Drowning Sheep

Last week I was downloading some news bits and watched a segment on FOXnews where one of their opinionists and their panel was attacking Al Gore and his new movie “An Inconvenient Truth” there was general environmentalist bashing. One of the panel even admitted that the evidence pointed toward environmental disaster, but he thought that there just wasn’t a problem. I’ll repeat that, there is going to be environmental disaster but it is not going to be a problem. It wasn’t surprising that many of these anti-earth people are Christian Totalitarians.

I think I understand why Christian Totalitarians don’t like environmentalism. Really though there is no reason to not be an environmentalists, there is a mountain of factual evidence, ecological disasters, and a great deal of common sense. Let us go beyond the fact that Christian Totalitarians don’t ever us factual evidence, common sense, and think ecological disasters are acts of god (usually because of acceptance of homosexuals or abortion). There is a philosophical reason as well, those of you who ever read Daniel Quinn understand this a little.

Then there is the fact that the world was created by the creator, and the Earth, if not the universe, was all created for humans. Though not explicitly stated this basically is all the permission that is needed for ‘believers’ to rape and violate the planet in every way possible. After all God would not abandon his children (the ones that submit to him) and if there are ecological disasters it is because God is punishing us because humans are sinful. If we were not sinful then God would continue to provide. This makes the environmentalists wrong then, mankind can not control the environment or affect it. Believers of course think that no matter what happens they will be saved. Environmental disaster will not touch them (except for Hurricane Katrina victims).

Sounds a little crazy, but to the totalitarians it makes sense. Their viewpoint will not change because common sense and factual evidence don’t matter to them. It does not even matter if environmentalists are correct because they want to do what they feel is right, and what they feel is what their leaders tell them. Like sheep choking from rising Co2 emissions, smog, and drowning from rising ocean levels.

Still no Gambit ... Movie Review for X3

While waiting to get into X-Men Last Stand there were people covered in tin foil waiting in line as cheap Colossus costumes. After the movie was over there must have been some disappointment. I could not understand why Colossus was in this movie, or Angel, or Cyclops. Supposedly Psilock and Jubilee had small cameos but I didn’t see them.

This was defiantly the worst of the X-Men movies, but that is still a good thin because the first two are great. My main complaint is that there was still no Gambit, Bishop, and Nightcrawler disappeared. There are simply too many X-Men to put in the movie. Mr. Grammer was really good, actually I thought the acting was better than most action movies. The story was good too. Some characters die, others change, and still others have more surprises. It wasn’t too ridiculous, which is good because the Original Dark Phoenix saga put to film would have been.

Still this is not a great movie. It is one of those rare movies that could of used another 40 minutes to explain why the characters are acting the way they are. Of course if you are familiar with the comics then there is an understanding of why everything happens. There were some possibilities for some really great fights, but they were put off. There were also some really stupid things done. For example the mutants get upset because there is a “cure” for mutants, they take offence at the term; but they continue to use it throughout the movie. The biggest complaint is that there is too little emphasis on some of the team, mainly Colossus, Rogue, and Angel.

Those that know the X-Men mythology will like this movie much more than everyone else. I do recommend people to watch it because of the action scenes. None of those are as good as the opening sequence of X2 (still the best ever). Some advice for Fox if there is going to be another movie. First, find another villain, Magneto is cool but try Apocalypse, Sinister, or one of the many other villains available (pick Apocalypse!). Second, Gambit, Bishop, Nightcrawler, Psilock, there are so many out there but put someone new and develop them instead of focusing on Storm and Wolverine.

In final, X-Men is not as good as it should be but not as bad as people fear.

Oh my God, you won't kill Kenny... You bastards.

Kenny Lay is now officially guilty. For the past few years he has been unofficially guilty. This is a much better outcome than the HealthSouth case. This is not enough, Kenny may get out in 20 years in “Federal Fuck-me-in-the-ass Prison.” I truly don’t think that is enough. White Collar criminals often get away with more than other criminals because the results are intangible and more difficult to visualize. For example, the collapse on Enron caused all sorts of problems including the loss of millions of jobs (the effect was beyond Enron), greater economic depression, the loss of retirement money for millions, etc. I’m sure that there were a few suicides as a result of this, broken families, and people going homeless.

