Saving All My for Yu

I love that song, Whitney being one of my teen queens. I love that heart-shaped check mark, BYuT being the party I gave my heart to in the September parliamentary elections.

Of course, I was a little younger than a teenager when "Saving All My Love for You" came out. I was a Soviet 5-year old living in one of the two superpowers that could annihilate each other at a moment’s notice. (Needless to say, we didn't have MTV at the dawn of perestroika.) Unsure of what the future held for them, my parents and grandparents nevertheless decided to save, and so did millions of other Soviet Ukrainians.

Now that I speak some English, there’s something I heard about those savings on Wednesday night. It sounded like a song, too, and I want to share it with you.

If you’re looking for materialistic terms like principal, interest, future value, CPI, indexation, etc, you better quit right now — or it will break your heart. Nowhere does it mention them. Remember, the heart emoticon can be expressed as <3>

So, forget the finance. Enjoy the romance.

I sincerely greet you. We’ve celebrated New Year and Christmas holidays. The time has come to get to work. I want us to start getting used to the idea that politicians carry out the promises they make during election campaigns. We promised to refund the savings lost with the former Oshchadbank of the USSR, and we are doing it. On January 8, depositor registration in Oshchadbank Ukraine began. To register, bring your passbook, a photocopy of your passport, and your ID number. [Ukraine still relies on the internal passport system. A person’s ID number is the equivalent of a social security number.]

At the bank’s branch, you will be met by an administrator who will assist you with all the required paperwork. In a matter of three days following the registration, the money will be transferred to your account. If your deposit does not exceed 1,000 hryvnias [$200], you will receive the full amount [In fact, deposits were made in Soviet rubles.] But if your deposit is more than 1,000 hryvnias, you will receive your first payment of 1,000 hryvnias. And then we will continue. You will decide how to spend this money: whether to take cash or to leave it in your Oshchadbank account at the annual interest rate of 13.5 percent.

I ask you, my dear ones, and especially elderly people: do not worry and do not stand in long lines. Deposit registration and savings disbursement are not time sensitive. May God give you good health, and each of you will be guaranteed to receive what is earmarked in the budget. Our task is to organize the payout so as not to provoke accelerated inflation, so that the money that is coming back to people will not be lost on its way to the store. A responsible government should support the savings payout with a host of counter-inflation measures.

That’s why we will offer, as a supplement to the 1,000 hryvnias, which you will receive in cash, to use according to your wish the remainder of your deposit to pay for utility debt and current bills, to pay for your kids’ education, and to pay for durable consumer goods such as: television sets, refrigerators, and other consumer electronics. In a month’s time, the government will pass related regulations that will allow you to use your savings to buy goods and services. It’s just that some time is needed to work out the related active and failsafe mechanisms.

You will get all the answers to your questions regarding the savings payout by calling our hotline toll-free: 8-800-501-34-10. Wrong were those who dismissed our statements about returning the lost savings as hollow campaign promises. Our team keeps its promises. This year, the amount paid out will be 30 times as much as our predecessors did in 2007, and five times as much as has been returned to the depositors throughout the 17 years of Ukraine’s independence. And this is just the beginning.

Our work on returning the lost savings is eliciting a critical and sometimes even hysterical response from our political opponents. I don’t want to waste time arguing. We’re giving the money back, and that’s it. It so happened that the real work on savings compensation began at Christmas time. Given this opportunity, let me send my New Year and Christmas greetings to you once again, and let me ask for God’s blessing for a good cause. Good luck!

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72872.html

Shyrka on Standby

In May, we reached a certain agreement, and that’s why we gave approval for early elections.

Essentially, the President hoodwinked us. I said back then that he couldn’t be trusted. He kept on and on. Tried to hoodwink Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko] and Viktor Fedorovych [Yanukovych] and our political power. Today, we understand that nothing will come out of what was promised.

Today, we have one situation, but tomorrow it may change. They’ll tell us, “Guys, let’s do something. Let’s make a grand coalition.” Then, the presence of our person [Raisa Bohatyryova] at the NSDC will be justified.

