Rep. Jackson Jr. resigns, citing mental health

FILE - In this March 20, 2012 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. speaks in Chicago. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says he has received letter of resignation from Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Wednesday. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - In this March 20, 2012 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. speaks in Chicago. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says he has received letter of resignation from Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Wednesday. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - This March 20, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., his wife Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, and their children Jessica, 12, and Jesse III, 8, thanking supporters at his election night party in Chicago after his Democratic primary win over challenger, former Rep. Debbie Halvorson, in the Illinois' 2nd District. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says he has received letter of resignation from Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Wednesday. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

FILE - This March 9, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. , D-Ill., and his wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, asking each other for their support and votes as they arrive at a polling station for early voting in Chicago. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says he has received letter of resignation from Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Wednesday. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

CHICAGO (AP) ? Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. quietly resigned Wednesday, effectively ending a once-promising political career months after the civil rights icon's son went on a mysterious medical leave while facing separate federal investigations.

Just two weeks after voters re-elected him to a ninth full term, Jackson sent his resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner, citing his ongoing treatment for bipolar disorder and admitting "my share of mistakes."

The House Ethics Committee is investigating his dealings with imprisoned ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and for the first time Jackson publicly acknowledged reports of a new federal probe believed to be looking into his possible misuse of campaign money.

"I am aware of the ongoing federal investigation into my activities and I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes," he wrote, adding "they are my mistakes and mine alone."

Jackson, 47, disappeared in June, and it was later revealed that he was being treated at the Mayo Clinic for bipolar disorder and gastrointestinal issues. He returned to his Washington home in September but went back to the clinic the next month, with his father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, saying his son had not yet "regained his balance."

Attempts by The Associated Press to locate Jackson were unsuccessful Wednesday, and family members either declined to comment or could not be reached.

Jackson first took office in 1995 after winning a special election in a largely urban and Democratic district and began his career in Washington with a star power and pedigree that set him apart from his hundreds of other House colleagues.

But despite high expectations, he largely went unnoticed as a policymaker. Instead, he gained a reputation for quixotic pursuits such as trying to impeach President George W. Bush and push through constitutional amendments that had no chance.

He attended an elite private school in Washington and earned a law degree and a master's in theology. Over the years he bragged about spending his 21st birthday in jail after being arrested in an anti-apartheid protest, co-authored books with his father and developed his own a charismatic speaking style, with near perfect diction and often punctuated by finger pointing.

Shortly after taking office, he was deemed People magazine's Sexiest Politician in 1997 and became one of the most outspoken and most quoted liberals in the House. There was a near- Hollywood buzz over his svelte new figure in 2005 when he quietly dropped 50 pounds, disclosing months later that he had had weight-loss surgery.

Perhaps his shining moment as a Democratic leader was in 2008, when Jackson served as the national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He had his sights set on U.S. senator or Chicago's mayor.

Then came Blagojevich.

Though never charged, Jackson had to repeatedly dodge allegations that he was involved in discussions about raising campaign funds for the now-imprisoned former governor in exchange for an appointment to Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

Jackson ? who testified at Blagojevich's second corruption trial ? always maintained that he was innocent and that his name would be cleared. Though through the proceedings it was revealed that Jackson had an extramarital affair, something his wife detailed in a front-page newspaper interview.

The congressman kept a low profile for years, avoiding interview requests and avoiding public appearances.

It wasn't until this year that glimpses of Jackson's former self emerged. He was forced to campaign seriously for the first time in years when former Rep. Debbie Halvorson put up an intense primary challenge. He easily won and gave a triumphant victory speech with his wife and children by his side.

Neither Jackson's family nor staff ever fully explained what was happening with the congressman's health or if he'd return at all. A few times, staff seemed optimistic and so did voters in his Chicago-area district where he easily won re-election to a ninth full term this month despite, despite his only communication with voters coming through a robocall where he asked for patience.