So the injustice of this, if you are a mentally deficient person that kills two people he gets the death penalty. Kenny Lay receives not much. I’m not for the death penalty but there is disproportionate penalties for these two acts.

Viva Mogadishu!!

Remember Somalia?

The United States sure doesn’t. Of course the action started by daddy Bush that was pushed onto Clinton isn’t a popular subject by anyone in the United States government. After all we want to talk about our military successes and not the failures, except Iraq of course. Well Somalia is still there.

Recently the ‘cease fire’ in this war torn state has been broken and Islamic militias are slowly gaining the upper hand in the fighting in Mogadishu. The United States does nothing because we don’t care or are too wrapped up in two other wars still raging (Afghanistan is still not done and the Taliban controls parts of the country). Now before our eyes we’re watching another country fall into chaos, have Islamic militias slowly take over, and sponsor terrorist camps.

What does this mean? If we’re fighting a War on Terrorism (which is bullshit it is a war against Fundamentalist Islamic Groups) then we’re ignoring another ‘Taliban’ that is close to taking over another country which can be used as another base for terrorist groups and is in a key geopolitical position to destabilize the area.

If we’re losing this war (and remember that no one ever ‘wins’ a war) it is not because of the public outcry against domestic wiretaps, opposition to Bush, or whatever the administration is claiming. Instead the strategic blunders (like Iraq) are draining billions of dollars and the ignorance of places like Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Chad. Right now we can make a difference in something that is really a problem, but too many Americans are worried about how to be better bigots against homosexuals and keeping people out of the country because they made it in.

Congresspedia

I came across this web site the other day and think that it is relevant to mention here. Congresspedia is a wiki website with a wealth of information about the Legislative branch of the United States. I like this web site because it put all this information together. There is even information about the funding that they get for their campaigns. Also important are their addresses to send happy or angry letters. I don’t know how new this site is but considering that it is a wiki site I hope that there is expansion to it. Go check it out.

Call it whatever you want, it is still bigotry...

Five more states this November have anti-gay referendums on the ballets. In addition to the number of states that already have them. This is something really stupid, not only from the point of civil liberties but from an economic standpoint. Not only is it just plain bigotry to disallow gay people the same rights as straight people think about the economic implications.

States that are limiting the rights of gay people are limiting approximately 10% of the population from wanting to work there. This 10% also generally tends to me more educated and holds more professional jobs than other segments of the population. When given the choice of working in a state that grants gay rights and those that are bigots the choice is obvious. What about the companies whom are not able to get some of the employees that they want, or need. They will not want to be located in states that will not allow their employees to have the same rights and benefits. In Ohio and Michigan there are legal measures that are being taken to prevent private companies from giving benefits to gay couples.

That is the additional problem, the federal government is getting into the act. The federal government does not acknowledge gay marriages or benefits from private companies, therefore benefits receive from private companies may be taxable income. Once again, nothing but bigotry. The federal government should not only allow gay marriages or civil unions, but should stay out of private attempts to replicate these rights.

For a nation that values privacy it is rather ironic that private issues about who you decide to spend your life with become public issues. Think about it this way, if your extremist Christian religion forces a woman to marry someone through an arranged marriage that is just fine by the government, as long as it is a woman. So forcing women into a marriage is morally acceptable (which is really just rape) but allowing two men to live together in private is not. How fucked up is that?

Movie Review: Da Vinci Code

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE CUBS GODDAMMIT!! I have to get that off my chest. I used to go home and spend some time listening to the Cubs game on mlb.com, but now there is just no joy in it. My new goal is to earn enough money to buy the Cubs and make them fucking win. I mean come on, we’re doing almost as bad as the pirates.

This week’s movie review is the Da Vinci Code. In short, don’t ever watch this movie. Let me start off with my story about the Da Vinci Code, actually two stories. I used to work at this liquor store with a guy who absolutely believed that this book was real. Not just the conspiracy, but the events. It was a documentary to him. What an idiot. Second, my story about how I read the Da Vinci code; I went back to Chicago a couple weeks back and brought two books to read. The First was a Peter Drucker book, the second was a book about Pakistan from the Brookings Institute. On the flight back to Honolulu I decided that a fiction book would be more up my ally. So we went to the book store and there were two selections; the Da Vinci Code and a smattering of Housewife Porn (Romance). It was like this in every bookstore at the airport. Dan Brown, haven’t you sold enough books you douche-bag? I digress though, I bought the book. I read it on the plane and discovered that this is the most poorly written book in the universe, give a ten year old the plot and the writing would be more interesting. At one point I threw the book on the ground because it was making me dumber. I eventually finished the book and was not surprised by anything t the end. I have plans to burn it now.

