I grew up watching cartoons like Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes, and I have got to say that the current Iraqi Judicial system is more whacky and zaney than anything I’ve seen on TV. A fundamental necessity for stability in Iraq is for them to establish a bias-free judicial system that punishes Shiites and Sunnis equally. According to THIS article in the Washington Post, they are about as bias-free as Fox News. Two high-ranking Shiite government officials were charged with kidnapping and killing many Sunnis. The US and Iraqi prosecutors put together a case with many witnesses in an effort to bring the defendants to trial. It was a miracle the case was even heard in court, after Iraqi’s Shiite Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki allowed the case to be heard. The case charged that ambulances and hospitals had been used to round up, torture, and kill Sunni patients, among other accusations. One judge from the panel was thrown off the case after reportedly promising to find the defendants not-guilty. The prosecutors had to try several times to get the case heard by the panel, after several failed attempts when the defense attorneys convinced judges there was insufficient evidence. US officials have reported that the panel must be holding these defendants to a different measure of “reasonable doubt” than Sunni defendants. “This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken,” said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke anonymously because he couldn’t discuss the case. “And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you.” The point I’d like to make is, we find this case illogical and completely ridiculous. But, the reason is because we have grown up in a totally different society than those in Iraq. Comparing the US judicial system with Iraq’s is like comparing Apples to Orange Flavored Lifesavers Candy. When our forefathers wrote the Declaration of Independence and planted the seeds of a fair and impartial Judicial system, they were essentially declaring that “We the people” will rule ourselves. When we go overseas and set up governments to our standards and try to give birth to little America-clones in the rest of the world, it doesn’t work. Before we got our independence, we needed to fight the British, throw them from our land, and establish a fair government free of oppression. Things would have gone differently if France had come fight the British for us, section us off from ourselves, and establish our government for us. You think we hate France now, imagine if we all had to speak French.

Posted By: Kevin March 10th, 2008
Comments: none

Waterboarding might sound like a great weekend activity. Take the kids to the lake and spend the day boating and waterboarding. However, it is my duty to inform you that it was actually used by the CIA to torture detainees suspected of terrorism or having connections to Al Qaeda. Now, before cheering and throwing your hands in the air in support of torturing Al Qaeda suspects, let me remind you that Bush has the Department of Justice in his pocket.

Alberto Gonzales said that he “did not recall” incidents/questions that were asked of him at the Senate Judiciary Committee 72 times. Gonzo resigned his position and lawyers everywhere cheered because he was making them all look bad after winning Lawyer of the Year by TIME. In a perfect world, we all have unalienable rights that the government can’t intrude and we all get to go through something called a judicial system before being punished for crimes. Waterboarding is torture by definition, and by poll questionaires- which is truly how we judge the system. Conservatives are supposed to support smaller government control, less spending, etc. Then why the hell do they elect presidents that invade our rights, lie to us, goto wars where we don’t belong, and waste our money? Then again, this guy puts up a pretty good argument for torture…

Posted By: Kevin March 7th, 2008
Comments: none

Senator John McCain (AZ, R) has won the Republican nomination and will be the nominee running for president this November in the general election. He has won 20 states, against Mike Huckabee’s 8. After winning Texas yesterday, he secured the last delegates he needed to become the Republican nominee.

In 2000, Bush beat McCain for the Republican nomination and today Bush endorsed McCain. Bush had stated that because of his low approval ratings, if his opposition would be more helpful to McCain than his endorsement, he would offer it. Most of their views coincide with one another. They are both not opposed to the war in Iraq, and they have similar views on immigration. They differ mostly on taxes, campaign finance, and issues on the environment. Those are all important differences, but I think that this November people are heavily against the war in Iraq. I think the war’s unpopularity has raised a lot of issues of morality within the Bush administration and aligning himself with that administration will hurt McCain. McCain is a strong candidate for the Republican party. He is known as a fiscal conservative, which appeals to Republicans but he also supports some liberal issues like leniency for illegal immigrants and he has favored caps on carbon dioxide emissions, which many Republicans find too heavily regulated now. McCain talks as if he is anti-corporation and seems boldly against pork-barrel spending and earmarks. To Republicans he appears to be shifting too far to the left, but I think that makes him a much stronger candidate than Huckabee. This November he will be up against Hillary or Obama, and this year the Democrats are enthusiastic about a new run for the white house. I think the only way the Republicans have a shot, given the low approval of the current administration, is to nominate McCain. Many Democratic voters may find themselves questioning the Democratic candidate this November since there has been so much heat for the nomination, and with McCain running, many may find themselves voting Republican. Probably way more than the number of Republicans who are so far right they will vote for Obama for spite alone. Hopefully the enthusiasm within the Democratic party will be enough to win in November.

Posted By: Kevin March 5th, 2008
Comments: none

A year ago I created this informative website for Calvin, a good friend in Virginia who was working on his Computer Science degree from Virginia Tech. It was about Biometrics, including a few types of Biometrics and how they could be used by our government. Well, I had assumed at the time that it was all very experimental and the FBI or DOD probably only funded the research to use in government offices as security measures. Well, according to this clip, people are getting concerned about the possibility of government stronghold now that the Biometrics database is being expanded.

I know that we are all kept in the dark on a lot of government research but I’m going to have to ask, do you think I’ll get the privilege of knowing what (if any) data the government is collecting on me personally? I can log into my state’s government website and request (for $7) my driving record. I wonder if I can also find out if the state or federal government is keeping my fingerprints, face scan, DNA, etc? I wonder.

