Night At The Museum 2: Escape From The Smithsonian


Terminator Salvation


Blood: The Last Vampire

我在紧追着"学警突击", 里面有一号人物叫"Laughing哥", 看过的人都懂.

看着看着,这号人物让我想起了卫小宝.

为何呢, 因为, 两个都是反英雄.

何为反英雄呢?

Wikipedia 定义: 一個反英雄是一個有着通常屬於惡人的人格缺點的，同時又具有足夠英雄氣質來博得讀者或觀眾同情的主角或配角。反英雄可以是笨拙的，可憎的，消極被動的，值得憐憫的或是愚鈍的。但他們永遠在某些基本的方面是有缺點的或失敗的英雄。

很多人喜欢Laughing是因为他对朋友讲意气,对心爱的女人一片痴心,虽然表面喜皮笑脸,但做起事来成熟稳重.
遇到困难的事时而"顺天而意".

其实, 我们的身边也有很多反英雄, 不妨观察观察.

Parov Stelar - Charleston Butterfly


Kara - Honey


Wheesung - Insomnia


Sorry Sorry 쏘리 쏘리 - Super Junior


Osunlade - My Reflection

Knowing


Fast and Furious 4


Handsome Suit
http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/Handsome+Suit/movie/15114/


Taken


The International


X-Men Origins : Wolverine

From News.gov.sg

Thirty years ago, I launched this Speak Mandarin Campaign. Chinese students learn Mandarin in school. Unfortunately, they used to speak dialects among themselves and at home. When I watched interviews on our Chinese TV channel in the 1960s and ‘70s, I found students and workers speak Mandarin haltingly. They have not used Mandarin often. Mandarin has to be the common language of Chinese Singaporeans, regardless of their dialect groups. If the government had left language habits to evolve undirected, Chinese Singaporeans would be speaking an adulterated Hokkien-Teochew dialect.

To effectively promote Mandarin, we closed down all dialect programs on radio and TV from 1979. Also, I was setting a bad example making speeches in Hokkien in the 1960s and ‘70s to reach the largest number of Chinese. From 1979, some 30 years ago, I decided to stop speaking in Hokkien and switched to Mandarin. Had I not done this, Hokkien/Teochew will be the predominant common language for the Chinese in Singapore, not Mandarin.

The value of a language is its usefulness, not just in Singapore, but also in the wider world. If you speak Hokkien or Cantonese, you reach some 60 million in Fujian and Taiwan, or about 100 million in Guangdong and Hong Kong. With Mandarin, you can speak to 1,300 million Chinese from all provinces in China. Now, overseas Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin, not Chinese dialects. China is setting up 500 Confucius Institutes in different countries to teach Mandarin to many millions of people around the world.

I understand the strong emotional ties to one’s mother tongue. However, the trend is clear. In two generations, Mandarin will become our mother tongue.

English is the key language for our people to make a living. It is the second language of all non English-speaking peoples. Multinational companies use English. Internet data banks are mostly in English. PRC Chinese are learning English with great effort. If Mandarin were our first language, Singaporeans would be of little use to China. They do not need more Mandarin speakers to add to their 1.3 billion. English gives us easy access to English-speaking societies and the developed world. Thus, Singaporeans bring value-add to China. If Ms Lim Sau Hoong spoke only fluent Mandarin, she would not bring added value to her work in China. It is because she also speaks and writes fluent English that she has been able to compete in both languages in the advertising sector. That made her a valuable addition to Zhang Yi-mou’s team to polish up the dramatic opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

To keep a language alive, you have to speak and read it frequently. The more you use one language, the less you use other languages. So the more languages you learn, the greater the difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency. I have learned and used six languages – English, Malay, Latin, Japanese, Mandarin and Hokkien. English is my master language. My Hokkien has gone rusty, my Mandarin has improved. I have lost my Japanese and Latin, and can no longer make fluent speeches in Malay without preparation. This is called “language loss”.

