North Korean Nukes!!

Well, well, well like the world isn't an interesting enough place right now with the all of the chaos happening in Iran. In typical fashion up pops North Korea like the proverbial jack in the box to shout "Hey look at me!!"

It is amazing to me that China lets North Korea continue to act as if they have no control over them. I wonder if North Korea really does not care what the rest of the world thinks about them. They seem unconcerned about the latest round of UN sanctions. But, that is not really a surprise to me because if the US does not choose to enforce those sanctions then there are really no teeth to them.

That is where the dilemma because if the US decides to intercept the North Korean ship that may or may not be carrying weapons. North Korea has said that they will retaliate in a nuclear fashion. This blows my mind that the threat of nuclear activity is still being used. I grew up during the Cold War and that was always a distant threat and it seemed to loom over most everything in one form of another. I remember the whole concept of "Mutually Assured Destruction" being a matter of some stress to me as a youngster.

But with North Korea this is not mutually assured this would be them firing one missile or bomb and the US wiping the floor with them. I wonder do they not even grasp that concept. Maybe I am just being silly and to even worry about this happening is pointless. I agree that it is pointless to some degree since I am unable to control this one way or the other. But, that is not the point. I am just amazed that this is going on. I knew that someone would test the new president. I just did not anticipate it being this kind of a test.

I wonder what the end result of this is going to be. Does anyone out there have any thoughts?

Iranian Unrest!!

I have been reading with interest the different new stories that are coming out of Iran since the election. I find it interesting because my initial thought upon hearing that an election was coming up in Iran was to dismiss the validity of the election. Not dismiss it because of all the unrest that seems to be happening post election but dismiss it out of hand. I figured that there would be 100% voter turnout and Ahmadinejad would win by a resounding margin.

Well it turns out I was mistaken, or as Gomer Pyle would say "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!" I always figured on a corrupt election but this was way beyond the usual nature of the corruption. It seems like Iranians actually voted and actually believed that their votes counted for something. I am not sure what to make of this. On the one hand it is pretty cool and peoples votes should count for something. But it makes me wonder about all of the previous elections in Iran. Where they fruadulent or not? Because I do not recall these massive protestes following the other elections. If they did happen please inform me.

It also seems that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for an investigation into accusations of ballot fraud in Friday's elections. Which just makes my head spin. Because while I always knew that there was a Supreme Leader in Iran it always seems like Ahmadinejed does and says whatever he wants. I had always assumed that he was just doing and saying what he was told and that he had basicall been appointed by the Iranian Supreme Leader but I guess I was wrong.

I have no idea what the end result will be of all of this but I have to say that I am finding it interesting to watch develop.

Graduation Day!

I am graduating today. I am not sure how I feel about it. I know that there are people who are proud of me. I know that a few years ago I felt like I would never finish college and I did not feel like I needed to. I had a job that let me cruise along at the lowest level of effort and still get paid. I did not need to think I could just exist. But, then I met HER and everything changed.

It was not enough to cruise along at the lowest level of effort. It became more important to get the degree done and to move forward in life. To move forward to that next level. The funny thing is I am not fully sure of what that next level is. I am glad to be done with school, the bachelors part of it, anyway. But I wonder what is next. Should I go to graduate school? Should I start trying to network and to hustle so that I can find a job that allows me to put my degree to use. Not that a Political Science degree is the most useful degree out there. But, I really enjoyed my studies and found the degree path to be most useful for me.

I like Politics, History, and Philosophy, and Political Science at times touched on all of those subjects and I loved it.

Just some random thoughts from my brain today as I get ready to go walk with 600 + other graduates. I am nervous as to what the future brings but I hope that I am able to move to that next level.