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What an amazing year… Have not blogged much in the past year, simply have not had the time. Was promoted in mid-year, but had the responsibility pretty much since February/March. It’s been tough, but rewarding. Have never seen a year pass so quickly, it’s like yesterday that we partied into 2009.

Have been talking about New Year Resolutions lately, always difficult to honor them, but definitely need to find more time for myself - so much to do… Any way, enough rambling, just want to wish all of you a great party tonight and a very successful start into 2010!

Kevin

Thanks, Yle!

Very cool indeed:

Hat Tip: CS

However, I need to get my thoughts in order as yesterday was an extraordinary day which will live on in history forever.

“The Sun” got it right yesterday when they called it “one giant leap for mankind”. Having lived outside the US for most of my life, I have a very different perspective on US politics than many in the US - and have been appalled by the Bush Administration pretty much since the day they came into office. I was very disappointed in 2000 when Gore lost and again in 2004 when Kerry lost - while neither candidate inspired me, I knew they were easily more qualified than Bush Jr.

Yesterday we moved from disaster (Bush) vs. mediocrity (either Democratic candidate) to a potentially great president.

I fully understand that Obama has a very tough job ahead of him and no matter how smart and educated he and his advisors might be (they are definitely a huge upgrade on the current administration with a few exceptions such as Robert Gates), and how inspirational his speeches and his campaign have been, it will be very, very difficult for his administration to tackle the challenges ahead, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the enormous national debt, the budget deficit, education, health care, or simply mending fences with the world - a world that has learned to distrust the USA thanks to the most disastrous foreign policy approach in history.

Furthermore, I am a libertarian, so his economic policies are most likely not always going to be what I would hope for. Nevertheless, given the choice between Obama and McCain - I am happy to go with education, diplomacy and common sense.

Obama’s campaign was about “change”. His opponents accused him of having only a vague idea of what he wants to change - but if you go to his website, you will find detailed policy proposals for pretty much every policy area. Furthermore, if you look at his short career in the senate, you will find a few very interesting pieces of legislation he sponsored, including one that he sponsored together with Republican Tom Coburn and a certain gentleman named John McCain: The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. Bills like this give me hope that he truly can reach beyond the aisle and get Congress to work together on the issues many of us agree on (balancing the budget and revamping the education system would be my two priorities for Congress). I have also blogged on his involvement in the Ethics bill here. His track record does indeed support his claim to know what kind of change he is calling for.

In the final sentence of his acceptance speech to the 1992 Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton said: “I still believe in a place called Hope”. I am reminded of this today, as for eight years I have known little hope in seeing a United States in America that truly intends to make the world a better place.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan’s brilliant piece on Obama and what he could mean for the USA from last December, I started to hope again.

Now that the United States of America have elected the intelligent, educated and inspirational Barack Hussein Obama the new “leader of the free world”, I just might be able to believe in a place called Hope again - and that is worth a lot more than one would think.

Those of you who know me have seen me become more cynical every year for the past decade. Perhaps that will change now, as I know hope again.

I’ve been very busy lately and thus have not had a chance to blog in the last week or so - still need to reply to a few comments on my last blog. I hope to get to that next week.

Just want to post this in the meantime:

That guy is excellent for Ryanair…

After being really pissed off by that list of “lies” yesterday (all I checked were bullshit - I did not catch Obama lying yet), I am really glad to read this:

Barack Obama is recruiting senior staff to a new unit which will combat virulent rumor campaigns on the internet that threaten to cost him votes in the presidential election against John McCain.

And:

Brooks Jackson, director of the Washington-based FactCheck.org, an independent academic organization set up in 2003 to monitor the factual accuracy of statements made in elections, said yesterday there had been false rumors on the internet about George Bush and John Kerry in the 2004 election.

“With Obama, it is particularly vicious,” Jackson said. He added that one of the most persistent is that Obama, a Christian, is “some kind of Muslim Manchurian candidate, planted by Islamic fundamentalists to betray the country and it is very widespread”.

This SWAT Team is desperately needed.

Hat Tip: fivethirtyeight.com

As discussed in “Obama’s “46 Lies” - True or false?“, I want to look into many of Barack Obama’s supposed lies and figure out if they are in fact truly lies or just simply an attempt to throw dirt at him.

