The Blogging God farewell address...

I interupt your normal daily programme to tell you about a major news, probably the biggest ever news in the history of blogging since it was first started. I think some of you might have read in my other previous posts about a big news coming up and this will be the one.

Anyway, I am going to end all the rumours now and officially announce today that I will be suspending all my blogging activities with immediate effect. That is because in a few weeks time, I will be moving on to a new chapter in my life. Im going to serve the country in the form of National Service and as a result, I am unable to perform my blogging duties for the next 2 years or so. Im not saying that I will not be going back anymore for the next 2 years, if you have completed your National Service or if you have any siblings currently serving their National Service, you would know that you will get to go home once in a while. However, I dont think I will have the mood to blog about anything if I come back home after a long tiring day at the camp, so I have decided not to blog until I officially complete my National Service. Therefore, I am probably going to celebrate my 1st and 2nd Anniversary since I started to blog and my 19th and 20th birthday away from my family and friends. I know that this news will come as a blow and disappointment to many. I mean you have to wait for another 2 more years before you can come and visit a blog that is worth your time reading, rather than those who rants and complains everytime about their daily life. I mean where else can you find the best news and the best insights on one place. I believe I have inspired many to become more interested in the news, and I hope that will continue even when Im gone.

I guess the good thing that I am going to be serving the country is the fact that you can all now live with a much peaceful mind knowing that I have join the team of the wonderful young men who are doing their best everyday and everytime to ensure the country is safe from any threats. Im very proud to be joining the ranks and I will be working very hard to continue the good job that they have done. Im not sure what will you do when Im gone but at the same time, I dont really care. Looking ahead to the future, you can expect a lot of changes to my blog when I come back, Im going to get a new blogskin and add in more exciting features on my blog that will be more user-friendly, so you will have to come back in 2 years time to see what it is all about. If you want to send me your well wishes, Im just going to leave my chatbox for another week. After that, Im going to take it down.

It has been a great experience to blog, much more because for myself than for you people, but nevertheless, I would like to thank all of you who have supported me and my blog and have contributed in it in one way or another. Two years might be a short and long time for some, but one thing for sure, a lot of thing can happen within the next 2 years. Some of you might be graduating from your Polys or ITEs then, so I wish you the best of luck. If you are laughing at me now for going to the National Service first, then I will be the one laughing at you when it is your time to do so. I might be away soon but it doesnt change the fact that I am, I was and I wil always be the Blogging God. But until then, do take care of yourselves and I hope to see you in 2 years time. Sayonara...

Thank You Mr Bush!

As we all know, the US President, George W Bush will be leaving the oval office soon to make way for the new president-elect Barack Obama. But before he does that, I would just want to take this opportunity to show my thanks and appreciation to Mr Bush as I dont think I will have the time to do that when the real day comes due to my National Service commitment. Im going to do my appreciation speech in a letter format so that it will be more meaningful and it will look like Im talking to Mr Bush myself. So here it goes...

Dear Mr President,

What a long 8 years it has been for you! And throughout the 8 years, there have been many challenges and obstacles that you have had to overcome. Many things has happened during your time in the office, some good ones and some bad ones and being the President for so long, you dont have to be told on what are the things that have brought joy and peace to the country, and what are the things that have brought pain and suffering to the country.

When you first became the President, you had taken over a country which I believe was in a good shape and the people voted for you because they knew that you were the right person to continue the good job that had been achieved by the previous administration and they had the belief that you would bring the country to even further success, which you have managed to done over the last 8 years or so. Everything was going well for you until that one big disaster. Im referring to the cowardly acts by the terrorists on September 11 2001 of course. Many innocent lives were lost during that event and it was during those troubling times that America need someone to look up to, someone that they could trust and someone whom they knew would bring the perpetrators to justice. They were really fortunate because they had you as their President. I can remember how great you did in handling the situation. You showed great leadership, strength and determination and you reminded the people that America wont be easily defeated by her enemies. If anything, the incident only managed to bring the people closer together and strengthen their resolve to fight and defeat a common enemy.

Before the enemies could do any further damage to the country, you responded quick and fast by bringing the fight to the enemies itself when you declared war in Iraq. The Iraqis must be feeling thankful to you and the American people for ending their sufferings and injustice that they had to deal with under Saddam Hussein. The man as we all know is gone now and the Iraqi people could lead a normal life once again without having to worry about anything. The job in Iraq is not really done with, but the situation is improving day by day thanks to you and the great job that the American military service has done. You have managed to stop North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons and are trying very hard to do the same with Iran. In the middle east, you share the same vision as every people in Palestine and Israel to achieve peace which is not an easy process. Nevertheless, even if you cant achieve your objective by the time you leave the office, you have at least leave the next administration with a better platform to begin with and when its all over and done with, you can say that you had contributed in someway towards the success.

The economy as well all know is not doing well currently, which could leave a sour note on your legacy but I dont think you should take all the blame for it. Nobody wants to see it happening. Job losses are at all time high and many people are forced to leave their house. Although your time as the president might be ending soon, you have demonstrated over the last few months or so that you will try to do your best to get the problem rectified before it get any worse. For example, you have asked Congress to pass the $700 billion rescue plan recently which I think was a great move. The situation will not change overnight though and everyone have to bear that in mind. When you leave office, you will surely be missed Im sure. Forget about what the people and the polls are saying, you are in my opinion one of the greatest president in the US history. I wish you could be the president forever but thats just impossible right. They say that you will need another great man to replace a great leader, and I believe Obama is the right guy to do that. It has been a roller-coaster 8 years with you and it has been my honor to call you Mr President for the last 8 years or so. I wish you well in your future and may God bless you.

Yours Truly,

The Blogging God

The Blogging God open invitation...

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

November 9, 2008

Greetings to all. This is an open invitation from the Blogging God to all his fans and friends to join him in his upcoming holiday at Genting Highlands. He will be travelling with his family which only consists of his mother and his younger sister. As he is the only guy in the family, he is feeling bored to go there all alone with his family, so he is looking for one other person, preferbably a guy to join him there.

He will be departing on the 20th November, Thursday and will be coming back on Saturday, November 22. He knows that for you Poly and ITE students, it would probably be impossible for you to join him as the current school term is still going on. Therefore, this offer will be open to any secondary school students as well, but you must know him personally if you wish to go. If you have any concerns about having not enough money to join him, he would just like to tell you that you will only have to pay for the bus fares which is S$118 in total for both trips, the departure and the return trip. You dont have to pay more money for the booking of the hotels and all the other stuffs, he got that all covered for you. However, if you wish to bring in extra money for your own spending, then of course by all means, do so. If you are also worried about sleeping in the same room with my family, then he would just like to say that he has the option to book another room for you and him (that if youre a guy) to stay in without no additional charges. If you are really interested but you dont have $118, then he is willing to invest in $50 of his own money to pay for your tickets, so you just have to pay the remaining amount. You dont have to feel bad about it because he is very sincere about it and you dont have to pay him the $50 too. It couldnt get any better than this.

