Keep it up Mr. Sarkozy!

In his first foreign policy speech as the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy proclaimed that Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon is the most dangerous situation facing world peace. In an extremely blunt set of remarks, Mr. Sarkozy explicitly left a military solution on the table. However, he was careful to reiterate that the best solution for the entire international community was a diplomatic solution. Nevertheless, what is important about these remarks, is the fact that the world finally has a French President who understands the threat that Iran poses. Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, at last, France's president realizes this. Maybe now, we can rely on France to support our initiatives in the security council and not threaten to use their veto power as much. President Sarkozy is definitely a breath of fresh air!

This is America?

The New York Times covered a housing development known as the colonias, in the southern Texas. I was extremely startled to read that just as short as 15 years ago the development of over 400,000 people had just a small minority with running water and indoor plumping. The government had failed to provide these people, hard working legal immigrants with the basic necessities of civilized life. This doesn't sound like America... not at all.

As bad as the situation was, improvement is finally being seen. Presently, over 2/3 of the residents have running water. Nevertheless, a third still lacks this most basic infrastructure that we all take for granted. Through the hard work of community advocacy groups and others progress has been made. Many families are utilizing incrimental building strategies similar to the process used by Un Techo Para Uruguay, the non-profit I worked with in Uruguay to build houses in the barrio. What is scary is the fact that the situation in South Texas seems to be quite similar to the situation in South America.

Congress is not well liked....

According to a new Gallup Poll, just 18% of American's approve of the Democratic led congress. Maybe America has finally started to realize that this "do nothing" congress has continued to seek political victories at the expensive of real improvements for the people of this great nation. While Congress has pursued witch hunt after witch hunt and visited with leaders of nations sworn to the destruction of our allies, people are being killed in Darfur, a record number of federal judgeships are vacant, and our nation is still addicted to oil amongst others. Hopefully, the democratic leaders of congress will take the hint and start working on the people's business, not just issues that they think will score them some political points.

Uh Oh.

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's fanatic president, has announced that he plans to seek a constitutional amendment to increase his term by a year and to remove the ban on re-election. This is scary for a number of reasons. First, Latin American history is filled with instances of leaders using extra-constitutional means to extend their hold on power. Second, Hugo Chavez has made it his goal to align himself against the United States and our allies. He has repeatedly met with and pronounced his support for Iran's president. Even the left-leaning, former union leader, President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, has distanced himself from this mad man. Third, Chavez's efforts seem scarily similar to Hitler's ascension to power. This is a very scary thought.

Much work needs to be done to prop up the other countries throughout South America, which are hoping to finally fully recover from the economic and political turmoil of recent history. Accordingly, congress needs to get its act together and begin to pass the free trade agreements the President has proposed with these countries. Free trade will help to isolate Chavez and others who aim to threaten the American way of life.

Pick your major.... in high school?

We all know that America's public education system has many problems. Overcrowding, poorly paid teachers and an aging infrastructure have markedly hurt the schools' ability to educate our students. However, one school in New Jersey has come up with the bone-brained idea to require that their 9th graders choose a "major" at the beginning of their first year. This "major" will determine which electives the student will be able to take. What happened to high school being about discovering the joy of learning or gaining the reading and communication skills necessary to succeed in college or the workforce? Higher education has already been attacked by "pre-professional" advocates who want college students to only learn specific skills tailored towards their future career. This is not the kind of education Americans need today. We live in a global and fluid economy where workers need to be prepared to handle multiple tasks and jobs. A wide skill set, grounded in classics such as literature, languages, and writing skills, will ensure that Americans have the capacity to succeed in our ever changing world. How is a 9th grader supposed t0 know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. I know many seniors at the University of Michigan who have no idea. This is just a dumb idea.

GOAAAAALLLLLL!

Today, during his first start, David Beckham scored his first goal for the LA Galaxy. Additionally, he recorded his first assist after connecting a beauty to a streaking Landon Donovan, arguably America's finest player. This is truly a great time for Major League Soccer (MLS). The Galaxy were able to sell over 17,000 tickets to today's match that wasn't included in the season ticket package. This was only a dream a couple of years ago. Hopefully, soccer will finally begin to get the attention it deserves. After all, it is the most popular sport in the world...

