Learn This

I’ve had a busy couple months, so I haven’t updated this blog in a while, but I’d like to write out some ideas about our education system and see if anyone has any comments.

This is going to be a two or maybe three part series on what I think is wrong with the education system in this country. In part one, I want to write about college and how it’s becoming a scam and will very likely lead to another financial bubble.

Everyone today is encouraged to go to college. College is great and extremely worthwhile if you know what you want to do and are driven to achieve it. College is a lot of money. After room, board, tuition, books, and any spending money, you’re looking an investment that could cost $200K+. That is serious. Most high school kids have no idea what they want to do with their lives except make money/be successful. If you were an investor, would you invest tens or hundred of thousands of dollars in a business who’s model is “be successful” without any sort of plan? Of course not. So why does society pressure high schoolers to make that same investment on themselves? There are only two reasons I could think of.

1) This is some sort of scam/ponzi scheme/conspiracy involving the university system, banks and the government. There are so many BS “universities” and “colleges” out there I wonder what sort the accrediting procedure is like. When is WikiVersity and the University of Reddit getting accredited? Every time I see a resume where “Devry” is listed, I throw it away. Sorry you wasted your money on that degree. It is not a competitive degree. It proves almost nothing other than you are able to be duped into believing it’s going to make you attractive among the masses of traditional degrees.

So, maybe these BS schools realize that their degrees are worthless and just hope their marketing campaigns are more effective than word of mouth.  The real money makers are the holders of the loans. There is about a trillion dollars worth of student debt in this country. A trillion dollars. That’s a lot of money that can be repackaged, restructured, and blown into more money, aka 2008′s smash hit; the mortgage crisis. Do you think Sallie Mae is any more ethical than Fannie Mae? Sallie Mae is both the lender and the collector. Shady.

Basically, there is a lot of money to be made and more students mean more business.

2) I think the more likely reason is that the United States knows it’s declining and we’re stuck with this idea that college=success. This is a  old, ingrained idea. Watch “The Pride of the Yankees” around the 6 or 7 minute mark. That’s how it used to be. People think if everyone goes to college, we’ll have a country full of “Uncle Otto”s, i.e. engineers, doctors and bankers. That’s because in 1942, the only people who went to college were those who were brilliant and serious about a specific path, aka today’s doctorate candidates. In reality, there are so many people in college that it dilutes the quality for those that really should be there. More students mean more money. More students mean a need for a bigger infrastructure to deal with people who aren’t ready for college. Less money for professors, more money for anti-drinking campaigns.  By including everyone in the college experience, everyone gets hurt.  Having more college graduates does not necessarily help the country. It actually hurts the country. We now have an a huge segment of the population that can’t find jobs but have huge debts to pay. We no longer have a section of the population that is willing to accept manufacturing jobs.

College is an awesome and great thing for many people, but it is a huge investment that we shun people into accepting. This needs to stop. I don’t know how we’re going to pay back that debt, but what’s done is done. Let’s not make it any worse.  It’s alright if colleges remain a business model but the government needs to stop telling people they need to go to college if they want a future. That being said, I think that takes me to Part 2.

K-12 education is designed to prepare student to get into college. That is the goal. We prepare kids to take standardized tests, encourage students to take a ton of extracurricular activities, and memorize a lot of information they’ll never need so they can have a good GPA.  Isn’t it a little ridiculous to provide absolutely no financial training to students and then demand that they make the biggest investment of their lives?

The whole K-12 experience is about getting into a good college, but shouldn’t it be about making sure students will be successful and ready to contribute to our society?

Plans

So due to some changes in my career path, I’m going to have much more time to work on this blog. This is fantastic, as it coincides with the baseball post season, football season, the election season and the beginning smells of college basketball.  I have so much to talk about! at least one a week is the goal.

I’d also like to discuss the Bill of Rights and detail what I think each one means and how they’re being infringed upon (Quartering of Troops!?!?! That’ll be a good post).  So I’ll try and make that some sort of 10 part series.

Right now, if anyone speaks with Doug Marrone, please forward my request to improve our offensive line.

Happy wedding season!

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Quote of the week:

We want to make Google the third half of your brain. – Sergey  Brin, Google’s co-founder

Mosque Madness

First, before I start this post, I think it’s crazy that 1) my blog’s images are SEOed out for no apparent reason. When searching for “bp explosion” (in quotes), I’m one of the first images. Same for some of the other images on this blog. The real crazy part is no matter what I type into Google (even if I put in ‘carsties’ or “carsties.wordpress.com’), I cannot get that photo of the dead whale to come up in the search results. It took me forever to find, and I feel like some BP is somehow responsible for this little PR bandaid. Let me know if I’m doing something wrong!

