OOOPS

Sorry Arthur Anderson you were screwed. Unfortunatley, there is nothing that can be done now. This whole situation reminds me of an old west hanging. The guilt or innocence was not the question, someone needs to be punished so someone is hung.

NON

Viva La France!!!!!

XBOX

I have been meaning to post more lately but I have become addicted to my xbox and more specifically Fable! Hours of fun, highly recommended.

Sanity Prevails

Finally the military has come correct. Murder charges on Lt. Pantano have been dropped. Charging soldiers with murder during combat situations in wartime makes no sense. It is sad that it had to go this far. Is it any wonder there is a huge recruitment problem in this country?

The Compromise

Well its Tuesday and nothing happened. The flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and the Senate is open for business.

I wish the Republicans had made the democrats filibuster for at least a week. This battle clearly is not over. Whoever Bush nominates for the Supreme Court will most likely get filibustered and then the Republicans will need to do change the rules.

No way were these bunch of lazy ass senators going to do any tough work.

Dutch Appear Ready to Vote No on New Constititution

According to the BBC, a recent poll in the Netherlands showed only 30% support the new EU constitution. The election on June 1st is purely for consultation since the Parliament has the real vote on the new constitution.

The mounting opposition to the EU might suggest the EU is trying to do to much to fast.

Torture

Andrew Sullivan has been pushing the torture angle and has exposed (if the examples are true) what appears to be a wide spread problem. There is evidence in Afghanistan, Abu Grhaib and Gitmo. It seems the presence of torture in these different locations suggests torture is official US policy. The outrage many have expressed also suggests many people believe this is something new, or an extension of Vietnam. I think it is naïve to believe treating POWs or enemy combatants harshly is something new rather than a side effect of war.

I believe this type of treatment and behavior is a natural effect on some people who exposed to death and destruction on a consistent basis, which is why some people are against any war. We constantly praise WWII and the heroes that fought as the greatest generation. I believe it is extremely naïve to assume negative treatment did not exist in that war. I was watching a program on the battle of Iwo Jima, US soldiers would use flamethrowers to burn the Japanese soldiers as they were running out or hiding in caves. Certainly, today this would not be an acceptable practice. Likewise, my girlfriends grandfather brought back pictures from WWII of Japanese soldiers with their heads chopped off. This was acceptable then because society was more homogenous and people understood this type of behavior was neccessary to squash the threat of Japan and Germany.

I do not believe we should condone or accept this behavior but neither should it be public record. The military should constantly monitor soldiers in charge of corrections and replace soldiers more rapidly. Soldiers who are not mentally tough enough to handle the horrors of war should not be prosecuted but receive counseling and other assignments as quickly as possible. For us in the United States to stand in judgment of soldiers who lose their moral foundation in wartime is extremely arrogant.

Should France Vote to Affirm the EU Constitution?

According to the BBC, new polls in France were 53%-47% in opposition to the new EU constitution. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski joined Jacques Chirac in an all out campaign to plead with the French to vote yes on May 29. The BBC reported that 59% of the french left were against the constitution while 61% of the right were for it.

I believe this vote will give an insigt into the psyche of the French people. The new constitution is economically bad for the French especially in the short term. They stand to lose much of the farm subsidies they currently enjoy. Also many French see the EU becoming an extension of Anglo-Saxon social values and identity. France is not the only EU member hurt by the new constitution, in fact much of the current EU member states are losing in the short term. Greece is going to lose subsidies because the new member states are poorer than Greece which means they will be receiving much of the subsidies Greece now receives.

This new constitution clearly has short term economic impact and could threaten some of the sovereignty European states possess. What would motivate people to vote against their economic interests? First off, not many states actually allowed the people to vote directly on the issue the way the Spain and now France will do. Second, a larger strengthened EU becomes a larger player internationally. In April Chirac said a no vote would would halt the European project in its tracks and pave the way to an unregulated, uncontrolled free-market world dominated by the United States.

