New Blog

Ok.... Thinking about starting a new blog in the view from a chacter out of a movie or book!!! Shane, John Grady, or Munny

OK so this clip terrifies me, It is one thing to beleive in God, ok go ahead thats great, but there comes a point when there is so much scientific fact that one needs to take that into consideration in your beliefs and every day life. Evolution is one of those things, saying that you dont beleive in evolution, is like saying you dont believe in gravity. Ok that is slightly extreme, but you know what I mean. THere is way to much scientific proof that evolution exsists. And for a presidential candidate to openly admit that they do not believe in evolution tells me that they are ignorant and only see what they want to see. It is to hard for them to find a way to still believe in God and evolution, so they just ignore the facts and live in ignorance. And someone who is going to be president of the United States needs to be able to be open to all ideas. Not just there own way of thinking!!

Nixon v Kennedy

I found this clip on you tube and thought it was relevent to my class, which is blogs, politics and media. A huge focus of the class is how the internet and the media has changed politics. Well obviously the internet was not in play at this time, but this was the first real media coverage of a presidential debate and would forever change the presidency and the way we see our presidents. It is interesting to see the stark difference of the debate back then and the hand raising debates that are going on this month.

Ronald Reagan

Here is a funny compilment of the presidential candidates during the debate refering to Ronald Reagan. I thought they looked like idiots but take a look and decide for your self.

Rare Form of TB

A man who was under Federal Isolation for a rare antibiotic resistant strain of TB, got on a plane and traveled to Europe earlier this month, knowing that he was infected with TB but unaware of its rare and deadly form, but aware of the possibility of infecting others! He is now on the move and has left Grady Memorial Hospital, he says he is leaving to receive health care at National Jewish Medical Center in Denver. However it has not been confirmed if he has arrived in Denver as of yet. He found out that he had TB earlier this month, he was advised to stay quarantined, he left hospitalization and traveled to Paris, while he was away tests revealed that he had this rare resistant form of TB, the CDC tracked him down in Rome and urged him to hand him self over to the Italian authorities, but he refused, and got back on a plan to Montreal. He is now on the move once again and we can only hope he will reach Denver and stay where he is told. This outraged me this morning when I heard. How irresponsible, he could have not only exposed each person on both flights but he could have also turned it into an epidemic. The CDC has contacted everyone on the flight and is in the process of testing each person. There have only been 47 reported cases of this rare form of TB in the last few decades, but none in the last 20 years. As far as researchers know this strain is completely resistant to antibiotics and is untreatable. One Health official who treated the infected man called even TB a weapon of mass destruction that is largely ignored in this society but is still very much a concern with 9 million new cases per year world wide. What does this have to do with politics? Everything!! Anything that is of potential danger to the health and safety of a countries people should be considered part of politics. And if this does break out, which is looking very unlikely, you better believe the president would have to be heavily involved with the CDC to try to contain the matter as best as possible. I just need to say one more time, how utterly ridiculous I think this man is. To get on a plane filled with people when you have been diagnosed with TB and warned of the possibility of contamination!!! I am so upset and I cannot imagine how the people on the flight felt when they were notified of their possible exposure. That is all for now but will keep you updated as reports come in of the mans whereabouts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6JFkxpyYi4
quick clip of the highlights of this breaking story

The Nexus of Politics and Terrorism

For those of you who do not know, the term nexus refers to a connection between two or more things.

What I want to know is why it took so long for things like this to surface. Why the media waited four years to start digging. The Answer is that no one wanted to get there hands dirty! It was to early after 9/11 and too many people were still in favor of the administration. Now with Bush at such a low approval rating it seems like every media source is just now digging up facts about how we sliped up on 9/11. UM I would have liked the country to know these things in time for the last presidential election!! Maybe Jonh Kerry would be in office instead!!

An Organized Kidnap

Today 5 british citizens were abducted by what appeared to be Iraqi Police Forces. This comes just after yesterday when ten US Soldiers were killed making May the most deadly month so far. Wittnesses said that the forces sealed of the streets at both ends and went right past the quards and entered the Finance Ministry Head quarters. US and British forces both believe that this was part of an Iraqi Police Force that went rogue. There has been infaltration of the police force recently by the Militia! When are we going to stop hearing of kidnapps and deaths of our soldiers and our allies soldiers in Iraq. When are we going to hear that we are winning? Can we even win with this amount of troops. I want this war to be over just like every one else, but what will happen if we pull out? We have already made so many enemies in Iraq from our occupation, and Abu Grahib and Gitmo, that to just leave and let them fight it out..... we cant take that risk. We have no idea who will come to power!

