Opa Locka Church A/C Theft Leaves Congregation Steaming

OPA LOCKA (CBS4) – Worshippers at one Opa Locka church tried to stay cool during Sunday morning after crooks stole parts of their air conditioning system.
Staffers at the Holy Temple Missionary Baptist Church on NW 143rd Street set up fans to help keep the congregation cool.
“You still have to give thanks, everyone is sweating, running around the church drinking water,” said April Chestnut, “You still have to give thanks to the Lord.”
Last Monday thieves stole the copper wiring off the buildings four a/c units. This wasn’t the first time something like this has happened. Numerous churches in the area have experienced similar thefts.
The copper theft at Holy Temple Missionary has put their five-day a week elderly program at risk. When the temperatures soar into the mid-90s during the middle of the afternoon, even with the fans, it is too hot for themto be in the building.

Antioch Copper Wire Thieves Reach New High – Or Low

Powerlines (Thomas Lohnes/DDP/ Getty Images)

Antioch, Bob Melrose, Copper, Copper Theft, Copper Wiring, Crime, Metal Theft, Pacific Gas and Electric, PG&E, Power Poles, Theft, Transformer, Utility

ANTIOCH (KCBS) – Just days after Pacific Gas and Electric lamented the ongoing and widespread theft of copper wire from its Antioch power poles, the utility is now revealing that a particularly brazen thief – or thieves – stole an entire transformer from a power pole.
This is in addition to the knocking down of an estimated 300 power poles, stripping them of their lucrative copper wiring.
There is copper wiring in the transformer, as well.
It’s a risky move, the utility warned, because it’s energized electrical wiring that’s being taken. In fact, people have been electrocuted or otherwise seriously injured attempting to lift the wiring.
KCBS’ Bob Melrose Reports:

Antioch Copper Wire Thieves Reach New High - Or Low

It will cost PG&E tens of thousands of dollars to replace the downed power poles and stolen transformer. The price tag to replace just one power pole and its missing transformer: $12,000.
(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Famous Plastic Surgery Victims

We all want to look good all the time and never get old that’s why many turn to plastic surgery as a the last resort. However, not all corrective surgeries turn out the way we wanted. Many end up feeling less confident after than before the surgery. Going under the knife is by no means pleasant but celebrities seem to take it for granted. If you haven’t had anything done, even if you look stunning, the chances are that you will have some work done in the near future. However, many people including celebrities get addicted of a little nip and a little tuck once in a while so they can’t wait to have another plastic surgery done. We’re not going to talk about the moral side of it but you may consider thinking about that aspect of this issue after seeing how some celebrities look after having some work done on them.

Many argue whether Cristina Aguilera had a boob job, but after seeing this photo in which we can clearly see a scar under her armpit I think there’s no doubt about it.

She wasn’t very good at hiding it either.

Tara Reid has a tummy almost as bad as Courtney Love’s and you would think that Tara just gave birth. However, she chose a wrong plastic surgeon that completely ruined her abs. She admits that she’s doesn’t like her abs and that she’s ashamed of the way her stomach looks.

Now back to Courtney Love; at least Courtney has an excuse for looking like this, she gave birth. But it seems that her wrinkly abs are a result of a liposuction gone wrong. Don’t you think?

Joan Rivers is an expert at criticizing but I bet she hasn’t got a mirror in her house. Her disastrous plastic face would scare anyone. I think that her tactic is that she digresses people from her appearance by criticizing other badly dresses celebrities. But I’m not sure it’s working.

Donatella Versace a fashion icon is a living proof how a plastic surgery victim can ruin her outer shell. It seem that once you’ve been caught in the plastic surgery circle there’s no getting out, not even if you have the best taste in the world for fashion.

Even if you are one of the most beautiful women on the planet it doesn’t mean that you won’t lack confidence. Take Vivica A. Fox as an example, she had breast implants and now it looks like one of them is leaking.

If you decide to have a boob job don’t make the same mistake as Victoria Beckham. This Posh Spice decided to go bigger and now she’s all over the place. That is in no way attractive.

But the women are not the only ones who can get addicted of plastic surgery. Kenny Rodgers got it bad. This country singer just didn’t know when enough is enough. Hasn’t anyone told him that less is more?

The queen of plastic surgery managed to look young for a long time. But no she looks as old as the rest of her generation. In any case it seem that not even plastic surgery can slow time as much as we would wish it to do so.

Jocelyn Wildenstein looks almost as bad as the woman who injected cooking oil into her face. She wanted to keep her husband by her side so she decided to improve her looks but managed to do quite the opposite. Looking at all of the examples above I stared to wonder is it worth it?

Inaugural Cash

Google Execs Pay $150,000 for Obama Bash

Owen Thomas — It's Google's presidency. We're just watching it. Six Google executives, including CEO Eric Schmidt and cofounder Larry Page, have donated $25,000 apiece to fund President Barack Obama's swearing-in party.
Taken as a whole, the Googlers' cash is one of the largest corporate donations to Obama's inaugural committee. Marissa Mayer, an early Google employee who now oversees its search engine, and David Drummond, the company's top lawyer, also donated, as did YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley and Dick Costolo, the former CEO of FeedBurner, an advertising startup acquired by Google last year,
Unlike election spending, donations to cover the expenses of an inauguration are relatively unlimited. Obama's committee has capped donations at $50,000.
It's a time-honored way to win influence. Michael Dell, CEO of the eponymous computer maker, gave $250,000 for George W. Bush's second inaugural in 2004.
That the Googlers are paying up shows the IPO-borne wealth of the company's top executives; the closeness of their ties to Obama, who has cited Google's management style as an inspiration for the structure of his campaign; and the company's maturation as a political player in Washington, D.C. Eric Schmidt's oddly late endorsement of Obama, weeks before the election, was the culmination of this process. And this injection of inaugural cash is just a down payment.
What do they want in return? One of the last acts of the Bush Administration's antitrust cops was to nix a deal for Google to sell ads on Yahoo's websites. With Google set on expanding its dominance of online search advertising into other fields, is it any surprise that its executives would welcome their new best friend to the White House?

