The Calm Before the Storm

While the international scene is going to hell in a handbasket (Iran threatening further development of nuclear weapons, North Korea threatening to use what they've got, Israel, Hezbollah, and Hamas in a shooting war etc), it seems sorta "all quiet on the western front" here at home. That quiet you hear, that's just the troops reloading for the real battle.

That's right, the midterm election is almost upon us, and it looks to be an ugly one. With all the major players jockeying for position heading into the 2008 Presidential campaign, and both parties putting a lot of stock (and a lot of money) into this years results, it will be awfully fun to watch. The Democrats truly seem to think they've got it this time. That they have mixed just the right amounts of Bush bashing, flag waving, and God mentioning to appeal to the heartland, and finally overturn the more than 10 years of Republican rule. The Republican's obviously disagree. I'm not sure how the elections will turn out. I do think it's unlikely that the Democrats will take power, but they will pick up some seats. That spells double trouble for the Republicans because it means even slower movement on key votes, and more attacks on the President and prominent Republicans. It should however, allow Republican favorite John McCain to shine a little longer as the bipartisan leader he is. But not much longer. Expect the Democrats to pull away from joint efforts with Sen. McCain as they position themselves to run against him. Oh, political alliances can be so short lived.

What do you think the midterm elections will bring? Drop us a comment with your predictions, hopes, etc.

Dr. Feelgood or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Israel

In case you haven't turned on the radio, or television, picked up a newspaper, or logged on to the internet (how did you get here), I'll give you the highlights of what's going on in the middle east:

1. Arabs dislike Israel and don't think they have a right to exist, at least not where they are.
2. Israelis feel very strongly that not only do they have a right to exist, but they are located on "their" land. God gave it to them.
3. Israel has over the last few years, lightened up its foreign policy, at least in practice, removing troops from Gaza for instance.
4. Hamas, Hezbollah, and other anti-Israel forces (mostly financed by Syria and Iran) have taken this draw-down as a sign of weakness and continued to attack Israel with suicide bombers, short-range missiles and most recently with kidnappings.
5. Israel decided that enough is enough and after a recent raid by Hezbollah (during which two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped) Israel began a systematic destruction of their bases, artillery, infrastructure and escape routes.

The problem for the international community is that Hezbollah, like most terrorist organizations, doesn't live out in the woods somewhere. They set up shop, and conduct their missions of destruction from the heart of urban areas, amid innocent civilians. While Israel has some of the best weaponry in the world, these attacks can not help but injure and kill some innocent Lebanese people. But what Israel is doing, in my opinion, must be done.

The status-quo (Arabs hate Israel and long for its destruction, Israel maintains massive armament so as to deter outright attacks, but endures daily small attacks) can not be endured any longer. Iran is gaining in power and influence in the region everyday. As long as the current regime is in power there, it is not a question of if, but when, they will attack Israel. This conflict will indeed be a global one. That is why above all other reasons, this fight should be allowed to play out now.

Israel is largely a peaceful nation. It's people do not long for war. They long to be left alone, but that has not been their fate. The Iranian people are probably not a war-mongering people either, but their government is. For years they have made overt threats to Israel, the United States and many allies of those two nations. Up till now, those threats have largely been tough talk. Soon the time will come when that talk will have something behind it, nuclear weapons. A nuclear Iran is an even bigger threat than a nuclear North Korea. If this conflict is allowed to come to its natural conclusion now, before Iran has the capability to kill millions around the world, we as a nation, and a world will be much better off.

I am not suggesting that Israel is allowed to "clean house" driving its enemies into the sea, as they promised to do to Israel all those years ago. However they must be allowed to finish the job with Hezbollah. The group must be destroyed, so that the people of Lebanon, not an extremist regime, can determine the future of their country. And what of Iran, or Syria? If those countries should interfere with Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah, or Hamas, then they too should be made to pay the price for their continued interference in Israel's affairs. For too long, their support of Palestinian and Lebanese terrorism has gone unpunished, and unchecked. It is time to call them accountable. If Iran truly wants nuclear power, not for military reasons but to continued economic growth, then they must join the world of nations, accept Israel as a legitimate state, and cease hostilities, overt, covert and rhetorical against Israel and the United States.