So, I’ve been trying to write a blog post for a while. Nothing has really gotten me really that angry besides the usual bullshit like this or this or this or this (those are all great articles to check out). Lately, everyone from my friends to co-workers to my mother to Sarah Palin has been asking me “Matt, what do you think about that gosh darn Mosque down at the Ground Zero?” (that’s how Sarah put it). So, I’m going to voice my opinion on the matter and oy vey.

This is the Great Mosque in Córdoba, Spain. Dear Architects, please replicate.

So, I’d just like to start off with a little background on the subject. First, for those of you who have not been to New York City, the Financial District is NYC’s oldest neighborhood. It’s home of the first area of European settlement in NYC (New Amsterdam), it’s where Wall Street is and where modern capitalism was invented and reinvented. Battery Park is there, St. Paul’s Chapel, Trinity Church (which was made famous by National Treasure) and of course, it was the former home of Twin Towers, which collapsed in an event that defined the last decade and will still have effects 100 years from now. This event was done by radical terrorists who identify themselves with the most extreme of the anti-Americans, Al-Qaeda.  These people also tend to be Muslims.  Just to let you know, there are radical non-Muslims and non-radical Muslims as well.

Soho Properties, a Muslim-run real estate firm purchased the old Burlington Coat Factory in July 2009 for just shy of 5 million dollars; pretty cheap (the property was damaged in the attacks and it was an old Burlington Coat Factory….gross!).  Around the same time, Soho Properties was purchasing other real estate such as this $47 gem in Chelsea (which is ironically 4 blocks away from another old Burlington Coat Factory….conspiracy!). One of the main investors in Soho Properties is “the Cordoba Initiative” which “aims to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tensions”. They decided to do achieve this goal by building a 100 million dollar Mosque/Center for Islam in the Financial District called the Cordoba House.

Before this even happened, the old Burlington Coat Factory was being used as a Muslim prayer center. From the NYTimes:

“….with the outside rumblings of construction at ground zero as a backdrop, hundreds of Muslims crowd inside, facing Mecca in prayer and listening to their imam read in Arabic from the Koran.”

Once again, people in a Burlington Coat Factory with heads down, and praying for better

No one said anytime. Sarah Palin was busy learning where Russia is. On May 6, 2010 Community Board #1 unanimously endorsed the construction of the Cordoba House (recently renamed the less-muslim sounding “Park51″).  I remember reading that article on May 7. Everyone was pretty quiet. I had some comments, but that was it. Then, the national media somehow became aware of this and it was everywhere. Glenn Beck was interested. Keith Olbermann had to respond. Sarah Palin had to add her thoughts. Newt Gingrich is talking about it. SO, here’s my commentary on the subject.

First, I’m going to attack Soho Properties because they’re the first ones to make a stupid move. Everyone involved in this debate rethink things. If I was looking to build what will be the most expensive and elaborate Mosque in the United States, 600 feet from the WTC would not be at the top of my list. I understand, we’re trying to bring understanding to the faith. That’s awesome, and great. I’m all for building a community center where people can learn that Islam is not a religion of violence (well not anymore than Christianity or Judaism), just not so close to where the biggest act of Muslim-perpetrated violence is. Not only that, but your center is going to be the future hate-crime capital. The Cordoba Center is going to be overshadowed by the WTC incident (as well as the current controversy) and people are not going to be rational enough to even listen to anything that the Koran may have to teach. It’s like building a Center of European Excellence in the Selma town square or a Shinto Temple on walkway to the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor. It’s just really stupid and there are better places. How about in the East Village, which is a very liberal, understanding area that also has had, time and time again, a huge impact on the culture of this country?

Next up on my list of morons, is this Board that approved it. This should have never have been approved. I’m going to assume that everyone on this board was paid-off to approve this. No one could be this stupid.

This is the mosque that is going to be built at Ground Zero. Pretty sweet actually.

It was a unanimous vote? Come on….   No one considered that this might cause a controversy? They are on that board to make judgment calls for what is in the best interests of the residents and businesses and I have a feeling that a unanimous vote does not reflect the opinions of such constitutes. Note, Soho Properties didn’t have to get the Board’s approval.

“They bought the land; they were not required to appear before us,” says Ro Sheffe, chair of the financial district committee for Community Board 1. “They are good neighbors.”

Yo Sheffe, you could have at least voted against it, which would have given Soho Properties a yellow light instead of the a green.

Lastly, are “the patriots“. I don’t complain when you erect another idol worshipping mega-church; I laugh. So stop trying to determine the values of this country for everyone. You don’t like Muslims because of 9/11? lol. Get a fucking life. This country is supposed to be built on tolerance (continually being “perfected”) including religious tolerance. There are about 30 churches in the Financial District (do a Google Map search, I lost count around 20), the closest mosque is on Warren Street in Tribeca.

“Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesnt it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate,” – Palin in a Tweet

“Refudiate” is some sort of Palin concoction of “refute” and “repudiate”. I kind of like it actually. I can’t really comment on the meat of this Tweet. I don’t really understand why people in the “heartland”, i.e. the “real Americans” are so concerned about what buildings go up in a city that most of them hate.  I think Wal-Marts are pretty much town-killers and it stabs me in the heart when I see one and all the local businesses they’re killed. If we refudiate the Ground Zero Mosque, maybe you can refudiate a Wal-Mart or two.

“The former Speaker of the House [Newt Gingrich] has announced his opposition to a $100 million Islamic Center and mosque planned for a site two blocks from Ground Zero in Manhattan, because no synagogues or churches are allowed in Saudi Arabia and he wants to know the center’s funding sources.”

Really Newt? We’re going to go copy Saudi Arabia? Also, you want to see the funding behind a private corporation? Great, let’s take a look into some of your recent financial escapades as someone who’s looking for a presidential 2012 run.

Basically, yes Park51/The Cordoba House/Ground Zero Mosque was a stupid idea to begin with. Oh well. It’s been decided and now the argument is over. Let’s stop acting like Mohammed himself was the pilot of the plane and let these people build their mosque.

Robert Rubin, former Treasury secretary is being welcomed "abroad" Citigroup in this picture. He would go onto take 120 million by socializing the financial risks while keeping profits private.

It’s going to have a swimming pool, theater, a library and a whole bunch of other amenities that will be open to the public. Also, it is conveniently located next to the Dakota Roadhouse, one of NYC’s finest drinking and fried food establishments. I will be able to swim, drink and read up on 12th century Muslim Imams all on the same block.

You know what is insulting that’s in the Financial District? Wall Street. You want something to be angry about? That. I want those banks liquidated. I want wall street executives in prison. That is what should happen when you willingly steal, repeatedly, from the American people. That to me is 1000x more revolting than a mosque. Let’s pay attention to that.  Let’s get angry about that, and let the Muslims build their community center to show us how awesome they say they are.

BP – “Beyond Persecution”

I normally start my entries with a rant about whatever, but I want you to be as pissed as I am at BP, so I’m going to start with some photos. Also, the only people who visit my blog are coming for the photos (yes I’m referring to those of you who are google imaging “sandlot squintz” and “banksy west bank”).

Let ‘er rip!

The Louisiana Coast; March 2010's Most Vibrant, Beautiful and Ecological Diverse Place

Carl-Henric Svanberg is BP's Chairman and a Grade A Douche.

This is what you get when you add a dying whale, BP oil, and the Gulf sun.

The effects are not all environmental. Let's not forget the 11 workers who were killed in the explosion that was the result of BP's neglegence

Yes, we all want our lives back, especially if those lives involve yachting. It's nice Tony Hayward has someplace to escape to unlike the wildlife of the coast or the already screwed over (and now even more screwed over) residents of the Gulf.

Wednesday morning, William Allen Krause, a boat captain BP had hired, shot himself in the head. Peace out Mr. Kruse. We'll get the fuckers.

I was reading a Facebook post that we shouldn’t be too angry, clearly BP and the US government are aware that there is a major problem in the gulf and it could spell out the beginning of the end for BP and put a big black mark on the Obama administration. They certainly want to fix things and we can’t expect Obama to put on a wet suit and get down to the leak.  Point taken.

Counterpoint – We also don’t expect Obama to grab an M-16 and get over to Afghanistan (well I do, but I can understand if you think that’s unreasonable).  However, I think we all agree that we expect the Obama Administration to take charge of situations. Hey Barack, you wanna know whose ass you gotta kick? I got some names, dog.

So in one quick summary sentence for anyone whose been hiking in the woods since April or a 1985 Marty McFly, here’s what happened. BP’s oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded off the coast of Lousiana and killed 11 workers. The explosion let loose a leak of oil that has been estimated to have already released as many as 120 million gallons (that’s about 12 Exxon Valdezes). They can’t figure out how to plug the hole.

The messed up part is that BP has pretty much taken control of the situation, shared very little information, and won’t let anyone else intervene. The government seems to be alright with this. Bill Clinton is in favor of blowing the whole thing up unless BP’s engineers fix it. Hey Bill, just outta curiosity, are BP’s engineers the top engineers at fixing underwater oil leaks? Doesn’t look that way. Why are we letting these people continue to run the show down there? They’re not letting the press in and seem to be blocking all sorts of content (it took me about 30 minutes to find that picture of the whale, even though there are about 70 stories on it, a bunch with fake pictures of said whale).  And Barack Obama wants to know whose ass he has to kick.