"Olympic Dream for Darfur"

Today, a group of actors, academics, athletes and others started a torch relay at the Chad-Sudan border. The aim of the torch relay is to draw attention to China's continued business with the genocidal Sudanese government. China is Sudan's largest oil customer, which could allow it to apply some pressure to Sudan. Hopefully, groups like Olympic Dream for Darfur will draw attention to the 2008 Olympic Host's support of Sudan. A genocide is occurring as you read this, it is time that it is stopped.

Standing Room Only

What is it about tigers games? Sure, we lost 7-2. Sure the beers costs 8.50. But for some reason, going down to comerica is just a ton of fun. For a couple of hours, you can goof around with your buddies and hopefully see the Tigers get a W. My only qualm is the prices. How does the MLB or for that matter the Tigers organization expect people to be able to regularly see games when everything costs so much. I understand that the pro baseball is a business, with a lot of different actors who need a cut. Nevertheless, sports and any other form of entertainment should be accessible to everyone; including those not fortunate enough to be able to shell out almost 5 dollars for a hot dog. Anyway, go Tigers!

Passion

As I flew home from London this past afternoon, I watched Fever Pitch for the third time. If you haven't seen it, the movie profiles a Boston school teacher who has to juggle his obsession with the Sox and his girlfriend. The movie is fun and I really don't think it was ever meant to be taken to seriously. However, there is one scene that really got me thinking.

Jimmy Fallon's character is arguing with Drew Barrymore over his obsession with the Sox. She claims that baseball is only a game and that he needs to start reordering his priorities. Fallon responds, "Do you still care about anything you cared about 23 years ago?" This line really stuck with me. Fallon's character is incredibly passionate about the Sox and he has been for years. While this passion may seem childish, it is important to him.

I began to think about my life and I wondered do I still care about anything that I did 15 years ago? Of course the obvious answers surfaced, like my family. Yet, I don't care about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles anymore, nor do I care about the Boxcar Children. Though I have developed new passions, that are just as or even more important to me today, than those childish "passions" were at the time. Just because I haven't been passionate about something for ever doesn't mean that it isn't important to me. While I think longevity plays a role, passion can surround both the new and the old. For example, take the people that we meet. I am lucky to be able to say that some of my best friends are guys that I met many years ago. On the other hand, I am just as lucky to be able to say that I have very recently met people who have made a permanent impact on my life. I guess life just works that way. Hopefully the path I take in life will lead me to new people and new things that will inspire passion....

Don't Give up the Golan!

The Golan Heights are integral to the security of the State of Israel. Before the Six Day war, the Golan was routinely used by Syria to shell the region surrounding the Galilee. Israelis were constantly forced to spend extended periods below ground in fear of these horrible attacks on civilian populations. Even before this, the Golan was used as Syria's front line base for its northern attack on Israel during the Independence war of 1948. Fast forward to the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars, where had it not been for the courage and strength of Israeli soldiers, the world could have seen another Holocaust originate from the Golan.

After Israel seized the Golan during its defensive actions of 1967, the Galilee region no longer had to worry about Syrian shelling. Additionally, the Golan's strategic implications for Israel's defense of the Northern border are vitally important.

With all of this in mind, one would hope that Prime Minister Olmert will not give up the Golan. I for one, do not trust a word that Syria's president, Bashar Assad, says. This is the man who has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel and all those who live there. This is the man who directed his government to help sponsor the Hezbollah terrorist organization's war last summer. This is the man who has called Iran's Hitler wannabe president an ally. This is a man not to be trusted. Despite the hope that giving up the Golan would bring peace with Syria, in all reality it may bring do nothing but destroy Israel's strategic superiority in the north.

And its outta here.....

Barry Bonds hit #756 last night against the Washington Nationals. Congratulations. Nevertheless, this otherwise joyous occasion is still surrounded by shades of gray. Bonds has long been suspected of using steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. While nothing has ever been proven, it is still a pity that rather than celebrating, the news has surrounded whether or not the President would pass on his congratulations. Anyway, it was nice to see it happen.

