MTA: Mass Text Alerts

“Oh what the…”

Those are usually the first words out of peoples mouths when they walk down the stairs only to find a crowded subway platform. There’s either a track fire, a sick passenger, or some other thing wrong with the subway.

Years and years of taking the subway to school, work, and anywhere in between have built up New Yorkers immunity to poor subway service. There was no other choice short of pulling your hair out from frustration. Taking the subway or waiting for a bus was a crap shoot, but New Yorkers have a reason to rejoice.

MTA Text Message

The MTA has devised the Email and Text Message Alert System. This new $10,000 per month system is free to use and will send you emails and text messages alerting you to any service disruptions for any subway, bus, or commuter line you’d like. Also included are the Port Authority Bridges and Tunnels.

This is great news for New Yorkers especially among news reports of warnings issued due to terrorist plots. The Associated Press news agency said it had received a leaked memo that al-Qaeda “may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City”.

Security is usually beefed up around the holiday season every year, however with the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, New Yorkers should be on their toes.

If your interested in signing up for the alerts, here is the link:
http://mymtaalerts.com/LoginC.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fDefault.aspx

Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai

European Pressphoto Agency

101 people have been killed according to the latest AP reports in Mumbai at the hands of extremists. The city’s anti-terrorism chief was among those killed. According to Mumbai police over 250 people have been injured.

The attackers hit at least two hotels, the city’s largest train station, a popular tourist spot, a movie theater and a hospital on Wednesday night. According to eyewitness accounts the attackers had been singling out American and British citizens. Reports state they asked everyone with US and UK passports to form a group.

The attackers singled out the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and the Oberoi Hotel. Hours after the attacks seemed to have been over a fire raged on the roof of the Taj. The military has taken action and is securing the hotels.

For those who are seeking to contact friends or loved ones. Below are numbers listed which will aid you in reaching them. Be aware that most phone lines are busy at the moment and it is rather difficult to reach someone. Your best bet to reach someone is via a mobile phone, text messages would be your best chance.

The State Department has provided a phone number. 1-888-407-4747

The British Home office has provided a phone number. 020 7008 0000

Our thoughts are with those in these situations as well as their friends and families.

Renewing American Leadership

In an article published in the July/August 2007 article of Foreign Affairs President Elect Obama wrote about his plan for the future of American foreign policy. I encourage you to read the article and learn how an Obama Presidency will change the course set by the last 8 years of Republican and Neo-Conservative thinking.

Barack Obama in Berlin

Hopefully the man so anxiously wanted by our allies to lead our nation will welcome his foreign policy with as much zeal.

Obviously President Elect Obama has stated time and time again that we should focus more on Afghanistan and working with Pakistan to deal with Al Qaeda. Therefore those sections will be omitted. Read more below regarding how Barack Obama will deal with terrorist threats in a time where our biggest ships and strongest tanks are no match for the asymmetrical warfare of the 21st Century.

Citigroup Gets Government Bailout

Henry Paulson and the Treasury Department have once again agreed to take on the burden of failed and risky assets held onto by a bank. This time it’s one of the big three banks in the United States, Citigroup bank which also runs Mexico’s second largest bank Banamex.

On top of taking on these risky assets they’re getting $20,000,000,000.00 in cash flow from Washington. In a joint statement by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. announced the move on Sunday.

“With these transactions, the U.S. government is taking the actions necessary to strengthen the financial system and protect U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. economy,” The said in the joint statement. “We will continue to use all of our resources to preserve the strength of our banking institutions, and promote the process of repair and recovery and to manage risks.”

Financial analysts said the failure of Citigroup would be a “nightmare scenario.”

Of course critics of the move say this is risking taxpayer dollars and will only encourage other financial institutions to make risky moves knowing the Treasury will back them up.

The biggest question out there is how will this affect me?

If you have a Citibank Checking or Savings account the following information is for you…

We’ve Come A Long Way

Dems –

Words can’t not express how proud I am of all of us. Over the last several months we have been working ourselves to the bone to get good honest Democrats elected to both the White House and the State House. America has elected its first African American President, and New York has elected its first Democratic State Senate in over 30 years; and it’s all thanks to you. I’d go over the insane numbers we achieved this year, but I’m sure you’ve heard it all a million times from Ian at great lengths.

