Bay Area and Berkeley’s own John M. Letiche started life as Ianik
Letichevsky, a citizen of the newly constituted Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics. The son of a brilliant but dictatorial father and a
loving, cultivated mother, he went on to a remarkable career as an
accomplished scholar, professor of economics, and adviser to
governments.
Letiche, now in his nineties, provides an intriguing look at the changes that have occurred during his lifetime.
Dr. Letiche provides adventure and thorough analysis of the time in
which he lived. His early years in Russia and then in Canada are
fascinating for a view of how people were coping with uncertainty and
instability in the world. One is drawn into the thinking of a very
sensitive child who shows wisdom beyond his years. Of course, the fact
that he ended up teaching Economics at UC Berkeley during the sixties
makes him seem one of us westerners. He brings a great sense of balance
in his evaluation of many African heads of state during a grueling,
sometimes dangerous working tour of the country. He showed insight and
balance in his analysis of the behavior of the Chancellor of the
University during the turbulence of the Free Speech Movement. Guns in
Africa, tear gas in Berkeley; there is plenty of action.Dr.
Letiche shows generosity of spirit in revealing his personal foibles
and skillfully emphasizes the traits that form his own philosophy. What
better way to get to know this extraordinary man, other than knocking on
his door and having a good listen in conversation with him.
“Dr. Jack Letiche’s twentieth century journey instructs, entertains,
and inspires the reader who will finish the book better off on any
account, but above all for the time spent with the life and mind of a
great thinker and global citizen.”
Jeremy
Kinsman, Canadian Ambassador or High Commissioner in Moscow, Rome,
London, and Brussels, and Regents’ Lecturer 2009-10, University of
California, Berkeley
Memoir Traces Economics Professors’ Amazing Rags to Riches Story – JOHN LETICHE, Bay Area Arts
’60s Comedian and black activist Moms Mabley probably couldn’t sing her tribute to #Martin Luther King today on mainstream media because of what some consider her ‘Steppin’ Fetchit’ persona (even though she was really quite the opposite in her modern views) .. In fact, she probably couldn’t even get on the air in today’s politically correct mainstream media, despite the fact she was one of the strongest advocates for the black cause during the height of the civil rights movement and following the death of #MLK. (Credit to songwriter DION DEMUCCI and MERV GRIFFIN / Productions for making this clip availablefor public viewing)
Despite all the civil rights legislation and dollars spent have race relations not improved since 1963? White folks will say they have improved, by a sizable number, but black folks will say ‘no’, they have NOT improved, despite all the civil rights legislation and implementation the past 50 years, according to Gallup surveys.
Why haven’t things improved ? Today, black
unemployment is higher than it was in 1963. But, so is birth to unwed mothers in the black community, an astounding 73% today as compared to 25% in 1963. Perhaps, therein lies at least
an important part of the reason. There were more intact black families in 1963. MLK would likely say that throwing money at the problem is not the main answer-
It is hard to believe that 50 years have elapsed since the famous “I have a #dream speech” of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Mall in Washington. I was an 11-year-old child in Detroit languishing in the midst of poverty, but very interested in the strides that were being made in the civil rights movement.
I was the only black kid in my seventh-grade class and over the previous two years had risen from the bottom of the class to the top. My mother had forced us to read, which had a profound positive effect on both my brother Curtis and myself. I was quite optimistic that things were getting better for black people in America.
If King could be resurrected and see what was going on in America today, I suspect he would be extraordinarily pleased by many of the things he observed and disappointed by others. He, like almost everyone else, would be thrilled to know that there was a two-term black president of the United States of America and a black attorney general, as well as many other high government officials, business executives and university presidents.
Perhaps just as thrilling would be the sight of black doctors, lawyers, airline pilots, construction foremen, news anchors, school superintendents and almost any other position imaginable in America. The fact that seeing blacks in such positions no longer raises eyebrows is a testimony to the tremendous progress that has been made in America over the last 50 years.