Now I will look at my “favorite” so far, claim 30:

30.) I Am Not Acting As President Yet - LIAR, after the NAFTA Memo, a dead terrorist in the FARC, in Colombia, was found with a letter stating how you and he were working together on getting FARC recognized officially.

This one is utterly ridiculous. This is what apparently happened:

The Colombians captured two FARC terrorist laptop computers at the terrorist camp. The Colombians discovered a treasure trove of information on the laptops including:

– FARC connections with Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa
– Records of $300 million offerings from Hugo Chavez
– Thank you notes from Hugo Chavez dating back to 1992
– Uranium purchasing records
– Directions on how to make a Dirty Bomb

But, no one expected this—
The FARC Terrorists were hoping and expecting that Barack Obama would win the US elections in November because he was most aligned with the Colombian Marxist group.
This document was posted at Martha Colmenares (in Spanish) and Free Republic:

“6. Los gringos pedirán cita con el ministro para solicitarle nos comunicara su interés en conversar estos temas. Dicen que el nuevo presidente de su país será Obama y que ellos están interesados en sus compatriotas. Obama no apoyara Plan Colombia ni firma de TLC. Aquí respondimos que nos interesan las relaciones con todos los gobiernos en igualdad de condiciones y que en el caso de Estados Unidos se requiere in pronunciamiento público expresando su interés en conversar con las Farc dada su eterna guerra con nosotros.

Es todo, Abrazos, Raúl.”

(translated)
6. The gringos will ask for an appointment with the minister to solicit him to communicate to us his interest in discussing these topics. They say that the new president of their country will be Obama and that they are interested in your compatriots. Obama will not support “Plan Colombia” nor will he sign the TLC (Colombian Free Trade agreement). Here we responded that we are interested in relations with all governments in equality of conditions and that in the case of the US it is required a public pronouncement expressing their interest in talking with the FARC given their eternal war against us.

Are you kidding me? Some terrorists in Columbia speculate about what an Obama administration might be doing and you interpret that as “Obama acting as president” and “working together” with terrorists? Whoever originally made this claim needs to get their head checked.
Well, I have checked four of the claims so far, and none of them were true. I think one thing is clear: everybody who forwards such a list of lies without fact checking them first (and not stating that these claims are unverified when forwarding) is acting highly irresponsible.

As discussed in “Obama’s “46 Lies” - True or false?“, I want to look into many of Barack Obama’s supposed lies and figure out if they are in fact truly lies or just simply an attempt to throw dirt at him.

Now I will look at claim 21:

21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass - LIAR, it took just 14 days from start to finish.

This is also no lie. Read here: Obama actually had to go against his own party, the Senate majority leader and the Senate minority leader to get this bill passed. When has that ever happened? Money quote:

Who supported Washington’s business as usual, and who wanted to change things, fulfill the voters’ desire of cleaning up Washington, and was willing to defy the leadership in Washington?

The roll call does not lie:

Among those voting no were Webb, Tester, Feingold, Kerry, and Obama.

Among those who agreed with Reid that most earmarks should be kept secret as to who sponsored them:  Clinton, and even Obama’s senior colleague from Illinois, Dick Durbin.  There are even more disappointing names in the roll call which you can find at the link.

It might not have taken months to get this bill passed, but it was definitely not piece of cake.

As discussed in “Obama’s “46 Lies” - True or false?“, I want to look into many of Barack Obama’s supposed lies and figure out if they are in fact truly lies or just simply an attempt to throw dirt at him.

Now I will look at claim 20:

20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill - LIAR, you didn’t write it,introduce it, change it, or create it.

Once again, Obama did not lie. Please checkout Daily Kos for details - it’s way too detailed to corroborate here. Money quote:

It just so happens that Barack Obama played a big role in getting ethics reform done.

The summary says it all:

These votes are just one concrete example of how what Obama says is actually backed up by his record — he isn’t just running against the DC Establishment, he actually voted against DC insider club rules.

So now I have looked at two claims that Obama lied, and both claims turned out to be lies - it’s not a very impressive list so far.