On Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago, Amy Poehler (SNL cast member) opened the show pretended to be Senator Clinton. The plot of the skit was that Clinton was announcing to her opponents, over television, that she was obviously going to be the next president and wanted to give thanks to those who ran against her. While giving thanks to most of them with a snide and discrete rude comment, it was entertaining to see the way the skit was unraviling. At the end, she announces how she'll be in office until 2016 and she'll be proud to see which one of her opponents now will be the next president and she'll support them wholeheartedly whil her and Bill will be the secretary of defence for United Nations and the Pope.
I tried to find a link but apparantly it was not funny enough for someone to post on you tube =/
My main point of this post is what Gwaltney has been saying, we have two families running the white house for twenty year- bushs' and clintons'. Is this a good thing? I don't know, I can't really think of any negative effects except if you didn't like the first one the first time around you probablly won't like the next member from that family.
It is a good thing I was a fan of Bill because Hillary's views are pretty similar and I do think she'll be in office until 2016 like SNL joked about. Even though they were mocking the candidates, alot of what is funny about those skits is that they are true. Hillary is probablly going to become the most powerful woman in America and after her years as President she will move on to something even bigger, something concerning the world. Most likely a position in the UN like SNL mocked.
Not a very factual post but I recommend trying to find this clip and I think it'll be more understandable to those of you who did not see this skit.
-JSLD
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Vietnam war=Iraq war
Since the internet on both my home computers has been down for the past two days until now, I needed to do something with my Saturday afternoon that could entertain me as much as facebook or AIM. I decided I would go to Blockbuster and see what movies I might be interested and I came across a miniseries that aired in 1999 called "the '60s", directed by Mark Piznarski. I am not going to make this blog my critique on the movie, but I'd like to compare the 1960s with our present time. More specifically, I'd like to compare the war in Vietnam with our current war in Iraq.
After seeing this film I realized how many close ties the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam have and how comparable and almost intertwinable the two tragic events in our history and present history are. When the soldiers were sent to Vietnam, they fought for our country, the country they respected and trusted. Those soldiers sacrificed their lives because, even though they were not told the details of why they were truly there, they had faith in the United States where they believed they would not be put in this type of situation unless it was necessary. Except, when those soldiers came back home, as like most solidiers who came back from war, they were changed men and some distanced and detatched themselves from society. Most reacted this way because they thought back on the sins and evils they commited and didn't really understand why, or what they were fighting for.
Also, if not importantly, American civilians were being lied to about the war, its meaning, the tragedies occuring there every day, and the depth of evil behind it. The government was secretive about most of the events happening there and most people would believer the Vietnamese were the enemies, that they should hate those people because there most of been something they did wrong to our country, that is why we are over there fighting. Ya, that's right, the thousands of familes, children, in Vietnam who were tortured, were all conspiring to hurt the U.S. in some way. Of course there is the lie that this was against the communism in Vietnam, but most of the people who were killed in the country were not affiliated and had no control over their corruptful government.
My main message of this blog, if people still can not see the similarities of the two wars, is hopefully the war in Iraq never gets as bad, or is as bad, as Vietnam was. I fear that there are secrets the government is not telling us and we do not know the extremeties of our current situation over there. I fear that our soldiers are going to come back home mentally changed and unstable. I fear that this war will not end because of stubborness. There is no winner in war, and until we realize that, then only more damage will be done.
After seeing this film I realized how many close ties the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam have and how comparable and almost intertwinable the two tragic events in our history and present history are. When the soldiers were sent to Vietnam, they fought for our country, the country they respected and trusted. Those soldiers sacrificed their lives because, even though they were not told the details of why they were truly there, they had faith in the United States where they believed they would not be put in this type of situation unless it was necessary. Except, when those soldiers came back home, as like most solidiers who came back from war, they were changed men and some distanced and detatched themselves from society. Most reacted this way because they thought back on the sins and evils they commited and didn't really understand why, or what they were fighting for.
