I am working on my final paper now and my last posting was when I was working on my midterm ones....scary!
My short musing for the day:
Dear Senators Clinton and McCain,
I think that your push for repealing the gasoline tax for the summer is really admirable but you both forgot one small detail....You AREN'T president yet and I sincerely doubt the Bush administration cares what you say because they are busy trying to screw up Syria. In conclusion, thank you once again for your wonderful suggestions that won't make it to policy because you jumped the gun again.
Sincerely,
ME
That is all!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
I'm supposed to be finishing my paper but...
there are people on the radio railing on about how the French are going to overtake the American way of life. Actually they are mostly Boeing employees who are angry that the U.S. Air Force made a deal to buy Airbus planes rather than Boeing. Let's think about why this might have been, oh I don't know, maybe Airbus is CHEAPER?!?!? or maybe they have better quality for what the Air Force needs. I was truly embarrassed when some of these men started talking about how they were "so appalled" at how their country could be betraying them and the troops. I don't think these are the reasons that the Air Force didn't go with Boeing.... maybe they were looking at their bottom line for ONCE.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Another NPR story that got me excited
Geraldo Rivera is my new hero!! He has recently written a book about illegal immigration in the U.S. called
His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S. It actually sounds really good from the NPR story and I really think Geraldo has made the transition back to real journalism and left his slummy talk show days behind.
You would think that when I moved to DC, the place where all U.S. policies for everything are made, that this would be an issue people talked a lot about. Boy was I disappointed! I think if I worked on the Hill I would hear a lot about it but since I don't, I don't feel that many people on the street hold this as their hot button issue. It is such a change from CA.
One other thing Geraldo said that almost made me stand up and clap: he mentioned that people in the U.S. who are really outspoken against this issue tend to forget that they are the children and grandchildren of immigrants and they should be more sympathetic to illegal immigrants. Although I am not sure I completely support illegally coming to the U.S., I agree that people tend to forget their familial history and don't realize that they should be sympathetic to new immigrants. As someone who is proud to be a third generation U.S. citizen on one side of my family, I always remember how difficult it was for my own family to make it in this country and I always try to hear both sides of the immigration story because all my ancestors were immigrants at one time.
that is my two cents for the day...have a good one!!
His Panic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S. It actually sounds really good from the NPR story and I really think Geraldo has made the transition back to real journalism and left his slummy talk show days behind.
You would think that when I moved to DC, the place where all U.S. policies for everything are made, that this would be an issue people talked a lot about. Boy was I disappointed! I think if I worked on the Hill I would hear a lot about it but since I don't, I don't feel that many people on the street hold this as their hot button issue. It is such a change from CA.
One other thing Geraldo said that almost made me stand up and clap: he mentioned that people in the U.S. who are really outspoken against this issue tend to forget that they are the children and grandchildren of immigrants and they should be more sympathetic to illegal immigrants. Although I am not sure I completely support illegally coming to the U.S., I agree that people tend to forget their familial history and don't realize that they should be sympathetic to new immigrants. As someone who is proud to be a third generation U.S. citizen on one side of my family, I always remember how difficult it was for my own family to make it in this country and I always try to hear both sides of the immigration story because all my ancestors were immigrants at one time.
that is my two cents for the day...have a good one!!
Sunday, March 02, 2008
I'm back!!!
Hey Everyone,
I am finally back from a grad school imposed silence....non-stop reading, writing, and working isn't conducive to writing anything extra for fun. I will continue to maintain my focus on U.S. domestic politics and international politics as I like nothing else!!
Today on NPR I heard the most appaling thing about the U.S. elections I have heard in a while. A woman from Houston was interviewed about who she wanted to vote for and was quite hesitant about talking about her fears for Obama. The first reason she was frightened for him made sense to me. She feared that silent racists in the U.S. wouldn't vote for a black man (even thought he is half white....). This makes complete sense to me as this is one of the last major race taboos that the U.S. needs to get over.
The second one made me sit up in bed and talk to the radio....again! She said that she was afraid that he would be assassinated because he is black. Wow I had never heard someone actually express such a sentiment. First of all, has she NEVER seen a Secret Service officer??? Those people are hard core scary and always make sweeps of places. I can understand this woman's fear of assassination if the Secret Service fail but they haven't failed since Reagan was shot by John Hinkley in the early 1980s. The Secret Service officers are extremely professional and vow to protect the president regardless of race or gender.
That's my two cents on conspiracy theories for the day. Have a good one!
I am finally back from a grad school imposed silence....non-stop reading, writing, and working isn't conducive to writing anything extra for fun. I will continue to maintain my focus on U.S. domestic politics and international politics as I like nothing else!!
Today on NPR I heard the most appaling thing about the U.S. elections I have heard in a while. A woman from Houston was interviewed about who she wanted to vote for and was quite hesitant about talking about her fears for Obama. The first reason she was frightened for him made sense to me. She feared that silent racists in the U.S. wouldn't vote for a black man (even thought he is half white....). This makes complete sense to me as this is one of the last major race taboos that the U.S. needs to get over.
The second one made me sit up in bed and talk to the radio....again! She said that she was afraid that he would be assassinated because he is black. Wow I had never heard someone actually express such a sentiment. First of all, has she NEVER seen a Secret Service officer??? Those people are hard core scary and always make sweeps of places. I can understand this woman's fear of assassination if the Secret Service fail but they haven't failed since Reagan was shot by John Hinkley in the early 1980s. The Secret Service officers are extremely professional and vow to protect the president regardless of race or gender.
That's my two cents on conspiracy theories for the day. Have a good one!
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