Although today was our last meeting, it is nowhere near the end of the road for us. We’ve got a busy year ahead of us. Community service, community organizing, the NYC races, the inauguration of Barack Obama, the College Democrats of New York Convention and passing the Organization over to a new E-board are just a few of the things on the long list of things we still need to do. I am honored and humbled to have had all of you on this journey with us so far, and I hope to see you all on the other side of finals just as ready as ever for Change.

Good luck for Finals, Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Break, Thank You All A Million Times Over For What You’ve Done.

-Nick Roloson

Georgia Representative likens Obama to Hitler

Stevens in Alaska, Proposition 8 in California and now Paul Broun in Gerogia.

Republican Representative Paul Broun recently called President Elect Barack Obama a Marxist. He retracted those comments but not the ones he made immediately after.

Representative Broun said.. Obama would set up a Marxist dictatorship and continued to say, and I quote “That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist ….. You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany.”

…….What?……

That’s right, Rep Broun is speaking about the Civilian Response Corps which was created a few years ago and will be composed of around 250 federal employees who will be trained and equipped to deploy to countries in crisis or emerging from conflict, in order to provide reconstruction and stabilization assistance.

Apparently we have our first Nazi President.

Georgia’s 10th District has elected a complete moron to office. In a special election he won with just under 400 votes against a known State Senator.

This man won his seat by a 42% margin.

I will now officially consider the people of Georgia’s 10th congressional district who voted for him mentally disordered legally we should remove them from criminal or civil responsibilities such as voting.

Proposition 8 California? Shame!

Last night I called out Alaska and today I will stick to the Western seaboard of these United States of America. The Golden State is now the hateful state and for that you should be ashamed.

The voters and thereby the people of California recently passed Proposition 8. This proposition amended the State Constitution to add “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

Despite electing a minority president there are still prejudices out there. Clearly there is a fear if not a hatred towards homosexuals in this country. Religious organizations have strongly supported the passing of proposition 8.

Ted Stevens Trailing…

Alaska what on god’s green earth has gotten into you?

You try to pawn off Sarah Palin, thanks but no thanks. Now you’re close to re-electing Ted Stevens, a convicted felon as a senator?

7 Felony counts, but Country First!

Thankfully 125,019 of you have some semblance of wits about you.  Unfortunately 125,016 do not. Correct, Democrat Mark Begich, the two-term mayor of Anchorage is winning the recount by three votes.

Alaska, if you vote in Ted Stevens again. Someone who is probably insane, and somewhat senile then I will have lost hope for that state.

If Ted Stevens is elected other senators said they would vote to expel him. If he is expelled then Sarah Palin said she would be interested in serving in the senate.

When my namesake fought so that Americans can have fair and just representation in government. We did not see career politicians or half witted people appealing to people’s most base instincts playing on their fear running for office and winning. This is a shame and a mockery of democracy.

Alaska, don’t let this republic die.

DO NOT ELECT TED STEVENS, please.

Immediate cease fire in Darfur

According to a cnn.com web article, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has agreed to a cease fire in the Darfur region where so many global activists have attempted to gain grounds on ending the genocide of over 300,000 Sudanese citizens.

President Obama Wastes No Time On Government Transparency

Continuing his obvious mastery of the internet during the primaries and general election, President Obama has created a new website to allow everyday citizens to keep an eye on what is going on with the transition in the White House. The website, www.change.gov , allows viewers to apply for a job, share their stories from election night, and get information about the transition to power.

CNN.com interviewed Andrew Raseij, founder of TechPresident.com, who said:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Barack Obama starts doing a weekly YouTube video and also fireside chats for the 21st century by allowing people to filter up questions to him that he might answer.”

Obama has already stated that he is looking to appoint a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) to the White House, could this be the birth of a new era of transparency and openess to the Office of the Presidency?