The timing of Jackson's leave and the way it was handled invited more scrutiny. Jackson's leave was announced just after a former fundraiser connected to the Blagojevich allegations was arrested on unrelated medical fraud charges.

The resignation left the House committee's investigation in the air. Since Jackson is no longer a congressman, the panel no longer has the power to punish him but could release a final report detailing its findings. A committee spokesman did not immediately return a message on Wednesday.

Reaction to his resignation was swift.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that she'd spoke with both Jesse Jackson Jr. and his father Wednesday afternoon and accepted the news with "great sadness."

Rep. Danny Davis, a fellow member of Congressional Black Caucus, said Jackson's senior position on the House Appropriations Committee and his leadership would be missed. But he also said the way in which Jackson was leaving tarnished his image.

"It certainly does not leave his legacy untouched in as positive light as one would have hoped and wanted," he said.

He declined to comment on the federal investigation, saying he had no details, but the issue did appear to resonate with some voters.

"It was time," said retiree Gloria Pryor, who has voted for Jackson several times. "If he's done the things he's accused of doing then he should leave and apologize to the people of this community."

The vacancy left by Jackson's departure creates a rare opportunity for someone else to represent his district, which is made up of South Side Chicago neighborhoods, several southern suburbs and some rural areas.

Even before the resignation the gambit of potential successors floated around Chicago. Prominent Chicago attorney Sam Adam Jr., a onetime attorney for Blagojevich and R&B singer R. Kelly, said he'd be interested. Other names circulating are Chicago Aldermen Sandi Jackson and Anthony Beale, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Halvorson.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, has five days to schedule an election to replace Jackson, and the election must be held within 115 days, according to election officials. Quinn said he planned to schedule both a primary and a general election.

___

Henry C. Jackson reported from Washington. Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo in Washington and Associated Press writer Sara Burnett in Chicago contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-11-21-Jackson-Resignation/id-4eb9a2ae93ce4eefab2300c0347453d6

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Tax Facts | ZeroHedge

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I took a look at the history of taxes in the USA. A few interesting (to me) factoids. The data comes from the Tax Policy Center (Link); the graphs are mine.

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I?ve never been convinced that comparisons of the Depression, to today?s economic conditions, are valid. It was a different economy back then, with a much smaller government. Consider the following that plots taxation as a percent of GDP during the 1930s and 2008-12.

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It took a world war to end the Depression, and that period was marked with very low taxes. People argue that taxes are too low today, maybe, but they are already 6Xs what they were the last time the SHTF.

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I think the ?modern economy? started around 1950. By then, the distortions from the Depression and WWII were unwinding. In addition, Social Security taxation became a meaningful percent of total individual taxation. The following charts look at the components of taxation from 1950 ? 2012; the information is presented by President, the tax rates are the average for the respective tenure:

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Some observations looking at this:

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- I?ve read the arguments that tax rates in the 50?s were very high and the economy did just fine. Not true at all.

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- The Clinton years are also pointed to as a period where income tax rates were high, and the economy did very well. This is appears to be correct. Marginal tax rates were higher; this contributed to the increase in total tax revenues. In addition, the capital gains that were generated in the late stages of the DotCom boom supported revenues. The bump in income taxes in 2000 was attributable to a hot stock market.

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- The Obama years are marked with low tax receipts as a percent of GDP. The reasons for the drop include: (1) The recession and the drop in payrolls. (2) Losses from investments (houses and stocks) (3) The 2% reduction in Payroll taxes.

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Corporate tax rates are at historically low levels today. The persistent argument from corporate America is that tax rates are a too high, and must be lowered if America is to compete in the global economy. There is some truth to this argument. The statutory corporate rate is 35%, but very few companies pay this rate.

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Federal excise taxes, as a percent of the economy, are at historical low levels today. This is, primarily, the gas tax.

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I don?t ?like? any taxes, but some tax revenue is necessary. I particularly hate all income taxes. I favor taxes on consumption, not wages. If the excise taxes the government collects were doubled to equal 1% of GDP, it would generate $1T+ over the next ten-years. Much more than either of the Bush tax cuts that are now up for discussion.

