"This above all: to thine own self be true...Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Vanessa da Mata e Ben Harper "Boa sorte/Good Luck"

2008-12-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

I saw this song on Spanish TV the other day, and I loved it! Ben Harper has that bluesy sound that goes great with the Brazilian chill-out vibe. Canção muita bela!

"Mesmo, se segure
Quero que se cure
Dessa pessoa
Que o aconselha
Ha um desencontro
Veja por esse ponto
Ha tantas pessoas especiais"

East Timor: starvation and economic crisis

2008-11-19T14:26:00.000-08:00

General Suharto, the second president of Indonesia, invaded East Timor in 1975 and killed 200,000 of the East Timorese people. He also oppressed his own people, and forced many Indonesians into slave labor for the western factories. The West supported him for his anti-communist ideology and because he was buying weapons from western countries. During the Indonesian occupation there were extreme human rights violations in East Timor.

East Timor gained independence 7 years ago. Today East Timor's economy is struggling to improve, but it's difficult. The government continues using all money to subsidize food for the poor who spend all of their earned money on basic needs. Meanwhile, East Timor has found hope in offshore drilling in a spot known as the "Greater Sunrise." However, the boundary lines in the ocean are disputed, and now Australia is claiming that they should process the natural gas in Darwin, Australia, then get 50% profit. They claim that a 1972 treaty leaves the territory open to their drilling, and the East Timor is too unstable to handle the processing. However, as Pires, East Timor's Secretary of State for Natural Resources, says below, is it really fair for such a well-off nation to take so much from a suffering, developing country?

And below is Shakira's song, "Timor."

"If we forget about them, don't worry
If they forget about us then hurry
How about the people who don't matter anymore?
East Timor, Timor, Timor
We'll be tanning while it's sunny
They'll risk our hides just to make their money
Now don't you find that funny?"

Best way to go green: go vegetarian!

2008-11-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

I just did my research paper for Environmental Science on the effects of being vegetarian on the environment, but little did I know that researchers have been saying that it's probably the number one best way to down-size one's carbon footprint, besides all the great personal benefits and ethical reasons for being a vegetarian.

Here's what I found out:

Vegetarianism is the number one answer to our current environmental problems:
- The livestock industry causes more greenhouse emissions and general environmental pollution than any other factor.
- 18% of global warming emissions come from raising chickens, pigs, cattle, and other livestock - this is more than from all the world’s transportation which ranks at 13%.
- January 7, 2007: the United Nations published a report stating: "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
- The U.S. ranks the highest in world consumption of meat, and not coincidentally is responsible for 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The average person in the U.S. consumes 123 kg of meat a year, versus Germany that comes in second place, still with far less at 86 kg a year, and the developing world averaging 24 kg a year.
- Refraining from monetary and ideological support of the livestock industry tremendously down-sizes one's carbon footprint.

Vegetarians are healthier:
- Vegetarians have half the chance of developing heart disease as meat-eaters.
- Vegetarians have 40% of the cancer rate of meat-eaters.
- Meat-eaters have nine-times the risk of becoming obese than vegans do.
- Vegetarians have stronger immune systems, lesser chance of getting Alzheimer's, asthma, and osteoporosis, and for males, a lesser chance of impotence.
- On average, vegetarians live 6-10 years longer than meat-eaters.
- Even some scientists have produced research showing that vegetarian children tend to grow taller and have higher IQs than meat-eating children!
- Despite myths saying otherwise, a well-varied vegetarian diet provides for all nutrients we need, and actually is cheaper than eating meat. All diets need protein, calcium, iron, and vitamin B12.
- Most Americans have at least twice the amount of protein needed, which, especially in the case of too much animal protein, increases the risk of osteoporosis and kidney disease.

Vegetarianism respects animal life:
- Many religions take this into consideration: Hare Krishna, Seventh Day Adventists. Pope John Paul II once said that he strongly recommended that Catholics not go to bullfights.
- As humans, we've evolved to be the rulers of the earth: let's not be tyrannical, but show compassion.

