A funny, pithy, “witty” type post.

Alright, as much as I like using my (4-hist-a-week) voice for seriousness and enhancing the public dialogue, I do have a sense of humor.  A damn good one, if I do say so myself (and the record will show, I just did say so).  So, I thought I’d give all four of you a little taste.  Here are some of my pithy thoughts and favorites from current events:

1.  FOXNews accused Newsweek magazine of personally attacking Sarah Palin by NOT photoshopping her cover picture.  the quote the anchor (a very re-touched young blond lady) said was “This is an attack on who she is and what she stands for by a liberal news source.”  First off, if Newsweek is liberal, then the Wall Street Journal is anarchist.

Second, am I to get from this that what Gov. Palin stands for is looking good by way of photoshop?  That’s what it sounded like.

2.  Ya doo hafta love a hawkey maum, though, bless ‘er heart, she actually had the balls to release her own investigation of herself and clear herself of all wrongdoing a few hours before the … let’s call them “less vested” investigation revealed exactly the opposite finding in the “troopergate” scandal. 

3.  Senator Obama’s campaign got caught accepting a little change they couldn’t believe in.  NYT reports that the Senator’s online donation system may have generated as much as $4,500 dollars from suspicious names.   Was it a big tip-off when Strom Thurmond donated his $2,700?  Maybe Rusty Shackleford has decided that “yes, he can.”

4.  The United States Congress is the single most ineffective it’s ever been.  It reached a head when they 1. couldn’t pass a bill because one half of the aisle thought John McCain wanted the credit and the other half though Nancy Pelosi wanted the credit (we all know that Rome can burn until we determine who gets the credit for throwing kerosene on the fire, right?), then 2.  TOOK OFF TWO DAYS for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.  Our country is in 3.5 TRILLION dollars of debt, and you’re going to try to convince me that there is a significant faction of the congress that’s Jewish?  C’mon.  Or, as Jon Stewart astutely noted: “Wall Street was open, and you bet your ass there’s more Jews on Wall Street than in congress.”  Even if the bill gets passed (without the help of the 14 Jewish congressmen) in the house and miraculously comes to a Senate vote the next day, the senate has to pass it without…who?  Leiberman and Feingold?  You’ll pardon me if I think they can manage.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFFJfd0RtSo

3.  For all of Tom Brokaw’s whining about the candidates’ inability to keep their responses under one minute (we can’t trust them to efficiently manage one minute, let’s turn over our military and budget to them, right?), he seemed rather indifferent to the general dodging of questions, flat-out lies, and all around waffling that both Senators employed.  Greatest Generation my ass.  MAKE THEM ANSWER A YES OR NO QUESTION YES OR NO!!!!  Jon Stewart for Moderator in 2012.  Please.

4.  I received the greatest compliment a normal human being can receive on the cesspool of ignorance and racism that is Youtube’s comment boxes the other day when one person told me( to honor my defense of the crazy notino that not all Muslims hate America) “this country needs more people like you.”  The next comment was equally as eloquent and kind: “Shut the fuck up, nigger-lover!!!!”

5.  There’s just something fundamentally wrong with this guy’s head…and I can’t stop laughing about it!  :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOfb9XgYlk4

6.  O SNAP:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6YKOkfFsE&feature=bz303

http://www.youtube.com/user/johnmccaindotcom?ob=4

It appears, once more, that the ability of these new-fangled computers and cameras and whatchacallits have made up for the apparently assumed total memory loss of the Marican people.  How can he be good and safe…if he’s too risky?  Don’t worry, though, John McCain, he’s looking out for you.  Country First.

7.  That’s it.  Hope you laughed at something.  If you didn’t…well…then it may be too late for you.

Sad, the things people will do.

It continually amazes me some of the things I hear when I talk about poverty.  Some people will literally say whatever they have to to convince themselves that they think fighting poverty is a bad thing.  Now, the ones like “We’ve got problems here to worry about,” or “it’s the natural order of things” are just uninformed and misguided. 

We’ve got nothing to worry about compared to 1,500,000 people dying every motnh from things treatments and preventions are easily obtained for.  And poverty as a brought-about condition is a natural thing.  Poverty as a social caste is not.  As it stands, if you’re born into extreme poverty, you will die in extreme poverty.  Every time, no exceptions.  And if you haev kids, they will live and die in extreme poverty.

But people don’t understand these things, which makes it much easier to be patient when I explain them.

But sometimes, people go out of their way to set up scenarios which basically turn them into apathetic, self-centered, hypocrites to avoid fighting poverty.

I have a friend, who will remain nameless here because some people reading this would recognize the name, whose argument for why fighting poverty with the ONE Campaign was bad was something like “There are things I want government to do, then there are things I think government should do.”  They went on to use these two separate categories to always have a reason why poverty-fighting is a bad thing.  They furthermore mentioned the current economy and how badly people here need help.

The thing is, until this conversation, this person stood for social responsibility and was a hyper-liberal.  Today, they became a fiscal conservative who believed that America should fix America’s problems and Africa can worry about their damn selves…with arguments such as “they took out the loans we’re scalping them on (as though every Tanzanian has to sign off on a gov’t loan and that’s why it’s okay that they’re all starving because of a bad decision 30 years ago)”  and “what are the odds anyone I know will get malaria?”  Basically, the liberalism became “I like being liberal because I like abortion rights and stem cell” and the social responsibility became others’ responsibility to them.