Does a united European Union threaten US supremecy? Slightly, they would definitely have more bargaining power as far as international treaties and trade. Many Europeans have been outspoken in their desire to have another super power to balance the US and this does seem to be the way. The term balance implies they would be in opposition to US policies, which suggests their interests run counter to ours.

The problem is there are other states on the rise such as China and India. China already has significant political clout and could be considered a super power. They are modernizing their military and attempting to flex their political muscle in Asia via North Korea and Taiwan.

If China became a significantly bigger political player, then would the EU side with the United States swaying political power to the West? For all of our disagreements Europe and the US still have much more in common than Eastern Countries. This is all hypothetical and years ahead but the vote May 29, will go a long way in exposing the values of the French people and determining the legitimacy of the EU.

Steroid Hearings

My first reaction to the congressional steroid hearings was they were a waste of time. After watching the hearings today with the various pro--sports commissioners my position is changing.

There is billions of dollars waged on athletic events every year and the leagues make even more. Allowing legal gambling on sporting events opens them up to regulation. If I am gambling on an event I would like to know it is fair.

As a fan I like to watch big homeruns, hard hits everything that steroids improve so I am still on the fence. However I do think the drug policies in Baseball & Basketball are pathetic. Watching David Stern defend the NBA drug policy is quite amusing.

Steroids is real problem not only in professional sports but sports in general. I do think tough steroid policies in professional sports would go along way to curb the problem.

Star Wars Anti-Bush?????

So the new Star Wars movie is filled with subtle attacts on Bush & the War in Iraq or so everyone says. Let me be the first to say, I DONT GIVE A SHIT!! I am going to see this movie on opening weekend & possibly a few more times before it is out of the theaters. Please people try & remain calm, everything is going to be alright.

Shut up Buchanan

Pat Buchanan is on Hannity & Colmes he said "if Clinton were doing what George W. Bush is doing letting this country be invaded every year 500,000 illegals coming in we would be impeaching Bill Clinton ..."

Did I miss something? Illegal immigration is nothing new and has been around long before Bush & Clinton.

Are Unions Still Relevant

The NYT reported the president of the largest union (Service Employees International Union) in the AFL-CIO is threatening to pull his union out of the organization if the federation’s president, John Sweeney, is re-elected. The Times reported that membership in the private sector has fallen to 8%, the lowest in 100 years.

This leads me to the question are unions still relevant? In the interest of full disclosure, my Dad, all of my uncles and my grandfather were teamsters. I come from a union family, we would not cross picket lines and my father was always on strike, at least it seemed that way to me.

For me unions are completely irrelevant, for starters, working one job for my entire life does not sound appealing. I would like to wear many different hats and in the union seniority rules. To the person switching companies every five to ten years, seniority means being consistently passed over for promotions in favor of someone who has worked at the company much longer. I would like to see promotions and pay based on merit not seniority.

The problem is most unions are labor unions. This is a problem because labor is moving overseas where it is less expensive. As a former warehouseman, I am no stranger to physical labor but I never had an opportunity to join a union. The problem to me is the union is not a work organization, but rather a lifestyle organization seeking to control members politically. That is not an attractive option for me. My politics are for me to decide, if I want to place my ideological opinions ahead of my unions interest that is what I am going to do. The pressure to conform turns me off.

Russia Displays Stolen Art

Russia recently opened a display of the art they confiscated from the Germans during WWII. The exhibit includes many ancient Greek bronzes and vases as well as Roman and Etruscan art. Many of the pieces they took after the war were part of German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann collection. Schliemann, a avid fan of The Odyssey sought out the ancient city of Troy, to prove the tales true. He acquired many ancient artifacts which the remained German property after his death.

The Germans are upset and believe Russia should return the art to them. Sorry Germany but the art is from Greece so if anyone should have the art it is the Greeks. If the Greeks don’t get it then the Russians should rightfully own the art. Germany caused much damage in Russia during the invasion this is compensation.

