Picture of the Day, 12/14/08

This news story was just too good not to make The Great Blog of Kéto's "Picture of the Day" feature. Though some pictures are worth a thousand words, the one of an Iraqi journalist throwing a shoe at George W. Bush below is worth about a million. To most Westerners, a thrown shoe is certainly an unfriendly gesture and in the eyes of the law may be prosecuted as assault and battery. However, to those in the Middle East and other parts of the world, shaking your shoe at someone or showing the sole of your shoe is the ultimate insult, just as giving the thumbs up sign, showing the palm of your hand, or making the "OK" sign is highly insulting in other parts of the world. It is a shameful thing and is pretty much read as that person really, really, really despises AND hates you, and you'd better watch your back. Muthathar al Zaidi said, "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog," and in so doing, he spoke for the whole world. Thank you, al Zaidi, and good night from Tampa Bay!



MSNBC Video Al Baghdadia TV Journalist Throws Shoes at Bush:

Obama's Senate Seat on Ebay

Obama's Senate seat is being auctioned on Ebay as reported by the Associated Press:

CHICAGO (AP) — For sale: One Senate seat. Goes to the highest BLEEP-ing bidder. Seller's positive feedback rating: since Tuesday, just about zero.

Outraged by the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, more than a dozen people have put the state's vacant Senate seat up for bid on eBay.

The offers popped up on the Internet auction site after Blagojevich was accused Tuesday of trying to benefit financially from his power to appoint a Senate replacement to President-elect Barack Obama.

Daniel Finnegan, a student at the University of Georgia, said he started an auction because he's "extremely upset about what happened" and wants to voice his opinion.

Finnegan says he's glad others posted similar auctions so the accusations against Blagojevich don't go unnoticed.

University of Illinois student Matt Platino says he posted his entry to be funny, but also because he's upset with Blagojevich.

At least one seller carefully noted the ad was "not an offer for actual US Senate seat. ... For entertainment purposes only."

Another wound up with a similar disclaimer, but not before unloading on the gov: "OPEN YOUR CHECKBOOKS, OR PUT THE THUMBSCREWS ON SOMEONE TO GIVE A HIGH PAYING EXECUTIVE JOB TO AN ASSININE, GREEDY VINDICTIVE POL OR HIS WIFE."

And folks are bidding, some jokingly. One posting ("Used Illinois Senate seat, all wood and leather, willing to deal on this one! Please be advised I will be away from my office for a while..."), had 78 bids and was going for $99,999,999.00 Wednesday morning.

Illinois Gov Feeling Sad, Lonely After Arrest in Corruption Probe

An artist's drawing shows Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (2nd R and his Chief of Staff John Harris as they stand in front of U.S. Magistrate Nan Nolan (L) while federal prosecutor Reic Schar watches at the Dirksen Federal building in Chicago, Illinois December 9, 2008. Reuters/Verna Sadock

So, you think you've had a bad day? Already hump day, and still you feel unappreciated, overworked, unloved, not well-compensated, lonely, sad maybe? Well, you've got nothing on Illinois Governor, Rod R. Blagojevich (Democrat) who was arrested, then released on $4,500 bond on Tuesday. But that's just the most recent element of the story. Roddy BlaBla got hammered by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for litterally attempting to sell to the highest bidder, President-elect Barack Obama's (D-IL) now empty Senate Seat.

By laws passed by just about every state, the Governor of a state has the right to appoint a replacement to a US Senate or House of Representatives seat in the event that office holder dies, retires, resigns, or is criminally convicted during his term. The replacement then serves the remainder of his predecessor's term or until a special election is called. Of course, Barack Obama is now President-elect and has resigned from his seat, allowing the Gov to appoint anyone including himself to fill the Illinois Senate vacancy. That's where things got hairy. The feds had been tipped off that the Governor, knowing that the deadline was approaching for enactment of an Illinois ethics in government bill which would drastically limit the influence of big money in Illinois was working overtime to gain monetary favors for himself and his wife. Fittingly enough, Obama's efforts at getting the Illinois Senate President, Emil Jones to lead passage of ethics reform 3 months ago are what got the Gov snagged. You see Rod suffers from the "my Governor's salary of $177,000 is not nearly enough and I need more money" syndrome. Here's more from FBI affidavit as reported by The Huffington Post:

