Happy Amateur Drunk Night

"Time won't leave me as I am, but time won't take the boy out of this man." -Bono, City of Blinding Lights

Ok, change the gender, you have my attitude towards mankind's (womankind?) arch nemesis- Time. Why do we celebrate a new year? Shouldn't we lament another year's passage, another year of time we can never get back, one step closer to learning the answer to the Big Question? Ahh, but why should we lament, when the precious few seconds of life we are given on this strangely spinning Earth should be a cause for celebration? If we must lament, it should only be to wonder why we didn't grasp more of it, hold onto it with all our might so that we may never say 'what if' again. Never let go of the wonderment of life!

Humans live by symbols- they help us to understand all that surrounds us, all that cannot really be understood. New Year's Day is a symbol- it symbolizes how time affects us all, gop or Dem, black or white, Bono worshipper or Mozart fan. You can't simply shrug off the New Year; even if you try, it is still in your mind. January 1 stands as a stark reminder of our mortality.

We are all different, yes. Some of us are so different we find it difficult to understand each other, be it language, customs, habits, lifestyles... but why do some people reject difference? We should embrace it. Just think of how freaking boring it would be if we were all the same. Imagine, for example, a Christian theocratic town, where everyone loved Jesus and there were no questions asked. Where, can I ask you, would you be able to find the joy of Christ? Without bad, there is no good. Without sorrow, there is no joy. For how do we know what is good or joyful if we have nothing to compare it to? Joy takes you up to a higher place, and to be that high, you have to start out somewhere lower.

Even in the dead of winter, I cannot forget the joy of the sunshine and the warmth that spring brings. I cannot forget wearing shorts and grilling hamburgers and watching baseball and being with friends and just breathing the outside air. There are so many little things, more little things than big things, that make Life worth living, despite all of the hardships, the sorrows, the deaths... even the most destitute of us all have celebrations, have loves, have things that get us through the day. Everyone feels better when the sun shines, everyone has a special song, everyone has a special memory that they will forever cherish.

The older we get, the more time runs together. I guess we get slower as we age, but time is forever young, isn't it? Everyone loses the race, and it doesn't matter if we are the wealthiest bastard on the planet or the poorest wretch. In death, yes, we are truly equal, are we not? God does not judge us based on our possessions, or maybe He does, for it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, isn't it? Do you think they have immigration laws in Heaven? If so, fat-walleted Americans are going to have a difficult time getting in. Do you think they'll erect the Berlin wall in Heaven, too? I wonder if Lucifer will personally answer the door when Pat Robinson's dead soul comes knocking. Dobson? Perkins? Baker? Ashcroft? O'Reilly? Bushie? Or will St. Peter open those Pearly Gates and say, "Why do you deserve to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" He'll look at ole' Bushie and say, "Weren't you responsible for the deaths of 100,000 people?" "Oh, yes, sir, but it was all in the name of democracy." "Ohhhhh, I understand. Well, then, we have a special place for you." "I knew it!" Bushie exclaims like a kid. Boot. Tumble. Ahhhhhhhhhhh...Fire. "Oh, look, there's Joe Stalin, Addy Hitler, good ole' Pol Pot...why does it feel like I'm on fire?"

I'd think if you did not believe in God, Allah, Yahweh, or some higher power, you'd feel a greater sense of urgency to live life to the fullest. Go do it! Live! Whatever second passes now, you will never get back again! None of us will! Breathe! Let the blood pump through your veins!

How often do we go to work on on Monday morning with only the weekend as a goal? What can we do to embrace more of the week, even if we feel like we are enslaved by the office and the necessity of earning a living? We have to remember the difference between a living and a wanting, don't we? If we took a bit more time, gave up some of the wanting, we could actually make a better living, a better life. Forget that DVD you want. Go out for a happy hour with your friends. Spend an extra five bucks to eat a better, tastier dinner. Learn about the essence of life, stimulate your senses! THAT is living, not getting a plasma television when a 13" will more than suffice. Don't watch so much television- you are wasting your life away. Do something fun, do something creative, strive to make a mark on the world. Change someone's life. It's your world, you can change it. It's my world, I will change it.

