You Are Most Like John F. Kennedy

You live a fairy tale life that most people envy. And while you may have a few dark secrets, few people know them.

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

This man lost his wife, five children, and a nephew in Qana.

And yet Israel continues to bomb the hell out of Lebanon. The people in the town of Qana were supporters of Hezbollah only because they saw what destruction Israel caused to their country. They see Hezbollah as their way of fighting back. The only thing they have to fight against Israel with. And they are called terrorists.

There should be a cease-fire now. Human lives are being lost, innocent lives. Israel needs 10 to 14 more days to finish their operation? And do what? Haven't they killed enough people already?

I'm back!!! have they blown up the world yet?!

well, they seem to have blown up quite a bit. while I was away I got a chance to watch anderson cooper 360 on CNN and I saw an interview with a Lebanese man who has a website showing footage from inside lebanon of bombings that have occurred. It provides an inside account of what's going on in lebanon.

there is an old irish song that seems to depict what's going on very well. the english can be compared to israel and america. (full lyrics here.)

"And you dare to call me a terrorist
while you looked down your gun
When I think of all the deeds that you had done
You had plundered many nations divided many lands
You had terrorised their peoples you ruled with an iron hand.
And you brought this reign of terror to my land"




Who are the real terrorists?

I'm finally going on vacation!!! I'm taking a well needed break for the next four days. Doesn't this picture look lovely?? Actually I'm going on a very hectic trip to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and back to New York in the span of four days. Should be interesting. I'm predicting I'm going to come back even more exhausted than i am now. Ah well, for now I'll enjoy looking at that picture and pretend I'm going there.

Something to think about while I'm away:

- an average funeral costs $7,000
- John Paul II's funeral cost $9 million

YET,
- 1.2 billion people live on less than $1 a day
- 2.8 billion people live on less than $2 a day

How is this right?

Finally posting the article I promised a few of you that I'd publish a few days ago. Sorry for the delay, I've been really busy. It's from the Metro and they don't update their website so I can't give you a link. I'm just going to type it out and I apologize for any error that gets by spell check. For you liberals our there, don't let the title throw you off, it's really a liberal article, give it a chance!!

Title: Why I Support a 'War on Terror'

Yes, I support the "War on Terror." No, I'm not declaring public allegiance to the current jihad against an ideology (which is in actuality a war against the terrorist attacks not perpetrated by the United States or its allies/client states). I'm thinking of another meaning entirely for our new favorite word: terror. As defined at Dictionary.com, terror is "an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety" and/or an "intense, overpowering fear."

Don Lutz, author of "The First Ism," has written that such "terror" is "what one feels when being kidnapped or raped." Lutz goes on to list other terrifying examples: "Terror is what poor people worldwide feel when approached by uniformed, armed men; what animals feel in research laboratories; what people feel when their families are faced with starvation; what a child feels when an adult starts to hit; what millions of families feel when they hear planes overhead; what fish feel when hooked in the mouth; what people fell under threat of having loved ones tortured or killed; what forest dwellers feel when the loggers come in and clear-cut; what people feel when they are threatened with invasion; and what animals feel at slaughterhouses."

If you want to wage war against terror, why not find a worthy adversary? No need for shady FBI stings, unconstitutional wire tapping or panic-inducing color-coded warnings that conveniently pop up at the most politically expedient intervals; the variety of terror described by Lutz above is genuine and it's endemic. Perhaps a big step toward ending the use of terror as a tactic would be to alleviate the feeling of terror triggered across the globe by the home of the brave.

It's noteworthy that so many Americans reflexively defend their country's rampant illegalities because they perceive these actions as falling under the seductive justification of "defending our way of life." But, if our way of life is so sacred, so ideal, so worthy of being defended by any means necessary, why are millions of us reeling from "intense, overpowering fear"? If the United States represents a superior form of society, why do we need so many homeless shelters, alcohol and drug rehab centers, rape crisis hotlines, battered women's shelters, prisons, law enforcement agents and soldiers? Why do we experience "intense, overpowering fear" about being made ill by corporate-produced toxins and having no health insurance to deal with such an illness? If America is the zenith of human social order, why does its very name evoke "an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety" for people both here and abroad?

People just love to hear themselves say: "We're fighting to preserve our way of life." The United States constitutes roughly 5 percent of the earth's population but consumes about 25 percent of the earth's resources. Maybe "our way of life" makes us the real terrorists. With the point of no return fading in the rearview mirror (or at least obscured by an SUV), the time is long overdue for all of us to recognize the real enemy is that which inspires terror...as in "an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety" and/or an "intense, overpowering fear."

State of Fear

Today my brain is kind of fried, long day at work. So, I have decided to tell a story, which I find to be very interesting. also, there is a very interesting news story going along with this. (not really politically related...but I managed to find a link)

So, this morning I woke up as usual a little later that I should have, raced over to my bus stop and to wait for my trusty bus. It was seven minutes late (did I just call it trusty?!). Since I live in Queens I take an express bus into Manhattan every day. Nice and air conditioned (express bus lines get the best busses!). So I took my seat and alternated staring out teh window with doing the work I hadn't finished last night. When we got onto 57th street there was a lot of traffic. I just assumed that it was rush hour, but it isn't usually that bad at that time. Work started for me today at 10 (yes!). things usually cool off around 9:30. As we passed Park Avenue the road was closed off by cops. I looked down the ave and saw many blinking lights from fire engines, cops cars, ambulences, and the like. Then I got off that bus, ran onto my other bus, and ran into work.