As for the movie it has an all star cast so I was a little optimistic. Tom Hanks, star of Bachelor Party, Forest Gump, and a couple other great films. Audrey Tautou was Amelie and really that is enough, though she was also in A Very Long Engagement, and Dirty Pretty Things both of which were awesome. Of course Ron Howard, making a movie without his brother in it. Then throw in an albino and Ian McKellen and there should be a decent picture. It was not, this movie is an utter piece of shit. Tom Hanks was like Derek Zoolander, he only has one facial expression and the acting was forced. Audrey seemed like a background character, with forced acting and a mostly blank expression. The only reason to watch this movie is Ian McKellen, but only for the first ten minutes of his appearance, then he too lowers into an acting style that says, “I making a bunch of money for acting.”

Don’t let me be the judge though, half the audience laughed the entire movie. This is supposed to be a thriller but it is just comical. If you want to watch a movie that will ruffle Catholic’s feathers then watch Last Temptation of Christ it is an awesome movie. If you want to read a book that is worth your time read Foucault’s Pendulum which simply is one of the best books that I have ever read.

White Wife Beater of Deception

Some idiot (not in this program) was arguing that the income of Americans went up 16% last year. The average household income of Americans was 44,473 last year. This was unchanged from the year before (not inflation adjusted). Inflation last year was 3.9%. What does this mean? Last year the average American loss 3.9% income because their income is unchanged and their money is worth less which means in reality the average household income is $42.738.

If there was a 16% increase the average household income would be $51,589. According to this source they got the information from FOX “news” which I can not confirm. He likely made it up. Think about it though, if you got a 16% raise you would be ecstatic, that is a large raise. That would then become average, but then think about it this way. The person that told me this (I’m guessing) did not get a 16% raise, they should be pissed off.

Now some of these numbers may be a little off because I spent only a minute researching it but the point is clear. The numbers are obviously fucked up but he was ready to argue them and just would not believe me that they were wrong. If these numbers were from FOX “News” then it shows that there are too many people who will believe anything.

One more Japanese marketing class to go!

Steak Knife of Ogre Slaying

We have a large presentation due at the end of this week for my Japanese Marketing Class and yesterday we needed to give a preliminary presentation. The goal of this was for our peers can give us some hints on how to improve the presentations. I just got back the comments that my peers made, and some were helpful but I got two that were so idiotic that it just pissed me off.

The first was a tirade about the evils of Stem Cell Research (our product) which has nothing to do with our presentation. Throughout our presentation we reinforced the fact that ours is not an ethical debate but someone is intent on changing it into one. In addition this person cited a bunch of articles and basically told me that I was going to hell for presenting this subject. What any of these comments about myself going to Hell has to do with marketing I couldn’t figure it out.

The second was the following, “Public policy has nothing to do with marketing.” What a moronic statement that should automatically cause this person to flunk the class. According to this theory then I can have a huge market for Johnny Walker blended scotch in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan because there is no competition. Product testing, especially pharmaceutical products just don’t matter. Companies that are worried about censorship of their products are stupid because these polices don’t affect the market.

I swear there are some real fucking morons in the world, even in grad school.

The entry where I challenge Mr. Roeper to a fight...

In the latest movie reviews Richard Roeper joined his fat partner in ripping the video game industry. While discussing Poseidon he made the following statement, “It is like a video game where you have one action sequence to another without any character development.” You too Richard Roeper, I challenge you to a Burmese pit fight, or a game of Tekken to settle this issue. In fact bring your fat friend too and I’ll take you both on!

Christian Totalitarians and the Means of Production

The New York Times recently printed an article about the Social Conservatives (Cultural Conservatives). They may not support the Republican Party if they do not take a harder line on their ‘moral’ policies such as abortion, homosexual persecution, and their generally totalitarian governmental ideas. By acting like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum they expect to get some results, and they may get some Republicans to toe their line; but in reality they are better off ignoring them. In fact the Republican party is better off letting the Christian Totalitarians go and start over. The majority of people do not like these policies, and people in general are against the Christian Totalitarians from controlling the government. The Republicans have the power, where else are their Nazi-like allies going to go? If they form a third party it will go the wayside like most other parties.

