Management Tips from an 80-Year-Old Badass

Florida Marlins skipper Jack McKeon may not Twitter, but so what? This octogenarian knows his baseball and runs a tight ship

By Joel Stein

Illustration by John Ueland; McKeon: Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images; Field: Nick Laham/Getty Images

Not wearing a hearing aid is one of the many tricks Jack McKeon has learned during his six decades in baseball. “I used to be a very strong disciplinarian,” says McKeon, sitting in the Oakland Coliseum one recent afternoon as his players take batting practice. “Then I decided to back off a little bit. I don’t use the hearing aids because I don’t want to see a lot of things, and I don’t want to hear a lot of things.”

It may be too late for that. McKeon took over the last-place Florida Marlins on June 20, the day after then-manager Edwin Rodríguez quit. While Rodríguez wanted the Marlins to offer him a long-term contract, McKeon didn’t exactly need one. The 80-year-old’s appointment is almost without precedent in pro sports. In 2003 the Marlins hired a 72-year-old to take over a club filled with young, inexperienced players. That year, McKeon’s Marlins beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. Still, hiring a bona fide octogenarian is even harder to believe. The odds of McKeon winning the World Series this year (1 in 75, according to Vegas.com) are longer than the odds of him dying this year (1 in 15.5, according to Social Security’s actuarial tables).

While there are at least a dozen chief executive officers even older than McKeon—Hong Kong-based Run Run Shaw is, somewhat inexplicably, both a media mogul and 103 years old—none of them is running an outfit of men largely in their early 20s. Yet this management challenge doesn’t faze McKeon. “I got nine grandchildren, I’m in tune with what’s going on,” he says. “Maybe I’m not about to put my personal stuff on Facebook and all that crap, like the video stuff, whatever the hell they call it,” he explains, moving his thumbs as if he’s using a video-game console.

He doesn’t follow his players on Twitter, either. Marlins right fielder Logan Morrison recently posted, “McKeon asked me what I had going on tonite. Told him I was going home 2 play w/ Twitter. He replied ‘oh, what kind of dog is it?’ ” When I ask McKeon if he wants me to show him what his players are tweeting, he says: “No. I don’t care what they say. What do they say?” Then I show him Morrison’s tweets about his recent visit to Twitter headquarters, and McKeon makes a grumpy face. “I just want them to concentrate on baseball 100 percent once they enter that clubhouse. If he goes down to the minor leagues, he ain’t going to have any Twitter friends.”

Although affable, McKeon is known as a tough manager. During his first game this season, he benched his best player, shortstop Hanley Ramirez, for tardiness. He also pulled pitcher Randy Choate in the middle of a count. (“I’ve never had that happen before,” says Choate. “It worked.”) When he told his players they couldn’t hang out in the clubhouse during games, they knew he was serious; in 2003, McKeon locked the clubhouse doors and required players to hand him bathroom passes when they couldn’t hold it in any longer. He may be the only 80-year-old man who is willing and able to go three hours without peeing.

It’s taken McKeon decades to hone this management approach. “When you first start managing, you want the players to like you—so you let a lot of things slide,” he says. “You feel like these are veteran players and you need them on your side to help you.” However, McKeon eventually came to realize that “it doesn’t work that way. So when I come in, I try to establish me.” He’s learned that the best way to get personnel to buy into his detail-oriented program is by loosening them up—and playing to his own strengths. These days, one of McKeon’s signature bits is to call his players by the wrong name. When I ask him if this is really a bit, or if he actually has trouble telling Gaby Sanchez apart from Anibal Sanchez, he pauses and thinks. “They think, ‘He’s old. He forgot my name.’ So, s–t, I just go along with it.”

U.S. Default May Discourage Americans From Saving, Borzi Says

July 26, 2011, 12:58 PM EDT

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. default would be “very, very disruptive” to retirement savings and the nation’s pension system, a Labor Department official said today.

A default on debt may have a “profound effect” on the rate of savings in retirement plans such as 401(k) and individual retirement accounts, said Assistant Secretary of Labor Phyllis Borzi at a hearing in Washington today. Investors may be “less likely” to put money in them because of fears that they wouldn’t be able to easily access their funds as the result of restrictions on withdrawals from tax-deferred retirement savings, she said.

“Nothing good could come from an American default” in terms of the pension system, said Borzi. Some pension funds, particularly the larger ones, have investment policies that require them to hold AAA bonds and most of them have U.S. Treasuries, Borzi said. Fiduciaries for those plans would have to figure out how not to violate their investment guidelines if U.S. government bonds were downgraded, she said.

President Barack Obama said yesterday the U.S. may experience a “deep economic crisis” if leaders fail to reach a deal and the nation defaults, while House Speaker John Boehner said the president “wants a blank check” to keep spending. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, and the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada, unveiled competing plans yesterday to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit.

Borzi responded to questions about the debt limit at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions on a separate issue related to the extent of fiduciary responsibility for those giving investment advice to workers with retirement accounts.

U.S. retirement assets totaled $18 trillion as of March 31, according to the Investment Company Institute in Washington. Savings in IRAs were $4.9 trillion at the end of the first quarter, while assets in 401(k)-type plans were $4.7 trillion, ICI data show.

--Editors: Alexis Leondis, Rick Levinson.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Collins in New York at mcollins45@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rick Levinson at rlevinson2@bloomberg.net.

U.A.E., Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Cut Rates

The Gulf Cooperation Council The United Arab Emirates decided to cut their bank repository rate by 0.25% to 5.25%; Saudi Arabia decreased its benchmark rate for deposits also by 0.25% to 4.0%; Qatar and Bahrain reduced their deposit rates by the same amount — 0.25% to 4.0%. Kuwait refrained from changing the country’s interest rate, because they’ve already removed their currency’s peg to dollar back in May 2007.

This rate change followed the cut by U.S. Federal Reserve decision to lower the rate from 4.50% to 4.25% yesterday on December 11. Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia and U.A.E., started to peg their national currencies to dollar decades ago, and they have to maintain the similar interest rates to keep this peg up.

Lowering the interest rates goes against the general monetary policy of the Gulf countries in the way that it stimulates inflation, which is already very high due to the devalued dollar. Fighting inflation is an important task stated by the government of U.A.E. and this rate cut can only boost up the prices growth.

Although this step contradicts anti-inflation policy, it is almost doubtless that such a small rate change won’t hurt a lot. The possibly better side effect of this change would be another reason for consideration of the dollar peg abandonment by these oil countries.

This entry was posted on TopForexNews on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Economic Indicators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

‘Embarrassed’ Corporate Leaders Quiet on Debt-Ceiling Fight

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Congress Heads Into Weekend Deadlocked on Plan to Avert Default

By Mark Drajem

(Updates with comment from Donohue in 19th paragraph.)

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- With the U.S. government on the verge of a historic default, the country’s largest business lobbying group took to the halls of Congress last week to press lawmakers to support the Panama Free-Trade Agreement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsored a “door knock,” with 80 members handing out Panama hats to tout a trade deal with a nation that has a smaller economy than Akron, Ohio. To critics, the Chamber event illustrates what has been a deafening silence from U.S. executive suites on the gridlock in Washington over raising the federal $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

“They haven’t done nearly enough to sound the alarm,” said Jim Kessler, vice president for policy at Third Way, a Washington research group that describes itself as advocating “moderate policy” and has executives from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on its board. Executives “think this is all Washington theater, and it will all get done in the end.”

The Chamber, which last week began to issue almost daily pleas for the debt ceiling to be raised, today urged lawmakers to approve the package worked out by President Barack Obama and congressional leaders over the weekend. In the months leading up to the crisis, company lobbyists and executives had mostly steered clear of the fight.

