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Category: political

a hope for my generation

a hope for my generation
a hope for my generation
Yesterday was history in the making. Yesterday’s victory is an symbolic honor to Martin Luther King Jr. May his spirit never die.

I sat my room alone all evening.
Work kept me occupied; the TV was background noise.
I cooked chicken fried rice, adding a lot of greens, veggies and mushrooms.
One of the best dishes I’ve cooked yet.

As someone who enjoys competition, I did not feel there was much competition in this election. The result of this election began 21 months ago when Obama was thrust into the public spotlight with his presidential bid. The media already decided their pick and it had been evident to me all along. No one else stood a chance.

So no, I was not rooting, I was not cheering.
I knew who the winner was.
No surprises.

If there’s one thing that has surprised me, it has been reactions from my peers, friends and family. I have never seen such a collective reaction in my lifetime. The historical impact was felt in every time zone. I heard the cries, I saw the tears, even if they were just digital bits across websites, blogs and social networks. My generation has spoken, and they overwhelmingly wanted the polar opposite of what has been a bitter presidency.

In this society of pacifists, a society of conveniences and comfort, where online petitions replace marches, where the revolutions were fought with silent clicks of keyboard strokes instead of bloody riots, a change of leadership is upon us. Our eight year Tower of Pisa has now leans in another direction.

I’ve never seen anything inspire so many people at once. Talking, listening, and being around people here in LA as well as online, I feel the passion from others. I feel the passion against our lame current president, I feel the passion for Obama’s charisma and charm, the hope that he will put our country back together, that he will bring light back to a dark time. I also feel the fear, the anxiety and doubt of new change.

I have hope for the best, despite my political differences. I don’t agree with a socialistic approach to some of his political policies, but I hope his influence around our nation and the world will continue our political status, help the world economy, and bring peace to those places there are not. May his intentions and noble desire for change bring more good times back to our nation.

2 replies

jury duty

I got summoned for the first time ever.

May 29.

Luckily, the courthouse is only 6 minutes from my house. This makes it less bad.

weekend tidbits

Going to the dentist tomorrow to get my tooth bonded. Work will eventually reimburse me for most of it, unless I decide to get some extra work like whitening done while I’m there. The reason I’m not getting it capped just yet is because it would have cost almost a grand. I’m still in the be thrifty mode trying to get used to paying bills and other things. I don’t want to go hog wild with my money.

California is having a special (ed) election this November on some issues that are really important for the governor and his chances at a next term. The issues deal with abortion, teacher’s permanent status waiting period, political contributions, school funding and a few others. Nothing here seems too controversial except maybe the abortion and state spending on schools. I’ll try to at least give a little attention to it and seek to vote but I don’t see it being all that important either. Maybe I’m a little too apathetic about this one.

So what’s up with the president’s 39% approval rating? I sure am hearing a lot of media bias about this presidency and it seems they keep pointing out Bush’s religious convictions in choosing Miers, in going to war, and in his personal life in general. Not only that but this whole CIA leak going up as far as the vice president’s office makes me continue to wonder what’s next. I didn’t want a stupid president in the White House to begin with, but with the only real alternatives being Gore and Kerry in the past two elections, I think we screwed ourselves up. Nepotism, corporate contributions, and religious beliefs shouldn’t play such a big part in our leaders’ choices, but I continue to see more and more of that as time passes.

Have you ever heard of Jim Cramer? If you ever have time to watch his show on CNBC, I highly suggest tuning in. It’s a financial show on steroids, and I mean lots and lots of steroids.

During my workout at the gym yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of seeing a semi-famous celeb! Not one that many people would know unless they were fans of Freaks and Geeks, but Martin Starr and friend were there. I’ve met him two previous occasions at some Freaks and Geeks gatherings, but decided that this wasn’t an exception to go bug him. So I kept to myself but it was cool just seeing a guy who was in one of my all time favorite shows ever!

It finally rained for the first time in months earlier this week and it’s been overcast the rest of the time, or at least here in Santa Monica. Maybe back home it’s less overcast but I guess I’ll find out tonight. I’m enjoying this cooler weather and hope it’s definitely here to stay. I need the break from the heat and can’t wait to bundle up. I miss the snow sometimes.

I have a ton of projects, as usual, that need to be finished and finding the motivation to do them has been once again lacking. I have overwhelmed myself with too many responsibilities so learning time management, and making myself finish one thing after another can be a struggled when I emotionally don’t feel up to doing something. I guess living in two places is also taking its toll physically and mentally. But, as I can see it, this really is the best way for me to live right now as I try to balance time and work.

