Wonderful Women Of The World – Hillary Clinton
Posted by Michelle Moquin on February 2nd, 2013
Good morning!
Hillary Clinton Resigns Formally From Secretary Of State Post, John Kerry Sworn In
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned Friday as America’s secretary of state, capping a four-year tenure that saw her shatter records for the number of countries visited. John Kerry was sworn in to replace her.
In a letter sent to President Barack Obama shortly before she left the State Department for the last time in her official capacity, Clinton thanked her former opponent for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination for the opportunity to serve in his administration. Clinton said it had been an honor to be part of his Cabinet.
“I am more convinced than ever in the strength and staying power of America’s global leadership and our capacity to be a force for good in the world,” she said in the letter.
Her resignation became effective at 4 p.m. EST, when Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan swore in John Kerry as the top U.S. diplomat. The former Massachusetts senator and 2004 presidential candidate is the 68th secretary of state.
“I’m just very, very honored to be sworn in and I’m very anxious to get to work,” Kerry told reporters after the private ceremony at the Capitol. “I’ll be reporting Monday morning at 9 o’clock to do my part,” he said, but he refused to say what global hotspot he would visit first.
In the State Department’s main lobby, Clinton pushed through a throng of American foreign service workers who clamored for handshakes and smartphone photos with her and gave an emotional goodbye speech.
She told them to continue to “serve the nation we all love, to understand the challenges, the threats and the opportunities that the United States faces and to work with all our heart and all of our might to make sure that America is secure, that our interests are promoted and our values are respected.”
Clinton, however, also left office with a slap at critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. She told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that critics of the administration’s handling of the attack don’t live in an “evidence-based world,” and their refusal to “accept the facts” is unfortunate and regrettable for the political system.
Clinton told the AP that the attack in Benghazi was the low point of her time as America’s top diplomat. But she suggested that the furor over the assault would not affect whether she runs for president in 2016.
Although she insisted that she has not decided what her future holds, she said she “absolutely” still plans to make a difference on issues she cares about in speeches and in a sequel to her 2003 memoir, “Living History,” that will focus largely on her years as secretary of state.
Clinton spoke to the AP Thursday in her outer office on the seventh floor of the State Department less than 24 hours before she walks out for a final time as boss. She was relaxed but clearly perturbed by allegations from Republican lawmakers and commentators that the administration had intentionally misled the public about whether the attack was a protest gone awry or a terrorist attack, or intentionally withheld additional security for diplomatic personnel in Libya knowing that an attack could happen.
An independent panel she convened to look into the incident was scathing in its criticism of the State Department and singled out four officials for serious management and leadership failures. But it also determined that there was no guarantee that extra personnel could have prevented the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans. Clinton herself was not blamed, although she has said she accepted responsibility for the situation.
“I was so unhappy with the way that some people refused to accept the facts, refused to accept the findings of an independent Accountability Review Board, politicized everything about this terrible attack,” she said. “My job is to admit that we have to make improvements and we’re going to.”
Hours later a suicide bomber linked to a domestic terror group exploded a device just outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, killing himself and a guard. Clinton told State Department staff on Friday that the attack showed again how “we live in very complex and dangerous times.”
Clinton faced a barrage of hostile questions about Benghazi from Republican lawmakers when she testified before Congress recently in appearances that were delayed from December because of illness. Afterward, some lawmakers continued to accuse her and the administration of withholding evidence. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., told a television interviewer that he thought Clinton was getting “away with murder.”
In the interview, Clinton had little patience for such allegations.
“There are some people in politics and in the press who can’t be confused by the facts,” she said. “They just will not live in an evidence-based world. And that’s regrettable. It’s regrettable for our political system and for the people who serve our government in very dangerous, difficult circumstances.”
Because of that, she said, the partisan divide should not dissuade anyone with a cause from getting involved in politics, and she hinted strongly that a divisive atmosphere would not stop her in any future endeavor. “You have to have a thick skin because (politics) is just going to be a contact sport as far as we can look into the future.”
Clinton is no stranger to partisan politics. As first lady, she railed in 1998 against a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that she asserted had been attacking her husband, Bill Clinton, ever since he had become president.
But the woman who was once considered a divisive figure in American politics, yet leaves office as one of its most popular, remained coy about whether she would run for president in 2016.
