"We will rebuild. We will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before!" -President Obama

President Obama’s truth in budgeting deserves praise for shedding more light on our financial condition, there is still far too much that is hidden in shadows. With hundreds of billions of dollars in new commitments being casually tossed about, almost numbing in size and always confusing in content, the Obama Administration will do a great deal to begin rebuilding trust and confidence in the future if it tells us what we need to know and not just part of it, all of it!

President Obama is taking a significant step toward fulfilling another important campaign pledge this week: he is unveiling a federal budget that actually tries to tell us some hard truths about the government’s finances. Too many years in the past, the Bush administration engaged in deception by keeping the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan out of the regular budget, plus pulling off some other shenanigans that disguised just how much the government was growing and how much its deficits were growing. By the time he left office, President Bush had practically doubled the national debt – doing as much damage in 8 years as the republic had suffered in more than 200 previous years combined.

Obama promised truth in budgeting, and he is succeeding far more than in the recent past. The cost of both wars will now be included in this week’s budget, money will be set aside to respond to natural disasters, and the budget won’t show cost cutting in programs that everyone knows will be revived (i.e. the alternative minimum tax).

The results of taking a truth serum (like in Kill Bill Vol. 2) along with the horrendous costs we are piling up in fighting the economic crisis will reveal eye popping numbers stretching far into the future. We can expect at least $1.3 trillion in deficits this coming year, another mountain the following year, before the deficits will be shown to slope down to some $533 billion four years from now. The Administration is touting that as serious progress, but only a year or so ago, an annual deficit of $500 billion would have been wholly unacceptable.

We need to know the hard truths about our country’s financial situation and the Administration deserves congratulations for going as far as it has, but the question arises: has it gone far enough? Will even this first Obama budget tell us everything we need to know? Sadly, that does not appear to be the case.

Check out his speech here:

NAACP Awards

The NAACP drew many of Hollywood's biggest names in the entertainment community. This year's events marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP and also acknowledged the significance of last month's inauguration of President Barack Obama. "If there had been no N-A-A-C-P, there would be no O-B-A-M-A," Tyler Perry told the crowd at the beginning of the evening. Beyonce's performance, which opened the telecast, included photographs of key people in the civil rights movement as well as Obama.

The drama going into the ceremony involved nominees Chris Brown and Rihanna. Brown is accused in a domestic violent incident that allegedly involves Rihanna. Neither attended the Grammy Awards, as they were scheduled to do Sunday, and neither attended the Image Awards. Rihanna lost in the category of outstanding female artist to Beyonce; Brown, a winner last year, lost to Jamie Foxx in the outstanding male artist category. The biggest awards went to Diddy, Taraji P. Henson, Jennifer Hudson, Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Will.i.am., Beyonce, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Slumdog Millionaire and the cast of The Secret Life of Bees.

Check out the full list of winnners by clicking here.

What Obama MUST DO! -Rolling Stone

In an open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama, Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman urges him to please consider the following:

"Dear Mr. President,

Like FDR three-quarters of a century ago, you're taking charge at a moment when all the old certainties have vanished, all the conventional wisdom been proved wrong. We're not living in a world you or anyone else expected to see. Many presidents have to deal with crises, but very few have been forced to deal from Day One with a crisis on the scale America now faces.
So, what should you do?
In this letter I won't try to offer advice about everything. For the most part I'll stick to economics, or matters that bear on economics. I'll also focus on things I think you can or should achieve in your first year in office. The extent to which your administration succeeds or fails will depend, to a large extent, on what happens in the first year — and above all, on whether you manage to get a grip on the current economic crisis."-Paul Krugman

To read the entire letter click here. What do you think? He examines the many challenges our country is facing, the steps needed to restore our economy and the hope to inspire the believers as well as the haters.

Yes Pecan!

My best friends (when I am depressed) Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream is partnering up with the nonprofit advocacy organization Common Cause which helps citizens make their voices heard in the political process. Proceeds from the sale of "Yes Pecan" in the month of January will go to the Common Cause's Education Fund.