— MP Vasyl Khara, PRU, Chairman of the Social and Labor Policy Committee

That’s a nice picture. I wonder if the Secretariat of the President has anything to say about Khara's vision.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/1/10/69533.htm
http://www.gpu.ua/?&id=201194&s=1_gztmain

Tymo Goes One-for-Ten

I’d like every minister to personally and literally fix all the time frames in terms of action, so that these time frames will simply go one day for ten. I want us to draw up a plan of this kind for ourselves. For the 17 years [of Ukraine’s independence] went you-know-where, right? And now we have to speed up our life one-for-ten.

Of course, we know where they went. And we know the guys who did it. So, the need for speed — for some sort of no-nonsense uskoreniye — is there indeed. Let's see how tough her lady speed stick is.

Video: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72909.html
Soundtrack: http://download.sovmusic.ru/m/vrvpered.mp3

No ‘Stability’ in U.S. Presidential Campaign

'Change' — not 'stability' — is the buzzword. I learned this after studying CNN and CBS reports on the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.

No matter how desperately I searched for 'stability,' my search efforts suffered a massive failure. I couldn’t find a single S-word in the campaign rhetoric of either Democrats or Republicans. All they talk about is change.

And change does not merely pervade the campaign rhetoric. It also characterizes the primaries dynamics.

Apparently the bovine stabilnist brand brought by U.S. spin doctors to one of Europe’s poorest countries has too few fetishists at home.

White House hopefuls shun the word ‘stability.’ Maybe it’s because their voters stick to a different diet?

"The numbers tell us this was a debate between change and experience, and change won," said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider.

"You came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents to stand up and say that we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come." (Obama)

"For most of this campaign, we were far behind," he said. "We always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out and you spoke up for change." (Obama)

Clinton, speaking with 96 percent of the vote in, portrayed herself as the candidate who could bring about the change the voters want.

Clinton had worked to convince Iowa caucus-goers she has the experience to enact change, while Edwards and Obama preached that she is too much of a Washington insider to bring change to the nation's capital.

Edwards, in a tight race for second, said Iowa's results show that "the status quo lost and change won."

"Now we move on ... to determine who is best suited to bring about the changes this country so desperately needs," he said.

Sources:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/03/iowa.caucuses/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/08/nh.main/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/04/ap/politics/main3676274.shtml
Photo courtesy of AP

Tymo Talks of Hourly Rates for Miners

We must stop extracting this coal along with the blood of the coal miners. We can’t do this. That’s why an hourly rate is the only thing that can protect the miners from self-destruction.

Meanwhile, two miners died yesterday before paramedics arrived.

Sources:
http://news.bigmir.net/article/ukraine/19644/
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72798.html

Tymo to Haul Zvyahilsky over Hot Coals?

Ukrayinska Pravda has some hot Tymoshenko quotes:

We have to analyze the very fact of such a violation, so that in a matter of three days you will prepare a memo for the government on what responsibility there is and who should be held responsible for paying the miners of a profitable mine based on the underrated minimum wage.

We will make decisions and will take our case to all government agencies as required, so that the people who violate labor laws will be held responsible.

Come on, Yulia! Bring it on. Don't just blow off steam. Bring the heat!

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/1/8/69431.htm
http://www.bat.mk.ua/1/foto/Timoshenko_01.jpg

Ukraine Celebrates Christmas, Part 2 (Updated)

Ivano-Frankivsk — a Christmas carol from the chamber choir Cantemus



Lviv — a Didukh ceremony



Sambir, Lviv Oblast — a vertep at a juvenile correctional facility



Videos uploaded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72697.html
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72729.html
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72787.html

More Wishes from Yanukovych

Christ is born. Let us praise Him! May the light of the Christmas Star shine a ray of hope for the happiness and good of every family. May the birth of God’s Son renew our faith and give us renewed strength to pass all the tests; to walk the road of life with dignity; to do good and hope for God’s grace. On the day of Christ’s birth, I wish that every family, in happiness and good health, may share the joy of our Savior’s birth. Christ has been born. Let us praise Him!

I wish that Yanukovych himself did some of the good things he wishes for. That way, he wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment of moonlighting as a Santa for stabilnist.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72676.html

Ukraine Celebrates Christmas, Part 1 (Updated)

The country that exported “Carol of the Bells” to Western civilization celebrates Christmas on January 7.