I beleive no matter who controls it everyone wins. These are awesome pieces and they deserve to be on display where ever that display may be. Included in the pieces is a vase depicting Agamemnons death. Truly a treat for the world because these pieces had previously been locked away.

Galloway Senate Hearing

Although I completely disagree with his politics it is nice to see someone putting those pompous senators in their place.

I always get mad watching those senate hearings, the senators act like complete asses they through their weight around, cut off guests, make rude comments, I always want to someone to tell them off, now someone has.

Even the Jobs the Blacks Won't Do

OUCH! Vicente Fox claimed the Mexican immigrants are coming here to do work even the blacks won't do, imagine if a American politician said that. Never mind that it is a complete lie, the reason people won't do landscaping, dishwashing, etc is because the illegal immigrants have driven down the wage to nothing.

Is America an Empire? PT 2

In response to my earlier post Joe wrote:


"America is not an Empire in the traditional or historical sense. That is, they are not a colonial empire that occupies another country and exacts "tributes" in the form of taxation. However, I think the argument can be made that they are indeed an economic imperialist empire.

In the modern world there is no need to occupy foreign countries and collect taxes. All you need to do is get a control over the economies of those countries and manipulate them to your own ends.Sure we send our tax dollars there, but that is really an investment in "human capital". It doesn't hurt to have a military base or some other military presence near-by to protect your interests. You then overwork and underpay the people. Your return is much more than you could ever expect to collect from taxes, because you can take the fruits of the labor and turn around and sell them.

This is precisely why we are interested in the middle east. The whole Iraq, Afghanistan thing is all about protecting our oil, and making sure that someone else (Russia, China) doesn't get control of it. "

MY RESPONSE:
Great point! I do agree with some of the statement. But to say the U.S controls and manipulates foreign economies in the Middle East is a stretch. I am not so naïve that I believe the US is in the Middle East completely for altruistic reasons but rather looking out for our economic interests, but I think controlling and manipulating economies is going too far. I do believe that it is in the entire world’s interest (Russia, China, Etc..) to have stable governments in the oil rich regions.

I do not draw a connection between private foreign investments by American companies benefiting the government. To be clear, I do realize the business connections in Democratic and Republican administrations. The cabinet is usually a who’s who in the business world. The problem is the majority of our cheap labor high hour workweek is in China. The Labor is so cheap that companies that left America for Mexico after NAFTA, have left Mexico for China. Certainly, we are not controlling and manipulating their economy. Rather China is manipulating our economy and purchasing our debt.

I do understand our government has military bases strategically placed around the world. We have them throughout Europe and Asia. I believe we chose these sites not with economic imperialism in mind but rather for military reasons. It is easier to mobilize troops for combat in China if we have 30,000 in South Korea & about 45,000 in Japan. We did have bases in Saudi Arabia but I believe those were for stabilizing the world’s oil supply and keeping the oil out of extremists’ hands.

As for Iraq & Afghanistan, we definitely do want a foothold in the region because of China’s growing energy needs. This should definitely concern our leaders if not we as citizens would need to be concerned. But if there were no such thing as Islamic terrorism then we would not be in Iraq or Afghanistan. For example, many say the reason the violence in Africa is ignored is because they have no oil. I believe the reason no one gives a shit about the violence in Africa is because they internalize their violence while the Islamic radical externalize. If poor Africans were blowing up building across the globe, people would notice. It is not just about the oil. I also was unaware of companies lining up to open their businesses in Iraq, cheap labor or no cheap labor.

Quote of the Week re-visted

"Not necessity, not desire - no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything - health, food, a place to live, entertainment - they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied. Take everything from them satisfy this, and they are almost happy - as happy as men and demons can be..."Nietzsche

Military Closures

The Pentagon announced plans to close approximately 62 major bases and about 775 minor closures and realignments. The Pentagon is seeking to combine multiple bases into larger multi-purpose bases. The Pentagon has also requested some overseas bases be closed as well.

