Recently I had a discussion with several other Americans of various ethnicities about the treatment of the people that were living throughout North and South America during the time that the first American colonies were established.

I find that people are generally ignorant when it comes to the colonists of the Americas, North America in particular, as that is what I am most familiar with; English settlers to be more specific.

People are usually far more to one side than the other: Either they think that the settlers were terrible people and should not have been on the land in the first place, or they feel that the natives were insolent savages and nothing more. I fall somewhere in the middle, seeing obvious failings on both sides.

The people with whom I was having this discussion with all fell to the side of thinking that all settlers were terrible people, taking land that didn't belong to them, and that the natives were apparently perfect in everything that they did. No matter what, they felt that the Christian settlers were in the wrong.

Sadly most of them had no clue what actually happened during the first colonies and the Jamestown massacre until I either informed them or refreshed their foggy memories:

Jamestown was the earliest lasting English colony in the new world. It was founded by the Virginia Company of London on May 14^th, 1607, which was chartered by James I a year earlier along with its sister company the Virginia Company of Plymouth.

Life in Jamestown was in no way easy. The land that was initially settled was less than ideal and the Powhatan Indians were on the attack almost immediately after the settlers made landfall. That is a fact: There is clear historical evidence that the Powhatan made the first move in attacking the English settlers just a week after they arrived.

Attacks from the Powhatan Indians were the least of the settlers' problems: They had far worse to deal with, namely what is known as the Starving Time during the winter of 1609-1610, when their supply convoy ran into a hurricane, crops failed, and trade was cut off by the Powhatan Indians.

The Starving Time ended with the deaths of the vast majority of settlers living in Jamestown and nearly brought the colony to an end. The cause is clearly convoluted, but there is no doubt that the Powhatan played their role in the deaths of a great many settlers that horrible winter.

Then in 1611 and 1612 John Rolfe planted and began exporting tobacco from the colony. This breakthrough in trade firmly established the colony and allowed it to thrive in comparison to the first few years of struggle.

Issues with the Powhatan Indians continued into the following years, as more and more land was used up the river to cultivate their new crop, thus growing the colony and using more of the land that was formerly occupied by the Powhatan.

After the succession and death of Wahunsunacock, the leader of the Powhatan Indians and a seemingly level-headed fellow compared to those that came after him, likely thanks to the marriage of his daughter Pocahontas to John Rolfe 1614; relations with the Powhatan once again became a major issue for the colonists to deal with.

Sometime after Wahunsunacock was succeeded his brother Opechancanough ended up with power over the Powhatan. Opechancanough was by all accounts an ignorant and hateful individual that showed extreme disdain and prejudice towards the settlers from the very beginnings of the colony.

The Powhatan's animosity and hatred towards the settlers came to a head with an attack that was planned and led by Opechancanough in 1622; this attack is known as the Jamestown massacre.

Even with much better relations between the settlers and the Powhatan in the years following the marriage between Pocahontas and John Rolfe, Opechancanough continued to carry his hatred for the settlers and the contempt that he must have felt for his previous failings against the settlers.

Plotting and planning to destroy the settlers for years, Opechancanough finally had his chance to launch his attack on every settlement along the James River.

The sneak attack that Opechancanough planned resulted in the deaths of approximately half of the settlers, huge amounts of destruction which lead to the complete abandonment of many of their settlements, as well as the enslavement of a great number of female settlers that were captured during the attack.

After the attack by the Powhatan under the command and leadership of Opechancanough the colonists of course retaliated, which I believe to be a completely valid reaction to such a heinously planned and executed attack.

A couple of years after the Jamestown massacre the Virginia colony was turned into a royal, or crown colony; thus removing the Virginia Company of London from their previous involvement with the colony. This also gave the English much more power in the new world, which in turn helped lead to all future misdeeds towards innocent natives.

The decisions and actions of the Powhatan Indians, culminating with the Jamestown Massacre, without a doubt deserve much of the blame for the misdeeds directed towards those that were native to North America during the time of the first English colonies, to the end of them and into the creation of the United States of America.

Since we know that Opechancanough was entirely behind the Jamestown Massacre, as well as many other hostilities between the settlers and the natives, we can and should thusly blame him for the actions of the settlers from then on.

The reaction after the Jamestown massacre by the settlers was due to the actions of Opechancanough and those that followed him. They carry the burden of any mistreatment that their people had to endure, as well as the burden of the suffering of many thousands of other natives in the future, thanks to the negativity that the Jamestown massacre allowed and provided to current and future colonists.

