Obama Picks Steven Chu As Energy Sec

Steven Chu has been picked by U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama for Energy Secretary. Barack Obama is adding another experienced member to his growing roster of competent officials. 

Chu was appointed as the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2004 and he was only 49 when he shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for codeveloping ways to cool and trap atoms using lasers.

The Nobel winning phsyicist has long spoke out about the need to combat climate change. Here are some of Chu’s past statements on energy issues.

Steven Chu will be the man to push for the development of alternative energy. In this 2005 interview with UC Berkeley, he spoke about the possibilites of biofuel and nuclear power. The Nobel Laurette is also expected to reform existing regulatory standards which are enforced by the Department of Energy.

Now, espousing theories is one thing… changing mindsets, justifying costs and benefits, formulating theories into clear policies, are easier said than done, so I expect this Energy Secretary appointment to be among the toughest job in Obama’s administration.

In an imminent energy crisis where extracting fossil fuels becoming increasingly challenging while demand continue to spike, the policies set forth will have far reaching implications for global economies, businesses and individuals.

Obama Replies To Eight Year Old Girl

To anyone who doubts Barack Obama will bring an approachable style to the White House, this article will show that he is indeed a people’s President.

Eight-year-old Fil-Am Karina Encarnacion recommended a dog that president-elect Barack Obama should get for his daughters, and in return got “three bits of advice that will make your life more fulfilling.”

Read on…

Now, I find this reply by Obama very endearing. He said: “Creating change and making the world better is not always easy, and you will probably find in your life that it is more comfortable to ignore injustices that don’t affect you directly. Don’t take that comfortable road. Challenge yourself to make a difference.”

He encourages children to empathize and sees the the future in terms of generational changes and not just his term in office.

The eight year old girl suggested laws to mandate recycling and to ban unnecessary wars. Simple, beautiful and noble wishes… but so hard to implement in practice!

We may think children are so naive – they are to be seen and not heard, and they do not understand the world around them. But there are times when adults who may think they know best should just listen to children.

No Honeymoon For President-Elect Barack Obama

Change has indeed come to America and I am glad that Obama, a bright, eager, charismatic and progressive African-American has ascended to the White House on a record wave of voters’ turnout. After the dizzying celebrations of a defining moment where a gigantic racial barrier was overcome, it is time to get back to reality though.

Read the full article here.

Sarah Palin’s Email Hacked

I can understand why a lot of people are obsessed with hot babe Sarah Palin and want to know everything about her. But this is carrying things too far…

The vindictive left has engaged in unprincipled attacks on the Republican Governor of Alaska with something dubbed as the “Bimbo Doctrine” and now she has her personal e-mail account hacked. You can view her e-mails, contact lists and family photos at Gawker .

The internet and radio are abuzz with this story which raises several ethical issues concerning privacy and also law infringement. We will leave these to the experts though.

How did hackers broke into Palin’s Yahoo! account? I certainly hope she did not write her password and paste it on her computer screen. If she is so callous about internet security, can we trust her with national security? Critical information falling into the wrong hands is no joking matter.

Anyway, let’s not think negatively. It is possible that the Yahoo service was tricked into revealing Palin’s password since her personal details like birthdate and ZIP code are widely known, Or a malicious software in the form of a forged e-mail may have extracted her password unknowingly.

There are questions about why Sarah Palin chose to use a Yahoo email to conduct semi-official business. Some critics pointed out that she may be emulating Karl Rove, who used an off-site e-mail address to confound investigations of his activities in the Bush administration.

On the personal front, this is terrible for Sarah Palin, her friends and family, but politically, she has scored points again. The tide swung in her favor after Obama used a derogative term “lipstick on a pig,” and many sympathy votes poured in for John McCain and Palin.

Conversely, Barack Obama’s campaign is on the decline after being billed as a sexist. Actually, right from the start, waging personal attacks on Palin was the wrong approach. Look at the petty comment:

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

Isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black? Obama tried to distance himself from such remarks but the damage has been done.

Focusing on bread and butter issues like unemployment, subprime crisis, bank failures, economic slowdown, budget deficits, financial reforms, etc (all of which will hit the Republicans where it hurts), will serve Obama well, instead of strengthening the resolve of GOP voters and feminists to side with Palin by making sexist descriptions.

Nevertheless, I have to congratulate Palin for emerging stronger with each mini scandal, either true or fabricated. Palin’s popularity is growing and beating Obama at his own game. So the lesson is, regardless of good news or bad news, just embrace all the free publicity.