Google denies special deal for Barack Obama

A spokesperson chalked up an email saying the campaign was given a deal to 'puffery.' | Reuters Close

By BYRON TAU & BEN SMITH | 6/15/11 7:23 PM EDT

Google denied Wednesday that it gave President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign special access to a new advertising program, something a sales representative from the search and advertising giant had claimed in an email to customers.
The new ad program would charge clients for every email address (or other piece of user data) they collect. The program is attractive to campaigns eager for that information, so when a staffer at the National Republican Senatorial Committee saw what appeared to be an Obama ad built on this technology on the RealClearPolitics website last month, she emailed a Google sales rep to ask about creating a similar ad campaign for Republicans.
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The saleswoman, Sirene Abou-Chakra, replied by suggesting that Obama had a special deal.

“This is a pre-alpha product that is being released to a select few clients,” she wrote in an email, referring to the first stage of a product’s roll-out. “I’d be happy to get you into the beta if you’re interested.”
A similar email went out to at least one other Republican digital media firm, a Republican source said.
“It certainly raises some red flags that the Obama campaign appears to have been given special access to a new online advertising product,” said NRSC communications director Brian Walsh in response to an inquiry from POLITICO.
But Google spokesman Jake Parrilo denied strenuously that the Obama campaign had been granted special access to the pilot program, and chalked the email up to inaccurate “puffery” by the sales representative. The ad that appeared on RealClearPolitics, he said, was not a Google ad at all.
“This is an experiment and while we generally do not comment on those experiments we can tell you that we have not sold a single CPL [cost-per-lead] ad unit to any political candidates or committees,” said Parrillo.
And Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt seconded the company’s account that the campaign had not purchased any ads or enrolled in the Google pilot program.
Google, whose chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt was an informal adviser and support of Obama and sits on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, has been accused in the past of favoring the White House. The Federal Trade Commission dropped an investigation into the company after a major privacy breach, leading some Republican groups to cry for an investigation.
After POLTICO asked Google about the suggestion of a special deal for the campaign, a Google spokesman forwarded a reporter correspondence between the company and the NRSC, charging - inaccurately - that the committee had been the source of POLITICO’s information.
The forward prompted Walsh to add that he is “concerned that Google shared a private email exchange with our committee and their company with the media.”
The pilot program at issue is a new type of digital advertising that Google appears to be preparing to launch in the third quarter of 2011.
“It’s a cost-effective, easy and scalable way to generate leads,” boasted Google in a marketing document about their new product. “Fewer steps for users means they’re more likely to complete your lead form.”
Parrillo told POLITICO that the Republican and the Democratic political ad sales teams at Google are kept separate and are unaware of the other side’s projects or deals.

$5 Raffle Ticket Buys Dinner With Obama

(CNSNews.com) – In return for a $5 donation to his reelection campaign, President Barack Obama is offering supporters a chance to participate in a raffle to win a “casual” dinner with him at an unstated location.
In an e-mail to supporters, the president says his campaign will raffle off four tickets for the casual dinner.
“We rely on everyday Americans giving whatever they can afford--and I want to spend time with a few of you,” Obama's e-mail reads.  “So if you make a donation today, you'll be automatically entered for a chance to be one of the four supporters to sit down with me for dinner. Please donate $5 or more today.”
The e-mail, which also says the campaign does not take contributions from lobbyists or special-interests, says that “most campaigns” invite high-powered guests to its fundraising dinners. It fails to note, however, that President Obama himself has conducted several high-dollar fundraisers in the weeks since he announced his reelection effort.
“Most campaigns fill their dinner guest lists primarily with Washington lobbyists and special interests,” says the e-mail. “We didn't get here doing that, and we're not going to start now. We're running a different kind of campaign. We don't take money from Washington lobbyists or special-interest PACs--we never have, and we never will.”
Describing the event as a “casual meal among friends,” the e-mail goes on to imply that the dinner will be a chance for the president and four lucky supporters to share stories and ideas about national policy.
Winners will receive free airfare and hotel accommodations should they win.
“We'll pay for your flight and the dinner--all you need to bring is your story and your ideas about how we can continue to make this a better country for all Americans,” says the raffle e-mail.
“This won't be a formal affair,” reads the solicitation. “It's the kind of casual meal among friends that I don't get to have as often as I'd like anymore, so I hope you'll consider joining me.”
In order to enter, supporters are directed to one of two pages. The first--linked to twice in the e-mail--sends people to a donation page for the president’s campaign. The second, found only in the fine print, allows one to enter the contest without donating.

Economic briefing returns to Obama's schedule

President Obama speaks during one of his first economic briefings on January 22, 2009. Also pictured are Vice President Joe Biden, then-budget director Peter Orszag, then-chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and then-Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers. (Pete Souza, The White House)

By Michael A. Memoli

June 15, 2011, 10:58 a.m.

President Obama will be briefed by his economic team in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the first such meeting in more than a month.

The Hill newspaper reported last week that the once-daily economic briefings had disappeared from the president's schedule of late, even as new data have spurred growing pessimism about the direction of the economy.

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The addition of a daily economic briefing to the president's schedule was the first announcement made by then-press secretary Robert Gibbs after Obama took office.

He said at the time that Obama asked for an economic briefing along with his daily intelligence and security briefing so he could receive "the most up-to-date information as it relates to the economy."

A review of the president's daily schedule finds the last formal economic briefing was scheduled for April 26. Even that briefing came after a hiatus, following back-to-back briefings on March 8 and 9.

