Man Was I Wrong

Late reaction, late reading, and late updating. My last post was talking about Obama's "ensured defeat" and he won. Don't I look dumb? But you can't always be right. Obama ran a really well put together campaign and beat out McCain. McCain lost because of Palin, though I have nothing against the woman. McCain's way of choosing her was so blatantly political that it was a wasted gesture and in fact detrimental.

Also the economy really tumbled. Start this recession about three months later and I believe McCain would be sitting in that office right now. Either way Obama is in office now, and best of luck.

But this has been hacked to death, so moving on to catch myself up with myself. Obama has done a great job of modernizing the Office of President. His approach on Afghanistan, letting Pakistan know that we will not allow borders to defeat us as they did in Vietnam, was spot on. I believe that he has good intentions and unlike some idiots, I do not hope that he fails.

Why in the world you would hope for someone to fail when their failure is basically going to ensure the destruction of your way of life is beyond me. It seems that this is the kind of idiocy that has come from the republicans often recently. They mus still be reeling from their defeat after an unbelievable head start. Sadly this is the same kind of failure hoping that Democrats had the last 8 years. When will they see that their internal bickering, fillibustering, partisan deadlock crap is the reason why our growth as Number One not only stalled but took a nosedive?

What makes me laugh harder than anything else is this:

The average American will talk about the bloodshed between Shi'a, Sunnah, and Kurd as if they are so far above it. We are not. We tell them to find national unity, but where is ours? No, we don't kill each other over it (very often), but how far? Our first presidents feared the growth of political parties for this very reason.

The economy is in rough shape, boy howdy. And yet no one has really been punished for it. Everyone was in on it, so no one really knows what to do. Way to go.

This has been short, but I will be back much sooner this time. Much of it was stating the obvious, but after reading old posts I decided I either had to start from scratch, or bridge myself over. I also needed a little warm up, as you can no doubt tell. In fact, this message is more for myself than anyone else, because by the time traffic jumps up again like it was before, I hopefully will have this post buried far behind others.

A preview of what is coming:

• The story of the story that changed my life
• Talking about A Trillion Dollars
• Random news

While I'm trying to say I'm back, what I'm really saying is I'm here. It has been more than three years since I have posted regularly, this is the new beginning.

Rambling

Tonight I watched a video of Sen. Joe Biden that was featured on CNN. He ended with the words "God bless America, and may he protect our troops."

It seems every political speech has to end with a similar afterthought. I don't doubt that Sen. Biden believes that, or hopes that. But why did he say it? He said it purely for the political malarkey. Just to try and tap that one religious or patriotic voter, to make the voter think "Oh he cares about the troops!"

It is disgusting, and while I have deeply believed that Obama will lose this campaign, his selection on Vice President has only confirmed his defeat. Biden was his opponet just months earlier, and I dare one reporter to pose him this question. "Do you still believe that you would make a better president than Sen. Obama?"

Of the three options, yes/no/no comment, all of them have implications to the future. Were he to answer yes, then it undermines Obama. To answer no undermines himself. Not answering at all will lead the reader to draw their own conclusions, and they will conclude whatever helps them with what they want to believe.

I have a lot of respect for the general cleanliness of this campaign, and for both candidates. That these two men are running proves one thing: In general, Americans are not looking for a partisan candidate, to continue the partisan hacking that has paralyzed this country for 40 years. They want someone who is genuinely interested in reaching across the nation for real solutions to the absolutely terrifying problems looming in our future. 12 years, give me 12 years.

I'm a Big Ol' Liar

I haven't updated in forever, and I said I would. Today I'm going to talk about the 2008 presidential election, which will probably be a big focus of mine for the next eight months.

There are a few topics to look for in the coming updates. All of the presidential candidates have a lot to be said for and against them. I also want to take a look at a few things that are going on in Iraq. But for today, we are going to be talking about Florida and Michigan.

I'm sure that everyone who doesn't live under a rock knows the basic premise by now. Florida and Michigan's votes will not count in the democratic primary because they happened too early for the Democratic National Convention. Apparently the cost of a re-vote is about $25 million, and the DNC doesn't want to pay for it. Well, if Florida broke the rules and voted early who paid for the first one? I don't know the answer, but if the DNC paid for a vote that didn't count they are idiots and shouldn't have paid for it. If the states paid for the vote, shouldn't the DNC have money allotted for those states to have Primaries anyways?

While I will work on getting those questions answered, I think that this is not the focus we need to put on this event. When Florida and Michigan said they were going to break the rules, the Democratic front runners refused to campaign in those states. Now, if a candidate refuses to go to your state it shows you just how much they really care about you. I thought it was the United States, not the United States that will get me in power. Instead they went to other states who's delegates actually counted for them to win the process.

To make matters worse, now that it comes down to the wire and Obama and Clinton are closer than either thought they would be, both candidates are pleading for Florida and Michigan to be heard. In itself that is enough reason to prove that both of these candidates are unfit to lead this country. That kind of two-faced pretending to care is the exact thing that we need to get out of our government. Don't pretend to care, actually care.

How do we stop this problem from ever happening again? Make these primaries all happen on one single day. We do it for President, so you can't tell me it isn't logistically possible. If they happened on the same day across the country, then no one would be first and no one would be left out. The candidates would have to do a major rework of their time, and it would stop the campaign process from dragging on for months.