After looking at these charts I conclude:

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- Social Security taxes impose a very heavy burden on the economy.

- Income tax revenues are low today because of the economy, not the marginal tax rates. Consider the fall off during the past four years versus the Bush era. Marginal tax rates were the same, but tax revenue, as a percent of the economy, fell. It's the economy, not the tax rates that are the problem. D.C. is focused on the wrong issue.

- It's well past time that a redo of corporate taxation is made. The system is busted. The end result should be a much lower marginal tax rate to insure competitiveness, but also a minimum tax rate that also insures some fairness, and higher net tax receipts.

- Excise taxes have to go up. Sorry.

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Your rating: None Average: 3.9 (9 votes)

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-11-20/tax-facts

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Thread: Shop tow vehicle bedroom remodel - Family Woodworking

is done.

Here is how it looked before.

Here is how one end looks now, reusing as much of the original as possible. I did introduce a new concept to RV cabinetry construction though - GLUE!

It was a queen perpendicular with the back wall. It is now a single parallel with the back wall. I gained ~2 feet of floor space, lost one drawer and made another more shallow. All is good.

Now awaiting the new mattress.

Tomorrow, tools get stacked and packed into the shop trailer. Order will come much later. Now the goal is to get out of here.

Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?28937-Shop-tow-vehicle-bedroom-remodel

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Suggestions for Thanksgiving Wines - Radnor, PA Patch

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Thanksgiving can be confusing for wine pairing so here's a list of suggestions, made easy for you. All you need to know is #1 - what you like and #2 - what your price point is. The wines selected increase in quality as the price increases (which is not always true). In addition, you can choose different categories of wines for different courses. See the lists below for Top Picks.

To Start:

By its very nature, Thanksgiving is a day of celebration so why not start off with an elegant hors d'oeuvres and a toast of Sparkling Wine or Champagne. It's a great opportunity for friends and family to list all those things for which we are grateful. If you're lucky enough to be a guest for dinner, Champagne is always an appropriate gift.

For Dinner:

Most people have a strong preference as to whether it's red or white. There is no wrong choice - it's really a matter of taste. With either choice, you will want to choose a medium weight wine which doesn't overpower the turkey with too much acidity (white) or tannins (red).

For Dessert:

Fall desserts like pumpkin pie can stand up to a heartier dessert wine like Port or Vin Santo. Fruit desserts call for something lighter like the Australian Semillon listed below. If you generally skip this wine course, splurge a little this year and try something new. There's even a Port suggestion from the near perfect 1994 vintage, the best in 60 years.

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CHAMPAGNE OR SPARKLING WINE:

Zardetto Prosecco Brut?? $13.99

Argyle Brut Willamette -

Valley Oregon 2007?? $22.99

Moet Chandon Brut??? $42.99

If you're a guest, the State Store has a lovely gift? Veuve Clicquot with Ice Jacket for $46.99.

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DINNER WINES:

White:

Bernardus Sauvignon Blanc Grivia Vineyard 2009?? $11.99

MacRostie Vineyard Chardonnay -??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ???????????

Wildcat Mountain 2007?? $17.99

Walter Hansel Chardonnay Cahill Lane RRVC 2009? $39.99

Red:

Fattoria di Magliano Morellino??? $13.99

*(good for my Italian friends who are also having pasta)

di Scansano Heba 2007 Sangiovese??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? ???????????

Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Noir 2009?? $25.99

Samsara Pinot Noir Ste. Rita Hills 2009?? $29.99

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DESSERT WINES:

De Bortolli Noble One Semillon 2003??????????? (375 ml)?? $17.49

De Bortolli Noble One Semillon 2008??????????? (375 ml)?? $29.99

Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2004? $36.49

Dow's Vintage Port Porto 1994? $95.99???????????