All new countries have multiple dialects and languages in their mixed populations. To become a united nation, the population must speak a common language, so that they can communicate with the government and with one another. Indonesia has hundreds of languages and dialects in their 17,000 islands. Since independence in 1949, they have been teaching and speaking Bahasa Indonesia. In secondary schools and tertiary institutions, they do their lessons only in Bahasa, and not the regional languages and dialects. Bahasa is now the language of government and business in all parts of Indonesia.

Singapore’s multi-racial peoples will never be united if we had used Mandarin as our common language. All non-Chinese, 25% of Singaporeans, will be disadvantaged. The result will be endless strife, as in Sri Lanka, where Singhalese was made the national language and the Tamil-speaking were marginalised. We made the right decision to use English as our common language. We also retained the teaching of mother tongues. Even in 1959 when we first became the Government, my colleagues and I could foresee a time when China would open up and become a huge economic power. Their common language is putonghua, not dialects. Our choice of English has enabled our fast growth. Now with China’s growing economy, parents and students no longer complain of the burden of learning Chinese, a difficult language without spelling or phonetics. Dialects are being overtaken by Mandarin in the region where Mandarin is taught in all Chinese schools. Mandarin will become the common language of the overseas Chinese.

China wants to collaborate with us because through English, we are able to connect with the West. At the same time, our Mandarin is fluent enough to communicate with PRC Chinese on different topics and subjects.

The Speak Mandarin Campaign and our bilingual education policy have resulted in a growing number of young Singaporeans speaking Mandarin among themselves in schools, ITEs, polytechnics and universities. They also watch Mandarin TV more than English TV.

Quite a few Singaporeans with only “AO” or “O” level passes in Chinese have sent me emails from China to thank me for making Mandarin compulsory for them. With this basic foundation, they have been able to expand their vocabulary and increase their fluency after a few months in China. Singapore Press Holdings distributes a free bilingual newspaper called “Wobao” or “My Paper”, which is bilingual in Chinese and English. They have a glossary of translations for the more difficult English and Chinese words and phrases. 250,000 copies of “Wobao” are distributed daily, read by about 500,000. During train or bus rides or at home, you can read it and refresh your recognition of Chinese characters.

School examinations no longer concentrate on mo xie, dictation from memory, or ting xie, listening and writing. They are not needed in real life. With computer programs, you can type the pinyin and the characters will appear. Since 2007, we have allowed the use of digital dictionaries in national examinations.

Singapore’s advantage has been that we have a Mandarin-speaking community. We have newspapers, magazines, books, and television programmes in Chinese. We need some 300 Singaporean graduates each year who have Chinese language and culture at a high level, to interact with their China counterparts. The flow of new migrants from China as our citizens and Permanent Residents will help in this process.

English is our dominant language everywhere. Most students will have little difficulty in mastering working-level English. However, if parents speak in English to their children at home, learning Mandarin will be a problem. Research of American-born Chinese disclosed that when these second-generation Chinese try to learn Chinese in college, those who speak English at home found mastering Chinese as difficult as Caucasian-Americans; those whose parents spoke to them in Mandarin easily made the grade. My advice is for both parents to speak Mandarin to their children if they can. If one speaks in Mandarin and the other in English, the child will grow up speaking more English than Mandarin.

And with IT digital dictionaries that can translate from English to Chinese and vice versa and also pronounce the words, learning Chinese has become much easier and more convenient, something I did not have when I started learning Chinese in 1955 at age 32.