Our entire electoral process needs major reformation, which is the topic of a post in itself but not one that I will go in to today.

A New Year

I was about to have a moment of De Ja Vu and write "Well, it's been a long time since I've written..." I would like to apologize to anyone who has checked my blog and not seen anything new in the past six months. This post is going to be rather short, just to get myself back in the groove of things. Things have changed drastically over the past year. I have lost a job, struggled with trying to start a new business, started a new job at a gun store and much more.

I miss writing, and it saddens me that the time I spent on this blog went to waste. It was a subject of great pride seeing my audience grow and hearing the feed back from complete strangers who agreed or disagreed with what I had to say. I am going to try to start updating my page at least twice a week, starting slow and building my way back up.

There is a whole new year ahead of us and this will be an important year for America, as every election year is. So as with many other people around the world, many of my posts will be dealing with that. I got burnt out writing about Iraq and Iran for six months, so something new will hopefully be a positive change. I plan on throwing in some lighter hearted stuff as well so that I don't get bogged down in writing about the same things over and over again.

Talk to you all later in the week.

Perceptions

It has been a long time since I have written, which is ironic considering this is the time when I should be spending the most time writing.

There is a t-shirt that kids my age like to walk around in. Most likely you have seen it, a star emblazoned on the front, silhouetting the face of a revolutionary icon, Che Guevara. Every time I see someone wearing that shirt I want to shake them and say, "Do you know who this man even is? Do you know what he is a part of? Why he did what he did?"

The man died in 1967, years before any kids wore his t-shirt. I wonder if those kids know about his personal involvement in the execution and torture of his own soldiers, who he claimed were informers or spies. Being a former medical student, I'm sure he was well fit for the job of torture.

Then moving on, he helped Fidel Castro rise to power in his regime, and spent many years in Cuba, you know the same place that let Russia put missiles on their island. and considered Russia's removal of those missiles an act of betrayal! Then, he vocally supported the Viet Cong throughout the Vietnam war, again openly declaring himself an enemy to the West.

His "revolutionary campaigns" went from the Congo to Latin America, and all of them failed except for Cuba, until he was captured and executed by the Bolivian Government (Depending on who you believe).

I don't understand what is to be idolized about the man. He was a dedicated enemy to our way of life, and a murderer. Was his cause worthy? I can't say that it was or wasn't, but the ends don't always justify the means, and socialism is not an end I would like to see.

Though, in all reality, he won. I wonder if anyone will wear a shirt with my face on it 40 years after my death, not even knowing who I was or what I did?

Abortion

Today nears the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade case, the case that legalized abortion, so I figured I would chip in my two cents.

As many of you have now noticed I’m sure, I lean a little to the right. Abortion is one of those things that is pretty cut down the middle of party lines, with Republicans disliking it, and Democrats being Pro-Choice. Many of the strictly religious have serious issues with abortion, claiming that it is an aberration of God, a deadly sin, and a one way ticket to Hell.

When a woman goes to get an abortion, she is suddenly faced with a choice that few are prepared for. Woman who do this most often do so without the support of their parents, or the would-be fathers. A few of them have the support of their closest friends, but due to the stigma, many don’t even let their friends know until after the deed is done.

So here is a woman, alone, making the choice of the future of their child. Many clinics have protesters outside of them more often than not, so as she gets out of her car she is faced with the screaming taunts of “Murderer!” and “Whore!” She then has to walk into the clinic, and tell the staff, “I do not want to be pregnant. I can’t have a baby right now because I’m in school/have a career/too poor/was raped/etc.” Then she has to sit and talk with a Doctor, who explains in detail the things that he is going to have to do. Some may even have to watch a video showing the process in all of its horror. Alone, in a sterile hospital room, knowing what is about to happen. Then finally, before the operation takes place she has to be asked one more time, “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

She goes home, and takes a shower. She then sees her boyfriend, or father, or mother, and no one can figure out what’s wrong. Her friends cry with her and hold her close, but at night, alone again, she has nightmares. As she grows older, and has a child, she thinks back, and remembers that day.

No amount of judgment from protesters or the likes of me will compare to the punishment a woman who does that puts herself through. It is not my right to judge other than to say it must take incredible strength to deal with. Then again, I will never carry a child or go through an abortion, so my fiction above could be terribly far off.

Abortion is the choice, and the right of the mother. It is a decision that none take lightly. I bet that even teenage mothers understand the gravity of that situation. Why is it our right to force her to have a child that she does not want, or isn’t prepared to have? Many people believe that children are a product of their environment. If a child grows up in an environment with a single mother who harbors any resentment about the child being the reason they dropped out of school or stopped pursuing a career, what quality of life will they have?

“Well, put it up for adoption then!” some will say. But how many children live their whole lives going from Orphanage to Foster Home and back, never having any consistency? What is their quality of life? Not all of them grow up to be Dave and create Wendy’s.

“You cannot play God!” Others say. All of us play God in some way or another. We create and destroy life every day, from roaches to humans. Christians say, “God has a plan for everything.” Muslims say, “Nothing can happen but for the will of Allah.” Most religions have that ultimate fallback when times are bleak. If you truly believe that, then is there any amount of science or trying that can stop the will of God? How hard could it be for God to make an operation fail, if he created the entire Universe?

