Conflict in Middle East

Right, so I didn't make it to Mexico - flights were close to being full and I didn't relish the idea of being stuck in Mexico City....now London that would be a different story : )

I said I would try to do a political piece and with so much going on out there in the world, definitely lots of fodder. But as I was commenting in JoeinVega's Blog, for a while now, I have felt just so frustrated by it all. I vote, I work for political campaigns, I write my senators, I march, I protest...but it seems to no avail. I can't fault my old Sociology professor for giving up his American citizenship (even though he fought in Korea for democracy), sometimes it seems like, "what's the point?" Does anyone care about the little guy? Is anyone listening? Certainly no one on Capital Hill, in Washington D.C.

I'm disturbed by what is going on in the Middle East - from what I've read and heard, I think Israeli is using excessive force just for two soliders. But than that's just an excuse for a pre-emptive strike, no? They didn't like Hezbollah in the Lebanese government (Hezbollah was democratically elected into those positions btw), so using another big country's example (cough, USA), it seems like Israeli wants to go in and change that.

Israeli says this is in line with fighting the ever growing "war on terror" but I don't know....seems to me like this is just going to open up more hatred than seal it? Is it just me, but doesn't it seem like violence is not really the best solution to this, "war on terror?" Lebanon was a growing country, out of war for some time, building a great infracstructure, jobs, public services, etc. but now this war has caused it so much damage, it has left tons of people homeless, unemployed and angry as hell (towards Israeli, who just happens to be BFF with...yup you guessed it America, which is the only major world country not to condemn Israeli's excessive force). Gee, if that isn't a receipe for terrorism, please tell me what the hell is?

But who cares what I have to think....like I said to my friend from Tennessee last Sunday when we were walking around the Mall and the Capital, "look at how beautiful this is...brought to you by the big businesses of America, who have paid handsomely for it all."

I liked this guy's essay, a Lebanese for peace -
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-23.htm

ps - does anyone know which companies outright profit from war? Any websites to that effect? How many of these companies contribute to the Republicans?

Hablas Espanol?

Alright, I'm going to try to get to Mexico tomorrow, not sure if I'll make the flight out and even worse, not sure if I'll make it back.

So no posts for the rest of the week, unless I don't end up on the flight - in which case you guys will hear me grumble A LOT!

Adios por la semana!!

Blurbs

Some various thoughts pinging in my head.....


Went to London, met up with that old friend, I had mentioned before in a previous post, who had called me out of the blue - we were initially romantically linked. Anyway, went out to dinner with him, despite being super tired. Have reached back to America and he's not contacted me since....was I that boring? Dinner with me must have reminded him again why he gave me the "lets just be friends" speech. urgh.

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Sorry for being so unpolitical of late - I continue to be outraged by this administration, this congress and the state of the world in general. Will try to pen something about it later when I can come up with more coherent thoughts.

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Is it wrong that I was very excited when I heard that the guy I use to have a crush on for like six months last year went to Pakistan and did NOT come back married? According to a mutual friend "he would never do that!" Is it also wrong that a little spark inside of me now hopes that maybe, just maybe, after a year, he'll realize how perfect I was for him and want to marry me? yeah, I need help.

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Just went to see the new M. Nigh Shalayman film "The Lady in the Water" eh it was ok. My sister and I go to every one of his films cause we feel like we should support our Indian brother. But lately this brother's films have not been so hot, this latest one, I'd give a "C" too - it was average. For the man who created "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense" C is not good enough. Perhaps he should think of looking to India and the wealth of folklore, scary folklore there is in that country - would make for some suspenseful and horrific films.

Have a good weekend!

Baby Names

I went to visit my friend in London last week, she and her husband just had their first baby - a boy. The little munchin was so cute!!! It got me thinking of something I do whenever a friend tells me they are excpecting (and I'm right in that stage of life where it seems like every other month I'm buying a freaking baby shower gift, I wish Babies R Us had a credit card with points, I would have been eligible for something big by now)!

Anyway, I always send my girlfriend a list of names that I currently like. Yes, it is none of my business, but whatever - all I'm doing is giving her some extra suggestions. Maybe she hadn't thought about it...

