Illegal War Debate

This topic isn't exactly breaking new ground these days but I got into a 'spirited' discussion with a couple of employees about calling the war in Iraq an 'Illegal War'.

There are many different levels on which I would like to break down this stance. For starters, they term came from the United Nations, as it was not "in conformity with the U.N. charter." Let's take a closer look at the U.N.:

• U.N. diplomats have racked up $18 million in unpaid parking tickets in New York City.
• Kofi Annan's son purchased a Mercedes in his father's name in order to receive a big discount and free shipping. No punishment was doled out, although eight years later he is repaying the difference.
• Oil for Food program. 'Nuff said.
• Okay I lied, there's more to say about it. Shocking that France and Russia were the biggest beneficiaries and they were the leaders of the anti-war crowd.
• Sex crimes in the Congo by U.N. 'peacekeepers'. While they were preoccupied, 3.8 million people were killed in a 3-year period and the president was murdered in 2001.
• Rwanda. I recommend Hotel Rwanda as it is a fantastic movie and does show some of the ridiculousness of the U.N.
• It took over 3 years for the U.N. to send their peacekeepers to Darfur.

Does this seem like the type of organization that should be setting rules and guidelines, especially when it comes to war actions? Especially when you take a real close look at why we would not have met the minimums for U.N. approval and the fact that the U.N. wants nothing more than to minimize our status as a global power. Their tenets are based in socialism (another shocking example of how socialism does not work - read as: do not vote for Obama) and wants power spread out evenly.

My recommendation is to just leave the United Nations. We provide 22% of their funding and do not receive much in return for it. Maybe it will be a wake-up call to the U.N. and other countries will follow suit. Much like many things in this world, the U.N. is great in theory but it clearly does not work.

I wonder if these same people spouting off about an illegal war are now doing the same with regards to Russia's occupation of Georgia?

stats pulled from Glenn Beck's An Inconvenient Truth

UPDATE: Fairness Doctrine

This was posted yesterday by Glenn Beck on his website. Seems he shares my point of view on the subject.

Freedom of Speech is overrated anyway, right?

It has been a while since my last post, but for those of you in the know it is understandable. Got a lot on my plate as of late. But I digress, and this topic seemed like the best one to get back in the saddle on, as it riled me up quite a bit.

Democrats in Congress are looking into trying to get the Fairness Doctrine re-instated. Basically, they are tired of liberal hosts getting the sh*t kicked out of them in the rating by conservatives. They should call it the Rush Limbaugh Act. I am sure these same Democrats have no problem with the New York Times constantly running their propaganda or CNN and will find a way to not include them in the doctrine, citing non-partisan views. There is a reason very few stations carried Al Franken's show- no one listens. Fox News doesn't dominate the ratings because of the lack of the Fairness Doctrine (I did find it interesting the Dish Network carries CNN and Headline News but not Fox News on their 'Top 100' *cough*bullshit*cough* package).

Not only does this go against the principle of the First Amendment, it goes against capitalism. In Champaign, 1400 WDWS carries Limbaugh because he brings in huge numbers- not because of some corporate conspiracy against liberals. Everyone wants to amke as money as possible in the business world, no matter what it takes. Forcing radio stations to carry unwanted/unneccessary/un-listened to shows hurts their business (bottom line) as well.

In the end, this is all about power (shocking, I know). If the political left has their way, the government would control everything and that never turns out well. Government subsidies are not in the business of making money and that goes against capitalism and hurts the economy. Amtrak is a perfect example as they have stated that turning a profit is not a goal for them. And when they actually did start to make money because of rising fuel prices, they did not have any idea what to do with the profit (read this transcript about halfway down when he starts 'The Real Story"). Yikes. If we aren't careful, the airline industry could be headed this way as fewer and fewer people travel and ticket prices increase - which means more failing airlines and more taxes on the American worker.

Poverty in America

After a 'friendly' discussion with my soon-to-be mother-in-law, I needed to post about this. She is an ultra-liberal, while I am, of course, quite the conservative. My main contention was that poverty was being overblown by manipulating statistics by the left; there were other much more pressing concerns. In my mind, oil should come first. Nothing else needs to get done until these idiots in Washington lift drilling bans offshore, in Alaska, in the Rockies, and start turning coal into oil.

