Tragedy at Fort Hood

So we all know about the shooting at Fort Hood last week that killed 13 American soldiers and injured 29. We also know that the shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was a Muslim who allegedly proclaimed "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) before he shot everyone up. As it turns out, he survived the shooting, and investigators are beginning to probe the situation to determine his motives. Preliminary reports state that Hasan acted alone in the shooting. While most people tend to say they're upset that the murderer survived while so many of his victims were killed, I actually am glad he survived.

After his name was revealed, and especially once witnesses said he had shouted God is Great beforehand, the attacks on Islam continued (I'm obviously not saying beginning because they never actually stopped). It seems very easy for people to point the finger to Islam when a radical extremist acts out on his own insane tendencies. In fact, in my mind, not only is it unrepresentative of what Islam is about, it lessens the severity of the acts of the man himself to allow him to cop out on the excuse of religion. Would you really want to blame Timothy McVeigh's actions on his Christian heritage? Seung-hui Cho was raised in a Christian household. His actions aren't a result of any mental or psychological problems, but simply his warped religion. Now that Hasan is alive, hopefully the FBI can probe into his warped mind enough that people can see that he is in fact a psychopath, and not a true Muslim.

And by the way, if people really believe that Islam promotes this kind of violence, what is their ultimate goal? What would they have happen to Muslims? There are people who refuse to believe or accept that Islam does not condone these kinds of actions, regardless of their ignorance of the Quran. They believe the religion promotes war and violence. So what I want to know is, what do they want to have happen to the religion? To Muslims? Since it doesn't seem possible to some people for a person to just be a murdering psychopath, and it must be their religion, what is the solution?

And for all the people who are sad that Hasan didn't die, don't worry. He will be Court Martialed and given the death penalty, as he is subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Correction: A "Jackass"

You see, this shows you just how much more intelligent and detail-oriented this President is than I am. I merely called Kanye West an ass for what he did.

In all seriousness, what President Obama said was 100% true, and because it was an off-the-record comment that was inappropriately leaked, he has no obligation to explain himself or apologize. In fact, the only reason I think this story merits a comment is that I believe someone needs to be fired because of the leak. ABC News Reporter Terry Moran was interviewing the President when West's actions were brought up. Moran knew Obama's comments were off the record, but he still tweeted the information for millions to see. He needs to be fired, or whoever actually tweeted the message. If it was in fact Moran himself, he should be held especially accountable because, as the interviewer, he knew the exchange was off the record.

This is one of those situations where he was not talking as the President, he was talking as a human. He is allowed to have opinions, thoughts, words - as long as he is not addressing the public as the President. Somebody needs to take a fall for this leak, and it isn't the President.

Kanye Makes an Ass of Himself

I'm sure most reading this have seen the footage by now, or have heard about it. At the VMA's last night, Taylor Swift won the award for best female video, beating out a competition which included Lady Gaga, for "Poker Face", and Beyonce, for "Single Ladies". As she accepted her award, she began talking about how amazing it was to achieve her dream, and thanking everyone for giving her a chance since she sings Country. At this point, Kanye West decided it was his place to jump on stage, grab the microphone from her, and point out that Beyonce had made one of the best videos of all time, before shrugging and returning the mic.

Now, I'm not even a fan of Taylor Swift, but that was about the rudest, most out of line move I can remember seeing at an awards show like this. In fact, it goes beyond rude - it wasn't even his right. People have the right to their opinions, sure, but he had no right to steal her moment like that. To interrupt - to TAKE the microphone out of her hand while she is accepting an award (a subjective award, by the way) - and say that this award belonged to somebody else was a terrible and classless thing to do. In fact, what he did was embarrassing not only to Swift, but Beyonce as well. She certainly didn't want anyone stealing someone else's fire and claiming it belonged to her (I do commend Beyonce for calling Swift back up when Beyonce accepted an award and giving her a chance to say what she didn't get to say earlier).

In spite of how upset I was that he did this, the real reason I am writing this is because I have seen several friends of mine put status updates online praising Kanye for what he did. They're proud of him because he is keeping it real, speaking the truth, supporting who really should have won. Again, it was a subjective award, first of all. Secondly, I was pretty upset to see people I considered myself friends with supporting such an asshole move. Like I said, I'm not even a Taylor Swift fan; I don't like Country music. But that doesn't make any difference to how I feel that Kanye was way out of line here. In fact, even if you are a Beyonce fan, and you feel Beyonce deserved that award, I don't see how you could condone what Kanye did. Because as I said, what he did was embarrassing to her as well, and she has too much class to condone anything like that. If this happened in a sports capacity, such as an NBA awards show where players who are talking are also under a union contract through their league, sanctions and fines could be placed on someone for pulling a move like this. In this case, I don't know that there is anything that can or will be done in response to this, other than Kanye's reputation perhaps taking a downswing. He was, after all, booed pretty much the rest of the night whenever he was mentioned.

Anyway, my opinion certainly is much less of him now. Not that I was buying his albums in the first place, but I certainly won't be giving him any of my recommendations. The one thing I liked about him was what he said about George Bush's response efforts during the Katrina response. However, that was on his own time. The camera was on him - it was his turn to talk. When someone else is accepting an award, and it is their turn, you don't cut in and steal their mic away, regardless of your opinion. He stole more than just her mic; he stole her moment, her happiness. How could anyone support somebody doing something like that?