“I am making no decisions, but I would never give that advice to someone that I wouldn’t take myself,” she said. “If you believe you can make a difference, not just in politics, in public service, in advocacy around all these important issues, then you have to be prepared to accept that you are not going to get 100 percent approval.”
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Hillary Clinton: Thank you for all you have done for our country…for serving us and for giving us your best. You are no doubt a Wonderful Woman Of The World. I am so grateful for the changes and sacrifices you have made for us. They did not go unnoticed nor unappreciated. You will be missed.
And HOPEfully you’ll be back in some way and I can’t wait to see in what manner and what you have planned to do next. I know whatever direction you chose will be another platform for success. I wish you good health and happiness…and plenty of rest. :)
Readers: If you’re interested I’ve posted Clinton’s farewell speech:
(Note: I am having some posting issues – If you can’t watch the video here, you can check it out on Youtube.)
And if you want to show your appreciation too by signing Clinton’s thank you card, click here.
Anna Of Guam: I would love it if you shared a story with us. I know you’ve got one. :)
Davis, Hazel: At a time when women should be able to depend on men for their strength and protection, men are taking advantage of women in the worst way. Where is this in the news? No where to be found.
Zen Lill: I like your piece comparing hormonal women and testosterone. Right on.
Thanks, Al.
Happy Saturday everyone!
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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February 2nd, 2013 at 8:55 am
This is synchronicity Misch, I just came back on to [post this link bc I loved it http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/a-photo-of-hillary-clinton-in-every-country-shes enjoy and I’m outta here to enjoy the weekend. Luv, Zen Lill
February 2nd, 2013 at 9:14 am
Btw, re: HIllary, I’m hoping she’s just chillin’ before taking a run for Pres in 2016. If she does some speaking and gets a sizable enough base, which of course, she will, I think/hope she’d consider it.
& I’m glad you liked my ‘hormone’ rap, Misch.
& now, I’m really out of here!
- ZL
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:32 am
Al, it is really nice to open Michelle’s blog and see your insightful comments. There is a lot of comfort in knowing that there are some men out there who get it.
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:40 am
What If It’s a Brain Tumor?
This type is common and treatable
No one wants to hear a doctor say, “It’s a brain tumor.” But what most of us don’t realize is that for the majority of people who hear these words, the diagnosis is not a death sentence.
Meningioma is the most common kind of brain tumor—and the majority of these, 85%, are benign.
This does not mean that these tumors are not harmful or do not cause serious problems. But understanding of these tumors has advanced, and research is ongoing to determine why these tumors occur and in whom—and this has produced new detection and treatment options.
New findings you should know about…
WHAT ARE MENINGIOMAS?
Meningiomas are tumors that do not grow within the brain tissue itself, but on the meninges, the membrane that covers the brain and lines the spinal cord.
Commonly, meningiomas develop between the upper surface of the brain and the skull.
Meningiomas also can occur on the skull base—including forming in the bones at the bottom of the skull and the bony ridge in the back of the eyes.
Symptoms can occur as the meningioma grows large enough to exert pressure on the brain or if it irritates the surrounding areas.
Depending on its location and which brain areas and nerves are disrupted, symptoms may include blurred vision, impaired hearing or sense of smell, loss of balance or facial pain or numbness.
Symptoms such as headaches, seizures, muscle weakness and/or memory loss may also occur.
WHO IS AFFECTED?
Meningiomas are two to three times as common in women as in men and are found more frequently in blacks than in any other ethnic group.
The higher rate among women has led scientists to wonder whether hormones might play a role—and whether hormone treatment may increase risk.
So far, the data from large population studies in both the US and Finland have found no connection between oral contraceptives and meningiomas and no more than a weak association between postmenopausal hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) and the occurrence of brain tumors.
A large 2011 study that looked at lifestyle factors suggested that the risk for meningioma after menopause rose for women who were overweight but dropped slightly for active women.
THE CAUSE IS UNKNOWN
Researchers are still working on what causes meningiomas. One area of interest is radiation.
Several studies have shown that very large amounts of radiation appear to increase the risk for these tumors.
Most susceptible are children and young adults who had high doses of radiation to treat a previous cancer. A connection between cell-phone use and meningioma has not yet been determined.