The scheduled economic briefings appeared to become less frequent after January. In total, he's had 15 economic briefings since last November, according to the schedule provided by the White House.

Obama has, however, had regular meetings with senior advisors, which occasionally include members of his economic team. Vice President Joe Biden's schedule in recent months has also included a series of meetings with Jack Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, to discuss fiscal policy.

Amid concerns about a new economic downturn, the state of the economy is far improved from those early days of the Obama administration, when daily economic briefings were more common. Still, Republicans pounced on the scheduling shift, saying it showed the president was not sufficiently focused on the economy.

White House Defends Continuing U.S. Role in Libya Operation

Florent Marcie/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A Libyan rebel closed the eyelids of a government soldier who was killed in fighting this week southwest of Tripoli. American forces are aiding a NATO-led mission. 

In a 38-page report sent to lawmakers describing and defending the NATO-led operation, the White House said the mission was prying loose Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s grip on power.
In contending that the limited American role did not oblige the administration to ask for authorization under the War Powers Resolution, the report asserted that “U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.” Still, the White House acknowledged, the operation has cost the Pentagon $716 million in its first two months and will have cost $1.1 billion by September at the current scale of operations.
The report came one day after the House Speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, had sent a letter to Mr. Obama warning him that he appeared to be out of time under the Vietnam-era law that says presidents must terminate a mission 60 or 90 days after notifying Congress that troops have been deployed into hostilities, unless lawmakers authorize the operation to continue.
Mr. Boehner had demanded that Mr. Obama explain his legal justification for passing the deadline. On Wednesday, Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said he was still reviewing the documents, adding that “the creative arguments made by the White House raise a number of questions that must be further explored.”
The escalating confrontation with Congress reflects the radically altered political landscape in Washington: a Democratic president asserting sweeping executive powers to deploy American forces overseas, while Republicans call for stricter oversight and voice fears about executive-branch power getting the United States bogged down in a foreign war.
“We are acting lawfully,” said Harold H. Koh, the State Department legal adviser, who expanded on the administration’s reasoning in a joint interview with the White House counsel, Robert Bauer.
The two senior administration lawyers contended that American forces had not been in “hostilities” at least since early April, when NATO took over the responsibility for the no-fly zone and the United States shifted to primarily a supporting role — providing refueling and surveillance to allied warplanes, although remotely piloted drones operated by the United States periodically fire missiles, too.
They argued that United States forces are at little risk because there are no troops on the ground and Libyan forces are unable to exchange fire with them meaningfully. And they said the military mission was constrained by a United Nations Security Council resolution, which authorized air power for the purpose of defending civilians.
“We are not saying the president can take the country into war on his own,” said Mr. Koh, a former Yale Law School dean and outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s expansive theories of executive power. “We are not saying the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional or should be scrapped or that we can refuse to consult Congress. We are saying the limited nature of this particular mission is not the kind of ‘hostilities’ envisioned by the War Powers Resolution.”
Jack L. Goldsmith, who led the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush administration, said the Obama theory would set a precedent expanding future presidents’ unauthorized war-making powers, especially given the rise of remote-controlled combat technology.
“The administration’s theory implies that the president can wage war with drones and all manner of offshore missiles without having to bother with the War Powers Resolution’s time limits,” Mr. Goldsmith said.
It remains to be seen whether majorities in Congress will acquiesce to the administration’s argument, defusing the confrontation, or if the theory will fuel greater criticism. Either way, because the statute does not define hostilities and the Supreme Court has never ruled on the issue, the debate is likely to be resolved politically, said Richard H. Pildes, a New York University law professor.
Also on Wednesday, 10 lawmakers — led by Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, and Representative Walter B. Jones, Republican of North Carolina — filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order Mr. Obama to pull out of the Libya operation because Congress did not authorize it. That lawsuit faces steep challenges, however, because courts in the past have dismissed similar cases on technical grounds.

LulzSec claims responsibility for CIA hack

The CIA’s website would not load or was slow to load on Wednesday. | Reuters Close

By JENNIFER MARTINEZ | 6/15/11 7:36 PM EDT Updated: 6/15/11 10:26 PM EDT

LulzSec claimed responsibility for disabling the CIA’s public website Wednesday, the latest in a string of apparent intrusions by the hacker group.
“Tango down — cia.gov — for the lulz,” the group tweeted from its Twitter account, @LulzSec.
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The CIA’s website would not load or was slow to load on Wednesday, but a CIA official had little to say about what happened

“We are looking into these reports,” agency spokesperson Jennifer Youngblood told POLITICO.
The Senate sergeant at arms disclosed on Monday that an intruder had gained unauthorized access to the server that supports the Senate’s public website. The admission came after LulzSec claimed earlier in the day that it broke into the Senate’s website.
As evidence, the group — whose full name is Lulz Security — posted internal data on its website that it said it procured from Senate.gov. The breach was described by the office as “inconvenient” because the intruder did not break into the Senate’s computer network.
LulzSec has criticized the federal government for having weak security on its websites. The group has gained attention in recent months after claiming responsibility for the recent hacker attack on PBS’s servers and for attacks on Fox.com and Sony earlier this year.
It’s unlikely that classified information would reside on the CIA public website.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57087.html#ixzz1PJMF2Y9O

