That's right, spanking your children is bad while America is full of spoiled rotten kids. Let's not discipline the children and buy them cell phones, iPods, video games, Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, and expensive sneakers.
Spanking is bad but NRA is good. Spanking is bad but violence in movies is embraced. Spanking is bad but death penalty is supported. Spanking is bad but it's OK to invade a country and shove democracy down their throat.
Is it possible that all these are connected? Are there any relations at all of how American adults think and view the world to how they were raised? Maybe or maybe not. I too, could make an extreme generalization but is it the most efficient way to look at the issue?
It's almost pointless to bring up how some adults grew up to be the upstanding citizens with or without getting spanked as children. There are so many viable aspects that come into play in deciding whether spanking is a good tool for parents to discipline their children. Spanking may work in some countries and may fail miserably in the other.
Then there is the aspect of defining spanking. How do you differentiate between spanking, hitting, smacking, whipping, etc? And what if there is a formal rule in place at schools where children already know that if they do certain things then there would get some spanking?
And what about the motive behind spanking? What if the parents spank, not out of anger, but just as a rule, a form of disciplinary/correction?
Monday, January 22, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
Sending more U.S. troops to Iraq is a bad idea but what can we do at this point?
Some questions had been asked regarding the alternative to the President Bush's new Iraq Policy plan. Here is my attempt to answer those questions.
Q: So what do we do?
A: Withdraw. Not immediately but slowly. Set a time and stick with it. I prefer no longer than later this year.
Q: I think popular opinion turned against this war, not because it was wrong AND stupid, but because it wasn't a slam dunk win.
A: Unfortunately, I think you're quite correct. People need to stop thinking of this as a sport and stop using the terms like win and lose.
On a larger scale, this isn't just a war against a few local insurgents but a war against global terrorism. And in that regard, the world has been fighting this war for ages because it's an ongoing problem. If people can understand this then they can start thinking clearly and would be willing to accept withdrawing the troops as regrouping, not losing.
Q: But we created that mess- shouldn't we fix it?
A: Absolutely. By regrouping and start a committee with a new batch of people who can bring new, fresh ideas to the table - preferably, someone who has been against the war from the beginning (i.e. Barack Obama) and/or someone who has no connections to Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, oil companies, and Saudi royal family.
Q: I hear a lot of congressional Dems calling for withdrawal- but how many of them are just on the same bandwagon they were on when it was time to give the goober-in-chief carte blanche?
A: Politicians are people just like us. And unfortunately, they bought into the Bush Administration's scare tactics just as majority of Americans did. If I could, I would hang them all but we need some of these people who can now see that the invasion was wrong and willing to do something to help correcting it.
Q: I don't profess to have any answers, but how do you run roughshod over a country, destroy its infrastructure, completely destabilize an already fragile set up, and then claim- well we "gave" you freedom, now you're on your own? I'm not talking about goober's "stay the course" crap- but we made this bed...
A: We can retrieve and slowly bring back the troops. It's possible that at some point, the troops would be sent back providing that the mission is specific and has a clear goal that can be achieved in a short period of time.
What will happen to Iraq? I have no answer but I can't see it being worse than it is right now.
I'm thinking that to fight terrorism in a long term, a country needs to first strengthen its own by focusing on the key areas such as economy, spending, education, health care, environment, etc. As it is, the US aren't in its best shape with so many diversions created by the Bush Administration.
America needs to work on gaining back the trust of the people around the world. It needs to gain back the status of the leader of the free world - not in term of the military power but to be, once again, a country that people everywhere can look up to and a country that people are willing to follow (didn't happen during the Iraq invasion and no, I didn't forget Poland).
Q: So what do we do?
A: Withdraw. Not immediately but slowly. Set a time and stick with it. I prefer no longer than later this year.
Q: I think popular opinion turned against this war, not because it was wrong AND stupid, but because it wasn't a slam dunk win.
A: Unfortunately, I think you're quite correct. People need to stop thinking of this as a sport and stop using the terms like win and lose.
