Berlin, Berlin

I am leaving Berlin on Tuesday morning, so this is going to be my last entry while I am in Germany. I probably won't be writting here at all for a while. I first have to get settled into my place out in Pennsylvania, and that won't be until the end of the Summer. I am excited to come home so I can start getting ready to go out to school and start something new, and I am excited to see my friends and family again. I will be home until the 7th, and then I am going with my mom to visit my sister on the way the State College. Then my aunt will meet up with us after she flys to Philadelphia. While I am home I am also going to visit some family up north, and maybe even drop in on the people at Waldsee. I have to finish up with my packing and cleaning, but I don't have too much left to do. I guess I will see some of you very soon. oh I also read the new Harry Potter book already: it was pretty good. I kind of just want it all to be over.

$%&!?

Right now the Israeli government is clearing out the settlers in the Gaza strip. There have been... problems. Stuff like this gets me so mad. For years the Israelis have said, "Look at them (the Palestinians). They will resort to anything to get what they want, all we want is to live in peace." Then the government told them that they were going to be the ones who don't get to live in Gaza. The response: "$%?* you, you #$%ing *#%&er! Where are the rocks! I am gonna dig in my heels and fight the police to the last man!"
Are ya' kiddin' me?
I stood up for religion a few days ago, but this time (the) G/god(s) is/are on his/her/it's/their own. What kind of people is so.. AHH! It boggles the mind. No, boggle isn't infantile enough. It 'hi ho cherry o's the mind. Give up! The only reason the world tolerates these peoples behavior is a mixture of guilt and bad Palestinian political tactics. And as far as the religious aspects, you are also (to stick to a theme) on thin ice. Holy ground? Come on. Your god is all knowing and all powerful and has chosen you as his favorite people on this earth, and he can't turn his head two inches to the left to give you a listen. He's not Batman. I will say that the Israelis haven't gotten as violent as the Palestinians, but it has been like a week. Give 'em time. I know that these people aren't the majority of their faith, but it still is very frustrating to watch. Hopefuly their own countrymen can show them the error of their ways.

Administration Schmadministration

I don't like the administration. It isn't because they do stuff that I don't like (they do), it is because they do it in a horrible way. There are two journalists who had sources telling them that the administration leaked the identity of a spy (endangering her life) because her husband wrote an opinion article that said the WMD stuff was bunk. You might remember the story. Anyway, the reporters are going to go to jail for not releasing their sources. In an amazingly alphabetical wave of legislation, Wyoming is the only state without laws protecting reporters in this situation. Can you say "State's Rights"? Way to go Republicans! Does it seem to everybody else that everything seems to have something to do with Iraq? Oil prices hit an all time high; Iraq has world's most pure oil. It seems really obvious to me that these people knew what they were doing. They knew there were no WMDs, they just wanted money. Almost 1,000 Soldiers have died since the end of the war in Iraq. It just seems like money is the bottom line. No one (who gets on the news and is taken seriously) is doing the math: Haliburton contracts+ Oil prices+Bush approval ratings (pre- vs. post 911)+Patriot Act+Military Spending= selfish government. There seems to be such an obvious conflict of interests, which leads to the "Idea of the Day"Political Appraisal/Liquidation of Assets: All politicians should have to relinquish a full list of assets by the time they are sworn into office. Including those of affiliated companies or of those of their spouse. Then the President and VP. are forced to liquidate their assets. What should not be limited to just them would be a cap on earnings while in office.

Cap= ((Assets before taking office)(interest rate)+(salary(2)))(rate of inflation)

I doubled the salary, because their spouse would most likely not earn anything in that time, and would be seen as one earning entity for the purposes. It the spouse does have a job, then replace that for the second salary amount. People should not get rich(er) while in office. It is not every person's duty to run for public office, just to vote. Those who do run should be seen as public servants. They are making a sacrifice. If you are not willing to do that, then you shouldn't be allowed to run. The one thing I would give them is their children's education: no one should be kept from public service because they wouldn't be able to put their kids through college. I solve that with public school scholarships for their children. If that is the price for a higher level of sacrifice in our government, I think it's worth it.

