New President

[idesign]

After a few cabinet picks we can

see that Obama responds well to his handlers. This is getting old before its even started. I can only hope that

Obama is the yawn before waking up again.

But I'm too cynical.

[Rbt]

After a few

cabinet picks we can see that Obama responds well to his handlers. This is getting old before its even started. I

can only hope that Obama is the yawn before waking up again.

But I'm too cynical.

Hey, this is US

"politics as usual." Did you really expect anything substantially different? Bush has been reacting to his "powers

behind the throne" for the past 8 years, just like just about every other President I can remember.

The only

real positive I'm seeing from this at the moment is the sigh of relief from the rest of the world that Bush and his

cronies are on the way out. We here may not see much diff, but the effect this election is having on the rest of the

planet seems to be positive, at least for the moment. Count what blessings we are able to get.

[InternationalPlayboy]

After a few cabinet picks we can see that Obama responds well to his handlers. This is

getting old before its even started. I can only hope that Obama is the yawn before waking up again.

But I'm

too cynical.

After the cabinet names started coming out, The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again

keeps playing in my mind. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That's not to say that I think he's like

Bush, but that his platform was "change" and he's using so many Clinton veterans.

I voted for Bob Barr, who

got a big 300+ votes in my county. Have voted Libertarian for President since I was old enough to vote in the late

1970s. (Chuck Baldwin, Ron Paul's recommendation got seven votes.) But now that Obama's elected, I wish him the

best (and for the U.S. too). It is historic that he was elected, we've come a long way with racial issues. And at

least maybe he'll bring more respect from other countries than Bush did. I hated Reagan at the time, but Bush

really made me appreciate what Reagan was compared to the Presidents we've had since.

[Mtnjim]

(off topic)Hey IPB, long

time!!
Good to see ya, hope to see more posts from you!!
(/off topic)

[InternationalPlayboy]

(off topic)Hey IPB, long time!!
Good to see ya, hope to see more posts from you!!


(/off topic)

Thanks Mtnjim, I was doing most of my posting at work and they are monitoring

computer usage more and also blocking sites. I can no longer get into my meditation teacher's website there as

it's considered "occult/alternate spirituality." Can still get to Christian websites though.

The talk about

the housing market reminded me of something I've noticed on TV. The Discovery channel had a show, "Flip This

House," where they would feature people who buy fixer-uppers and try to turn them around for profit within a few

weeks. The show's real estate agent who was kind of the resident expert now has a new show in the same time slot,

where existing homeowners make home improvements to try to get a better mortgage or sell it outright.

And as

my remarks about "same as the old boss," I read a column recently by a conservative writer that says not to let your

guard down. Though Obama has surrounded himself with old school politicians, he will still be the one making the

final decisions. So they may be camoflage to hide his socialist agenda.

[idesign]

And as my remarks about "same as the old boss," I read a column recently by

a conservative writer that says not to let your guard down. Though Obama has surrounded himself with old school

politicians, he will still be the one making the final decisions. So they may be camoflage to hide his socialist

agenda.

Interesting remarks. Your "same as the old boss" comment would be true no matter who the new

Pres. would be. Political realities at this level will override the ideology of even the most ridiculous of zealots

once they understand that the world is not a static set of assumptions.

The danger with Obama is that he's a

completely unknown entity based on an unaccomplished past. If you consider his campaign rhetoric he's an

unthinking panderer at worst, or a skillfully shifting "finger in the wind" politician at best. He's shown the

qualities of both, but not much else. His much vaunted intellect is not in evidence, indeed, he seems to be

robotically setting up the next Clinton/Bush admistration, if that makes any sense, and I don't see anything good

coming from anywhere.

He's going to have a big problem with someone qualified willing to accept CIA. He

burned those bridges with Holder as Attorney General. Maybe Powell, but its a glaring hole in Obama's Nat'l

Security admin, for good reason, and there must be some soul searching going on in some quarters.

One big danger

lies in the Obama/Reid/Pilosi triumvirate. In this scenario, one could even picture Obama being a moderating

influence on Congress within a brotherhood of thieves. One can only hope, but its not me.

An interesting

aspect of all this is the press. If anything, they deplore being proven wrong, and their selling their souls to

Obama may turn ugly if things don't improve. At least that would be entertaining while eating beans and rice.