My first reaction was negatively but after careful consideration it makes sense to do this. The military will save about 5 billion a year, which could be spent equiping troops and developing weapons.

The Pentagon wants to expand bases in Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado would see expansions due to cheap land.

3 Days and A Wake Up

Nine hours and four Star Wars movies later I am ready for Episode 3. Regardless of what people say, I believe the new DVDs episode IV, V, VI are awesome. I love all of the new effects. The space scenes are all redone there are new ships and it looks great.

Owner of TB Bucs Meeting Resistence in UK

Malcolm Glazer owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has allegedly reached 75% ownership in the Manchester United, the most popular soccer team in the UK.

The fans in the UK are going into a frenzy, threatening to boycott games, sponsors and the fan club has already lost 10,000 members.

Glazer gained noteriety after securing Jon Gruden in a trade from Oakland and winning his first Championship. The Bucsa have had about 5 successful seasons in there existence. United fans be afraid, be very afraid.

NewsWeek Goofs

Newsweek reported last week, US interegators flushed a Koran down the toilet in order to get prisoners to talk. This reported sparked riots throughout the Middle East leaving 17 dead, OOPS.
The reaction of the Middle East tells all. The have few civil rights, fewer political rights while muslims are murdering there fellow muslims for seeking democracy and prosperity yet the Koran being desicrated sets them off to riot.
To be fair, we have a host of crazies ready to protest, smear shit on the sidewalk, throw fake blood on themselves and make idiotic statements. I would like to know what proportion of the Muslim population is more outraged over the Koran being desicrated than they are over their current social situation.

Winky Dominates Tito

In a surprisingly easy victory, Winky Wright scored a unanimous decision over Tito Trinidad, 120-107, 119-108 (2 cards).
Tito entered the rinag among thousands of fans screaming their appreciation. Surprisingly Winky appeared to be bigger when the fighters were in the stare down.
Winky began round 1 throwing the jab, which appeared to frustrate Trinidad. Tito could not answer Winky's right jab. Wright threw it early & often, quiting the crowd in round two.
Winky kept his hands high all night that made it unusually tough for Tito to land punches. Anxious Tito fans would cheer for meaningless punches while Tito appeared to be gun shy and scared.
Scattered chants for Winky became more audible after about round 5.
Trinidad needed to put together combinations if he was going to have a chance of keeping up with Winky. Unfortunaely, Tito could not seem to make Winky respect his power and his lack of a back-up plan made the end result inevitable.
As much as I hate Tito, by round 8 I was feeling sorry for him. Tito eyes had the get me out of here look. By that time the fight was so one sided it was not even interesting, I began to imagine Winky versus Ouma and Tito versus DLH, the rematch.
Great night of boxing.

Desicrating The Koran

Muslims through out the Middle East are once again outraged, this time about US interigators allegedly desicrating the Koran. President Bush claims their is an investigation into the matter.
An investigation? Am I missing something, is it a war crime to desicrate a holy book? Is this approaching torture?

We should definitely exploit the cultural weaknesses of the enemy enemy during interrogations. To say that this is crossing the line is ridiculous, anyone ever arrested in the US know that the police try all sorts of tactics to break suspected criminals. In a past life I to was a "suspected criminal" and I was forced to stand in a booth all night so when they questioned me I was tired and my mind could not process information quickly. I am sure everyone has heard of good-cop bad-cop, this is another psychological ploy cops use to extract information.

Perfectly legal in my book. Furthermore if we are not exploiting the enemy's weaknesses, such as having female interrogators, desicrating the Koran, etc... then we are not doing our job.
While it is true that we are not in a war with Islam, the people at war with us are all islamic. I do believe that we should definitely keep information like that private because it is bad PR.

