iraqi update

OVER 11,020 AMERICAN SOLDIERS HAVE ALREADY DIED IN IRAQ! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!


....oh wait. it's only 1,120. carry on. keep fighing. we've got plenty more lives to spare.

less than 2 weeks left and i'm undecided

for the last few months i've dogged on john kerry for using using "i'm not george bush" as his ticket to the whitehouse. didn't he have anything positive to say? what besides his not being bush was there? last night it hit me. he's right. he is not george bush. that's what the world needs to fix things up in iraq.... not bush.

iraqis hate bush (wouldn't you if he attacked and killed your family in search of some mythical weapons of mass destruction?). most of the international community hates bush (wouldn't you if he ignored your pleas for peaceful measures and called you a bunch of chickens for not helping him in an unethical war?) people don't want to work with the united states because they can't stand our leader.

so as far as the war in iraq goes.. i'm for kerry. he may not have a specific plan, he may have gone into the war had he been in the same situation... though i'm starting to believe that he would have waited and given it some time. he's not dubya and that's what the international community wants.

now i need some help. besides the war in iraq (and terrorism), why should i pick one candidate over another? i've got less than two weeks to figure this out.

michael moore and new shirts

michael moore's visit went pretty well. i was worried that people would boo and yell so much that nobody would be able to hear him. it was pretty much what i expected. anti-bush. anti-war. only pro-kerry because that meant no bush. he was pretty funny and poked fun at republicans through sarcasm, but didn't pick them out in the crowd to rip on (as hannity did).

i'm still leaning on voting for bush, but i'm not as positive anymore. i've always felt that kerry would have gone to war had he been in the same seat and is only fighting it now that it's his ticket to the whitehouse, but my conception of this has come from the republican right. there are many other issues in this election as well, and those are where i tend to agree with bush.

the more i've thought about this war, the bigger of an issue this election has become for me. if my thoughts on kerry are wrong, perhaps i need to view these other issues as well and perhaps my vote will need to swing.

i'm already voting for for the mathesons and against amendment 3. perhaps another democrat is the way to go.

only just over 1000....

as you may have noticed, i'm not using this blog much as a journal anymore, but more as a personal website now. i just don't have the time to keep up my old site.

anyways, i don't have much time to write up anything new, so i'm going to be lazy and just copy something i posted at provopulse.com. the first post someone wrote basically said that 1070 (now 1082) american lives were worth taking saddam out of power.

my response:

it's easy to say that when you don't think of those "just over 1000" as individual human lives with names, lives, families, and friends.

what about the just over 15,000 iraqi civilians (parents, children, elderly, non-combatants) who we have successfully slaughtered?

what about the deaths of tens (or even hundreds) of thousands iraqi soldiers whom we've killed?

since when has a political end justified the means of war?

somebody then wrote:

since when has a political end justified the means of a war? what political end are you talking about? the political end of getting rid of a dictator and mass murderer? getting rid of a guy who has attacked the world community repeatedly, who rewarded suicide bombers with cash, who supported terrorism? do you really think ousting him was about making Bush look good back here at home, or abroad?

1070 lives is a SMALL price to pay for the freedom of millions, and ridding the world of a very evil dictator.

as members of the true church here on the earth, we have a special responsiblity to do all that we can for the weak, the destitute, and needy. if you come across a person in need and you have the ability to do something to help that person - and don't - you will be judged on that. THIS IS NO DIFFERENT. the United States has a moral responsiblity, no matter what your political ideology may prescribe, to help other nations find freedom. period.

to which i say:

"what political end are you talking about?"

democracy. until 4 years ago, collin powell, condoleeza rice and the rest of the crew held a position that war was justified only as a means of defense (the view taught in the book of mormon) and that war should not be used as a means to a political end (the view condemned in the book of mormon). donald rumsfeld, dick cheney and their buddies in the american enterprise institute have thrown powell and rice into the backseat as mere figure-heads and have implemented their theory of war as technology... that war can and should be used as the means to bring about political and social ends.

is the war in iraq a defensive war? clearly it has not been the case. recent cia reports show that saddam had no wmd's, did not have the ability to make wmd's, was not working with al qaida, and was no threat to the united states (all of which powell had been saying previous to 9/11).

"do you really think ousting him was about making Bush look good back here at home, or abroad?"

no. i never said that. i think bush was using war as a technology towards political ends... meaning that bush is using war as a means of implementing democracy in the middle east.

was saddam a ruthless dictator? yes he was, but his actions fair in comparison to attrocities comitted against the peoples of other countries by their ruthless tyrants (ex. sudan).

"as members of the true church here on the earth, we have a special responsiblity to do all that we can for the weak, the destitute, and needy."

i totally agree with you here. that is what king benjamin taught. that we should give to those in need until we have no more to give. yet, our materialist greed keeps us from doing that. in fact, christ taught that as long as one person has more than another, the world is in sin (d&c 49:20).

the book of mormon teaches quite contrary to your desire to use war as a means for political ends. pre-emptive strikes are condemned in 13 nephi 13 (especially vs 20-21). the righteous nephites never attacked the lamanites to liberate them. ammon's adventures make it clear that they were oppressed and murdered by their ruthless leaders. alma, his sons, and the sons of mosiah made it clear that war was not the means to liberate the lamanites, but that expressions of love and the word of god was the means.

1070 is not a SMALL price to pay. that's one thousand-seventy individual american parents, siblings, children, cousins, uncles, aunts, friends, etc. we've already killed over 15,000 iraqi civilians. THAT OVER 5 TIMES THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE DEAD FROM 9/11... AND THE IRAQIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! tens (or hundreds) of thousands of involuntary soldiers have died by american forces. what kind of sick utilitarian view do we need to justify all of this?

i think democracy is great (although our idea of democracy is nowhere in the book of mormon). it's unfortunate that today we have to practice under a bureaucratic republic. i'm voting for bush. why? he's the lesser of the two evils we have to choose from. we've got the republican who led an immoral war and the democratic who would have.

oddly, the only time that governmental take-over is justified in the book of mormon is when christ kills the bourgeoisie and dissolves all politcal, social, and economic structures among the lehites in 3rd nephi.

what do you think?

imagine

imagine there's no heaven,
it's easy if you try,
no hell below us,
above us only sky,
imagine all the people,
living for today

imagine there's no countries,
it isn't hard to do,
nothing to kill or die for,
and no religion too
imagine all the people,
living life in peace,

you may say i'm a dreamer,
but i'm not the only one,
i hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will be as one

imagine no possessions,
i wonder if you can,
no need for greed or hunger,
a brotherhood of man
imagine all the people,
sharing all the world,

you may say i'm a dreamer,
but i'm not the only one,
i hope someday you'll join us,
and the world will live as one

operation iraqi children

whether or not you agree with the war effort in iraq, go to http://operationiraqichildren.org/ and buy a child in iraq a kit of school supplies. $10 will buy one student his/her supplies for a school year.

if you can't afford to donate ten bucks, then eat peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches for two meals instead of going out for fast food, and then make the donation wiht the money you just saved.

you can lose weight and help out a child. what a deal!

7 steps to be just like me

1. wake up
2. study
3. school
4. work
5. study
6. sleep
7. repeat

this is basically what my life consists of right now and i'm rather getting tired of it. i don't know howm much longer i can keep up both working and going to school full time. i need some excitement. a social life. some relaxation. a vacation. it seems the only bright side in my life right now is a girl in one of my classes that i've been talking a lot with. she's smart, really cute, and unlike most girls here in happy valley. the only problem is that she comes from a totally different background and lifestyle, so i don't know how interested she'd ever be in me.

oh well..

time for step 6