Stay alive... don't drink and drive.

I figured I'd go into some in-depth analysis on some breaking news. Here goes: HAHAHAHA!!!

My favorite historian's thoughts on the Iranian nuclear situation.

Oh, and on a totally different note, there's this local high school band named "The Question?" playing at Penny Lane Coffeehouse on Saturday. I saw them rock a two hour set at the Earth Day Festival this past weekend. Namaste followed them but, unfortunately, I had to meet prior engagements.

Shedding some light on disturbingly dark events...

I don't if any of you followed Chinese president Hu's visit to the US, but if you did, you may have caught the outburst in both Chinese and English from Epoch Times reporter Wenyi Wang. In case you don't know the full story, you may want to check out the story here. Currently, the PRC is executing Falun-Gong practicioners and then harvesting their organs shortly before they die. Let me reitterate, people are being shot and, before their own eyes, having their organs surgically removed to be sold on the black market for thousands of dollars. It's profoundly horrifying to hear that such atrocities are still occurring and even worse that our government, and the rest of the world community, is silent.

Seeing red again...

So Tuesday I had a 6-page book review due over Theodore White's Thunder Out of China. The book is basically a firsthand account of the happenings of China from 1937-45, a period in which China was engaged in civil war, World War II, and civil war yet again. I must say that the book was arguably the best I have read in months. Not only did I find this read to be highly informative, it was also depressingly thought-provoking when one connected the dots. I believe that most of us understand just how ruthless Mao Tse-Tung became after assuming the Chair of the PRC, but when Chiang Kai-Shek was in control of China, he wasn't exactly the friendliest guy either. Lack of free-press, suspension of habias-corpeus, secret police, and executions without out trial for suspected communists were just a few of Chiang's hobbies. The situation in China during this period is so disturbing to me because it really didn't matter what the outcome of the war was, the Chinese people were going to suffer immeasurably. How depressing is it that one could only choose between Chiang's fascism or Mao's communism? What would you do?

Speaking of communism, a couple of weeks ago Marx was the hot topic in my Humanities class. Once the debate started raging, one of my fellow classmates argued that communism does work in some countries. I asked where and he told me North Korea. "North Korea," I said, "aren't their citizens eating grass to survive?" End game. Anyway, I was browsing the web today and came across this site. Just remember, ignorance is curable... read.

Pssss... I've got a little secret to tell...

Current unemployment statistics show that we are under 5%. In fact, we are apparently at 4.7%. But sssshhhhh, don't tell anyone. We wouldn't want anyone to know that this rate is lower than anything we had under the Clinton years, or 1960-90, for that matter. Remember, those were eight years of peace and economic prosperity (try not to look at Al-Qaeda's embassy bombings in Africa, the attack on the USS Cole, the first World Trade Center attack, or the stock market crash in '01 due to apathy regarding sound economic policy). I find it interesting that the economy has been doing amazing since, 2004, at the very least, and yet I still encounter many people telling me that Bush's policies are economically dangerous or impractical. Here's my opinion on the issue, minus the PC:

- Spending.... I often confuse Bush with Jimmy Carter

- Monetary policy.... brilliant. I believe Bernanke will be an excellent Fed chairman because he is, at heart, a monetarist. He understands that the supply of money is one the key issues in determining inflation or deflation, not so much interest rates. I also believe that the tax cuts that were given in the early years of Bush's presidency contributed significantly to the stimulation of the economy (though I will also acknowledge they will increase debt over long term)

So there you have it... my late night rant, which is probably full of grammatical errors and poor wording. But I think I have made my point.

Mexican hypocrisy?

The immigration issue has quickly become the hot issue these past few weeks.. Many illegals are demanding that they be granted the same civil rights guaranteed as citizens. If you want America to grant equal rights to immigrants originating from Mexico, then why is it that the Mexican government fails to do so for foreigners in their country? How does it go.... people in glass houses shouldn't throw bricks?

Jack of All Genres

"I've been listening to the first WuTang album, The End 36 Chambers, pretty much everyday for the whole writing of the record (Stadium Arcadium). Um, I was inspired by the rhythms that the MCs were using in their raps. They were inspiring to me in terms of my guitar playing, [...] they don't just go in a straight rhythm according to how the drums are; they make up their own groove." ~ John Frusciante

WOW. This man truly is a student of music, and this is certainly going to be an amazing album. Needless to say I probably won't be leaving my house for 2 to 3 days after the CD is released.