Then, they went a step farther by saying that ONE is doomed to fail because we’re the same as every other organization before us.  We aren’t, I say, and even saying we are implies that you don’t have all the facts.  ”I’ve heard al the facts and arguments before, and none of them work.  Yours area ll the same.”  No we’re not, I say, “well, you have the exact same rhetoric.” 

What?  So, Civil Rights got achieved the first time?  (never mind that 200-year struggle)?  India was liberated after Gandhi wined one time?  Yes, our rhetoric is similar to previous rhetoric (although the rhetoric is currently much better understood and adaptive) in that we see ways that our government can fix the problems it’s created to eradicate poverty.  No, we aren’t the same as every organization before us.  We’re organizing in new ways and in numbers nobody ever thought possible.

And to explicitly say that our solutions are implausible and impossible is not only ignorant.  It goes beyond that into stupid.  Didn’t you hear about when ONE crashed the World Bank servers?  Maybe you heard of when we petitioned congress for two weeks and got PEPFAR re-authorized?  Or when we got every presidentia lcandidate to address our issues in their plans?  Our ideas are small, manageable, and effective.  The larger goals are therefore lofty, but completely achievable, and to say otherwise is to be an ignorant jackass.

“What have you done?”  We’re swinging elections.  “They’re regional.”  This is our first presidential election, and we’ve already swung other elections for Senate “Which senators?”  Claire McCaskill.  “It’s obviously not just you, but other groups.”  This might be true, but without our support, she didn’t win St. Louis, and without St. Louis, we have Sen. Talent right now.

The worst part came, though, when the economic crisis they thought so pivotal to address right now (“ask me in four years and maybe I’ll feel differently,” they said).  I said “it won’t be as bad a recession as everyone thinks, and if there is a recession, the only money goes out and new money rises.”  He says “That’s not how a recession works.  Just old money goes out, no new money comes in.”  “Okay, what’s your idea?”  “Ignore it.  The market always fixes itself and new money will rise up after the trough.” 

Now, there comes a point where even I realize that a person’s willing to say whatever they need t osay to convince themselves they’re right and that poverty doesn’t matter.  When a person is going to claim victory in an argument because I failed to specify “after the trough,” I know we’ve reached that point.  I should’ve known, of course, when it got to the point where abortion might affect them, but malaria won’t (even thought in 30 years 1 in every 50 people will have suffered from either AIDS or malaria, to which they said “in thirty years, I’ll care”), when dying Africans can rot because their governments got them into these messes and they can get them out (even though, as long as our tariffs are in place and our regulations and our 200, 300, 700% interest on loans which have essentially already been paid are in place, they can’t even begin to dig themselves out).

Another word on loans…their governments should never have taken these loans, but don’t sit and preach to me about the current economic crisis while you tell me that it’s the responsibility of people who borrow money to pay it back.  THE WHOLE REASON THERE’S AN ECONOMIC CRISIS IS BECAUSE PEOPLE BORROWED MONEY WHICH THE LENDERS KNEW THEY COULD NOT PAY BACK!!  Then, they can’t pay it back, and we have t obail the rich bastards out.  Why?  Because if we don’t, the sons-of-guns borrowing the money they can’t pay in the first place will suffer.  If it matters here, it matters there.  Unless, of course, you’re a self-centered narcissistic egotist looking out for Ole Numero Uno.

And America can, no matter what people say (in the last three days, I’ve heard that the recession is gonna make all OUR children starve to death and all other kinds of absurdity) sustain 30-50 YEARS of recession/depression without suffering anywhere near what Africa’s going through.

They also didn’t want to hear that fighting poverty is proven to reduce the likelihood of wars.  Apparently, unless we prevent every war everywhere, it’s not worth it to this person.  Nevermind that preventing one Iraq-like war for six months pays for every dime it takes to end poverty or that in countries where effective pvoerty-fighting is going on, the US is viewed almost 75% better…

Because when people have decided they don’t care, there’s nothing that’ll change their mind.  But I’m not gonna play games.  I won’t agree to disagree.  I won’t see it your way.  It works toward everyone’s advantage to end poverty unless you’re worried about Numero Uno in the here-and-now.  If you can admit that’s all you care about and you’re willing to bend your ideals, logic, and general worldview to fit that, at elast we can come away understanding each other.  If you can’t admit that, then know that we come away with me understanding that you are only concerned with yourself.  And as long as you are spending all your time looking out for you, I am not going to waste any of my time helping you.

It’s like America doesn’t get it.  We look at all we’ve been blessed with and think it’s a gift from God or its our own good fortune…no!  It’s our chance to help make the world a better place.  A world where poverty as a birthright and AIDS and malaria don’t exist is a world where we can never fall victim to them.  But, hey, it’s never been about the world, right?  Just about us.  The mighty ME.

