The opening skit of the recent Saturday Night Live show featured Dan Aykroyd as Senate Minority Leader, John Boehner (R-Ohio), in a funny Republican “meeting of the minds.” These GOP leaders sit around the table to discuss the so-called Republican agenda. Their top priorities were disowning the Obama Stimulus Package (to excuse themselves from any blame about the economy), complaining about the Obama girls’ sleepovers and plotting to get the President impeached after only 3 weeks. Their resounding chant: “Majority here we come!” With the recent negotiations surrounding the stimulus package, it makes you wonder if there is any truth to this skit! Check out the video.

The current state of America’s priorities and challenges can be summed up by looking at one place: the negotiations surrounding the 2009 Obama Economic Stimulus package. This plan, totaling nearly $790 Billion, aims to help revive the struggling economy, while laying a heavy financial burden on future generations to pay for. Democrats and Republicans battled over which financial expenditures in the areas of education, technology, health care, energy and infrastructure, will likely yield the greatest number of jobs, fix the economy and secure America’s future.

These competing priorities are at the heart of the Dowell Myers’s book, “Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America.” In this treatise, Myers argues that a new intergenerational contract needs to be created between retiring Baby Boomers and newly arrived immigrants to solve our economic and demographic challenges. Myers describes it as a “social contract of intergenerational support,” which is “based in intergenerational transfers of resources through the mediums of taxation and social expenditure.”

Quite simply, Myers proposes a more enlightened view of immigrant arrivals and the challenges that it presents to America. Instead of thinking of immigrants in what he describes as a “Peter Pan” way, whereby they remain stuck in an infancy stage of assimilation, he challenges the voting public to consider a picture of immigrants who have evolved, developed and contribute greatly to society. It is these immigrants (in addition to the native born) that will become the taxpayers of the future who will provide the financial support to the elderly Baby Boomers. In essence, the immigrants of today will pay for the Social Security, pensions and health care of aging Boomers. Subsequently, it is in our shared best interest to invest in education and assist in the integration and assimilation of our foreign born entrants.

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With all the hype, hoopla and Obama-mania of last week’s Inauguration 2009 coverage, it is nice to know that someone found a way to poke fun at it all. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart takes us through a quick recap of the Inauguration events which include calling out former Vice President Dick Cheney’s wheelchair ride, Obama’s shut-up face and a hint that America has been in The Matrix for the last 8 years. Check it out!

Whether you wanted Republican Presidential candidate John McCain to win or lose. Whether you like or dislike the Mac. There is one thing that we can all agree on. John McCain has given us some pretty hilarious moments over the last two Presidential elections. Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” has a great recap of the man most Americans know as “the Maverick.”

On Monday’s The Daily Show, Jon Stewart asks the question: “Can’t we just have the guy on the left already?” in the “Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - Goofus and Gallant” skit. The guy who he is referring to is President Gallant (a.k.a. Obama) instead of who is currently in charge, President Goofus (a.k.a. Bush).  With the economy in shambles, Obama is working on creating stimulus packages while Bush is literally “hanging himself.” After examining the efforts of both presidents, Stewart pleads..”Do we really have to wait until January 20th?”

Unlike President Bush whose approval ratings are dismal, President-elect Barack Obama has received high approval for how well he is transitioning to the White House. A recent USA Today/Gallop poll shows that 78% approve of his transition work. And Obama is picking up favor among Democrats, Republicans and Independents for his Secretary of State choice, Hillary Clinton (69% approval rate) and his decision to keep Robert Gates as the Secretary of Defense (whopping 80% approval rate). Let’s see if these approvals maintain while the folks are in office.

And can you believe that a small county in Alabama created a Barack Obama holiday? Yes, it’s true. Alabama’s Perry County will observe the second Monday in November as “The Barack Obama Day.” The county’s offices will close and its 40 employees will have a paid holiday. “The sponsoring commissioner, Albert Turner Jr., said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect’s victory as a way to give people faith that difficult goals can be achieved.”

And more bad news for automakers… According to the Associated Press, General Motors’ sales dropped 41 percent in November and Ford’s sales also fell 31 percent last month. It appears that the U.S. automakers may need that bailout after all. GM, Ford and Chrysler pleaded for more than $38 billion dollars of government assistance including loans Tuesday. The companies are now asking for more than the $25 billion they requested two weeks ago and state they don’t have a Plan B. An intervention of some sort is predicted based on House Speaker Pelosi recent remarks.

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In the spirit of Thanksgiving around the corner, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pardoned a turkey. However, during her turkey-themed interview, the cameraman catches a poor turkey being slaughtered in the background (which Palin appears not to notice) in the now-infamous video. Well, funny man David Letterman’s “Top Ten” list Monday gave Palin’s excuses for the turkey kill, which poked fun at her foreign policy (in)experience and earlier Katie Couric interview among other campaign blunders.

Many of us saw and held our breath as Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, conducted one of her first on-camera interviews following her nomination with Katie Couric a couple of months ago. There were several moments during the questioning that Palin was stumped and had a difficult time answering the questions. Couric talks for the first time about the interview on “The Dave Letterman Show” recently. Check out the clip from the interview.

I love politically active celebs and music with powerful messages. LL Cool J and Wyclef have created a song called “Mr. President.” It is a direct address to Mr. George W. Bush. They bring up topics like the Iraq war, Sept. 11 and the lack of health care. Hopefully, our President-Elect, Barack Obama, will do a much better job.

Smooches,

The Caramel Bella

Just in case you missed President-Elect Barack Obama’s victory speech given on Tuesday, Nov. 4th, here it is. (Or if you are like me and want to hear it again and again.) It is as inspiring 3 days later as it was on the day it was given. America will never forget these words and this historic day.

Smooches,

The Caramel Bella