Ahmadinejad joins China, Russia leaders at summit

ASTANA — Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday joined the Chinese and Russian leaders in a rare encounter at a summit in Kazakhstan, where he launched a new attack on the "slavers and colonisers" of the West.
Host Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a security group regarded as a NATO rival founded in 2001, to take a more active role in ensuring regional security.
But most attention was focused on Ahmadinejad, who was absent from last year's SCO meeting in Tashkent after the UN Security Council agreed sanctions against Iran and was making a rare appearance at a big international meeting.
In a characteristically firebrand speech peppered with rhetorical questions, he launched a new call for a wholesale shake-up of the world order, which he said was "managed and run by slavers and colonizers of the past."
"I believe together we can reform the way the world is managed. We can restore the tranquillity of the world," he said.
Turning to his audience of ex-Soviet and Asian leaders he asked: "Have any of us used an atomic bomb against the defenceless citizens of any other country?"
Returning to his past claims that a conspiracy could have been behind the September 11 attacks on the United States, Ahmadinejad added:
"Have any of our countries played a part in the creation of 9/11 under whose pretext Afghanistan and Iraq were invaded and more than one million people have been killed or wounded?"
Chinese leader Hu Jintao held talks on Tuesday with Ahmadinejad, discussing Tehran's controversial nuclear programme.
China urged Iran to participate in the six-party talks on nuclear energy and "take substantial steps in respect of establishing trust" and "speed up the process of dialogue," the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
Tehran used to rely on Moscow as a dependable ally in its standoff over the nuclear programme but relations have rapidly deteriorated as Russia increased pressure on Iran after Dmitry Medvedev became president.
Medvedev and Nazarbayev were later to have a trilateral meeting with Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the summit, a Kazakh diplomatic source who asked not to be named told AFP.
On the unrest shaking the Arab world, the member states agreed a declaration expressing concern about the instability but supporting "the drive of regional states in the path of democratic development in accordance with their specific cultural and historical characteristics."
Nazarbayev said in his opening address that the organisation had to become a greater force after it showed little capacity to react during last year's uprising and ethnic violence in member state Kyrgyzstan.
"We watched over two sharp political conflicts and a coup in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and our organisation did not and could not make any decisions," he said.
With Afghan President Hamid Karzai attending as a guest, Nazarbayev also expressed alarm that drug trafficking in Afghanistan had increased by a factor of ten in the last decade.
"It is clear that the source and reasons of this crime against humanity are far outside the borders of Afghanistan," the Kazakh leader said.
The six-member SCO was set up in 2001 as a security counterweight to NATO that would allow Russia and China to rival US influence in Asia. It is now also looking to cooperate at an economic level.
Its membership includes the ex-Soviet Central Asian states and with the likes of India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan attending meetings as observers, its summits bring together an eclectic gathering of world leaders.
The summit is the latest in a string of big international meetings hosted by Astana, Kazakhstan's shiny new capital, which in the last months has already welcomed a summit of the OSCE and the annual meeting of the EBRD.
Kazakhstan has embarked on a tireless campaign of self-promotion to show itself as Central Asia's most stable and prosperous state although rights activists complain the country shows little tolerance for any dissent

Iran's president calls for post-Soviet security alliance to unite in alliance against West

ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations and China to form a united front against the West.
Ahmadinejad's address to fellow heads of state at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to the United States across the region.
In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the organization also attacked missile defence programs in another apparent dig at the United States.
"The one-sided and unlimited development of missile defence systems by one government or a narrow group of governments could cause damage to strategic stability and international security," the document said.
Much of Ahmadinejad's fiery speech was devoted to levelling an exhaustive series of thinly veiled accusations against unnamed Western countries, which he described as "enslavers, colonialists, (and) invaders."
"Which one of our countries (has played a role) in the black era of slavery, or in the destruction of hundreds of millions of human beings?" Ahmadinejad said, opening his address.
The SCO was formed in Shanghai in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to address religious extremism and border security in Central Asia, but it has in recent years attracted interest in full membership from countries like Iran, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its scope has since broadened to economic issues, but the organization has struggled nonetheless to forge a clear purpose.
Iran's entry to the SCO has been resisted by the existing members, who worry that Iran's membership would lend the group a more explicitly anti-American quality, a concern that Ahmadinejad was seemingly unwilling to allay.
Russia has been an active opponent of U.S.-backed plans to create a missile shield in Europe and was likely behind the inclusion of harsh words against the proposal in the summit declaration.
Moscow sees the U.S.-led missile defence plans as a potential threat to its security. It has agreed to consider NATO's proposal to co-operate on the missile shield, but insists the system be run jointly.
Reprising the criticism addressed at Washington, Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed calls for the United States to respect his country's sovereignty.
Karzai has in recent months become increasingly strident in his attacks against NATO's accidental bombings of Afghan civilians, describing the Western-led alliance as being at risk of becoming an "occupying force."

Stephen R.Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (1989)
Stephen R. Covey
London: Simon & Schuster (2004)
www.stephencovey.com
Twitter @StephenRCovey

Stephen Covey’s book, published as the ‘loadsamoney’ 80s were coming to a sobering close brought a seriousness back to the self-development genre that had been missing for some time.

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least (Goethe)

Drawing heavily on Covey’s doctoral research of the self-development genre, it combined the rigorousness of an engineering manual with the seriousness of Man’s Search for Meaning to create a work which, rather like Steven Hawkins A Brief History of Time, everyone seemed to have a copy of, but I’m not sure how many people actually managed to read it all the way through.

Sombre, preachy, ethical, moral and serious, yet with a genuine core of kindness and a gently glowing warmth, it spoke to people who sorely felt the need to put their house in order from the inside out.

Covey himself, as seen in the You-Tube clip below, has a Lutheran pastor quality about him. To a party-pooped 80′s generation it must have felt like they’d been busted by God himself.

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OXcPP368XzI

 

Full of management speak, engineering diagrams, 2×2′s, matrices and principles, the book is, at its core, an impassioned plea for a return to ethics and character, and a turning away from the self-seeking ‘cult of personality’. Hugely influenced by Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, but sadly lacking its brevity, it sold over 15 million copies.

An overview of the 7 Habits:

1) Be proactive – your life is a product of your values, not your feelings. Take responsibility for your life and choose your responses to stimuli (here we can see the strong influence of  Frankl).  Live your life, rather than ‘be lived’.