Timmy Vegas & Bad Lay-dee "Another Dimension"


Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip "Thou Shalt always Kill"


Alesha Dixon - The Boy Does Nothing - Bimbo Jones Remix


After School - Ah


Kanye West - Love Lock Down (Tiesto Remix)


Vinylshakerz - Hypnotic Tango

Push


Race to witch Mountain


Dragonball Evolution

Ritmo Dynamic - Calinda (Alex Gold Remix)


Lady Gaga- Just Dance (Craig C Mix) featuring Cazwell & The Ones


蕭煌奇-阿嬤的話


Seung Ri - Strong Baby MV (Big Bang)


Norazo - Superman

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button


Changeling


Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans


Inkheart

From Straits times

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew spoke at the annual Tanjong Pagar Chinese New Year Dinner last night. This is an edited text of his speech.
THIS year will test the mettle, the strength of character, of Singaporeans. The Prime Minister and Finance Minister have described this worldwide financial crisis that has reached us. This is the first time that all banking systems in all countries are concurrently facing a credit crunch. They have lost confidence in themselves, in their fellow banks and other financial institutions, and even in their customers. United States and European Union (EU) banks have been brought down by complex derivative securities, now called 'toxic assets' because they may be worthless.
In nine months, we will know how US President Barack Obama's economic and financial plans are doing. We will have an indication of when America's economy will bottom out and start to grow again. With luck, it could be by the end of 2009 or in early 2010.

However, many leading American economists contend that (despite) spending the huge sum of money (that Mr Obama's stimulus plan calls for), they may still not succeed in kick-starting the economy. Some argue that prices in the mortgaged housing sector must hit bottom and recover before confidence will return. When they do, banks and financial institutions worldwide will be more confident.

The outcome of America's economic and financial policies will affect the EU, China and Japan, because the US is their major export market. By the end of the year, we will know where the US economy is heading. Singapore's 'Resilience Package' may have to be updated.

Our external trade is more than three times our GDP. Therefore, the level of international trade is a decisive factor for our economy. Indeed, in this globalised economy, no country - neither the US nor the EU, neither Japan nor Singapore - can single-handedly decide its economic performance.

Big countries like China and India can still make substantial 6 to 8 per cent growth despite this meltdown. They have giant domestic markets and can spend to meet their large infrastructural needs. But China's GDP is only one-quarter, and India's less than one-tenth, that of America's. We may get some spin-offs from their growth, but they cannot lift us like a US recovery.

Singaporeans and their government are not in panic. We have got the wherewithal to survive this recession, even if it goes on for several years. We knew such a recession must come from time to time. It is in the nature of the free markets of the Western world that our economy is plugged into. People and systems tend to be carried away by exuberance. Investors get greedy and rush in to buy, believing that prices will only go up. When prices collapse, investors find they have lost huge sums. Despair and depression then set in.

Everyone in the world is poorer - US$7 trillion (S$10.5 trillion) has been wiped off the world's stock markets. According to a BBC report from Davos, the world's assets - stocks, properties, pensions, gold, jewellery, et cetera - have lost 40 per cent of their value. Mr Rupert Murdoch speaking at Davos said personal wealth in the world has fallen by US$50 trillion. Forbes estimated that in Hong Kong, the 40 richest billionaires and millionaires have lost half their combined wealth. Property values have gone down in every country; so have profits for companies and wages for workers.

In Singapore, our SGX market capitalisation lost half of its value last year. Properties at the high end, residential and commercial, have gone down. However, HDB prices have held up because many are downgrading from private condominiums to purchase HDB flats.

Everyone's wealth has shrunk as our assets have lost value. But if you have not borrowed excessively to buy assets and have sufficient cash to service your loans, you can hold on to your investments until the market turns up and prices recover.

We expected stocks and shares to go down so we sold quite a number of stocks and shares we owned and turned them into cash early last year. That's why we were able to buy banks and so on because we had the cash.

Singaporeans need not despair or be depressed. We will have to endure some hardship. But nobody will be destitute, depending on soup kitchens or begging in the streets. Everyone has a home: 95 per cent of Singaporeans are home owners. They will receive U-save rebates and S&C subsidies, GST credits, Workfare Income Supplements and other forms of assistance. Most importantly, the Government has launched the Jobs Credit scheme to save jobs for Singaporeans by giving employers a maximum grant of $300 per month for each Singaporean worker.