[idesign]

Their and our

democracy

The US elections but underline that the Arab region has far to go on the path to political

freedom, writes Amin Howeidi* in Al-Ahram Weekly,

Cairo



http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/925/op1.htm

A tremendous shift is taking place in

American society. It is too early to tell whether this shift will do us any good. We've all heard Obama

saying all the right things, but deeds are another story. [emphasis mine] Is he going to be able to face up

to the Zionist lobby? Are white supremacists going to make an attempt on his life?

Poster's note:

Great analysis, hold us up as a model, then stereotype our culture -and your own- with comments about "Zionists" and

"white supremacists".

Its becoming increasingly clear to me that Int'l approval of Obama

is based on a prevailing view that he'll override national interests for a popular world opinion. But even

they are skeptical.

[idesign]

Obama Becoming A Man for All

Seasons

Khaleej Times, Dubai

Debbie Menon 9 December 2008

It would seem that US

President-elect, Barrack Hussein Obama is becoming the man for all seasons.

His promise of hope is so

non-committal and non-specific that he is offering a pair of magic shoes that fit all feet.

It is like a plan

for the revolution, but someone has to step to the fore, turn the right way, and start the march. It is going to be

a long one, wherever it goes for America, and no one has really mentioned the destination as yet.

I do not

think his new slogan “You can do it” will catch on. The Obama I have been watching all year did not seem

like a man who would need slogans once safely in the driver’s seat. The candy Obama offers is like Forrest

Gump’s Chocolate box of Whitman Samplers, there is a piece in there for everyone, but no one knows yet,

exactly what they are going to get.

snip

For he has promised the poor, the deprived, the unemployed, the

homeless and hopeless new shoes that fit all feet, and I wonder how he will deliver! I am more concerned about

Obama’s goals, agenda and direction than the degree of success with which he does it, or fails at it. Is Obama

cool, calm and collected? Or is he simply cold and calculating? That we shall wait and

see...

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayA...n=opinion&col=

[belgareth]

After the cabinet names started coming out, The Who's Won't Get Fooled

Again keeps playing in my mind. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. That's not to say that I think

he's like Bush, but that his platform was "change" and he's using so many Clinton veterans.

Ayup, you

seem to have a good grasp. Doesn't it say somewhere in the bible about "Nothing new under the sun"?

[idesign]

I mostly agree with you guys,

once Obama started getting his briefings from various agencies and the White House he made a major shift from his

campaign rhetoric. Can you say "reality check?" We'll have to see what he does once he gets inaugurated.

One

thing I notice, his appointments are pretty much eliminating the Dem field for 2012. Clinton, Biden, Richardson et

al are not going to run from Cabinet positions against an incumbent, unless Obama flops really bad. Which he won't

if he just plays President. The financial and housing markets will be back up in 4 years if Obama keeps his hands

off as much as possible.

As for "world opinion". I read a lot of European sources these days, and now that the

initial adulation is waning, I'm seeing a lot of "lets see" attitudes. Lets face it, Obama has to actually do

something now, and I'm not sure that he can live up to his self-aggrandizing preaching.

[koolking1]

"The financial

and housing markets will be back up in 4 years if Obama keeps his hands off as much as possible."

There's a

plan afoot already to get the housing market going by introducing a fixed 4.5% loan for homebuyers. (lead article

on Huffingpost.com today). Given there's a real glut of homes on the market with no buyers approaching, it sounds

like a good plan to me, especially were it to be extended to existing homeowners and not to speculators and with no

provision to "take some equity out".

[Bruce]

Boy, did I pick the wrong time to go

into the spec home business. :-)
Actually, it's not quite so bad here in Eugene as in the rest of the US. I

heard that about the loan rates improving. Kind of weird that the whole mess got kicked off by the lack of loan

availability, and now nobody wants to buy noway nohow, and lenders have nobody to lend to.

[Rbt]

Bruce: if by "spec" home biz you

mean more or less custom "special built" type thing you may end up better off than others.

I've been seeing in

some of the biz mags that one of the few areas that seems to be doing well even now is anything that "builds to

order." People are getting so tight that they no longer want to buy "off the rack," getting stuck with paying for

things they don't want just to get the things they do want (like when buying a car off the dealer's lot).

The

custom sneaker/athletic shoe biz is supposedly booming (where you can design your own color combinations etc), and

things like Chase's "build you own credit card" are supposedly doing well too. It's also said that this is a real

boon to American businesses, as the custom stuff is usually made "locally" and not imported (too expensive to

ship).

Like most anything, it will be those who can adapt best who will survive.


.

[idesign]

"The

financial and housing markets will be back up in 4 years if Obama keeps his hands off as much as

possible."