At a closed-door meeting with Chamber lobbyist Bruce Josten last month, Democratic Senators Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Warner of Virginia upbraided the group and its member companies for not twisting arms hard enough to get a compromise package worked out, according to two people familiar with the discussion who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

‘Wishy-Washy’

Begich contrasted the lobbying, television advertisements and political giving the Chamber invested fighting off health- care legislation in 2009 and 2010 with its “wishy-washy” approach on the debt ceiling.

“I’m amazed,” Begich said in an interview July 27. “They spent millions saying that health care would be the end of all business in America, but the end of all business in America is in five days from now.”

On the debt debate, corporations have kept their lobbying money on the sidelines. Of the 10 companies with the largest lobbying expenditures in 2011, two said they were lobbying on the debt ceiling during the first six months of this year, according to disclosure forms filed with the Senate: insurer Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the third-largest lobbyist, and drugmaker Pfizer Inc., the ninth-largest.

Buffett, Cote

None of the other companies mentioned the issue. Together those 10 spent more than $90 million on lobbying from January through June, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington research group.

With notable exceptions such as Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and David Cote, chairman and chief executive of Honeywell International Inc., CEOs generally have shied away from speaking out individually on the issue.

“It’s unfortunate that the business interests have not stepped forward as loudly as they should have,” Bill Daley, the White House chief of staff, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television July 26. “You’ve had a silence from the business community to the political establishment over the last number of years that’s been unfortunate.”

Warren Bennis, a professor of business at the University of Southern California who has written about corporate leadership for four decades, says CEOs may have been silenced by positions advocated by some Republicans, such as Tea Party enthusiasts who support an increase in the debt limit only if it’s accompanied by greater spending cuts than the increase and doesn’t raise taxes.

‘Embarrassed’ by Republicans

“They’re caught,” Bennis said in an interview July 29. “They tend to be Republican and they are embarrassed by what they see from Republicans,” Bennis said. “It’s a real stalemate and CEOs want to stay clear of it.”

After negotiations between Republicans and Obama broke down, chief executives of companies such as General Electric Co., BlackRock Inc. and Citigroup Inc. started to push harder for a breakthrough last week, mainly by signing group letters sent to Congress and the administration.

Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein and JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief Jamie Dimon were among 14 financial executives who signed a July 28 letter by the Financial Services Forum, a Washington trade group that represents the largest banks.

On July 27, the Business Roundtable sent House lawmakers a letter supporting a bill pushed by Republican Speaker John Boehner that would cut $915 billion in spending over 10 years in exchange for a two-step process of raising the debt ceiling and considering a balanced-budget amendment. Today, the Washington- based group backed the compromise package as well.

115 Associations

Some 115 associations, but no individuals, were listed as signees. The Washington-based Roundtable says on its website that it was “founded on the belief that businesses should play an active role in the formation of public policy.”

The Boehner bill passed the House on July 29, only to fail in the Democrat-controlled Senate later the same evening. After weekend negotiations, Obama said last night that leaders of both parities in the House and Senate reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and cut the deficit. The Senate and House may vote as early as today on the compromise.

“We have a great deal of hard work ahead of us to restore our economy and put our nation’s finances on a sounder footing,” U.S. Chamber President Thomas Donohue said today in a statement. “This agreement takes us a step in the right direction and is the right thing to do.”

‘Shaking Their Heads’

Some corporate leaders interviewed by Bloomberg reporters before the weekend talks that produced the compromise said lawmakers should just agree to raise the limit and move on.

“When I talked to my colleagues, they’re all shaking their heads basically in dismay,” Albert Stroucken, CEO of Owens Illinois Inc., the world’s largest producer of glass bottles, said in an interview.

“I am surprised we’ve gotten this deep and it’s unresolved,” Rockwell Automation Inc. Chief Financial Officer Ted Crandall said in an interview as negotiations intensified last week. He declined to say which plan under debate the company may prefer.

Walter Robb, co-CEO of Whole Foods Market Inc., also lamented that “the atmosphere is so hyper-partisan” in Washington. He hasn’t spoken out publicly on the debt issue himself, he said in an interview, because “we’re grocers and we’re really just concentrated on growing the business.”

At United Parcel Service Inc., CEO Scott Davis and Chief Financial Officer Kurt Kuehn wouldn’t discuss which debt reduction approach they might prefer, said Norman Black, a spokesman for the world’s biggest package-delivery company.

No Interest

“Neither Scott nor Kurt have any interest at this point in addressing specific plans, nor have they tried to study all the specifics of some of the proposals that are out there.” Black said in an interview. Executives at 18 other companies contacted by Bloomberg declined to comment or didn’t return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Buffett, one of the CEOs quoted most often on the debt issue, spoke out on the matter as early as last April, saying at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that it was “most asinine” for lawmakers to consider not raising the debt limit.

“If you don’t get a deal you are putting a gun to your head,” Buffett said in a Bloomberg Television interview July 8. “Nothing may happen, but we don’t have a parallel with it in the past.”

Cote, Honeywell’s CEO, served on Obama’s debt commission and has called for reducing the deficit through tax increases as well as spending cuts in interviews on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bloomberg Television and other programs and in op-ed articles.

‘Job Destruction’

“For a bunch of people down there who spend all their time talking about job creation, they’re actively on a path to job destruction right now,” Cote said in an interview with Bloomberg News on July 28.

The Chamber of Commerce says it has been pushing in a series of letters this year for Congress to agree to raise the cap. Chamber President Thomas Donohue in April warned that the debt ceiling was a bigger risk to the economy than a possible government shutdown, and vowed to press lawmakers to act.

What the group hasn’t done is mobilize local members to knock on doors in the Capitol, the kind of retail-level pressure for which it is famous in Washington.

“It is almost impossible to do things like that when there is no proposal to rally behind or oppose,” Blair Latoff, a spokeswoman for the Chamber, said in an e-mail. Comparing the debt ceiling to the lobbying on the trade deals with Panama, South Korea and Colombia is comparing “apples and oranges,” she said.

There is still “the expectation by the business community that Washington is going to figure this out,” said Ron Bonjean, a lobbyist who was an aide to Dennis Hastert when he was House speaker.

Unlike the lobbying frenzies over health-care legislation and overhauling the financial system in the previous two years, companies just want a deal, Bonjean said in an interview.

“How they get it done, they don’t care.”

--With assistance from Rachel Layne in Boston, Thomas Black in Dallas, Leslie Patton in Chicago, Natalie Doss in New York and Jack Kaskey in Houston. Editors: Joe Winski, Steve Geimann

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.ne

‘Dire’ Finances Forces Rhode Island City Into Bankruptcy

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By Michael McDonald and David McLaughlin

(Updates with Moody’s report in fifth paragraph.)

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Central Falls, Rhode Island’s poorest city, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection as it struggles to meet its pension obligations.

The petition was filed today after state officials failed to persuade unionized police, firefighter and municipal retirees to accept voluntary benefit concessions, according to a statement from Robert Flanders, a judge appointed to oversee the city’s finances. Flanders said he asked the court to reject existing collective-bargaining agreements with the unions.

“The current situation is dire, and necessitates decisive steps to put the city back on a path to solid financial footing and future prosperity,” Governor Lincoln Chafee, who joined Flanders in announcing the bankruptcy petition today, said in the statement. “We will be exploring all options to provide quality services at an affordable cost to all taxpayers.”

Central Falls, a city of about 18,000 located about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) north of Providence, is the fifth municipal entity to file for bankruptcy this year, compared with six in all of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The filing followed last week’s move by lawmakers in Jefferson County, Alabama, to postpone a vote on proceeding with what would be the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy.

