Kofi Annan on the Davos World Economic Conference beginning tomorrow. [My mother met him in an airport lounge in Ireland….she said he was casually but beautifully dressed, and spoke about his self-sustaining farm in Africa. She apologized to him for GWB before my sister came over and whispered, “Mom, that’s Kofi Annan!” It was late and she didn’t recognize him out of his usual context. “As the world’s wealthy and powerful arrive in Davos, the world looks a gloomy and uncertain place. Every day the prospects for the global economy look bleaker. We don’t know how deep or long-lasting the downturn will be. But we do know there is plenty of pain to come. “In every crisis, however, there is opportunity. If we have the courage to learn the lessons of the last 18 months and put them into practice beyond the economic sphere, we can put in place new foundations to reshape our world for the better. “For the roots of this crisis go beyond an abject failure of financial governance and neglect of warnings of the risks being run. Connections between economies have been revealed which were clearly not fully understood, let alone regulated. There may have been endless talk of globalization. But it is very clear there has been a lack of recognition of what this means for us all. “We have now learned decisively that no country, no matter how powerful or prosperous, can control the forces of globalization on its own. The lack of inclusive processes and institutions needed to manage the risks and ensure all gain from the benefits has also been exposed. “The present crisis has already led to unprecedented international co-operation. There has been coordinated action to protect the financial system from collapse, to try to stimulate the global economy and find new rules and structures to prevent this disaster being repeated. But while the G20 is a better and more legitimate forum than the G8, it does not go far enough to give the poor and excluded a voice. After all, they are the ones most affected by the decisions made. “The real lesson of the past year is the urgent need to build on and extend this multilateral approach. It means accepting that the rich and powerful alone can no longer rule the world. “It means, too, recognizing that the only lasting and effective solutions to the challenges we face will be those which have the security, opportunity and welfare of all at their heart. Fairness and equity can no longer be an afterthought. No one’s stability, security and prosperity can be guaranteed unless we strive to tackle the gross inequality of wealth, opportunity and influence in our world. “What is needed is a fundamental change of mindset. Solutions to the financial crisis must look beyond the impact on the market, financial institutions and developed countries. They must also focus on jobs, family incomes and the effect of the slowdown on the poorest countries. Market forces are the engine for economic growth. But they need to be well regulated to ensure fairness and equal opportunity for all. “The present crisis has underlined the importance of governments in effective regulation of the market. But they must also look beyond their borders and at the long-term picture. Richer countries can not use the excuse of tighter finances to renege on their aid promises to the poorest on the planet. As global trade contracts and protectionist instincts are emboldened, the danger is that those least responsible for the present crisis will be hardest hit. “Africa’s progress, in particular, is under threat. We need not just to continue but to increase support as promised to help the continent overcome its problems. Development aid must be targeted at encouraging long-term economic growth, good governance and human development as well as immediate crises. We need a uniquely green revolution in Africa, transforming every aspect of farming to ensure food security. “It is Africa — and the developing world as a whole — which will be hit hardest, too, by climate change. It will affect every country and society, with the damage dwarfing the serious problems caused by the financial crisis. But the most severe impact will directly fall on those who have done the least to change our atmosphere. “We can waste no time. Only by working together can we hand over a healthy and sustainable planet to future generations. There must be a radical, effective and universal agreement at Copenhagen this year based on climate justice and the principle that the polluter pays. “The developed economies must accept their responsibilities to our planet and future generations. They must take the lead in cutting their emissions. They must also fund the transfer of knowledge needed to help the rest of the world to grow their economies sustainably and to adapt to the inevitable change in our climate already underway. No other approach will work. “The consequences for our children if we fail to rise to this challenge are immense. Breaking our addiction to fossil fuels and investing in green technologies will also help us deliver energy security, jobs, prosperity and sustainable economic growth. “This will, however, require robust and inclusive global economic, financial and political institutions. We need fundamental reform to involve a far wider range of countries and voices meaningfully in decision-making. Without this, the solutions reached will neither match the scale of the problems nor have the legitimacy to be effective. As the woeful international response to the conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere highlights, our structures are at present incapable of meeting the challenges of today, let alone tomorrow. “The new American administration gives us hope that, in all of these areas, progress can be made. But other governments and actors must play their part in building on this momentum. At Davos, our business and political leaders must show they understand that our world has shifted for good and that we have to change with it or perish.” ————- Kofi Annan was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving from 1997 to 2006, and is now chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation. He is co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s 2009 annual meeting. He is also chairman of the Africa Progress Panel, and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, and president of the Global Humanitarian Forum.

