In a victory for Democracy in South America the courts in Colombia are not going to allow the current president to run for a third term.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022700523.html

North Korea gave Syria uranium....which is new information considering their joint Syrian nuclear reactor was destroyed by Israel because?

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=488025

The world is changing. The recent string of earthquakes all over the world of above 5.0 magnitude are a sign of something big. I am only going on instinct. Yesterday a large earthquake struck Ryukyu in Japan. An 8.8 struck Chile and the death toll is rising quickly. This started it seems with the Haiti earthquake, which led to numerous aftershocks as well as earthquakes off Central America and the other Caribbean islands, and one in Venezuela. Something is going on.

Tonight's Evening Entertainment

The only secrets I keep are those which harm no one. I like to know things, as many things as possible. People's perceptions of things are an amazing thing to learn about as you learn about something and about the person. Tonight I talked with many people, saw candidates, and spoke to people on the same level as me: active citizen in our political process.

One thing I was immensely annoyed with was the assessment by one of the candidates that their run for office was just to be a placeholder for the party. That man will have no support of mine. We run for office to serve our communities. We run for office to win. The only statement an uncontested seat shows is a commitment to have qualified people fill that position.

In other news about tonight: Steve Abbot is your standard politician. He said nothing at the Bangor GOP meeting to separate himself from the other candidates. I asked no questions to him for my mind was in other places.

A more lengthy reflection MAY come tomorrow.

Just another Post

So apparently 1/3 of young adults were uninsured in 2008. Guess what? It doesn't matter. We're healthy people. We don't need to pay thousands every year for doctor visits and treatments we don't feel we need. Guess what else? It isn't the government's place to tell me to go to the doctor.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61N4GI20100224

Bloctopus!

This blog has extended itself to connect to a network of three websites and five email accounts through which I can be contacted. I recently noticed one of those email accounts was almost abandoned, dozens of your emails unattended to. Well, I've responded to all of them and will now be keeping up on all emails on a regular basis.

What is in a name?

Recent news article:
The Associated Press
Monday, February 22, 2010; 2:46 PM

TEHRAN, Iran -- Airlines not referring to the waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the Persian Gulf will be banned from Iranian airspace, the transport minister told local media Monday.

Excerpt over. Just call it the Persian Gulf! Seriously, the Arabians get a while SEA named after them, wanting the gulf as well is just a bit self serving.

Or, perhaps, nobody could give a giant chocolate chip cookie and just focus on the more important issues? Right, sorry, bad idea. Hey what are you doing with those rocks? HEY! OW! PENGUINS!

Assinine Assassination Fallout

The article says:
European Union foreign ministers will condemn assassinations and the use of forged passports on Monday to censure Israel after the killing of a Palestinian militant in Dubai.

Excerpt over. The European Union is going to condemn Israel for possibly killing the leader of a terrorist organization in an assassination in which the job of several of the hit squad's members was to steer civilians away. Am I the only one who sees this kind of assassination as somehow more noble than the attacks in Lebanon?

Or perhaps I'm faking common sense because I'm really part of the Israeli lobby. What do you think? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L2F520100222

Israel's New Diplomatic Weapon

One of the major concerns for an Israeli air strike on Iran was the potential to have their pilots show down and captured. With Israel's major policy of having all of their troops be buried at home this posed a major challenge to their planning. Yet, they've developed a new weapon.

A drone plane that can reach Iran with a flight time of 24 hours and a payload capacity of a ton is now in Israel's arsenal. Now, this isn't a fleet of these airplanes they have. They will need to, sadly, race in the development of them if they wish to conduct a first wave destruction of Iran's nuclear program before it creates the weapon capable of fulfilling Iran's promise of "wiping Israel off the map". Whether these aircraft can defy Iran's missile defense systems also is unknown.

What is certain is that this new aircraft gives Israel a new, safer tool in striking threats outside their borders. Politically speaking it also means they may conduct more attacks on weapon shipments ranging from the Mediterranean to Sudan.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHTbfe9vBdx_n014-AeaxzDWWqIw

Sudanese Peace Agreement

There is the possibility for the genocide to end in this process. However the tribal/ethnic/cultural nature of the violence, like so many conflicts in Africa, will not be truly resolved by a truce.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jleHXraxl_n7vtP-_CtCRC2-5-3w

Part 3

We all tire of thousands of pages of nothing
Being passed by those not reading only the original four.
Our Constitution restrains a government
Bled for by those seeking freedom.
Looking to incumbents working at night;
Knowing they are whom I must fight,
When told it will all be alright.
To right the wrongs and restore God given Rights,
I will go to City Hall,
I will go to Augusta,
I will go to Washington.
I will not have my soul depart,
For honesty shall lead my heart.