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Tammy has been nominated for Philly's Best Food & Wine Writer 2012 from Epikur Magazine. Click here to vote for her.

Finally, remember that the best wine is always the wine? you like best. That goes for your guests as well - know your audience. And above all, relax. Thanksgiving is a spectacular holiday where among many other blessings, we can be thankful that there will always be more great wine than we can drink in a lifetime.

Cheers!

Tammy

Source: http://radnor.patch.com/articles/suggestions-for-thanksgiving-wines

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This Week in Small Business: Happy Holidays? - NYTimes.com

Dashboard

A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Fiscal Cliff: Better Than It Looks

The budget deficit widened in October. Robert Rubin writes: ??Now that the election is over, Washington?s attention is consumed by the looming combination of automatic spending cuts and tax increases known as the fiscal cliff. That combination poses risks, including economic contraction and erosion of confidence in government. But it also offers a chance to address our unsustainable and dangerous fiscal trajectory.? Kent Hoover analyzes four tax deals Congress can make to avert the fiscal cliff. Try out these five fiscal-cliff situations. Small and midsize manufacturers are already being hit by defense spending cuts. Bruce Bartlett believes that ?our long-term fiscal future is better than it looks.? The United States is projected to be the world?s top oil producer in five years (but these two do not appear to be impressed).

The Economy: Interesting Lessons

Retail sales and wholesale prices fell in October while consumer prices (pdf) rose slightly. Hurricane Sandy caused a big jump in weekly unemployment claims. Rail traffic is mixed. Machine tool orders spike. Small-business optimism hits a five-month high. Neil Irwin says that earnings season has produced some interesting lessons on where the economy is going.

Your People: Thanksgiving Shifts?

Target employees protest Thanksgiving shifts, and Apple gives in on employee perks. Dave Lavinsky offers a checklist to motivate employees. John Mills shares five ways to improve your manufacturing line?s performance, including: ?Don?t obsess over output at the expense of everything else.? A survey shows that the flu virus is set to make workers and businesses ill this season. Elance reveals that online hiring and earnings are far outpacing the traditional employment economy. A new jobs app from Facebook challenges LinkedIn. The overly attached girlfriend now works for Samsung.

Management: What?s Your Business Worth?

Travelers has some advice on preparing for the holiday season. A new report indicates that consumers are finding the lowest prices are not online. Some veterans are growing as entrepreneurs, but fewer are starting businesses. If you?re a vet, entrepreneurial resources are available to you. A father and son visit every N.F.L. stadium and take wounded vets with them. David Kestenbaum explains why Coke only cost a nickel for 70 years, and a restaurant owner shows exactly how much dishes are marked up. A celebrity-owned restaurant gets a scathing review. An 87-year-old doctor still charges $5 per visit. Here?s how some small-business owners are reinventing themselves to survive and grow. Mike Handelsman demystifies your company?s valuation. The Lending Circle announces short-term business loans for small businesses that cannot obtain bank loans. Joan Hong has advice for selling a business through a broker.

Start-Up: Should You Go to That Conference?

Startup Weekend Milwaukee goes well. Sean Griffin says the next start-up hub will be in Tulsa. Joe McKendrick believes that if you?re introducing a start-up next year, talent may be harder to find than financing. An Oklahoma public radio station begins a series on how starting an unconventional business provides unconventional challenges. Rob Wolfe wants to know if your value proposition is good enough. Paul Jozefak asks whether start-up entrepreneurs should go to conferences.

Mobile: Another Challenger

Small businesses are set to increase their use of mobile technology for events in 2013 but a new study suggests that the skill level needed is lacking. Most smartphone owners will use their devices for holiday shopping. Bank of America introduces a mobile payment app. A new national competitor in the mobile-payment market challenges Square and PayPal. Visa?s digital wallet is gearing up.

Marketing: Happy Holidays?

