GOP Obstructionists

GOP Focuses Effort To Kill Health Bills:

Emboldened by divided Democrats and polls that show rising public anxiety about President Obama's handling of health care and the economy, Republicans on Monday launched an aggressive effort to link the two, comparing the health-care bills moving through Congress to what they labeled as a failed economic stimulus bill.

..."He insists his health-care plan won't add to our nation's deficit, despite the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office saying exactly the opposite," [Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said]. "And today we learn that the president is refusing to release a critical report on the state of our economy, which contains facts essential to this debate. What is he hiding?"

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said in a speech Monday that Obama is "conducting a dangerous experiment with our health care." Steele added: "He's conducting a reckless experiment with our economy."

...Republicans made clear that they see an opportunity to derail the [healthcare] legislation now.

The RNC started running ads blasting the Democratic proposals, and William Kristol, editor of the conservative magazine the Weekly Standard, implored Republicans to "go for the kill." "We have plenty of time to work next year on sensible and targeted health reform in a bipartisan way. But first we need to get rid of Obamacare. Now is the time to do so," Kristol wrote on his magazine's blog.
Again, I note that this is exactly why the Democrats should concede nothing to the altar of bipartisanship and corporatism. They can water down legislation until it's not remotely progressive and unlikely to even be effective, but it still won't be enough for the right-leaning interests in this country to do anything but try to kill it and kill it and kill it, and anything resembling it, until they get what they want.

And what they want isn't good for the American people. Which is why they should be roundly ignored.

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Two-Minute Nostalgia Sublime

Designing Women

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What The Hell?



Shaker Orangelion03, right

What the hell is with those clothes? What the hell is with the hair?? What the hell is with the shag carpeting??? What the hell????

[See also: Deeky, Liss, evilsciencechick, katecontinued, ClumsyKisses, Mistress Sparkletoes, Liiiz, Reedme, Mama Shakes, Mustang Bobby, RedSonja, MomTFH, Portly Dyke, SteffaB, Icca, and Christina.]

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Question of the Day

Who's your favorite movie angel or devil?

The first one to come to mind is Tim Curry in Legend, which is a film I watched on a freaking loop for like a year when I was about 12.


Awesome. Totally awesome.

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lol your post-racist America

Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home (that is the Globe's headline, although "in Cambridge home" would be more accurate):

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.

Police arrived at Gates's Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver's license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody for several hours last Thursday, they said.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior," according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with," the report said.
Guess what? If a couple of cops rolled up on me while I was trying to unjam my own front door, and then refused to leave once I provided proof of residence, I would get "loud and tumultuous," too.

I love how the police report (pdf) explains that Gates had to be arrested for Disorderly Conduct because he was "exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place," actions which "served no legitimate purpose and caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed." Oh my fucking god! Will they ever recover?!

By the way, I'm pretty sure "stopping police offers from arresting me for entering my own home" is, in fact, a legitimate purpose for getting "loud and tumultuous."
"This is very disturbing that this could happen to anyone, and not just to a person of such distinction," [S. Allen Counter, a Harvard Medical School neuroscience professor, who faced a similar situation himself in 2004] said. "He was just shocked that this had happened, at 12:44 in the afternoon, in broad daylight. It brings up the question of whether black males are being targeted by Cambridge police for harassment."
Question asked and answered, methinks.

[Via Memeorandum.]

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Random YouTubery: Smells Like Rickrolling

Well, this is pretty much the best thing ever:

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Daily Kitteh

KBlogz passes on top secret info to his BFF Agent Sophs:



Agent Sophs tells her BFF KBlogz a jolly good joke:

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What a Concept

[Trigger warning.]

Shaker Puellasolis sends along this piece in the conservative Chicago Tribune in which Trib blogger Steve Chapman notes that conservatives' favored political metaphors are despicable:

Am I the only one to notice that President Obama's angrier critics have a curious habit of associating him with an extremely unpleasant form of bodily invasion?

[Provides examples, like Limbaugh's "grab yer ankles" shit.]

Get it? Obama's policies are the equivalent of having something shoved not down your throat but up your lower digestive tract--or worse yet, being sexually assaulted.

…Where does this link between Obama and anal violation come from? Maybe it's just the next inevitable step in the coarsening of political discourse. Maybe it's derived from the jokes in raunchy movie comedies involving male buddies. Or maybe it's the product of some weird subliminal reaction to the first black president.

