Baghdad Massacre

With 95+ people dead in a series of bombings across Baghdad, the Iraqi government is facing one of its largest tests since American forces scaled down troops and missions in key regions and cities over two months ago.

In all honesty, I believe this sort of attack will be the mainstay of Iraqi life for the foreseeable future. This is what the George W. Bush "democracy" model looks like in Iraq. It is based on intimidation, carnage, mayhem and death.

What do the days, weeks and months ahead hold for the innocent people of Iraq?

The Swearing-in of Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Emotional Poverty

I was thinking today about life. It is funny how things sneak into your consciousness. It can happen when you see something, smell something, dream something, anything really.

I had a personal epiphany, of sorts, today. It is really possible to have material wealth and suffer from what I call emotional poverty. What is true for me is one simple fact: I got so busy living that I forget to get a life. That may sound like an oxymoron, but they are two vastly different things.

There is a gaping hole in my life. I am essentially alone in personal matters. I attempt to fill the void in my soul with materialistic things and fantasies, but it does little good. I live in denial every single day while pretending as if my life is wonderful and couldn't be any better. In fact, my life is quite pathetic and bizarre. I judge myself much too harshly in areas where I should loosen up, which in turn may lead to personal happiness.

I'm not sure what people see when they look at me. Perhaps, they know I am compensating for something, or perhaps they have no clue. Sometimes I feel so naked to the world; it is like I am trapped in a glass cage from which I cannot escape and everyone is laughing and pointing at me. When in reality, they probably don't notice me at all.

I am a narcissist, I admit it freely. I think of myself much too highly on the outside, while I cower on the inside. I am much too critical of those in my world. Unfortunately, that world is shrinking and growing dimmer. It's like a madness that drains the spirit of feeling while begging to experience a slight, caring touch. The harder I try to make the world like me, the more it eludes me.

I'm babbling on and on. I am hysterical, even. But I am calm on the outside. One day, just maybe, my outside persona will project my internal nature. It is the cruel duality of my existence.

Sonia Sotomayor confirmed by Senate to U.S. Supreme Court

Sonia Sotomayor will become the 111th justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, after being confirmed by the United States Senate earlier today. She will be the third woman to sit on the court, and the its first Hispanic.

The final vote by the Senate was 68-31.

Bill Clinton & North Korea

President Bill Clinton took it upon himself to secure the release of two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had both been found guilty of spying and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea.

The mission of President Clinton was successful, as North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, granted the two journalists a pardon on humanitarian grounds.

This goes to prove that if you work with your enemies, rather than sit across the world and threaten them, you will get much more productive dialogue. This is the direction the United States was heading at the end of the Clinton administration in 2001. Unfortunately, these promising results were destroyed by the George W. Bush administration.

Did Bill Clinton make a promise to Kim? The White House adamantly says, "No!" I believe, however, that a degree of concession had to come from the Obama administration in order to release these two individuals. It wasn't done on purely humanitarian grounds.

Jon & Kate Plus Hate

Anyone who watches this abortion of a show should have their head examined. I tried watching it before they went all destructive. I found the wife to be smothering, demanding and degrading, and the husband to be a jellyfish of compliance and cowardice. It wasn't worth the five minutes I gave it.

I certainly wouldn't watch it now! I don't know why TLC keeps this show going. Oh I do, it's called money!

Beer at the White House

Tomorrow, President Barack Obama has invited the Harvard professor and policeman involved in last week's scandal in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the White House.

Why?

Apparently to shoot the breeze and have a beer. I think the Office of President is an important job that doesn't involve this type of meeting. President Obama stated the Cambridge police officer in question behaved "stupidly" in his attempt to ascertain if Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was the property owner or not.

I believe it can be left there with that statement. There is no need to hold a special meeting over the incident.

Sarah Palin resigns as governor of Alaska

Governor Sarah Palin (R), of Alaska, will resign as governor today.

I believe fervently that it will be a great asset to Alaska to have an infamous someone, who has been in the limelight for too long, off of the national stage.

Even though Palin has future political ambition, within the Republican Party, she will never be able to deliver on any campaigns she may join or initiate on her own. There is way too much baggage there.