Get a clue, Governor Granholm!

Governor Granholm today held a meeting with the State's university presidents and select members of the college's respective boards. Instead of being open-minded and willing to work with all parties to find a solution to the higher education funding crisis, she failed to invite republican members of the boards. Come on!

As for her ideas, she has been floating a tax increase to fund increases to the dismal higher education appropriations of recent years. She proposes up to a 5% increase in state appropriations to universities in exchange for a tax increase. This is not the answer. How about we shave some fat off other state expenses before we go and raise taxes, Madam Governor? What happened to the promise you made about not cutting education funding, Madam Governor? I thought we were investing in our future?

I am a firm believer that education is the most important producer of social mobility that we have. The University of Michigan and other state universities are bright spots within Michigan. With our state in such an economic mess, we should not be raising taxes nor cutting education.

"Smart Trade"

Former Senator and current Presidential Candidate, John Edwards is advocating what he calls a "smart trade" policy. He opposes trade deals with South American countries and South Korea. He also is in opposition to NAFTA. While he is right to insist that new trade deals include worker protection provisions and are fairly balanced to protect American workers, I believe he is wrong to claim that, "Trade has become a bad word for working Americans for a simple reason: our trade policy has been bad for working Americans."

First, free trade is NOT a bad thing. Isolationist tariffs originating at home and abroad are harmful for both our domestic economy and the developing world. Entire domestic industries at home are being allowed to continue to perform at extremely low levels of efficiency behind the protection of strong tariffs. As a result, American consumers are forced to buy higher priced products when international alternatives are prevented from entering the market at their real price. Of course, we must be sure to demand that countries we trade with adhere to WTO rules and create an environment where our products can compete within their countries against their domestic goods. Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat, sums it up by asserting that free trade will, "increase demand for goods and services, spur innovation, and reduce both unemployment and job migration across the globe."

Sure, globalization has hurt some American families. People has lost their jobs as they have migrated to other nations where workers are willing to do the same tasks for less. Nevertheless, as trade barriers are broken down, more and more markets will be opened for our goods. All in all, while it may be hard for some, free trade is the best answer for our country as a whole. To be sure, as a nation, we must provide for a safety net to catch workers who are adversily affected by our changing economy, though we must not use lost jobs as a pretext for preventing a strategy that will ultimately benefit our nation greatly.

All Aboard

Today we took the train from London to Windsor to visit one of the Queen's castles. What struck me about the entire experience was just how easy and efficient it was. We took the tube directly to the train station and then hopped on our comfortable express train. The entire journey took less than an hour. The train was clean, spacious, and fast. All in all, it was an extremely pleasant experience.

Transportation managers and policy makers in the states could learn something from the Europeans. Amtrak, our national rail service, is a mess both fiscally and operationally. On the operations side, only 42% of Amtrak's trains arrive on time. That is a pretty horrible average. As for Amtrak's finances, they operate with 500 million dollars in losses each year. Our fastest train goes 88 miles per hour, while the French TGV goes 357 miles per hour. With highway congestion at an all time high, extremely high gasoline prices and airline ticket prices soaring, maybe it is time that we have a rail network that serve the needs of the nation in a cost efficient manner.

Ethics, Anyone?

A federal appeals court ruled that parts of the FBI- led search of Rep. William Jefferson's (D-LA) office were unconstitutional. They held that parts of the search violated the constitutional principle of the separation of powers. Obviously, the framers included the separation principle with good cause; however, I don't think they ever thought that it would hinder the prosecution of crooked politicians. Come on, they found 90,000 dollars in this guy's fridge.... he deserves to be in jail. Yet, he still occupies his office on the hill, representing the city of New Orleans. What the gulf coast needs right now is a congressman who will work to rebuild... not work to line his pockets. This is just plain shameful.

The people of our great nation deserve to have confidence in their government. They need to be able to trust that their representatives will work for what is best for the people, not themselves. Politicians from both sides of the aisle are to blame, this is a national problem. I welcome new ethics legislation that will require members of congress to be more transparent about their relationships with lobbyists. It is time that Washington cleans up its act.