A 76-page FBI affidavit alleges that Blagojevich was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month conspiring to sell or trade Illinois' U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama for financial and other personal benefits for himself and his wife. At various times, in exchange for the Senate appointment, Blagojevich discussed obtaining:

A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions;

Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year;

Promises of campaign funds - including cash up front; and

A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.

Just last week, on December 4, Blagojevich allegedly told an advisor that he might "get some (money) up front, maybe" from Senate Candidate 5, if he named Senate Candidate 5 to the Senate seat, to insure that Senate Candidate 5 kept a promise about raising money for Blagojevich if he ran for re-election. In a recorded conversation on October 31, Blagojevich claimed he was approached by an associate of Senate Candidate 5 as follows: "We were approached 'pay to play.' That, you know, he'd raise 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator."

On November 7, while talking on the phone about the Senate seat with Harris and an advisor, Blagojevich said he needed to consider his family and that he is "financially" hurting, the affidavit states. Harris allegedly said that they were considering what would help the "financial security" of the Blagojevich family and what will keep Blagojevich "politically viable." Blagojevich stated, "I want to make money," adding later that he is interested in making $250,000 to $300,000 a year, the complaint alleges.

On November 10, in a lengthy telephone call with numerous advisors that included discussion about Blagojevich obtaining a lucrative job with a union-affiliated organization in exchange for appointing a particular Senate Candidate whom he believed was favored by the President-elect and which is described in more detail below, Blagojevich and others discussed various ways Blagojevich could "monetize" the relationships he has made as governor to make money after leaving that office.

How to Do Business in Haiti by Kéto Nord Hodges

My MBA studies at University of South Florida (2003-2005) provided me with some of the best moments of my life to date. One of my projects that I took on in the course of my Management curriculum was to study how to do business in my home country of Haïti or "Ayiti" as we say in Creole. I had the good fortune to lead a team of fellow MBA's and I've presented a summary of our research in the presentation "How to Do Businesss in Haïti" below.

US Economy Loses 500,000 Jobs in November

A record month in terms of unemployment added an additional 533,000 US layoffs to the unemployment lines in November. This is the worst month for the economy in terms of job losses since 1974. But it won't get any better for a while as economists expect the country to lose at least 2 million jobs by the end of 2008. Even the Denier in Chief, President George W. Bush had to admit recently that the National Bureau of Economic Research was correct that the U.S. entered recession in December, 2007.

The following summary of the economic slump is from CNN Money:

The economy has shed jobs in every month so far in 2008, bringing the total loss through November to 1.9 million.

The loss of jobs in November was particulary harsh, with a decline of 533,000. With the economy in recession, there is likely more bad news to come. And the unemployment rate, currently at 6.7%, could easily top 7%, if not higher.

President-elect Barack Obama has proposed a plan to create 2.5 million jobs through spending on roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects.

Even so, businesses are likely to remain cautious when it comes to hiring in the coming months.

O.J. Simpson Is Guilty, But Is He THAT Guilty?

O.J. Simpson, left, hugs his sister Carmelita Durio, with his friend Thomas Scotto, right, after he was found guilty on all counts following his trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas Friday.

Is O.J. Simpson 9-33 years worth of guilty? I don't think so. Frankly, the story of OJ's trial is more indicative of race relations in this country than it is of OJ's boneheaded, bad decision making.

