New York Times April 7, 2008
U.S.


Clinton Announces Cancer Research Effort

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 7, 2008

Filed at 4:19 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A proposal by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton would provide $300 million a year in increased government funding on breast cancer research, focusing on treatment and exploring possible genetic and environmental triggers for the disease.

The presidential hopeful and former first lady discussed her plan with talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on her television show, which was scheduled to air Monday. As president, Clinton told DeGeneres, she would set a goal of finding a cure for the disease within 10 years.

Clinton's plan would increase funding for breast cancer research and treatment through programs at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

It would also help more low-income women gain access to screenings like mammograms by making them more affordable. Among other things, she would eliminate Medicare co-payments for mammograms.

Clinton also planned to propose a new program to explore racial disparities in diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

About 40,000 women died of breast cancer in the United States in 2007, and some 240,000 new cases were expected to be diagnosed this year.

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Poem by Dr. Maya Angelou on Hillary (from Bud White's' Pro Hillary Blog)

picture of Hillary Clinton from http://www.justhillary.com/herpictures.php


Rise Hillary

"You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits end, but she has always risen, always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends.

Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her.

There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you’re born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But, to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies.

Hillary Clinton is a woman. She has been there and done that and has still risen. She is in this race for the long haul. She intends to make a difference in our country.

She is the prayer of every woman and man who long for fair play, healthy families, good schools, and a balanced economy.

She declares she wants to see more smiles in the families, more courtesies between men and women, more honesty in the marketplace. Hillary Clinton intends to help our country to what it can become.

She means to rise.

She means to help our country rise. Don’t give up on her, ever.

In fact, if you help her to rise, you will rise with her and help her make this country a wonderful, wonderful place where every man and every woman can live freely without sanctimonious piety, without crippling fear.

Rise Hillary.

Rise."

By Maya Angelou

OLOC Gathering July 30-Aug. 3 2008 Hacienda (near LAX)

California Dreaming: Building a Better World for Every Old Lesbian




Keynoters and Presenters at the 2008 Gathering
L to R, upper row: Gaye Adegbalola, Jewelle Gomez, Jackie Goldberg
lower row: Sue Fink, Alix Dobkin, Robin Tyler

go to http://www.oloc.org/registration.html for more info.

Registrants have to be 59 or older to attend or be a partner or caregiver of someone 59 or older to attend. Some exceptions are made for younger participants who are working/volunteering at the Gathering.

Obama's Speech on Race and More

(Photo of Obama from AP)

Yes, it was a great speech and I think most agree it broke new ground taking on racial issues in a way that every person in America who can should read or watch. The fact that Obama's heritage is both African and Caucasian American and that he is married to an African American woman makes the speech even more profound and interesting as he personally straddles so many different aspects of the race issue. It was a great speech; however, I would not go as far as Chris Matthews who said something like this speech was of the same caliber an an Abraham Lincoln speech and way surpassed Martin Luther King's "I had a Dream" notion because he said Obama not only had a dream, he has lived the dream." Truth be told Obama has not lived long enough yet to know what dreams he will fulfill. Obviously, in a tokenistic way he has come a long way. However, when a person runs for President, he or she is expected to fulfill our public dreams or at least some dreams that most of us have had i.e. getting us all health insurance, ending strife and war, and uniting a divided nation which Obama promises to do or should I say has the promise to do. I know this is going to sound a little bit strange but I came away from both reading the speech Obama gave to the nation and listening to and watching it on Huffington Post with even a greater curiosity than I have had before about Obama's white grandmother. Since I read Obama's book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance , I have wondered why the media has not interviewed her in more depth. Reporters have gone all the way to Kenya to do mini documentaries on Obama's African grandmother.

Now we know since the speech that Obama's white grandmother has racist stereotypes that she has uttered in front of her grandson when he was younger i.e. expressing for instance her fear of Black men when walking on the same street. He didn't add when walking alone or late at night. Lots of white women and women in general have this fear which I think is taught to us by a historically white dominated segment of society in order for that segment to avoid blame for the worst kind of sexism in action-rape. Obama said and I am paraphrasing here.. that (he) would no more distance himself from his white grandmother who has made racial remarks than he will distance himself from Reverend Wright, the minister who married him and who baptised his two daughters and who also made strongly worded negative comments about this country and white people in general.