This list is ever changing but as of July 19, 2006, Virginia Gal's (current) favorite baby names
Girls
1. Nina
2. Eleanor
3. Bronwyn
4. Mariah
5. Cordelia
6. Kessler
7. Nerissa
8. Ella
9. Bailey
10. Fiona

Boys
1. Marcus
2. Caine
3. Carter
4. Jordan
5. Ian
6. Sumner
7. Luke
8. Preston
9. Tennyson
10. Colin

Do you have any particular names you are partial too?

ps - mind you I love these names, but my kids (InshAllah) will all be named Muslim names. I'm too traditional that way.

Missing Monday

The Chesterfield County Police Department is asking for any information related to the disappearance of Linda Lunsford on December 26, 1996. She was last seen in the area of the Village Marketplace Shopping Center on Midlothian Turnpike. Her burgundy Nissan Sentra was found by family members in the Food Lion parking lot in Midlothian.


White female5'1", 110 lbs.Age at time of disappearance: 38Date of Birth: 10/07/1958Hair: Light Brown or Blond

You know what is saddest about these Missing Monday's, I keep seeing these same people posted, do they never get found? It's the same for the children as well. How very sad for their families, never knowing truly what happened to their loved one.

Traveling....

I'm off to London today (as a stand-by Tuesday is the best day to fly, so says the girl who is silently praying beads that she FINALLY gets on this flight to her favorite city).

It's another one of my fly-by trips, I return on Thursday and leave immediately for Chicago - to attend the huge soiree of Chick Pea and friends. Going to my first blogger party - people I met through blogging!! I'm looking forward to this : )

Right, everyone have a good week - behave and stay safe, cheerio!

Kelly Clarkson Show

My Thursday night was jam-packed and it was freaking awesome!!!

My sister and I went to the Kelly Clarkson show at the Nissan Pavilion (where I work part time for the summer btw). If you don't know, Kelly Clarkson was the first American Idol winner. Her music is not typically teeny-bopper, she actually ended up dumping the American Idol label after her first CD and went with another recording company for the 2nd one.

Her songs fit my life at this current stage, perfectly. A lot of angst and bitterness at stupid boys that we give our hearts too and they end up hurting us, but she doesn't sing them in ballads, rather in these great girl theme'd rock style songs. Her tour is called, 'Addicted' and I couldn't think of a better title for my life right now, re: my crush. See, everything she sings/writes is dead on with me.

We were literally eight rows from the center!!! This is thanks to my sister who got the tickets through the fan club. It was mind-blowing!!! We got to see Kelly up close and personal! She is still just as nice and friendly as she was when she was on American Idol.

I bopped and sang along to everything, she did six new songs - two from the Hurricane Katrina relief concert, the one "Home" I SOOO hope she puts on her new CD. I also liked "Yay", catchy. My only complaint was that she didn't tell us when the new CD is coming out. Can't wait to get it!

Her finale was kickin - the stage went black and than like 5 minutes later, the spotlight opens up, she is not on stage but way in the back right behind the 300 section, so the people on the lawn can see her up close as well. She sang "Breakaway" and seemed a little surprised that everyone knew the words, hee hee. Than she ran down the center of the Pavilion, right past my sister and I as she sang "Since you've been Gone." My sister was all concerned with getting a picture, me I was singing and jumping, bouncing up and down, bopping my head - it was a great catharsis (is that the right word) for me. It was like shedding off all that crap of my crush stuff I've been dealing with of late. Confetti rained down and I shouted along "Since you've been, I can breath for the first time." (very beaty song, if you haven't heard it, you can probably get a sample from any online music place).

After that my sister and I went to a midnight showing of the Pirates of the Caribbean - my recommendation, go see it, but don't get your hopes up, not as good as the first one.

Since U Been Gone
Here's the thing we started off friends
It was cool but it was all pretend
Yeah yeah Since U Been Gone
You dedicated you took the time
Wasn't long till I called you mine
Yeah Yeah Since U Been Gone
And all you'd ever hear me say Is how I pictured me with you
That's all you'd ever hear me say

But Since U Been Gone I can breathe for the first time
Im so movin on
Yeah yeah
Thanks to you
Now I get What I want
Since U Been Gone

Addicted
It's like your a drug
It's like your a demon I can't face down
It's like I'm stuck
It's like I'm running from you all the time
And I know I let you have all the power
It's like the only company I seek is misery all around

It's like I can't breathe
It's like I can't see anything
Nothing but you
I'm addicted to you

Another One Bits the Dust???