Please tell him as soon as possible if youre interested so he can book the tickets earlier and make sure that you are available during those 3 days. This is a great opportunity that you definitely dont want to miss. For more information on Genting Highlands, you can visit its official website here at http://www.genting.com.my/index.htm. So hurry up and tell him because theres only room for one. Until then, take care.

Alonso signs new two-year deal at Renault...

Fernando Alonso has opted to stay with Renault, signing a two-year contract extention that will keep him at the French Formula One team through 2010. Renault also said Nelson Piquet Jr. will remain with the team next year, leaving its driver lineup unchanged for the 2009 season.

Alonso left McLaren last year to return to Renault after a rocky partnership with Lewis Hamilton, but flirted with such teams as Ferrari and BMW Sauber during this season. However, he was persuaded to stay after a positive finish to the season when the Spaniard won two of the last four races.

"After a difficult start to the season we have overcome our difficulties and constantly improved our performances," Alonso said.

"My back-to-back wins in Singapore and Japan, and my recent second-place podium finish in Brazil have proved how competitive we can be."

Alonso won back-to-back championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006. Before Hamilton's victory at the Brazilian GP last Sunday, he was the youngest champion in F1 history. He finished the season with 61 points -- 37 behind champion Hamilton. Team principal Flavio Briatore hailed Alonso's "leadership" and "determination" after the 27-year-old's return started poorly, with Alonso regularly finishing out of the points. In the first 10 races, his best finish was fourth place in Australia. Renault stuck with Piquet Jr. despite an erratic season that saw the 23-year-old Brazilian finish second at Hockenheim but failing to finish 13 of the 18 races. [End of report]

This is obviously a great news for me. If you have been reading my previous post about Lewis Hamilton winning the driver's championship, you should know that I support both Alonso and Renault. I cant make up my mind which one of them I am supporting the most because Alonso was the main reason why I started to support Renault in the first place and when he was at Renault back in 2005 and 2006, I became a fan of their car as well. Alonso was then of course went to McLaren. When that happened, I didnt turn my back on Renault and support McLaren, Renault was still my choice of team. I didnt support Alonso as much then as I did when he was at Renault but I still wanted him to do well and I still kept a close following on his progress. As we all know, things didnt work out the way he wanted at McLaren which was why his time there was shortlived. I dont know whether it was the driver or the car, but Renault just wasn't the same team they once were when Alonso won the driver's championship consecutively, which also at the same time helped Renault in clinching the constructor's championship as well.

Therefore, when he left McLaren, I was really hoping he could come back to Renault and I think you should know how glad I was when I heard he was joining the team back. This year was the first season for him to drive in a Renault car again after leaving from McLaren two years ago and if youre been following F1 very closely this season which has just ended recently, you can see that it was another disappointing season for the Renault team especially during the early stages. I thought with Alonso coming back, the team could propelled to the same level as it did during their championship winning years, but that never happened. As we all know, Lewis Hamilton won the driver's championship and Ferrari won the constructor's championship respectively. Renault finished the season in fourth place while Alonso finished the season in fifth place. Well considering how the season started, I dont think that is actually a bad result. It could get a lot worse if it wasnt for Alonso. I think much of Renault's success this season was contributed by him. If you could remember, he had a mini-resurgence late in the season starting with the win that most of you should be familiar with, which is at the Singapore GP. I was delighted when he won that race in particular because it was the first ever night race and the win was a long time coming. As the season drag on, I was wondering whether we will win any race, so to do it in Singapore was just the icing on the cake. He then continued his good form by winning in Japan and finished second in Brazil.

If only all those things happened earlier in the season, then we would be talking about him with the likes of Hamilton and Massa. We had to wait for a very long time before he announced his decision to stay with Renault. I admit that I have some doubts about him staying here but after the late resurgence, all my doubts started to calm down a little bit and I just knew he would stay with us for at least one more season, much less two. If results were to be different in Singapore, Japan and Brazil, Im not sure if he would want to stay with us. We started the season in a bad way but end it with a high, so I cant wait for next season to start especially now knowing that Alonso would be leading the team once again. The likes of Hamilton and Massa should better watch out because we will even be a much stronger team for next season. On a smaller note, his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. will also be staying with the team next season as you can read from the report. This season has been disasterous to say the least for him but he is still young and growing, so I expect a better performance for next season. Until then, drive safely.

*The report was taken from Associated Press.

Obama: 'This is your victory'...

Barack Obama told supporters that "change has come to America" as he claimed victory in a historic presidential election.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there," Obama said in Chicago, Illinois, before an estimated crowd of up to 240,000 people.

With Obama's projected win, he will become the first African-American to win the White House.Obama had an overwhelming victory over Sen. John McCain, who pledged Tuesday night to help Obama lead. McCain called Obama to congratulate him, and Obama told the Arizona senator he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them can work together. President Bush also called Obama to offer his congratulations. Bush told Obama he was about to begin one of the great journeys of his life, and invited him to visit the White House as soon as it could be arranged, according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. Obama will be working with a heavily Democratic Congress. Democrats picked up Senate seats in New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia, among others.

Flanked by American flags, Obama told the roaring crowd, "This is your victory."

"To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -- I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too," he said.

More than 1,000 people gathered outside of the White House, chanting "Obama, Obama!"Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama's former rival for the Democratic nomination, said in a statement that "we are celebrating an historic victory for the American people." As results came in Tuesday night, Obama picked up early wins in Pennsylvania and Ohio -- states considered must-wins for McCain. Obama also won Virginia, a state that has not voted for a Democratic president since 1964. Going into the election, national polls showed Obama with an 8-point lead. Voters expressed excitement and pride in their country after casting their ballots in the historic election. Poll workers reported high turnout across many parts of the country, and some voters waited hours to cast their ballots.

Tuesday marks the end of the longest presidential campaign season in U.S. history -- 21 months.Obama, 47, will now begin his transition to the White House. He will be sworn in at the 44th president on January 20, 2009. [End of report]

He finally did it! Barack Obama is now the president-elect of the United States of America and as one of his supporter, I share his joy as well. It has been a long journey with a lot of challenges, but I think it was all worth it. Let's now look at some of the reasons why he managed to win the elections. First of all, Im going to be honest here and say that I dont know who Barack Obama was before the start of the campaign, nor have I ever heard his name before and I dont think many Americans did too. But after he won the Iowa caucuses, we started to hear his name more often and he went on to win a few more caucuses as well as primaries which was a bit of a surprise to some people as they thought that Hillary Clinton, who was the most popular candidate in the Democratic party would win it all. That didnt happened of course as Obama started to get some momentum in his campaign going. People were starting to know Obama better as the campaign moved on. One by one, the Democratic presidential candidates starts to drop out from the race. My choice for the presidential nomination was John Edwards at first but he too had to drop out from the race. But before he did, I managed to see the signs that he would do just that, and I started to support Obama as well as my second choice, just in case Edwards drop out which he did later. The race was down to two, Obama and Hillary and this is another reason why I think he managed to do so well in the elections.

