Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Islam

As Pope Benedict XVI heads a religious "bridge building" effort in Turkey this week, we hear about a fatwa being issued by a cleric against a journalist in Iraq and more Mohammad image protests.

Like Christianity, over five hundred years ago, Islam is in its adolescent stage. Although, Christianity is still far from maturity, it has become more encompassing and accepting as the years have worn on over the centuries. Like Christianity's burning of witches in Salem and heretics in Spain, Islam is in this same stage. It is about getting revenge and holding on to the power that they so believe they have inherited, from Allah or Mohammad; either of which seem synonymous.

In addition to the fatwa, we have the exposed nerves over the images of Mohammad, which seem to become more and more present. We see images of Christ in mass media, such as movies. Many of which are parodies, in fact; however, I don't see Christians burning Muslims in the streets with kerosene. Yes, it is a bit juvenile. From a historical standpoint, Mohammad was a boozing womanizer, who received revelations of prophecy in a cave. What is the point of defending a single, flesh-and-blood man? He is not God, according to Islam. He is, at the very most, a vehicle of prophecy.

It's like today, I tried to explain to an overwrought student, "That kid doesn't know your mother." Instead of using a bit of common sense, the student continued to lash out, "But he is talking about my mom! I don't allow people to speak about my mom." We all have moms, but I don't know your mother personally, or anything about her really; therefore, how can I speak knowingly about her sexual practices? It's bogus, to say the least. We must listen and reason.

In four or five hundred years, Islam will have progressed to the point of seeming maturity. They will acquire acceptance as a benign world faith. There will be no more fatwas or public executions in the streets of innocent by-standers.

One day...

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Seinfeld-gate

The character, Kramer, is in some "hot" water with the black community. After reading some comments from CNN about his recent bigot-inspired tirade, he is quite evil and despicable. Apparently, this Kramer guy has deeply eroded away the fabric of racial unity in this nation. I didn't realize what an impact a supporting character from a 1990s situational-comedy could have on our nation. (Please note my sarcasm.)

Admittedly, I never watched Seinfeld. I never got into it. I would watch five minutes of it and I was bored. I guess I'm different from the other 99% of Americans who apparently adore it.

I'm not saying people should be racist, at all. I'm saying, it is a single incident, from a single person's bigoted mouth. He's not the president of the United States, nor is he waging racial unrest through his unsolicited comments. Let's let it go people. I'm tired of hearing it; I'm tired of hearing people make it my problem. I never used the racial epithet on stage at a Los Angeles club.

Let him get his counseling for anger management and racial bigotry. If that doesn't work he can check himself into a rehab resort/spa for alcoholism and finger his priest who sexually molested him as a youth.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

I'm so bored

I think I'll go smoke a cigar. At least, I can buy those.

Boys

Boys are trouble! In fact, the devil's water is pretty sweet...

I still love them.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Pony Up or Pull Out

After the blood bath in Iraq this past week, it is hard to imagine how the Bush Administration can continue to permit American troops to operate in Iraq. Iraq has a central government, but it is essentially powerless. It is the face of a government with no teeth. The real power is from the urban warlords who hold life and death in their hands on the streets of Baghdad. Power is the factions of Sunnis and Shi'ites who use their mercenary armies to destroy each other. Death is a daily commodity for the average Iraqi. You see them walking by scenes of gore and unspeakable violence with bags, as if they have been the market, and they seem to not even notice. Perhaps, carnage is now a daily staple Iraqis are used to consuming.

The United States is the means to the end in Iraq. We decentralized their government in 2003 through a senseless and botched coup d'etat. How many troops does the US have on the ground in Iraq? A hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty thousand? Who knows the real number? The idea is simple. Either we stabilize the country through our military or we withdraw. The United States could double its forces on the ground, in the air, and at sea, to crush the insurgency within Iraq. The people of Iraq are only moved through violence, not diplomacy. It's time we admit that fact. It doesn't make us a heartless or bigoted people. It is common sense. We see how things operate there. Not everyone on earth is consumed by Western values and sensibilities. Our idea of war is hugging and a lot of hand holding. We have to swallow hard and live the realities of war to their fullest. Iraq cannot be conquered through compromise and make-believe elections; it requires direct confrontation of insurgents and the unadulterated destruction of anything that stands in the way of that goal.