There are several memorable events for which I remember exactly where I was during their occurrence, i.e., 9-11, the day I proposed officially to my wife, (February 2, 2008, her 27th birthday), our wedding day which is also my birthday (April 26, 2008), etc. In 1994, I was sitting in a hotel room in Stamford, CT when I saw breaking news on the OJ Simpson San Diego Freeway chase (June 17, 1994). In 1995, I was at a piano lesson in the living room of my teacher, Mrs. Mary Hauck's house and remember her disappointment when the OJ criminal acquittal was announced (October 3, 1995).

There was one thing that stood out to me throughout the OJ criminal trial, and that was how much White Americans hated OJ, whom they didn't know any more than Adam. I think for the first time, we had a major case that held the international media's attention involving a Black man and a White woman. Had OJ simply been accused of killing a Black woman, as was former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth, I assure you that some would have assumed he was guilty, but White America would not have cared. The majority of White Americans interviewed on TV, on the radio, at the corner store, at the local church, etc. just knew that OJ was guilty, and furthermore hated him because it was one of their own, a White woman that he allegedly killed. And that is the sad state of race relations in this country which forced President-elect Barack Obama to confront the topic of race in America head-on during his primary campaign for President.

Furthermore, the outrage expressed over OJ Simpson's alleged actions was greater than the feelings expressed over the trial of Modesto, California native Scott Peterson, who was convicted in another sensational, widely reported cased of allegedly decapitating and drowning his pregnant wife, Laci and her unborn baby. Very rarely did I turn on the TV or radio during his trial and read the same things said about Peterson that were stated about Simpson. For once a Black man, due to his money and connections had got over on the American justice system, just as rich, well-connected Whites had done for many years, and America just coudn't stand this. So now, they stand in judgement of the one who they built up and idolized when he was running the football and scoring touchdowns, but then degraded when he became the subject of a the most talked-about murder trial of our times.

So does OJ deserve some time behind bars or to make restitution to the injured parties for his actions? Absolutely! But in this case OJ does not deserve to spend up to 30+ years in prison for burglary and kidnapping charges when we have white collar criminals such as deceased Enron exec Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling such as who defrauded countless tens of thousands of innocent workers out of their pensions and life savings in get-rich-quick schemes which only benefitted themselves and their well-heeled associates. Yet, you can be assured that because of their status in life, again the public outcry for their punishment was almost nonexistent, and because the U.S. criminal justice system is skewed towards the haves who can afford the best legal representation, people in the position of Jeffrey Skilling who was sentenced to 20-24 years, generally only spend a few years in prison--if that--and then take up some other position on someones charity foundation, consult for big business, become a motivational speaker, or publish a book about their life.

Picture of the Day, 12/5/08

Read the following story about Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's new White House Speechwriter, at the Washington Post to understand what the picture is all about. Hilar-ity reigns supreme in the world of Facebook. Said Clinton senior adviser Philippe Reines, "Senator Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon's obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application," he said in an e-mail.

Incoming Obama administration director of speechwriting Jon Favreau (L) and a friend pose with a cardboard cutout of incoming Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a party. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

My Homeowners' Association Sucks

I knew it would happen sooner or later. The honeymoon officially is over! The grand high potentates of my Homeowners' Association (HOA) known as the Board of Directors have taken it upon themselves to chastise me for having Obama-Biden yard signs in the area next to my porch. I have an affiliation for these signs because they were given to me on election day by the Obama for America campaign after we canvassed Lakeland neighborhoods.

A few weeks ago, one of my neighbors told me that the HOA would say something to us, but I told my wife that I wasn't going to accept word of mouth, I needed to see the HOA rules in their original documentation. She also said that my signs could be seen from the Interstate which is actually impossible because again our gated community, though it faces the Interstate is surrounded by a wall, and the property is set back from the Interstate. Methinks that she told on me. In any case, since we moved in May, there has only been one HOA meeting that I was informed of, and that was held in June. Since then, not once have I or my wife, Shirre received notice of any HOA meetings or bylaws. Now they have chosen to contact me in the spirit of the holidays. I have scanned in and attached the "Notice of Violation" for your perusal as follows.