Ten days from now, I will enter the last year of my twenties. After this year, I will never again have that 2 in front of my age. My body no longer grows- it will be in decay until my heart stops beating. It's quite humbling to think, to realize, to acknowledge that all of our hearts stop beating. You don't have to dwell on it, but if you have the "it's not gonna happen to me" attitude, you can never fully appreciate how fragile life is. And really, if you don't see that fragility, you can never fully appreciate how wonderful it is as well.

As I look back on the last year, I find many great things that unfortunately I will never be able to experience again. I will have to rely on that faulty camera in my mind to recall the events of 2005.

My highlights for 2005:

1. U2 Vertigo Tour- saw them in Philly and twice in DC. Getting to see my Cincinnati Reds on the same weekend in Philly was awesome.
2. Nationals debut in DC and have a decent season. Home opener was a blast, even with Bushie throwing out the first pitch.
3. Reconciled with a dear friend after three years of estrangement.
4. Family came to visit me in DC.
5. Went to NYC for first time ever. Loved it as I knew I would.
6. Went to Jordan.
7. U2 is inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
8. Saw Green Day in concert.
9. Finished first draft of first novel and wrote half of second one.
10. Tim Kaine's victory in Virginia.

Happy New Year!

War on Hannukah

ACLU challenges menorah display at Capitol

The Tennessee ACLU is using a menorah display at the state Capitol to advocate for a forum for other groups and individuals to express their beliefs and opinions.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU-Tennessee, sent a letter to Gov. Phil Bredesen Dec. 12 suggesting the annual menorah display and candle-lighting ceremony would violate the separation of church and state unless it occurred in a public forum where other displays could take place. The menorah has been displayed at the state Capitol since 2003, at the request of the Center for Jewish Awareness.

Oh my! There is a War on Hannukah! What an outrage! [/sarc]

New blog

Democracy is more than just elections, contrary to what the wingnuts are saying about the Iraq situation. Democracy needs stable institutions to support it; simply voting does not make a democracy. If that were the case, Iraq under Saddam would be considered a democracy.

When building democracy, you can't just try reforming a political system without reforming the economic system as well. The private sector must undergo extensive reform, meaning that the governance systems of private organizations and corporations must be modernized. If a corporation practices good governance, it is much more difficult for corruption to occur, and it makes it easier to reform the public sector.

The Center for International Private Enterprise has started a blog. I would encourage anyone who is interested in democratic development, market-oriented reform, anti-corruption, and governance to register on the site. Please check it out.

Because freedom is slavery...

Agents' visit chills UMass Dartmouth senior

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."

Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

Is it not ironic that the US government uses commie tactics on a guy studying communism? I think we need to get the beam out of our eye...

Patriot Act used against former Black Panthers

Former Black Panthers Still Paying a Price

An all-star cast of Black activist stood with former Black Panthers last week opposing what they consider continued harassment... pleading for peace on behalf of former Black Panthers, who have, since 9/11, been subpoenaed and penalized for refusing to answer questions.

They compared the recently enacted Patriot Act, passed as part of the United States’ War on Terrorism with COINTEL PRO, used to dismantle the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. “This seems to indicate a return of COINTELPRO,” Ogletree said in a press statement. “The Black Panther Party was targeted for destruction by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI with the COINTELPRO program, and this was confirmed by the Church Senate report in 1976. It seems clear that it continues under an anonymous name now - different operating system, but the same program.”

The former Black Panthers being protected include John Bowman, Hank Jones, and Ray Boudreaux. In recent months they each have been held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify before a San Francisco grand jury investigating a police shooting that took place in 1971. Bowman, Jones, and Boudreaux were among 13 alleged “Black Militants” who were arrested in 1973 in New Orleans and tortured for several days.

In 1974, a court in Los Angeles ruled that San Francisco and New Orleans police had engaged in what amounted to torture to extract a confession from one of the men and threw out the tortured statement. In 1975, a San Francisco grand jury indicted three suspects, all of whom had been tortured in New Orleans, in connection with the 1971 shooting.

However, in 1976, a San Francisco judge dismissed the indictments finding that the prosecution had failed to tell the grand jury that the men’s confessions had been coerced... the New Orleans police would proceed to torture the men with the following methods: stripping them naked and beating them with blunt objects, blind folding them and throwing wool blankets soaked with boiling water over their bodies, placing electric probes on their genitals and other parts of their bodies, inserting an electric cattle prod in their anus, punching and kicking them, slamming them into walls while blindfolded.