Rumsfield Mixes up the Stories

I was doing some research on Donald Rumsfield and I found this conspiracy clip. The reason I was researching Rumsfield is because I do believe the man is a war criminal, I think he is an extreme hawk that likes war, I think that is all he knows and in times of crisis urges presidents to go to war! If you research him, you will find that behind many of the wars in the past couple of decades, he has served for those presidents. I do not like this man and I certainly do not trust him!

Bye Bye Rosie

ABC announced today that Rosie O'Donnell will not be coming back to the show. While she was already due to leave in three weeks, I guess they gave her an option to leave now. On her website she wrote that there comes time when a painting is done and to add anymore paint is to ruin the painting. I think that is probably best for her to go, although she did make things interesting. Because of these recent fights I had actually set my Tivo to start recording the View, but now that she’s not going to be there I think I will cancel it! I also had a chance to look up some of Rosie's past remarks that have been in the media, and I would like to make it clear that I do not support everything she says!! In fact when she goes off about our troops in Iraq, and although she says she did not mean to call them terrorists..... You do not say anything negative about our actual troops! The administration, go for it, but the troops are off limits!! But what I do believe in, is that she speaks her mind, and unlike Elizabeth he gives her safe opinion, Rosie gives her off the way ideas. Lets all remember in high school when we had to read Fahrenheit 951, or 1982. what were the lessons we were taught about from those? To ALWAYS question authority, to never just accept what someone tells you. The minute that people like Rosie and conspiracy theorist stop caring, is the minute that we will be taken advantage of!!!

He Use to be our Friend and Ally

This is a video about the atrocities of Saddam Hussein's rule, as well as a documentary of the role the US played before we became his sworn enemy. This Video is very difficult to watch, but, many people lost their lives to this man and I believe it is important to know the terrible things he did. Although I will always say that I support our troops, I have never been one to support us going into Iraq in the first place. But even five minutes of watching this man, is enough to make me question!!

Their Stuck in the Middle too!!

Today on the View a fight broke out between Elizabeth and Rosie with Joyce trying to reassert her authority in the fight, and all the while Shar and Joyce are stuck between the two of them trying to get the network to go to commercial!! Everyone is always giving Rosie a hard time about her political belief's, but has anyone listened to Elizabeth speak? Why is everyone always defending her, I don’t care if you are a Republic! sometimes, and not necessarily just in this video clip, but if you search her on youtube you can find some of the ridiculous ideas she has said and defended. Yet again another incident happens that makes me like Rosie O’Donnell. In this fight she even calls out what will happen with the media and how they will spin the situation. She says, and I quote, "Oh big lesbian Rosie, picking on poor little Christian Elizabeth" she says she is not going to do it anymore, that she will not fight with her just to have the media make her look like the bad guy!! Although she did let herself get drawn in, she still tried to keep her thoughts to herself, you can tell she was restraining herself, but she felt betrayed by her friend who is suppose to be backing her up. I think the media needs to lay off of her. Good for her for speaking her mind, me need more people who are not afraid to say what they really think, and whether or not you agree with what she is saying, you should recognize the courage it takes to speak your mind on public television. Especially when the media has it in for you!!!

The Wolfowitz... Scandal?

In case you are curious about the World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz controversie, but do not know all the facts, I found a clip from the British Network that does a good job explaining the situation. Wolfowitz is being asked to step down after information sufaced that he gave his girlfriend an unapproved pay raise. he has refused to step down, but has offered an appology and asked for the sympathy and understanding of the international community. Wolfowitz was appointed by Bush and in case you did not know Wofowitz also served as deputy secretary of defense, he along with Donald Rumsfeild were the main designers of the Iraq war, which as you probably know has become a hot debate in the international community. Funny that the head of the world bank would not only be appointed by the US but also the job was given to someone who's loyalty to the war can not be questioned, since he is one of the main architects of the 2003 lead invasion. The clip explains why he is being asked to step down along with why he is refusing to do so.

YouTube Helping Politicians?

I found this very interesting, take a look. It is the idea that YouTube is helping politicians reach more than just the news watching society!!