Last night the American swim team won the gold medal in the Men's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay in a fantastic finish that completed without a doubt one of the greatest comebacks that I have ever personally witnessed in a sporting event.

The win was made even sweeter due to that fact that we beat the French team - who were amazing in their own right - after a member of the French team named Alain Bernard decided that it would be a good idea to make comments stating that he and his team would smash the team from the USA.

Swim Team USA was behind from the very beginning and for the majority of the match, with Australia's Eamon Sullivan breaking the world record to start his team off, while Team USA's Michael Phelps broke the American record in the opening leg as well.

The USA briefly took the lead after Phelps finished with the swimming of Garrett Weber-Gale, but gave it up during the third leg of the race as the French team was simply much too fast for American swimmer Cullen Jones.

That's when it happened: After Jones finished veteran American swimmer Jason Lezak dove into the pool when it looked like the French team had the gold medal all but locked going into the final leg with world-record-holding trash-talking Frenchman Alain Bernard as their anchor swimmer.

Even the American announcers seemed to think that there was little hope for Swim Team USA, hoping that team USA could hold on to the silver at least. Jason Lezak was simply too slow, too old to win, the amount of time that he had to make up was just too great they said, there was little confidence in Jason Lezak and little hope for Swim Team USA to bring the gold back home.

During the first 50 metres it didn't seem that Lezak was making up much ground on the speedy Bernard, but then in the last 50 metres it seemed like Lezak was unstoppable, overcoming a nearly full length deficit with his amazing 46.06 second final leg for a .08 second win over the French team.

It was truly great to watch. The entire American team was just fantastic and Jason Lezak is an absolute hero for his amazing anchor leg of the race. It easily ranks as one of the greatest performances that I have ever seen in any sport.

Five teams broke the previous world record, which was set by the USA earlier in the day: Sweden, Italy, Australia, France, and of course the gold medalist United States team. Every team that participated broke the previous Olympic record, which is another amazing statistic and shows the level of competition in the event.

 Justin "Angie" Zapata, an 18 year old transgendered person, was murdered on July 16^th by a man that she had sexual relations with after he found out that she was actually born a male.

The story has gotten quite a bit of coverage and I've attempted to follow it as closely as possible. I agree with the vast majority of people writing about the story, it's very sad that Angie Zapata was murdered, it's a terrible thing; what I disagree with is how many people are portraying the case, or perhaps I should say - what they are not portraying:

 Angie Zapata met Allen Ray Andrade through a website called mocospace.com, which I can only assume is similar to myspace.com; a social website for people to network, meet and interact in various kinds of activities, including sexual activities.

After a very brief bout of communications through mocospace.com; the affidavit released by Greeley police states that shortly after meeting for the very first time and spending the day together, the day of July 15^th 2008, that Angie Zapata performed oral sex on Andrade but would not allow him to reciprocate.

They spent the night together and in the morning Angie Zapata left her apartment, while Allen Ray Andrade was free to peruse the apartment at his discretion.

While alone in the apartment of Angie Zapata, Andrade apparently discovered several pictures that lead him to either question, or if he already had doubts from the previous night - to further question the gender of Zapata.

When Angie Zapata returned to her home she discovered the distraught Andrade, who then began making demands to see the genitalia of Zapata; who then, according to Andrade, stated that she was "all woman."

Not taking Angie Zapata's word for it, Andrade then began grabbing at her genitalia, at which point he then of course made the inevitable discovery that she was indeed a man, and that his suspicions were true.

Andrade then struck Zapata with his hands, finally the violence escalated to Andrade grabbing a fire extinguisher and striking Zapata in the head with it numerous times.

Thinking that his actions had lead to the death of Angie Zapata, Andrade began his attempts at covering up his crime; shortly after Zapata began to move and try to get off of the ground: Andrade then took the fire extinguisher in his hands and with one final strike, ended the life of Angie Zapata.

It's an extremely sad story, and to be completely honest, it was fairly difficult typing the above explanation out for those of you that do not yet know the story.

I'm going to say upfront, before I allow anyone to get the wrong idea as to what my feelings are on this case: That I am not going to defend Allen Ray Andrade in any way. He is undoubtedly a murderer and deserves whatever justice is forced upon him and much, much more.

Where I take issue is in the fact that Justin "Angie" Zapata was living a lie by stating that she was a female, when in reality she wasn't, no matter how much she wanted to be, no matter how much she felt that she was a female; the sad reality is that she was not a female and could never be a female.

I certainly don't mean to judge her. She was who she was and I respect that on every level.

What I do not respect is the level of deception involved, as well as the questionable decision making on her part.