God's Advocate

I am going to talk about two issues that have recently been in the international media: head scarves in French schools and withdrawal of American troops in Iraq. I am not usually the defender of Religion or the republican administration, but on these two issues I don't understand what the liberal politicians are trying to gain. In France the ban on religious head scarves has resulted in 50 expulsions, kidnappings and other violent forms of protest, as well as unrest in schools and a large budget drain in enforcement. Why can't people say that one religious symbol is not equal to another? The law started when religious symbols like the cross were banned from public institutions. I understand people wanting to make rules as objective as possible, but this is not a fair comparison: a teacher wearing a cross is not the same as a student wearing a head scarf for 4 reasons. #1 The bible does not require a cross to be worn and no Christian groups require it either, while many Muslims believe that women NEED to comply to this rule to be part of their religious community #2 They are not teachers. They are students. The teachers are dispensers of knowledge and also government employees, who are representatives of government policy. A teacher endorsing a religion while in class is dangerous, but a student can believe and endorse whatever they want #3 The cross is a religious ICON. Jesus is actually on it, dying. This is a lot different than a cloth on ones head. It is one part of their belief system, not a symbol for it's entirety. #4 The scarves are also largely seen as a part of the culture of the countries most Muslim come from. We don't really need pants or shirts at school either, but the social constraints of our culture requires them. Those restraints were originally religious traditions, but are now embedded in our culture so firmly that I as an atheist ascribe to them without even thinking. Anyway, to make a long story short: Cross ≠ Scarf

The other issue, Withdrawal, is also subject to heated debate. and I say 'I don't understand why', but I do: it is political ammo. The Left sees that Bush is losing on this front, so they are willing to suggest the illogical just to make him look bad. I want George Bush to have to answer for the things he has done wrong, but not like this. A withdrawal timetable would be impossible to hold to, making us look bad every time we couldn't hold to out word, and would show people just how long to wait before starting a second wave of attack. We can't do it. The Democrats know we can't do it, and they don't care. They see blood, and they are going to take advantage. I am constantly disappointed by politicians in my own party. There is nothing else to say about it it. That's just the way it is. A timetable would coat American and Iraqi lives. This is unacceptable.

Magritte

I went to a Magritte art exhibit last weekend. Here a a few of the paintings I saw.

I had a really great time, and I bought some posters. It meant a great deal to me, and I am so glad that I got to go. I rode all night in a bus two nights in a row, and just stayed in Vienna for the day on Sunday, but it was worth it. By the way Vienna is a great city, and I hope to go back as soon as possible. It might even be a place for me to do a Fulbright year in.

Suzi Floozy B-day... roozy

here... a'ya go! I have a lot to do today, and I was gone all weekend, so I didn't do this before the actual day, but here you go.



does this mean I don't have to get any of my friends real presents any more? Hmmm...

WOnderbilt

Ryann got in to
I am so proud of her. I don't really have a lot to say about it, but she can stay in the house she has now, and there are a bunch of other advantages. As far as I know she will be studying copyright law. The school is really hard to get into, and they wanted to take ryann after a 3 minute interview. I am really excited. Yeah!!!