If you read my sidebar you can see that I’m reading Peter Drucker’s “The Post-capitalist Society” and I generally agree with his views. This is how I see what I have read so far.. In the far past it was the state that owned everything, the means of production as it were. There was a gradual move to ‘capitalists owning the means of production. This meant that a new class had more power, this new group is so wonderfully called the bourgeoisie by the Socialists. This meant that governments lost more power, and they lost enough that they bent to the will of the bourgeoisie. After the World War II (and solidified by the end of the cold war) the capitalists won and dictatorships were proven to be an outdated system. Dictatorships continued to exist in some third world countries but were all failures. The Cold War was less about socialism vs. capitalism then it was about social progress instead of social regression. Communism is a regression to the totalitarian governments before the bourgeoisie took power.

There was no social evolution in communism as there should be in socialism. The government was a dictatorship that would run things because after the destruction of the bourgeoisie the means of production needed to be in the hands of someone. Religion was disallowed because before states had power religions had the power, the means of production through a monopoly on knowledge. The state was to be the new religion. In this view communism was maintaining the status quo; states have control of the means of production and our lives.

The non-totalitarian countries (mainly the United States, Western Europe, and Japan) instead proceeded with socialism. This sounds funny but look at it, who owns the means of production? Many would say the bourgeoisie but this is not exactly true. Through stocks and corporate bonds a new class is becoming the owners of the means of production. This new class is gathering more power and the trend looks as if they will be the new power holders taking power from but the governments and the bourgeoisie.

So what are the Christian Totalitarians? They are trying to stop social evolution. Using religion as a base they want to return social control to the government and hand the control of the means of production to the bourgeoisie. Meanwhile the developed world is moving on, and parts of the developing world are skipping the bourgeoisie phase. As more and more countries allow foreign ownership then state borders will mean less and less, and governments will become more and more marginalized.

This is not an overnight process the transferring of power takes decades but the spread of knowledge sharing technology may facilitate the speed of this social change. Where does this leave the Religious Totalitarians? It can not be determined what will happen, but it can be determined what will not happen. They will not gain control of the means of production simply because this is not its goal. Without the means of production they will always be marginalized. Knowledge transfer has become too decentralized to effectively control.

Suicide Bombers and Shopping Lists

Back in December the New York Times reported that the United States government has been listening to millions of phone calls to suspected terrorists overseas. Last week the USA Today reported that the government has been getting phone records from the phone companies so they know who we are calling. This is a big story because it goes into how much control should the government have over our lives, and how much information can the government get without breaking the law.

Personally I do not think that the government has the right in the United States to get phone records. Through all the controversy the main question about these programs has not been asked. If we know the phone numbers of terrorists and we know when they are calling, why can we not find out where they are and snatch them? Seriously, hasn’t anyone seen a huge hole in this? We are not getting the terrorists; instead we’re trying to listen to their phone calls. It is true; the United States government is doing nothing to apprehend terrorists. Instead we want to know if they need to pick up milk on the way home.

Petropolitics (serious topic)

There are two articles that have been printed recently that I feel everyone should read. The first was in Business Week last week (5/15/2006) “Why You Should Worry About Big Oil,” by Stanley Reed; and “The First Law in Petropolitics,” by Thomas Friedman in Foreign Policy May/June 2006 issue. Both of these articles are important because they outline the problems with the entire oil industry; the politics, the companies, and the consumers. Like spice in Frank Herbert’s Dune: Oil is life and oil is what makes things possible. This is important and the problem is not with any one aspect but instead in each and every one of us.

Yes, the oil companies have been making record profits, and they are usually the boogyman that people can point their fingers at when things go wrong. We need to understand a few things. First; we need oil and low oil prices (prices in Europe and Japan are much higher than those of the United States) have fueled irresponsibility in how we use oil. America then developed an obsession of inefficient cars, and energy. In addition from a realist political standpoint; how stupid are we to have our most important resource in the hands of others? It is pretty stupid if we think about it. In addition technology the absolve this, like solar energy and nuclear energy was put aside because of a misplaced belief that the oil would always flow. Yes there were greens out there that were seen as “crazy” and “extremist” and they still are by some groups. As oil consumers we are pretty stupid.