Out of Assets

The Central Falls pension plan was expected to run out of assets by October without additional funding or significant concessions from both current employees and retirees, according to a June 17 report from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating company at the time lowered the city’s credit grade one level to Caa1, its 17th-highest of 21, from B3.

The pension’s obligations were $48 million greater than the fair value of its assets as of June 30, 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Central Falls in fiscal 2011 continued its practice of not making its required contribution to the municipal pension and drew on existing plan assets to pay benefits, Moody’s said.

Central Falls has about $21 million of outstanding debt, New York-based Moody’s said. The city’s per-capita income is 50 percent of Rhode Island’s, according to the company.

Gina Raimondo, the state’s treasurer, released a statement today saying she doesn’t expect the bankruptcy filing “to hinder the state’s ability to access the bond markets in the coming months.”

Frank Bailey, a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Massachusetts, will oversee the bankruptcy for the city, according to a court filing.

The case is In re City of Central Falls, 11-13105, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Rhode Island (Providence).

--With assistance from Martin Z. Braun in New York Editors: Mark Tannenbaum, Andrew Dunn

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael McDonald in Boston at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net.

Europe Pushes to Revive UN Resolution Condemning Syria’s Assad

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By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Bill Varner

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. and European allies today are seeking to resuscitate efforts at the United Nations to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to halt the bloodiest crackdown yet on anti-government protesters.

In response to a German call, the UN Security Council will meet today at 5 p.m. in New York to discuss the escalating violence in Syria, where security forces killed more than 150 people over the last two days. China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa and India -- which has taken over the council’s rotating monthly presidency -- have blocked adoption of a draft resolution first circulated on May 25.

The attack on Hama, accounting for the bulk of the deaths, is among the most vicious episodes in the uprising that began more than four months ago and was unleashed at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. The Security Council must urgently respond to the ongoing crackdown by referring the situation to the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International said today in a statement.

“I would like to see a UN Security Council resolution to condemn this violence,” U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC Radio 4. Still, getting the UN’s decision-making body to act will be “difficult work,” he said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that “in these horrifying circumstances, France hopes more than ever that the United Nations Security Council will shoulder its responsibilities by speaking out loud and clear, as the United Nations secretary-general has done several times.”

President Barack Obama, in a strongly phrased criticism of Assad, said yesterday that the U.S. will “increase our pressure on the Syrian regime, and work with others around the world to isolate the Assad government.”

Russia Toughens Stance

In a sign of that Russian opposition to some form of UN action may be thawing, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow put out its toughest statement yet on Syria, saying the use of force against civilians and government representatives is “unacceptable” and “should be stopped.” Officials in Moscow have been reluctant to speak on what they see as a domestic matter.

“There is no real change in the Russian position on Syria, but this statement serves as a kind of insurance policy for Moscow to take further steps at the UN,” Fyodor Lukyanov, an analyst at the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy in Moscow, said by telephone.

Ramadan

Government forces resumed their assault on Hama today on the first day of Ramadan, shelling it early this morning and destroying four buildings, while also attacking the eastern city of Deir al-Zour and the town of Bukamal, Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Damascus-based Arab Organization for Human Rights, said by telephone.

At least 10 people were killed today, Merhi said, while Syrian state television said yesterday that an army colonel and two other soldiers were killed by armed men in Deir al-Zour.

The latest assault came as opposition forces vowed to step up their campaign against Assad during Ramadan. Family and community groups typically gather for evening meals during the month to break their fasts and more people attend special services at mosques. That may make it easier for opposition leaders to organize daily rallies along the lines of those held for the past four months after Friday prayers.

The government “has been very frightened by Ramadan’s onset,” Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist who directs the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said in a telephone interview. “The unfolding crackdown is going to fuel people’s anger.”

No Military Intervention

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters in Berlin that it remained to be seen whether the violence over the weekend will prompt reluctant partners to change their position.

“There is no prospect of a legal, morally sanctioned military intervention; therefore we have to concentrate on other ways of influencing the Assad regime and trying to help the situation in Syria,” Hague told the BBC. “It is a very frustrating situation.”

At least 2,000 protesters have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-March, according to Merhi and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights.

The unrest poses the biggest challenge to Assad’s rule since he inherited power from his father, Hafez al-Assad, 11 years ago. Assad has blamed the protests on foreign-inspired plots, while conceding that some demonstrators have legitimate demands and pledging political changes.

The European Union imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on five Syrians “responsible for and associated with repression,” Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, said in an e-mailed statement, without identifying the people.

--With assistance from Brian Parkin in Berlin, Massoud A. Derhally in Dubai, Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow, Patrick Henry in Brussels and Gregory Viscusi in Paris. Editors: Terry Atlas, Leslie Hoffecker

To contact the reporters on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at the United Nations at fjackson@bloomberg.net; Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

10 dirt-cheap housing markets

Youngstown, Ohio. Median price: $55,400
1 of 10
Youngstown, Ohio. Median price: $55,400
A Youngstown mansion costs just $150,000
• Where is America's cheapest real estate?

If you're hunting for a real estate bargain, look no further: Here are 10 cities where the typical home costs less than $82,000.

The nation's cheapest major housing market is the area in and around Youngstown, Ohio. There, the median home price barely breaks $55,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. We're not talking about hovels in slums; these are well-kept homes in nice suburban or city settings priced at levels to make consumers in pricey coastal markets ache with envy.

Want something even nicer. There is a seven bedroom, 4,800 square foot home -- 19 rooms total -- well kept and in the historic district on the market for $150,000. That's not a misprint.

Take your time house hunting: That could save you some dough. Fiserv, the provider of real estate information and analysis, is forecasting a further home price decline in 2011 totaling nearly 12% for the year.

Happy Independence Day

How will you celebrate our nation’s independence? We have a rather traditional day laid out for ourselves. We’ll start the day out with our city parade and a brunch with our extended Minnesota family. Later, I’ll do some grilling, and late in the evening, we will join friends to watch fireworks in St. Paul. In between, the First Mate and I will continue watching the miniseries John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney as John and Abigail Adams. The story stretches from the Boston Massacre to Adams’ death on July 4, 1826, and presents a brilliant warts-and-all look at the man known as the Colossus of Independence in his day. The series includes this dramatization of the approval and publication of the Declaration of Independence, a stirring recitation:

My wife and I have spent the last few summers watching documentaries and dramatic recountings of the American Revolution period. Last year, we discovered The Founding of America, a collection of History Channel presentations that are worth so much more than the modest sale price of the set. I reviewed it last year, and the price has dropped considerably since then, which makes it a steal. But if you can’t get your hands on either for today, the History International channel will play the miniseries The Revolution all day, which is one of the programs included in the set, and a fine way to get into the spirit.

However you celebrate our independence, have a happy and safe day with family and friends, and take a moment to remember the men who risked all for our freedom and liberty.

After President Barack Obama revealed the suspect status of his support for Israel — and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wowed crowds with a sternly-worded address to a special joint session of Congress — some speculated Jewish American support for Obama would wane. But a new Gallup poll out yesterday shows a large majority still approve of the president.

Jewish Americans gave President Barack Obama a 60% job approval rating in June, down from 68% in May, but statistically unchanged from 64% in April. Thirty-two percent of U.S. Jews now disapprove of the job Obama is doing, similar to their 30% average thus far in 2011. …

President Obama delivered a major speech at the State Department on May 19 in which he articulated his support for a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a return to Israel’s 1967 borders. His remarks provoked a highly negative reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as from many high profile supporters of Israel in government, politics, and media.

Gallup cannot say whether the speech had an immediate impact on the views of Jewish Americans toward the president nationally, as sample sizes for this group in Gallup Daily tracking are too small to isolate short time periods.