These measures will help Singaporeans meet their basic living expenses and defray their utility bills and conservancy charges. Support is tilted towards the lower-income families in two- and three-room flats, and also the middle-income in four- and five-room flats.

Some professionals have written to the newspapers that we are ignoring those in the private condominiums and landed properties. The Government has not overlooked them. They are getting income tax and property rebates, and GST credits. But it is right that the low-income groups should get more help, as they are in greater need.

Ministers and senior civil servants are taking pay cuts of up to 20 per cent as the economy has slowed down substantially. Middle- and lower-ranking public officers would also receive lower salaries, but with smaller reductions. This is to share the belt-tightening that other Singaporeans have to bear in this difficult period.

Most of what we consume is imported. We do not grow our food, nor manufacture the goods we buy. Whatever we do, retailers will find customers more cautious, because they are preparing for what could be a longish period of negative or little growth.

Retailers, like other companies, will get up to $300 per month for each Singaporean employee through the Jobs Credit scheme, and should also benefit from the 40 per cent property tax rebate, which is the least that landlords should pass on to tenants. Along Orchard Road and many other shopping centres, tents have been put up next to shopping malls for the mall tenants and others to sell their wares to passers-by at lower prices. The market will adjust.

This experience will be remembered by everyone, especially by all those who were born after 1971. After 1971 and the oil crisis which caused oil prices to quadruple, our economy has grown steadily year after year. So this generation may believe that Singapore and Singaporeans will automatically go up the escalator every year. This is not so.

In testing times, we must have the guts to face our problems, maintain solidarity and work together, learn new skills and knowledge through the Spur programme that the Government has launched. We will overcome our present difficulties and emerge stronger from the experience.

We will get fresh investments again, higher value investments that will employ more workers who are better-skilled and more knowledgeable. Our standing with investors worldwide is high. They know we are restructuring and that we will pay for our workers to be trained by them, and by other institutes, under Spur (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) to match the skilled workers that they need. We should take this opportunity to go for training and upgrade ourselves for these higher value-added jobs.

Singapore's security, stability, reliability and good labour relations are well known. Whatever your job, you are better off in Singapore than if you were in a similar job in any other Asian country, including China and India. The only country where, job for job, you can be better off, is Japan. The Japanese have huge reserves, top class infrastructure and a highly skilled, industrious and knowledgeable workforce.

Do not be discouraged by the present hard times. I am confident the younger generation of Singaporeans have the grit, stamina and resourcefulness to bounce back.

My generation of Singaporeans will never forget the 1960s and early 1970s when we had only $100 million in our reserves. (Now our reserves are more than $100 billion.) We faced separation from our then economic hinterland, Malaysia, and 'Konfrontasi' and no trade with Indonesia.

That generation kept their nerve and were determined to succeed. Your parents' and grandparents' generations had hard lives in shanty huts with no running water or modern WC, not knowing what the future could bring. They simply concentrated on hard work and built the foundation for the Singapore of the 21st century. I don't believe that in one generation that attitude has disappeared. Yes, you have had an easier life, but pressed against the wall, like your fathers and your uncles, you will fight back.

We will go through with restructuring our economy. We will retrain and educate our workers to higher levels of skills and knowledge. When recovery comes in the US and EU, as it must, we will be ready for a higher level of economic activity.

Your generation can take Singapore forward to become one of Asia's most vibrant and beautiful cities. We will have a spectacular marina in the Central Business District; the island will have many beautiful streams and water bodies; our housing estates will be clad in exuberant foliage and ringed by gardens, recreational and sporting facilities. This is not a pie in the sky. It will be realised in the next five to 10 years, even with the current financial crisis.

The success of Singapore came from the hard work, resourcefulness and ingenuity of your forefathers and their leaders. You are the descendants of these lion-hearted pioneers. You have it in you to succeed. Joining you are hardworking and talented new emigrants from Asean, India and China. Together we can make the grade.

