Biggest Turkey of 08?

Is it Elliot Spitzer and his sex for hire scandal? Or is it Jeremiah Wright and his racist remarks? Could it be Ted Stevens and his corruption conviction? Or his fellow Alaskan Sarah Palin? I think without a doubt the biggest political turkey of 08 has been John McCain. He could have won the election had he stuck to his own game plan: being the mavericky maverick that he is known to be. Instead he gave in to the republican Party and Karl Rove politics, causing him to "choose" (and I put this in quotes because I highly doubt he handpicked her)Sarah Palin, possibly a the number two political turkey of '08. Had he followed his heart and picked a proper vice presidential candidate and run the campaign that he wished to run, he wold have had a fighting chance if not out right taking the election. He catered to the evangelicals and ran on a more of the same campaign but at the same time tried to make it seem like it was different. It was the same shit from 2000 and 2004 but with a different smell. McCain, for failing to stand up to your beliefs and losing an election cause of it , you are indeed the number 1 political turkey of '08. Happy Thanksgiving Johnny.

Cuba at a crossroads

Cuba is facing a critical time that will determine its future in the years to come. With Fidel Castro unable to rule and his less than charismatic brother Raul Castro taking over the reigns, the appeal of "La Revolucion" has lost its charms in the eyes of the mainstream Cubans. Sure, some hardcore loyal fans remain that will support a communist, isolated Cuba for the rest of their lives, but an air of change can be felt in the streets of Havana. Obama is sure to ease the economic blockade on Cuba and warm up relations with this inoffensive island country that poses absolutely no threat to us. Raul Castro will have to step down eventually because he does not have the ability ro run Cuba in the way Fidel did, and once Fidel dies things in Cuba will change forever.

Pakistan : the next frontline in the war on terror

The next front and arguably the newest current front in the so called war on terror will be Pakistan. With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the only true moderate ally of the United States in Pakistan, the country's political future is very uncertain. Her husband, the current president, remains very skeptical of United States' incursions into Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, presumably where Osama Bin Laden is hiding. Although the situation is volatile, we are giving in to the terrorists demands that we do not invade the region in exchange for them not revolting around Pakistan. This is pretty much negotiating with terrorists; what we need to do is go in there with decisive and bold action and wipe out Bin Laden and his cronies once and for all. If they want to retaliate then we and Pakistan, if it is a true ally, will be standing by waiting for them. We have got to put a stop to the War on terror by taking bold action and hitting the terrorist where it hurts: their hideouts.

Liberal Media?

This blog is inspired by a recent visit to my class from talk show radio host Hugh Hewitt. He lectured us about a bias in the "mainstream media" that is left-leaning and claims that the conservative perspective is lost. He claims that people are fed leftist ideas since the "liberals" control most of the media, so lets take a look at that claim. Of the TV 24 hour news networks, MSNBC and CNN are arguably liberal. Fox News is without a doubt conservative. Thats 2-1. Not that much of a bias if you ask me. Newspapers? I can't really keep the tally of how many express a conservative point of view vs a liberal one, but the mainstream ones are mixed. The NY Times is liberal, sure, but the Wall St Journal is not. And it was just bought by none other than Rupert Murdoch! Lets look at radio then. Air America anyone? The ONLY radio station on the AM dial that is democratic. EVERY other one is conservative. So Mr. Hewitt, what media are you speaking of?

Is blogging good for democracy?

Although I recently argued in front of the class that's requiring me to keep this blog that blogging was not good for democracy (I did not choose my side!), I must admit that it is my strong belief that this new form of communicating news can only strenghtned a democracy. A democracy is strong when people are informed and educated, and blogs exemplify both. While many of the information out there may be erroneous or out right lies, it makes it no different than watching the news on T.V or listening to talk radio. It is not the blog or the blogger's fault that the information out there may be biased or wrong, it is the readers responsibility to have critical thinking skills and be aware that not all that he/she is being fed (no matter what medium it is we are talking about) may be right. But blogging provides for a new convenient outlet to inform people, and even if this information is only 10% right, it is 10% of stuff that people would have other wise ignored. Plus, there are blogs that are quite professionally written and have oversight, which although it doesn't mean it may not be biased at least it gives you a sense that you are not being fed total bull.