There are some areas, however, where I suspect he might be less than thrilled. The epidemic of black-on-black violent crime indicates that there has been a significant deterioration of values in the black community. Not only are the lives of their fellow blacks and others being devalued by street thugs, but the lives of unborn babies are being destroyed in disproportionate numbers in the black community.
There was a time when blacks were justifiably angry that the larger community discounted their value, but now, ironically, many members of the black community themselves place little or no value on these precious lives that are snuffed out without thought. I think King would be waging a crusade against the marginalization of black lives in America.
Another area of great concern would be the fact that 73 percent of black babies are born out of wedlock. When this occurs, in most cases the educational pursuits of the mothers are terminated and the babies are condemned to a life of poverty and deprivation, which makes them more likely to end up in the penal system or the welfare system. This is a burden not only for the black community but for the nation at large.
Although I believe King would be very concerned for all parties in these tragedies, his energies would be primarily channeled into an attempt to give these young women the kind of self-esteem that would preclude their yielding to the charms of individuals who really don’t care about them and are only interested in their selfish pleasures.
King was a huge advocate of education and would be horrified by the high dropout rates in many inner-city high schools. He, like many others, was vilified, beaten and jailed for trying to open the doors of education to everyone, regardless of their race.
If he were alive today, he would have to witness people turning their backs on those open doors and choosing to pursue lives of crime or dependency. I do not believe he would simply complain about these things, however.
Rather, he would be raising funds to create programs that would show these young people that they do have real choices that can greatly enhance the quality of their lives.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment for King would be the wholesale adoption of a victim mentality that makes people feel that they are entitled to being cared for by others rather than working tirelessly to create wealth and opportunities for their progeny.
The amount of wealth that resides within the black community today is staggering. If the black community, like Jewish, Korean and other cultures in America, learned how to turn over dollars within their own community at least a couple of times before sending them out into the larger society, they would create wealth.
I believe King would advocate such economic policies and would encourage those who benefit from the wealth to reach back and pull others up by providing jobs and opportunities. I think he would stress the fact that this kind of philosophy will foster freedom and independence for the black community, regardless of whether anybody else helps or not.
Finally, we should all remember the aspect of his dream in which he desired that people should be judged by their character and not by the color of their skin. In part, this means no one should assume that a black person would adhere to certain political orthodoxy any more so than a white person would.
Please help me and the League of American Voters in stopping ObamaCare once and for all!
We can do so by getting Congress to use its sole power to appropriate funds and simply stop funding this radical takeover of America’s healthcare system.
I urgently need you to sign the Petition below.
I will personally make sure that every member of Congress, including House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, will receive your Petition.
Your influence counts, please use it!
A Petition to Congress
Defund ObamaCare!
I, the undersigned, am demanding that the House of Representatives and the United States Senate stop all funding of ObamaCare.
I petition Congress to stop funding any and all federal and state mandates required by ObamaCare, including all enforcement activity as conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Internal Revenue Service.
Additionally, I am demanding that Congress not cut Medicare for existing recipients and continue all funding of the program.
I urge Congress to use their sole power over all appropriations and spending, as described in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the United States Constitution, and discontinue and defund all parts of ObamaCare.
So, the Giants did it again yesterday – an unlikely inside the park homer by Pagan in the bottom of the tenth. We’ve sort of gone into this before in a recent blog but here’s a little more detail why the Giants are able
to come back so much – and hit so well for a team with previously weak-hitting players.
First off, you’ll note, the Giants only struck out three times during the game, and walked six times. The Rockies, in contrast , struck out six times and walked only once. This is key and it’s been a pattern this year and in recent years. Note also that the Giants were , last we checked, in the Top Three for teams with fewest stikeouts.. They’ve also improved their walks. Sandoval, who used to lead the team in strikeouts, has ‘magically’ cut his strikeouts in half, as has Scutaro, since coming to the Giants from Colorado last year. (Even more ‘magically’ they’ve both improved their averages, significantly and even more amazing is that Sandoval has improved his homeruns. Similar patterns have taken place with other players on the team. One could accept Sandoval’s achievement a littlel more if it weren’t for the sudden display in homers going back to last month of last season when he hit seven and this year when he already has eight. So, it’s not just a question of cutting down on the swing, going for average.