But whatever the source, it's an ugly tactic that conservatives ought to discard. I don't enjoy or expect to enjoy the results of many of Obama's policies. But I'm willing to bet they're nothing like being raped.
Also not like being raped: Playing Halo. See also: Paying taxes. And: Pretty much every other thing that is routinely compared to being raped.

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Daily Puppeh

Remembering my friend Sam today...


February 1, 1989 - July 20, 2002

Sam joined my former partner and me on April 22, 1989 -- our fifth anniversary. He was about 10 weeks old and he fit in the palm of my hand. He grew up to be our constant companion, and when AJP and I separated in 1999, Sam chose to stay with me. He lived a long and happy life of over 13 years, succumbing to prostate cancer on this date in 2002. He was my inspiration for choosing the name of my blog, and his smiling face is on the masthead.

I miss you, babydoggies.

Photo by Sarah Hazlegrove.

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Quote of the Day

"According to a story on Thursday in the Washington Post, you stated that the failure to notify the congressional intelligence committees about a program recently cancelled by CIA Director Leon Panetta did not violate the law. I disagree and believe that the program in question fit squarely within the notification requirements of the National Security Act. I therefore request that you provide me with your analysis, and any analysis by the DNI General Counsel, supporting your conclusion."My totes boyfriend and Democratic Senator from Wisconsin Russ Feingold, who is directly challenging the White House on their contention that the secret, controversial CIA program revealed last week is legal.

Feingold has sent "a terse, toughly-worded letter" to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, "faulting him for saying it was legal for Congress to launch the secret program without telling Congress, and demanding that he account for the claim." This puts President Obama in a position best described as awwwwwkwaaaaard!

Feingold doesn't give a shit. Which is what makes him awesome.

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Monday Blogaround

This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, publishers of Dumb Baby Names: 1000 Ways To Embarrass Your Child From Now Into Adulthood.

Recommended Reading:

AFOTD: The Emperor's Royal Guard

All About the Buttplug Lifestyle: Stretching My Nights

Joe My God: Arkansas Pol: The Homeless Are Criminals And Homosexuals

Ebert: Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009

Archie McPhee: Who is Bibo? Why is Bibo?

One Good Thing: CSA Blogging, Part II

Rolling Around In My Head: Good

Leave your links in comments...

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Speaking of Eliminationists…

Hey, remember last week when the Washington Post did a shockingly whitewashed profile on radical anti-choice domestic terrorist Randall Terry? Good times.

Yeah, two days later, he sent out a press release (over the "Christian News Wire") that warned of "horrific consequences" and "violent convulsions" if healthcare reform contains any federal funding for abortion counseling or services:

"Let all those in government be warned: They cannot order people to pay for the murder of babies, and betray God Himself, without horrific consequences." -- Randall Terry

Background: It is clear that many elements in the pro-abortion congress and White House want to force Americans to pay for the murder of the unborn in their "healthcare" program. If that happens, it is tantamount to the government putting a gun to taxpayers' heads to pay for the brutal murder of an innocent child. This is tyranny and evil of the highest order.

"Please understand: neither I, nor any thinking person wants the convulsions that would inevitably come from such a government policy -- the decision to force Americans to pay for the murder of their neighbor.

"Nevertheless, the sheer horror and frustration of such an evil policy will lead some people to absolutely refuse to pay their taxes. And I believe -- if my reading of history from America and around the world is correct -- that there are others who will be tempted to acts of violence.

"If the government of this country tramples the faith and values of its citizens, history will hold those in power responsible for the violent convulsions that follow." -- Randall Terry
Got that? If anti-choicers have to pay for something they don't like with their tax dollars, it's justification to wreak "horrific consequences" on the government—and, hey, he's not endorsing it or anything, but he totes thinks it could make some people turn to violence. He's just saying! Because he knows history and shit!

This is someone the resuscitation of whose career the Washington Post is evidently happily complicit.

And Christy Hardin Smith, who gets the hat tip, notes that the press release was announcing a press conference at the National Press Club, which means he "gets time at the National Press Club to spew his vile, violent venom," so they're obviously not alone.

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Excuses, excuses

[Trigger warning - the article linked describes the deaths of several people, and may be triggering for some readers]

Six people murdered in Tennessee and Alabama, when yet again, a man was unable to grasp the idea that people get to not want to be with him, and they don't have to die for it.

Another passivity fest: "domestic dispute", "the deaths happened", et c., et c.. Maud forbid we actually suggest this fuckneck intentionally killed half a dozen people for the crime of being relatives or acquaintances of his ex-partner.

No. Just no.

How about: "Big fucking murdering asshole couldn't be content with throwing his toys out the pram".

