my thoughts were so loud, i couldn't hear my mouth

Two political posts in one day?

2006-02-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

I begin my post with a paraphrased excerpt from a conversation with a co-worker, Phil:

Phil: What did you think of the State of the Union?

Me: I could only watch the first 10 minutes or so, all I heard was "terror, terror, terror, freedom, freedom, freedom, blah, blah, blah"

Phil: I just think he is so detached from reality.

Me: It's not that I'm anti-freedom, I just think he's retarded.

That being said... I don't actually think that Dubya is retarded, but I agree with Phil that he is extremely detached from reality. I just can't grasp how what he says actually makes any sense to our nation or how during those 10 minutes I watched he managed to not utter one single point, but rather just a conglomeration of words related to "terror" and "freedom".

And the one thing that specifically infuriated me during the portion of his speech that I watched was when he talked about how the terrorists could only use "fear" against us. It maddened me because fear has quite blatantly been our technique into legitimizing this war and take away personal freedoms through legislation.

I found this link that was sent to me humorous and very poignant, Republicans beware because you'll like this about as much as my views on politics and the war: Decoding the State of the Union

Update 2/2/06 9:30 am: I just read Jim Wallis' take on the address and though I don't always agree with Wallis, he seems dead on here.

Might Makes Right

2006-02-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

I have a post coming on a book I just finished, but not today (good book called Marley and Me by John Grogan). Today, I just want eveyone to read and think about these lyrics, because they have been ringing in my ears lately. However, I'd like to briefly make a few short notes beforehand. First, due to the fact that I was confused when reading over my previous posts, I now plan on using correct capitalization and grammar, unless I post any poetry and such. Second, this post was originally going to have additional thoughts based on the lyrics to this song, but I decided that the lyrics speak for themselves. Feel encouraged to comment and dialogue.

"Might Makes Right"
by Camper Van Beethoven

I'm crawling through the brush, we're teched up to the hilt
Compared to us these poor guys should be wearing shorts and kilts
I've got a living breathing shadow crossed up in my scope
My partner gives the signal, pull the trigger, then there's smoke

Might makes right
Yeah might makes right
I guess that God is on our side and makes us mighty
Yeah might makes right
Yeah might makes right
They say that God is on our side I don't believe them

They want us from the villages, they want us from the towns
Who could really blame them, shit blows up when we're around
We fly above their houses with our Huey double-props
We scare the crap out of their kids, their mothers and their pops

hell no uh-lee-toe...

2006-01-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

i'd like to first apologize for not having written in here in an awfully long time. i have been consumed in writing for crap filter, the blog-style pop culutre commentary site for which i serve as music editor (clicking that link will bring you to my author page that has everything i have published on the site).

i plan on posting some stuff very soon, notably on some books i have been reading and an article a friend of mine is passing my way. encourage me to write by letting em know that people actually read this thing and maybe i can motivate my sorry behind to get a few things up soon. and please shoot over to crap filter with the link above and read and comment on things i've worked on.

thanks, as always.

quick note

2005-12-13T14:49:00.000-05:00

sorry, i mistakenly disabled comments for my last few posts. fixed! please comment away folks.

kinda-sorta lethal injection

2005-12-13T08:56:00.000-05:00

ok, so it was indeed a lethal injection, and stanley williams, the co-founder of the crips, did indeed die. but this article indicates that he wasn't pronounced dead until 34 minutes after the injection and that there were complications in getting the injection into williams. most people probably think nothing of this, but it really bothers me because i thought lethal injection was the "humane" way for the government to kill its prisoners. didn't we eliminate other form of capital punishment because they could be considered cruel and unusual punishment? and if lethal injection is the best way to put someone to death, why does it take over a half an hour. my guess is that it may appear more humane to the on-looker, but it certainly doesn't feel quick and painless.

