Stop the smear campaign, Wolfowitz is a saint!!!

Mr. Wolfowitz announces today that he "acted transparently, sought and received guidance from the bank's ethics committee and conducted [himself] in good faith in accordance with that guidance". He goes on to say that he will not resign because of a smear campaign to ruin his good name.

Here's a brief history lesson for those of you who have not been keeping up with the news. Shaha Riza is Wolfowitz's lover. She was reassigned to the State Department due to avoid conflict of interest. At the time she was making $133,000 a year. After the transfer, she remained on the World Bank's payroll and that amount rose to $180,000 and shortly to $193,590.

So, firstly, how did the ethics committee miss this? I doubt this is in accordance with the World Bank's policy. How does a person remain on the company's payroll when she doesn't even work there anymore, not to mention obtaining salary raises? Secondly, I don't think the media is doing this to ruin his image, that's his own doing. I admit that it's just so good to have a former Bush cabinet member caught in a vulnerable position as headline news. But hey, all is fair in love and war the media. You seriously can't cry foul for something you caused.

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Why is this taking so long?

A special panel have assembled to weigh its judgment on whether Wolfowitz had violated World Bank rules when he orchestrated unfair raises for his girlfriend. According to Forbes,

European countries led by Germany and France want Wolfowitz to step down, while support for the embattled president has eroded in Nordic nations and elsewhere, according to bank officials and others close to the situation.

Wolfowitz have already issued apologetic statements and is planning to make his case to the panel on Monday.

Seriously, what could he possibly say to justify his actions? Abusing company resource to fulfill his personal agendas. Unless she blackmailed him into giving the pay raise then I don't think anything he could say to make it justifiable. Seriously, just step down and save what's left of your integrity.

Oh btw, this is Paul Wolfowitz's lover.

Calls for Wolfowitz

Remember the scandal about Wolfowitz using his position as World Bank's President to give outrageous pay raises to his lover? That was over two weeks ago. Two weeks is ancient history in the media. Well apparently his colleagues are finally voicing their request for his resignation. Why did it take so long for people to realize that what he was doing goes against the mission of the World Bank? While in office, Wolfowitz cut loans to countries such as Chad and India due to concerns that the money would disappear to the pockets of corrupted politicians. Hypocrisy at its finest people!

Oh did i also mention that Wolfowitz is one of the head honcho behind the Iraq invasion dating back to Bush Sr.'s administration.

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Gun control: to what extent?

In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy, Virginia law makers are considering tighter gun control. They are aiming to instate tighter initiatives to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally unstable.

I agree that gun control is necessary, but it's not the answer to crime control. I'm gonna quote my professor Al Valdez on this. He says that there are over 550 million firearms in circulation in this country, 18 millions are in the hands of law enforcement. So even if we pass laws to take the right to bare arms, there are still hundreds of millions floating around. Do the math! With over 432 million guns out there, it's not hard for a common criminal to get his hands on one through the black market. Instead of looking into banning guns, maybe law makers should focus more on preventive measures such as random searches at dormitories or security check points in universities around the country.

What's your take?

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The U.S. tries to strong arm Iran by kidnapping its wrestling stars!!!

Fresh news people. It's fresh cause I got lazy and forgot about the blog. It was reported a few hours ago by the Washington Post that the U.S. had invited Iranian wrestlers to train in the states in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. Besides branding the nation an "axis of evil" the United States have been said to have had numerous secret talks with the Iranian government. Despite tension of threats to invade Iran because if its stubbornness to scale back its nuclear program, President Bush has tried to encourage contact with the Iranian public through cultural exchanges and sport.

Umm... what? Didn't this guy once called John Kerry a flip-floper in the last election? Well, Bush is the new John Kerry. Oh, I see what's going on! Instead of invading their country, we're gonna try what we did during the Cold War with Russia when we stole their dancing star, Mikhail Baryshnikov. I don't know though. That was Communism and this is the "Axis of evil" it's like a whole different ball game. I don't think getting a few men in tights to defect is gonna end Iran's nuclear program. But if you send Britney Spears and her jolly bald fat ass over there, it would probably give them all heart attacks leaving room for our troops to come in.

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Republicans misusing government fund for party purposes? Really? Who would have guessed.

