I Guess It's Real

January 20th, 2009.  

Put all the rhetoric, the promises, the politics, the disagreements and the skepticism in public office aside. Today was an historic day. Though we may have had our fill of congratulatory calls to mark 'the first African American' to do this and that, something pretty fucking grand happened today.

Be happy you're alive to see it. Be happy your family is around to share the experience. I certainly am. 

Time to see how the man goes about the business of the country. Best of luck.

It's just dirt... right?

I could go through a series of articles to get exact stats about how many killed, when, by what methods, etc. I won't, because unless you're living under a rock, you're quite aware that Israel and Palestine are at war (yes, still) and that the conflict has escalated dramatically in the New Year.

Despite my limited understanding of the history of that part of the globe, I am fairly comfortable saying that the fighting is stupid. To the best of my knowledge, the centuries long battle originated with conflicting claims to an area viewed by some as the holiest place in the world. Significant for different reasons to three major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), the land has changed hands countless times through typically violent encounters. As I understand it, the recent problems originated in the mid 20th century with the creation of Israel as an independent country on lands largely inhabited by Muslims. In the 21st century, Islamic groups have regained control of much of the "Gaza Strip" but have faced (and responded in kind to) persecution at the hands of Israelis. It seems that the fundamental problem today is that the Palestinian people were pushed out and (over)crowded on that strip, and that their (sometimes violent) efforts to expand territorially have sparked (sometimes violent) responses from Israel.

My question, naive as it may be, is: why can these people not coexist? Why does one religious group require an absolute claim to a geographic location?

I must be missing something, and I am reluctant to "take sides" in such a contentious political issue (about which I am so ignorant), but my impression is that Israel is bullying a militarily weaker group. Perhaps the Palestinians "started it" in their attempts to expand, but I am left to wonder why they cannot be allowed sufficient living space. What is the problem with Muslims taking residence in a so-called Jewish country?

Generally, this points me toward a problem I've been thinking about for a little while - the harm done to others in the name of religion. How does something purportedly positive lead to so many negative circumstances? Why are people so possessive of land; and why can't Jews and Muslims live together in a government without religious affiliation?

I guess I'm more idealistic than I thought.




Long ass post. To anyone that's out there - welcome back.

[November 4th. 11:46 pm. CNN's live coverage of election night 2008]





Wolf Blitzer: Welcome to a historic night of election coverage here on CNN. We've just heard John McCain's formal concession speech, and in a moment we'll go to Barack Obama headquarters to hear from our President-elect. In fact, I'm getting word that Mr. Obama is on his way out now; Let's hear from our next United States President.

[Cut to Obama HQ]


Fellow Americans! Thank you... Thank You... Please; Thank you all so much for your support. Your hope in progress has made tonight a prime example of change we can believe in. I must say, your faith in me as a leader has been exceptional, but I need to reveal one thing that you may not know...




















[I wake up in a cold sweat]

Now, it's doubtful that if Obama wins, he'll beat up Joe Biden and join some Republican Alliance. It's also doubtful that either Obama or (hopefully not) McCain will dramatically change anything about how the country is run. Hopefully we can recover from these economic crises and stop fighting losing wars, but only time will tell.





I did vote though. And it felt kinda good.

Black or Red: Which is more hated?

Barack Obama is a Socialist. At least that's what some people want you to think.

What does it mean when people are more concerned about having a "socialist" president than a black president? Progress in terms of racial prejudice? Eh... I think not.

It almost happened...

So this afternoon I was walking home with a girl I'm in class with and who happens to live right around the corner from me. We were having a pleasant conversation about how things are going so far. At one point, our talk shifted to the half-joking subject of our common concerns of "why did this school accept me? Did they send the letter by mistake?" (that's probably a subject I'll go into another time) Anyway, as we neared our respective houses, the conversation went something like this:

Me: I really kinda feel like they checked the wrong box and now they're thinking "damn! he actually accepted our offer." Seriously, I'm wondering why I'm here instead of somebody else.
Her: Well, they probably needed somebody... ... female. But, actually, there's a lot of girls here.
Me: haha... Yea I don't know. Well i'm doing well so far so I guess they made the right choice.
(laughter)


So my thought is, she was going to say "black" but decided not to, leading to that long pause. Maybe i'm being paranoid. It's possible that she was going to say it jokingly but realized she didn't know me that well and racial jokes might not go over with me. Looking back on it, I might have just laughed if she said it. (part of that is the fact that i'm pretty sure i'm here at least in part because i'm black) It's also possible though, that she's anti-affirmative action and bitterly thinks I'm underqualified to be here. I think this is unlikely, as she seems like a really nice person and because almost everyone i've met here is quite liberal (though race tends to make people think in funny ways).

Whatever though. I laughed off what I perceived as a potential misstep, and I think I would have laughed it off if she had said what I thought she was going to say.


I just thought I'd share my first mildly uncomfortable moment here as a result of issues of color.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

Yes, I'm clearly politically biased. This is awesome though. Enjoy.

Someone is going to PAY!!!

I'm sure most of you have read or at least heard about the financial crisis that has occurred on Wall Street. Well for some reason while sitting at work, (lol yea I'm not doing anything today) and reading an article, it hit me that I am furious over what happened. These CEOs and brokers sit back and steal all this money from these hard working Americans who put their trust and their money in them and they go and blow it. They sit back and play Russian roulette with peoples money and when the bullet comes up they point the gun right at you. I just find it strangely ironic how ass-backwards the United States is. Someone who holds up a bank or store so they can feed their family is considered a criminal and goes to jail, but rich executives who make a career off of thievery get a government bailout and stick the American taxpayer with the bill. O well we pissed your money away trying to make ourselves rich and we messed up sorry...so ummm you think you can give us more of your money so we can do the same thing again? Something is not right here and one day all of those thieves will pay. It may not be when we want it or how we want but you know what they say about karma.