2) Begin with the end in mind – get a mental image of where you want to end up in all areas of your life.  Imagine your funeral eulogy.  Craft your own mission statement.  Start there, and work backwards to today and and thus shape your life in accordance with your values.

3) Put first things first – Use discipline and commitment to focus on those things that effectively move you towards the ‘end goals’ you have in mind.

4) Think Win/Win -  Cultivate an ‘abundance’ mentality.  Help others to succeed, there’s plenty to go round.

5) Seek to understand, then to be understood -Empathy and understanding is the ‘diagnosis’ that should always take place before action.

6) Synergize – the sum of the total is greater than the sum of the parts. Work together & celebrate difference. Strongly influenced by Benjamin Franklin, who Covey saw as an ethical role model

7) Sharpen the saw – Self-care and balance in all areas of our lives: physical, spiritual, mental and social in order to maintain effectiveness.

TO DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK JUST CLICK THIS LINK :

http://www.mediafire.com/?du9l8shw60lyz

Obama fundraiser underwhelms

The empty seats at President Obama's fundraiser in Miami were hard to miss. AP Photo Close

MIAMI, Fla. -- A low-dollar fundraiser here Monday felt like a throwback to the 2008 campaign.

There was the same old soundtrack – including “City of Blinding Lights” by U2, the president’s 2008 anthem -- the enthusiastic organizers and the abundant appeals for supporters to rally behind President Obama.

The one missing element? Overflowing crowds.

Granted, it was a fundraiser, not a free rally. But the empty seats were hard to miss.

The top level of the 2,200-seat concert hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts was entirely empty, as were the seats along the side of the second and third levels.

"The expectation was 900," a Democratic official said, and more than 980 tickets were sold.

Tickets for the Gen 44 event started at $44, the official said.

"This is going to be a very tough fight," said Alonzo Mourning, the former Miami Heat player, who spoke ahead of the president. Once Obama took the stage, a protester interrupted him at one point, repeatedly yelling: "Keep your promise, stop AIDS now." But the protester was quickly drowned out by the audience chanting, "Obama, Obama, Obama."

"The reason we’re here today is because our work’s not done," Obama said after hushing the crowd. "Our work is not complete. We're not at the summit. We’re just part way up the mountain. There is more to do."

Michelle: His work ethic is 'tireless', 'doesn't take a day off'

'I see the sadness and worry that's creasing his face,' Michelle Obama said of her husband. AP Photo Close

First lady Michelle Obama on Monday told a fundraiser in Southern California of the toll the presidency has taken on her husband Barack Obama.

"I see the sadness and worry that's creasing his face," she said to a crowd of about 500 at the Pasadena luncheon organized by the Southern California Women For Obama. She described his worth ethic as “tireless,” according to pool reports.

"He reads every word, every memo, so he is better prepared than the people briefing him," she said. "This man doesn't take a day off."

She said the next two years of campaigning would be difficult for the Obamas and their supporters. "It is not going to be easy, and it is going to be long," she said. "Now more than ever we need your help to finish what we started."

She also mentioned health care reform, the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Act and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. She praised "justice" in the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the withdrawal of troops from overseas.

Guests paid $1,000 per ticket to attend the event. This evening, she will speak at another fundraiser in Westwood.

Obama: My family would be fine with just 1 term

AP – President Barack Obama speaks to a group of supporters at a Miami fundraiser, Monday, June 13, 2011. …

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says his wife and daughters aren't "invested" in him being president and would have been fine had he decided against running for re-election. But he says they believe in what he's doing for the country.
Asked about his family's reaction to his wanting another term, Obama said: "Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, `You know, guys, I want to do something different,' They'd be fine. They're not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president."
He says first lady Michelle Obama would be the first one to encourage him to do something "a little less stressful" if she no longer thought that what they were doing was worthwhile for the country. Obama's interview aired Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show.

Tracy Morgan apologizes for homophobic rant: Comedian said he would kill his son if he were gay

Mary Altaffer/AP

Tracy Morgan is under fire for making homophobic comments during a comedy routine.

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Tracy Morgan's alleged gay rant

Would you have walked out of Tracy Morgan's show?

	Yes. Those comments aren't funny or appropriate.
	No. People need to lighten up.
	I don't know. It depends on his tone of voice.

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Tracy Morgan's latest stand-up routine is getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz – just not the good kind.

Homophobic comments the comedian made during a June 3 performance in Nashville have become a hot topic of discussion online after a disgruntled audience member voiced his disgust on Facebook.