Barack Obama's Birth Certificate

The 2008 Presidential Election is history, so is the inauguration of our nation's first black president, but there are still many out there who question the legitimacy of Barack Obama's Hawaii birth certificate.

I'll be the first to say that every presidential candidate should provide proof of his/her citizenship, specifically through a certified birth certificate. (You can't even get a passport without one.) That is only fair, since it is a constitutional requirement to be a natural born citizen. And in accordance with the nay-sayers, President Obama did provide such documentation, even though some dispute its authenticity. These people are simply right-wing morons who will do anything to discredit someone they perceive as a threat to their agenda.

Let's get over it, and move on with the business of the country.

Harvard Professor Arrest Debacle

Recently, an African-American Harvard professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested for allegedly breaking into his own home (yeah, I know the report says "disorderly conduct").

First, a neighbor calls and tells the police that someone may be breaking into the house (they must not have been close neighbors, if he wasn't recognized). The police arrive and interrogate the owner, who then gets "loud and tumultuous in a public space," according to the police report. How exactly does one's home constitute a public space? I'm pretty sure I can rant and rave all I want in the comfort of my home, including my front yard, which is private domain. It is a growing trend that many law enforcement entities believe they can invade our privacy without recourse. FYI, George W. Bush isn't president anymore guys.

I'd say that the Cambridge Police Department is going to be smacking some hands this week over this now nation-wide--and I dare say world-wide--event! But it's only right.

Capital Punishment

CNN recently posted a very disturbing story to its website about capital punishment.

Since 1984, a Texas reporter, Mike Graczyk, has allegedly been witness to over 315 executions in Texas. Since 1976, Texas has executed 439 individuals. That means Graczyk has witnessed 72% of them. According to state officials, he has witnessed more executions than anyone else. (In the article's photograph, he looks pretty jazzed up about the infamous honor.)

When I first began to read this article, I thought that the number of 439 was for the entire United States since 1976. I was stunned when I realized those statistics are simply for the state of Texas!

The United States is a developed nation that still uses third world techniques to punish its criminals. In the 21st century, the United States must work to abolish, forever, its torture of both the guilty and innocent, called capital punishment.

After vacationing in France, I find it hard to believe that the United States continues to willing lag behind its European contemporaries in many things, which includes its stubborn habit of using death as a punishment. In fact, it is embarrassing and appalling.

Paris

I'm leaving for Paris, France tonight!

I can't wait to see all the sights again. Who knows when I'll be back! :)

Sarah Palin to resign as governor of Alaska

Republican governor of Alaska, and unsuccessful former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has announced she will resign the governorship of her state later this month.

Accordingly, various elements of the media have started to speculate about her motivation for such an unorthodox move. Some have stated she is being investigated by federal investigators over a myriad of alleged abuses relating to her tenure as governor. This has caused Palin's lawyers, Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness, LLC, a law firm in Alaska, to issue a "Media Release," which can be nothing more than a blatant intimidation tactic that the First Amendment has been repealed seemingly in honor of Palin's privacy as a public servant (that's an oxymoronic statement). Her lawyers allude to a provision in the Alaska state constitution that protects its citizens from those who are "responsible for the abuse" of the freedom of speech. I'm pretty sure that the Constitution of Alaska, which may be a fine document, does not apply to those who do not live or conduct business in the state of Alaska. Furthermore, this issue would fall under the purview of the United States Constitution, via Federal District Court, not Alaska state court, if any libelous or slanderous charges were brought forth.

We'll be very much aware, in the future, of the scope of Alaska's state constitution. (Yeah, right!)

Is Sarah Palin going to run for president in 2012? God, I hope not. It will be an embarrassment for our country and it will bring more shame on the already rusting Republican political machine. I believe her reputation, both in her private and public lives, has been irrevocably tarnished, as a result of the 2008 presidential election.

Flirty Girl Dance DVD

While watching one of my favorite shows, "The Young & the Restless," I witnessed a new era for television. During the commercial break, they showed a new weight loss video called "Flirty Girl Dance." 

