Archive - April 6, 2017

  It’s bad enough we have a president who is described as a narcissist but it’s even worse when he is combined with a China policy that is schizophrenic. I was reminded of that condition the other day. I heard Sen. Cory Gardner, a 42-year-old Republican from Colorado, open a think tank’s discussion about China’s “fault lines”…and “instability.” He is chairman of the Senate foreign relations subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and international cybersecurity policy. His remarks swerved from the threatening (“the United States will deploy every economic, diplomatic and, if necessary, every military tool at our disposal to deter Pyongyang and protect our allies”) to the conciliatory, recognizing that China’s rise has taken 500 million people out of poverty and hoping for a peaceful relationship. His talk echoed both the thundering and more reassuring cool breezes coming from on high in the Donald Trump administration. His secretary of . . .

Thanks to a ‘heads up’ from Leita Kaldi Davis (Senegal 1993-96) about the RPCV Gulf Coast, Florida group which has made great strides during the past few years fulfilling the Third goal of Peace Corps. The RPCVs have done a number of community projects: box gardens for children at a Sarasota library,  highway clean-up, sharing their Peace Corps experiences with library displays in Manatee and Sarasota Counties, making presentations to schools and colleges in the area, and a radio program of RPCV interviews. Their latest milestone was the presentation of an award of $800 to Project Light Manatee for exemplifying the spirit of the Third Goal, helping people in our community to become full-fledged and thus contributing members of the community.  Project Light teaches English to immigrants, mainly Hispanic and Haitian. It has been providing this important service to thousands of immigrants and others for twenty years or more.  Project Light was extremely . . .