The "Violation" reads "12.34 No sign, flag, banner, advertisement, notice or other lettering shall be exhibited, displayed, inscribed, painted or affixed in, or upon any part of [Name of Residence] including without limitation and Home or Lot, that is visible from the outside without the prior approval being first obtained from the ACC; signs diplaying the wording, "for rent" or "for lease" shall not be approved by the ACC. Nothwithstanding the foregoing, any Owner may display on his Lot one (1) discreet professionally prepared sign not to exceed twenty-four (24") inches in width and eighteen (18") inches in height and attached to a 2x4 post no higher than three (3) feet from the ground. Such sign shall contain no other wording than "For Sale", the name, address and telephone number of one (1) registered real estate broker, or a telephone number of an Owner or his agent. In no event shall more than (1) sign ever be placed on any Lot at any time." So there you have it! Further, our RS Manager proceeded to highlight bolded words in yellow "Please remove the political sign from your yard. They are not allowed." Really now? (By the way, nice subject-verb agreement :)

I have to wonder, who are these people, and why do they care about the most minor and trivial things? What is it about my having professionally-made political yard signs on my property for which I'm paying hundreds of thousands of dollars that just gets under their skin? Certainly, an HOA is a private group, and as such can enact any bylaws or rules as voted on by it's private membership including myself and the esteemed BoD. At the same time, who is it that is offended and has reported on me? Other neighbors have porch furniture--albeit tasteful and expensive, holiday wreaths and decorations, holiday banners, "For Sale" signs in their windows, etc. Also one interesting fact is that my house is on the very back side of our subdivision which is separated from the Interstate by a stone wall. The only way anyone would know that I had signs in my yard was if they lived in my townhouse block and were thus parking or jogging/walking on my sidewalk. In other words most people even in my subdivision have to go out of their way to get to my condo, which is how I like it, thank you very much! In any case, the means of appeal is to write a letter stating my case to the high and mighty Board of Directors within 30 days of receipt of said letter.

Obama Fundraising Totals $745 Million

President-elect Barack Obama continues to set records and make history even after Obama's historic landslide election. Final tallies to Federal Election Commision show that Obama raised a record $745 million during the 2008 electoral cycle including over $104 million in the four-week period from October 16-November 24. By contrast, John McCain raised "only" $367 million for his candidacy. Still, both candidates raised over $1 billion dollars for an election cycle in which over $5 billion was spent by all candidates, political parties, and outside interests! The Obama campaign is still raising money as it offers specialty items such as commemorative mugs, t-shirts, etc. through BarackObama.com. Obama thanked his national and Illinois fundraising teams at an the private Standard Club in Chicago.

Lest anyone, e.g., Republicans say that the election went to the highest bidder, I need only remind them that the first successful big-money Presidential candidate was George W. Bush who raised $100 million during a quarter in the 2000 election cycle. At that time, it was considered an astronomical amount of amount to have been raised in only 3 months. Bush raised $270 million for the 2004 election which he "won" over Democratic challenger John Kerry. Together they both raised over $500 million. It is both ironic and fortuitous that Bush ushered in the era of big money Presidential fundraising by which all future candidate fundraising would be judged. Certainly Hillary Clinton also raised the bar by signaling in January 2007 that the Clinton campaign expected to raise over $150 million dollars for her Presidential candidacy. She eventually raised over $229 million by the end of May 2008 before conceding the Democratic Presidential nomination to eventual winner Barack Obama in June 2008.

All in all, the prodigious fundraising by candidates during this 2-year campaign has rendered the public financing system for presidential elections in which over 33 million taxpayers mark of a $3 donation on their tax form obsolete. Some would say that now only the really powerful and well connected can afford the unspoken $100 million entry fee required to be a viable candidate. Certainly this presents a signifant political barrier to entry. Others would say that this is the ultimate practice of free speech in that candidates and can participate in the giving and receiving of nearly unlimited amounts of money. In either case, this election was "the longest and most expensive presidential election in American history," according to Michael Toner, chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

The Great Blog of Kéto Celebrates & Thanks 1,000+ Readers!

