Democratic Debate

I actually happen to think that inter-party debates are somewhat stressing. It's hard to watch open vicious political dissent between members of your favorite party. As I was reading over the highlights of the recent political presidential debate, I cringed at every low blow and jab that each candidate threw at each other. But I guess people do whatever it takes to win, even if it means degrading a fellow democratic candidate to save your own name.

highlights of the debate

Obama's religious beliefs

Funny Story:
Barrack Obama was accused of being associated with Muslims. While untrue, this could obviously hurt his campaign because of America's anti-Muslim beliefs. Furthermore, regardless of whether or not people have an anti-Islam feeling, the majority of Americans are Christian, and therefore look for a Presidential candidate with the same beliefs.

Church v. State

Separation of Church and State

Although our country was founded on the ideal that Church and State should be separated, it's hard to imagine the United States not guided by religion. Even voters take into consideration the candidates religion. Candidates who are not affiliated with God are less likely to win votes than a candidate who is religious. Furthermore, religion is still taken into consideration when making executive decisions. For example, Bush and his position on stem-cell research. Or, a decision banning Gay marriage. So while we claim that there is a separation of church and state, is that really true? Is it even possible??

Ron Paul

Walking across the bridge from Lee's Sandwiches to campus is more and more interesting every week. A strong Ron Paul supporter has written little notes on his policy on the sidewalk, and has pasted posters along the walk. This, of course, peaked my interest on this little known candidate. Citing the Constitution as his guide, Paul opposes law enforcement or anti-terrorism measures that he believes invade civil liberties. His views on small government extend to reducing if not eliminating the Education Department and the Department of Homeland Security. And he favors limiting immigration and strengthening border security. I have to say, that if it wasn't for the small publicity he's receiving from probably one loyal voter, I would have never known any of his platforms.

Abortion

click me!

Although I am personally Pro-choice when it come to abortion, I have to say that this was one of the most interesting articles I've read. The Cardinals who spoke, nevertheless because of their religious and moral background, disregarded religion and political beliefs and made a very clear point: it doesn't matter whether or not you are pro-choice or pro-life, that 200,000 abortions a year are too many. And that these abortions are taking a toll on the women who have them. The Cardinals even supported not changing the law, but promoting and encouraging other societal values such as sex within marriage.

fire

I'm somewhat positive that the way the government handles the California fires will be compared to the way the government handled Katrina. So I thought I would put in my two cents. First, I firmly believe that while the government is handling the fire situation a thousand times better than Katrina, that the improvement has nothing to do with race. Its been 2 years since the hurricane disaster. That's two years to get everything straightened out. Furthermore, San Diego, La Jolla, Irvine, Canyon Country, and all other areas that are affected by the fire are extremely affluent compared to those in New Orleans. People in California have their own forms of transportation, and are not dependent on public transit. Moreover, a flood is a completely different disaster than a fire. Fires, once put out, are done. The end. Floods on the other hand, stay and create problems for the infrastructure of the city.

Conflict Diamonds

Some of the major players in today's diamond scene are Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, and DR Congo. While these nations have been punished through UN led and supported sanctions, the key to stopping conflict diamonds lies in grassroots solutions. The general public needs to be aware of conflict diamonds and only purchase those that are not involved. Furthermore, the diamond industry needs to strengthen itself to block the sale and trade of conflict diamonds. This can be done with the UN and the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, which certifies the origin of diamonds.

Gay Marriage

In the recent GOP debate, Rudy Giuliani claimed that he would support a Constitutional amendment if states began to legalize it.

When I read this, I won't lie, I did get a little angry. I'm tired of hearing about Gay marriage. There are so many more pressing issues that effect America's safety and health, as well as foreign policy questions that need to be answered (IRAQ!). In my opinion, America was based on the singular infamous idea that all men are created equal. That here in America we do not discriminate. It is an American value and moral that so many other nations are trying to model and uphold as well. So to think that a politician, and could be America's next president, would support a Constitutional Amendment banning Gay marriage is contradictory and hypocritical of the founding idea that America was built on. Regardless of what the Bible or religion believe, America is built on freedom, and is therefore required to uphold those ideals. I also think that there is a societal issue here at hand. Society is focusing on an institution so minute compared to other more significant issues. What about health care and immigration? What about the war in Iraq? What about Iran's nukes? What ever happened to Israel/ Palestine? Kashmir? Darfur?

