Working at the Capitol...
Within the past few weeks, I have been rather inactive in the Blogosphere, compared to the past - both with regard to blog reading, and blogging here. The semester ended a few weeks ago, but my
A.S.T. internship has continued; I have been accumulating clock hours working at
the Capitol here in Springfield, as an intern for my state representative. Many of those in Illinois know that this is
the period of time at the end of the legislative session, where a lot needs to be accomplished, especially due to the
budget crisis that our state is having. The
General Assembly was scheduled to adjourn on May 21st, but it has had to be extended... Both the House and Senate actually met today (on Sunday), and will be meeting tomorrow (Memorial Day). There is a lot that is going on, and I've been quite busy - within the past few days, I've chosen to resume some of my participation in the Blogosphere, though. With regard to this blog, there are many entries that I have planned, and some of them are in draft form, and will be inserted below. I have a lot of other work that I have to deal with in the present though, so I don't know how frequent my posting will be. I hope that you all continue to check back here regularly, though... Also check out some of the links to other blogs and websites that I've included in my past entries, and on the sidebar. Thank you for your patience, and I hope to have a lot more up here soon.
Updates... (Midnight Madness!)
-
Deadline missed!
-
Are we guys the problem? (Or is it
the Democrats?!)
-
Latest news on this mess...
posted by Aakash at 11:49 PM
Welcome Home 233rd!!
I've been quite busy working at the Statehouse, and I've been doing a lot of observation there, for my
A.S.T. On Thursday, May 20th, the 233rd MP Unit of the
Illinois Army National Guard was there,
to be honored by the House of Representatives. (see my previous entry, consisting of a linked photo)
That House resolution that honors our courageous and heroic servicemembers of the 233rd was co-sponsored by several representatives, including mine, who I'm doing my internship with. I wish that I had taken the opportunity to talk to some of the MP officers... Things were going kind of fast and somewhat-confusing that day, though. God Bless the 233rd!!
At various places in Springfield, you can see the "
Welcome Home 233rd!"
flyer from the
State Journal-Register. Here is a pertinent section from the newspaper's website:
www.sj-r.com/extras/233rd
Also check out
more on this at the
SJ-R site, and
this article by our friend
Rich Miller of the indispensable
Capitol Fax.
On Friday night (the 28th), I had PBS on (yes, PBS... I don't usually watch it, but lately, there has been some great stuff on there - I'll address more of it in entries above)... and the local PBS station
had an interview with members of the 233rd, as part of the "Illinois Stories" series. From
here, I see that this program was:
Illinois Stories
Life in Iraq: The 233rd MP Co.
Members of the recently returned 233rd MP Company shared their experiences for a two-part program that will air as part of WSEC's Illinois Stories series.
Host and producer Mark McDonald talked with six soldiers, Lt. Joel Ferris of Mt. Olive; 1st Sgt. Robert Elmore, Winchester; Sgt. John Hayes, Springfield; Sgt. James Kollins, Waverly; Spc. Stephanie Stretch, Springfield and Spc. Paul Elmore, Winchester.
Topics discussed in the two thirty-minute programs included daily life, mission objectives and other related topics.
Here is some good stuff on the fine men and women of the 233rd:
233rd Military Police Family Readiness Group
www.mp233famsup.org
Operation Home Front
OperationHomeFront.org
A HEARTY WELCOME HOME: After a year in Iraq, nothing beats a return home
Hometown connection helps soldiers endure in Iraq
Quiet nights, tap water part of 233rd's transition
Reed takes wheel as soldier in Baghdad
Carroll lives to tell of close call in Iraq
Illinois military police shocked at abuse claims
Grasping for help at home
For the 233rd, what a long strange trip it's been
Update:
Here is an entry about the 233rd from the blog of someone who appears to be a liberal from Colorado, but who seems to also be connected to Illinois in some ways.
Here is a previous post of his, in which he says that his brother is in that unit.
I should point out that, while the 233rd Military Police Army National Guard Unit is based here in Springfield, its members are from around the country.
posted by Aakash at 8:54 PM
End of the semester
To those of you who still have final exams - as I said below, best of luck! The semester is officially over here at UIS, and
graduation was held yesterday -
Congratulations to the
Class of 2004! (I'm getting a minor, so I'll still be an undergraduate next semester.) I still have some incomplete work that I need to finish for one of my classes, and I'm still working at my
A.S.T., at my state representative's office.
I am sorry for not having updated my blog for awhile; I also haven't been that active in the Blogosphere (with regard to blog surfing, and comment discussions), like I usually am. There have been a lot of things going on lately, and I will describe some of them in entries that will be inserted below. For now, here are some of the websites that I frequent (though I haven't been spending that much time on the internet lately... like I've been known to do).
Good websites to check often:
Illinois Leader
Drudge Report
Military.com
TownHall.com
World Net Daily
Antiwar.com (it's pledge week!)
LewRockwell.com
Dave Black Online
Ever Vigilant
Sierra Times
Chronicles Magazine
Breaking all the Rules
EtherZone
NewsMax.com
TooGood Reports
Enter Stage Right
Jewish World Review
Bush Country
GOP USA
RenewAmerica.us
Update (5/14/04): Here are some good items that I've found recently...
Where there's a Will...
It has been great to see the noted conservative commentator and political theorist
George Will taking a recent strong stance against the
neoconservative and internationalist political philosophy, with regard to foreign affairs.
Mr. Will has been a strong supporter of the Iraq war, because he, like other pro-war conservatives, believed in the severity of the threat that the Iraqi regime was believed to have posed to our nation. After the WMD controversy arose however, Will wrote
an excellent column on this matter, which
Antiwar.com featured as it's "Spotlight" editorial.
With the problems of post-war Iraq, Will
has now become known for expressing opposition to
the neoconservative geopolitical philosophy. I liked
this excellent column of his from last August.
More recently, just about a week ago, I came across another
great column by Mr. Will about this same issue. I especially like the title that has been given to that column by the
Chicago Sun-Times... It is currently the 3rd one down
his web page at their site (the one dated for Thursday, May 6, 2004):
True conservatism is under fire in Iraq
A good archive of
Mr. Will's past columns is available
here. That same above column, with alternate titles, can be found
here and
here.
Via today's
Antiwar.com, I find
this excellent news article, about how
more conservatives and
Republicans are
criticizing the current U.S. policy in Iraq,
something that could have an impact on the November presidential election.
Bob Novak, another great
conservative columnist and leading American political commentator,
had a recent article about this matter, regarding the growing conservative and Republican
dissatsifaction with the Bush administration's Iraq policy (something also
mentioned by Bruce Bartlett in
a recent column). Readers of this blog know that I've been covering this very issue for quite some time now.
posted by Aakash at 7:14 PM