Meanwhile, at the BP executives just want their lives back. Their yacht filled lives where they have affairs and vacations. Carl-Henric Svanberg (the douche in the photo) let us know that BP cares about “the little people”. Basically, the mentality of BP is “we’re working very hard, but not too hard. We care about the people, but not too much to consider them equals. We respect the government and press, just not enough to involve them”. Meanwhile, the government is thinking “Man! I hope they fix that soon!”

I like Bill Clinton’s #4 suggestion. Basically he said, since we’re going to leave it up to BP at plug the leak, stop it from reaching the shores, and clean up the spill, we need to figure out who screwed up. That’s our job.

I want ALL the information regarding this explosion, leak, spill, everything.  Everything BP knows, we have to know. They’re sending internal memos regarding how much oil is leaking? No fucking way. We’re treating these people like some sort of higher authority than the US government when they’re the ones who messed up.

Here’s the kicker. Here’s how awesome the government is at doing stuff. Remember all that crazy stuff going on in

This is what BP considers onshore drilling. It is 3 miles off the coast of Alaska. Even if you're pro-offshore drilling, you have to admit this is deceitful, sketchy, and illegal

previous years about drilling in Alaska (remember that idiot woman bouncing around saying “Drill Baby Drill”). We weren’t going to do that. That was a bad idea. In retrospect, given the current situation, that’s an especially bad idea. Hey government, what do you think? Yep! Do it! Also, the only one that’s allowed to drill there will be BP. They’re great with fragile, pristine environments. Offshore drilling of course has been temparorily banned until the public forgets about the oil spill, but BP built an island 3 miles off the coast of Alaska. That constitutes “onshore drilling”.  In regards to the environmental safety, the NYTimes reports: “

BP has defended the project in its proposal, saying it is safe and environmentally friendly. It declined to respond to requests for further comment.”

Has everyone lost their fucking minds????? We’re going to let BP, the company that is directly responsible for the ongoing and worst environmental disaster in US history, drill a well, that should be illegal, in the pristine Alaska?

I give the shit up. This is more ridiculous that letting a horse judge run FEMA or the Vice President shooting someone in the face. You win Obama. You win sir.

Here are additional minor things that worry me.

1) The chance (and high probability) that the oil will hit the Loop Current in the Gulf, which spits it out into the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream goes all the way up the east coast, and very quickly. We could be looking at an oily winter in NYC!

2) There’s no promises that the relief wells (the two wells should  be done by mid-August) will work. It’s very probable that they will, but that’s the same story as every other plan BP has. Who knows. What’s the long-term plan? This article mentions that we’ll use an existing platform. Is that really the best idea? Maybe, but I think we need more open information to know for sure. Slick Willy says we should blow the holes up so a “bunch of rocks and stuff fall on top of the hole; plugging it up”. Right…..

3) Oilcanes! Take 1 part crude oil, mix with one class 3-4-5 hurricane and you have an oilcane. Basically a hurricane that contains bits of oil and chemical dispersant. Fun! I don’t think we’ve ever seen an oilcane, so who knows what will happen. Fields covered in oil (that’ll be fun to see once some lightning strikes and those oil drenched towns are lit up.) Talk about making an entire area inhabitable. This season is gearing up to be a big hurricane season and we have an always growing oil spill. Trouble brewing.

In short, I can’t believe that this situation is now on Day 73 and we’re still letting BP, who caused this mess run the

This is Eisenhower preparing troops for D-Day. You can consider him a "community organizer"

show. It’s embarrassing. Barack, you couldn’t kick Malia’s ass. We elected you to lead us through what we knew were going to be some troubled times and you can’t even handle BP. What happens when Iran starts throwing it’s weight around? Step up to the plate, kick these assholes out of the area, and get some stuff done. What would Eisenhower do? What would Washington do? Certainly not stand around and hope that some foreign company is going to have our interests in mind. It’s absurd to think that would be the case, especially given the past 73 days. Then to let them drill in Alaska just really begs the question as to where our priorities are. Please, please, please do something.

These are a few of my favorite things….

Although I do like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, I didn’t encounter either of those today. What a shame.

I did come across a lot of cool stuff today though, like this awesome article from The Onion.

Also, I knew that the Battle of Long Island took place somewhere around Prospect Park, but never really investigated where. Today while running through said Park, I found said spot; Battle Pass. We unfortunately had our asses kicked at that battle (and Washington and Co. were kicked out of NYC and forced to retreat to Valley Forge). I still think it’s cool that there’s a Revolutionary War battle site 10 minutes from my house.

I’ll take Cliff Lee for some cash and a couple AAA catchers (apparently we have reserves, so whatever). As for the hitting, I’m willing to bet that Tex will have a fantastic second half. I’m also willing to bet that Javier will continue to be a .500 pitcher just like he has his entire career. Bye.

