Philadelphia Old

Humm, you know you're getting old when you start saving your Philadelphia Cream Cheese containers...

No Evolution?

That many people in the U.S. don't believe in evolution no longer surprises me, but having 3 out of 10 Republican presidential candidates actually think that the Adam & Eve story is the real deal is kind of freaky. They were proud to say it in the last debate, televised last thursday by MSNBC. Then again, I also heard things like the idea that it should be "up to each business owner" to determine whether they wanted to fire their employees based on their sexual orientation. We really don't need to look at the Middle East to talk about religious fundamentalism. It's right here, not in our backyard, but actually sitting in our living room!

Of Wolfies, Bushies, and Brownies

Alberto, Paul, and Donald have a few things in common. They are “loyal bushies”, and bushie is loyal to them. All three of them chose to ignore what a few years ago was perceived as an act of common decency in public office. Traditionally, if you made a mistake that tainted your name, or the name of the agency you represented, common decency called for you to step down. But they are not you.

They all have been doing (or did, in the case of Donald) a heck of a job, and evidence to the contrary should, according to bushie policy, be shelved right next to the box marked “Brownie”, located in the last basement of an undisclosed location near Crawford, Texas.

I wonder why people are so hard on them. Poor Donald held on for as long as he could, and although he was luckier than Brownie, he finally lost his grip in November 2006. During his farewell remarks, he must have meant to say “I’ll be back”, but instead, he seemed to utter “Abu Ghraib”. It must have been some sort of mistake from his speechwriters.

And then, there is Alberto. He is also a good guy, though he suffers from bad memory and that is a shame, because you would hope that the U.S. Attorney General could remember a thing or two. Alberto however, doesn’t recall many things, which is a quality that bushie actually seems to value a lot. His bad memory has in fact increased his boss’ confidence in him. Alberto, we can infer, is also doing one heck of a job.

The final top performer in this nice little story is also of the bushie kind, though he no longer acts under the authority of the decider. Nevertheless, we all know that he is also doing one heck of a job, so much so that his lover is now making even more money than one of the heavy weight loyal bushies (whom I surmise, must not be too happy about this). Paul, I’m afraid, will soon be following in the footsteps of Brownie and Donald. Let’s hope that Alberto decides to join them in the near future.

Virginia Tech Grieving

Lots of thoughts. Sadness, confusion.

I don't know anyone from Virginia Tech. I don't think I could possibly find any links to any of them. Yet, I feel incredibly close. As a student, as the leader of a student organization, as a recently nationalized American. When the death toll began to climb on Monday, I was shocked. When final reports came in, I understood that 33 dead were a lot of people, a lot of families. But it didn't sink in until this morning, when I saw a collage with the pictures and brief descriptions of each of the victims....Gasp.

It's almost as if he had chosen at least one member representing each community in America. Each part of this country... Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Indians, Middle Eastern, French, in the military, young and old. "Alameddinne, Clark, Couture-Nowak, Lee, Nebrescu, Loganathan, McCain, Ortiz, Shaalan, White, Unidentified..." and the list goes on. Did he pick them? Did he shoot at random, or did he try to find at least one person from each minority, from each ethnic group?

I don't know what to think, I don't know what to say. I feel strangely American today. Proud, confused, sad...

The dog ate their email...

So, our incredibly efficient Homeland Security system still has its flaws, at least when it comes to gathering information from White House officials. I thought it was funny to hear that Karl Rove et al. used their Republican National Committee email accounts to conduct official White House business, thereby circumventing the record-keeping procedures that do exist for whitehouse.gov email accounts. As a result, communications regarding the firing of U.S. attorneys and other related issues have been conveniently "lost", and the Senate investigation might not have access to potentially incriminating evidence.

Right. Homeland Security can spy on everyone in America, listen to our phone calls and read our emails. I bet if they really wanted to they could retrieve the first email I ever sent from my very first account in Yahoo!, (which I opened over ten years ago). But three year old emails from Karl Rove & friends? No, those are "irretrievably lost"...How convenient. The dog ate their email, but I'm not buying it.

Where's Barack?

You've got to love this picture! Check out the article

So I'm sort of a leftist libertarian...

...and among my friends in the political science department (with the exception of Mike, the only Republican), I am the one closest to the "right". That's funny.

To find out where you are on the scale, go to www.politicalcompass.org and take the test!

I wish that was my president!

Wow, I just got home from a lecture by former German Chancellor Gerhard Scrhoder, and I must say I was thoroughly impressed. I'm not going to bore you with the details, but all I can say is that I wish he was our president! No talk about terrorism as a big threat and all that BS that comes out of the White House, but a completely opposite approach to the way things are prioritized in this country. If you care to find out more, I'll try to get a hold of the transcript, and if there is one I'll post a link to it. Keep reading for a brief summary, or otherwise jump to my more mundane stories about Wine Festivals and political rallies below this post.

In Schroder's opinion, the three most pressing issues the world must deal with today are:

1) Global Warming: He advocates environmentally responsible policies, implementation of the Kyoto Treaty, and recognition that global warming is a human-made phenomenon.

2) Fair Trade: In contrast to the notion of free trade, the chancellor strongly believes that it is in our best interest that less developed countries trully get to enjoy the benefits of a global economy. He believes in a fair redistribution of wealth via international trade, and opposes the ever increasing power of multi-national corporations.

3) Security: However, not security tied to "terrorism" and all that BS. He is concerned with the allocation of basic resources such as water, food, health, education, and energy. He points out that it is our responsibility to make sure that less developed economies have access to all these if we are to have a secure world and expect to enjoy peaceful coexistance. Schroder ties fanatism and fundamentalism to the lack of access to resources, which in turn fuels hatred and resentment towards oppressing developed and imperialistic nations.

Germany has gone a long way since Hitler and WWII. But fortunately they learned their lesson. How I wish our leaders would follow their advice...(or read a chapter of two from a world history book)...