War is not fun, it is not glory, it's not yellow ribbons on the electric pole; war is blood, pain and death.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

No Secret Trips?

George W. Bush celebrated Thanksgiving Day without making a "surprise" trip to Iraq to spend it with the troops.

I guess he's saving it for Christmas.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

On Monday, the United Nations adopted a resolution that continued the work of the ICJ. The United States was the only member to speak out against the resolution. The United States' position is the ICJ is given too much power in regards to who can be brought before the Court and that the UN Security Council (of which the US is a vetoing party) cannot approve, or disapprove, indictments/investigations of the ICJ's prosecutors.

In addition, the United States feels that nations should have the option of being party to the ICJ's jurisdiction. That is simply preposterous. It is akin to me saying I do not recognize the jurisdiction of the district court in my county; thereby, negating their ability to prosecute me as a criminal. Of course, we understand the United States' objection. If the US "approved" of the independence of the ICJ, as an authentic and independent organ of the UN, then they could effectively prosecute George W. Bush for crimes against humanity, illegal warfare, and terrorism for the people of Iraq. We expect that brutal dictators, like Slobodan Milosevic, would be brought before the ICJ. The US will even help you capture them, but don't expect our cooperation when you come after our own criminals.

Although, the US was the only dissenting voice before the UN's vote, the resolution was adopted.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Snow Days

I love snow days!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Iraq

Today, an Iraqi official was kidnapped from his home. How can we expect the government of Iraq to protect its general population when it can't even protect the security of its top officials.

Nintendo Wii, You are Mine

After 11am, the Nintendo Wii was sold by Amazon.com. After about 8 minutes of clicking "Add to Cart" and getting an error message, I got it to accept my order. It is slated to be delivered on Tuesday. They better not e-mail me back saying it isn't available. I feel like I just won the lottery or something.

How sad...I hope my brother appreciates the time and effort I put into this affair.

Nintendo Wii

Ah, the spirit of the holidays is amongst us again.

Last night, there was the "launch" of a videogame system, called Nintendo Wii. Now, I had heard of this for a while (from my teenage brother mostly). But even more now, considering today was the first day you could officially get one.

My brother begged me to take him to Wal-Mart at midnight, to any store really, to get one. I told him, "No, don't be silly. Only nerds and dorks stand in line to wait for something like this." (In fact, I saw some of them yesterday.) I told him that we would buy it from Amazon. And since I am an Amazon Prime member, we'll get it delivered to the doorstep by Tuesday at the latest for only $3.99.

At midnight, I had my finger on the trigger. I was going to press "Add to Cart" when it was open for ordering at midnight. Guess what? It never happened. We waited until almost one a.m. for that sucker. It's now almost ten a.m., and it still hasn't been released by Amazon.com to order. Some people say it is a ploy to get us to buy more from their online storefront. I admit, I am addicted to online shopping. I buy more than a normal person should. It is easy, fun, and instantaneously rewarding.

Now before you say I am a dork, I did not stay up all night. In fact, I slept in late. I figured they were released during my slumber and now all sold out. It's not because I particularly want a Nintendo Wii for myself. It's the hunt. It's waiting for your prey to mindlessly wander out into your sights and then be taken in a viciously calculated attack. It's a trophy, really. This thing has become ridiculous, however. Almost 800 people have already left "reviews" basically blasting Amazon customer service for their poor handling of this event. In addition, people are trying to entice other buyers to hunt elsewhere. Other have "called" customer service and been told the launch will occur at noon, others have heard at eleven a.m., while even more have said the customer service people told them they didn't even order the gaming console. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in-between.