However, aggregated Gallup Daily tracking interviews for the month and half periods prior to and following the speech show no significant nor sustained shift in Jewish Americans’ views toward Obama. Sixty-five percent approved of him for the April 1-May 18 time period, and 62% approved from May 19-June 30. Across the two time periods, approval was also essentially flat among all U.S. adults.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jews who attend synagogue weekly — who tend to be more conservative, in general — are less supportive of Obama than those who don’t.

In general, the poll confirms what Ed said earlier:

The Jewish vote won’t suddenly swing to the GOP, for reasons that have nothing to do with Obama. Jewish voters tend to be more progressive; the Democratic Party is a more natural home for them. While there may be some truth in the notion that African-Americans are naturally more conservative and could be won over with a more concerted effort by Republicans to address their issues through debate (as Jack Kemp tried), that’s almost certainly not true of Jewish voters as a bloc. The GOP position on Israel might be a better fit, but on domestic politics, they’ll keep voting Democratic.

But the official affirmation of Jewish support the poll provides is still good news for Obama, who needs every bit of approval he can muster heading into a difficult reelection. Of course, he especially needs any approval that will translate to campaign cash — and whether this poll actually contradicts what some have said, that the crucial category of politically active Jews are less enthused about Obama than ever before, remains to be seen. After all, the poll didn’t specifically seek out Jewish Americans noted for political involvement. It could be the (randomized) sample that so strongly supports Obama just happens to barely vote, let alone donate.

* * Vault * Green Room * Ed Morrissey Show Pawlenty’s new senior political advisor: Huckabee’s daughter

Gamechanger?

Here’s the news that Pawlenty campaign manager Nick Ayers promised via Twitter earlier today: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the daughter of the 2008 presidential candidate, is joining the Pawlenty campaign as a senior adviser.

She served as national political director for her father — who won the Iowa GOP caucuses — during the last presidential cycle. She also worked as the campaign manager for Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) in 2010.

She’s got a caucus-winning rolodex and a brand name that’ll get Pawlenty a second look from Christian conservatives who might have been tilting towards Bachmann. Will it get him her dad’s endorsement, too? That would be a real gamechanger, but maybe only if it happens sooner rather than later: T-Paw desperately needs a shot in the arm before the straw poll next month to halt the swell of Bachmania and convince big donors he’s capable of beating Romney. Is there any chance whatsoever that Huckabee would endorse before Ames? I’m guessing no, although…

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is joining Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign as senior political adviser. She begins her new role in the campaign’s Iowa headquarters today, taking the lead for the campaign on the Iowa Straw Poll effort with a focus on expanding the campaign’s grassroots operations across the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Coming in a few weeks: *Ring* “Hi, dad. It’s Sarah. Listen, I need a favor…” And speaking of Iowa gamechangers, take five minutes to read RCP’s report on Palin supporters quietly organizing inside the state to help her hit the ground running if/when she jumps in. One local tea partier with state organizing experience thinks she’d be the frontrunner once she jumped in — but warns that she’d probably need at least 30 days to be well positioned for Ames, which is just … 39 days from now. If she decides not to run, where do those Palinista boots on the ground go?

WH intervenes in Texas execution

Over the weekend, quite a few e-mailers sent over the story of the Obama administration’s attempt to intervene in a controversial Texas execution. Humberto Leal Garcia faces execution for a kidnapping, rape, and murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1994. Leal, a Mexican national, had not been advised of his consular rights, and his case has become a cause celebre at the UN and a source of anxiety for the State Department:

The Obama Administration is taking the unusual step of trying to halt the execution of a Mexican citizen who has been sentenced to die for the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl more than 16 years ago.

U.S. authorities want to delay Humberto Leal Garcia‘s execution –scheduled for Thursday — for up to six months to give Congress time to consider legislation that would directly affect his case.

The federal government rarely intervenes in state death penalty cases.

Leal, a 38-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, wasn’t told he could contact the Mexican consulate after his arrest-something his lawyer’s argue is mandatory under international law.

The UN has already appealed to Gov. Rick Perry for a stay, but in Texas, that decision has to originate as a recommendation from the clemency board, which has refused to provide one. One federal court has already rejected Garcia’s claims of lack of due process regarding his consular rights, which is complicated by the fact that Garcia had lived in the US since he was 2 years old. He was in his early 20s when he committed the rape-murder of a teen. This is not the case of a tourist arrested for a crime and being unfamiliar with his rights and legal process.

Still, the federal government sees a need to protect itself from the impression that it won’t enforce the treaties that guarantee consular access for foreign nationals in legal trouble — and it’s not difficult to see why. Americans traveling abroad might be more vulnerable than most, making assumptions about the universality of legal processes that simply have no basis in fact. Any administration would want to protect the reciprocity of consular-access agreements in order to prevent other nations from railroading American citizens based on ignorance of their rights and access to effective counsel through consulates.

In fact, as Elizabeth Meinecke pointed out at Townhall, the Obama administration is not the first to intervene in this type of controversy:

It is rare for the federal government to go to the Court to support delays of execution in state cases. The new legal efforts of Leal’s defense counsel and the Obama Administration are an attempt to gain a different outcome for him than similar efforts met three years ago. Then, the George W. Bush Administration and defense lawyers made the attempt to save another Mexican with the same treaty complaint, Jose Ernesto Medellin. After losing his challenge in the Supreme Court, Medellin was executed in August 2008 in Huntsville, Texas.

Medellin and Leal were among 51 Mexicans, convicted of crimes in the U.S. without having access to a home-country diplomat, who won a World Court decision in 2004 declaring that the U.S. had failed to live up to its obligations under the Vienna Convention — that is, the duty to give those individuals a chance to contest their convictions because of the breach of the treaty. Medellin’s case went to the Supreme Court after President Bush sought to directly order state officials to abide by the treaty.

The Supreme Court ruled at the time that Congress had not passed a law requiring state courts to comply with the treaty. They refused to stay Medellin’s execution, saying that the prospect of new legislation (which had yet to be proposed) was too unlikely to justify any delay in the execution. Seven years later, we find ourselves back in the same position, but the White House has now pushed for a bill to close the gap. Patrick Leahy introduced it to the Senate three weeks ago:

On June 14, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, introduced a bill to carry out the Vienna Convention for foreign nationals like Leal. The measure also would delay executions in such cases until the convicted foreign nationals had had a chance to show that their convictions violated the Convention. Chairman Leahy, the new filings noted, has promised to hold a Judiciary Committee hearing in July.

Verrilli noted that the Obama Administration has been engaged in strenuous efforts to craft the new Leahy bill. He also noted that the Bush Administration had not been involved in earlier efforts to craft such legislation, so that situation, too, has changed since the Medellin ruling. The Solicitor General urged the Court to delay Leal’s execution until the end of the current session of Congress — which can run no later than next Jan. 3 — in order to give Congress time to pass the new legislation.

It is vitally important to U.S. foreign relations, Verrilli contended, that the U.S. obey the obligations it undertakes under global agreements like the Vienna Convention.

Garcia seems a poor poster boy for this effort, given his nearly lifelong residence in the US and the nature of his crime. However, for those Americans who do travel abroad, reciprocity in consular access is no small matter, and neither the Obama or Bush administrations can be much blamed for taking an interest in protecting it. If the US is to have the ability to sign treaties protecting such access while the Constitution denies states the power to negotiate such treaties on their own (Article I, Section 10), then Congress needs to make that jurisdiction explicit in law if courts won’t recognize it otherwise.

