Obama's civil service plan is unconstitutional

I heard it rumored that President Barack Obama planned to pass legislation requiring youth to conduct mandatory community service in programs such as AmeriCorps or other programs that would aid in national defense. This sounded a bit like communism to me so I looked into the facts before forming an opinion.

I found an interview with Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff that was conducted back in August of 2006. In this interview, Emanuel claims that "Citizenship is not an entitlement program. It comes with responsibilities... Everybody of somewhere between the ages of 18-25 will serve three months of basic training... in any kind of civil defense." He goes on to say that "This is not a draft. It's a universal service."

Here are a few of the interview's highlights. Excuse the pop-ups. I do not own the video.


This all sounds great right? A program like this could unify America, right? Sure. I don't doubt that some good could come out such a program. Most youth could use a bit more discipline. But unfortunately for Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama, a program of this type would be illegal in the United States because it goes against the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. This amendment states clearly:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." - Article XIII, Section 1

Read the above quote again very carefully. What did you notice? The very same constitutional amendment that liberated the slaves in the United States also liberated Americans as a whole from any involuntary servitude.

So the next two questions I must ask are: "How does President Obama plan to implement such a program if it is passed?" and "Is he even aware that such servitude, if involuntary, is illegal?". Encouraging community service and providing incentives for participation is one thing. But mandating a "universal service" program is not only communism, it's illegal.


Full transcript and 54-minute video of the interview with Rahm Emanuel, Obama's Chief of Staff, is available here.

Scanned digital images of the original amendment and historical background can be found here.

Using Wikipedia as a foreign language dictionary for subject-specific vocabulary

When I studied at a Brazilian university in São Paulo back in 2007, I many times found myself having to lookup very subject-specific vocabulary over the Internet. Many times I had an English word that I wanted to express in Portuguese. Other times I learned a new Portuguese word at school that I wanted to translate to English. No matter the situation, I almost always found that Wikipedia could accommodate me better than a general translation dictionary.

Say for example that I would like to translate the term General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to Portuguese. Without an English-Portuguese dictionary that was made specifically to include a large amount of business, economics, or Political Science terms, more than likely this term would not be included. Luckily, Wikipedia can usually help.



As you see in the above image, you can translate words or terms that have a Wikipedia article designated to them to a variety of languages. If your term has a version of the article in the target language, click the language on the left side of the page. When you arrive at the next page, you will see that the title of that page is the vocabulary word(s) you're looking for in the target language.

As you see below, we've been able to conclude that General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Portuguese is Acordo Geral de Tarifas e Comércio.



I hope this technique can be useful to those out there, like me, who have spent a large amount of time looking up very specific vocabulary in foreign languages. Sometimes dictionaries and automatic translation websites like Google Translation Tools and Yahoo! Babel Fish just wont suffice.

My Photography

I normally reserve my blog for topics related to international relations and political science. But in this particular post, I'm taking the opportunity to post some of the travel photos I've taken from a wide variety of genres and locations around the world. Some of them are related to politics, and some are not.

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University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (March, 2008)

I snapped this photo for my university's newspaper. The picture depicts monks Geshe Thupten Dorje and Rinzin Dorje performing a Tibetan custom. The event was hosted by Students for a Free Tibet to raise awareness of harsh treatment toward Tibetans in Chinese-occupied Tibet. With the world's eyes on Beijing, the months leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing in August were scattered with protests which gained worldwide attention.

The photo above was accompanied by an article I wrote for The Arkansas Traveler newspaper.

• A PDF of the front page is available here.
  
• The full text of the article is available here.
  

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I snapped this shot during a 6,000 person riot in São Paulo back in March, 2007 when President Bush arrived in the city. The photo was published in my school's newspaper and won first place journalistic award for news photo at the Clinton Presidential Center through the Arkansas College Media Association that year.

More of my footage of this riot can be found in the following videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLhSXhsU8JI - Runtime: 2:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X_qFt_itSk - Runtime: 0:42 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUjvl2KRyuM (Photos from start to finish) - Runtime: 7:50

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Members of the Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra) take to the streets with sugarcane sticks in their hand on March 8, 2007 in São Paulo, Brazil to protest President Bush's arrival. They claim increased exports of sugarcane ethanol to the U.S. will mean harsher working conditions for them and their families.

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2007)

Pretty basic. I know. But this photo still has something to it! Gotta love the carioca taxi!

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Avenida 9 de Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina (December, 2006)

Avenida 9 de Julio is the widest avenue in the world. It is famous for the Washington Monument-like structure called Obelisco (just outside the view of this photo). On December 1, 2005, a giant condom was placed on the monument to commemorate World Aids Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Condom_on_Obelisk,_Buenos_Aires.jpg

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Kamakura (The Great Buddha), Japan

This is the largest bronze statue in the world and stands 40 feet high. You can actually pay a small fee and walk inside. I took this photo in late-2001.