Security Vaccum

When The US entered into Iraq in 2003 guns ablaze, we took out Saddam and after Saddam was out of power, we then demoted everyone who was involved in the Ba'ath party. Saddam had about 4 or 5 different security apparatus's working for him before his removal. When the Ba'ath party fell it created a security Vacuum, which metaphorically describes what happens when a space is left open and many groups or people compete for the same opening. this occurred in Iraq and is a huge factor that contributed to the insurgency, and militia problem. Iraq announced today it is preparing a contingency plan to avoid another Security Vacuum situation in case the US were to exit Iraq quickly. this is the first time an Iraq official has publicly mentioned the possibility of the United States leaving Iraq. Does the Prime Minister know something we do not? Or is here merely being cautious? As he rightfully should be, considering the political mood of the US at this point in time. Again time will tell if this preemptive tactic is merely smart planning, or if it is in response to something that is already under way!

More Fighting!

Tonight a bomb went off in Beirut killing one woman, this occured while Lebanese troops battled Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda outside Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city. The battle near a Palestinian refugee camp continued into the night, and left 22 Lebanese soldiers and at least 10 militants dead. The fighting was sparked early today when Lebanese internal security forces raided a building in a neighborhood north of Tripoli, army sources said. Militants from Fatah al-Islam opened fire on the forces, who returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. This is just one of the places in the world where fighting is going on, many news sources are saying that this is not an isolated incident and that the fighting may contiue, for how long no one knows. And will this be one battle or will it turn into more. I have a feeling that this is the begining of something that will last for a while. While I hope I am wrong, I also would like to see the Lebanese forces take out the Islmaci militants, because they are linked to Al Qaeda, and it is said that their leader would like to see himself as Osma Bin Ladden, and has been know to be training squads. We can only hope that as little lives are lost as possible and the Lebanese forces will be able to nutralize their enemy. As I usually end my posts that speculate on events, Only time will tell what will happen with this situation. Lets hope it is for the better!!

Hope For The Three Captured Contractors

Yesterday in Columbia escaped hostage, police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao was found in the jungle by a police patrol after escaping from nine years in FARC captivity. He said he was held with a group of 13 hostages including, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three captured U.S. contractors who disappeared in 2003. He described the camps that they were held prisoners in as crueler than the concentration camps of the Nazis. Pinchao said they moved camps every few months and were often chained by their necks to stop them fleeing. President Alvaro Uribe ordered the military yesterday to hunt for the former presidential candidates as well as the three US contractors. The president has assured the White House that they are doing everything in their power to find the US citizens. The FARC, the Spanish initials for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, captured Betancourt in 2002 while she was campaigning for president. The Americans, Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell, were captured in 2003 after their surveillance plane crashed while spotting coca crops used to make cocaine. The Columbian government is not only under pressure from the US to find the American Contractors, but has been under pressure from France to negotiate a trade witht the FARC for the hostages. My thoughts are with not only our men that are being held captive, but for all of the hostages that the FARC are holding, and we hope for their safe rescue!!

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

Just one of the many paradoy's of Jerry Falwell circulating the internet.

Stuck in the Middle With You!!

I saw this on you tube today and I thought it went along with the theme of my blog, since I named it after the song that is playing. When I watched this video I was watching for any political Innuendos, and I found it qhite interesting, take a look!!

Jerry Falwell is Dead

I think Jerry Falwell probably managed to do what many will not accomplish. Even though he is dead not on nice thing can be found to say about him. The man was not a good person, He promoted violence and hatred toward gays, lesbians, and many others. In case you aren't familiar with what Jerry Falwell had to say, here is just a breif quote he made after the attacks on Sept. 11:
"I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen'."

I think that many would agree that this world will be better off with out a man who's mind is so closed to change and harbors so much hatred for others who do not believe in the same thing he does. I thought this was funny the first time I saw it on family guy and I saw it on youtube today.

Brain Injuries

There has been a huge problem in this war with more and more men and women coming home with some sort of brain injuries. Many are cared for until they are transfered home or to a station that does not have the right equiptment to treat or maintain treatment. Many soldiers are losing various brain functions, speculation and preliminary test point to the frequency of blasts and other explosions that soldiers are experienceing often. Research is still being done on why such a high percentage of soldier,18 percent, come home with brain injuries. That is a pretty scarry number if you are a soldier on you way to Iraq. And you hope that if you risk your life to serve your country, that when something goes wrong and injuries are sustained that your country will take care of you. However their are stores of soldiers who will never be able to work again because their reabilitation took so much time just to get approved through the paper work system. Something needs to be done. These people go half way across the world to risk thier lives for millions of people they do not even know!!!!!