As we all know, both Obama and Hillary had a long and bitter primary battle and I think this actually helped Obama more than it hurts him. I think during the long battle, it gave Obama the time he needed to let the people know more about him. This wasnt a problem for Hillary as I think almost everyone know who she is, but I thought Obama needed more time and as the primary battle went on, people get to know more about Obama which could be a crucial factor if he was going to be the party's nominee as he will be going on against a more experienced and well known John McCain from the Republican party. The bad side of it is that it turned many Clinton supporters off Obama in particular the women voters. If you could remember back then after Hillary conceded defeat, the polls were showing a large percentage of Clinton's supporters who did not plan to vote for Obama in November. But that was then. Soon, Hillary started to give her support to Obama, doing some fundraising events for him and appearing in the Democrat National Convention calling for her supporters to support Obama. Another reason I think is his youth factor. Obama as we all know is the much younger candidate of the two, and I think it is precisely because of this that many young and new voters decided to vote for him.

I believe that because of the vast age difference between him and McCain, it managed to help him to appeal to the young voters and they probably felt that they can relate better with an Obama presidency than McCain and the statistics doesnt lie. I went to do some research and found out that there was a strong support from young voters for Barack Obama. Voters in the 18 to 24 age group broke 68 percent for Obama to 30 percent for John McCain, according to the exit polling. Those in the 25 to 29 age bracket went 69 percent to 29 percent in Obama's favor. If you look at the numbers, its staggering. And among those factoring age into their vote, 78 percent went for Obama to 21 percent for McCain, exit polls showed. So all these factors among others contribute to his victory I think. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to tune in to CNN and when I saw the key states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, I knew there is no way that McCain was going to make a comeback. It was only a matter of time before Obama was declared as the winner and at the stroke of exactly 12pm, Singapore time, the news was in. Obama will be the new president of America. Im not an American, but I would like to call myself an American at heart, so when I saw that news, a lot of emotions ran through my mind. I was completely overjoyed and sad at the same time, overjoyed because my man has won it, and sad because the campaign trail is finally over.

I really enjoyed the entire campaign trail right from the start. I wished that it never had to end but then again, if that happen, then Obama wouldnt be the president-elect. I might not be supporting John McCain but I think we can all agree that he had run a great campaign as well despite all the differences he had with Obama and all the bad things he said about him. He made a great comeback during the primary season and he needed a greater comeback to win the elections, but it was never to be. I watched his speech in which he conceded defeat and I think it was really great to hear. He spoke from his heart and even though I didn't support him, I shed some tears hearing his speech I dont really know why, its probably because I dont get to see Sarah Palin as often anymore. I dont think John McCain will contest for the next election but the same cannot be said on Palin's part. So do watch out for her. After that I watch the speech from Obama and it was inspirational to hear as always. Now that the first part of the job is done and over with, he will have a far more greater challenges ahead. He will have to think on ways to restore the economy, stop the terrorist threats, mulling over the possibility of a nuclear Iran, the challenges and problems he will face is endless but I believe he will be able to overcome all of it just like what he had promised he would do as the president.

He wont be taking charge of the White House just as yet though. Obama and running mate Joe Biden will take their oath of office on Jan. 20 next year. Although it will happen next year, the work for Obama starts from this day onwards. Obama has always talked about bringing change that the people can believe in, now the people have a president that they can believe in. For now though, lets keep the party going!

*For those of you who missed the speeches from Obama and McCain, you can read their full transcript here respectively at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

or

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/mccain.transcript/index.html?iref=mpstoryview .

Or if youre too lazy to read it, you can watch the entire video of it here http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/obama.transcript/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCVideo

or

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/11/04/sot.mccain.concession.cnn?iref=mpvideosview

*The report was taken from CNN

US Presidential Elections 08: Where you can catch it...

Today, November 4 is a historic day for America as they will once again go to the polls to vote for a new president. The choice - Barack Obama from the Democrat party and John McCain from the Republican party. If you have been following my blog from day one, you would probably know it is a topic that is very close to my heart and I have been following the elections very closely right from start. The results will most likely be known tomorrow and as I will probably be glued to my TV set all day long, I wont have time to tell you every results or share my views with you on the election day itself. I will wait for all the results to be announced before I post again, so you will have to wait for another one or two days for my post.

You dont have to worry though if you are interested to know the results as and when they are announced as you can catch the full coverage of the elections on the various news station as stated below at the following time:-

CNN - Coverage starts from 6am

Fox News Channel - Coverage starts from 6am

BBC - Coverage starts from 7am

ChannelNewsAsia - 8.45am

I can tell you that tomorrow will definitely be an exciting day. I will be tuning to CNN for all the latest news and if you are also subscribing to the cable channel, I encourage you to do the same. If not, you should not worry as you can still catch all the coverage on ChannelNewsAsia. If you want see all the reactions from Europe's perspective, then you should tune in to CNN but if you want to get all the latest reactions from Asia, then CNA is the channel. How cool is that. If you cant catch it on TV, then you can catch it online at this website http://edition.cnn.com/POLITICS/ .

Oh before I go, I would like to share a piece of good news with you, Barack Obama had came up as a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, N.H., where tradition of having the first Election Day ballots tallied lives on. If the results there are a good first sign of what's to come on the big day, I will be celebrating all day long. But until then, lets continue to hope and pray for some good news to come. YES WE CAN PEOPLE!

PS*: If Barack Obama wins the elections, you are all welcome to party with me.

Study: Women lead men in bacteria,hands down...

Wash your hands, folks, especially you ladies. A new study found that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men do. And everybody has more types of bacteria than the researchers expected to find.

"The sheer number of bacteria species detected on the hands of the study participants was a big surprise, and so was the greater diversity of bacteria we found on the hands of women," added lead researcher Noah Fierer, an assistant professor in Colorado's department of ecology and evolutionary biology.

The researchers aren't sure why women harbored a greater variety of bacteria than men, but Fierer suggested it may have to so with the acidity of the skin. Knight said men generally have more acidic skin than women. Other possibilities are differences in sweat and oil gland production between men and women, the frequency of moisturizer or cosmetics applications, skin thickness or hormone production, he said. Women also may have more bacteria living under the surface of the skin where they are not accessible to washing, Knight added.

Asked if guys should worry about holding hands with girls, Knight said: "I guess it depends on which girl."

He stressed that "the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial ... the pathogens are a small minority."

