I haven’t been here in a while, and I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but as this year and decade closes and I’ve been reading every press outlet in creation do a summary of the decade, I felt I should do the same.  Since I was born late in 1979, every decade has essentially been a chapter in my life.  Particularly since I am about to shift my career down a new path, this truly is the end of a chapter in my life.  So, here is my summary of the 2000s in my world, in no particular order of time or importance, but as thoughts and memories come to my mind.

• I got back into UF.
• I changed my major from journalism to political science.
• I graduated!
• I went to grad school at UCF.
• I am still finishing my thesis.
• I met the person I thought was my soul mate.
• I got married.
• I got divorced.
• I was obviously wrong about three lines above.
• I lost my mother tragically.
• I have thought about her every day since.
• I have watched my brother become a real mensch.
• I have watched my father enjoy life.
• I got the job of my dreams.
• I witnessed democracy in action.
• I participated in making this nation a better place for everyone.
• I walked the same halls as leaders, patriots, and heroes.
• Three years later, I am moving on to something new.
• I helped elect Barack Obama.
• I worked for Robert Wexler.
• I worked for Shelley Berkley.
• I worked for UCF Campus Life.
• I worked for SITEL/General Motors.
• I was editor-in-chief of a college newspaper.
• I witnessed my sports teams win 6 championships.
• I witnessed our world change forever on September 11, 2001.
• I made some of the most incredible friends I could ever hope for.
• I rekindled some friendships from the prior decade.
• I bought my first car, and still have it.
• I moved five times.
• I traveled to Germany and Russia.
• I flew all over the United States.
• I went on my first cruise.
• I went skiing for the first time, too.
• I gained 40 lbs.
• I also gained a tremendous amount of life experience.
• I believe 30 really is the new 20.
• I fought for what I believe is right.
• I will continue to do so.
• I have found my purpose in life.
• I am so excited about what the 2010s will bring.

Thank you for reading.  Happy New Year everyone.

Yankees fans, congratulations on your 27th world championship. I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it not only for the rest of the winter, but all through next year and until the next World Series is won, and if the Yankees don’t win that one, I’ll keep hearing about how they should have. Yadda yadda.

My issue is not that the Yankees won; it is how they won.  At the risk of taking this beyond sports, how the Yankees won and have won over the past two decades bridges to a great social divide about how success can be achieved in our society.

Obviously, if you have an unlimited source of funds, money can buy you anything. In a realm, such as sports, where a championship is the measure of success, having an unlimited source of money to achieve that success when the competition does not is inequitable at best.

If a professional league cannot provide an equal opportunity for achievement (aka salary caps), in my opinion, it should not be considered a professional league because a majority of the teams competing in that league fundamentally do not have the opportunity to achieve success.

I’m not saying it is only the Yankees creating this situation…it is other teams as well, but when comparing baseball to the other major professional sports, there is less parity in baseball than any other sport, and that is because of the lack of a salary cap.

I’m not saying this out of being a Yankee hater. I don’t like the Yankees, being that I grew up in Queens as a Mets fan and adopted the Marlins as my team when I moved to Florida, but my point is not to bash them because they are the Yankees…it is the greater social implication.

The point is, the way MLB as a league and baseball as a sport is run, it is a representation of the political views of some to win at all costs, even if winning means making the system unfair to those less fortunate. I don’t believe that is the right way in any situation…in sports, or in life in general.

To see a copy of my resolution, click here.

Ted Kennedy was one of us

by Dave Feinman

http://youthroll.com/ted-kennedy-was-one-of-us/

When Edward Moore Kennedy died on Wednesday, we did not just lose a great Senator.  We lost someone who, in my opinion, was a representation of every American.

Ted Kennedy was born into privilege, but found his calling in serving his nation, both in the Army and in the United States Senate, and in both capacities sought to preserve freedom, equality, and opportunity for all of us.  He was the third-longest serving Senator in the history of our nation and was personally involved in the passage of an incredible amount of critical legislation that impacts our daily lives.  The Civil Rights Act of 1965, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Title IX, increases in the minimum wage, and the expansion of Medicare to children with disabilities are just a few of his accomplishments.

Senator Kennedy was also an incredible partisan and a proud liberal, and often earned the rancor of many on the right side of the political spectrum, but he was also among the best at reaching across the aisle to achieve compromise, and nearly every piece of legislation he introduced that became law was equally championed by a Republican, often a conservative.

He was also a very flawed human being who succumbed to vices that tarnished his image, led to the end of his first marriage, and often exposed him to unnecessary scandal and shame.  His involvement in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick also haunted him both personally and professionally for the rest of his life and created a stigma of irresponsibility he could never shake.

Let us remember, however, the immense amount of personal tragedy he had to endure throughout his life.  Living through the assassinations of his brothers, John and Robert, and the tragic deaths of countless other members of the Kennedy family over his life, Ted Kennedy endured more personal tragedy than most of us could ever imagine.  Such losses undoubtedly impacted his life significantly.

Ted Kennedy was equally as great as he was flawed.  He was often brave, but at many times in his life cowardly.  He achieved incredible highs and suffered incomprehensible lows.  He positively impacted the lives of millions, but left indelible pain on the lives of a few.  He was a human being, like all of us.  He was larger than life in many ways due to his extensive service to our nation, but still much like all of us, and undoubtedly at the worst of times, he felt smaller than all of us, if only in his own mind.

When I look back on his life, I see all that I mentioned above, and believe that his extensive accomplishments and his desire to improve the lives of so many not as fortunate as him were rooted in his personal insecurities and his desire to make amends for his many flaws and errors in judgment.  Whether he actually achieved that is for each of us to decide individually, but his quest to do so is uniquely American because we live in a society where people get second chances.

