DC MADAMNED TOBIAS

So..Randall Tobias, director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) resigned claimiing it was for "personal reasons."

He also claims that he did enjoy Madam Jeane Palfry's escort service but he didn't have sex with any of the escorts, he just needed them for massages. The prostitutes do give better massages than masseuses, I'm sure.

Tobias told ABC News that he also used another escort service with "Central American" girls to give him massages too.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/senior_official.html

It doesn't really matter to me what politicians do on their own time, but when they're private life conflicts with issues that they advocate in office, it reveals a certain amount of hypocrisy about themselves.

Randall Tobias who was also the former ambassador for Bush's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief rallied for abstinence rather than using condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Tobias explained his approach as "A and B and C. . . Abstinence works. 'Be faithful' works. Condoms work. They all have a role. But it's not a multiple choice, where there is only one answer."

Tobias served as one of the top officials overseeing global AIDS funding to other countries and was responsible for a U.S. policy that calls for the recipients to pledge they oppose PROSTITUTION and SEX TRAFFICKING.


Hmmmm....Prostitution strike one...Central American ladies? strike two....I wonder if he used condoms with the escorts...

donate your profits....

So is he telling the truth when he exposes any "truth" about the serious crimes he claimed the Bush administration has commiited? I don't know...it's a little fishy when he can't give any classified information from the CIA.
So he decides to profit off his book by coming out with the information now...after 3,000 American lives have been spared...

Bill Huffington rules out the fact that Al Gore will run.
I don't think Gore will dare to run against Hillary.

Another terrorist attack?

Rudy Giuliani suggested that if a Democrat president gets elected for 2008, America may face another terrorist attack.

"If any Republican is elected president--and I think obviously I would be the best at this--we will remain on offense and will anticipate what [the terrorists] will do and try to stop them before they do it... ...I listen a little to the Democrats and if one of them gets elected, we are going on defense. We will wave the white flag on Iraq. We will cut back on the Patriot Act, electronic surveillance, interrogation and we will be back to our pre-Sept. 11 attitude of defense. The Democrats do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorists war against us."

Barack Obama responded by saying this:

"Rudy Giuliani today has taken politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kinds of politics. America's mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question the failed policies that have made us less secure. I think we should focus on strengthening our intelligence, working with local authorities and doing all the things we haven't yet done to keep Americans safe. The threat we face is real, and deserves better than to be the punchline of another political attack."

Rudy obviously ignored the last electoral contest. A majority of people who voted in the last midterms displayed that they were obviously unhappy with the situation in the Iraq. Playing the fear card clearly is not working for the voters in the last election. If a majority of these voters support a withdrawal of American troops, Rudy should re-think his lines if he wants to actually keep the 2008 presidential vote out of the hands of the Democrats.

McCain Enters

Here is an excerpt of John McCain's speech that he will deliver later on today. It's worth the read:



We are fighting a war in two countries, and we’re in a global struggle with violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself. If we are to succeed, we must rethink and rebuild the structure and mission of our military; the capabilities of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies; the purposes of our alliances; the reach and scope of our diplomacy; the capacity of all branches of government to defend us. We need to marshal all elements of American power: our military, economy, investment, trade and technology. We need to strengthen our alliances and build support in other nations. We must preserve our moral credibility, and remember that our security and the global progress of our ideals are inextricably linked. ...

Government spends more money today than ever before. Wasteful spending on things that are not the business of government indebts us to other nations; deprives you of the fruits of your labor; fuels inflation; raises interest rates; and encourages irresponsibility. ...

Our dependence on foreign sources of energy not only harms our environment and economy, it endangers our security. So much of the oil we import comes from countries in volatile regions of the world where our values aren’t shared and our interests aren’t a priority. ...

When I’m President I’ll offer common sense, conservative and comprehensive solutions to these challenges. Congress will have other ideas, and I’ll listen to them. I’ll work with anyone who is serious and sincere about solving these problems. I expect us to argue over principle, but when a compromise consistent with our principles is within reach, I expect us to seize it. Americans expect us to disagree, but not just to win the next election. They want us to serve the same goal: to ensure that a country blessed with our matchless prosperity, ingenuity, and strength can meet any challenge we confront

employers pay for employees eating habits?

