RNC Chairman

Even though I was in a less than great mood this afternoon I couldn't help but smile when I found out that Michael Steele was named the new Chairman of the RNC. YAY!
I had been hoping he would win for a while now. I think he'll be good for the party. loved his speech too:

Wierd Week

I just want to crawl into a cave. There have been so many things going through my head this week that have made me think: What the heck is wrong with people???

First of all, we all know that the economy is doing bad, we have seen how many people have lost their jobs, its on the news all day everyday. At work we have had to do a lot of things to cut costs and are looking at everything non-value-added thing we do. There are a few things that they have decided to keep in for the employees, such as incentive programs for hourly attendance (which I brought up for review again, this time with numbers that got my VP's attention), service awards, and so on. Well all I have heard this week is why didn't I get the attendance bonus, when are you giving me my packet for my service award...STFU!!!! Seriously people? In times like these don't you think you should be happy to still have a job? I seriously think that some people need to get their priorities straight and worry about still having a job instead of stuff that the company voluntarily gives them.

Then yesterday I was emailing my friend Sarah when, for a reason totally unknown to me, my mind went off on three different tangents at once and I started thinking of someone I know and for some reason I thought for the first time the very sad fact that she makes more than I make, at my respectable 8 to 5 job, in tips as a stripper that she does not report and receives wellfare. She doesn't just make more than me she makes more in a couple of days than I make in the whole week. So not only is she making all that money where she doesn't need wellfare but she's not even paying taxes on any of that money and she's getting benefits. WHAT?? OK wait a minute, why are we busting our butts to provide for our family when we can just cheat the system and get money from the taxpayers? I feel like I'm being had! Well actually I could never do something like that because I take pride in my job and I'm proud to tell people where I work just like I'm happy that my child loves to tell people where I work. I'd hate it if my child told strangers that when his mom goes to work she dances on a stage with a pole. Little surprise here but this person is from the same family as the friend who told me that she was mad her kids didn't vote for Obama because they needed to vote for the one that would keep them on wellfare.
How do people say things like that with a good conscience? I would never dream of saying something like that. It seems like some people expect the government to pick up where their parents left off.

Show Some Chicago Toughness

Just yesterday, Obama was making fun of a snow day in the DC area:

After his daughters got a snow day Wednesday, President Barack Obama wants to see a little bit of "flinty, Chicago toughness" applied locally.
"When it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things," a joking Obama told reporters Wednesday morning.

"My children's school was canceled today because of what? Some ice."

But come to find out that he doesn't like the cold:

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

How nice. This is also the same guy that said we needed to turn down our thermostats?

Just be Thankful

Remember a couple of weeks ago when that United Airways plane sucked birds in it's engine and the Captain was able to land it in the Hudson. How amazing that everyone survived right? While listening to the news coverage that night and in the days following I kept thinking wow! You don't expect many, if any, survivors when a plane goes down and it was just amazing that everyone walked away. I kept wondering how I would feel if I was in that situation. How happy I would be to have survived and to be able to walk off that plane and be able to see my family again, it would be like having another chance and boy, grateful would not even begin to cover it.

Then, I forget what show I was watching, I saw someone on TV wonder out loud how long it would take for someone to file suit.

Well, according to Gary Stoller of USA Today it could be sooner than later.

So US Airway is reimbursing the price of the ticket to everyone on board and sending $5000 to cover immediate costs but some people aren't happy with that:

Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte who suffered a bloody nose and bruises, says he "would like to be made whole for the incident."

It's too soon after the accident to determine what emotional distress he has suffered, he says...In addition to recovering losses, Hart says he's concerned about having trouble flying. He's flown on six planes since the accident, and each flight has gotten "progressively more difficult."

He says he was tense, sweated and "felt every bit of turbulence" on a Los Angeles-to-Philadelphia flight last week, though it wasn't that turbulent a flight.

Hart says he has talked to a lawyer in North Carolina but hasn't decided whether to take any legal action.

"I want to see how things play out with US Airways," he says. "I'm hopeful US Airways understands the significance of the incident."

I really hope this lawyer he's talking to tells him he should be happy he's alive. I'm not a bible thumper but I do believe in God and I do believe it is a miracle that everyone survived that crash and maybe he should just take that gift and be glad he's not dead. Hey guy you just survived a plane crash! Not many people can say they walked away when the plane they were in went down! Maybe instead of wanting to get what you can out of it you should be thankful that you had a very good very competent pilot at the helm and that you walked away! But it's not just him, apparently some other passengers have contacted a law firm in New York.

