Is war really necessary?

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By Briana Booker

   In class we have discussed whether war was necessary. In some instances I think war is necessary. Sometimes, people have to experience negative consequences to allow positive change in behaviors. I do not like the thought of war, but I know that not all conflicts can be resolved verbally nor can they be walked away from by any means. I say this not by observations of society, but the natural state of nature. Nature demonstrates inequalities, for one to survive, sometimes another must die. War in nature has nothing to do with emotions, simply instinct. But most people say humans are different because we have the ability to rationalize our actions. We have the ability to articulate our discontentment and flaws. We have the ability to know right from wrong. But is this a gift or a curse to have the ability to rationalize? Is it a gift or a curse to feel emotions, to know you are alive and have the ability to hurt?

 I know in most monotheistic religions people say the word of God and of God’s prophets is to love. Not love specific people or things but to love. It is the word of God. But at the same time I see violence in scripture. It demonstrates to me that violence is part of life. Survival of the fittest flows in my head when all else fails. I am not saying it is wrong or right. But I am asking what makes war right? What makes peace right? Both seem emotionally driven in every sense of the word. Most wars are fought based on clashes of beliefs and clashes on how systems are ran. Most peace comes when people learn to compromise. People learn that they gain more by being at peace. I find both war and peace self-fish attributes because they still consist of gaining something at the expense of someone else.                                                                                                

For example, in war the United States motto was ‘it is not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?’ Yet troops lose their lives everyday in a war I feel can not be won simply with violent tactics.

Or how people say we must make peace, to protect our own securities. It is still self-fish in context, but at the same time I would rather choose peace over war.  From my own personal experience, war is only a short-term solution. It makes no one happy or better off in the long run. However, sometimes I think it is necessary when the need of communication is prevented, yet a threat is still imposed. But perhaps that is a debate for different day.

Basic: Michael Steele and Lindsay Lohan bore me.

By Briana Booker


 Now, I am not going to lie. I loved actress Lindsay Lohan when I was growing up! I loved her acting in the Parent Trap and I definitely loved her in Mean Girls. But since she started doing drugs and disrespecting herself...my love for her has cease. Lohan just looks nasty and cries for attention too much these days!


By now, Lohan hand should be sentenced to life...not 90 days in jail for the basic and immature crap she does everyday. She does it because of the fact she has gotten away with it for so long.  That is why people do basic shit...no one stops them.


 To be honest 90 days in jail is not good enough. It is not going to change her for the better. But being someone's bitch might...oh wait, she probably like that. Lohan needs more of a military camp plus a pimp hand to get her remotely in shape to be a real adult.


What is a real adult? Someone mature and responsible in action and in words. But who really wants to do that? That does not sound fun.


But what is worse than Lohan is Michael Steele! He makes me want to vomit in my mouth, swallow it ,wait for it to retrace to my mouth, then fully vomit on him in one sitting. Steele is purely basic.


Not only does he make-up political facts, but now all of a sudden he wants to be a Black person.  Steele goes " I'm street," like that makes you Black. It does not...it makes him look stupid.


Black people are far from dumb and far from simple! You do not have to be poor, ignorant or self-absorbed to be a Black person. I just want to throw a shoe at Steele. He is not only disrespecting himself right now,but his own ethnicity by looking foolish on television.


I cannot believe his foolish ass said President Obama started the Afghanistan war! Are you serious? Really Steele? I think Steele is smoking whatever comedian Dave Chappelle was smoking on the plane ride from New Jersey that was supposed to land in Ohio. Emergency landings happen( I love you Dave)!


Just for you fools out there that believe that the Afghanistan war was not in place before President Obama set foot in the White House, this war has been going on for awhile. But I am sure Ku Klux Klan members are smiling, clapping, and laughing at Steele's commentary. I know I am!


It sounds like  Michael Steele has a case of hatorade, just as Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. , American civil rights activist and Baptist minister had a year or so ago. Neither Steele or Jackson will ever be leaders to take  extremely seriously, because they both get jealous of a man of their own race trying to be a good leader. Trying to unify the people,and not just unifying Black people.

"See, Barack's been, ahh, talking down to black people on this faith-based... I want to cut his nuts out."-Jesse Jackson.

Note: Jesse Jackson was expressing his disappointment in Obama's Father's Day speech chastisement of Black fathers on FOX news of all places!


I am sorry Jackson, but some Black men are not there for their children. Why do you think the Black community has been crumbling? It is called sticking together.




My words to Steele and Jackson are as followed: Take the poles out of your asses and get a grip! Be productive and stop putting your egos before the progress of your own people,and more so, the American people.
Check out my favorite man Jon Stewart, from the Daily Show segment on Steele! It is classic and from July 5th! I could not stop laughing! Stewart never lets me down...ever!

Thoughts on General Stanley Allen McChrystal.

By Briana Booker

General Stanley Allen McChrystal. I started this blog post with his full name for dramatic effect. Growing up, I knew I pissed someone off big time if my government name(full name) was used! This is one of those times for McChrystal.

 Now, I will not condemn McChrystal for speaking his mind. Often saying and thinking what others are afraid to say or do, can bring both negative and positive progression. Never be afraid to stand up for something you are passionate about. However, I do condemn McChrystal intentionally putting on blast top officials such as Vice President Joe Biden in the well known Rolling Stone  Magazine.

I find it immature of him to put his frustration out in public viewing during a time of war. During a time of war it is crucial to pull a team together, not apart. From what I have read from the article, the previous Commander just sounds bitter for not being able to run operations within the Afghanistan war exactly how he wanted them. In fact, he might have a point that this war strategy is going no where. It may be a failed mission drastically,but what is a better solution?

It is easier to mock officials than to come up with a  more suitable method of addressing a dilemma. Mocking is for child's play. It was wrong of him to disclose critical numbers of troops needed to level out changes in the war environment. This type of information should have been directly addressed to the President not the freelance journalist Michael Hastings or the world.

Honestly, this is sad news. I hope this does not show the administration as weak and disconnected. And the President had every right to allow the resignation of McChrystal. This is not McChrystal's first constroversial action.


But please do read the article "The Runaway General," ( here ) it is definitely food for thought. The only person coming on top in this matter is Hastings for good journalism.