Case in point, here is a (large) picture of Allen Ray Andrade:

 Maybe I'm just not hip enough, not in the know enough to understand that meeting some 31 year old man from the internet for a random sexual encounter is actually perfectly sound judgment on Angie Zapata's part.

Looking at it logically though, meeting a person that looks like the person pictured above (Allen Ray Andrade) for random sex acts, after lying to him about your gender, possibly your age, and who knows what else; well, let's just say that it doesn't seem like a wise choice for a person, any person, to make.

Yet for some reason I haven't seen this mentioned on one single blog or website. Nobody seems to care that this 18 year old girl was meeting a 31 year old man, whom she met through the internet, for a random sexual encounter.

This is only compounded by the fact that transgendered people are looked at through the eyes of bigotry and hate.

What does a person have to be thinking to do something like this, to make a decision as unsound, as thoughtless as this? I can't even bring myself to that level of understanding; it's an impossibility for me, no matter how hard I try; I just don't see myself thinking at that level.

The second issue that I mentioned was the deception involved on the part of Angie Zapata.

I visited what I believe to be Angie Zapata's Myspace page: It states quite clearly that she is a female and that she is heterosexual. There is absolutely no mention of being transgendered, transsexual, bisexual, male, born a male, nothing of that sort.

I understand that many transgendered people don't feel that they are actually of the gender of their birth; but the reality is that no matter how badly they want to be the opposite gender, that it's impossible for that to happen.

Certainly that must be tough to understand and accept, especially considering how many people view transgendered individuals in the United States, and much of the world for that matter. But it's something that they have to come to accept.

Transgendered individuals should be accepting of what and who they are. No matter how they feel, they should be free to express their feelings in a way that makes them feel good about themselves, not in a way that they think will be accepted by others.

I have no doubt that many people would have accepted Angie Zapata as a transgendered person, just as her family and her friends appear to have done. Anyone that wanted to judge her based on her sexual feelings, rather than what she was like as a person, as a fellow human being, isn't someone that she should have worried about looking for acceptance from in the first place.

Angie Zapata should have accepted what she was and dealt with it. Those people that didn't accept her for how she felt, people who judged her for her sexual feelings, aren't people whose opinions should be respected or sought after.

In closing, it's a very sad thing that should not have ever happened.

R.I.P. Angie Zapata, I don't doubt that you will be remembered by a great many people.

Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow died early yesterday morning (Saturday, July 12^th, 2008).

While this is not a particularly huge event in the broad scope of history; it is most certainly worthy of a bit of discussion, especially due to the fact that this man is being disrespected all over by the ignorant, mainly here on the internet.

These commentators seem to feel that Tony Snow somehow isn't a good person due to their political differences.

I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised by the ignorance of some people, considering the way they treat everyone that disagrees with them, even on issues that are not in any way political.

Still, I find it quite saddening, as the great majority of these people have no idea what kind of person Tony Snow was, they're too ignorant to do any research on him, they're too ignorant to care.

They would rather spout their political ideologies and demonize the man after his death. It really shows their character.

Having actually had the opportunity to speak with Tony Snow, I can honestly say that he seemed like nothing less than a good person to me.

Not only was he a good person, but he had several interesting political stances that differentiated him from many other people in his political party.

Simply because of his association with the Bush administration he has been unfairly judged and labeled. The fact is that he disagreed with many decisions of the current administration.

Take a look at some of the articles that he has written. While I certainly don't agree with everything in them, some of his opinions and beliefs are interesting, and they are quite different from the beliefs and opinions that many of his current detractors believe he held.

Not only was he a good guy, quite different from how many people are currently portraying him; but he was a loyal public servant, and by all accounts a devoted family man. All of which are attributes that should be respected in a person, sadly some have allowed politics to cloud their vision - making such features difficult to see.

With that said: No matter what your feelings towards him are, we should all be able to agree that any article regarding Tony Snow deserves nothing less than a R.I.P. and wishes of strength for the family that he leaves behind.

The number homeless people in the United States can vary greatly at any single point in time. The vast majority of homeless Americans are only homeless for a short period of time; and usually it is due to very specific circumstances, after a natural disaster for example, or a long period without work after a job loss, a death in the family, things like that.

Using the current flooding problems as a current example, there will be a short term influx of homeless people in the United States without a doubt, but the vast majority of those people will have a home again very soon.

The real issue is all of the people that are homeless and have been homeless for a very long time now. These people are not going to find a home any time soon. The majority of them suffer from mental health issues, often times very severe mental health issues, or they have substance abuse problems; and the help available to them is vastly inadequate for how extensive the issue is.