Kevin Rogers, who wrote in a Facebook note after the show that he's "been a big fan" of Morgan "since his days at SNL," went into the show expecting "a good ribbing of straight gay humor."
"What I can't take is when Mr. Morgan took it upon himself to mention about how he feels all this gay s--t was crazy and that women are a gift from God and that 'Born this Way' is bulls--t, gay is a choice," Rogers said.
Shortly after his on-stage rant went viral, Morgan issued a mea culpa for his actions.
"I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville," the "30 Rock" star said in a statement to Gossip Cop. "I'm not a hateful person and don't condone any kind of violence against others."
"While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context," he added.
According to Rogers, Morgan, 46, said he knew homosexuality wasn't biological because "'God don't make no mistakes' (referring to God not making someone gay cause that would be a mistake)."
Rogers claimed that Morgan went on to say that lesbians are women "pretending because she hates a f---ing man" and victims of gay bullying should stop "whining."
"He said if his son was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man and not [he mimicked a gay, high pitched voice] or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N (one word I refuse to use) to death," Rogers recalled.
STARS WHO RUN THEIR MOUTHS STRAIGHT INTO SCANDAL
Morgan, a father of three, allegedly went as far as saying that President Obama "needed to man up and quit being all down with this just because he has a wife and two daughters."
And what seems to have especially saddened Morgan's now former fan was "that none of this rant was a joke."
"His entire demeanor changed during that portion of the night.  He was truly filled with some hate toward us," Rogers said.
"As far as I could see, 10 to 15 people walked out," he continued. "I had to fight myself to stay seated, but I knew if I got up ... he won.  He wanted to piss people off and get a rise."
And he did. But Morgan's apology wasn't enough for GLAAD, whose president said Morgan needs to "assure us that this won't happen again and send a clear message to Americans that anti-gay violence is no joke."
Jarrett Barrios said his organization invited Morgan to meet with families who have lost children to anti-gay violence.
"If Tracy Morgan is sincere, he should take us up on meeting these families who have lost loved ones to the type of violence that he is mocking," Barrios said. "Perhaps by hearing their stories, he will learn that while we all love humor, this is no laughing matter."
Rea Carey, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said that "hateful, homophobic language is not only hurtful and unfunny, it is also dangerous and inexcusable."
"It should not and will not be tolerated," she added.
Morgan's comments came less than two years after the Daily News' Gatecrasher column reported about a November 2009 performance at Carnegie Hall where there was a mass exodus after he claimed homosexuality was "a choice" and made other off-color comments.
The Ryman Auditorium, where last week's performance was held, has distanced itself from the "30 Rock" star.
"The Ryman Auditorium regrets that people were offended by statements made by Tracy Morgan during his June 3 appearance," a statement said. "The Ryman does not control the content presented by people appearing on its stage, nor does it endorse any of the views of, or statements made by, such persons."

LeBron & D-Wade Mock Dirk’s Sickness Before Game 5

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - LeBron James and Dwyane Wade might want to rethink mocking Dirk Nowitzki next time.
Thursday afternoon before Game 5 of the NBA Finals, cameras caught the Miami Heat stars making fun of Nowitzki’s illness during Game 4.  Here’s the raw video:
The exchange happened right after the Heat’s pre-game shootaround.  It was a little noisy in the tunnel at the time, but Wade could clearly be heard saying, “Did you hear me cough?  Think I’m sick.”  James said, “It’s hard to go from 85 degree weather and then go to 90.  Messes with you.”
A few hours after the Heat’s stars had their fun, the Mavericks won Game 5, 112-103.  Dirk scored 29 points.  Wade got 23 and a hip injury that kept him in the locker room for part of the game.  James scored 17.

Wallow Fire now likely to become AZ's biggest

JILL TORRANCE / ARIZONA DAILY STAR Shelly Billingsley, center, receives some comforting words from Shelly Myrick, both of Springerville, in the evacuation center at Blue Ridge High School in Pinetop. At left, Lucille Ashcroft partakes of a meal prepared by volunteers.

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SPRINGERVILLE - Authorities say a raging wildfire that could become the largest in Arizona history is now 5 percent contained after charring more than 386,000 acres and destroying 22 homes in Greer.
The Wallow Fire has burned more than 525 square miles in Eastern Arizona. But fire officials Thursday evening said they were optimistic some residents who have been forced to flee the flames would be allowed back home by the weekend.
Full evacuations were still in place for Eagar, Springerville, Sunrise, Greer, Blue River, Alpine, Nutrioso and many subdivisions. More than 5,000 residences are threatened by the massive fire, officials said.
Fire officials reported earlier Thursday that six homes were burned overnight in Greer. But crews finished touring the area and assessing the damage by late afternoon and said 22 homes in Greer were destroyed and five other homes were damaged.
Officials also say 24 outbuildings in Greer were destroyed along with one vehicle.
A total of 29 residences have been destroyed so far.
Authorities said full containment is nowhere in sight, and power lines that supply much of West Texas and Southern New Mexico with electricity are also in jeopardy.
On Thursday, more than 3,000 firefighters got a break from nature when high winds driving the flames lost strength.
The fire, chewing through pine, fir and spruce in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona, continued to burn on the edge of small towns scattered across the sparsely populated area.
A thick haze hung over the region and the blaze spread mostly uncontrolled, but fire officials did report a small containment figure. That was an improvement from a day earlier, when containment was zero percent.
The fierce winds that earlier in the week knocked small trees sideways abated, aiding fire crews who planned to use a DC-10 air tanker from California to dump fire retardant on the blaze's troublesome northwestern corner.
The DC-10 under contract to the state of California arrived Thursday morning and made several practice passes over parts of the fire before it was expected to begin laying 100-yard-wide, mile-and-a-half-long lines of water or retardant.
CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the "supertanker" based in Victorville costs about $57,000 per day to operate for a minimum of five days. The federal government requested the plane and will reimburse the state.
The fire was half a mile from the New Mexico border Thursday and about a mile from Springerville and Eagar.
Crews had burned out a line of defense, and officials said residents of the two towns would probably be able to return to their homes Saturday.
Flames romped across the east side of the resort community of Greer.
"Greer is not out of danger," said Jim Whittington, a spokes-man for the firefighting efforts. "There's a lot of fire out there."
The flames threatened power and fiber-optic lines needed for cellphone and Internet service. "If we only had one problem area, we'd be able to knock it out," Whittington said.
El Paso Electric officials said Thursday that the utility has alternate power sources in case the fire reaches two of its main transmission lines, but they haven't ruled out asking users to cut down their consumption or scheduling blackouts.
The two high-voltage lines provide El Paso Electric with about 40 percent of its power supply, spokeswoman Teresa Souza said. The lines are connected to the Palo Verde nuclear power plant. El Paso Electric serves about 372,000 customers in West Texas and Southern New Mexico.
Fire officials in Arizona said there appeared to be no immediate threat to the power lines, but authorities in El Paso were preparing for the possibility.
Only the Rodeo-Chediski Fire was larger than this blaze. That fire in 2002 burned more than 468,000 acres. The Wallow Fire is expected to surpass that size.