Vegetarianism respects human life (my personal strongest reason for being a vegetarian):
- Why are we in developed countries, feasting on meat when there are children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America starving? These people would love to have just a little bit of the grains we feed everyday to animals!
- According to PETA's website, "We feed so much grain to animals to fatten them for consumption that if we all became vegetarians, we could produce enough food to feed everyone on Earth. In the U.S., animals raised for food are fed 70 percent of the corn, wheat, and other grains that we grow. The world’s cattle consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people—more than the entire human population."
(I know a lot of y'all out there don't like PETA, but they have a point!)

Albert Einstein said, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” With such strong evidence of the health, moral, and direct environmental benefits of being a vegetarian, plus the blessing of arguably one of the greatest geniuses to ever live, why are you NOT a vegetarian?

President Barack Obama

2008-11-09T04:31:00.000-08:00

I would like to say congratulations to our new leader, President Obama. I am definitely happy to see all the hope his election has brought to the people. Although I'm sure there will be policies I disagree with during his presidency, he has my utmost respect as president, and I'm proud to live in a country where someone can come from a struggling single mother on food stamps to become arguably the most influential man in the world. As his sister Maya says in this video, Barack comes from a truly American family. Something I appreciate about him is that his life has been strongly influenced by globalization, and we lack those kinds of politicians in Washington.

I'm also glad to see that the young people had record turnout this year! From what I hear from the Rock the Vote campaign, 24 million young people turned out to vote, more young voters than we've ever had in American history.

Also, the third-party got good turnout as well. From what I've read, Nader got about 677,000 votes. I couldn't find the exact numbers on Ron Paul, but he did well in Montana. Ron Paul got 2.2% of the vote in Montana, which is quite strong considering that McCain won there by 49% versus Obama with 47.2%.

Emmanuel Jal - Warchild

2008-11-06T04:34:00.000-08:00

Emmanuel Jal, a powerful rapper born in the village of Tonj in southern Sudan (he thinks in the year 1980 - he's not sure), was a little boy when civil war broke out and his father joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). After his mother was killed when he was seven years old, he left for Ethiopia with thousands of children who had been told that they could be educated there. However, when Emmanuel got to Ethiopia with the other children, they were taken to a military training camp by the SPLA. The camp was disguised as a school in front of UN and international aid employees. After fighting as a child soldier in Ethiopia and later in Sudan, he was discovered by a British woman, Emma McCune, who convinced him to let her adopt him and smuggle him to Kenya.

In this song he says:
"I believe I survived for a reason: to tell my story, to touch lives. To all the people down there struggling: storms only come for a while, and then after a while they're gone."

Listen to the lyrics.

And here's Emmanuel talking about arms control in Africa. He calls on the international community to play a bigger role in the import and control of arms into Africa.

#1 reason I will not vote Obama

2008-11-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

For a while, I was persuaded by my Obama-supporting friends that Obama was the lesser of two evils (even though I held to it that voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil). They made a good argument. Obama wants everyone to have subsidized health care, something which I love having in Spain. (I pay 35 euros a semester for unlimited, high quality hospital visits, and any medicine I've bought has cost between 2.50 - 12.00 euros.) Also, McCain is quite military-focused, and many people think he could lead us further into the neo-fascist phenomenon that George W. already provoked in his time in office.

So yes, I agree that McCain is a bad choice for president. Especially as a pro-lifer, I don't think that McCain has done much for the pro-life movement, but neither has Obama. I realize that it's hard in this day in age to define when life begins, so despite my strong opinions on abortion, at the moment I won't be too harsh on them for that. However, when I found out that Obama voted in October 2007 AGAINST banning partial-birth abortion, I decided that my conscience will not permit me to vote for Obama.

McCain can at least say that his greedy, ethno-centric military policies are to help the people at home and supposedly gain peace in Iraq. Obama can't say that partial-birth abortion is anything but brutal killing of a child coming out of his mother's womb. I can't vote for someone that inhumane, and I can't say that Obama is the lesser of two evils.

I post this in hopes that those of you with a heart for humanitarian causes, especially for those of you with sympathy for the weak and innocent of our society, will rethink whom you're voting for. I realize that Obama has charisma, but there are truths much deeper than a nice looking face and superficial speeches.