For an interesting article done by the New England Journal Of Medicine check out this link; http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/20/2043

Finnaly Investigations of Abu Ghraib

Photographs have recenly been surfacing showing American soldiers abusing and humiliating Iraqis being held at a prison near Baghdad. The Army investigated, and issued a scathing report. Now, as of today an Army general and her command staff may face the end of long military careers. And six soldiers are facing court martial in Iraq, and possible prison time. This is the major aspect of the war that I do not approve!!! Torturing these people and not even knowing if they are innocent? This is not what our country stands for. This YouTube Video is of a guards man at Abu Ghraib, talking about the various ways that they torture their prisoners, and he describes how he feels about the situation. The Video is very disturbing, while not graphic, his jocular manner, and lack of respect for humanity was very difficult for me to watch. I put it up here, because I think people need to know what is going on in out Detainee camps. This is just one guy, and yes he could just be showing off for the camera, but it doesnt sound like it to me. He even says that the CIA taught them a whole bunch of torture tricks. Remember it might be hard to hear, but it is something everyone must be aware of!!! Their was a 60 minutes done on this and you can check it out at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/27/60II/main614063.shtml

Russia Found Guilty

Today the mystery of a lost love one was solved for one Chechen family. The European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia on Thursday over the violent death of a Chechen and ordered it to pay 55,000 euros ($74,450) in damages to the victim's family. It is said that it has proved beyond a doubt that the Russian government was responsible for the death of Shamil Said-Khasanovich Akhmadov, His body was found in a field in April 2002, his right leg was broken, the upper half of his skull was missing and there were bullet holes in the chest area of his clothes.The court found Russia guilty of "violating the right to life, illegal detention, an inefficient investigation into the death and not handing over documents relating to the case." Fighting occured when Vladamir Putin took office in 2000 and sent troops to conduct indiscriminate sweeps known as "chistki" or clean-ups through Chechen villages in search of insurgents. Dozens of those detained in this way have never returned home.

Great Campaign Video

I was trying to take a look at some of the candidates that were running for president and I have to say that this campaign add is the best one I have seen so far. For someone that I knew little about before now, his add not only educated me on him, it made me want to vote for him. Im not saying I will, I still have no Idea who I will vote for, but I thought this was a genious campaign. I will continue to bring you more campaign adds, since I believe that the majority of voting America does not do research on their candidates but instead votes for them by what they see in the media, debates, and adds such as this one. Take a look, it really is quite good!

Hilary......

I was trying to find good campaign videos for Hillary Clinton and found that there were not many that I felt were efective. A good campaign add should, even if just for a moment, think that that candidate is the right one for the job. I am not saying Hilary is not the right person, but she could have done a better job on her campaign video's. they all seemed to have the same theme which was a bunch of pictures of her and her family, set to music. This is one of the better one's but still not very convinving of anything!!

The Attack on Obama?

This is a very interesting compilement of clips that Fox has run about Obama, judge for yourself whether or not you believe Fox was out to get Obama.

Here is a very boring yet informative campaign ad for Rudi Guiliani. Personally I think that he lost most young people after the first 15 seconds. Although he did try to educate you on his accomplishments, he still really didnt seem to give you any idea of where he stands on the issues that are most pressing in the US right now! He also seems like he is just waiting to say, remember how much of a hero I was during 9/11? But instead he finds other ways to remind you!! Here is one of his campaign videos, take a look and decide for your self.

The Newspaper Read to You

Now you can read the newspaper without ever having to read, a series of video youtube programs that actually show pictures of the day befores newpaper, while someone with a deep voice reads you the highlights. Here is the review of yesterdays newspaper. I have to admit I think it is sad that people cant even read for themselves that they have to watch someone else read them the news. Thought it was pretty funny take a look!!!

More Violence

A man today was beheaded today for being suspected of being a US informant! This has not been the first beheading, many men have been killed because of being accused of being an informant. The group that was responsible for the beheading were suspected pro-taliban militants, and the body was found by the Afghan border.
It would be nice to hear about something good happening on the news for once. this comes after strings of bad news from that part of the world.

