Should we start pulling out of Afghanistan now, ahead of schedule? I am still on the fence, but I am close to falling off onto the side of those who say yes. Yesterday, Afghan President Karzai called for an end to NATO airstrikes on houses, and he warned that NATO is in danger of becoming seen by Afghans as an “occupying power”. I don’t trust Karzai’s sincerity; but I am sure that we are seen by many Afghans as an occupying power, and I agree that our military efforts in Afghanistan are becoming ever more counterproductive – increasingly earning us more enemies than friends. Part of the problem is how we fight. Right or wrong, that isn’t going to change much. A bigger part of the problem is that we waited too long to get serious about Afghanistan. If we lost this war, we lost it back in 2003 when we chose to throw the bulk of our resources into invading Iraq rather than trying to reconstruct (or simply construct) Afghanistan. I doubt that we any longer have the political will, or the money, to reconstruct Afghanistan, and I doubt that a mainly military solution to Afghanistan’s problems, such as we are trying now, ever existed.

Here, for what it’s worth, I expand on these opinions. I welcome correction, counter-arguments, and further information. I’m still not certain what to think about this, and it seems to me like it is a topic very worth our best efforts.

When I heard that Osama Bin Laden was killed, I had many mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was relieved that this man was no longer around to mastermind terrorist acts that would kill more innocent people. I hope Bin Laden's death put closure for the family and friends of all the people that Bin Laden had a hand in killing. On the other hand, I felt uncomfortable celebrating the killing of a human being, no matter how evil that person has been. In many ways, the way people are acting now is probably similar to the way previous generations reacted to the death of Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin.

Osama Bin Laden represents to me the type of extremism that is at the heart of so much terrorism. Because of Bin Laden, Al Queda and the Iranian revolution, most Americans tend to associate religious extremism with Islam, but all religions are plagued with examples of extremism. The three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam have had sad episodes of religious extremism where its partisans have used their religion to harass and kill those who do not hold their religious tenets.

In case you missed the President's speech tonight ....

The United States is part of a broad ______________ (any noun describing forced unity) engaged in a ___________ (ridiculous noun) to defeat the regime of _________ (any obnoxious Middle East dictator) who is brutalizing his people and presents a clear danger to the vital interests of ______________ (any multi-national oil company).

Therefore, I have called on our military to enforce a __________________ (focus group tested buzzword) while our coalition partners contribute on the ground. Let me stress, in this action the United States has the backing of many Arab partners such as _____________. (other obnoxiously wealthy Middle Eastern dictatorship)...

What is happening in Egypt? What are we seeing in society around the world? Is it civilized and peaceful organization to right the wrongs of oppressive government? Is our massive industrial complex of war machine manufacturers quelling the physical violence around the world? Is our mighty unmatched military complex creating peace?

What do we have in our constitution that guarantees a better way? The first amendment to our constitution is the secret to a better way. Religion with its emotional and spiritual blackmail power, guaranteed by support of sovereign power of government is a powerful force when corrupt and conscienceless men are in control. Freedom of/from Religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of peaceful assembly are not available to most of the people held bondage by despotic rulers.

Here in Everyday Citizen and Kansas Free Press, we have a forum that allows exchange of opinion through the power of word and reason rather than rocks and bullets. We happen to be identified as being leftist or liberal. The right leaning and conservative folks have their outlets that give opportunity to exercise power and reason in the same way.

John F. Kennedy famously said: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

With you I am watching the people of Egypt and other Arab nations try to step out from under the boot of tyranny. I hope it’s not too late for Obama to seek out and support the civic activists throughout the Middle East who want justice, and to live in a free society.

While many in the Islamic world, including those in the streets, are dangerous anti-American and anti-Israel religious fanatics, to the surprise of most Americans I bet, many others are concerned about getting things like good jobs and their children an education.

Many involved in the demonstrations are poor, factory workers and jobless. But also on the front lines are professors, members of soccer clubs, workers in human rights groups, and in places like the Al-Nakheel Association for Women and Children. They are journalists, lawyers, religious moderates, secular leftists, union organizers, bloggers, filmmakers and artists, some of whom, from their space in the civil society, have fought the despots, without much help from the United States, and usually paid dearly.

