UberPocky

So today marks 5 years in Iraq. So I thought this would be a good time to talk about it. My opinions on this issue have ALWAYS been against the general public. My thoughts on this topic have always been “against the grain” The general public was for it in the beginning, and against it now. Which is rather interesting because I’ve been opposite that both times. I remember at the beginning of the war, there was a protest at my high school (I live in a very democrat anti-war village). I didn’t feel like I could support this protest for two reasons:

• Most of them seemed anti-war because: “War is bad.” This logic drives me absolutely insane. If you are going to protest a war have a reason to protest that specific war. Say your reason. I believe: “War should be avoided, but if it must be done it must be done” It is not something to be entered into lightly. (See my notes below on peace)
• I didn’t think that ditching my education, even if it was during a class that I hated, was a good idea. Actually, looking back, if there was a class that I would have liked to ditch it was the one during the protest. In fact many people went to the protest because they wanted to ditch their classes. The class I was in was almost empty

This does not mean I supported the war, In fact in the days following the protest a couple people asked me and I had to clarify, “No, I do not support the war, but no, I do not support your protest either” It was an odd position to take, in retrospect. I was not in support of the war in those days for one major reason: “It would be a distraction from the real conflict: Afghanistan & Bin Laden” Today, who talks about Afghanistan? It’s gotten better in the last couple of months, now that Iraq is getting quieter (I’ll get to that). However, during the time of the worst in Iraq, Afghanistan was never mentioned. That is the real war on terror.

I have much more to say but it’s far too long for the front page: continue reading…

I was thinking about politics these days how everything is left or right, Democrat or Republican. I was really thinking that two parties are really not enough. I was never able to put on my finger why I thought that though. Then I found The Political Compass. All the pictures I’m about to put forth are from them. Also, mind you that this was made in Great Brittan. So there’s an International flare to some of this stuff.

First things first. In the United States there’s Left and Right. But there are two major classifications of Issues Economic (Taxes, Funding, Spending, Big vs. Small Government) and Social (Equal Rights, Abortion, Moral Issues, Religion). However to be a “Republican” you have to be right of average on both issues. To be a “Democrat” you apparently have to be left on both types of issues. But that’s in a American perspective, in a world wide perspective, Democrats are right on both issues most of the time as well. What if there’s someone like me who’s Right on one and Left on the other? Where do I fall? Oh independent, of course. It’s really that we need Four parties. We may see that being created over the next couple of years/decades/centuries.

Here’s how The Political Compass works: continue reading…