (reason = ?)”.
The transcripts also get into employees’ private lives (“Her circle of friends consists mainly of junkies”) and appearances (“Ms. M. has tattoos on both lower arms”). In their tone and detail, the transcripts invite comparison to those of the Stasi, the East German secret police.
Particularly obscene is a report from the Czech Republic where, according to Stern, female employees were allegedly prohibited from going to the bathroom during work hours, unless she had her period — which she was to indicate outwardly by wearing a headband. While Lidl denies the report, it has yet to issue an injunction on a citizen’s group or a newspaper that are publicizing the case widely.
Lidl has not denied the existence of the transcripts but claims that they were not intended as “employee observation but rather to establish possible misconduct.” Stern quotes Lidl spokesperson Petra Trabert, who distanced herself from the detailed personal accounts and claimed that such “references and observations do not correspond with the tone or diction we use with our employees.”
Achim Neumann, retail expert of the service employees union Ver.di described the dimensions of the allegations as “completely new to me” and told SPIEGEL his union would provide support to any Lidl employees who saught to take legal action against the retailer. He called Lidl’s alleged behavior “a mess beyond compare.”According to Ver.di, the observation transcripts respresent a violation of both data protection laws and human dignity, as it is defined and protected by the constitution.
In 2004, Verdi published “Das Schwarz-Buch Lidl Europa” (The Black Book on Lidl in Europe), documenting what it claimed to be the chain’s systematic abuse of its employees’ rights. An updated version in English translation appeared in 2006. It countains allegations of breaches of working-time directives, withheld salary payments, threats against union members as well as spying and eavesdropping on workers.
With 7,000 stores in Germany, Lidl rivals competitor Aldi as the country’s No. 1 discount supermarket. It operates in over 17 countries across Europe and has an annual sales volume of over €43 billion ($68 billion).
Students enter one of the buildings at Punahou School, where tuition now tops $16,000 per year, is seen Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 1971, a 10-year-old boy named Barry Obama enrolled at the private Punahou School and entered an unfamiliar world of privilege where he initially felt out of place. But he kept those feelings to himself and eventually prospered at the school.
HONOLULU (AP) — In 1971, a 10-year-old boy named Barry Obama enrolled at the private Punahou School and entered an unfamiliar world of privilege where he initially felt out of place. But he kept those feelings to himself and eventually prospered at the school.
Obama came from a modest background; suddenly his peers were the island’s richest and most accomplished students. Around that time, America Online founder Steve Case, actress Kelly Preston and former Dallas Cowboys lineman Mark Tuinei attended the school, which offers kindergarten through 12th grade on a lush hillside campus overlooking the Waikiki skyline and Pacific Ocean.
Arriving after living four years in Indonesia, Obama felt like a misfit in his Indonesian sandals and old-fashioned clothes, the Democratic presidential contender recalled in his 1995 memoir, “Dreams From My Father.”
Most of his classmates lived in “split-level homes with swimming pools,” he wrote. Obama lived in an apartment near school and worked at a burger chain and Baskin-Robbins before graduating.
“Rarely did I meet kids whose families had less than mine and might remind me of good fortune,” he wrote.
But former classmates and teachers say Barack Obama — known then as Barry — never revealed such feelings. They describe him as upbeat and friendly, able to move between traditional high school cliques.
“He seemed to negotiate through school very well,” said Eric Kusunoki, Obama’s homeroom teacher for four years.
Obama also has spoken fondly of the school. He has said Punahou’s emphasis on instilling values taught him to create a foundation for his life. And he has called for every child in the nation to have the type of education he enjoyed there.
Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, said the school allowed her brother to see the vast inequities in the nation’s education system and push for a public school curriculum that balances “practical” with “poetic and philosophical education.”
Soetoro-Ng also attended Punahou and remembered taking classes in photography and Russian literature while also learning how to write a resume.
“It was a kind of education … where classes were small enough that each individual child got nurtured, where tests weren’t as high stakes, where there were projects and papers, and the whole child was attended to,” she said.
When Obama was there, the islands’ most prestigious school offered a class in glass blowing, exchange trips to Japan and the opportunity to work on a literary magazine.
But Soetoro-Ng said the school also had drawbacks: It could be insular; few students came from economically underprivileged backgrounds.
