Don't call it a comeback...

Dear nonexistent readers,

Okay, Andy, you count. Anyhow, I'm thinking of seriously giving this entire political blog thing another try. I read about the news, complain about it in my head, and hopefully make good points. After a very long, eye-opening quarter at the University of Washington of 15 credits (full time) of political sciences, I think I've gotten my brain shit-kicked into high gear and ready to rock. An awesome quarter by the way, filled with comparing courts, learning about human rights, and being in an EU Simulation class, which rocked.

So, hopefully I'll be updating this more and more often. Maybe generate readers? Who knows, doubt it, I have thousands of people to contend with. Maybe I should start a new angle, about courts and laws...getting ahead of myself there. Uh, well stayed tuned I suppose. I'll be updating this one later today hopefully.

A Turning Point

This quarter at the UW I'm taking two classes: American Foreign Policy, and International Conflict. I also have an internship with a political consulting firm that specializes in fund raising. It's really really awesome, but I just can't escape the fact of how much more I like international politics than domestic politics.

So maybe, just maybe, I'm going to try to gear this blog away from the candidates and more towards what's going on the world and my view points. Who knows, I might throw in these crazy theories I'm learning in my International Conflict class, and then case examples from my American FP class. I'm starting to figure out that if I do go get into politics, I'd prefer the international level or at least nation wide level, rather than the state and local level.

Failure of the Inevitable

Hillary Clinton was the front runner before the campaigning started and the primaries and caucus began to roll around. It's been a crazy past year with Clinton being the come back to kid, to her not having a chance to who knows what now. I'll be updating this as I go, I just don't have the time right now. If there's one thing that is for sure about the Clinton campaign, as much as I think Hillary is great, there was a failure of the inevitable.

More to come.

Quick Anecdote

I need to balance out my blog or start talking more about international happenings, just too busy. Well, keep tuned, I'll be updating soon!

He Said That She Said That He Said That She Was That He Was Against Trade - Err What?

With the Ohio Democratic Primaries coming up, I've began to read a lot of interesting things that both Obama and Clinton have been saying. Mainly, they've been saying that the other is for NAFTA and outsourcing, but you hear it from Obama more. They both seem to be pounding home the fact that the other person thinks NAFTA is a good idea. Well what's interesting about this, is that they're both not really that wrong.

In Ben Smith's blog, Politico, he points out that:

"The odd thing here is that both Clinton and Obama come from the pro-trade wing of the party. Both have, in less heated moments, defended free trade in theory, and neither wants to repeal Nafta.

But when in Ohio, you argue about who hates trade more."

To tell you the truth, somehow I'm not surprised. Now to leave you with the anti-Obama mailer because in all regards he is the one that is crying out against Clinton more (and I'm a little bit biased, but who isn't?).

What Is Our World Coming To?

Granted I'm a little slow on the uptake on this one, I just had to update really quick because I have to note something: What the fuck is our world coming to? Is this the End of Times?

So the University of Washington Husky Basketball team - ranked #9 in the PAC-10 - beats #1 the UCLA Bruins (I never doubted that they were going to lose anyways, because I'm a Husky), but not only that Ann Coulter endorsed Hillary Clinton over John McCain. I'd like to just type that out once more, Ann Coulter endorsed Hillary Clinton over John McCain. Holy Shit, I half-agree with something Ann Coulter says, I feel dirty. Now, already I can see someone just jumping and sparking going "That's because Ann Coulter is a woman and so is Hillary Clinton." While that may be true, it's still nonetheless shocking. The same woman who called John Edwards a "faggot" (excuse my language), is endorsing the person who Edwards is thinking of endorsing. What the hell? Here it is straight from the horse's - err should I actually say good-person-because-I'm-for-Hillary-also's mouth.

p.s. This is for you Juliana, haha

Dude, Where's My Nuke?

While reading two of my favorite blogs, Daily Kos and Foreign Policy's Passport, there were two articles with the same message: The United States mishandles its nuclear weapons in some capacity or another.