We are in a real war that we could definitely lose, we need to win first and PR second. It seems that in Vietnam we became concerned with PR more than winning and as a result we lost (at least politically). If the sane bunch of the Arab world is more concerned with the US desicrating the Koran than they are with a small portion of their population attacking innocent muslims in Iraq as well as other attacks across the globe than that is a powerful statement in itself. Personally I do not believe the majority of the Muslim world is fixated on Guantanamo Bay. It is the small minority of extremists who lick their chops for a chance to protest the great satan. It is really sad to see people without freedom, power, money, or a future be manipulated into such trivial issues.

For all of the hysteria about the US turning in to a theocracy buring a bible will not land someone in jail while in the Middle East they want authors who question the Koran executed. This is their issue, we cannot constantly make concessions that we do not accept as legitimate in our county, such as it is illegal to burn a holy book.

US Places Quotas on Chinese Imports

The US decided to reinstate quotas on Chinese textiles just one year after removing them.
The quotas will be on cotton pants, cotton shirts and underwear. The US fears that increased levels of Chinese imports negatively impacts our textile industry to the tune of thousands of jobs a year.

This is a tough one for me. I am not a free trade diehard, but I am also not against out-sourcing. I believe that foreign direct investment does much more for underdeveloped countries than foreign aid has ever done. Through out the 90s something like 95% (not completely sure on exact # but got the figure from T. Barnett's book) of the worlds conflicts involved countries with an average income below $3,000 a year. Outsourcing jobs to underdeveloped countries is a quicker way to raise per capita averages. Foreign aid ends up in the hands of crooked leaders not the people.
Tough decision but I think it is for the best, unadulterated free trade cannot be good for us as a nation, minor limitations would help manage our growth more effectively. Quotas need to be placed on China especially while questions linger about the Chinese living up to all of their trade obligations.

Bill Mahr

Wow how the mighty have fallen. Mahr has went from a host of a national tv show on ABC to a host of a show on HBO making hysterical conspiracy claims. He will not ask a tough question of any psychotic liberal while he will definitely go hard on guests such as Jeff Gannon. He let Gore Vidal go on and on about Bush stealing the 04 election. What a joke! Way to go Bill.

$40,000 for a number

The NYT had an article on the escalating prices professional athletes will pay for th jersey with their favorite number. Brian Jordan bought the 3rd base coach a motorcylcle, Eli Manning paid for the punter and his wife to have a 1 week vacation in Fla, while Plaxico Buress is giving that same punter a new outdoor kitchen set for his new number.

Tito Sucks

Saturday night Tito Trinidad and Winky Wright hook up for one of the most anticipated fights of the year. The fight has lost some steam after the inspiring preformance witnessed last week by the boxing world. While Trinidad is the definite favorite, I belive Winky could steal the decision if he is able to handle the power of Trinidad. Trinidad enjoys coming straight at his opponents, his style is almost like a Pit Bull, while Winky boxes utilizing head movement and the jab. Winky needs to establish the jab early on if he is going to win. Please Winky KO this piece of crap!

Newt & Hillary

Surprise, surprise, Newt & Hillary are buddy, buddy. What a bunch of phonies. I do think it is good politically for both of them. Maybe it will help shed the extremist image they both have.

Good Sign

The Washington Times reported the investigating officer, charged with investigating a soldier accused of double murder has recommended Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano have his charges dropped. The investigating officer found that the charges were baseless & motivated by revenge. It is injustice just to make Pantano face these charges. He shot two insurgents approaching after they refused his order to stop. The military also charged Pantano with destruction of private property for disabling their car! Could we have ever won any of our previous wars under these current rules?

Was WWII worth it?

