LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS

EVENTS UP TO BARACK's INAUGURATION

Obama also said that he spoke with the pilot who safely landed his disabled airliner in the
Hudson River, US Airways Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger. "He said, 'Me and my
crew, we were just doing our job.' And it made me think, if everybody did their job-whatever
that job was-as well as that pilot did his job, we'd be in pretty good shape," Barack said...

The president-elect was not put in a bad light because of the episode in which Burris
was turned away by the senate; The president-elect put himself in a bad light by reneging
on his commitment to oppose Burris' appointment by a tainted and untrustworthy governor.
Having other priorities does not justify burying an important ethical issue... But, after all,
he also chose to waive away Geithner's financial failures as "innocent mistakes". Barack,
unfortunately, starts by failing two important tests both on ethics and on keeping his word.

WAKE UP!! Neither Madoff's sending over $1M in jewelry and gifts to family and
friends over the holidays nor Geithner's failure to pay $34K in taxes were innocent
mistakes. Do they think (including Barack) that we are idiots? Aren't there any more
any honest and decent people that we can trust with this nation's finances?

As inhumane as this may sound, I was very happy to hear that some of the pirates'
relatives are spilling some blood and sorrow. They really do not think twice before
they inflict pain to the sailors and their families for a few dollars more...

Before remembering that you do not want to "let these charges deter you from keeping
Baltimore on the path that you have set", you might have wanted to ponder over what
consequences betraying the trust of the people that voted for you might have had on that
work... It seems that during the Bush years accountability has not vanished only from the
feds, but also from local officials.

U.S. courts have cleaned this earth from one scam. Let us hope the Hague will clean it
from another...

Prosecutors, no mercy for Madoff. He was planning to defraud investors all along the way
and he aspires to do the same, even from a jail cell. He deserves an exemplary punishment
to send a message that his aspirations, actions and behavior are not acceptable in this country.

Why would anyone want to share responsibility for any of the decisions or the failed
policies that Bush followed? Even Cheney says: "The notion that somehow I was pulling strings
or making presidential-level decisions. I was not. There was never any question about who was in charge. It was
George Bush. And that's the way we operated. This whole notion that somehow I exceeded my authority here,
was usurping his authority, is simply not true. It's an urban legend, never happened." Smart dude, better late
than ever...

What is wrong with this Congress? Evidently, when it says "no", it does not have the guts
to mean "no". It happened with the shady bank bailout plan and it's happening again with
the appointment of Burris by the Illinois "governor".

No place even for the scent of corruption in the new government. "Bravo!!" to Barack
for sending away one more candidate for deep corruption who, in fact, dared to run
for president to perpetuate the Bush era of chronism and favors...

People of color have the right to vote and to get elected. In fact, to be reminded, our
President-Elect is a person of color. It is offensive and disgraceful for all American voters
to suggest, as the Illinois currupt few are doing, that it is racism and not the undeniable
ethical implications that are influencing the senators' decision not to accept Burris'
appointment.

Regardless of whether Roland Burris is a "good and honest man" or not (and definitely
Blagojevich does not have the moral authority to judge that), the Illinois "governor" must
not appoint a public official to a position that he previously tried to auction, breaking all
moral codes of conduct. The right thing for Burris to do, if he is such a good and honest
man, is to decline appointment, thereby shunning the unsuitable "governor".

Lift the embargo on Cuba now! Heed the urging of the Rio group. As President Lula said
(and he is not smarter than President Obama), the embargo on Cuba "no longer makes
sense - neither economic nor political. In fact, there is no reason for it."

All intelligent people in the free parts of the world knew that dictator Musharraf lived in
denial, detached from the realities on the ground in Pakistan and surrounding areas. It
now seems that President Asif Ali Zardari is not faring that much better. The perennial
Pakistani ostrich mentality is still at its forte...

"J'ai essayé de bouger l'Europe, mais l'Europe m'a changé", a déclaré M. Sarkozy sous les
applaudissements des députés européens.
"Je crois vraiment que chaque chef d'Etat et de gouvernement gagnerait à exercer de temps
à autre cette responsabilité (...) il comprendrait qu'au-delà de ce qui nous différencie, il y a
tellement de choses qui nous rapprochent", a-t-il poursuivi.

Bravo for the selection of Dr. Chu. In a field as complex and challenging as the physics of
climate change, an expert is more likely to be knowledgeable and know what needs to be done.
The appointment of a random politician-turned expert, on the other hand, would have been
disappointing. Especially in a cabinet that has already given us more reasons for scepticism
rather than joy...

It is not Blagojevich's right to "allow" a special election for Barack's senate seat.
Blagojevich, cut the crap, resign and let the people that have a far superior political
moral authority to do the right think. Let the people of Illinois elect their representative.