Reed’s article highlights several certain facts, only 16% of the oil in the world can be accessed by the oil companies. This means that only 16% of the problem is the oil companies, 65% are the fault of nationalized oil companies (explained later), and 19% are limited (meaning limited access by the government who runs nationalized oil companies). 84% of our oil problems are the fault of countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and other oil producing countries. A result of this is that oil companies are being forced to spend more money to expand into more inaccessible areas to get oil, places like Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. Deeper drilling is needed as well. All of this costs more money. Bottom line, our oil is running out not only because there is less oil in the world but because the governments in many countries realized that they limiting access to oil can only be in their benefit.

Oil companies are a cash heavy business, this means that they have a lot of cash laying around. Typically oil companies spend this on finding new oil and investing in oil production. In many of the extreme environments like Sakhalin Island the oil companies are building small cities with infrastructure like roads, communication, and airports. This is very costly. Instead the oil companies know better than us that the oil is running out, they should be investing in alternate energy. From a business sense it is a lot of money to invest in developing a new product, but it will be another product that the world will depend on. The return on the investment will be astronomical if an alternative to oil was made that could be made on a mass scale. Bottom line, oil companies are being short sighted and now they are paying the price, if they looked long term they would have been investing heavily into alternate fuel sources.

Thomas Friedman (I’m a fan) states in his article that there is a strong inverse relationship between the price of oil and political freedom. Friedman calls this the first law of Petropolitics. This is a correct assumption, states that rely on the oil as an export are more totalitarian. In general there are several economic disadvantages to states that rely on a single export, but oil is “spice” and everyone needs it. Most of these states have nationalized the oil industry, and therefore the governments get a lot of money. The totalitarian nature of these states means they spend more on military, police, stability, etc than on infrastructure, services, and education. They become more totalitarian, and the scarcity of oil makes these states more powerful. Friedman states that also an oil rich state do not rely on the people from tax income, and are less inclined to care about what the people think. If one believes this, and there is a lot of evidence to support this, then as oil prices rise then there will be more totalitarian states in the world. Think about it this way, if oil is the link that keeps us industrialized then people will need to place more power within their governments to keep prices affordable.

What is the conclusion? First, it is imperative that we find an alternate energy source. Oil is running out and as oil runs out oil will allow totalitarian states to have more power. A universally available energy source that is renewable is preferable because the energy is cheap. Cheap energy with high costs is not the exact goal of the energy companies because they need to make a profit, but an energy source that has low costs is desirable because there could be profits. Second, as consumers we need to realize that oil prices are only going to go up. Asking for the government to help keep prices down only places more power within our government, and is unsustainable. No government can maintain low oil prices for an extended period of time, and when they no longer can the prices will shoot up. A rapid increase in prices means that the government becomes unstable, crime rates rise, high inflation, etc. Finally this leads to the consumers doing something about this, conserving oil by ourselves sends a message to everyone including governments and corporations. Overnight change isn’t possible, but a change keeping in mind that we have limited time is in the interest of us all.

Summer Movie Review - Hard Candy

Cassie and I watched “Hard Candy” last night. I thought it was awesome, Cassie thought it was average. In my view the acting was superb, especially by Ellen Page who had one of the best acting performances in years. The dialogue was what shined in this movie. There is a basic story to this movie and with that it would have been average. There is an actual story to this movie that develops as the dialogue, and a few background pieces, continues. Finally at the end there is a revelation that is both disturbing and allows for additional questions. Another great part about the movie is that one really gets to know the two main characters, while at the end realizing that that you may not really know them at all. I liked that about it. Overall this will be one of the best movies of the year and it would be a big disappointment if Ellen Page doesn’t get credit for her awe-inspiring acting job. This movie is highly recommended, if you can go out and see it now.

Vorpal Garbage Truck +4 against Pedestrians

E3 is going on now and it is a gamer’s wet dream because it has all the information about new video games, women wearing next to nothing, wannabe actors (and future porn-stars) dressed up as your favorite video game characters. Oh, and only industry are allowed in which means there is a good chance that you are not there. They announced a new Cell-Phone game, “Paris Hilton Jewel Jam” and this has nothing to do with singer/wanna-be pet Jewel either (though that would be crazy!!). The rumors are true, Paris Hilton has a puzzle game named after her, it must be the easiest puzzle game of all time. I’m expecting something like matching same colored gems together, but having only one color. This game is going to save the world, future generations will forgo war and play “Paris Hilton’s Jewel Jam” to settle disputes both personal and international. Hell right now we nee to challenge the enemies of the United States to play this game. Thank you Paris Hilton, I’m still not sure what you do but thank you.