Common Cause chief executive Bob Edgar said "Common Cause is excited to work with Ben & Jerry's to spread a spirit of activism and optimism that we believe can make our government work for the common good as it tackles the big issues of the day. An engaged citizenry is crucial for a healthy democracy."

The ice cream is described as "YES PECAN! An Inspirational Blend! Amber Waves of Buttery Ice Cream With Roasted Non-Partisan Pecans." According to the Ben & Jerry's website, "In addition to the flavor in Scoop Shops, for every person who joins Common Cause or donates $1 to the Common Cause Education Fund, Ben & Jerry’s will also donate $1." SWEET!

Is your Bush covered?

By law, George W. Bush will be the 1st president without the luxury of lifetime Secret Service protection after leaving office. "He'll be the first one to receive [Secret Service protection] for 10 years," said Malcolm Wiley, Secret Service spokesman.

The almost ex-prez will, however, take full advantage of a Dallas office, covered travel expenses, medical coverage and an annual pension of $196,700.
While under protection, the Bushes will move to their new $2 million, 8,500-square-foot Dallas home on January 20.

Bush will maintain an office nearby in space acquired by the General Services Administration, which, under the Former Presidents Act, will pay for the office suite and staff to assist him for the rest of his life. Good luck man!

People of the Year

1. President Elect Barack Obama

What more can I say? This man is amazing.

2. Tina Fey

Even before those hilarious skits of Sarah Palin, she's always been a goddess.

3. Michael Phelps

Best athlete of the year!

4. Hillary Clinton

I admire and respect her so much, she will always be my president.

5. Ellen DeGeneres

The best talk show host in history!

6. Heath Ledger/The Joker

His performance was flawless.

7. Kristen Wiig/Andy Samberg

The only reason I still watch SNL.

8. Stephen Colbert

He is a genius.

9. Beyonce

All year long she toured, released singles, clothing line, movies, ads, perfumes...is there anything she can't do?

10. James Franco
Great actor, if you forget his performance in Spider Man.

Obama's First Lady

Michelle Obama is very private, very busy, and very disciplined. She doesn't give many interviews. Washington logic has it that the press punishes political figures who don't grant access. But that is just one more piece of conventional wisdom the Obama campaign's hope bombs have blown away.
Michelle seems to have intrigued the press corps as much as her husband has, albeit in a less obvious way. She is treated like a combination of a misbehaving movie star and a lottery winner: exceptionally stylish, slightly annoying, and obviously lucky. She is both the celebrity on Oprah's couch and the lady in the audience going home with a brand new car. We are rapt.
She has generated more than twice the volume of news stories Cindy McCain has. In part that's because she's on the cusp of becoming an adjunct historical figure: the first black president's first black first lady. But she is also a tantalizing conundrum. With the exception of Hillary, first ladies have spoken on their husbands' behalf with bland platitudes and knowing good-wife smiles.
But Michelle Obama doesn't play by those rules. The vision she offers of Barack is uniquely prosaic: His breath stinks, he doesn't put away the butter, he snores. She warns, "He will not be able to move you to tears with every word that he says."
She gives us her vision but not her positions. Unlike Hillary, she doesn't push a policy agenda. Her stump speech offers more of a world view. She speaks wistfully about the America that produced a hard-working man like her father, sadly about the country today (conservatives tend to focus on this aspect), and ecstatically about the future. We know she wants us to elect her husband, but we suspect she wants something from us, personally.
We know she's opinionated, and we suspect we haven't heard them all. She is fiercely public about being fiercely private. She is neither the shrewish lady in pantsuits (Hillary) nor the pretty, if also practical, accessory that generations of political wives have been.
And so the stacks of profiles and puff pieces about the striking would-be first lady have to make do with scraps of information about her diet, her health, and her favorite things, wrapping up the Michelle paradox in the comforting costume of celebrity. -Radar 2008