Please get out to the polls today, and please make a wise, well thought-out decision!

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." -Alexander Hamilton

California Direct Democracy System & Vote Ron Paul!

2008-11-03T16:48:00.000-08:00

One more endorsement: Vote Ron Paul tomorrow!

2008-11-03T12:07:00.001-08:00

Both definitions from UrbanDictionary.com:

"5. ron paul

Ron Paul is a constitutionalist.

Ron has never voted to raise taxes.
Ron has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
Ron has never voted for the Iraq War.
Ron has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
Ron has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
Ron has never voted to raise congressional pay.
Ron has never taken a government-paid junket.

Ron voted against the Patriot Act.
Ron votes against regulating the Internet.
Ron voted against NAFTA and CAFTA.
Ron votes against the United Nations.
Ron votes against the welfare state.
Ron votes against reinstating a military draft.

Ron votes to preserve the constitution.
Ron votes to cut government spending.
Ron votes to lower healthcare costs.
Ron votes to end the war on drugs.
Ron votes to protect civil liberties.
Ron votes to secure our borders with real immigration reform.
Ron votes to eliminate tax funded abortions and to overturn Roe v Wade.
Ron votes to protect religious freedom."

And the below definition is super funny. (Fact #4 contradicts my "Is Obama the Messiah?" post, but at least it's for a good cause!)

"4. ron paul

The only politician able to earn Chuck Norris' respect. Here are some facts about Dr. Paul.

1. Ron Paul doesn't go the gym. He stays fit by exercising his civil rights.
2. Ron Paul delivers babies without his hands. He simply reads them the Bill of Rights and they crawl out in anticipation of freedom.
3. Ron Paul doesn't cut taxes. He kills them with his bare hands.
4. Jesus wears a wrist band that says "What Would Ron Paul Do?"
5. When Ron Paul takes a shower, he doesn't get wet...the water gets Ron Paul.
6. Ron Paul could lead a horse to water AND convince it to drink, but he doesn't believe the government has the right to so he refuses.
7. Ron Paul's midi-chlorian level is off the chart.
8. When Chuck Norris gets scared, he goes to Ron Paul.
9. Studies by the World Health Organization show that Ron Paul is the leading cause of freedom among men.
10. Ron Paul makes the U.S. dollar want to be a better currency.

The moral and constitutional obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
--Ron Paul

Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven't had capitalism.
--Ron Paul

Our country's founders cherished liberty, not democracy.
--Ron Paul

You wanna get rid of drug crime in this country? Fine, let's just get rid of all the drug laws.
--Ron Paul"

In reference to my earlier post "Race in the Race"

2008-10-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

Glad to see that there are other people out there bothered by what Ms. Campbell Brown refers to as race-baiting.

(P.S. I love her and she's from Louisiana/Mississippi!)

Use your voice

2008-10-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

Is Obama the Messiah?

2008-10-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

This is crazy guys: some people in the U.S. are calling Obama the Messiah! Check it out:

Thanks to all of my veiwers thus far! Don't hesitate to subscribe to this blog, as well as my new Youtube video channel!

Jim Kitchens for Supreme Court Justice District 1 (Mississippi)

2008-10-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

This gentleman is running for Mississippi Supreme Court Justice District 1. For those of you who don't understand the Mississippi dialect, he's talking about the current controversy in Mississippi going on right now because the Mississippi government is trying to take away our right to elect judges! Crazy right? They want to begin appointing the judges instead of permiting us to take part in our constitutional right to vote. With all the corruption and scandals going on among our Mississippi politicians lately, it's definitely not the time to give these politicians the power of appointment of judges.

He begins his speech with his story: a great example of God taking the poor and humble and moving them to great places. Amen to that.

Check out this piece on Kitchens's website for more info on the judicial elections: http://www.kitchensforjustice.com/2008/05/protecting-your-right-to-elect-judges/

Our position in Georgia

2008-10-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Please note, I have friends from Georgia who are on the side of Georgia & the U.S., and I have friends from Russia who are on Russia's side. And thus I want to reinforce that I am very sorry for the turmoil that's been going on back home.

