Corazon C. Aquino (76) of the Philippines, who was swept into office on a wave of “people power” in 1986 and then faced down half a dozen coup attempts in six years as president, died today, Saturday at 3.18 am in Manila.
For many Filipinos, Tita Cory embodied a hope of becoming a better nation and a prouder people.
Four days after the uprising began, Mr. Marcos was flown on an American aircraft to exile in Guam and then to Hawaii, where he died in 1989. Tita Cory became the FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT of the PHILIPPINES (and in Asia). The People Power was a high point in modern Philippine history, and it offered a model for nonviolent uprisings that has been repeated often in other countries. But it also set a difficult precedent in the Philippines, where people nostalgic for their shining moment continue to see mass movements as an acceptable, if unconstitutional, answer to the difficulties of a flawed democratic system.
I am quite sure that many of us remember it well. I know I did. I lived by the Malacanang Palace at the time and had the “privilege” to get teargas in our living room. Somehow, I thought my path would end there. When I lived in Hawaii, I found out that the house I was renting was across and neighbors with where Marcos lived. To top it all, I had the privilege of meeting this great lady in person and spent a few moments with her alone, sitting on a couch like the youngest daughter of a mother being imparted with life´s wisdom.
My only regret of that meeting is that I didn´t have a great camera at the time (and left it in Hawaii too) and I should have bought her painting that she brought from the Philippines. She loved painting flowers. I just didn´t know where to put a pink background and yellow flowers somewhere in my house. (My principled ways of not wanting to buy things that are not of use to me).
I thank you, Tita Cory for your legacy. YOU are the one who woke up my political consciousness. Your legacy taught me that as human beings (and FILIPINOS), we are sovereigns of our right. I will NEVER forget our intimate conversation, woman to woman, in politics and business. I hope I make you proud someday, because your example and your humility in tucked very deep in my heart. I have your wisdom embedded in my life–That yellow ribbon will always be tied in my heart and mind.
YES, THE FILIPINOS ARE WORTH DYING FOR. I WILL NEVER FORGET. I PROMISE.
Fly, Tita, fly…we will take it from here, don´t worry.
Dr. Howard Lawson from SaharaReporters.com gave a grim prognosis of the current oil and gas war in Nigeria:
1. After the expiration of the 60 cease fire the Niger Delta impasse will not be resolved.
2. The FG will try to attack militants relying on faulty intelligence reports from the inept intelligence agencies.
3. The military will attack more villages and kill innocent civilians in an attempt to dislodge militants. The military will further aggravate the situation by this attack.
4. Those who accepted amnesty will return to the creeks.
5. MEND will carry out more devastating attacks on Oil and Gas installations.
6. Destruction of oil and gas installations can never be stopped by military means because the network of pipes is wide and in difficult terrain.
7. SSS, NIA and DMI will continually offer inept intelligence reports because of the Northernization of these agencies.
8. Militant attacks will be upgraded to the killing of foreign investors in the oil and gas sector because anyone who does business with an unjust government is as guilty as that government.
9. Key Nigerian Military officers of Northern extraction will be assassinated in retaliation for the killing and raping of civilians by the military. Treacherous Niger Delta politicians will also be eliminated by sniper squads.
10. Foreign investors will flee from the country due to security concerns.
11. Revenue for the FG will drop considerably due to persistent attacks and security concerns.
12. Britain we attempt to assist the FG by campaigning for MEND to be classified as a terrorist organization.
13. The UN Security Council will be divided over this issue as China and Russia will veto such a classification.
14. Russia would want to have total control of the gas supply chain hence Russia will assist MEND in other to ensure they are in control of the Gas project linking Nigeria to Europe.
15. Britain will make a u-turn by abandoning the North and trying to assist the Niger Delta. Russia and Western Europe will battle for the Gas supply chain using the Niger Delta as their pivotal focus. When the Niger Delta snobs the overtures of Britain, British intelligence will attempt to sow seeds of disaffection amongst Niger Deltans.
16. The Niger Delta will align with Russia due to Britain’s past role. The seeds of disaffection planted by Britain amongst Niger Deltans will be overcome and the Niger Delta will emerge strong and powerful.
17. Nigeria will disintegrate or transform into a confederation.
Money embodies an indissoluble bond of both dreams and reality and the abstract distributor of hope; a concrete means of controlling the lives of human beings and nations: From King Croesus in the Near East; Alexander the Great´s a single monetary system implementation in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia and beyond, which was well organised into three metals (gold, silver and bronze) with coins of identical weight and type for people who were very different from one another, unification of Roman territories´systematic, profound well-organised central power control issuing denarii, aurei and sestertia in every corner of the vast Empire (Europe, Asia and Africa); Constantine´s Byzantine gold coins and under the Carolingian Empire, the European continent relaunch of a high Medieval European “single currency”, as we would label it today: the silver denier.
However, things changed as the geographical discoveries of the 15th century, influx of a large amount of precious metals to Europe, the opening of new mines, and more rational, modern exploitation of ancient metal veins, would soon lead to the radical transformation of the social and political fabric of Europe, whose financial and market centers attempted by all means possible to withstand the weight of competition that was increasingly tougher to face. To counter the lack of coins, existing credit systems were refined. Soon, bills of exchange became a safer instrument for bankers and merchants of the time.
The world had changed dramatically issuance of the ducats by Italian cities (Florins, Genoese and gold zecchino coins, the undisputed lords of international trade). Charles V, produced a French gold currency, the écu au soleil or “Sun above the crown” during his reign. Consequently, seven nations united in an agreement of sorts which led them to issue “scudo” coins whose weight and alloy were very similar: France, Spain, Genoa, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples. In essence, this heralded the first single international currency of the modern age.
More than two centuries later, France again gave birth to a new currency, the Franco-Lira, with a centesimal subdivision, that would radically alter the monetary systems of the countries across Europe. From 1861 on, the Lira (divided into 100 cents) became the single currency of a unified Italy. Just a few years later, at a memorable session held on 23rd December 1865 in Paris, Italy, France, Switzerland and Belgium (later joined by Greece) signed an agreement which foresaw the adoption of a single currency, based on gold and silver divisions, which could circulate freely in the signatory countries, known as the Latin Monetary Union.
This was considered to be the first step towards simplifying means of payment, something which could be delayed no longer in a world that was bound increasingly by common economic and trade interests.
In 1871, the Confederation of Germanic States adopted the gold standard for its own monetary system. In 1873, Denmark signed a monetary agreement with Sweden which would later include Norway (in 1875). In 1892, Austria and Hungary also adopted a gold-standard monetary system.