TSA Admits ‘Bad Judgment’ After Disabled Man Subjected to Airport Pat-Down

A Detroit father said agents with the Transportation Security Administration singled out his special-needs son for a pat-down while the family was headed to Disney World, MyFoxDetroit.com reported, an incident that the TSA admitted was a “case of bad judgment.”
David Mandy said agents at Detroit Metro Airport took his son Drew, 29, and asked him about the padding underneath his pants, which turned out to be adult diapers. Drew, who is severely mentally disabled, had trouble understanding the agents’ orders because his family said he has the mental capacity of a 2-year-old.
When the father tried to intervene and explain Drew’s disability, he said the two agents said, “Please, sir, we know what we’re doing.”
The agents confiscated a six-inch plastic hammer, something Drew had carried with him for 20 years for comfort. Agents called it a security threat, his father said, adding that they tapped the wall with it and said, “See, it’s hard. It could be used as a weapon.”
The family was told they’d have to ship the hammer if they wanted to keep it, David Mandy said.
“I understand they’re trying to keep people safe,” Mandy said told MyFoxDetroit.com. “But come on, does he look like a terrorist?”
In a statement to FoxNews.com, the TSA said it’s reviewing the incident but early findings indicate this was an “isolated case of bad judgment.” The TSA reached out to the Mandy family to apologize and said the man’s toy hammer should have never been confiscated.

CHINA: USA 'ALREADY DEFAULTING'...

• A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive …

A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.
"In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.
Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said.
Guan did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
The US government will run out of room to spend more on August 2 unless Congress bumps up the borrowing limit beyond $14.29 trillion -- but Republicans are refusing to support such a move until a deficit cutting deal is reached.
Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday joined Moody's and Standard & Poor's to warn the United States could lose its first-class credit rating if it fails to raise its debt ceiling to avoid defaulting on loans.
A downgrade could sharply raise US borrowing costs, worsening the country's already dire fiscal position, and send shock waves through the financial world, which has long considered US debt a benchmark among safe-haven investments.
China is by far the top holder of US debt and has in the past raised worries that the massive US stimulus effort launched to revive the economy would lead to mushrooming debt that erodes the value of the dollar and its Treasury holdings.
Beijing cut its holdings of US Treasury securities for the fifth month in a row to $1.145 trillion in March, down $9.2 billion from February and 2.6 percent less than October's peak of $1.175 trillion, US data showed last month.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday urged the United States to adopt "effective measures to improve its fiscal situation".
Dagong has made a name for itself by hitting out at its three Western rivals, saying they caused the financial crisis by failing to properly disclose risk.
The Chinese agency, which is trying to build an international profile, has given the United States and several other nations lower marks than they received from the the big three.

Pelosi, Wasserman Schultz, Israel tell Weiner he should resign

June 11th, 2011

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Pelosi, Wasserman Schultz, Israel tell Weiner he should resign

By: CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash and CNN Senior Political Editor Mark Preston

(CNN) - House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Steve Israel have told Rep. Anthony Weiner he should resign.

Pelosi released the following statement Saturday:
“Congressman Weiner has the love of his family, the confidence of his constituents, and the recognition that he needs help. I urge Congressman Weiner to seek that help without the pressures of being a Member of Congress.”

Wasserman Schultz released the following statement:
"It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign. The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable. This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House – and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important – his and his family's well-being."
Israel issued this statement:
“Anthony’s inappropriate behavior has become an insurmountable distraction to the House and our work for the American people. With a heavy heart, I call on Anthony to resign.
“I pray for his family and hope that Anthony will take time to get the help he needs without the distractions and added pressures of Washington, DC.

Bilderberg 2011: Full Official Attendee List

Thanks to the fantastic work of Bilderberg activists, journalists and the Swiss media, we have now been able to obtain the full official list of 2011 Bilderberg attendees. Routinely, some members request that their names be kept off the roster so there will be additional Bilderbergers in attendance.
Infowars will be on the scene identifying other attendees not on the list.
Belgium

Coene, Luc, Governor, National Bank of Belgium

Davignon, Etienne, Minister of State

Leysen, Thomas, Chairman, Umicore China

Fu, Ying, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs

Huang, Yiping, Professor of Economics, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University Denmark

Eldrup, Anders, CEO, DONG Energy

Federspiel, Ulrik, Vice President, Global Affairs, Haldor Topsøe A/S

Schütze, Peter, Member of the Executive Management, Nordea Bank AB Germany

Ackermann, Josef, Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee, Deutsche Bank

Enders, Thomas, CEO, Airbus SAS

Löscher, Peter, President and CEO, Siemens AG

Nass, Matthias, Chief International Correspondent, Die Zeit

Steinbrück, Peer, Member of the Bundestag; Former Minister of Finance Finland

Apunen, Matti, Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA

Johansson, Ole, Chairman, Confederation of the Finnish Industries EK

Ollila, Jorma, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell

Pentikäinen, Mikael, Publisher and Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat France

Baverez, Nicolas, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Bazire, Nicolas, Managing Director, Groupe Arnault /LVMH

Castries, Henri de, Chairman and CEO, AXA

Lévy, Maurice, Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe S.A.

Montbrial, Thierry de, President, French Institute for International Relations

Roy, Olivier, Professor of Social and Political Theory, European University Institute Great Britain

Agius, Marcus, Chairman, Barclays PLC

Flint, Douglas J., Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings

Kerr, John, Member, House of Lords; Deputy Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell

Lambert, Richard, Independent Non-Executive Director, Ernst & Young

Mandelson, Peter, Member, House of Lords; Chairman, Global Counsel

Micklethwait, John, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist

Osborne, George, Chancellor of the Exchequer

Stewart, Rory, Member of Parliament

Taylor, J. Martin, Chairman, Syngenta International AG Greece

David, George A., Chairman, Coca-Cola H.B.C. S.A.

