Month: July 2004

I wanted to create a place where people could post comments for whatever reason; without needing to post something meaningful and well thought out, on a specific post. Say you stopped by the site, and like it: why not give me a shout out? Say you just wanted to say hi, and you couldn’t find anything else you wanted to comment on (likely story, but either way): again, give me a shout out. So, here it is. This will be an on going thread that will be linked, forever, from the main page. Now, give me a shout out, and thanks for stopping by!

Hello all, and by all, I mean all 9 of you that read this… be sure to watch the debate tonight, and check back here tomorrow to see my rants and raves about it! Till then, biscuits!

I have been listening to Air America radio (check it out!) a lot these days, and it seems that there is an issue that I get more polarized on everyday. Yesterday was the whole flip flop thing (see below), and today, I am worried about something else: the election. How will voting turn out? Will we see a repeat of the last election (and by repeat I mean taking the election decision to the supreme court, which is like taking the biggest redneck in the world to the sale at Barney’s… it just doesn’t belong there)? Will Bush finagle his way into office again? Well, there are a couple of things that are really upsetting me about this whole thing.

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Here we are just about 6 weeks away from what may be the most important election this country has seen in over 100 years. What is most disturbing to me about this is that there is so much that is going on, most people are ignorant, and when I say ignorant, in many cases, I mean selectively ignorant, to what is ACTUALLY going on.
All over the airwaves, all over the TV, all over the internet, I keep seeing people label Kerry as a flip flopper, and people calling Bush a liar, and so on, and so on. Do you people that are reading all of this, be it from one side, for one side, whatever, understand what all of this means? Do you understand what any of this means? Do you understand what I mean?? Sorry, got carried away…

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Okay, so last night, I was reading an article about the possible introduction of the selective service draft(even though the selective service website says that there is no current plan to do so, this is a concern based on the notion that there COULD be one in the future). Okay, so first I must say that is the probably one of the WORST ideas that have ever been assembled by the current “administration” (don’t get me started on FMA or the patriot act). The main reason being that there does not need to be a war in the first place. At least not for the reasons that it is being fought. The other main reason: calling those to fight that neither believe in violence as a means to and end nor believe in this war’s purpose or goal, is just simply wrong. (that would be the category I am sure that I am not alone in.) There are already thousands of troops that have died senseless deaths looking for so-called “weapons of mass destruction”, and I am sure that they are looking down on us going… “what weapons did I die for… none. I guess that makes it all worth while, that I gave up the most important thing to any human being… their lives… for nothing. Hmph.”
Well, doesn’t this put the proposal of a draft into perspective?? Shouldn’t we consider the ramifications of what happened the LAST TIME there was a draft and almost an entire generation of young men was lost, for no good reason?? I think that we should. There is a reason that they dissolved the draft, and I think that it should stay that way. Here is hoping that I make it to 27 before this darn thing takes effect. And here’s hoping that many of you do too.

So apparently, I have decided to have my very own Blog, as well as my own website. A link to the blog will officially be active as of today, July 27th, which is pretty exciting, considering that I just figured out how to use weblogs today. Hopefully, this will act as a place for me to vent, and receive lots of fun chat and ideas from those who stumble onto my website. Here’s hoping. Register and comment people!!

This past weekend, the weekend before my birthday, which is August 26th for all those keeping score, something that has never happened to me happened…a surprise party was thrown in my honor! How exciting! IT really was, because I have never had a surprise party, and it is really awesome to open your eyes and see all those people that care about you standing around waiting for you to come in and have fun. There were tons of people there, and I totally appreciate all of it. I want to personally thank James and Josh for their wonderful party planning and bringing it all together. I honestly cannot believe that James could keep a secret this long, but people can surprise you. Love you guys!!!

In some of my previous posts (i.e. those that focus on a draft) are totally my opinion folks, and just that. You also must understand that when I make comments and form opinions about things, I do so in context. The draft comments are no different. I am referring to the context of this war, right now. So if you don’t like my comments and opinions, that is fine, but make sure that you understand where I am coming from, and I am not just making broad generalizations. Sometimes I focus on things that effect me (and why not? We all need to focus on ourselves from time to time) and potentially jeopardize my safety in some way. That is what this draft thing would do. Please understand that. IT isn’t going anywhere, and I know that, people, I am just venting how I feel about it. And just for the record, stating that something is bad for you, and not something that would want to be a part of, isn’t necessarily an opinion, especially if it could take your life. I believe we would be in consensus to say that if you knew that there was a strong chance you could die doing something that you probably wouldn’t want to do it (unless you are braver than I), whatever it is, right? And if not, and I am totally off, then oh well. Maybe it is all just my opinion, but just know that I am forming my opinions contextually, and make sure that is understood.

This past Thursday and Friday, Atlanta was ravaged by the hurricane known as Ivan. I do believe that it was down-graded to a tropical storm before it hit good old ATL, but still had bad effects none the less. Now, we were no where near as badly effected as Louisiana or Alabama, or anywhere south of there, but there were lots of power lines downed, and lots of damage from trees downed, as well. Thank goodness it was milder than expected, and we weathered the storm. Fortunately, we don’t have any damage, that I can notice, which is a relief. (for all those out their concerned about my safety)

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A post that I wrote from 7/28/04 about the draft had a couple of comments that I felt the need to not only comment on, but post an entry to clarify what I actually meant in what I wrote. Here is my comment on the post. (Be sure to check out the actual post and comments if you so wish).

Well, I feel the need to clarify what I meant. Point blank: The draft is a bad idea for me. The draft is a bad idea for anyone who doesn’t believe in war, violence, and destruction as a means to secure or conquer anything. Surely there are other ways to save the world than to kill thousands of innocent people. And the people that are doing the killing are our military right now. People that, like Stephanie says, tend to be the poorer people, people that, in many cases, have no other choices to make it ahead in life, so they must join the military. Well, that stinks, and I agree with that. It sucks that the way our country is set up, is that many of the poor have no other way. But, I don’t believe in reinstating a draft that will most likely draft a majority of lower middle, middle, and upper middle class citizens into wars that they may or may not believe in, after all, that is the bulk of the country, right? Many, like myself, see this war as totally unnecessary (i.e. the “reason” we went was to find and destroy WMD… right? yet none are there.), and see it as more of an agenda to further the financial gains of certain chosen companies, as well as to procure supplies of oil (as many people who drive have begun to notice that our supply is getting a little low).
So in summation, I just want to clarify… the draft WOULD eliminate the problem that the poor are the majority fighting in the war, but it would force many peaceful pacifists onto the front line (many of which work hard as hell and pay taxes out the wazoo to make certain things like essential systems, like public health (myself) work in this country and throughout the world). So there is no right or wrong answer about the draft…for the masses, but there is a right or wrong answer for the draft FOR ME. That answer is that the idea of a draft sucks, ESPECIALLY considering it would be to fight a war that I believe is not necessary in the first place.