Most religions also have a “Judge not lest ye be judged” in them as well, saying, “Do not judge other people, none are perfect. Let God Judge them when they meet him.” So is it our place to judge people on earth? Why should a woman be forced to have a child when she is 17, or 21 and in college, or without a father, or after she has been raped? Especially in the cases of teen pregnancies, many times the teen’s parents end up raising the child, is that fair to them?

I don’t believe in late term abortions however, unless for some reason it could be medically necessary. Having an abortion after you miss a period is completely different from having a doctor remove a developed baby. By that point you should have made your decision.

The bottom line, I believe, is that the choice to have an abortion lays on the mother, the father, and their Doctor. Mostly on the mother, for it is her who will have to carry it for 9 months. It is not for me, you, or the Government to decide. If you personally do not believe in abortions, then do not have them. But it is not our right to force our beliefs on another, which is not what America is about. Outlawing abortion would be much like outlawing certain guns. It does not stop them from being bought and sold; it just changes how it is done.

That would not stop a person from throwing themselves down a flight of stairs to try and force a miscarriage. The amount of babies found in trash cans would rise dramatically, and it would create a market for garage-door abortion agencies. How dirty would a place like that be with no regulation? How many would-be mothers would end up in jail for murder because they couldn’t have an abortion? Is it right to destroy two lives instead of one that hasn’t had one yet?

New Looks

As you have noticed (or not) there have been a few changes to the site over the past week. My girlfriend took the time to create a banner for me, so I put it up and then changed the template around. The arabic is my first name as I drew it in Arabic Calligraphy. I took the time to make a few other changes, to try and get a little more continuity with colors and such. I also made made the site a little wider, so now hopefully my posts won't seem to take up as much space. More changes are to come soon, and I'm thinking about revising some of my posts with bold tags so that it will be easier to pick out topics for those that have time only to skim through my long windedness. We'll see how it works.

My Peers

My habib ti and I were walking through the mall a few days ago, I was needing to by some new reading material, and it's a chance for us to do a little walking and such. We went to Old Navy to get some thermal undershirts because it is terribly cold in California. (As a matter of fact, I have a score to settle with the Beach Boys for the image they gave me)

As we're looking through the normal person's clothes (I.E. not the 0-6 size range) this girl walks up and says, "What is this, the maternity section?" Now, this girl was no size 6 herself, but seemed to be one of those people who think that the world owes them something.

A few minutes later, we go to check out. There is one line, and four registers because it was a large sale, and quite a few people were there. As one register opened, they'd call the next in line. Well, this same girl goes up to a register, ignoring the line. She looks back at the line, makes a nasty face and continues standing in the line, because obviously she was more important than anyone else who was there.

It got me to thinking. These are people my age, I'm 21. I look around and it scares me to think that these are the people I'm going to have to count on to vote for me. A vast majority of my peers might be going to college, but anyone who has ever seen Jaywalking on the Tonight Show knows that quite a few of them are completely oblivious to the world around them. Many couldn't point out Iraq on a map even though a population of Americans large enough to fill a sizable town reside there. Nor could they tell you where Korea, or Iran, or many other countries of significance are.

And this attitude of blissful ignorance doesn't stop outside the world, but even in our own borders. It isn't just one subset of our youth, it is something that has infected our nation on a massive scale. Priorities for kids 18-24 these days seem to be insane. Then again, with the role models we have in Hollywood and sports these days, I guess it shouldn't come as such a shock.

Sometimes I just want to shake them and say, "Wake up! Don't you see that the world you live in is steadily sliding into World War III! Don't you see that because of your lack of involvement youthful ideas are not being introduced into our government! Can't you understand the vital role that we must play as a generation in order to continue a stable existence for our children when we have them!"

I don't mean that as "Armageddon" talk or the end of the world, but the entire world is wobbling on a knife's edge, and we could be plunged into a massive conflict overnight. Hindsight is 20/20, they say. They traced the origins of WWI to a single assassination. WWII was spelled out clearly by Hitler while he was in prison. Will they trace this one back to 9/11/2001? Or perhaps even so far back as 1979? Maybe they could even trace it back to the end of the Ottoman empire, and Britain's betrayal of the likes of T.E. Lawrence...

The next world war will not be a war like we have fought in the past. There will be large battles, but the book on guerilla warfare is revised everyday in the streets of Baghdad and the hills of Afghanistan, and it will be used. The closest thing to it would be to think of fighting Japan in WWII, if we had actually been forced to invade the mainland.

But the American spirit has been strong, from the darkest days of the Revolution forward. We have always managed, even coming into a fight ill-prepared, to fight a good fight. But in WWII when that happened, it was a generation of hard workers with a sense of national pride. Today it is a generation that thinks their votes don't count, with a large majority of them hating the government in general, and associating that anger with their country. It will be a rude awakening to say the least.

I'm Going to Lose Votes in 3...2...1...

Yesterday, on my drive home from work I was listening to NPR. It was a piece on Affirmative Action being voted down in some University in the Midwest, I want to say Michigan but I don't remember now. Thinking about it just made me remember how much I dislike Affirmative Action, so I figured I'd tell everyone why.

Affirmative Action is racist, and we will never be able to get past racism with it in effect. In itself it promotes the stereotype of inequality due to your skin color. What is more racist than saying, "Oh well, see, you're black/Hispanic/native American, so you can't do this on your own, we need to pass a law that will guarantee you a position at work or in school"?

