Poetry Session

I'm only writing this up here so I won't forget it.

The doors are those fiery gates.

The drive-through, the river Styx.

The counters branch before Beelzebub.

The Big Mac, the American Original Sin.

The temptations of capitalism.

The fall from grace.

Feel free to mock. I don't know what brought this on, I was speaking it before I was thinking it. It's not finished or anything. I just don't want to forget them like most of the other words I speak.

Putting Away Those Books and Pens

Happy end of the semester! Today was my last day of classes for the semester and now that I only have a week of final exams and project due dates, now may be the best time for me to reflect on what I've learned this semester to distract me from something with a due date slapped onto it.

So, what classes did I take this semester? Well obviously I took WRIT 101: College Composition, but despite what Prof. Perkins may think, this was not my only class this semester. I also took ENVS 221: Science of the Environment, IDIS 304: Arts and Ideas, COSC 155: Internet Technologies, and COSC 160: Graphics for Game Design. So, what life skills have I developed from these courses? Well, let me tell you!

COSC 155: Internet Technologies

This class was a course on basic web site construction and it was one of the first classes that I have taken that are applicable toward my majors. I learned absolutely nothing. I took an HTML class three years ago in high school taught by the great Mr. Przyborski, now one of the webmasters for NASA's civilian and private sites and learned everything I needed for this class there. However, I did get to make a kick-ass portfolio web site. It's amazing and employs some clever Javascript trickery to make the beauty of my mind come to life. Here's a link, if you're so morbidly interested:

http://student-iat.ubalt.edu/students/warman_c/COSC155/Portfolio/index.html

COSC 160: Graphics for Game Design

Also a class required for one of my majors, this class covered basic Photoshopping and basic texturing of three dimensional models. Once again, I unfortunately learned very little in this class that I didn't already know. Even with the stuff that was brand new to me, I learned on my own playing around with the 3D textures program. However, unlike my other class, this professor was not a boring gray blob that read directly from PowerPoint slides. Prof. Moulthrop is the head of the SDE department at my school and, fortunately, he is a very interesting and affluent person that proves that not everybody in the video game culture are social misfits, as many would be led to believe. He made a class that would have been boring and easy otherwise very interesting and enjoyable. Another web link, if you so choose, to my productions for the class:

http://student-iat.ubalt.edu/students/warman_c/COSC160/

ENVS 221: Science of the Environment

I had Prof. Kemp last semester for another environmental science course called Human Ecology, which focused more on the human impact on the natural processes of the environment. This class was focused more on those natural processes and the means by which scientists observe these phenomena. Admittedly, I didn't learn much here that I didn't already learn from last semester's class, but now I have a much greater appreciation for those scientists that study the environment. To me, it seems like a much more active science than any other I have been accustomed to over the past years of my formal education. Whereas physicists and chemists are in a controlled, sealed lab, environmental scientists are out there, waist deep in the Jones Falls, searching for invertebrates and whatnot in the real world. That's science and I have a profound appreciation for it.

IDIS 304: Arts and Ideas

Here's a class that I really learned a lot in. Despite all my bitching and whining about reading and the ambiguity of conversation in class, I truly have developed as a person as a result of this class. On the surface, all this was was a class about reading literature throughout history, from the Illiad to The Prince to the poetry of Blake. What Prof. Fitz made it into was a class about understanding people. These pieces of literature featured some of the most real depictions of the human process that have ever been written and Prof. Fitz challenged us to recognize that and understand the positions of characters in those stories, whether we agreed with them or not. Through this class, I have developed a skill to look at people, not just what they are now, but where they come from, what experiences they have had, and where they want to go, and develop an understanding of what their perspective is. In regards to life skills, this may have been one of the most important classes that I have ever and will ever take.

WRIT 101: College Composition

Shit, I already knew all of this when I started. HA!