Lastly, here are some cool pictures from the week. I’m going to try and get better about giving credit where it’s due and avoid copyright infringement….

Dis die Wêreldbeker!

Hot Diggity Damn!!

This is a model of Beijing. What is it, a city of ants?? FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

This is the only cool thing in Times Square but it's awesome! Credit: Molly Dilworth

This sailor looks like he had one too many. Fuck...I left my keys at the Patriot. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Israel Fail

Israel, Israel, Israel. WTF. I’ve already had a lovely and lively discussion about the Gaza flotilla episode with some of my wonderful Israeli friends. The conversation prompted me write out my thoughts on the matter and clarify what I was trying to convey.

First, this situation does not have anything to do with my feelings toward Israel, its legitimacy, or anything of that nature. That’s a whole different post. This post is all about how stupid the Israeli government is and how poorly this situation was handled. It’s also about why I’m angry as an American, as we support Israel diplomatically, militarily, and economically. When they do stupid things, it makes us look stupid. Also, as a side note, stop playing games with us. Don’t lie about knowing about building settlements, you just look stupid. Also, let Noam Chomsky in when he comes to visit. Once again, you look stupid when you stop letting people in based on their viewpoints. You’re supposed to be a democracy; act like one.

That being said, let’s get to the facts here. First, here’s some brief background information on the situation. The Gaza Strip is a small piece of land (a little bigger than Brooklyn) within Israel that is not controlled by Israel, but rather the Hamas run government. However, Israel does controls most of Gaza’s borders (with the exception of its border with Egypt. Egypt also dislikes Hamas.), it’s waters, and it’s airspace. This pretty much puts the Gaza Strip into a little bubble that is very hard to enter/exit. Hamas has a nasty habit of launching weapons at Israel from within Gaza, and since there are no weapons plants within the territory, it’s obvious that they are coming from somewhere else. Also, Israel is very concerned with Hamas utilizing just about any materials for the wrong reason, and so they’ve banned items such as concrete from entering the territory (building materials were being used to construct underground smuggling tunnels). Hamas argues that it needs these building materials to repair Gaza after the 2008-2009 war it had with Israel as well as just for general building.

Enter the “Free Gaza Movement” which claims to be a humanitarian aid movement designed to bring aid to Gaza. They have a number of famous members such as Nobel Laureates Mairead Maguire and Mairead Corrigan, Desmond Tutu, and Tony Blair’s sister-in-law. The Free Gaza Movement has landed a few times in Gaza successfully (August and October 2008, and then in June 2009). In June 2009 the Israelis had inspected the supplies that the boat was carrying, approved them and then delivered the goods to Gaza themselves (or so they say).

In May 2010, the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) attempted another trip to Gaza to deliver 20 million dollars worth of aid (including building materials such as concrete). Several vessels with a wide range of flags (American, Turkish, Greek, and more) left Istabul with over 600 people including a member of the Knesset, and Mairead Corrigan. On May 30, the Israeli Navy flanked the head ship, the Mavi Marmara with two boats and a helicopter and warned them that they are getting close to Gaza (40 miles from the Gazan shore and 28 miles deep in international waters) and to turn back or they can bring their aid supplies through Israeli checkpoints on land if they want. The FGM refused, and Israeli troops boarded the ships. Details at this point are controversial so I’m not going to state anything. The Israeli navy and government state that the activists/terrorists had  pistols and knives and tried to fight. The boaters deny this. In the end 9 members of the FGM were killed including an American citizen who was shot 4 times in the head and once in the chest. 34 other FGMers were hospitalized. The Israeli government states that 10 solders were injured including two gunshot wounds. Israel has stated that it will conduct it’s own investigation of the incident and international observers are welcome to watch but will not be allowed to conduct their own investigation.

Most recently, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to explore “creative solutions” to facilitate the flow of good[s] into Gaza.”

That’s the nuts and bolts of the situation in 3 short paragraphs. Of course there are a billion details to this, and most we probably won’t ever know. I have several problems with this situation, but they do not include Israel’s blockade of Gaza. If Israel wants to block Gaza’s borders, then go ahead. I think that is completely reasonable. Hamas is a danger to Israel and Israel should do everything possible to protect itself. What is ridiculous is the way the Israelis carried out this operation. First, as soon as the FGM boats cross into Gazan waters, then warn them and sink their ships if they don’t turn around. Do whatever you want, but not in international waters. They weren’t breaking any laws at that time. Preemptive strike on a bunch of Nobel Prize winners? Come on….

