Butterfly
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell
My daily blog of progressive politics, faith, photography, and my life in Upstate New York. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you angry." - Aldous Huxley
"...this is a new day. It is a new era. And I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history."
- President Barack Obama in his speech on Climate Change today at the UN
This year’s meeting, which begins today at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, has drawn political and business leaders such as Goldman, Sachs & Co. Chairman Lloyd Blankfein and World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick. President Barack Obama will address the opening session. The new theme added to the 2009 meeting is investing in women and girls to narrow the gender gap.
“In all the world there is only one strategy which clearly slows population growth, raises income and promotes more social stability that is supported across all religious and cultural lines,” Clinton, 63, said in an interview at Bloomberg News headquarters. “And that is putting all the girls in school and giving all the young women access to the labor market.”
The summit attracts an eclectic mix of world leaders, public-policy experts and artists. Participants this year will include more than 60 former and current heads of state; former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan; JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chairman Jamie Dimon; Grameen Bank founder and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus; musicians Alicia Keys and Quincy Jones; and actors Brad Pitt, Demi Moore and Julia Ormond.
~ Bloomberg News
by Maya Angelou
Father, Mother, God
Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence
during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have
with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence
during the Holy Days, for then we are able
to celebrate you and our families
and our friends.
For those who have no voice,
we ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
we ask you to pour your love out
in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain,
we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.
For those who are lonely, we ask
you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed,
we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope.
Dear Creator, You, the borderless
sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
world that which we need most--Peace.
--Maya Angelou Copyright (c) 12/2005 Published: 12/25/2005 Parade Magazine