Third party vote - 1st video!

2008-10-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Check out my first ever video blog entry below! I realize the quality isn't perfect, but be patient as I try and improve on the clips' presentation. Besides - the message is the thing that counts!!

Race in the Race

2008-10-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

(Yeah I know, the title is super funny...hehe.)

Now living in Spain, I often forget how obsessed America is over race. I guess it makes sense; it was only half a century ago that the Jim Crow laws were intact, and not until the early-90s when it became politically incorrect in Mississippi to run private schools and country clubs that blatantly upheld rules prohibiting blacks from entering. (Growing up, my parents wouldn't allow me to go with my white friends to country clubs, primarily for this reason.)

But the race issues in the presidential election are quite misunderstood. Everywhere I look on the internet people are calling McCain a bigot & a racist. I'm not a McCain-lover myself, and for sure, many things he's said do imply that he's a racist. But certain things people claim to be racist comments are just ridiculous. For example, one blog claimed that McCain's ad referring to Obama as "disrespectful" to McCain is an implied racist order to blacks. Firstly, that's a little stupid and way too read-into. Besides, there are much more sophisticated arguments one could come up with against the McCain campaign.

For some reason everyone seems to forget Sen. Joe Biden's numerous racial slips. (Still, I disagree that Biden's comments about Indians at Dunkin Donuts was racist, however, most def stupid to say on TV.) There was one in particular, though, that went a bit too far to be called a slip, when he said (referring to Obama), "I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." That statement was clearly racist and ignorant.

Again, we Americans need to chill on the subject of race if we want to progress. I agree with Ashton Kutcher when he refers to the making of "Guess Who" and says (from interview with Orange County Register), "There's that scene in the movie when I'm telling black jokes, which makes everybody uncomfortable. When jokes like that don't make people uncomfortable, we'll have made some progress." Unfortunately, what Biden said wasn't a joke, and appears to be how he feels. That's a great movie by the way.

What I've been doing...

2008-10-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

During my time of intense exams up here in Madrid, I've taken some time away from the blog. But no worries, I'm coming back stronger than ever :). Lately there've been two issues on my chest to write about. Firstly, Americans have this obsession with racism in the election I'd like to touch on. Then, I'm going to approach the topic of voting for an independent candidate.

P.S. I'm getting back to all my friends who've responded to my previous posts: I really appreciate y'all's opinions. Everything's just been hectic over here in Europa.

& stay tuned: I'll be publishing on the blog soon my article on the U.S. Crisis & Bailout Plan that's getting published at our on-campus newspaper "La Voz."

Michel Polnareff Love me please love me

2008-10-11T20:36:00.001-07:00

So I haven't had a lot of time to post lately because I've been studying for exams. I still got one more exam on Monday so keep prayin for me!

I first heard this song about a year ago, on the EU YouTube site. It was in the background on a video promoting European films. It's a classic.

Que cancion lindisima!

Fields, from Washington Times, criticizes youth vote!

2008-10-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while I was looking at the "Rock the Vote" website, I came across a blog criticizing Suzanne Fields's opinion on the the validity of the youth vote. Fields, a syndicated columnist for the Washington Times, wrote this past May that the youth may not know what these presidential debates are all about, considering that "The young have been short-changed by the educationists for decades, not learning very much." She even had the nerve to pick fun at the "Rock the Vote" movement by titling her column "Rock the Ignorance."

What surprised me more was when she said that a major problem in our education system are the textbooks that are "spiced with anti-Western criticism." And most of her evidence of this criticism and "political correctness" is the lack of anti-Islamic messages in today's textbooks. Are you kidding me? Does she really think having a more open-minded view of the world makes our generation less educated? And she writes for a major media publication?

Although our generation has its faults, the youth today are unquestionably more connected globally that previous generations, and OUR views on foreign policy are key to this election. At my American university in Madrid, I'm surrounded by Arabs, Africans, Western & Eastern Europeans, Latinos, and more. My parents and grandparents never had this opportunity. Living in Mississippi during desegregation, my parents didn't go to school with any blacks until they were in their mid-high school years. I, on the other hand, grew up going to a 95% black high school and junior high. And you're telling me this young, globalized world view isn't valid in the election?