Nonetheless, this too was abandoned in the 1930’s and 1940’s by all signatory countries: France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland and Italy, known as the “gold bar” countries.
What modern nation states required was a new platform for exchange that respected national sovereignty. For today’s Europe, this platform is the Euro.
History seems to repeat itself.
During the G8 meeting, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a ‘united future world currency.’ According to the Bloomberg news service
Medvedev has repeatedly called for creating a mix of regional reserve currencies as part of the drive to address the global financial crisis, while questioning the U.S. dollar’s future as a global reserve currency. Russia’s proposals for the G-20 meeting in London in April included the creation of a supranational currency.
Will the utopia of a universal currency become reality? Certainly, the world is much more accepting of this due to its regional cooperation. I still have not formed my opinion on this and while I can see its advantages economically, it also poses a big haul in how we conduct our financial systems. I am not sure if I want a supranatural currency, but I would seriously consider having other global reserve currencies other than the US dollar for global economic stability.
Roland Burris’ net -45% approval/disapproval rating may or may not stop him from running for a full term in 2010, but if does, he will discover that he has quite a bit of company in the Democratic primary. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is already in and Bobby Kennedy’s son, Chris Kennedy, is now poised to enter as well. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) is mulling a run and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan might jump in, too, although it is more likely she will run for governor. Kennedy has never run for public office before, but the Kennedy name is still revered by many Democrats. Caroline Kennedy wasn’t appointed to Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat in New York, but that has everything to do with the somewhat mercurial nature of Gov. David Paterson (D-NY) and a behind-the-scenes campaign by the state’s formiddable senior senator, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who strongly championed now-senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). A Kennedy-Giannoulias battle would be a fight of epic proportions, but Burris would be left in the dust were he foolish enough to try. The $845 he raised in the first quarter of 2009 won’t go very far in expensive Illinois.
If elected, Chris Kennedy would follow in the footsteps of his father, Robert, who represented New York in the Senate before being assassinated in 1968.
If he were to win the seat, Chris would not be the only Kennedy on Capitol Hill. His cousin is Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-Rhode Island; his uncle is Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts.
For Americans looking for change, they are about to feel it, after they of course wake up from denial. Debt may actually be the reason for the American Dream demise:America’s debt now exceeds the $50 trillion GDP of all economies in the entire world!
Paul B. Ferrell of Marketwatch laid down an updated list from what he did last year. We all know that whoever gets elected there is a massive debt that will be inherited from Bush. Obama adds another $1.84 Trillion with the current mortgages which is “four times Bush’s record deficit last year, with deficits over $500 billion annually for the next decade.”:
1. Federal budget deficits/debt
Federal debt is now $11.5 trillion. Add $1.4 trillion this year. That’s almost 100% of GDP.
2. Social Security unfunded debt
No longer a political “third rail,” we have no choice: We must raise taxes, or cut benefits.
3. Medicare unfunded obligations
Unfunded after 2016, $65 trillion by 2041, consuming 100% of tax revenues by 2075.
4. Health care insurance liabilities
Costs rising at double the inflation rate, 47 million uninsured. Obama plans universal coverage of this mega-$2.5 trillion business. Can we trust insurers sudden offer to help?
Ports, chemical plants, borders at risk. Black Swans are lurking; with unpredictable mega-buck consequences.
7. Real estate/mortgage losses
Global real estate from $40 trillion to $70 trillion in 5 years. Total global wealth lost since 2007, $50 trillion. U.S. mortgages shot from $7 trillion to $14 trillion in 8 years, now down $6 trillion, with 20% of homes worth less than the mortgage.
8. Peak oil and energy alternatives
Oil’s soon declining. Extraction costs will exceed sale price. Nuclear energy cost: $75 trillion. Coal’s dirty. Wind, biofuels: costly.
9. Cap and trade
Taxing fossil-fuel emissions will increase energy costs. But it won’t change much. China won’t stop. So population grows, with demand and global warming.
Veteran GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of PA will switch parties, confirmed his run for re-election as a Dem in 2010, w/c would increase the number of Senate seats Democrats control to 58, an almost filibuster-resistant majority. Our anti-pork GOP candidate Pat Toomey´s (from Club for Growth) winning numbers in the polls and Arlen´s support of Obama Spending Bill precipitated this. The Rasmussen poll puts Toomey ahead 51% to 30%.
Specter’s real problem started with the Democratic presidential primary in 2008. With the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama still raging last April, hundreds of thousands of moderate Republicans in Pennsylvania switched registration to vote in the Democratic primary. Most of these people normally voted for Specter. Now they are officially Democrats. With a big primary looming on the Democratic side in 2010, probably most of them will remain Democrats to vote in the Democratic primary. Thus the center of gravity of what is left of the Pennsylvania Republican Party has moved far to the right–towards Toomey and away from Specter. Under far less favorable circumstances, Toomey came within 1.7% of beating Specter in the 2004 senatorial primary. Now with the wind at his back and Specter unpopular with the right wing of the Republican Party for his occasional roll call votes with the Democrats, Toomey has an excellent chance of winning the nomination. Unfortunately, he has almost no chance of winning the general election against any of the numerous Democrats trying for their party’s nomination. He is simply far too conservative for a state Obama carried by 11 points. Thus a Toomey win in the primary means that Pennsylvania will very likely flip and give the Democrats their 60th seat in the Senate (assuming Franken is seated by January 2011). Let us hope that this doesn´t happen and that the Tea Parties are doing smarter strategies.