Next time someone says "Why didn't she just leave?", send them this link.

Tip of the CaitieCatChapeau to Shaker ginmar for the heads-up.

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Reverberating Bushfail

I've got a new piece up at The Guardian's CifA about the legacy of the Bush administration's tunnel-visioned focus on abstinence-only sex education. Hold onto your hats, Shakers...

"The data presented in this report indicate that many young persons in the United States engage in sexual risk behaviour and experience negative reproductive health outcomes." That is the very clinical and polite way a new Centre for Disease Control and Prevention report introduces its finding that rates of teen pregnancy and STDs are, after more than a decade of decline, once again on the rise.

This news is, of course, not really news at all. When former president George Bush was still pushing for more funding for abstinence-only sex education programmes in November 2007, it was immediately after a study by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found that comprehensive sex ed programmes – which included contraception information as an integral feature – were most effective at preventing teen pregnancy.

And that was six months after the Guttmacher Institute reported that "a nine-year, $8m evaluation of federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programmes found that these programmes have no beneficial impact on young people's sexual behaviour," and three years after congressman Henry Waxman requested a report (pdf) which found that over 80% of the [abstinence-only sex ed] curricula reviewed was found to contain "false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health," effectively ensuring that pregnancy rates and STDs would rise.
Read the whole thing here.

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Eliminationists-a-Go-Go

Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Pat Buchanan, Michelle Malkin, Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh might be the best-known peddlers of incendiary and/or eliminationist rhetoric on the block, but their shtick is catching on throughout the mainstream conservative movement—which should be no surprise at all since normalizing extremism is the raison d'être for these soulless shills (i.e. transmitters) in the first place.

Most recently, we've seen Pat Buchanan "joke" openly about killing Levi Johnston, and Joe the Plumber "joke" openly about killing Senator Chris Dodd.

Yesterday, retired Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters went on Fox News to say he hopes suggest a US soldier captured by the Taliban will just be killed if he was captured after deserting his post—which Michelle Malkin, who once wrote a book titled Unhinged about the left wing, favorably reposted as "tough words."

Insert your own "Culture of Life" joke here.

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For the Romantics

Two stories I just coincidentally happened to read almost back-to-back…

One: A couple with the exact same first and last name who met on Facebook because of their shared name have met in person and fallen in love. (Warning: The reporting on this is super shitastic.)

Two: A couple who fell in love and broke up 16 years ago have reconnected after a plaintive reconnection letter was found behind a fireplace during remodeling.

If you've read any sweet love stories lately, or have a "meet cute" of your own to share, recent or ancient, leave 'em in comments…

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"Solidarity" as a Weapon of Discrimination

by Shaker C.L. Minou

I'll never worry about getting a period.

I'm not alone, of course: there are millions of women who are either done having them, never had them, or won't have them this month. However, most of these women can still do something I can't: Get a prescription filled at Lu's pharmacy in Vancouver.

That's because I'm a trans woman, and Lu's will only serve "women-born-women."

And it seems that the great dividing line really is periods, at least according to Caryn Duncan, executive director of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective:

"We are an organization that has for almost 40 years supported women around their battle with breast cancer or unwanted pregnancy or delivering a baby with a midwife, [and] celebrating or dealing with menopause," Duncan said. "It's about bleeding—or wanting to bleed or not bleed. It's about being a woman, and the physiology of being a woman."
Of course, trans women can get breast cancer, and even serve as midwives, but somehow that's not enough to let us get our allergy prescriptions filled at Lu's. Nor is it clear what you're supposed to do if you're intersex—do you need to bring your karotype? For that matter, how are they detecting trans women? Can it be that they will reject all masculine-looking women (of any history) just to make sure that no trans woman ever darkens their drop-off counter?

Maybe not, as Jamie Lee Hamilton, a trans woman who attempted to drop off a prescription at Lu's (and was barred from entering) found out:
According to Hamilton, Duncan told her that Lu's pharmacy will serve transgender men who were born female. "It's an ideology that's really, really bizarre," Hamilton said.

When asked about this, Duncan responded: "We will serve all women born women."
Of course: Biology=Destiny is a very important feature of feminist thinking. That and judging people based on their appearances. Ahem.

Lest you think that this is only about another trans vs cis fight over woman-only spaces, consider the following quotes from the April 8 issue of The Province:
Lu's: A Pharmacy for Women will serve female clients uncomfortable at the existing 19 licensed pharmacies in the Downtown Eastside. Those small pharmacies provide daily methadone to 1,400 heroin addicts, of whom about 500 are female...