Knowing the pain adultery causes....I understand the punishment. However, becoming uncivilized to punish such a personal crime (which it is, even if not in this country) is unnecessary in modern society.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704398804575071173912460414.html

Opportunity in Niger

The Niger military has deposed their president and suspended the Constitution. Leading up to this was the president's dissolving of the parliament, and replacing the entire court system with his own personal picks. He also gave himself an extended term. Basically, the Constitution was thrown out before this coup.

There is a unique opportunity here. Prior to this power grab by the president and now the military there were two very stable (by African standards) elections. Hopefully the military will put in place a process for democracy within a year, if not then I suggest the world end all Uranium shipments out of the country until such a commitment is made by the new leadership.

One of the reason's this country has some importance is because it is the third largest source of Uranium in the world. Niger also has the highest population growth.

One side note in case you mention this topic to others when referring to Niger citizens they are Nigerien, not Nigerian which refers to the people of Nigeria.

The State of The World

Islam is hard lining in Malaysia:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704398804575071173912460414.html

Russia is still blurring the lines between Russia and Abkhazia:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iA_q3mcvbweZYWMyw31KrW30EvUwD9DU34E01

And Iran will stand by a terrorist organization against Israel:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiAqp623vjfmpTTtpnmsKnG_hHEAD9DUK2H00

Syria is saying Israel will drive them to war:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-04/israel-creating-climate-of-war-syria-minister-says-update1-.html

Mexico's Drug War Spills Over

Humanitarian crisis in Texas? 30,000 people have fled Mexico's Ciduad Juarez in the past 18 months into El Paso. 200,000 total have fled the city.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1819528920100218

Cooperation in War

Pakistan has helped capture three top Taliban leaders recently. Saudi Arabia is now doing its part as well:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-17/saudis-arrest-al-qaeda-militant-on-most-wanted-terrorist-list.html

Riots in Vancouver

Anarchists, indigenous people are angry about the Olympics.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100vancouver-riots

COUP in Niger

The president and cabinet of Niger is being held hostage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8522227.stm

Weapons in Somalia

"Hi I'd like an AK-47, used or new please."
"Oh Hey! I'm looking for the same thing."
"Awesome man. You Shebab or TFG?"
"Shebab, you?"
"I'm TFG. Hopefully I'll be shooting you in the back tomorrow!"
"Same to you man, same to you."

The reason for this exchange is the following:
Islamist insurgents and fighters from Somalia's government forces mingle peacefully at Mogadishu's main weapons market, but both sides are stocking up ahead of a major government offensive.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g5_ZfMDe4JyDbBN6cRS_HzPKOGOg

Kurdistan Elections

This could get ugly.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbv1WbydkhNOxPCSGlM-sjtRbqiQ

The only noise during the minute of silence at the Olympic games honoring the memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge competitor who died during practice, was the cry of a baby. As if channeling the pain within the hearts of those who knew him and the merited devotion he had for both his sport and his nation the child cried.

The entire performance overall was spectacular. May the tragedy of Nodar be the last of these Olympic Games.

This will make you laugh with an unusual connection between Toyota and the Taliban:

http://trueslant.com/michaelpeck/2010/02/11/taliban-rear-ended-by-toyota-recall/

Debate With a 9/11 Truther

It lasted in full 7 emails. The first two emails were confirming that we were going to have a debate. This is our full debate (taking out emails and easing the format some):

His first email (my first email was really a post on his blog):
My time is very short as I am making a film at the moment, a film that I hope will answer any questions or objections you have. But I'll think about it though, I'm always up for a phone convo if this is just for your own personal curiosity.
JM
My response:
I was hoping to have this debate via email, a continuous back and forth for years if needed. Along the way some issues will be permanently resolved, and those that are not should be placed publicly demanding answers. I'm hoping through our two side examination we can compile a list of unresolved issues for people with more means than I, possibly even you, have. I understand you have a life and so do I. An email a day, or a week, whenever we get the opportunity would be fine by me.
Besides making this public my intention is to inform as many people as possible of the unresolved issues (supporting or not supporting my side) so the public will be wiser. This is an opportunity to not only cover the truth of the event, but also teach other things such as psychology, religion, engineering, politics, ect. I am not formal in any regard, and hope we can "debate" for the truth.
Truther:
OK, well, kick things off I guess.
Me:
The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. (From Wikipedia).
Truther:
Even if we accept that bin Laden and gang were the masterminds of 9/11 it does not negate a slew of evidence indicating that they were allowed to succeed and had their results amplified. 9/11 very well could have been an inside and an outside job.