Some of the passengers did understand what was really important in all of this, the fact that they came out of it with their lives:

Sanderson, a father of four, says he's thankful he could celebrate his 48th birthday on Friday and has no reason to talk to an attorney.

"US Air has been doing the right thing," he says. "Everyone is acting in a responsible way."

Fred Berretta, who suffered a small cut on his head during the crash landing, says US Airways representatives have called frequently and treated him very well. He says that a few personal mementos from his father were left behind but that the money sent by US Airways covers the value of his belongings.

Berretta, who works for a financial services company, was flown home to Charlotte after the crash on his company's jet.

"I'm a private pilot, and I'm sure I'll be flying again," he says. "But it might be a little while before I fly for pleasure again."

Amber Wells of Charlotte says she's so thankful to have survived and to be with her 9-month-old daughter, Rayley, that she hasn't had time to think about her belongings.

She says she lost $2,000 of nursing equipment and a laptop computer, as well as a checked bag and a carry-on bag.

"Everything that's gone can be replaced," says Wells, 34, a senior manager for NASCAR. "My life cannot be replaced."

Thank you very much Mrs. Wells!

First Interview

So who did you think the first formal sit down interview of the Obama presidency would go to?
I would have thought maybe ABC, NBC, or CBS but definitely not al Arabiya.
I don't really know what to think about this, on the one hand I want to think well he's reaching out. Then I think the first interview?? Why would you give your first interview to a foreign network for a foreign audience? Why wouldn't you give your first interview to one of our own networks for a home audience, seeing as how you are our new president. So mostly I'm just miffed.

In case you want to read a transcript of the president's first interview as president, which was meant for the Arab world, instead of his fellow Americans,you can find it here

Now what I took away from reading it is that there may be some magic wand that he will be able to wave and fix everything that troubles the Middle East.

I found this exchange humorous:

Q How concerned are you and -- because people sense that you have a different political discourse. And I think, judging by (inaudible) and Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and all these, you know -- a chorus --

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I noticed this. They seem nervous.

Q They seem very nervous, exactly. Now, tell me why they should be more nervous?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that when you look at the rhetoric that they've been using against me before I even took office --

Yes they do sound so nervous since Obama took office. Especially after he said that capturing Bin Laden isn't that big a deal anymore. And he hasn't done anything that will make them nervous. Everything that has been done to cripple the Al Qaeda network was done before him. Maybe he should step back and quit patting his own back before he has even done anything.

And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.

No your job is to be our president. By the way remember what we were doing 20-30 years ago? Supplying Afghanistan (esp. the taliban) with weapons and training to combat the Russians which they then used to take control and provide a safe haven for Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda.

Geography Lesson Anyone?

Because I love it when know-it-all celebrities show their true ignorance:


Clearly Jessica Alba needs to just stand there and look pretty.

And following on yesterday's unity theme, racism courtesy of Jay Z and Jeezy:



But it's the Republicans that didn't vote for Obama that are racist right? What I don't understand is why no one has come out to publicly condemn this.

Michelle Fashion - A Don't!

I'm not getting what some people are seeing as Michelle Obama's supposed fashion sense.


From election night we got this black widow inspired piece. Halloween was the week before.


This is like the only thing she's ever worn that I like so I have to aknowledge it.



Where do I start, the jacket and dress combo is so old fashioned and the patern looks like something you'd find in an old lady's bedroom curtains and that's the color of the snot I was blowing all weekend and it totally didn't go with the green shoes and gloves. eww!


This looks like a cross between a college frat party toga and a tent.

And with that I'll leave you with the wise words of Rev. Joseph Lowery from the inauguration today:

We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around. When yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

What a difference...

4 years and a Democrat president elect make:

Giving Bush a Pass:

This week's inauguration story came ready with two interesting news angles: the huge cost (in contrast with the dire situation in Iraq) and the unprecedented security...And it might have been helpful in the limited media debate that did take place about the inauguration's costs to point out that if the $40 million to $50 million raised for the GOP's parties had been donated to the war effort, as some have suggested, the money would have covered only about six hours of the U.S. military's operations in Iraq. (Costs are running roughly $110,000 per minute there.)

Coronation costs:

Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history...Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history.

So never mind that we are in this horrible recession and people are losing their homes and so on and so on because what is about $150 million when we are talking in trillions these days?

A Little of this and a Little of That

Here are just a few things that I found interesting today.