But that's just not going to happen. Only when the citizens of Palestine, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon see that the hostility of their leaders will set them back, not lead them forward, will change begin to occur in the region. I hope for a peaceful middle east, but I fear a nuclear Iran more.

israel's trump card

in case you haven't noticed, we have a pretty serious situation going on over in the middle east. israel is pissed and bombing lebanon (more specicically: hezbolah stongholds), and hezbolah is responding in kind. this was the subject of much of the g8 summit with tony blair and kofi annan suggesting the UN set up a perimeter to secure the israel-lebanon border. the US opposes this, one of their reasons being that UN peace-keeping forces are notoriously ineffective...that is when the US is not the majority contributor of personnel to that force, which we cannot logically be seeing as we are still involved in our ouwn situation down the road in iraq.

anyway, that's the stuff you probably already know.

what you might not remember is israel has nuclear weapons. yep, that's right. israel, a nation rated by the Failed State Index as borderline, has the bomb. how does that make you feel? the land of milk and honey may well be able to irradiate the entire middle east and in that possibly start world war 3. kind of scary.

personally i don't think israel will unleash their arsenal. i believe that this thing will be snuffed out by (of all things) diplomacy. the reason i allow my mind to drift into thoughts of doomsday is because i want to remind my friends, family, and fellow citizens that this is not just another mideast scirmish; this is some serious stuff. israel is a nuclear power, and that is why we all need to take notice when they get into any sort of altercation.

Office Politics

In the strictest of terms, this post has nothing to do with politics. It does however have to do with apathy, and I believe that little jewel of an emotion is in our title. We as a generation (the young, but not too young that is) are generally looked upon by our elders, and the mainstream media as shiftless layabouts that wile away the hours on MySpace, or text messaging other shiftless layabouts (If you don't know what MySpace is, text message me, I'll fill you in). Employers look down on us, offering us lower wages and less benefits than older workers, even when our education level is superior. I have always argued that we, as a generation, are actually hard workers, wishing to make our way in the world much the same as our parents did. Perhaps we rely on technology more than they, but the world is becoming techno-centered. Perhaps we have been socialized to the point that we require constant contact from friends as validation (blame playdates and little league). But over all I feel that we will eventually prove ourselves more than worthy in the workplace as our time at the helm comes, I expect companies to broaden their horizons, become more environmentally friendly AND raise the bottom line. Today however, my faith in our generation was shaken.

Gizmodo for those not familiar is a Tech Website, that focuses on gadgets and tech advances. They provide several posts a day detailing the latest in techno-wizardry. It's a site I read almost daily, and always refer to when someone asks me about the next big thing gadget-wise. The editors of Gizmodo recently received an email from a young writer this is a transcript of that email: (Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all original)

Hi there, I'm Pheras Hilal, a journalist/writer from Venture and JO magazines. Both magazines are Jordanian publications in English, Venture Magazine is a Business Intelligence Monthly, while JO is a social monthly. I'm in charge of developing two tech support sections in both magazines. I develop a section called "The Cutting Edge" in Venture Magazine, which features hi-tech gadgets and new innovations created by several Electronics giants. In JO, I'm in charge of a section called "Tech Support" which basically contains articles about the latest in technology. In our August issue, I'm doing a piece in JO about HDTVs, so I would very much appreciate it if you can provide me with high resolution images of some HDTVs and further information on these tvs and also prices. In Venture, I'm looking for hi tech gadgets and gizmos to review and write about, so I would appreciate if you can supply with a list of your products attached with high resolution images on a monthly basis. Please do find the time to meet my requests and get back to my e-mail as I require such information asap. Thank you so very much for your time and cooperation. Regards,Pheras Hilal

Maybe you got lost in the babbling so I'll sum it up for you. Our dear friend Pheras, a Jordanian writer, has been given the job of Tech Editor for two Jordanian English language magazines. He is awfully busy with things other than this job, and would appreciate it if the editors of Gizmodo, would supply him with a monthly supply of Hi- resolution photos, prices and other information on HDTV's and other new gadgets. There can only be three possible explanations for this email:

1. Pheras has remarkably mistaken Gizmodo for a manufacturer of gadgets. Since they link to the actual manufacturers and rate all of the gadgets (some very poorly) I find this hard to believe.

