How to be a "typical," ordinary small town family

• Firstly, live in a small town. Preferably "mainstream Wasilla."
  
• Buy clothes from the highly expensive, elite big city shops. Small town shops are not small town enough.
  
• Spend a "reasonable" small town budget of $180,000 on personal clothes only in 2 months. Fairly "frugal."
• Get married to someone arrested for drunk driving in '86 before marriage and was briefly jailed.
  
• Marry someone who joined a group that wanted Alaska to secede from the United States.
• Let your teenage daughter have her own doll of a child because you can't meet her demand of getting a puppy. Its ok as long as she's happy even if it's out of wedlock.
• Force the same daughter to marry the playboy she used to get her doll of a child, without son-in-law's consent even if the playboy son-in-law's mom is arrested for drug abuse on 6 counts.
• Shoot down animals from helicopters. Animal rights are not small town enough for you.
  
• Fire your ex-brother-in-law for fun when you become a Governor.
  
• Claim foreign policy experience due to proximity of your state to Russia even if you got your first passport in '06.
  
• Use your Yahoo! email account for state business to avoid court investigations.
  
• Run for beauty pageant, mayor, governor and the vice presidency.
• Ramble something on the bailout and "umbrella of job creation" if you can't answer the question.
• Call the interviewer by his nickname frequently to jinx him when you don't know what "bush-doctrine" means.
• Dub yourself "hockey mom" and "average Joe-six pack."
• Use public office for discussing future plans.
• Discuss banning books with librarian.
  

Britney Spears music is torturous

Some may already find Britney's music painful to listen to. But, her music is being deliberately used to torture prisoners at Gitmo. Who knew? According to this article from MSNBC, even Sesame Street, rock music and Barney the purple dinosaur's music (imagine what kids would think if they knew what other purposes for Barney were) is blasted to unbearably high volumes at Gitmo. "Plenty lost their minds" and many ended up banging their heads on the wall in pain. Many musicians are protesting that their music not be used for toture as that was not the purpose of its creation. This musical type of torture is purely mental. Although to spice it up, they might also sleep deprive you for days and force you to sit in painful positions for overwhelmingly long periods of time. Some interrogators brag that they need only 4 days to break a new prisoner. I wonder if this has been mentioned on the Fox 24 show at all, and if Kiefer has any sympathy for victims of abuse at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

It is really amazing how much US taxpayer money is spent on researching for new and innovative techniques for torturing people, many of whom are alleged to be terrorists. There are thousands of other techniques used in the CIA's secret camps that are still unknown to the public. Waterboarding is only 1 out of a few known that drowned (pun intended) the world with concerns of Gitmo's human rights' violation. Pathetic. If Obama does not close Gitmo as promised, I will be deeply disappointed.

The Shoe Thrower

Muntadher al-Zaidi, the shoe thrower, is an Iraqi journalist from the TV station Al-Baghdadia. Thousands of Iraqis protested his arrest today and the TV station is demanding his release vigorously. Below is the statement by the TV station.

Any action taken against Muntathar will remind us of the actions and behaviors taken by the reign of the dictator and the violence, the random arrests, the mass graves and confiscations of freedom from the people - Al Baghdadia TV

Meanwhile many in the Middle East are calling him a 'hero' for having the guts to do such a thing. A minority, however, said that this was probably not the best way to send his message. Whether you thought this guy was outrageous or not, he has become the talk everywhere in the Middle East and that is probably what he wanted.

Friends described Zaidi as "emotionally influenced" when he was kidnapped by militants in 2007 for three days and traumatized when he covered US bombing of Sadr City in Iraq as a journalist. The bombing may have caused him to lose it, reportedly. More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed along with 5,000 US soldiers. If this wasn't enough, in addition, today, a Human Rights group is accusing the Iraqi criminal court for poor treatment of prisoners such as Zaidi. Also Foreign Policy magazine says that: "a new 500-page government report detailing how $50 billion in U.S. taxpayer money was badly misspent during the reconstruction of Iraq may prove more significant to Bush's legacy. "

Zaidi has also garnered his own Wikipedia entry.