Yesterday I posted about the race baiters on GMA staging a fake racist encounter.
Well I came across this other segment on that same race baiting series:

Ugly Americans

OK so please explain something to me: What exactly is the point of planting two - bad - actors in a Parisian cafe to act like a chricature (on steroids)of the "typical stupid American tourist"? What exactly are they trying to prove? I sure don't know because none of that is real, all it is doing is puting this grossly exagerated perseption out there for people to react on and to stir the hate again. And don't you love it when the reporter comments that OMG they ordered steak tartar well done! OMG what an elitist snob! If someone doesn't know what steak tartar is and they order it well done anyone with some sense would explain to them what it is not ridicule because of it. It's another American hating fake news report.

By the way, I've been to Paris and neither I nor any of the Americans that I went with acted like that and none of the Americans I encountered there acted like that and the French people that I came into contact with at restaurants and the metro were all polite and friendly. Same goes for when we went to Normandy where there were even more Americans (none of which acted like this fake couple).

On another note: Let me play the proud parent for a second. I was going through the Little Dude's notebook today and looking at the papers he brought home from school when I came across this sealed envelope from the counselor. I thought oh no what is it (no faith!). When I opened it up it was a permission for to test him for the gifted program! YAY! I'm so proud of him. He doesn't really understand what it is and he was a little hesitant to take the test because he thought he would get in trouble if he failed or that he would have to leave his class (and he's in love with his teacher) if he passed. But after I explained what it was to him and that both his father and I took and passed the test when we were in school he got excited about it. Actually he got excited when I told him I'd let him play wii every day for a week if he passed LOL. Nothing like some motivation!

Racist Americans

You have to watch this clip from Good Morning America's What would you do segment Up Close with Racism.

In short they staged the scene at a Deli in New Jersey. The guy behind the counter and the "migrant workers" are all hired by Good Morning America and in on the scene. So they pretty much set the people in the deli up, under false pretenses, to then show how nasty and racist Americans are. It is absolutely ridiculous. They have stooped to the level of staging not-news and trying to pass it off as news. Talk about a lack of integrity. These race baiters tried to instigate hateful and racist reactions and comments from unsuspecting patrons to try to prove their liberal view point. And I think it pretty much backfired on them because notice that they only showed one person that reacted the way they had hoped, the other two examples were Americans sticking up for their fake Mexicans.

Is it just me or are you sick and tired of hearing how racist we are as Americans?

What were they thinking?

Senator Al Franken? Please tell me this is a bad joke. Who in their right mind would vote for that clown to be their senator? Then again they voted to keep Elmer Fudd in the House over in MA so I guess anything is possible. I get the feeling that there is something fishy going on behind the scenes there. If not then they get the garbage they voted for.

Fifty Years Later

Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the revolution that has left Cuba a decrepit, poverty stricken, crumbling country.

Here is how it is being covered:

AP writer Anita Snow tells us how Cuba celebrates revolution's 50th anniversary

When President George W. Bush leaves office, the revolution will have outlasted 10 American presidents who maintained strict U.S. sanctions aimed at overthrowing the Cuban leadership.

Yes, the communist regime has outlasted 10 presidents but the difference is that those are freely elected presidents with term limits. But it's not fair to say that they have outlasted 10 presidents. A more appropriate analogy would be that the US became a democratic country 233 years ago and we are still the same democratic country.

William Booth with the Washington Post had this to say:

President Raúl Castro and the Cuban government celebrated the 50th anniversary of their revolution Thursday night in a nostalgic but low-key event that was far removed from the triumphant displays and mass rallies of their socialist glory days, as ordinary Cubans continue to struggle daily through hard times brought on by a sputtering state-run economy and a decades-long trade and travel embargo by the United States.

Lets keep in mind that the US is the ONLY country with an embargo against Cuba. To blame the US for what is wrong with the Cuban economy is beyond disingenuous, it's a down right lie, and the Castro brothers' propaganda, and excuse, of choice as to why their people have to suffer so much.

Jeff Franks of Reuters:

The revolution's landmark anniversary comes at a time when the era of Fidel Castro, now 82 and in poor health, is winding down and uncertainty hangs over the future of the Cuba he built into an improbable world player admired for its social gains but criticized for its human rights record.

The only social gains to be admired is in the area of Education. Cuba does have a remarkable 99.8% literacy rate. But health care in Cuba is nothing like what Michael Moore makes it out to be (unless of course you are an elite government official or a medical tourist). And their housing and infrastructure is crumbling and the people are starving.

Last term I did a term paper on the effects of Communism on Cuba and I came across these sites and articles. Some of them were truly disturbing, and they all paint a picture of Cuba that Castro doesn't want the rest of the world to see.

The Cuban American National Foundation tells us about the Myth vs. Reality of Cuban health care

This article by Isabel Vincent caught my attention because she's reporting from the town my dad is from.