The researchers took samples from the palms of 51 college students _ that's 102 hands _ and tested the samples using a new, highly detailed system for detecting bacteria DNA. They identified 4,742 species of bacteria overall, only 5 of which were on every hand, they report on Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The average hand harbored 150 species of bacteria. Not only did individuals have few types of bacteria in common, the left and right hands of the same individual shared only about 17 percent of the same bacteria types, the researchers found. The differences between dominant and non-dominant hands were probably due to environmental conditions like oil production, salinity, moisture or variable environmental surfaces touched by either hand of an individual, Fierer said. Knight said the researchers hope to repeat the experiment in other countries where different hands are assigned specific tasks.

While the researchers stressed the importance of regular hand washing, they also noted that washing did not eliminate bacteria. While the tests could determine how many different types of bacteria were present, they could not count the total amount of bacteria on each hand. The research was funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. [End of report]

Well for me personally, the findings of so many species of bacteria on the hands wasn't really surprising. I know for a fact that a lot of people in this country doesnt wash their hand properly, and when I say properly, I mean washing their hands with soap as well. Most of the people here as far as Im concerned will only wash their hands without using the soap, and even worst, there are others who doesnt wash their hands at all after using the toilet. I mean that is really disgusting. Its OK with me if you dont want to use the soap but not to wash your hands at all is beyond disgusting I think. So it is no surprise that the study discovered many different species of bacteria on the hands of the people they did the study with, but I am quite surprise they found out that women have a greater variety of bacteria on their hands than men. There are no concrete proof yet that the reasons offered by the researchers can be link to the discovery or not, but I would like to think that is the case. I think that it would be unfair to say that women are much more lazier than men when it comes to washing their hand, though I always thought it is very much the opposite. I would not like to shift the focus on the topic a little bit and look at the bigger picture here, and that is the importance of washing your hand with the right steps.

This is an issue that is very close to me because Im a man who like to put my cleanliness as one of my priority in my life, and that means that I will always remember to wash my hand with soap everytime after I use the toilet or any other things that I touch or use that could get any bacteria on my hands such as the broom for example. So my question to you now is, how many of you actually wash your hands with soap after doing your business? The importance of washing your hands correctly should not be overlook at I think. I know some of you take such things very lightly because its not really that important to you as you can read from the report, the vast majority of the bacteria we have on our body are either harmless or beneficial. However, that doesnt mean you can forget about it entirely. That is why right now we have the Global Handwashing Day, which was started by the United Nations. It was celebrated for the first time ever in October this year and its main aim is to promote the practice of handwashing with soap, especially among the children in African countries and South Asian countries, where basic sanitation are very poor. Unicef says using soap to wash hands, particularly after contact with excreta, can reduce diarrhoeal diseases by over 40% and respiratory infections by 30% and this affect everyone not just the children.

I did some research and found out that according to a recent survey commissioned by hygiene products maker Unilever, three out of every 10 Singaporeans do not wash their hands after using the toilet. That for me is a worrying statistic. The least you could do after using the toilet is to wash your hand. I dont know why it is so difficult for people to do that. Its not as if our country is lacking of toilets especially in public places. Just go to any shopping mall or a coffeeshop and you can wash your hands with soap. I blame it on the laziness of our people. So remember guys to wash your hands with soap everytime after you use the toilet. According to the UN, washing hands with water alone is not enough because you fail to wash off the germs. And if you have smaller brother or sister, do educate them on the right way to wash their hands because they are the group that will be put at risk most if they are not told to do the right. I hope I have get the message across. Anyway if you want to know more about the Global Handwashing Day, you can visit its website at http://www.globalhandwashingday.org/ where you can find a lot of useful information about washing your hands with the right way.

*The report was taken from Associated Press.

Hamilton pips Massa to Formula One title in tense Brazil finale...

An emotional Lewis Hamilton admitted he was virtually lost for words and did not know he had succeeded when he became the youngest man to win the Formula One drivers' world championship. The 23-year-old Englishman, needing a top five finish to be champion, only seized fifth place for McLaren Mercedes again, after losing it, on the final lap of a tense, dramatic and rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix won by his title rival and local hero Felipe Massa of Ferrari. As Massa triumphed and then celebrated, briefly, Hamilton caught and passed German Timo Glock of Toyota to turn his day from despair to joy after earlier appearing to have controlled his own race by cruising towards fourth or fifth place.

A late shower of rain then created chaos and saw Hamilton change tyres and fall back to sixth before he made his final desperate charge to recover and claim fifth. But as he said afterwards Hamilton was not even sure that he had won the title when he finally crossed the line in teeming rain and near-darkness in front of 100,000 spectators at the Interlagos circuit. Massa who finished the season in style with a dazzling win in front of his home crowd ended up in tears as he stood atop the victors' podium. He had won six races this season to Hamilton's five but missed the championship 98 points to 97. Driving with great control and judgement, Hamilton avoided the early problems that wrecked his bid to become the first rookie champion last year as he steered his McLaren Mercedes to glory after a tense contest and an extraordinary final lap. Only on that final lap did Hamilton regain a place when Glock lost 18 seconds in his Toyota and slipped behind Hamilton. As well as being the youngest champion, Hamilton also became the first black Formula One title holder on a stirring afternoon in front of an impassioned 100,000 crowd at the Interlagos circuit.

The race, run in unpredictable wet and dry conditions, was won comprehensively by his nearest rival and local hero Massa. Hamilton allowed Massa in his Ferrari to run away at the front and claim his sixth win this year and the 11th victory of his career. Massa was followed home by two times champion Fernando Alonso of Renault and third placed Ferrari team mate and outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen. German youngster Sebastien Vettel was fourth for Toro Rosso after passing Hamilton in the final laps and Hamilton fifth, just, after his late recovery when Glock slowed down and finished sixth. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen of Finland came home seventh. Hamilton's triumph made him first Briton to take the world title since Damon Hill in 1996 and the first McLaren champion since Finn Mika Hakkinen in 1999. He is Britain 's ninth champion. The previous youngest champion was Alonso who was 24 years, one month and 27 days old when he won the title in 2005. Hamilton was 23 years, nine months and 26 days old as he drove to glory on Sunday.

Massa had been hoping to be the first Brazilian champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
While Hamilton and Massa will be back next season for Scot David Coulthard this was the last race before retirement but the veteran winner of 13 grand prix did not make it to the first bend after slipping off when his Red Bull was hit by Nico Rosberg's Williams. [End of report]

What a great season of Formula 1 it has been, that if you are supporting Hamilton or McLaren of course. The fact that the battle for the driver's championship had to go all the way to the final race of the season shows what a great and competitive season it has been in particular for both Ferrari and McLaren as well as their drivers. Both teams had been a close rival to each other since the last few seasons but I think this is probably the closest they have ever been in recent memory. I actually managed to catch the race yesterday but I didnt managed to watch the entire race because I fell asleep when there was about 20 or so lap to go. It started at 1 am, so you can understand how I managed to fell asleep. Anyway, I was hoping to see some crazy incidents which could affect the driver's championship race but nothing of that sort happened when I was still watching it. But it is just my bad luck that I missed the best part of the race on the last lap where Hamilton somehow managed to pass Timo Glock who was in the fifth position and to end the race in that position. As we all know, that was all Hamilton needed to win the driver's championship, irregardless of whether Massa finished first or last. I do feel sorry for Massa in a way because he was already celebrating as though he had won the championship until that incident happened of course.