Furthermore, where are these guns and weapons that the Israelis found? The photo they released has about 20 knives and some wooden dowels. I have more knives in my apartment (except for that big badass one in the middle. Jeez, what’s that for? Slaying dragons?). Also, did they just happen to be piled nicely on that Arabic cloth? Is that supposed to make some connection in our mind (knives+Islam!). Any of these items would be on a ship anyway. Does the Israeli government really think 600 activists were planning on fighting their way to Gaza with 20 knives and some wooden sticks? Also, where’s that gun that the Israelis said was on the boat? The people aboard said there was absolutely no gun as they were all x-rayed before boarding the ship in Turkey.

Next: they killed an American citizen! We should be fuming! Not only killed him but murdered him. He was shot 4 times in the head and once in the stomach. That doesn’t seem like it was a act in defense. You killed an American citizen and now we, the United States, are going to conduct our own investigation (we’ll probably end up paying for the one you do anyway). The facts aren’t adding up and I’m pissed.

Turkey, who is Israel’s closest Islamic “friend” is pissed as hell. They said the next time a FGM boat goes out, it’s going with a couple Turkish frigates to watch over it. Nice. Israel also pissed off everyone else. Egypt was so angry that it opened its border with Gaza for the first time in a year and a half. Everyone from the Iran to the United States agrees that Israel acted completely ridiculous and should apologize. Israel refuses to apologize for this and continues to state that they were well within their legal rights, which is BS. The “Law of the Seas” which has roots back to Wilson’s 14 points, demands a freedom of navigation. That’s why we fuck up pirates when they get involved in any country’s business.

On the plus side, Netanyahu has agreed to review the Gaza blockade policy and possibly make revisions. This really doesn’t make up for the fact that Israelis killed a bunch of activists. No apology and I can’t wait to see what this revised policy looks like. I’m guessing a whole lot of nothing and we’ll just keep delaying it until the world press finds something else interesting to concentrate on.

On a side note, Israel has one prominent supporter for its actions, the accredited international law authority and astronaut, Sarah Palin: http://www.newser.com/story/90905/sarah-palin-let-israel-know-we-stand-with-them.html

10 Things That Need To Change In 2010

1) The use of the word “terrorist”. Wow, could there be a less descriptive word (“enemy” maybe? “bad guys”?). Let’s call these guys what they are. They are members of Al Queda, or Hezbollah or whatever. This assclown on that Detroit flight is not a terrorist regardless of how many media sources say it.  He didn’t instigate any terror. He tried to, but didn’t. The media has labeled him a terrorist so that we can blindly apply that label to anyone. One day Al Qaeda won’t be around, but there will be some other radical Islamic group that is not related but we’ll be able to call them “terrorists” and they’ll seem connected to 9/11 so we can fight ‘em!

You know who else instigates terror in millions of people around the world? The United States, and we do it with drone attacks. Let’s knock this “Terrorist” shit off and get specific.

2)  The Republican Party having Christian values as the basis for the party. Jesus would have been a pacifist liberal if he were alive today.  He would have wanted to share the wealth regardless of what Adam Smith says. The Republican Party shouldn’t base its platform on abortion, same-sex marriage or whatever they choose. They should be for states’ rights, limited taxes and small federal government. Leave the social issues up to the states.

3) Along the same lines, Sarah Palin still getting attention. Expose Palin with some even harder hitting Katie Couric questions and send her away for good. Hey Sarah, you’re for strong families? What’s the deal with Bristol and that Playgirl model of hers? You’d make a good VP but you just quit your governorship? Smells like a flip-flopper. What’s your plan? Why should we pay attention to you? Palin…..go back to American Canada.

Cool!

4) Our space program. What’s the deal?? You want a new industry to stimulate the economy? Space. Lets go to outer space. Put a ton of money into science and math education. Put a ton of money into NASA. Hand out tax breaks to private companies who are going into space like smarties candy on halloween. I can’t stand people who say “it shouldn’t be a priority right now. there are too many other problems”. There have always been a lot of problems and there always will be.

We have to expand our space program sometime, and it would create a huge boost in our domestic economy (since it takes a lot of money to start, which most countries don’t have. its like starting an airline).  Maybe we’ll even invent some more cool stuff like Tang, Memory Form, and smoke detectors! To Infinity And Beyond!

5) The fake/lack of interest in alternative energy. The problem with this economy in the long run is that we don’t make anything. We tried to run a service oriented economy for a while and then just outsourced that all to India. We need to make a product to export. We can’t make cheap stuff, because Asia can make it cheaper. We have to make stuff in a new industry where we can dominate the research aspect. Space travel is a great idea, but so is the renewable/efficient energy sector. We could get rid of 90% of our middle east problems, fix this global warming problem, and get back on top of the world economy. I’m talking about a massive investment. Hundreds of billions of dollars. If we have money to bail out Goldman Sachs and GM, we have money to find a new stream of revenue.