Missing Macs, Missing Rikerfest

I have had a hard time writing my blog lately because the updates on the computers here have a pop-up blocker that won't let me spell-check. Of course there are ways of getting around this, but I am lazy. More importantly, I am going to miss Rikerfest!!! I am going to be at Penn State, and I am going to miss it by like a week. For those of you who don't know, Pat and Jake throw a party on Jonathan Frakes Birthday (William T. Riker), and have a lot to eat and drink, and then watch a bunch of Riker centered episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have only been there once, but I didn't get to stay for very long. It just shows me how much I am going to miss by not going to school around those guys. I miss them a lot, and I (secretly) hope that someday I will still get to be roommates with Pat. Anyway, on to new idea time. I think that there should be a death-meter for the United States. It would be a list of how americans die each year that we could use during elections as a yardstick for the importance of issues. Terrorism=so many deaths, Cancer= more than that: Cancer>Terrorism. Of course this isn't a perfect idea, because all issues have to be addressed, but I think that it would be good to look at how much time and money politicians spend on different issues versus how important the 'really' are. This could be done with money too. More money is stolen by college graduates each year than by high school drop outs, and more goods are stolen by people with jobs than by people without jobs, but politicians and the media would have you believe that crime is something that has to do with poverty. That is not true. Maybe violent crime or other kinds of more visible crime, but not all crime. In 2001 16,000 people died as a result of violent crime. 5,000 People died at work, 70,000 because of product related accidents, and 11,000 from industrial waste. That totals 86,000 deaths. Many, if not most of these deaths are not the direct result of crime, but if even less than 1-in-4 is, than it is more deadly than all other crime on american soil (including 9-11). I know that a lot of this is questionable, but it shouldn't be just tossed aside. People should look at their priorities differently, and then stop being content when their politicians debate for over 15 minutes on gay marriage.

I also think that the guys from vh1's pop-up video should get a job at c-span, and go over speeches and debates with a fine toothed comb. It would be interesting to see what they could find about the stuff most politicians gloss over. Oh! They could even do Scott Mcclellen!

Accountability

I don't want anonymous comments on the blog. Maybe I am being tight-assed about it, but I feel (although I haven't written much lately) that I am pretty open here. I have written about things that are very important to me. I like that you all have apparently had an interest in what I say or what is going on in my life, but I do think it is important that all comments here are coming from people we can hold accountable for what they say. I am not upset or anything, but I did say it a couple of times already (and now it is even in the description of my blog), so I am going to delete all comments that I cannot identify who the sender is. The last things wasn't mean at all, it was a normal comment. You will notice I have also gone through and deleted other comments in previous posts. I feel like I am responsible for what is said on this blog, so If I can't tell who said something I wouldn't be able to mediate any discussion between two people if they were offended by what was written here. That is just the way it is gonna' be. If you really don't want to write who you are, you can e-mail me personally to notify me of any posts you are going to make, or stick to some kind of alias.

Now, for the fun stuff. I missed saying Happy B-Day to The ol' jakey-wakey, but I have to say that I have long since had a great wedding present for him and Jenny. It is kind of formal, and as Suzi knows, I don't like to give just one gift at a time, so I am for sure gonna pick up something else before the big day that is either more practical or more fun. But in the interest of tradition...

My 1,58692 € cents

I think we are seeing two different perspectives; that of Soldier and that of Parent. They are both partially correct. Here is my perspective (that of Friend/Voter/Potential Draftdodger). We do have a volunteer army (although this is a loose term, because not everyone can volunteer, and those who can aren't allowed to do many of the jobs unless they have that most important of all military equipment: a Penis... sorry, it's a sore spot right now. The issue, not my... you know what I mean). All american soldiers who die defending other's right to life and freedom die tragically but not wastefully. I think that as long as we fight "wars" (we usually don't actually declare war) of revenge and profit and don't answer to international courts it is hard for me to ascribe such high ideals to the american war machine (I don't mean this as a derogatory term, but I want to include more than the military itself, but also mercenaries, arms companies and politicians). According to the american government, burning oil is a human rights violation, but not torturing someone to death or killing children are not. There is something wrong with that. (sidenote: it is also against international law to kill anyone who makes or ratifies international laws). I think that our soldiers are made up of the same spectrum of people as the rest of the world. There are good eggs and bad eggs, sharp tacks and dull tacks. In the end I would say that the sacrifice is not a waste if the individual person was fighting for the rest of us. If a soldier dies in an unjust war while trying his or her best to help those involved it is not a waste, and if a soldier dies fighting for the wrong reasons in a just war then it is a waste. Dieing for hate or profit is a waste. Not because of some higher moral reason or a sense of right and wrong, but because you can't hate or profit after you are dead, while a life sacrificed for the good of others is outlived by that good.