Christianity, imported to Ukraine in 988 A.D. and oppressed for most of the 20th century, has produced a Christmas tradition very different from that of Western civilization.

The rough equivalent of the West’s much-commercialized Christmas can be witnessed here on New Year’s Day, a counter-tradition cultivated by the atheist Soviet government. (Mind the purchasing power gap.)

Z Rizdvom Khrystovym! Merry Christmas! Enjoy this wonderful collection of Ukrainian Christmas carols and links:

http://www.brama.com/art/christmas.html http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-world/ukraine.html http://www.houseofukraine.com/UKE_CAROL.HTML http://www.abheritage.ca/pasttopresent/settlement/ukrainian_settlement.html
http://www.msichicago.org/scrapbook/scrapbook_exhibits/catw2004/traditions/countries/ukraine.html http://www.infoukes.com/culture/traditions/christmas/ http://www.uazone.net/holidays/christmas.html

"Dobry Vechir Tobi" (Ukrainian Carol)


"Dobry Vechir Tobi" by Ruslana


"Shchedryk" ("Carol of the Bells") by a Ukrainian choir in San Francisco


"Nebo i Zemlya Nyni Torzhesvuyut"


Christmas in a Ukrainian village



"Tykha Nich" ("Silent Night")


Ukrainian Christmas Mass


Christmas Eve in the Ukrainian Diaspora


Vertep in a small Ukrainian village


Diaspora Ukrainians sing Christmas Carols


Ukrainian Caroling in Saskatoon


Ukrainian Christmas Carol accompanied by bandura


Another Ukrainian Carol


"Nadvori Rizdvo" by Bohdana Tkachuk and the ensemble Prolisok


"Narodyvsya Bog na Saniakh"

Chernovetsky Speaks

On learning Ukrainian:
Everyday, I will speak my native language [Ukrainian] better, and you will be witness to it. (April 14, 2006)

You won’t get me to speak Ukrainian. The law says I’m a free man. I don’t speak Ukrainian merely because I lose courage [when speaking Ukrainian]. When I learn to speak it very well, I will start speaking Ukrainian only. (June 8, 2006)

On money:
I spend very little money. I just don’t have anything to spend it on because I’m not that young a person.

On criticism:
I need criticism — it’s normal — but it should be constructive, and should not deceive. Lately, a court ruled out some 28 publications regarding my son.

On birthday celebrations:
How did I celebrate? I was going about town all day long: church service, remembrance ceremony. I became another victim of the Holodomor.

On traveling by metro:
About a month ago, I took a ride in the metro, and I will do it more often. I told my subordinates to go down to the metro and then report on the situation: what they liked and what they did not. Take Denys Bass [Deputy Mayor, 29], a boy from a well-to-do family. He has never been in the metro before, and now he’s seen it with his own eyes.

On the underprivileged:
In the old days, those who begged had their rear ends licked with sticks. But this is not humane. I suggest that we outlaw flea market trading in the metro.

On Tymoshenko:
If anyone is to be trusted, it’s me, not her. For people her age do not change.

On Kyiv’s wellbeing:
Everything is quiet in Kyiv. Everything is under control. And everyday, there’s more control from people who join my team. Kyiv’s international rating has risen and has hit a record high.

Did he refer to this rating?

Sources:
http://www.sudnaroda.org.ua/gromad_sud/news/2007-11-29/perlu_cernoveckogo.html
http://news.img.com.ua/pix/i520/520966.gif

Russian Ambassador Can Tell Tymoshenko from Scarecrow

Narrator: The question was as follows: Will Tymoshenko not scare away the Russian investor?

Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine: Well, to me she doesn’t look like a scarecrow. Why paint her like that? At least, she always stated that…um…she understands it very well, and she herself was in business, and as a business person who knows about the economy…I don’t think she will [scare away the Russian investor].

Some diplomats have the merit of complimenting women in a rather unorthodox manner.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/71695.html

Shortchanged on Soviet Savings

Every election campaign, talk of refunding Ukrainians for their Soviet-era savings finds its way into the hearts of voters. Now that Tymoshenko has found her way back to government, it’s about time she walked the talk. But will she?

