I get nervous when someone in Muslim garb gets on my trolley, you see Juan I ride the San Diego Trolley twice a day, ten times a week to and from school and since 9/11 and knowing the terrorist history of countries like Israel, Italy and the United Kingdom I naturally keep my eye out on public transport.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I served 20 years in the US Navy and I didn't do it as a job, for school money or for that matter the benefits of retirement, although everyone of those are excellent reasons to serve your country, matter of fact I'm using the 9/11 GI bill to attend college now and am currently drawing my military retirement benefits. But anyone who knows me will tell you I served my country for 20 years because I love my country.
Did I say in the above paragraph I love my country, oh I did well that's good because I really mean it. There is more to it than that however, not only do I love my country I love what it stands for, especially everyone's freedom of religion and speech. Another thing anyone who knows me also knows there is not a prejudice bone in my body, I love Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and as Jesus I love everyone. I may not agree with their morals and ideas in this life but I love them. I love you and I love them, I hope this freaks you out
No I meant what I said up there I on that last paragraph I wish it didn't but the way the world is today a grown man telling a total stranger, let alone a total stranger who happens to be a man I love you just as Jesus did, freaks almost everyone out, that's too bad to.
Well Juan let me get back to what I was saying, you see I think I mentioned I had been in the Navy for 20 years so I think I know how people with militaristic thinking think. Maybe not to the extent of the radical thinkers of Al Qaeda, The Taliban or Hamas but I do believe that they have plans to still strike the US right here on our soil and next time it probably won't be a major show like 9/11, most likely targets are going to be city buses, subways, grocery stores and yes the Little Red San Diego Trolley that I ride 10 times a week back and forth from school.
So I don't know who is going to fire me, but yes I get nervous when I see someone in Muslim garb on the San Diego Trolley, and I'm trusting most of my Muslim friends here in San Diego will understand where I am coming from.
Oh by the way NPR you loss!!!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Current Political Atomosphere
Good afternoon all my non-readers, I hope this day finds everyone doing good and thinking about who and what you plan on voting for here in the next week or so. What? you have no intention of voting? Well I am not suprised I've been hearing that all over the place the last few days and not just on the news. As you know if you by chance read the about me sectin of my blog I am attending college full time at San Diego City College and I constantly hear from the students that they are not qualified to vote.
All I have to say is give me a F ing break, these same students who are not qualified to show up at the polls or put their ballot in the mail box are the same students who assemble almost monthly for one cause or another. The latest cause was a nation wide "strike" or walk out protesting the continuing rise of tuition, another is the protests concerning Arizona immigration bill. These young people surely find themselves qualified to protest over Arizona and demand the heads of Arizona law makers if the law isn't changed but for some reason they just don't see themselves posessing the proper knowledge to vote for who is going to be sitting on the city of Santee, Ca. city council or the Padre Dam Water District.
I find all this very hard to believe, to me all I have to do to prepare to vote is first look at my own morals and beliefs so I can compare what I beleive when it comes to God, Jesus Christ and the rights of other human bengs with the morals of currntly running for political office.
Second I look at all the issues on the ballet and go through the same process to insure that what I am voting for fits in to my moral standards. Now this is the problem for most young people today, especially I find that the younger people who live for the moment, their morals change according to the situation they find themselves in, if it's exciting or brings some kind of immediate gratification than they are all for it. It is when patience becomes a requirement they find they aren't qualified.
So what does it take for a college student to become a qualified voter? Very simple as you do if you are getting ready for that Trigometry final, study. Everything you need to know is either right there in front of you in the voter information pamphlet or look up the person or subject on the internet. Especially if the person you are considering is an incombent, that person stance and complete voting record can be found on line.
So here we are, almost time to head too the polls or drop that ballet in the mail, your registered to vote, don't blow it off, take a few minutes and research what you are voting for and make at least a semi-informed desecion.
The only thing I would ask, is don't play a guessing game with your ballot, if you truly don't kow, then by all means leave that question blank, other wise if you just write something in, you may be adversely affecting others, or worse yet yourself.
Lets just do it, do some research, take the knowledge you have gained and make a qualified decision, come on folks lets show the elite out there that many of us still care. Thank about it, do we want another Nixon or Clinton in office? I think not
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Judges on the Ballot!
With the upcoming election I find that of the few people who do vote, (this country now has a terrible voting record, so many people bitch about whats going on in their local offices, state offices and the federal government but few vote) there are some areas that people skim right through with very little thought of how they are voting, one of these is when you get to the yes no votes on judges.
So many people think that deciding on the judges who are going to oversee the legal codes in this land is above them, that they don't have the proper legal knowledge to even try and get involved in this aspect of government.
I want to take the time to tell you if you are one who thinks this way, to remember these people sitting on the bench make first and most important life and death decisions, much of their time sitting on the bench is reviewing criminal cases, especially if you are in a state with the death penalty. In California it is the law that every case where a defendant is found guilty and given the death penalty the California Supreme Court must review that case. Now let me just say I agree with the death penalty whole heatedly, I believe if you are such a terrible human being as to take anther's life, this is the only way to pay your debt to society. However every month you hear about an inmate who was executed years ago and now new evidence has been found pointing to the inmates innocence, so I don't think the death penalty should be rubber stamped as it was years ago. Today's judges must look at death penalty cases intensely, and I believe that any inmate who was not convicted by eye witness testimony or DNA should have their penalty's reduced to life. With out either of those two requirements a mistake could be highly likely.
