Please, sir, may we have an ambassador?

[struggle4progress]

Australians ask why the US has been so slow to dispatch a replacement to fill the top diplomatic slot in Canberra.

By Janaki Kremmer

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA More than a year after the former US ambassador said his goodbyes to Australia, the top diplomatic post remains vacant in Canberra, reflecting a casualness that has the typically laid-back Aussies getting a little anxious ...

No reason has been given for the delay in dispatching an ambassador to Canberra's vast US Embassy grounds. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has stated that he would like the position to be filled as quickly as possible.

After Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled two trips to this country in as many months for more pressing matters overseas, an editorial in The Australian asked, "Is it something we've done?" ...

http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1537230

[Up2Late]

1. I'll give you reason #1, The Republican Controlled Congress only...

...work 2-3 days per week, and when they DO work, they do things like having hearings on "Steroids in Baseball."

[salin]

2. what? The line of big donors who suddenly don't

want to become so visible (and suspect), as would be the case with a diplomatic appointment, suddenly shrinking?

[applegrove]

3. No you may not. There are only 12 neocons. You'll get one in

the next rotation. Plus nobody worth their salt or who loves their career will work for Bush - cause that just means they will be diminished.

[Vidar]

4. Bush has to find another unqualified used car salesman.

[Demeter]

5. Believe Me, What We Have To Offer, You Wouldn't Want

Wait until we clean House, Senate and Oval Office; then we'll send a Real, genuine, certified functional live Ambassador.

[Algorem]

6. Why doesn't ABC mention that Bob Schieffer's brother was the last am-

bassador? and now he's Bush's ambassador to Japan.Bob Schieffer never mentions it either. I guess these big mediawhorehouses have an alliance of silence.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/44295.htm



. Thomas Schieffer
Ambassador, Japan
Term of Appointment: 04/01/2005 to present

John Thomas (Tom) Schieffer was born on October 4, 1947 in Fort Worth, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth attending public schools, and graduated from Arlington Heights High School in 1966. Ambassador Schieffer attended the University of Texas in Austin where he majored in government and minored in history, receiving a B.A. degree in 1970 and a M.A. degree in international relations in 1972.

While still attending the University of Texas, Ambassador Schieffer worked in the offices of State Senator Don Kennard and Governor John Connally. In 1972, at age 25, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives and served three terms.

After studying law at the University of Texas, Ambassador Schieffer was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in October 1979. His practice evolved into one focusing on business transactions, particularly those associated with investments and oil and gas.

In 1989, Ambassador Schieffer was an investor in the partnership led by George W. Bush and Edward W. (Rusty) Rose that bought the Texas Rangers Baseball Club. He was designated as Partner-in-Charge of Ballpark Development in 1990. In January 1991, he was named President of the Club reporting directly to general partners Bush and Rose. He was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the club as well as the building of The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas. When Bush was elected Governor of Texas in 1994, Ambassador Schieffer assumed Bush's duties as General Partner. The partnership sold the team in June 1998 to Dallas financier Thomas O. Hicks. Ambassador Schieffer stayed on as President until April 1999, when he resigned to become a consultant on the development of the real estate around The Ballpark. After visiting projects around the United States and Europe, Ambassador Schieffer completed his consulting work for Hicks in May 2000. Until he was confirmed by the Senate, Ambassador Schieffer served as the President of J. Thomas Schieffer Management Company and Pablo Operating Company...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Schieffer

Tom Schieffer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
John Thomas "Tom" Schieffer (born October 4, 1947) is the Ambassador of the United States to Japan, and was Ambassador to Australia from 2001 to 2005. A friend and former business partner of President George W. Bush, Schieffer is a highly visible defender of the policies of the Bush Administration.

Contents
1 Early Career
2 Involvement in Dallas - Ft. Worth Area
3 Ambassador in Canberra
4 Ambassador in Tokyo
5 Miscellaneous




Early Career
Schieffer was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a masters in international relations in 1972. While still in college he worked in the offices of State Senator Don Kennard and Governor John Connally. In 1972 he was elected as a Democrat to the Texas House of Representatives, where he served three terms before being defeated in 1978.

Schieffer was admitted to the bar in 1979 and became a corporate lawyer in Fort Worth, specialising in the oil and gas industry. At this time he belonged to the conservative wing of the Texas Democratic Party associated with Connally and Senator Lloyd Bentsen. He was the Fort Worth area co-ordinator for Democratic Governor Mark White's election campaigns...

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Because Canberra has a reputation as a boring place

and so Bush's large donors aren't queuing up for that posting. American governments, but especially this Bush regime, tends to dole out the 'safe' ambassadorships to the people who gave plenty of money to get them elected. These millionaires then get a few years of hosting 'the top people' in luxurious surroundings, and partaking in the best that the host culture can offer.

But Canberra is an 'artificial' captial, like Washington DC, designed to not be one of the country's top cities. But it has a lot less history, and vastly less power, than Washington, so it doesn't contain any culture. Rich ambassadors have to spend money while they're in the job - who'd pay to go to Canberra? If they could do it all in Sydney, it might be a different matter.