Ms Judd—It just occurred to me that Jackie Kennedy, instead of ordering Baccarat crystal for the White House, ordered inexpensive wine glasses that she found beautifully styled from West Virginia, after she was so shocked by the poverty she saw there during her campaign visits. She knew by buying well styled inexpensive glasses that were used even for State dinners, that the public would buy them too and help the people of West Virginia. Ashley Judd Rwanda tea? I’d buy it by the boatload. Just like Paul Newman products….it doesn’t just help good causes it shifts capital to what changes the world. Oh, and Jackie said she’d like to break all the glasses every day so the WH would need to keep buying more. Thank you again.

Allessan— Bush has counted on ‘the victor’s write history’ or in his case, those with a mountain of cash and a library can hire hack writer’s like Monica Crowley to write fake ‘history’ books gloss what was done, or like Sandy Weill…take a tiny part of the billions you’ve stolen and buy a wing for a hospital and slap your name on it and voila, you’re a good guy. I always wondered how Sandy Weill could have supported Carnegie Hall vis a vis great Issac Stern ” a forceful leader, a creative thinker, a charming companion, and a resolute fighter” and of course a magnificent musician and human being……and then Weill became Chair of Carnegie Hall as a result. Why doesn’t some of that humanity sink into Citigroup policies, I wonder, when they were defrauding millions of people in the Enron/World Bank schemes etc that Citigroup underwrote and designed. and the long list marches on.

Nixon’s White House counsel, John Dean, wrote a book in 2004 “Worst Than Watergate” back then stating Bush should be impeached. And prosecutor and best-selling author Vincent Bugliosi’s new book, “The Prosecution of George Bush for Murder” says it all. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vincent-bugliosi/the-prosecution-of-george… Why are people so dumb that they believe because someone’s family money bought him the WH that he should be exempt from running a criminal racket from the Oval Office and directly causing the death of over a million people? This is the sociopath who gleefully executed more people as Gov than any other by far. And with the Climate Crisis about to go beyond the point of reedemption he vows to veto the new Climate legislation before it is even voted on. He is the worst in history. And anyone who supports this, or supports his enablers, has blood on their hands too. A reasonable right wing voice is Senator Chuck Hagel. Other than that can’t think of any. Even Christine Todd Whitman knowingly lied about the air-quality at Ground Zero. Am so glad he has had successful surgery and perhaps one of his top staffers, or RFK Jr (who I met at Stanford, very nice guy) could do an interview here for June 5, 40th anniversary of RFK’s death. Or RFK Foundation or JFK library, Maria Shriver, Caroline Kennedy, etc. RFK’s Earth Day speech was excellent. He gets it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heku9oTLysg You need to decide WoW if you are going to bend culture to change the future, or continue to, and encourage to, feed the monster. You need to take a stand. The future does not belong to the lunatic fringe of the radical right wing. You have a platform. Use it for good not to help perpetuate the evil policies of the last 7 years.

Read Arianna Huffington’s ‘Right is Wrong’ “A key to understanding the fanatical Right’s takeover of the Republican Party and how these ideas spread to the rest of the country is looking at the role of the media—not the Fox News pseudo-newsmen or the talk radio blowhards—but the respectable, supposedly liberal media. Without the enabling of the traditional media—with their obsession with “balance” and their pathological devotion to the idea that truth is always found in the middle—the radical Right would never have been able to have its ideas taken seriously… . By reporting everything through this prism the media missed the big story: the hijacking of America by the lunatic Right.” http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/03/arianna-huffingtons-right-is-wrong/ Would you give voice to the Crusaders and their enablers? Hitler’s enablers? That is not an extreme statement if you recognize the BREATH of what has taken place by design and the Monica Crowley’s are part of the design. To give voice to that is unconscious in the extreme. Arianna Huffington gets it. She’s a savior….and she has 15 MILLION unique page views a month, while Fox Views is losing support for good reason. Wake Up!!

