Bill Clinton

Wyclef Jean: Haiti’s Next President

This is in response to Wyclef’s open letter for his running for Haiti President. You can read his letter here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wyclef-jean/open-letter-why-i-decided_b_672752.html

It is clear, Wyclef has been frustrated by the slow recovery. So, perhaps he feels the need to step in – perhaps believing his fame and money will be the catalyst to make it all happen faster. He is miffed, I am sure, as the rest of the world is – as to why this recovery hasn’t happened at a quicker rate.

But what he doesn’t understand is it is not the lack of desire of the people in Haiti to unite for this effort – they are deeply united, even as they live in tents.

And it is not the governments slacking to create the new Haiti it has promised it’s people – they want this recovery desparately -so they can be a functioning country again. The desire, money and people are readily available for all of this.

It’s simply what always stands in the way of any progress: bureaucracy and politics.

The bureaucracy and oversight of all the agencies involved in this recovery and rebuiding effort of Haiti – is what is preventing the progress to happen faster. It’s dictating the slow pace. It’s holding up the dollars being liquidated and available to do with it what they need to in order to reestablish their infrastructure & to build the new homes and structures that will make the communities whole again.

Unfortunately, Wyclef will learn this after he has won and it’s too late to go back – and he too, will then be a part of the enormous frustration that fuels the citizens of Haiti – them knowing this could all be much further along by now. He will now learn the game of politics – and the UN corruptness at it’s best.

No money and no fame can overpower the deeply entrenched strongholds that cloud over on Haiti. He has to be willing to accept this. His intentions are from his heart and are outstanding! His willingness to alter his life and put his energy and efforts towards his people to show his care, & to be a mentor to his daughter to not just speak about an issue -but do what you can to change it.

But he will soon find out, not even someone as loved as he is in Haiti, and in the global population, will he be able to do much more than what is already being dictated as the way things will go.

I am an optimist, but I think he needs to reconsider this before he jumps in as ‘hero’ only to raise the hopes of these Haitians even more – should he win – only to realize he will be letting them down even more so once he is President.

He is taking on more than just ‘dealing with earthquake recovery’, he is taking on globally entrenched politics. If Bill Clinton hasn’t been able to spark this recovery and rebuilding effort any faster than how it is has gone, (even now with their multimillion dollar debt elimination), there is a very very good reason…one Wyclef might be devasted to find out about his country and the rest of the world.

I wish him the best. He needs to go in “Obama Style” on this – demand the hardest changes and not leave that country until he sees them happen or be willing to die for it. That is what a President should be about in the 21st Century.

So, WJ – are you sure you want to be Haiti’s President?

Clinton Is The Only One

No other president in the history of the United States went on to continue engaging in public service after their presidential term except Bill Clinton.

This truly represents how much he enjoys this type of work. The love he has to help others – to give his time to make positive and lasting impacts in a variety of areas.

To me, this is the finest example of a true public servant!

From Governor of Arkansas to President of the USA for 8 years to immediately after his presidency, Bill Clinton has dedicated his life to this profession.

He didn’t even take much time off post presidency before he started to build his Foundation so his passion to help others could extend globally.

And he is doing a phenomenal job. The results speak for themselves:  http://clintonfoundation.org

This has nothing to do with you being a Democrat or Republican, or if you liked Clinton as our President or not, if you voted for him, or even if you like him as an American citizen.

This has to do with the qualities of an exceptional man. One who puts others before himself or his family.

This is the same man who could have easily run for cover after his presidential term with the embarrassment he exposed himself to, the shame, the dissapointment to the American people, and the humiliation he shed on his wife with his Lewinsky sexual relations scenario.

But he didn’t. He just continued doing what he loves to do and is incredible at doing.

This is more than Bill Clinton wanting to make up for the ‘bad’ he did in the eyes of the American people…even the international community.