Such a lovely story, isn't it? But- the United States doesn't torture! I mean, that's what Das President told us.

Can you believe this bullshit, harassing former Black Panthers for a crime they didn't commit that happened 34 years ago using the (un)Patriot(ic) Act as a justification? How can the Land of the Free act so soviet? Sweet land of liberty? I think not.

Mr. Conservative, Tear Down That Wall!

House Moves to Banish Illegal Immigration

The House called for construction of a fence along parts of the U.S. border from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico as a bill aimed at shutting down illegal immigration moved forward Thursday.

The two-layered fence, about 700 miles long, would be built in parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The provisions, passed 260-159, put priority on construction near Laredo, Texas. The city is across the border from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, where warring drug cartels have been blamed for more than 140 murders this year.

Supporters said the fence would cut down on crime and drug smuggling, but Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (news, bio, voting record), D-Texas, said it would create "the largest gated community in the Western hemisphere."

From history, we never learn. Well, SOME of us can see the irony in this.

Мое имя красно

Trial of Turkish author adjourned

The trial of Turkey's bestselling novelist, Orhan Pamuk, was today adjourned almost as soon as it opened.

Mr Pamuk is on trial for "denigrating" Turkishness, and faces up to three years in jail if found guilty. His case has attracted international concern over freedom of expression.

The presiding judge ordered a halt to the proceedings while the ministry of justice decides whether a new law making it a crime to insult the national identity could be applied to the novelist's case.

Every now and then the Turkish government does something utterly repressive that reminds you exactly why Turkey will never be a member of the EU. Hey Turks, your government is a repressive semi-authoritarian regime, and Pamuk is right to point out that 30,000 people had died in the Turkish military's ongoing conflict with the Kurdish insurgency in the south-east of the country.

When truth is supressed at the hands of a government, we have a few names for that government: fascist, authoritarian, dictatorship, communist.

You know, it isn't any different than flag burning. There are people in this country who would make it a crime to burn the American flag. So what does that say about the United States?

Pamuk's book My Name Is Red is a good one.

Is Castro still alive?

Cuba can't send team to WBC

Cuba won't be allowed to send a team to next year's inaugural World Baseball Classic, the U.S. government told event organizers Wednesday.

The decision by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control was conveyed to Major League Baseball on Wednesday, according to Pat Courtney, a spokesman for the Commissioner's office.

A permit from OFAC is necessary because of U.S. laws governing certain commercial transactions with Fidel Castro's communist island nation.

LEAVE THE POLITICS OUT OF BASEBALL!

This is a bonehead move by a bonehead administration. They're BASEBALL players, for chrissake, not terrorists! It's doubtful they're even communists, you know, those evil people who used to be the bad guys before the terrorists started using planes as missles? And is denying the Cuban team the right to come and play in this international tournament of superstars going to force Castro out of office?

Even if the US rationale behind the decision is to prevent players from defecting, that is morally wrong. Why shouldn't these players be granted asylum from Castro's regime? I mean, if Castro is as bad as the US government says, why won't they grant asylum? And frankly, the Nats need pitchers. (Why are the defectors mostly pitchers?)

Our historical Major League Baseball heroes may not have been the best ever. How many players would have beaten Ruth's record far sooner than Aaron had they been allowed to play in the Majors? Josh Gibson was the greatest baseball player to ever live, but he isn't a household name. Why? Because he had to play in the Negro Leagues on account of his skin color. Gibson hit over 900 career homeruns to Ruth's 714. Longtime Cuban shortstop (best ever?) Omar Linares hit a career 404 homeruns and .368 batting average, but he never saw the inside of a Major League Ballpark. Which is worse, denying play due to skin color or denying refuge from a dictator?

This is another example of a government using people as a political punching bag, and frankly, the one who made this decision is no better than Castro.

Oedipus in the 21st Century

MAN DATES GAL ON INTERNET FOR SIX MONTHS -- AND IT TURNS OUT SHE'S HIS MOTHER

MARSEILLES, France -- Skirt-chasing playboy Daniel Anceneaux spent weeks talking with a sensual woman on the Internet before arranging a romantic rendezvous at a remote beach -- and discovering that his on-line sweetie of six months was his own mother!