Duncan supports diversity of services in the Downtown Eastside because of the nature of the community. She said some marginalized women who are not sex workers will not use services that may imply they are in the sex industry.
In other words, Lu's is a pharmacy for women, provided they aren't trans, aren't plagued by drug addiction, and aren't sex workers. But they do love the "nature of the community."

That community, the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, is (according to The Dominion) the "poorest postal code in Canada," "maintains the highest HIV infection rate in North America, affecting 30 per cent of the local population, mainly women," and "30 per cent of the residents are indigenous, a rate 10 times higher than the national average. Indigenous women experience horrific violence in the district; according to CBC Vancouver more than 60 women have disappeared from the neighborhood in the past decade."

So what is the nature of the community Lu seeks to serve?
Driven by Olympic development, the forces of gentrification have gathered a full head of steam. Recently, many low-income hotels in the area, which effectively serve as low-income housing units, have been demolished for the development of high-scale development projects. The historic Woodwards building, located in the heart of the district, was recently demolished for condominium development.
The last thing I want to see is a place that provides valuable services to women close. But at the same time, I can't see how it is very "feminist" to specifically cater to the women least in need, how it is "feminist" to assert that biology is the ultimate determinant of identity, how it is "feminist" to be in favor of exclusion, othering, and silencing.

But that's Lu's prescription.

(Thanks to Questioning Transphobia's ongoing coverage; there is a Facebook Group for the protestors, and you can read their Open Letter to VWHC.)

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Bruno banned in Ukraine

The BBC had this news report last Thursday, indicating that the movie Bruno has been banned in Ukraine* by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Now, it does seem like rather a good thing, in some ways. A movie based entirely on exploiting homophobia for the enjoyment of bigots being banned, could be worse, yeah?

Until you dig into the reasons why.

First, the "good" reason. Cohen's previous movie, Borat, was also banned in Ukraine, for being offensive to their Kazakh allies and neighbours - and rightly so. So Ukrainian officials were always going to be looking at this one closely.

But after that, the reasoning is...a little problematic to progressives.

Just to avoid any suggestion that I'm misinterpreting the Ministry's directive, I present a translation I've done myself of the text found here. Bruno, they said:

содержит художественно неоправданную демонстрацию половых органов и отношений, гомосексуальных половых актов в откровенно натуралистической форме, показ гомосексуальных извращений, ненормативную лексику, проявления садизма, антисоциального поведения, что может нанести вред моральному воспитанию граждан.
My translation thereof:
(the film) contains artistically unjustified display of genitalia, as well as homosexual sex acts in a frankly naturalistic manner, showing homosexual perversion, abusive language, sadism and anti-social behaviour that may harm the moral education of citizens.
So it's not the homophobia, or the fact that it might offend or endanger Ukrainian gay people, but the fact that homosexual acts and male genitalia are inherently threatening to the moral fibre of Ukrainians generally.

And y'know...I've gotta wonder whether they'd be so quick to ban it if it were women's genitals or lesbian sex acts being shown. It seems likely they'd hide behind the "artistically justified" thing.

So yeah. Mixed bag on this one. One fewer countries running this crapfest is good. Doing so because it has the temerity to depict gay acts and male genitalia, rather than because it endangers the lives of your gay citizens, considerably less good.

* Ukrainians generally prefer the country not to be called "the Ukraine" in English, as they feel this undermines their sovereignty. I would ask that you be kind enough to respect that in the comments thread, please.

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Bread and Teaspoons - Three

Good morning (unless it isn't where you are, in which case I wish you Good $TIME_PERIOD), and welcome to the third weekly installment of Shakesville's networking post, Bread and Teaspoons*.

There are hundreds of us here, maybe thousands, all over the US and Canada, and out into the rest of the world. We work in all kinds of fields, doing all kinds of different things, and most of us tend to be online creatures: we roam the Toobz constantly, and in doing so, encounter many opportunities.

So this is a weekly post, Mondays, providing a spot for Shakers to network a little with one another, see if we can help each other out some.

Here's how it works: There should be three sorts of comments here.

1) You comment here with any details of work you're seeking: where, what, that sort of thing. You give an e-mail address at which you can be reached - feel free to set up a special e-mail for it, if you don't want to post your regular one for the world to spam - and if another Shaker has a lead, they can contact you directly to pass it along.

A work-seeking comment should include:

  • - a short summary of the skillset you're seeking work with;

  • - a short summary of your experience

  • - where you're looking for work to happen

  • - your contact e-mail
Please do NOT include information such as your full name or telephone number, as this is and will remain a public post, and once posted, there's no taking it back (because it'll be spidered by a search engine, not because we don't want you to).