Pathetic Security

I can't believe that even after two shoes thrown at Bush, the Secret Service along with others took almost 4 seconds to close in on the President. There was no agent next to the President during the shoe incident. This is really pathetic. The Secret Service needs to re-evaluate itself and its security protocols. Imagine if those shoes hit Bush in the face or imagine if those shoes were a pair of pocket knives that the security check during entrance failed to catch or even a pen that could have hit Bush in the eye. This scares me because Barack will be facing even more threats, so the secret service better be smarter about it.

Perino gets black-eyed

Press Secretary Dana Perino got hit in the eye with a mike during the shoe incident. Kind of symbolic, how the press secretary gets hurt, but not the President. Anyway I don't wish any harm on her. Hope to not see her during the press briefing with a black eye as symbolic as that would sound of the Bush Administration. Most likely, you can expect to see her only when that eye is cleared up. Good thing there isn't a 'B' carved on the cheek too. That would really creep out the Dems, if you know what I mean.

Post-election GOP drama

• Palin's church burnt down.
• McCain refused to say if he would support Palin in a 2012 run. Says: "We've got some great other young governors."
• Joe the Plumber "appalled" by John McCain
• Palin snubbed Oprah (possibly?)
• McCain criticizes GOP for trying to link Obama to Blago scandal.
• Palin accused of using public office to discuss post-election plans.
• Powell: GOP must re-evaluate itself and change image desperately.
  
• Shoes thrown at Bush by Iraqi reporter attempting to bid farewell (yells: "this is a farewell, you dog!) during Bush's farewell visit to Iraq.

Amish Genes

A new Reuters article discusses a study which discovered that Amish people have a rare abnormality in their genes that allows their triglycerides to accumulate slower than other humans. They only have 1 copy of the gene that makes the protein inhibiting triglyceride breakdown. Normally, humans have 2 copies allowing triglyceride levels to rise and as a consequence causing heart disease. This discovery will help scientists develop drugs that target this specific triglyceride breakdown inhibiting gene. That's a double score. Not only they get more exercise than us, they also have genetically desirable traits for the heart. The average life expectancy for Amish people is around 75 without the use of 21st century medical care. This is pretty good. Imagine the life expectancy of Amish people if they wound up using modern medical care. It would effortlessly shoot to 90s.

Future Pool

This pool was opened in Mumbai to create awareness on rising sea levels as a result of global warming. Looks scary, but its an excellent design and a great idea.

The First Washington Outsider

Finally! A true outsider in Obama's cabinet. I was getting sick of seeing Clintonites being picked daily. Dr. Steven Chu will be great. He has absolutely no political experience making him the outsider literally. Some may argue that it will be a liability, but think about it; no political knowledge implies: less likely to commit political corruption, less likely to revert to status-quo and politics as usual. Its like putting an end to the war on science started by Bush. Chu is a Nobel Prize winning physicist from Stanford. Think about how much he will get done as Secretary of Energy than a political guy. Chu will push for scientific innovation in addition to policies. It will be perfect! Though I admit, he may have a tough time passing policies, but this guy is a genius. I'm sure he'll figure it out. Obama gets an A++ from me on this pick. Good Job Mr. President-Elect. This choice assures me that you are not completely obsessed with the Clinton administration.

Tech Savvy Terrorists

According to a new Reuters article, Mumbai security forces acknowledged shortcomings in their defense technologies and the surprising familiarity and ease of use of advanced technology by the gunmen. The sophisticated use of GPS, Google Earth, Skype, satellite phones and Blackberries made it increasingly difficult for Mumbai police and gave the gunmen the edge. The gunmen reportedly planned their operation using Google Earth, a highly detailed world map feature offered by Google for free. Lawyers in Mumbai are now trying to ban Google Earth because the incredible details could be 'security hazards' and are extremely sensitive. Also, the use of satellite phones along with the use of Skype made it difficult to track telephone conversations. E-mail communications before the operation were done through multiple servers making it also difficult for Indian forces to track.