A Pitney Bowes study finds most consumers do not plan to spend more than they spent last holiday season, and Matthew Wong suggests ways to meet that challenge. A former New York Times restaurant critic offers six fundamental rules for hosting a great Thanksgiving, and this Thanksgiving music video somehow grabs more than eight million views. Google is providing a bunch of tools for holiday shoppers. Here are some ways the Skype Professional Network can help small businesses. A study finds that small businesses that have adopted online marketing practices have realized significant business benefits, ranging from improved campaign performance to higher return on marketing investment. Joe Pulizzi shares six small-business content marketing strategies.

Social Media: The Top Pinners

Randy Krum creates a great infographic showing the current state of social media. Pinterest introduces accounts for business, and these are the planet?s top five ?pinners.? Here are 10 bets you?ll never lose. One year later, YouTube pulls the plug on 60 percent of its original content channels. Ty Kiisel offers five suggestions for small-business bloggers. A couple of kids come up with a brilliant Facebook marketing idea.

Around the Country: Profiting From Pot

A webinar will explain why small businesses should pay attention to Google Plus. Carbonite offers a free educational webinar for small businesses on priming business operations for the new year. Deborah Sweeney offers tips on preparing a business for Small Business Saturday. Rebekah Henson has a Small Business Saturday action plan that you can download. The software maker Intuit will grant a wish a day, valued at up to $5,000 each, to 15 businesses this holiday season. Here are the top emerging trends for real estate in 2013. If you?re running a business in the state of Washington, here are five things you should know about employees and marijuana (and here?s how to invest in legal marijuana). If you have three minutes, you can take this trip from Chicago to Los Angeles on Route 66. Philadelphia police officers are still using typewriters.

Around the World: A Hot Spot for Chinese Students

Bono opens Global Entrepreneurship Week at Georgetown University. To get around a tax increase, a Spanish theater sells carrots, not tickets. The new head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has big dreams for small businesses. South Korea?s unemployment falls to 2.8 percent. John Foley gives China?s new leadership a 6.5 out of 10. The United States is a hot spot for Chinese graduate students.

Red Tape: America?s Meanest Business Owner?

The Department of Health and Human Services is moving quickly on crucial health care regulations. A Papa John?s franchise owner says that she will be forced to cut her staff or pay a health care fine of $40,000 that she cannot afford. Wal-Mart asks its employees to pay more for health care. A business owner wants to make his employees regret getting health care coverage. Kate Rogers discusses how small businesses are grappling with ?Obamacare.? Gallup says that American entrepreneurs are healthier. Here are a few tax-saving moves small businesses should make before the year ends.

Technology: A New Search Engine

Michael Wolff thinks the age of Apple may be over. This plastic can heal itself in 30 minutes. A few experts discuss ideas for the application of 3-D printing. A new search engine may give Google a run for its money. Nimble, a popular social customer-relationship management provider, announces developer tools and an app marketplace. And the Oxford Dictionary selects its word of the year.

Tweet of the Week

@deluxecorp ? What is the average loss for a business from payments fraud in 2011? $19,200!

The Week?s Best

Kayla Albert explains how failure can help you succeed: ?Your failure can offer powerful insight to those around you. We are often very reluctant to share our failures with others because we are allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to criticism. But the truth is, being open about failure allows others to collect on the lessons we learned ourselves, and in speaking about it, we are more likely to become aware of what all of the takeaways were. We learn a great deal about life from the experiences of others, so the collective experience of failure among the entire human race allows us to steer our lives down a more positive, productive path. Therefore, there is no failure that doesn?t have the ability to help someone, somewhere.?

Chris Brogan says social media isn?t dead, but it?s boring. ?It?s boring to talk simply about the tools because the tools are just a way to reach people. We can argue the details endlessly (I don?t believe much in Klout, for instance), and we can announce the premature death of Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and whoever. But it doesn?t matter. When we talk about restaurants (the tools), we mostly talk about the food (the content). When we talk about bands (tools), we talk about whether the music resonates (the content). When we talk about a good book (the content), we never ask what type of computer it was written on (the tools).?

