Helen M. O'Connell

I am so sorry to hear the passing of Helen. I met her briefly while caring for her at her home , before she moved to silvergate in San Marcos. She was a class act. I am so sorry for your loss.. Mary

My mother had just died and moved to Vista when I met Helen. In her comfort, Helen brought a unique and life-changing beauty & wisdom I will cherish forever. Helen is pleased to be with her Jesus. Heaven has a new classy, sassy Irish Lassie. I extend my sympathy to the family.

Helen was a beloved aunt to our cousins, and sister-in-law to our Aunt Mary. On behalf of the Lumleys, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

to me was i'm sure we'll see eachother again'. and i still do beivlee that, that this world is a dream from which we will awaken one day, to find ourselves in a place we know so well, but had forgotten we came from. see you there. save me a seat, keep a fire going. i'm gonna take my time but i'll be there soon enough.jasoni had a ween shirt on, july 5, 1996 mark twain national park missourri. i was at dinner circle early, sitting by myself. i had to pee so i left my stuff, notebook, bowl, etc. and went back to the woods. when i was walking back i noticed you were sitting next to my stuff. i was kinda trying to keep myself away from woman, as i was lonely and yet kinda wanted to figure out what i was doing before i just fell into anything. i thought, oh, can't get away from this one, that'd be rude. you had multi-colored dreads with colorful berets, a lime green kurt cobain style sweater and flowery skirt. i liked you, your style, even from the back. as i was sitting down, i heard you telling someone your name was mary. all my life i had been telling myself that i'd meet a girl named mary and she would be the one. when i heard your name my mind thought a thousand thoughts, chief rational among them to not leave that spot without your last name or number. you said you had squatted in west philly, i had just come from west philly where i lived. you said you were from ewing, my friend cindie who got me there to missourri was from ewing. you were perfect, i felt like i was in the perfect spot, like i never have before or since and fear never will again. we held hands and ohmed, ate, smoked, talked. at some point two younger girls had their heads on my knees and i thought that it was good i wasn't freaking out (in my head) about it cause i knew all i wanted was to be there with you. and then two seconds later i was freaked out, suddenly stood up and walked away. even as i walked away it was like a dream, my thoughts being answered and responded to by the pieces of conversations i happened to hear as i made my way through the group of people. i thought i was going back to music, that i had to do that, that i would use it to call you back. which is ridiculous cause if i had just turned around and the truth is, i think i was just scared of the reality, the opportunity to fuck up something i knew i really wanted, more than i have known much of anything else. within an hour i ran back to the dinner circle in hopes of finding you, but i could not find you. there was that huge crazy storm three days later. i traveled in a lame attempt to find you for a couple of months here and there for the next five years or so. swinging between faith or belief and embarassment and hopelessness. leaving and returning to philadelphia. i have many songs that speak about you, my daydream of you, directly or indirectly, at length or briefly. the last one i did last february, if ever after'. i am gonna make a zine, put all these words i seem able to conjure when i think about you, there's much more, of course, it's just further into my own personal rabbit hole. i really wanted to find you in there waiting for me to finally arrive. a zine with a cd, the story i have made up around our momentary meeting, the songs that pertain to it. i'm gonna ask jane gilday or whoever if it would be ok to put hollywood love' on there at the end, it's to damn appropriate to the story not to.and it shall be called whither thou wilt'ok. thanks. sorry i walked away, that i was too late, that i got distracted. you were always on my mindjason

Although it is still early in the process, this deal has been in the works for some time under Labour and is a wniner. Yes, it follows on the trade opening schemes of previous governments, but the P4, bilateral FTA with the PRC and now this P4+1 arrangement are all Labour's doing (well actually, it is MFATs doing but Labour pushed the projects). Moreover, this deal, if finalised, is very astute because it binds the largest partner to the multilateral protocols of three economies of roughly similar (small to medium) size but different characteristics. Bilateral FTAs between bigger and smaller partners tend to be asymmetrical and imbalanced in favour of the bigger partner because of the greater weight of the economies of scale involved (as is the case with the Australia-US FTA and NZ-PRC FTA), while multilateral FTAs between complementary sized economies spread costs more evenly and promote uniformity of rules. The proposed P4+1 would require the US to largely abide by P4 rules. There are bound to be points of exception and difference, but if the general P4 framework is upheld, then both costs and benefits of the enlarged partnership will be spread more evenly.Regardless of who wins in November in both the US and NZ, this is a deal that will continue to be pursued. The variety of economic interests involved--oil, milk, forestry, shipping, high tech, primary good and value-added agro export, an array of manufacturing, plus the attendant service industries, to mention just a few, will ensure that no matter who rules the roost in both places, they are going to stay in the game. Over here in SIngapore there is no issue, as the regime does not bother with public opinion or political opposition on such matters and runs elections for its own benefit anyway.Lafemme is wrong to imply that NZ, much less Labour, "got" something in exchange for supporting the US-India nuclear exchange within the NSG. Confronted with the exchange going through anyway or having NPT and IAEA protocols governing it, NZ bowed to the inevitable and insisted on the latter. Not ideal, but that is what diplomacy is all about. NZ got nothing in return other than assurances that the IAEA safeguards wold be observed. In sum: this is a completely different diplomatic issue and to suggest that it is in some way connected to the P4+1 is either ignorant or deliberately malicious. What is true s that neither the NZ position within the NSG or with regard to the P4+1 proposal is a matter of partisan difference, at least between the major parties. NZ First and the Greens will like neither given their respective positions on nukes and FTAs, but the big players will see these negotiations for what they are--ways of improving NZ's stature in the world.There is much more to the picture but I shall desist given the confines of blog commentary. I would like to thank PM for addressing issues other than the corruption scandal d'jour.

Dear Shamnad,Where is the statistical data on how deiolepvng countries actually have fared under the plethora of existing bilateral/regional FTAs with regard to access to medicines?Do you have ANY data from the dozens and dozens of bilateral and regional FTAs in the pharmaceutical area? From what I have seen based on experience of Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, there is at least some credible data on the other side, as follows:Mexico: Increased rates of vaccine access for infants and young children & reduced infant mortality/morbidity;Jordan: Increased access to innovative meds and greatly increased clinical research opportunities for physicians, medical centers, and for patients seeking cutting-edge therapies (In fact on the FTA anniversary in 2004 when I was in Amman the biggest complaint by local companies was collapse of pricing due to increased international competition not increased prices due to patents!!);Mexico, Jordan and Morocco (ALL THREE US FTA PARTNERS): multi-year on year double-digit economic growth in the pharma sector (local and MNC) in all three markets.This data is all largely available in the public domain so why can't the NGOs who oppose these FTAs similarly provide statistical data that shows a "before" and "after" snapshot of social and economic impact, including access to essential medicines?Instead it always seems to be a question of a "how long have you been beating your wife?" type of debate. If you like I can set up a place to post to the Finston Consulting website all of the public reports that I have referenced above some in foreign languages, unfortunately , also I have made some presentations on these issues based on these reports available online here including a presentation at the National Science Foundation (NSF)an MENA Women in Science and Technology conference held in Abu Dhabi in April 2010. So I would LOVE to see a head-to-head comparison of data to show the real economic and social impact of FTAs on the pharma sector, including: trade, investment, increase in innovative meds available locally, access to meds more generally, vaccination rates, infant mortality, etc.!!Then we can have an engaged, intelligent debate about what India should or should not accept in any FTA negotiation. Otherwise is it all ideology.Thanks and BR,Susan