Bejing Again

Well it’s the name of the game as a reporter some people love you and some people hate you in this mans instance the people hate him. All for supporting the underdog. It is freaking ridiculous that these people hate one religion so much that they are willing to almost stop the spread of it. This is all a little bit out of whack. But my biggest problem with the Beijing conflict is that people are willing to boycott the games and make the athletes—who have more than likely trained their entire lives – miss out on the one event that they have worked to hard to get to go to. But the protests in the country are being dealt with militarily… because the government feels that they are ignoring political education… in other words brainwashing. The people who are fighting the system are the ones who are paying the most. It all sounds parallel to the propaganda that Hitler used during WWII. Just as he banned books and spoke of the humiliation of Germany so is the Chinese Government. In rewriting the Chinese books. If this is really happening then this needs to be priority one in the UN and NATO and any of the likes.

Money Problems

Ok so Bush is bad with the economy we all get it why on earth would we be paying 3.50 per gallon of gas. I hate to think about it. I’m tired of hearing about it though. It gets kind of old. But at the same time Bush needs to re-evaluate his economic choices… oh wait he’ll be out of the office in January. So it doesn’t matter. People need to quit making a big deal about his financial issues and start focusing on this coming election and who they think could best help this country as a whole and start evaluating them more closely. Bush has already made his mistakes. Quit focusing on them and start looking –optimistically—towards the future. It is about time that this country looks into the country future in a positive light. People create these self-fulfilling prophecies and it is the pessimistic view that keeps this country feeling so negative. People who sit and point the finger at Bush and creating him to be worse than he really is. He is bad with money and few other things but over all he has been a good leader for this country. Let’s hope the next president can fill his shoes and be better with the fiscal matters.

Colorblind Loyalty

First off I don’t care if you are black, white, purple, or orange. I am a colorblind individual with regards to race in this country and throughout the world. I have friends of all origins and skin colors. I teach swim lessons to children of all race and color. But what I cannot stand is when the media such as this article and political figures such as Barrack Obama, try to state that it is the black community and that it is the black society. All I have to say is … who is acting racist now? Why can they have United Negro College Fund but if we try United Caucasian College fund we are racist. But this isn’t about race though it is a frustration in society. People are self-made individuals no matter the skin color. Why cant the government act the same way and treat white Americans as they treat black Americans it is time that the government stop apologizing for past transgressions and move on in this world. But I agree that you do not have to white to be patriotic and loyal to this country. Because the ones who are extremely patriotic have moved past acts of evil on their ancestors and family members… maybe the rest of the country should fall in line accordingly.

Trouble in Texas

Let me start off by saying that I am glad that this place has finally gone under. What they were doing was illegal and needed to be dealt with. Now I say that, but it is unfortunate that all of the children have been taken away from their mothers and fathers. But the argument of whether or not this guy is a good father has nothing to do with it. That argument doesn’t hold water. That "good" father was participating in illegal activities. Polygamy is a crime, now all the hype about whether or not we should have gone in needs to stop. Because they already went in! So they need to clean it up and get out. Compile the evidence and leave the area. Whether or not the informant was giving false information is obsolete; we have a rule in life guarding, and that is if you don’t know go. Which is exactly what these people did they received info and went in after it. And low and behold it happens to be in a polygamy compound. GAME OVER! They are cuaght in the middle of a legal issue and now their way of life will be changed forever. And its about time these people conform to society and obey the law like everyone else.

Cap and Trade

SO now the Environment is a big debate that is happening in this years Presidential election. The question is, who is the right person to take the job? The theory of cap and trade is one that would u the nation on a carbon diet. Which the article says is very expensive. And all that means is that the American people will have to pay a higher tax just to solve a problem that is very debatable as to if it even exists. But not only do the companies make more money in not producing as much carbon they get to give that money to other companies to invest in technology to lessen their carbon emissions. Which is not even the root of the problem. However, last I checked this nation was a democracy, and in a democracy we are a mixed economy leaning more towards capitalism. And in such the nations economy depends on competition. Strong companies need to compete. How can the companies compete if they help each other out? I smell a socialist movement. If we find "cleaner" sources im ok with that. But I want cleaner sources that are cheaper than gas. Cause if I have to buy a new car to put fuel in that is "Clean" but cost the same… I’ll be one angry individual. Especially because ill be paying the same price for something different just because its "clean"

Global Peace Through the Environment?????