In 1979, the year Obama graduated, tuition for high school students at Punahou was $1,990, a sizable expense compared with Hawaii’s median family income of $22,750 that year.
Some of Obama’s former classmates say they, too, felt out of place when they started at the school.
Bart Burford, who graduated with Obama, came to Punahou in sixth grade from public school and said he had a tough time adjusting to his monied peers.
“I didn’t understand how people could be so snobby,” the Honolulu resident said in a recent interview.
Tom Boyle, another classmate of Obama’s, also came to Punahou from public school and recalled another student pointing out that his clothes didn’t match.
In a state that defines people by the high school they attended, Hawaii’s public school students often view Punahou graduates as elitist and scoff at them even into adulthood.
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, reminded voters before Hawaii’s recent Democratic caucus that Obama went to Punahou, which he said “was not a school for the impoverished.”
Inouye, 37 years older than Obama and a graduate of public McKinley High School down the hill from Punahou, is supporting Obama’s rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Democratic presidential race.
Obama shot back that he attended the school on a scholarship and was raised by a single mom and grandmother.
“Shame on Danny for trying to pull that stunt,” he said.
Obama’s feelings of not fitting in were heightened by his race. As one of the few black students at Punahou — and among a small group of blacks on the island — he remembered in his memoir someone wanting to touch his hair and being asked whether his father ate people on his first day of school.
He wrote about struggling with his racial identity and turning to marijuana to block out the questions.
But classmates and teachers say Obama blended in well. He served on the editorial board of the school’s literary magazine, played varsity basketball and sang in the choir. He went on the occasional date.
A self-described “goof off” who didn’t focus on work and spent much of his time thinking about girls, Obama did well enough.
“He was just a normal boy,” said Bob Torrey, who taught Obama U.S. history and described him as a B-student. “He was very popular with his classmates.”
In his memoir, Obama said his status improved over time, his prowess as a basketball player helping him make some of his closest friends. And in a December 2004 visit to campus, he spoke positively about his experience.
“There was something about this school that embraced me,” he told students and faculty, “gave me support and encouragement and allowed me to grow and prosper.”
Wer hätte das geahnt: Ahnenforscher wollen herausgefunden haben, dass Barack Obama ein entfernter Cousin von Brad Pitt ist, und Hillary Clinton ausgerechnet mit dessen Freundin Angelina Jolie verwandt ist.Obama und Pitt sind Cousins neunten Grades. Gemeinsames Verbindungsglied war ein gewisser Edwin Hickman, der 1769 in Virginia starb. Bei Clinton und Jolie ist es ebenfalls ein Verhältnis neunten Grades – hier treffen sich die beiden Linien im frühen 18. Jahrhundert bei Jean Cusson aus Quebec.Die Ahnen Obamas und Clinton zeigten, dass die beiden Kontrahenten sich einander näher seien, als sie in ihren öffentlichen Auftritten glauben machen wollten, sagte der Genealoge Christopher Child. Der Forscher hat sich drei Jahre lang mit den Vorfahren der Präsidentschaftskandidaten beschäftigt.
Dabei konnte er nachweisen, dass Obamas Stammbaum in seinen Verzweigungen zahllose US-Präsidenten beherbergt. Zu seinen entfernten Cousins gehören der Amtsinhaber George W. Bush ebenso wie dessen Vater George H.W. Bush. Außerdem gibt es da auch noch Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman und James Madison. Im Klub der Obama-Cousins sind auch Vizepräsident Dick Cheney und der britische Premierminister Winston Churchill. “Seine Verwandtschaft umfasst das ganze politische Spektrum”, erklärt Child.
Hillary Clinton ist von der Seite ihrer Mutter her französisch-kanadischer Abstammung. In dieser Ecke finden sich auch Verwandtschaftsbeziehungen zu Madonna, Celine Dion und Alanis Morissette.
Research conducted by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston found that Clinton and Jolie are distant relatives.
BOSTON (AP) — This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt’s girlfriend, Angelina Jolie & all of this-There is no evidence that Barack Obama has a “Jewish” problem.
Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates — Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.
Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother’s side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.
“You’d think with all that singing talent in the family she’d be able to carry a tune,” Clinton’s senior adviser Philippe Reines said. “But now it makes much more sense how she snagged a Grammy.”