One of our subsidiaries, MJS Commodities specializes in various cash commodities such as sugar. Our current Indian partners within the sugar and basmati rice categories have been struggling with too many fluctuating governmental regulations that the Indian leaders impose. It has been quite difficult to get any business done. Let me shed a little light of what has been going on. According to ISO reports, world sugar production is at 161.527 mln tonnes. The report shows three major supply features of 2008/09: Significant production shortfall in India, a further contraction of production in the EU and a continuing expansion of sugar output in Brazil. The combined effect of output reductions in the EU and India is expected to shave off a massive 7.084 mln tonnes from world sugar supply, despite record high growth in sugar output in Brazil. So far, a lowering in forecasted production in India (from 23.9 mln tonnes projected in August to the current projection of 19.55 mln tonnes) has been neatly matched by a practically identical increase in Brazil (from 33.22 mln tonnes to 37.54 mln tones). Meanwhile, global consumption is forecasted to grow at the rate of 2.19% to 165.801 mln tonnes, raw value. World production is now expected to be 4.274 mln tonnes lower than world consumption as against 3.626 mln tonnes projected in November. Consequently, the statistical outlook for the market till the end of the season in September 2009 remains constructive and supportive to world market values. The ISO puts world export availability for 2008/09 at 49.608 mln tonnes, raw value, as against 46.25 mln tonnes in the previous crop cycle. Smaller output in importing countries and in India, in particular, is expected to trigger additional import demand which is estimated to reach 49.621 mln tonnes, up 3.673 mln tonnes. Indian Sugar output in the current sugar year 2008-09 is likely to plummet substantially as compared with the output in the previous few years. Current year’s estimate is now placed at around 15.5 million tonnes, 42% below the output achieved in the previous year 2007-08 at 26.3 million tonnes. Such a sharp decline in sugar production by 11 million tonnes in one single year, is unprecedented. This has happened mainly because the farmers seem to have lost interest in sugarcane planting in recent past due to lack of orderly disposal thereof. Indian sugar industry suffers from too many interventions by the authorities. Such interventions, lead to wide variations in sugar production. Wide fluctuations in sugarcane and sugar production in Indian condition have become a normal feature, mainly due to man made action. For, as opposed to this, if one looks around, the trends in other sugar producing countries, year to year variations are much too small – say in the range of around 5%, mainly influenced by weather condition. Clearly, Government policies relating to sugarcane, sugar and other competing crops have led to such large variations in India, thereby undermining larger interest of all concerned with the sugar sector – sugarcane farmers, industry as well as the consumers. The most vital factors are those of sugarcane and sugar prices. The Government of India announces the support prices of various crops including sugarcane. On the other hand, policies are framed by the Government to ensure as low a price for sugar as possible, based on very rigid parameters of costing. A look at the compendium of publications brought out by the Indian Sugar Mills Association, would reflect that too many regulations have been created by the authorities to regulate the sugarcane and sugar prices. Clearly, the policies adopted by the Government have failed to ensure a reasonable balance in sugar situation. The most important facet is that of sugarcane pricing. Like other crops, the Government of India notifies the minimum price payable for sugarcane. Fixation of such Statutory Minimum Price for sugarcane is done by the Government of India, many a times overlooking the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, commonly known as CACP. The CACP makes exhaustive study of different crops while making its recommendation to the Government for various crops including sugarcane. While in the past, Government has been generally following the recommendation of the CACP, in recent past this trend has changed. For the year 2008-09, the CACP revised its recommendation for Statutory Minimum Price of sugarcane to Rs. 125/- per qtl. linked to the basic recovery of 9%. The Government, however, rejected this recommendation. For the year 2009-10, the CACP yet again recommended the same price of Rs. 125 per qtl. linked to basic recovery of 9%. No doubt, the increase suggested in the statutory minimum cane price in one go is rather sharp. However, the most important point is that the Government has not yet taken any decision on this important matter. On the other hand, Government have substantially increased the minimum prices for wheat, rice and other food crops. Naturally, in the absence of an appropriate revision of Statutory Minimum Price, a large gap persists with alternate crops. Already, as stated, Indian sugar output has suffered tremendously; so much so that the carry forward stocks from the previous season will be almost fully exhausted during the current year itself, to meet the consumption demand which is commonly assessed at the previous year’s level of say 22/22.5 milllion tonnes. To reverse the negative trends, it is imperative that the Government of India without any further delay notify the Statutory Minimum Price for sugarcane. Closely connected with this issue is the Government’s recent decision to impose stock limit on the sugar trade, though temporarily for a period of four months. Such restrictions lead to artificial decline in sugar prices. We fear that if the inconsistent policies continue, India may have to depend on import invariably, whereas the Government’s declared objective has always been to promote exports. The Government needs to give a fresh look to the sugarcane and sugar sector without delay. If growing demand for sugar in India has to be met, a proper sugar policy has to be implemented. The first and foremost requirement appears to be the withdrawal of the obligation placed by the Government on the sugar industry to supply 10% of its output as levy sugar at prices far below the actual cost of production and the open market prices. The levy sugar is distributed through the Public Distribution System channel to the B.P.L. population. Thus, while the sugar industry is forced to supply levy sugar, there is hardly any realization among the public that the subsidy on levy sugar is funded by the industry and not by the Government, as it happens in all other cases. Sugar is the only exception. If the current policy continues, India may turn into a regular large scale importer of sugar in the long run notwithstanding the sugar industry’s capability to meet adequately the country’s requirement of sugar and generate surpluses for exports.
53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism,
20% believe socialism is better,
and 27% are undecided.
It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.
Other survey data supports that notion. Rather than seeing large corporations as committed to free markets, two-out-of-three Americans believe that big government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.
Fifteen percent (15%) of Americans say they prefer a government-managed economy, similar to the 20% support for socialism. Just 14% believe the federal government would do a better job running auto companies, and even fewer believe government would do a better job running financial firms.
Most Americans today hold views that can generally be defined as populist while only seven percent (7%) share the elitist views of the Political Class.
This version of the 12 steps is an adaptation from the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and is intended for general use with any addictive or dysfunctional liberal behavior. This is only to address a particular addictive or dysfunctional behavior within the way we want to run our daily lives and countries. These steps are meant to be worked sequentially as a process of getting rid of addictive behaviors and growing in freedom and happiness:
Step 1- We admited we were powerless over our addiction to meddle with other people´s lives and their monies – that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than big government; that We are the ones who should decide how to govern our personal lives which restores us to sanity
Step 3- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God–who gave us sovereign right to rule our own lives not other people
Step 4- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and found that being spineless and pandering does not lead to godliness
Step 5- Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs: Socialism and Communism is against our sovereign right as human beings and potential.
Step 6- Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of all the brainwashed character we have acquired from media, liberal professors and bitter idiots.
Step 7- Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings especially insulting true Conservatives
Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, brainwashed, controlled and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Step 11- Sought through study of true Conservatism, prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying and doing only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out
Step 12- Having had a spiritual, mental, psychological and ideological awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs
Came across these cartoons from Canadian political cartoonists which is quite sobering to most of us in the world. I hope Americans do too…SOON:
Honeymoon is over by Aislin, The Montreal Gazette
US Debt by Patrick Corrigan, The Toronto Star
Glad the Canadians are sobering up from the hypnotic effects the media served up. Many of us OUTSIDE the USA are not impressed with what is going on with the money splurge. When a “superpower” owes money to Third World country like India, and now their “rival” China, they should really start worrying. Where is Obama getting all the monies from that he is spending? What is being exchanged if the country is practically bankrupt? If he is so smart, why is he not learning from the mistakes of PM Gordon Brown when he bankrupted his own country? Maybe he is not…and people are realizing it…but there are those of us who knew from the start. The mirage was just quite convincing that even the intellectuals are fooled.