Let me start off by saying that this guy may be high up in the political world but he is wrong with the Global warming being the root of all evil. First off there is no proof that Global Warming even exists. Its not a fact it is a consensus. And consensus is nothing at all. I could say that pigs fly and if enough people agree with me I have a new consensus. And its only addressed as global warming during the summer. During the winter global warming is missing and climate change is the new issue. Cause we have snow all of the sudden. Well the Earth cannot be warming if its snowing now can it Al? That aside Darfur was not brought out by people killing people cause it was hot outside for ten years. at no time did John Q say I’m going to kill my neighbor because its too hot. They do it because they are pure evil and cannot be dismissed as anything else. And giving them rain or better farm land will not stop the killing. When you target women and children the thought of environmental problems cause war can defenestrate its self. I’m all for getting peace. But it will never happen and solving the problem of a non existing global warming will do nothing.


PS. There is talk of a Global Tax… do you really want to give up more of your hard earned money to feed this consensus? I know I don’t.

Bejing

The Oroqen tribe is slowly being assimilated into Chinese society. They better watch out because in an attempt to assimilate they are losing a culture forever. And people will complain for years to come. Just as they do in the US. In my opinion we did nothing wrong and I wouldn’t take it back. But what we failed to do was recognize them for who they are. And failed to let them keep their culture and if China follows down this path.. And I say let them make up their own mind. Its not the governments job to decide how people should conduct their daily lives. That is very vague so let me clarify. Laws need to exist to keep the peace but for a group of people who have their own ways of living let them do that, As long as it doesn’t violate the national law. They need not attempt to force people to change who they are so that it fits the norm. if they are being forced to do something they will act out. Just as they are doing in the mountains by poaching. Hunting is their way of life and taking that away is like taking away their oxygen.

Democrats and the White House

Obama made some bad comments about the working white class Americans. But as the media does it, it buys him an excuse. This article did a good job of keeping that out in the beginning but towards the end it started to vouch for his every word. But what I did like about the article is that it expressed both sides of the statements that Obama had made last week. When the older gentlemen who had also been a war vet expressed how he had been affected by the words that Obama had stated. And it is true now the working class Americans are not being fought for as much, as they were in the older days. But in a sense shouldn’t it be that way because less people are in the secondary sector. And more people are now going to the tertiary sector and are becoming better educated. But at the same time that doesn’t give Obama the right to go off and shoot his mouth like that. This man keeps tying himself up in his own knots. First with Rev. white and then weather underground and his wifes comments about never being proud of her country. The only change he needs to focus on is the change in his speeches. That is not how you win delegates.

Olympic boycotts

I have a huge problem with the nations of the world boycotting the Olympic games. But at the same time I have a huge problem with the Chinese doing what they are doing with Tibet. But as far as the Olympics goes it is not going to do anything to the nation as a whole if other nations do not show up to compete. The only people that suffer and pay the price are the athletes. For many of them they have worked their entire lives to get to that point and now that it is so close it could be ripped away from them. And at the same time for many of these athletes they are only going to get one shot at this dream of theirs. And diplomatically this is not going to solve any of the problems that the Tibetans are having. A slap on the wrist with a "we’re not coming" sign will serve no purpose in getting the point across. This is going to have to be solved through government meetings or some kind of UN sanctions. Just don’t punish the athletes they have nothing to do with this. Lets separate sports form politics and let fair competition proceed as planned.

Monkey Business

The monkey story cracked me up. I thought it was just funny for a story like that to be one of the main stories in Time this week. Time must have had a bad week for stories. But the monkeys were a funny story to tell. They were peaceful monkeys and they had crazy sex all the time. They though that sex solved everything. It sounds like some of the people in the world today. But I have always wanted a monkey as a pet but that article made monkeys (except for that kind) to be vicious. I don’t want a vicious monkey; I don’t want the battle of the bulge with some primate whenever I come home from school or work. But I do like the fact that they are trying to get funding to save this monkey species. And the speaker’s voice at the church seemed to be very powerful. But all in all with everything going on in the world today you would think that time would choose a different topic to write about instead of monkeys. But if that is what time wishes to write about have at it, because it did make for an interesting read.