"I walked out on that dark beach thinking I was going to hook up with the girl of my dreams," the rattled bachelor later admitted. "And there she was, wearing white shorts and a pink tank top, just like she'd said she would.

"But when I got close, she turned around -- and we both got the shock of our lives. I mean, I didn't know what to say. All I could think was, 'Oh my God! it's Mama!' "

Quelle horreur!

Today's Evangelical Hypocrite

Teacher/pastor caught lying

A Bronx teacher was yanked from his classroom yesterday after admitting he lied about needing time off to join his National Guard unit to aid New Orleans flood victims, officials said.

Special-ed teacher James Thomas, also the pastor of a Bronx church, actually spent those October days at a religious conference in Brazil, said Special Schools Investigator Richard Condon.

Thomas, 55, told the Daily News last night that his troubles began when he fell off a ladder last year in his church, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran, and didn't get mental health care afterward.

Schwarzenegger has blood on his hands

Out, damned spot! out, I say!--One: two: why,
then, 'tis time to do't.--Hell is murky!--Fie, my
lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we
fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
account?--Yet who would have thought the old man
to have had so much blood in him.

Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Williams

All crime has ceased to exist...

"Redemption is tailor-made for the wretched." - Stanley Tookie Williams

Corporate Greed, Part Million

Talk about needing legal reform!

Starbucks verses Sambucks

On the coast of Oregon where the Columbia River meets the Pacific, sits the small town of Astoria, population 10,000. Up here, when people want their coffee they often head to a little shop run by Sam Buck. Buck grew up here, went to the local high school and bought a tiny coffeehouse and named it Sambucks, using her name for the store.

You can guess what happens next. Charmucks sues, of course, and sadly, wins. You see, in Corporateland, you need the masses to be dumb so they will buy your senseless and useless junk. When someone comes up with something creative and cute, you need to sue them back into submission. It's all about power.

It's difficult to fight back when the sheep keep going to Charmucks. Sometimes, there is little choice, as Charmucks has chased the little guy away. And why? What is it about Charmucks that makes people go there? It certainly isn't the coffee, which tastes burnt and is of low quality. You might as well stay at home and drink Maxwell House. It isn't for free wireless access, because wireless is not free at Charmucks. It isn't because Charmucks uses Fair Trade coffee, although they claim you can ask for it, which defeats the purpose. Why would someone who only drinks Fair Trade coffee buy it from a place that mostly sells slave-grown coffee? It's still supporting the slave-grown coffee.

So why do people frequent Charmucks? It's our culture- the one that rips down old buildings and forests for something called "development." Development simply means building everything to look exactly the same, so that no matter where you go in America, you see the Applebee's, Olive Garden, and whatever other microwavable food chain goes with them. The American masses have been brainwashed into thinking in terms of brands. Indeed, so many of our words for things are actually brandnames. Do you say kleenex or tissues? Vasoline or petroleum jelly? Legos or interlocking building blocks?

I just read Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, and I am contemplating what people will think thousands of years from now when they uncover the ruins of our society. What will they think about a society who is so insecure with itself that it has to make its cities look identical, as change and difference are too scary? What will they think about our obsession with possession, mounds and mounds of useless junk thrown about in heaps, unable to decompose because of its chemical composition? What about all of the signs? God, our eyes are polluted with signs, reds and blues and greens and neon and flashing and littering nature. As I sit in this local coffee shop looking through the windows, there is not a single place I can rest my eyes from words. It's rather dizzying if you think about it.

We can fight back by avoiding Charmucks. Support the little guy! To find local coffee shops without the corporate connections, visit the Starbucks Delocater. I don't care how much money the corporation gives to Democrats, the fact is that it is a bullying company that needs to be kept in check.

Now I must stop. I just remembered that the Vice-President of Charmucks is on our board. ;)

Tu papa es estupido y otras observaciones

In most countries, speaking a foreign language is an asset, and in many countries, it is simply normal or even necessary to know more than one language. Here in the United States, a nation whose people can barely speak their native language, speaking a foreign one is grounds for punishment.

Spanish At School Translates to Suspension

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 8 -- Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "

If he should be punished for anything, it's that hideous English. Like, like, like...

