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Stop Snitching!!

Bush is our problem

George Bush’s failures as a President have been well documented. You can find a discussion of his incompetence in thousands of blogs, nearly every barber shop in the country, thousands of books, newscasts and political demonstrations. I am not here to try to discuss his merits as a leader of men; I am here to remind us of our role in creating him.

If Bush is so bad–and most people insist that he is–how come we elected him? Last time I checked, this is supposed to be a democracy. A system supposedly built on the ideals that the people should decide who their head man will be. And we did decide, we decided that he was a better option than both Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry. So why then do people act like Bush was always acting alone? I have heard a lot of rhetoric about how unqualified he is. Did Bush then become unqualified overnight?

Of course not. Bush has always been himself. Had we done our homework, we would have realized that. His track record both as Governor of Texas and his stint in charge of various companies is public record. His time at Yale and the decisions he made as a younger man are also notoriously easy to find. My point is, there isn’t and wasn’t an elaborate web of deceit. Has Bush lied a lot? Of course he has. But one would be naive to think that he was or is the only President to have lied. Go back in history and you will find that quite a few Presidents have lied.

The reason we focus on his deception so much is to mask the fact that we were enablers. We want to believe that we signed off on the war in Iraq because we were deceived that there were “weapons of mass destruction”. This is simply not true. I never was okay with the war in Iraq and I got the same information that many other people did. There are also other people who didn’t support the Iraqi invasion including Colin Powell who was a key player in those days. No, the support for the war was because a majority of people in this country thought it would be easy. Go in, pop off a few bombs, win the war, find the weapons of mass destruction and then come home to a hero’s welcome. Had we just stopped to think, we would have realized just how difficult it would be to acheive that. We’d realize that Iraq had a history of Civil War and that it was going to become our problem. We’d find out that Iraq is mostly desert and that it would be difficult to wage and win a war in such conditions. We would have known that Bush’s father, George Bush Sr. who conducted Desert Storm, was against this invasion. Most importantly we would have let the United Nations do their jobs. But we didn’t because we never did our part.

Does this excuse those who didn’t vote at all? No because their vote or lack of a vote helped ensure that things ended up the way they are right now. If they didn’t like the two main candidates from the two main parties, there were other options. They could have made their voices heard in other ways too. They never did though and the rest as they say, is history.

It is the job of the people to police the government. We failed woefully the past eight years and for things to be any better, we need to realize that. We should stop waiting for the government or a savior to ride in and save us. It is past time for us to look in the mirror and realize that no matter who is in office, we ought to keep them accountable. Bush might be a monster, but we created that monster. Doesn’t that just make you proud?

Brother, where is the revolution?

“Death is on the tip of her tongue and danger’s at the tip of her fingers, streets are on fire tonight”-Lupe Fiasco (The Cool).

Gas prices high, war raging in Iraq, inflation, stock market issues, housing market tanking, dollar value going down, down, down, what did I miss?

You get the point. Things just seem to be all bad in this country that everyone now seems to expect the bad. Quite a few times in the past month, I have been engaged in conversation with people and they often punctuated their statements with “the way things are going”……. So where exactly are things going and how can we go back to taking things back to the way they were.

“The way they were”. Were things really better in our past than they are right now? After all, were we not the country of robber barons and inequalities, racial strife and discrimination, classism etc? Yet the general consensus seems to be that things are getting worse.

Tons and tons of books have been written hashing and rehashing this fact. The politicians, the experts in the media, the businessmen, all talking about the same thing; restoring America’s greatness. But I can’t help but wonder; do we even care anymore? Are we so jaded now that we don’t even believe we can make a difference? Or are we just too comfortable in our own skin and our everyday lives? In this day and age where we have the power of the internet and advanced technology and where more people can be reached easier and faster, what have we achieved? Is there ever going to be a change or do we now have too much to lose?

Simply put; More is expected

Last night I witnessed one of the most unsatisfying victories I have ever witnessed as a Laker fan. Don’t get me wrong, I will take it but man did that game make me nervous. The reason? It has been three games already and Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol are yet to show up.

In game 3, Odom had more fouls (5) and turnovers (also 5), than points (4). Pau did get 9 points and 12 rebounds but it really didn’t feel that way as he once again appeared soft and unsure. What worries me is that last night’s game was basically the most important game in their lives thus far and yet they couldn’t even get up for it. If not last night, then when?

Odom needs to become that guy that the other team can’t guard. Paul Pierce can’t cover him and neither can Kendrick Perkins. Gasol is at least tied up with Kevin Garnett who is more athletic and stronger than him. However, the kicker is that Odom cannot be effective unless Gasol is being a force. Odom gets his licks in by playing off of Gasol.

Therefore the key to Odom finding his game, is Gasol finding his. How can the Lakers acheive this? Well, strangely missing from the Lakers’ game last night was the pick and roll between Kobe and Gasol. This might be because Kobe was so aggressive that he kept attacking and a lot of iso plays were run for him. I would go back to it to start game 4 as a way to get Gasol up and rolling. The Celtics have not been able to defend it effectively and they won’t be able to this time either. This would get Gasol some buckets and get his confidence soaring. More importantly, it would establish Gasol as a force and create space for Odom to be dominant.