ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!

There was a poll in USA Today asking: Since John and Elizabeth Edwards have released the news that Elizabeth's cancer is back, are you more likely to vote for him, less likely to vote for him, or it doesn't matter? ARE YOU SERIOUS??? If whether or not Elizabeth Edwards has cancer makes someone more likely to vote for her husband is just absurd! Are these type of factors really what voters look for when casting a final vote? What about whether or not John Edwards has put forth a great anti-global warming effort? Or maybe he has a great new tax reform? But noooo.. America wants to look at his wife having cancer.. making them for likely to vote for her husband in the 2008 presidential election. This is such an obvious example of how everything plays a part in politics.. even the stupid shit that shouldn't at all.

Saint John Paul II???

As I signed onto AOL.com this morning, to check my mail, I read a news article on a French nun who had been cured of Parkinson's Disease. This cure is of great significance, because it is a piece in determining Pope John Paul II sainthood. Other nuns prayed to the deceased Pope for their fellow sister and they believed he created a miracle. It disturbed me when reading this article that everything was so technical. For example, the article read, "The nun also underwent psychiatric evaluation and had her handwriting analyzed, since a change in handwriting is a classic symptom of Parkinson's disease, the Rome-based cleric spearheading her cause, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, said this week. Normally, psychiatric evaluations are not typical for church investigations into purported miracles, but Oder said church officials wanted to be particularly sure in this case and that the results were 'very reassuring.' " I mean jeeze! You have to put someone though testing in order to determine if something was a miracle or not? What happened to the old fashion faith in God to do his good will? The Catholic Church is acting like the medical examiner in the Anna Nicole Smith case, awaiting the results. The following statement in the article made my stomach churn, "They don't use the word 'miracle,' because that is for Rome to decide whether the cure counts as one, he said." I mean come on!!!! I hate that I'm saying this, but I guess there's a need for some of this, because someone could just be faking it. But really??? Lean on faith and good judgment. If you really need a committee for someone sainthood and can't just see it right in front of your face... to me -- they're not a freakin saint!!!

Syed's Blog

Syed worte a blog titled "The Rudest Drivers in the USA" which I found to be interesting. Often I am with someone driving who has road rage. It bothers me a little, because I am a cool and collected person who doesn't feel it necessary to scream, honk often, or make obscene gestures at someone who most likely didn't mean to fuck up. Yet I do share the same pet peeves that are said to be most common when driving. I just choose not to overly react.

Who says we shouldn't want a badonkadonk?

Recently Subway released a new commerical where a couple pull up to a fast food drive through window and place an order. The man first orders 2 giggly arms, 1 flubber belly, and a double chin. Then the woman says, "I'll have the same thing, but instead of the double giggly arms, I would like thunder thighs and a badonkadonk." This is a perfect example of the media attempting to portray the message that it isn't alright to be larger in size. Who says women with thick thighs and a large behind aren't sexy? This obviously promotes slender girls when there are some big boned girls out there who have a differnt body type. This just shows how the constant reminder that skinny is better is all over the media.

No, Iraq is not Vietnam?

After looking through many articles stating that Iraq is not a new Vietnam and discussing the topic with my professor, I have found many repetitive reasons which are as follows. The first and most reoccurring point is that just as in Vietnam, the U.S. is fighting an unwinnable war in Iraq. But in Vietnam, the U.S. faced a single challenger, who won because America did not. In Iraq, the U.S. can't win, but neither can anyone else. Those who believe that this is a war between the U.S. and "jihadists" ignore the reality that there are multiple armed conflicts under way in Iraq, and many of those fighting the U.S. are also fighting each other. Another point is that during the Vietnam conflict there was a draft in place and soldiers were in high supply. Because of this most soldiers were on active duty in Vietnam for no longer than 15 months, yet soldiers involved in the Iraq conflict have returned to the country to serve more than one session adding up to well beyond 15 months. Another reasoning is that the communist regime that was put in place in Vietnam, after the U.S. sponsored government was overthrown, has been advancing forward in its country's social and economic issues while in Iraq the insurgency, or the opposing side to the U.S., has crippled reconstruction efforts, leaving Iraq pumping less oil and producing less electricity two years after its “liberation” than it was doing before Saddam was ousted. Also, the fact that the Vietnamese people weren't divided terribly by different ethnicities as those in Iraq are.