A few Weeks ago Tony Blair jumped on the YouTube Ban Waggon, by starting his own youtube channel called Labor Vision, here is his introduction of the channel. This is just another way that the internet is reforming the way the world views and recieves their information.

Bush Impersonator

After my post yesterday of Bill Richardson's funny campaign video, it reminded me of the only funny thing I have ever seen George Bush do, at least that was intentional, Here he is poking fun at him self and Cheny, I actually gained some respect for him when I saw this clip a few months back. Of course that didnt last for long, but, it is still hands down one of the funniest things I have ever seen come from a politician. Bush hired and impersonator to stand next to him during his White House Correspondent speech, its 11 minutes so its a little long, but worth every minute. Enjoy!!!

Conspiracy Theories!!!

I found it interesting that youtube had this labled under Rosie O'Donnel simply because she added it to her blog!! But this video reflects the thoughts of many out there who question not only the handling of, but also the events preceeding 9/11. I am not quite sure what I feel about 9/11, I do have to admit that my first thought when the towers were hit was that, what if the goverment was not necessarily behind the attacks, but maybe could have prevented them. I in no way endorse this video, just wanted to share it with everyone because I can not reiterate enough how important I believe it is that we have people who are constantly willing to question!!!

Long Shifts

I can not talk long today, I just got out of my first midterm and my brain feels like mush.. I know you guys know how that is. last quarter I did two all nighters in a row and then a three hour sleep night the next and wow, did I ever feel dumb. I could nt even function. Thinking about this made me think of two professions where all nighters and exorbenantly long shifts are requirements of the job. One of which is out soldiers, they are expected to do 12 hour shifts 6 days a week with only one day off. We wonder why sometimes things go wrong, soldiers are only human and require sleep and time for their bodies and minds to recoup in order to be able to function. Lately it has been in the news that many soldiers are coming home with serious brain function problems as well, maybe a study needs to be done on the effect of stress and lack of sleep as well. The other profesion that comes to mind doctors. They many times are required or expected to do insanely long shifts go home and be back in a few hours.... and they operate on us. Of course this is only usually the residents who do this, but still. you would think that someone who is in the medical feild, there superiors would want them to get adequate rest. Well talk to you tomorow!!!

Hero's

So i dont know if you guys all heard about the Jessica Lynch story, that what the government released was not true, and that she is now testifying to congress about what really occured. It amazes me the incongruencies between the story that is now emerging and the story that all of us heard at the time. As one blogger pointed out, it just goes to show what a hollywood like influence can have on the Pentagon's Media managers. i give her credit for now coming foward and telling the true story, because if you think about it, how hard would it be to say to every one, no its not true, I am not really a hero. They got it all wrong, I was not stabbed and shot, but rather was injured in a car accident. And when they did a rescue mission, they did not go in guns blazing to get her like people had previously said, but instead simply took her from a hospital where she was being cared for and no opposition was present. The thing is that it would take guts to come out and say to everyone that in fact you were not a hero but merely just there and that your gun was jamed with sand and you couldnt even shoot. For a long time when ever someone who was in the military would start talking about Jessica I would always hear them say negative things about her, and I really didnt get it until now. She became famous because she lived. but all of the men who died that day, no one even knows their names. And now on top of everything the Hollywood like rambo story that we all heard wasnt even the truth. Well none of us will ever know what really happened, especially now that she says she can not recall if she was raped or not. Again you never know, and i for one would never be the one to dispute something their is no evidence to prove one way or the other. (when it comes to a rape that is) Well its late and I have a midterm tomorow, but I was laying in bed and realized it had been a couple of days since my last post! I strongly urge you to watch this video, i think she deserves for her story to be told!!

The Patriot ACT

"The law allows our intelligence and law enforcement officials to continue to share information. It allows them to continue to use tools against terrorists that they used against -- that they use against drug dealers and other criminals. It will improve our nation's security while we safeguard the civil liberties of our people. The legislation strengthens the Justice Department so it can better detect and disrupt terrorist threats. And the bill gives law enforcement new tools to combat threats to our citizens from international terrorists to local drug dealers."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/images/20060309-4_d-0213-515h.html