As I got into the elevator a lady was coming so I held the door for her. She asked me if I had heard what had happened on 62nd and park. I told her I had no idea, that I had seen 57th and park closed off. She told me that there was a blast. She said it was a doctor's office. As I was getting out at my floor she said "it's very scary". I agreed with her. Later on in my day things got pretty slow and I had a few minutes to let my mind wander. I realized that that woman was scared that al qaeda had hit the upper east. She was afraid of what they might hit next, whether they'd hit the building we work in. This is the state of fear that the Bush administration has gotten the American people into.

Now: what really happened. (I find this interesting so I'll give you a quick sum up. Here's the link to a story I found when I googled it.) So, the man who owned the building was in a bitter divorce and he was going to possibly lose the townhouse. They think now that he blew it up in a suicide attempt after sending a 14 page e-mail to his ex-wife and her lawyers. He didnt' want her to get the house so he blew it and himself up. The building just collapsed and was engulfed in flames. There were two brownstones on either side and at 12 my mother said she saw the firemen shooting water out of the brownstones. This had happened at 8:30.

anyways, I hope you found my story interesting. and it's further proof how politics is everywhere. I'm going to take a deliberate detour past 62nd and park tomorrow and see if I can find anything. That is if I'm not running late. So, moral of the story, if you hear a blast RUN! and don't think osama, think a bitter divorce.

I found this article in the NY Metro a couple of days ago. I thought it was very good and expressed my opinions on the matter very well. Unfortunately I can't find it on the Metro's website, so I'm typing it out. I apologize in advance for any typos or misspellings manage to find their way past spell check.

Title: America's Pesky First Amendment
By: Andrew Tavani

People generally know the First Amendment guarantees Americans freedom of speech, but most people seldom see the text of the First Amendment in its entirety, as written by the Founding Fathers. Allow me to save you the trouble of a Google search: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

As New York Times executive editor Bill Keller noted, the Founding Fathers included the press in the First Amendment to insure the press would act as an effective check and balance of the American government. And that is precisely the interest in which the Times was acting by publishing the story about a Treasury Department program that monitors the financial records of random Americans and, presumably, of terrorists.

President Bush described the new York Times as "disgraceful" and added, "The fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror." He also poked his finger in the air to accentuate how serious he was, utterly unaware of the stark irony in his commentary on grace. What's serious is the need for Bush to read and comprehend the First Amendment. Upon doing so, he might realize that the New York Times would have been disgraceful had it not reported such a story, because this program smacks of another attempt at an executive branch power grab and another the invasion of privacy. Given the context of the recent circumstances surrounding this administration - phony WMD intelligence, Valerie Plame, NSA wiretapping, etc. - reporting this story was incumbent upon the Times. The American people deserve to know what's going on when the potential for corruption is abundant.

If the program was so effective and vital to the "war on terror", why hasn't it yielded any discernible results? The United States knows firsthand that a war is not cheap. We have largely funded the war in Iraq with money borrowed from China. Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, the state of affairs in Iraq continues to spin further out of control. Shouldn't this financial record monitoring program have exposed whatever entity is funding the "insurgency" in Iraq by now? We can't be expected to believe that bin Laden, though wealthy, can match the United States dollar for dollar. What is the Bush administration really worried the New York Times will discover?

Bush seems to be trying to extend the power of the executive branch for reasons that will only benefit a few. I would have less of a problem with Bush if he were trying to make himself more powerful so he could do something responsible for society like, say, providing health insurance for the more than 45 million Americans who aren't covered, or actually taking global warming seriously and trying to end America's "addiction" to foreign oil. Instead, the Bush administration seeks to further a war agenda that will continue resulting in the death and dismemberment of Americans and Iraqis alike, while our future is plunged deeper into debt. Perhaps Americans should contemplate the last part of the First Amendment. Or would petitioning this government for a redress of grievances be "disgraceful"?

Happy July 4th everyone!! The 30 minutes that are left of it at least. I've been very busy lately. I thought the workload would lighten up now that the summer has come but unfortunately that wasn't the case...

My last posting was on Gitmo and how rights are being denied there. My friend over at Politiques USA has a great post on that and how it is fueling terrorism and tarnishing America's image at the same time. I strongly agree with this. I also don't think Bush cares that he is fueling terrorism. In his eyes, he may view fueling terrorism as a positive thing, because then people will believe him when he goes on about how bad the threat is. Also, it might scare the American people into voting Republican come 2006 and 2008. as for tarnishing America's image, Bush doesn't seem to care about that one either. He just shrugs it off as if we are the crusaders who are on a holy mission to save the world and the rest of the world just hasn't seen the danger yet. My question: the rest of the world saw 9/11 happen, they saw us invade Iraq, they've seen what has been happening at Gitmo. Why should we think that we have more knowledge than they do?? they know that terrorists are dangerous, but they also know that we're not handling it in the best way possible. Iraq was the first time that the US has ever invaded a country without being struck first. That was a point of honor that the US would never invade a country unless attacked. Now, that's gone down the drain thanks to Bush. It'll take a lot for the world to ever gain the confidence it had in us before the Bush presidency.