Tony Karon from TIME magazine said it best, "Both the conservatives and the liberals seem to share the same epistemological flaw: They insist on understanding Iraq through the prism of American experiences — traumatic, in the case of the liberals; triumphant in the case of the conservatives — rather than engaging with Iraq’s own history and context...Iraq is less like Vietnam and more like Chernobyl, a nuclear reactor in meltdown, whose fallout may be even more dangerous than the fires that burn at its core."

BAN 'EM

I love this cynical intro in Tupac's song, Don't StoP:

"This go out to C. Delores Tucker, Bob Dole and anybody else who feels like uh
They stronger than the constitution
Freedom of speech big baby
Freedom of speech
Ha ha ha
Outlawz
Goddamn! Rap music I hate that.
It's just so violent and it destroys everybody, it makes the kids crazy
The kids kill people
They're cop haters. They're going against society, I don't understand the music.
It's too loud, it's too rowdy, it's too violent
Let's ban all rap music(Outlawz)
Ban Tupac, ban the Outlaw Immortalz ban 'em"

Has Iraq become Vietnamized?

Many people have made the claim that Iraq is the new Vietnam. I have taken an interest in this idea, because this semester I am taking a class titled, The Vietnam War. My teacher, Dr. Robert Thomes, has compared Vietnam to Iraq a few times. I have a few comments and ideas about this topic.

In both situations, the US has had superior technology and resources, yet fighting a counter-insurgency again guerillas who are a part of the general population is very difficult. In both situation, US troops were and are being killed and injured on day at a time, week by week, month by month. In both situations, the US leaders had grand global strategies when entering the country the most obvious being promoting democracy. In both situations, civilians have paid a heavy price because of the combat. In both situations, the decision to go to war came from think thank intellectuals, most of whom lacked war experience. Both situations have divided our country to the greatest extent.

I am going to look into the differences and post a journal at a later time.

Product of Determination

I'm sitting here in Philly, listening to one of my favorite rapper, Lil Wayne. I'm thinking about my future and I know I will make my first million by age 25. Climbing over all of my obstacles, I am a product of determination. First thanking my friend Curtis for all he has given me such as bringing out the drive in me that I've needed to find.

Why Have I Become so Distant?

I am weary, weak, and wanting change. For the past five years I have watched myself slowly slip away from the hands of our Father. I have denied Him; I have lacked faith in Him, and I have pushed Him out of my life. It does not seem so long ago that I had the joy and satisfaction of a close relationship with God. During personal struggles, I should have relied on His ability is be my strength, yet I turned away. As I was growing up, my mother, a religious woman, always had a genuine relationship with God. Having the innocence of children, my sisters and I followed in her footsteps. I became aware of the multi-faceted God we have. I willingly spent time in worship and prayer and became very close to my maker. Although my father, an alcoholic, created many terrifying nights filled with anger and hate, I continued to rely on God and stay close to Him. While my father’s alcoholic behavior persisted, I was getting older and moved into a period of my life where I becoming more socially active. Worldly influences easily satisfied my need for acceptance since my father had denied me so many times. I slowly moved away from God and involved myself in the drug world, sexual intimacy, and other illegal activities. As I aged I created a dependency on illicit drugs. I have now cleaned up much of my life, but not to the extent I would like. My father’s behavior continues, and I still involve myself in unhealthy activities, yet now I am yearning for someone or something to bring me back to God. This is because I know I need to change and that I need Him more than ever.

General Robert E. Lee of the American Civil War once stated, “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.”

I love this quote.