every time i read about someone being put to death (albeit not very often, because many states have stopped using the death penalty altogether) it brings the whole capital punishment debate to the forefront of my mind. since the sixth grade, i have been against the death penalty. i was in an academically-gifted program called ACE (academic curriculum enrichment) where we has to choose a side on a specific topic and have a mock debate. i researched the topic in our library and on the computer (at school, because we had no internet at home yet). at that point, i decided i was against the death penalty. though, i already knew i didn't like the idea of killing people, it was a decision i made because of the numbers and facts surrounding the death penalty. it statistically has never been a deterrent to murder, it is not cost effective, and at the time, in nj alone, approximately 25 cases (23 exactly, i think), had evidence appear that may have proven people innocent after their execution. that being said, i still feel this way and think that every time i read more info and articles regarding the topic, my position is solidified.

tell me how it can be right for a government to kill someone. from a functional point of view (i personally am somewhat of a functionalist when it comes to law), it doesn't matter what it right and wrong, but rather it matters what works and is good for society. i am not sure at all that capital punishment has ever adequately served its purpose in history. i have never seen one example that it can deter crime, more specifically murder. serial killers make a point to get caught in states where they will be put to death quickly and efficiently. ted bundy got caught on purpose in florida, so that he would be put to death for his crimes. true, the man would never be able to kill again, but killing him didn't accomplish anything other than taking his life. did murder rates go down? did people think twice about murdering someone because of the imminence of the death penalty?

then, you look at someone like williams. he was convicted of 3 or 4 murders, which he claims to be innocent on. but that isn't to say that he states he never killed anyone. he was a violent criminal who started one of the most infamous and dangerous gangs in american (perhaps, world) history. but in prison he became an anti-gang activist and made a difference in how people view and work with gangs. he shed light on gang mentality and discouraged youth from joining. this is quite an accomplishment. then, we put him to death, silencing a now-positive voice, that could have made much more difference than another body in the morgue.

what do you think? is the death penalty administered fairly? if reformed, could it be more effective? is it simply outdated and useless? what would better penalties be? am i way off base in saying that the death penalty is immoral and ineffective? tell me what you think.

crap filter

2005-12-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

i have a few posts in the works, but in the mean time please check out my writings on crap filter.

recent articles (all music related):
not bad, not folk-ing bad at all
someone sign these guys
taste the mint
diy ethic and beautiful music
not all indy music has to end in "-core"

so stay tuned for a new post on here by the end of the week and more posts on crap filter.

class isn't enough, but it sure counts for a lot

2005-12-07T09:43:00.003-05:00

as an eagles fan, it is safe to assume that i am not very happy with this year's football season. though i attribute the failures of this season to two men, terrell owens and drew rosenhaus, it is fair to say that even without the t.o. drama there are tons of other things going wrong this season. our franchise man and one of the league's best quarterbacks is out for the season, and previous to his being placed on the injured list he wasn't healthy enough to actually play like the real donocan mcnabb can. now, brian westbrook is done for the season... i am okay with that because the loss to the seahawks thwarted ANY chance of a playoff run. and though the season is just for dignity and a chance at ending the season as a .500 team, no team handles things with more calss than the eagles.

yesterday, i watched andy reid's press conference on comcast sportsnet. he said that if anyone wasnted to point fingers, start with him. how classy is that? in essence he is saying, "forget the drama, the injuries, and how my players are playing, just talk to me and i'll handle the rest." he is saying to just keep the blame on him, he doesn't pass the buck or retailate against media attacks. this is so different from so many of the nfl's coaches. bill parcells, revered as such a great coach, is now coaching his team to a very possible playoff birth, but this wasn't the case just a year ago. when his young team dropped 3 games in a row, he didn't say "i'll take the blame," but rather he said "the team sucks." he said that the team he coached SUCKED. that is not class, it's barely even keeping your job in my eyes. if i was jerry jones, he'd have been suspended for saying anything like that. a coach can't put all of the blame on his players, especially a team that is very young, like his was.