Okay, to be serious, what did I learn from College Composition. It certainly wasn't how to write well because, as far as I can tell, I had it fairly down pat by the time I was in this course. Then why did I find the course so fulfilling? I don't know. It's some sort of personal bullshit again, I guess. I suppose what I learned was to not be afraid of taking risks in this class. Through my writing, Prof. Perkins encouraged me to take risks. She pushed me to embrace intentional fragments, narrative introductions that take up half of the essay, and subjects that I feel passionate about, although maybe not to others, as long as the words carried poetry, meaning, weight. As long as there was something at stake, then I could digress from the written norm as much as I wanted to. Prof. Perkins taught me that. She taught me to be passionate about writing. To be invested in it. To be free in it.

An Obligatory Liberal Blog Post

Alright, I suppose I should let you know what I think of the whole mess in the Gulf of Mexico. So, here it goes.

This whole situation disgusts me. I am ashamed, both for the apathy of my country's government and my fellow citizens. The circumstances seem disastrous and I can't even begin to offer how subdue the impact of this ecological catastrophe on our nation's fragile coastal environments. This whole event has created a void of faith in the possibilities of the American experiment and makes me weary to handle the world that I and my generation have inherited.

That's it. I mean, what more do you want me to say? I can't offer anything new that hasn't already been said elsewhere or even by myself over the past few months. Needing clean energy. Needing regulations on out of control big business. Needing to concern ourselves with welfare of our environment at least on the same level as our economy. Needing to think in the long term instead of what supports our short term excesses. This is what happens when you let the businesses run wild in the hopes that their short-term profits will froth over into the cups of other 98% of the population.

But why do anything about them when they benefit us so much in the short term. Look, derivative spending and junk loan sales has big bank profits skyrocketing, with only 98% of the people of the United States suffering through the recession it's fueled! Look, our country has the highest quality of health care in the world, for those who can afford it! Look, our factory farms and genetically modified crops have created a surplus of food in the United States, even though its made our country into an obese state and created unknown health problems (and potentially crises) for generations to come! Look, our taxes are so low, though our children are some of the dumbest in the developed world! And now look, we get our cheap oil addiction fix domestically, and it will only cost us the health of treasured natural estuaries from Mississippi to God knows where up the East Coast.

Even President Obama, an individual that I have invested no small amount of hope and support for, is indulging in the short-term mentality; he refuses to take off-shore drilling off the Energy Reform Bill table even after this crisis has erupted to proportions where half of the water resources of the United States and millions of people's livelihoods may be destroyed. And Mr. President, you're still seeking political consensus? With all due respect, President Obama, there is a time for concession and there is a time for doing what is right. You gave behemoth banking institutions hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars with absolutely no requirements to break up their trusts, reform their business practices, or even pay back the loan. You let the needs of the American people slide away by letting go of a public option, lifting anti-trust exemptions from the industry, and woman's right to choose on health care reform. You've pushed off real elimination of Don't Ask Don't Tell until 2013 or later. The time for political points is not now; now is the time for real legislative change.

You can see the payback of making concessions to big business right now out in the Gulf of Mexico, and coming soon in the Atlantic Ocean. Is it fucking worth the cost?

The Horrors of a Sandwich with No Bread

Well, chalk this one up in the "completely off-topic" column, because this has nothing to do with American politics or video games. However, it does have everything to do with American culture.

Exhibit A: KFC's Double Down

Yes, I did purchase this thing with my own money from the KFC out on Eastern Avenue (which I'm quickly coming to realize is the shittiest of KFCs.) This picture has not been edited, the sandwich was indeed that grey and sloppy looking. Nonetheless, with a great expense of mental willpower, I forced myself to eat it.

Good lord in Heaven, I almost died halfway through the first bite. It was horrific. The chicken was dry and tasted like old people (for reference, like soap and dust), the cheese was not melted or, I assume, real, and the bacon even failed to pique my eternal love for the pork product of choice. And I don't even know what "Colonel Sauce" is made of, but I know it is nauseating and surprisingly oily. I mean, where did they get the ingredients for this sauce, the Gulf of Mexico? (Bazinga.)

I know, that was a very long walk to a joke that really isn't funny or tasteful, but back on topic, why did I eat this atrocious sandwich. And in case you don't believe me, I did eat the majority of this sandwich.