On a larger scale, this isn't just a war against a few local insurgents but a war against global terrorism. And in that regard, the world has been fighting this war for ages because it's an ongoing problem. If people can understand this then they can start thinking clearly and would be willing to accept withdrawing the troops as regrouping, not losing.
Q: But we created that mess- shouldn't we fix it?
A: Absolutely. By regrouping and start a committee with a new batch of people who can bring new, fresh ideas to the table - preferably, someone who has been against the war from the beginning (i.e. Barack Obama) and/or someone who has no connections to Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, oil companies, and Saudi royal family.
Q: I hear a lot of congressional Dems calling for withdrawal- but how many of them are just on the same bandwagon they were on when it was time to give the goober-in-chief carte blanche?
A: Politicians are people just like us. And unfortunately, they bought into the Bush Administration's scare tactics just as majority of Americans did. If I could, I would hang them all but we need some of these people who can now see that the invasion was wrong and willing to do something to help correcting it.
Q: I don't profess to have any answers, but how do you run roughshod over a country, destroy its infrastructure, completely destabilize an already fragile set up, and then claim- well we "gave" you freedom, now you're on your own? I'm not talking about goober's "stay the course" crap- but we made this bed...
A: We can retrieve and slowly bring back the troops. It's possible that at some point, the troops would be sent back providing that the mission is specific and has a clear goal that can be achieved in a short period of time.
What will happen to Iraq? I have no answer but I can't see it being worse than it is right now.
I'm thinking that to fight terrorism in a long term, a country needs to first strengthen its own by focusing on the key areas such as economy, spending, education, health care, environment, etc. As it is, the US aren't in its best shape with so many diversions created by the Bush Administration.
America needs to work on gaining back the trust of the people around the world. It needs to gain back the status of the leader of the free world - not in term of the military power but to be, once again, a country that people everywhere can look up to and a country that people are willing to follow (didn't happen during the Iraq invasion and no, I didn't forget Poland).
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
quick rec - jan 07
For horror, I'd recommend The Descent, a non-conventional British horror about a six female friends' caving expedition gone wrong.
If you're a left-wing-Canadian-hippy, watch Who Killed the Electric Car? and be mad as hell just like when you watched the part about the California blackout in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
In Good Company is a well made, non-pretentious, and light hearted comedy drama about a manager (Dennis Quaid) who got demoted after his company got bought. It's from the same director (Paul Weitz) who directed About a Boy and the first American Pie.
Another good flick that the whole family could enjoy is Cars, a colorful animation from Pixar with some really good message for children.
A movie to avoid is Miami Vice. I'm a fan of Michael Mann (Collateral and The Insider) but "Miami Vice" was totally off the mark. Mann didn't understand what made Vice's fans loved the TV series. The mistake begins at casting, then script, acting, and directing. Colin Farrell doesn't have the charm of the original Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Jamie Foxx looks uncomfortable in the role of Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). The only redeeming aspect is on the production, which is first rate and I like the cinematography of the city night life, which is Mann’s trademark.
Lastly, if you don't mind the violent, try this overlooked little movie set in Australia called The Proposition. It has the smell of Unforgiven and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and is as well directed.
If you're a left-wing-Canadian-hippy, watch Who Killed the Electric Car? and be mad as hell just like when you watched the part about the California blackout in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.
In Good Company is a well made, non-pretentious, and light hearted comedy drama about a manager (Dennis Quaid) who got demoted after his company got bought. It's from the same director (Paul Weitz) who directed About a Boy and the first American Pie.
Another good flick that the whole family could enjoy is Cars, a colorful animation from Pixar with some really good message for children.
A movie to avoid is Miami Vice. I'm a fan of Michael Mann (Collateral and The Insider) but "Miami Vice" was totally off the mark. Mann didn't understand what made Vice's fans loved the TV series. The mistake begins at casting, then script, acting, and directing. Colin Farrell doesn't have the charm of the original Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Jamie Foxx looks uncomfortable in the role of Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas). The only redeeming aspect is on the production, which is first rate and I like the cinematography of the city night life, which is Mann’s trademark.
Lastly, if you don't mind the violent, try this overlooked little movie set in Australia called The Proposition. It has the smell of Unforgiven and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and is as well directed.
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