A few other things have been affecting my personal life as well but I will get to those issues in future posts.

katrina’s response time sucked

All I hear and read in the media recently is about how poorly and slowly President Bush responded to the hurricane. He spent 2 days in Texas that should have been spent in DC or the Gulf Coast. The majority of the National Guard and other forces didn’t arrive until a week ago. Other federal aid took a hell of a long time as well. It was embarrassing and deadly how long everything took.

What I really want to know, however, is why New Orleans or Louisiana didn’t have a decent plan on the local level? Rather, why weren’t they prepared for a disaster of this proportion when they knew it was likely to occur? Sure, federal help for a disaster of this magnitude was essential, but they should have had a plan to help its people within the first couple of days. New Orleans was literally a tragedy waiting to happen. From what I can tell, it seems that the mayor of New Orleans did a lot of complaining. And more complaining. In fact, I have yet to see a photo or read/hear about a story of him actually physically doing something about the mess. He even admitted on the radio last week that he had no idea what the governor was up to. All he could say is where the hell is the federal aid?

Who the heck elected this guy? I’m sure he’s a stand up guy in many respects, but why did he not try to go out and do anything? Or, if he did, why is the media not reporting it? Even after 9/11, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was right there looking everything over, talking to his people. Mayor Nagin, however, was just bitching away.

New Orleans had plenty of time, PLENTY of warning that something like this could happen. But, time and time again they chose to do other things. It never was a priority because “it’ll never happen to us”. Same reason many people choose not to buy life insurance, health insurance, renters insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance. Same reason thousands of people stayed behind while the hurricane ravaged the city. (yes, I’m aware of the fact that money probably have a lot to do with it. That’s still no excuse for leaving a city completely open to disaster.)

Now the drains are opened and the city is slowly losing all of its toxic, polluted water. Great. Now the Lake and eventually the Gulf of Mexico is going to be swarmed with even more diseases, viruses and toxic infectious organisms.

The local government of New Orleans was a complete failure to rescue their people and plan for a better evacuation. The state government of Louisiana was a complete failure for a lack of quick response to do anything. And the federal government is an embarrassment in their response as well.

For shame, people.

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London

Screw terrorists.

To see some very detailed information on the London attacks, go to the wikipedia entry.

This is not the kind of crap I wanna wake up to again.

international affairs

As some of you might know, I receive a Maxim magazine every month. It’s been this way for years, since somewhere around 1999 I believe. I enjoy reading the jokes, looking at the photos, reading about other people’s lives, and enjoying the masculine humor so elegantly inserted into each issue. It’s not often that I read some of the longer, less entertaining articles that involve something political or are long-winded. However, in this issue, one article in particular really caught my attention.

On page 104 in the April issue, there’s a story called “My Neck On The Line” where photojournalist Paul Taggart lays out a very compelling account of his trip to Baghdad in July of 2004. He was one of a few people abducted and kidnapped, being held hostage against his own will. He feared death more than a few times while being held captive. To just read what his story says, each detail explained with careful detail, is amazing. This is the side of the story you do not get from the news, television, the newspaper, in fact most of the media. This was a rare account of his horrible experience, one that helped me see some other aspects of this war. It seems that when I expected something to happen to him on account of his abductors seeming so evil, he says something else to change that thought.

Earlier today on NPR, there was a story about a Harvard program called Global Voices Online, which was created to put International voices in the spotlight for a global audience. It’s an interesting initiative that these people have taken to bring different voices alive for others to read and hear. To be able to gain a perspective that you otherwise wouldn’t is a great education that I hope more people desire.

What we see in the news is so one sided, the stories which the American press usually grab ahold are usually very light. I realize how little I know about what’s going on in places like Iraq, Germany, Ghana, and most other countries. I won’t claim that I have a desire to know about most of what happens, but I think that I should definitely be more open minded about wanting to know. It’s my world, I’m at the age where I make decisions; I vote to affect our world. Caring about International affairs isn’t the most important thing in my life, but hopefully it will become more desirable for me to hear about.

Napoleon Dynamite’s Top 10

As read by Napoleon Dynamite, the top 10 reasons you’re not the most popular kid in school

the dollar vs. the euro

The reality of leaving the country hits me more and more everyday. I am pretty frightened, excited, intimidated, anxious, and all at the same time. It’s great to finally be able to say I’ve traveled around the world, and it sure as heck took me long enough!

the Dollar vs. the EuroOne of the issues that I’d like to put a nail into already is the currency exchange rate. First, I didn’t realize how horrible the the rate of exchange from the dollar to the euro really was. Then I started researching.

