If you poll that you will find that only core-Republicans who want to return
to the failure of the Bush policies, (i.e. cut taxes on the rich and cut regulation on business), think that is what has been happening in 2009.

The context of that “I won the election”, was Republican unwillingness in that meeting to accept any of his economic agenda. When a new president wins that is what happens. They call the tune of the economic philosophy. The losing minority might bend it a little bit, but it does not get to cancel the result of the election.

The Republicans have proven their unwillingness to accept that time and time again this year. They were totally against the stimulus and the Obama budget and now are filibustering health reform at every chance.

In office just four days, House members met with President Obama to discuss his Economic Stimulus plan, Obama then demonstrated just how bipartisan his Administration would actually be. When Republican lawmakers took issue with provisions in the bill Obama quickly shut them down by declaring “I Won”. The promises of “change” and bipartisanship in his new administration were gone.

The arrogance was unleashed that day but little was made public as the US News Media continued to protect and preserve the image of the Savior they had helped to create. Many were fooled but none as embarrassing as the Nobel Prize, even Obama himself thought it was a joke. The Nobel Foundation has soundly degraded their Award and their Organization for believing such campaign rhetoric and by not requiring even the slightest of achievement before honoring an individual.

The World just got a little taste of the Obama arrogance for themselves in Copenhagen, perhaps now they will stop believing the US Media’s image of Obama and see the man for who he really is and it’s not honorable or sincere.

Mutually Assured Destruction, as it was known in America during the Cold War. There is a perverse logic to it, in that each holder of the missiles knows it would be struck by some in return, keeping hostilities from occurring. Even though Pakistan and India, are simply too close in proximity to use on each other in any event.

In the early decades of the technology after WWII – and especially given the short time it took for Soviet and then Chinese intelligence to intercept the top-secret fission process – the nuclear powers were in a simple test & build, test & build mode.

Then something positive happened. 2 Republican presidents – to the surprise of peaceniks – entered into treaties with the Soviet Union to slow the arms race down. Nixon & Brezhnev in the early ’70’s, then Reagan & Gorbachev in the 80’s. Reagan (who put America on a major military buildup during his 8 years), even made the statement “A nuclear war
cannot be won and must never be fought.”

It was totally out of character to the rest of his militaristic posture as president, but he said it and he signed an arms reduction agreement with Moscow. So it’s fitting then that a Progressive president like Obama would try to push the issue further, by suggesting their total elimination from the planet.

I agree with you Sammy, the climate of threats and fear would have to be eliminated nearly throughout the world first. It may never be possible, but should always be the goal to strive for IMO. And I think that is Obama’s objective in mentioning it. He believes nations should always be trying to reduce tensions and find ways to cooperate, and knows that it has to start with his own efforts.

But if this state of fear will be eliminated, I believe that gradually many nations will abandon their
nuclear weapons programms, and resort to work for the good of humanity, rather for its destruction.

This has been indicated with North Korea, and the Republic of Iran, that have accelerated their
nuclear programm, when they were considered to be the Axe of evil by the past bush administration. And till this day North Korea lives in a state of fear of being attacked, and its people are facing semi-starvation, while their military budget is gubbling all their resources, for its nuclear programm.

I do hope thar Mr. Obama will work to defuse this present world fear that was imposed by the past
reckless administrations, and bring peace and tranquility among nations, where controverses will
be discussed through communication, dialogue, and sincere diplomacy, and once this phase is
achieved, maybe nations will realize that through dialoge, and not through force, a peaceful coexistence
can be achieved.

Certainly nuclear disarming will be an evolutionary process that will take a lot of time,
but if a fearless climate exists it can be achieved.

Sammy from Sicily

Human beings will see a uni-world government before it sees a world without atomic bombs!

I know this from my own personal experience, because I was fortunate enough to be raised and
educated in San Francisco, which is a city that is tolorent to all races, and my education was
multietnic, where I was exposed to many people of different races, by going through the
San Francisco public school system.

Then with the type of job that I had, I was always in contact with people. Fortunately I worked
in a large center, where our customers came from different racial areas, and I believe that this
also was part of my education, meeting foreigners who where impressed how tolerant the City
of San Francisco was towards all.

Yes there are many cosmopolitan cities on this planet, that are the shining example that we all
can live peacefully with one another, and I believe the black sheeps of our societies today are those
internal small towns, and isolated areas that are not exposed to various racial groups. So their
thinking is very protective, and a lot of them live in fear of being exposed or contaminated with new
ideas, ways of living, or simply fearing of losing their identity as an isolated, closed knit society.

And I do believe this is what brought Mr. bush to win his elections, because he received most of
his votes in rural areas, where people were more conservative, and less liberal that they are in most
cosmopolitan areas. Maybe for this reason, they called them the “neocons”. Certainly this neocon
thinking did a lot of damage to slow down progress, and almost ruined our nation, but the rest is
history.

