DISCLAIMER: I plan to use this site to voice some of my opinions on topics that some may find inflamatory. Religion, politics and other issues. If you don't like my opinions, don't read them.
Hopefully some intelligent discourse will result...Most likely it will just be ranting, though.
Since it’s been so long since I updated this site, let’s see how long it takes people to notice the change. 
I wanted to go ahead and say my piece on international politics. In general, I consider myself to be a liberal-leaning moderate. I tend to vote democrat. Many of my political opinions may seem contradictory or at least counter-productive given my profession. The ACLU and the democratic party seem to be the natural enemies of traditional law enforcement.
When it comes to the war in Iraq, I support the troops 100%. I don’t want their home-coming to be a repeat of Vietnam. They do an incredibly difficult job and my hat goes off to anyone who can face the rigors of bona fide combat and come out the other side even marginally sane.
That being said, though, the war itself is an absolute jest. I told people right after the invasion: "Mark my words. There will be nothing in Iraq, and then North Korea and Iran will come back with functional nuclear programs. We’re going to the wrong place" Prophetic, and so accurately so that I wish I had one of the people who heard that to corroborate it. Imagine that...a man with no access to top-secret intelligence or analysis reports and only a bachelor’s worth of education regarding international politics predicting what would happen. But, one can argue the justification for the war and the doctoring of intelligence all you want. The problem that remains is...what now? If we wash our hands of the whole mess right now and bring everyone home, there is every possibility that 1) Iraq will dissolve into a bloody and protracted civil war or 2) that the Baathists that supported Hussein in the first place will re-gain power. If we wait until the country is more stable, more American lives will be lost, more Iraqi civilians will die because of the methods their countrymen have chosen to wage their war. And what of the opposite extreme? Will it become a permanent occupation? Will Iraq become another Puerto Rico?
And given how we reacted to Iraq and Hussein, why are we not over in the Far East kicking the ever-loving shit out of Kim Jong Il? His missiles can’t reach us yet. DO something about it before the whack-job’s ICBM’s can make the trip. I LIKE San Francisco. I would be supremely disappointed if it were converted from the hip, fun town it is to a radioactive, smoldering ruin. I just do not understand the rationale. We have no evidence of WMD’s in Iraq except for grainy photos and shady tips. We have Kim Jong Il all but shouting about his nuclear program from very rooftops of Pyongyang. Why are the boys dying in the sands of Iraq? Was Hussein really that close to nuking the home turf? Guess what? North Korea really is. And the great thing about ‘rogue nations’, as they’re called in diplomatic parlance, is that they don’t have that much to lose. You absolutely DO NOT barter with a psychotic dictator like Kim Jong Il. If he threatens you, and you acquiesce, you set the precedent and teach him that it fucking works. It’s like in my job...if a hostage taker tells you to drop your gun and you DO, guess what? Now you have no gun and bad guy has all the leverage. Well done. No...in that situation you shout right back that the gun goes nowhere and if the hostage gets shot, bad guy’s the next one dropping. The analogy is almost a carbon copy of the situation between N. Korea (bad guy), the US (cop) and the hostage (Japan). And yes...I realize the dangers of painting the US as a cop. Don’t write to me about it. It was an analogy to prove a point. I just want to say that if we have to sacrifice American lives-and I’m not really sure we needed to in the first place-why not do it in a place where it would make more of an impact and truly improve national security?
Of course, the thing people always point out with North Korea is China. Over a billion strong, with a huge economy, an active nuclear program and the missile technology to deliver it. However, the international state of affairs currently, I believe, gives China FAR too much to lose if they take North Korea’s side in an armed conflict. We are China’s market. If they make enemies out of us, they lose their economy. The problem is, there’s every chance that our economy would suffer first and hardest in that scenario because our service-based economy depends largely on the hardware and industrial goods from China. So it’s a question of who could last the longest.
And all this brings me, circuitously, to the recent events in Israel which actually prompted the post. A smile and a nod to Israel for how they are handling the current crisis. While it’s true that their hard-line stance may destabilize the region and at the worst cause a regional war, how else was Israel supposed to deal with the abduction of its servicemen? It’s JUST like above. If Hamas or Hezbollah kidnaps soldiers and demands the release of Palestinian political prisoners, and Israel DOES it, do you think those soldiers are getting released? Perhaps. But if they do, it’s only to show the Israelis that they’d better repeat the performance the NEXT time Islamic militants kidnap Israeli citizens and soldiers. And believe me, there will be no end to the repeat performances if Israel caves. I was actually very disappointed the other day when I read that Israel had changed its demands for cease-fire from the disassembly of Hezbollah in Lebanon to simply the return of the soldiers. What better message could there have been for their enemies? "If you harm our citizens or kidnap our soldiers, we will destroy the governments and nations that support you." It’s like WWII and Pearl Harbor. Japan wanted to shock the US into submission with a swift, decisive and brutal attack. What did it accomplish? The most advanced industrialized nation on Earth turned its eye on Tokyo and said that nothing short of unconditional surrender would be accepted. And we followed through. I will be disappointed if Israel does not do the same. The kidnappings were an act of war. Violence continues in that case until the act of war is rectified.
I think the EU and UN also need to re-evaluate their stances on this conflict. I'm sorry...Hezbollah has NO reason to exist except to wage war on Israel and western states. They need to go and I believe Israel is justified in demanding it. At the very least, Hamas attempted to attain legitimacy by participating in the Palestinian government. Not so with Hezbollah. For years they've held the southern end of Lebanon in a strange limbo outside the reach or will of the Lebanese government. They have no reason to exist except as a terrorist organization. They should be destroyed. The EU and UN should be making resolutions pressuring Hamas and Hezbollah to return their captives, NOT telling Israel to keep cool and try to talk through things.
And speaking of rogue nations...a word to the Islamic militants and Palestinians who would love nothing more than to slit Israel’s throat. Israel is like a more stable N. Korea. A tiny splinter of a nation surrounded by enemies and equipped with a nuclear arsenal. If you really do bring true war on Israel, they will respond the way any nation or animal responds when cornered with nothing to lose. Trust me...if it comes down to the choice of 1) being annihilated or 2) unleashing nuclear war in the Middle East, the desert sands will glow in the dark my friends. So bring your Jihads and intifada’s. Maybe then the Islamic world will see that there are, eventually, repercussions for attempting to force one’s ways on people. (Ironic, of course, that so many people feel the same way about us...)
And that’s about all for now. On these topics, there is SO much room for discussion. If anyone disagrees, wishes to add details, or has questions, I certainly do welcome them. As always, though, please do make them constructive.
You know more about politics than I ever will or ever wish to. Just as I commented to you the other day, I'd rather not know all the details and walk around in stupidity than live each day in uncontrollable anger at our country's leaders and the world's troubles.
On the way back from Iraq we should make a few stops. First stop, Vietnam! Surprise the f**k out of those people! 
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Heya! Just blog hopping around! Hope this finds you well! Have a good weekend! 
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