Something else is giving these Giants a boost. Scutaro never hit over .300 in his career, and , now at age 38, he’s been hitting well over .300 since coming to the Giants last year.It’s simple. When that ‘something else’ improves one’s vision and hand-eye coordination, as well as bat speed and power, he’s going to not strike out as much and get more hits, in our view. And, in the bottom of the ninth – or tenth- when the pressure’s on and a player is working extra hard and concentrating. he’s going to work the pitcher. Normally you’d see some strikeouts against a good reliever like Bettencourt, but many of the Giants, with their magic powers, just don’t strike out anymore- or very rarely now. The improved eyesight will also help draw walks, as Crawford did to lead off the tenth. Then Pagan will work the pitcherto get in a hitters count, if necessary, after the pitcher is already concerned with a runner on base.And Pagan hits a long ball – he’s hit more homers on the Giants in the bigger park – than in past years – to win the game.
The pattern has happened time and again and people just assume the Giants are great. It’s that ‘something else’ we’ve talked about that the Giants have been using, off and on, since Bonds and Balco over a decade ago, in our opinion. And, amazingly, they’re still getting away with it. Of the current Giant crop of players who played for other teams before the Giants, they had a combined average of around .250 before coming to the Giants. The Giants now , inexplicably, lead the league in hitting, at .271 as of 5/24, in what’s considered a pitcher’s ballpark.
It is our believe that Giants management continues to load up on the type of players who will play into this ‘system,’ if you know what me mean. (Eg a journeyman catcher, Quinonez (sp) ,of Venezuela (like Sandoval, Scutaro, the late Melky Cabrera, Blano, etc ) who had only one homer in his career, was another one of those late inning heroes with an unlikely homerun after being called up). It’s pretty incredible that a virtually different lineup won the 2012 series as compared to 2010. Who thought the Giants could do it without Brian Wilson, Ross, Huff of 2010, etc. Only the names change, the results are the same. And don’t be surprised to see the Giants win another series if they make it to the playoffs. If they weren’t paying their st struggling, starting pitchers so much you ‘d likely see some changes for the similar type of ‘system’ pitchers like Mijares, Jean Meache(sp) , but don’t be surprised to see Lincecum and co. magically transform themselves. (The new designer ‘something else’ is largely undetectable today with current ‘testing,’ which is done as little as once during a season, according to the new testing rules).
PS We’ve been getting great interest from these pages and the big site that was recently taken down, inexplicably. We have our feelings who was behind it- and it wasn’t MLB. Our previous website was recently taken down as ‘spam’ if you can believe that, and this one may too… Looks like we may be victims of that whole government-related conspiracy against the media, sadly, performing a ‘watchdog’ service that people appreciate (we’ve had more readership than on all our other non-sports website.
Raymond Maxwell, the only official at the State Department’sbureau of Near Eastern Affairs to lose his job after the attacks, tells Josh Rogin that he’s been scapegoated by Hillary Clinton’s team, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Beast.
Following the attack in Benghazi, senior State Department officials close to Hillary Clinton ordered the removal of a mid-level official who had no role in security decisions and has never been told the charges against him. He is now accusing Clinton’s team of scapegoating him for the failures that led to the death of four Americans last year.
Hillary Clinton laughs as she testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in January. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Raymond Maxwell was placed on forced “administrative leave” after the State Department’s own internal investigation, conducted by an Administrative Review Board (ARB) led by former State Department official Tom Pickering. Five months after he was told to clean out his desk and leave the building, Maxwell remains in professional and legal limbo, having been associated publicly with the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American for reasons that remain unclear.