-- President George W. Bush
March 9, 2006

I was on WhiteHouse.gov today reading about a new executive order that the president initiated today, when I noticed a link to the Patriot Act. I thought the verbiage that the president used was quite interesting, lets read between the lines and take a closer look. First, he says we will continue "sharing information" one can only assume that this refers to the reading of Americans emails and the way that this law allows violations of privacy that were previously protected. I don’t want to get too deep into to that, because with Sept 11 I would rather have my emails read and avoid another disaster, those who have nothing to hide should not be worried any way, and the program carnivore is meant to catch key words and phrases associated with terrorism! They are not looking for much else, because although they have the capability they lack the man power. Second, "allows them to continue to use the tools against terrorist that they now use against drug dealers and other criminals", hmmmm I am pretty sure that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay do not hold illegally and torture drug dealers and terrorist. Although who really knows for sure. Third to "safeguard the civil liberties of OUR people", I guess that the president feels that in order to safeguard OUR civil liberties, he must ignore those civil liberties that out constitution sets forth and the international civil liberties established by numerous UN treaties, to do so. Even though these people are not Americans it is the American government doing it. Im not saying whether some of them deserve it or not, because that is not for me to judge, but I will say, that as the leading power, we are not setting a good example for the rest of the world. And simultaneously loosing the respect of our allies and increasing the hatred from our enemies!!!

Comments

So we had class a few days ago and a pro blogger came in and discussed the ups and downs of blogging, he said that comments can be a blessing but also a curse, I guess I wouldnt know about that since I have not had any comments yet!!! Sad!!! I have told many people about it hoping that some kind soul would come read about what I have to say.... but oh well!! I dont know how well I would do with the critisism any way. for one thing I am a horrible speller and their is no spell check on this thing, well I havent actually looked but I am assuming there is not!! I should talk about something political...... hold on im going to go check the news......................

Bad Endings

SO I guess I will start off with reguard to an update of my last blog in which I talked aobut the situation that was progressing in Houston, there was not much information at the time, however we now know that the gunman killed one other and him self. I dont know much else about what happened yesterday but when I have an update I'm sure i will come and talk about it. I dont know what is going on in this world, but I am really ready for some good news, so if any of you have some good news I would love to hear it!!! Hope every one is having a good weekend.

Today in the News -- Houston---VT--- and Bush

So going on in the world, there is a potentental situation in Houston at NASA where there may be a gunman inside the control room, but they are not saying much at this point. I guess we will find out later. They are not making a very big deal about it but if you ask me any one with a weapon inside a NASA control room could potentially be a big deal!!!!!!Depending on what missions we have going at this time and what control it has to satelite as well as their ability to shut down systems in case of an emergency such as this one. The other big thing in the news besides Bush probably getting the funding he will need for Iraq. The shooters family spoke out today. I can not even imagine their pain, knowing that their son or brother caused this much pain... I can not imagine their anguish and pain that they will live with for the rest of their life. They will always be stigmatized, people will always blame them, even though no matter what a family does you can never fully control the way a child turns out. You can do every thing right and things can still go wrong. I feel for all of the families, and I was touched that when they placed the rocks today in memory of all the lives that were taken.. they also placed one for Cho the shooter. because something had to be seriosly wrong in his life to allow such feelings of anger and violence. I guess we will never really know!!! Well I have to go to work so I guess that is all I have for today.

Impact of Blogging

Last night I was watching MTV and they were at Virginia Tech talking to some of the students and discussing not only the impact of the tragedies that occured on monday, but also the way that blogging and websites like facebook and myspace have changed the way that we as a public get and recieve information. Some of the first information that came was from students who blogged the things that they had witnessed. Technology plays a huge roll in the way that we now get out news. One of the first images was from a cell phone camera of the shootings, back even five years ago, that would not have been possible. One of the students who was among the first to blog about what he had witnessed, said something very moving. He said that he was afraid that the shootings was all any one would ever remember about VIrginia Tech. That later down the road when someone asked him who is alma mater was, they would say ooooh sorry, bet that was hard. But they dont want to be remembered that way! They want to be remembered as surviors, not victims. Are Hearts go out to the school and the families!

P.S. Its funny, you know when you never really paid attention to a word, like blog, and then for some reason you either learn what it is or in this case start your own, and all of a sudden its every where? Well that is how it has been with this whole blogging thing for me! Blogging has evolved the way news is done and hopefully for the better!!