Having said all that, I am neither a fan of Ferrari or McLaren or any of their drivers, so it doesnt really matter to me if it was Massa or Hamilton who won that championship. Im a Renault fan and Alonso as well, so Im going to turn my focus on them now. Fernando Alonso finished the race in second position yesterday which is not bad at all considering the season we had to go through. I think we finally have the right car, but it just need a little bit of improvement before we can challenge again with the big boys. We have did it before and we can do it again. Looking back at the season, Im going to be honest here and say that I didnt watch all the races, but I did manage to catch a few and out of those few, I have to say that my favourite race was the one in our beautiful city of Singapore. You can say I am biased as it was also the first win for the season for Renault and my favourite driver Alonso followed by another victory at Japan. He has been in great form as of late and Im hoping that he will stay with the team for next season. I mean looking at the last few races, there is no reason why he shouldn't. Im not sure about his teammate though Nelson Piquet though. He has been very disappointing throughout the entire season and Im not sure if Renault should stick with him for next season. It reminds me of Heikki Kovalainen. His luck has change for the better since moving on to McLaren, so maybe its the car that need to have some changes and not the driver.

Before I forget, I just want to pay my tribute to Red Bull’s David Coulthard. Yesterday's race was his last race in his illustrious Formula 1 career in which he managed to record a total of 13 wins, 12 pole positions and an impressive haul of 535 points. The statistics was taken from the Formula 1 website so Im not trying to make it up. It was really unfortunate that he had to end his race yesterday in the first lap because of an incident involving both Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima. Im not really a huge fan of him either but I like him as a person and all the things he have contributed to the sport to make it better. He's not the Michael Schumacher type of guy but Im sure he is well respected by everyone. The world of Formula 1 will miss his competitive spirit on the track Im sure. Good luck in your future endeavours David. You have been great. Looking forward now, bring on next season!


*The report was taken from AFP.

"I cannot return home," exiled former PM Thaksin tells 90,000-crowd...

Exiled former Thai premier Thakin Shinawatra denounced his opponents Saturday in a telephone address to 90,000 loyal supporters packed into a Bangkok sports stadium. Speaking from an undisclosed location, Thaksin thanked the crowd but told them he could not return to the kingdom from exile in Britain without a royal pardon after he was sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges last month. Thaksin went on to verbally attack the generals who overthrew him in a September 2006 military coup, to wild cheers from the crowd.

Thaksin fled to Britain in early August following his wife's conviction for tax evasion. It was his first address to supporters since leaving the kingdom and being sentenced in absentia on October 21 to two years in jail for violating corruption laws. Several other corruption cases are outstanding against him. About 90,000 of his fans, clad in red shirts signalling their pro-government stance, gathered at Rajamangala sports stadium in Bangkok's eastern outskirts, raising fears of clashes with rival protesters. An army colonel told AFP that more than 2,000 troops were on standby in case the police required their assistance, but there were no signs of trouble. Chaturon Chaisang, former leader of Thaksin's now-disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, earlier took to the stadium's stage to denounce the People's Alliance for Democracy, who have been holding anti-government rallies since May. Thai society is split between those who love or loathe Thaksin.

Fans of the twice-elected multi-millionaire, calling themselves the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), come mostly from the country's majority rural poor and say they are upholding democracy. His detractors, represented by the PAD, have occupied the grounds of the prime minister's offices since August calling for the government to step down. They claim the PPP, which was elected in December last year, is running the country on behalf of Thaksin, whom they accuse of corruption and nepotism. PAD held protests before the 2006 coup. The return to power of Thaksin's allies angered the PAD and the old military and bureaucratic power elite in the palace. Crowds of PAD supporters descended on the British embassy on Thursday to demand Britain extradites Thaksin, who still faces trial on many other corruption charges. Thailand's current prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat -- Thaksin's brother-in-law -- has been under increasing pressure to resign since bloody clashes on October 7 between PAD supporters and police left two people dead and nearly 500 others injured.

Somchai, visiting Chiang Mai, told reporters earlier he was concerned about clashes between protesters on Saturday and urged both sides to be peaceful. But PAD organiser Suriyasai Katasila said the group would not confront the pro-government rally. [End of report]

The saga in Thailand doesnt seem like it will ever end does it? If you have been reading my blog and my previous posts about the situation in Thailand, I think you would know that Im a huge fan of Thaksin when he was still the Prime Minister and I am still a huge fan of his now. Therefore it is understandable when I heard the news that he was sentenced to two years in prison for violating conflict of interest laws while in office by Thailand Supreme Court. Now, Im not sure how or when he is expected to return to Thailand to serve his sentence, because he is still now in Britain. It remains to be seen how London will respond to the ruling, but as far as Thaksin is concerned, he is saying that he cannot return to the country and I have to agree with him. I think he has been wrongly accused and he is just an innocent victim of the conspiracy that is currently going on in the country, plotted by his enemies of course. Now Im not sure whether they had anything to do with the sentence or not, but Im sure they will be very happy with the news. Ever since Thaksin was still in power, his enemies have been trying to get rid of him and saying things about him which are completely wrong in order to give the impression that he is a bad guy in the eyes of the Thai people.

I strongly believe he did a great job when he was still the Prime Minister, a lot of people like him. He managed to close the gap between the poor and the rich, and everywhere he go, there will always be huge crowd cheering for him which is why he was overwhelmingly elected as the prime minister twice. The people made the decision so I find it crazy that they are now blaming him for all the country's problem. If he hadn't done a great job in his first term, then he shouldnt have been the Prime Minister for the second time. Now lets just say he actually did some things which he shouldnt have done as the PM, then of course he deserved to get booted out which is what happened with the military coup. They then had another election and they chose Samak to lead. Samak hadn't done anything wrong either when suddenly people are saying he is running the country as a proxy for Thaksin. I mean how can that be when Thaksin is so far away at Britain, busy looking after his football club, when he was still the owner of Manchester City. His enemies is trying to create all kinds of stories to punish Thaksin because they didnt get into power which I think is wrong. If they want to blame somebody, they should blame themselves for not doing enough to get the support from the majority of the people, not Thaksin or anyone else who have some link with him.