Ted Kennedy sought his second chance for much of his life, and while some may have forgiven him for his indiscretions and others have not, he never stopped seeking that second chance, and believed the best way to make amends was to improve the lives of those who needed the most: the poor, the disabled, and those who sought equality under the law.  For that, I believe, he deserves praise and respect.

So as we honor his life in the coming days, let us remember that he deserves praise and condemnation equally for various aspects of his life, but that he should be judged as fairly as any of us would want to be judged at the end of our lives.  We have all wanted a second chance at some point in our lives, and we all deserve it, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

What a week it has been.  Revolution in Iran.  Ed McMahon, an icon of television with Johnny Carson, dies.  Tragedy on the Metro here in DC.  South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford cheats on his wife.  70s icon Farrah Fawcett dies tragically of cancer.  Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, dies mysteriously.  Today, Billy Mays, the king of infomercials, dies only a few hours after being on a plane that had a rough landing and had luggage fall on his head.  Now there are also rumors that the Walter Cronkhite, one of the greatest journalists of the past century, is on the verge of death.

It seems quite overwhelming.  So much death, tragedy, unrest, and scandal in such little time (Senator Ensign’s affair was only a few days before this week, as was David Carradine’s mysterious death).  I’m really not sure what to make of it.  I’m a believer in fate, and that things happen for a reason.  (How else is it possible that one of the four people who missed the Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic was killed in a car crash a week later?)  But weeks like this just leave you shaking your head.

I went into writing this post believing I had something insightful to write.  I was wrong.  It’s just strange, all around.  At this point, one can just hope for less of everything.  Normalcy and a few days of no tragic news would be great right about now.

If you haven’t read or heard President Obama’s speech today in Cairo, take some time to watch it.  Further evidence of why we needed this man to lead our nation through these trying times, as well as his potential to transform the world we all live in.  I know I feel a great sense of pride for helping to get him elected and working for a Member of Congress who supports his views and policies.  The video is long, but well worth your time and attention.

This is how we treated someone who was not a terrorist and has never been convicted of or charged with a crime. Imagine how detainees at Guantanamo Bay were treated.

This isn’t about what you, I or anyone believe terrorists deserve. It is about the values this nation was built upon. We spend trillions of dollars on wars spreading the values of freedom, democracy, and liberty, expecting other nations to meet our standards, and at the same time, we are abusing these same standards that we hold so sacredly in our own society and code of laws.

Guantanamo must be closed, torture must stop, and the terrorists must be tried in a court of law. Otherwise, they’ve already won.
—

Today is Yom Ha’Shoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.   It’s an opportunity every year to remember the atrocities committed during World War II and to recommit that never again will we allow such terror to be committed against any group of people.  This day has both personal and professional meaning to me, both as a Jew and as someone who works on issues relating to the Holocaust and anti-Semitism in Congress.

I have been to Israel, where I visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.  When in Berlin, I toured the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.  I’ve been to a number of museums and memorials dedicated to this tragedy around the country, and have been fortunate to build a relationship with staff at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum here in Washington.  None of these experiences, however, prepared me for my visit to Buchenwald concentration camp back in 2007.

The gate at Buchenwald. "to each his own" or "everyone gets what he deserves"

When I traveled to Germany in November 2007 as part of a congressional staff delegation to witness the opening of the Holocaust archives at Bad Arolsen, I spent three days in these archives seeing the evidence of this tragedy first hand.  50 million documents about 17 million prisoners.  Arrest records, medical records, deportation records, personal effects.  It was emotional beyond belief, and it is an experience I will never forget, but it honestly paled in comparison with the feelings I had when I walked into Buchenwald.

Ovens where many met their fate.

The spirits of so many could be felt.  It was a cold day, and a fresh coat of snow was on the ground where barracks used to stand housing thousands of laborers.  You could feel the pain so many felt, and you could feel the absolute hatred that motivated the Nazi terror.  As I stood there looking around and feeling the cold chill go through my body, I realized it wasn’t the weather.  It could have been 90 degrees that day and I still would have felt the chill go through my body.  So many died.  All because they were Jewish.

It was one of those moments in your life you never forget, and it is about an event in the history of humanity that should never be forgotten.  I believe this is an experience every person should have, to see with their own eyes where this happened, how this happened, and to feel the spirits who remain behind to remind us of what we must tell future generations.

If you can’t make it to Europe, visit your local Holocaust memorial, or do some research on the internet.  Support the cause of the many organizations who are working to protect the victims of the Janjaweed in Darfur and other peoples around the world who are being persecuted.  Do whatever it takes to make those around you aware of the injustice so many peoples have suffered throughout history.  Whatever you do, just do not ever forget.

At 8:30 tonight, I observed Earth Hour with about a billion other people who believe a statement must be made globally about the state of our planet and the impact global warming is having on our lives.  It was a simple thing to do, and I’m proud to have been a part of it.

I realize a lot of people still believe global warming is baloney, and that’s fine.  I feel pretty confident that a few hundred years from now, people will look back at those of us who lived during this century and will either loathe us for being too stupid to take action to reverse the damage we’d been doing for the prior hundred years, or be thankful that humans actually evolved enough to realize the error of their ways and make a concerted effort to reverse the impact.  If people don’t want to believe reality though, that’s their choice, and I respect them for choosing not to partake in tonight’s simple statement.

What shocks me is that so many people are actually going out of their way to protest against it by turning all of their lights on, running all of their appliances, and anything else they can possibly think of to use as much energy as possible.  It’s lame, but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from those who feel threatened by science, who fail to see the reality of the world around them, and have a desire to be the minority who control the majority, but find themselves in quite an unfavorable political environment for that.

I’m just proud that so many across the world took part, and that we are finally being governed by people who understand the issue and are committed to bringing about meaningful policy reform.