James Fallows has a strategy for avoiding Petraeus-style e-mail disasters: ?Never put anything in an e-mail message, to anyone, that would cause you serious problems if it fell into the wrong hands.?

This Week?s Question: What will you do next Monday when this column takes the week off?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/this-week-in-small-business-happy-holidays/

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Optimal Health Webinar Series ? Nutrition at the Cellular Level (12 ...

What do you do when you have relationships with several awesome individuals with so much knowledge to share, and an equally awesome community of active learners? Well, you bring the two together, of course!

WellnessFX is doing just that in a series of webinars starting next month. The?Optimal Health Webinar Series?will feature some of the hottest names in health, fitness, and prevention. Here?s who you can look forward to:

Our first of the series, Nutrition at the Cellular Level, will be with health innovator and author Ashley Tudor. Fresh off the release of her new book Sweet Potato Power: Smart Carbs, Your Body Your Rules, she?ll talk with us about the pillars of optimal health ? food, hormones, inflammation, and activity. WellnessFX CEO and Founder Jim Kean will moderate. You will be able to ask questions during the event, or you can send them beforehand via Facebook, Twitter, or comment right here on the blog!

Optimal Health Wellness Series: Nutrition at the Cellular Level will take place on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 10:00AM PT.


In this 60-minute webinar you?ll learn:

• How to listen to the messages your body sends
• How your cells respond to hormones like insulin and how insulin levels contribute to weight gain more than fat
• How to track health markers in order to address and treat warning signs before they become problems

Be sure to sign up and get your questions ready! We hope you join us in our never ending quest for health, wellness, and knowledge!

This entry was posted in Webinars and tagged "Ben Greenfield", "Tim Ferriss", activity, Ashley Tudor, Brian MacKenzie, Bulletproof Executive, crossfit, crossfit endurance, Dave Asprey, fitness, food, health, hormones, inflammation, jim kean, sweet potato, sweet potato power, webinar. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://blog.wellnessfx.com/2012/11/19/optimal-health-webinar-series-nutrition-at-the-cellular-level/

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Obama meets with Cambodia's longtime 'strongman'

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? President Barack Obama arrived in Cambodia on Monday having just won four more years in office, but that is nothing compared to his host, Hun Sen. The 60-year-old Cambodian prime minister has held power since Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and says he's not stepping down until he is 90.

Hun Sen is known as one of Asia's most Machiavellian politicians, with a knack for making sure his rivals end up in jail or in exile. A laudatory biography is subtitled "Strongman of Cambodia," and some would say that's putting it mildly.

Yet, through his country's civil wars, a U.N. peace process and several elections, the one-time communist cadre has always managed to come out on top. Over the last decade, he has also overseen modest economic growth and stability in a country plagued by desperate poverty and nearly destroyed under the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" regime.

Obama is making the first visit ever by a U.S. president to Cambodia because it is hosting the annual East Asia Summit. But White House aides said the president would also raise human rights concerns with Hun Sen.

Obama went straight from the airport to the Peace Palace, the site of the summit, for a meeting with Hun Sen.

Hun Sen "is intelligent, combative, tactical, and self-absorbed," says historian David Chandler, a Cambodia expert at Australia's Monash University and a critic of Hun Sen's rule.

These days, Hun Sen has styled himself as an elder statesman, and he is anxious to win international respectability to go along with the economic growth. Despite concerns over his autocratic style and human rights lapses, the canny Hun Sen has managed to keep flowing the international aid that still accounts for a major part of Cambodia's national budget.

He also has apparent populist appeal. A poll of Cambodians taken in December 2011 by the International Republican Institute ? the international democracy-promoting arm of the U.S. Republican Party ? found that 81 percent of some 2,000 respondents said Cambodia is "generally headed in the right direction."

Lao Mong Hay, an independent political analyst in Cambodia, thinks the secret to his success is simple: "Who dares, wins. He dares and he wins."