I got this from a Facebook friend. To put this entire note in simple terms, let me give some vocabularies to summarize:
character |ˈkariktər| noun: the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual; strength and originality in a person’s nature
hypocrisy |hiˈpäkrisē|noun:the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.
This is not about politics. This is about decency and respect. Bush may not have been the perfect President, but he has always been a decent human being. Thank you, President Bush for showing that cowboys got more class than any Rhode Scholarship or Harvard degree combined. This is why I cannot stand liberal elitism.
Jan 20th, 2009
Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boards his helicopter and leaves for Texas, commenting only: “Today is not about me. Today is a historical day for our nation and people.”
Eight years ago
Outgoing President Bill Clinton schedules two separate radio addresses to the nation, and organizes a public farewell speech/ rally in downtown Washington D.C. scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President Bush’s inauguration ceremony.
Jan 20th, 2009
President Bush leaves office without issuing a single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of shooting a convicted drug smuggler. He does not grant any type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former political aide, ally, or business partner.
Eight years ago
President Clinton issues 140 pardons and several commutations of sentence on his final day in office. Included in these are: billionaire financier, convicted tax evader, and leading Democratic campaign contributor Marc Rich; Whitewater scandal figure Susan McDougal; Congressional Post Office Scandal figure and former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator and former Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug felon Roger Clinton, the President’s half-brother.
Jan 20th, 2009
The Bush daughters leave gift baskets in the White House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers, candy, stuffed animals, DVD’s and CD’s, and heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White House.
Eight years ago
Clinton and Gore staffers rip computer wires and electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuff piles of notebook papers into the White House toilets, systematically remove the letter “W” from every computer key-pad in the entire White House, and damage several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White House master bedroom.
Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago
“Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees”
“Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times”
“Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft”
Headlines Today
“Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170 million”
“Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party”
“Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate”
“Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration”
Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the “stimulus” bill must be urgently voted on today — because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe! This outrageous American Political Soap Opera is really turning ugly.
Pelosi is said to lead a delegation to Europe; there’s a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group. It is official that the Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the$790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote.Welcome to the new CHANGE that this Obama Administration has been promising. Empty and politics AS usual.
Pollster Scott Rasmussenreportsthat Democrats are currently ahead of Republicans by only 40 percent to 39 percent. Given that this generic ballot question over the years has tended to understate Republicans’ performances in actual elections,we can safely conclude that if the 2010 election for House seats were held today, Republicans would win or come close to winning a majority of seats—which is to say, they would gain about 40 seats. By way of comparison, they gained 52 seats when they won their majority in 1994. This result may just be a momentary blip, which will pass away as quickly as it appeared, and we are a long, long, long way from the November 2010 elections. *Sigh*
But any Democratic member of Congress in even a marginally marginal districtshould start worrying. Conservatives against this Obama/Pelosi stimulus package should concentrate less of lynching the three Republicans who supported the Senate version but more on Democratic members of the House and (at least those who are up for reelection in 2010) the Senate. It will certainly be a very busy time for strategists and GOP state organizations to raise monies now to tackle this.
I have been quiet the entire vacation time to put in some time doing content for our companies under MJS Global Group: MJS Strategies, MJS Commodities, MJS Capital, etc. I have been putting it off for quiet sometime so I decided to buckle down with the help of some associates. After countless hours back and forth sharing and working through them despite of the time zones, I got the news today that we got hacked by this guy and all the files got infected and therefore we have to work from scratch again. We have notified Hostmonster and they have not responded due to the holidays.
My Love Letter from a Cyberterrorist
This is my first experience on cyberterrorism. On the positive note I am glad we are still in the beginning stages, however, I already did 70 pages worth of content. What a way to start the year.
Today is the 6th day of the airstrikes in Gaza so I know there are a lot of tensions. Many protests are going on and on the other end, I can understand why this cyberterrorist would do this. It forces people to look and listen, but to the extent of innocent casualties.
This should be a huge concern for all of us especially when we are about to usher in the third evolution of the Internet: Semantic web, which will enable people to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites. So think about all your important information from Government to banks, etc and cyberterrorists like this suspends all activity. I know I cannot live without internet. I cannot even picture in my head how chaotic it would become when that is done on a global scale the way they hit 9-11 in New York just to make a statement.
Al Qaeda are using this vehicle for fundraising and recruitment. Mumbai bombers were also quite high tech. These terrorists don´t need much to sacrifice to do destruction. They have calculated so well that all they need is a small rock to start the ripple effect. People have become so much smarter…and more evil towards each other.
The world has definitely changed. Happy New Year to us all!
Politics aside, I think someone went to the lavatory at the Kennedy Center after this happen. I think we are still in withdrawal symptoms. Streisand remarked that she wished this happened during the 2008 Presidential Campaign. I wonder why.
Earlier today, I found out that Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the 51-year-old environmental lawyer, daughter of President John F. Kennedy and Jackie Onassis (and sister of handsome John Kennedy, Jr.) who has shied away from the political arena for most of her life may be considered to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton for Senate seat.
Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg with Obama during 2008 Campaign
The niece of Edward and Robert Kennedy. The powerful Kennedy clan is fully behind her rising to the office previously held by her uncle, Robert Kennedy who held the New York seat from 1965 until his assassination in 1968.
Once Clinton is confirmed to President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet, New York Gov. David Paterson will appoint someone to fill the seat for two years. Democratic officials say Caroline Kennedy has spoken to New York Gov. David Paterson about the Senate seat. Paterson’s office says that the governor had been approached by several candidates for the job but that he would not discuss private conversations.
Of course, since she took on a much more high-profile role during the presidential campaign and, if she does it, would be more than New York’s junior Senator; she’d have closer ties to the Obama White House than any of her colleagues, a direct line to the East Wing.
Ok, so she´s educated. But what are her qualifications, except being the daughter of a President as a child? She’ll probably last two years, to be replaced by future Senator Rudy Giuliani (he has started to schmooze to Obama with his praises). How hypocritical is the media praising Caroline´s interest, while trashing Gov. Sarah Palin´s credentials? Excuse me that many of us have not gone to the famous liberal Harvard University for the elites.
I am not complaining. In fact, this is AWESOME NEWS. Give the seat to Caroline. If the Dems appoint Caroline to the Senate, Sarah Palin’s credibility will earn massive points! Palin ACTUALLY has experience! If this happens, anytime a liberal or a media rep (and SNL) mock Sarah’s qualifications, intelligence, or any other quality, the other side can simply point to Caroline and say, “Yeah, well, let’s talk about Caroline.” I mean, let’s face it…if you’ve ever heard Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg speak (without a script–and most of these politicians who were hyped up…ehrm…), then you know she’s not a very bright woman. And if we’re being totally honest she’s really that attractive, either. So wouldn’t it be perfectly delicious if the Dems unconsciously replaced Sarah Palin as the next national laughingstock with the last surviving member of JFK’s family? *Let me start my childhood signing of the cross á la Catholic*
Sarah Palin is smarter than what the media gave her credit for. But then the media thought that Ronald Reagan was stupid, but Reagan outsmarted them every time. Let´s face it, the global financial crisis were handled by Harvard and other Ivy League alums. We all know that classrooms and real world are VERY different. So pedigrees and grad school doesn´t really mean a lot when it comes to crisis. It is all about character.
