The futility of the United Nations

In my opinion, the time of the United Nations is over. Today it is nothing more than a bureaucratic nightmare of an organization that has done little in years past to do anything, except help corrupt people profit off crippled nation-states (The Iraqi Food for Oil program anyone?). The final death knell of the United Nations came in 2003 when the United States unilaterally invaded Iraq to take out Saddam Hussein. Though, I would argue that its futility existed long before that, when the Rwandan genocide was allowed to occur in 1994.

I woke up this morning to the radio saying that last night, the UN Security Council had agreed to a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And both sides brushed off the resolution like it was nothing more than a nuisance (read a report about the conflict here). And I can't really blame them, because my first thought when I heard that a resolution had been agreed to was in essence, "Big whoop". What is a resolution going to do about this decades old conflict that seems to perpetuate no matter how many peace talks or cease-fires occur? The way that the Israelis are approaching this, it seems like they are not going to be satisfied until Hamas is blown into oblivion. I don't believe that when Hamas started firing rockets into Israel after the cease-fire brokered by Egypt expired, they expected this kind of response. But I think Israel is out to show (and right before their election, nonetheless) that they have had enough and are not going to stop shelling Gaza until...who knows when?

Also, as much as I respect Condi Rice for her intelligence and education background, I found her statement about the US's abstainment from voting on the resolution laughable and a complete political cop-out for an outgoing administration - "We're going to let Egypt take the lead on this and see if they can broker another cease-fire". Let the corruptest Egyptian politician, Mubarak, broker a cease-fire between these two nations? Right, like that will really work. We'll see how that goes.

So, United Nations, I say your time has come and it's over. You have turned into another League of Nations. Unless you can bring nation-states truly together to do things of significance, instead of passing meaningless resolutions calling for cease-fires, what are you even here for?

Introducing...

Today marks the launch of a subsidiary of this blog called Ruminations and Reflections. I've been kicking this idea around for a little while about just having a blog dedicated to quotes, verses, and sayings that inspire me or that I find useful or helpful. As I collect all these little papers and notecards with these things on them, I've been finding that I want a repository to collect them all, more for my own benefit, but I thought I would share it with the world at large as well :).

If you run across a great quote, verse, or saying, head over to Ruminations and Reflections and post away in the comments, or email them to me and I will post it on there.

Happy 2009 everyone!

Sunday Drives

Sometimes I like to take a drive out into the surrounding Virginia countryside on Sundays. To me, it can be more powerful than going to church - at least at this point in my life. Seeing God's creation in nature restores me, calms me, and brings me back to the heart of what life is really about. It is my escape from the realities and pressures of life and brings me joy.

One such Sunday I decided to take some pictures of my journey with my camera phone. Below are some of the images and evidence that beauty can be found in the dark bleak times of winter.

This is a Great Story

Click on the link for a great story pertaining to the creativeness of one guy in the job market. It encourages me!

Paging Tim Gunn

Those who know me, know that I love fashion. I love clothes, jewerly, purses, shoes, scarves, design - there are very few things that I don't love about it all. It's one of my favorite creative outlets. I love it for its art and how it is an art form in and of itself. That is why it pains me when I see fashion travesties out there in the great wide world. To caveat - I am sure I have committed my own travesties or oddities and I'm certainly no Stacy London, Clinton Kelly, or Tim Gunn. But there are three things that I believe no woman should ever deem to wear.

#1 - Rompers. The picture to the right says it all. Never, ever, ever should a woman ever put something like this on. And the fact that the picture above is from a well-known designer and sells for hundreds of dollars is a travesty beyond travesty in my opinion. There is just no body shape that this would ever look good on.

#2 - Jumpsuits. Unless you are an extra in Top Gun 2 - Goose Lives, no jumpsuits should ever be worn. Never, ever, ever, ever! My young eyes were scarred once by watching a woman squeeze herself into a tight, single-piece jumpsuit of denim material at Wet Seal and it is an image that will never leave me. The poor woman. And poor me! I remember when the jumpsuit arrived in the store, I wondered who would ever deem to put it on - I got my answer, for sure! So never, please never, go for the jumpsuit. Not even Beyonce can pull this look off.

#3 - Velour Track Suits. Jenny From the Block unfortunately brought these into the fashion world and I personally think they should never have come into it. Maybe - maybe - if you're just lounging around at home they are ok, but really. Let's be honest. How can anyone feel good about themselves wearing a velour track suit? And please note - I'm not knocking sweats - not in the least. I would much rather have someone wear their actual sweats than a track velour suit. Because when you are wearing sweats, you are declaring to the world, "I don't really care about what I look like right now, and I dare you to say anything about it" (which I admire and adhere to at times), whereas a velour track suit says "I wanted to try looking cute but deep down didn't really want to be cute so I decided to put this velveteen bunny suit on instead." Just wear jeans, please!

Those are my top three things I think no one should ever wear. What about you? Do you have anything that you think no one should ever put on? Been guilty of any of these? Post in the comments!