Hardouvelis, Gikas A., Chief Economist and Head of Research, Eurobank EFG

Papaconstantinou, George, Minister of Finance

Tsoukalis, Loukas, President, ELIAMEP Grisons International Organizations

Almunia, Joaquín, Vice President, European Commission

Daele, Frans van, Chief of Staff to the President of the European Council

Kroes, Neelie, Vice President, European Commission; Commissioner for Digital Agenda

Lamy, Pascal, Director General, World Trade Organization

Rompuy, Herman van, President, European Council

Sheeran, Josette, Executive Director, United Nations World Food Programme

Solana Madariaga, Javier, President, ESADEgeo Center for Global Economy and Geopolitics

Trichet, Jean-Claude, President, European Central Bank

Zoellick, Robert B., President, The World Bank Group Ireland

Gallagher, Paul, Senior Counsel; Former Attorney General

McDowell, Michael, Senior Counsel, Law Library; Former Deputy Prime Minister

Sutherland, Peter D., Chairman, Goldman Sachs International Italy

Bernabè, Franco, CEO, Telecom Italia SpA

Elkann, John, Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.

Monti, Mario, President, Univers Commerciale Luigi Bocconi

Scaroni, Paolo, CEO, Eni S.p.A.

Tremonti, Giulio, Minister of Economy and Finance Canada

Carney, Mark J., Governor, Bank of Canada

Clark, Edmund, President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group

McKenna, Frank, Deputy Chair, TD Bank Financial Group

Orbinksi, James, Professor of Medicine and Political Science, University of Toronto

Prichard, J. Robert S., Chair, Torys LLP

Reisman, Heather, Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc. Center, Brookings Institution Netherlands

Bolland, Marc J., Chief Executive, Marks and Spencer Group plc

Chavannes, Marc E., Political Columnist, NRC Handelsblad; Professor of Journalism

Halberstadt, Victor, Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings

H.M. the Queen of the Netherlands

Rosenthal, Uri, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Winter, Jaap W., Partner, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek Norway

Myklebust, Egil, Former Chairman of the Board of Directors SAS, sk Hydro ASA

H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway

Ottersen, Ole Petter, Rector, University of Oslo

Solberg, Erna, Leader of the Conservative Party Austria

Bronner, Oscar, CEO and Publisher, Standard Medien AG

Faymann, Werner, Federal Chancellor

Rothensteiner, Walter, Chairman of the Board, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG

Scholten, Rudolf, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG Portugal

Balsemão, Francisco Pinto, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister

Ferreira Alves, Clara, CEO, Claref LDA; writer

Nogueira Leite, António, Member of the Board, José de Mello Investimentos, SGPS, SA Sweden

Mordashov, Alexey A., CEO, Severstal
Schweden

Bildt, Carl, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Björling, Ewa, Minister for Trade

Wallenberg, Jacob, Chairman, Investor AB Switzerland

Brabeck-Letmathe, Peter, Chairman, Nestlé S.A.

Groth, Hans, Senior Director, Healthcare Policy & Market Access, Oncology Business Unit, Pfizer Europe

Janom Steiner, Barbara, Head of the Department of Justice, Security and Health, Canton

Kudelski, André, Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group SA

Leuthard, Doris, Federal Councillor

Schmid, Martin, President, Government of the Canton Grisons

Schweiger, Rolf, Ständerat

Soiron, Rolf, Chairman of the Board, Holcim Ltd., Lonza Ltd.

Vasella, Daniel L., Chairman, Novartis AG

Witmer, Jürg, Chairman, Givaudan SA and Clariant AG Spain

Cebrián, Juan Luis, CEO, PRISA

Cospedal, María Dolores de, Secretary General, Partido Popular

León Gross, Bernardino, Secretary General of the Spanish Presidency

Nin Génova, Juan María, President and CEO, La Caixa

H.M. Queen Sofia of Spain Turkey

Ciliv, Süreyya, CEO, Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S.

Gülek Domac, Tayyibe, Former Minister of State

Koç, Mustafa V., Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.

Pekin, Sefika, Founding Partner, Pekin & Bayar Law Firm USA

Alexander, Keith B., Commander, USCYBERCOM; Director, National Security Agency

Altman, Roger C., Chairman, Evercore Partners Inc.

Bezos, Jeff, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com

Collins, Timothy C., CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC

Feldstein, Martin S., George F. Baker Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Hoffman, Reid, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn

Hughes, Chris R., Co-founder, Facebook

Jacobs, Kenneth M., Chairman & CEO, Lazard

Johnson, James A., Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC

Jordan, Jr., Vernon E., Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC

Keane, John M., Senior Partner, SCP Partners; General, US Army, Retired

Kissinger, Henry A., Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Kleinfeld, Klaus, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa

Kravis, Henry R., Co-Chairman and co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis, Roberts & Co.

Kravis, Marie-Josée, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc.

Li, Cheng, Senior Fellow and Director of Research, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution

Mundie, Craig J., Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Microsoft Corporation

Orszag, Peter R., Vice Chairman, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Perle, Richard N., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Rockefeller, David, Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank

Rose, Charlie, Executive Editor and Anchor, Charlie Rose

Rubin, Robert E., Co-Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury

Schmidt, Eric, Executive Chairman, Google Inc.

Steinberg, James B., Deputy Secretary of State

Thiel, Peter A., President, Clarium Capital Management, LLC

Varney, Christine A., Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust

Vaupel, James W., Founding Director, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Warsh, Kevin, Former Governor, Federal Reserve Board

Wolfensohn, James D., Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC