And I know Washington is all in a tizzy and everybody is pointing fingers at each other and saying it’s their fault, the Democrats’ fault, the Republicans’ fault. Listen, I’ll take responsibility; I’m the President.
So for everybody in Washington who’s busy scrambling, trying to figure out how to blame somebody else, just go ahead and talk to me, because it’s my job to make sure that we fix these messes, even if I don’t make them.
But here’s what I know — here’s what I want you to know: We are not only going to make it through this crisis, we are going to come out on the other side a stronger and more prosperous nation.
To kick these problems down the road for another four years or eight years, that would be to continue the same irresponsibility that got us to this point. I didn’t run for President to pass on our problems to the next generation, or the next President. I ran for President to solve these problems so that you’ve got a better shot in life.
It would be nice — it would be nice if I could just pick and choose what problems to face and when to face them, and say, no, I’m sorry, hold off on health care; Afghanistan, let’s put that aside for a while. You know, I would sleep a little easier. But that’s not the way it works. It doesn’t work that way for you.
You don’t get to say, well, I’m sorry, hold on a second, you know, I really got to take on some issues at home here so I don’t think I’m going to go to work for a week. It would be nice to do, but you don’t do that. You need to take all these problems on.
You did not send us to Washington to stand in the way of your aspirations. You didn’t send us there to say no to change — you sent us there to get things done and bring about change, and that’s what I intend to do.
But I can’t do it without you. I can’t do it without you, the American people. That’s why I’m here today, because it will take all of us talking with one another and all of us working together to see our nation through this difficult time and bring about that brighter day.
If I could get done what I think needs to get done in four years, even if it meant that I was only President for four years, I would rather be a good President taking on the tough issues for four years than a mediocre President for eight years.
Ultimately I’m answerable to you — I’m your employee. Okay?
CHICAGO – The robber’s threatening note made a Chicago bank job easy to solve: The FBI says the suspect wrote it on his pay stub. An FBI affidavit said the man walked into a Fifth Third Bank on Friday and handed a teller a note that read “Be Quick Be Quit (sic). Give your cash or I’ll shoot.”
The robber got about $400 but left half of his note. Investigators found the other half outside the bank’s front doors. Authorities say that part of the man’s October pay stub had his name and address.
The suspect was arrested at his Cary home. A judge ordered him held without bond Monday. If convicted of bank robbery, he faces 20 years in prison.
Researcher says Jell-O may eliminate lake trout
BOZEMAN, Mont. – A researcher at Montana State University said Jell-O, ultrasound, microwaves and electroshocking are among the possible solutions to eliminate lake trout in Yellowstone National Park.
Lake trout were introduced illegally into the park and threaten native cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake. To find the best way to destroy lake trout eggs, Al Zale received a grant from the National Park Service. Zale heads the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at MSU.
He and his collaborators will analyze several potential solutions and recommend the best.
If Jell-O is chosen, Zale says it would probably be unflavored. He says workers could spread it over the fish eggs to smother them.
Zale adds that it would seem efficient to get rid of the eggs during spawning season, which occurs primarily during late fall.
Had a bad year? ‘08 memories get shredded in NYC
NEW YORK – Should auld acquaintance be forgot? Or maybe shredded?
In an event that organizers hope will become a New Year’s tradition, New Yorkers and tourists were invited to bring bad memories from 2008 to Times Square on Sunday and feed them to an industrial-strength shredder.
“This is the perfect way to move on from a bad year, from a bad experience,” said Kathryn Bonn, of New York City, who shredded a printout of her boyfriend’s e-mail breaking up with her.
The event, the second annual “Good Riddance Day,” was sponsored by the Times Square Alliance, organizers of the New Year’s Eve ball-dropping celebration.
Some participants wrote “the stock market” or “cancer” on a piece of paper and shredded it, while others shredded bags of bank statements and check stubs.
Kate Anello, a Yankees fan from New York City, destroyed a poster of the city’s longtime rival, the Boston Red Sox.
“I hate them,” she said. “It felt good.”
City resident Jay Ballesteros won a $250 prize for the most creative object to be shredded: a sock representing all the socks that emerge from the laundry without their mates.
“I’m hoping to use the prize to buy some brand new socks,” he said.
Almost unheard-of: Boy Scout earns all 121 badges
NEW YORK – A Long Island teenager has earned all 121 merit badges offered by the Boy Scouts of America. It’s an accomplishment the local arm of the organization calls “an almost unheard-of feat.” Oceanside resident Shawn Goldsmith earned his final badge — for bugling — in time for his 18th birthday in November. He far surpassed the 21 badges required to achieve the elite rank of Eagle Scout.
He said he took about five years to earn his first 62 badges and then nearly doubled that number in a matter of months. He did it with the encouragement of his grandmother, who died shortly before he reached his goal.
The Binghamton University freshman was awarded his final badges on Dec. 19. He said he hopes to become a businessman and politician.
Utah store has bone to pick with shoplifting dog
MURRAY, Utah – A thief remains at large after pulling off a daring heist — in the pet food aisle.
Surveillance video at a supermarket in this Salt Lake City suburb caught a dog shoplifting, KSL-TV reported Wednesday.
The video showed the dog walking in the front door of Smith’s Food & Drug in Murray, and heading straight to Aisle 16, the pet food aisle, where it grabbed a bone worth $2.79.
The thief wasn’t even perturbed by a face-to-face confrontation with store manager Roger Adamson.
“I looked at him. I said ‘Drop it!’” Adamson said. “He looked at me, and I looked at him, and he ran for the door and away he went, right out the front door.”
