Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government.
In many countries, a Secretary of State is a mid-level post. It is usually a politically appointed position, although in some countries, such as Germany and Sweden, it can be filled by a member of the executive bureaucracy (civil service) as a political appointment. In the Holy See, there is one Secretary of State, who coordinates all the departments of the Roman Curia (that is, equivalent to a Prime Minister). In the United Kingdom a Secretary of State is a member of the Cabinet appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister (that is, equivalent to a Minister). In the federal government of the United States of America, there is one Secretary of State, the most senior political appointee responsible for foreign policy (that is, equivalent to a Foreign Minister).
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to then President George W. Bush.
The son of an Army Air Corps serviceman, Kerry was born in Aurora, Colorado. He attended boarding school in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and went on to graduate from Yale University class of 1966, where he majored in political science. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1966 and, during 1968-1969, served a four-month tour of duty in South Vietnam as officer-in-charge (OIC) of a Swift Boat. For that service he was awarded several combat medals that include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. After returning to the United States, Kerry joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War in which he served as a nationally recognized spokesperson and as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam war. During that period, he appeared before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs where he deemed United States war policy in Vietnam to be the cause of "war crimes".
Luc Tuymans (born 1958) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. Tuymans is considered one of the most influential painters working today. His signature figurative paintings transform mediated film, television, and print sources into examinations of history and memory.
Tuymans was born in Mortsel near Antwerp, Belgium. He began his studies in the fine arts at the Sint-Lukasinstituut in Brussels in 1976. At the age of 19 Tuymans encountered a series of El Greco paintings in Budapest while working as a guard for a European railway company. Subsequently he studied fine arts at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels, Belgium (1979–1980) and at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, Belgium (1980–1982). He abandoned painting in 1982, studying art history at the Vrije Universiteit, Brussels (1982–6), and spent three years experimenting with video and film until 1985. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium and was honored by the Belgian government when they bestowed upon him the title of Commander, Order of Leopold in 2007. He is married to Venezuelan artist Carla Arocha.
Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. An Italian-American Democratic politician, lawyer, and professor, Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997, Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993–1994, and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993. He is the founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, served as Distinguished Scholar to Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the California State University System and professor of public policy at Santa Clara University.
In January 2009, President Obama nominated Panetta for the post of CIA Director. Panetta was confirmed by the full Senate in February 2009. As director of the CIA, Panetta oversaw the U.S. military operation that led to Osama bin Laden's death.
The second coming is here, but it's not what you expect
Plot
It's winter, around Christmas Eve. People are getting ready to slaughter their pigs and gather around the boiled brandy pot, the straws, the big fire, the sausages and the bacon. As we travel around the country, through Maramures, Oltenia, Muntenia and Transylvania, we get to know the exact traditions that Romanian peasants still hold. Will they be able to preserve them in the European Union? Can a new law really change a hundred years tradition?
Keywords: european-union, order, pig, tradition
Old tradition versus European Union
Plot
In 1999, during the Kosovo War,a train carrying NATO equipment, escorted by American Marines with Captain Doug Jones in command, is held back in Capalnita, a Romanian godforsaken village, by Doiaru, the station master, who blocks the train over a paperwork technicality. For five days the villagers try to take advantage of the Americans' unexpected presence. The mayor, for instance, organizes a celebration in their honor. On the other hand, sergeant David McLaren, Jones's second in command, falls in love with Monica, the crafty's station master's daughter, who dreams of a better world... And what about the Marines' initial mission?
Keywords: albanian, american-dream, anti-americanism, based-on-true-story, birocratism, father-daughter-relationship, flashback, kosovo, kosovo-war, nudity
Plot
The US economy is in a rut, and so is the president's approval rating. What we need is a good war, but the Russians aren't interested. Hey -- how about that big polite country to the north? Niagara Fall Sheriff Bud B. Boomer takes this all a bit too seriously, though.
Keywords: anti-propaganda, atomic-weapons, box-office-flop, canada, canada-at-war, canadian-stereotype, cia, cn-tower, conspiracy, defense-worker
It Gets Lonely at the Top, When There's No More Butt to Kick.
Surrender pronto, or we'll level Toronto!
Bud Boomer is leading the American invasion into Canada. Just as soon as he can find it.
Help America fight the Canadians
Roy Boy: How come you never see any black guys playing hockey?::Kabral: Now do you think it's easy to just gradually take over every professional sport? Let me tell you something, man. Brothers have started figuring out this ice thing. Hope you enjoyed it!
Boomer: I'll tell ya another thing: their beer sucks!
Roy Boy: I want to call the American embassy!::Boomer: All I said was "Canadian beer sucks!"::[riot intensifies]::Kabral: People! People! Can't we all just get along?