so, to sum up my post: being an eagles fan this year is hard, but the team is very respectable. they aren't going to pack it in, but they are going to struggle. even if they can't pull out the .500 season, the organization's class and strength has been shown this year. i am proud to be an eagles fan... but i'm ready to gear up for the 2005-2006 season and not look back.

ps. thanks for reading my blog folks. i didn't know that anyone actually read this, but i have been using an analytics program to see how many hits i get and i was wrong to think that no one reads this. quite a few people do, so thanks. and with that in mind, i will try my hardest to get posting more often, and hopefully some post with more substance again soon. cheers!

caffeine-ecdote

2005-11-30T09:48:00.000-05:00

i am aware that this post is neither enlightening nor contemplative, as my other posts at least attempt to be. however, i thought i'd shared a short snippet of humor to brighten your day. it made me smile and perhaps can do the same for you.

this time of year marks the seasonal shift of my caffeine fix (or perhaps, addiction/dependence) from diet soda to coffee. Wawa happens to be on my way to work and have many varieties of coffee that are much better than the coffee at my office, thus i usually stop and grab one on my way to work. this morning after grabbing a vanilla cream flavored coffee with cream and splenda, i hopped back in my car to get to the office.

i had slipped a sleeve around the cup in order to not burns, as i had every time i got coffee there in the last few weeks. but today i read what it said on it for the first time:

"WARNING: Consuming this beverage without something from the Wawa Bakery is NOT recommended."

if you don't find this as entertaining as i, than i apologize for taking up a few minutes of your time. but if it made you smile, than i achieved my goal for this post.

good day... i said, GOOD DAY!

black metal and racism

2005-11-04T13:31:00.000-05:00

i never connected black metal with white supremacy before. i read an article in spin some time ago about the horrible true things that black metal bands in norway did in the 80's and 90's including killing each other, burning down churches, and wearing bits of bone and skull of dead bandmates around their neck. it was extremely awful and creepy but VERY intriguing. for some reason i am drawn to read and watch documentaries about things that are very disturbing or twisted. the black metal scene in scandanavia is fascinating to me.

i began reading some things on the internet and found this article that discusses two of the prominent figures in black metal and how their satanism later connected them to getting involved with and becoming figureheads of neo-nazi and fascist groups.

read the article, it is a good read, informative and very startling. i had never even considered the white supremacist groups being connected to black metal. i never thought of the EVIL that was associated with the black metal scene to be linked to the EVIL inside the hate groups like the nsm (i refuse to call them by their full name because i find their use of the word socialist misplaced and not representative of socialism AT ALL). it makes sense though. the elite fascism that is obviously present in black metal gangs like the black circle is the same type of elitism and hate in white supremacy groups.

it's just very interesting to me, very upsetting because of my strong distaste for the topic matter of racism, prejudice, and murder, but fascinating. any thoughts?

the so-called war on terrorism

2005-10-26T11:02:00.000-04:00

the articles begins:

"We've lost some of our nation's finest men and women in the war on terror," Bush said in a speech to military spouses at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.

war on terror? a term i have been dreadful of since its conception. it is one thing to demoralize our enemy and paint them as faceless and inhuman. that, though a horrible thing in and of itself, is something societies have done since the beginning of history. when we fought the vietnamese, they were charlie: mean, cruel, and faceless gooks that deserved to die. this is obviously not true, and the veterans of the war saw men on both sides slaughtered and many to this day can't sleep at night because of it. war is humans killing humans, no way around it. but my point is that it is nothing new to create a faceless enemy and from a strictly functional view, it is a necessary and good way to handle war.

but this isn't what we are doing. we are going to a whole different place by declaring war on an idea. that idea is terrorism. we can declare war on certain terrorists or aggressors, but on the idea of terrorism? that doesn't even make sense. it sounds great. it sounds just. but it isn't logical or legitimate at all. if a man killed your family would you declare vengeance against him or against the whole idea of murder. sure, idealistically i'd love to tear down the whole notion of murder, but let's be honest about how the world works. idealism is important and has it's place, but this isn't it.