From MFA Press Release

How three communities inspire China

China's business newspaper 21st Century Business Herald interviewed Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in October last year in Singapore. This is the second part of excerpts from the interview.

What role did Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore - 'Chinese societies' - play in China's opening?

First, I must correct you. Singapore is a multiracial society, not a Chinese society. We are 75 per cent Chinese, but we have 25 per cent Malays and Indians, so that makes the difference.

I think (Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore) have been a great advantage to China because China can see how three Chinese communities have developed. Similar people, similar culture, but mainly of course from the southern provinces. But it is a great advantage for China because it inspires them to do better. If Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore can do it, China must be able to do it. You have more natural resources, bigger population, more talented people and you are doing better.

If Russia had three such provinces - supposing the Baltic states had been Russian, but not part of the Soviet Union, connected with the West - Russia would have seen how they were prospering and why, and the Russians could easily have duplicated the system.

Also, in the early days (of China's opening), there were very poor investments from the West and from Japan. Your overseas Chinese helped to start your industrialisation, especially after the 1989 Tiananmen incident. The West did not invest, Japan did not invest, but the overseas Chinese invested. They made good business, then the others joined in.

Will Hong Kong lose its edge and international status in the future?

Difficult to say. After 50 years, Hong Kong will be part of China. But it will always have a different history because for over 150 years - from 1840 to 1997 - it had an infusion of Western systems, which helped them just as they did Singapore. So I think even after 50 years when they become a part of China, the system of government, the system of the economy, the rule of law will make them different from China.

Assessing the roles of Chinese leaders from the second (Deng Xiaoping) to the fourth (Hu Jintao) generations.

Their roles are not the same. The first stage was Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji. They had to break the old pattern and move from public-owned factories and institutions into more profit-oriented enterprises.

That first phase was from 1979 to 2000. I would say during Zhu Rongji's last five years, there were major breakthroughs. China joined the World Trade Organisation, which forced you to change the system - and will continue to force you to change the system - and made you competitive.

President Hu Jintao, his objective is to balance the development between the coastal and the inland areas. The differences between them have become very big. This is still work in progress. They are trying to build the infrastructure to bring development to the western regions, giving special investment terms for people to invest there because you cannot invest in the west and export by sea.

So you are investing in the west to sell your products in the west, in the Chinese domestic market - and maybe later on, with connections to Central Asia and the former Soviet Union, then you can export to them. That's a long-term possibility. But in the end - and in the end means 30, 40 years - that is the way to go.

I do not believe the western provinces can be as advanced and prosperous as the coastal provinces and the riverine provinces. If you look at the United States, you will see the two seaboards - East Coast and the West Coast. There is more population, more prosperity in the coast than at the centre, except for Chicago - and Chicago because of the St Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, so ships can come in.

I believe you can raise the standards in the inland provinces to, say, about 60, 70 per cent of the coastal provinces. But from the beginning of history, China's poorer areas have always been inland. Climate is not so good, communications not so good, cultural and educational standards not that high. So the bright students who want to advance themselves, they go to the coast or to Beijing for their university and special training. That may continue for a long time because your best professors and your best teachers don't want to go to the provinces.

This is a big problem in India. There are so many little villages. (Good) teachers don't want to go there. So there are poor teachers teaching the children.

The only way to progress is to build towns, big towns. Then, you have all the amenities and the teachers will come, health services can be brought in and there can be connections to the world. This is the way all nations have developed. This is the way Europe developed, this is the way America developed, this is the way Japan, Taiwan and Korea developed.

Copyright ?2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access

-----------

Jan 8, 2009

On the Chinese and Indian models of development

'I THINK it's difficult to compare the two because there are two different entities, two different peoples. China is 90 per cent Han; in India, there is no majority. They have 320 different languages and dialects. It is one country brought about by the British Raj and the railways that the Raj built. Even today, when the Prime Minister speaks, he cannot be understood by the whole nation.