Reverend Jeramiah Wright, of course, is the subject of the speech and the reason for it. Since it came out in the media that Obama's minister has been quoted as making what is being interpreted as anti-American and anti-white remarks in several of his speeches to large audiences. Back to my curiosity about Obama's white grandmother are these questions that rightly or wrongly remain in my mind. Is Obama somewhat alienated from her because she just doesn't get "Black America", because she doesn't fit in with his long sought persona as a Black man in America? Is he close to this grandmother and we just don't know it. Is Obama just trying to protect an "old" woman from the amoral and insidious media. Did he just grow apart from his family in Hawaii (that would include his sister who he has talked about on more than several occasions that I know about) because his new life in Chicago for the past twenty years just took over his life. Was it more politically correct for African Americans and Whites to see him with his Black family. Would the spectre of the interracialness of Obama upset some applecart and alienate him from whom-white racists?-black racists? I just don't know the answer to these questions?

Up to the time of the speech, Obama has resisted the temptation to deal with issues of race. Now he has more than just dealt with the issue of race and its impact on every American and in addition explains his decision to condemn the words that Rev. Wright has spoken over the years that he strongly disagrees with and also to not to reject the man who he sees as a mentor and friend. (I am paraphrasing here & only sharing the crux of what I heard)... Obama says rejecting Rev. Wright would be the same symbolically speaking as him rejecting the Black community which also comes with both its great riches as well as its flaws and weaknesses. Obama admits that he has heard Rev. Wright say things in Church he strongly disagrees with.

What I heard the man saying is that he got a lot spiritually out of going to this Church and he values the person who is Rev. Wright. He looks the other way at the ignorance that is sometimes projected. I wonder why or if Obama ever spoke up about any of the differences he saw through this long period (20 years it seems). I know I would have if the same happened to me in Temple and if I disagreed strongly with the Rabbi, I would have brought up the differences. I also probably would have left that Temple. One of the untruths supposedly espoused by Rev. Wright that I heard about had to do with Rev. Wright's views in the early days of the AIDS epidemic. It appears that Rev. Wright agreed with some of his contemporaries that the AIDS virus was a conspiracy thought up by a white dominated system and carried out by "elite" medical researchers to kill off large number of Black people. I am not sure if this thinking extended to Gay people because back then, the rumor mill tried to blame Gay people for the existence and spread of AIDS and thought it was God's will and way to eliminate this segment of the population. I would like to know more about Wright's connection to this way of thinking given he is viewed today as a humanist who helps people who have HIV or AIDS.

Personally, I don't find people criticizing what America is or is not a problem so that is not a big issue. In other more progressive nations, people are allowed to be frustrated and angry at their country. In Sweden, Denmark, and Holland, even in England people who flag wave and who are overly patriotic are made fun of. A true democracy would not be afraid of a Rev. Jeremiah Wright. However, for practical reason, Obama has to walk a fine line between proving he is a true patriot and also showing he is a legitimate African American who embraces his identity as a Black person in America. He claims he wants Republicans even conservative ones as well as all kinds of Democrats and others to support him. You don't get most conservative Republicans to support you unless you wave the flag a lot. You don't get Black Americans who are one of the major backbones of the Democratic Party to support you if you turn your back on a popular and dedicated minister in their midst. If you did, you would be known as an Uncle Tom or turncoat. I do believe Obama is not just catering to these various groups. I think Obama acted as he believes and has shown the courage of his convictions. It is just that his conviction tend to coincide with political reality that is required. There will be those zealots and just plain reactionary forces and unjustifiably overly patriotic types who reject Obama out of hand because he did not reject Rev. Jeremiah Wright but I figure most of these types would be in the McCain or Huckabee or further to the right camps anyway.

Where does all of this leave Hillary? At this point in the race, I don't see a lot of places for her to go except to the States that are left to participate in the Democratic Primary. Since it appears even if she wins by huge margins from here on out, Obama will still be ahead in the delegate count if not the popular vote though as of now he has both in his pocket. Should Hillary attempt to make a speech that parallels Obama's? I know she could make a good one on gender but everyone tells me that would not be welcomed as 49% of the population might be offended by the prospect of rubbing the fact that sexism exists in America in their faces. She could also quell fears people have expressed about Clintons in the White House but talking about the future she wants for America: a future that is somewhat different from the kind of world she spent time creating in the nineties when Bill Clinton was in office. Could she rise to the occasion. We know she can and has. Should Hillary do this I will leave up to the more experienced practitioners of politics that follow her cause.

