You gotta love conferences

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I couldn't help but laugh at this story. Supposedly Japan's. now former, Finance Minister was drunk while at the G7 summit, or at least during a press conference at the summit. It reminds me of all the different summits, retreats, and conferences I attended during college. We were always told by whatever adults were around about how important these events were for us, how they would prepare us as future leaders, etc...Apparently they were right on the money.
I can only imagine how the vast majority of attendees at MSUSA and College Republican conferences would have fared at a press conference the morning after. I can admit that very rarely would I have been able sit in front of a bunch of cameras and journalists. Hell, I was too hungover to accept my own award at a certain College Republican meeting.
The various student groups always have to have important sounding names for their meetings, but the format was ALWAYS the same. The first day would be a meet and greet type thing, complete with coffee and cookies, followed by an all nighter of heavy drinking. After a few hours of sleep and some continental breakfast, we would put on our suits and sit around the big tables and discuss our important issues. It seems that this actually is how the big wigs handle it as well, except they have to give press conferences that morning.
I can only wonder what MSU students would have taken it, if they knew what their elected officials were actually doing at these conferences they paid so much money for. What they have demanded our resignation? Or would they have thought it entertaining and somewhat cool, in the same way that people seem to think it's cool that Barrack Obama smokes.

Let the love in begin!

On Drudge today there is a glowing piece about Obama and his wife and their valentines day events, and oh how great it is that they are a couple, etc...It's exasperating to me , not so much the way the media cover this man, but more so the way many people I know are just so willfully blind about the way he is covered.

Let's take two examples , one an "economic crisis" tantamount to the great depression, and a natural disaster affecting millions. In both cases, two different presidents were both on vacation with their families. In both cases the media coverage saturated both men. So what is the difference. Well, during Hurricane Katrina George Bush was pilloried by the press for his vacation. How dare he drive around his truck on his ranch while people are stranded in New Orleans. During the current recession Barrack Obama was pilloried by the press for heading to Chicago to sit around at home with his family. How dare he sit around the house while people are losing their jobs...

oh wait, that would have been in an objective journalistic world. Instead, the media is drooling over how much they love this man. But this should come as no surprise to anyone. The media has made no apologies for it's blatant Obama love in. What really gets to me, is the fact that none of my liberal friends can see this for what it is. I've had this conversation five times now in the last three days. Every liberal I talk to begins by saying how great it is that Obama spends time with his family. After I make my case that if it's ok for him to do it, why couldn't Bush. Stammering and stuttering always ensues.

What is it with this cult of Obama? There was a time when I had more respect for many of my liberal friends. I thought it was a fair argument to say that George Bush was out of touch because he was vacationing in Texas during hurricane Katrina. But now, when Barraack Obama does it, it's not only ok, it's a great thing. everytime time this happens, everytime that Barrack Obama gets a pass, my respect level drops, and the contempt rises. And I'm not the only person who feels this way. I wonder what it would take for liberals to finally see Obama for what he is...

ya ya ya

Alright, I didn't want my first blog in a while to about something lame, but here goes...Derk Ritchison, ha just kidding. What I can't understand is the outrage over this California woman with the Octuplets. Scratch that, I can understand being upset over the medical issues, ie the dangers inherent in taking that many children to term. But, since I've been back in Taiwan, I've been amazed at all the people I know who are both aware of the birth, and pissed off that taxpayers will have to raise these kids...The fact that these same people are in love with government giving away money to anybody who asks for it never seems to enter into the equation for them. I had the same conversations when I was back home. It would always follow the exact same arc.

Liberal Friend: This Octuplet mom shit is so fucked.
Me: Why?
Liberal Friend: Because she had all these kids and can't pay for them, so now we have to. It's fucked up. They shouldn't have let this happen.
Me: So you want the government to determine how many kids people can have?
Liberal Friend: Well, no, of course not, that's facsism.
Me: Ok, so you don't want the government to give money to unemployed single moms with lots of kids?
Liberal Friend: Well no, that's what evil Republicans want.
Me: So you're pissed that a woman had a lot of kids and now is on government assistance, and someone should have done something, but you still want to give money to unemployed single mom's and you don't want to limit the number of kids people can have?
Liberal Friend: Whatever man, you can't argue that this isn't fucked up.
Me: And you want Universal Health Care too right?

It's amazing to me that people can want to just give money to people for having kids, and then get upset when they have a lot of kids, and want alot of money! And now of course the calls are coming for regulations on fertility clinics, so something like this will never happen again. BS! The problem is not people having a lot of kids, the problem is other people paying for them. It's us like with our health care system. The more the government takes over, the more we are not allowed to eat or smoke wahtever we want to.

Bleh, this turned into a rant. I'm going to write on my blog more, I promise.