I guess the point I'm trying to establish is that, although I know the American public wants to know the stance of politicians on Gay marriage, I think we should focusing more on health care and immigration, and future steps regarding Iraq.

Go Green

My high school teacher brought up a good point- that every generation has an "-ism" to be scared of. Her generation was "Communism". My generation is "Terrorism". However, I'm beginning to think that the next generation's "-ism" of choice will be "Environmentalism". After Al Gore produced "An Inconvenient Truth" and brought it to the American public, its obvious that politicians' new policies and platforms must focus on the current environmental situation. I think that the US, as an obvious political leader, needs to take steps that indirectly encourage other nations to improve the environmental situation and think ahead for the future. Of course, the biggest of these steps would be to ratify the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Convention on Climate change. President Bush and America in general has received mass criticism from not only Americans but other nations for its lack of participation in such a dire and exponential problem.

Britney Spears on BBC?

news link

So I was trying to find a good topic to write on for my blog, and decided to puruse bbc.co.uk for a few good articles or any current events that I found interesting. However, on my quest for something good to write on, I found under "Other Top Stories" an article headed by, "Britney visitation rights halted." And in my mind, I thought, "why does a well recognized and renowned instiution such as the British Broadcasting Company care about what Britney Spears does with her life? I remember the days when I used to watch CNN because I felt that it carried the news that were "internationally sound" and told me about the events that local news stations failed to carry. However, as my Model United Nations teacher pointed out, CNN, after 9/11,started to lack in quality. Even the reporters somehow turned from intelligent news casters to extremely good looking blonde women ( so distracting, that sometimes I couldn't even focus on what she was saying because I was concentrating on her face.) So, I switched to BBC, thinking that things like that could have been avoided, especially since I happen to think International Stations and Newcasters do a better job reporting current events and global issues than American stations. When I saw the Britney Spears article, I literally said, "WTF" I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the while at first I thought that the media in the US was declining, I'm now seeing an overall decline in media all together. I purposely go to BBC and CNN to avoid reading ho-hum articles about movie stars and in general, ignorant people. So I guess I'm pissed, disappointed at the most, to see that my reliant sources have fallen to Hollywood media.

Darfur (a picture essay)

United Nations

this one is my personal favorite:



I'm beginning to think that the United Nations is declining in its political influence. It didn't and couldn't stop the United States from invading Iraq; which really questioned the UN's power. If a huge super power such as the United States could not be stopped by the UN, what incentive do smaller lesser developed nations have to abide by the UN? Another example of the UN's decline is the Non-proliferation Treaty. There are still those select countries that have yet to sign or ratify the NPT, and then there are those that have chosen to back out all together (North Korea).

Gore

The other day, my dad said that Al Gore should run for president again, because he would have a good chance of winning. And in my mind I thought, "Why? Who wants to see him run again??" But then I really thought about it. Gore's policy on the environment is refreshing to say the least. With today's environmental issues, it's a breath of fresh air to see a politician who cares about one of the largest most threatening inevitable issues of our time. Plus, he has already taken steps necessary to fix the problem. "An Inconvenient Truth" was one of the most watched documentaries of our time! He differs from Hillary because he doesn't have a controversial position on Iraq. He differs from Barack because he has experience in both the House and the Senate. And now, Gore is being seen in a different light. He's created this aura that's actually, for lack of a better term, cool. He has the third highest grossing documentary, which puts him in cahoots with Hollywood, and he can even crack jokes about himself on SNL.

