McCain wins big; Dems split vote

So, Super Tuesday has happened.

Mike Huckabee was definitely the surprising force of the night. He started out winning West Virginia which had a convention. This began Mitt Romney's cry that there was some backroom deal between McCain and Huckabee. Here's why: the WV convention is basically run as two rounds of voting. After the first round, when the McCain supporters realized there was no way they could win, moved their support to Huckabee.

I will address this on two fronts. First, there has been some suspicion that McCain has bee n making deals ala Survivor to gain the nomination of the Republican Party. It has been suggested that he asked Thompson, who stood no legitimate chance of winning, to stay in through South Carolina to run interference for McCain. The same thing is believed to have occurred with Rudy Guiliani in Florida. Guiliani and McCain are known to be friends as Thompson is as well. McCain tends to appeal the center and has political friends who are centrists. I'll even throw Colin Powell in there though I've never read that they were friends but I can definitely see the two of them getting along. Hell, Joe Lieberman is running around with McCain!!! Maybe that bothers the conservatives: a liberal Connecticut Orthodox Jew is supporting a Republican.

Second, that's politics!!!! Anyone knows that those things happen. Its the nature of the game. Even though Romney outspent both his opponents by millions, it was all for not. And he cried foul after that West Virginia convention which was the first contest called of the day. What a whiny, little pussy!

Though I will grant this: McCain is winning for some unexplainable reason. He didn't win the conservative vote. The Southern Cons went for Huckabee and the Northern cons went for Romney. He won amongst moderate Republicans who are anti-war (which he is not) and those in favor of aboritionrights (which I won't try to qualify him on. He is pro-life but has also been on record saying the alternative would be worse). I like him because he is pragmatic. I like someone who is more concerned with being practical and making sense than satisfying idealogues who want someone to do their bidding. McCain has been rebellious since about the age of 8 and is unapologetically so. I want a president who thinks for himself. The alternative is a government run by committee.

Radio blowhards are just attacking him. Conservative Talk Radio is just plain babble. These village idiots with their radio soapboxes are ranting about how they cannot stand the other side. Rush Limbaugh vilifies McCain for reaching across the aisle to work with the other party. All Limbaugh is doing is proofing the rest of the country right: Conservatives are smug, hateful and cold people who would rather hate their fellow American than learn to live with them.

And I hate (not really, but it sure sounds good) to break it to Conservative Republicans but he is the last hope for your broken down, mean little party. This is the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln who felt that after the Civil War, the north should reach out to help the South and not grind the Confederate states under the northern boot. Somehow, I feel that empathy is missing.

Americans are tired of the "My way or the highway" approach to politics. It is fracturing this country and is leading us down the path of destruction. People are fed up with neo-conservatism. True conservatism, which is what McCain is closer to, is preferable compared to the shit that Bush, Limbaugh and all their ilk keep shoveling down our throats. I think they're poor sports and bad losers just like Romney.

On the Democratic side there isn't really much to talk about. Hillary lost her voice in the days leading up to the primaries. She was fighting a cold. She cried at one point on Monday. When all was said and done, she had won the more populous states whilst Obama had taken the less populous ones but more of them.

The races coming up on Saturday: Louisiana, the caucus in Washington, Democrats in Nebraska, Republicans in Kansas and as well as the Democratic primary in the Virgin Islands which like American Samoa, can vote in primary but has no voice in the general election. On Sunday, Maine holds its Democratic primary in Maine. There will be a Potomac primary is next Tuesday. This is a primary that I am more interested in. It is the states of Virginia and Maryland and Washington, D.C. Look for LOTS of press on that day. it won't be near the juggernaut that last night was but it will be important.

Tidbits: Clinton saying "missourah". She's from Illinois. She should be saying Misery.

We're off the air!!!!!!

6 November 2007
Dateline....

Don't you miss that? Don't news outlets know how to be newsy anymore? Did Walter Cronkite take that with him when he retired?

Anyways, I've been out of it for a few weeks. I'm moving into the gritty part of the semester and I'm actually beginning to enjoy it. Granted, I'm jobless (which sucks) and I'm still nursing a perpetual broken hand. But no worries...