Me:
Your links lead to more links which lead to even more links following by another link to a source cited in a report I found to have had the citation of a report based on the JFK assassination. So lets go a direct route in bringing the information, the data, to the email. What evidence indicates they were allowed to succeed? What evidence indicated their results were amplified (presumably by a force outside of their own means)? The second link has no derivable questions of specific value as it raises no ambiguous leads only a statement of possibilities which can be found by the first two questions in this "segment". Do you accept the fact of a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001?

Truther:
I'm sorry, but the more I think about this debate, the more I know I have no interest in it. You are in essence asking me to write a book. I tackle an issue here and there these days, but to tackle every detail in a possible multiple year long debate is frankly more time than I wish to devote to this cause. I have been a member of the 9/11 truth movement since 2004. I am pretty much finished after I complete my movie, absent some big developments. It's the capstone to all the research and activism I have done. Keep an eye out for it and review it if you want. I'll review your review. :)
Take care,
JM

Me:
You, sir, are unwilling to stand up for what you believe in no matter the cost. All I asked for was your time at your pace on a topic you've placed immense efforts in already. I didn't want a book, I wanted the truth. I don't play by your link to a link of a link rules that never finds the real truth and you back down. You are a coward.

Iran/Resource Based Socialism

The hope internationally is that the crackdown by the government of Iran on their own people will give them another reason, aside from the nuclear issue which lacks Russian and Chinese will, to change the regime by any means.

The first is of course sanctions. The economic weapon once most potent for the reliance on America by the world for any measurable economic success. Yet, as globalization moves forward and sanctions are ignored by nations seeking any buyer at any price for their own survival, the supporters of sanctions will find that while removing one source of funds works short term the long term ability for sanctions to truly isolate and alter a nation's political course is minute.

Yet the oppression (in the form of limiting freedom of speech, assembly, ect.) is inspiring the world to investigate the brutal crimes an entrenching regime employs to not eliminate, but force into hiding the dissenters (imprisonment, torture, rape, execution, ect.) Recent sanctions called for by our US Congress targeted the security apparatus in the Revolutionary Guard; not for connections to the nuclear program, but for their compliance with orders to commit horrendous crimes against their own people's freedom. A UN investigation, urged by the US, will soon take place. Perhaps Israel can be the nation to bring legitimate scorn on its Arab opponents instead of the inventive delusions the War in Gaza brought onto Israel from its neighbors.

One can also see the failure of an attempt to create a Socialist Theocracy in recent years contributing to the uprising against the Iranian regime. The smaller nations of Qatar and Kuwait succeeded due to the luck of vast amounts of oil compared to population. The external influx of wealth allowed their mixture of Socialism and Capitalism to thrive due to the massive amount of prosperity injection. With no limit of resources this system has worked yet it requires an almost eternal resource base (in this case oil) to continue indefinitely in a status quo form. Some with limits on that resource diversified before crashing.

Dubai has made the efforts to diversify but did so in a limited fashion by going directly for two sectors (banking and real estate). Dubai is standing on the edge of a cliff now as the international market loses its value in real estate and banking. Not even their diversity of location (worldwide ports, Las Vegas, ect.) has spared them from the debt crash.

Other attempts to build resource based Socialism are failing elsewhere. Venezuela attempted to use its oil, and still does (rationing power to cities but not to oil fields), to support the Socialist revolution. However the people are finding the same problem Iran has found which is that it will not succeed. The leadership can't accept its failure because then they are no longer legitimate.

In Iran they lost their legitimacy. The promises made to the poor that got Ahmadinejad elected in 2005 resulted in gas rationing in an oil producing nation. His goal of helping the poor resulted in real estate becoming more expensive by factors of two or three in some areas. The enemy chosen by Iran was not capitalism directly but the west; not due to a lack of hatred of capitalism but since a cultural hatred of the west included more than just capitalism. Such a connection allowed greater political points to be scored in the Islamic nation. For those unaware about Ahmadinejad's connection to Socialism: "[o]ne of his goals is "putting the petroleum income on people's tables"." [1]

Oil hasn't been the only resource nation's have based their Socialist promises on. Green technology and industries were promised by Spain to produce jobs and make electricity cheaper while making the carbon output lower. Lets examine the results as known in December 2009:

"For the last ten years, Spain has said all the right things about controlling its carbon emissions in the face of the looming climate crisis. It has even taken concrete action: A new law demands every new house in Spain must have a solar water heater. The country also has made massive investments in solar power plants, wind farms and public transport. However in the last ten years Spain's carbon footprint has increased by more than 30 percent."