This week, The Great Blog of Kéto (TGBoK) celebrated a pretty cool milestone! On Wednesday, we reached and then passed 1,000 readers from around the globe. So this blog is just a little note to thank my readers from all over the world, who have made this blogging adventure worthwhile for me. I started this blog on Google's Blogger on August 20, 2008 for the love of writing, and can say that it is now one of my favorite past times. At this point, I'm not doing this for money, but I believe I have something to say particularly on politics and social issues in our modern world. Thanks to those who continue to logon from South America to China and of course those who leave comments, forward TGBoK to friends, and link to The Great Blog of Kéto on their websites.

As a part of my day-to-day professional work for Claris Law, LLC and InjuryBoard.com I train hundreds of attorneys (primarily personal injury) around the United States including Alaska and Hawaii on how to use blogging to strategically enhance marketing of their firms. So one day I figured, "Hey if I can teach this stuff, and I'm being told I do a pretty good job of getting many un-tech savvy professionals to understand this Web 2.0 technology, then why shouldn't I do it myself?"

Big thanks to readers from all of the beautiful world who continue to check out this blog. These readers come from the following list of countries (list current as of 12/4/08):
United States (US)--The majority of TGBoK readers are from the US. | Canada (CA) | Germany (DE) | France (FR) | United Kingdom (GB) | Jamaica (JM) | Brazil (BR) | Finland (FI) | Netherlands (NL) | Portugal (PT)--Portugal was the first country to logon following the U.S.! | India (IN) | Poland (PL) | Slovenia (SI) | Australia (AU) | Indonesia (ID) | Spain (ES)--Oh man, I just missed the chance to study abroad in Spain, France & Wales during my MBA studies. I hope to make it to those places some day. | Israel (IL) | Belgium (BE) | Philippines (PH) | Italy (IT) | Slovakia (SK) | Latvia (LV) | Sweden (SE) | Ireland (IE) | Turkey (TR) | Europe (EU) | Switzerland | (CH) | Romania (RO) | Pakistan (PK)--Wow, it's pretty cool to have readers in Pakistan! | Cote D'Ivoire (CI)--I earned my MBA with fellow French-speaking students who now live in Ivory Coast. | Sri Lanka (LK) | Trinidad and Tobago (TT)--The Caribbean definitely represents! | Malaysia (MY) | Uganda (UG) | Chile (CL) | Tanzania, United Republic of (TZ) | Djibouti (DJ) | Thailand (TH)--one of my friends, model & reality TV star is waiting to go back home to Siam. | China (CN)--Certainly the largest country to check out TGBoK. Thank you! | Malta (MT) | Korea, Republic of (KR) | Algeria (DZ) | Bahrain (BH) | Dominica (DM) | Dominican Republic (DO)--Nice to see the next door neighbor of my home country of Haiti! | Greece (GR).

Here are a couple more places where you can check out more information on The Great Blog of Kéto:

• Facebook Groups: The Facebook Group I launched to promote TGBoK to my FB friends. I update it frequently with pictures and a link to each blog post. A good number of friends have joined this page and it allows for interacting by uploading pictures, posing discussion topics, and communicating with this blogger and other group members.
• Facebook Blog Networks: A Facebook Blog I started in September to promote TGBoK to other FB bloggers and members. I update this page weekly with new posts, but the fb app only allows 3 blog post feeds per week, so it's usefulness is somewhat limited.
• Twitter: Combined tweeting for Kéto & TGBoK
• Technorati: One of the best known Internet blog directories. Allows exposure for TGBoK to millions of bloggers and readers the world over. A good place to list and burn one's blog feed.
• BlogCatalog: One of my preferred Internet blog directories which lists feeds from TGBoK. Also a great place to keep up with my communities such as what's happening with me on last.fm, del.icio.us, youtube, and more.
• Other directories: You can also navigate the left panel of The Great Blog of Kéto for other directories and listings such as Syndic8 which I ping regularly as I update TGBoK.