Smiley: How do you know that was a nuclear facility?::General Panzer: Well, they tricked us on that one. That's a hospital. But it's a hell of a strike!
Gus: These Canadians suffer from a serious inferiority complex. That's why they built this: The Canadian National Tower! World's largest free-standing structure!
Gus: Canadians are always dreaming up a lotta ways to ruin our lives. The metric system, for the love of God! Celsius! Neil Young!
Honey: [reading card] "Best wishes, Gordon Lightfoot." Eeew!
Boomer: There's a time to think, and a time to act. And this, gentlemen, is no time to think.
RCMP Officer at Headquarters: I don't know what you're talking aboot, eh?::Kabral: Aboot! It's ABOUT! And what's with this 'eh' business?::Roy Boy: [pointing a gun] We have ways of making you pronounce the letter O, pal.
Boomer: Y'know, it's a free country. If he doesn't like it here, he can swim across the river to Canada. Lotta work there.
Plot
Johnny Gallagher, a sergeant, is sent from Germany with a prisoner. The prisoner escapes from the men's room at National Airport and Hackman begins his search for his man. Enlisting the help of his ex-wife and various old friends, he finds that the prisoner is part of a plot by senior military personnel on both sides to kill a very high-ranking world figure in order to sabotage arms control talks.
Keywords: airplane, airport, ambush, army-buddy, army-general, assassin, assassination-attempt, assassination-plot, backpack, bar
He's one man racing against time to stop the most explosive conspiracy in history.
Gene Hackman is up against Tommy Lee Jones. Let the best man win!
Lt. Milan Delich: [putting his sleeping child down on a couch] I've gotta stop feeding that kid.
Soviet Colonel: [speaking in Russian] What's now?::Col. Glen Whitacre: [driver pulls over and stops car] Why are we stopping, Sergeant?::MP: Sorry sir, just checking the map. [produces pistol and shoots both passengers dead]
July '72. Vietnam. Lt. Steve Shepard missing in action. Presumed dead...15 years later he's still there.
He may be a phantom of the past, but he's not dead yet.
Plot
Christopher Walken wakes from a coma due to a car accident, only to find he has lost five years of his life, and yet gained psychic powers. Foreseeing the future appears to be a 'gift' at first, but ends up causing problems...
Keywords: ambition, apocalypse, arrogance, assassination, baby, based-on-novel, based-on-the-works-of-stephen-king, blood, blood-spatter, blouse-ripping
In his mind, he has the power to see the future. In his hands, he has the power to change it.
Johnny Smith: "Bless me"? Do you know what God did for me? He threw an 18-wheeled truck at me and bounced me into nowhere for five years! When I woke up, my girl was gone, my job was gone, my legs are just about useless... Blessed me? God's been a real sport to me!
Johnny Smith: The ICE... is gonna BREAK!
Johnny Smith: Your house is burning! There's still time!
[first lines]::Johnny Smith: [Johnny is reading "The Raven" to his class] And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting, on the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door, and his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, and the lamp light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor, and my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted... nevermore.
Greg Stillson: The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
Greg Stillson: Put your hand on the scanning screen, and you'll go down in history with me!::Five Star General: As what? The world's greatest mass murderers?::Greg Stillson: You cowardly bastard! You're not the voice of the people, I am the voice of the people! The people speak through me, not you!
Greg Stillson: You put your god damn hand on that scanning screen, or I'll hack it off and put it on for you!
[Wanting Roger Stuart to be a part of his campaign]::Greg Stillson: I need your support, I need your expertise, I need your input, and most importantly, I need your money. [laughter]
Sonny Elliman: Complete the sequence, Mr. President.
Greg Stillson: I have had a vision that I am going to be President of the United States someday. And nobody, and I mean *nobody* is going to stop me!
Plot
Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandonned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.
Keywords: 1860s, 1870s, 1880s, actor, bavaria, boat, castle, character-name-in-title, corpse-in-water, cousin-cousin-relationship
Ludwig. He loved women. He loved men. He lived as controversially as he ruled. But he did not care what the world thought. He was the world. From Luchino Visconti, the director of "The Damned" and "Death in Venice". Once again your eyes will be opened.
Plot
A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a means of raising money. Either a masterpiece of absurdity or a triumph of satire, depending on your mood, but it's quite possibly the funniest movie ever made, and becomes even funnier with subsequent viewings.
Keywords: american-abroad, arm-wrestling, athlete, cabinet-meeting, competition, conspiracy, debt, discus, father-daughter-relationship, goat
It's Insane -- It's Joyous
The President: Hello sweetheart.::Migg Tweeny: Listen, my name's Tweeny.::The President: You'll always be sweetheart to me.::Migg Tweeny: I know, I know, but there's talk already.