Talk about surreal

On my recent excursions back east visiting graduate schools, my mother and I happened to run into Carol Lam, the former U.S. Attorney from San Diego. She happened to go to a special conference at my mother’s high school and my alma mater, OLP, and my mother met her there. My mother went up to her in the airport and spoke to her for a few minutes while I tried not to pass out in the waiting area (that time change will get you every time). It was quite interesting to discover that I had a connection to someone who was in the news.

I feel really sorry for Carol Lam and the seven other U.S. Attorneys who got fired because their firings happened in December but only now are they becoming national news. The time and indignation delays confused me at first but in light of other national scandals (i.e. Watergate), the facts came to light rather quickly. It turns out that after Ms. Lam brought down Duke Cunningham, a former Representative from Rancho Santa Fe (in San Diego County), she turned her attentions on two of his associates, Foggo and Wilkes. As the CIA executive director, Foggo allegedly gave special consideration to Wilkes image scanning and consulting firm. To me, this appears to be a normal case of cronyism between two old friends. I don’t mean to sound cynical but what is the big deal here? If these allegations are true, then they will be another example of corruption in the government.

Allegedly, Carol Lam was fired because she didn’t prosecute enough border crimes. The article states this to be a falsehood and that she was praised for her work in prosecuting cases relating to border crimes. I am quite excited to see how these Congressional hearings play out because if the article is right, the real reason for Carol Lam’s firing is still a mystery. Hopefully, the hearings will get to the bottom of this bizarre case and some heads will roll…

Comparing 2004 to 2008

Even though 2008 Presidential Elections are still many months from now, the race is far superior on the Democratic side from the party’s efforts 4 years ago in 2004. Then John Kerry’s main attraction to the party was that he wasn’t George W. Bush, hardly a reason for many people to get excited about giving Kerry a chance to lead the country. In many ways, Kerry’s platform did not give the voters much contrast to Bush’s. The Kerry-Edwards ticket only accused the Bush administration of failing to adequately equip American troops in Iraq. That’s was it….one thing which only applied to a small percentage of the American population. No wonder they lost…they didn’t do enough to attract the large portion of the American population who strongly disagreed with many or all of the Bush’s Administration’s domestic and foreign policies.

Fast forward to the upcoming 2008 election. Not only is there diversity in the candidates but they actually stand for something. Senator Barack Obama represents a growing bi- or multi-racial segment of the U.S. and Senator Hillary Clinton represents the 50% of Americans who have XX chromosomes. Both Senators have been strong opponents of the Iraq War and have spoken publicly about their opposition to this War. While these are only two of the many hopefuls for the Democratic nomination, there appears to be more excitement about the Democratic chances in 2008. Hopefully this time the party can pull it together and come out with a victory!

The Departed

Last night my friend called me while I was studying and asked if I wanted to watch The Departed with her. At first I really didn't want to go over there because I was attempting to study for my midterms next week but I thought "Hey why not? We are going to be able to do this only for two more months." All I have to say is WOW... that movie is so twisted but doesn't leave a single thread hanging. Honestly this is probably the best movie I have ever seen. If you haven't seen the movie, I urge everyone to see it because it was filmed on location in Boston which lends the movie an extremely authentic feeling...oh plus it has amazing actors: Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Alec Baldwin. So see it!!