austin hannah

Switching it up...

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:25:00 -0500

…in more ways than one! First, I’m actually attempting to submit this on time, so here goes nothing. Second, I’ve decided to share something that is actually important. Here is an excerpt from an article I read today that I found interesting, regarding Israel:

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment. Another massage to the national ego in one video, more embarrassing praise in another.

Now is the time to say to the United States: Enough flattery. If you don’t change the tone, nothing will change. As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America’s automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world’s policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways.

Illegal acts like the occupation and settlement expansion, and offensives that may have involved war crimes, as in Gaza, deserve a different approach. If America and the world had issued condemnations after Operation Summer Rains in 2006 - which left 400 Palestinians dead and severe infrastructure damage in the first major operation in Gaza since the disengagement - then Operation Cast Lead never would have been launched.

It is true that unlike all the world’s other troublemakers, Israel is viewed as a Western democracy, but Israel of 2009 is a country whose language is force. Anwar Sadat may have been the last leader to win our hearts with optimistic, hope-igniting speeches. If he were to visit Israel today, he would be jeered off the stage. The Syrian president pleads for peace and Israel callously dismisses him, the United States begs for a settlement free ze and Israel turns up its nose. This is what happens when there are no consequences for Israel’s inaction.

I hate to potentially embarrass myself by talking about something I’m woefully uneducated about, but I’ve always been kind of confused by America’s steadfast allegiance to Israel. I’m not exactly sure why Israel was created after World War II, or why the Jews inherently deserve land they lost earlier in history. I’ve never really understood why I’m not supposed to feel bad for displaced Palestinians. I don’t claim to know who is right or who is wrong, but it does seem that we support Israel wholeheartedly and without any question, and I’m not sure why they deserve that sort of special treatment.

Why do I care?

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:32:08 -0400

Sorry I am absolutely awful about updating this blog, I need to get better at finding things to get worked up about. I’m not even really sure if this is how this blog is supposed to work. I never provide any links or even pictures, I basically bitch for a paragraph or two and hope it’s good enough. So, without any further ado, here is my bitching.

I am tired of hearing about famous men having sex with unfamous women. It isn’t interesting, it isn’t consequential in any way, it has nothing to do with my life. First came David Letterman, and boy, was I shocked. David Letterman has sex with attractive young women? Well who wouldn’t if they were David Letterman? He didn’t get married until he was in his 60s, what did you think was happening?

Now the media is latching on to another public figure caught in the throes of passion. Who, you ask? This guy:

Who is this guy? He is Steve Phillips, and you shouldn’t care about him whatsoever. No one should. He was the GM of the New York Mets for a few years in the 90s and a hapless, idiot baseball analyst on ESPN for the last few years of the 00s, and, hey, he cheated on his wife. Now, if he were a friend or family member, I might express (or feign) some concern for his situation, but I’m not. What I forgot, though, is that everyone in America is Mother Theresa and any and all adulterers must be publicly humiliated! Get him!

Whew, I’m glad we outed this monster. I feel safer in a world where we hold such esteemed members of society like BASEBALL ANALYSTS to such high standards. Sadly, the term baseball analyst seems to be a thing of the past, as ESPN terminated him immediately. Better safe than sorry, you don’t want him having sex all over Baseball Tonight.

Balloon Boy

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:33:27 -0400

For a matter of hours late last week, the world stopped turning as everyone shifted their gaze to an empty balloon flying over Colorado. Once it landed and everyone realized it was empty, the kid they were looking for barfed on Good Morning America. And then again on the Today Show. What a week for him! I bet his Dad is feeling real proud right now, considering he’s the one who set this all in motion. I nominate him for second-worst dad of the new Millennium (right behind Jon Gosselin). If you’re going to name your kid Falcon, at least ensure you don’t get him tangled up in your zany half-baked hoaxes, he’s already in for enough. Now he’s got to live the rest of his life not just as Falcon but Falcon the BALLOON BOY, all in an effort to secure another 15 minutes of fame.

Jon and Kate

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:08:00 -0400

Sorry I’ve been slacking on the class blog, it’s just that I’ve been so preoccupied keeping up with all this Jon and Kate business. It’s hard to find a minute for myself anymore what with all the back and forth between these two. I start writing and BAM! new CNN alert! Jon said something mean about Kate! Kate said something snarky about Jon! Stop the presses, we’ve got some late breaking news in the Jon and Kate saga: Jon is a gigantic douche! What happened to the “plus eight”? Are they OK? Were they laid off?

You know, the most watched episode of “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” just so happens to be the one where they separate, earning 10.6 million viewers. 10.6 million! That’s kind of funny. The most watched episode of the show that completely destroyed their family is the one about how the show they are on is completely destroying their family. Hey, at least 10.6 million people had something to watch for half an hour instead of the news or whatever.

Or so I thought anyway. As annoying as Jon and Kate might be (and the jury is still out on the eight), at least I could tune them out. That is, until, they started popping up in the news here and there. What began as a slow trickle eventually morphed into a never ending avalanche of unwanted and unnecessary updates about these two insufferable human beings and the countless ways they are completely ruining the lives of their children. The fact that even one of CNN’s top headlines is about Jon and Kate is a slap in the face to real people everywhere. There is actual stuff going on! You know, in all those other places that exist!

The cherry on top of this hate cake is the decision by TLC to continue the show. Really? Haven’t you done just about enough, TLC? That’s ten lives (if you count Jon and Kate as people) that are pretty much forever broken because of this terrible television abomination. Even Jon doesn’t think this is good for the children. Sure, it took kicking him off the show for him to finally realize it, but Jon doesn’t rhyme with eight so there were only so many options. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong and these are fine people who were caught up in the wrong situation, but I think it’s time to put these two back where they belong: relative obscurity.

9/24

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:59:40 -0400

The other day our whole class went to the homeless art workshop and I have to say, it was pretty interesting. When we first arrived everyone kept mentioning how awkward it was, so then it started to feel kind of awkward, but luckily we all split up into manageable, unawkward groups. Our group sat with Steve and Colleen, who were both very pleasant people. Steve told me all about ice fishing in Maine and how to avoid hangovers, though he did warn me not to become an alcoholic. Colleen talked a lot about growing up in San Diego and then moving to Idaho with her family. She was a little more reserved than Steve but seemed generally interested in what we were doing, at least. Towards the end of the meeting, Steve showed us a story he was working on, about four notebook pages full of his handwriting. I didn’t really read too much of it, but he seemed to have big plans for it; I thought that was pretty ambitious of him. I guess I would say that our meeting there really changed my outlook on the idea of interacting with homeless people, or at least understanding exactly how normal these peoples lives used to be.

Video

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:49:39 -0400