Where do people like Michael Savage and the principal of this school develop their aversion to foreign languages? Is it racism? Is it American arrogance that says everything that is not American is wrong? Is it that they are just too stupid to learn languages, so they have to take it out on everyone who knows another one?

Of course, I agree that if you are going to live in a country, you should learn the language of that country. I don't understand how you could live in a country and NOT learn its language unless you never come out of your house. To not learn is simply laziness. But it should not be forced. That goes against the spirit of America, a nation that was built by immigrants who spoke all different languages.

Chalk this one up to another Kansas idiocy.

But he did it, too!

Latest word on the Hill is that the NRSC plans on attacking some Dems for taking money from Abramoff to take the heat off the gop party. Nice. Instead of addressing the issue of corruption within their own party and having the balls to stand up for ethics, they are just going to try to make the other party look bad. These people are despicable. The American public is already disgusted with Congress- BOTH parties, and playing this juvenile blame game is going to further alienate Congress from the American people.

While it is obvious that the American people are sick of the negative attacks that pollute politics in this country, the gops run a great risk of having their vile plan backfire. Look at what happened to Jerry Kilgore. A liberal with a positive message stole his double digit lead and won Virginia's Governor's race. The gop slime has got to go, and go it will in 2006, as it is completely out of touch with the American people who elects it. Only Diebold can save them now.

If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?

I'm not sure I would pay for language training at this school

It should say Imad Scientific Institute for Foreign Languages. I'm pretty sure that Imad is just the name, as I can't find any decent translations for it otherwise. (What can I say? I'm a language geek who finds humor in bad translations.)

Nothing surprising here

No Questions

President Bush will deliver the second in a series of four speeches on his Iraq strategy tomorrow in Washington to several hundred members of the Council on Foreign Relations -- an august group of scholars, policymakers and journalists whose Web site is an Internet hotspot for intellectual foment about foreign policy in general and Iraq in particular.

But rather than probe the group's expertise or even respond to its concerns, Bush is just using it as a backdrop.

'Nuff said.

Seig Heil to the US Government

FDA approves injecting ID chips in patients

The computer chips, which are about the size of a grain of rice, are designed to be injected into the fatty tissue of the arm. Using a special scanner, doctors and other hospital staff can fetch information from the chips, such as the patient's identity, their blood type and the details of their condition, in order to speed treatment.

K-Gramps is a drug shot calla

I don't know what is sadder- that 87 year old ladies are being thrown in jail for selling their meds or the fact that they have to sell their meds to survive.

In Appalachia, senior citizens charged with selling drugs

Since April 2004, the anti-drug task force Operation UNITE has charged more than 40 people 60 or older with selling drugs in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. It's a recent trend that Webb said has been growing over the past five years, since police began their crackdown on illegal sales of prescription drugs.

By the way, has anyone seen Osama? I mean, with these old people selling drugs and half of Congress under investigation for corruption, law enforcement really doesn't have time for Volkland Security.

Shame on you Jean Schmidt and Lamar Advertising Company

The DNC had begun working with Lamar, an ad company with billboards in the Cincinnati area, and signed a contract to place two billboards near Jean Schmidt's district office in Portsmouth, Ohio. Seven thousand Democrats contributed to raise the money to put up the billboards, and there was enough to put up additional billboards in several other locations in the Cincinnati market.

Lamar called the DNC and refused to work with them, despite the fact that the contracts were already signed! This reversal came more than 24 hours after the DNC had signed the contract with Lamar, and 48 hours after they had accepted the artwork for the billboards.

Here is the contact info for the company's Chairman and CEO:

Mr. Kevin P. Reilly, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
Lamar Advertising Co.
5551 Corporate Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

Please let him know the company's actions are deplorable and are anti-democratic. You can also sign the DNC petition here or by clicking on the image.

At the risk of sounding like McCarthy, I think we need to start spreading the names of the anti-democracy elites of this country. This country is about pluralism, and silencing the voices of those who disagree with you endangers your freedom to speak as much as it does your opponent's. Kevin P. Reilly, Jr, you are on my anti-democracy list. Only a reversal of your company's decision can take you off.

