Brea 2: Electric Bugaloo [Dyno Jamz]

So my friends' band Dyno Jamz is going to the Finals of EMP Sound Off! Which is really awesome for them because if they win they get a slot at Bumbershoot (a HUGE music event in Seattle), studio time, air time on a local radio station and stuff. Huge opportunity and I wish them luck.

A Break: International Justice

Well, I have really awesome news:

I got into an Exploration Seminar over the summer dealing with the International justice system and human rights! I'm going to be spending 10 days in Galloway at the Irish Center for Human Rights, 3 days in Dublin, and 6 days in The Hague visiting various international justice courts.

Feeling a Little Drafty? Get Real.

Alright,

So recently I've been hearing a lot of strange things from my friends and I read something on Foreign Policy that raised a few questions for me. These questions all deal about that notorious word that became so infamous in the 1960s and 1970s, which is: The Draft.

"The Draft," is one of those words that makes people cringe. It makes people think, "What? They're going to force me to serve my country?" This is a point which I will expound upon later and disagree with. It makes people shiver and think: Oh god, fascism is here again. Believe it or not, I have heard that one and it made me just sit there with a confounded face. Other people rail against it, saying it's a very violation of our fundamental freedoms, which I will have to give them.

My stance on the draft is basically an emphatic: NO. I however, think that when people bring up the idea that a draft will and can happen, they're pretty much crazy or just not that well informed. I know I'm making a lot of assumptions with that last sentence. People who bring up draft = crazy + uninformed. Let me explain myself first before you go for my jugular, okay?

We don't have the necessary conditions for a draft.

There, I said it, it's that simple. Let me reiterate: We don't have the necessary conditions for a draft. Now, what do I mean by this? Let's take a look at all the times in the United State's (short) history to see what drafts came up. I'm going to only use recent examples here, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. It's kind of interesting that my examples are going to take us from: hooray draft! To: FUCK THE DRAFT (made famous by the Supreme Court case: Cohen v. California).

World War II was the prime example of what I want to highlight as the necessary conditions for a draft. World War II was the last time that we would see a total war being fought on a global scale. It seemed as if almost every nation that had become involved in World War II had gone to a completely war focused economy. Basically everything they were producing was going to the war effort (read: rationing food and women not having nylons because they were being used for parachutes). So how does this make the necessary conditions? Everyone else was doing it. It's as simple as: we needed the men.

While I'll acknowledge that a lot of people will say: Well, hey Mario! We need the men right now in Afghanistan! I'm going to say: Well, yes and no. Yes, the United States shifted to a networkcentric warfare strategy and reduced the size of the troops and now they're facing the harsh reality of not having enough boots on the ground, I'm going to have to say this: Is the Taliban forcing conscription? No, they are not. They can't even really force conscription.

See, the thing here is this: Germany, Italy, and Japan were using conscription. All our allies that we have now, with the exception of the U.K. were beaten down by the Germans. So now we faced a really large, professional army that had the military machinery of Europe at its behest, while we had a large, professional army that had vast amounts of resources in Asian at its behest. Now, too me, this sounds a little different than the Taliban running around in the mountains of Afghanistan. Think of how many men we lost in World War II compared to how many we've lost since 2001 in Afghanistan. About 505,000 servicemen killed, 700,00 servicemen wounded in World War II on the American side. About 500 Americans have died in Afghanistan. 4,237 dead in Iraq, 31,010 wounded. Now, while I don't want to make it seem like the dead and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are insignificant, far from it. I just want to highlight the "conditions" which brought about "the draft." World War II happened in four years. We've been in Afghanistan since 2001, Iraq since 2003. However, the draft mechanism was made after World War I, in an effort to create a standing army, which we really did not have at the time. World War I was a very bloody war, which stands to reason why we'd want to have a standing army in case Europe went at it again.

We hadn't yet really gotten into the mindset of human rights yet. It took the atrocities of World War II for the world to figure out that the recognition of human rights was probably a good idea. This recognition of human rights led it to be wide spread, and almost everyone by the time Vietnam rolled around knew what basic human rights were, or at least had this vague notion that such a thing existed. Moreover there was also the addition of the television and the nightly news that turned the public against the draft (could you imagine what would've happened if there was TV around when World War I or II were going on?).

So here we have a kind of two headed spear against the draft. On one hand, we have the notion that we are more technologically superior than we were back in the early half of the 20th century, and that the people we are currently fighting do not have such a developed infrastructure or military capabilities such as the Germans and Japanese did at the time, or even the Vietnamese in North Vietnam. While on the other hand we have a large resentment towards the draft, and we have mass media to show us the casualties and to sway public sentiment.

Frankly, to me, a draft would seem impossible. It doesn't even sound like a good idea. We currently can't even really supply or own military (numerous examples in Iraq and Afghanistan), so how are we going to outfit a 100,000+ more people? 500,000+ more people? I don't think we can even do it. The only imaginable way is if the Taliban somehow got its caliphate in the Middle East with tanks and stuff and we had to shift to a total war doctrine again.

There are various other reasons why a draft isn't a good idea. They range anywhere from people crying out that its a violation of their human rights, it can turn public sentiment against the war, the army that is created could be undisciplined and have a low moral (do you really want people to serve who don't want to?). All of these are very valid reasons, and I think that the only way to make them just excuses or not valid reasons would require a lot of time and a lot of money. You would have to see that each of the people are very well trained, organized, and disciplined.

I however have one interesting thing that I stumbled upon while reading this. It was a pro for conscription, and it was the only pro that made me go, "Woah." It was the notion that conscription can protect democracy. That if you have a lot of people circulating in and out of the military, you don't have this little "state-within-a-state" the the military can create when it is a professional army. A lot of people sign up for the military might prefer the authoritarian nature of its lifestyle, and once the strict rank and command structure has been put in place some might follow their orders because its their only chance at a job and a decent life. So, if you have a constant turnover rate, this might be alleviated. The caveat to this though is that the United States has civilian control over the military, and in its 200+ years of exsistence, I can't recall off the top of my head any medium to large scale attempt at a military coup, or even a small one.

All in all, it boils down to this: If you think it's feeling a little drafty in here, shut the window of doubt, bulk up on your knowledge and hope for the best. Liberties are like muscles, the more you use them, the stronger they become. If you however are completely apathetic? Well, then you'll get pushed around.

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.

First post

So yeah, back in high school I used to keep a livejournal which I could write down my thoughts and all of that stuff in. So, I suppose here I will begin with a sense of purpose.

The purpose of this blog: To record my thoughts, political rants and raves, and what's going on in my life. While I rather not use this as my main source of venting, since I have friends to do that with, this will be a good tool to use.

I went browsing through my old livejournal and xanga to see if I could get a sense of purpose. I found out that I mostly ranted about the same things throughout my younger years in life, and it seems to be pretty much the norm for everybody: school. I'd rave about the parties and times I hung out with my friends and this has really shaped who I am. I live for my friends, and I hope that someday, sometime they will be able to read this and I will be able to shed some light on things for them. Call me a pedagogue, call me a prophet, call me a friend. Well, I went looking through to find a sense of "purpose" for my blog and and I found it. It was a poem read during my high school graduation. Invictus by William Ernest Henley, here it goes:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

I'll update soon enough, I just need to read the news first.

p.s. I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine...

Dan: [Warhammer 40,000 is] All about how you play. If you suck, learn how to play against what you're bad against. Saying 'don't take it' is for pussies.

I really like the last part of the quote, "Saying 'don't take it' is for pussies." This has such a broader meaning to me than just a game. Good job Dan, and thank you for the inspiration.