i consider myself a pacifist and wouldn't condone war in almost any case. to say that i would never be for war is absurd because i have not been faced with every circumstance under the sun, and i am sure something could happen that may remove me from the stance of a pacifist... and you better believe that if someone pulled a gun on my wife or even smacked her, i wouldn't be reacting in a pacifistic manner.

but whether or not i am a pacifist, how can a country declare war on an idea? it can't, at least not a REAL war. and i assure you, this is not a metaphorical war. this article is about hitting the 2000 casualty mark. 2000 men and women that i could have shared a meal with, sat next to in class, or working in an office with. that's no metaphor!

the so-called war on terrorism is termed such because it allows us to come into this war with a moral hiugher ground and, thus, makes it harder for officials and the public to voice their opinion against it. "what do you mean you don't support the war? do you support suddam hussein? or the devils that were responsible for 9-11? or worse yet, ARE YOU A TERRORIST?" so we invoke neo-mccarthyism and start a new witch hunt. even the liberals didn't say a word when this war started. after some time, people started to question things, but to no avail. we still have the same administration in office, no changes have occurred in iraq and it seems each day it becomes less evident why we are there in the first place. i am not even sure anymore, and i know i'm not the only one.

don't kid yourselves anymore, this is the new vietnam. we have already lost this and it will continue to drag on. and the less we know why we are there, the greater the loss becomes. and no one even wonders how may iraqis have been killed... soldiers or civilians. if that number were ever to be calculated and released, we would probably not even believe how large it is.

but this is where i find myself at a loss... what can i do? is it enough to invoke questions in others and pray that God's will be done? or should i be writing to my senators and other officials? or more? i feel stuck so many times when looking at large scale issues and trying to see how i can act on a small-scale. the alienation and frustration sets in and i become just another complacent american... or do i?

as always, thanks for reading.

standing in opposition

2005-10-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

upon discussion of some of my personal goals and mission statement, a colleague and friend told me that he thinks that the way in which i engage others is often a 2nd person you approach. as the church, you need to be focusing on the poor and oppressed more. you are part of the problem when you indulge in mass consumption... blah blah blah. the point is that the way in which i try to invoke change is in an oppositional approach, rather than focusing on we, or even i, approaches to changing the world. how can the church want to take what i think as an important message if i am not part of the church? how can i tell my friend that having 3 coach purses is over-consumption if i own a library of several hundered cd's?

i am not saying that i have been engaging the church or any other populations much with ideas... because i haven't been, but i have this urgency for something better in this world within me and i want to be a world-changer. yet, i am so distracted by good and bad things... and, moreover, i am not focused on becoming better from within first, which is where i need to focus.

my oppositional mindset probably have psychological and sociological roots in the situations of my upbringing, my family, and my current life. and the mindset is much more than how i approach engaging the world for change, it is how i deal with personal matters... which is a problem. whenever i am unhappy, i automatically become someone who blames others... but not out loud in a very open way. i am manipulative. i tell others that i am to blame and invoke them into disagreeing with my and taking the blame, even though in actuality the blame needs to be shared because most often both sides of an argument/confrontation are wrong about something. and perspectives count for alot, as well... i see it differently than he/she does and thus who was the first to screw up is different in our opposing viewpoints.

at this smaller, more intimate, and personal level is where it must begin. i must start to work on my relationships and friendships by focusing on how i can improve upon them rather than how they can improve. this is very true with those closest to me, i need them to see that i am truly putting them before me and before other things in this world that can cause friction between us.