Another part of the equation that needs to be taken into account is the fact that the amount of homeless veterans is hugely out of balance with the percentage of American veterans as a whole of the population. It clearly shows that veterans are not receiving the level of treatment that they deserve here in the United States. Our veterans need and deserve proper care, no matter what their problem is.

I have currently estimated the amount of actual homeless people in the United States at over .0333% of the population, over one hundred thousand of our fellow Americans. As I said above, the number of homeless people in the United States varies greatly at any point in time; but what I am concerned with here are real homeless people that have very little chance of getting out of their homelessness.

Real homeless people are what we need to focus on. Over one hundred thousand Americans: Men, women and children, usually with extreme mental or substance abuse problems, problems that they have little hope in overcoming, problems that they have little support for.

Leni Riefenstahl's next cinematic work was very likely made specifically for Adolf Hitler himself. The film was financed by Hitler through the German government; it is a film version of Adolf Hitler's favorite opera: Tiefland by Eugen d'Albert.

Based on the great Catalan writer Àngel Guimerà's 1896 play Terra baixa; Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland was his seventh and most famous Opera; though not immediately popular, the opera would garner international acclaim shortly after it was reworked by d'Albert in 1907.

Tiefland would be Leni Riefenstahl's last full length feature film. Once again she would direct, write, star, edit, and produce the film. I've seen the film and it is a very high quality work, it's a very artistic film and I feel that Leni Riefenstahl's vision is well supported, especially taking into consideration that the film was created during such a hectic time in her life, and of course a very hectic time for the entire world.

While Tiefland is not quite as much of a breakthrough as Leni Riefenstahl's great work done in Triumph of the Will and Olympia; Tiefland is full of extremely high quality, beautiful shots, and I believe it to be a fine film overall.

The one draining issue with Tiefland is that some of the actors were taken out of concentration camps and put to work on the film. Both Sinti and Roma gypsies were taken from concentration camps nearby wherever the shooting location was at the time.

It's said that the actors in the film were later put to death at some point after returning to the concentration camps. Whether that is true is unknown to me, but it seems that it was likely unknown to Leni Riefenstahl if it were true, as she denied anything like that ever happening. Regardless of the fact that many of the actors in the film were gypsies, or whether they were being forced into doing the work or not, or whether they were killed by the Nazi's at some point after the filming was finished; we have to realize that it was a terrible situation for them, as well as many other people during World War II, but it is a fact of Germany from that period in time, one that we have to accept and deal with.

It's unknown to me how Leni Riefenstahl treated her actors, but I can't see it as having been too bad, certainly not as bad as what was happening to them inside of their concentration camps; taking into account the fact that she was acting right there along with them. Who can say how they were treated while in her presence and working with her though.

Leni Riefenstahl's next film was another work for Hitler and the Nazi party, filmed and released the same year that Triumph of the Will was released, 1935. It is another documentary / propaganda piece filmed at the annual Nazi rally held in Nuremburg, entitled Tag der Freiheit! -- Unsere Wehrmacht! (Day of Freedom! -- Our Armed Forces!). It's a short film glorifying the German army. It is not quite up to the artistic merits of her previous works, especially Triumph of the Will, but it is a quality work for what it is; basically it's a showcase of the German army and how they operate.

The film was created due to the German army's lack of exposure in the brilliant Triumph of the Will. As such they were upset and wanted a film of their own, they went to Hitler with their concerns and Hitler accepted their idea and put it through to Riefenstahl.

Sadly the 1935 Nazi party rally in Nuremburg was the point in which the Nazi ideologies on the Jewish people would begin to further come to light and be implemented. Known as the Nuremberg Laws, they are one of the first of many black marks on the history of Leni Riefenstahl and her work, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi party, and much of the German population. The Nuremberg Laws were of course some of the first official discrimination laws against the Jewish people by the Nazi party.

Riefenstahl's next film was Olympia, in which she brilliantly documents the 1936 Summer Olympics. It is Leni Riefenstahl's last groundbreaking work in film (though not her last film). It is another masterwork, along with Triumph of the Will, Olympia is her greatest work in film; I can't quite say for sure which one I enjoy more or which was more of a breakthrough, both are cinematic masterpieces.

Olympia is a truly brilliant work. Known for its technical achievements, Leni uses advanced techniques in the process of creating the film, such as; tracking shots, everyone is aware of tracking shots today, but they certainly weren't as aware of them before Leni Riefenstahl; extreme close-ups, everyone knows what an extreme close-up is now, but very few knew what it was in 1936; smash-cut editing, which is now commonly used to give the viewer a quick snap, a wakeup call if you will, they weren't happening before Olympia; as well as cleverly angled and designed shots and lighting techniques; slow-motion techniques; and much more. The film showcases her absolute brilliance as a director in film and as an artist in general.