Maxwell, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2011 until his removal last December, following tours in Iraq and Syria, spoke publicly for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast.
“The overall goal is to restore my honor,” said Maxwell, who has now filed grievances regarding his treatment with the State Department’s human resources bureau and the American Foreign Service Association, which represents the interests of foreign-service officers. The other three officials placed on leave were in the diplomatic security bureau, leaving Maxwell as the only official in the bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), which had responsibility for Libya, to lose his job.
“I had no involvement to any degree with decisions on security and the funding of security at our diplomatic mission in Benghazi,” he said.
Maxwell was removed from his job on Dec. 18, the day after the ARB report was released, and subsequently placed on administrative leave, which is meant to give the State Department time to investigate whether Maxwell should be fired or return to work. Five months later, that investigation seems stalled and Maxwell sits at home, where he continues to be paid but is not allowed to return to his job.
The State Department declined to comment on the reasons that Maxwell and the other officials were placed on administrative leave, or on what the four were told about the reasons for the decision. It did confirm that the ARB did not recommend direct disciplinary action because it didn’t find misconduct or a direct breach of duty by the officials. “As a matter of policy, we don’t speak to specific personnel matters,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
Since the leave is not considered a formal disciplinary action, Maxwell has no means to appeal the status, as he would if he had been outright fired. To this day, he says, nobody from the State Department has ever told him why he was singled out for discipline. He has never had access to the classified portion of the ARB report, where all of the details regarding personnel failures leading up to Benghazi are confined. He also says he has never been shown any evidence or witness testimony linking him to the Benghazi incident.
Maxwell says he had planned to retire last September, but extended his time voluntarily after the Sept. 11 attack to help the bureau in its time of need. Now, he is refusing to retire until his situation is clarified. He is seeking a restoration of his previous position, a public statement of apology from State, reimbursement for his legal fees, and an extension of his time in service to equal the time he has spent at home on administrative leave.
“For any FSO being at work is the essence of everything and being deprived of that and being cast out was devastating,” he said.
Soon after being removed from his job, Maxwell was visited at his home late one evening and directed to sign a letter acknowledging his administrative leave and forfeiting his right to enter the State Department. He refused to sign, responding in writing that it amounted to an admission he had done something wrong.
“They just wanted me to go away but I wouldn’t just go away,” he said. “I knew Chris [Stevens]. Chris was a friend of mine.”
“Behind Beth’s back, Maxwell ended up being put on administrative leave.”
The decision to place Maxwell on administrative leave was made by Clinton’s chief of staff Cheryl Mills, according to three State Department officials with direct knowledge of the events. On the day after the unclassified version of the ARB’s report was released in December, Mills called ActingAssistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Beth Jones and directed her to have Maxwell leave his job immediately.
“Cheryl Mills directed me to remove you immediately from the [deputy assistant secretary] position,” Jones told Maxwell, according to Maxwell.
The decision to remove Maxwell and not Jones seems to conflict with the finding of the ARB that responsibility for the security failures leading up to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi should fall on more senior officials.
“We fixed [the responsibility] at the assistant secretary level, which is in our view the appropriate place to look, where the decision-making in fact takes place, where, if you like, the rubber hits the road,” Pickering said when releasing the ARB report.
The report found “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department,” namely the Diplomatic Security (DS) and Near Eastbureaus. Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns testified in December that requests for more security in Libya, denied by the State Department, did reach the assistant secretaries and “it may be that some of my colleagues on the 7th floor saw them as well.”
But Jones was not disciplined in any way following the release of the report, nor was the principal deputy assistant secretary of State at NEA, Liz Dibble, who is slated to receive a plush post as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in London this summer. In the DS bureau, the assistant secretary, principal deputy, and deputy assistant all lost their jobs. In the NEA bureau, only Maxwell was asked to leave.
