Hard Road to the Good Life

Every once and while I read something that truly moves me, something that makes me say, "I wish I could write like that". During a recent visit to Matthew Good's blog, I encountered such a gem; a statement so profound that it made me want to print it on a t-shirt so that everyone could better understand the way I feel.

The cold hard truth of everything that I am is this: I'm in love with truth. A life of ignorance and misinformation isn't good enough for me, I need to know the real story. I like learning about the worst parts of this world, because only then can I understand how to bring out the good.

The media has become such a powerful force in our time that it is literally shaping the way people are. Does that scare you? Think how terrible it is that so many people are walking around with opinions and attitudes that were nearly completely generated by their televisions, the radio, the internet, or some other form of information appropriate for mass consumption. Worse yet, the better part of information we recieve from the media has been spun or altered in some way, the 'whole' truth stripped out.

With this intro, I'd like to share with you the writings of Matthew Good, an incredibly talented musician and activist. I love this quote.

I’ve nothing to say today that hasn’t been said more than once in the past. All one need do is scan the pages of the world’s newspapers to realize we’re on the brink of something, that this is a time to choose to either make your voice heard or bury your head in the sand. What will I tell my children when they are old enough to understand the importance of this global fight, of this crucial time in our shared history? That their parents willfully chose to remain ignorant and silent when they could have involved themselves and lent their voices to a growing global choir demanding justice and accountability for more than just themselves? I cannot, in good conscience, live with being guilty of such irresponsibility. Because this isn’t just about one war, or one reckless government, or the exploitation of one country and its people. This is about the path that we, as citizens of free nations, must work to alter. This is about becoming more than votes within a system, more than a marginal voice in a landscape of apathy and easily disregarded public discontent. This is about ensuring that we are not so easily bemused, not so ignorant that we don’t know the difference between manipulation and information. We must work to reclaim the dignity of those practices that have been stolen and sullied by corporate interests and the greed of those who profit from our continued degradation. This is about taking responsibility for the actions of our governments, not claiming ourselves innocent of their crimes because we lacked the courage to forcibly confront them.

We have reached a crucial point of decision. Do we raise our children in a world in which we continue to be regarded as peons that represent little more than means to political ends, or do we raise them in a world in which people actively embrace the realization that the status quo is something that must always be challenged and questioned? For if not by us, then who? If not now, then when?

Easy isn’t for the free. Easy is for the willfully confined. So how easy do you want it?

For the record, I don't want it easy at all. I want a world where every child has reason to smile. I want a world where people are willing to admit the truths about society, and then do something about it. I want a world where love and an outstretched hand are the weapon of choice.

Ask yourself, "how easy do you want it?"

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

I don't know about you, but I am a giant fan of Calvin and Hobbes. Bill Watterson did a superb job in bringing Calvin, and his tiger buddy, Hobbes to life; I enjoyed reading each and every strip.

The Calvin and Hobbes comic strip ran for 10 wonderful years before Watterson retired. I'm sure I've read every strip at least a dozen times and never gotten enough. Calvin and Hobbes is original, creative, and most importantly, outright hilarious.

When the strip was discontinued in 1995, I was very dissapointed. I hated to think that I wouldn't be able to look forward to purchasing the next Calvin and Hobbes collection when it hit the shelves. At the time, it almost felt like a 'coming-of-age' event; a point in my life when it seemed appropriate to mature out of comic books and start my journey to adulthood.

I'm pretty good at a fair number of things, but 'growing up' has certainly not been one of them. Regardless of whatever aspirations of adulthood I may have felt in 1995, 10 years later my Calvin and Hobbes books still retain the most prized real-estate on my bookshelf. I still read them on a regular basis. The bottom line; my world would never be a better place without Calvin and Hobbes.

Reading the news two days ago, you can imagine my excitement when I learned that the entire Calvin and Hobbes strip, from start to finish, is going to be re-published as a new 3-volume collection. Could there be anything better?

Carrying the title "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes", the collection weighs in at 28 pounds and features every Calvin and Hobbes strip ever published. As a long-time fan, this will make an irresistable addition to my collection. I can't wait to get my copy.

Anti-Bush Google Fun!

I found this to be very funny.

Go to Google and type in "failure" without the quotes. Then, click on "I'm feeling lucky".

Delightful! It made me laugh.

Bush discusses the War on Terror

Today Bush gave what was referred to as a "major speech" on the "War on Terror". As expected, his speech was filled with the deception and mis-information that enlightened people have come to expect from him. When will he ever shut up?

The full speech can be read here.

As is the case with just about anything he says, I have some comments to make.

we aided the rise of new democracies on the ruins of tyranny. And all the cost and sacrifice of that struggle has been worth it, because, from Latin America to Europe to Asia, we've gained the peace that freedom brings.

In my opinion, Bush is really contradicting himself here. He talks of having "gained the peace", yet in all his speeches he rarely neglects to mention that there is still a terrible threat from global terrorism. Furthermore, military action by the U.S. could easily be argued as the key element driving the goals of terrorist organizations. So where's the peace, Bush? Where?

In this new century, freedom is once again assaulted by enemies determined to roll back generations of democratic progress. Once again, we're responding to a global campaign of fear with a global campaign of freedom. And once again, we will see freedom's victory. (Applause.)

He says this as if to take credit for "generations of democratic progress". No, Bush, in the big picture, you had absolutely nothing to do with "democratic progress". If anything, Bush cripples the very image of democracy by using it as an excuse to bomb, murder and torture citizens from other countries.

He's also talking about "a global campaign of freedom", as if to suggest that the war in Iraq has in fact brought freedom to its people. Far from the truth. Last I checked, having your country occupied by narrow-minded, trigger-happy soldiers does not create an environment for the concept of "freedom" to thrive.