I was extremely upset and disappointed too. The level of consciousness is not very high. ie Why Citigroup advertizing? OK, perhaps with Sandy Weil gone they may have improved a tad…But Citigroup has been the #1 funder of economically horrendous major projects. Conscious people would bank with credit unions. And not support the mega-corporations that have devastated hundreds of millions of lives and hundreds of millions of square miles as Citigroup has. ie creating Timber Bonds so financially shakey Paciific Lumber could mow down the Marin Headlands ancient 1,000 year old redwoods to service its short term debt. Obscene. Everytime I see their logo here I am reminded of their criminality through the years and the unconsciousness of any woman banking there, despite their ‘greenwashing’ they’ve simply done way too much damage. Read Julia Butterfly Hill’s “Luna” for one….amazing story and she wouldn’t have been sitting hundreds of feet up on a 8’x10’ platform in a tree trying to save it if it hadn’t have been for Citigroup. “the stupidity of keeping the presidents dirty little secret of betraying a nation, a matter of ‘honor’. Blood, torture, destruction of American values vs ‘rudeness’? This is beyond insulting.” So right. There is a lot of unconsciousness and lack of awareness here that is very disappointing.

Beautiful photos of a haunted nation, with their wonderful humanist President and First Lady Kagame working transform things; and the spirit of Audrey Hepburn living on in Ashley Judd. Recognizing the long list of challenges, especially curbing population growth, am wondering if there has or will be a kind of microenterprise conference? It seems that since Rwanda’s population isn’t much larger than NYC’s and with US colleges graduating a generation of social entrepreneurs, plus our 73 million Baby Boomers retiring and many wanting to do purposeful work, to have a conference of US and European women’s business owners who retail handicrafts like, http://www.globalgirlfriend.com/gifts/site.do?siteId=344 women’s intiative groups that are a model of starting micro-enterprise businesses like, http://www.womensinitiative.org/index.htm and social entrepreneur experts like Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, Green representatives like Bioneer/Apollo Alliance, and a video model like Sarah McLachlan’s http://www.worldonfire.ca/ plus starting a Facebook activism group—could be a grassroots effort that could accomplish some things fast. Was amazed at all that just $150K accomplished from ‘World on Fire.’ And Facebook activism groups have been very effective, those combined have that viral effect that can grow. With the world bending to organic cotton (so crucial) and many non-sweat shop producers in LA etc…and most of Rwanda being agricultural; is there something like a large-scale hydroponic method to grow cotton, instead of expansion of lifestock which uses up the limited resources and erodes more soil—significant problems. I’m a big tea drinker and Rwanda’s a tea producer… but have never seen their product. Need a great catchy label….and activist retailers like Whole Foods. Also wonder about eco-tourism in the Great Lakes area. William Newsom has been doing those lowscape hotels in Africa and Kuki Gallman with her outstanding conservancy foundation and wealth of knowledge in Africa: http://www.gallmannkenya.org/kuki.php I know the UN has it’s great development programs….but as JFK energized the Peace Corps with such effect (I’ve had San Francisco taxi drivers from Ethiopia, etc say they never forget the Peace Corps workers) Corps Rwanda? Solar, lowscape academies with donated computers and links to open university certificate programs, ie does US Davis have a certificate program in agriculture? For anyone interested here’s a quick factbook on the nation: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html So much to tackle and just the right person to spearhead attention. Years ago had lunch with Ashley’s can-do godmother in her charming Pacific Heights home…what a family (and extended family) of accomplishment oriented, inspiring women. Look forward to more diaries—enriching terrific idea.

BTW—Critical Week for Climate Change Bill in Congress. GOP blocking, Bush threatens veto. Senator Barbara Boxer asks everyone to take a moment and use this simple form to send their representatives a message on the legislation: http://ga6.org/campaign/climate_security_act?qp_source=csahuffpo Here’s what she writes, “But here’s the bottom line: It’s so critical to start fighting the global warming threat right now. We can’t afford to wait another year or two and hope for the best. The Climate Security Act is a good bill that gives us a real chance, at long last, to put America on the path to solving the global warming crisis. It’s time to get started. — the far-right in the Senate is organizing a brutal fight against this bill, which, if enacted, would be the strongest global warming legislation in the world. This will be one of the toughest fights of our generation. Getting the strongest global warming bill possible passed through the Senate will send a strong message that we do not intend to stand idly by while scientists warn us again and again that our planet is in jeopardy. We’re going to have to fight hard to get the Climate Security Act passed — and I need your help to do it. Please forward an email to your Senators right now: Encourage them to support the Climate Security Act on the Senate floor this week!” This is a critical week in our fight to address the global warming threat. With the far-right gearing up for a bruising battle on the Senate floor, I need your help like never before. Please speak out.”