According to the Washington Post, the Democratic Congress has set up an investigative committee to look into many more misconducts by the Republican party. The issue at hand is the violation of the Hatch Act that protects government employees from partition politics. The investigation took its initial attention on a report that the head General Services Administrator had asked during a presentation, regarding the 2008 election, how the GSA could be used to aid the Republican candidates.

Bloch's office initially focused on evidence developed by the General Services Administration's inspector general that a Rove aide, J. Scott Jennings, gave a presentation in January on the 2008 election to a few dozen senior political appointees at that agency. The session included lists of the top 20 Democratic "House Targets," or seats that Republicans want to recapture, as well as 36 House Republicans on priority lists for reelection.

After Jennings finished speaking, according to statements by a half dozen witnesses, GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan asked her colleagues how they could use GSA projects to help the Republican candidates -- a request that several have said made them uncomfortable. Jennings replied, in front of the group, that the topic should be discussed "offline," according to the witnesses.

-Washington Post

It's about time that congress started to look into the questionable code of conduct behind the Bush administration. Every since President Bush has taken office, the government started to close one door after another to the public. What is stated on the news isn't what was happening behind closed doors. The government had taken a step back and decided to become hidden and remain unaccountable. By now, I hope people have seen the errors behind the Bush administration's secretiveness and voice their opinion in the '08 election. How can we sustain democracy if our elected government actively seek to hide their intentions from the public?

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Reid likes to get close and personal.

LOL! Okay, awkward behavior. Firstly you never do this unless you're a) close friends with the other person b) a family member? c) having relations with. I don't think Sen. Reid fits any of those categories.



EDIT: video doesn't work anymore. here's the link from daily show

Bush is gonna defy congress and fight the war himself!!!!

AP reported earlier today that Democratic leaders had agreed to initiate the motion to draw troops out starting Oct. 1 and a complete pull out within six months after. President Bush however showed confident remarks that he will gain enough votes to sustain his veto of the bill. The bill marks a new road for the Democratic Congress.

This is a good start for the Democrats I guess. They have some more balls now to actually pass a binding resolution. Seriously, did they really think that the non-binding resolution they voted on when they took control would really sway the president??? Come on, get serious people. Anyway, the bigger question is what will pulling out gonna accomplished. It's good that they're leaving some money to help continue the rebuilding effort, but it's hardly any amount compared to what the country spent on military during its occupation. We freaking spent that much money in a few weeks. Honestly, there's a lesson to be learned here. When it's too late to pull out, when you have already devastated the country and brought forth a civil war, it's not the best time to pack your stuff and leave. I do agree that we should pull out, but I also agree that we should not have gone in alone. At least be more active in fixing your own mess. We should get some bets going around, I have $5 bucks on the idea that the country will revert back to its totalitarian state in a few years if the U.S. doesn't put more effort into political reshaping of Iraq.

Gonzales screws himself hard

LA Times report what seems to be a confirmation to the late rumor that Alberto Gonzales had a direct hand in the firing of prosecutors around the nation. Gonzales denies the reason they were fired was not because of "personality conflict with the administration," but rather it was from "consensus recommendation of people that I trusted." Gonzales is now facing recommendation to resign.

It's amazing how many scandals this administration has caused. Gonzales obviously screwed himself in his sloppy testimony. During an interview a few weeks back, Gonzales vowed that he had nothing to do with the mass firing and will maintain his integrity when he leaves his position. Well, I don't think he has any credibility left after today. It makes me wonder if it's because they're bad at covering it up, or just more corrupt? Virtually most of the top advisers and key players next to the President has made scandalous headlines. Remember when Cheney shot his friend in the face mistaken it for a quail? I don't know if people remembered how it turned out, but the guy actually apologized for the incident and unwanted media attention it had brought on Cheney and his family. Since when does the victim apologize to his attacker?

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Villaraigosa's talk of fighting gangs in Los Angeles

The LA Times reports that on earlier today mayor Villaraigosa made a speech today regarding Los Angeles' new funding to fight street gangs. Besides using the money to address the growing traffic congestion, the mayor promises over $180 million towards counselling and various other education programs to help put high school drop outs and former gang members on the right path.