Prop H8

Proposition hate.. i mean eight, passed in California by a large enough margin for people to(in theory) accept the results. But in reality, it has caused a very strong discontent in minority rights activists and progressive citizens. Although supporters of the proposition will argue that the people have voted and the majority has chosen to abolish gay marriages, what they won't tell you is what is fundamentally wrong with this proposition. Forget for a second what the proposition is actually about, and think of it in terms of a minority issue being resolved by the majority. It sounds a lot like Jim Crow laws and Hitler being appointed Germany's chancellor to me. This country is supposed to grant minority rights and protect them against the tyranny of the majority, and proposition 8 clearly fails to do that. It is letting the majority decide on a civil minority right. It would be like letting the the majority of the country decide the fate of African Americans in the 1930's. The truth is that gay marriage does not affect anyone who is not gay and planning on getting married. It is not the government's job to regulate who can marry who and who cannot marry. If someone is allowed to marry, then everyone should be allowed to do the same!

Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran

McCain sang about it. It is on everyone's mind. And now with a new International Atomic Energy Agency report claiming that Iran has produced enough nuclear fuel to create an atomic bomb, the question of whether to bomb Iran has perhaps changed to when are we going to bomb Iran? Iran is a very dangerous country, aside from Ahmadinejad's ignorant rhetoric, because it has come out the only clear winner of the war in Iraq. Its longtime enemy was eleminated and replaced by a Shi'ite controlled government that barely falls short of being a proxy of Iran. Iran is dangerous because it now has a great deal of power in the middle east and with the development of a nuclear bomb it will emerge as the main military power of the region. It is dangerous because it sets a terrible precedent for other rogue nations to pursue a similar program. And it is very dangerous because the very existence of Israel is at stake with a nuclear armed Iran. For all that, and for much more, I believe we are overdue for a military operation inside of Iran that will cripple if not eliminate its nuclear facilities and reactors.

Tuition Hikes? Yikes!

Is education seriously the first thing that the Governator can think of cutting in a budget crunch? Makes no sense. After all, an educated populace is the very fabric of a prosperous nation. Tuition rates for UC's have gone up at least 3 times since I started school 2 years ago, which is simply ridiculous. It has become very expensive and for many like myself who do not have the luxury of getting financial aid for whatever motive it may be it has caused them to think of dropping out. Simply outrageous. Cut the budget for universities, raise fees, and cut the number of freshman admissions. I cannot even begin to express how disillusioned I am with this. There has to be a better way. Higher taxes on something? Cutting something else? Anything but education! After all, current college students are the people that will be running this country in 10 years, so lets give them a hand so we do not end up with more W's!

Obama's Cabinet

Obama has already started appointing members to his cabinet. And to the surprise of many liberals, the appointees are much more hawkish than expected by Obama's platform of "change". The potential designation of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State has come as a surprise to many of Obama's supporters, given that Hillary voted to authorize the war in Iraq. However, what people fail to realize is that aside from that vote, which Hillary has semi-apologized for, both Obama and Hillary are very close when it comes to the major issues. They both support some sort of universal health care, they both favor a change of strategy in the middle east (as in focusing more in Aghanistan than Iraq), they both favor a diplomnacy first approach when dealing with foreign nations and they are not too far from each other in the political spectrum. Obama is merely trying to show that his government will be formed by people who have the merit to be in the cabinet rather than people that are ideologically similar to him as in the case of George W. Bush.
Perhaps another shocker that has been talked about in the news is the possibility of Robert Gates staying as the Defense of Secretary. Again this may shock many liberals who associate Gates to the occupation of Iraq, but in reality Gates was a strong critic of how the war was handled from the get go . It will be interesting to see in the days to come what other figures Obama will be designating for his new cabinet.

Afghanistan:The forgotten war

Afghanistan went from being the target of the war on terror to being ignored after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This is the country that harbored and trained Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda network in the years leading up to the September 11 attacks on American soil. But we have poured all of our resources, including soldiers, money and weapons into a pointless war in Iraq rather than focusing on the real deal. Osama Bin Laden, once cornered by U.S troops in the Tora Bora mountain range, is free to roam about the Middle East with impunity. We can only hope that Barack Obama will keep his word and divert the resources wasted in Iraq into Afghanistan so we can crush the oppressive Taliban once and for all and bring Osama Bin Laden to justice for his crimes.