Perfection! Saw her dance in “Sleeping Beauty” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA a few years ago. We have a great ballet company too that was a hit in Paris, but the Kirov is the gold standard. I was thrilled to see Suzanne Farrell several times. And because he’s a friend of an acquaintance met Baryshnikov back stage after he danced his White Oak Project…immense thrill…extremely charming. I read that Uliana has grapefruit juice or tea for breakfast, sometimes oatmeal. Rehearses most of the day or teaches, skips lunch, has grapes or grapefruit juice after performing, and kefir before going to bed. As Bogart said of Audrey Hepburn, “Those ballet dames are all disciplined.” Markova had an amazing life. Diaghilev gave her the ‘Russian’ name. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl8qskS2ZIM

I haven’t done anything yet. San Francisco was just chosen for having the most fit people in the US and I know for a fact that a good organic/vegan diet, lots of water, exercise and adequate sleep (which never get) achieves as much as surgery for looks, and it’s the best for health too. “The American College of Sports Medicine ranked the top 15 largest cities in the United States on factors such as how much people exercise, how much produce they eat, how many don’t smoke. San Francisco and Seattle topped the list, followed by Boston, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. The bottom of the top 16 were Indianapolis, Houston, Los Angeles, Riverside, Calif., and Detroit…” Here is Dr. Oz’s “Stay Young, Anti-Aging Diet” on Oprah’s site with how you can take 20 years off your looks with diet and exercise. He has photos of three audience members 60, 63, and 44. The 44 year old looks 15 years older than the 60 year old. http://www2.oprah.com/health/oz/programs/young/young_main.jhtml?promocod… Here’s his anti-aging checklist: http://www2.oprah.com/download/pdfs/health/oz/oz_antiaging_checklist.pdf Here is the author of the book “Skinny Bitch” with her 5 reasons to go vegan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4jsKZ_o28Q&feature=related And the author of “Gorgeously Green” (great book cover) has some great quit tips on her really fun site: http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/ Here’s a piece I did full of factoids on going vegan. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-1-Way-To-Save-The-Planet-And-Become-Health… To renovate, or not to renovate? I have older friends (and my mum) in their 70s and 80s who’ve been very health oriented and look terrific, they mostly have relaxed ocean resort lives and aren’t in media careers where ‘freshening-up’ is de rigueur. Urbanites are more predisposed and pragmatic about the science project stuff. I did make the rounds with a friend three years ago when she consulted with 5 of the top plastic surgeons in San Francisco. Here’s what I learned: -If you are going to do it, be in primo condition first. Sadly, author Olivia Goldsmith (First Wives Club) died way too young undergoing a procedure, reportedly because she was run down from the flu. A good surgeon will require you have extensive medical tests first including an EKG. -Surgeons are most definitely not alike, there is a vast difference in the quality they produce so do check them out. If the office is disorganized, dirty, poorly decorated, or the staff overworked, frantic or unhelpful. Run. -If the procedures are performed in an office surgery…find out if the surgeon will be present during administration of anesthetic, if there is a crash cart in the office, and a nearby hospital. Even if yes to all three, I’d still probably not do it in an office surgery unless it were very impressively outfitted. -90% of the before and after pictures I saw, the women would have achieved that much improvement with a great diet, exercise, a new haircut, and possibly a peel. -Only one plastic surgery (of the five we saw) was super impressive, and the only one I’d go for, even if the others were offering fire-sale prices. His office was perfect, as were the staff, and he was darling. He showed us a slide show of three photos each of 5-6 women from 52 to 85. At 18-22 years old, before the surgery, and after. He does incisions above the hairline, there is little bruising or pain, recovery is 2 weeks or less, he will only do the procedure in the hospital (across from his office), and with extensive upfront medical tests. His 52-year old patient flew in from NYC for the surgery (he used to work in Manhattan) she was a model and on the cover of a top health oriented magazine 3 weeks later. The 80+ lady looked absolutely fantastic. None of them looked ‘done’ just really fresh, radiant and happy. The cost for my friend I believe was around $25K, face, neck, peel. Terrific results. Dr. Issa Eshima, F.A.C.S. 1199 Bush Street Suite 490, San Francisco, CA 94109 415-567-7076 I’m more predisposed to doing a little something than not when the time comes. It depends on a person’s lifestyle, career, etc. Until then I’ll stick with diet and exercise.

