Diary Prequel Package — page 199

Sen. Ted and Kathy Stevens; Jim Wolfensohn stopped in; Margaret Spellings (Former Sec. of Education); Joe Aldrich(?); and others whom I forget. Had Calamari, focaccio, Salad, Spaghetti and truffles, Chilean Sea Bass, chocolate soufflé, Jordan Chardonnay wine. Very lively discussion orchestrated by Catherine Reynolds. Francis Collins and I were asked to comment on Stem Cells - Pres. Obama has just announced that he is removing the ban on stem cell research on Monday by executive order. Chris also spoke on the ethics of the situation. I also spoke about the responsibility for Global Health. I also commented about the dire HIV/AIDS situation and the health care problems in the country and particularly with AIDS in Washington. They asked Gen. Casey to comment on Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey felt that we should have gone into Iraq and that we can be successful. He did not get much sympathy from the others, including me. When asked what "success" was, he commented on an Iraq or Afghanistan type democracy with order in a central government. Others, particularly Rick Atkinson, pointed out that a few thousand years of history would argue against this since there cannot be a "central government" democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan. Sen. Stevens' comments were to the right of Attila the Hun and frankly quite naive -- he stated that Arabs are trying to take over the world by immigration in Europe and the USA (Oy!). Margaret Spellings spoke about the issue of education in this country and Jim Wolfensohn commented on the terrible situation of the economy. Jim said that the bailout to the banks was a failure since the banks did not use the money to lend; they used it to consolidate and pay dividends, which he feels is a waste of billions. March 13, 2009 -- Had fun day. Flew to NYC to participate in a "Science Rock Stars" photo shoot at the MILK Studios in the Meatpacking District of NYC -- 450 -- West 15% her connections at GQ Magazine and Geoffrey Beene Clothing, she arranged for an issue of GQ that matches real rock stars with "scientific stars" to draw attention of young people to science. I was involved as was Harold Varmus, Francis Collins and others. They matched us up with a rock star and took 1000s of pictures for a spread in the June issue of GQ. Harold Varmus and I were matched up with Sheryl Crow. She was terrific. The Geoffrey Beene people outfitted me in a great suit and then the fashion editor for GQ (Mike Nash) decided that he wanted a "hip" look for me so he opened my tie and shirt button, got rid of my jacket and replaced my dress shoes with sneakers. It was very cool. I met and spoke with WilI Am. Steve Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith Band were supposed to shoot with me also, but the timing was off. All in all it was a lot of fun. March 14, 2009 -- Flew to San Francisco to attend and speak at the Memorial Service for Martin Delaney, my dear activist friend and Founding Director of Project Inform, one of the best and most prominent AIDS Activist Organizations devoted to hastening FDA approvals for HIV drugs where appropriate and educating people about HIV, particularly the at risk population. Met Marty in 1985 and we have a long and deep history. I will attach 2 document for this history: 1) my eulogy for Marty and 2) an e-mail exchange between me and Brenda Lein, Marty's co-worker and dear friend. Marty was not HIVinfected. He was a gay man who contracted Hepatitis B and then went on to cirrhosis and