I was really glad to see that Thaksin still have some support from many people in the country. You just have to see the crowd at the stadium when Thaksin addressed them through the video call. If I was in Bangkok, I would have gone there too to show Thaksin that he still have my support. I really feel sorry for him. Everything is going wrong for him at the moment and it is not even his fault. I really hope that one day, the Thai people will get to see the truth and realize that Thaksin is not guilty of those charges and that he is just another victim of a political struggle that is happening in the country.

*The report was taken from AFP.

October saw the lowest number of post on the Blogging God's blog...

For Immediate Release

Office of the Press Secretary

November 2, 2008

If you have been following the Blogging God's blog very closely, you would have noticed that for last month, which is the month of October, there was not much activity on the blog and it was also the month with the lowest number of post since he started blogging in February this year. Last month saw a total of just 17 posts on the blog. It was also the first time ever that there the number of the total post for a month was below the 20 mark. Now he has been hearing many rumours about the possible reasons of why it could have happened. There are even some of you who tried to link the drop in the blogging activities here to the current global economy meltdown. You are saying things like he is experiencing his own recession and depression due to the crisis. That is not the case actually and today, he would like to tell you why, not that some of you actually care to know, but he would like to tell nevertheless.

Firstly, one of the main reason for the decline in activities is because October was the month of Hari Raya and if you could remember back in September in his Hari Raya message, he did say that he will be away for the first week of Hari Raya because of his busy schedule. That was one of the main reason. Secondly, it is because he had to waste some of his time dealing with a trouble maker whom if you could remember, went against one of the rules on his blog which is not to use the banned acronyms on his blog. And thirdly, it is because he decided to take a short break from blogging last week as he felt it was the right time for him to do so since he has been blogging for almost non-stop since early this year.

That is basically the reasons for the significant drop in the number of post. There is no problem currently with his personal life which might have cause his mood to blog. Looking ahead to the future, there will actually be a smaller number of post for this month but one one of them will be a major news which will affect everybody including him, so you will have to keep coming to his blog to see what the news is all about. For this month too, you can expect him to bring major news in particular the US election which will be happening next week on November 4. He will tell you everything you need to know when its all over and done with and he will be sharing his views with you about the results as well. Until then, have a nice day.

ComfortDelGro to remove 30-cent diesel surcharge...

Now, I know that I have said that I am taking a break and will be back on November 4. But I have decided to cut short on my break and to blog again from today. I know I am kind so you dont have to thank me. Anyway back to today's topic, I think you might have heard about the good news before yesterday but for the sake of you who dont give a care about what is happening around you, I will tell you the good news now. Well the good news that I am referring to is that the biggest cab operator in the country, ComfortDelGro will be removing the 30-cent diesel surcharge on taxi rides with effect from November 12. Here are the full report to the news.

[Report] ComfortDelGro, Singapore's largest cab operator, will be removing the 30-cent diesel surcharge on taxi rides with effect from 6am, November 12. The company said on Wednesday the move is in light of the recent decline in diesel prices and the weakening economic conditions.

The price of diesel price has dropped from S$1.83 per litre in July, when the surcharge was introduced, to the current S$1.38 per litre. ComfortDelGro said it would continue subsidising the cost of diesel for its drivers. It spent S$16.2 million on diesel subsidies in the first half of this year. Newcomer Trans-cab took the lead in announcing on Tuesday that it would remove the 30-cent surcharge on its taxi rides from November 11. Other taxi companies such as Premier Taxi said the removal of the surcharge will affect the driver's income, and therefore the matter is still being reviewed.

ComfortDelGro said its taxi associations support the move, but taxi drivers whom Channel NewsAsia spoke to said the move would have an adverse impact on their income. With the surcharge, taxi drivers who make at least 30 trips a day earn an additional S$9 or more. Taxi ridership has fallen by 7 per cent to around 921,000 a day from 991,000 in 2006. With the economic downturn, observers expect ridership to drop even more. The number of taxis plying the roads has, however, grown by 6 per cent in the last two years to about 24,400. [End of report]

When I first heard this news yesterday, I was obviously overjoyed. I believe you will share the same feeling too if you are someone like me, who prefer to take the cab more than the train or the bus. When the taxi companies here announced that they would introduce the 30-cent surcharge earlier, I think everyone was very disappointed because apart from that, we already had to cope with a higher cost of living. Everything was going up and up, and it is still happening now, but the price of oil however, has dropped significantly over the last few months or so. Let's leave from the topic of the taxis for a moment and focus on the bigger picture here. When the price of oil was on the upward trend, I thought that there was a high possibility that it might reach to the highs of $200 a barrel by year end. I mean it was just three months ago that the price of oil hit $147 per barrel. I think that the decline in the price of oil was contributed by many different factors. One of them was the decision to increase oil output by the Saudis in the middle of this year and the coming back of refining capacity of the U.S.'s Gulf Coast that was lost as a result of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. Just to give you a picture of how steep the decline has been, the price of oil was traded at $70 a barrel just today, that is about half the amount in July. Things are going so good, that even the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), decided at an emergency meeting in Vienna last week to slash output by 1.5 million barrels a day from November 1. And earlier this week, OPEC Secretary General warned it could cut output again if prices keep falling. OPEC produces 40 percent of the world's crude oil.

Of course the decline in oil prices is a good thing to hear, but it doesnt necessarily have to be that way. The bad news about the decline could be that the global economy is headed for a serious slump, which explains the less demand for oil, hence the drop in prices. As you all know, the future of the global economy is not looking too good right now, as a result of the credit crunch crisis that America is facing, which has since spread to the rest of the world. When a country dont have much money on their disposal, they will spend less, and that is precisely what is happening in the oil industry. Oil demand in the U.S. has dropped 10% in the few weeks for example and there is a worry by OPEC that there might be a slowdown in China as well, whose soaring economy this decade has sent oil prices rocketing. History have shown that in times like this, it is understandable to see why things have gone the way they did. I went to do some research and found out that in the last financial crisis, which ripped through Russia and not to mention Southeast Asia a decade ago, global consumption was cut by 1 million barrel per day. So its not always a good thing when the oil prices start to drop especially in a quick amount of time, just like when it went up earlier this year.

For me personally, I like to look at the positives instead of the negatives and the decision to remove the 30-cent diesel surcharge is great to hear, even though not all the taxi companies here have decided to do the same. The chances of you getting into a ComfortDelGro taxi is probably about in 8 out 10, so it doesnt really matter much if other taxi companies refuse to do the same. However, I am expecting all the taxi companies to the same though because the taxi industry in this country especially in particularly competitive in my opinion, especially during times like now. If they dont follow what the others are doing, they will quickly fall behind. I am just wondering why they didnt act sooner because the prices of oil did start to drop around early last month if Im not mistaken. I was starting to question the motives of the taxi companies here not to drop the 30-cent surcharge, that until yesterday of course. I am also wondering whether the decision was made really due to the fact that the price of oil has fallen or whether it is because their business is not doing good. Nevertheless, I believe it is a win-win situation both for the commuters and the taxi companies, because more people will probably be taking the taxi again now and we can save more. The 30-cent surcharge didnt matter much to me because I would rather pay that amount of money than to squeeze with the people on the train or the bus, but of course I will try to save when I can.