There's a plan afoot already to get the housing market going by introducing a fixed 4.5% loan for

homebuyers. (lead article on Huffingpost.com today). Given there's a real glut of homes on the market with no

buyers approaching, it sounds like a good plan to me, especially were it to be extended to existing homeowners and

not to speculators and with no provision to "take some equity out".

That plan is still open to debate,

and who knows where the final plan will go. Like KK said, a big part of the problem of this plan is new buyers v.

existing owners. And as Bruce touched on, there's not a lot of willingness for anyone to act in the home market

now. The current plan disqualifies refinancing of existing mortgages, which is both good and bad, depending on how

viable the refinance is. Which is pretty darned hard to prove to the banks these days. The main problem with this

whole gov't bailout scenario of gov't. They don't do anything right.

Unless your assets are $700 billion

and/or irresponsibly unlimited. If you have those kind of funds you can tell anyone you want to go to hell, then,

after mismanaging your public trust, sanctimoniously shift blame for the problem and find new and more creative ways

to keep your position.

Offering a plan to new buyers at historically low rates might sell some homes, but then

again might exacerbate the problem that exists. After all, most of the housing problems we have now is low rates,

gov't programs (see Freddie and Fanny, see Chris Dodd) and easy money driving unqualified buyers into the

market.

All of that is moot if you consider the inevitable outcome of the plan. The US gov't will have de facto

ownership of private homes. This is so far beyond the Freddie and Fanny bailouts (bad enough) and is part of a

dangerous trend toward gov't ownership of private assets either through loans or direct investment. An ugly door

was opened when the financial companies were given carte blanche to gov't (our) funds to save their asses. The

message was sent that access to the public (our's again) debt is available to the rich and poor alike.

Responsibility has long left gov't, and now business, at our own behest.

I don't like it one bit, any of

it.

Don't even get me started on the Detroit (read Union, read private entitlement) problems. Or Organized

Labor's (read "show me the money") drive to eliminate private voting for membership. Who wants the 9.99 DVD

bargain bin to be 20.99?

[belgareth]

As you may have guessed, I was

and am opposed to the bailouts as another screwing of the taxpayer and government boondogle. Below is another

example. Bank of America gets $25 Billion while the workers get locked out and screwed. And people wonder why I am

so negative about the government that we have and will continue with the next person in office:

Angry

laid-off workers occupy factory in Chicago

By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy, Associated

Press Writer 1 hr 7 mins ago
CHICAGO – Workers who got three days' notice their factory was shutting its

doors have occupied the building and say they won't go home without assurances they'll get severance and vacation

pay they say they are owed.
About 200 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts

Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.
Leah

Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to

give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.
During the peaceful takeover, workers have been

shoveling snow and cleaning the building, Fried said.
"We're doing something we haven't since the 1930s, so

we're trying to make it work," Fried said.
Protest organizers said the company can't pay employees because its

creditor, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, won't let them. Crain's Chicago Business reported that Republic

Windows' monthly sales had fallen to $2.9 million from $4 million during the past month. In a memo to the union,

obtained by the business journal, Republic CEO Rich Gillman said the company had "no choice but to shut our

doors."
Bank of America received $25 billion from the government's financial bailout package.
"Across cultures,

religions, union and nonunion, we all say this bailout was a shame," said Richard Berg, president of Teamsters Local

743. "If this bailout should go to anything, it should go to the workers of this country."
Outside the plant,

protesters wore stickers and carried signs that said, "You got bailed out, we got sold out."
Larry Spivack,

regional director for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, said the peaceful

action will add to Chicago's rich history in the labor movement, which includes the 1886 Haymarket affair, when

Chicago laborers and anarchists gathering in a square on the city's west side drew national attention when an

unidentified person threw a bomb at police.
"The history of workers is built on issues like this here today,"

Spivack said.
Representatives of Republic Windows did not immediately respond Saturday to calls and e-mails seeking

comment.
Police spokeswoman Laura Kubiak said authorities were aware of the situation and officers were patrolling

the area.
Workers were angered when company officials didn't show up for a meeting Friday that had been arranged

by U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat, Fried said. Union officials said another meeting with the company

is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
"We're going to stay here until we win justice," said Blanca Funes, 55, of

Chicago, after occupying the building for several hours. Speaking in Spanish, Funes said she fears losing her home

without the wages she feels she's owed. A 13-year employee of Republic, she estimated her family can make do for

three months without her paycheck. Most of the factory's workers are Hispanic.