Clinton won for best spoken word Grammy in 1997 for “It Takes a Village.” Obama also won a Grammy in that category this year for the audio version of his book, “The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream.”
Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.
“It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Child said.
Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.
Obama often jokes about his cousin Cheney at campaign appearances.
“His kinships are across the political spectrum,” Child said.
Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates’ genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, “Ancestors of American Presidents.”
Clinton’s distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.
McCain’s ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.
Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.
Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, declined to comment on the senator’s ancestry.
Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.
Nach einem Bericht des Magazins “Stern” hat der Discounter Lidl seine Mitarbeiter in den Filialen systematisch überwacht. Angestellte wurden demnach sogar abgehört und bei der Arbeit – und bei privaten Verrichtungen – gefilmt. Die Gewerkschaft Ver.di reagiert entsetzt. Möglicherweise ermitteln bald die Datenschützer gegen Lidl.
26 März 2008
Der Lebensmitteldiscounter Lidl hat Mitarbeiter nach einem vorab veröffentlichten Bericht des Magazins „Stern” systematisch überwachen lassen. Der Redaktion liegen nach eigenen Angaben interne Lidl-Protokolle vor. Darin sei jeweils mit Tag und Uhrzeit notiert, wann und wie häufig Mitarbeiter auf die Toilette gehen, wer mit wem möglicherweise ein Liebesverhältnis habe, wer nach Ansicht der Überwacher unfähig sei oder „introvertiert und naiv” wirke.
Die meisten dieser Einsatzberichte sollen aus Lidl-Filialen in Niedersachsen stammen. Der „Stern” verwies auch auf Abhörberichte aus Rheinland-Pfalz, Berlin und Schleswig-Holstein. Die Überwachung habe immer nach dem gleichen Muster funktioniert: Am Anfang einer Woche installierten demnach von Lidl beauftragte Detektive in der jeweiligen Filiale meist zwischen fünf und zehn Miniaturkameras. Dem Filialleiter sei erzählt worden, es gehe darum, Ladendiebe aufzuspüren. Tatsächlich hätten die Detektive aber auch ihre genauen Beobachtungen der Lidl-Mitarbeiter notiert.„Diese Dimension ist mir völlig neu”, sagte Achim Neumann, Handelsexperte der Gewerkschaft Ver.di, dem Magazin. Er sei zwar einiges gewohnt von Lidl, von solch einer systematischen Mitarbeiterüberwachung aber habe er noch nie gehört. Klaus Müller-Knapp, Arbeitsrechtler aus Hamburg, sprach laut dem Bericht von einem Skandal, der einen Verstoß gegen Artikel zwei des Grundgesetzes darstelle. Dieser Artikel schützt die freie Entfaltung der Persönlichkeit.
Lidl selbst habe die Existenz der Protokolle nicht bestritten. Sie dienten „nicht der Mitarbeiterüberwachung, sondern der Feststellung eventuellen Fehlverhaltens”, zitiert das Magazin Lidl-Sprecherin Petra Trabert. Auch von den detaillierten Protokollen aus der Privatsphäre der Beschäftigten distanziere sich das Unternehmen im Nachhinein, schreibt der „Stern”. Die „Hinweise und Beobachtungen entsprechen weder im Umgangston noch in der Diktion unserem Verständnis vom Umgang miteinander”, teilte Lidl demnach mit.
Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz, Peter Schaar, erklärte laut der Zeitschrift, dass das Protokollieren eines Toilettenbesuchs einen schweren Verstoß gegen das Bundesdatenschutzgesetz darstelle: „Ich gehe davon aus, dass, wenn solche Vorgänge bekannt werden, die zuständige Datenschutzbehörde tätig wird und Ermittlungen einleitet.”
BRUSSELS, Belgium: Danish legislator Jens-Peter Bonde says he is stepping down as a member of the European Parliament to focus on running a pan-European political movement.
Bonde is one of the assembly’s longest-serving members. He is also co-chairman of the parliament’s Independence and Democracy Group.
He says he will step down on May 9 to lead the EU Democrats as they aim to help Euroskeptics win seats in the EU legislature in the 2009 elections.
He was first elected as a parliamentarian in the first popular vote in 1979, and initially opposed Denmark’s membership of the EU. He has since called for a looser and more transparent European Union.
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