This new tech savvy quality of the enemy is indeed very scary. The best way to fight this is probably not by banning the technology (that's just like saying: "lets go back to the stone age so that there are no more guns!"), but by improving classified technology used by the security team. But there is no one answer and it is incredibly hard to solve this as someone would have by now if it were that easy.

Governor's official website not updated

The Illinois Governor's website to no surprise was not updated to the current news of corruption scandal. The Governor is also coolly ignoring calls for resignation.

Jesse Jackson, Jr.

I think Jesse Jackson, Jr. deserves Obama's seat. Face it, he's witty, sharp, knowledgeable and a prominent voice in International civil rights. He was jailed in South Africa at age 21 for protesting the apartheid. He's a known friend of Nelson Mandela. Plus I think he shares the values of Barack very closely by the speeches he has given and the movements he has participated in. If anyone should replace Barack, it should be someone with Barack's vision and morals for the world.

'Change'

Honestly, this election has added a whole new dimension to the word 'Change.' Whenever I hear that word in my usual day to day life, my mind immediately wanders to the election before drifting back. It almost makes me laugh how brilliantly the Obama campaign's message of 'change' and 'hope' have been articulated. But I'm sure that I am not the only one who thinks of that word differently after the election. I'm sure there are others out there who are beginning to think of 'change,' the word as more than an alteration or conversion of something, but also as a political tool.

Financially Hurting?

Gov. Rod said that he was "financially hurting" which is why needs "to make money." I don't get it. He is a governor and he lives in a fancy Executive Mansion in IL. Why is he hurting? His salary is already over $150k. What more does he want?

UPDATE: WSJ reports that Gov. Rod owed more than $500k to a law firm.

Most Corrupt State in America

Comment on the vandalized Muslim graves in France

Even though this post may be a bit late for it, I still think it is worth addressing.

French Muslims regularly experience discrimination by major institutions and hate crimes in France. However, this recent crime conducted a couple of days ago is one of the most disgusting. In a military cemetery, where the bodies of WWI Muslim soldiers who fought for France lie, 500 graves were desecrated with a swastika symbol drawn on some of them. Isn't this just pure irony? You're attacking someone who fought for your country and is now resting in peace. I was honestly shocked to see that the culprits had no respect for the dead.

I commend Sarkozy for denouncing the act, but frankly, it isn't enough. France needs to step up its act against discrimination. The Public school system bans headscarves, but not crosses and stars of david worn by students. As a result, Muslim students are forced to attend private Catholic schools with a tuition. This is wrong. The headscarf is simply a dress, like it was for many women in America and the Europe in the 19th Century. French politicians defend the ban by saying that headscarves are sexist. However, it is just a different standard of modesty. Women who wear it, wear it because they want to and because they believe it gives them dignity. Obviously this issue is more complicated than it appears and is a hot debate in France.

Also, French politicians must understand that there are global ramifications to organized discrimination in France. For example, terrorists at Al Qaida in Afghanistan will use this example for the purposes of recruiting poor, illiterate, and naive youngsters in Afghanistan by brainwashing. For instance, Al Qaida will say "See? These guys are the devils and we need to stop them. Sign up and we attack the devils." Sadly, this not only destroys the future of these young kids, but also ends up causing things like the Mumbai tragedy. Bottom-line: France, if you want to see world peace, you've got to do your part and stop discriminating and work on uniting.

No Motorcade?

I'm shocked. This guy has just entered the world lime light after being arrested as a governor charged with corruption with media helicopters chasing him and he has no motorcade? Apparently, the security detail inside that SUV is enough. He should have at least one police car behind him in my opinion.

In Retrospect

As usual, we have our "In Retrospect" segment that reminds us of the past and its irony, along with how it is so different yet similar to the present. If you don't find today's videos hilarious, then I don't know what to say.