A recent study, conducted by Duke University, found that obese workers cost employers more money than fit workers. Injury claims are filed more by obese workers than by fit workers. THe article I read then went on to say:

"Obesity experts said they hope the study will convince employers to invest in programs to help fight obesity. One employment attorney warned companies that treating fat workers differently could lead to discrimination complaints."

What? The employers now have to PAY for why the employees are obese?

everyone should have guns...?

Fox news was showing a different perspectives on the gun control laws. Instead of controlling the sales of gus, Fox had suggested that to prevent another event like this, Virginia Tech along with other colleges should get rid of the "no gun" law on campus. So if something like this were to go on again, college students won't have to wait for cops next time. They can take matters into their own hands by shooting the killer....

darfur

Today I saw that the news had finally covered something on the genocide in Sudan.

"Media coverage of the ongoing genocide in Darfur has been woefully inadequate. The Center for American Progress found that during June 2005, CNN, FOX News, NBC/MSNBC, ABC, and CBS ran 50 times as many stories about Michael Jackson and 12 times as many stories about Tom Cruise as they did about the genocide in Darfur."

Bush pressures Sudan on Darfur, citing possible US sanctions.

Bush said he would give Mr. Bashir "a short period of time." If Mr. Bashir doesn't comply, Bush said he would direct the Treasury Department to block transactions between the Sudanese government, something that should have been enforced a long time ago. Bush also threatened to bar 29 Sudanese companies from doing business in the US. Bush threatened to also impose sanctions against individuals that were responsible for the violence. I am interested to see if Ms. Rice will seek any new sanctions from the United Nations.

gun control

I doubt the massacre at V Tech will change any gun control laws. The Virginia store where Cho had bought the gun linked to four previous murders.
The candidate's will maybe focus their attention to stronger gun control laws. However, I don't believe anything will be done to push restrictions on the Second Amendment.

Could the horrific shooting have been prevented? What can the college students do in this imaginable situation?

V Tech

I was watching the news earlier on the Virginia Tech massacre.

"Recently elected Govenor Tim Kaine has announced that Blacksburg is in a state of Emergency after an alleged lone gunman allegedly killed two students, one male and one female, early this morning at 7 a.m., and later allegedly massacred Norris Hall, an academic building raising the death toll up to 33. Two hours after the first shooting the gunman was seen inside the second floor of Norris Hall allegedly searching for someone. At around 9:15 this morning the shooter began opening fire on students and faculty in classrooms, who attempted to barricade themselves inside their classrooms. The alleged murderer had apparently planned his move into Norris Hall after police reported he had chained entrances closed to prevent easy exit for potential escapees."

I don't think that the reporters questioning the chief of police for Virginia Tech should be focusing on the "what if's" of the situation. The emphasis of the story on CNN is that Virginia Tech failed to shut the school down after the first incident at 7am and that only an email was sent two hours later. Grilling the President and Chief of Police of V. Tech on these issues are a waste of time. Deciding after an incident to this degree that shutting down the school was the best idea should not be of importance. If the shooter of both these times is the same…who knows whether or not he would have gone somewhere else where students gather to act out.

Imus under fire

Imus made some incredibly ridiculous remarks about the females of the Rutgers basketball team. He called them "nappy-headed-hoes." After his remarks get noticed, he apologized for them and characterized them as "stupid" among other things. His apologies were not sincere if sincere at all. I can't see why other people aren't under fire for saying things just as bad if not worse.
David Ehrenstein writes an article titled "Obama the 'Magic Negro'
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center

AS EVERY CARBON-BASED life form on this planet surely knows, Barack Obama, the junior Democratic senator from Illinois, is running for president. Since making his announcement, there has been no end of commentary about him in all quarters — musing over his charisma and the prospect he offers of being the first African American to be elected to the White House.

But it’s clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination — the “Magic Negro.”

The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by snarky 20th century sociologists, to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education. “He has no past, he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist,” reads the description on Wikipedia http://en.-wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro.

He’s there to assuage white “guilt” (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.

The article gets worse. The article ends with this...

"Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him. "

Are the liberal elitists just as racist as their accused victims, the right-wing conservatives?

Welcome to my blog. Since I will be interning at Assemblyman Van Tran's office, I will make this blog about what I learn from interning at his office. I will also try to comment on current topics in news.