Hang My Portrait, Please!

Today, I visited Britain's National Portrait Gallery. It was quite an experience, never before had I seen so many eyes starring at me.... As I took the tube home, I began to wonder, how does one ensure that their portrait is eventually hung in the gallery? Some of the portraits were of great leaders like Winston Churchill and Margret Thacher. Others were off literary giants including; Aldous Huxley and Virginia Woolf. And still others, portrayed less famous subjects... the little known actors from throughout history, where action can mean great success and inaction can come to represent catastrophe. Does one live his life, knowing that he will be immortalized with a portrait that thousands of people will pass every day? Or conversely, are the people who are worthy of such a portrait so focused on life, they never even give their success a thought?

I am inclined to think that it is a little bit of both. While Winston Churchill labored over the decisions that helped to save Europe, I am sure he was not thinking, "hey I am pretty big at the moment, maybe I will get my portrait hung at the Gallery." Nevertheless, he must have known that he had lived a life of greatness worthy of eternal recognition. I guess that as we live our lives, we must not be burdened with thoughts of how history will remember us after we are gone, but with how we can gain the ability to leave the world just a little bit better than we found it.

At the corner of Michigan and Trumbull

Don't get me wrong, some of my happiest memories from my childhood were spent at Tiger Stadium. I will never forget the feeling of being a 9 year old watching Lou Whitaker hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth to secure a come from behind victory from the confines of the the great old ball park with my dad and brother. As much as I love the place, its time for the "leaders" in Detroit to finally make the decision that is best for Detroit: tear down Tiger Stadium.

Once again, the Detroit City Council has displayed its lack of competency by delaying their vote on the future of the stadium. While I would love to see the stadium stand, it is clear that the surrounding neighborhood would benefit greatly if the space were utilized in a more sustainable manner. While at a Michigan development conference this past spring, I heard a great proposal to turn the site into a mixed development area; with housing and commercial space available. One proposal even included keeping the diamond that I ran around on Friday nights as a kid available for little league games. Corktown, the neighborhood surrounding the stadium, has great promise. However, it currently lacks enough affordable housing and retail space to reach its full potential. Accordingly, I hate to say it, but it makes sense to tear down the grand ole' ball park.

What is important here, is the fact that the members of City Council have continued to not do the job that they were elected to do. Lets face it, Detroit has a lot of problems. However, they will never begin to be solved if the City Council can't even display the leadership necesarry to finally address an issue that has existed for years.

It is about time....

Yesterday, the United Nations Security Council unaminmously approved a resolution authorizing the creation of a UN peace-keeping force in the Darfur region of the Sudan. Perhaps after many months of a state sponsored genocide, the United Nations will finally live up to its pledge to ensure international peace and security. Granted, Sudan's fanatic President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has repeatably blocked efforts to provide for a reasonably sized force; however, the international community could have been doing more to quell the bloodshed that has resulted in thousands of deaths and over 2 million displaced people.

For one, China is a large supporter of the Sudanese economy. I agree with the likes of Senator Biden who has called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics until China does more to pressure their trading partner. The Chinese hold a great deal of leverage with the Sudanese; nevertheless, they have shown once again that human rights are not of great importance in China.

Additionally, lets hope that this resolution actually provides for a force that is operationally capable of making a difference. Despite their valiant efforts, the horriblely outnumbered African Union force has been forced to sit back and watch as women have been raped and children murdered just because of what tribe they were a part of.

There seems to be an all to common theme here... The international community makes grandiose statements proclaiming unity against a common threat. Yet, it sits back and watched as thousands of innocents were killed in Rwanda or Sierra Leon. The United Nations formed in the wake of the atrocities of World War II promising to never allow such horrors to occur again. Many Jews, including myself, speak of the phrase "never again" as a constant reminder of our obligation to ensure that the Holocaust is never repeated. Now is the time, to stand up and say truly once and for all "NEVER AGAIN" Visit this link to see what myself and other University of Michigan students are doing to stop the genocide.