Reagan parallels won’t work for Obama in 2012

So says Jonah Goldberg in USA Today as a rebuttal to supporters of Barack Obama in advance of the 2012 election. The latter have claimed that the trajectory of the 2012 election parallels that of 1984′s presidential contest, with high unemployment and a short distance from a sharp and painful recession. Goldberg points out that the trajectory isn’t similar at all — in fact, it’s nearly an opposite:

5.1, 9.3, 8.1, 8.5, 8, 7.1 and 3.9.

While that might sound like a controversial series of Olympic curling scores, these numbers in fact add up to a grave problem for Barack Obama.

They are the quarterly percentage gains in gross domestic product starting in 1983 through to Election Day 1984. And they aren’t the only significant numbers. In 1984, real income for individuals grew by more than 6% and inflation plummeted. The unemployment rate in November 1984 was still 7.2% — relatively high — but ithad dropped from 10.8% in December 1982, and it was clear the momentum was for even lower unemployment. “Staying the course” with Ronald Reagan made sense to most people, which is why he won re-election in a 49-state landslide.

Sadly for Obama — but far worse for the country — that kind of growth seems like a pipe dream. Last month, the Federal Reserve lowered its forecast for 2011 GDP growth from a range of 3.1% to 3.3%, made just two months earlier, to a much slower 2.7% to 2.9%. And it revised downward its projections for 2012 and 2013 as well.

The White House clearly assumed that they would see similar numbers from their stimulus package spending. As Jonah points out, Obama’s team encouraged comparisons to Reagan last year in anticipation of “Recovery Summer” and a wave of economic growth. Instead, the best quarter in the last five has been 2010Q3′s 2.8%, a number so anemic that it falls more than a full percentage point below Reagan’s worst quarter leading into his re-election. The initial Q2 number due at the end of this month will almost certainly fall below Q1′s 1.7%, and might go negative based on economic indicators in April and May.

Unemployment has also been just as problematic. Obama promised that spending $775 billion would keep the jobless rate below 8%. Instead, we have only had a handful of months below 9% in the two-plus years since the stimulus passed, and unemployment has started rising again. Civilian participation in the workforce has fallen to a 30-year low, masking the real jobless rate. The June figure is due on Friday, and like the Q2 GDP number, is almost certain to be unhelpful for the administration.

Obama has a year to get the economy moving in order for the comparison to be fully valid. By this time in 1983, however, Reagan already had a roaring recovery and a kick-start to the massive job creation that dropped unemployment by more than three full percentage points by the time of the election. The more relevant comparison might be George H. W. Bush in 1992, when a weak recovery had started by the end of 1991, but the perception of recession stuck with the electorate. And that might be the best-case scenario Obama has.

Video: Mexican officials want Fast & Furious officials extradited for trial

Imagine, Fox News’ William Lajeunesse asks, if Mexico had decided to investigate American drug distribution and links to cartels by allowing a flood of cocaine to cross the border for tracking purposes. Americans would be outraged, especially as deaths mounted, and would demand the extradition of the government officials who sent the cocaine streaming into the US that caused the deaths. Similarly, some government officials in Mexico want the extradition of ATF and DoJ officials who greenlighted Operation Fast and Furious and flooded their country with illegal weapons:

While I understand their passion, Mexico’s government doesn’t have a very sturdy moral platform on which to preach in this instance. There is ample evidence of official corruption in Mexico that already does send illegal drugs over the border. The US would probably demand extradition if they could identify officials as part of that process, so the point is well taken, but it’s hardly a hypothetical, either.

Besides, those officials should be held accountable here in the US for their handiwork, especially as those guns continue to flood back into the US. The administration’s attempt to score points on those who legally own and purchase weapons in the US backfired when the ATF decided to become an illegal gunrunner itself. There must be accountability for those who ordered and approved the illegal sale and trafficking of these weapons.

Leaders of the Christian Right find their preferred candidate in Rick Perry

In advance of any kind of campaign declaration (or even any kind of confirmation of campaign rumors), Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry is sitting pretty for the GOP presidential nomination.

Just two recent successes, ripe for bragging: The Republican Governors Association, of which Perry is chair, raised $22.1 million for the first half of the year, eclipsing its six-month totals for 2007 to 2009, and erased its debt left over from the 2010 elections. (Admittedly, that cash is not for presidential campaign purposes, but it surely says something about Perry’s popularity and the general appeal of a Republican governor.) And Perry’s supporters independently secured a vendor slot at the Ames, Iowa, straw poll, just because they’re that committed to him as a(n undeclared) candidate.

Add to that, this: Leaders of the Christian Right are now seeking him out behind the scenes.

In early June, TIME has learned, a group of prominent figures on the Christian Right held a conference call to discuss their dissatisfaction with the current GOP presidential field, and agreed that Rick Perry would be their preferred candidate if he entered the race. Among those on the call were Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; David Barton, the Texas activist and go-to historian for the Christian Right; and John Hagee, the controversial San Antonio pastor whose endorsement John McCain rejected in 2008.

Religious conservatives have often played a substantial role in choosing past Republican nominees, but leaders on the Christian Right have been conspicuously quiet so far in this campaign season. Privately, however, they are enthusiastic about Perry and are encouraging the Texas governor to throw his ten-gallon hat into the ring.

Perry’s favor with the Christian Right is relatively new, and he is their candidate of choice as much by default as anything.

If that’s true, he’s a pretty decent default. Take his current project — an all-day Christian prayer event called “The Response” — as just one example of the way he’s showing his support for the Christian conservative cause. The American Family Association will co-sponsor the explicitly Christian event, scheduled for Aug. 6 in Houston. Perry also recently signed a gay marriage ban into law at a Christian school in Fort Worth with evangelical heavyweights Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Rod Parsley (Ohio mega-church pastor), and Don Wildmon (American Family Association) in attendance.

So, it’s not so much a surprise that the Christian Right would support Rick Perry, as it is a surprise they find the present GOP field so dismal. You’d be hard-pressed to find two more socially conservative presidential candidates than Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, for example. Santorum might be easily dismissed — as Time’s Amy Sullivan so wittily put it, “his poll numbers in Iowa are smaller than the number of children he has” — but Bachmann’s impressive surge in popularity might conceivably have garnered her the support that Perry has picked up seemingly without so much as lifting a finger.

It must come back to that little thing called electability. In the minds of the Christian Right, it seems, Perry’s got it.

Thailand's PAD rally against Thaksin, Hun Sen kicks off in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) protest against ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off on Sunday in Thailand's capital Bangkok.

The PAD protesters or the yellow-shirted people officially started their protest at Sanam Luang in the center of capital Bangkok from 04:00 p.m. local time.

The rally was occurring after Thailand and Cambodia have downgraded their diplomatic relations due to conflict over an appointment of Thaksin as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government and Hun Sen on Nov. 4.

A day after the appointment of Thaksin, the Cambodian government announced recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.

Thaksin Shinawatra: Cambodia’s advisor par excellence?

Op-Ed by Khmerization


“Mr. Thaksin, due to his business success and his wealth of economic knowledge, could be Cambodia’s advisor par excellence if he is not a fugitive of the Thai government. However, under the political climate and his fugitive status, he is advisor non par excellence.”



In have opined and editorialised in the past that I see no benefits in the appointment of Mr. Thaksin as Cambodian government’s advisor, beside to irk and to irritate Thailand. Mr. Thaksin would not be able to entice billions of dollars of trades and investments to Cambodia.