Has Obama left Hillary in the dustbin of history? As they say never count her out. She is still gaining supporters: yet so is Obama. Hillary is gaining in the big states with all the strong blue collar voters. This makes me uneasy. Do I want some of the same people who tended to vote for the Reagan revolution being the primary backers of Hillary besides old white women of whom I am one of, by the way? I am uneasy and wonder where this can all possibly end. I am still supporting Hillary. I hope she will prevail but I do wonder if Obama can help this country in ways she just cannot. Sexism seems to be winning. I do think Hillary has to show she is for change. She has to show that she will stand up against the corporate greedy giants that take and take and take. She is against the military industrial complex that Eisenhower once warned us about. The only good warning I ever remember a Republican saying and that at the end of a totally do nothing administration. She has to show that she can bring the economy going in the right direction. Perhaps, this Obama speech will be a new beginning for her. She has a chance to be creative again.

But in the end, it may come to the point where Hillary has to bow out and if and when she does, I hope it will feel right. If Obama goes down and the reverse happens, I "pray" it will not be because the country is not ready for a man convinced he can bridge the racial and class divides we have in this country.

Sharon Raphael

Campaign's Word War

"Monster" "Claws out" "Kitchen Sink" "The Sky Will Fall" "Muslim" "Bitch"

"Aging"-Rush Limbaugh "Too Young and inexperienced"-Voices for Hillary

Add More Words You have Heard in the Mass Media That Describe Clinton

or Obama.

Then we can have a large word maze re the Democratic candidates and compare notes.

sharon raphael

Word Throwing Contest and More in the Clinton-Obama Race

I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the word throwing contest and mudslinging that has emanated from the Clinton-Obama Presidential Race. The most recent incident involved Hillary Clinton appearing to distance herself from Geraldine Ferraro*, our former first woman Vice-Presidential candidate, for saying "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position." Ferraro, a Clinton supporter, resigned from her postion if it could be called a position on Clinton's volunteer fundraising arm of the campaign. Later Ferraro said if she had not been a woman she would not have been in the Vice-Presidential Candidate position either. Somehow her words caused a firestorm of criticism and her words I believe taken out of context were seen as racist.

A few days earlier one of Obama's high level experts Samantha Power, resigned for calling Hillary a "monster" referring to her counterattacks on Obama. Power later apologized saying she had the utmost respect for Hillary. Power's name had been floated as a possiblel future Secretary of State under Obama. There is also a lot in the media about how white working class Democratic identified men are supporting Clinton and over 90 per cent of African Americans are supporting Obama setting up a kind of mini warfare between the two group. It reminds me of what happened after the outcome of the O.J. Trial.

It is a tricky situation given that we have a white woman and a Black man competing for the same job. Both of them are not supposed to appear as though either race or gender matter that much but the fact is they do matter to the public and the public is very sensitive and many quite ignorant about both issues. The media men in my opinion as I have said before are terribley sexist toward Hillary making every crack one can imagine. Even Obama a while back mentioned something about Hillary bringing out her "claws" whenever she is criticized. Bill Clinton got in trouble for comparing Obama's run for office to Jesse Jackson's campaign in South Carolina the implication being that Obama's campaign for higher office would eventually fizzle out like Jackson's did. There is always the spectre the media and other raise of Bill Clinton lurking somewhere in the White House doing "nasty things" with women.There is also the rumor about Obama being a secret Muslim which I find to be promoted by those with the worst sort of intentions. Hillary should not have hesitated or qualified any of her answers on this score. Her saying something like she had no evidence this was true was plainly wrong. It was a lawyer's answer and had the hint of develish intentions.I wish I could cover for her but I can't on this one.

Mudslinging is normally thought of as just the way campaigns normally go. No one expected the Dems to still be battling it out at this late date. Even the Clintons had not planned on the race lasting this long; whit the reason they had to raise a lot more money and fast. I somehow think Hillary is more in a bind on what she can say or not say than Obama. Sexism is more tolerated in America than racism is. I find Huffington Post's knee jerk reactions to every utterance Hillary says very lopsided. I don't think she should be racist or use the religion card either. Obama also has a weird way of also reacting to every single nuance and utterance on the Clinton side. He repeats everything he has heard like a parrot and then puts his own spin on it which at first was refreshing but is now getting very boring. It makes Obama seem smaller and less of stature than he is. I wonder if anyone else find this irritating. I know it is supposed to irritate those of us on Hillary's side but I think it goes beyond that. Instead of moving ahead on what he wants to do, he get bogged down in the trivia. What do you think about all this?

I will be very happy when the mudslinging is over though I know I have to endure it. I wonder if any Dem or Dems who are higher up will try to tone these wild sentiments down a bit?

Sharon Raphael, Long Beach

*Ferraro claims she sent Hillary an e-mail resigning from the budget/fundraising committee she was serving on for her and saying she initiated the move not Hillary.