Admit Turkey to the EU

Turkey should be allowed in the EU but after the end of the Cyprus problem. Cyprus is an EU member but as the Greek Cyprus and not all the island. The EU and Turkey should work together in a transparent way to resolve all the problems and the EU as a group has to vote and set the conditions once and for all regarding the admission of Turkey or just come forward about this matter and say if they do not want the Turkish nation to be part of their union. Turkey right now is the moderate, democratic Islamic state that could be the bridge between Islam and the rest of the world as it is geographically the bridge of Asia to Europe and vice verse. A European, Islamic Turkey would be a pillar and concrete foundation for stabilization in the most important and volatile piece of real estate in the world; The Middle East.

Gallaudet University Uniqueness

The demonstrations that are happening at Gallaudet University to protest the appointment of Dr. Fernandes, the provost, as it's new president is unique to Gallaudet. Almost no other university has this special bondage the students feel about the school and the people in charge. Few years ago the same student body brought a president that they felt is close to them and their plight if we are allowed to use this term. Dr. Fernandes might be qualified to be president but so far she failed to understand or act upon this special bondage that the body students feel about the school. The majority of the student and faculty are against the appointment; Dr. Fernandes describes the events as 'anarchy and terrorism'. The problem here is at Dr. Fernandes attitude. Obviously she had never been popular with the students or faculty and this might be somehow normal at other schools but not at Gallaudet. The university is unique, the students are unique, and it is the Mecca of the deaf people all over the world. The board of trustees should have taken these points into account before appointing Dr. Fernandes to the job. The talk that she, Dr. Fernandes, is not deaf enough is just one of the issues with Dr. Fernandes. The main problem is that she never been close to the students and the way she approached the demonstrations shows that she still does not get it.

The Pope and Islam

The Pope of the Vatican mentioned Islam in a speech few weeks ago that basically blasted the religion. Muslims around the world protested and continue to protest as of now. The pope said that he felt sorry for the reaction that these remarks caused and then offered his apology for hurting the feelings of the Muslims but stopped short from apologizing completely for the remarks he made. The big question is why would the head of the Christian Catholic Church blasts a religion that has over one and a half billion followers. Why now and for what purpose. The pope and the church are not dumb and obviously the pope wanted to send a message to the world that in his opinion, although he was quoting, that Islam was built on wars and that it is not a religion of peace. Every one is entitled to his opinion but not the pope! Unless he believes in what he said and then he should not apologize but again he should be upfront about it. If the pope blasted any other religion the reaction should be the same, which is to protest. Religions are words in books that the believers believe that they are words of God. Behaviors are different; they are acts of humans that belong to this sect or religion. If individuals that belong to a certain religion attack and terrorize then the job would be to fight those and not their religion. I'm talking here especially about the three divine religions which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Of course we can include religions that have millions of followers as well. The pope made a mistake when he attacked a religion rather that attacking methods used by humans that claim to belong to this religion or that. As an individual the pope is entitled to his opinions, as a Pope, unless he wants to send a message that he believes that Islam is a religion of war, then he should not mention such things or attack any other religions, The message of the legitimate religious leaders like the pops is to spread understating and not vice versa.