Cartoon of the week

Size is misleading.

On Pakistan Capturing Mastermind

This should put to rest any claims made by India that the Pakistani government was involved in the attacks. Yesterday, Pakistani security forces attacked a militant group camped somewhere in Kashmir and captured the mastermind, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who may have also been behind terrorist operations in Chechnya and Bosnia. This proves my previous point that India and Pakistan have to solve the Kashmir dispute and stop the stupid "tensions growing" story because that is only going to start war again. A recent bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan proves that both countries are victim to terrorism. PE Obama is right to propose to help solve the Kashmir dispute because that area is affected deeply by terrorist militant groups and daily skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani government. Pakistan can't afford to focus on other things besides the militants and its own domestic issues. Already, Pakistani forces are so stretched from Afghanistan to Kashmir to the Southern LOC (line-of-control) that its shocking how they are still able to perform these small operations against the militants. Keep in mind, that both Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed nations too, making war highly dangerous. There have already been 4 devastating major wars between India and Pakistan. The citizens of both countries don't need more and certainly the world doesn't either because these wars fuel terrorism with weopanry and give terrorism the government's support to aid them to perform operations in civilian Indian cities. The United States must assess the Kashmir issue fairly to give satisfaction to both sides such as a compromise so that they can both work towards peace, diplomacy and the end of terrorism. Also, solving the Kashmir issue and reducing violence from terrorism will allow both countries to work on their desperate domestic issues such as famine, high pollution, no health care and lack of education. The military of both countries are spending money for defense that can be used to save millions from dying of preventable diseases. Looking back at the US, the Obama plan includes an innovative non-military aid package to Pakistan which I am hoping will make a huge difference. But at the moment all we can do is wait for this lame duck administration to fly by.

Keep it cool

Shinseki is an excellent pick

Four Star General Shinseki, an Asian American, is a great pick for leading the Veterans Affairs Department. He is highly experienced and is one of the people who made sure that Rumsfeld was treating the troops right. What impresses me the most about this man is that he angered the GOP when he said that it would take more than a hundred thousand troops to achieve peace post-Iraq war, but in 2006, Gen Abizaid confirmed that Shinseki turned out to be right the whole time.

Terrorist Celebrities?

According to this article, sometimes killing people is not the only major goal of terrorists. Their goal is to get worldwide attention just as in the latest Mumbai attacks. They want to become celebrities just before their death. And the media helps them achieve this goal.

Quite apart from the scores murdered and the hundreds injured, what the Mumbai terrorists really wanted was an exaggerated and preferably extreme reaction on the part of governments, the media and public opinion. In these terms, the attackers received as much attention as they could possibly have hoped for, and the Mumbai outrage can only be described as a very significant terrorist success...an obsessive audience will watch your every move and turn you into what you most want to be, just before your death. - ChathamHouse.org

Obama Soda

"I'm back, dudes"

From Politico Barack Obama was rumored to have told one of his donors at fundraising event that his first international trip on Air Force One would be to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Indonesia is where Barack grew up as a kid (but born in US of course) and it is where he got his step sister. According to the aide, he said that he will say "I'm back, dudes" (in Indonesian) as he gets off the plane.

Do you think this will stir something in the GOP? Absolutely. FOX will make this seem like Obama is going to meet his terrorist friends and be briefed by them on how to make the US more vulnerable. This is not hyperbole. The Gop has pretty much always spewed fear and hatred towards Muslims. Expect the FOX propoganda to begin soon.

Obama may give a speech addressed to Muslims

I'm glad that Obama's thinking of giving a speech to Muslims. After a long time, an American President is saying that the west and the east can be friends again after a long, turbulent relationship. And together the 2 can work together to erase terrorism. Many people are speculating that this speech maybe in Egypt of all the Muslim countries or it may even be in the United States in Dearborn, Michigan where there are 30,000 Muslims but the story is currently in its 'rumor phase.' Finally! an American President who understands Muslims as having lived in Indonesia, a Muslim country.