Lovely, lovely

I’ve little to add to the majority opinion … It was irrelevant that the concert was pre-taped. The point is, that the music was wonderful; featuring three of the world’s greatest musical concert artists who expressed their support by participating in the Inauguration of this country’s first minority president. I was thrilled!!

I don’t see that they had much of a choice if a stellar, flawless performance was their goal. The frigid temperatures most likely would have prevented that. Whatever the format, it was an amazing piece of music played by amazing musicians.

I have to admit it does make a difference to me, I feel a little let down. Not that I blame them for the decision, but I felt like I was seeing it happen, and it turns out they were just doing a good imitation of the real thing. Although I also heard that they really did play, but only those nearby could hear, what went over the speakers was the tape. Somehow that is more okay with me, although if one or more of the strings had broken, as stated as one of the reasons for going with the recording, the jig would have been up in real time instead of all of us finding out a day or so later.

Gee, they sure looked like they were playing live. With the weather and all, I am glad it was taped. They played beautiful music together.

My answer to the question posed: NO it was beautiful. My question to WOW: Must every part of the Inauguration be dissected in order to irritate those who observed the festivities and enjoyed the celebration? (please say NO!)

I feel different only in the fact that if they knew they couldn’t do it live like everything else that day, then why do it? why not have a White House concert at Kennedy Center with them at another date/time? It’s not the subject of performance on the President nor should it be controversial in these times, but more on the party planners, why did they even do this if it really couldn’t be done?

Please, find an issue that matters!

‘deed I do. Thanks.

Did the musicians play inexpensive instruments that would get tossed if damaged?

Couldn’t resist. Some things just have received too much play ..

To my Wow0wow spirit siblings: For Strong Women Marge Piercy A strong woman is a woman who is straining. A strong woman is a woman standing on tiptoe and lifting a barbell while trying to sing Boris Godunov. A strong woman is a woman at work Cleaning out the cesspool of the ages, and while she shovels, she talks about how she doesn’t mind crying, it opens The ducts of the eyes, and throwing up develops the stomach muscles, and she goes on shoveling with tears in her nose. A strong woman is a woman in whose head a voice is repeating, I told you so, ugly, bad girl, bitch, nag, shrill, witch, ballbuster, nobody will ever love you back, why aren’t you feminine, why aren’t you soft, why aren’t you quiet, why are you dead? A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done. She is pushing up on the bottom of a lead coffin lid. She is trying to raise a manhole cover with her head, she is trying to butt her way through a steel wall. Hear head hurts. People waiting for the hole to be made say, hurry, you’re so strong. A strong woman is a woman bleeding inside. A strong woman is a woman making herself strong every morning while here teeth loosen and her back throbs. Every baby, a tooth, midwives used to say, and now every battle a scar. A strong woman is a mass of scar tissue that aches when it rains and wounds that bleed when you bump them and memories that get up in the night and pace in boots to and fro. A strong woman is a woman who craves love like oxygen or she turns blue choking. A strong woman is a woman who loves strongly and weeps strongly and is strongly terrified and has strong needs. A strong woman is strong in words, in action, in connection, in feeling; she is not strong as a stone but as a wolf suckling her young. Strength is not in her, but she enacts it as the wind fills a sail. What comforts her is others loving her equally for the strength and for the weakness from which it issues, lightning from a cloud. Lightning stuns. In rain, the clouds disperse, flowing through us. Strong is what we make each other. Until we are all strong together, a strong woman is a woman strongly afraid. ©

Wondering, if Itzhak Perlman remembers giving a Master Class in Dallas to a little 4 year old girl who loved her fiddle (it had to be made for her - very short arm at the age of 3, but she refused Suzuki Method for her choice of “teacher”). (my youngest!)

Of course not. Please, ask us more important questions than this!