His Head on a Silver Platter

Ladies and Gentlemen... we got him!! Now that Sadaam is captured now what? Did the USA go into Iraq with the quest to liberate a nation-state? Will he lead us to the WMD’s that were never found? Many people believe that the capture of Sadaam might lead Bush to a second term in the oval office. I am reminded of Bush Sr. and how his foreign policy was impenetrable while the economy was grim at best.

“It’s the economy stupid” was a statement said by Governor Clinton which helped lead him to the presidency in 1992.  What will happen in 2004? I think if we would have caught Bin Laden instead of Sadaam victory would have tasted just a bit sweeter. Sure Sadaam will most-likely face the death penalty, and that is fine with me, but until we find those WMD’s is when we will find true victory in Iraq. What I do not understand is how some democratic candidates state that Iraq did not pose a threat to America. After 9/11 even the smallest country or hate group can inflict an incredible amount of damage and casualties to Americans as well as citizens in other developed states all over the world.

            My prediction for 2004 all depends on two major events… the capture or death of Bin Laden, as well as the improvement of the economy. Let us not forget that in 2000 Al Gore did win the popular vote and I encourage more people to vote in 2004. Even though one vote surely will not make a difference, your group representation will be improved. One example is that less than ¼ of people age 18-24 are registered voters in this country. I encourage young people to vote because the policies the politicians pass are things like sending you to war, smoking, drinking and abortion laws. Vote what you think is right, don’t let your parents influence you, use the internet to research the candidate and help save the country!  

A Crash Course in the Real Facts about the Jews and Israel

This is an email I received, I found it pretty interesting.

What is frustrating is the double standard applied to Israel and the subsequent distortions and embroidering of truth, especially against Israel. It's bound to be worse now - I've already heard "reasonable" people saying that the terrorist attacks against the US wouldn't have happened if only Israel would negotiate better with the PLO and such (who've never renounced their long-stated goals of obliterating Israel).

So I'm glad to be reminded of this information, but find it disheartening that so little seems to get better and so few people want to know the facts . . . .

1. Nationhood and Jerusalem - Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967,two decades after the establishment of the Modern State of Israel.

3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E. the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.

4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.

5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.

6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.

7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.

8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

9. Arab and Jewish Refugees In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews.

Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab

brutality, persecution and pogroms.

11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.

12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.

13. The Arab - Israeli Conflict; The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.

14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with weapons.

15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.

16. The U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.

17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.

18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.

19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

 
These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference?

 
For those of you who were kind and interested enough to read, the preceding, let me add two more items:

a) Israel is the ONLY MEMBER OF THE UN THAT IS NOT PERMITTED MEMBERSHIP ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL

b)Israel has NEVER BEEN PERMITTED MEMBERSHIP IN THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS

I Want to be the Minority

What happened to this country? It seems that controversy tends to follow me where ever I go. I am talking about the Chief Illiniwek and the confederate flag. I do not blame all minorities for these travesties, in fact I have grown to realize it is only a selected few that do not want America to be the land of the free. At TF South, Home of the Rebels, Jesse Jackson took the confederate flag away forever. It was a part of the town’s history, but since some were offended the board took it away. By taking away the flag, race related hostilities and fights tended to sprawl up all over the school’s campus. This was most evident in the spring, when summer vacation was a month away and students do not have anything to lose. Now TF South is 25% black and has less race related encounters compared to ten years ago in 1993 when the school board took away the flag; only 5% of the student body was black.

This is sort of old news and with many southern states taking away the confederate flag, fighting for it is a lost cause. At my Alma Mata, the University of Illinois at U-C…many students want the board to take away the Chief. They believe that the Chief is a racist symbol offending the American Indians as well as other minorities for some reason. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The Chief symbolizes great pride and does not degrade American Indians unlike that of the Cleveland Indians mascot. If Illinois takes away the Chief they sure as hell better take away the Notre Dame’s “Fighting Irish” mascot as well as everything else that might offend anyone.

I am a young Jewish man living on the far south-side and even though most people won’t assume I am Jewish just by looking at me, there are a few people I know that will swear up and down I am going to hell based on my beliefs, but they are idiots anyways. Overall I have never really felt like an outsider and in fact Jewish people became white in the 1960’s in a hospitable take over of the Census Bureau. The only advice I have for the minorities is to learn from the Jews and from certain Asian groups. Jews for the most part are scattered everywhere. There are a couple towns where there are a bunch of Jews but in order to get ahead you have to integrate rather than separate. Blacks in the ghetto will always be there because if you rely on the system and your black community to help you up you are going to be there forever. If south-side suburbs didn’t go from all white to all black in a matter of 5 years, like in South Holland, things would be very different for blacks as a people. Moving away from the situation tends to be the new solution for the nonvoting American population. Let me tell you people engaging in “White flight”, you can’t run forever so stop trying. Just remember “if you let the system beat you long enough… it will eventually get tired,” said by a great comedian of our time, Drew Carey.

Stay informed at savethechief.org

Know your rights

Don’t ever touch an officer

Don’t resist arrest even if you are innocent

Don’t say anything without a lawyer

Don’t talk babble or lie

Don’t give officers permission to search you or your property

Don’t submit to a field sobriety test if you have been drinking and driving

Don’t run

Don’t argue, be polite, but firm.

