Letter to Congressman

Below is my first letter to my Congressman
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Mr. Lewis,

I've always had a goal to write a congressman and I am accomplishing it today. I am a recent grad. of Georgia Tech living in Atlanta. Since graduating a year ago my hobbies have shifted from playing video games and drinking beer to earning a living and understanding politics. I am troubled by much of what I hear in the political spectrum because much of it is irrelevant. The topics of gay marriage, abortion, and religion in schools pale in comparison to the threats that environmental negligence, illegal immigration, education reform, growing national debt and radical Islam pose to this country.

After reading an article by Lou Dobbs today (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/05/Dobbs.June6/index.html) I began to wonder who in Congress is ensuring that the average American is not being strung around by special interest groups. The question is this: What is Congress doing to ensure that the vocal concerns of the minority (special interest groups) are not drowning out the growing grumblings of the majority?

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Ignoring the Truth on Iraq

So here is more proof that the administration screwed things up on Iraq: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18854414/

Basically, it says that several CIA reports predicted what is happening there now: fueled Islamic terrorists, warring between Iraqi ethnic groups, etc. This illustrates my whole problem with the war. I always understood that good things could and might come out of it, but it looks like the Bush administration only focused on those and not the possible negative outcomes. They have been so inept at planning the war yet reluctant to admit their faults.

Frustrating.

VT shootings

I was in Blacksburg for 3 weeks this summer. I stayed at the Holiday Inn a block from campus. I know a kid from High School who plays football there. I rode my bike through campus. I golfed at the campus course. To think about what happened there yesterday is painful.
I wonder what I would have done in that situation. I wonder what the killer looked like. I wonder what it would sound like. But most of all, I wonder what was going on in his head. How could one person want to do that much harm to people he doesn't even know? This is a good blog by somebody who had a play writing class with him. From what the blog says, there were warning signs everywhere, like there are with most school shootings.

I can almost understand...no, sympathize with someone who gets to the point where they would want to take their own lives, but why take others down with you? When did he get to the point where he just gave up? Could anything been done to stop all this? Could he have changed his views about the world. Get married. Have beautiful children?

I know that even if there were answers to these questions they wouldnt help much, but one cant help but wonder. I feel for his parents, more so than the parents of other victims. Even though they may have some part to blame, they still lost a son, and their son still produced one of the most heinous crimes in American history. How does a parent live with this?

The only thing we can do is to try and help others who seem like they have lost their way, and we can try to live each day with happiness and hope to instill that happiness in others. It may make no difference at all, but at least we can say we did all we could do. At least we wouldnt have so many questions.

Vote McCain

So I am watching 60 Minutes right now and they are doing their special feature on John McCain. While I have traditionally been a Democrat, I find myself moving more towards the center as I get older. Not because I don't like the Democrats, but rather I dont want to be labeled as Democrat. I like having autonomy over my beliefs and I feel the "Moderate" label provides that.

In saying this I think (for the time-being) that John McCain should be the nations next President. I dont necessarily always agree with him, but I believe that he is an honest man and the best man (or woman) for the job. He supports the war in Iraq but realizes it has been drastically mishandled. While I haven't been the biggest fan of the war, I understand that there can be some good that comes out of it and I think if we do leave now, it will only hurt us more in the end. In all of my arguments concerning the war they havent centered around the war itself, but rather its' mismanagement. I will always fault the Bush administration with this and McCain has openly criticized them as well.

But like McCain I see hope in General Petraeus and I hope things will turn out for us. One thing that doesnt get displayed across the media is that McCain has an 18 year old son about to go to Iraq.

Aside from the war I like his support of stem-cell research, global warming, and budget reform.

So in voting for the next President I encourage you not to vote on party lines, but find that person who you respect the most, and vote for them.

Absinthe in High Def

I've never really been into High Def, that was until my roommate came home with a 60" High Def TV. I've been sold. I recommend going to buy one just so you can watch the Discovery Channels "Planet Earth". It is amazing. They spent 5 years filming this show just to capture some of the most amazing scenes in the world.

I also watched the show Three Sheets to the Wind on the HD channel. That show is also amazing (the theme of the night). The theme of the show is a comedian who travels to different countries and gets wasted with the locals. Tonight he was in Prague and he drank absinthe, which is awful, and he came to that same conclusion.

Here comes my digression....I tried Absinthe for the first time in Aix en Provence, France. As youngsters studying abroad in Europe, the first thing we had to do to break the shackles of American restraint was go buy the most horrid looking green liquor from the local market and consume it. Everyone had read the stories of people hallucinating on this intoxicating mixture of green fire water and wormwood. While in the 1800's may have had enough wormwood to cause hallucinations, the only thing it is now is highly alcoholic, on the order of 151 proof.

