My 1000 post - vanity thread - some background on me

[TroubleMan]

Interesting facts about Trouble Man:

1. Trouble Man is a Marvin Gaye song, which mirrors my life and is my favorite song. Also, it was made the same year I was born (1972).

2. I was in the Marine Corps for eight years (1992-2000).

3. I was a high school state chess champion.

4. I have a felony conviction. Mostly it was drug related (LOL...one of my original charges was "Philandering, " which in layman's terms is pimping....it was ridiculous, so it was dropped...whenever the feds want to get you, they charge you with about a million things and hope a few of them stick, before trial 90% of the charges were dropped)

5. I was in Okinawa for one year in the Marine Corps, 1996. I taught myself Japanese, and by the end of my year there I could hold a conversation in Japanese. Regrettably, I have forgotten a good 90% of it due to lack of use.

6. I got up on "The Stage" in Okinawa several times. It's a strip club where you can have sex with the strippers on a spinning stage with everybody watching, if you're brave enough (i.e. drunk). I heard they've shut it down. :( That's too bad, it's quite a rite of passage for young Marines.

7. I have so many soul/r&b/funk/jazz mp3's that if I put them all in one playlist, it would play over a week straight (182 hours so far). I also have a large collection of reggae & rap (mostly old school rap), and a small but growing collection of Latin music.

8. I've read at least 500 books; I'm not exactly sure how many. This is mostly due to incarceration, where I averaged two books every three days.

9. I almost hooked up with Salt of Salt N' Peppa. She touched me on the chin while performing at a club in DC. I knew the owner of the club, so I was able to talk to her, but they had to go, and I didn't get more than a two minute conversation.

10. I've been around computers all my life. I build my own, and fix them for friends and co-workers. I also manage them at my job, but it's not my primary duty, because we have only about 15, so it doesn't take much time to fix/manage them. I have 3 computer certifications that I've never really put to use: A+, CCNA, and MCP in 2K server. I received a Navy Achievement Medal for computer work in 1995, but I was unable to get a full time job in computers because of the dot-com bust and my criminal record.

11. Marvin Gaye made my favorite song, but Al Green is my all time favorite. I have nearly every song by him memorized.

12. I've been bungee jumping (once), seen the Donkey Show in Tijuana, seen the Banana Show in Okinawa, and fell asleep at the wheel and did a 720 in my car and hit nothing -what do those have to do with each other? Nothing really, but they're all things you'll never forget if you've done them.

13. I'm now married with two kids and lead a boring life. It's quite a change from my days of heavy drinking and heavy partying. I hardly drink now, and I party maybe once or twice a year - and not even hard.

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My political views:

1. I used to be what I called "a defense Democrat," which is liberal on social issues, but conservative on geopolitical issues. However, my experiences in live have made me extremely liberal - probably one of the most liberal people here. You'll see why below.

2. I support in this election John Kerry wholeheartedly. It's either gonna be him or bush, and nothing can be worse for the world than another four years of bush. However, I have my reservations about him. Concerning Iraq and the war on terrorism, I'm concerned that he'll say different things than what bush says, but they'll end up doing the same thing. I know that he won't be war profiteering like the bush regime is, but to get reelected I feel that he won't want to look "soft." This might steer him into not doing the right thing, so that people can't say he's weak on defense. He's been a politician a long time...does he still have the balls to make a politically unpopular decision? I hope my fears are unfounded, and I'm willing to give him a chance. We'll see.

3. If it were my choice, Kucinich would be President. Until the last year, it would have been Nader. However, I think he's lost it. It's obvious that he being used a GOP tool. All his money is coming from them. I wish we could afford a third party this year, but Ralph, your decision to run might give the election to bush. IMHO, that would mean the loss of thousands of more lives over some greedy, profiteering bullshit. You can't say Kerry & bush are they same - bush is a million times as bad. There is no comparison, not even close...please stop.

4. I've been on both sides of the law. I have committed crimes, and I have been the victim of crimes. From these experiences, I can say that our current justice system needs a major overhaul. If you are poor, you are pretty much gonna be found guilty. If you're rich, you're gonna go free or get a slap on the wrist (Martha Stewart's been sentenced, but she's not in jail...she gets to wait until the appeal is over....everyone I knew had to be in jail while they were trying to appeal). You can pretty much buy your way out of jail. This isn't always the case. However, I will guarantee you it's true 99% of the time. Also, "The Land Of The Free" has the highest percentage of it's people incarcerated - higher than any other country in the world. Over 90% of those people are poor. Something is wrong with this picture. IMHO it's because of the war on drugs. Education is the way to go - not persecution. How many millions are in the DEA budget? Think what good that organization could do if it was the Drug Education & Awareness Agency - add to that the money you could get from putting a high luxury tax on drugs. The problem would pay for itself, and the criminal element would lose it's major source of funding.

5. I believe in getting rid of corporate personhood. The founding fathers would only let a corporation exist if it's purpose was to benefit the people. Most state charters still say the same thing. Corporate consolidation, money in politics, and greed collectively make up the second biggest threat to the USA. We are giving up our individual rights over the right of corporations to exploit us. I think America can only be defeated from within. The war on terrorism, just like the war on Communism is bullshit. None of those forces can beat us, the only way we can lose is by crumbling from within. - which brings me to my next belief.

6. The biggest threat to America is the politics of fear. Benjamin Franklin said "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Playing on our fears, or as Al Sharpton so eloquently put, "playing boogeyman with us," is how the military/industrial complex will get us to give them our money, power to govern, and our liberties. They have to justify their existence. "Look out - the communists are coming...look out - the terrorists are coming...you need us...they're going to kill you." This is all bullshit and a good majority of Americans have fell for it (I used to believe this). Most of our terrorist enemies are ugly stepchildren with our struggle against communism. The rest of them have come from our spreading capitalism without spreading democracy. Capitalism without the checks and balances of democracy is a bad thing - in my book it's called Fascism. What new enemy shall arise from our war on terrorism? We're not going to withdraw...we're gonna keep on doing the same thing we've been doing the last 100 or so years, and there's nothing you, I, or anybody else can do about it. There's a silent battle for world resources going on right now, and the monetary chokehold is wrapped too tightly around the neck of our democracy for us to get out anytime soon. We'd have to elect a guy like Kucinich to get out of that mess, and hell, I can't even get half of DU to support him (God knows, I've tried). He'd probably get assassinated anyway if he got too popular. If America falls, it's going to be because of the politics of fear and greed. We can't be defeated by any foreign enemy as long as our liberties are secure.

7. Speaking of terrorism, having a war against it is about the stupidest thing you can do. Terrorism was caused by wars in the first place. If you want to end terrorism, have an honest attempt at a war on poverty. Of course, you'll never eradicate poverty, but if you attempt to help people instead of exploit them for their resources, then you'd make some serious headway. The root of terrorism is people that are desperate because of poverty or tyranny, and they are easily persuaded by some slick talking con-man or religious zealot (usually these two things are embodied in the same person) into committing horrible acts. Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of this. It's one of the richest countries in the world per capita, but most of them are dirt poor. The wealth is hogged by a handful, leaving the rest to scrap out a desperate existence. This leaves them very vunerable to people like OBL. Saudi Arabia is the heart of terrorism. It exports oil and terror, which is perfect for bush and his corporate cronies, because they make tons of money off of both. No wonder the bush and bin Ladin families are so close. Ending economic inequality is the only way to rid the world of terror.

8. Universal health care should be a right, not just for US citizens, but for everybody in the world. How much was our defense budget last year? Don't tell me we can't do it. We can, and if we even made an honest attempt, we wouldn't need a Department of Defense. At least we can do it here in the US, but again the corporate chokehold on our democracy won't let us do it.

9. My idle is Smedley Butler....look up his bio. He's a Marine who got two Medals of Honor, made the "war is a racket" speech, and thwarted a coup against FDR, which plotted by rich businessmen.

10. These are only my views. Nothing is written in stone in my mind, and I'm always eager to debate anything. I hope I didn't bore you with a long post, but at least one post out of my 1000 can be a vanity post. Thanks for listening.

(edited for grammatical errors)