At a military training camp in Seoul, many of the reserve office training corps cadets prepare for another day. With their K-2 assault rifles, they prepare for battle by attacking their imaginary enemy with passion and weapons. If you take a closer look, you will realize that many of these cadets are not men, but women taking a large step for women's rights by putting pressure on a glass ceiling that obviously exits. While reading this article, I was upset by the comments section below. Many male military/civilians believed that this was not a stepping stone, but an upset and a stupid move on the military. Their complains, this is too much work for women, allow them to do the soft things, and let the man handle the "hard" "excruciating pain" of fighting for their country.

According to the Korean Herald, one of the women had a lot to say about her new entry into the Reserve Office training corps, citing "changing people's perception" as a goal in her military career, ""I applied to the ROTC to show that not only men but women also have the same opportunities because we are the same people. Through joining, my goal is to change people's perception and open the door for women a little wider," said Park Gi-eun, a student at Sookmyung Women's University."

Hello, Readers. Sorry I have been MIA (Missing in Action), graduate school has really been kicking me hard, with the increase in papers and the tons of research for my prospective thesis, blogging has been put on the back-burner. But, I have a little free-time so I am going to be trying to post at least one-two blogs a day, or a week; give-or-take my schedule. Glad to be back.

Today, while perusing the internet I came across a startling article from PressTV about the recent increase of violence against Argentian women. According to PressTV, "a recent study by the non-governmental organization La Casa del Encuentro, 260 cases of crime against women were committed in Argentina in 2010, almost five per week, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday."

What's so shocking in this article is the reports are claiming that in the study many of the attacks reported are by the de-facto spouse or by the victim's husband.

According to PressTV, "a survey published by the National Women's Council, one in three Argentinean women suffer from physical, psychological, sexual or economic abuse in her home."

The recent outbreak of cholera in Haiti which has killed more than 300 people is bringing international attention back to that island nation. Unfortunately, this epidemic has been predicted for months now and despite the best efforts of numerous NGOs and the donation of billions of dollars (special kudos is given to Bill Clinton in that aspect) the world hasn't been able to put Haiti back together or even in a position to have avoided the latest crisis. The remainder of my post is a cut and paste from an MSNBC.com comment on a story about the continuing rise in the death toll and the shortsighted reaction of some residents of that country to an effort by Doctors Without Borders to open a new health clinic to treat cholera patients. Here's the link to the story.

Basically, I was responding to those who commented that Haiti's people were 'ignorant' and we as a country should pull out and cut our losses. I do agree that Haiti is poorly served by its leadership and trust my wife's perception of the on-the-ground realities of economic and social inertia and stagnation which have been made worse by the over-reliance on temporary aid from NGOs. I'm also not willing to let Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma off the hook for delaying US aid already appropriated by Congress. So, here are my thoughts in that context.

In recent weeks, there has been a controversy in New York City involving a Muslim center that is a few blocks from where the Twin Towers once were. This controversy highlights the misperceptions that many people in this country have about Muslims. Bob Hooper, a regular blogger in Everyday Citizen, wrote an informative blog about the prejudice and anger among certain groups of Christians towards mosques in various parts of the country. In a Jasper the Cat cartoon that I did last December, I wrote about the various things that I learned about Muslims in America. From what I learned, I believe that most Muslim Americans are patriotic and just as concerned about extremists as their fellow Americans. In this blog, I write of more things that I learned in these past few weeks.

According to the Telegraph, "Brig Hossien Sajedinia, Tehran's police chief, said a national crackdown on opposition sympathizers would be extended to women who have been deemed to be violating the spirit of Islamic laws."

"The public expects us to act firmly and swiftly if we see any social misbehavior by women, and men, who defy our Islamic values. In some areas of north Tehran we can see many suntanned women and young girls who look like walking mannequins."

We are not going to tolerate this situation and will first warn those found in this manner and then arrest and imprison them."