Let us see how “fair” the media will treat her, I hope that they give her as much attention as they did to Sarah.
America, welcome to the new poster child for unqualified and incompetence: Senator Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg!
I was watching Wolf Blitzer´s Situation Room on CNN briefly last night (sorry, no Fox news in Europe) and noticed for the first time that one of the “best political team on TV” made an honest unbiased comment. Campbell Brown (whom I enjoy watching during Elections coverage), made a remark about how Obama´s cautiousness during the Primaries is now reflected on the so-called 2.5 M jobs he promised to create. Now, Obama said 2.5M jobs to be “saved”. Like she said, it doesn´t really mean anything. In my world, it just meant, he pandered just like most politicians who say what the voter wants to hear.
THE AUTO INDUSTRY BAILOUT
GM, Chrysler and Ford are now doing another run to convince U.S. Congress to give them a $34bn Bailout. Their argument is that if they don´t get the help, America will just throw $300bn development and investments made in the past. It is a very tough decision to make. If you help them, they are still going to be doing the same structure and if not…well, no one wants to know. But the reality is, with the global financial crisis, people are not buying cars. As of today, HONDA even pulls out of Formula One racing since it is a luxury item for them to spend $300M with 700 employees (snaps for them!). I personally have not seen what these Big Three Automakers are proposing on paper (yet), but there needs to be serious cutbacks.
Clinton Appointed as Secretary of State
Then you have Obama switching from creation of jobs to saving jobs. The man has never made a decision in the Senate and just ticked a lot of PRESENT on bills. What do you expect?
THE APPOINTMENTS
He keeps saying he is bringing change to Washington, so far, he has put most Clintonistas and to top that cake, he selects Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State (with Bill tagging along). Smartly stupid, I´d say. The saying, “Keep your enemies closer” is definitely taken into new heights.
SPEECH IN CAIRO, EGYPT…MAYBE?
In an effort to mend rifts between the U.S. and the Muslim world, Obama is seriously considering making a major foreign policy speech in an Islamic capital, CAIRO, Egypt. My initial reaction is WHO is paying for this? His campaign? How is delivering a speech somewhere mend deep-seated issues between countries? I find it quite naïve if he does this without a plan. This is not anymore campaigning. But this here sounds like a photo-op for me.
But the question really is that why Obama feels it necessary to give a speech so early in his new administration. During the presidential campaign Obama indicated U.S. foreign policy was too skewed in favor of Israel and that he would seek to balance that approach in his administration. But then when McCain painted him as naïve about the Middle East, he then strongly backed Israel in his first foreign policy speech when he addressed American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Using process of elimination, I find it hilarious how they chose this place. Obama’s foreign policy advisers ruled out Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and other capitals around the Persian Gulf. If he does the speech in Baghdad, it would appear to validate the Iraq war (which he of course opposed).
Going to Damascus, the Syrian capital would be rewarding them (not a good idea to start with),
Tehran in Iran? Haha, too soon for tea and urugula.
Amman, Jordan? They are not interested as they did the show their before.
Ankara, Turkey? Too boring.
How about Islamabad, Pakistan? Well, after his speeches about Pakistan during elections, I don´t think he will come out alive.
Ramallah on the West Bank would be futile because Palestinians have been demanding Jerusalem as their capital.
Jakarta, Indonesia? Obama´s Childhood place? Good for him, not cool enough for the media.
A MUST REASON
Remember when he kept dodging he was a secret Muslim? (Take it easy, Ret. Gen. Colin Powell. I am not anti-Muslim. I got a cousin who is one and wonderful Muslim friends). The truth is, Obama had been raised a Muslim and converted to Christianity after meeting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in his 20s after he moved to Chicago.
Obama was born to a Kenyan father who was a Muslim. His mother divorced this man and later remarried an Indonesian muslim who became Obama’s stepfather. The couple moved to Indonesia with the young Obama. There he was registered at two schools as a Muslim student, Barry Saetoro.
Obama´s Indonesian School Record
In his autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” Obama mentions studying the Koran and describes the public school as “a Muslim school.”
My own process of elimination? Obama wants to be pay homage to his roots. It´s perfectly fine for me, but it would be better to be upfront and honest to the American people what exactly he has in his head of his. As hired CEO of the Free World, he needs to be accountable.
Some friends from Facebook, Bradley and Mel posted this witty explanations of world ideologies and thought I would share it (Not sure who wrote it, but God Bless that person for having brains):
WORLD IDEOLOGIES EXPLAINED:
FEUDALISM
You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.
PURE SOCIALISM
You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else’s cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.
BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM
You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in barn with everyone else’s cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs the regulations say you should need.
FASCISM
You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.
PURE COMMUNISM
You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.
RUSSIAN COMMUNISM
You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.
CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM
You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.
DICTATORSHIP
You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.
PURE DEMOCRACY
You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.
REPRESENTATIVE DEOMOCRACY
You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.
BUREAUCRACY
You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.
PURE ANARCHY
You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.
ANARCHO-CAPITALISM
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
SURREALISM
You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.
The 2008 U.S. election proved that a new dawn for politics has arrived. We now have seen the power of web 2.0 and how it can shape a political landscape. We also saw how the Millenials are engaged. How did this all happen? The answer is two words: MARKETING and MONEY. The rule of the game (anywhere) is the one with the bigger war chest, wins. But there is something else about this election that was also not seen in a long time: STRONG MEDIA BIAS.
We can go on and on (which I will because there will be other things I will be ranting about this election), but for the sake of this page, I can safely say that Obama won because he vastly outspent McCain. Even Chris Cilizza of Washington Post (one of the newspapers who endorsed Obama) agrees with many of us who observed the political circus.
According to Nielsen Company, from June through November, Obama ran 419,667 ads in local markets while McCain ran 269,992 ads — a difference of nearly 150,000 ads. In the final month of the election, the ad difference was even greater with Obama’s campaign running 210,425 local ads as compared to just more than 97,000 for McCain. Obama also had one-and-a-half times as many spot TV ads than John McCain during the general election season (6/08 to 11/08), double when he started running ads in January during the Primaries.