Why did I eat it? It's not because it seemed remotely appetizing, because this sandwich has disgusted me from the moment I first saw it on the Huffington Post. No, I ate this sandwich because of the idea behind it.

Because in America we don't settle for the minimum or even the perfectly acceptable. As if bacon, cheese, and Thousand Island Dressing (Maybe?) sandwiches were not already enormously unhealthy, one of the greatest American industries saw fit to innovate where others simply accepted the status quo, adding another meat where bread would be the norm. And consider the rest of American wonders from the past century! The Snuggie for example. Because I was truly angry that I couldn't just wear my blanket everywhere. Or the iPod. Because it does freaking everything.

Because in America, excess is the only way. There is no moderation, there is no consideration of consequences, there is no self-respect. We live in a society based on getting everything all at once by any methods possible. That's why our department stores are measured in football fields, our waistlines in feet, and our national debt in trillions. It's easy to blame Wal-Mart commercialism on economic hardship, obesity on fast food companies, and our national debt on nearly a decade of mishandling by a presidential administration that believed two separate wars ,both half a world away, were feasible ideas, but the underlying root of this problem, the real meat of this shit sandwich with Colonel Sauce comes from a deep ingrained idea of entitlement, that the rest of the world is simply hear to serve America's pleasures and our only purpose in life is to consume to our heart's content. There's just this belief that if there is something (aside from useful things like social programs) out there, we must have it, but we must have it to the extreme! And this sense of entitlement will push our great country further and further into a great decline until there is a fundamental cultural shift in the American mentality.

Until we embrace the understanding that we are not the world, that all of the people of the world are in this together, and that the people of the world must all support each other, then our country will be pulled further down by the weight of our ego and our abdomens. One day, in order for the United States to flourish once again, we will have to lose this mentality, the mentality that causes both sandwiches with chicken for bread and wars in countries that we've only partially noticed when looking over the world map. But who knows how long that will take...

Until then though, enjoy a delicious "Pancake Stacker" with cheesecake fillings and candied fruit and sides of hash browns, eggs, and meat; only 1250 calories, only for a limited time, and only at IHOP!

Special Foreign Policy Edition!

Let me begin by saying, as versed as I perceive myself to be in United States domestic issues, I can by no means say that I am well acquainted with the global theater of politics. I know of other countries and places, but I cannot in true confidence say that I know and/or understand the intricacies of international diplomacy or the issues that surround it.

But when did that ever stop an American from speaking obnoxiously before?

So here's the part where I will go through a few hot button issues from the international political community and shoehorn my opinions and ideas onto those global situations. Who knows, I may say something relatively comprehensible?

Mexico's War on Drugs

I don't have too much to say about this. I'm only going to say, if marijuana were legal in the United States, then you can bet your bottom dollar that this conflict would not have gotten as insane as it has become. I'm just saying, it seems like an awful lot of suffering and pain, not only for the people of Mexico, but also for the people of the Southwest United States, over a substance that inhibits human thought just as much as alcohol.

Mexico and Central America's Illegal Emigration Problem

Personally, I think this is a lost cause to fight against. Unless an unreasonable amount of money is spent to build fortifications and fund troops to patrol the border, there is no way to completely protect our country from illegal immigrants. So why are we still playing this game? Open the damn borders! Make the immigration and work visa process more accessible and in return, we get a strong, reliable immigrant work force. Our country is founded on the concept that we accept immigrants with open arms and give them a shot at the American Dream. Why would we be against that very idea being realized by Mexicans and Central Americans?

Allied with Israel

Look, I am all for being allied with Israel. I feel they have every right to exist as a nation and that they are a valuable partner in the Middle East. But the way they act, especially recently with their insistence on establishing settlements in Palestinian land, is downright hostile and is an instigation of conflict. Being allied with states that insight conflict regularly with their neighbor was what dragged the western world into the first World War. And quite frankly, President Obama is letting them walk all over him. We do not depend on Israel, Israel depends on our nuclear umbrella for their protection. Why should we concede to the ridiculous whims of the Israeli leadership? If they would like to incite conflict with the Palestinians over something petty like building settlements, then I say they can fend for themselves. We cannot be asked to protect a nation that has no interest in acting peacefully itself. If we want peace in the Middle East, then the U.S. must play its hand and force Israel into peace discussions if it would like our protection. Additionally, taking a hard line with Israel may increase popularity among the increasingly important Islamic states in the Middle East.