Remember… possession is nine-tenths of the law

Smoked Out

I am tired of going to bars and restaurants in Illinois and coming home with my clothes reeking of cigarettes. I believe people in this country should be able to do pretty much whatever they want as long as it doesn’t affect me or harm others. One example is that someone drinking in a bar is not going to compromise anyone’s well-being. On the other hand if that man drinking was to get behind the wheel then it becomes society’s problem. I understand that particular need but what I do not understand is why there is a seat belt law.

I wear my seat belt regardless but it is not something that needs to be enforced. It is that persons business if they feel like dying, just like the people who choose to smoke. It is their business if they smoke because they know the dangers associated with smoking, just don’t do it around me. I have never liked the smell of cigarettes and I never will. I smoke cigars on occasion and if I feel like being a jerk, I will smoke in a bar. In Illinois, people should only smoke outside just like in New York and California. I am a registered voter and I can’t wait for that law to pass!

http://www.no-smoke.org/

Sweet Home Chicago

In a recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times, it states that Chicago has more murders than New York City. This is total murders, not per capita!! New York has 2 and a half times the population of Chicago, yet we have more murders. How is this possible and why is Chicago doing such a horrible job?

I can bring it back to Giuliani who believed a great way for fighting major crime is to crack down on minor crimes. They stopped underground crimes, such as drugs, prostitution, and dog-fighting. The NYPD are no longer tolerant of the addicts, and will bust them for just about

anything. By cleaning up the area, it suffocates many other crimes. In New York there is a homicide for one out of every 27,874 people. In Chicago it is one for every10,380 people.

The numbers are like this for many other major crimes as well. The real reason is that the police are told to treat citizens as second class citizens instead of equals. This is a shame that they have to do this but the results speak for themselves. Civil liberties are still intact and therefore Chicago should consider adopting many aspects of this policy.

Chicago as well as many other cities has failed fighting crime for a number of reasons. The Police are looking for the high priced offenders, such as issuing speeding tickets, issuing drinking tickets and other small-and-pointless offenses. The fact is that the stop of these types of crimes will not prevent shootings, armed robberies, and auto-thefts. It makes me angry that they choose to fight crimes that just give the department a bigger budget to continue to fight non-important crime. Why else do you think that Urbana, IL has their meter maids driving around Chevy Trailblazers? Wasteful spending and prioritizing which crimes are important are the real issue… it makes me sick that money will always come first. I just want to know how do they sleep at night, oh yeah like my landlord, on a big pile of money.

  

     With every passing year, it is getting more and more expensive to run a campaign. While campaign spending is skyrocketing, more and more dollars are seeking after fewer and fewer voters. In the presidential election of 1996, voter turnout dipped to 49%, lowest since 1924. Organizing a political campaign historically involved building coalitions of voters, constituencies and financial donors.  Today the Media can highlight, underplay, or diminish particular features of a candidate or a candidate’s position on issues, casting these in a negative or positive light. The media will generally make or break an election outcome if it is close. Just look at the 2000 election, should Gore of won... if we adopted a direct election policy, then yes, he should have won.

    The use of the media in politics has a direct impact on the progression of the democratic system. The media can be used for many things.  It can inform the public, shape their beliefs, and has the capacity to reach hundreds of thousands of people in an instance.  In the New York Senate race has a difficult time trying to justify over $105 million spent campaigning between three candidates.  However this amount of money spent seems rather small when companies such as Miller Brewing Corporation can spend a fraction of that amount on marketing a product. 

            My overall argument is that as high as the excessive spending is in politics, legally curtailing it only increases spending.  The first amendment allows the freedom of speech and “the only spending limits constitutionally viable are those that are attached to voluntary or public funding programs”.  Hillary Clinton and the Miller Corporation have the same rights to market themselves using the mass media.  If for whatever reason spending was limited by the government, there would be a different group of beneficiaries.  The media then would have a greater power to influence the voter and would shift from a system of paid advertising to a format of free press.   These people who would benefit include celebrities, athletes or anyone the media finds interesting.

So this is my first "Blog" (A Blog is a creative outlet that allows anyone to post comments, much like a blackboard)... so here we go. Since I was a political science major I feel that there are some issues that I need to get off my chest.

Number One: Iraq, Iran and North Korea have nuclear weapons. President Bush was right about that... however it is pronounced NEW-CLEAR NOT NUKE-U-LAR!!! I wonder if Michael Jordan can lend his speech therapist to the President... gees. I mean it is one thing to endorse globalization and spread the American way all over the world but at least refine yourself. Now I know the choices between Gore and Bush in 2000 was like tomato tamaato, but you better believe that Bush is doing a great job for the current situation.

Sure the economy is bad but it is not entirely the President's fault. I mean some frickin plane hit the World Trade Centers.

Number Two: Now I have to talk about the troops in Iraq. Contrary to most of the war protesters beliefs… the War is over!!! I am sick of the news telling us our soldiers are still dying and to bring our soldiers home. Well, there is a little problem with that… Bush destroyed Iraq’s entire infrastructure and it would be a crime against humanity if he pulled out now.