Democracy???

The next couple months of my life will be dedicated to the idea of Democracy, more specifically what role decomcracy promotion should play in foreign policy, if any? My thesis will be examining the current Fiji situation that has seen a military coup step in, as it purports to be eliminating corruption from the government in hopes of returning the country to democracy at a later date, while facing international pressure to return to a democracy. Basic ethical questions emerge, such as do the ends justify the means? Or are precedents of coups something that riddle a state, as could be argued in Fiji as they have had 4 in the past 20 years.

A couple of reservations I have headed into this study follow below.

• Is it the role of an outsider, paternal, government to push for democracy in another state?
• Is democracy the best form of government? Often overlooked when thinking about democracy is how much work must go into it for it to be functional. Its like any relationship, when a state decides to wed democracy it doesn't mean that wedding signals the beginning of a long loving relationship, but rather just the signalling of a commitment that will be tried and tested by the events of the future and even the events of the past.

General questions I have to answer.

• What role does democracy play in the securing of basic Human Rights?
• What role does democracy play for greater international security?

As an American I am biased that I do have some faith in Democracy, but as a skeptical American I recognize the shortcomings of our political process. The truth is when there is no clear right or wrong decisions, no matter how those decisions are made, democratically or by virtue of a single decision maker, those decisions are not necessarily correct. In fact much of what is popular is not correct, just look at patriarcy.

HOLLA

Jena Six

Group of Six Black students facing charges for the beating of a white student after three nooses were hung from a tree in Jena, Louisianna.

To read the situation view the following links, then feel free to engage in discussion.

To see the news story read.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

To hear an interview conducted with the parents read.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413228

get at me

Washed Up

Ok, so today i played in an open gym run, talent level was mediocre as it is in New Zealand, however I can't say anything because I'm pretty sure in a combined 5 games to 7 I was 10 for 92. It got so bad that I started takin shots with my eyes closed, like mikemaines looking elsewhere when he shoots. Luckily my team helped me pull out a few wins, but I am officially a bum on the court and I'm ready to hear it from the peanut gallery.

Making things worse is I've actually worked myself into decent shape, not like basketball shape, but I can run open down the court now, so I can't blame it on conditioning. I can't blame it on not playing because I've been getting up at 6 a.m. twice a week to play. I think I'm going to get a Bruce Bowen jersey because thats pretty much my game at this point. I basically look forward to D-ing up the other teams best player. Holla at me and let me hear it, cuz I'm going to be a hooper again one day, it just may be when I finally have a kid and he begins to get close to getting a win against his pops.

HOLLA

Barry Bonds

Just to go on record as the great Barry Bonds is about to, yes great, the man is better than the handful of others we have chosen to celebrate during his career, I WANT BARRY TO BREAK THE RECORD.

Barry is better than McGwire, better than Ripken Jr., better than Griffey, these players we have taken time to herald as great. The difference between Barry and them is Barry doesn't care about what people think of him off the field, that is not to say he doesn't carry himself professionally, becuase he absolutely does, but that his image isn't for sale. Barry just wants to be a baseball player, not a pop icon, not a legend and most of all not poster boy for hamburgers.

During the 2002 World Series I had the privilege to watch Barry hit what was at the time a meaningless home run during Game 6 that pushed the lead to, if I recall correctly 5. Before that at bat as every other one of his at bats during the game I made sure I was in position to watch. I sat there with suspense, as if all the home runs he had hit prior to that didn't real mean that much because I had not seen him do it myself. However, he quickly showed me just what everyone of those home runs meant, especially that one, as I had just witnessed a man crush a ball at will during the most important time in his career. Now the Angels rally monkeyed past the Giants in that game and the series to win, but it is safe to say Barry performed phenomenally on the biggest stage. He hit balls so hard they disappeared from sight during the games in Anaheim.

As Barry turns to break the home run record, I'm left with that same suspense that filled me during the world series, is he going to do it? The only difference is from experience I now know the answer, of course he's going to do it and it is going to be amazing.