I spent Memorial Day in the Nation’s Capital and the spirit of the day was everywhere. Below are some of my best photos that I took today so please enjoy. And yes that is the President you see in the Limo.

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Humidity– It isn’t too bad. I did my undergrad in Austin, TX so it’s very similar. But I did notice that with any serious movement such as pulling two pieces of luggage across George Washinton University or running to get to the subway, I will breakout in a spontaneous sweat. It’s worse when I have a freshly shaved head.

Subway – I don’t know how to explain it without using four letter words. The good part is the folks working in the booths are very nice and will go out of their way to help you navigate through the city.

Streets – I don’t know who designed them and what they had in mind but wow! I don’t know how anyone knows east from west or north from south cuz you’re never going in any of those directions. Everything is North/West or South/East. Have your phone GPS ready.

The National Mall – So Much to see! Just take it slowly one building at a time.

George Washington Campus/ Home – It’s nice. Haven’t seen much of it yet but so far things are convenient. Found the Trader Joe’s 4 blocks away and the 7Eleven is 100 yards away.

Well I’ve taken lots of pictures today but I’m going to wait until after the Memorial weekend to post them, but I hope these will hold you over. 

Let’s get down to the lig-long. I’m an international policy major, that’s why I came to Pepperdine and that’s why I’ll be at the State Department this summer. So I feel it’s time for me to chime in on this summer’s hot political topic: Torture (why not right, everybody else is).

People that spend any time talking to me know that I’m a lifelong Lakers fan, specifically the “Showtime” Lakers of the 80’s and the  “I love LA” theme song played at the end of every Win. My first Lakers game (I was 10) was with my dad to the 1983 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Magic and Kareem going head to head against Moses Malone and Dr. J! I remember this game, or at least what I saw, vividly. What I remember most was that my seats were against the back wall at the Forum, and as a 10-year-old I was having difficulty seeing the game.  It was so far away. 

I remember loving to watch the Lakers play, and I couldn’t put my finger on why I liked them so much until I was older and involved in sports myself. The Showtime Lakers were a flashy finesse team which was typical of the West Coast with the grit and toughness of an East Coast club and could call upon either depending on their appointment or their physical pains. But no matter what, they always played Lakers Basketball, and when they didn’t, they lost. If they, or anyone for that matter, plays a role that is out of character more often than not they’ll lose, and unfortunately that is what the Bush administration had done.

Now, before you throw your hands in the air and call me a few choice words (with “stupid liberal” somewhere in there), listen up. I’m not exploring this issue from the stand point of a liberal or a conservative. I believe in Statecraft, so I’m looking at the issue through the lens of a future Statesmen. Where the prior administration failed was in its lack of dealing with other countries with respectful dialog in order to receive the proper assistance that we needed in the war on terror.

How was George H.W. Bush able to build support for the first Gulf war?  Statecraft. Secretary of State James Baker met face to face with every leader or foreign minister in the Security Council to secure support of the U.S. to secure the use of all necessary force to remove Saddam’s Army from Kuwait. Also, President Bush himself made frequent calls too many of the leaders throughout the process. The tone of these conversations were consultative in public even if the private conversations weren’t. In the public’s eyes the United States was making an attempt to get the blessing of the world community despite the fact that in private Secretary Baker made it clear that the U.S. was willing to go it alone if need be.

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Back when I was a young wiper snapper I use to love WWE (back in my day it was WWF). I vividly remember body slamming my younger brother (remember that “stinker”?) and jumping off the top of our bunk bed with a whole lot of elbow for his chest.  And then my favorite was the Claw (It rips and tears!). I’d slap that bad boy on my little brothers face until he tapped out. Believe it or not despite the wreslting moves I was a great big brother. He followed in my footsteps and was also a great college football player and Uath State. Gotta Give my younger brother some love, he’s a great young man. 

My point to all this is I was a fan of Jesse “The Body” Ventura the wrestler and Jesse Ventura the Politian. There is a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing some Jesse Ventura still politics. He says what he wants and could still pound the mess out of most people. He attacks what he believes in with conviction, strengh, and smarts. I admire his way of doing things and his common since style of handling politics. 

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Not that I’m overly concerned about being loved, liked, admired or by the amount of hits on my blog gets but… oh heck fire who am I kidding, of course I am. With this in mind I notice that I received the most hits on post that had photos on them. So over the last few days I’ve been shraping up on my picture taking skills. Like Napoleon Dynamite I believe in having as many killer skills, as well as tots hidden in my pockets, as I can because they both can come in handy.