One of the proponets of Affirmative Action said, "You see affirmative action guarantees that black people will get into the school, as they traditionally have lower test scores than others that apply. Not only will fewer get in, but fewer will apply thinking they are unwelcome!"

If you won't apply to a school because there's no law guaranteeing you a spot in a school, then you have a serious issue. And if groups of people have lower test scores, you are not fixing that problem by giving them a crutch to get in to school. You need to look at the root of the problem and fix it there. Instead of saying, "You got bad scores, here's a law that will make you get in anyways!" say, "Why are these people getting bad scores in Middle and High Schools? Are the teachers of poor quality, or the schools, or the home environment? Let us fix it there!"

Not only does affirmative action promote the views of inequality in minorities, but it also belittles people who do make the grade/interview to get a job. How is it, in a country of freedom and equality that someone who is more qualified loses a job to someone who is less qualified because they didn't meet their quota? Not only does that hurt the person who lost the job, but it hurts the company for paying the same wages to a less qualified employee who is (very likely) unable to fully perform their job functions, and it also hurts the person who got a job just because they were black/native American/Hispanic. How can you be proud of yourself by not getting a job on your own merits?

I believe that if a company begins only hiring white people, and minorities that are perfectly well qualified are turned down, it will be a problem that fixes itself. When companies are thought to be discriminatory in such a fashion, they lose business and support from almost everyone. When Al Sharpton says that Cracker Barrel is racist, people will stop going there and it will hurt their business. And if they are fine with that growing isolation, it is their own fault and their own loss. Why would you want to work for a company like that anyways?

Now, saying all that I believe that Affirmative Action was needed when it was passed. We had just come out of the civil rights movement, and there was a need to force people to get in line. But that time has passed. Racism then was publicly acceptable, these days it will only bring you public condemnation.

The hypocrisy of racism bothers me extremely, to no end. I don't understand why as a white male I am now the enemy of my country. I am not a "White Power" "KKK Is the WAY!" kind of person, it makes me want to vomit. But I don't understand why it is ok for there to be an all black school, or scholarship that is only applicable to black people, but then if you flip the coin and have a school where only white people are allowed, or a White Only scholarship you are immediately trampled on.

Equality should not have an Asterisk above it with a foot note saying, "Equality only applicable in certain situations and conditions, certain terms may apply." Equality is just that, equality. Fairness and evenness, I will never hate someone for their skin or cultural background.

I will however judge you on your actions and your ideas, and if those include hurting me or my family, my country, or my friends, I will hate you equally no matter who you are. And if you are a friend, you are a friend, not my middle eastern, black, or native American friend, just my friend.

Surprise Surprise!

Rivoted by CNN, I couldn't believe my ears. President Bush uttered words that I never thought to hear from him. Not, "We're sending more troops to Iraq" or "The real enemy is Iran"...

Just in case you haven't seen it, he said, "As far as the mistakes that we have made, that responsibility lays on me." Throughout four years of war, not once has President Bush claimed responsibility for the mistakes made over there.

Throughout the rest of the speech, it was pretty nondescript. Most everything that he said had already been leaked and reported to the media. It was the aftermath that made me sad. Immediately after the speech, within 2 minutes there was the official democratic response. It wasn't a off the cuff response, but a prepared speech delivered at a podium. Does it not look bad to anyone else to have prepared a speech in response to a speech that you just heard, but since you are already so vehemently opposed to the president, you can have it made before you even listen to what he says?

I think that shows very little couth on the part of the democrats. Honestly, the plan seems in theory that it will work. But as I said earlier, it depends heavily on how free a hand we ive our troops, and whether or not Maliki follows through with his end of the program. Plans often seem like they are going to work.

It's sad that politicians on both sides always talk about bipartisanship to sound like they care, but in all reality they don't. Oh well, give me 20 years.

Hope?

Bush will release his new Iraq strategy tonight. Apparently he's been reading my blog, either that or he got the message that I left for him with the White House comment line.

The plan is to send a little more than 20,000 more troops to Iraq, with the vast majority of them going straight into Baghdad, with the remainder being filtered into Al Anbar province, the so called "Sunni Triangle". The big news, and what may be the biggest help of it all is a promise in a change to the rules of engagement for our men and women over there.

The new rules will not play into the bitter infighting and politics of the Iraqi government, and will show no prejudice over any militia regardless of their political and religious ties. Hopefully this will give us a chance to finally deal with Muqtada's militias in the manner that they deserve.

I hope that 20,000 troops will be enough. I stated before that we needed more troops, but at this point it might be too late to send a significant amount into the country, and the most feasible option would be to send them into Baghdad only. So we will see if anything I said was right. This is supposed to also be coupled with an influx of Iraqi troops from other parts of the country, so there should be a major presence on the streets of Baghdad.

It is yet to be seen where these troops will come from, hopefully not all of them will come in from the Shi'a dominated south. Hopefully what Bush has promised about the rules of engagement is not only true, but will be upheld by Maliki, who seems to be in al-Sadr's back pocket. If we secured Baghdad, where most of the violence comes from, we could scale back our presence there and allow more Iraqi control, leaving our troops to deal with the insurgency still rocking the area west of Baghdad.