From the Grave

This was released today, it gives me the chills just to look at him. This video is proof of the power of the internet, this boy was able to send his video to NBC and instead of being played a few hundred times in the first few days, it will forever be available on the internet, for every one to see, to appall most and saddly inspire some. To those shapefull minds I sincerly hope you recongnize this person for what he is, and that is a mentally disturbed person, who was in desperate need of help, but unfortunately was unable to recieve it.

Tragedy on Campus

As I am sure every blogger is doing today what I am dling now, I want to discuss VT. As a college student and a human being, I am saddend by what occured today. Although not inherently political, the messages that the shooter left behind were. He feels him self a marter and that we as society pushed him to do what he did. I do not understand !! I do not understand what in this country could possibly be soooo bad that someone who came from a good family and was attending a great school, probably on their way to a wonderful job and a fullfilling life, what reason could he have for choosing to take so many lives with him. There are so many other countries that live with destitution, poverty, genocide, or being forced from their homes. We are fortunate to live where we do, although this goverment has its problems we are fortunate. And my heart goes out to the victims of the atrocites that occured today, and their families.

Liar Liar

Kyle Sampson was called to testify today in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys. Kyle Sampson who was the former chief of staff to Alberto Gonzalez, finnaly gave his long awaited testimony, which incriminated Gonzalez. It is now believed that Sampson lied under oath and registered a whopping 127 "I dont knows". It also has recently been discovered that emails that were suppose to be routed through the White House's email server, so as to be monitored and made record, were routed through alternative email site. The White House estimates it has lost some 5 million emails that have been sent recently, many of which contained content pertaining to the firings. If you want to read more about what this means for the case, you can view this blog at http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/04/08-week/index.html I found it very insightfull. It is hard to say at this point in the trial, what the real reason for the firings of the US attorneys were, however like all scandals, time will unfold the truth. So I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Should We Stay or Should We Go.......

You know I recently had to write a paper for my Iraq Reconstruction class on how the United States should leave Iraq. We were told the paper prompt the first week of school, so I had 10 weeks to think about what I wanted to write about. My problem was that the title was the United States Exit Strategy. I found my self stuck on the title. How should we exit Iraq, when, where, how many should leave. For weeks I could not come up with any responsible exit strategy. When it finally came down to the wire and I had two days left before my ten page paper was do, I called my father and told him this strategy I had come up. He asked why I was so stuck on the fact that we had to leave. And my answer was that I did not believe that we should leave but obviously that was what my professor wanted to hear because the title was a responsible exit strategy. My Father said this to me, an exit strategy does not need to be in terms of days, or weeks, or even months. Sometimes the things that are right take the longest, and after I came to the realization that I was so focused on trying to find a way that we should leave now, it came to me. We shouldn’t!!! The country is not ready!! Someday we will leave, someday our troops will be home safe. I as much as the next person want all of our loved ones home safely, but the reality of the situation that the security of this country relies that we do not mess this up. Unfortunately there is a lot of hate in this world. We have always know that, and acts of terrorism go back for hundreds of years. However it has only been in the past few decades that the stakes have risen so high. We are no longer dealing with people who merely wish to drive a bomb into an embassy. We live in a world that has created weapons that can destroy thousands at once. some if placed properly millions! It is our duty to make sure that people who wish to do this to our country and to our fellow allies are not given a free reign to acquire what they desire. And here is the weird thing to my realization. I do not think I am Republican, I am certainly not conservative, I do not like president Bush's Policies. I hate the way he has handled almost everything he has touched, but we are in too deep now. We cannot just turn and run and hope for the best. Sorry we thought you had WMD so we came in took out your government, now you don’t have running water, power, any of the necessities that you need, over 60 percent of you are unemployed and cant provide for your family, but you go ahead and figure that out for yourself! See ya. It just can not work like that. In the end the only RESPONSIBLE exit strategy I could come up with, was this, the United States of American can not pull out of Iraq until a viable security apparatus has been established.

Women and Politics

I stumbled across this while looking through youtube today, and I know that most people want to critize this clip and condem Rosie O'Donnel, but in all honesty I saw two things that I found very refreshing. 1.) Four WOMEN discussing politics and really seeming to know what they are talking about. The norm for media is that men do the heavy lifting, most talk show that deal with politics are men, women on the other hand tend to have shows like Martha Stewert, or cooking show, or a show like the view which tends to steer away from politics, so If I can give Rosie O'Donnel one thing, it would be that she has managed to put politics in the spot light!!! 2.) In high school, or at least for me, I had that great rare teacher that taught us to always question what we are told. That you can not always believe what is spoon fed to you, and since I have been to college and a political science major, this is something that almost all of my professors have tried to impress upon us. So if nothing else the fact that she questions athority and tries to get others to do the same, is refreshing, because she is taking a risk to do so on live national TV and that takes guts. Here is a clip of her and the ladies on the view.