I have several things with which to undertake on this November day. They are as follows:

1. Hillary Clinton's "victimhood"
2. waterboarding
3. Writers' Guild Strike
4. My awesome presentation in Global Studies last week
5. Pakistan: 'nuff said

They will not be attacked in that order. Also, I will be writing another get to know the candidates here in a week. I will also be filling you in on some WWII stuff that is rather current. On Sunday, we will have Armistice Day which is a significant day and not just for veterans.

With that bit of housekeeping out of the way, we move on to the opinions.

Pakistan. Its not even the only one undergoing political upheaval. There is some going on in Georgia. Suicide bombings are taking place with more frequency in Afghanistan. First, a small history of this nation. The nation originally was two chunks sliced from India in 1947 in what is called Partition. This was a bloody birth for the young nations. In 1971, the eastern part split away and became Bangladesh. Pakistan has alternated since 1972 between Prime Ministers named Bhutto, first Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and then his daughter, Benazir Bhutto, and military leaders. In 1998, the nation became nuclear just after India did which led to a war particularly in the long contested borderland, Kashmir. In 1999, the current military dictator Pervez Musharraf took over in a bloodless coup. Since then he has reigned over the Muslim state with a heavy hand and yet, the current US administration has fostered a closer relationship than most would find comfortable. Benazir Bhutto returned from 9 years of exile just last month.

On November 1, Bhutto left Pakistan for Dubai. The following day the Supreme Court of Pakistan reversed an earlier decision to allow for an election to proceed in January without scrutinizing the previous election that was challenged by Wajihuddin Ahmad. At 1720, November 3, the Pakistani television reported that a state emergency was imminent. Twenty minutes later, the private media went off the air. At 10 minutes after 6 PM, local time, the state run stations reported that indeed the state emergency had been declared. At 7, it is reported that constitution has been suspended.

Musharraf has claimed that he declared martial law to protect the nation from terrorists. In reality, it is a power grab.. Bhutto has stated that Pakistan is returning to a dictatorship. Musharraf has expressed some dismay with the media's "negative" reporting. "The media could not lend a helping hand to improve the situation" said Musharraf in his speech to the people of Pakistan. The Army has entered the Supreme Court and detained detained Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry because the "judiciary is not working efficiently".

Since the emergency began, journalists, lawyers and other "terrorists" have been detained or in some cases, killed. As seen in other power grabs throughout history, liberal middle classes and the ‎educated classes have been targeted. These are the people who are going to object and will be able to do more than merely object but rally opposition. They pose a huge danger to the regime that Musharraf wants to hold onto. And of course, protests and violence as the Army cracks down on media outlets and regular citizens alike.

What may disturb many Americans is Musharraf's references to Lincoln. Lincoln, though credited with preserving the union and abolishing slavery, made some decisions that, in hindsight, are not considered the wisest. During the Civil War, as with any war, the executive retained certain powers that were stipulated under the constitution. One of these was Habeas Corpus. Over the course of American History, there have been several times when laws have been imposed and rights infringed. Presidents Adams (the first one), Wilson, Roosevelt (the second one) and Nixon have all made strides to make being American a lot tougher.

Bush is right in there who buttered up this military leader so that we could use Pakistan for our wars. Now, we don't even know what to do. The State Department tells Musharraf to knock it off. They keep expressing disappointment. Oh, like that's a threat? Well, yeah, it could be since their alliance was rather... lucrative on their end.

I want to send out a huge "oorah" (I'm ex Navy) to Geo TV and ARY one for deciding to continue reporting the news on the Internet. By doing so, they are working to keep not only their fellow Pakistanis informed but also the rest of the world. Otherwise, we are all stuck with Musharraf and the sanitized state-run media (which I'm sure even you guys are sick of). They're risking a lot to not be complacent and keep working to bring out the truth. For those who understand Urdu go for it. Even if you don't they do speak in English occasionally. For myself, I know Hindi and can make out some of the words and get the gist.

In the meantime, the story is receiving little coverage here in the United States. The Cable News outlets are barely mentioning it. CNN has paid it some attention whilst Fox has devoted nightly opinion shows to Dog the Bounty Hunter. Bill O'Reilly is a lost cause: his show is an excuse to show banned or salacious material that his stooges find on the Internet that "we should not see" and then are shown anyways.

I need to move on. What else is on the list? Hillary Clinton. Lately she has found that the rest of the Democratic candidates are ganging up in her like the Republicans have been. There has been some call that its an "Old Boys Club" and they are ganging up on her cause she's a chick. Well, I don't know about her being a woman, but I don't think that's why. Its called ganging up on the guy in the lead. Or in football, the guy with the ball.