SPOT TV ADS: June-Nov 2008
Barack Obama
419,667
John McCain
269,992
Local Ad Spending by Both McCain and Obama
Other notable campaign facts from Nielsen’s research
Obama’s ads were on the airwaves over twice as much as McCain’s in the final month before the election (210,245 vs. 97,023 ad buys).
McCain took early advantage of Obama’s long primary battle with Hillary Clinton, which ended on June 3rd. McCain bought over three and a half times more spot TV ads than Obama in June (26,594 to 7,251), the only month that McCain beat his opponent in that category.
McCain made a major push with national buys in September, out placing Obama 10 to 1 in cable and network ad buys.
The two candidates alone combined for almost 850,000 total ad buys dating back to January.
Daily Tracking versus Actual Popular Vote From ISU Statistical Graphics Working Group
This figure show results of the daily tracking polls, and the actual popular vote (blue). Main pollsters are colored, so that relative bias can be seen. The trend line is a less smooth through all points.
State tracking results from ISU Statistical Graphics Working Group
The result for each state (blue, red) and polls for each state over the week leading up to the election are shown as a dot plot. From top to bottom, the order of the states is from most Republican to most Democratic.
Median is represented as a black dot, all polls as large white dots, and median of last week’s as a grey dot. Vertical lines mark 5% points difference.
Obama tracking results from ISU Statistical Graphics Working Group
McCain tracker from ISU Statistical Graphics Working Group
These figures show the daily tracking results separately for Obama and McCain, and the actual result. Tracking polls low-balled the McCain %.
So, how fair was U.S. Elections this time compared to the 2000 or 2004?
Lesson learned here is that politics still truly local and money greases the machines. It is a dirty world we live and work in.
Fourty-eight days to January 20, 2009, before the spectacular fanfare of the historic 44th United States Presidential Inauguration, when an African-American takes center-stage and recite the oath on first entering office specified in Article II, Section 1, of the U.S. Constitution:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
The theme for the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama is “A New Birth of Freedom,” which honors the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. People scrambling to get the hottest“non-existent” tickets in town. Yes, “non-existent” because they are not issued yet and there are scammers selling them for $1000+ already. So if you contemplate of buying them through the web, STOP IT NOW. These tickets are FREE and you get them from any U.S. Congress and Senate Officials and usually they are only allotted with a couple of hundred tickets depending on their constituents. Some public officials have even started doing lottery to be fair. You cannot get these if you are not American constituent in that district that the particular elected official (or ask your American friends).
Washington D.C. is expecting about 1M visitors and a massive planning is taking place to keep the city in order. All this hysteria because people want to hear the man who used a Kennedy-King-Lincoln-esque platform and echoed throughout his campaign:
“I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.” Excerpt from A More Perfect Union
Electoral Vote tally
We sat with astonishment to the meteoric rise of this obscured Arab-cheeredMessiah 46-year-old political virgin to become the first African-American to capture DNC nomination. (Thanks to the Iowa Caucus and Obama´s brilliant grassroots strategy through David Axelrod´s brainchild, he surprisingly rose above Clinton) Weeks later, he wins an overwhelming mandate of 365 Electoral votes versus the 173 that McCain got. World Leaders like Merkel, Sarcozy, Brown (pro-Americans to Obama´s advantage) reacted warmly and with expectations, tests and warnings.
2008 U.S. Presidential Elections County by County Results
The 2008 U.S. Elections cracked a lot of ceilings. Both GOP and DNC parties made historical marks with their two women, Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY) and Gov. Sarah Palin (AL). The former proving to be a formidable candidate with 18M behind her and the latter, a female maverick that became GOP´s first female for top ticket. Then you have the massive money that got poured in through Obama´s internet fundraising, garnering aroung $650M in total which afforded him to release a 30 minute infomercial in all major networks.
The RESULT: The longest, historic, exciting, most expensive U.S. Election ever!
Warning after an hour of posting around 20 messages to friends. A web 2.0 nightmare for a person with circa 2000 friends!
So it goes…after 58 hours and awesome sweet political Conservative and Liberal friends later, Facebook re-instated my original profile which I have had for years with the following email:
“Facebook has limits in place to prevent behavior that other users may find annoying or abusive…Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with the specific rates that have been deemed abusive. Your account was disabled because you exceeded Facebook’s limits on multiple occasions when sending links and making Wall posts, despite having been warned to slow down. Please be aware that if your account is disabled again, we will not be able to reactivate it. Once logged in, please slow down the rate at which you share links and post on group Walls. We appreciate your cooperation going forward.”
First off, HOW exactly was I annoying and abusive? By having too much traffic and activity on my site because my FB friends are very much engaged in the posts that I put on my walls? Isn´t the idea of web 2.0 is SOCIAL NETWORKING? Why is being SOCIAL penalized? Is SOCIAL and INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY in social sites unacceptable? The ANSWER is NO.
If I am annoying and abusive, what about those people that go to my site and attack me directly for my opinions out of nowhere? (They are not even in my list of friends!)
Some “hate mails” I have been receiving lately shows intolerance of other people´s views:
From Micah Weiss: ”Your Stand on politics is the worst ever !!! you dont even live here .. and you have those views about Obama … makes me sick to my stomach … im sorry .. not narrowminded !!”
From Todd Lytle- a Screenplay Writer in Hollywood: “shows your ignorance and honestly coming from a hard core conservative doesn’t surprise me you would have that kind of mentality. I shared your comment with a few of my friends who were and weren’t Jewish and they all said you were just being nasty trying to piss me off. I will not stoop to your pathetic level of insults based on a generalization. Instead I will just let people know who you really are…and give them the heads up on your ignorant nature. After all you cannot help it…DITTOHEAD!!”
From Alex Demyanenko, (who asked me to remove his Title and Employer, hmm) : “Your funnies (political cartoons you post) are offensive and further proof that GOOD finally won out over EVIL. Karma, baby! Rovian = Evil.”
From Trevor Capon: “I don’t know how I see your pictures but you are an idiot. You really think intelligence is the mark of a Republican? You who vote for Sarah Palin and you who’s hero is Joe the Plumber? John McCain finished at the bottom of his class and Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review. If you look at all of the polling college educated voters went 4 to 1 to Obama. Please try to back up your arguments with facts.”
I have allowed people to write me things like this (and decided to be above it because liberals have always resorted to personal attacks rather than substantiating their arguments). I also wanted to let everyone know that I am not the Conservative leaning chick who just deletes people because they think different than I do. I am NOT that judgmental. I got friends from all walks of life: Homeless, Filthy Rich, Educated with Ph D, Dropouts, Business owners, Social Welfare Milkers, Handicaps, Sports jock Olympians, Musicians, Tone-deafs, Conservatives, Liberals, Confused and Apathetic people. But I learn from all of them. I live in the same planet as they do and they ALL matter to me because each has their own way of viewing the world I do not see.