Before Olympia the vast majority of shots in cinema were done from stationary positions, little camera movement was involved and little variation on top of that. Certainly there were plenty of other great filmmakers both before and during the time of Leni Riefenstahl's classic directing works and I do not mean to discredit them at all. But the fact is that Leni Riefenstahl truly was a great artist and a cinematic visionary; Leni Riefenstahl was a pioneer and she should be seen and respected as such.

During the filming of Das Blaue Licht, Leni read Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, and in 1932 she attended a Nazi (National Socialist German Workers' Party) rally, as a great number of Germans did; and as with a great number of her fellow Germans, she was enthralled by Adolf Hitler's rhetoric. Shortly after she had a meeting with Hitler, who told Leni that he enjoyed her work in Das Blaue Licht and elsewhere and would like her to film the upcoming fifth Nazi party rally, in Nuremberg.

Whether she wanted to create the film for herself, or had some sort of incentive or other motive behind its creation is unknown to me. Certainly she must have known that it would be used as a propaganda piece for the Nazi party and for her country; this isn't something that we should be upset over though, many great artists have created pieces for their countries that are seen as propaganda.

Through the opposition of much of the Nazi party and with the support of Hitler she was able to document the rally. The film that Riefenstahl created out of the 1933 Nazi rally in Nuremberg was Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of the Faith); which is a film that I haven't seen personally, but a film that I plan on seeing at some point in the future.

Shortly after its release the film was hidden away due to Hitler's orders to execute Ernst Röhm, the leader of the Sturmabteilung (the SA or the brownshirts); as well as many of his lieutenants and other people involved in the initial rise of Nazi power, and the rise of Hitler himself for that matter. The incident is known as the Night of the Long Knives; during which, over several days 90 people were murdered by the Schutzstaffel (the SS) and the Geheime Staatspolizei (the Gestapo). Leni Riefenstahl's feelings on the situation are unknown to me, I'm not aware of her speaking a word about it myself, but I can't imagine that she was too happy over her work being hidden away at the time.

Although the film had to be shelved, Adolf Hitler thought positively of her and her work on Der Sieg des Glaubens and asked Riefenstahl to create another film for the upcoming 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremburg.

The film that Leni Riefenstahl created from the 1934 rally was another breakthrough, this time both a cinematic breakthrough and an artistic breakthrough. That film is Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will).  Riefenstahl shows her masterful control of the camera here; thanks to her tremendous artistic vision, Leni was able to create shots that had never been seen or even dreamed of with a camera. The sheer technical detail and effort that went into making the film is incredible; Leni used 30 cameras and had 120 technicians at her disposal; she had bridges and posts built in the center of Nuremburg; all of the camera placements, the movements, the lighting gantries, everything was specifically set up to Leni Riefenstahl's exact specifications.

Triumph des Willens is truly a great work, one that Leni Riefenstahl worked painstakingly to create to the absolute best of her ability, to fully meet her vision in every possible way. She recorded just over 66 and ½ hours of footage of the rally. Of those sixty-six and one-half hours of footage she edited the film into the brilliant 2 hour long documentary that we know today. The film received many awards, including the 1935 Venice International Film Festival Coppa dell'Istituto Nazionale LUCE award, the National Film Prize for 1934-1935, and the Medaille d'Or & Grand Prix de France in 1937.

The film was lauded at the time of its creation around the world and it has been highly praised by film enthusiasts, it is to this day praised by authorities of the cinematic and artistic realm, as it has from its very first showing. It truly is a masterpiece in documentary and visual filmmaking; no matter if it is considered propaganda or not, no matter if Leni Riefenstahl meant for it to be a propaganda piece or not. The facts remain: The artwork and the mastery of Leni Riefenstahl's work speaks for itself.

Leni Riefenstahl has been a very controversial figure for many years now. In this series of articles, I will go over my thoughts and feelings on her life and her work. This is part. 1, covering her early life and first foray into film:

Born Helene Bertha Amalie Riefenstahl in Berlin, Germany on the 22^nd of August, 1902; she began her professional and artistic career as a dancer, her dancing style was uniquely her own and widely popular at the time. She continued to express herself through interpretive dance until she injured her knee in her early 20's, at which point she began her acting career.

Her acting career began shortly after the injury to her knee brought her career as a dancer to an end. She had a couple of undocumented and minor rolls, until 1925 when she was finally given the lead role in Arnold Fanck's new mountain film: Der Heilige Berg (The Holy Mountain) as the dancer Diotima.