It tastes like a mixture of Jaeger and Everclear. Prague is famous for it, but no locals drink it. Why? Well, did you not just hear the two liquors I compared it to. How do you think they would taste mixed? It is a stupid gimmick that stupid Americans think they will be cool if they try. The last time I got drunk off the stuff, which coincidentally was the first time, I ended up covered in soot at 4 A.M. Unfortunately it wasn't a hallucination.

Oh yea, the Travel channel has a show coming on tomorrow about 1000 places to see before you die. I'm going to watch that too. Hopefully they wont be trying absinthe.

Atlanta ING Mararthon

Ok, so the title is a little misleading, I only ran the half, but that is still 13.1 miles. I dont really know why people enjoy these things, they are fairly painful. Me, I much prefer cycling. You dont put your legs through the pounding, you can coast when you get tired, and you go much faster. But anyway, my girlfriend and her Dad were running it, so I couldnt let them show me up.

For the inaugural ING Marathon, it was done really well. The course was beautiful and I saw parts of Atlanta I wouldnt normally see for fear of getting shot. Fortunately, when you are with 15,000 people at 7:00 AM you dont have to worry about much. For the beginning of Spring, it was fairly warm. The temperature later rose to 80 degrees, but luckily we ran so fast that the convective cooling relieved us of the heat.

The week before the half marathon I was training with my girlfriend and I am fairly sure I suffered plantar fasciitis. Which feels like you have a bruise on the bottom of your foot and you are walking on it. Luckily the day it happened was the wonderul day of St. Patrick. So in order to dull the pain I medicated myself with Guinness. Nevertheless, in order to not look like a wuss I still had to run the half. I once read a story about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who run up to 50 miles a day and subsist on corn mash and a type of beer they brew from it. Since they dont have running shoes handed down from goddess Nike, the Tarahumara run in sandals fashioned from used rubber. Therefore, they have to run as if they are barefoot, or on the balls of their feet.

Since it works for these Mexicans, and I live close to a lot of Mexicans on Buford Highway, and I like beer and I am sure they do too, I decided that I would adopt their running style. Unlike them, I didnt have years of running like this to practice, I had a week. A week of no training because I didnt want to aggravate my foot. So I ran the half marathon on the balls of my feet, or at least for the most part until the 4 Ibuprofen kicked in and it didnt matter how I ran. Anyway, it is an interesting style of running and I recommend reading about the benefits of barefoot running, something I am going to start doing more of.

So before I start rambling (too late) I will just point out a few highlights/pointers:

A shot of ice cold PBR given by a wonderful bystander is actually extremely refreshing.

I got to run with the marathon winner for all of 5 seconds as he passed me hoping I would get on TV (Yes, that means he lapped me)

As my friend found out the hard way, prep your nipples so they dont get wore down by your shirt

Make sure you get a good playlist going on the MP3 player (Bruce Springstein, Coldplay, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Old School Michael Jackson, etc.) and DONT forget to recharge your batteries

If you are not doing the race, and trying to drive around during raceday make sure you dont have to cross the course, or else you will be stuck for a few hours while thousands of people jog past you

The uncomfortableness in my feet I felt around mile 2 went away as soon as I saw everyone jogging past and clapping for a person doing the marathon in a wheelchair. Who the hell am I to complain about a little foot pain?

Bottom line is it was a lot of fun, but doing something like this on a bike would be a lot more fun! All in all the Atlanta scenery was great and so was the weather. It makes me feel pity for the people who are too lazy to get out of their houses to enjoy this type of thing.

If we only knew then....

One of the main reasons I started a blog was so I could vent, so today it will serve its purpose. I haven't been able to blog as much as I planned because a week after I started the blog I decided to start a website with two friends, so that is now occupying my time. But after my Dad sent me a great article from NY Times columnist Frank Rich, I will blog.

I used to get fired up about the war. I can remember getting in arguments with my friends before the elections 2004 after studying abroad and passionately arguing how it was a mistake. Now, I am almost numb to the war. It isn't that I don't care, it's just that I feel like my point, and everyone else who opposed the war, has been proven. What more can I say or do? After awhile "I told you so" loses its allure.

But there are times when I still get fired up, and now is one of them. Four years have gone by and what have we seen? Videos of Saddam hanging, carbombs going off, Baby Noor or whatever her name was.....

Hopefully, if nothing else, the past four years will teach us the pitfalls of over exuberance and the danger of having an idiot in the white house.

