No Shore For You!

Anyone else think it's odd that if you're Cuban and you paddle your way to Florida, you're good to go as long as you have one foot on land when immigration officials catch you, but if you're Haitian, you're S.O.L.?

It makes me wonder... if the Cubans and the Haitians teamed up and made a mad race for the shore, would anyone notice? I mean, it'd be like trying to pick out North Koreans from South Koreans, not that we have that problem anymore. *cough*

I keep envisioning a situation playing out in my friend's dorm room with a friend of ours who is lovingly referred to as "Cuban" because he's got as much Cuban pride as I have Irish.

"Well, Cuban, you've got one foot in my door. Might as well go all the way."
"Oh, sorry Haitian. No shore for you. Go home."

Stolen from The Thief

My Kingdomality is as follows:

Your distinct personality, The Prime Minister might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You are a strategist who pursues the most efficient and logical path toward the realization of the goal that you perceive or visualize. You will often only associate with those people who can assist you in the implementation of your plan. Inept assistants may be immediately discarded as excess baggage. To do otherwise could be seen as inefficient and illogical. On the positive side, you can be rationally idealistic and analytically ideological. You can be a bold decision maker and risk taker who can move society ahead by years instead of minutes. On the negative side, you may be unmerciful, impatient, arrogant, impetuous and impulsive. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.

I suppose this explains why I'm a Political Science major minoring in Computer Science. I really love the sciences, but I suck at math, or I'd just major in compsci, marine science, or meteorology. I mean, the test is right. If what I'm doing doesn't make logical sense, it aggravates me to no end. So, yes, sometimes politics aggravates me to no end. It's a social science and people often fail to make sense... especially in large groups. ;)

Happy Birthday U.S. Air Force!

I'm backdating this entry to September 18th since that's the birthday of the Air Force, even though I didn't get around to posting until Friday the 19th.

I'm in Air Force ROTC at the University of Alabama. At the beginning of our leadership lab last night, we sang Happy Birthday to the Air Force and our Commandant of Cadets gave a short speech about the importance of the day. I didn't see whether or not the entire cadre was out there for it, for my eyes were caged at attention.

All of this sort of prompted me to think about the role of the Air Force in U.S. military these days. It's nothing like it used to be. We're never going to see the USAF fighting the way it did in WWII again because we will never fight another conventional war. Meanwhile, I want to go into the JAG Corps for the Air Force. My friends who are in the Army or who are pursuing the Marines keep telling me I'm in the wrong branch of the military for military law, that I should switch over to Army ROTC or quit ROTC entirely and prepare to go to officer training for the Marines when I graduate from college. I dunno though. I just like the Air Force more. I've always had an interest in aeronautics from a young age. I just don't want to be a pilot. Hopefully there's a place for me in today's Air Force when I graduate from college in a few years.

So, I'mna go out on a limb here and say...

I support General Wesley Clark.

As I've mentioned, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I just look at all of the candidates individually and decide whether or not I want to vote for them. I think General Clark is a great addition to the list of running mates. The Democratic Party really hadn't shown me a candidate who could step to Bush and give him a run for his incumbency. Sure, there was Dean but he crashed his own party. Ahem, that was a terrible joke. I didn't even see that pun coming until I'd unleashed its fury.

So, now we have Clark. He sounds like what I'd want in a President. He's got esteemed military background as a General, a sense of internationalism as former NATO commander, and the Democratic Party to make sure he doesn't forget the importance of domestic issues. I have wanted a well-rounded President for quite some time, and been told that FDR was the last time we got one of those. Maybe Clark will be it.

I'm certainly giving him a chance.

Wilkommen!

My very first post! So I guess I'll start with some info about myself...

German?!

It's a fun language! Plus, I really want to visit Germany and do all of the tourist stuff as well as attend the Wacken Open Air Festival and see some of my favourite heavy metal bands live.

Why weblog?

My first log is on LiveJournal, and at this point I refrain from posting my political thoughts there. My friends who frequent my journal are, for the most part, not concerned with politics, and when news got heated and my posts got frequent, I got requests from friends to put some sort of indicator in the subject line or use a special icon so my friends could skip my politics posts. Either that, or they just flat out disagreed with me and frowned upon my involvement in the US military. Well, rather than put up with all of that, I figure I'll post my thoughts here, and hopefully someone will come along eventually, read them, and enjoy them. Otherwise, I'll just use this to vent my frustrations with the world.

Why politics?

I watched the Gulf War on CNN when I was in 5th grade with my father. He's always been interested in politics, and I was a daddy's girl, so I suppose that guided me. Watching the US attacks and seeing land that wasn't American live on TV really showed me how large, and yet how small, the world is. Communication has changed the relative size of the world so much. We're pushing toward regionalization and globalization, and as this process continues, the world will get even smaller. I recognized from a young age how important it is for me to be cogniscent of the small world around me and it's guided my interest in looking at both sides of a situation and coming up with an opinion I can believe in.

Who are you?

I am a 21 year old political science major with a minor in computer science, who was born in Ireland, lives in the United States now, and loves European culture. Some of my friends call me "Eurotrash" and refer to me as an "Erinophile." Politically, I'm a moderate who leans to the right most of the time. I care heavily about how our nation interacts with the world, and the protection of an efficient military since I'm involved in Air Force ROTC with an aim at commissioning.

When my mind is not set on global issues, I love fantasy and science fiction with Lord of the Rings and Star Wars as two of my favourite genres. I'm what you'd call a geek girl. I hang out with a bunch of geek guys and love every minute of it. I have a terribly sarcastic, sadistic sense of humour and they can respect that a lot more than most girls I know. I find myself in desperate need to surround myself with intelligent friends, most of which are smarter than I am, I think.

Musically, I prefer heavy metal. This means every now and then I'll post song lyrics and analyze them from a political point of view. I love songs like Metallica's "One," based on Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun." I think you can appreciate that song and NOT be an anti-war hippie. Everyone, right, left, moderate, anarchist, needs to recognize the harsh reality of war. The more we recognize how terrible it can be, the more we will seek a peaceful settlement of disputes over taking to arms.

I am a woman, but I'm not a femmenazi. I can't stand femmenazis. I'm more likely to hold a door for a man or tell a guy he can keep his seat if he offers it, but I am definitely not insane for women's rights. I don't necessarily believe there's a glass ceiling in the workplace. I think affirmative action is ridiculous. However, if I said I wanted to do the required number of pushups for males on the Air Force Physical Fitness Test (PFT) instead of my 17, I'd be lying. ;)

My name is Fianna, and I just wrote everything you see here on a PC.

Mac killed my inner child.