Dear readers, this blog is being decommissioned :-) My new blog is at this address.
http://samsoum-us.blogspot.com/
Pleases update your bookmarks and any links you may have on your blogs. It is very easy , change http://samsoum-usa.blogspot.com/ to http://samsoum-us.blogspot.com/ by removing the 'a'
Cheers,
Samsoum
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Hillary Clinton enters 2008 presidential race!
Finally it is official. It is going to be really interesting now :-) Would she be the first women to access the White house and the second senator in the history of the US to become a president? Doesn't matter as long as Bush is going out :-)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator and former first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday entered the 2008 presidential race, officially joining a crowded field for her party's nomination.
The second-term U.S. senator from New York and former U.S. first lady had been widely anticipated to announce her bid to become the first woman to win the U.S. presidency. She is considered a front-runner among five other candidates in the Democratic White House field.
Her announcement comes days after a similar move by Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) of Illinois, who is expected to be her leading party competitor and whose campaign could make him the first black U.S. president. Obama's candidacy has stoked enthusiasm among Democrats looking for an alternative to Clinton, who some fear could be too polarizing to defeat a Republican candidate next year.
"I am forming a presidential exploratory committee. I am not just starting a campaign though, I am beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said in a videotaped message on her Web site. An exploratory committee is a first step toward official candidacy and allows her to raise campaign funds and hire staff.
"After six years of
George Bush it is time to renew the promise of America," she said.
President George W. Bush was elected to a second four-year term in 2004.
The wife of former President
Bill Clinton made history with her bid for U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, becoming the first former first lady to win one of the most powerful political jobs in the nation.
Clinton, 59, was re-elected by a huge margin to a second Senate term in November.
AIMING AT BUSH
In her posted written statement, Clinton took immediate aim at what she called "six years of Bush administration failures."
"I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine," she wrote. "Only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.
"Only a new president can renew the promise of America -- the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day," she wrote.
"And only a new president can regain America's position as a respected leader in the world."
Clinton said she would be launching a series of live, online video conversations with voters, beginning on Monday.
Before officially declaring her candidacy for U.S. Senate in 2000, Clinton traveled around New York on a "listening tour" to meet voters and hear their issues.
Prior to her husband's two terms in the White House, Clinton was a successful attorney and advocate of children's rights, a former member of several corporate boards and public-interest boards. She was active in causes ranging from lowering infant mortality to providing legal assistance to the poor.
"Let's talk about how to bring the right end to the war in
Iraq and restore respect for America around the world," she said a videotaped message on her Web site, mentioning several issues she would address in her campaign such as energy, health care and retirement security.
Clinton worked on the House of Representatives committee on the impeachment of President
Richard Nixon. She attended Yale Law School where she met fellow student Bill Clinton and followed her husband to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was governor and she was a lawyer, mother and political wife.
Source
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator and former first lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday entered the 2008 presidential race, officially joining a crowded field for her party's nomination.
The second-term U.S. senator from New York and former U.S. first lady had been widely anticipated to announce her bid to become the first woman to win the U.S. presidency. She is considered a front-runner among five other candidates in the Democratic White House field.
Her announcement comes days after a similar move by Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) of Illinois, who is expected to be her leading party competitor and whose campaign could make him the first black U.S. president. Obama's candidacy has stoked enthusiasm among Democrats looking for an alternative to Clinton, who some fear could be too polarizing to defeat a Republican candidate next year.
"I am forming a presidential exploratory committee. I am not just starting a campaign though, I am beginning a conversation with you, with America," she said in a videotaped message on her Web site. An exploratory committee is a first step toward official candidacy and allows her to raise campaign funds and hire staff.
"After six years of
George Bush it is time to renew the promise of America," she said.
President George W. Bush was elected to a second four-year term in 2004.
The wife of former President
Bill Clinton made history with her bid for U.S. Senate in New York in 2000, becoming the first former first lady to win one of the most powerful political jobs in the nation.
Clinton, 59, was re-elected by a huge margin to a second Senate term in November.
AIMING AT BUSH
In her posted written statement, Clinton took immediate aim at what she called "six years of Bush administration failures."
"I have never been afraid to stand up for what I believe in or to face down the Republican machine," she wrote. "Only a new president will be able to undo Bush's mistakes and restore our hope and optimism.
"Only a new president can renew the promise of America -- the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day," she wrote.