The role of Diotima was written by Fanck specifically for Leni Riefenstahl. It is the first film that I watched in which Leni Riefenstahl was in front of the camera rather than behind it; it's a quality work with a great many interesting shots and scenes, Fanck does a great job filming the environment. At the time of my first viewing I was not familiar with Leni Riefenstahl's acting, as I said; nor was I familiar with Arnold Fanck's directing; and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by both aspects of the film.

Riefenstahl gives a lovely performance as Diotima; the film also allows us a bit of insight as to what her dancing style and abilities were, which is wonderfully interesting, and I can only imagine that she was an even better dancer before her knee injury.

Leni went on to star in many other mountain films that were also directed by Arnold Fanck, of which I have now seen several. Generally she played an outgoing young girl, a very entertaining part and one that she did very well, which perhaps gives us a bit of insight as to what he personality was like in her youthful days.

Then Leni began her career as a director when the offer was made to her. Her first attempt at directing resulted in the breakthrough film Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) in 1932. With the support of Arnold Fanck, Béla Balázs, the production team at Henry R. Sokal-Film of Berlin, and many others; Riefenstahl was not only able to direct her first film, but she also starred in the leading role of the film as Junta; and not only that, but Leni also co-wrote the film, edited the film, and helped to produce the film.

The work was an absolute breakthrough for Riefenstahl. The film launched her new career as a complicated director. One that would lead her to be both praised and criticized, one that was undoubtedly one of the most influential in the history of cinema and film making.

Someone should have told Barack Obama that this is not something that he can just walk away from. You can not erase the past Obama buddy, I'm sorry to break the news to you. You're going to have to live with it. As much as you and your followers don't like the idea of having to deal with the consequences of your own personal actions; I know... It's a hard concept to wrap your head around.

Thankfully I have little doubt that the vast majority of my fellow Americans realize the very same things that I do; as such there is no way that Barack Obama will win the presidency; no matter whom he disowns. Seriously, who's next Obama, your wife Michelle perhaps?

This is nothing more than yet another calculated move made by Barack Obama for his own personal gain. First he didn't want to disown his mentor and pastor, Jeremiah Wright; he then hypocritically does exactly what he said he would not and could not do, but only after Jeremiah Wright made him look bad in public.

Only after coming to realize, or more than likely being told, that disowning Jeremiah Wright was the best decision for his presidential campaign did Barack Obama do so. Only when he realized that there was more to gain on a personal level by disowning him than by keeping him around did Barack Obama do so.

Only after the polls and his handlers told him that leaving his church would be beneficial did Barack Obama so do. That is hypocritical and cowardly. Stand up for what you truly believe in Barack; you can't sit in a "church" for over 20 years listening to hate spew forth from the alter and not believe at least some of is, can you Mr. Obama?

Of course you can't. It's clear to everyone that actually wants to open their eyes and look at the situation logically and without political prejudice, such as me, that Barack Obama is nothing more than a politician, an empty suit, trying to do whatever is best for Barack Obama.

That is all Barack Obama cares about. He doesn't care about the American people or our country. He wants to be the President, it is all that he has on his mind, and it is all that he cares about. Whatever he has to smash through and trample to reach his goal, well they are just sacrifices that must be made for the great good, isn't that right Mr. Obama?

He doesn't care about the Democratic Party or its members. He doesn't care about its leaders or its oldest supporters. He cares about winning this election, above all else. This is extremely obvious, Barack Obama would not have thrown his mentor Jeremiah Wright under his political bus; Barack Obama would not have removed himself from his "church", or which he was a member for over 20 years.

Those are not things that people easily walk away from. Looking back on Barack Obama's much lauded speech on race only confirms this.

Anyway, The Planet had a major fire in their Houston H1 data center and all of the servers there were brought down, our box along with the rest. A transformer in their H1 data center in Houston caught fire, requiring them to take down all of their generators, as they were instructed to do by the fire department. All of the servers in the Houston H1 data center were brought down, some 9,000 servers, which affects over 7,500 of their customers, including us.

It happened Saturday evening at 4:55pm CDT, 5:55pm EDT, in their H1 data center. An electrical gear shorted, creating an explosion and a large fire that knocked down three of the walls surrounding their electrical equipment room. Thankfully no one was injured by either the explosion or the fire.

A good thing for them is that the explosion and the fire did not have any impact on any of their other five data centers. Though that doesn't change the fact that it did impact 7,500 of us, and whatever number of secondary customers they have; countless websites as well, I don't even want to think about the number of sites that had prolonged downtime due to this explosion.