Bahá'í

I was surfing through bbc.co.uk, as usual, looking for my next entry topic when I found a whole section on world religions. So I've come to the conclusion that my next few entries are going to be on the lesser known religions of the world. Today's is Bahá'í



this video is pretty good at describing the religion, so I probably won't type in that much commentary just because these people pretty much took care of it.


the religion of Baha'i is one of the world's youngest religions. It was founded in Iran in 1863 by a man named Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh, who called himself "Bab", was born MIzra Husayn Ali. The main idea behind the religion is unity, that all people should work to benefit humanity!

Attempting Peace

Muslim Scholars Reach out to Pope

I may not be the most updated scholar on Islamic and Christian debates, but I still have a general idea. In my opinion, a lot of tension between Islam and Christianity has to do with the misconception and misunderstanding of the world of Islam. From what I've seen, the west knows very little about the religion of Islam and its ideals, and therefore misconceives it. It replaces what it doesn't know about the religion with assumptions and links it to terrorism. Nevertheless, within recent years, Islam has been attacked as the religion that backs terrorism (even the Pope seems to think so). However I personally feel that there is a certain type of Islam that supports the use of violence, and thats Islamist Extremism. But, the media fails to distinguish that specific difference, which causes the general population to blame the entire religion of Islam for terrorism and violence. And that causes the assumptions which people take for general truth.

In the long run, I'm excited to see that Muslims are working toward peace between Christianity and Islam. I think it's a very foward idea and vision, that hopefully I will get to see the benefits of.

christian von wernich

"A court in Argentina has convicted a former Roman Catholic police chaplain of collaborating in murders during the country's military rule"

Christian Von Wernich was convicted for involvement in seven murders, 42 abductions and 31 cases of torture during the 1976-83 Dirty War. Apparently, Von Wernich has used his position to gain the trust of the prisoners, and then pass their information onto police torturers and killers in secret detention centers. He would then attend the torture sessions and free the police of blame because they were doing God's work.



I hope that video works. I know it's in another language, but I figured it would still be a neat thing to watch anyway.

I thought that this was an interesting story because it involved the Catholic church, which at times, seems to do no wrong. Although Christian Von Wernich represents the Catholic church, he doesn't represent the kinds of practices that the church carries out. The Catholic church in Argentina, on the other hand, I hope will come under fire for its lack of opinion on the case (which in my opinion, proves how guilty it is).

DRAKE is a FLAKE

This is about a month old, but I thought it would be worth mentioning because I'm a student at UC Irvine, and stuff like this doesn't happen openly very often.

In the beginning of September, Erwin Chemerinsky, the constitutional law scholar at Duke University, signed a contract to be the inaugural dean of the new law school at UC Irvine. However, a week later, Chancellor Drake flew to Durham and fired Chemerinsky, explaining that he wasn't aware that Chemerinsky's policital views would be reason for criticism from conservatives.

this article: click me will go further into the case between Drake and Chemerinsky; describing Drake's motives behind firing Chemerinsky. The article is well written, and contains sources from the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles TImes.

After reading the article, as well as it's links, I feel that Drake had made a serious mistake hiring and firing Chemerinsky within almost a week. Drake, as I suspect, knew Chemerinsky's political background and views before hand, and should have taken it into consideration before having Chemerinsky sign the contract. Furthermore, Drake's decision reflect very if not extremely poorly on UC Irvine as a whole, including it's students. Because Drake is the head -honcho of all of UCI, his decision and actions reflect those of the staff and students. His actions even question the rectitude of our institution.
However, people of Drake's position don't make these kind of decisions without heavy pressure or thought. As mentioned in the article, Donald Bren's political ideals could have had some influence on the decision. And I seriously do not doubt that. Because Donald Bren is a serious donator to UCI, It is possible that Bren's Republican ideals clashed with those of Chemerinsky, and therefore would displease the largest benefactor to UCI. And who, in their right mind, wants to displease the man who's name is on two of our buildings (Bren Events Center, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Science) and who just donated 20 million dollars to put toward a new law school?

So, while I feel somewhat betrayed by the fact that Drake's decision is reflecting poorly on not just him but the rest of UC Irvine, I cannot be totally upset because I would have probably done the same exact thing if put in his position. like the say, "politics makes strange bedfellows"