Al Franken's ticket to victory

It is amazing to think that Al Franken, SNL's comedian who once dressed as a big baby in diapers for a sketch, is threatening to take incumbent's Norm Coleman senate seat. The race was too close to call, with the first count giving the incumbent a victory by a mere 215 votes out of 3 million total voters. Think your vote can't possibly make a difference? Think again. Even if Al Franken does not win the senate seat, it is still amazing to see how a man with Franken's goofy background can get so far in politics. It is perhaps reflective of how sick and tired the people are of the Republican party and its partisan politics, but its nonetheless amazing. Here is a picture of Franken at his very best during his comedy years:

GM

General Motors is going bankrupt and it's no one's fault but their own. American cars are in general gas guzzlers and built with extremely poor quality. They break down quite often and are not reliable whatsoever. Japanese cars on the other hand are built like rocks: my family has owned a Nissan Maxima since 1994 which has 200k+ miles on it and the only thing that has ever broken was the display for the radio (most likely the light bulb went out after years of use). GM and Chrysler have closed down factories in Flint, Michigan and moved them in search of greater profits over to Mexico where they pay the Mexicans less than half of what an American could make. Their CEO's fly in private jets and receive millions of dollars every year in bonuses, on top of their already millionaire salaries. It is this fiscal irresponsibility, the horrible quality of its cars, combined with an awful business plan that is strongly tied to big oil that has precipitated the automotive industry's fall. Bailing out GM would not get anything accomplished, not until they are willing to give Americans their jobs back, start building better cars, and stop wasting money on their inefficient CEO's that have got them in this trouble to begin with.

Ted Stevens

Ted Stevens is simply put a national disgrace. He should join Israel's prime minister Euhd Olmert in the hall of shame for indicted elected officials who refuse to step down. Apparently there are no laws barring a convicted felon from serving in Congress, so why not serve another term Ted? Did someone say ethics? Ethics? Not a word known to the Republican Party, sorry fellas. After being convicted of accepting bribes and gifts in return for political favors, Stevens refused to step down until finally the voters decided (barely) enough of his corruption. Ted, I see cloudy skies in Alaska ahead of you..

Mess'o potamia

In the battle of Iraq, chaos and disorder have prevailed. Rather than attempt to reconciliate the Sunni, the Shii'a and the Kurd factions, the United States should be looking at fragmenting the country to form 3 independent nation-states where each ethnic-religious faction is a majority. Iraq's borders as we know them today were an invention of the British colonial ambitions, which divided Mesopotamia in a way that would benefit their economic and political interests without taking into account the desire for each ethnic group to be able to decide its own future. By doing so, the British incorporated Mosul, with a Kurd majority, into a region dominated by Sunnis but where the Shii'a was the majority. Today for the first time in over a century, Mesopotamia has the chance to give its people the autonomy and the right to self determination that they have been seeking. The Shi'ia would control what is now southern Iraq and the Shi'ia strongholds, the Kurds would control the north including Kirkuk, and the Sunnis would control Diyala, Salahudin and Anbar. Baghdad will be controlled by U.N peace keepers and be divided between the Sunni and the Shi'ia for a future shared capital.

Elizabeth Dole

Playing Karl Rove politics, Elizabeth Dole, who was running as the incumbent senator of North Carolina, lost her re-election bid to democratic candidate Kay Hagan. During her campaign, Elizabeth Dole took on the form of Karl Rove and attempted to "swiftboat" her opponent by airing an ad in which she claimed that Kay Hagan accepted money from the "godless" atheists. First off, Kay Hagan is a Sunday school teacher. She has more background in religion that Dole for sure. Second off, so what if she did take money from atheists? Is there money somehow dirty? And what does god have to do with politics? Why is every fucking politician required to have a strong faith in order to serve this country? How does this affect someone's judgment and policies? It is ridiculous that we believe in this superstitions in the 21st century, but at least I am pleased to see that this attack totally backfired for Lizzy. Up yours, Lizz.

