Sword-Wielding Man Shot At Scientology Building

A security guard shot and killed a man who approached the Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood waving two samurai swords. What do you think?

Marlon Ratliff,
Glass Blower
“I hear the Samurai Celebrity Centre next door was none too pleased.”

Heather Hickman,
Art Teacher
“I don’t understand. Who wants to meet Kirstie Alley that badly?

Walter Santrello,
Lighting Tech
“What an outlandish and wildly far-fetched story. Of course, as a Scientologist myself, I naturally believe every word of it without question.”

Today’s photo of the day shows my friend John Forte, whose 14 year sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush. According to reports, the former Refugee Camp All Star will be home before the end of the year! Hopefully, this is a start to the end of mandatory minimums.

Today’s video of the day is “Heartless” by Kanye West. I just copped his new album and I’m not sure what I think yet. Thoughts?

Today’s Interview of the Day comes from NPR, where I participated in the “Barbershop” segment of Tell Me More with Michel Martin . To hear it, click here.

What Kind of Country Do We Want to Live In?
By Matthew Birkhold

We are living in hard times.  Over the last six months the US has lost more jobs than any other period during my lifetime and bankruptcies are higher than ever.  People are still losing homes and spending for education continues to dwindle.  Miraculously, we’ve elected a black president who ran on a campaign of hope and change but the problems he will inherit are pretty bad.  With all of the news on bailouts, and the possibility of the big three automakers getting one, I paused this morning to ask myself, “What kind of country do I want to live in?”

The shorts answer is that I’m not quite sure.  We are living in the midst of what has become a major, global economic crisis and the possibilities for the future can seem quite bleak.  As a lifelong citizen of the United States, the possible impact of this crisis on my daily reality is quite scary.  I wonder what it will be like to live in a nation that is no longer the military and economic head of the world, I wonder what that will mean for the luxuries that I take for granted because living here has made them quite easy to get.

Because I’m scared of what that change may look like, part of my says, “let’s bailout the automotive industry so that our country’s economy will keep functioning at least partially in a way that I’m used to.”  If we do this, I can continue to travel cheaply, I will be able to get a TV for less than a hundred dollars anywhere in the country, and I can continue to shop at discount stores like Century 21 and Loehmann’s.  Perhaps just as importantly, if we bailout the automotive industry, I can continue to rely on credit if I need to and pay it off when possible.

However when I wavier towards that positions, I have to ask myself, “Is that really what I want my life to look like?”  While I’m a big fan of doing things the easy way, I also know that if we aren’t willing to change and take risks, things normally turn out really bad for us.  The world economy is headed no place good and simply adding more money to it won’t help.  The impact of trying to solving the crisis with more money will impact the US like nothing any of us have ever seen before. That impact scares the shit out of me because I’m not sure if I believe in the character of my country strong enough to believe we could pull out of such a change without killing each other.

We Americans are a spoiled bunch.  Even the poorest people here have luxuries working class people in India can only dream of.  Because of this, we’ve developed less character and less of an appreciation for delayed gratification than those who came before us.  The reasons for this have been completely out of the control of people under the age of 50.  Nonetheless, like Obama, its what we’ve inherited.  The question I ask myself is, “What am I going to do about it?”

After writing this I’m still not sure.  I understand that both my country and myself are in serious need of stronger character and the only way to get that is to struggle for it and that struggling for it involves getting over a lot of fears.  There is no blueprint for this so we are going to have to help each other out of it.  I just hope that we all become willing to contemplate what we want for the long run, and what keeps us from making it happen.  I know I’m trying to and could use a little help.

Matt Birkhold is a Binghamton, NY based educator and writer.  He can be reached at birkhold(at)gmail(dot)com.