treason

When I first read that Michigan congressman Mike Rogers said that Private Bradley Manning should be charged with treason, I thought that was a bit extreme. But the more I think about it, the more I agree with the congressman. Manning was the soldier who released the 75,000 pages of classified documents to the website, Wikileaks. Which, went ahead, and released them. Now, only one person since 1952 has been charged with treason - the only charge more serious than murder in the United States. But Manning has the blood of many on his hands. Not only have the Taliban vowed revenge, and unfortunately carried out revenge, on many of the informants listed in the documents - in one case, ten teenage boys were hung outside their school, but now future informants will think twice about helping Americans now knowing that their secrecy is now in jeopardy. In addition, according to Newsweek, the Taliban recently sent out letters to people they suspected of helping the Americans because of their mention in the documents that they have five days to leave the country or they will be killed. This was an enormous set-back in the war.

1. I just finished reading the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I think I enjoyed it... maybe. Possibly that is just my own pretentiousness coming out. To be honest, I thought the prose was only okay, and I simply did not understand many of the Platonic references that were prevalent throughout. This is one of my problems when I read some of these "important", "philosophy" books. I tend to get frustrated by not fully understanding them.

2. Congratulations to Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice - statistically the two greatest at their position. Smith is the all-time leader in carries, yards, and touchdowns. He was never flashy, but he was tough as nails and outstandingly consistent. Then there is Jerry Rice, often considered the best football player of all-time. Rice is the all-time leader in receptions, touchdowns, and yards. This might be the greatest NFL Hall of Fame class of all-time.

3. Working in Boystown, I spend a lot of time around the LGBT community. One observation I made in the past was that gays smoke... a lot! Well, apparently I was correct. According to a new study by the American Lung Association, gay men smoke two and a half times as much as heterosexual men and lesbians smoke twice as much as straight women. According to the study, tobacco companies are well aware of this as they are prominent sponsors in gay publications, clubs, and bar