Unshaved backs of the damned

You know that your life has been pretty boring when everything has been, doing homework and World of Warcraft. Some nights it is World of Warcraft and do the homework later. Less than eight months of classes left and I’m excited to finish the classes and get on with it. Cassie calls WOW a ‘glorified chat channel’. After four classes about Japanese marketing we haven't talked much about Japanese marketing. only four more full classes to finish, and language, and one final...

A lot of media has been praising Stevie Colbert and pushing John Stewart aside. In reality Stevie is getting a little old, the joke has past. There are two things that are funny about the show 1) The people’s reactions trying to figure out to join the joke or not, or even wondering if the entire thing is an act. 2) There are people out there watching the show and agreeing with everything that is said. The second part makes me laugh more. Still though I think that John Stewart is king.

Sweat Stained MuuMuu of Giant Strength

Summer movie time is here, it is one of my favorite times of year, except for winter movie time and the release of the PS3. I saw MI3 and I think that it maintains Tommy C’s ego pretty well. The focus of the movie is totally on Tom Cruise, even the plot for worldwide domination is central to this man who is made from white soap. There are several excellent actors and actresses in this movie who are simply not allowed to shine because Tom Cruise is in your face. In the end this has made a marginal movie that would make a good DVD to get from NetFlix and stay at home.

In other movie related issues Marvel have announced a ton of new movies like Iron Man, Ant Man, etc. I am really looking forward to X3, an not so much Superman. Comic book companies, in my opinion, are going to wrong route. A recent Wired magazine article revealed how little comic book companies make on actual comic books (it was something like 16%) and the rest is movies, licensing, and toys. What comic companies should be doing is making less movies and making more television shows. How much more story could marvel tell is they made an X-Men live action show, or an Avengers television show. It would be easy to make crossovers, spin offs, and ‘special’ episodes. Does this take away from the actual comic books? 1) television could reach a larger audience, 2) who cares they make so little profits off it anyway.

In other news I had to sign a nondisclosure agreement for my internship in Tokyo. According to it I can not say anything about what I’m doing unless it is publicly available or I have permission. I think this is the first time that I had to sign something like this and it makes me feel a little special.

Apology Resolution

Foreign Policy magazine has just released there list of the worst failed states. This is not an event where there are cocktail parties and celebrations, instead this is more of a wake up call for us, the United States. For the second year in a row Iraq was placed as a more failed state than Somalia. To put this in perspective, Somalia’s central government isn’t even in the allowed in the capital making it effectively a state without a government. According to Foreign Policy Magazine and the Fund for Peace it is. Recently a humanitarian official said that the conditions in Somalia are the worse that he had ever seen.

Iraq is not the first country that the United States has invaded and seized and to put in perspective and give a little hope I’m going to mention the one that I’m living in. Hawaii was once an independent kingdom and it had been invaded and seized by the United States in 1893. This was done by private citizens, and the president at the time (Cleveland) made a statement that what was done was illegal, but took Hawaii anyway. I’m not going into the issue about an independent Hawaii because it is not going to happen. In 1993 President Clinton signed an apology (passed by congress) to the people of Hawaii.

Here is that apology for the Iraqi people (section 1)…

(1) on the occasion of the 3 year 43^rd day anniversary of the illegal overthrow of the Iraq on March 20, 2003, acknowledges the historical significance of this event which resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Iraqi people;

(2) recognizes and commends efforts of reconciliation initiated by the Iraqi people and the regular citizens of the United States;

(3) apologizes to Iraqi people on behalf of the people of the United States for the overthrow of Iraq on March 20, 2003 with the participation of agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of the Iraqi people to self-determination;

(4) expresses its commitment to acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of the Iraqi people, in order to provide a proper foundation for reconciliation between the United States and the Iraqi people; and

(5) urges the President of the United States to also acknowledge the ramifications of the overthrow of Iraq and to support reconciliation efforts between the United States and the Iraqi people.