Which brings up an interesting thought to me, and one that I have no answer for. Why is it that that the armed groups are labelled differently depending on where they come from? Why is it the Sunni Insurgency, and the Shi'a Militia? That boggles my mind, and seems to give a certain amount of legitimacy to the Shi'a movement. Militia doesn't sound as anti-establishment as insurgency.

By definition, and Insurgency works to overthrow a government, while a Militia is "a group of civilians who drill regularly and can be called up in an emergency". But is it not the Shi'a militias very aim to institute a government based on the Irani model of theocracy and Shari'ah, thereby overthrowing their government? They are both insurgencies. The Shi'a do the same horrible things that the Sunna do; assassinations, death squads, forcing people out of neighborhoods, IED's, killing Iraqi and American Soldiers. They are not a peacekeeping force, and they are not protecting civilians. They are protecting Shi'a, and Muqtada's interests.

Airports

Due to the nature of my job, I find that a good part of my time is spent in Airports and Airplanes. Airports are amazing to me, because it is so rare to find a place that is simultaneously filled with so many emotions at once.

The joy of someone returning, the sadness of someone's parting. The anxiety and nervousness of first time fliers. The anger at those who have missed a flight, or lost luggage. It's an emotional cocktail.

The people you meet in airports will never meet you again (most likely) and you rarely even learn the names of those you talk to for 4 hours from Atlanta to Sacramento.

I can't really think of too many other places that are like that. Possibly a hospital, since babies are born there. I don't know, just a thought since I didn't have a lot of time to write today.

I'm Finally Giving Up

Unless you've been living under a rock these days, you know that they executed Saddam Hussein a few days ago, and unless that rock wasn't a wi-fi spot either, you know that they did it on the first day of the Muslim religious holiday of Eid al-adha.

Now, as if that isn't an insult enough to the 40% of Sunna Muslims in Iraq, it gets better. I know, Saddam was an evil man and deserved a fate worse than death. However, would waiting 5 or 6 days really hurt anything, just so that you could make sure that it wasn't done during a day that would aggravate an already aggravated situation? Is it that important to thumb your nose at the Sunna and show them that the Shi'a are in power now?

I'm finally just going to give up. I don't mean this as a big I told you so, since no one who makes those kinds of decisions reads this. We went on and kept making mistakes in Iraq, and now the Iraqi government is just powerful enough to keep us from changing it, but not powerful enough to let us leave. We are the strong arms of a Shi'a revival that will bring a Irani-esque theocracy in to power in Iraq.

The most significant part of Saddam's execution, other than the lack of professional dignity, was what the onlooker's chanted afterwards. It was bigger than the fact that they executed him in the same method and room that he executed countless innocents. Bigger than the fact that they executed him on a religious holiday where traditionally no executions take place. Bigger than the fact that they proved themselves no better than Saddam.

"Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!"

Are you kidding me? The man who oppressed your nation for a quarter century is finally dead, and that's what you decide to say? Not, Allahu Ackbar or Il'hambdu Allah, praising God for their liberation from a monster. Not, "Bless Democracy, for bringing him to Justice". But the name of an upstart cleric who isn't considered to be an Islamic Scholar, who wasn't even a big enough pain for us to have dealt with when we were the authority there.

Is this your plan for a unity government Maliki? Is this how you unite Iraqis with a national identity? Is this what you want the world to see when they think of the Iraqi government? If so, how can any country respect you? Or is your plan at "national unity" a lesson from Mein Kampf, to kill all Sunna and oppress them in revenge for Saddam's rule, and therefore only have Shi'a who are in Iraq and united behind you?

It is a shame. The leadership in Iraq is acting like a 12 year old kid when his parents are out of the house. Who's really in power there, Maliki, or Muqtada? Muqtada only pulls Maliki out of his back pocket when he wants to get something done. If he can't get it done that way, then he just sends his death squads in to murder their way through. If that doesn't work, they just inform US troops of "Sunni death squads" and a few minutes later we drop a 500 lb. bomb on a house.

I am all for US troops stabilizing and helping nurture Iraq's democracy. I however, can not stand the fact that our troops are being used in such a way that makes them a tool for Maliki and Muqtada, while Muqtada kills them from the shadows. They need the ability and the backing from Washington to be neutral, and deal with all threats equally, up to and including Maliki's abuse of power and child like antics. Things are slowly reaching the point of no return in Iraq, and if we don't act fast, Iran is going to get a lot bigger.

Happy Holidays!

Well, back in Tallahassee after a nice exhausting flight. My flight from San Francisco was cancelled due to weather. I found a new flight, from San Francisco to LA, LA to Tampa, Tampa to Tallahassee. From 4:00 pm Thursday to 9 am Friday. Honestly though, I am one of the lucky ones, because I got home at all. My thoughts to all those people stuck in Denver, London, or trying to go to any of those places.

So of course, it's only 9:00 my time, but midnight here. Anyways, it's that time of year, time for all the people to gather for their winter holidays, so here goes the well wishing.

To the Christians, Merry Christmas! To Jewish people, Happy Hanuka, and to the Muslims, Eid Mubarak on the New Moon. To everyone, I hope you have a happy holiday, no matter what you are celebrating, even if it is just celebrating being off of work and with your family. Because, no matter your beliefs or nonbeliegs, that's what any holiday is really about. Just spending time relaxing after a long year and being able to hang out with your family.