Now researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Yale University are using genetic analysis to help understand why some individuals develop meningiomas after radiation exposure while other people do not.
A study that was published in the journal Cancer in 2012 suggested that there may be a connection between bitewing dental X-rays and meningioma, but the evidence is not definitive.
For now, the best advice is simply to have dental X-rays no more often than is necessary.
DIAGNOSIS OF MENINGIOMAS
Sometimes, meningiomas are diagnosed by accident, even before they cause symptoms—for example, in the course of examination for an unrelated problem such as head trauma.
For other patients, meningiomas are not diagnosed until they have been growing for years and reached a substantial size. Slow-growing tumors are almost always benign and rarely become cancerous.
When symptoms (such as those mentioned earlier) make physicians suspect a meningioma, they turn to computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with contrast dye to better see the tumor, for diagnosis.
Recent progress:
The development of powerful magnets has made MRI scans far more precise than they were in the past—and they are able to detect brain tumors that might have been missed a few years ago.
TREATMENT STRATEGIES
Once found, not all meningiomas need to be treated. Physicians may opt for the “watchful waiting” approach for small, benign tumors that do not create symptoms.
Researchers are studying these benign tumors. At Johns Hopkins, they are looking at the genetic differences between benign meningiomas that stay benign and those that become malignant.
This will help doctors determine which tumors need treatment and when it is safe to wait and watch a tumor.
Surgery may become necessary if symptoms develop or if periodic brain scans show that the tumor is starting to grow rapidly. The usual surgical treatment is removal of the entire tumor.
Major advances:
With image-guided surgery, the surgeon uses CT or MRI as a kind of 3-D internal GPS to tell him/her just where the tumor ends and to navigate around blood vessels and neural structures.
This type of advance makes it possible to remove tumors that would previously have been considered too risky to remove, and to remove them more completely, making recurrence less likely.
The use of intraoperative CT and MRI in the operating room enables surgeons to verify that the entire tumor has been removed.
Sometimes the location of the tumor makes surgery impossible. For instance, a meningioma in the middle of the skull base is likely to be surrounded by crucial nerves and blood vessels that make surgery too risky.
In cases like these, radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) is used. Radiation therapy has also advanced.
Today, stereotactic radiosurgery uses imaging and computerized programming to precisely target high-intensity radiation to the tumor while limiting damage to nearby brain tissue.
Gamma Knife, CyberKnife and similar methods deliver this type of concentrated radiation. Stereotactic radiosurgery usually keeps tumors from growing but only occasionally shrinks them.
One possible side effect is brain swelling, which can cause symptoms such as headaches or neurological problems such as seizures or loss of balance.
Chemotherapy plays a small role in meningioma—it is reserved for aggressively malignant or recurrent tumors that cannot be treated effectively with surgery or radiotherapy alone.
Research is ongoing to develop new drugs. At Johns Hopkins, scientists have identified a molecular pathway within meningioma cells that spurs their growth—and this could lead to the development of drugs to block their growth.
Researchers at Harvard Medical School, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and elsewhere also are testing medications approved for pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancers with hopes of identifying more effective chemotherapy for those meningiomas that do become aggressive or recurrent.
Source: Alessandro Olivi, MD, a professor of neurosurgery and oncology and director of neurological oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and chairman of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, both in Baltimore.
February 3rd, 2013 at 7:42 am
Zen Lill, I read “Pillars of the Earth.” I thought it was a great book. As you said to each his/her own.
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:14 am
Thank you for asking Michelle. Like everything else when whites tell their tells of woe they are only concerned about themselves.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was followed about 4 hours later with an air attack upon Guam, December 8, 1941. The bombed the village of Sumay, Piti, Hagåtña and many other populated areas.
The story of Guam’s suffering at the hands of the Japanese is as about as important to white america as any suffering of OTWs is to most white in America.
Unlike what happened at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese returned the next day with more bombing. The a day later on December 10th they invaded Guam.
To show how whites considered the lives of our people here is an account of the defense white america left Guam with.
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The Guam defending force was woefully undermanned: 274 Navy personnel, more than half of them non-combative personnel; 153 Marines; and about 120 Insular Force Guards, whose military training was minimal at best.