$1.30 for every dollar??!

The crazy thing is that when we arrive, it might be back up to $1.32 or even the record $1.36/euro. Let me put it this way. If I decide to bring $100, that would exchange for 77.05 Euro. I lose $22 in the exchange!! How’s that for living in a time where the US dollar is at an all time low!

How frustrating! I now have to figure out how to get the best exchange rate. After calling the banks at which I keep my money, I find out that one bank will exchange a euro for $1.37 and the other at $1.36. What? But the dollar is being traded for as low as $1.29! Well, I was told that to receive that kind of rate, you have to be trading hundreds and thousands of dollars. It seems that the average schmo has to suck it up. I then try to find out about charging. One bank will allow you to charge for the regular exchange rate + 2% and the other will allow you to charge at normal rate with no fee. This is even worse because it limits any purchases I make to my debit card only. I must have some euro in hand while I’m in that country!

Luckily, one of us has a bank which can be used at ATMs in Germany and it won’t incur any additional fees! So, I’m putting most of my money in that account. As for the rest, I’m going to have to see what the conversion rates are over there and if it beats what I will pay here, I’m definitely just bringing cash with me and exchanging it over there.

Anyone have any better ideas?

as the world turns

I have no news. Nothing new to say. No original thoughts. I could sit here and type a bunch of dribble for you to read, but I think just by reading it, I will have made you dumber. In fact, I could sit here and talk about the break-up of Brad and Jen, or as I like to call them, Bradifer. Bradifer are a married couple, been together for many years, and now are separated, not divorced. But ya know what? Who gives a crap. Why is the media so freakin’ obsessed over their marriage? I’ve read crap like “If they can’t make it, everyone else is doomed”. Leave ’em alone!

Wanna know more important news?

The tsunami death toll has reached 162,000 people already and is expected to go even higher. Have you donated any money to the relief effort? That’s much more news worthy than a private relationship.

You hear about the army spc. who was court martialed and sentenced to 10 years in prison? It’s sickening that he’d done it, and it’s even more sickening that he was ordered to do it. Was this a fair trial? Yup. He was ordered by his superiors, but he knew that he was going against Geneva Convention yet he didn’t stick up for himself. He wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t under any false state of mind, he was just following orders. This guy has no regrets, he took his orders and did what he was told. Just goes to show you how screwed up the military can be. I don’t feel sorry for him, I mean he doesn’t feel sorry for himself.

And have you read that the US might be attacking Iran? Yup, some journalist reported that the administration has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions in Iran in preparation for a possible strike. A lot of what the journalist said was speculation, and this sounds very familiar to me. I wasn’t very happy to know that we attacked Iraq a couple of year ago, so we most certainly better not be doing the same crap twice.

So now that you realize the world is still turning and that more important issues need to be dealt with, so forget about the celebrity relationships. Let them do what they’re gonna do, give them some peace.

where are the right answers?

When someone like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld goes to a camp of soldiers in Kuwait and tackles tough questions with answers like “You go to war with the Army you have,” something isn’t right. Where does all this money go, the billions and billions of dollars which was allocated for this war?

I hate it when Rumsfeld and Bush answer many tough questions with an answer making someone feel stupid. They first start out by stating a lot of positive things, making you feel good about some issue or issues. Then, when some difficult questions come their way, they often talk down at you and tell you how you feel.

Bush did it during the second debate. A guy stood up and asked Bush why his rights were “being watered down” as well as his fellow citizens. Bush responds saying “I really don’t think your rights are being watered down,” as if Bush knew what that person did for a living and/or his life story. I immediately thought how degrading an answer like that must have made that gentleman feel.

Very similarly, Rumsfeld answered a question about the lack of proper armor with “You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up.” I’m not debating the fact that the war must be fought in a different way with different techniques and material, but I believe that for someone to bring the issue up and for almost all 2300 soldiers attending cheer loudly in support, it’s probably not just a minor issue. Later, the major general again stated that to his knowledge, everyone had what they needed.

I have many friends who have served in the military recently in conditions that, although tolerable, always could have been much better. Usually, when an officer or general speak, it’s the end of the argument… period. It always amazes me how blind an eye many people take even when the truth and reality are opposites.

I hate being taken for granted, when I’m saying something that I really mean and someone blows it off as generic, unworthy or untruthful. Then he or she begins to explain to me why I’m wrong or what he thinks reality really is. I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Why can’t our leaders do the same?