HOORAY! This week, the Senate approved a $124 billion Iraq war spending bill. This meager amount of cash would mean that troop withdrawal would have to start July 1, or October 1 at the latest. The Democrats in both Houses of Congress hailed this as a "victory". A victory? Really? I cannot recall a time when a victory for Congress was pandering to the Commander in Chief. I feel all the members of Congress need a little history lesson, or more accurately, a reading lesson. Article I, Section VIII of the Constitution of the United States says in part, "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;". The power to "provide for the common defense" also means that Congress has the right to not exercise that power. Even Caesar needed money for his wars, and Bush sure ain't no Caesar. The Democrats are so frickin' scared of being labeled "unpatriotic" by President Bush and his cronies.
One of the most loathed Senators in American history was Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin who started and flamed the Red Scare with his interrogation of hundreds of so-called "communists". He was a crazy alcoholic, but at least he had balls. He was even willing to challenge the President of the United States as a softy on communism. Now, those in Congress are so concerned about their images and not their convictions. Congress now seems like "American Idol" for the ugly and untalented. It's all about getting re-elected and looking like a "good guy". Politics needs to stop being a career. There should be a limit of 1 term ever for each member of the House or Senate. Maybe then, without having to worry about being re-elected, would their testicles drop for the first time since puberty. My point is this: politicians in Washington could care less about public service and only wish to serve themselves. They are supposed to be the best and the brightest; they are the mediocre and the dim.
Love him or hate him, Thomas Jefferson said this, ""The happiness and prosperity of our citizens... is the only legitimate object of government and the first duty of governors." Soldiers who come back with two of four limbs can neither be happy nor prosperous. Our government and our governors have failed us all. They could start mending the wound by demanding an immediate end to this war. They control the funds. Stop paying for it. Stop making it sounds like it is such a complicated process because I don't really see how it use. Just do the job the Constitution deems you do. No money = troops home. Everything else you say is just bullshit rhetoric. Invading Iraq was never for "the common defense" of America. Most of you sissy Democrats signed off on it without question and without studying the history of one of the most dysfunctional countries in world history (I'm talking about Iraq, remember Afghanistan?). Now is your chance to make right on your egregious error.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Only One to Blame
This post is dedicated to all those poor souls at Virginia Tech who lost their lives at the whim of a madman as well as the survivors who carry the heavy burden of knowing it could have been them and the unavoidable guilt of feeling "at least it wasn't me." All week long different 24-hour news stations have been trying to place blame on this or on that. Was it the university's fault for not sending out an email after the first shooting? Was it the gun sellers fault for selling a mentally disturbed young man a gun? Is it the gun control laws that have failed us yet again? Is it NBC's fault for granting this psycho his wish of being made into a disturbing celebrity? Honestly, what difference does it make? It is very similar to Hurrican Katrina. While everybody was debating whether or not President Bush of FEMA should have reacted sooner or if the City of New Orleans could have acted quicker, there were people stranded on their rooftops sweating and starving.
The wheelchair guy from OZ once said, "Blame makes the world go round. If you did something, you can just pass it on to the next guy and you don't have to suffer the consequences." In this case, blame lies with one person, Seung Hui Cho, a sick and twisted murderer. While he had the fortitude to carry out such a hideous action, he lacked the courage to accept the consequences. He clearly hated his life and had for a long time. Kill yourself then, fine, Quikstop won't judge you, but don't take 32 others down with you. Cho, your life still sucks and it always sucked. You are a murderer and a coward, the worst of the worst. The blame lies with you and so many others would not have to feel responsible or guilty for their actions or inactions if you had simply had the balls to keep living. You caused suffering to thousands of people and worry to millions of parents who wonder now, "Will my child be next?" It is no one's fault but his. No one should feel that he should have done more or should have "seen the signs". No No No. The responsibility for this horrible, tragic, saddening event is only Seung Hui Cho and no one else. He planned it and he pulled the triggers. Stop blaming the University of the gun sellers or the gun laws or the mental health professionals or anybody else. The responsible one is dead and with him 32 innocents. Don't place blame, mourn those 32 souls and pray that this never happens again.
The wheelchair guy from OZ once said, "Blame makes the world go round. If you did something, you can just pass it on to the next guy and you don't have to suffer the consequences." In this case, blame lies with one person, Seung Hui Cho, a sick and twisted murderer. While he had the fortitude to carry out such a hideous action, he lacked the courage to accept the consequences. He clearly hated his life and had for a long time. Kill yourself then, fine, Quikstop won't judge you, but don't take 32 others down with you. Cho, your life still sucks and it always sucked. You are a murderer and a coward, the worst of the worst. The blame lies with you and so many others would not have to feel responsible or guilty for their actions or inactions if you had simply had the balls to keep living. You caused suffering to thousands of people and worry to millions of parents who wonder now, "Will my child be next?" It is no one's fault but his. No one should feel that he should have done more or should have "seen the signs". No No No. The responsibility for this horrible, tragic, saddening event is only Seung Hui Cho and no one else. He planned it and he pulled the triggers. Stop blaming the University of the gun sellers or the gun laws or the mental health professionals or anybody else. The responsible one is dead and with him 32 innocents. Don't place blame, mourn those 32 souls and pray that this never happens again.