24 and the War in Iraq

Ok..... So this is my first blog on my little politcal blogger so I guess I better say something politcal!!!! Hmmmmm so much to choose from. Here some food for thought, the show 24 although completely fiction....... What if?......... I think we all need to keep in mind that the horrible situation fictionalized in that telivision program is not so far fetched. When I watch the show and I think of the consequences of what could happen if terrorist really did smuggle in nuclear bombs and were planning on detonating them in California, that scares the hell out of me!!! But I think what scares me the most about the scenario is this. If we launched a counter attack and engaged in Nuclear warfare. We are not talking about WW3 we are talking about the end of the world. We are talking about Nuclear Winter!!!! We are talking about the distruction of the Earth in such a short period of time, and our generation would be the one to do it!! When we think about out troops and why they are in Iraq its hard right now to justify them being there in the first place. there were no WMD and we had no right to be there!!! But the point is not why or how we go there, but that we are there now, and whether or not you like Bush, those men on the ground in Iraq are the only thing preventing Iraq from being a free for all to any and all Terrorist organizations who want to set up shop so to say. There operations would go unchecked and unempeded!! Just some food for thought for all of you who want us to simply pull out of Iraq and not look back! We are in too deep now. You break it You bought it. Well ladies and Gentleman, until we can find a way to glue that bleeding country back together, we bought the damn thing!!!!!

Bloggers Amaze me!!!

So people who get on the internet and post a blog daily and consistently are able to talk about interesting topics impress me. I have to sit here and think...... What knew thing do I want to tell people about. Today the only interesting thing that happened was I went to my Illegal drug trade class and a US Marshal came and talked. Well also I dont know how many of you are farmiluar with the Humberto Alvarez Machain Case, but he was a Mexican doctor who was kidnapped and illegaly extradited to the US to stand trial for aid to the Torture and Murder of a DEA agent in Mexico. Well tonight in class my professor Justice O'Carter read us parts of the interigation that the DEA Agent was put through. Including the cries of agony as he is beaten, and tortured!! It was crazy to be witnessing the actual conversation of a man right before he died. It was pretty hard to listen to, but this brave DEA agent gave up nothing, and he died with all of the DEA's secrets in tact. Now, Machain was the doctor that is accused of keeping him alive so they could torture him longer and longer! The conversation was hard to follow but the pauses for the screams were very easy to dicipher! I guess this might be how blogger always come up with things to talk about, they just start talking about their day and there you go!! Next week for class we will sift through random peoples trash and try to figure out their life, and who they are. Last quarter he did it and the class found a fifth grade teacher who was into child pornography. We also learned about an algorithim program that sifts through peoples email and pulls out key words or phrases that might be a threat to national security, that program is called Carnivore, and I guess they have the technology but not the man power to acheive the type of survelance that they would really like to have!! Well thats it for me today... Be back tomorrow!!

Video - DVD

Today six men were caputured before they were able to carry out planes of attacking an army base in New Jersey with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. The men, aged 22 to 28, included three brothers born in the former Yugoslavia who ran a roofing business. One Jordanian-born suspect was a Philadelphia taxi driver and a Turkish-born man worked as a convenience store clerk. The suspects conducted surveillance of Fort Dix and other U.S. military installations in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, plotting attacks inspired by an international call for holy war against the West, officials said. The investigation began in January 2006 when a retailer alerted police about a customer who had asked to copy a video onto a DVD.
The footage depicted young men shooting assault weapons at a firing range while calling for "jihad" and shouting "Allah-o-Akbar", "God is Greatest" in Arabic, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint. By March 2006, the group was infiltrated by the first of two FBI informants, who obtained computer files. One of these, a file named "19", appears to be the wills of at least two of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. This story is desturbing many, because these are people that live, work, and go to school in this country, yet they are planning attacks on it. Many times we only here of the failures of the FBI and CIA and not about the things that they prevent. this could have potentially meant a huge loss of lives of some of our men and women who protect this country. Thankfully this attack was prevented and many lives spared.