The Planned Wars: Israel 5- The Arabs 1

It's amazing how sometimes wars just happen. As if the fighting parties decided that well, it's time to make a war. A great example is the Arab-Israeli wars. Going back to 1948, it looks as if the children of Abraham decided then that they are so bored by whatever they are doing and that the best way to overcome boredom is by waging wars. It's interesting to look back to see the sequence of these wars. In 1948, the UN and the major powers recognized the State of Israel, the cousins, the Arabs rejected and waged a war. The Arabs lost, Israel won. So far 1-0 for the other Semites. In 1967, the 1956 war is not counted as it was not really between the Arabs and Israel, a questionable Arab leader with childish behavior and ambitions by the name of Nasser, former president of Egypt, decided that the cousins in Israel can not use the straits of Teran on the Red Sea for their business. Israel rejected, Nasser got stubborn,and took actions in Sinai, including the closure of the straits, that almost constituted a wage of war. Israel attacked and won. The Arabs lost the rest of the land that they lost in part in 1948 due to another childish behavior. The score now is 2-0 for Israel.In 1973 the Arabs, according to Egyptian president Anwar Sadat who succeeded Nasser in 1970, needed some sort of a moral victory over Israel to permit them to negotiate with dignity. The parties felt compelled again for another war. The Egyptians and the Syrians attacked. They won a little in the beginning and then Israel under a commander by the name of Ariel Sharon rebounded and took care of surrounding the Egyptian third army in Sinai to improve Israel negotiating stand. I will give this war a score of 1-1, a draw for the cousins. In 1982, somebody in London got creative and decided, why not assassinate the Israel ambassador there and score some points against Israel. Israel, to the astonishment of the world, responded and invaded Lebanon and ended the Palestinian presence there and lift. The score now is 4-1 for Israel. By the early 1980s a new/old player came to the scene, the Iranians and the Shiite behind them and under there black turbans. A new militant organization was created in Lebanon to substitute for the kicked Palestinian militia. Lebanon since it's independence has always had some sort of quasi government, someone who claimed to fight for some reason. Hezbollah was created and took it on it's own, the Lebanese government as has always been is a guest in it's own country, to fight Israel. It did for few years. Israel lift the whole Lebanese territory and Hezbollah got some credit. I'm not going to score this one because the withdrawal was not part of a direct war but because i believe Israel just did not intend to stay. This Shiite militia continued to harass the Israeli and negotiate with them and then cry foul and such. In 2006 for another mysterious reason, this militia decided to go inside the Israeli territories and kidnaps some soldiers, very smart. So they did and before them Hamas did the same in the Israel-free Gaza. Another big question: Why? besides the obvious stupidity. Israel responded in both incidents, surprise surprise.. and attacked Gaza and Lebanon. Both places were rebounding and now engulfed in wars that do not make any sense except that Hamas and Hezbollah's goals are to create havoc and that this is the only way to keep them and Iran as active players in the insane game of wars. The war is still on and we do not know, us the commoners, how it will end and what will happen to those fighting parties. Until then the game is on.

Word Cup 2006: Vulgarity Vs. Class

The vulgar action of France football player and Team captain Zinedine Zidane during the second and last over time of world cup championship match with Italy is beyond any shame. It's an act of vulgarity. Zidane, famous of his head butts, reached the peak of vulgarity and stupidity when he head butted an Italian player with no provocation whatsoever. He will forever go down in history as probably the player that caused his country to lose the 2006 World Cup. It has been the eternal question since the beginning of man kind on why people drive themselves to ruin. History gives us unlimited number of successful people and leaders who just for some reason drove their success down the drain. Zidane is one of these people. In 1998, he helped his team to achieve the world cup in football, soccer, and in 2002, he did not play at all due to an injury which might have caused his team to lose. In this year,2006, world cup games, Zidane excelled in more than one occasions, although some of his penalty kicks were questionable- the blame in this case goes to the referees whose responsibility is to make sure that they have not been fooled by the players into getting penalties that are not warranted- drove his team, and country into a shame. Some psychologists and motivation coaches attribute this to a human nature that drives some people to just quit or destroy themselves for no apparent reason. Is it that we, some of us, just get bored of success or want continuously to be challenged that we chose a road that would challenge us in a n negative rather positive way. Having raised these questions, I noticed, as in Zidane's example that some of these successful people have had a pattern of just doing things that affects their careers negatively. Michael Jackson comes in mind as well as President Bill Clinton and others.

It was not a game, it was a shame

The defeat of the US team in Germany's 2006 World Cup in Soccer was the culmination of an illusion we had in America that Soccer has become a popular game. It is not. Almost the majority of the people here did not know that the most famous and popular sport in the whole world was taking place in Germany. We will talk about the whys later but now will focus on the defeat. All commentators up to and until the start of the first shocking game against the Czech republic predicted and said that this team is the strongest team the US has assembled ever! and even some predicted that the US might win the cup. I was shocked to hear these predictions specially that we really still do not have the strong foundation like other sports that can produce a strong well trained cohesive team. Sure we have good players that play out side the US but that is all we have, good players and not a good team. We must start by looking inward and strengthen the MLS and popularize it by all the means necessary. Second we must have a strong foreign coaching team preferably Brazilian, or German that will put focus and not politics into the team. Then we must choose from the stars of the MLS and who plays abroad a team that will train regularly even if takes to travel from their respective playing countries to the US.It's normal to be defeated in sports,but it's not normal to be so ilusioned about our capabilities.