She's the receiver and the ball slips. She dives as does everybody else, those on the team, on the opposing team and the kickers (Paul and Kucinich). They all pile up on the ball. Its going to be about who has the ball when the ref pulls the bodies off.

So, why the complaining? Because it works! By playing the victim she gets women who know what she means. Women can't get a decent run for anything in this country. Men are unable to claim that they are just ganging up on the leader because it sounds sexist. They're screwed.

But is it that tough for a woman in a man's world? Can a woman become the leader of a country? I would like to take this time to point out that both India and Pakistan have elected women as leaders. These are two nations considered far more conservative than the United States. In addition, the first elected women Prime Minister (Ministress?) was Sirivamo Bandaranaike in Sri Lanka in 1960, the same year the United States elected its first Roman Catholic. 1974 saw the first women president in Argentina, Isabel Perón, otherwise known as Evita.

On top of all this there are currently 7 female presidents worldwide: Chile, Finland, India, Ireland, Liberia, The Philippines and Switzerland. There are 4 Prime Ministers: Germany, New Zealand, Mozambique and The Netherlands Antilles. Only Suadi Arabia and Monoco have never had a female anywhere in government. Sweden became the first to recently have their "cabinet" be more female than male with an 11-9 count. If these women can make it, what's wrong with Hillary? If Benazir Bhutto could make it?!?!?!? Hell, some countries who've managed to be led by a woman have been Norway, Canada, Ukraine, Panama, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Peru, Latvia, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Malta, Turkey, Portugal, France, Jamaica, and I don't know... GREAT BRITAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I need to get onto other things. Like Waterboarding. Yeah, Waterboarding. The practice is torture. Messing around with the legal terminology all you want does not change the fact that it is torture. It is also form of coercion.

You hold a gun to a person's head and tell them to tell you what you want to know or they die. Hmm... tough choice. Either they bet you bluff or they spill their guts/lie. They more than likely lie. When you say "tell me what I want to know!!!" Gee, ok. I'll tell you. And we have laws to reject confessions from being admissible as evidence. So, what makes the evidence gleaned from this practice any more credible? Because its the CIA?!?!?! Oh God, we're all fucked!!!!!!

Now, the Writer's Strike. Beyond the fact that I've waited long enough for Battlestar Galactica. The writers have now seen fit to stop working. As ticked some of us may be, there is a point to this madness. It is the fees that are made off internet and DVD sales. These writers create material that is, like it or not, intellectual material. Depsite the traditional way of seeing the writing as a product for the show and therefore, the show's property, we've changed where something conceived in someone's mind is now their property. Even if they were paid a salary to do it and should be happy.

But with the MPAA and RIAA raising a ruckus about intellectual property and the copyrights it is now coming back to bite them. Well, its biting the MPAA. The RIAA has its own hydra to worry about. It cannot have it both ways. The writers want to have some of the take when it becomes natural that a film or TV show which 20 years ago made a splash at the box office, faded, maybe made some money in Video sales and rentals then died, is now making killings years after its wrap party. These goods now make money in perpetuity and the writers feel they should, too. So, in essence I agree with them. I just hope that people start watching more news or something.

All Right... last thing... I think.... well two. I had to give a presentation in class on Thursday. My topic was the Global Civil Society and particularly warfare of modern era. I stood up at the front of the classroom and lectured on this with a 72 count powerpoint presentation. I went to town and talked about everything. And when I was done speaking there were a lot of questions. I spent another 45 minutes discussing those.

Afterwards, I was outside with many of my classmates. I got a bunch of good reviews and was even told I should teach the class. So, I feel pretty good about that. I did very well when I thought I might not.

Today, in my Comparative Constitution class, a question was posed to us in the course of debating headscarves in Germany. The Metric system has yet to be adopted in the US making us the lone holdout against the rest of the world. What was brought up was our reason for not jumping on the bandwagon. It would cost trillions to change over all the measurements in the entire country. Well, other western nations have done that and we wouldn't be talking about a 2 year switchover plan. More like 20 year.

And, those trillions would create jobs. Which would create taxes. So, the trillions would end up in government coffers in some way. The government could even go so far as to offer tax deductions to companies who such and such money to implement the plan especially if they do so quicker than mandated by the 20 year plan. We'd start saving money because we spend gobs of money every year on conversions. Yes, conversions!!! In the end companies would save moeny. They also wouldn't have to make things like speedometers in two sets of numbers!