I understand that politics is personal but seriously, how come others are able to handle and accept other differing views while others resort to give insulting remarks. I have had worse emails than that too with people using profanities but I guess the slandering to other people´s pages calling me “idiot”, “offshore terrorist”, “moron”, or “stupid” are ok to write people instead of putting notes to facilitate debates. Do I get hurt? Not really. People are FREE to express their views, regardless of the degree to where it leans: Positive or negative. But I do take pride in the fact that I am touching them somehow and make them think or defend their ground, which is what I am after. Nothing is worse to me than people with no opinion, belief or purpose. You might as well be dead if you don´t want to grow.
Facebook ought to pay me for such intellectual activity that I have started. The only people who appreciate are those are truly “educated” from life because they understand that we are all individuals with different backgrounds that shape our ideologies and values we live by.
When I started with Facebook, I thought it was exciting to keep in touch with your college friends and stuff, but now that they allow all developers to create these annoying apps, I found it so cluttered. Excuse me that I do not want to clutter my page with those apps that I find useless. I want my FB platform to be purposeful and since I am a practicing political strategist ( I eat politics for breakfast and late night snacks), I want to do something on MY page, what I want to do: DEBATES. I want stimulating conversations with my friends and learn from all sides of the spectrum. I get that, but apparently Facebook is not the place for these types. All the more I am convinced that iCampaign.tv NEEDS be unleashed for people like me.
In a nutshell, iCampaign.tv will be a tool ( web , mobile and desktop ) to empower any campaign for all types of industries which will use Open Social platform. Stay tuned!
For those who do not agree with me, don´t worry. I will not delete you. Just show some respect in giving your opinions. But you are free to delete me. It is not my problem that you cannot handle people who think different than you. But you know, I don´t know if I want to be your friend anyway, because I find that being around all “Yes- People” are boring. Look at Obama with his choices now, at least I am grown up enough to find common ground with the guy. He is not after “Yes-People”.
Facebook says, “Continued misuse of Facebook’s features could result in your account being disabled.” How is posting content on your OWN group walls and notes be MISUSAGE? Who made these stupid rules? This is like curbing my voracious appetite for putting my own content in a box.
Puh-leeeze, don´t bother boxing me in because I am going to find a way to crawl out of it. I don´t like boxes, the air gets too stuffy inside.
Last Friday, I posted a note called The Gospel of Obama (I shall post it here too so you know what I am talking about) and like most notes that I post there, I got quite a lot of hits from my circa 2000 friends. I have recently used my Facebook account to facilitate intellectual debates about everything under the sun and welcomed all sorts of ideas from people. I am shock to find out the next day that the company disabled my account. I have been a FB account holder since 2004-2005-ish and this is the first time that I have experienced this. The only thing I could think of is the fact that there are people who do not agree with my views that petitioned I be removed.
I understand that politics is personal, but I find it stupid that people cannot handle hearing other people´s opinions. Since when are we allowed to really pass judgment on people based on the fact they are different. Well, forgive me that I am not like you. I take pride in the fact that I do not think like most people. I like to form my own opinions.
Someone even called me “offshore terrorist” or “Arab lover” because I read Al Jazeera. I happen to like reading and watching news from all sources like ABC, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, The Economist, TIME, Fox, The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg to name a few. Why would that classify me as a terrorist just because I want to read all sources and learn from everyone.
A VP of MTV wrote me on Facebook once that he detest my views and considered me stupid because I liked McCain-Palin or even the conservative platform.
I happen to be moderate independent with Conservative leanings like on fiscal policy, but I am moderate in social views. Why does it matter anyway? Why can a minority woman like me not have a political opinion in peace? I let people with differing views argue with me and I only moderate when profanity is used and do personal attacks that does not add to the discussion.
Anyway, for a company who lobbyied and marketed to politicians in Washington D.C. to use their site, I find it very odd they would do such a thing.
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth – for the first time – to bring the light unto all the world.
He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the
Taliban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.
And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.
And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.
And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.
From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.
The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.
And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.
Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.
And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.
Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.
But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.
And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.
Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.
On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”
The mainstream media’s support for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign was so biased that even major insiders are now admitting they were shocked by its depth and depravity.
Last week, Time magazine’s Mark Halperin called the media’s performance during the campaign simply “disgusting.”
Halperin told a panel of media analysts at the Politico/USC conference on the 2008 election, “It’s the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war.”
He added, “It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.”
According to the Web site Politico, Halperin, who edits Time’s political site “The Page,” zeroed in on two New York Times articles near the end of the campaign that profiled both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.
“The story about Cindy McCain was vicious,” Halperin said. “It looked for every negative thing they could find about her and it cast her in an extraordinarily negative light. It didn’t talk about her work, for instance, as a mother for her children, and they cherry-picked every negative thing that’s ever been written about her.”
But the Times gave Michelle Obama red carpet treatment, “like a front-page endorsement of what a great person Michelle Obama is.”
Halperin, a former ABC News political director, allowed that some of the press coverage simply reflected the extreme efficiency of Obama’s presidential campaign.
“You do have to take into account the fact that this was a remarkable candidacy,” Halperin said. “There were a lot of good stories. He was new.”
Obama also had a lot of money and outspent Republican John McCain by more than 2 to 1.
The press never bothered to hold Obama accountable for reneging on his promise to use public financing. McCain kept his promise to do so.
During the campaign, conservatives criticized the pro-Obama coverage, but it had little effect.
Columnist David Limbaugh noted: “Never has that been clearer than in the 2008 presidential election, during which they are covering up rather than covering Barack Obama’s shady past and alliances, his knee-deep involvement in corrupt practices threatening the very core of our democratic system, and his many policy misrepresentations.”
Limbaugh noted that the press went into a tizzy over Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, but ignored extravagances like Obama’s “obscenely idolatrous million-dollar Greek coliseum mirage.”
Now that the election is over, Halperin is not alone in admitting the bias. The Washington Post’s ombudsman recently conceded that the paper’s coverage was skewed strongly in favor of Obama and against the McCain-Palin ticket.
What’s with Obama’s choice of old-time Clinton cronies and recycled Washington insiders to run the transition to his new politics of change?
Can’t the anti-Washington-insiders and the president-elect find anyone who isn’t a Beltway has-been?
Judging by the appointments to his transition committee and leaks about possible top staff and Cabinet choices, Obama appears to be practicing the politics of status quo, not the politics of change.
