Charlie Rose Science Series
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Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America
by Thomas L. Friedman
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by Thomas L. Friedman
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12/27/2007
Sally Bedell Smith
A conversation with Sally Bedell Smith
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A conversation with Sally Bedell Smith, about the book For Love of Politics - Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years.
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Charlie Rose DVDs on Amazon.
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Audio available through Audible.com.
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Transcripts available through Voxant.
Transcripts available through Voxant.
There is a book titled "compromised" by Terry Reed describing Bill Clinton's activities during his governorship in Arkansas. In this book, Terry tells how Bill and daddy Bush conspired to trade drugs landing at a tiny airport in Ark for weapons to the contras in Honduras. Bill skimmed a percent of the take to finance his ark industrial development. The conspiracy is carefully documented and was hushed up by the justice department. Whistle blowers were offed. Does Sally know about this book? If not, she hasn't done her homework, and if so, she should have mentioned it in her book. Bill's pecadillos pale in comparison with this scandal.
As it's clear to many, Hillary will not only be the front-runner, but will capture the White House, Ms. Smith's biography is timely. If we're going to have two presidents share the Oval Office, I want to know as much as possible about their political partnership. It's going to shape the next eight years. As things go from always bad to even worse in the Bush administration, my only question wold be "How are they going to clean up the mess they'll inherit?"
This author spins an absurd fantasy -- absent the facts of HC's record including the reality that 'we' don't want Billy-boy back in the big house; it ain't happening.
The only interesting part of the interview was Ms. Bedell Smith's suggestion that the L-affair made bi-partisan cooperation between the White House and Congressional Leaders like Gingrich fall apart. Specifically the reform of social security. One thing that always bothers me when Social Security Reform is mentioned is the dirty little secret that the problem of the impending bankruptcy of Social Security is the direct result of political leaders in the past raiding the fund by including it in general revenue to alleviate the need to raise taxes to meet speeding. If that had not been done by both Democrats and Republicans Social Security would not be a problem. We really need to find better people to enter politics and lead us. Maybe it is time to rid ourselves of both these political parties that have proved themselves intellectually bankrupt. Alas given the amounts of money necessary to run for public office in the US and the superficial political coverage of most of the major media, it seems unlikely that we will be able to wake the majority of Americans from their comfortable slumbers. The classic way for governments to control their people is by appealing to fear, hence the rhetoric of "the Red Scare" of the past and "The War On Terror" in the present. "The War on Terror" is like the "War on Drugs' or the "War on Poverty." They are misleading metaphors. Terrorists are not nation states we can make war on. The "War on Terror" will never end thus giving governments a permanent mandate to govern in states of emergency. That was how Republican Rome created an "Emperor" and an Empire out of the military title "Imperator" which originally meant commmander of the army. The other rhetorical technique is the appeal to positive emotions captured in the mouths of politicians of the nearly meaningless phrase "The American Dream." If there is such a thing as an "American Dream" it is the dream of a free people not one controlled by oligarchic minorities. The undue influence on political policies of the major corporations through lobbyists in the US makes our government to quote, I believe, Mark Twain, "The Best that Mmoney can buy." I will vote for the candidate that tells us the truth. Difficult as it might be to find such a candidate, it will be even more difficult for the public to recognized her or him.
Sally Bedell is a very talented biographer. Sadly, she has falled victim to the lure of the prurient. The meaningful story is not the tired rehashing of Bill Clinton's sexploits with Monica Lewinsky, but rather the sad, pathetic and utterly tragic focus the media (and consequently the entire country) placed upon the event. It the Republican leadership's maniacal focus on this non-event thereby revealing a broken system of government that is the real story. Someone needs to write a book on this topic . . . history demands it.
oh please, like we need to hear that old tired gossip about Monica. Yawn. Pass.
You certainly do not hide the face that you are very subjective. As soon as Sally started talking about some of the defects of Clinton's terms you ended the interview immediately. Very Objective, Very Objective. Sure YOU ARE!!!!
She wrote a great book about Princess Diana - short on hype and celebrity mush and long on thoughtful medical research. A bio for grownups.