So if you are one of those people who are working, hope you get some time off soon. To those soldiers abroad and away from your families, happy holidays and stay safe.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R - VA) I Have a Suggestion...

Stop whatever you are doing. Go to the library. Pick up a copy of the American Constitution. Turn to Amendment 1 (ratified 1791). Actually you know what? How about this, just read this quote, I'll do the leg work for you.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Thank you. Now, please go back to the Hill, and resign, for you have given proof that you do not uphold nor love the constitution that allowed you to be elected in the first place.

Why the anger? Representative Goode recently made these comments. I'll list a few below.

In it, Goode wrote, "When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Quran in any way.

Good, I respect you for that because I happen to believe in the constitution. You don't like the Quran, fine. You want to swear on the bible because you are a Christian, that's great! Freedom of Speech, and Freedom to Exercise your religion. But then you go swiftly downhill. What was this in response to?

Spokesman Linwood Duncan said Goode's letter was written in response to complaints his office received about Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith Ellison's request to be sworn in using the Quran.

Oh, so you want your religious freedom protected, but not anyone else's? Wow, thanks King George/Ahmedinejad/Holy Roman Emperor/Spanish Conquistador. Here's a problem with your logic. Keith Ellison is a Muslim. Therefore, swearing on your Bible means as much to him as swearing on a used Kia means to you. So what if you lie when it's not your holy book? The point of swearing on a holy book is that exactly. It is your holy book, and you would not disgrace it by swearing on it as a lie, it is meant to keep a certain amount of truth on you. More power to him if he's saying that.

Rep. Goode goes on to say we need strong immigration reform or else we will have too many Muslims in this country, and too many Middle Easterners. Wow, so an openly racist and close minded man is going to just blurt something like that out? I suppose the Native Americans should have had the likes of him when the French, Spanish, British, Irish, Italian, Polish...you get the picture. America is "the world's melting pot" so back off Mr. Representative. White Christians aren't the only people who have done good for this country. Remember the guy who invented peanut butter? Go berate your mom for ever feeding you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because it was helped along by someone with darker skin than you.

He added, "The Ten Commandments and 'In God We Trust' are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Quran.
"My response was clear, 'As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, the Quran is not going to be on the wall of my office.' "

I'm sorry to tell you Mr. Representative, "In God We Trust" is a fairly solid tenant of Islam too. And they think it's the same God. Insha'allah (God willing) accompanies almost any statement they want to come true. Oh and those ten commandments? Also a belief of Islam, and Judaism. You know, ethnic Jews are from the Middle East, right representative? Where is Jerusalem, and the desert Moses wandered around for 40 years? Nevada? Or do you hate the Jews too, since they don't believe in your new testament?

Extremism in any form is a horrible thing to push. Whether you are extremely prejudice, extremely Christian, extremely Muslim, extremely Jewish, extremely alcoholic, extremely partisan; little, if any good comes from that. There is no room for peace in extremism, only subjugation.

Representative, you are a disgrace to the Constitution that you swore to uphold. If an Atheist was elected to congress, and wanted to swear on the life of his first born son, let him. Make someone swear on something that is important to them, not something that they consider of little value.

The people who voted in Keith Ellis did the most American thing they good. I doubt the majority of them were Muslim. They voted him in for him, not his religion. That is how you are supposed to vote. If we elected Representative Goode's model, we would not be any different than any other oppressed country.

Side Effects May Include...

Dizziness, Drowsiness, Fatigue, Kidney Failure, nausea, Diarrhea, Constipation, Acid Reflux, Sexual Side Effects, loss of taste, inability to make decisions....you should not use if you are or may become pregnant, have liver or kidney disease, lung disease, mild absentia of the senses, depression, suicidal thoughts....people who are using this should not drive, make love, drink, operate heavy machinery, or light machinery for that matter. However all and all, your headache will be gone.

I'm sure that's a little exaggerated, but one thing is not. Commercials for pharmaceuticals these days spend half the commercial talking about how it will fix one problem, and the other half talking about the problems they may cause. I spend a lot of this page talking about Governmental affairs, or things abroad, but this is a huge issue as well, and I suppose it includes the FDA which is a governmental agency.

Why is it that the FDA will never approve natural remedies that are fairly safe for you, that help do things man made drugs do, but without nearly as many side effects? Why is it that pharmacy companies have to look for drugs that can possibly have worse side effects than what they are supposed to treat? Why is it that a prescription can take 150 dollars, but then the generic version that uses the exact same formula is 50 bucks? Why is it that pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars courting Doctors, and then doctors push the drugs because Merck or Vioxx gave them a trip to Bermuda?

I don't know the answers, but the questions scare me. I suppose my dislike for the big pharmacy companies is another reason I'll never be voted in to office.

Marhaba

I've been doing some more sight seeing on msnbc.com, and nothing really has changed. People still call for the US to just leave the Iraqis to kill each other. People still call Americans idiots, and people still think that Iraq was better under Saddam's rule.

For all who think that, I would like to recommend a book. It's called Mayada: Daughter of Iraq. Check it out some time and realize why Saddam was a cruel man who needed to be removed from power. It is a story of a single mother who lived and worked in Baghdad running her own printshop. Her printshop was one of the better around Baghdad. One morning when she got to the office, she was arrested for printing something against the government, a crime she was innocent of.