I found one on Sears.com, but don't tell anyone. I want the one from Amazon.com; otherwise, Sears will charge me $35 to simply ship it overnight. I suppose if all else fails, it will work out. Also, ToysRUs has them for sale, and in stock, but they are coming in bundles. I don't think I want to spend almost $600 for this thing.

I guess I'll be spending my afternoon driving to every Wal-Mart in a 500 mile radius to appease someone's wrath. Dear God.

Pray for snow!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Breaking the Rubber Stamp

After almost six years of gross misuse, the people of the United States, finally, broke George Bush's rubber stamp Congress.

With the election of a new Congress, people can look for de-escalation of hostilities in Iraq. It is certain (as it was in 2003) that the United States cannot logically win this war. We are dealing with a whole host of differing variables that are too hard to shuffle effectively. The US armed forces continue to lose large numbers of troops and thousands of Iraqi civilians are slaughtered at will. We must set a timetable for the withdrawal of all American forces from Iraq. We cannot afford to stay until the job is done, because it will never be done. The most the people of Iraq can hope for is another tyrannical government, a partitioning of peoples (creating different countries along ethnic and religious lines), or external rule by the governments of Iran and/or Syria.

The US may finally get to look at real issues. We can strengthen our economy by reducing the deficit and creating more domestic jobs. In essence, we had a pretty nice set-up under Clinton, with our economy. In addition, we can hold multi-billion dollar conglomerate oil companies responsible for their inflated world market prices. Where will we be in a year? I believe in a much more productive position than we are today. I suspect, we may end up with viable exit strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan. We can't be any worse off.

At least, we put the lid back on an almost empty cookie jar!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Dems in; Rumsfeld out

Last night, Democrats won BOTH houses of Congress. Even though, Virginia is still a "toss up," James Webb (D-VA) has the majority of votes from the general election. Webb and Allen, in the Virginia election, are only separated by about 10,000 votes.

George Bush was so upset by the event, he fired Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense.

It was a good 24 hours!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Democracy, a testy whore

Democracy is the thing we all love to hate, but we embrace it. It takes everything from us, but seldom returns anything beyond a slap in the face.

Of course, today, I voted. I would feel very bad if I didn't. Besides, it is my right, and I am all about my rights. The only thing that upset me is that several candidates on the Republican side of the ballot were running without opposition. That is not democracy. That is how they voted in the former Soviet Union. You had one candidate and then everyone voted for that person. Suddenly, that lone candidate had the mandate of the people to legislate. In our form of representative democracy, we should always have two evils to choose from at all times. I would have thrown my name on there, if I could have won the race. I don't deal well with losses.

One hour to go until we find out some results.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Stars gonna shine

I got my first call tonight. It was a recording for a candidate running for the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Every star is shining tonight...it's the last night for a national election.

I believe it is disgusting that judges are required to stand before the electorate. They should be protected from elections, like those judges in the federal judiciary. People are ignorant and fickle, that's why. Yes, I said it.

I want a judge that isn't worrying about his/her next election. They need to be worried about dispensing justice according to the letter of the law. They can't be worried about abortion and gay rights. The law is the law. Elections are conducted as a means for the electorate to change laws, not influence judges.

I wonder how many miles have been put on Air Force One today? I saw George Bush in states all over--just today! He got snubbed in Florida, because even conservative Republicans can't afford to be seen with him in public. Republican candidate for Florida governor, Charlie Crist, snubbed Bush, who was campaigning for him in the conservative Panhandle. I saw on the CBS Evening News (yes, the one with Katie Couric), that Bush is only campaigning in solidly conservative areas of states. Why? He's worried he'll get his feelings hurt if his sycophants aren't around to keep him smiling. That just seems a bit redundant, considering traditionally conservative areas will vote conservative even if Lucifer is the Republican candidate; subsequently, he is in most cases.

In Kentucky, twenty-four hours from now, we will know the verdict for some candidates, at least.

I'll be there!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Constitutional Amendment

The Constitution truly needs an amendment, but it's not about gays. Honest.