Hmmmm...the only thing is this weight loss program commercial was borderline pornography. The dances were a little risque, to say the least. But the best part was you can try a stripper's pole in your own home for a $1. You just have to ask your operator how! Now, I'm not a prude, for crying out loud. I understand how the world works. I am just shocked to see this kind of commercial on American television before 10 o'clock.  (After all, that's when the kids are supposed to be in bed. Yeah, right!) 

Anyhow, this commercial is in the same category I place those male-enhancement cure-alls, MaxoDerm and Extenze. (Sure, you don't want a bigger penis. You just want more stamina. What a crock of shit.) These are among some of the most lascivious commercials I have seen on television in recent time. They put the commercials for Viagra and Cialis to shame!  

It would seem American television is becoming European in its ways.

The future of Iran's government

The tempest protests, in the streets of Tehran, may have been culled by the government, but there are still leading voices that are echoing their chant, "Can Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election as the country's president stand the test of legitimacy in the eyes of Iranians?"

In the end, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will win the so-called war and install Ahmadinejad as president, but the thousands of voices we've heard over the past weeks will not remain silent.

The ceremony will take place on July 26.

Another Democrat in the U.S. Senate

The Minnesota Supreme Court has declared Democratic candidate, Al Franken, the winner of the 2008 Senate race against Republican-incumbent Norm Coleman.

Billy Mays here...

Now, Billy Mays, the screaming salesman from television, will not be invading my favorite television shows' intermissions by trying to peddle me crap I don't want or need.

His wife found him dead this morning. So, here's to the man who made words like OxiClean, OrangeGlo, and Orange Clean, cool.

Michael Jackson dead at 50

Reports from Los Angeles indicate that pop star Michael Jackson has died from cardiac arrest this afternoon at UCLA. 

The TSA is not the Gestapo, sorry guys!

I am a big believer in civil rights and liberties, which is why this particular passenger has made my day.

It would seem that Steve Bierfeldt was given some unnecessary flack for having a metal box with a large sum of cash in it. Of course, it is not illegal to travel intra-continental with large sums of cash, but a group of TSA agents made it their business to get to the bottom of why this individual was carrying $4,700 in his luggage.

They used intimidation to coerce this information from the flier, by taking him into a windowless room and using profanity and threats. He simply asked if he was required by law to answer their question. He never said, "No!" Constitutionally, you must not submit yourself to illegal search and seizure. Nor, does the Constitution give law enforcement the right to intimidate and unlawfully detain individuals to get answers to questions, which subsequently had nothing to do with flight safety. (Isn't that the TSA's mission?)

Fortunately, for all fliers, Mr. Bierfeldt, with the help of the ACLU, has brought a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security. On a related point, isn't it time that the Department of Homeland Security was dismantled and abolished? After all, it is just another example of George W. Bush's attempts to force unnecessary government oversight into the lives of law-abiding American citizens. It is a tarnishing behemoth of bureaucracy.

Terror in the Streets of Tehran

The Iranian government seems to have made good on a threat to use force to disperse the crowds who are protesting the recent presidential election, which has all of the hallmarks of foul play.

Unfortunately, foreign media outlets are banned from reporting on activities in the streets, but we are seeing amateur reports sneak through social networking websites that are showing chaos and gore on the streets of Tehran. It has been reported that as many as 150 people may have been killed in recent days.

I believe that this incident has the propensity to become something more than simple civil disobedience. The government has much more at stake in this than it may be willing to publicly admit. It is obvious in its willingness to use armed force against its own citizens to save itself. Two things can happen: the people will accept that the government has the upper-hand and relent, or they will continue and their cause will spread like wildfire and take down the 30-year-old theocracy. Personally, I always vote for revolution where a government works feverishly to retain autocratic control.

During this precarious time in Iran, I am reminded of one of America's great revolutionaries, Thomas Jefferson, who said, "An enlightened people, and an energetic public opinion, will control and enchain the aristocratic spirit of the government." Perhaps, the people of Iran can finally envision true democratic reform and concrete their civil liberties and rights, which are inevitably ordained by the people and not the government, as a result.

How long will the silent majority of Iran sit by and watch their friends, family members, and neighbors be maimed and murdered by their own government before they decide to take direct, proactive action?