Jones and Dibble were responsible for security in Libya, Maxwell and three State Department officials said. What’s more, when Maxwell was promoted to his DAS position in August 2011, most responsibility for Libya was carved out of his portfolio, which also included Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Although Maxwell did some work on Libya, all security related decisions were handled by Dibble and Jones, according to the three officials.
One State Department official close to the issue told The Daily Beast that Clinton’s people told the leadership of the NEA bureau that Maxwell would be given another job at State when the Benghazi scandal blew over. Maxwell said Jones assured him he would eventually be brought back to NEA as a “senior advisor,” but that Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, reneged.
“The deal that NEA made with Cheryl Mills and the 7th floor was to keep Ray within NEA and just give him another portfolio. For whatever reason, it didn’t go down like that and that was a complete shock to Beth [Jones], because that was the deal that Beth made with Cheryl,” the official said. “Behind Beth’s back, Maxwell ended up being put on administrative leave.”
12/12 CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON BENGHAZI TAKE PLACE
but Hillary Clinton, the key link, is nowhere to be found…INSTEAD
1) Clinton goes to Australia to attend a Wine Tasting
2) Clinton falls down in her home and has a concussion
3) Clinton has surgery for a blood clot in her head
A few days before she is to leave office as Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton finally shows for hearings and proclaims:
ANSWER (to Hillary) :
:BENGHAZI –
– Poorly Secured Libyan Embassy even after many requests by Ambassador Stevens and others
– Refusal to send in military jets during terrorist attack to at least try to stave off terrorist attackers
– Denial of terrorist attack, after the fact, for a full two weeks: ‘ It was a protest over a Youtube video’
– Refusal to give true details eight months later, only false promises that the purpetrators ‘will be brought to justice.’
– FOUR DEAD AMERICANS – America Wants Answers How it happened and Who did it
Eight Months After Benghazi…
Still No Answers from the Obama Administration
The modus operandi for the Obama Administration becomes obvious after we see it repeated so often:
1) Promise an investigation and that purpetrators ‘will be brought to justice.’ 2) Stonewall for months 3) Refuse to talk ‘pending the investigation.’ 4) String along the ‘investigation’ for many months until , hopefully, people will forget Benghazi
and other topics willtake over Americans’ short attention spans. 5) When people ask , ‘What REALLY Happened,’ just tell them ‘ Oh, that was so long ago…’
The State Department finally decides to have its own investigation but Hillary is never called to testify… And guess what’s lurking around the corner…
May, 2013
… and more scandals coming for Obama. Gee, Nixon only had one!
You may only know of three but, yes, there have been a full 10… and counting with a few new surprises coming soon to these pages and http://wwwyellowpagescouponsnet.blogspot.com
We know Obama and his men are good at scheduling, e.g. press conferences for Fridays , but they probably did NOT plan this one. In fact, we knew it was close but, only Bob Shieffer of CBS’ Face The Nation and a few others pinned it down. Yes, this May marks the 40th Anniversary of the Watergate Hearings!
Obama on Nixon’s Slippery Slope of a nose… IRS Harassment, Press Intimidation, Coverups…
…but he sure couldn’t have picked better -or worse- timing for his own problems. The parallels between Watergate and ObamaGate are uncanny. Just as John Dean opened the Watergate hearings in 1973 by telling of Nixon cooking the books in the IRS, Obama could fall prey to a similar fate in the new IRS scandal, probably the most serious of the several issues he has to contend with right now, namely BenghaziGate and AP Media Gate, plus a couple impending Gates we’ll remind you about shortly…(stay tuned) http://wwwyellowpagescouponsnet.blogspot.com Will another Deep Throat emerge? Watergate 40th Anniversary Tshirts availabe @ http://zazzle.com/burtkauf orhttp://PosterPalooza.info
What do you think of this?
Pick One:
Like this if you think we should have new Hearings on IRS Gate …
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Crises and Compassion: From Russia to the Golden Gate (Footprints Series)
PETITION TO DEFUND
Hillary Clinton laughs as she testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in January. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