The following are quotes and comments taken from Frank Rich's NY times article.

March 6, 2003
President Bush holds his last prewar news conference. The New York Observer writes that he interchanged Iraq with the attacks of 9/11 eight times, “and eight times he was unchallenged.” The ABC News White House correspondent, Terry Moran, says the Washington press corps was left “looking like zombies.”


March 7, 2003
Appearing before the United Nations Security Council on the same day that the United States and three allies (Britain, Spain and Bulgaria) put forth their resolution demanding that Iraq disarm by March 17, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, reports there is “no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq.”. He adds that documents “which formed the basis for the report of recent uranium transaction between Iraq and Niger are in fact not authentic.” None of the three broadcast networks’ evening newscasts mention his findings.
[In 2005 ElBaradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.]

March 19, 2003
President Bush declares war from the Oval Office in a national address: “Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure.”
Price of a share of Halliburton stock: $20.50
[Value of that Halliburton share on March 16, 2007, adjusted for a split in 2006: $64.12.]

400 lb girl

Over the past few days there have been several link about severely fat kids. This one,
http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/15068,
is a 400 lb 7 year old! There was another one on CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/27/obese.child.reut/index.html, about a 200 lb 8 year old.

Now some people will argue, "It's genetic!", but in the video she is seen eating macaroni and cheese and asking for popcorn. The Enlish boy eats 4 bags of potato chips a day as snack and has a whole pizza for lunch.

What the hell is wrong with these parents? If your kid is fat, not just a little hefty - which is fairly normal - but FAT, dont feed them unhealthy food! It is that simple. They say their kids are hungry. Here's a hint: Bananas or apples, granola, and salads with whole wheat bread on the side all help to cure hunger. I am astonished with fat people out there who claim they cant lose wait, but then go eat fast food. The next time you hear someone complaining that they cant lose wait ask them how many miles they run a day or how healthy they eat, ei cutting out fried foods. If they say they dont have time, say, "It's not that you cant lose wait, its that you aren't willing to try."

I am not writing about people who are slightly overweight, I am talking about the people who are in danger of getting diabetes or heart disease, dying because they are so fat. Society is scared to really address this topic because it is afraid it will hurt fat peoples feelings, because of this these people dont really grasp the severity in which they hurt their chances of having a long, enjoyable life.

Bottom Line: If you are very fat, or you have a kid that is very fat, stop making excuses! Eat healthy, exercise, and lose the wait. If you dont want to do that I guess you can just pick the other option and shorten your lifespan.

The world we live in

I am going to go ahead and call it, Christopher Walken is going to do a skit on SNL where he plays the judge in the Anna Nicole burial case. If you have seen any clips of the judge, you can see where I am coming from (If you havent seen the clips I am sure you can find them on Youtube.com). He goes off on these random rants that are definitely "Walkenesque". I would like to get away from this whole debacle, but unfortunately it is the only thing on TV anymore.

Speaking of crazy, if anyone watches the new "Real World" there is a girl on there who is delusional. She is a spoiled single child who things everyone is crazy except herself. (Here comes me ranting) I can't stand people like this. Wake up and face reality. When everyone in the world seems insane except you, you are usually the insane one.

I saw the "Real World" girls latest outbreak on The Soup on E!, which happens to be an extremely entertaining show. On that same episode is a clip about a family who only eats raw meat and doesn't take showers because they believe that is the healthier way to leave. What the f*ck is wrong with these people? Have they not been following the past 30,000 years of human civilization?

So bottom line to delusional people out there, just vote Christopher Walken President 2008 and everything will work out for you!

Anna, one more time

Again, sorry for all this Anna-Nicole stuff, but this is just too bizarre for me not to touch:
http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/14030

Why was there no intervention?

Anyways,
I have been wanting to talk about money and investing for someone who is just starting out with not a lot of money. I am going to write a more detailed article in the near future, but for now check out www.zecco.com. They are a free trading platform. Free! No fees! Bank of America has the same thing, only with one catch: You must have 25K in a savings account with them. If I had that much in spare cash I wouldnt be worrying about free trading. I currently have an E*trade account but they are 12 bucks a trade and charge a $40 dollar inactive fee per quarter! I am just starting the process of opening an account, but this is definitely worth investigating.

