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Great People, Great Culture, Poor Leaders

One of life's greatest, yet highly underrated gifts is diversity.  Moving from a suburb in Pennsylvania to D.C. certainly eliminated some of my cultural ignorance, and my most recent education in diversity 101 is coming at the college campus. 

As I begin to pursue my masters at George Mason, the second most diverse campus according to Princeton Review, I'm recognizing the fulfillment diversity brings me more and more.

I befriended two classmates, both whose leaders are creating a decent amount of media attention from their meetings at the UN.  My Venezuelan and Iranian friends, who are teaching each other Persian and Spanish, respectively, have nothing but pride for their country and contempt for their governments.  In fact, both have stated (and granted this is only one opinion each) that over 85% of their respective citizens hope for government regime changes in order to live a more liberated life. 

It's like going to a party, having a great time, but then that one guy  ruins the entire night. In Iran and Venezuela the culture and people are a wonderful addition to the global mosaic, but Ahmadinejad and Chavez are ruining the party.

In addition, check out my co-worker's blog, an interesting piece linking Chavez to the Democratic party.
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Wrong Way for Human Rights

The UN's inability to operate efficiently does not surpise me anymore.  What does suprise me is the fact that the United States is still a member after reading Tom Kilgannon's book, Diplomatic Divorce.

I'll focus on only one UN flaw in this blog: human rights.  Creating an international standard for human rights is easy; however, when it comes to enforcing these standards, the UN Human Rights Commission underachieved tremendously.

Kilgannon states, "One of the mistakes the U.S. government makes with respect to the United Nations is to treat it as an ally.  It is not.  In today's world, and give the offensive the UN has mounted to increase its authority, the organization must be treated as an adversary--one that is persistent, not passive."

It's quite ironic to think the UN can be persistent in its attempt to strip the U.S. government of power and absorb the taxpayers' money yet at the same time be passive in its attempt to eliminate human rights violations and and reduce threats to security.
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About 6 or 7

There may be about six  or seven people on the entire continent who did not realize this.  For those six or seven, this one's for you.
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A miniseries with giant implications

As most of you do, I remember where I was that morning. I was apathetically sitting in my calculus class senior year of high school reviewing homework when an announcement interrupted the class informing the school a plane had just struck the world trade center. They would keep us informed...

After minutes and still no word, my teacher turned on her radio and the classed listened intently; we stared at the radio for an hour eager for explanations and answers.

Almost five years later, we may not have all the answers, but we have more than we did that day. It’s quite possible we have too many answers resulting in more controversy than necessary.

When blame is consistently geared toward the American government and establishment, it is undoubtedly playing into the terrorists’ hands. Not only does this blame create a scapegoat, but it also creates the countless, irrational conspiracies we hear today.

Michael Medved in his radio show Friday show stated, “I think this is a serious poison in the national discourse.” Conspiracies are a poison sickening American respect within the country and strengthening the terrorists’ hopes of defeating democracy and freedom.

Investigators should explore multiple solutions to 9/11 and terrorism; certainly, a number of solutions do exist exist. Nonetheless, the leftist paranoia and conspiracy thinking have created a series of nonsensical ideas rather than reverting to the historical events preceding 9/11 as well as admitting the ignorance we have today.

I’m intrigued to see how well ABC’s miniseries, "The Path to 9/11", will depict these events. I’m even more intrigued to see how analogous British filmmaker Mark Almond’s movie, which includes the assassination of President Bush, is to the leftist conspiracy of American government/elitist responsibility for a tragic event reminiscent of 9/11.

On a more praiseworthy note, 2,996 is an absolutely incredible site where over 3,000 bloggers are honoring each individual life lost.  Definitely explore the site as we remember the 2,996 lives lost nearly five years ago.

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Saying Goodbye

As a child, I loved his rebellious attitude and eccentric apparel.  As a high school athlete, I sympathized for his fall from number 1 in the world rankings to 141. When I matured, so did Andre Agassi and his understanding of the game of tennis.

Agassi took for granted the life he had as a teenager and even a young adult.  Although he had a colt following, he was often criticized for his lack of respect for the game.  It appeared the demise of his career came when he dropped to 141 in the rankings and divorced Brooke Shields.

After finding stability in his life with former standout female player Steffi Graf, he trained intensely to reclaim his number 1 ranking, complete the Grand Slam, and show people in the tennis world a 35-year-old can compete with a bunch of 20-year-olds. 

While Agassi's last match came a couple days ago in a loss to Ben Becker at the U.S. Open, the mark he made on the game and his community has changed forever.  Not only will people remember him for his impeccable return, but they will also remember him for giving back to the community of Las Vegas and being a first-class citizen and gentleman. 

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Active or Passive?

We're getting closer and closer to something regrettable happening, and it appears the war on terror is going to be a zero-sum game.

We are going to be passive losers or active winners in the war on terror.

Are negotiation and appeasement really the answer?

Rumsfeld certainly made his opinion known.

This just about puts everything into perspective.
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