In fact, his lecture delivered in Phnom Penh on Thursday the 12th of November has proved just that. His advice had turned out to be not a magic wand for Cambodia’s current economic woes. It was just another seminar and lecture given by a person of high calibre. The seminar failed to attract a single cent of investment to Cambodia. And even Mr. Thaksin himself refused to commit to an investment project in the casino complex in Koh Kong he agreed earlier with Mr. Hun Sen because he is distrustful of Mr. Hun Sen and foresees the political uncertainty and instability his appointment could bring to bear. Mr. Thaksin’s lecture and seminar, if anything at all, is just a simple lecture and seminar by an “economic expert” that Mr. Thaksin is portrayed and purported to be. It has nothing to do with his economic advice to the Cambodian government, but more to do with his political speech. In fact, the seminar has been used as a forum to deliver his political condemnations of the present Abhisit government, which he accused of stoking “false patriotism”.

In perspective, one would like to think that Mr. Hun Sen had opted to gamble away Cambodia’s good relations with the Thai government by risking Cambodia’s larger national interests for the trouble that Mr. Thaksin’s appointment would bring. Mr Hun Sen’s decision to choose personal interests over national interests is beyond anyone’s imagination and comprehension. Mr. Hun Sen might have foreseen that Mr. Thaksin has the support of the majority of the Thai people and eventually he could be returned to government at the next elections. Mr. Hun Sen’s calculated risks or miscalculations with Mr. Thaksin could be a recipe for irreparable damages to Cambodia’s national interests and good relations with future Thai governments.

Cambodia’s association with Mr. Thaksin under the current political environment is a big risk and a recipe for disaster that Mr. Hun Sen should not gamble with. If Mr. Hun Sen thinks that by appointing his “eternal friend” as his advisor will help him gain power in Thailand, then he is wrong. Opinion polls show that Mr. Thaksin’s popularity rating after his appointment has plunged abysmally and Mr. Abhisit’s popularity rating has tripled. The majority of Thai people are against him now, especially after he allegedly said in the interview with the British Times newspaper about the Thai monarchy’s interferences in Thai politics. This remark is considered a lese-majeste offence under Thai laws that carries severe penalty.

Mr. Thaksin’s perceived return to government is a remote possibility. He is fighting an uphill political battle. All the Thai Establishments- the Army, the Court, the bureaucracy and, most importantly, the revered Monarchy, are all against him and are working hard to make sure that he is kept at bay. His acceptance of Mr. Hun Sen’s appointment could be his last straw and his political endgame. His trouble with the revered monarch, who is quietly working behind the scene to end his political life, could spearhead and precipitate his downfall.

However, assume hypothetically that Mr. Thaksin will return to power one day in Thailand. Mr. Hun Sen should not expect the future “Thaksin government” to be more sympathetic to Cambodia’s border woes either. Mr. Hun Sen should know very well that it was Mr. Thaksin’s proxy, the Samak-Nappodon government which sent Thai troops to invade Preah Vihear on 15th July 2008. And the first armed conflict on 15th October 2008 between Khmer and Thai troops happened when Mr. Somchai Wongsawath, who is Mr. Thaksin’s brother-in-law, was the Prime Minister of Thailand. Above all, the burning of Thai embassy in Phnom Penh in 2003 happened during the prime ministership of Mr. Thaksin.

Mr. Hun Sen is knowingly or unknowingly using Thaksin as a Trojan horse to re-gain political influence in Thailand, but he must be mindful that Mr. Thaksin could be a Pandora’s box that could unleash evils and social ills into Cambodian society. While Cambodia’s Finance Minister Keat Chhon hoped that Mr. Thaksin’s appointment could help spearhead Thaksinomics -Thaksin’s economic policy of rural self-sufficiency - in Cambodia, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya fears the appointment could help import Thaksinocracy - Thaksin’s corrupt style of rule - into the already corrupt Cambodian bureaucracy.

Hun Sen’s support for the revitalisation of Mr. Thaksin’s political comeback, as far as the Thai Establishments is concerned, is a lost cause. As such, Mr. Hun Sen’s association with Mr. Thaksin against the will of the present Thai government is a gamble and a recipe for potential disastrous armed and diplomatic conflict with present and future Thai governments.

In hindsight, all Cambodians from all political persuasions should look back and ask, is Mr. Thaksin’s appointment worth the trouble that it has brought to Cambodian and Thai relations? With the escalated and worsened diplomatic row caused by his appointment, that Cambodia should better do without, we all should realise by now that Mr. Thaksin’s appointment is not at the best interests of Cambodia and the Cambodian people. His appointment has degenerated and culminated into the downgrade of diplomatic ties, annulments of border agreements and the halt of economic aid by Thailand. And now the row reached boiling point after the arrest for espionage of an alleged Thai spy that led to more expulsions of diplomats from both countries.

While the present Thai government is doing its best to trample and demonise Cambodia through its arrogant diplomatic gestures as well as its military superiority, Mr. Hun Sen should sometimes swallow his pride, close his eyes and apply cool diplomacy for the sake of Cambodia’s national interests. The wild-mannered behaviours that have been displayed by Mr. Hun Sen so far have not helped Cambodia’s cause and is a bad publicity coup that Cambodia could do without. These sorts of crude diplomacy can undoubtedly tarnish Cambodia’s international image that makes Cambodians look like the bellicose and belligerent people in the eyes of the world.

To conclude this editorial, may I say that, Mr. Thaksin, due to his business success and his wealth of economic knowledge, could be Cambodia’s advisor par excellence if he is not a fugitive of the Thai government. However, under the political climate and his fugitive status, he is advisor non par excellence.

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Posted by Khmerization

Miss Cambodia Landmine 2009 to boost self esteem

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington



Cambodian community in Norway will organize a beauty contest for landmine victims on Saturday after failing to organize it in Cambodia.

The event, organized in collaboration with the Association of Cambodians in Norway and the Khmer Buddhist Council in Norway, will also feature Khmer traditional dance and food display.

There are 20 landmine victims taking part in the contest, but since no contestant is able to travel to Norway, organizers will ask volunteers there to dress up as beauty queens and carry photos of the contestants. A winner will then be selected by potentially more than 300 participants.

“We want to show [people of the world] that our society doesn’t need a war and landmines to kill more people. We want to live in peace,” said Men Nath, one of the main organizers. “Another positive point that our program wishes to show is that every individual has equal value and once a person is disabled, how would he/she live if we don’t value them”.

Contestants, aged between 18 and 48, are from many of Cambodia’s provinces like Siem Reap, Kampong Speu, Battambang, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Svay Rieng, and Sihanoukville.

“The reason why I take part in the contest is to seek an equal right and call for an end to discrimination [against disabled people],” Song Kosal, 25-year-old contestant from Battambang province, told VOA Khmer by phone.

“Though we are disabled women, we have our beauty to compete and to show people around the world. We have the rights to tell our own story to all people; and the beauty is not the physical appearance, but our pure heart,” she said.

Song Kosal, who lost her right leg to a landmine 20 years ago, hopes that country that has not yet taken action to ban landmine will change their mind after they see the disabled women.

The contest was initially planned for August in Cambodia, but was not allowed on the grounds that it will be a “mockery” at the victims.

But, the organizers disagree.

“This project is very beneficial for the self esteem of the people taking part since they are being looked upon as beautiful and they are allowed or they should be allowed to present themselves as the beauty queens that they all are each in their own way,” said Morten Traavik, program leader of Miss Landmine Cambodia. “As for Cambodia and Cambodian government as a whole it would be given a signal that the government really cares about its own disabled citizens and let them present themselves as they themselves see fit”.

Thailand's PAD rally against Thaksin, Hun Sen kicks off in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The People's Alliance for Democracy's (PAD) protest against ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off on Sunday in Thailand's capital Bangkok.

By 18:30 p.m. local time, over 10,000 PAD protesters or the yellow-shirted people were rallying at Sanam Luang in the center of capital Bangkok after they officially started their protest from 04:00 p.m. local time.

