voting

This election was the first I have been able to vote in, and what a good one to start with. My parents sent me my Washington state ballot in the mail and once I had filled it out I sent it to election services. I thought it was fun to vote, and to know that I could have an effect on the outcome of the election. My favorite part of voting was voting on local legislation, things that I will see change at home in the next year or so. What I learned from voting was how many parties put forth presidential candidates, I thought it was much less. I also noticed that the green party was the only party that both the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate were both women.

Russia

Recently Russia conducted its biggest war game since the fall of the Soviet Union. There was no enemy in the exercise but tens of thousands men and thousands of vehicles and airplanes where spread across most of Russia in what was a defense of the southern border. Critics in Moscow say they were enacting a American and NATO led attack. At the end of the exercise 4 intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear war heads were launched, one flying a total of 7100 miles. The Russian President declared that a rebuilding and modernizing of Russia's military would begin and by 2020 they would have new ships and aircraft, along with missile and space defense systems. A weapons deal with Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, was announced, and said to be over 1 billion dollars.
Full Article

Raise in Afghanistans Opium Production

Afghanistan has always been one of the biggest opium producers in the world, and a very important part of the global drug trade, which was estimated to have the 3rd largest GDP of all the economic systems in the world, it was only topped by the U.S. and Japan. Since Afghanistan has been occupied by the U.S. and NATO the opium production has increased vastly. This article is about the U.S and NATO's plans to take action against opium production in Afghanistan.

The Final Debate

Tonight is the final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. The debates have been entertaining so far but both candidates are spending most of the time preaching their ideas and campaigning and not answering the questions that are being posed to them. Being the last debate, tonight's should be good. Here is an article about what to look for in the debates.

Bike Race

The collegiate mountain bike races were held here at Fort Lewis this weekend. They were a lot of fun and the riders From Fort Lewis did very well, finishing first in almost all the events. Although it did start raining during the downhill and continued to rain hard through the dual slalom it was still a great time. Here are some Photos.

17 Chinese Muslims released from Quantanamo

17 men were released from Guantanamo Bay after being held indefinitely for 7 years with out being charged. The men were part of a ethnic group Uighur. The men were released because they are no longer considered enemy combatants. Here is the full article.

Quilt

Lt. Michael W. Pigott, the man who gave the order to taser a mentally ill man who fell to his death, was found dead in a Police locker room after committing suicide. Lt. Michael W. Pigott was a 21 year veteran of the police force and was put on an assignment with out a badge or gun after the incident occurred. He left behind and wife, two sons, and a daughter. Here is the full article from the New York Times.

Tragedy

In New York City a emotionally disturbed and mentally ill man fell to his death after being hit by a taser. NYPD said that the correct procedures had not been taken by the Emergency Services Unit that responded to the call. The main error made that resulted in the mans death was that nothing was in place to catch the man when he fell. Police officers are also not suppose to use tasers when the person they are tasing is near an edge or drop. Here is a link to the New York Times article.
Here is a video of what happened, it contains graphic content, so please watch at your own discretion.