Bush tries to squeeze into line

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Moment of Zen - Troops Make Room for Bush

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Comment on HRC being Secretary of State

Turns out that I'm not the only one who believes that someone else should have been the Secretary of State. Here is an article on Hillary being Secretary of State by Helene Cooper of the New York Times that you will find very interesting. Cooper suggests that Hillary's experience is too hyped up and that she has never had any negotiations unlike her predecessors such as the revered Colin Powell, Kissinger or Condi Rice before taking the post. I don't think I could agree more with this article. Please check it out.

Landslide in Santa Catarina, Brazil

Empire State Building Stolen in 90 minutes

The Daily News stole the $2 billion Empire State Building in 90 minutes using fake documents and by exploiting loopholes. This article explains the details. We aren't doing a good enough job to prevent fraud apparently. They don't even have anyone to check!

India needs to stop blaming Pakistan

India needs to stop pointing fingers at the Pakistani government for the attacks. I think everyone is now coming to the consensus that the group behind the attacks was Lashkar-e-Taiba which is a terrorist organization based in Pakistan, but not part of Pakistan. It is banned by the Pakistani government. The Pakistani government has demonstrated peace by condemning the attacks and sending an intelligence member of the ISI as a representative to assist in the investigation of the attacks.

I think that the Indian anger is legitimate. But it should be focused towards LeT for committing the heinous crime. They should stop attacking Pakistan because to some that suggests that some Indian politicians are veiling their failure to properly heed the US intelligence warning of a possible attack given in early fall. Instead they should work with Pakistan to uncover more evidence in the investigation.

The National Security Team

Here is what I think of the picks made yesterday by Obama.

Hillary Rodham Clinton for State - Since I'm feeling optimistic after listening to her statement to the press, I'm giving her an A-. I discuss more about her pick in older posts. See below for Pros and Cons.

Susan Rice for US Ambassador to UN - She's highly experienced and a good face of the US for the UN. A+

Fmr. Gen. James Jones for National Security Advisor - Highly Experienced and a National security heavyweight. Was the Supreme Allied Commander. What more could you want? A+

Robert Gates for Sec. of Defense - He is the current Sec. of Defense for Bush. This shows bipartisanship and will probably help with the transition since Gates knows the Bush Administration's Pentagon well enough to change it to the way Obama wants it. Don't worry, he will be in office only for a year under Obama. A+

Janet Napolitano for Sec. of Homeland Security - A+ (I'm feeling optimistic about her too so I changed the grade for her too)

Eric Holder for Attorney General - A+, just as my previous post said.

In Retrospect

The Pros & Cons of Hillary being Secretary of State

I've already discussed a lot about Hillary in this blog. However, I feel I should show what I think would be the advantages, disadvantages and other political implications of her pick yesterday.

Since I want to end on a positive note, I will begin with Cons.

Cons.

-Hillary's own ambitions for a possible re-run for the presidency could impede progress in the direction in which Obama would like to see it. She may influence his policies with her own visions. We don't want her to follow her own political agenda in the State Department.

-Hillary ran a powerful, tough campaign, but there was intense infighting and her big campaign was pretty disorganized. Most of her success in the primaries can be attributed to her star power which compensated for the disorganized campaign. So will the State Department have infighting too?

-Too opinionated and polarizing. Barack said yesterday that he likes highly opinionated figures in his cabinet, but will there be tensions in this "team of rivals."

-Bill Clinton's global interests. Turns out that the very government of China that Hillary has criticized, has donated to the Clinton Foundation via the Clinton Global Initiative.