I think of a story I heard about Gandhi once.  He was frustrated with the slow-moving of progress, and he asked his wife why more people wouldn’t get on-board and she said (according to legend) “Mohandas, I understand your frustration, but sadly, most poeple don’t even want to be as good as you are.”  This is our problem today.  Not that we want to do good, but that there is a  large faction of us who aren’t struggling with doing good, but genuinely don’t care.  It is for these people that I shed a tear and at these people that I get so mad I can’t see straight and to these people I ask “when will we learn?  When will we realize what Gandhi taught, which his that all life is sacred and valuable, and worth standing up and demanding fairness for?”  I wonder if we’ll ever learn…

Get Involved!

MDG Prayer and Fast Day Post 2:

Here’s a letter-writing tool that the Epioscopalian Church has made available to send letter to your congresspeople on this day of action.

http://episcopal.grassroots.com/virtualmarch/20080925actn/

I don’t care if you’re not Episcopalian.  Hell, I’m not.  But we the able are consistently shouldering the burden of the ability to act.  My grandpa used to say “it’s the responsibility of those who recgnize what’s right to do it.”  So, if you’re sitting at this computer, knowing that people starve to death because these MDGs aren’t met (because the world’s governments aren’t keeping thteir promises), knowing you can spare the 2 minutes it takes, but not sending a pre-written letter because of its denominational affiliation…well…there’s not a hair on your ass, to quote another of my Grandpa’s favorites.

Peace.  Out.

Today, we fast, we pray, and we demand.

In one hour and seven minutes from the time of writing this blog, world leaders will be convening in New York City at the UN building to discuss the progress of the Millennium Development Goals.

Eight years ago, the world’s greatest, strongest, most wealthy, and (I believe) most blessed nations made a promise to the global poor.  No, they made a promise to the world.  No, they made eight promises to the world.

They promised the world that, by 2015, extreme poverty and hunger (poverty and hunger as a birthright rather than as an economic downturn or stroke of ill fate) would be cut in half and that fulfilling work would be available for everyone.

They promised the world that, by 2015, every single child in the world, be they boys or girls, would have access to an education through the sixth grade (this is both ambitious and pathetic, but I will focus on the ambition).

They promised the world that, by 2015, disparity in gender equality would be eliminated and women will finally be equal in the eyes of the law.

They promised the world that, by 2015, the number of children under the age of five who die each year would decrease by two-thirds.

They promised the world that, by 2015, the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria would not only be halted, but would begin to show signs of reversing.

They promised the world that, by 2015, the number of people living without sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation would be cut in half, and that biodiveristy loss would be significantly reduced by 2010.

They promised the world that, by 2015, global partnerships between we the wealthy and they the less wealthy nations would be achieved in the areas of debt forgiveness, trade fairness, and aid policies to help these countries grow into self-sufficiency.

And tomorrow, more than half-way to each of those goals, “ urgent and increased efforts are needed by all stakeholders in order to meet the Goals by 2015,” as UN Secretary Genral Ban Ki-moon put it.  Tomorrow, the United Nations convenes to begin discussing how, or perhaps even if, they can meet their commitments to the world.

Tomorrow, the rest of the world must sit and wonder if their commitments are as serious to them as they are to starving children in Kenya with HIV/AIDS and no education or clean drinking water.  We must sit and watch as they fumble around with how to do what’s right, what theyre already promised they would do, without significantly inconveniencing the top half of one percent of the world’s population which represents half of the world’s wealth.  Tomorrow, they start deciding how “kept” is “kept” in terms of promises.

So, tomorrow, concerned citizens of the world, ONE members and Bread for the World members and members of the global church and individuals everywhere who believe that right makes might, must take some form of action.

The Episcopalian church has, therefore, organized a spiritual boycott of sorts.  It’s not really a boycott…it’s a fast.  Tomorrow, September 25th, I urge you, dear readers, to join hands with me in fasting at least one meal in solidarity with the world’s poorest individuals (if you can, fast all of them in true solidarity, but don’t make yuorself sick).  Join me in denying our stomachs in order to better bear our hearts to God and beg Him to influence the hearts of the men in that conference hall.  Join me in putting ourselves in a position that the world’s poorest individuals find themselves in daily, a position where all we can do is cry out to God, with knees and heads lowered and hearts and hands lifted, begging Him to step in and intervene on behalf of the world’s most broken systems.  Join me also in reminding the world that tomorrow, we have less than seven years to meet the promises we made, and that the world, the governments, we must all stand together (as ONE at www.one.org if you like) and demand that what’s right be done. 

Tell your friends about the MDGs.  Blog about them yourself.  Recruit your brothers and sisters in Christ to fast and pray with you.  And beg the LORD to show up in the United Nations building tomorrow as only He can do to forever change the way the world works and save the lives of millions of His children.

God bless you, revolutionaries, and thank you for your commitment to righteousness in government and the world, as well as in your own lives.

Peace.  Out.

The Problems with The Problems with Ending Poverty.

There are, it seems, certain arguments that I hear time-and-again whenever I talk about ONE and poverty-related issues.  I want to start off by saying that I don’t think less of people for hainvg doubts about government solutions.  Until recently, foreign assistance has had an atrocious track record, and although it is on a really fast track to recovery, I can’t expect everyone to just accept that it is getting better and changing its focus overnight.  So, what I’m about to write should be (and I’m gonna try to make it) informative, not vindictive.  We’ll see.

