Is There a Clear Answer to an Unclear Mission?

If it seems like the Afghanistan War "Operation Enduring Freedom" has been going on forever, it's because it has been. The war officially started in October 2001 and continues on today in March 2012, noticeably longer than the Vietnam War. You wouldn't believe how much has happened in that time; New Orleans was devastated by a storm of the century hurricane, a monster tsunami hits the Indian Ocean killing over 200,000 people, Japan gets struck hard by a huge tsunami, a massive oil spill spreads across the Gulf of Mexico, and the War in Iraq ended. All the while, the U.S. continues to fight a war initially intended to eliminate or at least take the heart of al-Qaeda and the Taliban, which would make the U.S. and world safer.

As the war has been going consistently over 10 years now, its hard to tell if the mission has got cloudy, or there wasn't a true mission and/or plan in the first place, or a realization has appeared that this war is not valid or truly beneficial to anyone if continued. As of late it would seem that patience is wearing hairpin thin on the American and Afghan citizens. Not only have both governments raised questions about the continuance of the war, but some troops on the ground have lost sight of the mission and reality. 

Recently, an American soldier went haywire and murdered more than 15 Afghan civilians including children. The way things stand as of now, there is not a definitive reason why this happened or how this act affects the war and everyone around it for the foreseeable future. Arguments can be made that this soldier is mentally ill or that this is a isolated act and won't become a trend. But nobody really knows honestly. The things soldiers deal with on a daily basis in Afghanistan, and not being 100% clear on why they're still there with an uncertain departure timeframe has to have some kind of affect on their mind state. 

I'm sure the reasoning and feelings of being in Afghanistan have changed over time, but when you don't know why you're really there that can't be good. Let's see if some concrete plans come of all this unfortunate recent violence, that will provide a sense of relief and competency. The soldiers and their families would definitely appreciate this. 

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The Bad News BCS

By now all college football fans have had a few days to cool off after being steamed by the bowl game selections. The BCS should officially change its name to the Bull Crap Series, which is part of the NCAA - Not Caring About Athletes. College football has fully become a comedy skit with the constant "realignment" and BCS game selections. It's no longer about student athletes ( who don't get paid by the way) but about money hungry universities. It's been this way for some time already, but at this point the NCAA & BCS are just as corrupt as Enron, News Corp, Ponzi Schemers, etc. The NCAA will suspend a student athlete in a flash for selling his or her $70 jersey, but will not share 1 cent of the multi-millions with these kids that they bring into the NCAA and the universities.

The most recent BCS debacle has chosen two schools (LSU & Alabama) from the same conference within the same division into the 2011-2012 National Championship Game. How can a National championship be decided by divisional opponents? Well that's easy greed, SEC bias, ESPN influence, ignorance, and arrogance. What a nasty combination! There is no doubt that LSU deserves to be in this game, but not so much Alabama. Nearly all of the so called "experts" working for ESPN mainly and CBS of course say that Alabama is the second best team in the country. Their evidence of that you ask? In addition to the "eyeball test", well they play in the SEC and the only loss they suffered was to #1 ranked LSU by three points (on their home field by the way). That logic makes as much sense as asking for change for a penny. In all team sports, its about match ups and playing the actual game. Not what some person thinks or saw how one team played against another. A playoff system like every other team sport on the planet, and every other division in college football would resolve this.

In our opinion Oklahoma State is the team that should be playing LSU. There is an argument that can be made that the #3 team Oklahoma State team lost a game to a lesser unranked opponent. So they lost their chance to play for the title. However, there was a real tragedy that the entire university dealt with just prior to the game they lost. Also, that game was on the road. Though, the most important facts are that Oklahoma State held a noticeably better resume than Alabama with the number of ranked teams they beat and other factors. Besides, most college football fans prefer not to see another boring game with two teams in the same division, competing for the National Championship for that matter. In 2006 there was a very similar situation with Ohio State & Michigan which were the # 1 & 2 teams when they played a very exciting game, unlike LSU & Alabama. Some people said they should play for the National title, but ESPN and its "experts" lobbied that two teams from the same conference shouldn't play for the National title. And it would be unfair for Ohio State to have to beat Michigan again. Nonetheless, Michigan was left out and Florida got the nod to play against Ohio State for the title.

Outside of this championship game nonsense, the rest of the BCS games for this season are a complete disaster. There are teams left out that should've been included and teams included that should've been deserted. And most of the match ups are worthless and uninteresting. The NCAA and College football is only about money these days and not about student athletes having fun while getting an education, and fans getting to see their teams play in bowl games where they deserve to. It has come to whichever schools have the larger fan bases, bank accounts, and influence that are getting ahead. This is starting to feel awfully a lot like rich vs. poor and a popularity contest to see who wins prom king. The only answer to this BCS nightmare is for fans to quit watching these games when they come around. No ratings = No money for the BCS. Then eventually the right thing which is playoffs will come about when the NCAA grows up and stops being greedy. Though, you should not hold your breath because for the NCAA if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense.

Questionable Candidates

How ridiculous are the GOP candidates racing to be the nominee for Republican presidential candidate? Ron Paul seems like a creepy old loner that should be on Family Guy, Michelle Bachman is Sarah Palin 2.0, Newt Gingrich is self explanatory and a weirdo to add, Mitt Romney is up & down and left & right without a true character, Herman Cain is an absolute joke without real political experience & knowledge and a walking sexual harassment, and Rick Perry is a dumby exactly like George W Bush. If you closed your eyes and just listened to Rick Perry talk, you wouldn't know the difference between him and George W. What's even worse is many people across the country are taking these comedians pretending to be presidential candidates serious.

Sure President Obama is not perfect by any means and the U.S economy is in poor condition. That's an easy jab to take, but everything wrong in our economy is not solely his fault. Though there is a strong argument that can be made that the President is doing a sub par job with our economy, our congress isn't honestly helping him to make significant strides for improvement. The economy was in such terrible shape upon him taking office there is no way he can make every single issue on his desk favorable, certainly not with the bad attitudes congress has toward him. Besides if this country was dumb enough to let George W. have two terms, then Obama no doubt deserves more time.

What's really troubling is that the three GOP candidates currently with the most favor are not people that would truly represent the U.S. positively. Rick Perry as witnessed last night can't even remember his own agenda as it relates to things he would change with our country. This is probably because he's not sure if he wants to do things as a Republican or Democrat which he used to be. Or just plain not competent. Having mental lapses like that are not in the best interest of the American people. Herman Cain is just not someone to be seriously considered at all, even before the sexual harassment issues arised which he states are unfounded. He looks like a guy who behaves that way in our opinion. This guy has no political experience whatsoever and didn't even know that China was already a nuclear power. C'mon really? It's honestly sad that people really say they would vote for him. Don't let his strong personality fool you America, he's not presidential material by any means. Mitt Romney looks like he could be a president on a made for television movie, and his persona seems very artificial. He was also suspected about hiring illegal citizens to do work for him amongst other issues. So his integrity is somewhat in question.

Nonetheless, none of the 2011-2012 GOP candidates appear or seem to be seriously worthy of taking the place of the current president, no matter how unhappy some people are with him. These candidates are more thinking they can win the Presidential Election race than actually running the superpower of the world for four years. Those are two completely different things. True someone has to run against President Obama, but that doesn't mean they should be taken seriously. The job President of the U.S. is not some hobby, part-time job, or pizza shop position. Rather it's a monumental responsibility that takes integrity, in-depth knowledge/wisdom, patience, common sense, a loving heart, guts, and the ability to garner respect not only from Americans but the world community also.