Friday, April 13, 2007
The Real Problem
Alright, Quikstop Terp has to sadly say here that the First Amendment has been completely shit on in the past 24 hours. Don Imus has been fired since I last wrote. Not because of what he said, but because his sponsors lacked backbone to support his freedom of speech. Michael Wilbon, (if you live on Mars and you've never heard of him, he's black), one of the few good sports journalists left at ESPN said yesterday on PTI, "I was not agitating for that [Imus' being fired] even though I was upset at what he said about the Rutgers Women's Basketball players. In some ways, it might seem to easy. I like that fact that Imus has Freedom of Speech and so do others that want to come back at him and he needed to be subjected to that ridicule and that criticism every single day." Michael Wilbon, Quikstop Terp officially has a man crush on you. Sorry. Deal with it. Like his reporting on the Maryland Terrapins, Wilbon has hit the nail right on the head with this one. The Freedom of Speech implies that sure, you can say as you wish, but you had best be prepared to take a verball ass-kicking from those who disagree. But I'm beating the metaphorical dead baby seal here so I will move on. Let me end the who Imus thing here: Don Imus was, is and always will be the epitome of an ASSHOLE (or GIANT DOUCHE if you prefer). I have never liked the man or his radio show. The very sight of him creeps me out. I still say "F*ck Don Imus!" but I refuse to ejaculate all over the 1st Amendment.
A little food for thought here: Al Sharpton and many black "spokespersons" (how can one speak for an entire race of people?) hooted and hollered for Don Imus' firing, and they got what they wanted. Quikstop Terp has no problem with that, it seems pretty democratic. Next time they hoot and holler, hoot and holler about these upcoming numbers. These numbers are from the 2000 Census, so I can only cynically infer that things has gotten worse. 47% of all black families in America are single parent familes 9.2% of black men are unemployed, compared to only 3.8% of white men. 26% of all blacks in America (the most prosperous nation on Earth, behind England) live in poverty; 36.7% of blacks youths live in poverty and 26% of the black community of retired age. Only 8% of whites are living in poverty. This is the real racism and segregation in this country. The type that puts kids to bed hungry every night with no father. As Mos Def said, "Numbers is hard and real and they never have feelings, but you push too hard and even numbers got limits...It's all mathematics."It saddens me greatly, gives me a heavy heart, that Al Sharpton who said, "I am of Dr. King's tradition" cares so much about what Don Imus said about 10 black college students and so little about the daily struggle of hundreds of thousands of blacks. F*ck you Al Sharpton and F*ck you Don Imus.
A little food for thought here: Al Sharpton and many black "spokespersons" (how can one speak for an entire race of people?) hooted and hollered for Don Imus' firing, and they got what they wanted. Quikstop Terp has no problem with that, it seems pretty democratic. Next time they hoot and holler, hoot and holler about these upcoming numbers. These numbers are from the 2000 Census, so I can only cynically infer that things has gotten worse. 47% of all black families in America are single parent familes 9.2% of black men are unemployed, compared to only 3.8% of white men. 26% of all blacks in America (the most prosperous nation on Earth, behind England) live in poverty; 36.7% of blacks youths live in poverty and 26% of the black community of retired age. Only 8% of whites are living in poverty. This is the real racism and segregation in this country. The type that puts kids to bed hungry every night with no father. As Mos Def said, "Numbers is hard and real and they never have feelings, but you push too hard and even numbers got limits...It's all mathematics."It saddens me greatly, gives me a heavy heart, that Al Sharpton who said, "I am of Dr. King's tradition" cares so much about what Don Imus said about 10 black college students and so little about the daily struggle of hundreds of thousands of blacks. F*ck you Al Sharpton and F*ck you Don Imus.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
My Blog
Hello All,
As you can see I have started a blog. I feel like it is about time I got one especially since I have a lot to say. Please feel free to disagree as I would like this to be a truly open public forum on the latest current events and issues. If there's anything that for some reason you'd actually like to see my opinion on, let me know. My email is tohara@mail.umd.edu and my sn is quikstop85. Enjoy.
As you can see I have started a blog. I feel like it is about time I got one especially since I have a lot to say. Please feel free to disagree as I would like this to be a truly open public forum on the latest current events and issues. If there's anything that for some reason you'd actually like to see my opinion on, let me know. My email is tohara@mail.umd.edu and my sn is quikstop85. Enjoy.
Get Off Imus' Junk
While I completely understand that what Don Imus said about the Rutgers women's basketball team was offensive and inappropriate (I'm from Jersey and no one gets away with insulting any aspect of Rutgers), last time I checked, we still had the Freedom of Speech protected under the 1st Amendment. In a time when our civil rights are being limited or taken away everyday, the freedom to say as we wish should be defended to the upmost. Furthermore, who really cares what old, wrinkly Don Imus has to say? How many people actually listen to his radio show or watch his television simulcast? Al Sharpton gets all upset about this, yet there are more black men in prison and on probation than in college. In my opinion, that is a far bigger racial issue than two sentences uttered stupidly by Don Imus. Although he offended many, no one has the right not to be offended (if you can find that section in the Constitution, please feel free to show it to me).
My advice is to take a cue from Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. When they Birmingham Bus Company was not allowing black riders nor hiring black drivers, they organized a boycott and stopped riding the bus. If you don't like Don Imus, don't listen to him. But to call for a man's firing because he said something racist and sexist is as un-American as soccer. If an old man is alone in the forest and drops the N bomb, does anyone really care? Stop the coverage ESPN, I want to see hockey highlights. There are far more important problems in the world (that thing in Iraq, global warming, increasing energy prices, the pitiful state of American education) than wrinkly, old Don Imus.
My advice is to take a cue from Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. When they Birmingham Bus Company was not allowing black riders nor hiring black drivers, they organized a boycott and stopped riding the bus. If you don't like Don Imus, don't listen to him. But to call for a man's firing because he said something racist and sexist is as un-American as soccer. If an old man is alone in the forest and drops the N bomb, does anyone really care? Stop the coverage ESPN, I want to see hockey highlights. There are far more important problems in the world (that thing in Iraq, global warming, increasing energy prices, the pitiful state of American education) than wrinkly, old Don Imus.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