Taking on the Big Man

Morgan Tsvangirai has been the leader of the opposition party in Zimbabwe for many years. This year it looks to be like he, for the first time, will have his chance in a free and fair election of the people of Zimbabwe. The old leader, Robert Mugabe, who is now 84 years old, has done everything in his power in the past to keep this man from stealing his power. Form arresting him attacking him and threatening him. But Tsvangirai has come back for more every time the nation goes into elections. To me Mugabe trying to keep him from the elections shows me that he was scared that the people would support an honest leader versus and phony one. Thus Mugabe is now calling for recounts on the votes that were taken in last month. This scares the people into thinking that there is some sort of foul play involved yet again. Zimbabwe has inflation rates of 100,000% and is 80% unemployed. This potential new leader vows to solve those problems. Hopefully some good can come out of this. For the good of the nation of Zimbabwe I pray that the leadership would change to someone who will help his people rather than just sit idly by and watch the nation plummet.

Patraeus

General Patraeus has been recently receiving questions form the senate in review of the progress in Iraq and in the War on Terror. Obama, though he is a presidential candidate, is one of the front runners in the questioning of the General. The article overall was ok but my biggest problems in reading this article is the questions that they presented him with and in the matter in which they did it. Some of the comments that were made had also angered me a little bit. The questions were very iffy and the comments were very broad. Like Obama said that Iraq is still a messy situation, yet, I would like to know if he has gone and witnessed this on a first hand experience. Plus it now seems that, when the US is pushing for a “normal relationship” between Iraq and Iran that the liberal left and the anti- war protestors are questioning as to why. It all seems like backwards logic to me. If you denounce the war but don’t want to push for peace then where do you stand? Its time for politicians to be real and quit playing the political game. Quit sucking your finger and sticking it into the political winds and start sticking to what you say.

Zimbabwe

Change is most definitely in the air in Zimbabwe. New elections are coming up and it appears to be that the military led government will be losing the elections coming up. The people are expressing their voice without fear and in turn will be rewarded for it. In the past the nations leader had released security officials to stop the opposition parties running against him. Sounds like in Russia with Putin. I think that it is great that the people have finally chosen to end the oppression of their government. It is time for the people to stand p and realize that they deserve a fighting chance. People say that nations like these are forgotten by God, well this goes to show you that, that statement is false, good things do happen o good people. I feel that if a nation is not being fair to the people it is the peoples right—partially cause I am American—to end the unfair treatment and restore equality to all people of the nation. If the world could take example of this and just standup for what is right rather than sit idly by while their homes are ripped apart or the military of an oppressing force kills your family because they are of a different tribe. Hopefully this story will circulate and the people of the world living in similar situations will act in a similar fashion.

Nudge

Nudge is a book that has recently come out that explains how to help push ideas along without eliminating any options. Like how the article talked about the energy thing if one neighbor uses less energy than the other does and they compare prices the neighbor using up the most energy would voluntarily stop using as much energy. And the lunch example is my favorite. Put the healthy choices first and the less healthy ones last and see which ones the kids will fill themselves up on. The study shows that the kids chose the healthy option every time. I wish they would do that at our school. IM tired of three-day-old lunches and IM tired of salads that have not nutrients and are all basically soggy leaves. I heard this summer that we were supposed to get a salad bar but instead we got a French fry bar. That’s defiantly contributes to the obesity in youth. I’m trying to lose weight and get in shape and I pack my lunch but before I did I lived off of fried foods and honestly a salad bar not only would taste better but would make people feel better. But of course we are Franklin and cannot get things with nutrients and when we do we fry the life out of it.