Under the Tymoshenko plan, each account holder will be entitled to an equivalent of $200 in compensation payments. According to earlier statements, only 60 percent of Ukrainians who held accounts with Sberbank, the Soviet savings bank, will be “fully compensated.” Deposits of less than 2,000 Soviet rubles will have priority. So, unless your savings put you south of 2,000 rubles, you’re a fat cat. Here’s a quote from PM Tymoshenko:

After an account check with Oshchadbank [the Ukrainian successor to Sberbank], everyone owed by the bank will receive up to 1,000 hryvnias in cash depending on the amount deposited. In the near future, we will allow the owners of lost savings to pay for consumer goods, utility bills, and other services out of their bankbooks.

So, if my parents had 6,000 rubles on deposit in the mid 80s, which could buy a Zhiguli, all they get is $200, a free haircut, and that's it? And you call that fair? And what about those coal miners and industry workers who had up to 20,000 rubles on deposit?

“This amount is approximately half of what was usually cited. We plan to initiate a comprehensive refund” is another cryptic quote. Exactly what indexation rate are we talking about? Does it reflect the time value of money? Does it take into account the value of a deposit at the time it was made, as measured by the chronologically equitable basket of goods and services?

For deposits made prior to perestroika and the ruble overhang of the late 80s/early 90s, there is no equitable indexation rate below 1:5, plus interest owed. In other words, once we arrive at CPI figures, one Soviet ruble of savings should at least translate into five Ukrainian hryvnias. A deposit of 1,000 Soviet rubles made in December 1981 does not equal a deposit of 1,000 Soviet rubles made in December 1991.

In fact, there is no economic vehicle for turning around the issue of “lost” Soviet-era savings without righting some of the wrongs of the privatization/grabitization era.

By law, every Ukrainian citizen received a piece of paper called the “privatization certificate,” a legitimate ownership claim on Soviet public property. But somehow only a fraction of Ukrainians received value for their claims — and some received billions of dollars worth of property. Why?

Unless this question gets some serious consideration, the idea of $200 as a compensation sounds as another bad joke. We’ve already heard the unfortunate suggestion of making the coal miner’s job a dream for every Ukrainian kid. And guess what — hardly a month passes by without a coal mine accident.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2007/12/23/68877.htm
http://www.gpu.ua/index.php?&id=200406
http://www.sovmusic.ru/p_view.php?id=32
http://www.sovmusic.ru/p_view.php?id=48
http://www.sovmusic.ru/p_view.php?id=52
http://www.sovmusic.ru/p_view.php?id=53
http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/banknotes/russia/RussiaP222a-1Ruble-1961-donatedoy_f.jpg

Zasyadka — Again

Another fire broke out at the Zasyadka Mine in Donetsk late on Tuesday. Thankfully, no casualties have been reported. But with history repeating itself at such a high rate, how much longer before the death toll starts counting again?

Dear Mrs. Prime Minister, those are human beings down there. Different strokes for different folks will only result in more coffins for the same folks.

Sources:
http://unian.net/ukr/news/news-229301.html

Yanuk Wishes Ukraine Stabilnist

First of all, I wish that stabilnist would prevail in our country. I wish that the dreams of every Ukrainian family would come true; that those who are sick now would heal. To young people, I wish love. To those whose lives are in need of or are held back by poverty, I wish that their lives would get better.

Translating the last wish ("Тим, в кого не вистачає в житті чи заважає бідність — щоб життя покращилось.") was quite a bit of fun. ProFFessor's awkward phrasing gave him the comic edge of addressing two categories of people: (1) those who can't get enough of poverty and (2) those who have had enough of it.

Oh man, u da bomb! You’re a balm for my soul. Since you’ve been stripped of stabilnist, it’s not every day that we hear a remix of Stability and Prosperity (2007) and Better Living Today (2006).

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72530.html

The Auld Lang Syne of Dressing Up for Winter Holidays

Under the atheist canon of the Soviet era, New Year was the holiday, with Christmas celebrated unofficially in rural areas only.

MP Hanna Herman, PRU: My first New Year costume was that of a comet.

MP Alla Alekasndrovska, KPU: I had sweets in my hands, my crown was the shape of a sweet too, and with great delight I was a sweet.