North Korea's Bluff

With all due respect, President Obama, Kim Jong-Il has been playing you. His entire facade of malicious intent and fierceness is a bluff. His country has nothing. His people have nothing. His military is a hollow shell with a scary wrapping around it. North Korea is nothing. They are not a threat to the United States or its allies. If they ever attacked us or one of our allies, they would be crushed. Do not concede to a nation built on indoctrination and tyranny, they have nothing to leverage against us.

The Genocide in Darfur

This is a travesty. I am appalled that it has gone essentially uninhibited for decades. I don't know what can be done short of going to war, but it cannot be permitted to go on.

The War in Afghanistan

This war and the one in Iraq, have been sorely mishandled for nearly a decade. I am happy to see President Obama is winding down U.S. troop presence in Iraq, and I agree that it is only responsible to do so at a reasonable pace so as to not cause distress in Iraq. Afghanistan is also being handled surprisingly well since Obama took office as well, not surprising because Obama is a Democrat, surprising because the war there had so terribly been handled for a decade that its strange to see any progress being made. But what's important about Afghanistan is not the war that will secure the nation, but the endgame of the conflict. The United States has secured Afghanistan before, back when the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan in 1979, it is possible. It's the endgame that our country failed the Afghan people in. The lesson learned in 1989 at the end of the war is that we cannot simply leave after the war is over. If we want Afghanistan to become a productive, U.S. friendly state in the Middle East, we will need to stay after the war and invest in the formation of roads and other infrastructure and support a public education system that includes young girls. If we don't stay after and ensure the new Afghan state forms properly, then the past 10 years and the undetermined expanse of the future will have been for nothing. We must make sure to finish the fight and then finish building the nation.

Alright, there's a little taste of my form of foreign policy. To be blunt, it was less fun than I thought it was going to be. Nonetheless, this has been the special foreign policy edition of the Nothing is fact; Everything is true. The end. :P

A Lion in the Court

John Paul Stevens, you have been a most worthy addition to the Supreme Court. Nominated by Gerald Ford back in 1975, you were selected as a seemingly non-activist addition to the court after the retirement of Justice William Douglas. You turned out to be one of the most staunchly liberal members to ever sit on the court and you have served the country well in your extraordinary 35 years of service on the bench. You have earned you retirement.

And now President Obama, it is time once again to dance this ridiculous dance with Republicans, the Anti-Liberal Activism Rave. I say rave because ultimately it's not about the music, it's about the drug you're on. DO NOT, under any circumstances Mr. President, listen to this, to put it politely, bologna.

Keep in mind that Republicans had absolutely no qualms about confirming a couple of conservative activist judges in the Bush years, most importantly now Chief Justice Roberts, who was only 50 years old at his confirmation (keep in mind, Stevens was 55 when confirmed, and, again, he served for 35 years!) They certainly didn't mind Roberts' extraordinarily conservative jurisprudence and his service specifically in the Reagan and H.W. Bush Administrations, or Samuel Alito's, President Bush's other nominee, consistent rulings on the U.S. Court of Appeals on the Third Circuit in favor extreme gun ownership and against worker's rights.

The court already has a 5-4 majority in favor of conservative judges and at the end of this session of the court, we will be losing the most liberal justice the court has ever seen! Now is not a time to pander to the petty desires of a party that runs on a platform of deceit and hyperbole. Pick somebody liberal! Shoot for the bleachers! We got Sotomayor in there, a she's pretty damn liberal! Granted, we had a supermajority back then in the Senate, by she was still confirmed by a vote of 68-31. We can get another one in there!