Recently our country observed the fourth anniversary of a great evil, and looked back on a great turning point in our history.

Oh lovely. Why does he always have to weep and wail about September 11th? Turning point in history?....hmmm....You mean the point at which Americans started to understand the word "conspiracy"?

Many militants are part of global, borderless terrorist organizations like al Qaeda, which spreads propaganda, and provides financing and technical assistance to local extremists, and conducts dramatic and brutal operations like September the 11th.

Ha! Financing and technical assistance to extremists you say. Let's not forget how the U.S. government once funded Bin Laden.

First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence in the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace, and stand in the way of their ambitions.

Frankly, I don't blame them, because all "western influence" has meant lately is war. "because we stand for democracy and peace"? No, Bush. But it might have something to do with you bombing their countries and supporting Israel.

And the civilized world knows very well that other fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history.

Not really, Bush. Last I checked, Hitler didn't have U.S. planes dropping bombs on his country, nor were his enemies being financed by the U.S. government. Men like Hitler acted proactively, not reactively.

I also like the statement "before leaving the stage of history". That doesn't make an ounce of sense. Someone please tell me how it's possible to "leave the stage of history". History is a train you board and ride for an eternity; there's no getting off.

Defeating the militant network is difficult, because it thrives, like a parasite, on the suffering and frustration of others. The radicals exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization, in which someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution.

That's true! It also stinks of irony. Is this not exactly what the U.S. military has been doing in Iraq? Perhaps the radicals may be exploiting victimization, but the U.S. is creating the victims in the first place.

Instead of attending faraway training camps, recruits can now access online training libraries to learn how to build a roadside bomb, or fire a rocket-propelled grenade -- and this further spreads the threat of violence, even within peaceful democratic societies.

Much the same way that youths in the United States can go download the game "America's Army" and be filled with U.S. propaganda. The game does nothing save glorify war and generate a feeling of U.S. superiorism. Hypocrites.

I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001 -- and al Qaeda attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse. The government of Russia did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom, and yet the militants killed more than 180 Russian schoolchildren in Beslan.

No, Bush, you were not in Iraq on September 11th, but you have been there before. Since September 11th is all about "never forget", let's remember some history, shall we? Let's remember the first gulf war. Let's remember the U.S.'s long support of Israel. Yeah, I think you had it coming.

As for Russia, they have a long history with the militants in the area. To consider this an unprovoked attack is complete fodder. Did I not just mention how the U.S. funded the Afghan Mujahideen fighters in their war against Russia?

We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world.

Intimidate the world, eh? If intimidating the world is so wrong, what was the U.S. thinking when they dropped the "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Were those bombs not dropped to intimidate? I think they were. What happened in Japan was a showcase for American military prowess, a stage-play aimed at intimidation. Bush, you're being hypocritical.

We will never back down, never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory. (Applause.)

You will back down, Bush. A war waged against a society of proud people fighting for freedom is a war that cannot be won. You can bomb and murder all you want, and as the U.S. spends its way into bankruptcy, the resolve of your "enemies" will remain pure, focused and true till the day you stop oppressing them.

Do they pay people to clap for Bush?

When 25 Iraqi children are killed in a bombing, or Iraqi teachers are executed at their school, or hospital workers are killed caring for the wounded, this is murder, pure and simple

I wonder how many Iraqi children the U.S. military has killed by now. Thousands? It's murder, pure and simple.

It is cowardice that seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs, and cuts the throat of a bound captive, and targets worshipers leaving a mosque. It is courage that liberated more than 50 million people.

True. It is cowardice to kill children, like when a bomb 'accidentally' falls on their school. It's also cowardice to torture prisoners. It's cowardice to "shoot first and ask questions later", a concept so readily demonstrated by the U.S. Marines in Iraq.

Liberated? There has been no liberation. Stability in Iraq is far less than it has been in past years, the people have not been liberated.

Haiti has a heart of gold

When I hear about the rich giving to the poor it hardly attracts my attention. Once they overcome their greed, it's an easy thing for the rich to give some of their excess to those who need it most. When the rich give, it always seems like they do it more as a publicity stunt to flex their superiority muscles, crushing the down-trodden and meek.

The opposite, however, is far more stunning; when the poor give to the rich. Most recently, this has happened between Haiti and the United States.

From Reuters.

The Haitian government and a group of businessmen from the poorest country in the Americas on Tuesday offered the United States $36,000 in aid donations for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The interim authorities in the unstable and destitute country of 8 million people, half of whom survive on a dollar a day, acknowledged the amount was modest.

But Finance Minister Henri Bazin said it was a testimony to the friendship and solidarity between the richest nation in the hemisphere and its poorest neighbor.

$36,000 may not seem like a lot of money at first glance, but when we remember how impoverished Haiti is we realize just how generous this gift is.

Personally, I think this article draws a clear picture about the difference in attitude between Haiti and the United States. Perhaps you may recall that after the Tsunami in Asia the U.S.'s original pledge for aid was a measly $15 million. $15 million is certainly more than $36,000 in the purest sense, but if you realize the relative sacrifice involved in both values, Haiti rises as being a far more generous nation.

Let's look at the numbers:

Haiti has a GDP of approximately $12 Billion. $36,000 is about 0.0003% of Haiti's GDP.

The United States has a GDP of approximately $12 Trillion. $15 million is about 0.0001% of the U.S.'s GDP.

Hmmm....it would seem that Haiti is willing to sacrifice 3 times as much up front even though they have so much less. I sincerely hope that people in the U.S. accept this donation with gratitude. Way to go Haiti!