The People of Illinois are not morons. You are not going to look better by orchestrating
some parody of a prayer with three pastors. You will not be easily forgiven by the people
whose trust you abused for personal gain. Blagojevich, resign, apologize for your errors
of judgment and accept full responsibity for your unfortunate and distasteful actions.

You can run but you cannot hide. The Bush years, with extended corruption that went
unaccounted for in various sectors, including political life, are gone forever.

We have no space either in our political system or in our hearts for corrupt a**holes.
"Governor" Blagojevich should step down and extradited to Mexico, where he will be
able to find plenty of similarly-minded politicians (especially at the local level).

When someone abuses his/her authority and this results in harmful consequences, a simple
apology is not enough. There needs to be punishment whenever a crime is committed and
erroneous management of foreign affairs, unjust use of force and mishandling of public
finances are reasons enough for prosecution.

Most of us think of Barack Obama as the "epoch-changer".
However, his move to appoint a financial mess insider, Timothy Geithner, for Treasury
secretary does nothing towards convincing the public of his intention for reforms. He
does everything, on the other hand, to signal Wall Street that they'll have his nod in
continuing their old same excesses.

The same holds for his decision to continue Bush's Gates in the Pentagon. Any person
even remotely associated in approving Bush's strategies and moves in the middle east
should not be in Barack's list if he was a true reformer.
I am deeply disappointed by both moves and I am not expecting much change from
either...

We also have not seen much of a refreshing move for the new cabinet. It would have
been really nice if, after eight years in dark ages-no stem cell research-no evolution-
no global warming era-Barack would create a Department of Science and Technological
Innovation, with a scientist or an innovator of international stature at its helm. Why
have we only seen moves that are reassuring the old guard of an old and tried and failed
continuity and not any bold new moves to excite the younger generation? Was not this
after all our choice for president?

Paulson and Bernanke should step down. They are part of this same rotten system that
brought this mess to being in the first place. How can these people instill confidence in
the American public?

Commentators wake up. The era, in which people had no substance and you
could deservedly look at the clothes, because nothing else measured up, is
gone. Saying that other people are doing it and,therefore, I am excused to do
it too, simply leaves you far behind, to the era of idiotism, not of smart ness...

The President, that we so hardly and so long have fought to elect,
was so electrifying and inspiring last night that he caused an entire
country to weep in joy and hope.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky;
when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope;
the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that
American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and
speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself
with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise
to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from
Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and
imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after
106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us
ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as
long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

And the Arizona senator, gracious in defeat, as he has been in most of his heroic life...

Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is
blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether
they supported me or Senator Obama — whether they supported me or Senator Obama.

I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have
often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America,
because nothing is inevitable here.

Americans never quit. We never surrender.

We never hide from history. We make history.

Even a prosperous nation needs a leader that has a clue. Even the wealthiest people
on earth have to spend their wealth rationally. President Bush is clueless and afraid
to admit that his administration presented a bad example of financial and ethical
management and contributed crucially in the creation of this culture of greed and
entitlement in Wall Street. If politicians eat without caring, why would CEOs have
to give a f***?

"We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal ...
We can solve this crisis and we will," Bush said in brief remarks from theWhite House Rose Garden.

Shame on the U.S. congress. They were terrorized by the President's and
his team's scare tactics and passed a bill that neither them nor the majority
of the people in this country feel comfortable about...

No More Favors for the Incompetent Desperado...
Enough of our wealth eaten by Big Oil and the War Machine...
Not a penny now or ever to Wall Street.

The House is doing something right. Wall Street messed up and the House
called on it to shove their s**t up their a**...

Russians, here is your opportunity for glory. Get a fleet quickly together,
go to Somalia, capture the pirates and free MV Faina.

Displeasure, Cluelessness or Alzheimers?

Why do we (taxpayers) have to pay for trillions of dollars waisted by the mistakes
of miserably performing overgenerously paid executives and financiers and loaners
of firms that really deserve being shut down and have their overvalued personnels
unemployed for (at least) a while??? Why do the rich deserve "rescuing" from
their own mistakes while the poor do not deserve rescuing even from the mistakes
of others?

This biggest bailout and nationalization in human history comes from the most fanatically and ideologically zealot
free-market laissez-faire administration in US history. Socialism is indeed alive and well in America; but this is
socialism for the rich, the well connected and Wall Street. A socialism where profits are privatized and losses are
socialized with the US tax-payer being charged the bill of $300 billion.

Can someone, please, explain this to me? Why is it that when companies run
humongous profits they cry out loud against any form of state intervention and
taxation, but when they incur humongous deficits (due to their own careless risk
taking and high failing CEO salaries etc.etc.) they want the federal government
to nationalize their debts? Why do they have such a hard time understanding
that governments, like individuals, want profitable businesses; not failing ones?

Shame: McCain not sure how many houses he and wife own...

Many people have been wondering where the billions of dollars that the
US is spending in Iraq are going...