Argentina: forgotten country

The international media has done a poor job covering the news from Latin America, especially Argentina. Having been born there, I feel a personal connection to this country. I follow the news coming out of the country daily, and I can decisively say that the U.S should be taking a better look at the things that are going on down there. Argentina's president is currently involved in a corruption scandal where one of Hugo Chavez's allies flew a suitcase full of money into the country allegedly to finance the president's recent elections. Cristina Kirchner, the president, has been strongly relying on Hugo Chavez financially and politically, something that should worry the U.S more than it has. Her current policies include a government take over of the social security providers which are private in Argentina and a huge tax on Argentina's farmers, the backbone of the economy. The U.S should be looking to build strong alliances with Argentina and the rest of Latin America because by neglecting them they are setting themselves up for a possible showdown in the near future.

Bailout Alternatives

It is Adam's Smith worst nightmare. It is Karl Marx's wet dream. Neo-liberalism has failed us and caused a massive economic slump. De regulated banks that merged together to form monopolies, and irresponsible loaning that made people believe they could afford homes they simply couldn't. It's capitalism gone wild. Forget what got us here, let's think of how we get out. Government bailout anyone? No thanks. Why should the taxpayer, who is already burdened with losing their homes and not being able to support his/her family be responsible for the federal government's fucked up deregulation policy and the corporations taking advantage of it against their own common sense? There is absolutel no reason, especially when we could have another solution. How about using maybe 1/3 of the 700 billion from the bailout for corporation to bailout homeowners in trouble? And the rest we can all keep. Banks in a crunch? How about extending the terms of the loans they gave out, say if you took out a mortgage for 15 years at 8%, why not extend it to 30 years at 4%? That way the homeowner gets to keep his home since he is able to make the payment, and the bank ends up getting more money in the long run? I am not an economist, but even I can come up with sounder alternatives to bailing out the corporations that got us in this mess with our own money. Can you Washington?

Rehab Instead of Jail

California recently turned down proposition 5, which offered repeated non-violent drug offenders a chance to opt for rehab instead of jail. It is quite idiotic to keep sending drug addicts to jail for non-violent crimes that are related to their drug use since prison does not rehabilitates, it punishes. Drug addicts have a disease that needs to be cured, you cannot punish a disease out of someone. If someone that has cancer goes to jail instead of getting chemotherapy, they are very likely to never get better. The same goes for drug addicts: they have a life threatening disease and are being punished for it rather than have it be treated. The benefits of rehab instead of jail are endless: less money spent by taxpayers since instead of having to maintain prisoners for years its a one time expense, less drug-related crimes such as robberies from crack fiends trying to get their fix, and it gives law enforcement the opportunity to focus on serious crimes rather than waste it on sick people. California is not as progressive as people may say it is; in Europe needle exchange programs and decriminalization are common and their crime rates are much lower. California needs to set the example for the rest of the country, and we have failed.

A Woman's Right

To say that abortion should be legalized is to imply that there is something inherently wrong with it that made it illegal to begin with. Abortion should just be; women that opt for this choice are already devastated enough in order for them to have to go through legal troubles about it. The concept of making abortion illegal is simply idiotic. Whether a woman is raped or simply got pregnant by accident makes no difference whatsoever; it is always better to have an abortion than a battered kid. It is amazing that California is still trying to pass laws restricting abortions for women; proposition four would require under 17 year old girls having an abortion to notify the parents. What good would this be? A 17 year old who does not want to notify her parents about such a scary, life changing decision must have some good reasons not want to tell in the first place. Like I said, if she made the choice to abort she does not need the added stress of what her parents are going to do to her and the repercussions its going to have. Furthermore, the law was made in hopes to have the parents change the girl's mind from having an abortion. This is manipulative and plainly wrong. Abortion should be decriminalized fully in ALL states.