I do hope that Mr. Obama, will somehow bring some of these backward minds into the 21st Century
thinking, by promoting more racial intergration, and reduce the isolationists. Possibly by sending more
government employees of different etnic backgrounds to rural areas, to sort of awaken those who are
still hibernating in their protective thinking.

I believe this is part of the reason for Mr. Obama to be given the Nobel Peace Prize, because people
hope that he could achieve to bring America back to the right track of positive thinking, and continue
the full intergration of all races to arrive at a world free of nukes. But to do this he should set the
example for others to follow, and not use the old concept, “Do as I say, and not as I do”.

Sammy from Sicily

Hollywood has indeed done numerous films and television about the Mafia. One thing Americans are not ignorant on however, is that we know to take their shows as fictionalized and dramatized, and usually not an accurate depiction of reality. So I would say that the vast majority of Americans would not allow their impressions of Sicily to be affected by such depictions.

The American coastal cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami,
San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc., have also had that melting pot of ethnicities for many generations now. And likewise to Sicily, are for that reason far more tolerant and unbiased regarding race. It is ethnic isolation and segregation that causes the prejudice – I think that sociological fact can be verified in many different parts of the world.

I have an email pal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is ethnic Chinese, whom are a minority of about 25% of the population. As a former UK colony, Malaysia has a parliamentary government and regular elections as we do
in the West. But they have tight restrictions on speech and especially demonstrations, because the nerves are so raw between immigrant Chinese and the indigenous Malaysian population. The laws are needed to head off racial riots, as she explained it.

And we saw similar ethnic hatreds boil over after Yugoslavia broke up. As it is with women’s rights around the world, many nations still have a long way to go to realize ethnic equality within their populations.

I believe that the Sicilians do not care who governs them, because they are a docile population
that have their traditions of internal indipendence in their DNA, But they do not support abuses,
as it was indicated during the past history, where there have been Indipendence movements, and
all have flopped, due to outside political elements that it was not to their convinience to have, an
indipentent Sicily.

But there is one characteristic about the Sicilians, they do not want their feet to be stepped
upon, or their traditions modified by external interference.

On Easter Monday (30 March) 1282, at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo, at
evening prayer (vespers), a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian woman, and this started an internal
ribellion where the Sicilians to maintain their honor, traditions, and the respect for their women,
led to the massacre of four thousand Frenchmen over the course of six weeks.
Charles I, was an Angevin, and his French followers had a legacy of mistreating the native people
of Sicily.

And who knows, if this was the spark that started the formation of the Mafia, as being a protective
organization to safeguard its people from being abused or mistreated by those invadors who controlled
Sicily and its government.

But then during the lapse of time, this protective organization deviated into criminal organizations,
which surely must have extended its branches to many countries outside of Sicily.

I believe
due to this presumed origin, the people of Sicily, have been plagued as being connected to criminal elements
to which many people have fallen into this missconception that has been promoted by the
film industry, as well as the Mass-media for their financial gains, and many tourist organizations, have also
jumped into the bandwagen to promote their tourism, at the expense of the innocent Sicilian people.

I can assure you that Sicily, is a very hospitable region to visit, and its crime rate is as normal as any other
place on this planet. I believe that if the mass-media and the film industry would stop speculating at the
expense of the Sicilian people, to peddle their wares, Sicily would regain its equal recognition among nations
that are not based upon prejudice, or are influenced by organizations that practice prejudice for their financial
gains, and at the same time destroy the life of others.

Who knows; If it is the film industry as well as those of the mass-media who are probably infiltrated with
criminal elemets, that speculate at the expense of the innocent Sicilian people, who have, and are being the victims
of this false scenario

Sicily is the cross road of the mediterranean, it has been invaded by many different cultures, and
each has left some influence upon its people. But still the Sicilians, have somewhat maintained
their age old traditions, and their internal indipendence, as well as their basic culinary traditions,
their language, their self respect, and honor, as well as a self internal way of interpreting their
way of fairness towards its own people, as well as towards others. Infact we can say that Sicily is
the melting pot of the Mediterranean where you find many etnic groups forged into one. Calling themselves Sicilians

Sicily is an Autonomous region of Italy, which surely indicates a certain amount of indipendence, it has its
own Regional parlament, as well as its Regional president, but still the Sicilian is always in someway being
snobbed by its Northern cousin, who is more money oriented, and less open to accept social differences, as well
as etnic origins. In my opinion, the Northern cousin, always wants to bully its Sicilian cousin by practicing
his racial supremacy thinking of being lily white, and not accepting full intergration of his darker Southern cousin, which considers to be of African origin.

Sammy from Sicily

Most Americans are quite uninformed of the world, and know nothing about Sicily’s situation vis-a-vis Italy. I myself needed to verify it was part of Italy and not it’s own nation, before uploading the Italy avatar. Although high schools in the U.S. teach Roman history and Latin, and we’ll sometimes see tourism ads for Palermo.

Has there ever been an independence movement there?

Best regards
Sammy from Sicily