Obama based his innovative campaign on an emphatic and convincing commitment to change the culture of Washington and bring in new people, new ideas, and new ways of doing business.
But now, Obama has definitely changed his tune. As president-elect, he’s brought back the old Washington hacks, party regulars, and Clinton sycophants that he so frequently disparaged. Like Jimmy Carter, the last president who ran as an outsider, Obama has reached out to the same old folks who dominate the Democratic Party and represent the status quo.
His transition committee looks like a reunion of the Clinton administration. No new ideas of how to reform the system there. The chairman, John Podesta, was Clinton’s chief of staff. He presided over outrageous last-minute pardons and his style is strictly inside-the-Beltway and make-no-waves.
Then there’s Carol Browner, Clinton’s competent former EPA administrator who became the consummate Washington insider. She’s Madeline Albright’s partner and recently married mega-lobbyist and former Congressman Tom Downey. During the uproar over Dubai taking over U.S. ports, Browner brought Downey to meet with Sen. Chuck Schumer to plead Dubai’s case. Downey was paid half a million dollars to push Dubai’s position. He’s also a lobbyist for Fannie Mae, paid half a million to try to cover their rears on the subprime mortgage mess. Is this change?
Federico Pena was Clinton’s secretary of transportation and of energy. The president felt he was unduly soft on Air Florida after a crash and lost confidence in him. Now he’s back as a transition committee member.
Bill Daley, Clinton’s former secretary of commerce and the brother of the mayor of Chicago, is the epitome of the old Democratic establishment. Clinton appointed him to the Fannie Mae board and his son worked as a lobbyist for the agency. Aren’t these the kind of folks that Obama ran against?
Larry Summers, president of Harvard and former Clinton secretary of the treasury is not exactly an outsider either. He’s also alienated more than a few with his bizarre suggestion that women may be genetically inferior to men in math and science.
Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state under Clinton advised John Kerry and Mike Dukakis. Does that tell you enough?
Obama has named one of his big bundlers — Michael Froman, an executive at Citigroup. Is this supposed to symbolize change?
Obama’s choice of a spokesperson for the transition is also surprising; she is definitely not the face of reason and new politics. Stephanie Cutter is the brash and combative former Clinton, Kerry, and Ted Kennedy mouthpiece. The liberal DailyKos.com once described Cutter as “a moron to the nth degree” when she tried unsuccessfully to force The New York Times’ Adam Nagourney to treat her unsolicited e-mail criticizing Howard Dean as “background” without mentioning her name.
Speaking of brash, Rahm Emanuel, the new White House chief of staff, makes Cutter look timid. Rahm is also a former Clinton White House staffer — and a very obnoxious one. He spent his White House years leaking to The Washington Post whenever he didn’t like what the president was doing. Even Bill Clinton stopped trusting him. Any hopes of Obama keeping his commitment to reach across the aisle would go right out the window with Rahm’s appointment. Instead of extending a hand to the opposition, it would be like raising just one finger. And Rahm’s strident demeanor laced with the ‘F’ word in every sentence will do little to elevate the bipartisan dialogue in Washington.
Christopher Edley, another member of the transition team, is dean of the Berkeley Law School. He was a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under Clinton, and his wife, Maria Echaveste was Clinton’s deputy chief of staff.
Transition committee staffer Christine Varney was a federal trade commissioner under Clinton and worked in the White House.
Throughout the early debates, Obama criticized Hillary Clinton as part of the inside-the Beltway establishment that needed to go. But now he’s reaching out to these exact same folks. Some change.
If ever there was an election that was not worth winning, it was the contest of 2008. While it was hard-fought on both sides, had McCain won, it might have spelled the end of the Republican Party. As it is, the party is well-situated to come back in 2010 and in 2012, if it learns the lessons of this year.
Simply put, all hell is about to break loose in the markets and the economy.
The mortgage crisis will likely be followed by defaults in credit card debt, student loans and car loans. We will probably be set for two years of zero growth, according to economists with whom I talk. And the federal efforts to protect the nation from the worst of the recession will probably lead to huge budget deficits and resulting inflation. We are in for stagflation that could last for years.
Had McCain won, he would be the latter-day Hoover, blamed for the disaster that unfolded on his watch. Now it is Obama’s problem. With the Republicans suffering a wipeout in congressional elections (although not as bad as they feared), the ball is now squarely in the Democratic court. Good luck!
If Obama raises taxes, the situation could get even worse. With a liberal Congress on his hands, he will be constrained to move to the left, if he needs any pushing.
When Clinton was elected in 1992, the Democrats in control of Congress gave him a clear message: Either you govern within the four walls of the Democratic Caucus or you won’t get our support. Crossing the aisle to get Republican votes, even including the GOP in negotiations, was a no-no for which the president would pay dearly if he transgressed.
The result was predictable. Moderate initiatives like welfare reform were scrapped, the Congress passed tax hikes and legislation became festooned with liberal amendments.
Faced with the need to round up every last vote in the Senate and House Democratic caucuses, Clinton had no choice but to load up conservative bills like an anti-crime measure with liberal pork (like a provision for midnight basketball courts in urban areas) to get unanimous caucus backing.
Obama will have to move left to appease his caucus. He will become their hostage, and they his jailers.
This dynamic will produce extreme-left-wing governance, which the Republicans can blame for the continuation of the recession and for any worsening. The party will recover, fed by anger at Obama’s policies, and will emerge from this defeat stronger than ever.
But the Republicans must learn the lesson of MoveOn.org. Founded in the bleak days of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn developed a grass-roots Internet base. Building up its e-list of activists and contributors, MoveOn laid the basis for the incredible Internet appeal of the Obama campaign. At last count, Obama has 4.5 million donors, most online.
Conservatives cannot count on the Republican Party to fight their battles for them, and certainly cannot count on them to win. The right needs to develop cyber-roots conservative organizations to rival the power of groups like MoveOn.org.
The stellar efforts of Newsmax.com and its ally, GOPtrust.com, illustrate the power of such efforts. Together, these groups raised $10 million for an independent expenditure on media in swing states featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American bombast.
And their efforts worked.
Virtually all the polls agreed that Obama would win 52 percent to 53 percent of the vote, but the surveys varied in the amount of undecideds they found.
On Election Day, virtually every undecided voter went to McCain, and Obama’s final vote share was no more and no less than the 52 percent to 53 percent the surveys had predicted. This unanimity among undecided voters is attributable to the endgame of groups like GOPtrust.com and Newsmax.com.
These groups have to lead the way in running media to battle against the leftist legislation that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the liberal Congress America has just elected. Then they can become the basis for a Republican resurgence, just as MoveOn.org was this year for the Democrats.