Picture of the Day, 12/3/08

This awesome cartoon courtesy of one of my favorite political cartoonists, Pat Oliphant!

big 3: ALMS for the love of BIG THREE! ALMS for BIG THREE!

the American taxpayer: Jeez, How MUCH NOW?

big 3: OH...I'D SAY 25 BILLION ORTA DO IT. NO. NO. NO!
34 BILLION IS MORE LIKE IT. WE HAVE COSTS.
34 BILLION IT IS!

the American taxpayer: OK, IF I GIVE YOU THAT MUCH, DO I THEN OWN PART OF YOUR COMPANIES?

big 3: LISTEN TO HIM! ARE WE IN THE CHARITY BUSINESS??
SOME NERVE! JUST BECAUSE YOU PAY FOR SOMETHING DOESN'T MEAN YOU OWN IT!
NOW WOULD YOU HURRY IT UP--WE HAVE A TEE TIME.

the American taxpayer: TEA? WHY OF COURSE--ANYTHING ELSE?

little guy walking away: SO BEGGARS CAN BE CHOOSERS.

Indian Bloggers Capture Mumbai Terror

In a sign of the self-publishing reality of Web 2.0 tools, a number of Indian bloggers and casual users provided up to the minute blogging and photography on the 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai, India. In many cases these amateur bloggers were able to get pictures and first-hand coverage that international journalists were not able to get. I've included the URL's of a few of these bloggers as referenced by the Huffington Post, and some of their pictures illustrating the weekend's carnage.

Arun Shanbhag http://arunshanbhag.com
http://twitter.com/arunshanbhag


Mumbai Heroes blog: http://mumbaiheros.blogspot.com

Sonia Faleiro blog: http://soniafaleiro.blogspot.com

Vinukumar Ranganathan http://vinu.wordpress.com
http://flickr.com/photos/vinu/collections/72157610285196083


Gauravonomics-A Record of Gaurav Mishra’s Life + Work + Play: http://www.gauravonomics.com

Global Voices

Picture of the Day, 12-2-08

My favorite political/social blog, Huffington Post provides us with this fine photography. Say, isn't that Young Jeezy on the left and Ludacris on the right, both behind Georgia's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin? Martin is running to unseat Senator Saxby Chambliss today in an election runoff made possible by neither candidate reaching 50% of the vote on November 4. This electoral outcome may determine whether the Democratic controlled U.S. Senate gains the 60 votes needed to prevent Republican minority filibusters.

Obama Introduces National Security Team

This morning, in a highly-anticipated press conference, President-Elect Barack Obama formally announced his national security team consisting of the following persons: Secretary Of Defense: Robert Gates, Secretary Of State: Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser: Marine Gen. James L. Jones, Secretary Of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano, Attorney General: Eric Holder, Ambassador To The United Nations: Susan Rice. Of course each of these nominees has to undergo Senate confirmation in the next Congress before assuming their new offices.

As NBC political commentator Chris Matthews pointed out, it was obvious by his choices for these critical positions that Obama not only prides himself on picking highly competent, thoughtful professionals who have a history of effective and pragmatic leadership, but he also took care to highlight the diversity of his upcoming administration by nominating three women and two African Americans to fill two-thirds of Obama's national security team. Also, certainly by including long-time friends as well as Hillary Clinton, a signifcant foe during the Democratic Presidential primaries and a Republican hold-over from the Bush administration, Obama signaled that he can effectively "reach across the aisle" to unite competing political ideologies as well as diverse viewpoints in US government. Barack Obama also demonstrated that he is a strong enough leader to provide strong leadership by picking other strong leaders who may not all share his views, but are capable of carrying out his domestic and foreign policy initiatives without being yes-men and spineless sycophants--problems which plagued the inept Bush-Cheney administration on issues from Hurricane Katrina responsivenes to who is actually responsible for decisions on the War in Iraq.