Smells like Autumn spirit

For the first time since April, it smelled cold outside today. Just another sign that Summer is on the way out and Autumn is on the way in. I don't tend to mind the beginning stages of Fall. The leaves change colors, football season begins, the humidity leaves, and school begins. It was another nice weekend for me. How can I be disappointed when the Gophers, Cyclones, and Vikings all have great wins? The highlight of the weekend was probably trekking up to Evanston, Illinois to meet my parents and to watch the Northwestern Wildcats host the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. It was a hard fought game with the maroon and gold coming out on top.

1. I was disappointed but not surprised by Saturday Night Live two nights ago. I have actually really enjoyed SNL's weekend update show they have been doing for a half hour at 7:00 on Thursday evenings. However, this past week's episode, hosted by Megan Fox, was terrible.


2. The country of Afghanistan has been on my mind recently. Yesterday, Nimit brought home an interesting NY Times article about Afghanistan by Frank Rich called Obama at the Precipice. Last night, I watched Jay Leno and liberal commentator Bill Maher was talking about the issue. If we put aside the fanatical conspiracy theories, we know that the Taliban - the rogue government who controls Afghanistan - hijacked planes and crashed them into building on September 11, 2001. Eight years ago, we declared war against the Taliban. Eight years later, thousands of our bravest have died for our country, almost a trillion dollars has been spent, and still 80% of the country is under Taliban control. Frank Rich compares this situation to Kennedy/LBJ during Vietnam. He says we need to get out as soon as possible. His theory is quite simple. It is a war we just cannot win. We could stay another eight years, spend another trillion dollars, have thousands more of our troops die, and we still will not win the war. Rich has said we have already lost the war, let's gather what pride we have and get the heck out of there. As a proud, patriotic American, this absolutely breaks my heart. However, as much as I hate to admit, it's time to get out. The reality is we never should have gone in. I sympathize with Obama on this. There is no way for him to win - both literally and politically.


3. Bill Maher also brought up health care. I know I have probably bored you with my endless rants about the health care industry in America. His one quote I find interesting was, "Why is America the only Westernized country that profits off of sick people?"

4. Currently listening to Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz.