I was working the other day at my hourly job, leisurely handing out samples of italian pasta, enjoying interactions with customers when I made a comment to one of my co-workers. I told him I thought it was funny that all the media outlets touted 2009 as the end of the Decade. They were saying 2010 was the start of the new decade when, in fact, 2011 is the start of the next decade. He immediately said, "your wrong, 2000 was the first year of the decade, so 2000-2009 was the first ten years." Thus started a lively, good-spirited debate on whether one counts 'zero' as a year. A customer overheard me and gave her input by saying to me ,"your wrong, he's right". She gave no argument for her position. She simply stated I was wrong, enjoyed a food sample and some free coffee, and continued her shopping. Well this got me wondering, "who is right? What decade are we in?"
Media outlets like the NY Times posted articles titled "Reflections on the First Decade of the 2000s", Business week titled an article, "Tumultuous first decade of 21st century comes to merciful end". Chicago Tribune "On to the next decade...", ABC News "End of the Decade", The Washington Post's Anne E. Kornblut wrote;
'It is my pleasure to push the button on this, the final White House pool
report of the decade.'
It doesn't take much searching to discover our calendar is the Gregorian Calendar. There is no year ZERO in the Gregorian Calendar. The year 1 A.D. is preceded by the year 1 B.C.E. Hence the decade would be years 1-10. The year 2000 was the tenth year of the final decade of the 2nd millenium. 2001 was actually the first year of the 3rd millenium. What are we going to do next year when we get to the actual end of the decade? Or will the Media, businesses, and Government continue to ignore this mathematical error?
Monday, January 11, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Put your money where your mouth is
"Our progress has been unmistakable," Obama said as the new year began. "We've disrupted terrorist financing, cutting off recruiting chains, inflicted major losses on al-Qaida's leadership, thwarted plots here in the United States and saved countless American Lives." This was part of Obama's response to the Christmas day airplane attack, which was thwarted by brave Americans on the airplane itself.
It's interesting to see our flailing President grasping for any bit of credit he can get at a time when his administration is swimming in blunders and missteps. This President's attempt at self-praise for handling what he "inherited" is much like a Pro football player celebrating his catch after a first down, even though he's dropped three passes, missed key blocks, and took a personal foul for the celebration. There is no sense to it. Personally, I don't want to hear what you claim you've done right. I want to hear that you understand we are at war. I want to hear you have a grasp of your job as Commander-in-Chief. It is your primary job to protect the people of this Country from "enemies foreign, and domestic". I don't want to hear lies like "the system worked". I want to hear that you understand Fort Hood was part of this war, and another failure on the part of your administration and your policies. Obama, show the American people you are serious about protecting us from the Terrorists who are not targeting you, but us instead.
It has been a full year and still Obama and his staff are blaming the bush administration for everything from 9/11 to the economy. Yet just 10 months into the Bush administration 9/11 happened. So if one was to apply the same Liberal political tactic, shouldn't the responsibility be put on Clinton? In fact it was the Clinton administration and their policies that hamstrung the CIA and our other intelligence-gathering agencies, allowing the first bombing of the World trade center, an attempted plane attack on the White House, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and ultimately 9/11. Let's not forget about the Oklahoma city bombing either. Yet for the next 8 years it would be the Bush administration's policies that would keep us safe from attack.
Now Obama you are in office, and already we have had civilians killed at Fort hood, and now another airplane attack that almost took American lives, had it not been for an equipment failure and the bravery of its civilian passengers. How do you respond? You say, "yes we missed that block, and we fumbled that ball, and we dropped these passes, but hey we did catch this pass over here!" All I can really say to you is this; It is the play you fail to do your job that will most likely be the difference between a loss or a win.
It's interesting to see our flailing President grasping for any bit of credit he can get at a time when his administration is swimming in blunders and missteps. This President's attempt at self-praise for handling what he "inherited" is much like a Pro football player celebrating his catch after a first down, even though he's dropped three passes, missed key blocks, and took a personal foul for the celebration. There is no sense to it. Personally, I don't want to hear what you claim you've done right. I want to hear that you understand we are at war. I want to hear you have a grasp of your job as Commander-in-Chief. It is your primary job to protect the people of this Country from "enemies foreign, and domestic". I don't want to hear lies like "the system worked". I want to hear that you understand Fort Hood was part of this war, and another failure on the part of your administration and your policies. Obama, show the American people you are serious about protecting us from the Terrorists who are not targeting you, but us instead.
It has been a full year and still Obama and his staff are blaming the bush administration for everything from 9/11 to the economy. Yet just 10 months into the Bush administration 9/11 happened. So if one was to apply the same Liberal political tactic, shouldn't the responsibility be put on Clinton? In fact it was the Clinton administration and their policies that hamstrung the CIA and our other intelligence-gathering agencies, allowing the first bombing of the World trade center, an attempted plane attack on the White House, the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and ultimately 9/11. Let's not forget about the Oklahoma city bombing either. Yet for the next 8 years it would be the Bush administration's policies that would keep us safe from attack.
Now Obama you are in office, and already we have had civilians killed at Fort hood, and now another airplane attack that almost took American lives, had it not been for an equipment failure and the bravery of its civilian passengers. How do you respond? You say, "yes we missed that block, and we fumbled that ball, and we dropped these passes, but hey we did catch this pass over here!" All I can really say to you is this; It is the play you fail to do your job that will most likely be the difference between a loss or a win.
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