He isn’t setting out to gain approval from anyone. Bill Clinton set out many many years ago to pursue a personal mission that he loves, and that passion to help others is still powerfully vibrant.

Clinton’s drive and determination echos loudly through the sustainable results (often life-saving) he has been making across the world and continues to do so through his non-profit Foundation.

Also to note, Clinton doesn’t just keep to his Foundation and stay in this ‘box’. Clinton has also been at the forefront of numerous natural disasters over the years in other nations, being the leader for instant response and quickly rallying the suport of others – to begin dealing with the catastrophic event or devestation, as we have seen most recently in Haiti.

This speaks volumes as to the types of individuals we had sitting as our US President’s before and after Clinton. It makes me now question why they didn’t continue serving…what type of men were they really (well, we know some of the answer to that).

With Obama being a huge advocate on community service prior to his presidency and now currently, I am sure he will be one to follow on Clinton’s path when his presidency is done.

I respect and look up to Clinton in many ways as an entrepreneur and business owner. There is a lot you can learn from him.

After 8 years of being president, and a heart situation, he could easily just enjoy life at a slower pace. But he doesn’t choose that path. Clinton actually still goes at the same pace (even at his age) as he did when he was President of the USA. That is impressive and should be an additional inspiration to us all – besides all the good he has done since he left the government.

7.0 Earthquake crumbles Haiti’s Port-au-Prince

Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010 at around 5pm, Haiti got it’s first taste of catastrophic disaster for this year. An earthquake of devastating proportions. Estimated death toll is to exceed 100,000. And they still haven’t recouped from the 4 Hurricannes in 2008.

Already the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, this devastating earthquake will test their community spirit and will present challenges that no one in the world can imagine – on top of the challenges they already have daily to survive and live a decent life.

The global world’s response has been tremendous; the world rushing to save them. The Dominican Republic, it’s neighbor, was the first to send help, with every country including Iceland, and even businesses following thereafter and continually -sending enormous amounts of money or items of necessities.

I am very proud to inform that our our own Los Angeles Fire Department is one of the first Search and Rescue teams heading there with 72 men and dogs, also bringing searching equipment and medical supplies. The French have deployed their own Search and Rescue team, as well as other countries to follow suit.

Examples of donations include: The NY Yankees donating $500,000 to help, and of course the Pitt-Jolie Foundation donating $1M to Doctors Without Borders to assist with getting medical help to the Haitians.

Anderson Cooper – 360 is the first American reporter (CNN) on the ground in Haiti providing a minute by minute update account of what is going on.

With that said, many have already tweeted that he should stop reporting and just start helping. I tend to agree with the consensus on this.

He walks by people screaming for help burried in rubble, puts the microphone up to them so you can hear their screams, but doesn’t nothing to help them.

To me, that is atrocish reporting. There is a time and a day for reporting and there is a bigger time when lives are at stake you stop thinking selfishly about your ratings and your possible next new book and you just help the people you are reporting on! What is wrong with this man? Is his ego that big? We now see how much this man really cares.   I now will no longer give his blog or him the time of day.

US Congressional members are starting to form a bipartisan delegation that will be heading to Haiti quite shortly. As of yet, President Obama won’t be going, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (in Hawaii currently) has cancelled her trip to Australia, etc. and is returning to D.C. to handle this better.

But even with all the millions being donated,  they still need so much more of your help.   Please take $1 out of your pocket or more and donate throughhttp://www.clintonfoundation.org/haitirelief

to be a part of the global mass response to help this desparate country and their people who have a very tough and long battle ahead of them.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the Haitian’s and to our 45,000 American citizens that are in Haiti currently, especially those on a  UN mission.

Best Kept Secret for 13 Years

This new announcement the Osama bin Laden tried to assassinate former President Bill Clinton when he was at the APEC meeting in the Phillippines in 1996 is just oh so appropriate…as this week, the troop increasement officially begins with the first 1,000 US Marines heading to Afghanistan with a less than favorable support from the American public.