Let's pick somebody truly liberal! Get someone like Diane Wood in there. She's ridiculously intelligent when it comes to the law and has been able to hold her own against some seriously influential federal judges on the Seventh Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. She's a very strong candidate and she could probably get in considering her unanimous consent when she was nominated to the court by President Clinton (after the 1994 Gingrich fueled election catastrophe I might add.)

Or, even better, Pam Karlan, from Stanford! She is ridiculously liberal and has ample experience advocating before the Supreme Court! And she's a lesbian! Imagine the political points if you could get her confirmed... And she'd be a liberal force on the same level as Justice Stevens!

I know, I know. You're probably going to go with Elena Kagan. It's a pretty safe choice. She does lean liberal and she is highly qualified. Plus, she is seen as being "non-activist", which will get her through the Senate much easier. And I know, she is great at drawing people together and convincing people of her side of the argument, which may be all we need if we can just convince Justice Antonin Scalia's parrot (i.e. Justice Thomas) to jump off of his shoulder for a minute and agree with the liberal block every once in a while. And she might even be a lesbian, maybe, which would be good.

But President Obama, with all due respect, do not pussy out on this. If you can get one of the liberal lions into the court, do it. And make sure Hilary Clinton is ready for when that third nomination comes your way. I know you're waiting for it, and I can't wait to see Hilary in the old penguin costume. Make it happen!

Dropping the N-Bomb

Nuclear.

Egads! Nuclear weapons! The Muslims are coming with them, they want to kill all the poor Christian (read: white) people! We need nuclear weapons to deter them.

...

Okay, I'm going to give you one simple reason why the Obama Administration's new nuclear posture is the smartest thing that the president could possibly do with our nuclear arsenal.

We do not live in 1940. Or 1989 for that matter.

On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the people of the world saw the horrors of the use of nuclear weapons. Between the two bombings and the subsequent deaths due to radiation and injury, 410,000 people died with no discretion between citizen and soldier, between guilty and innocent. The world does not need to see that level of inhumanity ever again.

And there's no need for it to. We do not live in the 1930's and 40's; nations do not go to war with each other on the level that was witnessed within the World War conflicts. Very few of today's enemies can be easily recognized as states. I will grant, there are a few "rogue states" that weild an aggressive stance against the United States and the rest of Western culture, nations like Iran and North Korea, that are pursuing nuclear weapons.

However, in today's environment, foes are not defined by borders, but by ideas. While the distinction was one in the same in the 20th century, Nazism in Germany, Totalitarian Communism in the U.S.S.R., today the two groups are distinct. For example, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are based in Afghanistan, however, not all of the people of Afghanistan are part of al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

And likewise in there physical differences, states of government and groups of people brought together by an idea can not be confronted in the same way. While a state can be defeated using force and nuclear weapons, killing the people that live the idea doesn't kill the idea. Take for example, Nazism. Nazi Germany, the nation, was defeated more than 60 years ago; but even today, many people in the Neo-Nazi movement still believe in the tenets of Nazism, anti-sematism, and white supremacy.

Nuclear weapons are completely useless in defeating most of today's foes of ideas. There is no target to aim for; there is no set base to strike. Ideas are preserved not in physical entities and buildings, but in the minds and histories of people. The Obama Administration understands this. While some force may be necessary to calm the more extreme fringes of a movement, ultimately it is education and economic partnership that will defeat ideas that breed violence and threaten global security.

Conservative wingnuts are simply that. To decry the elimination of only one third of the massive U.S. nuclear weapon supply is ridiculous. These levels of weapons served only to further the deterrence of Mutually Assured Destruction in the 1970's and '80s, and today they are a careless conservative's button press away from global overkill. To have these levels of weapons makes no sense today. By eliminating these weapons, it not only improves the security of the world in the event of a computer malfunction, but also shows nuclear states and rogue states that the United States is serious about disarmament, seeks to preserve the world from the horrors of nuclear holocaust, and wants to prove its ability to not just be a nation of war, but an entity of peace and prosperity. And the world, along with the United States, will be better for it.