Presidential Inauguration Tickets and Gubmint

The government seems to be taking early action when it comes to the Presidential Inauguration Tickets craze going on out there.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, the senator overseeing Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony said Monday she's writing to Internet sites like eBay asking them not to sell scalped inauguration tickets. The senator also said she's crafting a bill that would make a federal crime of selling tickets to the historic event Jan. 20. Link to source

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY THE GOVT.
The public should also be aware that no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell, regardless of what they may claim. Tickets will not be distributed to Congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in-person pick-up.[Source]

Taxpayer dollars are used to run the Inauguration event, and consequently, any arguments bringing up "capitalism" just fall flat. Oh wait, did I hear whining about bailouts? Two wrongs don't make one right. Unscrupulous elements should just not be allowed to get in the way and speculate on items which people should be getting from their representatives in a straightforward manner. Of course, there might be (allegations of) favoritism coming into play, (e.g. people making donations to the party of the local rep might get better chances) but at least the chance to see this event will go to people who were more interested in this man's rise from the beginning.

The official press release http://inaugural.senate.gov/

CNN coverage on this issue.

McCain Congratulates Obama While Saving $$$

I just watched Senator John McCain concede the Presidential election 2008 to Senator President-elect Barack Obama. It was a very classy speech and he was very gracious in concession. Insiders report that McCain had actually practised this speech several times in the past few months, leading to the flawless delivery.

Said McCain: I congratulate Senator President-elect Beerack (see video below), oops Barack Obama on winning the presidency of the USA.

Reliable sources confirmed that McCain knew the final projected outcome immediately after Pennsylvania and Ohio went Obama's way. However, we belive he waited till it was past 9pm in Arizona to call Obama to concede in order for his night time minutes to kick in. This is a clear indication of the strong conservative credentials of McCain and his party (and a smaller indication to the state of finances of the McCain campaign).

After finishing the call with McCain, Obama mentioned to this campaign advisors that he was going for a walk on Lake Michigan to collect this thoughts for the victory speech.

We also have breaking news that President (current) George Bush wants Barack Obama to visit him at the White House and celebrate the awesome win in true ivy league frat celebration style. He also wants Obama to take over immediately because the credit crisis is becoming too hard for him to handle, hehe.

We close with the news that people in Hawaii and Alaska are pretty pissed that their votes have been added to the 2012 polls because of the delay in transporting the ballots by boat to mainland USA. That's all for tonight folks,

(Disclaimer: The above is mostly satire, don't sue me, the credit crisis and market crash has bankrupted me. Also ,any of future earnings above $250,000 are going to be taxed heavily)

Vice Presidential Debate: Biden v Palin, Expert vs High school student

This post is not really about travel, but more about an interesting evening that I spent with some friends. Although I had lots to study, I decided to take some time off and watch the US Vice Presidential debate between the candidates Senator Joe Biden (Democrate- Delaware) v. Governor Sarah Palin (Republican- Alaska). I know there are some people out there who want the Independent candidates also on this debate (Link with list) but then most debates are managed by media companies that care about ratings and frankly, why play with a system that is in place already? .

So what were the oft-repeated phrases by the candidates. Digging into my memory, I could remember Palin going on and on about

• "in my experience as Mayor and Governor"
  
• Energy independence
• Largest energy producing state
• the hungry markets (referring to crude oil markets)
• betcha
• darn it
• kinda
  
• predatory lenders
• small town America
• small businesses
• tax cuts
  
• team of mavericks
• maverick
• McCain
• Obama
  
• tax on windfall profit -- no she did nt use those words, but you know what it is about.

Joe Biden on the other hand relied on these:

• not a maverick
• I understand
• Iraq
• middle class
• 95% of American families/small businesses
• $ 250,000
  
• John McCain
• Obama
• Gwen

Note that some words may not be keywords, but are just words that got repeatedly used by the candidate. If you want a more detailes you can read the debate transcripts here. Well overall my opinion was the Biden managed a confident attack on John McCain and McCain's voting record and policies. However, when it came to actually tackling the questions direct he did not do very well, but neither did Sarah Palin which was already expected. But even she exceeded expectations by giving solid responses to several questions. But most of the time, she was just attacking Obama, instead of debating with Biden on the issues. Substance wise this debate was low, but voice modulation wise it was great. The one other thing which had me groaning was Palin's repeated use of folksy language - which was annoying, not too many actually speak like that and I live in a rural town. It was a blatant attempt by her to reach out. Arggh!