The post in Daily Kos is highly informative and I suggest reading it, however I could not help but comment on what was going on. Last year, a B52 bomber flew across the country with a nuclear payload that it was not suppose to have. How the hell did they manage this? As Stephen Aftergood writes in his website

Though the Minot AFB event is not mentioned in the new procedures, the origins of that mishap are implicitly addressed: “Do not co-mingle nuclear and non-nuclear munitions/missiles … in the same storage structure, cell, or WS3 [weapons storage and security system].”

Wait, what? We're storing nuclear and non-nuclear munitions and missiles in the same storage structures, cells and weapon storage systems? This is only coupled with the fact of what was reported in Foreign Policy's Passport.

Joshua Keating reported on a press conference a couple of days back in Islamabad,Pakistan with Pakistani Brigadier General Atta M. Iqham, who is in charge of his country's nuclear weapons. Brig. Gen. Iqham said that...

"In Pakistan, we store nuclear warheads separately from their delivery systems, and a nuclear warhead can only be activated if three separate officers agree," Iqhman said. "In the United States, almost 20 years after the end of the Cold War, nuclear weapons still sit atop missiles, on hair-trigger alert, and it only takes two launch-control officers to activate a nuclear weapon. The U.S. government has persistently ignored arms control experts around the world who have said they should at least de-alert their weapons."

Well, this is great isn't it? Not only do we store our nuclear weapons with conventional weapons, but now they're also on a hair-trigger alert. What a hair-trigger alert is that when we receive warning of an attack, our nuclear weapons are launched on air, land, or sea within 15 minutes of the confirmed attack. This goes back to our Cold War strategy of MAD - Mutual Assured Destruction - which deters countries from trying to do a nuclear sneak attack. Not only that, but in the land of A.Q. Khan they manage to store their nuclear weapons and conventional weapons apart. However, things just get better from here on out.

Iqham had also pointed out that our national "Oh, fuck!" moment with the B52 bomber that carried six strategic nuclear weapons across the country was not an isolated incident. He cited several cold war mishaps including when a Titan II missile blew up during maintenance sending a Nuclear warhead flying 600 feet through the air. Not only that, but Iqham's aide, Colonel Bom Zhalot had to add...

"We also worry that the U.S. commander-in-chief has confessed to having been an alcoholic. Here in Pakistan, alcohol is 'haram,' so this isn't a problem for us. Studies have also found that one-fifth of U.S. military personnel are heavy drinkers. How many of those have responsibility for nuclear weapons?"

Many of you who are reading these first few posts know something about me that many other people don't. However, for those who don't I will enlighten you. I'm in a Fraternity. Thus, I do drink, and I know a few people who could be summed largely up as alcoholics (or borderline, but this is college so they're just have fun, right?). Throughout my time in my Fraternity, I've learned many different things. Some inconsequential, some that are very important. One of these important things I've learned is this: Explosives and alcohol never go well. So now, let's add in a new factor. Say that this explosive has the power of a few million tons of TNT, and can cause radiation. Sound like a good mix? Hardly.

Now, let's add a new factor to the mix. Yesterday in the Washington Post there was an article about how the Defense Department is "displaying a "precipitous decrease in attention" to the security and control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal..." Oh, great. Retired Air Force Gen. Larry D. Welch, who was the head of the Strategic Air Command and later the Air Force Chief of Staff during the 1980s, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that...

"The decline in DoD focus has been more pronounced than realized and too extreme to be acceptable...the nation and its leadership do not value the nuclear mission and the people who perform that mission."

And who are these people? Air Force Colonels, Navy Captains, and mid-level civilian officials...as opposed to the Senior Flag Officers and Senior Civilian Officials that did this during the Cold War?

So let's review the facts really quick. On August 29th, we had a B52H Strategic Bomber fly from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, and the pilot didn't know that they were armed nuclear weapons. Not only that, but we keep conventional and nuclear weapons together. On top of this, 1 and 5 of our military officials who are in charge of these nuclear weapons are heavy drinkers, and the DoD's focus on our nuclear program has dwindled. I'm going to leave you all with just an image to sum this up in my mind.