Sounds like Obama is getting a bit more heat than anticipated and they need to pull out all the tricks they can now to gain support of this insurgency in Afghanistan. No better than to show this ace card!

The event: The terrorists were actually minutes away from success as Clinton’s motorcade was set to go over a bridge in Manila that had explosives on it, when Secret Service got a quick message from intelligence sources saying ‘bridge’ and ‘wedding’ — wedding is the terrorist code word for assassination.  They quickly rerouted. American intelligence sources later found explosive devices under that bridge. It wasn’t Osama bin Laden himself of course, it was one of his affiliates in Al Qaeda acting on his behalf.

Now, Bill Clinton at the time of his presidency chose to keep this assassination attempt quiet. I am sure he had his reasons.

Key Secret Service and Intelligence officials in many agencies knew and seemed to be good to keep this quiet for 13 years.

All of a sudden, it’s worthy to be known.

So what do you think changed everyone’s mind, all of a sudden?

Do you think it’s just because Professor Gromley’s book is set to release? He’s the one who writes about this.

I doubt it.

My theory – Obama needed this edge to remind people of how important it is to spend our taxpayer money to get good ole bin Laden and to stop his globally conglomerative organization.

Obama’s justifications for this insurgency  - or what he calls reasoning – are weak, if at best, and he and his Administration believe this piece of information might relate to more people.

Big chance to take – hoping people will be sucked into this one because they liked Clinton – and now all of a sudden will be okay with our taxpayer dollars funding this almost 9 year ridiculous war.

Gotta hand it to our crafty govy folks – this one’s a goody to pull out of the bag!

For one second, they almost got me even (as I liked Clinton).

An extra umph to this strategy –  this now helps Secretary of State Hillary Clinton justify her support of Obama’s plan even more so.

Afterall, this is her husband, our former US President for 8 years, who outside his sex scandal, did a phenomenal job, and a man who is continuing to make significant contributions globally through his non profit, The Bill Clinton Foundation.

I am sure Hillary knew of this assassination attempt right after it happened, but still, this ‘news flash’ gives her umph in her position today even more so, as to why she stands behinds Obama’s decision.

Keep in mind, Obama’s polling rates dropped a lot since the beginning of December on multiple issues, the war being one.

Indeed, his team needed to think of something quite clever to have these numbers move back up before 2010 rolled in.

Outside those 3 working weeks in December, there wasn’t much time, as the President is on vacation in Hawaii for the holidays, so he wouldn’t be doing much ‘heroic’ presidencing between Christmas and the New Year.

If this works, one would say it’s perfect timing —-and everyone knows timing is everything in politics and war.

Savvy authors and publishers won’t release a book until a certain time when they know a subject matter will be hotter than any other time of the year to increase a higher chance of sales quicker in a shorter amount of time.

The government invented this strategy years ago (as a way to manipulate the American citizens).

Our elected officials and those in our government agencies not only invented this strategy, but over the years, they have perfected it. They are quite slick  - always picking the ‘appropriate times’ to release classified information to the American citizens and/or global world.

Believe me, they don’t just wake up one day and say, “hey, how about we release xx info today to give the media something to write about in case it’s slow for them”.

This ace…this best kept secret for 13 years…well, there is a heck of a lot of political, military and presidential strategy behind this one – and I am sure there is more about this strategy than just this war and Obama’s ratings. More will be revealed in 2010, no doubt.

I surmise numerous interviews with Bill Clinton will be first. Bill obviously knew once this book was released and this precious secret was revealed, that interviews would be requested.

Perhaps there is a bigger Democratic reason why Bill Clinton needs to be in the spotlight more so now than he already is.

Poor Hillary, overshadowed by her husband, yet again.

I am very glad Bill Clinton wasn’t assassinated, but this doesn’t change my opinion at all. No matter what way you color it or state it, I don’t support this AfPak war. So this didn’t work on me. How about you?