The president of the United States should be able to pass a test in order to qualify for the job. It should truly measure his/her abilities and intellect in a formal way. If this were the case 6 or 7 years ago, then we wouldn't be where we are today. George W. Bush could never pass the test. He would fail the verbal section of it. Perhaps, we could just allow the president-wannabe to take the GRE and score, let's say 1,200+, before being allowed to run.

Another thing: the campaign treasury of any presidential candidate should be limited by law. Each political party should spend it's own money to nominate its candidate and then each of those candidates will get $2,000,000, which they can spend any way they please. In the end, however, they will not be allowed to spend more than that amount. It will level the playing field for president. Each candidate is judged solely on his/her merits and not on the amount of money their name recognition can garner for them. During the 18th century and parts of the 19th century, presidential candidates simply relied on their past deeds in politics, military, and their careers to carry them to the presidency. Of course, I am not naive! I know those presidential candidates had internal conflicts and waged character assassinations against each other; however, they did not spend obscene amounts of money to do it. I think in the end, they had a sense of honor, which is something modern candidates lack.

How'd I Know?

How did I know Saddam would be sentenced to death by hanging yesterday? It's almost like I was sitting in the Oval Office when the call was made to the Iraqi court.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

SAW 3

Today, I saw SAW 3. I thought it was as good as the other two movies that bear the franchise's name. I read some disappointing reviews of the movie on Yahoo!, which only goes to prove that each person has their own taste in what is good. The movie seems to have two divergent plot-lines, but at the end of the movie all loose ends are tied-up and concreted for the viewer. I thought the twist was quite compelling and telling for the movie. We finally get a sense of Jigsaw's vision.

Saddam Gripes Iraq Still

Saddam Hussein is still a major power in Iraq. The curfew, in preparation for his verdict, in Baghdad proves as much. If Iraq was truly a democratic and free society, like Bush would falsely lead us to believe, then the people of Iraq would welcome a verdict that removes him from their presence forever; instead, the US military (Iraq's babysitters) is stepping up offensive and defensive measures in the country's capital.

What do I say? Return Saddam to his rightful place as president of Iraq. Let him deal with the people he has so ably dealt with throughout his bloody reign as their despot. It's for sure, Saddam is as good as George Bush.

Rumsfeld should go?

Who would have thought? I mean, honestly, who would have ever thought Donald Rumsfeld should be fired as Defense Secretary? Hasn't over 60% of Americans been saying this for years? I suppose, it takes an independent, military newspaper to deliver the scoop.

Good grief!

Saddam's Execution

Tomorrow, the kangaroo court that has been trying the Saddam case, will impose its sentence. It is sure the sentence will be death. We know that George Bush has communicated the hanging sentence personally to the court.

Now, all that is left is the show's debut for tomorrow.

Friday, November 03, 2006

2048?

There is a report out that says seafood will reach a crisis point in 2048, if we continue our rates of fishing and destruction of natural habitats. What happened to the Visine-guy telling me to eat up, there's plenty more Alaskan seafood out there?

Weird.

Political Ad

My name is Jackson Leslie, and I approve of this blog.

Hypocrisy is the hallmark of evangelical Christianity. It is the way things are displaced and "evil" is conquered. Ted Haggard, an evangelical Christian minister, is also a closeted homosexual, so it would seem. Yet, I am sure, he has preached against this evil in his holier-than-thou sermons on many a-Sunday mornings.

Psychology teaches us that people who rail so hard against a belief or conviction, often times, have something to hide in that area. If it's a touchy issue for them, then they probably have some experience in their past with it. Whether it's hiring a male prostitute to fulfill your gay dreams or stealing a million dollars from your sheep in the congregation. It's all the same, pure, unadulterated hypocrisy.

On November 7, let's stand up for conviction and responsibility. Let's send the Republican majorities, in the House and Senate, home.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

MasterCard Soars

Today, MasterCard stock soared almost $12/share. Erroneously, I said that MasterCard stock was going to flop a few months ago. Wow, was I wrong! I recently bought many of my shares back to inflate my portfolio.

Buy, buy, buy!