Here's why I think that:

1. Of those defined as poor by the census, 89% had enough food to eat throughout the year and only 2% had regular bouts with hunger.
2. 96% of poor households avoided utility shut off and 99% avoided eviction.
3. Did you know that 55% of POOR households own 2 or more TVs. And 63% have cable or satellite. 25% own a big screen TV. If that many of them are spending money on these LUXURIES then they don't need the governments attention.
(stats pulled from Glenn Beck's An Inconvenient Book)

Now you must be thinking I am some sort of callous bastard who sticks his nose up at poor people. Not true. My plan for oil will help poor people immensely. Right now, the cost of EVERYTHING is skyrocketing (3.69/gallon of milk?!?!) because of oil prices. And without the serious threat of us becoming more independent, those gas prices are not going anywhere but up. If the cost of everything continues to rise, then the poverty rate will rise with it as well. The poverty line right now is at $9,979 and if common goods such as milk start costing $5/gallon and upwards, then we are pricing more and more Americans out of these goods.

My last point/dig at liberals is if you look at the cities with the highest poverty rates in America, most have been run by non-republicans since 1965:

Cleveland is #1 on this list with 32.4% poverty rate and there has been a Republican Mayor just 38% of the time since 1965. In fact, of the worst 11 cities with regards to poverty, 8 have not had a SINGLE REPUBLICAN MAYOR since '65. Food for thought.

Lost Phone

Last night after leaving Brother's Bar in campustown, I was walking back to my friend Dave's apartment and found a cell phone in the street. Literally right in the middle of 3rd Street at the intersection with Green St. After some calls (and a tad bit of snooping) I was finally able to get ahold of someone. She told me she would call me tomorrow. After some more snooping on the phone, it turns out it was the phone owner's birthday and apparently had also lost her wallet and camera on Friday night.

Having lost a phone at a bar once myself, I was glad to be able to return one to the rightful owner. When I lost mine, I called it that night, someone answered, said hello, hung up and never answered it again. Ass. Not that I am still bitter.

Political Correctness or Idiocy?

It's been a while since my last post, but getting engaged eats up a lot of your time (especially when the goal is for a winter wedding in 7 months). But this absurdity had to be posted on. For those of you who have not heard, at a meeting of county commissioners in the Dallas area, one of the commissioners (who happens to be white) said the filing system had turned into a 'black hole'. Harmless, right? Well not to two of the black members at the meeting. One retorted with, "Don't you mean a white hole?" while the other demanded an apology. I recommend watching the video in this link, it is quite astonishing when you stop to consider that second graders understand it is simply a scientific term.

But it does not stop there. Commissioner Price (the 'white hole' genius) now has come out and alleged racism on cakes! Angel's food cake and Devil's food cake to be exact. Also no one can be called the black sheep of the family either according to his genius intellect. (Nevermind the fact that the phrase was coined due to black sheep born into a herd of white sheep) Perhaps Jesse Jackson should threaten to cut his nuts off. (Full disclosure: I whole-heartily believe Jesse Jackson is an attention whore and a moron. Dating all the way back to his days at U of I.)

Engaged!

Monday, June 30 was Betsie's birthday and I took her up to Michigan Avenue to celebrate. We got there in the afternoon and did a little bit of shopping/sightseeing/tons of walking. We stayed at The Seneca, which is on Chestnut St just east of the Hancock building. We had dinner at 7:00pm at Mity Nice Grill, which is in the Water Tower and followed that up with a drink in the Signature Lounge in the Hancock Building. She knew about all of these plans but the rest of the night was a surprise. After that, we walked down Michigan Avenue to the intersection of Huron where we took a planned horse carriage ride that I had arranged. They took us to a garden area with a gazebo in the center, and of course a family of three goes in the gazebo right as we arrive. So with some quick thinking, we just went behind the gazebo in the garden where after she opened her birthday card, I got down on one knee and proposed to her. She of course said yes and there was much joy throughout the land.