-Peace in the Middle East and Kashmir. Hillary disagrees with Obama on Palestinian sovereignty and favors Indian policies when it comes to Kashmir. This will not help bring peace as you have to look at both Gaza and Kashmir through an unbiased speculum so that both countries can get something they want and learn to compromise. But peace in the Mid East begins from the Israel-Palestine issue since nearly every Arab country's excuse for being upset with the United States is that we have been excessively biased towards Israel and have not given enough effort to ensuring the needs of the Palestinian people. This is a legitimate excuse. We must be fair and neutral. We can not allow Israel to become vulnerable to the threat imposed by some terrorist organizations, but at the same time we can also not allow Israel to abuse the protection and defense that we've given (military equipment, F-16s, nuclear weapons) and harm innocent Palestinians. Both countries' civilians should be treated equally. For too long, we've pandered to only one side.

-Diplomacy. Hillary is very hawkish when it comes to Iran. She has declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization and has repeatedly called Obama 'naive' for being willing to meet Ahmedinejad. Will she let Obama boss her against her personal beliefs on diplomacy? After all, diplomacy is the biggest part of the job of Secretary of State.

-One more Clinton term. Already there are more than 20 Clinton staffers in Obama's team. Does this mean that we may just see another Clinton term, his 3rd term?

Pros.

Now that Obama has officially selected her as Secretary of State, it's no point whining. We can't do anything about her being picked. So lets look at the bright side and maybe the cons will never happen. After listening to the press conference yesterday, I was to be honest much more optimistic about the pick because maybe she will fully submit herself to Obama and probably not run her own agenda or follow her beliefs as she pointed out in her statement to the press. And in the end, the pros and cons are just based on speculation.

-Hillary is heavily experienced.

-Has met foreign leaders and knows them on a first name basis in over 82 countries.

-Capable in every region of politics.

-Has star appeal, will unite the Dems and uplift her diehard fans.

-Has gotten things done in the Senate so she may get stuff done in the State.

-Is respected globally and will send a powerful message to the world that Obama is serious about bipartisanship and unity.

-Will bring Bill into the mix. Bill's expertise as former president could help her and Obama.

-Will ensure that she doesn't backstab Obama if she decides to run for the presidency again. Basically, this lowers her guards and makes her less likely to keep animosity towards Obama. In many ways this is a clever move. She won't be able to say "I told you so" to Obama if his presidency is a failure. And at the same time this will help Obama focus on the economy as she focuses on the world. Her criticism of him being a poor commander-in-chief will thereby no longer apply.

Lets just hope the pros take over and this presidency is successful. Either way, this will be exciting!

He Finally Admits

"I'm sure some people voted for Barack Obama because of me." - Bush

AIDS

World AIDS Day was today. The first day was on Dec. 1st 1988 about 20 years ago. It was formed with the help of WHO, UN. I think the establishment of World Aids Day is a great thing because it gives us a moment to self reflect on the horrifying statistics of this deadly epidemic, and hopefully allows politicians around the globe to revisit the policies in place and to see how they can some how increase funding and effectiveness of AIDS prevention programs.

There are roughly 33 million people with AIDS living in the world today and ~25 million have been killed by it.

Reuters: Top Most Interesting Traditional Foods

Reuters ranks the most interesting traditional foods, foods popular in their cultures. You may not be able to identify people by the food they eat, but you can tell a lot about their health.

But since we are in the 21st century, we don't necessarily eat whats popular in our culture anymore. So the health comparison doesn't work. We eat pretty similar to the rest of the world to some extent in this highly globalized world. Just look at the top grocery stores around the world, and even though people don't eat fast food every day, we know that McDonald's is pretty much everywhere.

Regardless, here is the list if you're interested (I modified it a bit from the original):

9. Manoomin, Minnesota (wild rice)
8. Chuno Blanco, Peru (potato-type)
7. Salt, Mexico (Special salt that can only be collected by hand)
6. Mustard oil pickles, India
5. Guarana, Brazil (rich in caffeine)
4. Ijka Corn, Colombia
3. Mite Cheese, Germany
2. Hachiyagaki persimmons, Japan
1. Siwa Oasis Dates, Egypt (site linked to Alexander the Great)