POPE

The pope is on a tour in the United State, and despite popular belief he is not universally hated for cutting American ties a while back he actually loves America and everything about it. He was a Nazi youth in Germany and witnessed his first experience with the Americans after the Second World War when the United States were rebuilding Germany. He said that when the United States rebuilt when they could have destroyed he witnessed the compassion that he greatly admired. He said that they could have easily taken out revenge on the nation but instead they helped put it back up. He says the United States is the world’s example for how things need to get done. I couldn’t agree more. Some one has to take charge in this world and lead from the front. And despite some of our moral issues this nation is the best suited to do the job. Some things I wish could be changed about this country but on a moral standpoint this country stands true to its values –even if some are wrong. And as a point of good vs evil this nation has made its stand there and it has stood true.

Baghdad

"The people think that America is like Superman, who can do anything," said some one living in Baghdad. This is just proof that the American forces in Baghdad are making some serious progress. Earlier in the War on Terror, a statement like this would have fallen from the mouths of the minority of thinkers, and would have thought that the US intervention in the region was the cause of the problems in Baghdad. But now that the US surge had moved in the major thinking is that the US forces have helped lessen attacks on the people, walls have been built to protect them from attacks, bigger planes can now fly due to less chances of being shot out of the sky and police run the streets insuring the peace of the people. But now that the people hold these men as their friends what happens to the country when they leave? Will the attacks flare up or can the peace be kept? Personally the troops should stay to insure the security of the nation and wait until it can stand on its own as a sovereign nation. For example we still have troops in Germany and Korea and its been 50 years. once there can be a security force that is led by the people of the nation then and only then should the US forces pull out of Baghdad.

Ethynol Energy Problems

the amazon is being torn down for the creaction of soybean fields in order to create other means of energy rather than just gasoline. in an attempt to help the environment all it is doing is hurting apparently. but since "global warming" is so big right now the destruction of the amazon is being over looked. and not only is it hurting the environment but it is tearing down peoples homes for construction of a project that is really a waste of money. tax payers payed 8 billion for the creation of ethonol in the gas stations in iwoa but produced only 7 billion gallons. but the search for cleaner feul has created jobs in the US. more than 50,000 jobs were created to be exact and $2 billion in oincome. and Iowa produced nearly 30% of all ethonol in the US. brazil produced 5 Billion gallons last year and this supplied 45% of transportation feul demands. but it also hurts the country because farm lands are growing while wet lands are shrinking.

MLK Jr.

at 39 Martin Luthor King was shot and killed at the hotel he was staying in that night at. now its forty years later and his legacy has outlived the amount of time he lived himself. but there was a darker side to King that few got to see and at times had his friends worried. and the article chose to say that white americans forget that he rallied people against White America and that the Blacks forget that he suffered from high ammounts of depression and lived in constant worry of his his death. as the Article put it white americans want him clawless while blacks want him flawless. personally he did what he had to do to get the black community to ralley as a white american im tired of people living in the past he may have rallied against my ancestors but not me personally so i dont and never will view him as a threat and at the same time i do not condone what white americans did to black americans caues personally i didnt have anything to do with so its not my giult to live with. King was a great leader and man. he set precidents to the equal rights we have today.

Boycott in Bejing.

Boycotting the Olympics is not a new idea but with all the things going on in China right now many nations including the French (suprise), are thinking of taking such actions to fight the problems with china's sudden crackdown. personally i dont see what boycotting accomplishes when it comes to the olympic games. for all the other teams it just makes it easier to obtain the gold. and like come on nothing says shame on you like a country saying "im not coming" its stupid and makes the nations seem immature the olympics are supposed to be freindly competition for rivaling countries where one can take pirde in how the country performs and now it, like everything else, is turning into politics.

Balancing Bhutan

March 24, Bhutan held its first democratic election. It will take a while, however, for the nation to get used to the concepts of democracy. For example no political party can make camp outside of any temple and when one of the major parties in Bhutan tried they were forced to leave and move to a half built hotel. which is smart cause it helps keep people from influencing the vote on election day. The Idea of democracy Bhutan's fourth King said that he would grant his son his wish of establishing a constitutional monarchy in Bhutan. this will be hard to from a democracy and maintain their traditions and beliefs as a nation.