West Bank Wall + Banksy = Awesome

6) Israel’s attitude. What’s the deal? We give you money  to do your thing for the last 60 years and you keep telling us to screw off. Stop expanding into the West Bank. WTF. Give Jerusalem back. Make it an international city again like it was supposed to be. I don’t care what happened in the late 40s. We won WWII, we wrote the terms, and keep your bank account full, then you give us the diss.  If we stop giving you money, we’ll be labeled anti-Semitic. You think you’re the chosen people? That’s messed up. The Nazis thought the same about themselves. That’s called racism.  I’m not anti-Semitic, I’m just trying to be fair here. If Israel is going to keep causing problems for us, them screw ‘em. You wanna support Israel…awesome, donate to the country. Don’t donate my money though.

#7) People smoking cigarettes. I’ve smoked a cigarette or two in my day. I don’t like to do it. I esp. don’t like to do it when everyone around me constantly reminds me how bad it is for me. Well since we’re in an era where the govt tells me what I should be doing with my life, why don’t they ban cigarettes? Just ban them. No one is going to buy cigarettes on the black market to keep up a ridiculous habit, smoking them quietly in their apartments alone. Its going to suck for like 3 weeks and then we’ll all just forget, just like when it was banned from bars and restaurants.

Cronkite Reporting From Some Real Frontlines

#8) The media’s approach to being successful. Their argument for why we should read the paper or watch the news is because they’re professional, yet when I put on the TV, I see crap. “A Cold One On Tap For Area”. That was the headline of my local newspaper. 4 pages in “Suicide Attack on Shiites Kills 30″ Are you fucking serious? You’re professionals? When I turn on CNN, it should be hard hitting fucking journalism. Walter Cronkite style. Murrow style. You got an interview with a politician? Your job is to expose him/her. Make them look like a fucking idiot. Don’t kiss their ass. Grill the motherfucker. There are almost 7 billion people on this planet. Everyday, somewhere, a government is collapsing or a new major law was enacted. Let’s hear about it. Its a sad day when Jon Stewart is the best journalist in America. In the very least, I hope it doesn’t turn into a bunch of clone TMZs and Today Shows.

9) The Syracuse Orangemen to win the National Championship this April.

10) The United States government needs to dissolve the Post Office. The constitution gives Congress the right to establish a postal service (and dissolve). How can we continue to support a waste of money? Are we keeping it around for nostalgic reasons (like the British Monarchy…another waste of money…)? We all know this shit is sunk, lets kill it before it wastes any more dough. It was established to create interstate communication. With planes, highways, and the Internet, that’s not really an issue. Also, it was created to raise money. We have about a thousand more taxes than we did in 1776 and its hemorrhaging money. If we’re really concerned about making money, then put a tax on spam emails.

Syracuse Basketball, Tony Blair, Updates on My Life, and some Photos

First, what’s new with me? Well as most of you know, I have claimed my part in history and have been part of the great recession of the “double-zeros”. I’m unemployed and looking for the reset button. Somehow, this doesn’t seem that bad though. I’ve got a job interview on Monday that I’m really excited about at the British Department of Tourism (I’d be the E-Commerce Exec) and I think I aced an interview last week that I’ll be hearing about on Monday or Tuesday. So things aren’t too bad. Unfortunately, my 5th Avenue housing situation is about to end in 2 weeks. I have to find a new place to live, but one thing at a time. Job search is the priority.

I’m also doing some web consulting for this site, which I expect to be something pretty decent in another month. It needs some work, but I need some hours, so that works out.

OK, so that’s the situation on me. On Thursday Syracuse Basketball destroyed another ranked team; the much over-hyped Florida Gators (I smelled that weeks ago).

She's Probably Referring to Actual Gators, But Whatever

Jackson, Johnson and Rautins all had amazing games and Billy Donovan thinks we’re now a national championship team. Next couple games are easy wins, and we really don’t see anything challenging until Memphis on Jan. 6 (they lost to #1 Texas by 2 points…). However, we’re beating ranked teams by an average of 16.667 points, so I’m feeling pretty confident.

Tony Blair said he would have pushed for the invasion of Iraq even if there was no WMD evidence. Well, first, there weren’t/aren’t any WMDs. So I don’t know what evidence you based your decision on. Second, you would have invaded Iraq based on the fact that Hussein is a bad dude? What about Kim Jong il? He’s a pretty bad guy. Choose your African dictator. What about Darfur? Nothing like a 6 year old humanitarian crisis. Tony, if you’re going to be a renegade, and tell “the truth” then tell the truth. Let’s hear about oil interests. There was actually an auction of oil fields this week…but I’m sure oil did not play a major role in your decision. We all know the situation and it’d be great if we can get some details. You’re not telling us anything new. There weren’t WMDs, so obviously you would have invaded regardless of that sitaution. Tell us something new!!!