First, I always hear this one: “people should fix poverty, not governments.”

This is a good argument for appealing to my conservative side, but the fact it, individuals can’t fix poverty.  It’s like this:  individuals can really only do one thing in the current poverty environment: charity.  Food crisis aid, medical missions, so on.  The problem is, feeding an African doesn’t help an African feed him/her self.  Going and giving them medicine one time doesn’t cure their illnesses.  They need to be able to trade for the food they need, which they can’t do under current international trade rules imposed by the G8 nations (who profit ungodly amounts from these rules and restrictions).  Individuals can’t affect trade laws.  Individuals can’t regulate international medicine policies.  Individuals can’t negotiate cease-fires in Darfur or Mozambique. 

Right now, poverty isn’t about a lack of charity.  It’s about a lack of justice.  Sadly, all individuals can do to affect justice is pester the people of their government…kind of like the ONE Campaign is doing at www.one.org.  Or, if you’re a student, at www.one.org/campus.

Next, people say, “well, we shouldn’t raise taxes to help other countries.”

I couldn’t agree more.  ONE isn’t pushing to raise taxes by one percent.  We are pushing for the federal government to use intelligently (and bills are already being passed to guarantee responsible oversight of the money) one percent of the budget for foreign assistance.  How can we pay for this?  It would be easy enough, since we’re only talking about a few billion dollars.  The math is simple: at ten billion dollars a month in Iraq, if helping other countries overcome their poverty saves us six months of war, it’s paid for itself.   If it saves us seven months, it’s making money.

And the statistics back up what Sen. Bill Frist has said: “people don’t attack people who saved their children’s lives.”  Fighting poverty is the best defense strategy we can possibly have (and at only 5% of the cost of war!).  Colin Powell said “fighting a war on terror is wrapped up in winning the war on poverty.”  This means, essentially, that if we can end extreme poverty, we’ve won the war on terror.

I also hear a lot of “that’s a liberal thing.”

Tell that to Bill Frist or Colin Powell or George W. Bush or Newt Gingrich.  Tell me that while you look at the statistics on how much foreign assistance saves our government every year in war fighting (wait…a defense strategy that’s more effective than guns, less costly, and increases our popular opinion? shudder the thought…) or when you’re telling me about what Jesus would do (He sure as hell wouldn’t let children starve, that’s for sure.

And while I believe that it can be both sides’ issue, I’d like to point out that there isn’t much to say for us as a nation if our political ideology has cut off our humanity to the point where we’re rejecting a proven plan to save children’s lives because it doesn’t meld.

Finally, I hear “I don’t haev time.”

If you’ve got two minutes a week, you’ve got time.  In two minutes, you can call BOTH Senators and send an email.  Maybe a different week you can handwrite a letter to someone, or else call up your congressman and the United Nations.  Two.  Minutes.  If you can’t spare two minutes for the poor…what are you doing?  Two minutes is a commercial break.  Two minutes is standing in line at Starbuck’s.  Two minutes is nothing, man, and that’s all it takes to be a part of saving 30,000 lives PER DAY.  Diem.  yoom.  Dia.  You get the idea.

It only makes good political sense to support the end of poverty, as well as good economic sense, good moral sense…it’s just good sense, really.  Next time, I’ll be addressing some ideas like “we should take care of our own problems first.”  Tune in!

Another Post About Fighting Poverty…

Howdy.  Man, it feels like forever since I’ve posted here.  That’s cool.  Since the last time I wrote, the blog’s only been viewed like six times.  Who knows, maybe the same person.  I don’t care.  I appreciate any readership.

Who am I to get stuck up if nobody reads this, right?  Who am I, really, that people care what I think?

But, I am back now, and if you’re reading this, I’m grateful.  Because today, as I’ve done a few times, I’m blogging about extreme poverty and why it can/should/must end.

Every day, about 30,000 CHILDREN (people under the age of twelve) die from hunger, diarrhea, and other things that are just stupid and shouldn’t plague a world where plenty exists like it does.  RFK said it best “as long as plenty exists, poverty is evil.”

Their suffering is caused by a series of factors.  One, there are trade restrictions which disable their ability to bolster their GNP.  Second, there’s corrupt leadership both in poverty-countries’ governments and in G8 nations that continually screws over the poorest people.

Can you imagine, starving to death?  Slowly losing control of your extremities and your senses dulling as pain racks your body, knowing that if you can eat something, anything, that you can be well again.

Wars, genocides, unfair trade, all these things are symptoms and causes of extreme poverty, trapping almost TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD in a vicious and neverending cycle of living on about what two US dollars can buy you in the United States per day.  Incidentally, if you live in the US on less than about thirty US dollars per day, the government comes in and supplements your income.

The only solutions seem to be these:  the world’s poorest countries must have their debts forgiven, their trade restrictions loosened (also known as “amde fair”), and aid distributed intelligently so as to help them make it through until the first two measures really start kicking in.