Unidentified Orange MP: You’re going to be surprised, but I was nonstandard...um...I was a Ukrainian.

Irena Kilchytska, Deputy Mayor of Kyiv: One of the brightest experiences I recall was being a Gypsy. I was in grade three. I neither wanted to be a snowflake nor a bunny.

MP Volodymyr Yavorivsky, BYuT: I neither was a bunny nor a runny, nor a wolf. Once we went there, we dressed up: I was Karl Marx I had some book tucked under my arm that had Capital written on it. They fixed me a beard.

MP Mykola Tomenko, BYuT: As to an ani…animal outfit, I never appeared in one, as a rule.

MP Volodymyr Sivkovych, PRU: Well, I definitely never was a bunny.

MP Oleh Zarubinsky, LyB: I was a rabbit, in terms of the Chinese calendar. I have a picture where I’m dressed in a costume, in the white costume of a rabbit.

Viktor Yanukovych, opposition leader: There were no fancy toys, no outfits for me to put on. We lived very poorly.

Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine: I remember how my mother woke me up early in the morning after New Year when it was time to go caroling, so that I would tour my relatives door-to-door.

Watching this bittersweet video made me feel like sining Michael Jackson's "Childhood":

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart...
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities...
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me...

People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things...
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?

People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things,
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
The dreams I would dare, watch me fly...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I've had

Have you seen my Childhood...


Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for reading, thank you for lurking, and thank you for commenting:)!

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72476.html

People of the Year

• He has an MA in international law from the Ukrainian Academy of Foreign Trade
• He worked as a top executive for 20 years
• He is a Doctor of Economics, professor, Full Member of the Academy of Economic Sciences of Ukraine, Member of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

You know the guy, don’t you? (Just quoting from http://www.ya2008.com.ua/eng/meet/biography.)

Now look at some of the rare treasures I’ve stumbled upon in the Letters section (Ctrl C, Ctrl V):

'I have stood up for your interests and will keep doing it', – Nadiya from Poltava region

01.02.2006, 16:11

Dear Victor Fedorovych,

I have struggled for your interests and I will keep doing it and I pray for you. I wish you knew how much it costs me. We have a farm but my husband is very ill. People assault on us because of you.

As long as my heart beats, I'll stand by you. You will win!

Nadiya R.

Orzhytskyi district, Poltava region

http://www.ya2008.com.ua/eng/feedback/43e0a55c89bef/

Or how about this one:

"Dear Viktor Fedorovych, the people, the Constitution and the law are on your side," reads a letter from Anatoliy Aleksandrovich

31.07.2006, 11:03


In view of this, you and your party comrades should not make any decisions which would contravene your pre-election promises. The President will not dissolve parliament. Even if the parliament is dissolved, your political party can get about 50% of the national vote, provided that the Party of Regions honors its pre-election promises.

If your party comrades deviate from their pre-election promises, your party may get less votes. If you abandon formation of the coalition (that is to say by removing communists), you will be definitely crushed.

The coalition which was formed should not be reformatted. Anybody who wants may join it. However, any ultimatums, for example, "We will join only if they are removed," are unacceptable.

You should follow a firm, tough line with the "orange". They view your compromise steps as weakness. The year 2004 exemplified it.

The fact that you won elections means that the Ukrainian people entrusted their future in your hands, and they agree with your program.

The main thing is that the law is on your side. And they should not even try to adopt another unlawful decision, similar to the 2004 ruling of the Supreme Court which was not based on any legislative norm.

I wish you health and success.

Sincerely,

Anatoliy Aleksandrovich

http://www.ya2008.com.ua/eng/feedback/44cdbdec4e472/

Here's one hell of a letter, worth UNICEF's attention:

"Every day we wear POR scarves and carry flags with us!', Mykhailo, a schoolboy from Zakarpat'ya (Western Ukraine)

06.02.2006, 14:21

Dear Victor Fedorovych,

Mykhailo, the 8-th year schoolboy from a Tyachiv comprehensive school, addresses you.

Back in 2004, during the presidential elections, my family and I were very worried about you. We gave you a lot of support in the run-up for the post of Ukraine's president. I delivered election campaign symbols and wore a blue ribbon on my sleeve. Though it turned out otherwise. My father was sacked – an orange 'plague' came to power.