So yesterday I went down to Crystal Cove State Beach located off busy Pacifica Coast Highway between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. When I entered the park and stopped at the ranger’s office to pay for parking, and a nice older lady stepped out with a smile. The nice ranger was pleasant and had lots of useful information. First she asked me if I liked basketball. Admittedly my stomach curled up into a knot thinking she wanted to talk about the Lakers forgetting to show up for game 4 and letting a Mingless Rockets team take them out to the woodshed. (Sunday wasn’t a good day for me and sports. First the Lakers, than the Dodgers, and last Tiger, oh my! I cry inside.) I mustered up a smile and told her my Sunday sob story, and then she told me that a few years ago Kobe Bryant had a birthday party for his wife at the beach. (Kobe Lives in the hills overlooking Pelican Hills Golf Course and Crystal Cove State Beach.) She continues to tell me about a rotisserie chicken place on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) that Kobe likes to go to if I wanted to catch a glimps. (Now, I like Kobe and all but I’m not going to stalk him and sit at some chicken joint waiting for him. But if you’re into that, you can always hang at Malibu Yogurt. Many of your classmates will be more than happy to join you and stalk the local celebrities.)

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My D.C. Checklist

 Ok, so I’m “On the Road Again” as Willie Nelson says, and it’s a long trek from Los Angeles to D.C. on Memorial Day weekend in a little Boeing 737 for 5 hours (I know, could I have picked a more traveled holiday to go coast to coast on a little plane?). And don’t think N1H1 Flu virus aka Swine flu isn’t on my mind.

 I’m known for forgetting things. I’m the guy that goes in and out of his front door 4 or 5 times because once he gets 10 feet away he remembers something else he’s forgotten (This is when Ryan Mcbride or Mike Belina - Check out their Post - chime in with a comment about my age).  So in order to prevent me from having to ask my mother to send me something I forget at home (she would send it but I’d get an ear full before she says ok), I decided to make my D.C. Checklist. This isn’t to say I’m not going to forget something, but I ought to give it the old Texas try. So here we go:

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I have to say, I love Vacation. (Just call me Clark Griswold) I’m enjoying my time off very much, but only a few things have changed since the end of the semester. I still wake up at 9ish more times than not. I’m still constantly on the go. I’m usually at the gym for an hour and a half in the mornings after late nights reading.(I’m old and I’m boring, what can I say) After that I spend time getting ready for my trip to D.C. I spend a lot of time writing for this blog. I have several posts that I haven’t published yet. (It’s all about timing) The best part is that I have more free time to spend in front of the boob tube. It’s great because all the re-runs that are on now are new to me. (In Grad School in might have time to follow 2 or 3 of your favorite shows. The rest of the time your face will be in a book.)

Over the past five days I’ve been very busy preparing for my State Department internship. I haven’t talked about where I’m going to be for my internship because I’m a little superstitious. Thought I’ve been awarded my internship, I’ve been quite about it during the back ground clearance. And even though I’m very, very, very far from being a felon, I still worry. But I recieved my clearence today so I feel better about talking about it now. I was informed over winter break that I would be interning in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and I was beyond excited because it was my first choice. Political-Military Affairs puts me on the frontlines of everything going on in the world. Ed Kulakowski, who is the local State Department Diplomat in Residence and Dean Pauletta Walsh have both been a great help. Early next year you will all get a chance to meet Mr. Kulakowski. He’ll be on campus to discuss State Department internships and jobs. My tip to all of you is to start your Government applications early. Also communicate with Mr. Kulakowski during your entire time at Pepperdine. He’ll help you with anything you need.

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Hello all! With this being the first day that the School of Public Policy Bloggers page goes live I thought I’d do a fun post for those who are visiting Live Free Or Die for the first time. So I asked some of my friends this question: If you could have a theme song, what song would it be?

I came up with this idea while at the gym on Tuesday. I thought to myself how “The right music really gets me workout going. I bet is I had a theme song that would play as I walked down the street or into a room would be really cool.” So here are some of my results. Thanks to all those that participated.

So my theme song is: “Got To Give It Up” by Marvin Gaye

And as I walked through the door it would look like the dance line on Soul Train with Don Cornelius and all.

Here are some of the theme songs my friends chose:

Aldrex Caparros (Old Friend)– “Joints & Jam” by Black Eyed Peas

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