Check out her article for yourself: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/may/22/rock-the-ignorance-1836/
And the Rock the Vote blog criticizing her article: http://www.blog.rockthevote.com/2008/05/washington-times-youth-vote-ignorant.html

¡Que fuerte me parece!

Handlebars by Flobots

2008-10-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

When my brother introduced this song to me a few weeks ago, I was like, dude what's up with these goofy handlebar lyrics? Then I listened to it, and I realized it's super deep. The song's about the path we've taken in America, and America's hard-core control over the world.

The Flobots are becoming major on the web: their video on YouTube has a new comment every 2 minutes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs). They've appeared on TV with Carson Daly and Jay Leno, and on the Alex Jones Show. They also performed for Rock the Vote's recent concert in LA.

Response to the Pro-Bailouters

2008-09-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

So yesterday evening, after I posted my first blog entry, I got a message from my friend in STL, insisting that I was taking the wrong stance on this bailout. He believes that this bailout is necessary to relieve the stock market for the time-being, considering that American families are suffering from this crash.

My response is that we've been headed towards this financial crash for years because of irresponsible military spending, corporate welfare, and incorrect monetary policy. This crash is a result of the problem, not the real problem.

Let's see...we're not only still in Iraq and the problems there still haven't subsided, but we also recently butted into the problems in South Ossetia, Georgia, when we knew we couldn't afford any more spending, basically just to try and keep Russia in check. So now we want to give $700 billion in tax payers' money to corporate America? And hope that it trickles down to help my family in Mississippi, and then naively think that we won't have to face the long-run economic consequences of inflation and extreme debt? Yeah, I don't think that's such a smart idea.

Wanna really help American taxpayers save money? Pull out of Iraq and quit trying to provoke a second Cold War with Russia.

According to Senator Ron Paul's website there are 3 main reasons why Congress should reject these bailout proposals:

"a. It is immoral - Dumping bad debt on the innocent taxpayers is an act of theft and is wrong.
b. It is unconstitutional - There is no constitutional authority to use government power to serve special interests.
c. It is bad economic policy - By refusing to address the monetary system while continuing to place the burdens of the bailout on the dollar, we can be certain that in time, we will be faced with another, more severe crisis when the market figures out that there is no magic government bailout or regulation that can make a fraudulent monetary system work" (See http://www.ronpaul.com/.)

Well put Senator.

Contact your Congressman

2008-09-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

I would like to stress that all y'all contact your Congressman on the bailout I discussed below, regardless of your opinion on the issue. We live in a democracy, and we all have the right and responsibility to tell our representatives what we want done in our nation.

Go to this website, and on the top left you'll see a space where you can type in your zip code and your representatives' contact info will pop up: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

Bush's bailout plan fails in Congress, but wait! the Fed still controls our lives...

2008-09-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

According to the Washington Independent's article from a week ago, the Bailout Bill "would allow the Treasury to pay up to $700 billion for whatever 'troubled assets'...from whatever banks at whatever price it sees fit." A recipe for disaster. But, there's hope: Congress did vote against the bailout plan.

However, Sen. Ron Paul from Texas says that, apparently yesterday "the Fed pumped in over $600 million in credit into the markets, without Congressional approval." Sen. Ron Paul then goes on to say that, still, he doesn't understand why Congress even bothered to vote, because at the end of the day, the Fed has the power to make the final decisions on corporate bailouts. Hmmm...good point, buen señor.

So basically they hold this vote just to help the people feel like we're taking part in a supposed democracy, and to make sure there isn't soooo much opposition. If the Fed does agree to bailout these companies, however, the dollar will suffer: basics of of Political Economy 101. Even if the pressure to resist bailout is strong, and the Fed wisely decides against bailout, the Fed still has the power to create money (to ease our current financial problems), which will thus cause inflation, in our already falling economy.

I'm going to write a letter to my Congressman. I can't have the dollar-euro exchange rate suffer anymore!