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Kyoto, Japan (October, 2003)

When my cousin and I passed this site, I had to grab his camera and immediately take a photo. The image is so interesting to me because I find it so contradictory:
* A skateboard with high heel boots?
* A cold winter jacket and a miniskirt?

My other favorite points:
* The image is so busy-looking and technological. Notice the payphone has a screen (most in the US didn't when payphones were still common)
* The mama-san bikes are quite typical in Japan

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Paraty, Brazil (2007)

This small city in the state of Rio de Janeiro is by far the most beautiful city I've visited in the world. You can pick up starfish from the beaches in the crystal clear ocean water. It's also one of the best scuba diving spots in Brazil.

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Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan (2003)

I actually took this photo with a disposable camera before I switched to digital. It has been enhanced using Jasc Paint Shop Pro software.

Shibuya is by far one of the most awesome places to experience in Tokyo. Other than the buildings that seem to move because of advanced lighting effects similar to those seen in Times Square, New York, the crash of the crowd from one side of the street to the other in a crosswalk is the part that makes it so fun. If you'd like to see just how crazy this intersection really is, watch this!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTpYH2CVliU - Runtime: 0:56
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bad3K2YUVtA - Runtime: 0:49


Times Square, New York City, United States (2006)

To show a comparison of the similarities between the feeling of standing in Shibuya in Tokyo and Times Square in New York City, I decided to upload this photo of Times Square. Having spent a good bit of time in each, I can say that Shibuya has much to offer that Times Square cannot. Watching its crazy crosswalks and punk/goth kids who search for an underground identity in nearby Harajuku are unlike any experience you will find anywhere else in the world. If you don't believe me yet, search Google Images for the word 'Harajuku'.

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University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (Spring, 2008)

Photo displayed depicts two University of Arkansas students (Unknown, left; John Miller, right) practicing capoeira. This Afro-Brazilian martial art form combines spins, kicks, dance, and music. Musical instruments used in capoeira are typically rooted in Africa as well.

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The Landless Workers' Movement (Portuguese: Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST) is a social movement throughout Latin America that pushes for land reform. The movement is largest in Brazil where the gini coefficient measured 0.552 in 2007, and roughly half of the country's farmland is owned by 4 percent of the population.

In 2007, I visited an MST camp as part of a school field trip while studying abroad in São Paulo. I took the previous two photos at this camp.

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Manguiera, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July, 2007)

Nobody climbs the favelas (Brazilian slums) in Rio. They are among the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world... so a Norwegian friend from the hostel & I climbed Mangueira to the top to feed the adrenaline. What we saw (and did not photograph) was child prostitution, children with guns (including M16 military-issue rifles), extreme poverty, and even signs of happiness in the midst of these sad conditions.

I spent a year in Brazil the first time, but I felt that it wasn't until I climbed the favela of Mangueira that I had finally seen the true Brazil. Even in all it's poverty, corruption, social, and economic problems, Brazil somehow manages to be the most beautiful place on earth, and Rio de Janeiro is at the heart of it's beauty.

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Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic (late 2004)

Prague, Czech Republic is probably the most Gothic city in the world. I took this photo of Charles Bridge (Karlův most in Czech) back in 2004. Although I used a disposable camera, I don't think the image suffered too much since the city's architecture was purposefully constructed to portray a certain element of darkness.

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For more of my travel photos, see the photo archives on my homepage.

Inside North Korea

The May/June 2009 print-edition of Foreign Policy magazine contained a piece called The Land of No Smiles. The piece was a collection of photos taken by Tomas Van Houtryve who went to North Korea posing as a business man trying to open a chocolate factory. An online edition of the article was also published and is available here.

Van Houtryve also hosts a personal website where he displays even more of his photos taken from inside the country.

Outsourcing

It's about time I post something funny again. This video about outsourcing had me rolling.

Obama's Victory Speech: What Happened 221 Years ago?

No matter one's preferred candidate, it would be absurd to deny Barack Obama's keen ability to deliver a quality speech and capture an audience. He gave his victory 'Yes We Can' speech in Chicago after news broke that he had won the presidential election. In presentation style and word choice, many similarities can be found to this speech and some of the most well-known speeches in American history. I drew similarities to two in particular: President Abraham Lincoln's 'Gettysburg Address' and Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have A Dream' speech.

But I was distracted when Obama gave a vague reference to something that happened 221 years ago. This sent me hunting the Internet for a refresher course in American history.

"And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand." (Full transcript)

This instantly reminded me of the beginning of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." (Full transcript)

Lincoln gave that speech on November 19, 1863. A score is equal to twenty. So four score and seven years ago equals eighty-seven (87) years. 1863 minus 87 equals 1776. 1776. That's obviously a year I DID recognize. I predicted this result by reading the speech's transcript: "brought forth... a new nation."