The ONE Campaign believes its time for people to stop giving thoughtlessly, but rather to attack the roots of the problem and eradicate the scourge from the planet.  We are millions of Americans, standing as ONE, using our voices to influence the global politics that keeps these people starving.  Currently, both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama praise ONE members publicly, and both have written or co-sponsored tremendous legislature in the right direction.  [on a more partisan note, I believe that Sen. Obama has written and supported a good deal more legislation aimed at helping the world's poorest people than has Sen. McCain, and I further believe he has written/ sponsored less counterproductive legislation.  Both of these opininos are my own and aren't necessarily the views of The ONE Campaign.  Both senators are friends of the campaign].

For more information about ONE, please go to www.one.org.

If you’re a college student, please please please get involved on your campus by going to www.one.org/campus.

I think, since I’m really starting to re-immerse myself in the world of fighting poverty, that I’m going to do a series, as I have time, refuting the arguments against ONE or te idea of Debt, Aid, and Trade as government goals.  I’m also going to take on the ideas that “we should fix problems in our own countries first,” that “people and not governments should fix poverty,” and that “poverty can never end.”  I’ll also discuss the benefits of ending poverty on the United States’ economy, the war on terror/national security, and American health and education.

I really hope you’ll join me in fighting extreme poverty, and that you’ll tune in in the weeks to come to continue reading my thoguhts on why ending poverty is always and only a good thing.

Thank you for reading.

PEace.  Out.

MDG Fasting Day Sept. 25th.

It’s like this, folks…we’re doing a crap job of keeping our promises to the world, so some folks around the country are taking September 25th to pray, fast, and ADVOCATE on behalf of the Millennium Development Goals.  Join them.

 

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The Dark Knight. And the Real World. (return of seriousness).

Hello.  For all of you tired of reading my stupid rambling…I’ve got good news.

For those of you tired of reading me bitch because poverty sucks…I’ve got more good news.

For people who hate analogies…terrible news.

I was one of the blessed half of Americans who got a chance to see Dark Knight this week.  I went and saw it in a small local theatre because the big ones were all sold out.  (sidebar…why do theaters all spell it theatre?  Theatre is the entire spectrum of plays/movies…theatERS are where you go to enjoy the theatre.  Why do I know that?) 

It was a phenomenal movie…best ever.  The Godfather II of comic book movies.  Heath Ledger was fantasticas The Joker.  The Oscars are made out of Gold on mahogany.  If he doesn’t win the Oscar for best performance, it might as well be made out of crap on cardboard, because it’s clearly not worth anything anyway.  For all intents and purposes, the role of Joker died with Ledger, because nobody can ever do Joker any better than that. 

So, yeah, if you can get some tickets, I highly recommend that.

I’ve taken some crap recently because people are saying I look too hard for philosophical concepts in movies, but to me, Dark Knight was incredible.  A manifesto of various types of good and evil.  And it led me on some courses of thought about the ideas therein.  These relate to my previous topics of saving the world.

In the movie, there are two good guys, then two to three bad guys.

Good guys: Batman/Bruce Wayne (played masterfully by Christian Bale, who should win best supporting role), and Harvey Dent.  Batman is a vigilante who works outside the given system and inspires a lot of copycats who don’t do things the right way, but who are essentially trying to save the world.

Dent is a DA who is giving people hope, working within the limits of the system and, while working at a much slower rate with a larger margin of failure, is a lot more people to have hope.  Even Bruce Wayne recognizes that Harvey Dent is the kind of hero people need.

Then, there are the bad guys: The Joker and the Mobsters.  The Mobsters are greedy crooks.  They aren’t nearly as insane as Batman, but they aren’t as virtuous as anybody.  In fact, virtue is their major drawback.  They have none.  People fear them because they’ll do anytihng so long as it’s expedient for them.

The Joker, on the other hand, also has no morals, but he’s not just driven by greed.  He’s driven by chaos.  Be lieves in doing things just to cause confusion and fear and chaos.  Usually does what’s in his best interests, but as part of a greater plan.  Evil, crazy, but brilliant and ruthless.

Then, there are the Gothamites.  Neutrals.  Sheep.  It’s not an accident, I don’t think, that in all of Gotham City, there are millions of people, but only one Batman, one Joker, one Dent, and maybe ten Mobsters.  These people ride waves of fear, public opinion, incense, whatever.  Everything they do seems motivated by groupthink.  It doesn’t take much time at all for most people to decide that they don’t want to be Gothamites.

The problem, though, is this:  in the giant metaphor that is Batman, you have to be somebody.  And until you are one of the few other types, you’re a Gothamite. 

So, knowing one doesn’t want to be a Gothamite, one must first ask, do I want to be a good guy, or a bad guy?  This seems like an easy question, but really think about it.  Are you willing to get shot at, stabbed, poisoned, bitten by dogs, called a crook, a criminal, have all manners of pressure and torture and violence attempted against you and your loved ones for your ideals?  Are you willing to stick your face in the fire?  Willing to be hated and feared and confused and live in the shadows?  Are you willing to be a good guy even if it’s perceived as being the bad guy?