It is explicitly alright to comment to this each week with similar info.

For example, I might post a comment saying:

I'm a professional translator of French, German and Russian, with nearly 17 years of experience. I'm looking for basically any translation job, academic, commercial, personal, genealogical, you name it, with one exception: I do not currently have certification, so if you need a certified translator (usually for legal docs: birth certificates, divorce decrees, wills), you need someone else.

I am also available as a writer or editor, for academic, journalistic, creative, marketing-oriented or any other type of written communication. Basically, if you'll pay me, I'll write or edit it.

You can contact me for business purposes through my business address, translatey.caitie@translateycaitie.com.
**

2) The second type of comment would be task offering: if you've got a job you think might suit someone here, consider posting it as a comment. Use the same guidelines as above: give general information here, and specific information when you exchange e-mails. An offered task might look something like this:

I have a doctoral thesis which needs proofing and editing by Thursday, is anyone available? You can reach me at ABDShaker@shakesville.miskatonic.edu.

I'd like to be clear: only offer tasks which you have explicit permission to offer. If you come across something that isn't yours, but think some Shakers might want to know about it, either ask permission of the offerer, or offer it privately to someone whose comment says they might be interested (based on their skillset). For instance, you're on some other site, you see someone asking for, say, help in designing their new website. Don't come here and offer the job as a comment, unless you have that person's explicit permission. What you could do is go through the comments, and send an e-mail to anyone with the right skillset.

3) The third kind of comment I'd love to see is success stories! We’d love to know when this works out, and people actually find some employment through our efforts. If you feel like sharing, tell us how it worked out for you. :)

So, that's what we'd like to see.

What we do NOT want to see:
  • - recommendations/references, even for other Shakers - leave those for the contact phase of your negotiation

  • - rates info - again, leave this for the contact phase of your negotiation; we don't want to encourage bidding wars between Shakers

  • - illegal employment - whatever we may think of a given law against a certain activity, we don't want to put Shakesville in any awkward spots legally

  • - links to job search, agency or other sites - this is meant to be Shaker-to-Shaker, here, not a spamming point for other sites; only link to sites which are yours
So there. Have at it, Shakers, for Bread and Teaspoons!

Important disclaimers: Shakesville makes no endorsement or claim as to the capabilities of anyone commenting to this post, and anyone considering hiring someone should be prepared to treat it like any other business situation: DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. We're not doing any screening of this, so you'll want to make sure you check references, use safe-payment procedures (e.g., ask for a deposit), all the things you'd do when working with any stranger on the Internet. While this is intended for Shakers in general, remember that there is no real obstacle to being able to comment here, and do the things you need to do to keep yourself safe.

* As might be evident, this is an intentional reference to Bread and Roses, a longtime slogan of the left. In this case, though, my hope is that if we achieve steady bread, we will use it to power our teaspoon use.

** Now, don't go writing to that one yet, because that's not my actual domain name (which I've not got running yet, but should soon), and I'm only using it as an example (though it happens to be true). The e-mail listed for me under Contributors works just fine for now, if you've got something for me.

The last several Bread and Teaspoons: One. Two.

For further back, each post has this last-several in it - skip back, and you can go back further from there.

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Photo of the Day

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, center, smiles as she interacts with members of Self Employed Women's Association, a non-government organization, in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 18, 2009. Clinton opened a three-day visit to India on Saturday by urging India not to make the same mistakes the U.S. has on climate change and emphasizing the nations' mutual interest in fighting global terrorism. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) [Via]
Two runners-up from Clinton's trip to India below...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (C) presents a gift to a child during her visit to Sewa, a women's self employment voluntary organisation, in Mumbai July 18, 2009. Clinton met survivors of the Mumbai attacks, talked climate change with Indian industrialists and was serenaded by village women as she visited India's financial capital on Saturday. [Via]
Chairman of Indian conglomerate TATA group Ratan Tata (L) reacts with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as they share a light moment during a meeting with Indian business leaders in Mumbai on July 18, 2009. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in India hoping to deepen strategic ties with an emerging player on the world stage in security, trade, arms control and climate change. Her first stop in the country's financial and entertainment capital Mumbai, includes meetings with key business leaders, educational professionals and a women's group, as well as leading Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. In her maiden trip to the South Asian nation as Washington's chief diplomat, Clinton will also pay tribute to the 166 people who died in last year's Islamist militant attacks on the city. [Via]

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