Excerpt over. So the country isn't cleaner, how about those jobs and cheaper electricity? Well, in 2008 Spain reached 37% unemployment. Right now 4 million of a workforce of 27 million are unemployed. As for prices I tried to find real value but due to the feed-in tariff policy every industry has an artificial price meant to encourage greener energy. That means it isn't cheaper and they have to subsidize it. Resource based Socialism doesn't work in large scale, just like all the other kinds of Socialism.

Conclusion:
Not only should we support the Iranian people's demand of freedom and help them attain it by all means possible but we need to prevent our own nation's leaders' promised reliance on green technology to try to create a resource based socialist nation.


[1]: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA19Ak03.html
[2]: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121274675

February Style

You're going to notice my posts will be significantly shorter in February. I will post news and link to it but due to a personal project requiring my writing skills to be placed to another purpose (for the blog in March) I will update news and give little to no opinion pieces. Stay tuned because the news I find I will try to highlight either bias or news that the world missed. For example during the Gaza War between Israel and Hamas I've learned Israel conducted at least three air strikes in Sudan against Iranian weapon shipments heading to Gaza. Little things like this should be brought to light during events and not after them, and that is what I will try to do during February. During March my regularly scheduled programming will return in full force (and then some).

Tonight we saw the future president of the United States not begin, but bring to light the next American Revolution.

Steve Abbot won the Bangor caucus today. I do not know how the other towns in Penobscot County voted.

Update: To clarify, he won the straw poll.

I just saw an advertisement for the Stargate Universe Season 1.0 DVD. I know this may be the strangest concept I will ever place into public. The nerd within me is thrilled to see a formatting and labeling system such as these releases have.

A Night in a Pub With Gubernatorial Candidate Peter Mills

I'm going to tread lightly in this post and give a second in depth post after tomorrow's BDN is printed so as not to infringe upon the literary reporting of someone who makes a living off doing what I did tonight for nothing more than a glass of water: interviewing a candidate for governor and those around him at a lively pub. Yes, I said pub. No, I did not drink. Yes, I enjoyed meeting many new people and some old friends as well. It was particularly humorous to be the one not to remember faces, instead of the other way around.

After leaving my house and taking a ridiculously long path to get there, so as not to walk past the murder scene on my street from a few nights ago, I finally arrived at the Whig and Currie Pub and Restaurant (?) in downtown. Entering resulted in the surprise that it did not smell overwhelmingly of stale beer. That made the event tolerable.
Finding my place with Nichi Farnham I discussed with her some politics. Moving from there I talked to several others about politics, and also talked with some on-off acquaintances from Peter Mill's campaign. I also spoke with a Mr. Cousins from the Bangor Daily News, and while the liberal (or just vehement hatred of Republicans) within him oozed outward like nuclear radiation it was a rather pleasant conversation in which I watched him ask rather general questions with rather weak follow ups (meaning none at all). So if you read this get a little tougher and think faster on your feet. Also, always get the answer to the question you originally or meant to ask.

Side note: While it may seem...improper to use such a public location to critique one's work I feel there is no better place to discuss something, no matter how trivial, than in the light of day for everyone to walk past carelessly should they lack attachment to such an issue. Your work being regularly published publicly means any observation of your abilities, good or bad, should be done publicly as well. On with the show.

Later that evening I met with a former McCain campaign "boss" who just got back from working with Scott Brown. That was also rather pleasant. Many, except me, had sipped if not consumed entire measurable quantities of alcohol. None were drunk, even the guy sitting next to three empty bottles, so I remained.
A discussion throughout the evening regarded the clean election funding decision. Due to how the system tries to match what a privately funded candidate raises for a clean election funded candidate it was seen as a better option for the local candidates to match Democrats in a decision to go the clean election route. They saw it better to be equal in funds and win on a strong issue/idea/solution base than a monetary edge that would bankrupt the state with clean election opponents. I found this to be an honorable reasoning to the decision to use clean election funding. Peter Mills is a clean election fund candidate. This made the event enlightening of new perspectives.
As the night went on my blog, the one you happen to be reading, became such a topic of discussion that I was interviewed about my blog. I was surprised, unprepared, and on the inside completely regret the cavalier humor I injected to allow my lungs to function as needed in front of the camera. Luckily I survived, didn't say anything too.....damaging, and will see this as an opportunity to remember my speech and debate talent from high school and never say "um" again. I'm not even sure if the video will be put on their website, the details weren't worked out and I failed to give them my phone number. (While I only drank water, my mind was adrenalined beyond planning things by 7:30.)
My former debate career brings me to a little side project I've been working on. The details have not been finalized, but two gubernatorial Public Forum rounds may be arranged between the candidates for governor. Beyond that I am keeping this low key until confirmation of an actual event with a date and time. However, after this evening, things look positive for such an event. This made the event tonight a constructive one.