Was WWII worth it? Pat Buchanan makes a compelling argument about WWII, whether or not it was worth the death and destruction. Buchanan argues that if the goal of WWII was to liberate the Eastern European governments then one must consider WWII a failure because the allies did not achieve these goals. Buchanan argues that these countries simply transferred from one brutal regime to another. He certainly does have a point, there were around 50 million people killed by WWII and none of those eastern nations were liberated. Buchanan main argument is that communism was worse than the Nazis, he said:
“Where Hitler killed his millions, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot and Castro murdered their tens of millions.”
The problem with this logic is that it assumes that Pot, Stalin, Minh, Mao and Castro would not have gained power if the Nazi’s had been allowed to stay in power. Stalin was already the controlling Russia, certainly Buchanan cannot be implying Stalin would have been a peaceful ruler had Hitler remained in power.
It seems more possible to me that the Germans would have taken the lead much the way the Soviet Union did during the cold war. If the Soviets had an ally as strong as Nazi Germany, we might not have won the cold war. Furthermore, the cold war might have become the hot war. Stalin and Hitler did have a pact before the war. If Churchill and FDR had not taken out the Germans when they did, the relationship between Hitler and Stalin might have blossomed into a real alliance, that’s scary.

Did Britian & France instigate WWII???

It is becoming increasingly dificult to be a supporter of Pat Buchanan. In response to President Bush's speech in Europe in which Bush said the pact at the end of WWII which gave the Soviets control over the Eastern and some Central European nations was a grave mistake and not a moment of celebration to those countries. Buchanan said:
"If the West went to war to stop Hitler from dominating Eastern and Central Europe, and Eastern and Central Europe ended up under a tyranny even more odious, as Bush implies, did Western Civilization win the war?"
This is a valid question, I believe that the world was much better off without the Nazis. Buchanan suggests that it was Britain and France that forced Germany into a larger war by declaring war to defend Poland from Germany. Furthermore, Buchanan suggests thatBritain lost the war because they entered it to defend Poland which ended up in communist rule anyways. On a certain level Buchanan could be considered correct that Britain did not achieve its initial goals. But I think it is extremely naive to believe that the Nazis were not attemping to control more of Europe. Remember Poland was not the firs country that Hitler invaded.
As for Buchanan raising the point that Hitler was elected therefore the German people did not need to be liberated from their elected leader. This is a common misconception. Sure Hitler was elected, but not until he gained power of the electoral system. The elections were far from free and fair. Still Hitler did have a measure of popularity with the German people. His popularity did plunge after he got Germany involved in a war with the entire continent. Gemanies top military leaders unsuccessfully tried to assasinate Hitler on many occassions. Make no mistake Buchanan makes a good argument but it is wrong. The French and the British were obligated to get involved because the war was in their back yard. I could not imagine a situation where the United States let a country take over Mexico or Cananda. To suggest that France and Britain instigated the war with Germany by not allowing Germany to militarily dominate and occupy the entire region is ridiculous.
Europe and the rest of the allied countries had no choice but to completely break the German people, military and political system, and that is exactly what they did.
I will answer his other question on who was worse the Soviets or the Nazi's later today.

Michael Jackson part II

this is Taryns repsonse to my earlier post:
I must agree. This trial has made a complete mockery out of our judicial system. The entire case has been so blatantly based on the character of Michael Jackson, not the alleged molestation. The prosecution should be reprimanded by the courts for bringing this case based on the lack of credible evidence produced in court. Aside from their neglect to address the accusations of the molestation, the prosecution’s case has been characterized by a long list of un-credible witnesses. Most of the witnesses called have testified that they have brought frivolous suits against Jackson in the past, all of which concluded with Jackson’s innocence, and in one case an award of over 1 million in damages to Jackson. Many witnesses on the stand, mostly past employees of the Neverland Ranch, were their to testify to nothing other than the character and behavior of Jackson, confessed on the stand to have created and reported false stories about Jackson, in order to receive money from tabloids. Other witnesses have been convicted of theft from Jackson, and others appeared bitter from lost wrongful-termination suits. Early in the case, the prosecution focused almost exclusively on rebutting the defense’s assertion that, “the boy was coerced into making the allegations by his mother” (paraphrasing). Sneddon proved this by bringing several witnesses to testify to the aggressive demeanor of the boy’s father. The prosecution was even able to attain a credible witness this time, Comedian George Lopez, to testify on their behalf. And what did Mr. Lopez represent to the court? Just that he and his wife were personally victim of the scheming Arvizos. Lopez testified that the family accused the million dollar man of stealing $300 from Gavin, a child he was actively trying to help. Lopez testified that he personally witnessed the father of the accuser aggressively intimidate the boy into saying the money Lopez allegedly stole, actually existed. He went on tell how the relationship had to be terminated because of the numerous calls to the comedian’s home, and threats made to his family. So the point of Lopez testifying was to prove that because the boy was coerced in the past by dad, to lie in order to receive money, it is impossible that he could be coerced by his mother for the same reason?Aside from the fact that the prosecution witnesses were biased and not credible, they had absolutely nothing to offer to prove or disprove the molestation of Gavin.When Gavin testified to the alleged abuse, he could not recall a timeframe during which it occurred, nor the number of times that it happened. He was unable to provide any incriminating details about Jackson, or about any one incident to cement that anything inappropriate did happen. The accuser’s testimony was unbelievable at best. He came across as coached, combative, and selling a story. The defense should not give this case the validity of a response. They should rest their case, and the Courts should punish the district attorney personally, for his suit against Jackson, who is an obvious candidate for schemers like the Arizos.