With the economy not looking good in the future, any decline is a good news. Im just hoping it will be the electricity bills next. My electricity bills for the last few months have increase by about 30% even though I have tried to save more energy than before. I went to ask other people and all of them told me that their bills have gone up too some by 50 to 60%! Living in Singapore is tough for someone who comes from a middle class family like me, I cant imagine how the lower income families are coping with their life now. One things for sure, its going to be a bumpy ride ahead, so be prepared and I will see you around soon.

*The report was taken from ChannelNewsAsia.

An Announcement.

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 25, 2008

Listen up people. The Blogging God has an important message to tell you all. He wants to announce today that he will be taking a break from all blogging activities, except replying any tag or comment on his chatbox from today onwards.

You don't have to worry about anything. It is his decision to take the break and it has nothing to do with any of you. He just feel now is a good time to take a break since he has been blogging non-stop since early this year. However, you dont have to wait too long before he return though as he will be back on the 4th of November, the day of the US election to bring all the latest news and results of who is going to be the winner and loser. Hopefully, he will have some good news to tell you guys then, and by good news, he means Obama winning.

But for now, it is break time for him. Feel free to post your tag or comment on his chatbox if you want to ask anything as he will be replying to it. He wish you well and he hope to see you again on his blog on November 4. Till then, take care and have a good day. Oh and before he go, he would just like to wish all his Indian friends and fans a Happy Deepavali. May you be happy alongside your family and friends on this joyous occasion.

Going Soft on Crocodile Crime...

When Saltwater crocodiles killed a human on Australia's northeast coast in the old days, a posse of gun-toting locals would converge on the area, blast all crocs to death, slit open their bellies to establish guilt, and release the unfortunate victim's remains for a decent burial. But in these environmentally enlightened times, authorities are taking a very different approach — and not everybody is happy about it. Inhabiting the tidal estuaries around Australia's northern coast, the crocs, or salties, as they're known locally, grow to more than 17 feet and can weigh more than a ton. They lurk near river crossings, where they lie motionless, half-submerged in muddy shallows, then explode out of the water to seize an animal as large as a horse or cow, drag it underwater, and roll with it until it drowns.

Such behavior was little tolerated by the region's early settlers, who would cheerfully shoot the reptiles on sight — all the more eagerly once the market for their skins began to grow. But in 1971, amid fears for the species' survival, hunting crocodiles was outlawed. Croc numbers have since recovered, but whenever a human dies in an attack — about once a year in Australia — a row erupts over whether protecting such a deadly predator is justified. Last month the debate was reopened when Arthur Booker, 62, wandered down to retrieve his crab pots on the mangrove-lined banks of the Endeavour River, near Cooktown, in the northeastern state of Queensland. Lying in wait was a large crocodile, which is thought to have dragged the Scottish-born camper into the water and eaten him, leaving only his sandals, watch and video camera beside a huge belly-slide mark. The state government quickly dispatched two dozen wildlife rangers to collect any aggressive crocodiles in the area and search for Booker's remains.

Within days, traps anchored to the banks of the river snared three potential man-eaters. But instead of executing and disemboweling the reptiles, the rangers gently loaded them into trailers and transported them to Cairns, 160 miles to the south, where they were X-rayed. Two were also given an endoscopy, with a tiny camera passed into their stomach to probe for Booker's remains. Queensland's chief wildlife manager, Mike Devery, defended the costly operation, saying the animals were listed as vulnerable under the state's Nature Conservation Act, which labels crocodiles over 13 feet long as "iconic." But the kid-glove treatment outraged many locals, including Federal Parliamentarian Bob Katter, a cowboy-hatted, blunt-spoken sheep farmer whose 218,000 square-mile electoral district is home to thousands of wild crocodiles.

Katter accused the government of making human sacrifices to a crocodile god, saying, "The only time I'd like to see that croc is through the sights of my rifle." Once, if a crocodile ate a human, all crocodiles in the area would be shot immediately, he says. "Now they are getting X rays. You've got patients who can't get X rays or endoscopies in Queensland's hospitals, but a crocodile can get one."

Arguing that crocodile numbers are booming, Katter has called for a cull. Forensic scientists are testing suspected human remains found in one of the thee crocodiles captured after Booker's disappearance, a three-legged, 14-foot brute. Culprit or not, its life will be spared. To the dismay of Katter and other nostalgic northerners, its next role will be as a stud on a crocodile farm rather than a range of handbags and shoes. [End of report]

I have said many times before that I am a huge animal lover and I still stand by my views about them despite the circumstances the Australian government is facing. Crocodiles are one of my favourite animal, I just love their awesome strength and their beauty - killing humans and eating the humans are not some of the things that I like about them though, but you have to understand, it is part of their nature and how they live. If they happen to eat someone up, and Im not just talking about the crocodiles, but other man-eater animals as well, you really cant blame them. There is only one thing in their mind when they see us, and that is food to them. You cant expect them to think that they shouldn't eat us because they cant think what is right or what is wrong. Therefore, I have to say that I am strongly against any call for culling the crocodiles because it is a wrong thing to do even though the numbers are booming and might pose a threat to the human population. I always feel very sad when I hear calls or government plans to cull animal species because they are increasing in number and it might be harmful to the people or the environment. I dont think you can stop the number from increasing though because animals, like us are able to reproduce so I dont think it is right to use it as an excuse to cull them. They could probably be placed in a designated location or something away from the human population.

I just want to say that what the Australian government did was great. Instead of killing the crocodiles at random, the crocodiles are now being put through the X-ray machine, to see if it had eaten anyone, and then be placed in a crocodile farm instead, where it will be safe and sound from anyone who might want to take revenge on them, not that they could if they want to as crocodiles hunting was outlawed since 1971. Im not sure if the practise of putting the crocodiles through the X-ray machine is only done in Queensland only, but according to state officials, they said that the operation was necessary as the animals were listed as vulnerable under the state's Nature Conservation Act. Im just wondering if they will continue to do the same thing once the animals are no longer listed in the Act. I hope they will though because it would be wrong for them to go back to the old days and kill the crocodiles randomly in search to find the remains of the victim. I mean what chances do you have to find that one crocodile when there could be hundreds of them in the rivers and seas. Dont tell me you will kill of them until you find the right one? That would be foolish. Furthermore, it is not as if the problem is widespread. I dont know what the statistics are exactly for crocodile related incident there, but according to the report, such incident of someone being kill in an attack is about once a year in Australia.