Combating extremism without bombs

Saudi TV: New weapon against extremism

Saudi state-run Channel One TV broadcasted the first episode of a new series aimed at dissuading young Saudis from following in the footsteps of many of their contemporaries to join the jihad (holy war) earlier this week. "Jihad Experiences, the Deceit"” is a five part series which will tell the stories of several young Saudis who left to Iraq to fight alongside Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

Zayd Asfan, Abdullah Khoja, and Walid Khan narrated their journey from ordinary Saudi youth to mujahideen and discussed the recruitment and brainwashing techniques used by al Qaeda.

Interesting- going to the root of the problem rather than bombing the hell out of a place or arresting and detaining someone who "has the potential" to become a jihadist. No secret detention camps needed if you stop the problem before it starts.

All crime has ceased to exist...

...because we reached the glorious milestone of 1000 people executed. What a proud day in our luminous history! It goes right on up there with those other awesome feats of ours like torture and white phosphorous. Culture of life! America is God! God is America! America can choose who lives and who dies! Screw morality!

What is Justice? The American Heritage Dictionary defines Justice as:

1. The quality of being just; fairness.
2. a. The principle of moral rightness; equity. b. Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness.
3. a. The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law. b. Law. The administration and procedure of law.
4. Conformity to truth, fact, or sound reason: The overcharged customer was angry, and with justice.
5. Abbr. J. Law. a. A judge. b. A justice of the peace.

The great philosopher Plato gives prominence to Justice in society. He was highly dissatisfied with the prevailing degenerating conditions in Athens and viewed the Athenian democracy as on the verge of ruin. [He was right. Athens had become a strong military state whose interest in empire (called the Delian League to make it sound democratic) led to the Peloponnesian War and the ultimate downfall of Athenian democracy.] Plato was disgusted by societal meddling and excessive individualism of Athenian society, and Justice was the means to correct these wrongs. According to Plato, Justice is a human virtue that makes a person self-consistent and good; socially, Justice is a social consciousness that makes a society internally harmonious and good.

The division in our society shows there is no internal harmony in our country, and how could there be, when we have some people who advocate killing others? What is Justice NOT? Vengeance. Revenge is not Justice. Killing someone to show that killing is wrong is ridiculous.

If America wants to claim to be a morally superior country, or even a country with morals, for that matter, it would make taking a human life illegal, regardless of how heinous a person's crimes. It never ceases to amaze me how so many of the loudest proponents of the death penalty also claim to be Christian. If those advocates of the death penalty truly believed in God, they would leave it up to Him to pass Final Judgment rather than playing God here on Earth. But, as I saw on someone's blog, they aren't Christians, they just play them on television.

By the way, the photo is from an Iranian execution. The United States is in great company when it comes to states where capital punishment is legal, isn't it?

At least some Americans are starting to get it.

Update: "Redemption is tailor-made for the wretched." - Stanley Tookie Williams

Another update: Only China, Iran and Vietnam held more executions in 2004 than the US, according to rights group Amnesty International.

Today is World AIDS Day

Better late than never. Please take time to visit World AIDS Day and DATA to find out how you can help.

This is Mideast "democracy"

Violence mars Egyptian elections

Egyptian opposition activists and police have clashed during the final round of parliamentary elections. An Egyptian human rights group said an opposition supporter was shot dead and another wounded north of Cairo. Reports say riot police have blocked entry to polling stations in Muslim Brotherhood and opposition strongholds.

Mubarak's thugs are out and about, as he didn't like the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood received such strong support in the first round of elections. These elections were supposed to be a test on Mubarak's commitment to reform, and now we see how strong is that commitment. So much for all that gibberish about Egyptian democracy coming from the mouths of the bushies, although anyone with half a brain could say that Mubarak has no intention of bringing democracy to the people.

Democracy is about inclusiveness. Despite the fact that I find the Muslim Brotherhood ideology horrifying and oppressive to women, they cannot be excluded from the political process, especially in light of the strong support they have in the country. Mubarak isn't the only one excluding them. American NGOs that work in the democracy realm are not allowed to even speak to members of the Muslim Brotherhood, let alone participate in democracy building training.

Let the people vote for whom they would; history is on the side of democracy. When Jordanians and Turks voted Islamic governments into power, they governed so poorly that they were voted out. It is one thing to have an ideology, but when it comes time to do the actual governing part, if you've done nothing but spout out rhetoric, the people won't stand for it. It is a universal trait of democracy.