"And only a new president can regain America's position as a respected leader in the world."
Clinton said she would be launching a series of live, online video conversations with voters, beginning on Monday.
Before officially declaring her candidacy for U.S. Senate in 2000, Clinton traveled around New York on a "listening tour" to meet voters and hear their issues.
Prior to her husband's two terms in the White House, Clinton was a successful attorney and advocate of children's rights, a former member of several corporate boards and public-interest boards. She was active in causes ranging from lowering infant mortality to providing legal assistance to the poor.
"Let's talk about how to bring the right end to the war in
Iraq and restore respect for America around the world," she said a videotaped message on her Web site, mentioning several issues she would address in her campaign such as energy, health care and retirement security.
Clinton worked on the House of Representatives committee on the impeachment of President
Richard Nixon. She attended Yale Law School where she met fellow student Bill Clinton and followed her husband to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was governor and she was a lawyer, mother and political wife.
Source
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Non-violent resistance.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968). Like Mahatma Gandhi, he preached non violent social struggle and civil disobedience to reach his goals and he did. He realized his dream (kind of) and nobody can deny his role in the social changes that have happened under his lead for American civil rights movement. This Baptist minister, one of youngest Nobel peace prize winner for his peaceful struggle for equal treatment had once a dream for his country. A dream where people, independent of their color and race will coexist peacefully as equals, and he got it. A proof, that dreamers can be influential and can make a difference. This speech, considered one of the greatest in history marked the 20th century in the US.
He said in regard to the declaration of independence of the US:
"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
And also:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
And finally:
"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
As a reminder, nonviolence has been described by some as "the politics of ordinary people", that’s you, me and the majority of us. The Non-violence approach has been used by almost all cultures, specially the religions from Abraham’s to Mohamed (Peace be upon him). They all used non-violence approaches, at least in the beginning!!
So in these times where a lot of politic movements preach violence without any tangible results, perhaps they should consider dreaming and non-violent struggle like Gandhi or King who showed very good ones.
Martin Luther King, rest in peace.
He said in regard to the declaration of independence of the US:
"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"
And also:
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"
And finally:
"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics - will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
As a reminder, nonviolence has been described by some as "the politics of ordinary people", that’s you, me and the majority of us. The Non-violence approach has been used by almost all cultures, specially the religions from Abraham’s to Mohamed (Peace be upon him). They all used non-violence approaches, at least in the beginning!!
So in these times where a lot of politic movements preach violence without any tangible results, perhaps they should consider dreaming and non-violent struggle like Gandhi or King who showed very good ones.
Martin Luther King, rest in peace.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Qui sont-ils? Et Pourquoi ces réactions?
Même après que le pouvoir a reconnu semi-officiellement le fait que les combats armés au sud de Tunis étaient avec des groupes terroristes, les questions persistent. Qui sont-ils? Combien sont-ils? Comment ils ont eu ces armes automatiques? Sont-ils tunisiens? Qui est derrière eux? Qu’est ce qu’ils veulent? Pourquoi?
Est-ce possible que des tunisiens passent a la lutte armée a cause du Hijab comme on le dit, je ne le crois pas. Que des jeunes ont été manipulés par des clans au pouvoir est invraisemblable. C’est quoi alors toutes ces rumeurs. Pourquoi, au lieu de s’inquiéter, on se tourne l’un contre l’autre.
On a le droit de savoir qu’est ce qui se passe dans notre pays, la ou vivent des êtres chers a nous. Demander l’information est maintenant perçu comme un acte de trahison! N’est ce pas notre droit de se demander quelques éclaircissements sur des faits aussi dangereux et inédits que ceux qui se sont déroulés aux portes de la capitale. Quelques uns se croient plus patriotes que d’autres et nous donnent des leçons simplistes, comme quoi dire la vérité nuit à notre réputation. Quelle maturité intellectuelle ? Je me demande c’est quoi le fil de pensée qui les a mené a cette conclusion ? Peut être le fait de se taire est devenu une culture et celui qui ne la respecte pas est un marginal, un traitre, un vendu.
On divise au lieu de s’unir, on monte les uns contre les autres parce qu’on se croit plus tunisien que l’autre. Eh bien non, on est tous tunisiens et je n’ai jamais connu un tunisien qui méprise son pays au point de le vendre. On aime tous notre pays, ceux qui vont a la mosquée et ceux qui vont aux bars. Essayer de voir la réaction de n’importe quel tunisien en face d’un étranger qui dit du mal de la Tunisie, même s’il a raison, et vous comprendrez. N’entrez pas dans le jeu politicien qui veut utiliser ces événements pour marginaliser l’opposition ou pour affaiblir le pouvoir.