Here is one of the most important points on deciding on who is sitting on the bench, today you hear many complaints where voters have passed a new law or updated a standing one already on the books and someone sues the state or nation saying the law is un-constitutional.
The perfect example of this is California's Prop. 8 California voters voted amend their constitution stating that legal marriage is only that between a man and a woman. On 04 Aug 2010 Judge Vaughn R. Walker declared Prop. 8 unconstitutional. From that day on many California voters are questioning why they should care and vote about what is placed on the ballot since some "fricken" judge will come out and say it doesn't matter what the voter thinks.
Now the subject of why you should vote or not is a topic for another post, the important aspect pertaining to the point of this blog post is that everyone of us who are registered to vote in California had a say in wether Judge Walker should be sitting on the bench in the first place. Who is sitting on the bench is more important today than ever before, because despite how we vote it is these judges and their political views that decide how we live our everyday lives.
Now you are probably sitting there right now say, um wait a second Duane, judge appointments are non-political and when you do vote on them they don't even list a political party on the ballot. True originally our founding fathers made the position of judges a appointed office to keep politics out of the picture, but it has never worked. Every one of us has and oppion and a belief about all aspects of our lives and public policy, and this includes judges. I've never heard of a judge that was not a member of a party and did not sit on one side of an issue or not and although they are only suppose to use their unbiased research regarding the constitution to make these decisions, they would not be human if they did not let personal beliefs become involved somewhere.
So before election time gets here, sit down with you voter information literature, and think about your values and what you believe and sit down and see where the judges sit in line with how you feel. Look at their pass desecion records and go from there, if they have made desecions in the past that don't sit good with your beliefs and moral standing walk into those polls ready to mark No where it says should judge so and so sit at the California Supreme Court, District Court of Appeals or your local municipal courts. Be informed and make your vote count and not what a judge in his or her flowing robes my think.
So many people think that deciding on the judges who are going to oversee the legal codes in this land is above them, that they don't have the proper legal knowledge to even try and get involved in this aspect of government.
I want to take the time to tell you if you are one who thinks this way, to remember these people sitting on the bench make first and most important life and death decisions, much of their time sitting on the bench is reviewing criminal cases, especially if you are in a state with the death penalty. In California it is the law that every case where a defendant is found guilty and given the death penalty the California Supreme Court must review that case. Now let me just say I agree with the death penalty whole heatedly, I believe if you are such a terrible human being as to take anther's life, this is the only way to pay your debt to society. However every month you hear about an inmate who was executed years ago and now new evidence has been found pointing to the inmates innocence, so I don't think the death penalty should be rubber stamped as it was years ago. Today's judges must look at death penalty cases intensely, and I believe that any inmate who was not convicted by eye witness testimony or DNA should have their penalty's reduced to life. With out either of those two requirements a mistake could be highly likely.
Here is one of the most important points on deciding on who is sitting on the bench, today you hear many complaints where voters have passed a new law or updated a standing one already on the books and someone sues the state or nation saying the law is un-constitutional.
The perfect example of this is California's Prop. 8 California voters voted amend their constitution stating that legal marriage is only that between a man and a woman. On 04 Aug 2010 Judge Vaughn R. Walker declared Prop. 8 unconstitutional. From that day on many California voters are questioning why they should care and vote about what is placed on the ballot since some "fricken" judge will come out and say it doesn't matter what the voter thinks.
Now the subject of why you should vote or not is a topic for another post, the important aspect pertaining to the point of this blog post is that everyone of us who are registered to vote in California had a say in wether Judge Walker should be sitting on the bench in the first place. Who is sitting on the bench is more important today than ever before, because despite how we vote it is these judges and their political views that decide how we live our everyday lives.
Now you are probably sitting there right now say, um wait a second Duane, judge appointments are non-political and when you do vote on them they don't even list a political party on the ballot. True originally our founding fathers made the position of judges a appointed office to keep politics out of the picture, but it has never worked. Every one of us has and oppion and a belief about all aspects of our lives and public policy, and this includes judges. I've never heard of a judge that was not a member of a party and did not sit on one side of an issue or not and although they are only suppose to use their unbiased research regarding the constitution to make these decisions, they would not be human if they did not let personal beliefs become involved somewhere.
So before election time gets here, sit down with you voter information literature, and think about your values and what you believe and sit down and see where the judges sit in line with how you feel. Look at their pass desecion records and go from there, if they have made desecions in the past that don't sit good with your beliefs and moral standing walk into those polls ready to mark No where it says should judge so and so sit at the California Supreme Court, District Court of Appeals or your local municipal courts. Be informed and make your vote count and not what a judge in his or her flowing robes my think.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October News
Well October is here, and I'm sure most of us are already aware what most of the news this month is going to be composed of with the election just a couple weeks away we will be getting a serious blast of political news. One thing I am surprised we haven't seen much of yet is the political adds, which I am sure is waiting in the wings to begin blasting us any day now, especially here in California where one of the most high profile governors since Ronald Reagan has reached his term limit and will be leaving office.
What I'm going to try and do know prior to the elections in November is scan the political action in California and the rest of the country and examine some of the most important and controversial issues and candidates on the ballots coming up. If you have something on your local ballot and would like it discussed just drop me a line and let me know.
What I'm going to try and do know prior to the elections in November is scan the political action in California and the rest of the country and examine some of the most important and controversial issues and candidates on the ballots coming up. If you have something on your local ballot and would like it discussed just drop me a line and let me know.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)