another co-worker gave me a philosophy article about the philosophical views of john lennon. i found the article less than riveting for the most part, probably because most of what is said can be summed up into the lyrics of imagine, which i am already familiar with. it was nothing new until i reread it and saw that this focus shift for me was displayed in mr. lennon. he was an idealist who wanted world peace (i can relate to this) but his focus wasn't on the world, but on contiunally changing himself from the inside. true, i won't declare that God is simply a force or that meditation is necessary to bring you to a higher plane... and i won't learn to be free of worry by experimenting with lsd... BUT the idea is where he got it right. if we all continually tried to be better, world peace would be realized.

one day, when i become a professor, i am sure i'll play devil's advocate and use some of my oppostional tactics to invoke thought and rattling of paradigms. the key is that i am able to know that not everything is about blaming others, but understanding that for change to happen i need to focus on what it is that i can do. i know that it starts from within me and it starts now.

entertainment and entertainment alone

2005-10-20T13:04:00.000-04:00

i received batman begins from netflix on tuesday and got around to watching it with my wife last night. i saw it in the theater and absolutely loved the movie and loved it even more yesterday. i believe it is one of those movies that i will purchase and watch over and over, liking it more each time... but my enjoyment of the movie moved me to thing about creating a blog about it.

first, i thought, i could analyze the many masks and facades in the movie: batman is a masked vigilante of justice, scarecrow uses his mask to horrify those he experiments on... then i began to think about the less tangible and more metaphorical masks in the story... but i stopped myself. why do we always do this? why must our entertainment we looked at on a deeper level? of course, many times it is made to illustrate a deeper meaning. of course, it is good to learn from everything we take in. but can't entertainment be about entertainment?

i decided not to plague this movie, in its pure form, with my misguided philosophical interjections about what the move was really about. i'll tell you right now what is was about. it was about a man who overcame his fear in order to help the world. it is a hero story and it's purpose is to uplift us and entertain us. i walked upstairs after the movie last night and i was uplifted because for those two hours i was batman. i could escape my everyday what-have-you and just enjoy the story.

this is a funny argument when you look at the fact that i began my college coursework as a literature major. finding themes that may not even be there is what literature folks do... the homoerotic subplots of shakespeare, poems that have 300 different meanings and interpretations... but it's not just literature, it's academia in general (the place in which i aspire to belong to in the coming years). philosophizing everything and using language that is above the average reader is a whole industry in an of itself now. if the common man down the street can understand, chances are it's not by a ph. d at a major university... right? but that doesn't change the fact that i look forward to joining academia or even looking for the deeper levels of classic literature, modern sci-fi novels, my favorite songs, or even batman begins at some point. i just think sometimes we need to sit back and realize that we can read a book or watch a movie and not need to turn it into a dissertation. (read my study elitism and over-analysis: the problem of academia set to be published in 2022)

are there other layers in batman begins? maybe. but i don't care. i will pop the dvd in again and just enjoy myself because that is what it really was about sometimes. and tonight i will watch the original buffy: the vampire slayer and i won't wonder if the vampires represent manifestations of her superego or communists of eastern europe. i'll just sit back and laugh.

why acts of mercy are not enough

2005-10-18T11:10:00.000-04:00

these thoughts represent my reaction to a lecture by eastern university professor and head of urban studies department, kimberlee "k-lee" johnson.

for those who are unfamiliar with the term mercy ministry, it is meeting people's physical needs through the performing of tangible acts. when we serve as the samaritan did in jesus's parable, we are performing acts of mercy, or mercy ministry.

when i was doing my bachelor's work at eastern, i had to be part of a "service learning " project where i ended up working a few hours per week at a soup kitchen for folks with aids and other terminal illnesses, but mostly hiv/aids. though the experience was more about my own learning than it was about serving, the thing that i believe eastern wanted to teach us through the experience was the importance of these acts of mercy.

but, what k-lee said on friday was that these acts are not enough. it is important to note that these acts are NECESSARY, but not ENOUGH.