Russia : the cold war never ends

The United States and Russia seem like a dog and a cat: they simply cannot get along. The U.S has been pretty insensitive by pushing aggressively to deploy its arrow missile system in Eastern Europe. This clearly pissed Russia off and made it feel as vulnerable as it felt during the Cold War, creating all sorts of heated word exchanges between both countries. Russia has had its own share of fault in creating a hostile environment when it comes to relations with its arch-rival: it has been allegedly involved in shady acts against the Ukrainian "orange" party by poisoning the presidential candidate at the time and by killing an ex KGB agent in London that was a critic of the Kremlin. Putin has been acting much like Stalin: a petty dictator. Russia's invasion of Georgia has not helped relations either. But the reality is that times have changed and the U.S and Russia are not as ideologically apart as these incidents make it seem. They could both be united against global terror since both countries have suffered bloody attacks perpetrated by Islamic radicals. Times have changed, and so should U.S - Russia relations.

Latin America : Friend or Foe?

The new millennium has brought a wave of leftist presidents to Latin America. For the first time, many Latin American countries that were once staunch allies of the United States and followed the IMF's neo liberal doctrine by the book have shun its northern neighbor and became increasingly critical of its policies toward the continent. Perhaps the best example of this is Venezuela, whos outspoken president Hugo Chavez has lashed out at the U.S on numerous occasions, going as far as calling outgoing president Bush "the devil". Being from Argentina, I cannot say that the shift towards the political left took me by surprise: years of neglect and failed policies by the U.S and the IMF has left Latin America's population in need of new leadership and a new direction. However, the question that arises is how worried should the U.S be about this new wave of socialist presidents that are so ideologically different? I would argue that the just like the neo-liberal policies of the 80's, this too will pass. While the IMF destroyed Latin America from without, the current governments are doing the destruction from within. By nationalizing private firms and trying to create jobs through the public sector, Latin America cannot expect to come out of its never ending depression. Although some countries are doing better than others, such as Brazil and Chile, other countries appear to be increasingly in trouble, such as Argentina with its farmers conflict. Just how long will the leftist wave last? It is hard to predict given the global instability of the moment which is helping them spin it as being caused by free market capitalism, but it is certain to end sooner or later.

Health Care

Health care for all, once all are for health care. Polls show that most Americans are overwhelmingly in support of some sort of universal health care, so why has this outgoing administration not done anything about it? The short and the long answer: they are a bunch of crooks worried about filling their own pockets. However, with Obama elected president and a democratic congress in control of Capitol Hill, things are starting to look promising. Canada, the U.K, France and almost every developed nation in the globe offers its citizens free or inexpensive health care, but not us. It is a shame that we have gone so long before discourse on this topic began, but it has finally arrived. Obama's plan to offer health care to all children and force employers to give health care to their employees is a step in the right direction, but it should not be left there. All health care should be free of cost; there shouldn't be anyone profiting from other people's health needs and everyone should be covered equally and fully. Hopefully, once Obama assumes the Presidency it will be one of the first things he will deal with domestically.

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton has been working behind the scenes to gather up support for Barack Obama. He has been a key asset of Obama's campaign, and he bit the bullet for the Democratic Party. I believe Bill Clinton deserves more credit than is given to him: it is not easy to go out and hold fund raisers and rallies for a candidate who just months ago was in a fierce battle against his wife. But he has, and it has helped Obama gather support from the Democratic base as well as many center voters who skeptical of Obama's experience but saw Bill Clinton and what he brings to the table as positive enough to trust Obama. Bill is still a force to be reckoned with, and Obama will keep him close during his administration because he knows just how powerful and influential the Bill remains.

Nailin' Palin

Sarah Palin is perhaps the worst thing to happen to the GOP since George W. She is incompetent, not very bright (some may say an imbecile), disgustingly populist, and a bully. She ran her small town mayoral job like a high school president would run his board. She filled positions with cronies, fired her personal enemies (trooper gate anyone?), went on a vendetta against the town's librarian and the library's books, and even let her husband attend all major meetings she had with members of congress and other important figures. Now that I think of it, she is more like the kindergarten class president. This woman was completely unfit to be second in command to preside over the free world. The election of a vice president is the first and often only executive decision that a presidential candidate gets to make, and in this case McCain clearly did not choose wisely, if he got to choose at all. Appealing to the female voters is one thing, but choosing Palin was an insult to America's intellect. Clearly ignorant of foreign policy and lacking basic culture, it is no wonder they kept her hidden from the media at all costs. And it paid off, for the Democrats who are now in power that is.