I, as Mr. Rosenbaum, also did not vote for Bush in 2004 (I wasn't of age in 2000), but regardless of whom I voted for, President Bush was reelected and I accepted that choice. I've never talked badly about him at all; I realize that he has an extremely difficult job, much more difficult than I can even imagine I am sure.

That doesn't mean that I support absolutely everything that the President and his administration have done, as the article mentions the Patriot Act as an example: I certainly don't agree with our government infringing on the rights and the privacies of our nations citizens, in fact I am very much against it; but I can at the very least understand why such measures were taken. They were undoubtedly put into place to protect the American people, not to hurt them. I also do not believe that they are wire-tapping my telephone or reading my messages.

I was also in New York on 9/11, and it's absolutely correct that the people had a completely different mindset at that time. I can clearly remember the most liberal people that I knew, people who now support Barack Obama, suggesting that our country simply attack other nations without any evidence at all against them, nations in the middle east, simply because they may have had something to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Those very same people quite suddenly changed their tune as the years passed; now they're against the war in Iraq and think that it was a terrible idea from the very beginning. They're vehemently supporting Barack Obama and the Democrats, and they trash our President every chance that they get.

Now you could make the argument that the people that I speak with are simply ignorant, but if you actually read some of the comments made by Barack Obama followers right here on the internet, you can see that the people that I speak with are not much different from any other Barack Obama follower.

The article is absolutely correct in saying that the winds of change take to the American people as a hurricane takes to a wind chime. They forget that not even 7 short years ago they were the very thing that they are now so against. They are the ultimate hypocrisy.

They were extremely sobering and inspired me to write a series of articles about it, this will be the first article, covering Social Security.

America's Entitlement Programs Must End: Social Security

The first issue, of course, is Social Security. It's a hot-button issue that everyone knows about, one everyone talks about; well, everyone aside from most politicians, they don't want to lose votes by stating the unpopular facts behind the issue.

The amount of money necessary to keep our Social Security system running as it is now is absolutely staggering. To simply cover all of the unfunded liabilities of our Social Security system from now on would cost the American tax payers an astonishing 13.6 trillion Dollars. Yes, that is an amount nearly equal to an entire year of our nation's Gross Domestic Product; for those of you that don't know, that is the yearly amount of all of the goods and services produced in our country. This is well known of course, but seeing the number represented in Dollars really hits home.

The problem is that there simply aren't enough new workers to take care of the aging baby boomers of our country. You see, our Social Security system was not very well conceived, little foresight was used and little consideration was given to future generations.

The issue now is that people are living for a much longer period of time, yet they still retire and begin to receive their entitlements at the very same age that they did during Social Security's inception. So while in 1940 only 53.9 percent of American Males and only 60.6 percent of American Females survived from their adulthood all the way to their retirement; in 1990 those numbers jumped to 72.3 percent for Males and 83.6 percent for Females. While that is undoubtedly a good thing, it is one of many things that have put tremendous strain on our entitlement programs.

Not only are people living even longer thanks to our medical technology; but thanks as well to the post-war baby-boom, the number of American citizens aged 65 or older has more than quintupled since the inception of our Social Security program. That number is huge on its own, but it is only half the story, many baby boomers are still working and will reach their retirement in the coming years.

The population of the United States aged 65 and older is also expected to double in size within the next 20 years. By the year 2030 it is estimated that nearly 1-out-of-5 Americans, as many as 72 million people, will be 65 years of age or older. The 85 and older age group is currently one of the fastest growing segments of the population.

The fact is that there simply aren't enough workers to pay for that many retirees. The birth rate has decreased dramatically as well, for various reasons. All of these factors combined have led us to our current predicament. Something has to be done about this, we cannot continue passing our debt on to future generations.

Social Security is not the only entitlement issue: In my next article I'll discuss Medicare, as well as my views on how to fix the problem.

With the addition of T.J. their sound was able to expand quite a bit from the band's earlier works; with his sound contributions of a homemade Mellotron, Marimba, Organ playing, editing tricks, as well as his Drum playing abilities; which allowed Cale to further develop his sound within the band.

Their expanded sound can be seen on their first album together: 2004's Here Comes Everyone, which was released that winter. The beginnings of the album were written in T.J.'s grandfather's house in Pennsylvania shortly after the coming together of the band's lineup.

Their follow up album was the critically acclaimed Some Echoes, which was released in the spring of 2006. The album was recorded and produced at the Silver Sonya studio in Virginia, which is operated by T.J. and Chad Clark (from the DC band Beauty Pill).