my bachelor's degree is in sociology, so studying social structures and social change is nothing new to me. in fact, since beginning my sociology coursework, it has been impossible for me to look at the world without trying to find the connections of society and the individual things i look at... from nature and how society impacts it, to faith and how it influences society, to the guy who lives down the street and his interaction with the world he lives in... but i love to hear others declare the necessity of addressing root causes rather than just symptoms.

in america, and perhaps beyond (though i am not as well-informed about the beyond since i live here specifically), we tend to never get to those root causes. our response to disasters, attacks, or whatever else happens on the national level, tend to only put bandaids on the wounds and forget about where the wounds come from. when we were attacked on that fateful morn of september 11th, we went on the offensive and so many of us were so focused on getting the bastards that we didn't look at why the bastards got us in the first place. true, their fundamental beliefs were a part of it, and true they were trained to attack us... but WHY? why did someone go through teaching them them that we were the enemy? i don't have the whole answer, but for the sake of this particular post, i don't need any answer. the point is that people didn't ask the question.

bringing this back to the topic of acts of mercy, this is the fundamental flaw with mercy ministries... we often stop at helping people and don't go further. we don't seek out the root causes of why the man on the corner is poor. we don't try to find what social systems were are part of placing him there. we just hand him a sandwich, maybe give him a hug, and go on our way. we use a reactive model to address symptoms, but we need to also be employing a proactive approach to address the roots of these symptoms.

ron sider, who teaches at eastern's seminary, palmer tehological seminary in wynnewood, started a group years back called evangelicals for social action. his model for impacting the world has four basic levels: relief (give a man a fish), individual development (teach him to fish), community development (give him fishing equipment), and structural change (assure that everyone gets fair access to the fish pond). i love this model because it addresses needs at every level. the structural level is the level i feel like so many average folks don't even begin to think about and where i feel like i am being called towards educating people about. it excites me when i begin to make connections about social policies/systems and individual events/situations. one may label me a "sociology dork", but i feel such a tug on my heart to open the eyes of others the way that my eyes have been opened. i also feel that i need to continue to learn everyday so that my focus can broaden and i can better understand this world, my life, my God, my wife, and... everything.

the final piece of k-lee's lecture was on spiritual systems. she stated that she felt that spiritual systems were the most neglected element in any model of change she presented or has encountered. she indicated that prayer was always necessary, whether performing acts of mercy or challenging power of unjust systems (and everywhere in between). she indicated that her belief was that spiritual warfare would probably become even larger and more difficult to work against when we begin to work in those structural levels and we need to always remember that prayer is powerful and necessary. i don't know that i have any reflection or comment on this because it seems pretty straight forward. whether or not i always follow through with or remember it, i need God in whatever i do... we all do.

introductory monologue

2005-10-14T13:10:00.000-04:00

thanks for checking out my new blog everyone. i had been inspired to create a blog for some time, seeing as most of my livejournal posts revolve around either my personal frustrations in work or in life or on rants about this or that. i intend to rant here sometimes, but i'd like it to be a bit less strictly opinion oriented when i do (ie. i won't say "bush is so stupid, i can't stand him", instead i'll say "bush's new healthcare bill seems very flawed and here's why...") . mostly, this blog is going to be where i can think on paper, or on screen rather, about pop culture, world issues, books i am reading, movies i am watching, music i am listening to... things that seem relevant or spark something in me.

for example, today i attended one of eastern university's weekly lectures (each friday there is a lecture that is part of eastern's "windows on the world" series). it was entitled, "why acts of mercy are not enough" and focused on systemic and institutional issues that can't be solved simply by treating the symptoms. i plan on taking some time to reflect on this lecture in this blog, though not today because of two reasons: a. i am at work and hence SHOULD be working and b. i need some time to think and process what was discussed.

once again, thanks for taking the time to stop by and read this brief introduction to my new blog. i look forward to sharing some thoughts with everyone and being able to see what others think about what i think.