I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight…my husband (the inspiration for this blog, remember?) has been forwarding me funny political emails over the past couple of days.

The one I put up a couple posts back was one of them, and it really is funny, this next one is a little on the edge, but funny if you will take it that way, and I hope you will.  I am looking forward to what the new administration will bring to the table…and want them to bring it on soon, we’ve been waiting long enough.  I hope you’ll get a chuckle or two at this New Year’s wish we received from a friend:

I want you guys to be the first of all my e-mail buddies that I wish to send Happy New Year greetings…

As I reflect on 2008, I can say we had a great year:

Blacks are happy; Obama was elected.
Whites are happy, OJ is in jail.
Democrats are happy; George Bush is leaving office.
Republicans are happy: Democrats will finally quit saying George Bush stole the election.
And all of us are so happy; The election is finally over!

I think 2009 will be even better:

Immediately after his inauguration, Obama will balance the budget, revive the economy, solve the real estate problem, solve the auto industry problem, solve our gas/alternative energy problem, stop the fires and mudslides in California, ban hurricanes and tornadoes, stop identity theft, reverse global warming, find Osama, solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, get rid of corruption in government and achieve world peace .

Then on the 7th day, He will rest.

Best wishes for 2009

“The government cannot give to anyone anything that it does not first take from someone else.”

It’s been a long week of news about corruption in politics in Illinois.  The President Elect continues to introduce his new Cabinet Member selections, or his thoughts about the economy, only to be questioned about the corruption in Illinois and Gov. “Blago”.

Seems to be the way it is with the media…remember how quickly everyone was all over President Bush?  In Obama’s case, the media is starting in before he even moves into the White House.  Yes, I know I blogged about his past connections that concerned me during the never-ending campaign, but he’s our President now, and has more than I can imagine to take on when he takes office, including the ever present state of the economy, so of course I’m hoping he’s squeaky clean when it comes to any connections to the Illinois bad boys, or it will be hard to trust his judgment…so far I’m hopeful.

The economy is hitting closer than ever to home this week, my son has been told he has to take 3 unpaid weeks off from his job. He doesn’t have a family to support like many others he works with, and tells me he feels for them. I can imagine that now more than ever people who are not being paid, or losing their jobs, and owe money, want to find ways to reduce their debt. I know I’ve been looking around at magazine articles and various websites myself, like FreedomDebtRelief.com, which has tools to help, but also has web pages full of helpful advise, for example, they answer questions and give advise on the following:

• Credit Counseling
• Debt Relief
• Bankruptcy
• Debt Reduction Questions Answers

It’s a helpful site.  And there’s more tools to help with freedom debt relief if you take the time to look at them.  We are in a time when we can’t necessarily sit back and let others figure out our finances for us; we’ve been doing that, and for some it’s working, but for most of us, we have to be pro-active, and do our own homework and find our own solutions with the help of resources like those mentioned in this post.

The best to any of you that are struggling right now!

First, I hope all of you had a thankful Thanksgiving.  Today Barack Obama, the President Elect, named the members that will make up his National Security Team.  As expected, Hillary Clinton will take the position as Secretary of State, and Robert Gates will keep his position as Defense Secretary and Eric Holder will hold the position of Attorney General, Janet Napolitano will take position of Homeland Security Secretary, Susan Rice will be U.N. Ambassador, and General James Jones will be the National Security Advisor.

Many believe that his choices show us that he is not choosing based on liberal inclinations, but on the wisdom that the members he has chosen bring to the table.  Remember, Obama has very little experience, and he is going to hold the HIGHEST office in the United States, so must surround himself with older, wiser and more experienced individuals. It appears that this is just what he is doing, and in my humble opinion shows some measure of humility and wisdom on the part of the President Elect.

We will get into the individuals more over time, for now, what does the National Security Council do?

According to the web page on whitehouse.gov, (the photo will change there shortly, by the way), the establishment of the National Security Council took place in 1947, and became part of the Executive Office of the President in 1949.

The National Security Council is chaired by the President. Its regular attendees (both statutory and non-statutory) are the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the statutory military advisor to the Council, and the Director of National Intelligence is the intelligence advisor. The Chief of Staff to the President, Counsel to the President, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy are invited to attend any NSC meeting. The Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are invited to attend meetings pertaining to their responsibilities. The heads of other executive departments and agencies, as well as other senior officials, are invited to attend meetings of the NSC when appropriate.

The team advises the President on matters related to the security of our Nation, and foreign policies, and the coordinating and distribution of the polices to the appropriate government agencies.

Barack Obama is already doing weekly radio addresses which are being video recorded, and will be available on YouTube each week, at least this is what I heard today, so I took a look, and found the following for this week:

Today the transition from a Bush/Cheney to an Obama/Biden Administration will begin.  And here I thought that maybe Obama would get some down time, but no, I guess that’s not how it works.

I don’t know a lot about what goes on during a transition like this, at least I didn’t until I visited a site on Squidoo…if you don’t know what Squidoo is, well, you’ll have to figure that out when you visit this link all about Transitioning the Presidency.

Okay, I didn’t vote for him, but wow, what an incredible moment. Barack Obama is our 44th President! I can’t help but think of how the first Africans, before they were called many other names, now African Americans, became part of our Country, all that they have been through, and now what a historic moment!

Actually, I am reminded by a commentator on television that Barack is a Bi-racial President, one who reaches a diverse group, I wish I could put into words the many thoughts that are going through my mind, nothing negative, just amazement, wonder, awe.

Congratulations to all of you embracing this moment, I truly am happy for you all, and will be praying for our new President and Vice President.

I’ve learned a lot through doing this blog, and hope to learn a lot more in the days to come.

Now it is time for us all to come together…work together.