Ok, on this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.

A scant four years later, the last unit to surrender after the Civil War was the CSS Shenandoah. It circumnavigated the globe and went looking for ships to sink. Um, kind of sounds rednecky if you ask me, which you didn't. And it managed to fire it guns off the coast of Alaska.

On this day in 1917, the third battle of Ypres ends as does the irregular papers printed celebrating the "entrenched" battle being waged there.

Back in 1935, Edwin Armstrong revealed his radio discovery called Frequency Modulation aka, FM.

In 1985, "Irangate" was undergoing and it was uncovered that Reagan authorized shipments of arms to Iran.

Time to blow this popsicle stand.

Smoking Lamp is out!

Happy 4th of July

I'm just not even apologizing....

Today is our nation's birthday. I try to take the time every year to think about our country. In my ever so recent past, I've begun to reflect on what nation, the idea of nationness if you will, and how it affects my life. The nation is really a formal state one which carries laws that are governed as long as you/I as an entity occupy territory on said sovereign land. To call something a nation is to imply a self-governing body/bodies that create laws and enforce them. The sovereignty is thereby associated with territory and you/I may elect/be born as citizens of that state.

OK.... what does that mean? It means being a part of a nation/state is far different from the sovereign lords of old. In the era before the treaty of Westphallia, you owed allegiance to the lord/king/keeper of the realm. Their rulership was granted by God and they ruled with heavy hands. The nation/state made equality before the law a much more relevant possibilty. At the same time, nation/state would require our allegiance. Instead of going off to fight the petty war of some sovereign, we would pick up arms against another nation/state. We would defend our national territory from the curs of a foreign invader/oppressor. Many times, we, the United States of America, would fight over ideology or government systems. Fighting for one's country is far different than fighting for one's lord.

In the USA, we have also the Dream. The Dream is not about two cars in every farage. Its about the ideals that we as a nation/state were founded on. The idea of universal justice, oppurtunity, liberty, and freedom. Our nation was radical and took the Democratic apporach toward building the republic. The idea that many could be united as one was a powerful idea. Democracy as a large part of government practice had been for the most part dead since Caesar. To revive such a form of government was definitely a surprising move on the part of the newly made nation. But it was a part of the American Dream. For to have an aristocratic class that was heirachized and formal would work against all that men and women of the revolution had given their lives for. So... I'm one of those people.

On the 4th of July, I take the time to sit back and think about how unique we were. How radical, how liberal, how bold to make such decisions as to not have a king and rule by majority. Ever onwards, the Union faced crises that may have torn it apart. We have also had some our most exhilerating moments such as World War II and landing a man on the moon. But the idea of striving onwards whether to the prairies of the midwest or to desegregation, we are always pushing to move ourselves forwards.

The Dream still lives. Sure, its wrapped in the disguise of iPhones, iPods and I. but it is still there. So today, I lift a can of beer (Samuel Adams!) and salute... a lot of people. Here goes:

The Revolutionaries for coming up with this idea that is the USA.
The Confederates for reading that part about states' rights and taking it seriously.
The Yanks for forgiving the Rebs.
John Adams for being obnoxious and disliked (that cannot be denied).
George Washington for refusing to be a King.
Benjamin Franklin for conceding that the Eagle would be a better emblem for our country.
Thomas Jefferson for writing the Declaration of Independence (even if it wasn't that original). Thomas Paine for giving us all his two "sense".
Honest Abe for being forthright.
William Jennings Bryan for just being himself.
FDR for being the right guy at the right time. Only a cripple could lead a country out of its darkest hour.
The Greatest Generation. Words will never be able to convey what these millions of Americans did nor the grace and humility they did it with. Our nation will forever be shaped by these souls who came of age during the depression, went with little or none at all, and then ran off to free the world. To you I say thank you for being the Best Americans you could. Thanks for making this country what it is. Happy 4th of July!!!

And one last thing... Happy Birthday Steve Rogers, and thank you. A member of the Greatest Generation who did what countless others did but on the pages of a comic book. Be you dead or alive, Captain America, I still believe in that dream. And I miss ya. We need you now more than ever. To remind us that doing the right thing is more important than the best thing.

Now, bring on the fireworks