The PAD rally, which was participated by the supporters from both Bangkok and many provinces across the country, was occurring after Thailand and Cambodia have downgraded their diplomatic relations due to conflict over an appointment of Thaksin as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government and Hun Sen on Nov. 4.

More PAD protesters are arriving at the rally site, the PAD staff announced on the rally stage. The PAD supporters range from the general public, students, employees of state enterprises, war veteran members to taxi drivers.

They were announcing that they were uniting to show the world the Thai people's strength and to protect the country's dignity against Cambodia and Thaksin.

A day after the appointment of Thaksin, the Cambodian government announced recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.

Moreover, on Nov. 11 Cambodia refused to extradite Thaksin to Thailand after Thailand officially submitted a letter asking Cambodia to extradite Thaksin.

Thailand's government will continue issuing measures to pressure Cambodia's appointment of Thaksin, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva disclosed Friday.

The weekly cabinet on this Tuesday will discuss about the possible measures and also review bilateral projects with Cambodia.

Also, the cabinet will discuss to suspend loan worth of 1.4 billion baht (42.02 million U.S. dollars) planned for Cambodia.

About 1,500 police staff were deployed to ensure law and order around the rally site.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said Sunday the government has not imposed the Internal Security Act (ISA) during the PAD rally since there was no sign of violence to occur, Thai News Agency reported.

Also, Suthep denied reports, which said the government took its people to join the PAD rally as he said "the government wouldn't do this."

In a related development, Thailand's Acting Police Chief, Police General Pateep Tanprasert echoed Suthep's statement saying that he was not reported about a third hand, who was feared to incite violence.

Police General Pateep said he has ordered his policemen to closely monitor the rally situation and areas surrounding the rally site.

The PAD core leaders earlier announced that the rally will not prolong as the PAD demonstrators will disperse peacefully at about23:00 p.m. local time.

Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September 2006, in accusation of corruption, and has been kept in exile since then.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.
Editor: Wang Guanqun

Cambodian AIDS orphans have good plans for future

By Zhang Ruiling

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- They are a hidden population, living with HIV/AIDS at a very young age. What we do know is that they are very vulnerable. It is this state of being hidden that puts AIDS orphans at special risk during their lifetime.

But those living with HIV in Cambodia are lucky. They live in the National Borey for Infants and Children, a state-run orphanage located in the suburb of the capital city Phnom Penh, which is supported by the government and humanitarian agencies.

"The center accommodates more than 100 orphans, among them 27 are living with HIV, and Sei La is one of them," Sani, a teacher at the center, told Xinhua while pointing at the boy who was orphaned at an early age when his parents died of AIDS.

Sei La is a typical Khmer boy with brown skin. He looks happy and healthy. He said he had just returned from school.

"How old are you, Sei La? Do you know China?" we asked.

"I am 15 years old now. I know China, it's a big country with a lot of people," Sei La answered with a shy smile.

"I am happy here. I have friends here and the teachers treat us like mothers. I study in the Khmer language school in the morning, and in the afternoon I go to English school," he continued.

"I have been working here for nearly 25 years. I love these poor children, they are just like my own sons and daughters," said Sani. Her warmth for these children is reciprocated, as Sani's proteges respectfully call her "Mama."

Sani told us that Sei La was a clever boy, and that he worked part-time in a small restaurant in the city every Sunday.

"Just clean dirty dishes, set tables, and serve as an assistant," he said.

"The payment is little, just 3,000 riel (about 0.73 U.S. dollars)," he admitted. "I only want to earn some pocket money, so I can buy some snacks and sometimes repair my bicycle, but first of all, I want to gain some experience for seeking a good job in the future."

When talking about the HIV/AIDS disease, Sei La looked calm while replying that he knew he was infected with HIV.

"I was very scared at first and hated my parents, but after I learned about HIV/AIDS, I know if I keep taking pills and do some exercise, the disease can be controlled," he explained.

We have reason to believe that Sei La has already overcome his fear and public prejudice, and learned how to stand on his own two feet.

On the playground, we saw a group of children playing frisbee and some girls playing on the swirls.

"I like here very much," Nani, a five-year-old girl, said while riding a bike in the yard.

Enjoying the sight of little boys and girls giggling and running around, one can hardly imagine that this is an orphanage and that these lovely children are AIDS orphans. At that moment, we gratefully realized that poverty and illness would never prevail over the purity of a child's mind, and that these children's aspirations for living and learning would rise above these impediments.

Mak Phanna, director of the National Borey for Infants and Children of the Department of Child Welfare in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation, told us that the Royal Government of Cambodia always paid great attention to children, especially the disabled and orphans infected with HIV. In effect, the government has adopted a law on HIV and AIDS, which went into effect in 2002.

Cambodia diagnosed the first case of HIV in 1993, and HIV prevalence in the country peaked at 3.7 percent in 1997. Chhim Sareth, director of the AIDS Health Foundation, Cambodia Care Organization, said Cambodia had one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the region, but the good news was that the rate was decreasing every year.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 75,000 Cambodians live with HIV, but the prevalence of the virus among the population halved to 0.9 percent between 1998 and 2006. The measures taken by the government include publicity campaigns and education to raise understanding of HIV/AIDS. Also, a condom campaign, offering free HIV tests, has made some progress.

"It is unfortunate for these children to suffer this illness. However, it is very fortunate for them to have received various assistance. Through much support, these children have attended elementary school without paying any tuition, and have received treatment and medicines free of charge," Phanna said.

We also have high hopes for these children and wish them a happy and healthy life.

Hun Sen defiant on Thaksin role

In Thailand 15,000 People's Alliance for Democracy members rallied over the weekend to denounce convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Relations between Cambodia and Thailand hit another low last week after Mr Thaksin began his role as an economic advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen. It's led to the recall of diplomatic staff by both countries, and a Thai extradition demand for Mr Thaksin, that Cambodia has turned down. Mr Thaksin's begun his new job with a pledge to regenerate the Cambodian economy, saying that will be good for both Cambodia and Thailand. But analysts say all he'll do is to deepen fractured relations between the Asian rivals even further.

Presenter: Matt Conway
Speakers: Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister; Thaksin Shinawatra , forer Thai Prime Minister; Andrew Walker, Senior Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change with the Australian National University

How smart companies avoid getting burned by wild dollar swings

June 16, 2011: 5:00 AM ET With all the recent turmoil in the global economy, you'd think the chief of any multinational would be reaching for the Pepcid AC right about now. Think again.

