Darfur

Nicholas Kristoff of the NY Times wrote a good essay chronicling the events of the Genocide in Sudan. I encourage you to read it.

Kristoff on Darfur

Aid Worker Blog, she has spent a lot of time in Darfur and describes what is going on the ground.

Sleepless in Sudan

Hamas

I for one support the win of Hamas over Fatah in the Palestinian elections. I believe that because of hte support that Hamas has from the Palestinian people it is better suited to represent the Palestinian people. Not to mention the fact that Hamas does a better job of providing for the Palestinian people than the Palestinian Authority does. I feel Hamas will justly serve the people and bring the real issues to the table.

I know the history of Hamas but I believe that Hamas itself will morph into what the Palestinian people want, a stable government that cares not about embezzling funds and destroying Israel, but instead a government that will focus on the betterment of hte Palestinian people and their way of life.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1544858


Also the Iran Nuclear problem may end up being resolved see here

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1545140

Why Muslims Dislike Us

Many World Leaders claim they know exactly why many Muslims dislike the Western World. They claim that the Muslim population (the ones who dislike us) hate our freedom, they hate our sense of personal property and every thing that is written in the preamble of the US constitution and the Bill of Rights. They also claim that the rest of the Muslim world (the part that likes us) wants life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That may be true but I would say that it is most unlikely that that is untrue.

I would counter with the thought that the Muslims who dislike the Western World (more so the US than any other country) are the ones who understand the Western World, even better than the citizens of the Western World. They realize that the only time the Western World gives a shit about the Muslim world is when the well being of the Western World is at stake.

9/11 is a prime example of this even though involvement in the Muslim World began before that. But never the less because of 9/11 the Western World now knows where Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia are. In other words we now give a shit because Osama bin Laden made us, albeit for the wrong reasons.

What the Western World cares about when it comes to the Middle East is a stable region that produces plenty of oil. We do not care how women are treated, who rules, or how, just as long as when we pull up to the pump they give us what we want. That is what ticks off the Muslim world and makes them fly planes into buildings, blow themselves up in crowded areas and other unbelievable acts, because they want liberty but the Western World prohibits it solely so they can keep the region stable and insure oil production.

Now granted some extremists have taken it to the next level and have misunderstood the true meaning of what they are fighting for and choose to do many irrational acts.

So when you see a World Leader at a podium in front of cameras with microphones being thrust into his face I want you to realize that he is not telling you the whole truth about why Muslims dislike us so much. He knows the real reason why, he just doesn’t want you to

If god had only blessed us with one language

I wish God, or whatever our existence began on blessed us with one and universal language. Life would be so much easier. Imagine if you could fly to China for the first time, not knowing anything about their culture or heritage and being able to understand everything? Hell I would go to China all the time then.

But the point is that you can not understand people from China if you have no idea about their culture or language (Mandarin). IN fact you can't get very far out of your own country if you don’t know a second language. Which brings me to my point, everyone in the United States should be forced to learn a second language. You may at this moment be thinking back to your stint with a language back in high school or maybe even middle school, well then I ask you while you are there to maybe try and utter a sentence or two in that language. Ah that’s what I thought, you can’t (well maybe some of you can but chance are most of you can not). Don’t feel bad I just graduated from high school and 8 straight years of Italian and I can’t utter more than "e" and "che".

We need to face the fact that for most of us high school foreign language classes were just another class that we needed to pass, and if that called for forgetting the last chapter to remember the next then so be it.

What needs to be done is integrate a foreign language with English, what I mean is that when you start learning English in Kindergarten it should be coupled with a foreign language. That language would be decided by the local government to give relevance either to local culture, local necessity, or worldly necessity. Further down the road the child would be able to choose if they wanted to continue with that language or opt out for another, because someone should not be forced to learn a language they see no need for.

The future success of the United States now depends on its ability to connect with many different countries around the world and be able to render them services that no other country can give. The US already has the know how it just needs the language.