Top Ten reasons Anna Nicole was entertaining

Links of the day:

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/13207
Short movie on a US bomb killing an Iraqi sniper. Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/02/16/smith.ruling/index.html
Where do I begin with this one? I am not one to get involved in the daily affairs of celebrities. My mother, much to the chagrin of the rest of the family, has an addiction to The National Enquirer. I am ashamed to say that I used to look at them when she would get them but now all I do is glance at the covers as I check out at the grocery store; usually just to see if there are any new celebrity sex tapes out. But this Anna Nicole Smith story is just too good to shy away from. I mean, let’s look at the top ten reasons Anna Nicole way more entertaining than anything “Days of Our Lives” could even dream of:
1) Her real name is Vickie Lynn Hogan. In keeping with the tradition started by her mother, Vergie Arthur, in naming your daughter the most redneck name you can think of, she named her daugther Dannielynn (one word) Hope Marshall Stern. Note: Last name will probably change.
2) After meeting him while she was a stripper, she married a mummy because he was worth billions
3) She was in a Naked Gun movie and judging from her moral character, probably slept with Leslie Nielson and I am almost 94% positive she slept with Hugh Hefner when she was doing Playboy, which is highly unusual because he usually doesn’t like dumb blonds with big fake breasts
4) She was hot, then became a Miss Piggy look-a-like, then became hot again using a mysterious drug from another planet called TrimSpa
5) She loved painkillers more than TrimSpa, doughnuts, and sleeping with decrepit old men
6) By the age of 3 her now deceased son was able to beat her at the famous game of “Put the shape in the correctly shaped cutout”.
7) Even though she married old guy for the money, she filed for bankruptcy in 1996
8) Her “Lawyer/lover/babydaddy” whose name is Howard Stern –which is fairly ironic because:
a. he kinda resembles the radio star
b. Anna Nicole would make a great guest on the Howard Stern show
- was apparently okay with her being the modern day Whore of Bablyon.
9) 4 men claim to be the father of her child: her old photographer/boyfriend, Howard Stern, her bodyguard, and Zsa Zsa Gabore’s husband
a. This could be 5 if you believe a theory that she froze her old husband’s sperm and made a baby with it
10) She is probably the most famous piece of white trash ever



Spanish Peaks Black Dog Brewing Company makes a delicious Honey Raspberry Ale. I have been searching for a good raspberry beer that isn’t too fruity, and this is it.

McCain

In the past 2 years I have gone from calling myself a Democrat to a Moderate. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is John McCain. I especially like this article from CNN. Rumsfield was a bigger failure than George Bush. I blame Bush for not accepting his resignation the times he had offered it before he finally left office. It was one of the many leadership-farts (very similar to a brain-fart but pertaining to leadership) that Bush has exhibited over his Presidency. Of course, the biggest leaderhip-fart was his response to the news that the World Trade Centers had been bombed, but I digress, and I am sure I will get around to blogging about this one later.

Bush keeping Rumsfield as the Secretary of State was almost as bad as Chan Gailey keeping Reggie Ball Georgia Tech's starter this past season. This was evinced when all of our receivers had record games when Reggie Ball didn't start.

Why has the American public been so incapable of acknowlidging leadership failures? Which brings my back to McCain. While I probably dont agree with him on every issue, such as his recent courtship with the conservatives (hey, I know it's politics), I believe he is a leader. Of all the potential men/women running for 2008, he is the one I would chose to follow into battle if I had to. I can't say that about Hillary, which is why I am not inclined to vote for her. Guliani or Obama, possibly, but right now, my man is McCain.

What is wrong with Britney?

At one point in time I felt bad for Britney Spears for always being hounded by the media. That point was a long, long time ago. It was probably right around the time I still thought she was hot. I don't know what this new head-shaving thing is, but I am convinced she needs some medical help. This "woman" just had two children within the past year and a half and has been partying ever since her and her ex-husband, whose career highlight was playing a fry-maker in a super bowl commercial, divorced. By the way, who didn't see that happening. They got married in velour jumpsuits!
If any other new mother was acting the way she was they would have their children taken away by social services.
There is a theory out there that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but "celebrities" such as Britney and Paris and Lohan are doing a great job to prove this theory false. They already have millions, but apparently at some point along the way their self-dignity lost all of its' value.
More to come on the late Anna Nicole.....

Goal of the Blog

I wanted to create a blog that provided social and political commentary from my point of view, but also gave good website and life tips that I come across. “How is this different from every other blog out there?”

Well, I guess it isn’t, the general idea isn’t that different. What I plan to be different is the content, and eventually, the reader participation in providing material. There are millions of websites out there hosting material, but most of it is junk. I want to provide consistently entertaining and enlightening material.

I have yet to find many websites catering to the twenty something young professional that deal with issues other than entertainment. I.E. – How young professionals view politics, money issues (how do I invest in stocks if I can barely pay the bills and fund my drinking habit?), developing in new jobs, handling relationships, etc.