By Becky Quick, contributor
FORTUNE -- Currency markets get all riled up about the Greek debt default rumors -- and then rebound! There are concerns about economic declines from Great Britain to Malaysia. Then there's the chaos in commodities, which are priced in dollars -- and the real or imagined impact on money that companies make overseas. With all that turmoil, you might think the chief of any multinational company would be reaching for the Pepcid AC right about now. How the heck do you run a business with all that going on?
But what's surprising is that execs like Doug Oberhelman, the chief executive of Caterpillar (CAT), aren't fazed. "I'm old," jokes the youthful 58-year-old chieftain. In other words: He's seen it all. (He came in, after all, around when the gold standard was abandoned in 1971.) Oberhelman is calm, in large part, because Caterpillar is now a very different company, better prepared to weather currency storms. In the 1970s most of Caterpillar's production was based in the U.S.  It had just two plants in all of Asia. Today it has about 20 plants in Asia, a dozen in China alone. Almost all that production is sold where it is made, which means currency swings don't matter nearly as much to Cat's bottom line. Of course, that also means Cat doesn't ride high when the dollar is weak. "When I joined Cat, with the dollar weak like this, we would have just printed money around here," says Oberhelman.
It's a theme that's been replicated across corporate America, especially for companies that do business overseas. These businesses have moved their manufacturing plants closer to where they sell their goods, a natural hedge against wild swings in price. They are using innovative measures to reduce their reliance on any one particular commodity to keep from getting hamstrung by a sudden increase in price. And they are buckling down and following long-term game plans instead of reacting to every tick in the commodity markets.
Take PepsiCo (PEP), which spends a whopping $18 billion a year on commodities. Commodity prices have become much more volatile over the past five years, so that's why Hugh Johnston stepped up plans to centralize Pepsi's commodity purchases since taking over as the company's chief financial officer some 15 months ago. Under his playbook, roughly 80% of the company's commodity purchases are hedged, on average, for just nine months out. Those purchases are determined by headquarters a year in advance, and local managers can't deviate from those plans without specific authority from Johnston. It means Pepsi may not be able to take advantage of drops in commodity prices—but it doesn't get stung by short-term jumps. And it gives Johnston the ability to forecast what his costs will be for the bulk of the year. "To try to outthink the markets is too difficult, and it's really not the business we're in," he says.
One of the most innovative companies, Procter & Gamble (PG), is relying on good old-fashioned engineering and science to ease its reliance on some commodity markets. In fact, P&G has so much faith in its ability to innovate that it doesn't bother buying short-term hedging contracts on commodities. "The hedge is only good as long as the instrument lasts," says Jon Moeller, P&G's CFO, adding that those derivatives instruments aren't cheap to purchase either. "So if you're not dealing with it on an operational level, you're not dealing with the problem."
Instead, P&G tries to either eliminate materials from its goods—think condensed Tide detergent that comes in smaller packages—or it plays with chemistry to find substitutes for ingredients that face huge price upswings. Example: new packaging for its Pantene hair products that uses biodegradable cornstarch instead of petrochemical resins. "We can trade off without the consumer being able to notice," says Bob ­McDonald, P&G's CEO.
And all those adjustments add up. "Last year we had $2 billion in incremental commodity costs, and we saved our way out of about half of that—$1 billion—so it's the kind of stuff you have to do," says McDonald. And with savings like that, it's exactly the kind of stuff investors will applaud.

There's always a bull market somewhere

By Paul R. La Monica June 16, 2011: 1:03 PM ET

The broader market has pulled back on economic fears about the United States and Europe. But drug stocks and utilities have held up relatively well.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- With the overall market riding a six-week losing streak that looks like it will extend to seven, it's tempting to say that the bull market is over. But there's always a bull market somewhere.
As investors grow increasingly nervous about the slowing economy in the United States and the reemergence of debt fears in Greece and the rest of Europe, it looks like a so-called "flight to quality" may be finally taking hold.

Consider that over the past few weeks, investors have once again flocked back to U.S. Treasuries. It's amazing to think that U.S. bonds can still be considered attractive.
At the end of the month, the Federal Reserve is set to end the $600 billion bond buying bonanza (yay alliteration!) known as QE2. QE3 is no guarantee yet. And the debt ceiling limit is rapidly approaching as well.
But the 10 Year yield is back below 3% as investors buy bonds. (Rates and prices move in opposite directions.) The 2 Year Treasury is now yielding a piddling 0.24% -- a record low.
Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist with Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, said that you have put the fiscal challenges in the U.S. in context. Yes, the U.S. is in trouble. But Treasuries are still a "safe haven" when you look at the alternatives.
"Let me ask you this. Would you rather own a U.S. Treasury or a Hellenic Republic Greek bond?" he said. "While the U.S has problems, they are much smaller than those facing Europe."
That line of reasoning is probably why the dollar has strengthened against the euro as of late. Even though Uncle Sam's economy is stinky, it's even stinkier across the pond.

Is the U.S. like Greece?

On the stock side of the coin, so-called defensive companies like consumer staples firms, health care and utilities have held up much better than the broader market.
The S&P 500 (SPX) is down 7% since the market began to slump in late April. But the Health Care Select SPDR ETF (XLV) is off just 1%. Some prominent health care stocks, including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, Fortune 500), biotech leader Amgen (AMGN, Fortune 500) and pharma giant Eli Lilly (LLY, Fortune 500), are actually up in the past seven weeks.
The Dow Jones Utilities Average (DJU) is also down just 1% in the midst of the market malaise. The fact that health care and utilities have held their ground shouldn't be that big of a surprise.
With bond rates and yields on saving accounts so low, any investor craving a steady dose of income can do much better with a drug stock or electric company.
"Money market balances remain relatively high. But there are still great dividends in utilities and health care stocks," said Dan Greenshields, president of Seattle-based ShareBuilder, the investing subsidiary of online bank ING Direct.
Merck (MRK, Fortune 500), for example, pays a dividend that yields 4.3%. And Duke Energy (DUK, Fortune 500), which will become the nation's largest utility after its merger with Progress Energy (PGN, Fortune 500), yields 5.3%.
While all 30 Dow stocks fell on Wednesday, McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) was the smallest loser, down just 0.3%. And rivals Wendy's (WEN) and Yum Brands (YUM, Fortune 500) both rose as the market tanked. Ditto for McDonald's spin-off Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).
It makes sense if you believe that fast food chains may be considered less economically sensitive since they are a relatively cheap (if not always healthy) way to eat out.
But investors may not have to focus solely on less cyclical companies. There are plenty of large firms that are generating strong profits and trade at attractive valuations.
On days like Wednesday, when the market slides, it is often a great time to buy more of those types of firms, said Eric Schoenstein, co-manager of the Jensen Portfolio (JENSX) in Lake Oswego, Ore. For example, he said his firm recently bought a stake in sporting goods and apparel giant Nike (NKE, Fortune 500).
And some of his fund's top holdings are in riskier areas like tech and finance, such as software developer Adobe (ADBE) and money manager T. Rowe Price (TROW).
"Economic growth in the U.S. and Europe may be anemic," he said. "But there are companies out there still reporting growing sales. That is a good sign."
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stock

Market volatility and China on traders' minds

by CNNMoney Markets Staff June 16, 2011: 1:10 PM ET

The lack of post-IPO enthusiasm for Internet radio company Pandora has been a popular topic among investors on StockTwits. Click the chart for more data on Pandora.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Talk about the S&P 500 potentially going negative for 2011 was among the top-trending topics on StockTwits on Thursday, a day after the S&P 500 fell about 1.7%..
The S&P 500 was less than 10 points of its 200-day moving average on Thursday -- a key technical marker for any index -- before bouncing off those levels.
Traders speculated if Thursday's gains may be a sign there might be some short-term buyer support in the market. The S&P would be negative for the year if it falls below 1,257.64 and its 200-day moving average is roughly near that level at 1,256.81.
StockTwits users also focused on Goldman Sachs upgrading the Chinese online video site Youku.com to a "conviction buy." The upgrade comes after Youku (YOKU), Renren (RENN) and other China Internet stocks have struggled in the past six months.
Pandora's (P) initial public offering also continues to be popular topic among traders, particularly after the stock has struggled since debuted a day ago. Pandora shares briefly fell below $16 a share, the company's original offering price.

China: Why U.S. investors should steer clear

Here are some of the highlights of Thursday's conversation on StockTwits.
DougKass: today impt day. if market can rally off awful philly fed we have probably made a trading low. that's my bet.
Tiny: I don't think we get a good bounce until at least the 200 day moving average is tested $SPY.
momomiester $YOKU goldman put them on the conviction list. That could solidify the bigger Chinese stocks in general. They all are crushed.
JoeSaluzzi Maybe black t-shirt guy from $P should do some more interviews on tv to try to get his stock price back over its IPO price.