Or do the ideas of having a lot of money, total security, and no enemies to speak of appeal to you?  Do you like the idea of being powerful?  Do you like the idea of having a ton of friends who respect you, if not what you stand for?   Do you like being untouchably wealthy to the point where, even if you were caught doing something, it wouldn’t phase you?  Most importantly, do all these ideas outweight any setimental ideas we might have about helping out poor people we never see?  Do the problems you see in the world fall out of mind when they’re out of sight?  Do you like looking out for number one?  If you answered yes to any of these…you’re a bad guy.

So, say you want to be a bad guy.  You’re comfortable with causing a little discomfort and insecurity in the world in order to get yours.  Don’t feel guilty, wer it not for Gothamites, you’d be in the majority.  Most politicians, lawyers, and even a lot of cops fit this bill.  Say nothing of crooked doctors who will do all sorts of questionable things to be able to squeeze another dollar out of you, foreigners who will screw you over for a few dollars, and questionable associates who will promise you the moon, even if they have no intents to follow through.  These guys are all bad guys.  And it’s you against little old Batman (Bruce Wayne’s a Gothamite, remember) and one DA.

So, do you want to be in it for you?  Surely you do.  There are fewer Jokers than good guys.  There aren’t many people who’ll light the world on fire jst to watch it burn.  If you are a Joker, however, you are a rare class of lunatic.  You likely believe that children need to starve sometimes, that medicine should occasionally be tainted…anytihng to break up these ideas of ‘justice’ and ‘equality’ and ‘fairness.’  Right?  You attack the ideas that there is an order.  Sometimes the weak beat the strong, sometimes not.  You enjoy it either way.

But if you still want to be a good guy, you too have a choice to make.

Do you want to be Batman?  Do you want to be a hero with no thanks and no recognition?  Inspirational, but often misunderstood?  Are you willing to get the job done at almost any cost?  You are unquestioningly the most efective type of good guy, but you also have a large inability to do everything.  You’re hard to get around, but you’re also hard to deal with.  Nobody really likes you, because your function isn’t to be liked.  Your functino is to do what nobody else can/will.  Which is what’s right, at any cost.  You likely don’t see the sense in lobbyists or in ’small steps forward.’  You’re a very black and white individual.

Or, you can be Harvey Dent.  Harvey Dent, in the movie, is a good guy bent on getting as much good done as possible.  He does the right things, for the right reasons, the right way.  He works within the system, but he’s not afraid to draw lines in the sand.  He’s got a lot of friends because, while brave, he isn’t always able to make the toughest decisions.  He is a hero, and he’s determined to act like one.  These types of people will take any steps necessary.  They want to be good guys, not just guys who do good.  They’re fearless, but they’re also a tad more…pragmatic.  Less insane than a Batman, they’re like a good-guy equivalent to Mobsters.  They’re in it for others. 

Eventually, we all have to decide who we want to be and what it means in regard to saving the world.  Do I want to be Batman, cut the crap, and tell people what they need to be told (which is that their lazy asses are acting as though 45,000 people per day dying from stupid shit is no more noteworthy than the Ginats losing), go and take food directly to some peolpe myself, maybe move in with an African family andhelp them dig themselves out of poverty?  Or do I want to do lobbying work?  Do  Iwant to stand up for the poor within the system and take bit-part credit in a bunch of success rather than full credit (or blame) for a few successes?

Or do I want to be a mobster and say “Screw the poor, I’ve got some cash here” and go out and have fun and do my thing? 

Or do I want to be completely depraved and only do those things which, in my mind, sponsor anarchy and hate and fear and general bedlam?

Eventually, everyone must decide who they are and what they stand for.  I’m sure you could make a few more categories.  For instance, a Jim Gordon would be a mix between Batman and Harvey Dent, a Two-Face a mix between Joker and the mob.  But eventually, we all must decide what we’re going to do in regards to the world (Gotham, for our purposes), and those decisions will affect everyone around us.  Batman is of course just one metaphor to help us reach those conclusions.  Any number of others could work.  I just happen to feel that the Batman metaphor is a little more complete than most.

Definitely, though, it’s worth some contemplation.  Feel free to comment with thoughts on the philosophy of Batman, or just with which character you are.  Havealottafun.

Peace.  Out.

On a more light-hearted note…

It seems like I always write with a bunch of stuff about how people are letting the world go to hell, so I touhght for a change, I’d just tackle some light-hearted topics.  Laugh, cry, do what you must.

First, Albert Pujols became the fastest player to ever go from 1 home run to 300 last week.  I’ve said before, and I will say again, and debate with anyone who cares to, that El Hombre is the best all-around player in the history of baseball, and this only helps prove it.  The first year he can hit 50 home runs, he becomes the perfect player.

Next…Brett Favre.  I think the Packers should either let him start or let him go…end of.  The man played for 18 fantastic years, including last year when he was easily in the top 3 QBs in all of football.  He leads the NFL’s history books in a ton of important catergories.  WHY, then, hasn’t Green Bay welcomed him back with arms wide open? What justification can there be?  I can see not wanting to give him up, but let’s be honest, everyone owes it to him to make a decision.  What do I tihnk they should do?  Start him again.  The only thing he’s missed is a mini-camp.  If missing one mini-camp takes you from being the greatest longevity player, the toughest QB ever, and one of the top 3 passers to boot and makes you a washed-up has-been, I hate to think what missing all of the training camps and half the preseason’s going to do to Peyton Manning…

Furthermore, who do they have to play QB without Brett?  Aaron Rodgers, who is good, but has been studying under Brett.  He’s going to be very Brett-like anyway…why not just go ahead and put in a guy who’s taken a pressure-down in the last two decades?