At the moment we are getting ready for the elections again and are anxious about You and the Party of Regions. My friends and I are spreading election campaign symbols again and we are worried about your victory.

Every day we wear POR scarves and carry flags on our shoulders. We are canvassing young people for POR, because here is our future.

When we win, and I believe in that, I'd like to ask you for help – arranging an animal shelter in our area. This is my dream. I am sure that you will pay attention to my request and I thank you very much indeed. I'm enclosing the photos taken in my room – a ' Yanukovych mini-headquarters'.

With great respect and gratitude – Mykhailo

http://www.ya2008.com.ua/eng/feedback/43e73f04c889c/

(Click on the link. Don't miss the visuals.)



There's another site to see, Raisa Bogatyrova, personal site. Just listen to this:

Рolitics give excitement and agitation of football combined with the elegance and grace of the literature, tough competitiveness and opportunity to find friends worldwide!

From the speech at IX congress of Party of regions

and this:

Dear electors! Sixteen years ago a fate gave us a historical chance – independent sovereign Ukraine. The primordial dream of the Ukrainian people, which was forged in liberation battles for ages become true. The country of Ukrainians stoped to be fata morgana. It is filled up with plans and ambitions of people and politicians to build prosperous and strong country with happy citizen based on the one of the oldest European nation.

http://www.bogatyrova.org.ua/eng/press/news/46cd52b78d714/

The interesting thing is, her resume hasn’t been updated. Apparently, in "one of the oldest European nation" some happy citizens' careers can be more dynamic than their Web sites.

Just Another Counter-Reality Commercial

Girl 1: Would you take us for a ride?
Sugar Daddy: Right to the edge of the world!

Girl 2: Got enough gas?
Sugar Daddy: Full tanks!

[APC approaches in a cloud of smoke, shock and awe-style.]

Serviceman: I’m dying for a glass of water. Could you fix me some, girls?
Girls: Just a second!

Girl 3: And when do you get home?
Serviceman: We’re already at home. We’re in the club every evening after work.

Girl 4: What kind of work?
Serviceman: Nothing out of the ordinary, work by contract.

Girl 5: What kind of contract? You mean a marital contract or what?
Girl 2: A military one, for the time being. [refers to the enlistment contract]

Sugar Daddy: Girl, girls, girls, don’t you wanna ride?
Girls: Go take Granny Manya for a ride, rider!

Voiceover: The time for new heroes has come. Contract-based service in the armed forces of Ukraine.

If the use of humor in this army recruiting ad was intended to tranquilize the brain, that mission hasn’t been accomplished. You can’t "be all you can be" if you can’t even pay your bills. So, dear advertiser, until you get the financials straight, you’re not fooling anyone but yourself.

Tymo Shares Her Braid-Raising Experience

Tymoshenko: True, there are two parts to an anticorruption audit, or anticorruption probe: it’s what happened before us, and I would like to tell you that it already kind of raises your braid, you know, when you see what’s going on there.

Hanna Bezulyk, talk show host: You look just fine, Yulia Volodymyrivna. [In Ukraine, the formal way of addressing people includes a patronymic].

Now that’s a more seasoned sense of humor.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72371.html

Yushchenko On Patching KDE2 Under FreeBSD

Below is a funny fragment from yesterday's televised press conference by President Yushchenko.

Iryna Vannykova, Spokeswoman for the President: The most popular question, No. 1 on all sites, is a humorous question, which, at first glance, doesn’t make any sense, but actually it’s about…um…software settings, and it’s written in a technical lingo. As hosts, we appreciate the online community’s sense of humor and the fact that this question made number one on all sites, so with your permission, Mr. President, I would like to ask you this question, which is as follows:

How do I patch KDE2 under FreeBSD?

President Yushchenko: Dear friends, you can get patching help from the programmers at the Secretariat of the President...um...for all of these operating schemes. Plan B, I would suggest that you use new soft…software and don’t mess with your head.

Did you see that? This is history in the making! This is the first time I’ve ever seen the President attempting or returning a joke, an overnight sensation for the cyber community. Nice try! Still, I must admit that a mock testimonial for Microsoft Windows would have worked much better.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/72353.html