Therefore, judging from what I have seen, I dont think killing the crocodiles is fully justified. I think us humans should be on our guards as well. I dont think we have any crocodiles here in our seas or rivers, so we should not have much to worry about, but its a different story all together for the Australians. I dont think it is right that other crocodiles have to take the blame or in this case, take the shot for the actions from just one of them. For all they know, it might not be the crocodiles that could have eaten the guy. It is important that they dont jump to conclusions too quickly and that is why I think it is great to see such action by the Queensland authorities.

*The report was taken by TIME.

RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion...

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August. According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74. The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission's long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use. Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs. Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing. But hours after the story was posted on Politico's website and legal issues were raised, the campaign issued a new statement saying that "it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses" and that "the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign". The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000. Then, there was Democrat John Edwards’ $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain’s $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year. A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending. But all the spending by other candidates pales in comparison to the GOP outlay for the Alaska governor whose expensive, designer outfits have been the topic of fashion pages and magazines. What hasn’t been apparent is where the clothes came from – her closet back in Wasilla or from the campaign coffers in Washington. The answer can be found inside the RNC’s September monthly financial disclosure report under “itemized coordinated expenditures.” It’s a report that typically records expenses for direct mail, telephone calls and advertising. Those expenses do show up, but the report also has a new category of spending: “campaign accessories.”

And among the payments in September includes to to Barney’s New York and Bloomingdale’s New York. Macy’s in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin Cities that hosted last summer’s Republican National Convention, received three separate payments totaling $9,447.71. The entries also show a few purchases at Pacifier, a top notch baby store, and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., suggesting $295 was spent to accommodate the littlest Palin to join the campaign trail. An additional $4,902.45 was spent in early September at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men. [End of report]

When I first heard this news, I was a little bit surprised because I thought that both the presidential candidates and the VP candidates have to use their own money if they want to look good. I believe that the issue of looking good is an important one even though you are not trying to win competitions like 'America Next Top Model' or 'Extreme Makeover', but still you have to be on your best look whenever you are out there talking to the public or the media because it can sometimes play a part when the voters are deciding on who should become the next president. Their respective party will no doubt do everything that they can to ensure that their candidate become the next president and VP, and one way they do it is by giving their campaign the funds needed for purposes like advertising or organising a rally, which will help to improve their chances of winning the election later. Im not sure if the part of making sure the candidate look good is included in the funds though or whether she is allowed to do that under the Federal Election Commission. Of course the campaign cash can and should be used by them if it is able to help in any way, but I think the question now is whether the RNC had given Sarah Palin the cash for her personal use so that he can use everything for her own gains or whether it was for the purpose of helping the campaign.

If she was given the cash for her own personal use and gain, then that it absolutely wrong but if it was actually meant to improve her way of style so that she can look better in front of the cameras and the people, in hope that they will be attracted to her and vote for McCain, I dont see anything wrong with that to be honest. But I just want to say that the amount spend by the RNC to clothe and accessorize Sarah Palin is a bit extravagant for my liking. I mean you are talking about more than $150,000 worth of campaign cash. Imagine what the McCain campaign can do with that much money especially on areas which he can better spend it because right now, Obama is leading in most of the polls in important states and he much more popular than McCain. McCain needs every money he has now to spend big especially when you hear recent news like how Obama has managed to raise a record $150 million in September, as compared to McCain who unlike Obama, accepted $85 million in federal matching funds for the last two months of the campaign. I dont think what brand of clothing or what accessories a candidate put on will make much of a difference to be honest. In fact, I dont think it was necessary for the RNC to spend so much money on those things, not when you have Sarah Palin on your team. As far as Im concerned, she is already looking good despite what she wear and she is very attractive for someone who is in her 40s. You should just ask any men around and they would agree with me.

Anyway, the money has already been spent. I think the McCain campaign should see it as a kind of an investment for him to win the election later. At the moment though, Sarah Palin is getting more attention than him, some good ones and some bad ones and it is the good ones that they should focus on. If it helps Palin, it will surely help McCain too. Being an Obama fan, I dont want to see that happen of course because I want to see Obama to be the next US President. I just want to say that I really like Sarah Palin a lot, mostly because of her good looks understandably, added to the fact that she has all the things that I am looking for in a girl, a strong sense of determination, hardworking, knows what she is doing, confident and many more that Im too lazy to write. One thing that I dont think she have is the readiness to become the VP, much less the President. I guess that is about it. I know I have said many positive things about Sarah Palin but that doesnt mean I am going to turn my back on Obama. I have always supported him since he won his first primary and I will continue to do so. The big day is coming soon, just less than 2 weeks to be exact! I cant wait for that. For more news on the US election, you can visit CNN Election Center at http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/ . Until then, goodbye.

*The report was taken from POLITICO.com

Anderson Cooper Has The ‘Best Life’...

Hey people. I have a good news to tell you today. If you have been browsing through the shelves at major book stores recently, you would have probably noticed that CNN’s number one host and my favourite host, Anderson Cooper is the latest cover boy for Best Life magazine for November issue. I didnt know about it at first, because he didnt say anything about it on his show, "Anderson Cooper 360" which is only available on CNN, nor have I ever read the Best Life magazine before. I was searching for some football magazine when I stumbled upon the magazine and there was no way for me not to buy it even though it was my first time ever buying that magazine.

Im not really a magazine kind of guy, the only magazine that I like to read are football related magazine or men's magazine like ARENA Singapore, but I have stop buying that magazine since they 'cheated' on me. Well it is an old story. In the past, I never fail to buy every month issue of ARENA Singapore because the content is really good, even though it is the kind of magazine that caters to those in their mid-20s to early 50s. But I can still relate easily to the message that the magazine is trying to tell. Then there was one time, I went to send them a feedback letter. They always have some attractive prizes for the Letter of the Month and it was just my good luck that my letter was selected for that particular month. I still have the magazine to show it to you if you want to see. Anyway, by being selected for the Letter of the Month, I was entitled to win some prizes, if I can remember correctly, it was some Adidas men's perfume. Unfortunately though, they didnt send me any perfume despite me sending a lot of emails asking them for it. Since that incident, I have stop buying the magazine. I think that is enough as far as my story with ARENA Singapore is concerned.

Back to the Best Life magazine, the article that Anderson Cooper is featured in will talk about his views regarding his lifestyle and how his life in the past has shape him to become what he is today, so you definitely dont want to miss it if youre a fan of his, like me. But even if youre not, I strongly recommend you to buy the magazine because the contents are really good too, if not better than ARENA Singapore. It is however, not a Singapore based magazine unlike ARENA Singapore, so it cost a little bit more, only $13 actually. I have not read the entire magazine as I just bought it last weekend, but from what I have read so far, it is not bad as I have said earlier. I want to point out though that the magazine focus more on men's issue though, so if youre a lady, its not the right magazine for you in my opinion. So what are you waiting for? Get your copy now before its too late yeah! Till next time, happy reading.