I say that's a good idea. I live in L.A. and in the past few months I have seen revival of gang activities near my area. Just over the weekend, my side walk got tagged on and my car window broken in. It has been quiet where I live for the past few years. It's probably a random occurrence that someone decided to force themselves into my car to loot loose change, but I would like to see some of that money spend towards getting more cops into the force so they can patrol around my area more often.

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U.S. captures Iran-made weapon for Taliban

Interesting news. According to the Houston Chronicle, the U.S. recently seized weapons made by Iran shipped to Taliban fighters. The shipment included ammunitions, mortar, and C4 explosives. Taliban forces in Afghanistan has been reported to have grown stronger over the past few months.

The U.S. has been accusing Iran of providing aid to the Taliban. It is unclear of the party responsible for the shipment.

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Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Early this morning, at a co-ed dormitory at Virginia Tech, a gunman opened fired and killed 32 students. The gunman's name has not been released by authorities. It is not known whether the shooter is a current student at Virginia Tech.

This is probably most horrific tragedy to occur on a campus. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

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Sex Tape = celebrity status

In an unrelated political news, there's a sex tape of Olivia Mojica to follow the recent Kim Kardashian tape that took porn store shelves by storm (exaggeration). So who is Olivia Mojica and Kim Kardashian? I didn't have a f**king clue until there names made headlines. So apparently Kim Kardasian is a close friend of Paris Hilton (see note) and is daughter of Robert Kardashian, OJ's attorney. Olivia Mojica appeared on the second season of American Idol (horrible show).

I don't know too much about sex tapes, but when I hear about them I usually think of grainy low quality movies that are made filming over unimportant videos like your wedding or your child's birth during a drunken rampage. From want I can tell, the recent releases were shot with higher-end equipments (probably with a boom microphone and the whole shebang -- pun not intended). The result is a crappy directorial debut with dvd-like quality. What does this mean? Obviously, they are not conventional grainy kodak moments, but rather methodically planned out tapes with an intention to commercialize. Apparently these people can't gain fame from talent alone, this is an understatement by the way, so their sex tapes are used to facilitate public attention.

This is just sickening! Not so famous people like Rossie O'Donnell will follow suit.

note: Paris Hilton started the trend with her own supposedly stolen sex tape "One Night in Paris."

Read Alert: the link has a high quality NOT SAFE FOR WORK video.

Paul Wolfowitz is a man of morals!

According to the BBC today, Paul Wolfowitz - Bush's former Deputy Secretary of Defense and current World Bank president - has been granting excessive pay raises and promotions for an ex-colleague whom he has been having a romantic relationship with. Ironically, Wolfowitz is also on a "personal campaign to combat corruption and poor governance."

Ummm.. yeaaa... whatever happened to sending flowers and such? Cause nothing says love like implicitly paying for sex, right? I guess they have a lot of money to throw around at the World Bank. Can I get some money, Mr. Wolfowitz? Anyway, I am a big fan of your preemptive strike resolution. I think it did wonders to our reputation abroad!

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Iranian nuclear program: defiance or emulation?

In the New York Times today, an article reiterated the continuing debate regarding the Iranian government and its pursuit of nuclear technology. One year today, Iranian President Ahmadinejad declared national nuclear technology day in celebration of country's successful trial with a uranium power plant. Along with Iran's growing success with nuclear power there has also been a growing criticism and fear of misuse of the nuclear technology. Leading a number of disgruntled nations, the United States has actively sought to end the nuclear threat posed by the Axis of Evil member.

If Iran continues to turn a deaf ear to the international community, a military contingent may be a possible response from the U.S. But I find it ironic that the United States is the leading opponent to this nuclear expansion. This country has been pointing out that Iran's defiance of U.N. resolutions as a sign of its commitment toward nuclear armament, but who are we in the position to point fingers and make judgments when we ourselves defied the U.N. and invaded Iraq? It seems that people have forgotten what happened following 9/11. The U.S. government associated Iraq as one of the responsible actor without credible evidence and and used this fabricated story as a reason to declare war. Perhaps Iran is trying to produce uranium warheads, but maybe they're not. We don't know for sure. Until there is credible evidence, we can't act on the notion of "preemptive strike."

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