Should we prosecute

For the last year, the government has been prosecuting the soldiers involved in the Abu Grhaib scandal. I do not believe the government should prosecute these soldiers. If we ask people to volunteer to fight and kill on our behalf then we need to understand that constant exposure to death & destruction causes some people to react incorrectly. Military officials should definitely monitor military prisons and remove soldiers who cannot perform their duties professionally but we should not prosecute. I understand the objection to torturing human beings but I believe it is extremely naïve to think that torture is new to this war. Torture is an unfortunate side effect of war. This is why many people oppose all wars. To be sure, torture should not be US policy, but we should subject enemy combatants to some coercion methods. Sleep deprivation, threats, playing music, even shooting near a combatant are acceptable practices to me. I know all of the studies say that torture, usually has the reverse effect, well I call bullshit. Sure the person being tortured might not talk but the person who just now gets arrested will be more apt to talk. Examine many of our POWs coming home from Vietnam, many of these people felt like they betrayed the US for giving up information or repeating Vietcong lies. These studies that say unequivocally that torture does not work are in the same class as those studies, which say that standing up to bullies leads to worse consequences than walking away. Anyone that has ever stood up to a bully knows this is BS.

Quote of the week

"Not necessity, not desire - no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything - health, food, a place to live, entertainment - they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied. Take everything from them satisfy this, and they are almost happy - as happy as men and demons can be..."
Nietzsche

Empire??????

Is America an empire? Lately many people would say yes. I disagree. Examine any empire Roman, British, Spanish, etc... there is a common denominator in all of these empires, they tax there subjects. We all know the story of the British colonies in America and the rebellion because of high taxes, but I digress. The US does not tax the countries we have defeated in battle Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan, Germany, Kuwait etc... Rather we send our tax dollars over there to help their country. I cannot find a single instance of empires sending tax dollars from the capital (Rome, London, etc) to the newly conquered land except to fund wars. We are sending billions of dollars to Iraq & Afghanistan to rebuild these countries, just like we sending billions to many countries that are less fortunate.

The Filibuster

I am sickened by the senate, IMO they are just a bunch of phonies! Instead of using the nuclear option (majority rules), I would like to see these idiots sit in the senate whenever there is a filibuster until one side concedes to the other. It is outrageous that senators can just invoke the filibuster without actually having to carry it out. I don’t want to hear that work needs to be done. The senate needs to resolve these issues and if both sides feels strongly enough on an issue then they should sit in the senate until it is resolved. After all that is why we pay them.