My goal in life is to be a Renaissance Man. I don’t care to know a lot about a little subject, but I want to know a little about a lot of subjects. I want to have the ability to be placed in any situation and have an intelligent, witty, entertaining conversation. This is what I want the blog to be geared towards, providing fodder for intellectual and social development. Ok, I acknowledge that sounds idealistic and it is a far reaching goal, but it is what it is.

I am starting a list of great websites that I regularly check. Some might be new to you, some of yours might be new to me, so provide feedback! This list is lame at the moment, so help me out.

Daily Sites:
Cnn.com
msn.com
woot.com – daily great deals on electronic equipment
www.ebaumsworld.com – consistently good videos and games. The funnest, simplist, most addictive game ever is on this site. Search the N-game.
http://gristmill.grist.org – Environmental and political blog. Search “skeptics”. It provides great material on how to talk with global warming skeptics.

Monthly Sites:
Tuckermax.com – I like to live vicariously through Tucker. I have laughed out loud several times reading through his shenanigans. I have several fraternity brothers who would love to live like him, but aren’t as funny or heartless
Howstuffworks.com – I am an engineer so I like knowing how things work.

Global Warming, the efficient truth

Global warming is one of the most complex scientific/political subjects being discussed today. Is it caused by anthropogenic forces, solar flares, Earth’s natural patterns? What are the solutions? Do there need to be solutions?

There are many scientific papers supporting or deriding the theory that man is causing the Earth to warm up. There has been serious debate on the topic for almost 20 years now. Politicians have used the topic to rally their constituents; whether they are environmentalists from Seattle or oil men from Houston. Some say that carbon dioxide needs to be reduced drastically to save the planet while others say that no action needs to be taken and business should continue as usual.

People on both sides of the argument are so caught up in championing their cause that they are unable to see the forest through the trees. Whether you believe Global Warming is being caused by man or not, there is an initial solution out there that benefits everyone (everyone unless you work for Big Coal, belong to OPEC, or benefit in any way from the current energy status quo). The current solution doesn’t require billions of dollars to implement. The first step to solving this problem is simply to foster the idea that energy efficiency and clean energy benefits the United States of America. It is so mind-bogglingly simple, yet it is this vital tipping point in American thinking that must happen before any substantial gains can occur.

There are skeptics reading this saying, “I’ve heard this before. I lived through the 70’s. I listened to Jimmy Carter. Blah Blah Blah.” This pig-headedness is the reason that America’s economy is held hostage by the fluctuations in the price of oil, it is why we are fighting a war in Iraq, it is why you can see brown air in many of our cities, and it is why the billions of tons of carbon dioxide currently spilling into the atmosphere may be the reason your children or grandchildren laugh at your ignorance on their way to the zoo to see the only known polar bear in existence.

Here is what is so confounding to me: The steps needed to lower the effects of Global Warming are the same things that enable us to finally break away from the grip of Saudi Arabia’s oil fields and they are the same things that allows kids with asthma living in big cities to be able to play outside in the heat of summer; yet Global Warming skeptics are so adamant with their denial to one topic, that they fail to see how implementing its’ solution benefits America as a whole.

As a society, we are the most wasteful on this planet. We waste energy like it is our God given right. This attitude must be replaced with one that preaches efficiency. You see, even if Global Warming is some environmentalist hoopla - as Michael Crichton would have us believe - the change in mindset needed to reduce this potential threat to humanity will benefit America in ways that average citizens have yet to realize. Continuing to insist that the status quo is adequate is a failure of foresight and a foolish mistake causing irreparable damage to this great country.

The Original

Why am I finally joining the masses and starting a blog?
I'm not that great of a writer, in fact, I became an engineer so I wouldn't have to write in college. As you may find out my grammar is usually improvised.
I am not looking for something to keep be occupied. I just graduated college and started a full time job. Life is keeping me fairly busy at the moment.
And I don't have some passionate interest about some stupid obscure trinket that I want to tell the world about.
I guess it boils down to a person's need to feel important, to be heard. I have friends, family, a girlfriend, etc., that I can talk to, but they have all heard my thoughts thousands of times over (the amount of times they have heard me speak on worldly matters is in direct correlation to the amount of beers they have had with me).

I am just fed up with feeling like a pawn, like everything on Earth has some impact on my life, yet I have no impact on anything. I am not jaded or distraught. I am not depressed at all. I just want to throw my thoughts to cyberspace and let other ponder over what I have to say for once......