Some Echoes showcased a further progression in their sound and was praised by nearly everyone that listened to the record; I honestly do not believe that I've read a single poor review of the album. It is an absolute classic and quite possibly my favorite work by the band to date. The album was also streamed on their website for everyone to listen to, but sadly the old band website is no longer available; they now use their Myspace page for their website needs.

Their latest release is Light Works, an EP, released in late 2007. While not as progressive sounding as the previous two releases, Light Works is a light and fine work indeed, especially as far as EP's are concerned; it is a quality release without a doubt, it's almost album like. Though it may be a little unexpected at first to hear the piano and the acoustic guitar, you soon get used to it and enjoy the quality of the work that is being done.

Aloha really is one of the hardest working bands making music today, and they are grossly unappreciated for the amazing work that they have done and continue to do. I have been to several Aloha shows over the years and I am not joking when I say that they are one of the hardest working bands around. They are in what seems to be a constant state of touring, recording, writing and working.

They have played shows all over the world, from every corner of the United States, to Japan and Singapore. They have a very loyal following in their fan base, which will undoubtedly continue to grow as time passes by and people continue to discover them. The band certainly deserves any and all recognition that they receive.

Aloha: One of the best bands that you didn't know about until reading this article.

I'm not going to argue whether I believe John McCain, Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton is correct in their stance and their beliefs on the issue. What I am going to address is what exactly all of these tax payer dollars in fuel tax revenue are supposed to be going to:

You may have seen the word hypothecation used in reference to the gas tax; what that means is that the revenues from the motor fuel tax are supposed to go directly towards the infrastructure used by motor vehicles, such as roads, bridges and highways; as well as to help with the infrastructure for the fuels themselves.

Many people's main argument against both John McCain's and Hillary Clinton's idea to relieve the American people of this motor fuel tax for the summer has been that this money is indeed going towards the repair and upkeep of our roads, bridges and highways; and why would we not want better and safer roads, bridges and highways.

Yet just last summer we had two different bridges collapse right here in the United States; including the absolutely devastating Minneapolis I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota; which sadly cost the lives of 13 innocent Americans and hurt at least 60 more. A horrible and unnecessary travesty, that undoubtedly could have and should have been prevented.

Several independent research institutions have also pointed out several other bridges in need of repair; as well as vast stretches of other infrastructure that is in need of upkeep. So where is all of this tax money going if not on this very necessary infrastructure maintenance?

In fiscal year 2005, nearly 36 Billion Dollars in revenue from the Motor Fuel Tax was received by state and local governments across the United States. An additional 18.4 cents per gallon in Federal Tax is also currently charged; which is also the tax that the three Presidential candidates and their supporters are debating over. That is a lot of money that is supposed to be used to keep Americans safe.

The 18.4 cents per gallon Federal tax, if voided for the summer as John McCain and Hillary Clinton wish to do, would "cost" the government 10 Billion dollars. What "cost" actually means in this case is that the American people would be able to keep 10 Billion of their hard earned dollars over the summer, while the government would theoretically have 10 Billion less tax dollars to waste.

The argument of those against the tax holiday is, as I stated above, that this summer tax holiday is going to "cost" the government 10 Billion dollars, which would otherwise be going towards the upkeep of our nation's infrastructure.

Yet from our recent history, as well as simply keeping our eyes open as we drive on, ride on, and walk along our roads, we can see that our infrastructure is in terrible shape. From this we must come to the conclusion that the Billions of dollars in taxes that are supposed to be going towards our nation's infrastructure are actually being wasted. Which is not a surprise; the government wastes the vast majority of our tax dollars.

The other argument against the gas tax holiday is that it is not going to reduce prices at the pump at all. Those greedy oil companies are simply going to add another 18.4 cents per gallon to their bottom and top lines!

That argument is simply ignorance. Why? Because the Motor Fuel Tax is added onto the price of gas set by the oil companies, it has no impact on the price that fuel companies charge for their fuel. It is an added tax of 18.4 cents on every gallon of fuel sold in the United States.

That doesn't mean that the price of your gasoline will not continue to rise over the summer, as it does every summer. That is simply due to the increased demand for the product during the summer months. The tax being there or not being there is not at all relevant.

If the tax was there, then the price for gasoline over the summer would be the oil company's price plus an added 18.4 cents extra in tax. If the tax was not there, then the price of the gasoline would be 18.4 cents cheaper.

Hopefully that clears up the issue for everyone that was confused about it, and for those unsure of whether your candidate's stance is intelligent or not: Simply look at the facts and come to your own conclusion.