Rationality Wins in Israel

BBC: Livni claims victory in Israeli vote

This is great. Livni, by far, seems like the smartest, most rational of the candidates presented to Kadima voters. However, the fight is not yet over: early parliamentary elections could mean far right leader Benjamin Netanyahu could take power. This would be disastrous. Netanyahu has a record of being a hardliner not willing to make compromises.

I'll try to elaborate more tomorrow.

Endorsing Clinton, But Hoping Obama Wins the Nomination

Although I endorsed Senator Clinton for the presidency several weeks ago, my position has since changed. Although I still believe Hillary Clinton would make a better president, I really have no choice. It would be better for the Democratic Party if Obama gets the nomination. It all comes down to the general election.

1. If Clinton is nominated, she will have won through a fight, splitting the Democratic Party.
2. John McCain could win against Clinton (he will have more of a challenge fighting Obama).
3. The media hates her and loves McCain.

Clinton Endorsement Part 2: The Issues

After my endorsement last week of Hillary Rodham Clinton, I was criticized (rightfully) for not going into the issues enough about why I support Clinton.

Clinton and Obama’s policies have very little differences. It some of the finer details on foreign policy I have concerns with.

Anyway, here are my doubts about Obama in full:
• His position on Iraq (would he pull out too many troops too soon?)
• His foreign policy (would he really sit down with foreign leaders his first year in office face to face?)
• Will he be able to stand up to Republican attacks?
• Will he be able to stand up to rising world powers: Russia, China, and Iran who will take advantage of him if he shows the slightest sign of weakness?
• Will he bring in too many new people? (New people are not necessarily what we need; we need to keep some of the same people who learned first hand our mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

Of course, I have plenty of doubts about Clinton as well:
• Her electability
• Her decisiveness
• Fine details of her policy positions
Clinton's negatives have to do less with the issues, and more with her electability (which, on a separate note, is giving me doubts about her).

NOTE: I would be happy with Obama as a nominee. I just would prefer Clinton, overall. And of course, as I said in my last post, I would much rather have Bloomberg than Clinton or Obama.

Australia: The First Election Decided Because of Global Warming

300th post

Today, Australians went to the polls and voted for a new direction. They voted out the incumbent, John Howard, and voted in Kevin Rudd.

The opinion is held wisely that Howard was voted out because of his failing economic policies – wait, excuse me, I’m being handed a note by my producer. It appears that – no! Howard’s economic policies were hugely successful! High economic growth, low unemployment, relatively low interest rates, tax reform, a more flexible workplace, zero Government debt, excellent international credit rating, strong investment in defense force funding, the list continues. This is strange…

Why was Howard voted out? Because of global warming. Australia is the only major industrialized country other than the U.S. not to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Howard was the staunchest backer of the Bush administration’s environmental policy. Australians seem to be very displeased not with the economic direction of their country, but the environmental direction.

Why? One report suggests that Australia, because of its geographic position and natural climate, will be hit hard by global warming.

Okay. Maybe there were one or two other policies the Aussies didn’t like. Like his support of the Iraq war, and his decision to send troops there.

But it is pretty safe to say that one of the major issues this election was global warming. Hopefully, the environment will be just as important in other elections.

An Endorsement of Genocide

EDIT: I've revised my position. No matter how true it is, this is the worst possible time to pass this bill. We can recognize genocide without an official statement.

While President Bush endorses genocide by fighting against a bill recognizing the Armenian genocide almost a century ago, I'd like to endorse this bill. It is completely outrageous that you don't recognize the genocide. It's as bad as denying the Holocaust (the horror!).

The evidence is overwhelming.

Post of the Month: July - And Some Other Stuff

Let me just say straight out: I don't like the Moderate Plan for Iraq anymore. I didn't plan it out fully, and the situation has changed. I now endorse the Iraq Study Group's plan. That's obviously a little outdated. So now Time Magazine has published a plan. And I really like it.

Other thing. Like arguing with a global warming denier? Then check out this forum. In this thread, we got into a heated argument over global warming.


Post of the Month for May is... 7 Facts You Never Knew About Bottled Water
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Part 1 in a 2-part miniseries.

7 facts you didn’t know about bottled water (you can draw your own conclusions):


• Tap water is just as safe as bottled water. In fact, the U.S. government requires more rigorous testing on tap water than on bottled water. [1] [2]

• Bottled water is thousands of times more expensive than water from your faucet. [1]

• Terephthalate (PET) is the most commonly used plastic for making water bottles. PET is derived from crude oil. [3]

• Just in the U.S., 1.5 MILLION barrels of oil are used each year for tasks such as (but not limited to) making PET, transporting bottles and powering water bottle factories. [3]

• 2.7 MILLION tons of plastic are used to bottle water bottles every year. [3]

• 86% of water bottles aren’t recycled. [4]

• About 40% of bottled water starts as tap water. [5]


Sources:
Food & Water Watch [1]
NPR [2]
Earth-policy.org [3]
Seattle Post-Intelligencer [4]
NRDC [5]

For More:
Wikipedia: Bottled water (Environmental impact)
Bottled Water Report
5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water
Bad to the Last Drop? What Else? Bottled Water!
Bottled Water - Good For Business Bad For The Environment
Bottled Water, Bottled Hype (part 2, part 3)


Click here to pledge to reduce your use of bottled water.

Thoughts on the World would ask if you use this information (on a blog), that you link back to this post. Of course, you will get a link under 'For More'.

Sarkozy for French President

Thoughts on the World would like to endorse Nicolas Sarkozy to be the next president of France.


Let's start with a profile of both candidates. Ségolène Royal has a lower standing in poll ratings coming in to the election, but to many, she is the more charismatic of the two candidates. She was elected as the 6th sexiest woman by French FHM. She does have a stand on the issues, and policies she plans to enforce based on her stand. Violence on TV is her biggest pet peeve; she is a big supporter of family values. Her domestic plans are her strong point, while her views on foreign policy are lacking. She appears to have few opinions on foreign affairs, and does not wholly understand the topics she does have opinions on.

Royal's disappointing foreign policy opinions are what makes her not worthy of the presidency. For example, when she met with a Hezbollah politician, she had no problem when he compared the Palestinian territories to France under Nazi occupation. A few months later, she demonstrated her confusion of what's going on in the world; after the kidnapping of two French nationals by the Taliban, she called for sanctions to be placed on regimes like the Taliban. Apparently, she doesn't understand that the Taliban no longer rules Afghanistan. Someone who doesn't understand the basic facts of the War on Terrorism should not be president of a world power.

Nicolas Sarkozy is currently leading the polls, though many in the public are undecided. He has been criticized for his work as Interior Minister during the Paris suburb riots. During the riots, he pledged to clean up the rioting areas with a "Karcher." Karcher is brand pressure cleaning appliances. He also called rioters "thugs" and "riff-raff".

While Sarkozy's record at home may not be as clean Royal's, he has a better record with foreign policy. His opinions are also expressed more clearly. He would toughen Iranian sanctions and keep a friendly relationship with the U.S. (not necessarily Bush).


Neither of these candidates is perfect, but it's what we have to choose from. Both have some not so perfect grades on their report cards, but dealing with the choices given, Nicolas Sarkozy should be the next presidential candidate. His foreign policy understanding compared with Royal’s foreign policy misunderstanding makes Sarkozy the better candidate.

UPDATE: GDAEman pointed out this comparison ;-).A comparison can be made between Royal and George Bush. Both were inexperienced with foreign policy, and others were supposed to help them out (Cheney, Rumsfeld).

UPDATE II: Sarkozy elected French president