The New Terrorist Organization: America

Many people believe in the war against terror. McCain and Obama both spoke about it during their campaigns. In my opinion we, the Americans, are terrorists. President Bush sent troops into Iraq and Afganistan to fight terror, but many innocent lives have been lost - this is what terrorism is.

"American should take its army out of the country," Khan said. "They are considered terrorists," said Muslim Khan, a grizzled Taliban spokesman who is one of the most wanted men in Pakistan, in a rare interview with CNN.

Then today I read something that summed up exactly how I have been feeling: Terrorist - what the big army calls the small army.

This may be anit-America, whatever that is, but it is a sad reality that we need to accept - we are not saviors, we are terrorists.

Obama Introduces New Technology to the White House

Barack Obama has already introduced a new White House position, chief technology officer, and is planning on introducing even more technology to the White House. It is already being seen on his transition web site - for the first time ever, a YouTube version of President-elect Obama's weekly radio address will be posted online. This is the first visible step in Obama's attempt to speak more directly to the electorate, and it will likely work - Obama drew in more than 110 million viewers for his 1,800 campaign-related videos.

Obama's media team wants to make it easier for the public to speak to him as well. A prototype of how this will work was released at www.Obamacto.org. This setup allows people to post questions online and vote for the questions they like. The questions with the most votes are likely to be addressed by Obama. So far, the leader late Friday, with more than 10,000 votes, was "ensure the Internet is widely accessible & network neutral," which Obama backs. Not so the second-ranked priority, repealing the USA PATRIOT Act.

"If 10,000 people say they want Obama to answer a question, he's probably going to respond," said Andrew Rasiej, the founder of the Personal Democracy Forum.

Hopefully this will allow Obama to get his message out to the public, without the mainstream media butchering what he says in order to fit their beliefs and agendas. I think it will also allow grassroots organizations to get their concerns heard, not only by the general population, but also by Obama himself.

Barack Obama has promised a more transparent government, and I think he is well on his way to keeping that promise.

Dispute over missile revives the Cold War

For decades, Soviets and Americans are faced in a complex board which threatened to trigger an unprecedented conflict. During the Cold War, capitalism and communism duels engaged in the ideological and armed field. With the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the'80s, the Cold War left the scene. But the tension between Washington and Moscow never disappeared entirely.

Years later, the Cold War has changed its style and began to display a new facet in this globalized world. The world is not so polarized and technology adds a dose of drama. One scenario is the most alive Eastern Europe, where U.S. and Russia are facing in harsh dispute over missile. This undoubtedly will be one of the major challenges of the White House led by Barack Obama.

Fake Newspaper - New York Times Spoof

The liberal group the Yes Men handed out 1.2 million copies of a fake New York Times. The fake paper was dated 4 July 2009 and had the slogan, "all the news we hope to print." It included headlines such as: Universities to be free! Bike paths to be expanded! Thomas Friedman to resign, praise the Unitarian Jesus!

Although it is not funny like "The Onion" it did make people think, and more importantly, it made people hope for a better America and a better world.

The group also set up a web site mimicking the NY Times website. Take a look here.

Teenage Girl, Hannah Jones, Wins Right to Die

A terminally ill, 13 year old girl, has won the right to die after a hospital ended its bid to force her to have a heart operation.

The girl, Hannah Jones, has a hole in her heart due to medications she has been taking since the age of five when she had leukemia. "Hannah had been through enough already and to have the added stress of a possible court hearing or being forcibly taken into hospital is disgraceful," said her father Andrew.

Herefordshire Primary Care Trust dropped a High Court case after a child protection officer said Hannah was adamant she did not want the transplant surgery because the surgery itself has the potential to kill her. If the surgery did work, it would then be followed by constant medication.

The BBC's Jane Deith, who has followed Hannah's legal battle, said: "Hannah managed to convince this officer that this was a decision she had made on her own and she had thought about it over a long period of time, and eventually the court proceeding was dropped."

"She didn't take the decision lightly, and she had chosen that she wanted to live and die in dignity at home with her parents."

Secrets Surround Team Obama and Cabinet Selection

The whole nation is eagerly waiting for President-elect Barack Obama to drop some hints about who he will include in his Cabinet. At this point we know more about what factors will dictate the all-important decision of first puppy.

As Valerie Jarrett, co-chair of Obama's transition team, put it on "Meet the Press" Sunday: "I think one of the real strengths of Sen. Obama's campaign and now President-elect Obama's transition is that he really does like to think this through thoroughly and not telecast what he's going to do until he's ready to make a decision."

We may not know much about the reasoning behind his choice of future Secretary of Treasury, or any other Cabinet position for that matter, but at least we know one thing - Barack Obama and his closest advisers know how to keep a secret.

Americans are Ready for Obama's Inexperience

When Barack Obama moves into the White House on January 20th, the highest qualification that he will bring with him is having been the U.S. Senator representing Illinois, since 2005.

Despite his good oratory and ability to lead, many Americans - including his own followers - believe that Obama is still a "bet".

For many analysts, Obama's lack of experience (a subject that was widely exploited by his rival, John McCain, during the campaign) raises questions about its future ability to govern the country.

One of the biggest criticisms that Obama has, including from his partner and rival of the Democrat party, Hillary Clinton, was that he always voted "present" (ie refrain) - instead of "yes" or "no" - more than a hundred times.

In his defense, Obama and his campaign team argued that their abstentions were not indecision but vow of protest or political strategy - used to negotiate changes in projects where he was not totally against the proposals.

What we can learn from Obama is that even if your resume is short, you can still get an interview and convince employers that you are the ideal candidate for the post.

This is what happened for Obama, when millions of Americans voted for him - and we are already feeling a change in the tides.