2. This is only one of (what I'm sure was) dozens of emails that Pheras sent out, hoping to find someone dumb enough or kind enough to do his research for him. Gizmodo is just catty enough to mention it, while the others just threw it away.

3. (This is the truly scary option) Pheras truly believes this is how journalism works.

Could it be that we (or more accurately, the Jordanians) are creating a generation of journalists and writers that think stealing others research and work is a (if not the) valid method? Recent news stories of young authors that have been found to have plagiarized large sections of their work, seem to imply that this might be the case.

Does our generation only want to "crib" our careers? Are we so adept at shortcuts and workarounds that we plan on implementing them in our entire life? I'd like to think not. So I am going to laugh at Pheras and say bully for Gizmodo showing what an ass he is. I'm going to so bully for us, twenty-some-odd posts here at Apathy as Activism and none of them plagiarized. I'm also going to remind myself to be more patient with younger workers in my office. Maybe we (at least those of us with work ethic) should try to lead by example and change the stereotype of our generation. Won't be too long before the old dogs kick the bucket and leave the store to us, anyway. Then it'll be MySpace 24 hours a day.

A Penny for Your Thoughts...on Second Thought, Let's Just Round Up to a Nickel

A penny for your thoughts. A penny saved is a penny earned. In for a penny, in for a pound. There are a lot of sayings that will have to change if Rep. Jim Kolbe (Republican, Arizona) has his way. It's not Kolbe's first time to try to eliminate the worrisome little Lincoln-headed coin. 2001 was his last (unsuccessful) try. His current effort will probably be defeated as well, since according to USA Today a majority of Americans do not support the discontiuation of our smallest currency. Reading about it though has got me thinking, why would we keep it?

It fills jar after jar in most of our homes. You can't spend them anywhere, toll booths, soda machines, parking meters, nowhere. It doesn't make sense for the government either. This year it will cause just over 1.25 cents to make a penny. Not too much in the red, but if you add that up a couple billion times, it's a bit of a problem. A couple of countries in Europe have already stopped or are considering stopping producing the 1 cent Euro coin. There are a lot of things that would recommend dropping the penny. So why don't we?

Mostly because of nostalgia. Illinois doesn't want us to dump it, because it honors their favorite son (even though he was born in Kentucky) Abraham Lincoln. States that produce a lot of zinc, also want to keep the penny, for obvious reasons. Charities use the penny as a fundraising tool, because, let's face it, who minds sparing them. Then there is the issue of prices for goods. Everything would have to rounded. In effect we'd be paying a few cents more for everything we buy. The argument is that, for the working poor, this would be an unnecessary and undue burden. Me personally, I'd gladly pay the extra pennies to never have to deal with the little buggers.

So what will happen? The public is split on the issue, most men favor dropping it, most women want to keep. Wealthier people are more likely to support it's discontinuation while those that make less than $30,000 a year largely want to keep the penny. Realistically I think it's just a matter of time, until all those $19.99 prices become $19.95 or more likely $20.00. Eventually, inflation will diminish the value enough and metal prices will continue to rise, it just won't be feasible to continue producing a coin no one uses. Not for a couple more years though, President Bush has already set up the printing of four special pennies in 2009, to commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, and the Illinois' legislators aren't gonna let us skip that.