Read her story, and know that there are hundreds of thousands who have a similar story to tell. There is a saying, "It is always darkest before dawn"

Iraq was dark under Saddam's rule, and it is darker now. Perhaps it will get darker yet, but just remember, the sun rise is a beautiful thing to watch.

Home Sweet Hotel

Well, everything Wednesday went pretty well. Actually, surprisingly well! My flight from Houston to Denver was uneventful. However from Denver all the way to Sacramento I experienced the most turbulence I have ever seen on an airplane. Spilled my coke on my lap...but on the plus side I was all by myself on the last row of the plane. So, this meant I could lay down all the way across the chairs and sleep the entire trip. I woke up as they were pulling in to the gate!

Now we get to try it all again next Thursday when I fly back to my real home in Florida.

Today's Topic of Conversation, now that I can spare a few minutes:

Here is something that bothers me to no end. As I have stated in previous posts, I have very little but contempt for the way our Congress runs.

Why is it that it is 2006, and already people are nominating themselves as "presidential hopefuls"? That's like going to your grandpa as he sits on his death bed and saying, "Hey, can I get that cool pistol you have? I know you'll be dead soon...and I just wanted to call it first."

It also reminds me of those teenagers who jump onto forums and say, "FIRST POST!!!!!!!11! LOL" and then nothing else of any value. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish?

You have two years left to do your job, and already you're campaigning for a new one? Jon Stewart made a quip about it in his book.

"Now that you've won your election campaign what's next? To plan for re-election!"

Honestly it makes no sense to me at all. How are you going to have time to fix issues while you are trying to campaign at the same time? That's like going in as a burger flipper and going up to the manager saying, "I would like to be the manager, don't worry about those burgers burning in the back ground..."

If I made my presidential career path via being a congress man, I would do my job and then say, "Look what I did. If you like what I've done and what I continue to do, vote for me." Not, "Hey, look what I'm gonna try to do as president! Don't worry about the promises I made to get in the senate, I can do so much more in the presidency!"

What A Week

This week was our Christmas party with the company I work with. Last week I spent trying to make sure that everything was caught up and I was ready to go. My flight was supposed to go from Sacramento to Dallas TX. Last minute I found out I needed to go to Houston afterwards.

So, I tried to change my flight, but upon doing some research I realized that it would be cheaper for me to buy two one way tickets and just miss my original return flight than change it. So I contacted Expedia, and told them not to change my ticket. The lady said to me, "No problem, it hasn't even been touched yet!"

The next day I get to the airport and when I go to check in, the lady tells me I have no flights, and I owe them 700 dollars. At this point I had 30 minutes to get to my flight. I was livid.

So, after her telling me that it was not the ticket, but me that was wrong, I asked for the supervisor. The supervisor tells me the same thing, and that she is doing me a huge favor by getting me on the flight that I had already booked, and in the process taking away the seat I had reserved next to my girlfriend. What a pleasure American Airlines. Luckily, a kind man who got my original seat switched with me.

So, we get to Dallas, and wait about 40 minutes for the shuttle to the hotel we are staying at. We finally get to the hotel, and everything goes pretty smoothly. We have a few drinks and go to sleep at about 2. The next morning I wake up and go to the meeting while my girlfriend watches my sister's baby. (Who also works for the same company)

Afterwards, there is a fairly uppity party, the kind where the appetizer is one ravioli filled with duck, and the dessert looks like a peppermint house filled with cool whip. On the plus side, there is an open bar with premium liquor.

The next morning (after about four hours of sleep) I wake up at 5:40 to get on the 6:00 shuttle to the airport for my 7:00 am flight. Well, I miss the bus, and have to wait for the 6:20 bus. He calls to find my gate, and finds out my flight leaves at 6:45. After a gut wrenching ride in a van with no seat belt (which I don't advocate, but it's always weird protocal in public transportation) I go to check in to my flight at the self check in. Lo and behold, my flight says that I leave at 1:35 pm to Houston International. (I was supposed to go to Houston Hobby, about 1 hour closer).

So I go to the lady, and she says, "Well sir, your flight actually leaves at 9:00 am, to Houston Hobby". So...I woke up early for? No worries, my girlfriend's flight leaves at 9:35, and so when she gets to the airport we hang out for a bit, which is always nice.

My flight leaves, and I sleep all the way there. When I arrive at Hobby, I go looking for the budget rent-a-car bus. One hour later, it arrives and delivers me to the rental center. My luck is the stuff of legends. Either I'm finding the most wonderful girl in the world, or an awesome job, or I'm having travel arrangements that make you belive in God, if only to believe in the Devil's hand.

"I'm sorry sir, even though you reserved this car through your company, with your company's credit card, we can't rent this to you as you are under 25"

So, back to the airport. Go to Enterprise. Rent the car out of my pocket. Back to another rental station. Now, I finally have a car, and it is about 1:00. So I drive to the hotel, after a short stop for lunch. I thought I had checked into a La Quinta, but apparently I only looked at them because they had no reservations for me. On to the Days Inn.

"I'm sorry sir, check in time isn't until 3:00."

"Do you have a couch I can sleep on?"

"...?"

Let's just wait and see what happens on Wednesday.