But many critics say that too often what Hun Sen dares to do is use brute force and manipulation of the courts to maintain his hold on power.

"Hun Sen's violent and authoritarian rule over more than two decades has resulted in countless killings and other serious abuses that have gone unpunished," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a recent report. Labor organizers, politicians, journalists and environmentalists have been among those who have died violently over the years.

Human rights groups fear Obama's visit will be seen within Cambodia as an affirmation of the prime minister and a sign to opposition groups that the U.S. stands with the government, not with them.

For all that, many Cambodians still credit Hun Sen with dragging their country out of the abyss into which it had fallen under the Khmer Rouge. The communist regime came to power in the 1970s and engaged in a systematic genocide that left 1.7 million dead in its attempt to create a pure agrarian society. By the time Vietnam invaded in 1979 to oust the regime, Cambodia was a broken shell of a country: every social, political and cultural institution was in ruins.

Born to a peasant family in east-central Cambodia, Hun Sen initially fought with the Khmer Rouge against a pro-American government. He lost an eye in combat. But he defected to Vietnam in 1977 and accompanied the Vietnamese invasion. By 1985, he had been named prime minister.

Yet, for years after the Khmer Rouge regime fell, the United States continued to officially recognize its leaders, who had fled and resumed guerrilla warfare, as Cambodia's legitimate representatives in the U.N. That fact still rankles Hun Sen, who often raises it when feeling aggrieved by U.S. policy.

A sign on the Peace Palace's exterior wall on Monday welcomed the arrival of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for the summit. There was no similar sign heralding Obama's arrival.

Hun Sen's reputation for violence owes much to the fact that he staged a 1997 coup against his own coalition government. Forces loyal to him defeated those of his co-prime minister ? whose party had actually won elections four years previously ? putting Hun Sen once again in full control.

By hook or crook, he has remained in power ever since, winning several elections.

In recent years, Hun Sen's opponents have been more likely to stand before a judge than stare down the barrel of a gun, human rights groups say.

Last month, a court sentenced 71-year-old Mam Sonando, owner of a radio station that is one of the country's few free media voices, to 20 years in prison on insurrection charges that critics say were trumped up to silence him.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy ? the sole Cambodian politician with the charisma and resources to present any real challenge to Hun Sen ? is in self-imposed exile to avoid 12 years in prison from convictions critics say represented similar political persecution.

Unless Hun Sen sees an advantage to having him pardoned, Sam Rainsy will likely be shut out of next year's general election and his party will lose its best campaigner.

Economic development is a particular point of pride for Hun Sen's government, bearing in mind the low point growth started from ? the Khmer Rouge had even abolished the use of money.

Cabinet spokesman Phay Siphan points out that Cambodia has experienced steady growth for the past 10 years, and expects to attain a per-capita income of $1,000 in 2013.

He calls Hun Sen "the right man at the right time" for a transition to "free markets and multiparty liberal democracy." The government has passed Cambodia's first anti-corruption law, Phay Siphan said, and now requires the disclosures of officials' assets.

That law, though, has not stopped rampant family business dealings, cronyism and corruption. Opposition politicians and watchdog groups such as Global Witness accuse Hun Sen of overseeing the selloffs of the country's forests to rapacious logging companies ? displacing masses of small farmers.

"Cambodia today is a country for sale," says Mu Sochua, a lawmaker from Sam Rainsy's opposition Cambodian National Rescue party.

But opponents and activists have little power to change the government, and even Hun Sen may be as beholden to his nation's economic interests as he is in control of them. "I'm not so sure he is their master or their puppet," says analyst Lao Mong Hay.

Even so, few doubt the outcome when Hun Sen faces a general election next year.

As Hun Sen put it ahead of the last election in 2008: "I wish to state it very clearly this way: No one can defeat Hun Sen. Only Hun Sen alone can defeat Hun Sen."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-meets-cambodias-longtime-strongman-131322425.html

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