Now some cool pictures, compliments of www.nunesmagician.com, Wired, The WSJ, The NYTimes and Flikr.

This Picture Was Taken From The International Space Station!

I named This One "Rainbow Lightning". Which is Also My Name On Tuesdays.

Prioritizing Priorities

It’s time for The United States to get its act together. I’m sick of hearing about how health care reform is going to save this nation. It won’t because it’ll never get through Congress because it’s too controversial. You want health care? Then try passing it on a state level first.   I really could care less what happens in Oregon. I don’t understand why this is being done at a national level. Or move to Canada. I don’t give a shit, just stop wasting my time.

Why is it controversial? Because its INSURANCE. Yes, it is expensive to stay healthy, but people aren’t supposed to live on a diet of bio-engineered cows and Fritos and then die at 85.  We expect to do whatever the hell we want and then expect the government to pay for it. “Insurance” is something responsible people buy, it is not a necessity. This is where the health industry is going wrong. We don’t need to collectively pay for a better system, we just need to be more responsible. We need to stop buying so many pills to eat everyday, we need to spend more time outdoors exercising which is what nature has, for millions of years, engineered us to do. I’m sick of paying for other people’s choices. Maybe going to the doctor’s office to get medical attention wouldn’t be so expensive if it wasn’t clogged full of over-weight smokers.

Look at the Mustache on Her! Are you going to pay the doctor/lumberjack's fee for its removal?

“Insurance” and “Company”. Two words; neither of which are implying that it must be fair and given to everyone. I have a good deal to say about health insurance, but that’s not the point of this post. It’s to show how out of wack of priorities are.

And so this takes me to part two of this rant. Our country is faced with several glaring problems simultaneously. An economic recession that seems to loom over us. I keep hearing that the recession is almost over. What are these people talking about? The only thing keeping this country going right now is that trillion dollar injection that is about to run out. We need to produce something; a new industry, and East Asia stole our IT one that we had going for half a second and now India is scooping up our service industry. That’s problem one. Problem 2 is that whole mideast/terrorism/Iraq/Afghanistan deal. Yikes. They hate us, we’re funneling money in there to do something?, we’re trying not to hate them, more money funnels away, we’re locked in because they got our drug, etc. Problem 3 is a long-term, more detrimental issue. The other two will doom our Western society, this one could kill everyone. Environmental issues, global warming, etc. I’m not a hippie. I don’t care about saving the elephants because Earth’s elephant population number do not affect my health. As long as there is a living elephant at the Bronx Zoo, I am reaping the maximum benefits from the elephant’s existence. I am not going to die from a lack of elephants, but I will die from an overaboundance of carbon in the atmosphere.

Check out these bad boys. They power the city of Seville. We're getting a few here too : http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/03/united-technologies-rocket-scientists-to-build-150-mw-solar-heliostat-in-sonoran-desert/

Three bad problems, one solution. Alternative energy. Apparently the government has trillions of dollars to spend on bailing out banks (that’ll be covered in another rant), wars, health care, and who knows what else. Here is a huge industry that can put us back on the map and we’re bailing out automakers who spent the last 30 years making oil lamps with wheels. Doing a hell of a job GM,

here’s a couple billion. There’s so much amazing technology being developed, but it takes a lot of money to implement it and a lot of people.A lot of jobs in high tech areas. We should have thousands of people installing re-charging stations along our highways, and people working at Ford figuring out ways to produce every car with more than 50 mpg.  People painting the tops of buildings white to cut down on cooling costs, and so on.

This isn’t just a rant though. Its a call to action. We really can’t just sit by and say, “ah let the hippies take care of it.” because then we’re going to lose. This isn’t a republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, gay, black, whatever thing. This is something that is of crucial national interest and we’re going to be screwed if we don’t start taking this seriously. I’m not saying donate money or anything. If you can, awesome. Invest in a clean company (Consert is a great company, they’re working on a smart power grid with IBM). Volunteer to clean something up. Switch to clean energy through your local utility company, write your congressman, protest, or just read an article about the importance of energy efficiency and discuss it with someone. cleantechnica.com is a great blog about alternative technology. Get people thinking about something that has importance, not American Idol.

We’re always asking why our country isn’t doing more for us, when we do nothing for it. -improvised John Kennedy line.

Photos to Bring a Little Perspective

This is a view of the Citarum River in West Java. 5 million people live in its basin, many making money by sifting through the trash for anything remotely valuable. Consider yourself blessed.

This is an old school style tribal war, with bows and arrors. This is not a reinactment or anything of that sort. People died.

These are within the city limits of Moscow. They look pretty old and Russia/the former USSR is not great at containing radioactive material and limiting the effects. See next picture.

This is one of the residents of Semey, Kazakhstan, which was the Russian version of the Nevada Test Site except Semey has 300K people in it.