TO & The Eagles

I know most people believe that Terrell Owens is a spoiled brat and should shut up and play but I disagree. First a contract is not a concrete deal in the NFL like it is in other venues. NFL teams consistently cut players that are currently under contract. True many times NFl teams and players sign deals, they intentionally sign longer deals that both the team and the player know neither side will live up to. They do this for salary cap reasons. If a player gets a $6 million signing bonus it is spread throughout the life of his contract, so if he gets a three year deal it is 2 mil a year, but if that player gets a six year deal then it is only a million a year. That is not the only time that teams cut players. They will cut players whom they believe are making too much money but are underperforming. This happens many times every year. If the NFL teams can cut and sign players at will then I see no reason that the players should be held to a higher standard. TO is one of the top 2 receivers in football yet he is not even in the top 10 in pay! That is BS, if TO was the number 2 paid receiver but was not one of the 10 best the Eagles would cut his ass. It goes both ways, get your money TO!

Michael Jackson

When this trial first began I truly believed he was guilty. I had beleived that without knowing any relevant facts. This was my mindset at the beggining of his child molestation trial. After following the trial from the beggining I would be shocked if he is convicted. The prosecution seems almost criminally negligible with the evidence or lack thereof they have presented. They call shady witnesses to say they saw MJ touching kids and then the defense brings in the actual kids and they say BS, nothing ever happened. I am not so naive to believe that molestation victims can be to embarrased to admit it happened but these witnesses went out of their way to testify. One guy quit his job in Australia just to testify. It is scary that the prosecution is attempting this. If MJ were poor his ass would be frying by now. If I had to guess I believe it will be a hung jury. The sensitive nature of these charges means jurors will give every benefit of the doubt to the prosecution and the child. Truly a troubling case.

Clever Cable Ads

In Nedvada the cable company is attempting to sway public opinion in favor of taxing the satelite company in order to keep a level playing field. They are running commercials that are quite good and almost convincing but they omit the biggest reason why they deserve to be taxed while satellite providers should not be taxed (Disclaimer I am a DirectTv subscriber). Cable companies store their cables underground and need constant access to their equipment for this they must be taxed. Satelitte providers on the other hand store their equipment up in space which the government does not own therefore they are not taxed.

Illegal Immigration

There are a number of misconceptions in the debate on illegal immigration the one most often repeated is :
"They are only coming here to do the jobs Americans wont do"
This iscompletely wrong as anyone living on a border state can tell you. Throughout the Bay Area (Northern California) illegal immigrants wait in front of stores for contractors to hire them for construction type (the trades) jobs. Many people would love to have jobs like that these jobs used to pay good wages but the increase of illegal immigration has driven out many people. Landscaping is completely dominated by illegal immigration to the point where the "contractors" (using the word loosely because most landscaping jobs do not use contractors) are illegal. Illegal immigrants are no longer doing the worst jobs ala picking fruit & vegetables. Companies are exploiting weak immigration laws in the country this needs to be stopped.

Best Fight Ever

For all of you that had the privelage of watching the Corrales-Castillo fight on Saturday consider yourself lucky. Truly the greatest fight I have ever seen. It was better than Barrera-Morales 1 , because the fight was fought almost entirely on the inside plus there was a KO which was completely valid IMO. It was better than Hagler-Hearns because it went for 10 rounds not 4?? It was better than Ward-Gatti because it was a meaningful fight. If Corrales does go for Tszyu next I think he is in trouble, anyone else and he is alright. I would love to see him in there with Gatti, he would KO Gattin in a 7 round war! Ahh to dream!

Social Security

I am sick of the left-right approach to social security. It is an outdated institution which gives me no security because I dont believe I will ever see a dime of that money. I would much rather have my own account. If the worry is I am to much of a dumb-ass to manage it properly, well then you will not win me over to your side. I dont care if I get a large return or no return I want to know how much I have and be able to be in control of my money. Young people need to unite and demand that we be able to have a say in our retirement.

First Post

Well it is May 10, 2005 and this is my first official post on my own site. Hello Taryn, for those that do not know she is my beautiful girl-friend, hello dad hopefully you are visiting. And hello any one esle that stumbles on the site or I can guilt into visiting.