Although I must admit, I wonder if part of my pasisonately pro-Brett stance is due to the fact that, since I was old enough to remember, Green Bay’s had only one QB…really, he’s been the sport’s only mainstay…and I’m afraid of what a post-Favre NFL may look like.  I certainly hope I won’t have to find out.  Either way, GO CHEESE ‘08!!

Fun youtube video to laugh about:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caqr2zecCUs

Random product reviews:

DQ girlscout cookies Blizzard: phenomenal.  A must-try.  Foreal.  Dont’ wait.  Go get one now.

Perfect Pushup:  Usually, I’m reaaaallllly skeptical of anytihng they sell on TV at 3:30 in the morning, but I found some in Walgreens for a good price, and I was plateu-ing anyway, so I tohught I’d give them a shot.  Gotta say, kids…this one’s a winner, too.  In just, like, two weeks, I’ve seen noticeable increases in my strength endurance, the size of my biceps and overall muscular definition, as well as losing some fat.  Yeah, perfect pushups…worth it.

Motley Crue: Saints of Los Angeles.  Well, it depends.  If you’re looking for an album that will blow your mind and incinerate the remaining chunks, this isn’t it.  If you’re looking to see where the boys could take their musical style, this isn’t it.  If yuo’re hoping for another Dr. Feelgood or Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room, this isn’t it.  But, if you’re lokoing for the same old lewd, rude, crued style of rock and roll that you can roll the windows down and scare the neighbors with while you’re driving, this will get the job done nicely.

Kinoki detox footpads:  total waste of money.  They don’t even pretend to work. 

The Republican Party: the party I affiliate with most closely, although I am quickly learning that ideology is an idol and as such am kind of abandoning it.  I think the most over-riding reason I’ve associated with the Republican party was that, for so many years in my childhood, all I saw in the democratic party was corruption and distasteful action.  But now, that seems to be all I see in Republicans…to the point that they’d rather block their own president’s emergency AIDS relief plan in the Senate than part with a few bucks.  This makes me wonder, is it just a coincidental turning of the tides, or is it truer than I had always thought that power truly does corrupt.  If a Clinton regime with a Democratic congress makes the democrats all twist, then a Bush regime with a Republican congress blinds the republicans.

I think all this is re-affirming what I was already realizing anyway, which is that Jesus wouldn’t have a party.  Jesus loved people and loved God, and his ‘politics’ would do the same.  So, I have to be an American, as part of the world in my politics, but always I have to be a child of God first.  If this means I side with republicans on abortion and democrats on foreign assistance…so be it.  Although, it’s funny, neither side seems to want my partial agreement.  I’ve had friends (perhaps I should quote mark that word) from both parties tell me that my theology is totally FUBAR if I don’t tow their party line.  This seems to indicate that the party is more important than the issues, which inevitably means the party is more important than the people.  And somewhere, Geroge Washington rolls in his grave…

Sorry.  Long politics tirade.  Long-and-short: due to PEPFAR and a general greed and power-trippiness (in spite of not controlling the Senate), I’m going to have t ogive Republicans on-the whole a 4/10.  There are still some good ones, but htey’re starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

That said:  The New Yorker.   I understand that you’re poking fun about all the Baracknophobia out there. (seriously, what is it about progress that can scare even MY grandparents into figuring out how to forward emails?).  But think about it…in a climate where everyone’s nervous, is it really a good idea to give idiots the chance to say “the New Yorker says he’s a terr-ist muzzzzzlim too!”?  Therefore, the New Yorker gets a big tsk-tsk.  It was a risk, and it just didn’t pay off.

Kid Rock:  dude…I love how you can tell everyone you don’t care if they steal your songs while simultaneously (and quite sarcastically, I should add) chastising them for stealing your music.  I can’t decide if you’re a genius with the biggest brassies in the business or if you’re an arrogant prick.  Either way, I still dig the music, dude.  And, for the record, I don’t steal anything…jeans, cars, gas, music…nothing.  When sandwiches are free, music will be free.  But, if you were being a prick, come off it, dude.  You’re insanely filthy frigging rich.  And let’s be honest, you only make a buck or two off every CD anyway.  All your wealth comes from concerts, and people can’t steal your concerts.

Cheese: still good.

TV: still sucks for cancelling Dark Angel.

The Rays:  Name change, pitcher change…still can’t seem to bury the Sox, can you boys?

Yeah, that’s about it for now, folks.  Again, if you’re still reading, thanks.  I appreciate that you enjoy reading my BS this much.  If you’re not still reading, I guess I can say whatever I want.  You suck.  You’re the worst type of failure and I suspect you will die from lack of friends.  Actually, that’s not true.  But you’ll never know I said it since you quit reading. 