Lily—Forgot to say the chicken cross the road piece—really funny & clever.

Lily of the Valley, Your blog looks great, very expanded. If you are interested in monetizing it (I’m not for me, not the point, just a landing page) check out problogger.com or entrepreneur.com’s blogging section. Have discovered some great suggestions. For example to store bookmarks on delicious.com Can tag while saving and then it automatically sorts into categories and can use it like open source for friends etc. Really works for me as have thousands of bookmarks, then don’t need to save bookmark, drag into separate folders etc. I didn’t see the similiar image you mentioned on your blog….maybe wasn’t looking in the right place. This particular one doesn’t show up well here. It’s a collage I made…and larger at http://web.mac.com/myfrenchheart Have 1000s drawings from 20 years of design….one of these days I’ll scan favorites onto a blog to save instead of keeping the original vellums. Yes, am very aware of the whole quandrant/axis thing and interactions etc. In my former career, it is standard practice for directors of the type of large scale projects I managed—that once narrow down the candidates they all take the Meyer-Briggs, etc to make sure match the specific project. Have an interest because it’s like brain/spirit architecture, and also because love taking tests. So I’ll go back and look more carefully just scanned and didn’t see. But am impressed at how much more you added, looks great.

Mamacita—perfectly said. Although I am not a Christian—or anything—and am not accountable but co-creating with the universe. Was raised Catholic and loved the small private girl’s priory I attended. Gorgeous setting, chic uniforms and especially loved, Sister Cabrini, the arts teacher. She whisked into the room, tall and straight, bright pink cheeks and smile, and a total delight. I sent my son to Jesuit schools for the education and still love churches for their beauty and spiritual feeling—but the Church, not so much. I think an individual’s spirituality/religion/health choices track along the four main personality types based on the four quadrant, two axes model. People tend towards individuality OR collectivity; AND interior view (subjectivity) OR an exterior view (objectivity): Upper Left (UL): Analytical: Subjective, interior. Lives according to facts, principles, logic and consistency. Contemplative, sequential, precise with a drive to learn and operate within bounds of reference. They want to “do it right the first time” plan their work and work their plan with care and attention. Needs predictable environment. “Think healthy, follow this specialist’s plan to the letter, and you’ll be healthy.” This person after careful investigation would prefer defined tenets to follow. Upper Right (UR): Entrepreneurial: Objective, exterior. Strategic, innovative, physical, directing, experimenting. “Just do it” is their style. Takes things on with decisiveness, determination, overcomes barriers, knows what they want, where they are going, and how to get there. “I exercise 45 minutes first thing in the morning right after I make the bed, and eat right 24/7. Gotta go.” This person would likely settle on something that supports their health orientation and physical drive like Birkam Yoga—and keep their eye open for the latest. Lower Right (LR):Influencing, Exterior-Social. Organizes, bonds, is warm, communicative, works from the heart, not the head. Feelings make a great deal of difference. Accomplishes things by involvement with, persuading and motivating other people. “The way to good health is to join my woman’s health club and walking group. We have socials every Sunday afternoon!” This person might be a primary organizer in a local non-sectarian congregation that is an extended family. Lower Left (LL): Supportive: Interior Social. Drive to defend, value justness, rightness, operate based on cultural fit, mutual understanding, and relations between people. Get things done by affirming, encouraging, place a high priority on friendships, close relationships, and cooperative behavior. “To be healthy, join a therapy group where you can share your problems and emotions and you’ll be fine.” This person might belong to a temple where religion and social justice activities combine. I am definitely an entrepreneurial type, and my axis is social interior, I’ve been extremely concerned with social justice my entire life, and am spiritual but not religious. My models echo my drive and beliefs: Che Guevara, Saint Joan of Arc, Cesar Chavez, polytheistic pantheons, and on the modern landscape Arianna Huffington—a contemporary Athena. Beliefs in action and results oriented.