And for a very graphic and disturbing view of what health care in Cuba is like for the Average Cuban look no further than The Real Cuba. I have to warn you some of the pictures on this site are sad, disturbing, disgusting, somewhat explicit and downright heartbreaking but definitely worth a look to get the sense of what universal health care is really like in Cuba for the great majority of the population.

My point with all this is that as that I don't get the point in celebrating a regime that has put Cuba on a backward path. I don't see what these reporters are seeing, or maybe they aren't seeing what I'm seeing and what my parents saw.

I would rather see articles that give a glimpse at the real Cuba, no celebrate the charade the Castro brothers put out for the world.

In my research I came across a couple of articles by Larry Solomon that I think are more fitting.

From Fidel Batista! Fidel Castro Out-Thugs Fulgencio Batista

But Cuba and its U.S.-style constitution was also an economic powerhouse with potent social institutions and impressive accomplishments. A 1958 United Nations report ranked Cuba's vibrant free press eighth in the world, and first in Latin America. Despite its much smaller population, Cuba had 160 radio stations compared to the U. K.'s 62 and France's 50. It had 23 television stations compared to Mexico's 12 and Venezuela's 10. The tiny country supported 58 newspapers, fourth in Latin America behind populous Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

Cuba once installed telephones at a rapid rate. No more. It once ranked first in Latin America, fifth in the world, in television sets per capita, and also ranked high in radios, automobiles, and many other consumer goods. No more. With the population increased and the housing stock degraded, more people suffer inadequate housing today than ever before, and sanitary conditions have become a scandal through much of the country.

And from Cuba's Cruel Joke

Welcome to Cuba, 44 years into the Revolution that was to industrialize the economy, eradicate hunger and eliminate the gap between rich and poor in this island nation, previously the most prosperous in the Caribbean. Today, the once-muscular Cuban economy is in tatters and its much lauded social safety net a cruel joke. The poor, in reality, are bled to support the lifestyles of the government elite, which lives in luxury - the driveways of the Havana honchos sport Mercedes - while its populace goes hungry.

Some Cubans outside government - increasingly those who obtain patronage positions in the tourist industry, where they receive tips and other payments in U.S. dollars - manage comfortable, if meagre, existences. With dollars, they can shop in the many "dollar" shops, where they can obtain some of the consumer goods, medicines and dairy products that most Cubans, prior to the Revolution, could readily obtain.

The great majority of Cubans, however, are left to fend for themselves in a pitiless system. Most must "do business" to survive, as Cubans put it, because most cannot subsist on the typical wages - the equivalent of about 50 cents a day - that the government sets for them. The old woman at the lunch counter begged for food; other Cubans beg for old clothes or for medicine, or sell peanuts on street corners. Young men sell cigars and other goods in the burgeoning black market; young women sell their bodies in the burgeoning sex trade.

Without dollars, life is grim. People line up at dimly lit government distribution centres, ration books in hand - libretas, the government calls them - for their monthly allocation. The books, which were established in 1962 to "guarantee the equitable distribution of food without privileges for a few," entitle Cubans to 2.5 kilograms of rice, 1 kilogram of fish, 1/2 kilogram of beans, 14 eggs and sundry other basics at subsidized prices. Through the libreta, each Cuban also gets one bread roll a day. Every two months, a Cuban is entitled to one bar of hand soap and one bar of laundry soap. Fresh fruits and vegetables come infrequently; meat might come once or twice a year. Until the mid-1990s, children under seven were entitled to fresh milk, but fresh milk, like butter, cheese and other dairy products, is now off the shelves. Before the revolution, two litres of fresh milk cost 15 U.S. cents, well within the means of the poor.

Cuba's poor are also squeezed in the other necessities of life. Even in central Havana, people commonly carry water by bucket from standpipes in the street to their homes, and then lift the buckets by rope to the higher floors, because their buildings' broken water pipes go unrepaired. Those lucky enough to have working water pipes can get water at the tap - but only at certain times. In one dense urban neighbourhood that I visited, the water flowed from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., during which time families scrambled to fill pots and pans inside their homes for drinking water, and former oil drums outside their homes for washing. About the time that the water came on, the electricity went off - it, too, is rationed by daily blackouts.

In buildings where one or two families might have once lived, today live many. The inner courtyards of Cuba's residences have become miniature shanty towns, cinder block housing units or other improvisations piled on top of one another. The units - often two small rooms totalling 200 square feet - can house an extended family of seven, 10 or even 12. The rooms are often windowless or near-windowless, the ceilings low and oppressive. Among these buildings packed with people lie many identical buildings, but appropriated for government use. In the space that might house 50 or 100 people will sit one government functionary, bored and idle at a desk, the premises otherwise near-empty.