Serious posts coming back soon!

Peace.  Out.

Making it Better.

Hello.  I’m glad you’re here.  There’s a lot I want to say today, and I hope you can sit through my entire (often random…what else is new) post and be greatly entertained.  If you can’t, that’s okay.  Feel free to leave.  I won’t mind.  In fact, you can take a break now, if you want.   Maybe you should.  Yeah, that’s it.  A nice break.  Take a little e-vacation.  Go ahead.  I recommend a nice music video to help you relax.  Like this one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=YDWxf5qkAIs&feature=related .  The bass beat in that song always brightens me up.  Visit now. 

Okay, you back?  Good deal.  If you want an added giggle, read that first paragraph as though it was a Mr. Rogers monologue…downright creepy, but funny.  Then, read it like Mike Tyson… this is really how my mind works at six am, folks. 

First off, I have to say, I was talking to an old friend named Kayla the other day (last name removed for privacy).  We went to high school together.  She was the class president for two years.  A truly bright and effective leader, as well as a compassionate friend.  In fact, Kayla was voted most likely to succeed, most likely to stay in touch, and most likely to have five children in our senior year.  Actually, Kayla was voted none of those things.  However, Kayla does want to make a good impression on her boyfriend’s parents when she meets them here in a couple weeks, and so to help her out, and I wanted to give her some endorsement.  Mr. and Mrs. X should definitely be proud of their son’s taste in women…

Next, a sadder thing.  I want to enlist all of you who pray to pray for my friend Shannon (last name removed…you know) who recently found out that her mom has lung cancer.  We definitely need to pray for understanding (if not healing) and for the rivers of grace to flow their way.  Thanks in advance.

News tidbit that excited me: at a McCain rally in my hometown, I got to speak to the Senator in front of a crowd of like 350-600 people because of my involvement in the ONE campaign.  Schweet!  Sen. McCain is definitely a good guy as far as the Campaign is concerned, and regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not (I don’t agree with a lot of his ideas), one cannot deny that he’s an American hero.  Thanks to Sen. McCain for supporting the ONE Campaign and for going “On The Record”…here: http://www.onevote08.org/ontherecord/?id=164-3549470-eMNO.0&t=3…as early and thoroughly as he did.

Tidbit of news that pissed me off: after much delay, dilly-dallying, and other BS maneuvering, the Senate did not get the unanimous consent needed to go ahead and vote on the re-authorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Releif (PEPFAR).  This doesn’t mean PEPFAR isn’t re-authorized, but just that more deliberation has to take place and wheelin’ and dealin’ over the July 4th recess is over.  Basically, PEPFAR can still pass, and might still pass, but President Bush will not -for example- be able to take the reauthorized PEPFAR to the G8 summit to try to convince other natinos to do more for AIDS relief.  The senators who wouldn’t lift the hold and put it to a vote were Sen.s DeMint (R-SC), Sessions (R-AL), and Vitter (R-LA).  It’s a minor setback on paper, since I’m confident that members of the ONE Campaign and freelance concerned citizens across this land will stand up, be heard, and get PEPFAR passed in July, but it’s a setback in the loss of influence at the G8, it’s a setback in that the opposition to the PRESIDENT’s plan was entirely Republican, and it’s of course a setback that the leaders of the free world object to legislation that implies by its very name that it is an energency blood-stop on the AIDS crisis.  But stay in there, ONE-ers and concerned citizens.  Stay on the phones to your Senators, whomever they are, and we’ll get PEPFAR passed in July.

Also, I just have to say…isn’t it CRAZY what’s going on here in the Mid-west?  Flooding, rains…it’s downright Katrina-like.  No, wait.  It’s downrigth SRI LANKA TSUNAMI-like.  I hate to say it, but it really does infuriate me that, after Katrina, I was listening to people call the victims stupid for staying in a city under sea level and how they were aksing for it…then I’m listening to the same people talk about how impossible the flooding in Cedar Rapids is.  What makes me want to slap these people is this: New Orleans HADN’T flooded before, their levees HADN’T broken.  Fifteen years ago, Cedar Rapids DID.  They they say “This is the flood of the century…” “This is the flood of every five hundred years…” “the thousand-years’ storm…” “the worst flooding in Iowa since fifteen years ago…” So, it’s the storm of anywhere between fifteen and one thousand years?  This flood could happen again either in MY lifetime, or in the lifetimes of my great…great…great…GREAT grandchildren?  That’s kind of a large window, ins’t it, Mr. News-media person?

That said, I want to say, I will not be hypocritical in my views.  Suffering anywhere is, to me, suffering everywhere…and as soon as I can swing it, I want to go to the struggling areas in Missouri, in Illinois, and in Iowa.  My prayers are with the people there, and regardless of whether or not it’s happened before, there was no way to see all this coming again.  We love you, flooded midwest.

Finally, it appears, I am out of things to say for now.  So, I will quit saying things.  Thanks for reading!  I hope you found it entertaining.  Of course, if you are still reading, I hope you found it entertaining, because there is no test, and if you aren’t enjoying this, but you’re still reading it…well…what is there to say for you?  If you did like it, rock on, fellow persons! 

Peace.  Out.