Et puis la vérité ne nuira pas au pays, au contraire, elle prépare la population à contrer ce danger qu’on ne connait pas et à se mettre la main dans la main et le combattre. Qu’il soit interne ou externe, de quel courant qu’il soit. La France est un des pays qui reçoit le plus de touristes au monde. Les attentats ou les manifestations même violentes comme celle des banlieues n’ont pas été passé sous silence par crainte que les touristes ne viennent pas. Arrêtons de simplifier les choses et a nous insulter l’un, l’autre.
Que Dieu préserve la Tunisie et TOUT les Tunisiens. Et n’oublions pas qu’on est tous responsables de notre pays, TOUS sans exception et qu’ensemble, on doit le protéger et prévenir ce genre d’activités, TOUS. Pour cela, on doit savoir ce qui se passe.
Est-ce possible que des tunisiens passent a la lutte armée a cause du Hijab comme on le dit, je ne le crois pas. Que des jeunes ont été manipulés par des clans au pouvoir est invraisemblable. C’est quoi alors toutes ces rumeurs. Pourquoi, au lieu de s’inquiéter, on se tourne l’un contre l’autre.
On a le droit de savoir qu’est ce qui se passe dans notre pays, la ou vivent des êtres chers a nous. Demander l’information est maintenant perçu comme un acte de trahison! N’est ce pas notre droit de se demander quelques éclaircissements sur des faits aussi dangereux et inédits que ceux qui se sont déroulés aux portes de la capitale. Quelques uns se croient plus patriotes que d’autres et nous donnent des leçons simplistes, comme quoi dire la vérité nuit à notre réputation. Quelle maturité intellectuelle ? Je me demande c’est quoi le fil de pensée qui les a mené a cette conclusion ? Peut être le fait de se taire est devenu une culture et celui qui ne la respecte pas est un marginal, un traitre, un vendu.
On divise au lieu de s’unir, on monte les uns contre les autres parce qu’on se croit plus tunisien que l’autre. Eh bien non, on est tous tunisiens et je n’ai jamais connu un tunisien qui méprise son pays au point de le vendre. On aime tous notre pays, ceux qui vont a la mosquée et ceux qui vont aux bars. Essayer de voir la réaction de n’importe quel tunisien en face d’un étranger qui dit du mal de la Tunisie, même s’il a raison, et vous comprendrez. N’entrez pas dans le jeu politicien qui veut utiliser ces événements pour marginaliser l’opposition ou pour affaiblir le pouvoir.
Et puis la vérité ne nuira pas au pays, au contraire, elle prépare la population à contrer ce danger qu’on ne connait pas et à se mettre la main dans la main et le combattre. Qu’il soit interne ou externe, de quel courant qu’il soit. La France est un des pays qui reçoit le plus de touristes au monde. Les attentats ou les manifestations même violentes comme celle des banlieues n’ont pas été passé sous silence par crainte que les touristes ne viennent pas. Arrêtons de simplifier les choses et a nous insulter l’un, l’autre.
Que Dieu préserve la Tunisie et TOUT les Tunisiens. Et n’oublions pas qu’on est tous responsables de notre pays, TOUS sans exception et qu’ensemble, on doit le protéger et prévenir ce genre d’activités, TOUS. Pour cela, on doit savoir ce qui se passe.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
The wisdom of Georges W Bush...
Georges W Bush admitted finally that he made a mistake, but he admitted the wrong one. He said that he was wrong by not deploying more troops to Iraq, and that’s why the situation is not acceptable to the American people. He also warned us that by deploying more troops, we will have more casualties as a reaction to his decisions, but that’s the right thing to do. He also made it clear that he is aware of Mr Maliki relationship with the Shiite Militia of Sadr but he is going to trust him this time that he will be fair and won’t mix politics and feelings. And last he made it clear to us that the 3,000 dead soldiers and the $400B were worth the effort and that an Iraq fighting terrorists is better that an Iraq harboring them.
Thank you Mr President for your wise decisions!!!!!!! What a nightmare…
Thank you Mr President for your wise decisions!!!!!!! What a nightmare…
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