Coming back up from Richmond today (it's official, I am now a VCU grad student!) and heard that Ken Lay died. If you don't remember Ken Lay, he was the former CEO of Enron, one of the biggest business scandals in American history.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13715925/

Anywho...I just saw the movie, "The Smartest Guys in the Room," based on the book by the same name about the whole Enron scandal, how this gutsy reporter from Fortune was the first to start questioning Enron and she began pulling on the thread that would lead to the collapse of Enron. It is a fascinating documentary, if you have 2 hours, I highly recommend watching. Probably much of what you see in it won't surprise you i.e. Feirenheit 9/11 but it is enlightening. Some of the things I learned:

- amazing how little our government actually watches over these companies, the books were cooked for years and no one picked up on it.
- People, the little guy, must always look out for himself, cause the man at the head of the company doesn't give a rat's ass about you.
- NEVER invest ALL your savings into your company's stock!
- To an extent, just about everyone was either in on the dupe Enron was doing or was complacent in allowing it to happen. I'm sorry but these Enron employees just believed everything hook, line and sinker Lay, Skilling et al fed them. As long as the money train kept coming in, everyone in Enron was fine in not questioning, just watching their 401k's go up. You know part of why those 401k's went up, cause Enron was screwing with the state of California's energy, creating the crisis. How would one sleep at night on a retirement based because someone else's retirement (like the old grandmothers on fixed income) was being depleted to cover the cost of your company's outrageous energy costs, which they manipulated.
- Harvard Business School churns out the most unethical of all of America's business leaders and they all stick together - yay baby!

After reading about this and watching the movie, my advice to all us little guys, always be cyncial! There is no harm in investing some of your money into your company's stock, but NOT all. When the top guy says, "XYZ company is flying high" instead of being a mindless drone and agreeing (this isn't the 1950's after all), look into it, do the numbers really add up?

oh and I want to see the body of Ken Lay....I'm sorry if that seems crass, but I don't trust this guy at all. How convenient he dies just before he was going to be sentenced to probably serve life in jail. Someone keep an eye open for s short white guy good pal to the Bushes who have a whole agency [CIA] that could make a man "disappear" living in the Cayman Islands.

Happy Fourth of July - 2006

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln

I had written this post a while back in response to the Haditha incident and as Independence Day comes upon us, I thought this would be a appropriate).

Rarely does a letter move one to tears and yet the ending of this letter written by Abraham Lincoln, sent to a women who was reported to have lost a number of sons in the civil war, has done just that to me. The image of "a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom," is so vivid and so noble. It brings to mind soldiers, who are pure and kind, fighting against tyranny and oppression. Appropriately than, this line is read near the end of the movie, "Saving Private Ryan." A true sense of honor is associated with the men of this greatest generation. If ever there was a war that so perfectly epitomized the fight between good and evil, it would be WWII.

Sadly, I'm not sure if this Iraq situation is so black and white. This latest incident at Haditha, another story about the dishonorable behavior exhibited by our soldiers, in the name of American democracy, I am disheartened. We are supposing to be the "good" guys, and yet these actions, belie that.

At this year's West Point graduation speech, G.W. spoke about the war on terror as being like the Cold War. I sincerely hope not. It was in the name of the Cold War, America did some very bad things, are we planning on doing those same heinous crimes again, this time in the name of fighting terror? This makes me ask -are we righteous in fighting terror with terror? If we use terror to fight terror, who exactly is the victor?

It makes me think…would our victory in WWII have smelled so sweetly if we had systematically killed parts of the American population in concentration camps? If we had subjected German soldiers to the same treatment that was doled out to our soldiers in Germany or in Japan?

As the Iraq war goes on with no end in sight and more of these incidences surfacing, I'm left depressed. Where is our victory? Is this the way we are going to eradicate terrorism so unlike the way we eradicated Hitler? What do we have to capture, sign, to be done? Where is our V-E or V-J day? What will we tell our children about this war? How will history remember it? What has happened to the noble and just principles that were canonized as truly "American" that Fourth of July, 1776?