Also, if not importantly, American civilians were being lied to about the war, its meaning, the tragedies occuring there every day, and the depth of evil behind it. The government was secretive about most of the events happening there and most people would believer the Vietnamese were the enemies, that they should hate those people because there most of been something they did wrong to our country, that is why we are over there fighting. Ya, that's right, the thousands of familes, children, in Vietnam who were tortured, were all conspiring to hurt the U.S. in some way. Of course there is the lie that this was against the communism in Vietnam, but most of the people who were killed in the country were not affiliated and had no control over their corruptful government.
My main message of this blog, if people still can not see the similarities of the two wars, is hopefully the war in Iraq never gets as bad, or is as bad, as Vietnam was. I fear that there are secrets the government is not telling us and we do not know the extremeties of our current situation over there. I fear that our soldiers are going to come back home mentally changed and unstable. I fear that this war will not end because of stubborness. There is no winner in war, and until we realize that, then only more damage will be done.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Torture!...or is it?
An editorial piece in the New York Times discusses how the Bush administration has dishonored the history and squandered the respect of America that we have taken so long to gain and worked so hard to get by creating secret prisons where people are held without charges, tortured, and killed. After September eleventh, President Bush allowed for an extralegal detention camp, specifically the one at Guantanamo Bay, where the Central Intelligence Agency operatives could extract information from prisoners who were captured and held in secret. Except, we are now using techniques that are tortuous and embarrassing towards our country.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared that these tortuous acts did not violate the standard of “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” This allowed the White House to keep on torturing the victims.
What is truly unbelievable about this is the fact that it is the United States that is now the creator of such a disgusting prison. A country where justice, habeas corpus, and equality are all raised with dignity and pride. The United States helped with the collapse of communism, but now we are imitating some of the negative attributes we condoned in the past.
It is unfortunate that we are using torture to try and obtain truth from these prisoners because experts in these matters generally agree that torture produces false confessions. Also, it is very possible that many of these prisoners are not actually guilty, but they do not have a fair chance to try and become free. We need to give these prisoners their rights, especially if we plan to have other countries follow our actions.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared that these tortuous acts did not violate the standard of “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.” This allowed the White House to keep on torturing the victims.
What is truly unbelievable about this is the fact that it is the United States that is now the creator of such a disgusting prison. A country where justice, habeas corpus, and equality are all raised with dignity and pride. The United States helped with the collapse of communism, but now we are imitating some of the negative attributes we condoned in the past.
It is unfortunate that we are using torture to try and obtain truth from these prisoners because experts in these matters generally agree that torture produces false confessions. Also, it is very possible that many of these prisoners are not actually guilty, but they do not have a fair chance to try and become free. We need to give these prisoners their rights, especially if we plan to have other countries follow our actions.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Let's DO something already!
Recently, I read in a New York Times news piece that George W Bush announced a plan for countries to figure out their own way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. People have been arguing that Bush will not step up to the plate and take this global warming problem seriously. The officials at the Washington forum said legally-set international targets were the only way to tackle climate change.
President Bush wants each country to figure out on their own how to tackle global warming. The ministers, diplomats, and officials attending the United States-sponsored forum on energy security and climate change.
Their solution is for the US to not make this issue a voluntary one, because our lives are at risk. Bush has consistently opposed mandatory cuts on emissions in other countries. Instead, the President has promoted voluntary approaches. Bush wants to set up long term plans that just show that we’re interested, not that we intend to do anything immediately.
This is ridiculous. Global warming is not an option anymore and if we are going to be involved in other countries political situations then we should be if it concerns our air as well.
-JSLD
President Bush wants each country to figure out on their own how to tackle global warming. The ministers, diplomats, and officials attending the United States-sponsored forum on energy security and climate change.
Their solution is for the US to not make this issue a voluntary one, because our lives are at risk. Bush has consistently opposed mandatory cuts on emissions in other countries. Instead, the President has promoted voluntary approaches. Bush wants to set up long term plans that just show that we’re interested, not that we intend to do anything immediately.
This is ridiculous. Global warming is not an option anymore and if we are going to be involved in other countries political situations then we should be if it concerns our air as well.
-JSLD
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