Unfiltered Ocean

This is the second installment of my series, Profiles in Politics. In Profiles in Politics, we'll explore some of my favorite politicians and why I admire them. Kiefer Sutherland is well known for his acting in such films as Stand By Me , The Lost Boys, and A Few Good Men ; but one little known fact about Kiefer Sutherland is that his grandfather was Tommy Douglas. Tommy Douglas probably isn't a familiar name for most Americans. In Canada, he is more than well known. In fact, in 2004, a CBC Television program called The Greatest Canadian , which ranked Canadians throughout all history on a scale of greatness, ranked Tommy Douglas as the greatest Canadian of all time. Who was he and why did he win? Tommy Douglas was born on October 20, 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland. When he was 6 years old, his family immigrated to Canada, settling in Winnipeg. Before leaving for Canada, Douglas fell and injured his knee. He developed Osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone, and had to go through...

To keep this blog going, I've decided to write a little series about politicians that I admire. I imagine I'll dedicate the next 4 or 5 posts to this endeavor.  Being in Germany, it is only appropriate that this first post is dedicated to Willy Brandt. I often like to announce, to the annoyance of my classmates, "Willy Brandt! Er ist mein Man!" It translates to "Willy Brandt! He is my man!" It's a reference to this Til Schweiger movie called Honig im Kopf or Head Full of Honey in English. In the movie, the main character is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and so he says things at random. In one particular scene, he's out to dinner with his family, and that's when he randomly announces his support for Willy Brandt. Willy Brandt was born Herbert Frahm on December 18, 1913, in Lübeck, Germany. He was raised by a single mother, who worked full time while his step-grandparents took care of him. He became a Socialist at a very young age. B...

With the rare exception of my high school graduation, I haven't stood during the national anthem since probably middle school. Fetishizing our country, blindness to reality, and pretending to be patriotic are just not my cup of tea. What are we even standing for anyway when we stand during the national anthem? We send our brothers off to die in someone else's war and then we don't take care of them when they come back physically and mentally broken. We don't take care of our own and yet we're supposed to be proud to be Americans? What sacrifice are we really honoring, when all we're doing is wasting the lives of our fellow human beings? I personally don't stand because I'm not gonna honor a country that everyday perpetuates systemic racism and sexism, casts out the poor and helpless to the streets, and sends our own neighbors and siblings and parents off to die for someone's oil stocks. And when I see our President of the United States call peo...

Recently, I read an opinion article by Zoe Williams from the Guardian. In it, she argued that politicians use their religious faith to justify their bigoted and misogynistic views instead of using them to justify doing things for the greater good. She suggested that the solution is not to prevent religion from being an influence in politics, but rather that sex in politics is the actual problem; and that people that share the same faith as these politicians need to stand up and reject such intollerance. Finally, she argued that to call out intollerance, whether fueled or not by religious faith, does not make one intollerant. I agree with her on all of these points. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Moog, of the British House of Commons was her target here. Recently, Rees-Moog came under a lot of fire when he suggested that his Catholic faith to implores him to reject abortion in all circumstances and to disavow same-sex marriage. Now, I was not baptized Catholic, and I don't necessa...

Yesterday, President Donald Trump issued his first presidential pardon to disgraced former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, who was Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona from 1992 to 2016, was tried and convicted of contempt of court after refusing a court order to stop racially profiling and detaining people without reasonable suspicion that they were committing a crime. Apparently, Arpaio sought to find illegal immigrants and deport them back to their country of origin. Many people (*cough* many Trump supporters) think Arpaio did his constitutional duty, but if anyone truly cares about the constitution, one would know that the 4th amendment protects people from improper search and seizure and warrants to conduct such searches and seizures must be issued upon probable cause. Arpaio did not have probable cause, let alone a warrant to search and detain people. Now when it comes to pulling over people, you don't need a warrant to pull them over (you still need a warrant to search the trunk...

Abortion is never an easy topic to discuss or write about. I remember there was a brief moment when I was in high school where I considered that maybe being in the "pro-life" camp wasn't such a bad thing. I told that to my maternal grandmother. She told me I don't have a right to think like that because I am not a woman and I will never have any idea what it's like to be pregnant. Being a mother of three children and having faced the possibility of losing one of her children while pregnant, I knew she was absolutely right. I will never know that feeling, whether physically or mentally. So since that day, I have been staunchly pro-choice. And I know the Democratic Party reflects that view as well, which is why I am a Democrat. We are the party of choice. As my paternal grandmother, who (ironically) is in the "pro life" camp says: "We all have choices to make in our lives." That mantra guides not only my daily life, but my social views, and abo...

On a Facebook group that I am a part of, I noticed a Craigslist ad for a room in Milwaukee, Oregon, just outside of Portland. It cost $730 a month! Now to its credit, utilities were included in the price, except internet. That was another $20 a month! But the kicker was that the "room" was in the garage of the house and there were no pictures of the "room!" Insanity! I called out the poster of the ad for her greed, telling her she needs to lower the price. She didn't have a real response, other than to call out my age. I told her "Listen, lady, age doesn't make the difference whether or not I can see the fact that you're a price gouger trying to take advantage of people! Lower your price and maybe people will take your post more seriously!" She later said my generation was entitled and I told her that "I'm sorry you don't have any reasonable come back to me calling you out on your greed, but maybe one day you and the rest of you ...