If he speaks in English, he'll be understood by 40 per cent; if he speaks in Hindi, he'll be understood by 40 per cent; if he speaks in Tamil, understood by 7 per cent; and so on. So it is a very difficult country to mobilise.

Also the two systems are different. Theirs is a multiparty democracy - multiparty in the centre, multiparty in the states; and the centre and the states may be under different governments and they may not be working together.

My estimate is they can do 60 per cent of what China has done - unless they make fundamental mental, cultural and constitutional changes. I will give you an example.

About 11/2 years ago, when I was in Bombay, they asked me how Bombay could become like Singapore. So I asked them who runs Bombay. They said Maharashtra state. I said if you want to become like Shanghai, then you make Bombay a state like Shanghai, which is directly ruled by Beijing.

But here they say no, you cannot do that because they would lose their revenue from Bombay. They take the Bombay revenue and spend it on the farmers. So Bombay cannot grow into a Shanghai or a Singapore. So that's a basic fundamental constitutional problem. When I met the leaders in New Delhi, I said why don't you make the change for Maharashtra? (They said): It will never pass Parliament.

Then there are other major problems. Their idea of an ideal society is many, many villages. And they want to bring all the facilities of the cities to the villages. Former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said that is the way to go. So they asked me.

I said there is no country that has developed through villages. The course of development is through urbanisation. The surplus population from the countryside, as farming becomes more productive, will go to the cities. They will get jobs in factories, in services. They are gathered together and therefore will have good health, education and connections with the world.

A recent example of how they are defeating themselves is what happened when Tata wanted to build a cheap motorcar factory in Bengal. The Chief Minister of the state agreed but the opposition organised the farmers and opposed. Maybe they were not given enough compensation; maybe they just want to oppose. So now Tata is going to move to another state.

They are preventing Bengal from becoming industrialised. If they allow this factory to go up, the farmers will be working in the factories and earning more. More land will be released that they can cultivate with machines and thereby increase productivity.

It is a mindset problem. From Mahatma Gandhi's time, they have always idealised the village as the ideal society. (But) the village is not an ideal society.'


Copyright ?2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement & Condition of Access

-------------

Jan 8, 2009

On the PAP and MM's motivation

On why the People's Action Party (PAP), though it has been in power for so long, still has a humble headquarters; and how future generations of leaders can be prevented from erecting expensive buildings for themselves and purchasing luxury cars.

'I cannot forecast what future generations of PAP leaders will do. If they are filled with grand ideas and want to build monuments, that would lose the PAP its prestige.

'We have established a culture of modest living, avoidance of waste and ostentatious displays of wealth and power. We are a political party of a small country. There is no need to impress our people or visitors with our wealth and power. It will be counter- productive.'


On how he would live his life again if he were a boy now.
'Difficult to say what I would do if I were a boy again. My thinking and motivations were forged in an age of tremendous change.

'European empires in Asia were destroyed by the Japanese Army. This was followed by communist guerilla insurgencies that spread all over South-east Asia. They wanted to seize power in the newly independent countries.

'We wanted to get rid of the British. We joined in the United Front with pro-Communists to get rid of the British. Then we had to struggle against the Communist United Front who wanted to take over. Singapore would have been led to disasters.

'My values and motivation were to improve the lives of the peoples I belong to and the country that I am part of. That made me go into politics.'

From Top Left:
1. Rolex Sea Dwellers Deep Sea Series
2. Villemont Aston T Nighthawk
3. Chopard L.U.C Chrono One
4. Versace DV One
5. Vulcain Cricket Aviator GMT The Dragon
6. Jaquet Droz - La Date Astrale
7. Van Cleef & Arpels “Lady Arpels Féerie”
8. Vulcain 150th Anniversary Hheart

Transcript from CNN.com

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. Watch the full inauguration speech »

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.