Shalom Obama

As I and 99% of the polls predicted Obama was elected President of the United States of America. He has already started to designate his cabinet by assigning Rahm Emmanuel, a fellow Jew, as his Chief of Staff. Obama is trying to live up to his platform of change, and rumors have already started circulating about potential executive orders regarding the abolishment of Guantanamo Bay, an economic stimulus package part deux, universal health care, etc etc. In theory it all sounds astounding, but in reality it is dubious that a president could get all that accomplished within days or weeks of being elected to power. In that sense, I believe Obama has set himself up for failure by promising people more than the power of the presidency will allow him to deliver. Sure he could close Guantanamo Bay by executive order, but it might be met with fierce opposition from the Congressional Republicans which in turn may choose to boycott a potential universal health care plan. After all, the founding fathers ensured that passing national legislation be a slow process for a reason : they did not want to rest too much power in any one branch of government. I do believe that Obama will do his best to change the wrongdoings of the most incompetent administration this nation has ever seen, but to say that he will change Washington for good is pretentious. He will change Washington back to what it used to be, and perhaps bring along some changes of his own progressive mind, but things will not get too shaken up, not anytime soon anyway.

Howard Dean

Howard Dean was rewarded for being a traitor to the democratic party. Harry Reid and the senate democrats decided not to strip Dean of his chairmanship in order to achieve party unity, but with friends like Dean who needs an enemy? Dean was an outspoken supporter of McCain during the last election and went as far as saying that Obama was not qualified for the job. He betrayed his own party and switched over to the other side at a crucial time. He most likely did so out of political convenience; at the time Obama seemed like a long shot and McCain was pretty well positioned. I believe that the Democrats did the wrong thing by forgiving Dean and letting him keep the chairmanship. He should have been kicked out of the party and made an example no to betray the Democratic Party.

Jeremiah Wright

Did we give Obama a free pass when it comes to Jeremiah Wright? After all, this was the same man that wed and baptized his children. It is hard to believe that Obama has never heard similar if not the same type of rhetoric from Wright in years past, but my issue here is not whether Obama should have been elected because of his relation to Wright. I believe that even if we knew for a fact that Obama knew this side of Wright all along that it does not make him some sort of radical nut or unfit to be president. It is a bit shocking but he is still the right man for the job. My issue is whether the media has given him a free pass or not. After all, if this was a white candidate speaking of the black man and his evil ways, it would have certainly been enough to ruin all chances of him getting elected into ANY type of office, let alone the presidency. This double standard cannot be justified in terms of the past and the suffering of the black community; it is narrow minded and ignorant. The media should have done a better job at scrutinizing Obama for being associated with Wright, and although Obama's race speech (which I will attach in a video below) was quite eloquent and very true, it does not justify him looking up to such a bitter man.

John Edwards

This country is the leading producer of porn movies in the world. We have legalized marijuana in quite a few states, yet when it comes to getting caught in an affair while serving in public office all bets are off. Sure what Edwards did was not worthy of a pat in the back, but it was also no reason to completely crush his political image. He made a mistake and tried covering it up just like any other human in his same situation would do. But since he is in public office, we expect him to be some sort of moral super human who is immune to corruption and seduction and if he does anything to taint this perfect image then we are outraged and demand he step down. He is a man with a wife who is dying of cancer, and he has stood by her side during this whole time. She is in the range of death, he was in the range of success. It is not right, and it does not justify it, but we could cut him a break and be more understanding rather than burn him at the stake for a human mistake. I sincerely hope he bounces back and reclaims his success.

White collar crime

White collar crimes are an often occurrence in America. From Martha Stewart's inside trading deals in the stock market to ENRON's accounting fraud we are constantly hearing about white collar crimes. However, white collar crimes are given much less importance in both the media and the justice system than violent crimes. As a matter of fact, in California you could rob a loaf of bread 3 times in your life and be sentenced for life while Martha Stewart merely served a year for having stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars. So what does this say about our justice system? Conflict theorists would argue that this is due to an inherent bias in our justice system that turns a blind eye on the rich, white, and powerful while at the same times gives out harsh punishments for crimes committed by the less affluent minorities. I believe that law enforcement effort should be focused on white collar crimes as much as street crimes. We cannot talk about equality in the justice system if we are selecting who to go after and who to turn a blind eye on.