Me myself and I

President-elect Barack Obama announced Monday that Robert Gates would remain as defense secretary, making President Bush's Pentagon chief his own as he seeks to wind down the U.S. role in Iraq. Obama picked former campaign rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

At a news conference, Obama also introduced his picks of retired Marine Gen. James Jones as White House national security adviser, former Justice Department official Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, and Susan Rice as UN Ambassador.





A video of the press conference can be found at the Source

Unfortunately I seem to be unable to embed the video in this post as I originally intended.

Just something interesting I found online.

Here's an article that goes into it in a bit more depth

Whenever I get annoyed by the current politics, mostly cause I don't even see the need for wasting time and money on federalisation. I try to think of a reason to be happy to be living in Belgium.[Poll #1268372][Poll #1268372]

I have to say, I'm feeling really depressed about the election results. I really don't get how so many people can be stupid enough to keep voting for extreme right parties like the Vlaams Belang. (well at least they didn't gain too much, but still)

Sure the SP has had it's problems, but still... I just hope that this doesn't mean that Belgium is going to be heading in a similar direction to the US. At least our christian party, which seems to have been a big winner, isn't as stupidly backwards as the republicans in regards to gay rights and freedom of speech.

What worries me most is that the people who want to split up Belgium seems to have won yet another victory. What is it with people? Are they really stupid enough to believe that we'd be better off in an independant Flandres than in a united Belgium?

I for one am Belgian first, Vlaming second and have no need for a further federalisation of the country since it's a waste of money better spent on more important issues like employment or traffic management or the environment.

Jesus, have you seen how small Belgium is already? We're already smaller than most American states, if you split that in two, barely anyone'll even notice us anymore.

What can I say that everyone else hasn't already said, and probably better...
I hate what's happened in London.
I hate it because it's stupid, because it's cowardish and because it's just so downright vile.

This wasn't a military attack on people who went in knowing they might come under attack. This was aimed at civilians, regular working people on their way to their job, tourists enjoying their vacation,... There's just no excuse for it.

I don't know who did it, but I hope that when they do come forward, that they are shamed by their actions(which they probably won't), cause honestly.... Who the hell actually wins anything out of this? It's stupid, senseless and evil in a way that few things can be and I really hope that when they catch whomever's responsible, that they'll go to jail for a long long time.(nope, still against death penalty; not to mention, these people don't deserve to become martyrs.)