As for the title of this post, we might eventually have to round up to a dime. It's estimated that for 2006 every nickel will cost the government 5.73 cents to print. Now I remember why I like my debit card so much.

patriotism: a portrait of an ideal

we are at a pivotal moment in our history. today, our nations birthday, north korea launched 6 missles into the sea of japan one of which was thought to be capable of carrying a light nuclear payload to california (this particular one wasn't, failing about 30 seconds after launch), iran still giving us headaches, and iraq is still...well, iraq. things can go really poorly right now or not.

here's the question: what does a patriot do at a time like this? first let's see what webster's says about a patriot; he is "one who loves, supports, and defends one's country." i like that definition...i can get on board with something like that. look at the important words: love, support, defend, one's country. show me where in that definion it mentions an administration, a man, a policy...it's not there. you are not unmade as a patriot for honest criticism of a policy, a war, a president...in fact, what is a country but a construction of ideals. in our case that main ideal, the crux upon which all of our other ideals are rested, is freedom. we have it. we have freedom to criticize, to rail against, to protect and defend america, and if that means defending her from herself or her officials, then sobeit.

we are compelled by our patriotism to fight for freedom, to defend our right to privacy and idividuality. our courts recently trashed the knock and announce law; that is, the law requiring police officers to announce their presence and intent before entering a private home. this flies in the face of over 700 years of precedent...that's right this law has as its base a 13th century english law--how free does that feel? in alaska it had been legal for years to keep up to 4 ounzes of marijuana in one's home for personal use it was considered a matter of "right to privacy"; recently, the wacky weed has been re-criminalized (this law will likely be overturned; alaska has a long history of overturning any law that even hints at infringing on the right to privacy). now, i'm not trying to endorse marijuana or try to lead a mass migration of apathy as activism readers to the great, white north...i'm just trying to show that, yes, our rights are being affected everyday and it's time we all took notice.

but you say, as i do sometimes, "but we're in a different age, i'm willing to let go of some of my rights to help my country get through this part of history." sure, i'm with you, but where's the line? bank account monitoring, data mining, phone tapping: are those ok? what about email monitoring, the books we buy, the movies we watch, cameras in our homes? still, if we aren't doing anything wrong we have nothing to worry about...right? but is that how we freedom-loving americans want to live? is our safety worth our privacy? and does a lack of privacy make us more safe, is that lack even necessary for safety?

i don't know, but they are questions deserving of more than just a casual thought from time to time. what i do know is that we, america, were founded because we didn't want the british telling us how to live our lives; we wanted a land of the free. and on this Independence Day it is that idea, land of the free, that we as a people, as a nation, as patriots are called...no...obligated to love, support, and defend.

Independence for All

For 230 years we as a people have been free. Free to rule ourselves as we see fit. Free to worship as we choose, gather together to discuss our differences and common interests. Free to leave this country and pursue our fortunes elsewhere if we want. Looking back on those 230 years I think we've done pretty well for ourselves.

We have risen to be THE dominant country on the planet, militarily, diplomatically, and (most important) economically. We fought almost a dozen major wars but in only three of them was significant blood shed on our shores. Our military power (and our oceans) have kept us largely safe. We have inspired countless nations to seek their own independence and heralded the end of the empirical era. We have saved Europe (twice) from itself, and helped build to of the strongest democracies and economic powers in Germany and Japan. We have liberated dictatorships and helped foster democracy even in the harshest of places. Not to shabby for such a young nation.


Our language is the language of business and diplomacy, our currency (even in it's weakened state) is the standard by which others are judged, our democracy (especially that document signed 230 years ago is the basis on which countless other nations model their own governments. Since we've given so much to the world, why do so many dislike us so much? It's easy to watch the news and imagine it just comes down to us and them.

But this Fourth of July, look past the headlines and think about how many immigrants you knew in College. How many do you see everyday? Do they look like they hate America? Most don't. Most of them have come to this country because the freedom and bounty that you and I often take for granted, has given them the hope for a better life. They come to be educated, they come for higher wages, they come for political asylum, they come to worship freely. The key is that they come.

So this fourth, forget for a moment, that Iran is creeping ever closer to an Atomic weapon, or that Iraq's fledgling government has yet to make serious headway against the insurgents. Forget that Israel and Palestine are again at war in Gaza, or that France and Germany are still giving us the cold shoulder. Remember Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Adams, Washington, and Hancock. Remember that's Independence day, and you are free.