Personal Update

It has been quite some time since I've updated this blog. I have just recently come back to this site and realized I do have a few people still following me. When I first made this blog the idea was for me to write in it at least a few times a week to get me in the habit of writing more often. Obviously, I haven't been very diligent in that respect. Normally my blogs have been about news and politics, but I don't have anything on my mind in that arena right now. Instead, I suppose I'll just update my life since the last time I wrote here.

In January, I became an uncle to a beautiful little girl named Aleena. I have enjoyed getting to visit her whenever I'm in Sacramento and see her grow up and discover the world around her. It's great to get some experience and practice without the full-on commitment of fatherhood.

I previously was working at Macy's from November of last year until May, when I finally got a job at a radio station. I began work at KDIA 1640 and KDYA 1190, based in Richmond. I am an Internet Research Assistant, but I also do a lot of writing. I write the monthly newsletters for both stations, and I have written some commercials as well. I also have started up profiles for both stations on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and some other less well known user profiles. In addition, I am involved in various research projects on the Internet. There is a lot of creative freedom in my job and I am having a great time coming up with ideas on how to promote and market the station both online and in the real world. It is a great experience for me and I am thrilled to finally have a job that involves so many things that I enjoy doing, namely writing and the radio.

Additionally, I got a job in June with KGO and KSFO of San Francisco, working for their Ground Crew. It is a less involved job--only on weekends--but it is a great experience, and a chance to gain more contacts in the radio industry. I attend events with the station, talk to listeners, and help promote any events or contests going on.

I'm still in the Coast Guard reserves as well. I'll be hitting my five year mark in September. Next year I'll have to decide whether to re-enlist or not. At this point I'm much more on the side of re-enlisting, but I'll know for sure soon.

Other than working, I have been enjoying my life as best I can and of course loving my wife. She helps keep things in perspective for me and reminds me every day of the good and happiness I have in my life. We signed up for me to be on Wipe Out, which is a show where you have to overcome a lot of difficult obstacles. I don't know if I'll be picked for it, but the winner receives $50,000 so I've been working out every day to improve my strength and endurance. If nothing else, I'm getting in better shape so even if I don't get picked I'll have my health.

Anyway, as I said, this is kind of a different direction than my usual category of choice, but I wanted to write something and I don't have anything else on my mind. I'm interested in what other people like to talk about as well, so if you are reading this and have any ideas for me, let me know and I'll give my thoughts.

Update on Gay Marriage Ban

I received a comment two months ago asking what I knew about the California Attorney General Jerry Brown's stance on appealing Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage. I have been neglecting my site for a while, but I would like to provide an update on it now.

Since the passage of Proposition 8, several lawsuits have been filed with the State Supreme Court, including one from Attorney General Brown. Three of these suits are scheduled to be heard in San Francisco on March 5 of this year. While I personally don't know what will come of the hearings, I am optimistic because I believe the passage of Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. One of the factors to consider will be whether the passage represented an "amendment" to the Constitution, or a "revision". Because Proposition 8 took away rights, rather than granted them, citizens and government agencies argue that it required a 2/3 majority of the legislators to pass, rather than a fifty percent majority of the public. Another argument is that Proposition 8 violated the Constitution's definition of "Separation of Powers". A revision such as this can only be made by the judicial branch, not the legislative - so goes the argument.

Back to the comment regarding the Attorney General's contention. Brown's argument, in my opinion, is the "slam dunk". He says what I've been saying the whole time, that the people cannot vote on an issue of civil rights. Whether the majority of the population likes it or not, they cannot vote to take away a constitutionally protected civil right from citizens. I see this point as being critical in the appeals case, because if the anti-8 groups can get the Supreme Court to see this as a case of Constitutionally protected civil rights, I don't see how the Court can do anything but overturn the ban.

Another point that will be addressed will be the case of the 18,000 plus gay couples who are already legally married. The Court will determine whether these marriages will still be officially recognized or not, which at this point, they still are. Again, I can not see these marriages being annulled by the government, because it entails taking away something that had already been given. Of course, that is what Proposition 8 did in the first place, but perhaps with the Supreme Court getting involved, we may see justice being served, though it could take several months before a decision is made. I don't know what will happen, but I know that there are several state senate and house members, as well as legislative members and other government agents, who are in favor of the appeals cases. I will anxiously await the findings, and will update when I learn more.

Orlando Magic and Miami Heat

I just got finished watching the Orlando Magic defeat the Miami Heat 122-99. Despite the lop-sided score, it was actually an entertaining game, particularly with Orlando draining 17 three pointers and Dwayne Wade scoring a career high 50 points. Now, I'm not normally one to report on sports, but I wanted to comment on a mistake by the announcers. Hubie Brown and Dave Pasch were calling the game, and at one point they made a statement about Orlando General Manager Otis Smith. At this point, they cut to a shot of "Otis", as they referred to him. However, unless I am mistaken, the camera was in fact on Nick Anderson, who works for the Magic's public relations. I looked at several pictures of each online and I will admit that they do look very similar, and they are both former Magic players, as the announcers mentioned. But there is enough distinction between the two that I was sure I was looking at Nick Anderson, not Otis Smith. I couldn't find any news regarding this mistake, so perhaps I am the first to report on it. I just wanted to give Anderson his proper mention.