So a lot has happened since my last post, mainly Barack Obama became the president of the United States of America, congratulations to him and the United States for not letting the issue of race play as big a factor like everyone thought it would. Hopefully he can deliver on his promise for change because these are some bad times right now (recession, terrorism etc...). He has wasted no time in filling out his cabinet as so far he has nominated Robert Gates to stay on as the defense secretary (the first time a Pentagon chief has carried over from a president of a different party), Marine Gen. James Jones as national security adviser, Eric Holder as attorney general, Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary, Susan Rice (no relation to Condoleeza Rice) as ambassador to the U.N., and officially now Hillary Clinton as secretary of state (no surprise there), and he will probably name New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as commerce secretary. Obama has also already called on state governors to help design a recovery plan to "jumpstart" the economy. Speaking to the National Governors Association, Obama repeated a call for a plan that will save or retain two and a half million jobs and give tax cuts to the middle class.
However that's all good news, now for the bad, last week a group of terrorists attacked two luxury hotel complexes, a cafe, a railway station and a Jewish center in the city of Mumbai which ended on Nov. 29, the estimated death toll at this point seems to be at 195 people. There are strong indications the Mumbai attackers are linked to a Pakistan-based group of Islamist militants seeking to drive India out of divided Kashmir, a U.S. counterterrorism official said. However, Pakistan Prime Minister Asif Ali Zardari has cautioned Indian officials to not blame the attacks on Pakistan and upset the peace the two countries have shared in recent years that was so hard earned after many years of conflict between the two nuclear armed countries. Washington so far has no evidence of Pakistan’s link to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the State Department said on Tuesday. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said the United States hoped the investigation would help establish the source of the attacks. Wood said the US expected Pakistan's co-operation in investigations into the terrorist attacks in Mumbai while noting that Islamabad remained committed to the fight against terrorism.
Furthermore I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to the Rogers family as Ted Rogers, the founder of Rogers Communication Inc. (Canada's largest cable television and mobile phone company) and owner of the Toronto Blue Jays, passed away today of congestive heart failure at the age of 75. He will be missed and remembered for all his philanthropic work, and saving the Blue Jays from suffering the same fate of the Montreal Expos. I would like to thank Ted Rogers for keeping the Blue Jays in Canada and providing them with the financial means to compete in the hardest division in baseball, and for all his philanthropic work with multiple charities and community programs not only in the city of Toronto but also all over Canada. May his soul rest in peace and I'm sure he is in a better place.
In other baseball news, high school student and baseball pitching phenom Eri Yoshida, 16, was drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise in an independent baseball league. You must be asking yourself why that's important since its about an independent league and not the MLB. Well, Eri is a girl and the first girl ever to be drafted by a pro men's baseball team. Apparently she throws a "nasty" sidearm knuckleball and lists Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox as her inspiration, "I still don't feel like I've really become a pro baseball player, but I want to do my best," Yoshida said at a news conference after signing her contract. "My specialty is the knuckleball, so I really want to be able to get batters out using it effectively." The Cruise are more like a farm team and a far cry from Japan's mainstream pro teams such as the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. But the 5-foot, 114-pound Yoshida has broken a barrier in baseball-crazy Japan, where women are normally relegated to softball.
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