Milken Institute State of the State Conference 2007

Yesterday (29 October 2007) in Beverly Hills, the Milken Institute hosted its annual State of the State Conference! What a marvelous event full of interesting discussions, speeches, and social interaction.

I attended and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful environment there, and the fascinating topics covered in the multitude of panel discussions. We learned about how great California really is, and how great our challenges truly are!

Speakers included California business and government leaders, like John Garamendi and Don Perata.

Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, addressed the crowd during the luncheon keynote. He directed most of his talk to education and innovation. he discussed his company's new efforts to enhance education globally by introducing the site, www.curriki.org.

Wonderful experience here in Los Angeles!! Thrilling!

Al Gore & Mike Bloomberg in 2008

Washington DC is full of losers, incompetence, partisan politics, inefficiency, and wastefulness. There is a new wave of strong political leaders across the nation who are setting the stage for a centrist, moderate, independent approach to national politics. These people are not to be found within the Beltway, but in places like Tennessee, New York City, and California. Arnold "the Governator" Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, Janet Napolitano, and Mike Bloomberg are such figures.

There are rumors circulating that Al Gore will run for president and ask Mike Bloomberg to be his running mate. This could be the finest presidential duo ever! What a great moderate union! Unity 08 promotes such independent and centrist pairs in politics.

Here in Los Angeles there are many political leaders that are developing innovative ways to address our society's problems and challenges with moderate, bipartisan, and centrist politics. Partisanship has taken a huge toll on American society, and is not in the best interest of the country.

Will Gore and Bloomberg run in 2008? Together? Or is this just wishful thinking?

Bill Clinton at UCLA

Bill Clinton will be speaking this Saturday morning (Nov. 3) at UCLA's Royce Hall. He will be addressing the Empower Change Summit as the keynote speaker.

Update on L.A. Consular Community

Los Angeles has surpassed Hong Kong as the second largest consular community in the world! The first, of course, remains New York City, mainly because of the United Nations. Jonathan Beutler, a Los Angeles-based international affairs pundit, says that L.A.'s major consular community represents "the great global influence that our region and city have." Mr. Beutler argues that Los Angeles' international scene "is among the most important in the world." He cites that L.A. boasts the largest Korean, Persian, Armenian, Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander populations outside their respective countries. Also, Los Angeles is the largest city in the Western United States, making it a strategic location for international relations, especially with Asia and Latin America. Los Angeles is great!

Bill Richardson stops in Los Angeles - UCLA!!

Bill Richardson is the current governor of New Mexico. He is in LOS ANGELES today trying to raise funds, meet voters, address issues, etc. His short tour through Southern California was highlighted by a special visit to UCLA. I was there to hear him, and enjoyed hearing his ambitious plan for U.S. foreign policy, specifically in relation to Latin America. His speech was sponsored by the NDN (New Democratic Network), and was held in the California Room in the UCLA Faculty Center on Hilgard Avenue.

Governor Richardson does not seem to be as sharp as Hillary Clinton, for example, but his résumé speaks for itself. He has extensive experience - U.S. Secretary of Energy, U.S. Ambassador, negotiator to North Korea, U.S. Congressman, and now Governor of NM. Wow!

His speech at UCLA today was very interesting, and accompanied by plenty of applause, etc. He requested that the audience stand to applaud the efforts and sacrifices of the firefighters working in the Southland against the wildfires.

Bill Richardson may have a slim chance of winning the Democratic Party's nomination, but he is has great experience and a significantly optimistic and confident plan for Latin America, and diplomacy in general!

Los Angeles = Politics!

Hello! Los Angeles is the new D.C.!!

There is so much going on here in Southern California!!

Los Angeles is home to the world's third largest consular community (after New York City and Hong Kong).
L.A. County is the largest in the U.S.A., in terms of population.
L.A. is the entertainment capital of the world.
L.A.'s international airport, LAX, is #1 in the world as destination starting point, and is the #1 international gateway in the U.S.

This blog will flourish as a primary source of political information in Southern California.

Please return, link up to this blog, etc. Thanks!