Barack Obama’s Inauguration: Stories From The Mall

Millions on the national mall awaiting the inauguration of President Obama.

(Washington D.C.) – Today I along with a few other College Democrats joined the millions of Americans from every state stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. Within 5 feet were people from Florida, North Carolina, Connecticut, California, Kentucky and a multitude of other states. Even more impressive were the people from the Bahamas and the Netherlands.

Every race, color and creed was visible on the mall. After arriving around 1am there were plenty of people who were rich, poor, tired and eventually just a huddled mass. All of them telling us how they came with friends from South Africa and as far away as Australia. Everyone sharing stories about how Barack Obama’s election has personally touched them in a way no election ever has.

Singing songs together in unity to stay warm, loudly cheering for President Obama when he appeared on the jumbotron and quietly listening to pastor Rick Warren when he spoke to everyone.

Whether you were there in person, saw it at home on your television, saw it online at work, or listened to it on the radio this was a moment for the history books. From Los Angeles to New York to the forgotten corners of the world everyone will remember this moment. What did you make of this moment?

MTA Unveils Plans For 2009 Fare Hikes

MTA Budget proposal outlining fare hikes.

( New York) – In a move which will affect the majority of New Yorkers and even more so during these trying economic times the MTA released their final proposed 2009 budget along with a four year financial plan for 2009-2012.

According to a report facing a small budget surplus in 2009, the next three years will spell disaster. The total deficit will wipe out the MTA’s finances. Here is a breakdown of the numbers:

Regular MetroCard fare: $2.25
Cash / Single fare ride: $3.00
Bonuses previously allotted to MetroCard purchases of 15% will be eliminated.
7-day MetroCard: $31.00
14-day MetroCard: $57.00
30-day MetroCard: $99.00
Express Bus Fare: $7.50

The report also outlines the resulting service cuts to trains and buses in New York City and Nassau County:

The Caroline Kennedy Sarah Palin Comparison

(New York) The media has quickly picked up the story of Caroline Kennedy’s desire to become the next Senator from New York. With the appointment of Senator Hillary Clinton to be the next Secretary of State for President-Elect Obama’s administration Governor Patterson is set to appoint a replacement. Caroline Kennedy is the apparent front runner for that Senate seat.

There has been an outcry from all sides of the political spectrum regarding her lack of experience to do the job. There is a belief that she seems to be a front runner simply because of the Kennedy name. We have heard the same arguments used by the left against Sarah Palin now being used by the right against Caroline Kennedy. Let us make some proper comparisons.

Under the Constitution of the United States both candidates met qualification for their respective offices. Up against each other, Governor Palin has undoubtedly more political experience. There is the feeling that both of these women were appointed instead of elected. One could make the case that Governor Palin had done more to earn the job of Vice President than Caroline Kennedy had done to earn the job as Senator.

If one were to look at these factors then there should have undoubtedly been no questions regarding Sarah Palin’s qualifications for the job. We learn however that these are not the only factors, we are missing the most important one.

President Bush attacked… With a shoe

An Iraqi man tried to attack President Bush with a shoe at a press conference today.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich Arrested

AP Photo/Seth Perlman

The Governor of Illinois Rod Balgojevich was arrested for conspiring to gain financially through his power to appoint a successor to President-Elect Obama’s cabinet post.

The FBI had court authorized wire taps which proved he was willing to sell or trade the seat in exchange for benefits.

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering.”

“They allege that Blagojevich put a for sale sign on the naming of a United States senator,” Fitzgerald said.

David Gregory Will Host Meet the Press

David Gregory host of Meet the Press

Today NBC named David Gregory as the permanent replacement for Tim Russert as the host

of Meet the Press. Tom Brokaw was temporarily holding the position until a replacement was found.

David Gregory was well known for asking some tough questions at President George W. Bush’s press conference as NBC’s White House correspondent.

We hope Mr. Gregory continues the tradition of asking tough questions and getting the truth out of public figures. We can only hope he builds upon the legacy of Tim Russert. We wish him the best of luck.

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…

Change has come to America

For almost two years now, this political experience has taken over many of our lives. I remember hearing Barack Obama in Springfield, Illinois on February 10, 2007 when he announced his presidency. I remember that win in Iowa, the speech in New Hampshire.

I remember Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

Yesterday, on election day from coast to coast, America spoke. The world was listening.

Generations from now, we’ll be able to tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and give jobs to the jobless.

This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. This was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last best hope on earth.

Thank you to all of the people who gave their time, their money, and their support to this campaign.

It’s been a long time coming, but change is coming to America.

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama

November 4th 2008.

America has spoken, and the world has heard it. Change is coming to America.

Thousands protest American attacks in Syria

Contrary to popular belief there is still a world outside of the United States. Just to prove it, we actually attacked Syria the other day.

It didn’t get much media coverage because of the election and even I’m guilty of it. I saw the news breaking and I said, “that’s great, but what’s going on today on the campaign trail.” So thankfully we’re going to take a pause from the campaign to look at the world outside America in seeing what our next president will have to deal with when he takes office.

Just this Wednesday thousands of Syrians met in Abu Kamal near the Iraqi border to protest the American incursion into Syria.

Syria’s foreign minister condemned the actions as “an act of terrorist aggression.”

According to prelimiary reports from CNN “four U.S. helicopters flew from Iraq about five miles into Syrian territory and struck a farm several hours before sunset Sunday. Two helicopters landed near the farm while the other two provided cover from above, the minister said.”

It seems as if this doctrine of preemptive attack that our next president is going to have to look at again. Especially if it means we’re going to keep straining any alliances we have.