The Guam defenders’ total arsenal were three machine guns, four Thompson submachine guns, six Browning automatic pistols, fifty .30 caliber pistols, a dozen .22 caliber regulation rifles, and eighty-five Springfield rifles. Most of the weapons were of World War I vintage. Imprinted on the Springfield rifles were labels with the following notation:
Do not shoot. For training only.
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In many instances, Japanese soldiers moved into private homes without notice or formality.
Members of the family of Juan Cruz, a carpenter, were having lunch in their kitchen when armed Japanese soldiers ordered them to get out of their house. The family members gathered the food on the table and collected whatever utensils they could carry, and moved to an unoccupied house nearby where they finished their meal.
Leon Gumataotao and his family were forced to surrender their concrete house, and had to build a wooden-framed house nearby.
There were other abuses. As the Japanese moved into Sumay, soldiers raped five young women.
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When they weren’t raping Guamanian women they were raping “comfort girls”(young girls beginning at age 11 taken from the Philippines and forced to live in taken homes on Guam to service Japanese soldiers.
The people of Guam were used without a concern for their safety or lives. In 1944 there were more than 20,000 japanese soldiers on Guam.
The Japanese forced the women to service their soldiers and began massacred the men by herding them into caves and throwing grenades in them any who survived were bayonetted.
Towards the end of the war the Japanese began killing everyone they caught. The island was full of Chamorro bodies tied to coconut trees and beheaded.
Many who escaped the Japanese died at the hands of US Naval aerial bombardment. The American landing in July of 1944 began the end of the 32 month imprisonment on our own island.
Only 21,000 Guamanians survived that 32 month imprisonment by the Japanese.
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:42 am
I’m white an unafraid to admit that as long as the US Senate and House if filled with tiny dick white men, we will never get any sensible gun laws passed.
All you have to do is watch TV to see how filled the airways are with testosterone and dick hardening ads to know that this country is about the comfort of men and white men are the leaders.
Lisa
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:01 am
This white woman agrees 100% Lisa. Did you hear about:
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Chris Kyle, an ex-Navy SEAL who wrote the best-selling book American Sniper about his service in Iraq, was shot and killed at a gun range in Texas, multiple outlets reported Saturday night. A second man was also killed.
According to local TV station KHOU, officials said that Kyle was shot at point-blank range “while helping another soldier who was recovering from post traumatic stress syndrome” at a range near the town of Glen Rose.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Lancaster, Texas police arrested a suspect, 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh, after a brief chase.
Kyle had become well-known for his exploits in Iraq, where he deployed four times, set the record for sniper kills at 150, received numerous commendations, and, according to the Stephenville Empire Tribune, was given the nickname “The Devil of Ramadi” by insurgents.
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If only this had occurred at a place where there were some armed people who could have prevented this senseless act of violence….
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:24 am
Janet, there is more to that story. The 25 year old man that killed Kyle and his friend Chris was Eddie Ray Routh.
Eddie was suffering from PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Why would two sane men take a man suffering from PTSD, put a gun in his hands, and take him to a firing range to better his aim?
Did they not hear about Sandyhook, in Newtown? Why follow the behavior of that boy’s gun crazy mother? Gun crazy white boys do stupid shit.
I’m not saying they deserved it, but at least their bad behavior didn’t result in innocent deaths of people unaware they were arming and training a mentally ill person.
Don’t mourn them to much, if they had not been stopped by this bad behavior, rest assured these gun nuts would have armed some other nut and only god knows what that would have led to.
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:27 am
Very Ironic…..Chris Kyle spent his life dedicated to murdering others by surprise. He would sneak around a mile away from his victim and use an ultra powerful scope to murder his unsuspecting victims. …….then one day he goes to a murder weapon practice range and surprise surprise…..he was the recipient of one of his favorite surprise attacks. God has a wild sense of humor!
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:28 am
Chris Kyle did not “murder” victims…. if you participate in an armed conflict as the enemy – you are being killed but not murdered.
Last time I checked Chris Kyle did not “murder” innocent children or women but killed armed fighters or people who were setting up IEDs….
learn the difference….
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:29 am
it happened in Texas
on a gun range
where everyone had lots and lots of guns
February 3rd, 2013 at 10:29 am
Very sad. He sounded like he was doing good work with the vets who had PTSD. I’m not sure if taking these vets to a shooting range is good therapy though.