But what about Obama's reference? What happened 221 years ago? The birth of our nation? Unlike Lincoln, Obama did not remind his audience what the year was referring to. I admit, off the top of my head I had absolutely no idea what happened 221 years ago, but I assumed the math would result in the number 1776. He made the speech in 2008, so 2008 minus 221 equals 1787. 1787?

I felt like a bad American. Surely I should remember what happened in American history on this year. At this point, I did what any history buff, Google/Wiki-savvy, mid-twenties college student would do, and I searched for an American History timeline. As it turns out, this is the year that the Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (from May 25 to September 17). This convention resulted in the creation of the United States Constitution as we refer to it today. Shame on me for not remembering this important year in American history.

Gaining influence through use of foreign languages

The study of power and influence is a core element in both international relations and political science. In my travels around the world I've always been able to get people to open up to me in ways that they normally wouldn't most Americans or people who only speak English. I've studied several languages but have reached a level of proficiency in Portuguese and Spanish that allows me to integrate them into my everyday life. This has given me many lifelong friendships that depend on my ability to speak the language of these friends, rather than their ability to speak mine. It has been far more rewarding to me and opened so many doors and opportunities than I can begin to explain.

Generally, most people don't care that you make mistakes when speaking their language. They mostly want to see that you care enough to try as a demonstration of respect for their culture. A simple demonstration of a few words or phrases when faced with language and cultural barriers can be highly effective in that it demonstrates a respect for your counterpart(s), which can be used to gain much needed influence in order to obtain your desired objective (when dealing with power, international relations, political science, there is always an objective). Shouting a point of view in your own language will only make you an annoyance. Stuttering a point of view in the language of your counterpart(s) will usually ensure a certain amount of respect.

As a demonstration of this effectiveness, I've added a YouTube video (as usual). The second speaker is José Manuel Durão Barroso, the 12th and current president of the European Commission. He is also a former prime minister of Portugal. Obviously, his mother tongue is Portuguese, but he is also fluent in Spanish, French, and English. The video was recorded at a 2007 speech to European Parliament in which German is the language of the day, and he is determined to make an impression. Notice how well he is received by the audience despite having to read from a script.



At the end of his speech, before he utters a phrase in English, he says "Obrigado". This is Portuguese for "Thank you".

How to deal with a nuclear Iran: Military action vs. deterrence

Much of the West argue the best way to deter Iran from gaining the capability of building a nuclear weapon. The fact that Iran's President, Mahmūd Ahmadinejâd, denies the Holocaust ever happened and wants Israel taken off the map only complicates the matter.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) claim the country is not terribly far from gaining the knowledge to build one.

So how does the West deal with a nuclear Iran? Military force? Deterrence?
It might surprise you how successful deterrence has already been in the 20th century in dealing with seemingly irrational governments and their possession of nuclear weapons. I leave you with this two part heated debate between CNN's Fareed Zararia and Norman Podhoretz.







Also worth noting: Iran's highest valued monetary note (50,000 rials) contains a nuclear symbol on the back side:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/5000Rials.JPG

Breeding low emission livestock

Many are aware that a large percentage of gas emissions into the atmosphere are caused by livestock such as cows & sheep through flachulents and belching.

This offers new opportunities for scientists who deal with animal breeding and genetics.

The following video introduces the breeding of low-methane emitting animals!

Brazil in international relations

I've recently released two of my research projects to the public. While studying international relations and Latin American studies in college, I largely concentrated much on Brazil instead of Latin America as a whole. I received a bit of ridicule about that from the head of the Latin American Studies program at my university. But I reminded him of a few important things:

1) Brazil is the 9th or 10th largest economy in the world (depending on which source you read). It's GDP is greater than that of all other South American countries' GDPs combined.

2) It is the agriculture monstar of the world. It is many times referred to as "the world's breadbasket." It is also a massive producer of beaf, soy, & the largest exporter of sugar in the world (just before India).

3) It is 100% energy independent. In addition to the fact that it is a world leader in biofuels, it is also the only country to find any significant amount of oil in several decades, thanks to Petrobras.

4) Petrobras (Brazil's state-owned oil company (yet 40-something percent is traded over Bovespa, Brazil's stock market)) is worth more than the entire GDP of Argentina. (I haven't checked the accuracy of this statement, but I was told this by a US Commercial Service official during a presentation in Rio de Janeiro).

5) Even the CIA knows Brazil will be a major world power in the next several years. The book O Relatório da CIA - Como será o mundo em 2020, a CIA publication, only available in Portuguese and widely-available in Brazil, discusses this in-depth.

Read my research here:

• US, Brazil Ethanol Industry Comparison - The Economics, History, & Politics Behind it All
  
• Brazil - The South American Powerhouse