Posted By: Kevin February 25th, 2008
Comments: none

Last Tuesday I was sitting at Sears waiting to get some new car tires installed and was forced to watch CNN. I was stuck in that waiting room for 2 hours watching Wolf Blitzer’s primetime election coverage in the “Situation Room”. First of all, Blitzer’s “Situation Room” is unrealistically more chaotic and fear inspiring than an actual military situation room.

The on-screen graphics look like a first-person-shooter war video game. So for 2 hours I watched as loudmouth campaign experts were being asked their opinions on how Hilary’s strategy needs to shift for the upcoming elections in Texas and Ohio. They interviewed Texans and repeatedly showed coverage from previous debates where Hilary changed her stance from friend to foe of Obama and back again. CNN’s coverage is another reminder of how mainstream media has become so accustomed to graphically yelling things to their audiences. Loud commentators, fast-paced graphics, informal criticisms are all things we have come to expect from most news programs and it is our fault for accepting it and relying on it.

Posted By: Kevin February 24th, 2008
Comments: none

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Posted By: Kevin February 20th, 2008
Comments: none

When do we use “yes sir, no sir?”Since moving to the dirrty south, I’ve noticed a lot of people use formal salutations and have “manners.” When I first started hearing people calling their bosses or professors sir or ma’am, I thought everybody in the south was being sarcastic and rude. Turns out they are actually trained to do it from childhood. My opinion? Well, although it shows respect, blah blah - it also shows a hint of dominance and I think unecessary in the year 2008. My boss is not my WWII Veteran grandfather and addressing him as “sir” implies that I’m an office kiss-ass. It could help or hurt my career based on whether or not my rhetorical boss liked the attention enough to promote me or found it annoying. Either way, it would probably prevent me from being seen as an equal in his eye and I’d never earn a position higher than his. Yet another example of why I yearn to be in the north, where things just makes sense to me.

Posted By: Kevin February 8th, 2008
Comments: none

It occurred to me while watching the Superbowl today that America is in need of more than a political shift towards truth and compassion, but indeed America’s brand could use an overhaul. Of course the Superbowl was on Fox, which does an excellent job of using graphics to engage emotions of terror and shock. I think it has become the “American” way to yell things, rather than speak softly. A strong brand is seen as one that has crammed itself into every aspect of our lives whether or not we asked them to. A good movie is seen as one with an enormous budget and dominating special effects. Check out this interview of Paula Scher about branding America…

Posted By: Kevin February 4th, 2008
Comments: none

Super Duper Tuesday is coming and unless the media releases a sex tape of Obama or Mitt Romney assassinates a puppy, we may be stuck with this crazy thing called a “Brokered Convention.” Apparently we have a pretty crazy political system in this country and one of the crazy ingredients is the Brokered Convention. If not enough candidates drop out and there is no clear winning number of delegates for either political party, then we refer to “super delegates” who help determine who the candidates will be in November. These Super Delegates wear capes, fly around and are basically tied into politicians and corporations across the country. “What does this mean?” Well, unless Obama is struck by the lucky truck, he won’t have enough delegates over Clinton to avoid a Broker Convention. Similar situation on the Republican side. The fun part is the realization that these Super Delegates are probably going to determine who is running for President this November. Hint: Each super delegate is a 60 year old corporate exec with a private plane and hellbent on world domination. Enjoy November.

Posted By: Kevin February 1st, 2008
Comments: none

Another movie to discuss, this one comes out in June, The Incredible Hulk. This (new(er)) version of the Marvel character is played by Edward Norton. I guess they decided to pretend that the last movie was never made. Also, Liv Tyler is in it. So there are celebs, but are the special effects going to be “balls to the walls?”, you ask - Take a look at this screenshot for yourself.

Posted By: Kevin January 30th, 2008
Comments: none

I’ll make this fast. Carrie and I crammed ourselves into a packed theater to see Cloverfield. When it was over, many people in the audience were yelling or saying they wanted their money back and the film was bad. They are wrong. The movie was brilliant. Seriously. People didn’t like Arrested Development when it was on TV because it was too smart for them. Dummies just want to sit back and have predictable crap fed to them, so few production agencies have the balls to defy convention. This movie was brilliant for so many reasons. I do have one suggestion though. Go see it in theaters, because seeing this thing on DVD is just not going to be good. ‘Nuf said. Oh one more thing. SPOILER ALERT: This is what the monster looks like…

Posted By: Kevin January 20th, 2008
Comments: none

Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio representative in the House, is running for President. “As a 3rd party candidate?” -My dear friends, no. He is a democrat that will never make it near Super Tuesday. In April Kucinich introduced US House Resolution 333 and articles of impeachment against Dick Cheney. He accused Cheney of ignoring or changing evidence involving Iraq’s involvement with Al-Qaeda and threatened aggression against Iran. Kucinich read from the Declaration of Independence to prove his points and eventually got some support from Congress and the House Judiciary Committee. Kucinich firmly stands for a lot of liberal policies including getting out of Iraq, gun control in the US, repealing the Patriot Act, and other anti-Bush policies. Below is a video link from back in November.

Kucinich really doesnt have the money to run a competitive campaign against Obama or Hillary or Edwards, so when he drops out (probably soon), he’ll probably lend support to Obama since they share some of the same arguments against Bush’s foreign policy. After that maybe he’ll go back to itching Cheney from his seat in the House.

Posted By: Kevin January 18th, 2008
Comments: none