If I Was President

Well this is my presidential bid, and though I talk a lot about Iraq and Iran and other political things, most of that will be resolved by the time I get into office.

Today I'm going to give a little preview of some of the things that will be important to me, if I was president. Now, being that my run is 19 years away, most of these ideas are relatively unrefined, and some of them may seem more or less feasible as time moves on. Some may even become implemented before hand.

First, my list of priorities and why.

1.) Education. You cannot have a strong country without an intelligent work force. I do not agree with just passing someone through school to the point that people to this day are graduating high school with little ability to read. The American education system is a complete joke. I dropped out of High School and got my GED, and in the 5 years that I have been out of school I have learned more than my education from Junior High upward. (And in my last year of High School, I was in English III Honors, History Honors, and Gifted classes, all of which were complete jokes.) We have got to get an education system that is on par with European schools.

2.) Technology and Science development. It is extremely important that we get back on top of this list. I am a 100% patriot to America (the ideals), and there was a time when we were number one at everything, I want us to be number 1 again. With improvements in education, we will begin producing more intellectuals to help us in this field.

3.) Military. Though I may seem like a militant person, and this makes me seem even more so, I do not like war. I do not like the thought of little girls and boys going through the things that happen in war. It bothers me to think of our soldiers so far from home near the holidays, and it breaks my heart for the families who are spending their first Christmas knowing their loved ones are not coming back at all. But I believe a strong military is important, and I believe that a country needs a strong military to have a strong backbone in the international view. Time and time again we fight a war while playing catch up. We did it in WWII, and built a massive force. Then we let them all go and Korea popped up, and we had to start it all over again. We saw it happen in Iraq this time around, Clinton had shrunk our military and now they are really feeling the strain of it.

4.) Taxes. I think our tax system is far too complicated. This is an extreme point of view, but I believe in doing away with income taxes, and moving to everything on a sales tax basis. Yes, I know the cost of things would increase. But you would never have to file taxes again. There would never be the case of that person who never files income taxes and gets away with it for 10 years. It would also solve the problem of illegal immigrants never paying taxes, they would pay taxes every time they bought anything from a cup of coffee to a new car. With this I would also want to include a provision for people who make less than a certain amount to be exempt from these taxes, as in anyone in the poverty range. This could be accomplished by either keeping you receipts and mailing them in every quarter for a refund, or by some other means. I know that this is a very touchy subject and it has only recently been brought up to me, but initially I like it. It is one that will take a lot of work to make right, but if it did it would save money, time, and the government wouldn't be sitting on your money for a whole year while you couldn't do anything with it. Accountants would not be too happy with this one, as well as the rich people who set up tax shelters to avoid paying taxes.

But honestly, I don't want the rich people to vote me in, I don't want Chevron, or Time Warner to vote me in. I want the real people to vote me in. From under the poverty line to the upper middle class. If I anger that fraction of the country, I'm sorry, you have enough money to deal with some upsetting stuff, take a vacation and cool off. If it angers a millionaire, but makes a single working mom happy, I consider it a victory.

Other priorities would be:

*Speeding up the process in congress.
*Making people understand that the right to a speedy trial, as guaranteed, does not mean letting people stall you in court for 10 years because they have more expensive lawyers.
*I believe that a president should write his own speeches.

I would set up a team to find as many inefficiencies as they could in the government in six months time, and spend the next 3 and 1/2 (to 7 and 1/2) years fixing them. We have an incredibly inefficient government that wastes money by the truckload.

Another priority would be to talk and listen to the people. Not just the lawmakers, not the media, not the polls, but the people themselves. As the leader of a country you have to stay in touch with the people who gave you that power. That's why some lawmakers have Chevron on speed dial, and other special interest groups.

I know that people say "Well, this is what all politicians say! It's great until you get into office, then it all disappears!"

I agree, and that's why I am starting so early. Without using the normal politicians way of $1000 dollar dinners and fundraisers. I'll give you 19 years to get to know me and my intentions, using the internet, op-eds, and anything else I can find that will reach the common Joe and Jane Doe, Main Street America.

Another very important belief of mine is that a President should lead closer to the middle. At this point we spend 4-8 years going one direction, only to spend the next 4-8 years trying to go in a completely different direction and undo everything the previous Administration did. We need a leader who will lead the country, not just his side of it. 4 steps one way and 4 steps back just leads you to the beginning, with no real progress. A leader who knows how to compromise, and give the people what they want.

I know this means I just lost a ton of votes. The extremists of any side, whether it be religion, or partisanship, will not vote for me. My thought on that is if you have 20% hardcore conservatives and 20% hardcore 'liberals' that leaves 60% of the people who may side with one or the other, but are still close enough to the middle to see the good something like this would do for the country. As before how I have stated my hatred for labeling, I am not going to only worry about the Christian vote, or the White vote, or the Black vote. I appeal to the American voter. I believe that there are enough out there, whether you be any race creed or religion, who will see the good in this. This country should be lead by someone who represents the people who live there, not the upper 10%, but the majority.

Maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe it will work. I look forward to hearing all the feedback in the world to this, because as the countrymen I want to lead, you help shape my platform, not a company, not a lobby group, but the people who win the bread of this country and form its backbone.

I care about you all, because you all are, as was once said, "My Fellow Americans"